—How I learned the hard way.

If you had asked me this question a few months ago, I would have said a quick yes without hesitation. I have ingrained ‘taking responsibility’ into my head for the last couple of years. Alas, it was not so… I digress.

One of my favourite lines from the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley is “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul”.

This sense of responsibility has always driven how I did life until I decided to take on a new project.

I announced this year, that I was going to create a platform that would help small and growing businesses raise their next milestone funding.

When I made the decision and I started researching options, I knew we had to leverage technology to create a platform that was efficient, fair and scalable.

A bit of history

Technology has been a part of my life since I got access to our first computer at home when I was 9 years old. My Dad worked in communications then, so we were one of the few families privileged to have a Pentium 1 big box at home. It went on to shape my life as I ended up getting a Diploma in Computer studies and becoming an Oracle DBA after my Accounting degree.

This directed my career for the next couple of years as I worked at the intersection of technology and finance. However, I decided early on that I was bored with the ‘unsexy’ back end of technology aka writing codes or programming or even querying databases.

 I wanted to be at the ‘hot’ front end of creating solutions.

Why am I telling you this story? You will find out it a minute…

When I realized that we needed to leverage technology to create our platform, it was a no brainer for me. I knew what I had to do….

I would find a technical co-founder to do the back end work and focus on the front end work of researching, designing the framework and talking to potential investors.

I launched into it with vigour. I found a technical co-founder who was a former colleague and we created a basic framework for how the platform would look.

The plan was he would focus on building the prototype and I would develop the basic website (even though I didn’t code, I still did some front end web development) and we will get into a program that would give us seed funding.

I did my bit with excitement, we got shortlisted for a program in the US, but due to scheduling issues, we could not make it.

The implication: no money came in immediately.

I wasn’t deterred because I knew that you will face obstacles on the path to creating something impactful. After overcoming the initial disappointment, I excitedly told my co-founder that we should use the opportunity to double down and build our product and apply for a bigger program.

My enthusiasm didn’t quite catch up with him as he seemed to go silent after that until communications ceased completely!

I was stunned. How could a technology project move forward without the technology person?

I should have learned my lesson and read the hand writing on the wall right? NO!

I decided stubbornly that I was going to find a no code tool and build the prototype myself. I pushed myself into the project and spent two weeks learning the framework and as I was working on the platform, I discovered I would still need code to develop the logic of the platform!

Before I let myself sink into despondency, I reached out to another colleague from many years before who was a long time programmer. He agreed to help to build the platform and possibly come on board as a co-founder. I was excited we were back on course…

The only thing he mentioned was he was more of a back end developer, so we needed to get someone to do front end development. I had been doing some front end work like I mentioned earlier. I decided to do some crash catch up to work on the front end.

I thought I could hack the process quickly.  I didn’t want to spend any money learning when I had “Google” and “Youtube”.

Let me quickly digress; a few years ago, a lady attended our free information session. She walked up to me afterwards and said she wouldn’t be signing up to any of our programs because her Husband said what businesses coaches did was “Google” and teach people.

I didn’t argue with her or try to convince her that I had an MBA, I had worked in Consulting for a couple of years. I had started and run 3 businesses or that I actually went to the Coaching Academy in the UK.

But here I was some years later doing exactly what her Husband said; Googling my way to become a front end developer. LOL.

Suffice to say for the second time, my co-founder reneged and we couldn’t get into the bigger program. I was back to square one again!

This time around, I was angry!

Not with anyone, with myself. I had put the responsibility for my success in other people’s hands. I had become laid back and was more interested in the visual appeal of building than in getting my hands dirty.

I gave thanks to God for lessons learned and decided to turn the anger into a positive outcome.

I invested in a full stack web application development program. I also knew I had to work on my mindset, so I bought a book; “The Obstacle is the way by Ryan Holiday”.

Summary: I am on the way to becoming a full stack application developer and I am finally taking 100% responsibility for my success.

You know what surprised me? Picking up coding again is actually easier than I thought. I had built muscle memory many years ago when I started my career in technology. I didn’t even realise:

1. I had been afraid of coding.
2. What I was afraid of, was surmountable.

I would never had discovered this if it wasn’t for my experience and learning the hard way.

 I don’t mind sharing that even though I have been a business coach for the last 4 years guiding people to build successful businesses, I am not infallible.

I too have the basic human tendency to try to find a short cut instead of investing in what it would take to get to a new level that I desired.

The downside of this learning curve is that the platform development will be pushed back and I am aiming to have the first version by Late May, early June.

The positive is I am taking an active role in developing the platform and I can incorporate some amazing features that were suggested when I spoke to potential users and investors.

I will definitely still build a team, but I want to be the real master of my fate in this early days.

As I meditated on the lessons from my experience, God showed me a picture in my mind of people that might be like me; you want to get to a new level in your business or dreams and you have been trying to hack it with little or no progress. I thought about how I could serve and I remembered my business Ignite program.

I created this program 2 years ago because I noticed they were people who fell into one of these categories:

• You have an existing business or career and a new business idea has come to you. You want to transition to it and have been trying to do it by yourself without much success.
• You have been in business for years and you see a need to diversify either because your current industry has become saturated or a new opportunity has arisen that requires diversification and you need guidance to develop this new road to market.
• You know you need an upgrade period. You have been playing too small for too long. You are living below your potential and producing below your capacity. You have tried different things and it’s still been a struggle.

The good news is that this delay has opened up an opportunity for me to work with 5 new clients between May and June who are willing to make the investment in my business ignite program which is a 4 session business ignition program that is the second offering on my strategy development page.

Typically in the four sessions we:

1. Evaluate and re-envision (because it always starts with a vision).
2. Research and re-design
3. Launch a soft beta and test
4. Craft a master plan and action steps.

These four session usually span 2 months, so that between each session the action steps for the previous session is implemented.

The Business Ignite program is in the middle of my VIP strategy days and my one year BLC program. It is a quick development process that brings together all the moving parts to help you launch your new level.

I have applied the methodology I use for the business ignite coaching session to the current project and one of the early results focusing on the business side is that we now have a wait list of investors willing to invest in excess of one million dollars in African small businesses. We need to get the platform up fast!

If you have read this far, you would know if this opportunity is for you.

I have only 5 slots open to be done in May and June.

Remember; I am still serving my amazing business leaders, training as a full stack web developer and building the platform.

You can see more details of the business ignite coaching program in my strategy development page HERE.

If you want to indicate interest quickly, you can email me tale@talealimi.com

I don’t just want you to read this and say; I am going to take 100% responsibility for my success. You would need practical tools and structure to make it happen.

Next week I will share some of the tools and structure I have implemented in my life to navigate the path to success.

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Can you do me a favour before you close this? Please share this with someone else, a friend, a colleague or just a random person who you know this will add value to and help shape their lives for better.

Thank you!