which part of the yield should be stored for sowing again and which should be eaten . Many budding entrepreneurs have gone out , worked hard and landed a very lucrative deal . Once the deal is completed and paid , they think they have landed on the serious monies that they have always dreamed off and they go spending everything without thinking about the future . Entrepreneurship is not a one-time thing . It is a lifestyle that has seasons and times that require different elements of commitment . Some require us to be working smart , some require us to sit and wait and some require us to sacrifice . Budding entrepreneurs need to realize that each business has its own cycle and not all can be characterized by expensive cars and cocktails !
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Vineyard practices
A good vineyard is one whose fruit can always be counted on for quality . A good vineyard is not one left to its own means . It is one that is cultivated , tendered and protected . Budding entrepreneurs must be ready for the overalls , thorns , and hands on demands by the enterprises they set up . It ’ s easier when your money is working for you like if you put it in mutual funds or a fixed deposit account ; but it is more rewarding when the fruit has multiplied your money . Pruning ( cutting off the unproductive branches ), watering , leveling etc . are all practices that are time consuming and painful for a farmer to do , yet they are the ones that guarantee a good vineyard produce . While employment will shield one from all these , entrepreneurship does not
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Redug wells
In doing business , one of the best consoling messages ever given , is that “ you will do it again ”. Everyone with a business will confess to some false starts on either the business itself or on some undertaken projects . One should not be discouraged on failure or when something fails to pick up as expected . It might not be the right time for the starting and there is hope for a restart again . When boreholes and wells are dug in the savannah by the nomads , it is possible for them to move but in the next season of grazing , they come back to the very wells they had dug . The extra work might be removing the sand that filled the wells in their absence , but the water is hidden beneath . If they dig new wells , the worth of the old wells is down played and they don ’ t get the precious liquid therein . Don ’ t give up on wells of gold that you left behind before . Revisit them when the time is right and they will give you the yield you need .
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Of bricks & straw
Isn ’ t it amazing that the main construction materials for many of the Egyptian structures in the BC age were bricks and straw ? Some of those structures still stand today in the 21st century . With the background that the sourcing of the two was not easy and was done by slaves , budding entrepreneurs need to know that at the initial stages of a business , brick and straw is their responsibility and it cannot be delegated to anyone . One must be ready to sacrifice sleep , lunch and a lot more to build lasting structures on which a successful business stands . Slaves were like the right hand of their masters and at its formative stages , your business needs you to do everything . Employment shields people from a lot because there is a division and separation of roles in an organization . You don ’ t have that luxury in your start up . You will be the messenger , the cashier , the accountant , the sales executive , the receptionist and everything else in between to the highest level of chairman of the board for your company
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The ant , the badger , the locust , and the spider
Ants have no reasoning capacity like human beings yet they work to provide for themselves in and out of season . They know when winter is coming and they prepare adequately by collecting food and stocking it for that time . The badger / hyrax knows it is weak but it also knows where it can find refuge from its enemies . They hide in the rocks on mountains where their predators cannot get to them unless under extreme circumstances . They also camouflage among the rocks . The locusts / grasshoppers have no king , captain , leader , ruler , yet they work with the discipline of an army . One
grasshopper / locust is harmless and can be caught and stored in a jar ; but not an army of them . As a swarm what they cannot do individually , they accomplish together when they join forces even without a leader and they don ’ t need one . The Spider is one insect that will never lack even in a palace , let alone a 6 star hotel ! Whether they crawl up a wall , climb stairs , attach themselves to laundry hang outside , pushed by a heavy gust of wind - it doesn ’ t matter , they will somehow find themselves in places where they are least expected . As David H . Boshart , Jr . says , “ Foresight and planning , safe building , teamwork , excellence , and faith are valuable traits .”
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The field of a sluggard
Sluggard / slothful implies laziness and the character of inactivity , idleness and more softly work-shy . The image presented to the world is that the world of entrepreneurship allows people a lot of time to do what they want at their own time and flexibility is built into the day because people wake up at any time they want , etc . Nothing could be further from the truth . If budding entrepreneurs are not disciplined with time as employees in organizations are , it is very possible for their businesses to collapse because the required attention is not given . In fact there is a truth in the statement - a little sleep , a little slumber and poverty will come on you like an armed robber . The best extrapolation for this element of work whether an employee or entrepreneur is in a book , The Traveler & The Bandit written by David Paul Mavia and published by The Kairos ( 2011 ). Opportunities , Wisdom , Knowledge , Understanding and Time are the best friends of any budding entrepreneur preventing him / her from walking the path of failed business .
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The badger is wise enough to know that his strength lies not in what he can do , but what the mountain ’ s shelter can do for him
DAVID H . BOSHART , JR .
Building Barns
A story is told of a rich farmer who had a good planting and harvesting season . At harvest time he figured that his produce was so great that he had to demolish his existing structures of granaries to build new , bigger and better to store the yield for ages without him going hungry . That night he passed on and never got to enjoy the yield for even one day or even do an opening ceremony for his large store houses .
Both employment and entrepreneurship do not provide a guarantee for tomorrow . There is never a right time for life decisions , there is never a tomorrow , all that we have is today and we need to make the best of it . As an employee looking forward to doing business one day and you know you can hack it , do you want to save like 10 million so that you will not have to borrow capital when you start your business ? As an entrepreneur , are you keeping your idea within the notebooks waiting for a perfect venture capitalist ? Life happens to both entrepreneur and employee . You need the wisdom to do it right and do not postpone to tomorrow what you need to do today . Our death is normally a life of regret . It shouldn ’ t be the case .
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For more insights on this subject matter we recommend the book “ Lessons From The Field Simple Lessons on Success , Leadership and Living a Balanced Life ” by John L Brekke & David L Brekke
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