That glorified donkey is important

Isaiah 1:3 (NIV) 'The ox knows its master, the donkey it owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.'

Otieno, the master welder is the technician who turned into a business owner overnight. He was all of a sudden a big man wearing big shoes. The technician (donkey), manager (glorified donkey) and business owner (master) all rolled into one.

Mistake No. 2: He entered into the business world with the technician’s perspective; the donkey mentality.

He was escaping from a master but forgot that he was to be his own master. He had to take the responsibilities of not only the technician but the manager and the business owner. We all know the work of the technician. Just wake up, receive instructions from the manager who in most cases barks them out and do the work, in this case make windows and doors. This is what Otieno used to do for a living before he got ideas of becoming a master. How many of us have come across those managers who talk with that scary tone and so loudly you’d think they are talking to someone who is 50m away and that time you are just next to them.

Let us analyse the manager. His typical day in the welding workshop is to distribute different tasks to the technicians and probably supervise them, to call suppliers of materials and ensure they have delivered, ensure their payments are done in good time, receive new orders from clients and probably negotiate with them etc. Otieno was expected to do all this as well as the dirty work. He was quick to realize that he needed some assistance. He therefore employed two welders. Orders were coming in droves and by the time I went to his workshop to negotiate the cost for my order, the workshop was a beehive of activities. One day when I had gone to see the progress of my order, I found a 22 wheeler being loaded with windows and doors. When I asked Otieno he told me they were going to Southern Sudan, some contractor had ordered them. That is the time I realized that Otieno was sitting on a gold mine…the gold mine ought to have exploded right before his very eyes.

However after some time, problems started creeping in: delayed deliveries, substandard work (the other welders would hardly match Otieno’s quality),un-satisfied and angry clients, unpaid suppliers, unhappy employees, name it. You can imagine, the fellow could sell some of the finished products to passers-by and the customers who had placed orders would find their stuff is not there. The workshop mutated from a beehive of activities to a sea of confusion, sometimes playing hide and seek with clients. I wveas a victim of the confusion and you can imagine the many references I gave but with a caution. I could tell anyone who saw the nice gate that the fellow is good but be ready to go through hell before you get what you want. This is how you lose customers.

The master welder was clearly overwhelmed. He was ill prepared for the expansion of the business. Did he even have a clue about expansion? Despite sometimes working for long hours, he never really staffed his business appropriately. Sometimes in an attempt to maintain quality, he would do almost all the work by himself. You can imagine a 1 horse power engine producing the output of 10 horse power engine. If you didn’t know in the 18th Century, some Scottish fellow was comparing the output of steam engines and the power of horse, hence horse power we use today.

For Otieno the manager in him was totally asleep, the strategic person in him was non-existent. Otieno and his employees were all donkeys without a master, hence the confusion. What would the manager in him have done differently?

1. He would have seen the need to have enough welders to satisfy the many orders that were streaming in.

2. He would have taken time to train the welders to ensure they are attaining similar quality to what he used to produce. After all, most of his clients came to him because of the quality.

3. He would have ensured that the raw materials are received in good time and are of right quality.

4. He’d ensure suppliers are paid in good time and even negotiate credit periods.

5. He’d ensure that customers are given truthful information in regards to delivery timelines. How about talking nicely to them and giving them updates. If he does not possess the sweet voice (ya kutoa nyoka pangoni), then a cute customer service lady is all he needed.

6. etc

Maybe he needed a manager to take care of all these issues as he concentrated on the strategic aspects of his business.

He failed big time in one very important aspect of business: Business owners are meant to create systems that survive them. It is more of ensuring others do the work for you and satisfactorily so. It means that you may start the business and do the donkey work but you must outgrow that and let someone do it for you as you move on. In short the business must move from infancy to teenage hood and to maturity.

In the next post we shall talk about the creative element in business; the dreamer. Of course am yet to tell you whether Otieno’s business survived.

The Donkey in you

Continued from the previous post...

Otieno, the master welder set out to run a business. And many of us do that. But how many of us succeed in our ventures; barely 10% within the first 5 years and 5% after five years. The amazing welder was once employed in a welding workshop. He started entertaining the feeling that his employer was really dependent on him, and to an extent he was. How many of us who are technical entertain such thoughts.

I was once employed in a small software company. I did all the donkey work (I will allow you to call me a donkey). I once felt like the boss was doing nothing. I really felt that the company was making money (lots of it) from my personal skills and I never felt adequately rewarded. I had a manager who never understood anything about software. He once gave me some work which he assumed was a one day’s job but in the real sense was a one week’s job. On day two after giving me the work, he reprimanded me and I told him off and walked away. I had the guts to tell him I will never work for him again. Interestingly, I just walked away and without any idea of what I will be doing with myself. Strangely, after 3 days, the fellow called me for a discussion over a cup of coffee and he convinced me to go back to work. I went back and since that time the guy at least could listen to me, after all hata punda anahitaji heshima. I am sure you have seen those sign board that advise we respect donkeys along Naivasha road somewhere around Lari and Kijabe. You need to take good care of the donkey and in return, it will give you good service. On the contrary, if you don’t do that, you can receive the dangerous kick. Where I come from, they say that a donkey will never sleep unless it has a full stomach.

Back to Otieno the master welder. While employed he entertained the kind of thoughts that he was indispensable and his employer could not do without him; after all, all the windows and doors had to be made by him. His boss was just a clueless noisemaker. He assumed that he could definitely succeed in his own business; after all his works were just amazing and he could even run away with some of the clients from his former employer. Mistake No 1: Assuming that the business would just succeed simply because the technical man is around. For Otieno’s case, the technical fellow (donkey) doubled up as the business owner.

You are very good at what you do at the technical level, but realize that this is just but one element that will be needed for the business to succeed. Being a master baker does not in any way guarantee that the raw materials for the cakes will be sourced in good time. Neither does it guarantee that your cakes will sell. Neither does it guarantee that your cakes will be distributed in time. Alas, it does not even guarantee that you will talk nicely to customers and satisfy all their needs. Again, if you were to bake the same type of cakes with the same raw materials ad infinitum, your clients will get bored…so a bit of creativity and moving with time is needed.

I used to get bored by whiners in the office who always had something bad to say about the boss and how they are unfairly treated. You see, as long as you are in employment, you are just but a slave who sells his time for money. Aren’t you better off thinking of what you can do to get out of the slavery. The boss you keep whining about is just doing his job, and if he is not the business owner, then he is just but an elevated slave. After all he dances to the tune of the CEO. And that CEO who thinks he owns the world dances to the tune of the board.

What is the lesson for today? A business surely needs donkeys (the technical fellows) but it also needs a lot more. By the way, there is nothing wrong with being a donkey, but if you remain as one till retirement age, then I will say you are not that clever. You will at least qualify to be given a wheelbarrow and a spade at 60. Your employer will even give you free transport to your retirement home if you will be lucky to have one.

In the next post we shall look at the other very important thing that Otieno failed to do to succeed in his venture.

Waigwa, you are fired!

I hate to deliver this message but you have been a complete let down. When I recruited you I was convinced that you are the type of guy I needed. After the rigorous interviews, I settled on you because you seemed to know what you wanted in life. You clearly communicated in a clear and concise manner the role you were to play in my company. Look at you now, two years down the line and you look like a shadow of the exuberant young man I hired. Take this letter, hand over all company’s assets, records and files in your possession. Just hit the road and don’t you come back no more.

I hired Waigwa and spent a lot of time inducting him. Heck, I even took him to Naivasha in some posh hotel together with a few others as I attempted to sell them my vision. I took them through the history of my firm, how it grew from scratch with lots of hard work, strategy and serious money invested in it. He seemed to be very keen to perform his role and I grew some liking for him. I could count on him to deal with keeping labour records and paying casuals, procuring materials from hardware and dealing with my clients to an extent; after all delegation is a good option to take for any good manager.

That trust made me drop my guards off. This guy from some remote village from Nyeri was my right hand man and in all honesty I thought he was assisting me get closer to my vision. Crafty Waigwa must have realized that his master had gone to sleep. He could add a few names in the labour schedule (ghost workers) and his master would just pay without verifying. He could collude with the hardware guy and receive part deliveries while his master paid for the full amounts on the invoices.

One day, the master’s sixth sense was aroused. He planted some moles on the site and to his shock he was losing quite some money on labour alone. The clever master once demanded to verify some deliveries and of course there was a big difference between delivery notes and invoices. In other words Waigwa had been busted!

Then the master was called by one of his clients and to his utter shock he realized that the client had some critical information given to him by none other than Waigwa. Information the client clearly used to his advantage to corner the master. That was the stroke that broke the camel’s back. Waigwa had to be fired. He has a family to take care of but his dishonesty and lack of integrity ensured the master no option but to send him back to the hole he came from.

I am one of the most patient fellows around but business has taught me that some ruthlessness is necessary. I sometimes exercise the powers to fire.

These employees who do not buy into your dream are a representation of little foxes that destroy the vines in the vineyard. No wonder the wise man in the Bible taught us in Songs of Songs 2:15: "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom".

Do you know what are the little foxes chewing into your dream? Better find out.

In the upcoming posts, we shall talk about some interesting business opportunities I have been seeing around. Kenya has serious opportunities.

Don't fall victim to your own Bullcrap

I am sure you have met those people who are all talk and no action. People with big plans but that always amount to building castles in the air. Dreaming grandiose dreams with no further actions.

Impress with actions not conversations. Endorse your business enthusiastically, yet tastefully. Avoid exaggerating truths and touting far reaching goals as certainties. In short, put up or shut up.

Felix Dennis once said “Once you believe that you are infallible, that success will automatically lead to more success, and that you have "got it made," reality will be sure to give you a rude wake-up call. Believing your own bullshit is always a perilous activity, but never more fatal than for the owner of a start-up venture.”

Quality, the guiding principle.

I respect Steve Jobs (RIP) for one major reason. He was so focused on product excellence as opposed to making money. He obviously made huge bucks in the end. It is extremely important in business to jealously protect the quality of your product or service and to always strive to improve it. What will you ever be known for if not for your quality product or service? Sunny Bindra once said and I totally concur with him that refined buyers spend a fortune looking for specialty coffees, rare wines, and advisers who offer a very personalized service. I know like men will stick to a specific Kinyozi for ages due to quality. I used to have one when I was staying in shags and you can imagine I only used to shave on those weekends that I found myself in shags till I identified one in town.

Know when to call it quits.

Contrary to popular belief, a smart captain does not go down with the ship. Don't go on a fool's errand for the sake of ego. Know when it's time to walk away. If your idea doesn't pan out, reflect on what went wrong and the mistakes that were made. Assess what you would have done differently. Determine how you will utilize these hard-learned lessons to better yourself and your future entrepreneurial endeavors. Failure is inevitable, but a true entrepreneur will prevail over adversity

This brings us to end of the lessons for start-ups. I hope somebody somewhere learnt something. More financial education on the way.

Act like a start-up

I had a dream: my real estate company with a massive but fancy premise overlooking the city in the sun. Then I wanted a big office for myself as the owner of the business. A big competent team that does the work for me, obviously I’d be their CEO. And that very cute secretary who prepares documents and does the office work for me. Then I’d be signing cheques and other serious docs like transfers, consents application and sales agreement from Monday to Friday. Then I’d have a very fat wallet which whenever I’d sit on would compensate for my short frame. On Friday evening I’d call my dear wife and sometimes kids, then we fly to wherever and enjoy our weekend as we thank ourselves for the good and hard work already done. Life would definitely be very sweet and I’d enjoy every bit of it.

That was a wonderful dream back then when I wanted to start my business. That was until I realized the reality is so different especially now that my wallet decided not to co-operate and be supportive of my good dream. I actually almost thought it has some holes. In fact that time the wallet was essentially my company's life-blood. I was the business owner; no doubt. I would have liked to recruit that competent team to work for me but for my start up business but I ended up being the Owner, CEO, errands boy, Secretary and the man on the ground all rolled into one. At the end of each day I’d be one very tired man.

I learned the hard way how to be frugal; every coin that passed through my hands had to be accounted for. I had to triple check every expense against the income. Overheads had to be maintained at the minimum. I even settled for a 10ft by 10ft office just to ensure that I paid the least rent. I read books and captured very crucial principles like cash flow being king for any business.

I used to have plans and counter plans until it dawned on me that I could plan no more and there is nothing like perfect plans. No business book or business plan can predict the future or fully prepare you to become a successful entrepreneur. There is no perfect road or one less traveled. But I made sure that I never jumped right into my new business without any thought or planning.

Again, I convinced myself that it was not worth it to spend months or years waiting to execute a simple plan. My mentor advised me that for me to become a well-rounded entrepreneur there was need to be tested under fire. The most important thing I could do is learn from any mistake I’d make; after all who never makes mistakes—but never make the same mistake twice.

Mine was a classic case of going through the refiner’s fire; the way they purify gold and silver. The end product is definitely worth it. I could be somewhere midway my dream and someday all will come to pass. At least am no longer confined to the 10ft by 10ft and I have a team (albeit small) that works for me. I never pretended that my business was at one point a start-up and I was never ashamed of doing all it took to grow. By the way, I used to sell plots without owning a car. It is no mean feat to take clients to sites using their own cars. As they say, image is everything but God shone his light on me and I have seen His mighty Hand guide me and watch over me.

Several BIG lessons for starters:

1.     Practice frugality; actually perfect the art of being frugal.

2.     Watch every shilling and triple-check every expense

3.     Maintain a low overhead and

4.     Manage your cash flow effectively.

Next we shall talk about guys who eventually become victims of their own crap or is it bullcrap?

Travel enthusiasts build multi-million shilling company from their hobby

By EDITH FORTUNATE efortunate@ke.nationmedia.com Posted Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 02:00

Source: Daily Nation, Money Feature http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/money/-/435440/1679382/-/xbnhy7z/-/index.html

Six years ago, a couple joined the social media craze, creating a network of friends, poking others, and even sharing pictures of the captivating places they had visited.

Being young, Simon Kabu and his wife Sarah took up sightseeing to quench their desire for adventure.

The couple’s travels got even more exciting in 2008 when they started inviting friends to join them on their excursions.

“Every time we organized something, it would turn out so well that our friends decided to leave the planning to us whenever there was an event or getaway,” Mr Kabu, 37, told Money.

Soon, their fascinating wild tours slated for holidays like Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Christmas attracted many friends.

In 2008, the group started sharing its experiences on the Kazi Afrika blog.

“Our passion for traveling enabled us get a lot of fans, many of whom opted to pay for our services and I remember sitting down with my wife and asking ourselves, why not? This seems to be a good business venture,” says the former marketing executive

They decided to promote domestic tourism through the blog, first because their services were cheap after the 2007/08 post-election violence and also as an effort to boost the country’s tourism industry, which had taken a dip following the troubles.

Their efforts gave birth to Bonfire Adventures and Events Limited, which is run by a team of 15 tourism professionals who are knowledgeable about the Kenyan tour and travel industry.

Mr Kabu says the team is committed to ensuring personalized and impeccable services to customers.

“We used social media to market ourselves and our pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, where we had our first (virtual) office before getting space at a friend’s premises. Our start-up capital was less than Sh20,000,” says Mr Kabu.

The initial capital was used to buy a desk, a chair, and a telephone which was used for marketing on social media platforms.

“The advantage we had was that we went into an untapped market and were dealing with locals. Many people were surprised that they could actually enjoy sceneries in the country at an affordable rate.”

The couple’s aim at the time was to change the perception that only foreign tourists can tour the country and enjoy its beauty.

“But before we set up Bonfire, we had to experience every hotel and all the major tourist attraction sites in Kenya before selling them to our clients. We also visit at least five countries in one year to discover and experience new holiday destinations for our clients.

“Being strong believers of happy marriages, we are passionate about romantic getaways, honeymoon packages, wedding anniversaries, unique engagement proposals, and glamorous wedding destinations. We usually go out of our way to ensure that couples get experiences that are out of this world to spice up their marriages,” he says.

Mr Kabu says marriage packages are the most popular because of their uniqueness.

“What also helped us gain popularity were our clients’ referrals. They would tell their friends about their experiences and people came in droves. It is amazing that we have now grown to become a big corporate.”

He adds that it is rewarding to offer good services, especially when building a new business.

“We like bringing people from different cultures and backgrounds together because travel has the power to unite and improve people’s understanding of each other. It also has great potential to improve the economic welfare of the world’s poorest populations by providing new sources of income.”

The company ensures that Kenyans are on the move touring different areas and during low season, it gets an average of 550 clients a month. During high season, the numbers soar.

Bonfire employs a large staff and its monthly turnover ranges between Sh5 million and Sh10 million, depending on the season.

The company’s short-term goal, Mr Kabu says, is to ensure that it is the most preferred travel company.

“Making Kenyans appreciate Kenya as a tourism destination proved to be a challenge, but we won’t stop until domestic tourism has been appreciated.

“My long-term goal is that Bonfire opens office across the globe. I know my dream will come true because before we set up Bonfire, little was known about domestic tourism apart from the traditional destinations of Mombasa and Malindi,” he says.

The company, he says, strives to create a positive impact through the trips it organizes.

“We try to meet this goal by creating itineraries that allow clients to experience the local culture through sampling their food, festivals, activities, and cultural sites.”

The firm also facilitates tourists who want to help local communities.

Bonfire owns five tour vans and two Land Cruisers.

“When demand is high, we hire more vehicles, especially during the August and December holidays and also when people are getting married and the number of couples seeking honeymoon services is high.”

All the Bonfire Adventures employees are experienced travel professionals and ensure that customers get the best travel package at competitive rates.

“We check on our clients even when they are on holiday to ensure that everything is working out fine. This way, we are able to offer them a splendid service,” he says.

“Social media has helped a lot since most clients come back and upload photos of their adventure, share their experiences, and talk about our services. We want to retain this culture and improve to offer the best service,” says Mr Kabu.

Hope this Couple’s story challenges you to stir your entrepreneurial spirit. Some of the most successful businesses were started on simple ideas, led by passion and interest. Read more on start-ups in the next post.