Precious YOU

I am perfectly delighted to have a post by a guest by One Wanjah Abbie. What an honor to her masterpiece writing. I assure you its authentic and good for posting and your readership. After a period of networking, conversing and evaluating she has passed the test and the reward is her post here. Kudo’s Abbie Wanjah for making it to the family of Join The Dots. All credit goes to her. Here she goes courtesy of Whats Up symbolically of what she has chosen as our reflections for today.

               

Perhaps I should be telling a story here today. About some girl or boy, or man, or woman, or an animal…but I won’t- At least not today. Not that I don’t have a story to inspire my writing but because today I want us to have a talk.

Welcome to this house (blog) I may not have a lot to offer but I have some. My time and thought will do. Meanwhile; I know you are pondering what kind of talk this is. Please don’t be in a hurry today. Wait and Relax, I mean RELAX!!Sit back. Be patient with me. I promise I won’t take much of your precious time.

Today’s reflections are on taking life easy and simple yet being serious, ambitious and visionary. Take a moment out of the craziness of life. For a moment take a deep Breath, relax and stop! Life is that we all want to touch the finish line soonest possible (It’s all human anyway) but wait; there is only one person in your life. And that is only YOU. So whether you take a twenty minute break or not, no one will say they touched your finish line first when you were on the fifteenth minute of your rest.

You are too much valuable and precious to be lost in the daily routines of life. You have one life to live and make most of it. Life is only sweet when you do exactly what you should and leave what cannot be done today for tomorrow. Never think that we are in a race in life to compete. We are not. Instead each of us should do exactly what they purpose in their hearts and only one time. We cannot conquer the whole world so as to chase it all the way. Our purpose for living out in our generation is simply to run our race, finish it and receive the victor’s crown. Wonder why we should then behave as if all that mattered in this life was rules and law of must do this or else… This is not the beauty of life.

Always be your real self every time. Do not pretend you are something else you are. Do not cling on just one thing you will have no possibility of getting if it does not matter too much in your life. Blow it away. Do not shy away from blowing away what’s not yours. If it’s yours it will come back to you. Relinquish your positions in your jobs when you have other offers. Take a pay cut and start your own company and build it from scratch.

When you are not patient and ready to experience joy and tranquility in going through life contented yet ambitious, we lose the taste and true meaning of a happy life. You don’t have to take everything too serious that should not. Strike the balance of must do’s and should do’s.

Play in the rain, laugh in the darkness, shout in the silence, break all the codes, do all the wrong things for only that one right reason. Go out for a moon light walk at night, take a holiday to a far off shore and don’t forget to give a story/joke during a presentation with your bosses/clients. Take a road drive and try a new nice recipe. Give yourself a five minute break while your boss watches, try walking on your four limbs instead of two (you don’t have to be drunk to crawl) take your enemy out for a drink. Just breath, let life flow do it more often, and then thank me later!

This is because you are precious. Your life is the most precious thing you have to change the world. You have to be sober in pursuing your dreams. This is only if you have peace of mind and health. Do not be stressed because you are over stretched in trying to reach for what does not matter in life. The gifted you must not go through life the gloomy way. While you want be excellent, do it with joy. Do not blame people for your temporal failures. Do not take failures too serious that you fail to see future opportunity. Take care till next time you visit here.

This post is courtesy of my friend one Wanjah Abbie of www.wanjahabbie.wordpress.com where it first appeared on his blog with some editing and additions.

Have a reflective life. Remember to stay in touch with me at jeremiahwakamu@gmail.com or join this conversation on Facebook Jeremiaho Wakamu to keep it going. And again referrals though you social media network/connection and word of mouth is the best you can do for this blog

 

Lessons on my Graduation

31^St July 2015 will remain eventful for me. This day marked the culmination of my basic education. Finally, I was able to successfully graduate with an undergraduate Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology (BBIT). I rightly said it- My first degree from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). The moment of my pride was learning I graduated top of my class with a First Class Honors. That’s no mean achievement.

I looked back and was more than amazed by the number of years I have spent in formal years and can only say, ‘THIS FAR  GOD.’ It was finally the end of at least 17 years of formal schooling. That’s the Kenyan system. Spend 1 year in pre-schooling, 8 years in Primary, and 4 years in Secondary school and another 4 years for a degree course in a college or university. That’s the least you can be schooling if you are luck and do not repeat classes and years.

As it is the tradition world all over, graduation ceremonies are hyped. There are major preparations. And as for the Africans, -where I belong, this celebrations will never be any better without inviting family members, friends and well-wishers both near and far. People join in dancing, feasting, praising and thanksgiving after the main ceremony in the university’s graduation square. God is the center of the ceremony and the center of attention is the grandaunt.

That day, I sat in the gathering of invited and uninvited guests listening to heaps and heaps of praises directed to me. I was humbled by the kind words, love and gifts I received from them. Right from the graduation square where the university management led by the Chancellor and Vice chancellor led the ceremony to confer the awards, the mood, talk and people were fantastic. The excitement could be felt in the atmosphere.

At the end of it all, I was thinking, I have the powers to read and to do what it pertains with the degree how do I become of use to the society- Kenya and the world? This is not a simple question to ask. That’s the subject of another day. Today I look back and identify some of the lessons, I’ve learn t over the years that helped me shape my convictions in excellence.

Success is a right to everyone

Success is a right to everyone but it is not a privilege, favor or priority to some. It is not for a selected few whom the nature has chosen in place of others to succeed. Instead the same natural terrain provides a level ground where all can work and succeed. Anyone can succeed if they so desire to.

Nature demands people of excellence

Nature demands that you work and succeed for a reward of success among other things such as a happiness, satisfaction, financial freedom and freedom to choose what you will do. Those privileges that come along with success cannot be enjoyed unless one succeeds. Only successful people join in the service of kings. The privilege of being excellent will make you step in place you may never get to serving, dinning with princes.

God should be the center of our excellence

When people trust in God in their life, they do not see their limits. They are able reach the level set for their perfection by God. God helps them to view things beyond the horizons of their ability and far beyond what they can conceive with their finite minds. It is because there is no impossibility with God. His grace is sufficient even in the hardest times and his promises yes and amen. I have tasted if this and have found it to be true. With God on your side, you will have comfort when things seem not working. You will not be afraid to start something and you will not be worried and anxious when there are people who seem to dislike you all over.

Understand Seasons of beauty in life

God has made everything beautiful in its time. We should thus strive to understand the season of beauty for every event and thing. Without this undisputed truth, we will act foolishly because failure to fathom this crucial time will see us act out of selfish ambition, hopelessly to see results and of course in ignorance. We shouldn’t be over-anxious for quick results which may be too costly for us in the end. Life has no assurance that in a single fraction of a minute anything planted germinates and matures to be fruitful. Some will be instant while others take long but the fact is that they all come to be harvested at the fullness of time.

Faith it till you make it

This is the last truth for today. Indeed my principle has been, creating perceptions around something and make people believe it is happening even when it’s not till it happens.  This is life and most often than not no one will believe you until they see it. They will demand something to see, touch and feel. You may not have it but make them have a perception it exists. You have to faith it that you are the best until you defeat the best in town. I am own a start up JoinTheDots Stationers & Printers which prepares revision materials for Students. No one was interested in our products we had to create perceptions that that they are highly successive even in its first year so that people can buy them. And its slowly paying off.

Those Five may not be all that I have learn t but that is the beginning. They are vital lessons in life as a successful entrepreneur and academician.

Have a reflective life. Remember to stay in touch with me at jeremiahwakamu@gmail.com or join this conversation on Facebook Jeremiaho Wakamu to keep it going. And again referrals though you social media network/connection and word of mouth is the best you can do for this blog.

LESSONS FROM MY ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY

I am following this year's GES with a keen eye and interest. I was in an Integrated ICT Business school AND currently working on a start- up JoinTheDots Stationers & Printers. Our primary focus is creating quality schools’ revision materials and text for Kenyan students.

 We are the Publishers and printers of the authoritative JoinTheDots Revision series for Primary and Secondary students. We design and print institutional calendars, certificates, posters, brochures, organizational newsletters and invitational cards. We also do Branding of pens, T-shirts, note books, personal and office computers, telephones and office rooms.

Having your own start up is a lone journey. It is a great risk you’ve to take. You become a stranger among your friends. But thank God am having people whom I can lean on. They provide comfort when I need them most.

Far from the stories of the entrepreneurs at the summit this is my own story. I want to draw at least three major lessons I have learn t from my own journey and in my academic studies.

Join a network

You can’t do it all by yourself. Join a network. By joining collaborative networks, you can get help. Collaboration is co- creation. It requires giving up some control of assets so that collaborators may remix, add to, and distribute content. For me as a publisher and printer Entrepreneur, that may mean soliciting the public’s assistance in finishing books. It may mean recruiting and mobilizing the public to review and edit draft contents of books. It may mean setting them up in business. It certainly means welcoming their contributions and corrections. It’s in a network where someone will say something good about you online/offline because of your product, service, reputation, honesty, openness, or help­fulness. This should make you knock another hundred shilling off your advertising budget. This will get to zero if you are lucky. In a network you will have people- peers who you will work with, compete with or orbit around. They are your first customers, mentors, and employees, source of funding, competitors or helpers on your journey.

Be a platform

If you want to be successful in business and life, be a platform. Let your business be a place to help others build value on their own. Questions that I’ve had to ask myself are: How can I act as a platform? What can oth­ers build on top of it? How can I add value? How little value can I extract? How big can the network atop my platform grow? How can the platform get better learning from users? How can I create open stan­dards so even competitors will use and contribute to the network and I get a share of their value? The point in being an entrepreneur is creating wealth and money while making a positive impact to societies’. Be a place where people can utilize your model to come up with other awesome business ideas. Set the standards in your field and help other people come up with ideas they can integrate to your own idea. Do not think only on enriching yourself but also the welfare of others. The value you can add to others.

Use of the internet in Business

The internet and web applications are changing how marketing or rather interacting with customers is done. Designers put their ideas on the web. Customers then make suggestions and discuss them. Designers take the best ideas and adapt them, giving credit where it is due. The question is: Will you have to answers generated in the media space from conversations that occur daily? That’s how you should think of your site for your business: answers for every question you can imagine, each on a page that is clearly and simply laid out so both Google and busy readers can find it and figure it out in an instant. If you’re a manufacturer, customers should be able to find product details and support in an instant. If you’re a politician, voters want to know your stands and record. If you’re a food company, buyers want nutritional information. If you’re a clothing company, shoppers want you to give the information a good sales clerk would—does this run large? Where can I buy your product? How do I contact you?

Those three may not be all that I have learn t but that is the beginning. They are vital lessons in life as an entrepreneur.

Have a reflective life. Remember to stay in touch with me at jeremiahwakamu@gmail.com or join this conversation on Facebook Jeremiaho Wakamu to keep it going. And again referrals though you social media network/connection and word of mouth is the best you can do for this blog

Start before you start

Figuring out what to do in life- Career, business, Marry who, Join which political party or perhaps invest in which stock-  is one of the most important things you have do to ensure success in life, yet it’s often one of the most poorly thought out decisions.

This is the basis of our reflections in this article. Life is such that we always have an urge to start something. All the time is a time to start something in life. Sometime back in the same blog, I wrote that every season in life has something special that we must do and accomplish- TheAssignments in life. But then when we want to these assignments we must start but starting. Doing the outdoor work. This is the preliminary work.

Every day is an opportunity to do something new or become what you have been trying to be. And so every new day is and can be an opportunity to reinvent your image. Before you do these assignments consider these few tips.

If you want to succeed in life and defeat bigger and better-funded competitors then your focus and effort should be do first to the first things first.

When you want to start something in life say a business venture, don’t rush it. Don’t just pick what you know, or what you used to do, or even what you dreamed of doing when you were a teenager. It’s way more fun to run a successful vegetable stand than to be a bankrupt comedy club owner. Don’t fall into the trap of doing the easy, cool or fun things in life. Think about it for a good amount of time and consider the most basic things in life.

In a free society, the government doesn’t control who gets the right to start a what. Anyone can do it—in most cases without a license, a permit, or a training course.

First, when you start out in anything in life you must PLEDGE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR FIELD THAN ANYONE ELSE. You must read, learn and understand about that field. This will be your greatest value you can add to your own life as well as to the life of others. Research about it and get everything there is to learn. Be an expert in that field. Learn all the skills there are to use in your plan, research about all the legal, moral, technological, political and spiritual implications of what you are starting.

Remember always that MONEY IS A TOOL, NOT AN END IN ITSELF. When starting out in life, you don’t have to think more on money you have and will get. My advice would be that if you don’t run out of money, you get to keep playing. If you end up with more money than you started with, you win. Be consistent and honest with yourself and plan the future with the most reasonable target you want. Of course without money, there is no business. Run out of money and your creditors will shut you down, your employees will leave, and your spouse will worry.

HAVE PLANS THAT ARE PROTECTIBLE. Good and profitable ventures in life will certainly attract competitors. What are you going to do when they show up? It is only better if you come up with a barrier to entry or competitive insulation. Barriers can include patents, brand names, exclusive distribution deals, trade secrets (like the recipe for Coke) or first mover advantage.

KNOW IF WHAT YOU START WILL BE ADJUSTABLE. Remember how excited everyone got about the missiles the U.S. used during the Gulf War? You could aim after you launched it. You could adjust the flight along the way. You need a model in life similar to the one used by the Americans if you’re hoping to maximize your chances of success. For everything you start in life, think how you will overcome challenges that you will face.

GET MENTORED. Nowhere does it say you’ve got to do this all alone. Find someone who’s come before you and ask for help. They will always be odds in life and if you have a mentor you’ve someone to sort you out. The mentor you choose should be convenient and he should have life experience and a network of connections that really help you in the journey.

Be sure that what you are starting you can BE WILLING TO BET EVERYTHING YOU OWN ON IT. If what you are starting you cannot guarantee anything you have, then it’s not worth. Chances are you’ll not give it the effort and time in life. If you cannot lose your energy, rent, life, friends and family on I think it’s not worth going for it.

After considering that you can now start. Have a reflective life. Remember to stay in touch with me at jeremiahwakamu@gmail.com or on Facebook Jeremiaho Wakamu to keep this discussion going. And again referrals though you social media network/connection and word of mouth is the best you can do for this blog