The Merc was no more
and off it went with the flashy life. Mark thus got a bit of cash from the
proceeds of the sale. He knew that the small cash available to him would make
or break him; it could tip the scale between absolute poverty and recovery.
Remember the story of that widow of Zarephath and Elijah and that handful of
flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug? After much thinking, it took
Mark a week or so to decide what to do with the cash. It finally dawned on him
that his recovery was pegged in reviving the fortunes of his ailing firm. He
thus decided to revamp the firm by investing in advertising and popularizing
his services.
He went knocking on
doors of companies seeking to sell his services; after all this is a skill he
had acquired while selling insurance to strangers. Of course it was never easy
but the guy is kinda convincing; the type that would remove a snake from its
hiding (kutoa nyoka pangoni). In a
few months his marketing drives started to pay off and clients starting coming.
His fortunes started to change for the better. He had a clear plan on his
business and set targets. On a good week, he’d make as much as half a million
after expenses because he started getting high profile clients (managers and
business owners).
Mark went to the back
to the basics of financial prudence. He embraced the basic but simple concepts
of financial management. You know most people fail to understand that the road
to financial freedom is one that requires very basic knowledge. Isn't it easy
to understand that you must spend less than you earn?? Anyway, he managed to
dramatically improve his finances by embracing frugality.
The other big change
he had in his life was to become a staunch Christian. He quit drinking and left
the bad company. Actually most of his friends had already left him. He slowly
got better friends and soon after walked down the aisle. Sometimes we
underestimate the strength of friends and the motivation one can derive from a
supportive spouse.
With better fortunes
he managed to buy 2 plots at Garden estate. He built his family’s abode in one
of them. The other plot he did the guest houses which were almost completed
from what I saw. I noted how positive the man had become. He was constantly
pausing to remind us of how God has blessed him. He could radiate the feel good
factor to the two of us and I could from his tone that this was a man who had
deep lying passion that can only be seen in people destined for greatness.
Then out of blues I
asked him whether he finally paid himself the 100M. He looked up and told us
that indeed he has never had cash in the bank anywhere close to 100M. However,
the valuation of the guest houses alone together with the land was around 120M.
So in his own words his wealth more than showed that he had earned the
100 Million.
Paul jokingly asked
him why he was driving a Toyota Wish being that wealthy. The man rose from his
seat and his response was telling, “My
friends, I have driven the big ones and I can assure you that it is no big
deal. In fact sometimes back I met one of my former drinking buddies who asked
me what I was wishing for now that am driving a Toyota wish. Someday I’ll drive
the big ones again but I need to ensure that systems are in place that
generates enough to sustain the big ones”.
I realized the
transformation the man had gone through and it was amazing. It took him as many
as 9 years to hit the target but at least he did. I noticed how he had a grip
of his life and how he had rediscovered his dream and kept it alive despite
falling. Often we fall but we forget to rise up, dust ourselves and proceed
with our journey with lessons to boot.
We finally left Mark’s
place at 9.00 pm and it is then I remembered how tired I was but the absorbing
story more than refreshed me. I left knowing that there was need to stretch my
imaginations and pay myself big….a few hundred millions would do for
starters…QED, isn't it?
Next
post we'll talk about misers, I know one and his story is out of this world.
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