The last I touched on being an entrepreneur I was advanced in my journey of building my empire and yet
today 5 short years later I see myself on a completely different path
altogether. I will always be an entrepreneur at heart and ultimately I know I
will see myself back on this path in no time at all, however the journey I
started three years ago has proven to be one of immeasurable value in building
the most well rounded leader Africa will come to discover in the near future.
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| At the devere group |
I write elated and charged with excitement with the
prospects life has in store for me and has already given me. Four years ago I
decided to follow my teenage dreams of being a Financial Advisor and explore the
financial industry. I started in the micro finance industry and well that did
not have a lot to offer in terms of growth or international exposure, I then
decided to go a step further and venture into International finance. I started working for an International
brokerage firm, however due to my age and inexperience I did not get to start
off as Financial Advisor as I had so desired. None the less I began as an
assistant to an advisor (ideal enough for me to learn all I needed to
beforehand). My role was to develop new business leads for my advisor and
provide the necessary administrative support, this was not too difficult a task
given my experience in building networks and being a social butterfly I was
seemingly in my element. I got to a good start unfortunately all my enthusiasm
and hard work did not immediately equate to overwhelming success. The sad reality
of becoming a professional it is never as easy as it looks.
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| Officially a nerd |
My first reality check was having to adjust to a formal
business set up that I was not in control of; this was the most painful of
lessons. I must say it was a step in reality on the road to humility; this was
due to my being so accustomed to doing my own thing that having to account for
my time formally was a literal lesson. The shift in focus and the need to
upgrade my knowledge and skill set brought me to the decision to let my
business go in pursuit of a career, this felt like a huge digression at the
time but I am glad I made that decision now. So often we over value being
informal business owners and yet we stagnate in the disillusion of being a boss
mean while we have no real measure of success or progress, we just circle in
ignorance. This does not go for all this was mostly my journey as a young inexperienced
business owner. Selling off my business was painful however I knew I didn’t
have what I needed to take it to the next level, I also knew the importance of
the journey I was about to embark on, that of learning, understanding and
respecting money which would later equip me to be a better business owner in the
future.
In my first year I was distraught as after sacrificing my
business to pursue this career it was not even lifting off the ground. I gave
it my all and came real close to making it but somehow the cake wasn’t mine. I
was shattered, concerned that I had made a bad decision, I began doubting if
finance was even the right career for me. I distracted myself with smoking and
drinking and somehow I got comfortable
in the misery of failure, after a few pep talks and the intervention of my
personal convictions, I decided to regroup and give this career life one more
real try. I did and I switched things up 100% and within three short months
there was a huge turn around in me I was winning and boy did it feel good! A
fire and desire for continuous success was ignited in me and I never looked
back! I was once again reassured that this was where I was meant to be, six
short months later I was flying to Cape Town for Financial Consultant training.
I had done it I made my dream come true and then my journey as a financial
advisor began.
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| In work mode |
