Don't be ashamed of your past

Who [with reason] despises the day of small things (beginnings)? For these?seven [eyes] shall rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the?Lord?which roam throughout the earth.” Zechariah 4:10

I had just graduated with a bachelor's degree in geology, and there was no ready job for me. My first reaction was to look for a problem and provide a solution. My first obstacle was a lack of money to fund my business idea. I did not let this deter me. Instead of waiting to get a lot of money, I reached out to my uncle, and he gave me $29, which was about 20,000 FRS CFA. ?This amount was tiny to fund any viable business. To make it work, I had to buy vegetables and retail them. I chose to go to the creeks along the Atlantic coats to sell veggies to fishermen. I was living on the mainland at the time, and the fishermen depended on those on the mainland for food items that could not be grown in the marshes. The high demand for these food items created an excellent opportunity for the small capital I had.

I bought my first veggies and headed out to the creeks. On the way, I asked others what to do when we arrived. I was instructed to keep the veggies on the roof of the house to prevent them from wilting. This had to be done because there was no refrigeration.

I got up early in the morning, put the veggies in a container, and headed out to sell. People immediately started beckoning me to come and sell to them. Since they did not know my name, a new name was given to me immediately. They started calling me “njama, njama boy.” This can loosely be translated to “vegetable boy.”

We did business, for that was what mattered now. The $29 multiplied slowly over time and the venture became highly profitable. You are reading this because that tiny seed was planted, nurtured, and allowed to flourish.

A few takeaways:

• ????You have a tiny seed because seeds are meant to be small. Go ahead and plant the seed.
• ?If you wait for conditions to be ideal, your wait will be long, and it may never happen. In order words instead of waiting for the iron to get hot before you strike it, you should strike the iron until it gets hot.
• ?Opportunities are all around you; you may be missing them because they are not what you expect. This is to say that you should be humble and be willing to do what is legally and morally right to provide solutions.
• ??Serving others is the shortest way to being blessed.
• ?Don’t allow the opinions or expectations of others to stop you.
• A degree is a tool! Use the tool to solve problems by serving others.
• While it is great to have a job, it is more excellent to create one.

?

What is your own story of small beginnings?

?