WHO AM I?

Many years ago I watched a movie starred by renowned comedian, Jackie Chan. It was entitled ‘Who am I?’ Young as I was, I really didn’t understand the movie, but in my own childlike manner, I did get the concept of the movie.

For the past couple of years, I found myself asking the same question, who am I? What is it that am really made to do? Am I just going to live, raise a family and then die? Is that an ideal plan? What is it really that I can do that will live on when I die?

60% of people holding different jobs, report that they hate their job, the rate of school and college dropouts is increasing every year. Many college and university students admit that if not that we are living in a society that only prides in white collar jobs, they would be doing something else with their lives.

These facts are saddening but the question still remains, Why?

The answer may not be far-fetched.

It’s because we do not know who we are or how to take ourselves to where we ought to be.

I recently had a conversation with a friend about relationships, and she said, what causes insecurities in relationships is simply not knowing your place in your partner’s life. Because once you know your place, it gives you a certain kind a calmness that just makes you happy. In the same token, that’s just how life is. We have a relationship with the universe, and for as long as you don’t know your place in this cosmos, you will never be happy.

Therefore, our duty is to find out our place.

The fact is, we all have a seat, and this seat is the inception to a world of endless possibilities and opportunities. All of us, have something that we can do that can Awe the universe, something I call the “Wow Factor”. We all have something in us that we do so good that when we do it, someone says, WOW.

The first step in knowing who you are is understanding and knowing that only you can take yourself where you ought to be.

There are two things you can decide on doing; you can decide to just live, raise a family and then die, like most people do or you can decide to take on this journey less travelled, a journey of finding the answer to that one mind bothering question, “ WHO AM I?”

FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE  STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS IN THE CURRENT ECONOMY

Starting your own business is by far one of the most thrilling and daunting journeys you can ever undertake. Starting or running your own business is unlike having a job. No one tells you what to do, no one to report to and no fixed pay.

These can be looked at as positive things or negative things. But the truth is, for most entrepreneurs, that is why they started their own business in the first place. Be it a traditional business or Networking marketing business, the principles that dictate the success of the business are the same.

Hence, it is highly advisable that before you start a business; seek advice and mentorship from people who have succeeded in that particular endeavour. Nonetheless, there are five things you should know before starting you own business.

•        You don’t have to be great to get started, but to be great, you need to get started

Most people want to know everything before they can start something. Our society has also greatly contributed to these problems. We have been brought up in a society that looks down on people who make mistakes. We learn more from failure than we ever do from success. It is Zig Ziglar who said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well.”

•       People don’t buy products, they buy you and then they buy the products

One great entrepreneur said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” You may have a great and fantastic product/ service, but if you don’t represent your product in a manner that people like, know and trust you, you are not going to win big.

•      Deal with a product/ service that you know people can’t live without.

Every business has a product or service. Product/ service type is very important as some are more valuable than others, of course, that is dependent on a lot of things.

•       Deal with a product that makes every human being you client

The larger your market or client potential, the likelihood of guaranteed success

• It’s simple but it’s not easy

Am amazed by the number of people that start a business and give up immediately it gets tough. And that is what distinguishes real entrepreneurs from wannabes. The fact that it’s not easy is the reason why most entrepreneurs flourish and live their dreams and not their fears.

All in all, starting you own business will be an exciting journey, and along the way, you will meet hurdles, and sometimes you will cry, but that’s just part of the process that you have to go through on your way up.” I can honestly say that I have never gone into business purely to make money. If that’s your sole motive then I believe you better not doing it. A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instinct.”—Richard Branson—

To your success in starting your own business 

NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP

NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP; This is a famous quote by a British man from WWII called Winstone Churchill.

Am constantly amazed by the number of people that start something and never see it through to the end. I too. I have given up a lot on many things. There are so many things that I didn’t even fight for when things got bad. We all have been there.

Every morning, I feel like giving on some things, giving up on some people, all the time. The thought of giving up always appears, it is as if am haunted by this ugly looking monster called “Giving up”.

And I know that you have those thoughts too. Thoughts of giving up on something. And there are instances when you have allowed that thought to overwhelm you and you have given up. But it all boils down to the fact that YOU DECIDED.

A wise man once said, “Decisions maketh destiny”. I would further like to put it as, “Decisions maketh a Man”. Who you are today is totally the making of self. For many years, I blamed my parents for a lot of things. I grew up without a father and in my mind, I thought that if maybe my father was around, my life would have been much better; but that was far off from both reality and the truth.

Your decisions are governed by the thoughts that you allow to occupy your mind. James Allen’s famous book, As a man thinketh, starts with the sentence,” As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”.

I have often thought of giving up on my dream, I have often thought of giving up on my life. But why? Why haven’t I given up? Why shouldn’t you give up on your dreams?

So here it is, the reason why I haven’t given up, the reason why I don’t want to give up, the reason why you shouldn’t give up is because you know that giving up on your dreams will be the most expensive decisions you are ever going to make. Imagine living a compromised life, driving a compromised car, living in a compromised house, taking your children to compromised schools, all because you DECIDED TO GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS.

So I don’t know what you are doing right now. Maybe you are a teacher, maybe an engineer, a doctor, a cleaner, an entrepreneur. But is that your dream? Are you living your dream? If not, WHY? What you are doing now, is it worth giving up your dream for?

Am not here to judge but to tell you this;

You don’t have to give up on your dream. Because your dream, my dream, is what makes the world a better place. Imagine if Albert Einstein didn’t follow his dream, or if Bill Gates didn’t follow his, or Martin Luther King. And all these people, their dream has added value to all of us, even years later. It’s called a LEGACY. Your dream is what we are waiting for to achieve that something. If your dream is to paint, get that brush and start painting, if your dream is to sing, grab that mic and start singing. And don’t listen to anyone who will tell you to STOP. Because no statue has ever been erected for a critic.

So am going to end by saying the same thing Martin Luther King Jnr said, If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you decide to do today, you have to keep moving forward in the direction of your dreams and never give up, because your dream is your LEGACY and your dream is what the whole world is waiting to see.

To your success in never giving up.

ADVERSITY INTRODUCES A MAN TO HIMSELF

Have you ever waken up on the wrong side of the bed? Have you ever waken up wishing you can stay in the bed the whole day and you absolutely don’t know why? People would ask why but you also don’t know the answer.

How many times have you gone to bed just hoping you never wake up to face the treacherous waters of life?

How many times have you wished you where this inanimate creature that doesn't have to go through some of the down moments in life?

How many times have someone told you, “It’s going to be okay”, but it never is?

Life is a mystery. No matter how much of a genius you are, you can never have it all figured out. And this is not because you are not good enough, it’s because, it’s the mysteries of life that make you grow every day. Life is cyclic, sometimes you up and sometimes you are down.

Everyone is happy and healthy when everything is going on well in life. Just as one songwriter said, “Life is easy when you are up on that mountain”. Because when you are up there, the view is better, the air is better and fresher, as my 11^th grade teacher would say, “The higher it goes, the cooler it becomes”. That is where we all want to be. Nobody wants to be miserable or poor. No. We all want to be rich, comfortable. We want all the positive things going on for us.

But during those down moments, during those days when you are in the valley; that’s when your faith is tested, that’s where growth takes place. Someone said, “Adversity introduces a man to himself”. During those down moments, that’s when you undertake the journey of self-exploration, something Abraham Maslow would refer to as Self- Actualisation. Therefore, adversities, failure, miseries are put in a man’s life journey, not to punish him but to train him to grow. Problems will always be there, but part of the process of reconditioning your mind is to change how you look at a problem.

In conclusion, don’t judge your life because of what’s going on now. No. If you are going through some hard time, it has not come to stay, it has come to pass.

To your success in the journey of reconditioning your mind,

Tresford Kasashi Manda

Network Marketing Entrepreneur

tresfordmanda@gmail.com

                                                     Why Start Your Own Business

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In 2008, the whole world went through one of the most influential economical global recessions of all time. Everybody felt the impact of this recession. Every student felt it because books where too expensive to buy especially if they are being imported. Every banker felt it because people even stopped banking their money, not because they did not want to, but because there was no money to bank and save. Banks even reduced the costs of most services just so they don’t lose clients. Every employer felt it because there was no money to even pay employees, products and services were being offered but not for so much money, but still, life had to go on. Employees felt like they are the most affected because most of the salaries were halved. For some unfortunately, they even lost their jobs in the long run.It was so economically influential that even a five year old could notice it because mum and dad stopped bringing snacks like before.The so called Kabovas (street vendors) felt it too because the man who used to tip them for a car space at the mall no longer did that.It was such an excruciating period recorded in human history.Thanks to all our local and international leaders, the economy started picking up about a year later.Even so, people today around the world are still living the consequences of that recession. It would be pretentious to say that things are really back to normal but also exaggerative to say that things haven’t changed, at least, for the better.But everyone, one way or another, has a scar that was left by the recession. You may not know it, but you too have the scar.In 2014, a number of financial experts predicted with precision that the world is going to experience another global recession That is quiet some terrifying news, especially that, the world has barely recovered from the previous one about half a decade ago.How much worse can it be?Just a  few days ago, Nepal was hit with one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded in the last three decades apart from the Japan earthquake.Nothing seems to work in our favour at the moment. But that doesn't mean we need to give up on life. The fact that we are expecting another global recession is not what is terrifying because the world expected it. It wasn't just expected to be here soon.Financial experts predicted 2015, but well, we are half way gone in 2015 and still waiting.The world now lives in fear of tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados, and economical global recessions. We all live in fear of something.Fear is a challenge not a roadblock to success. Once you allow fear to rule over you, then you will begin to live life in self pity. Accept fear but don’t allow it to incapacitate you.While you live in fear and in expectance of the global recession, and while you continue to heal from the previous global recession, don’t just fold your arms and wait for it, instead brace for it. Let it find you ready, because you are more than able. Become An Entrepreneur