WHY I’M STARTING A BUSINESS THIS YEAR (the cosmic story)

This past Sunday, my older brother was home and we got to talking philosophy, as always with him. (We both happen to share a fascination with this topic though our thoughts are somehow on different tangents.) Let’s just say that the way he sees things and the way I do are similar, but different none the less. It always makes for interesting discussion, but I digress.

(I think I’ll save that topic for another time. Maybe I’ll plunge you all into the vortex of cosmic mechanics with me…MWUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! )

Whoops! Let my crazy out for a second there. ;p

Anyhow, during the course of this discussion, I had an epiphany about a topic I feel quite strongly about… Owning a Business. But let me take you guys back to the beginning before I lose you in the maze that is the universe as I know it (for now anyway. My understanding of this is constantly evolving, but I’m going to stop talking about it before you start thinking I’m crazy. But don’t worry, ill ease you into it, nice and gentle, at a later time >:D).

Anyhow, where was I…? Ah yes, why I decided I would start a business.

A couple of weeks ago, when schools were opening for the New Year, I noticed this vendor I used to see across the street on my way to school. He had this really shabby shack before and he had been doing business in it for less than two years. I should know, I’ve been passing by for 4 year already and I remember it was the kind of thing I wouldn’t look at twice.

From a business perspective, because I am a business student, it didn’t have much going for it. It was only a few paces away from some large kiosks which not only offered more variety (it’s a vegetable stand), but they had better presentation by kiosk standards and the added advantage of already having a long relationship with the customer base in the area. It’s a middle class semi residential area. On top of this, there exists a small shopping mart which also stocks similar goods. There were a few other issues but that’s beside the point. The long and short of what I’m trying to say is, the future didn’t look too bright for him in my perspective.

So, you can imagine my surprise, when two years down the line, he had expanded to larger (like 3 time the size of the previous shack) shack, much better constructed, with more space, more variety with umbrellas for shade on the top. (It’s amazing what you can do with a vision and commitment and hard work.) Seriously I was impressed. In my opinion, his prospects weren’t all that great. But here is where my philosophy and epiphany come in.

You see, the way I see it, when God created the universe, it was really no different than the way an engineer would build a machine. What we see in our daily lives is just the surface. The friendly user interface that works according to how it was coded. Kind of like windows. And like widows, there are a set of commands it will always adhere too. So you know that when you want to browse your PC, you open the file explorer. If you want to see all your apps, you go to the start menu.

In the same way, in life certain universal principles work I.e. garbage in garbage out. You reap what you sow. generous people never seem to run out of whatever it is they give. You know… I’m sure you have noticed. And my latest addition, which is really more like an off shoot of one of these universal governing commands is, if you create the opportunity for something to happen, it will. (Though now that I think about it, there might already be a law like this in effect and I’ve only realized it.) Anyway, this is something I’ve seen a number of times before.

How many of you have seen people start a business doing something you know you can probably do even better than them and somehow its really working out. These people are the envy of my life. I think I mentioned this before, but my lifetime goal is to be a business owner. For multiple businesses. Not just to stroke my ego, but because there are so many different things I want to do. So many ventures I want to delve into, I literally can’t see myself doing just one thing for the rest of my life. I think if I got stuck doing that I’d die. And I know I can do it. I know it’s possible, and all I have to do is not chicken out.

And in my observation, I have seen these people make something (and I still insist that I could probably do it better If I did it. See! Envy.) Out of nothing simply because they did it seriously and they stuck to it. The success stories are too numerous to count. At the start, all they had was an idea and just some of the resource they needed to start. Many of them didn’t even have everything they needed, when they just went ahead and did it. My friend k, that hustler guy I was telling you guys about in that article I wrote before. He is in Cairo for business as we speak, or if he is back, he just got back. He is doing international business already and I’m just here theorizing.

My conclusion from this is this. Just do it. And once you do, stick with it. Because my take away from this is all I have to do is create a universal conduit. Pick the right environment and create conduit, a universal opportunity for something to happen, eventually it will flow your way, even if it has a slow start. It doesn’t have to be pretty or perfect. You don’t have to have everything in place from the start. Heck, I would venture to say that the startups that have become success stories started with very little and probably the reason they stood the test of time is because this forced them to be flexible.

And flexible means creativity. And creativity leads to innovation, which in turn creates something customers would be drawn to.  So if you do start, be flexible and open to changes. It may even end up leading you into doing something else entirely, but you would have your business none the less. Because life is unexpected like that.

That is why I’ve decide, by the end of this year, I want to have started a business. I feel too inspired for me to not try. Honestly, I think God would want me to. It doesn’t have to be pretty or perfect. I don’t need to have everything from the get go. I just need to pick the right environment and be committed. It will work out. And even if it doesn’t and it bombs out, I’ll have learnt and I will try again. Because it’s what I want. It’s my goal in life. And I won’t give up on it just because I failed once. Nothing is perfect on the first try and you can’t afford to be a chicken about what you want.

That’s a big declaration from me y’all. I’m confessing this into my life and you know what the bible says about faith and confessing. It’s a form of prayer. It puts power behind your objective. It helps it start materializing. And I’m praying seriously for this. I already even roped in an accomplice. (My sister ;p). Cross your fingers, pray for us, wish me luck!

I feel the weight of this decision. It’s interesting that I feel this way when I haven’t really yet tangibly committed any resources to it. No time, no money yet or anything. But I guess it’s because when you are serious about your something, it has an entirely different taste and essence. But I can do it, God willing of course. I’m praying about it, and I feel good about it. My biggest concern is that I don’t want to chicken out at the last minute, because that has always been a problem for me.

Ill probably keep you guys posted as I live and learn. I want to enjoy the process. 🙂