The Entrepreneur's Journey digitalbloggers.com /business/The-Entrepreneur-s-Journey-Going-All-The-Way-Part-2
Part 2: Make It Happen No Matter What
A couple of months in, after registering my entertainment & events planning business venture aka Touch Entertainment in June of 2013, things had already started looking a little glum. For example, I had bought a car off the Internet only to realize the seller had forgotten to mention a few minor details like previous accident history. I had gotten a little ripped off in that episode. My thoughts were “really? In my home-turf” come on man…Where was the ‘street code’ and was anyone playing fair out here? The truth was, I stuck out like a sore thumb everywhere I went in Nairobi. I acted and talked a little ‘different’ and people could tell I had been out of town for a while! Driving around Nairobi in the mad traffic was not what I was used to in Perth. People are not very polite here, I thought to myself. Clearly, there were quite a few things I needed to get used to in my new - found glory. Could I have planned for these?
I.
Uncertainty
I was hitting the ground hard and running. Djing crash course with one of the influential names in town DONE. Networking with other DJs and people selling services in the events space became my predominant activity. But it was not easy. People I met did not exactly act like " let us give Eddie a hug all day long because he’s so awesome
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out here living his dream".
So with my Aussie dollars now quickly running out than what was coming in, the feeling of uncertainty didn’t take too long to become my dominant waking thought. Now, thoughts can quickly spiral out of control if we give them a chance. The effect could almost be as viral as those YouTube videos we know all too well.
I kept at it and celebrated the little wins every time I got a gig or, met someone who would give me a few good tips to run with, on the crowded streets. It felt like I was finally learning to navigate the choppy waters. Interestingly, I was quick to act on a lot of free advice. Robert Kiyosaki in paints a very clear picture in bright red of why NOT to do this on anyone’s mind, who’s read his book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I knew it and I was doing it, why?
II.
That Fear Factor
The reason I was taking in tons of free advice had a lot to do with FEAR and lack of CONFIDENCE when I thought about it later. I was running out of money…fast and I had started to realize building this business in Nairobi was going to take time. There was, what felt like a million DJs literally willing to work for free in the same market and the weirdest thing was EVERYONE I met had a side hustle business involved with offering something to the entertainment and events industry! Not really the case but that’s how it felt….
- Oh boy, I’m glad I can laugh about that one now -
III.
Seek And You Shall Find
Meanwhile, my mind was succumbing to fear and this became the primary emotion around everything I was doing. I had to start managing my fear because it was going in for the ‘top job’ as I watched. It was going to overpower me. As a counter-measure, I read more books and coincidentally in that very moment a mutual friend introduced me to
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my what was going to be my first personal mentor. The concept of a mentor was not familiar to me at the time, but Moses couldn’t have come into my life at a better time. I did not know what I really needed when we first met, but I knew if I talked to Moses who had been wildly successful in the entertainment industry for 20 years plus, perhaps some of his insight would rub off on me J. Although it did not initially start out this way, He got me thinking long and hard regarding my personal development journey and about looking into myself. We are good friends now and bless his heart because at that moment I realized we are really never alone. Even though it may not seem like it via our physical senses, The Universe can hear us loud and clear when we call out through the actions we take.
IV.
About Business Partners
Around October 2013, I met John who was a perfect match for a business partner. John loved music and thus had a side business providing PA services for large concerts and events. He had this insanely powerful sound system that could do for crowds of up to 3,000. He also knew some important connects in town. And like I said earlier, everyone I met seemed to have a side business that had entertainment industry written all over it! I really wasn’t making this up. But John was shy like me and did not like to face crowds or selling. We were a perfect match, right? I had a flush set of shiny black pioneer DJ decks that I had brought back with me from Perth and John had a brilliant state of the art JBL sound system imported from Dubai. This was going to be a match made in heaven.
V.
Enjoying The Ride
Working with John was producing some really good results. I was meeting some important people and at one time in December of 2013, we happened to be in an event where the current and former Presidents were in attendance. What a party! I had never been that close to real political action like I did that day. John and I had hired someone much smarter and skilled to DJ at the event. So I sat comfortably and watched in awe as the action unfolded right in front of my very eyes. The bodyguards, heavy security, pushing, shoving, screaming, and shouting etc. I can tell you now, if you have not witnessed it, politics in Africa is a big deal . These guys are important and powerful. I had a chance to experience these effects first hand.
VI.
Keeping The Right Perspective
After this event, I remember thinking, wow, “these past 6 months have been quite a trip.” At that point, the experiences felt like it had been 3 freakin' years! I had gone through many interesting situations. Meeting people, networking, actioning BS information, borderline broke, meeting the President etc. It was a mixed bag. My Djing skills were trending up as well and I was managing my fear with crowds. No one really knew about the fear apart from me!
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Then came the thought, “Just a year before, I was stuck in a cubicle dreaming away about what I would do if I learned how to DJ and how it would actually feel”. Now, here I was, a short 6 months into the game, every moment counted and action was in plenty. I was ALIVE. I had never felt this way before. I had given myself space and time to learn something knew and I did not need to know it all to play the game. I was learning as I go. This was a great perspective for myself. Every win was a BIG WIN and I celebrated each one.
VII.
Relationship With Failure
Quarter 1 of 2014 was an interesting time because I had missed a memo. No one warned me that people in the entertainment industry generally go sun baking or choose to spend quality time with their cats for 3 months because there’s very little work available. This is the period immediately after Christmas and new year's season. It was a clear sign of what goes up must come down. If you are an entertainer, this is the time you schedule the holidays and live a little. It’s a chance to get on the other side of the stage and do some partying version of your own.
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Well, I would have loved to do that but there were some serious cash flow issues. The business was not profitable. I had focused on the front-end of the business, jumping on stages totally oblivious about the numbers and how they looked like. Money had literally leaked out in the back end. Overheads were high and the bottom line was just that, a line. This was not a good feeling after all the ‘heavy lifting’ I had done. Then one day, I stopped. I needed to reflect on my business. The Truth: I did not understand my market, how I actually sold, what was working well and what wasn’t. I had not set up a system to track these details. i.e. how we did our marketing, customer relationship, and good accounting. As a result, I could not project a financial plan for how much I would need to continue operating. For similar reasons, I couldn't come up with a targeted marketing strategy. Information was sketchy. So there I was, without a clear nextmove in sight and a business that had no 'juice' to sustain itself. And maybe, just maybe, I should have been more worried than I was about this insight. Or, maybe I was starting to harden up and that I clearly understood my mistakes!
VIII.
Moment of Truth
On the other side of town, well-meaning conversations with dear ones around this time had to be handled with care. I got the same advice from everyone. To get a job while I worked on the business, on the side. This advice made perfect sense because I was broke. The only problem with that sound advice was that it was very far from the World I was living in. Now, the thing is, I was employable, very employable actually and I knew that. But that was not the reason WHY I had left my 6 - figure income, a year before in Perth to do the same thing 10,000 miles away for a lot less money. These conversations never ended well and both parties always walked away feeling upset; they had not been understood.
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To be honest, this time was a real eye opener. I was failing and failing hard and I was not making sense to anybody who knew me. Time was ripe to bag another entrepreneurial lesson. I needed to work with my dear faith and move on.
IX. Moving Forward As luck would have it, I met someone through a mutual friend in a local pub who just happened to have music instruments they were looking to dispose of. Joan’s Uncle had passed away a couple of months earlier and had left her a whole lot of expensive band equipment that she did not know what to do with. I, on the other hand, had an idea about a music rehearsal and recording studio dancing around my head for some time. At some point, during the previous year 2013, I had visited one of the best rehearsal studios in Nairobi. What I saw made me want to do something about it. I cherished the idea for a better undefined rehearsal experience for artists. So if I could only find a way to get a studio going that would complement the current entertainment and events planning business, this could be the next big thing, right? After all, the entrepreneur's journey is all about glorious detours, new possibilities of what could become along the way, as imagination is continuously engaged in the mind.
Click to Read Part 3 Connect with Me: Email:team@batianlifestyle.com Instagram:@batianlifestyle Facebook:@batianlifestyle Facebook:@guchegranddeejay Skype:guchueddie
Eddie Guchu is a Digital Marketing and Lifestyle Brand Entrepreneur based mostly in Perth, Australia & Nairobi, Kenya. He is the founder of the Batian Lifestyle Brand. He Works From Anywhere And Teaches Others How To Start A Lifestyle Business Of Their Own Using a Laptop and An Internet Connection He Can Show You How To Become Fully Expressed and Live In Your Own Terms. Eddie is Also a Professional Entertainer Branded as DJ Guche Grande (old school hip-hop fanatic). Former: He was a Consultant Network Engineer in IT outsourcing and Mining Resources Industries in Western Australia. Holds an MSc in Information Systems Management From Curtin University, Western
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Australia. "It Always Seems Impossible Until It is Done - Nelson Mandela"
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