Lessons for the Journey: The “Girl” Entrepreneurs

Having a fulltime job and running a business, is like chasing two birds at the same time…You will never catch any! – Ibukun Awosika
     

                              

 

So, today makes it exactly 1 year, 1 month and 8 days since I last wrote anything on my blog and it’s been one very long journey.              

During this time, I have served my nation, completed service year, abandoned my drive for entrepreneurship, gotten into the corporate world, gotten a job, resigned from my job and yea… I’ve also added some weight!

During this time, I lost my wit and spunk for writing. I relaxed and settled for whatever life threw at me.

During this time, my main desire had been money I mean, it suddenly became all about making money. My reality made it seem ‘all that’, you get? It was no longer about the dream and burning desire for impacting my world. It was no longer about the unquenchable desire to transform my generation, it now became earning a living!

During this time, life happened! I joined the long list of those who had accepted their fate and lived with the policy; ‘A bird in hand is better than 10 in the bush’. The long list of those who have no love for what they do; those who have SETTLED!

During this time, I transformed from the super ‘small but mighty girl’ to the ‘regular ordinary girl’.

During this time, I gave up!

Still during this time, I decided to get up and stop whining. I decided to go back to the table to reread the visions that had been written down so I could run with it. I decided I wasn’t going to settle for less.

                                               

But now, here I am, broke!

No regular paychecks to be expected anymore. No suits and heels making those ever delicious sounds on those lovely tiles. Oh! No AC to keep my makeup ‘on fleek’ all through the day. No ‘always’ fully charged phone battery because the generator is always running.

Now, I want to start again from the scratch. I want to start relearning all those right things I have somehow unlearnt along the line. Reorganizing myself and reawakening the power I know resides in my insides.

So, here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to start this journey by learning and following in the footprints of excellent women who have at some point toured this road before. Who have been burnt, injured, fallen and then who rose again; who today are impacting our world like never before.

Women who started out as young girls just like me, but today are dining with kings and calling the shots. Women who over the years have learnt how to excellently balance work, home, life and everything in between; whom God has blessed this generation with.

I’m going to learn from them and I’m going to follow in their steps in carving my own niche.

Now, this is a journey I don’t want to travel alone. I want to travel with you. Girls and Guys, let’s learn together. Let’s hold our hands on this journey of seizing our world. We can see their beautiful results, so why not see how they got there?

We would start with the wonderful book Madam Ibukun Awosika has blessed us with; ‘ The “Girl” Entrepreneurs.’

                                              

She talked about many successful women in Nigeria; their startups, pitfalls, challenges and how they overcame them. One at a time, we will review and discuss these women. What did they do that made them so relevant and exceptional in this generation? What exactly are the measures they took to spring forth in this Nation where many talk about a casting down? What makes them tick?

We are going to discover these secrets that have been given to us on a platter of gold and we will take practical steps in starting our individual journeys. From these women, we will learn to pick ourselves up and again become the voices of our own generation. If they did it, we can can’t we?

I have vowed to be and to do all I say. It is exactly why I quit the convenience of being money’s victim to taking charge of my destiny. This is a real journey, one I am committed to. And what bigger sacrifice than quitting what young people on the continent say is in short supply: ‘good’ job?

So, roll up your sleeves and be bold enough to get on this journey with me…

Till next post hunnies, get ready!

P.S. Special thanks to Teewaieff, she sparked this fire!