An Entrepreneurs Anguish
In starting to write this blog, my thoughts were everywhere and at the same time - nowhere.
Taking the decision to become an entrepreneur almost came naturally to me. It seemed to just fit in perfectly with my life ambitions, goals and dreams. The thought of running my own business and making lots of money, were pictures drawn up in my mind that looked so clear, that they seemed so real and at the same time, made for me.
At this specific time, I was 15 and interested in doing private jobs installing custom car sound for friends and family. This continued for a while and I started feeling what it was like to begin to make some money. Until the fated day.
Working on a Ford XR3, I was tasked with the installation of 2 x amplifiers, subs and speaker sets, front loader and equaliser. In order to power the system, the main power wiring had to be run from the battery to the rear of the car. This required a channel to send the wire through to link the front and the back.
Without thinking, I picked up a drill, found and opening and set the drill in motion making the roundest hole you could think of....perfect, I thought.. as I started feeding the wire through the hole and everything seemed to fit very well.
I went to the bonnet and looked for the wire that I had just fed through the hole and to my surprise, it was there, but it was running through the middle of the XR3 computer box.
I was shocked and at the same time so scared of what I had done, that I began to panic, and with panic comes sweat. I was in such trouble, I didn't know which rock I should hide under to escape from the client's wrath.
It was at this precise moment that I decided that this would be the last car that I attempted to install until I knew everything I could about this industry and would not stop learning until I became the best in the business.
I immediately stopped doing private work and went in search of becoming an Auto Electrical Apprentice to gain the necessary knowledge required to really learn this industry.
After 35 years of auto electrical industry experience and a whole bunch of challenges later, I am fortunate to say that I have really grown as an entrepreneur in so many areas that I actually amaze myself at the accomplishments achieved this far.
Over the years, I have built my skills to encompass the growing field I had chosen so early in my life and continued to build on these over time which ultimately led me to discover new fields of knowledge such as:-
Fleet Management, Tracking Technologies, On-Board Computers, Digital Video, Condition Sensors, Cloud Platforms, Hardware Products, Telematics and IOT-Internet of Things Solutions.
Further to this and as a natural extension, I learnt all about Business Management, Systems Development, Human Resources, Banking, Tax, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Exports, Product Sourcing and numerous other functions to sustain the existence of my business ventures.
The businesses I run today, I have grown by utilising all the skills acquired over the years to avoid pitfalls and failure in the future.
It is now 2020, and the anguish that I feel as an entrepreneur is frightening and exciting at the same time. I am grateful for all the roller coaster rides of my business life, but somehow I keep feeling more and more stress at either becoming redundant, or by not having achieved what I had set out to become.
The more I tried to be unique in the attempt of achieving greatness, the more it somehow, kept eluding me, to the point that I felt powerless to even try anything further and depression set in, stifling me from achieving clear creative thinking.
The anguish and stress that I felt as a potentially under-achieving entrepreneur, ultimately became my greatest enemy in the fight for survival in the business jungle. Things had changed in my world, new technologies became more freely available and the opportunities for an income generating sale became longer and longer.
This change occurred with the explosion of the Internet into the technology world, on a global scale. Wow, how different and unknown it had all become so suddenly. WTF!!
After racking my brain and pondering on a potential career change into the safe haven of the corporate world, it suddenly struck me. The fuel that I needed to replenish my energy and set my sights on even greater challenges in the future, lay right at my fingertips...
All I had to do, was take a step back, re-focus my attention, declutter my mind, and reorganise my thinking in order to learn new skills and stretch my mind beyond the comfort zone of my past.
By utilising my experiences gained over the years, I will be able to improve my business processes and at the same time, realign my strategy towards something great in the future.
My thinking was that the fourth industrial revolution will disrupt many industries and will potentially kill many jobs, but it doesn’t necessarily spell doom and gloom for everyone.
I needed a great plan, and I needed one in a hurry. If I invest in new skills that will still be relevant after 5 or 10 years from now, it will be a good move for me, in securing my future.
I decided to do a mind map and came up with these exciting topics that typically depict the way that I needed to go forward in order to inspire that lost world of creativity which had been so disrupted inside my head.
- Think with Effortless Ease
- UpSkill Yourself to Energise your Creativity
- Challenge Yourself with New Concepts and Ideas
- Become the Something You Have Never Been Before
- Do the Difference - Make the Changes
- Learn to Dream Bigger than Before
- Innovate, Create and Excite
- Build Change in your World, One Day at a Time
- Grow and Show
- Be the New YOU
After all this, the message that keeps reverberating, loud and clear in my mind is that you are unique, special and different to everyone else. Keep dreaming and keep believing in your dreams and before you know it, they become YOU.
Don't ever stop trying. no matter how hard it gets. You have the power to succeed and you are determined. You are great and most importantly, you are entitled to be happy, successful and prosperous in whatever you set your sights on. Don't ever forget who and what you are.
As writer and futurist, Alvin Toffler, once said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Written by Eddie Kartun - Feb 2020 - Johannesburg South Africa
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