Mena's Entrepreneurial Journey

 It's the thirteenth week and I cannot help but reflect back to the person I was before I started this course. I had this view of what this course was about and what it should do for me. I also had some preconceived notions of what I was supposed to learn. As I look bac, I cannot help but feel changed and my lopsided view of entrepreneurship re-arranged. I am grateful for the things I have learnt. I see the world differently. I am also grateful that I have a wonderful instructor.  This week I learnt from Stan Christensen not to do things because I think it's what other people want me to do. He said: "You're not going to be able to outguess them. You will likely if you do things that you feel passionately about..." This is absolutely true. As Larry North said: "Being an entrepreneur takes extremely thick skin." It is hard. There are so many decisions to make and lots of people depending on you. You have to decide if you are in for the long haul and be wil...

" Not everyone is so complacent. Markets rely on rules and laws, but those rules and laws in turn depend on truth and trust. Conceal truth or erode trust, and the game becomes so unreliable that no one will want to play."                                                                                                                                   -Charles Handy This week's reading talked about truth and trust and what our aim of setting up businesses would be. Who would have thought that they would be so important? Charles Handy seemed to think that virtue or truth and integrity or trust are the key i...

 My parents were average citizens who said that when I was born, life became better for them. It was because of that they named me "money" but in my father's local language. My mom said that I never lacked anything, even when my father died, money was never a problem for me. I completed my university degree because someone decided to pay my fees. These experiences affected my view of money. For a while, I lived a charmed life until I started taking up responsibilities. Though I have made some mistakes with money, I am wiser now and I see money as a tool to bless the lives of others as I was blessed. I know that hard work brings money and I work hard, I also know that depending on what I do with money I can reap a bountiful harvest or squander my opportunities. I always weigh the benefit of every decision I make about money. I am really careful about what I do with money and how I make my money. The world today has a fractured view of money. Lots of people see it as a tool...

         Chef Gusteau in the movie “Ratatouile” said: “You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from.” This is absolutely true, we have so many people telling us what we should be and what we should not be that the slightest spark of an idea is met with instant rebuttal. There usually is no “try it out” or “what a great idea” it seems that everyone is waiting to tell you “no”. When I decided to become a French instructor, nobody in my family could understand why. I turned down a job as a Personal Assistant to a top government official because I really wanted to explore the path I was taking, to try something different. It wasn’t easy and as I learnt in this week’s reading from Acton Hero Katie Huber, you just have to motivate yourself and move on. As far as you are living a life of meaning it is worth exploring. This week I also learnt that not all dre...

       This week's study material focused on leadership. It is amazing how being an entrepreneur puts you immediately in the position of being a leader. One thing we must understand is that we do not have to wait until we attain that position before we begin acting like a leader. It is something that we should begin now to inculcate in our lives. Most people equate leadership with being in an exalted position, where they give commands and expect people to bow down and worship them while hanging on their every word. No!      Jim Ritchie, one of the co-founder of Launching Leaders explained that leadership involves taking people to a higher ground. It is the same opinion shared by Jim Collins in his book "Good to Great". His first ingredient in becoming great is becoming a level 5 leader. He says that: " Level 5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside themselves when things go well. At the same time, they look in the mirror to...

  This week’s study was a lesson I needed to read. A lot has been said in the previous weeks about passion that we are infused with enough energy to go and accomplish great things. I think that a summary of this week’s lesson should be: “while it is important to dream big dreams and be passionate, don’t forget to hang in there.” As entrepreneurs or would be entrepreneurs, we must understand that there is a time and season to all things. There is a time for planting and a time to reap the harvest. It would be crazy to expect to reap the harvest a few days after planting. The seed must germinate, be nourished and so forth. This would ensure a bountiful harvest. Sometimes, we would have to replant because the ground on which the seed was planted did not favor it. During this waiting period, we must not despair. We must persevere and trust in good things to come. This is the most difficult stage of an entrepreneur’s career and the longest. We ask ourselves during this period certain qu...