Make Bold Decisions And Follow Through With Consistent Actions

image: doaikido.com

The most helpful lesson I have learned in my short period of being a full-time entrepreneur is that it pays to be bold.

If you don't like your job. Quit it.
If you want something. Go for it.
If you have a dream. Build it.
If you have an idea. Implement it.

In 2013, I had read too many books on entrepreneurship and the future with technology. I became unhappy with being an employee with most of my waking hours dedicated to working on a technology that is not cutting edge. I was learning of all these beautiful things that are possible through technology and I was too drained by my day job to be a part of that reality. There was another aspect to my frustration. I am a fast learner. I easily outgrow my jobs. I have had three full-time jobs with big companies and the beginning was always very tough as I had to learn lots of new things and be valuable. Then after three to five months, everything becomes uninspiringly dull. I catch myself doing the same things day in day out. So it was just natural that I would find solace and motivation from reading the stories of bold people who made bold decisions to strike out on their own. And in 2014, I joined that category of people. I took the bold decision to quit and start my own business.

For the first eight months it felt like a financially terrible decision. I was burning through my entire life savings and little hope of things getting significantly better was in sight. There were months that I missed the assurance of a monthly income. Yet I kept following my decision through with consistent actions. I kept trying to make it work.

Today, I feel more relaxed and happy that I made that bold decision and followed through even when things were tough and I got job offers.

Now I am taking bolder decisions. I am no longer thinking about today, this week, this month or even next month. I have shutdown aspects of my business that easily generates me money and I am putting in my time and resources into building something more long term. A big bet. With high opportunity cost, high accounting cost, high time cost and high effort cost. From morning to night I am working on it and no longer actively marketing. I just try to get what is enough to keep the business going and cover expenses, while I sink in the time and resources that could have got me more into the big bet.

In 2014, I didn't like my job or any paid job. I quit, started my own business and it worked.
I wanted to be the foremost business data analyst in Nigeria. I went for it and got spectacular results. I now turn away more business than I take up.
I have a dream of building a very successful high revenue company. Now I am already working on the foundation and building that dream. I constantly review my business model and adjust it in such a way that I get to achieve that dream rather than just make easy money.
In 2010, I had an idea to brush daily with my left hand. In 2013, I had an idea to write daily. For the last two years, I have never been short of ideas. I now have a notebook I keep my ideas in. I know that I will implement them. I don't let my ideas die without trying them out.

I am not the boldest person I know. In person, I don't look bold at all. I make a lot of poor decisions. I don't have everything going great for me. But one thing I learned from all the inspiring books I read is that in the end it is not your excuses that matter but your actions. So be bold, don't let anything hold you back!