False msafiri BUSINESS 122 of your business is not when you register a company or start trading – it is the moment when you determine, absolutely, completely and irrevocably that you are in business and that you will succeed, no matter what happens. You go into business because you want to be in business. You give yourself a goal, a target to push yourself along, but what you enjoy the most is doing business. How did you get started? I set out to make my first million by the time I was 25 and then retire. I did it by the time I was 23 and retirement was the last thing on my mind. It is true that your first million is the hardest. This is when you learn. You make mistakes. You fall. You lose everything. But you get up again and start all over. You learn some very tough lessons about people. You learn all the time and you apply your knowledge. You realise that underneath, all people are the same. Most of us want the same things in life, but, as a businessperson, you set out to achieve what you want with your own hands. How do you succeed? Success in business does not depend on how much money you have, your connections or your background. They can help but cannot guarantee success – look at the business failures of people who seem to have it all. The only thing that can guarantee success is how you think and how you act. That’s easy for you to say. You have been very successful – but it is very different for someone like me who knows nothing about business. I’m bound to fail aren’t I? The first thing you have to do is to get over your fear of business. People are terrified of business. They think you have to belong to a special club, or to have secret knowledge. They think that you must know all about business before you begin. This fear of doing business stops so many people from even trying. Are you saying that I can go into business without any experience or knowledge and still succeed? If you don’t know how to ride a bicycle, you will fall off! But if you keep up at it, you will gain the knowledge of riding by doing it. Soon riding will become so natural that you will forget that at one time you did not know how to ride. It is the same with business. You learn by doing. But you must have the desire – if your desire to ride a bicycle is not strong enough, you will give up after the first couple of falls and never learn to ride. If the desire is strong, you will succeed. It’s the same with business – you will be your own boss. You have to tell yourself to get up and try again, to work hard and above all to think hard. Is there no such thing as business knowledge? Of course there is – but it is mainly about processes or the study of successful ventures. To start off a small business, you do not need to go that far. But there are Banks and other financial institutions in more progressive African countries are willing to lend to the ‘ little guys’

False Sales+ 254 42 32466 Mobile+ 254 733 809987 ivor@ iwayafrica. com Sales+ 254 20 4442167 Mobile+ 254 733 619031 ben. woodhams@ ke. knightfrank. com www. medinapalms. com LUXURY OCEAN DEVELOPMENT WATAMU A unique investment opportunity of exclusive villas and penthouses for sale with private access to a powder white beach A UNiqUEiNVESTMENT OPPORTUNiTY MPK- 1356 MSafiri Final . indd 125/ 6/ 08 14: 54: 57