PASSION TO ACTION (2)

Starting out in business can be faced by a lot of opposition, especially in a developing country like Nigeria. In my last article, I discussed tips on how I built an online business and how to turn your passion into money. Today, I’ll be sharing with you some obstacles when starting out and how I overcome them.

1. Lack of Capital: Sometimes in 2001, I desired to own a record label, I did not have startup capital, I opted to write about music instead online. I wanted to open an office to sell stuffs & consult, I did not have cash for rent, I opted to put my shop online. I needed to learn to use a computer in 1999, I couldn’t afford one, I decided to volunteer with an NGO that allows their interns to use a PC. My entire ability has grown out of implementing alternatives to bigger ideas that require money that I do not have.
2. Fear of uncertainty: Fear of failure always prevents an individual from starting out. One of my greatest fears is losing money. It kept me small for over 1 year. Until I read “Do it, Screw It” by Richard Branson, I never mustered the courage of expanding my online business to six figure until then.
3. Procrastination: Procrastination is leaving priorities for later time. It causes a slowdown in efficiency and output of individual. I remembered procrastinating about work that needed to be done online. I overcame this determination by writing down my priorities & implementing the most important one, working my way down to the least important. If you are a big time procrastinator like I was, then I suggest you always write down your priorities and ensure you don’t do any other thing until you complete the task.
4. Ignorance: Ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge. Having a B.sc or Ph.D does not make an individual learned about living life to the full or running a business. Ignorance can be conquered by reading books. If you find books boring, then you are not alone; buy tapes & listen on your IPOD etc.
5. Information Overload: Have you ever thought of doing over 20 things at a go or learnt quite a lot that you don’t know where to start from? Don’t be surprised, it did happen to me as well. I have wanted to do quite a lot of things. I wanted to venture into properties, Own & run an ISP, Start marketing coy, and over 7 other things that I can’t discuss here. Overcoming info overload requires Writing down what you want to achieve, creating steps to reaching the goal of achievement, list resources needed and implementing the written objective one after the other as well as putting up control measures to ensure objective become achieved as planned. Each individual is powerful beyond measure, the only thing holding you back from your dream is you. Therefore take action today…

By: OluGbenga Aijotan