How to Start Anything 1: Know Yourself!

Hello Entrepreneur or Aspiring Entrepreneur,

This is the first topic in a series that will take us through the process of starting a business, building it, expanding, all the way to retirement.

This I believe will serve as an encouragement to some (when you see where you are in business and realize that the challenges are common to all), instruction to some and a step by step guide to starting anything to others.

Enjoy the ride!

To your greatness!

What has “knowing yourself” got to do with anything (I hear you ask)? My answer: EVERYTHING!

Your identity is who you are. It encompasses your world view, it is affected by your history, story, culture, personality, people around you; it determines how you interpret your vision, dream, etc. All that you are and how you see yourself is your identity. I like this quote “We bring all of ourselves- Spirit, Soul and Body into our roles … Becoming the leader you are meant to be starts with your innermost self”( Jeanne Porter (abridged)). In other words knowing you is key to starting anything. Established organizations periodically have strategy sessions where they go back to the drawing board and one of the key questions they ask and remind themselves of is “who is this organization?” –Identity. Then they probe along those lines; does it need to change? Are we veering off? Are there things we ought to be doing that we have forgotten, etc. if Identity is important to the success of organizations globally, then “thou oh entrepreneur have got to know yourself”.

NOTE: Who you are may be different from what is seen now by you or others. We keep becoming who we really are. It takes a lifetime! But the basics are the same and will be required when faced with the many business challenges that will arise.

Ask yourself:

1. Of whose am I and what has He said about me? The manufacturer of a product knows the product- its potential, power, limits, everything. So it is with us. The one who made us knows who we are and it is from his eyes alone that we can truly know who we are what we are capable of. As a Christian, I found things written about me in the scriptures and through my fellowship with God, I have come to realize and still realizing so many things he says about me. This defines who I am and what I do and define my values
2. What are my values? Write down your personal values and test them first by yourself and by asking 2 people very close to you to tell you based on their dealings with you
3. What are my strong character traits? Your character really is how you respond or react to things often influenced by your values. E.g I work best under pressure, I cave in under pressure, etc
4. Differentiate the positive traits from the negative ones and put aside  those that you don’t know how to classify but are strong traits
5. Look at the negative traits and identify if they are important to your life or not. E.g if I write “I cave in under pressure” under negative traits, the question then is can I avoid pressure? If the answer is yes, more than 75% of the time, then maybe I don’t need to bother, but if I answer yes, only 25% of the time, then it is important to my life and it is a weakness that needs to be worked on
6. How do I sharpen my strengths and become better at the weaknesses that are important to my life?

Conclusion
Who you are determines how you create and run your business. Therefore, the first step to starting anything is knowing yourself. YOU are the most important factor in your business success.