Why didn't they tell you?

Dear Africana Woman,

I want to be deep, but probably won’t succeed. These last few months I have been grappling with being an entrepreneur. I know we like to talk about the highlights and the mega successful people but the reality is there are also challenging moments that nobody talks about because no one wants to air their dirty laundry. But not here lol. I will share three with you briefly today.

THE ELUSIVE BUDGET

Financial experts advise that everyone should make a budget for their money. This allows you to give instructions to each kwacha or dollar on what it’s supposed to be doing. Listen, as an entrepreneur, as far as my experience goes, I am making a budget on a projection of how much I am going to make. Manje when the money doesn’t come through, and there was nothing you could do about it, what do you do? Make a budget, Make a budget ….. I am literally budgeting air. But people still have to be paid at month end, bills still need to be paid. I want to hear from entrepreneurs. Please if you have a 9-5 and you are working for some bodie, this question is not for you. Entrepreneurs, Boss Babes, Ma Bosses help a sister out how do you budget aii?

I get it that budgeting is easy if you are starting with capital and you have space to breath. However, some of us are old school. I believe you don’t always have to wait on capital to start a business, you can provide a service. But when you hit a bad month or a snag, it’s like you are eating impwa, it’s bitter af. Anyway, I expect answers in the comments, because I do not have a solution for you here. The truth is the majority of us do not have starting capital for our businesses. We just have to brave it.

YOUR HIGHEST MOMENT IS ALSO THE LOWEST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE

We really do not have to look too far for an example of this. There was Will Smith after 36 years in this industry, finally receiving the highest honour as an actor and in the same moment he has the lowest moment of his career where he subsequently resigned from the Academy. This was supposed to be such a joyous moment not only for him but also for the Williams family and the black community as a whole. It's that moment when you think, "I am supposed to be celebrating, but this other thing is also happening"

My point is your Joy and Pain are two sides of the same coin. Where you have to decide which you will focus more on. Quite often we don’t notice it because the bigger the Joy the bigger the pain but we tend to limit ourselves to small joys hence small pains. When you find yourself presented with a dichotomy, you have a choice to make. As Michelle Obama would say,

When they go low, We go High.

Keep your emotions positive. Control your emotions and don’t lash out. Operate from love even though your every fibre is fighting you. And keep moving, don’t get caught in inertia. That’s the whole point, to stop you from being the highest version of yourself.

In my case, on the one hand I am having such great traction in my podcast but on the other hand the garden is struggling. I managed to book my biggest interviews yet and in the same month I lost three bookings for the garden. Had this been a couple years ago, I would be holed up in my bed depressed. But I cannot afford to stop moving. I have to keep going. Even if I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, it’s better I keep showing up for myself.

COLD VS. HOT SEASON

Every business is like this. You have those moments especially when you are new on the scene where your business is on fire. You are HOWT like a HEATOR mmm. Then the cold season blows in like wooooshhh Hello Sisi, and you don’t even know what hit you coz you out there in your summer dress, sunglasses and beach hat only to realise you do not have a juzé, socks or gloves to get you through the cold. Translation whilst business was booming you did not think ahead and put money aside for the cold season to cover your basic necessities when business is slow. Every business has a period of high and low traffic. When you are starting out the sooner you discover when this is the better. Make a plan on how to handle this.

You could have seasonal workers/contractors. You could also do more production during the cold season. Again, keep the list going here. What is your strategy for keeping your business going in the cold season? Drop your contribution in the comments.

I am just saying as an entrepreneur there are some things that you will go through that no one talks about and I wish they did. It would make you feel less crazy just to know that someone else went through that and they are still going strong. It just brings some level of hope. Alas I must pen off here. Remember Africana Woman is a blog, podcast and community. Join everything. You can find me on Instagram at ChulubyDesign. Welcome to all the newbies. Lots of love to the Live Hard Readers. Here’s the thing, I want you to love yourself flaws and all and attract the life that you truly desire. And hang in there babe, your break through is coming.

Love you

Chulu