Stepping out. Stepping in.

STEPPING OUT. STEPPING IN.

                Written by Lusimadio N Simao
                Published on the 19/12/2022 

A life lesson from me to all Aspiring entrepreneurs.

Most of us believe that we will be able to achieve our goals if, and only if we travel abroad. These goals maybe ranging from academics, to job career, or even business intake. One may think that he or she can only succeed in life, if he or she travels abroad to look for better opportunities in a more developed country, compared to where they are from.

I was one of them. One out of 10 people who thought that life would be easier in a foreign country. Believing that I will only make it if I move out, leave all behind to pursue my dreams in a country believed to provide better opportunities to mankind. Many of us left families, lower paying jobs, friends and love, all excited about the opportunities we are about to have where we are going to. But we forgot that not even happiness is eternal, and until Jesus Christ comes back, we are still up to facing adversities.

But honestly, tell me if you had not felt the same feeling of possibilities, of half way accomplishment when you did set your feet in that airplane... It's quite a pleasurable journey. But nobody ever told us about challenges that we will be facing in a foreign country, because if we knew it, we would never accept to move abroad, or maybe take more time to really be ready or the adventure. And from a personal experience, the only thing that kept me going were the words my father spoke to me before I left the country. He said - I WANT YOU TO BECOME A MAN.

THE MAN

I am Lusimadio Simao, born in Luanda capital of Angola, in 9th of July 1996. I studied in the best primary school in the province, I have got my high school certificate in Industrial Electronics and Automation from the best technical secondary school in the country. With the dream of studying abroad, I got the opportunity to travel to South Africa in 2014, right after my high school graduation, to upgrade my studies.

As a young man full of dreams, I accepted the challenge and flew to the city of opportunities. After a decade of ups and downs, resilience and determination, life knocked me out many times, and for the same number of times I got up and kept moving. Today, I consider myself as one of highly promising young African, and a precious stone for the empowerment of African youth. I am the founder and CEO of PROFASTER CONSULTANCY, Cool Drop Mineral Water Brand, Entrepreneurs NBA and of World Data Summit 1.0. Wait a minute! before you start praising my achievements, let me share with you what it took me in order to get here.

It is not easy to fit in. One important lesson I have learned in life, is that every time we look for a job, we are actually looking for 3 things, namely Self Acceptance, Credibility before people, and the Possibility for integration within a desired community. It becomes a nightmare when we struggle to do so. This is when frustration, stress and even depression comes in to play. We need to realize how important our mental health is.

I, personally went through a lot of stress as I was trying to integrate, and show to people that I was not who they thought I was. This caused me to move from job to job, running away from jealous colleagues, and even scared employers. It is not an easy task, work among people that provides energy that negatively affects your productivity, and your life in general. Quitting a 9-5 job is not for weak minded individuals. You need to be prepared mentally and financially. Well, I won't emphasize much on finance even though it is an important factor to look at, but mostly mental. In this journey of being an employee, I have developed an attitude that helped me maintain my last job for as long as I could, and really enjoy it until the right time for my resignation. And that was focus!

The main point here, is that, it takes a strong spirit and a strong mentality to quit a job without knowing exactly what to do next. It's easier when you know what are going to next, maybe leaving one job for another job, but quitting a paying job to start a business... that requires COURAGE.

THE FRUSTRATION

Not many of us is aware of the frustration that comes with building and running a business. From my personal experience, one thing is to buy a business and run it, and another thing is to build a business from scratch and run it. I think here is where we know exactly the difference between an entrepreneur and an ordinary business individual. I requires a high level of determination and courage, to accept to take off in a journey of uncertainty, trying to figure out what what the future will look like. But the truth is that IT'S WORTH IT!

“Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” - Madam C.J. Walker, first female self-made millionaire

 “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” - Dhirubhai Ambani, entrepreneur

 “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” - Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook

There are 3 factors that can make anyone uncomfortable of stepping out from their comfort zone to stepping in into a more uncertain world. The first one is the attitude, these are:

• Patiently Waiting

Patiently waiting for the opportunity to knock at your door? if so, then your patience have failed you. Patiently waiting should be a mental state, and not a physical positioning. Opportunities may find you where you are, but you will not be able to notice and grab it if you are patiently waiting. We must be patiently working. Working on ourselves, working on our goals.

• Lack of Courage

Don't wait for someone to do it before you do it. We are different in everything. Our goals are not achieved by the same motivations and level of discipline. It requires courage to truly follow as path that others are not following. Creating your own way of doing things, your own way of moving, in other to hold your goals. The same feeling is found when it comes to quitting a paying job, to start a business and even follow a different career in a field that you know pretty less about. It requires courage to leave an activity that was paying your bills, to pursue something that you ere not sure when it will start paying those same bills. The courage to accept that you are different and that you are meant to follow a different path from the rest of others. Challenges were made for challengers! Take courage to step out and step in!

Fear of...

The fear of many things. The fear of all things. What is if we were not afraid? Have you asked yourself this question? Where would you be today if you were not afraid of...? How would your life be if you were not afraid of...?

We look around us and mentalize our failure, focusing ourselves on the negative outcome which that specific action would bring in our lives. The loss of credibility and consideration that we may experience if we fail, and the shame of having to go back to the previous life. I have go through all this, and have experience the utmost shame in my life. As an entrepreneur, I have tried many times to start a business and multiple times I failed and had to go back to my 9-5 job. I did not give up. I believed that it will work one day and I testify.

I will advice you never to be shameful for going back to a 9-5 job. What you should be ashamed of is to never be able to start over and over again. Because life is made of trials, therefore, we have to play by the same rules. So, stop fearing, and try new things, the only thing they will do to you is to boost you and get you much closer to who you should be. As a businessman and an entrepreneur, the best thing I have learned in this journey is that - we should never be afraid of starting over, because when you start over, you are not starting from zero, but with a certain level of experience.

MAKE PEACE WITH YOURSELF

Make peace with yourself and your environment. Do not embark in any venture if your not in peace with yourself and with your surrounding. In other word, you need to overcome your fear, and jealousy, hatred and envy, etc. Move into your new adventure with a sound mind, a clean spirit and a healthy body. Our anxiety, and strong desire to succeed most of the times leads us to failure, that later on causes stress, depression and some end up on a predictable disaster that affects even our personal lives.

For those aspiring to be entrepreneurs and to current entrepreneurs as well, it's important to know that being entrepreneur can be very stressful. It is not an easy shoe to wear. But the secret to complete success is PEACE. Nothing but peace. You won't be able to shape your vision, neither accurately make business decisions if you are not at peace. I am a witness of what moving into the business world with a confused mind and unease spirit can do to our mental health. This is why we should always put our mental, spiritual and physical health in the first place.

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. - Eleanor Roosevelt

Being relaxed, at peace with yourself, confident, emotionally neutral, loose, and free-floating - these are the keys to successful performance in almost everything. - Wayne Dyer

To overcome the stress and the depression, the fear and the anxiety that comes with the stepping out and stepping in, I will advice the reader to have someone you can talk to, or cry to when things are not well. This could be a mentor, or a next of kin, but the bottom line is search for peace always. Practice exercises and meditation, or even go to wellness center. But ensure that you are well with yourself and your environment.

ENJOY THE PROCESS

Why? Because this is how we achieve goals. It not an easy process. Quitting a comfort zone to take off on unpredictable journey is not as easy as it appears. You got to have guts to make it the end. But let me give you few tips that will help you enjoy the hardship.

• Have a vision board...

You have got to have a vision of your future and move on towards that. Draw you vision board and focus on it. The hardest thing one can do, is to consistently focus on their vision. This is what helps us focus and remain walking in the path to success. A vision board does not have to be physical, but mental as well. It should be based on something that highly motivates you, or someone that you love so much that you would not want to disappoint, if you really want it to be effective. But above all it should about you FIRST!

• The environment...

Change your surrounding. The price we pay when we accept to step out and step in is the change. We need to accept the change that comes with the move. Change in environment, change in mindset, change in habits and more. Be ready to criticized by your old environment for not being the usual person they new before, because you have not choice but to change. Here I am not motivating you to be arrogant or proud, nor even ignore the people you have spent most of your time with before the move, but be kind and loving and at the same time follow your dreams.

Crucial point. Surround yourself with positive minds and people that can help you get to where you want to get. They don't necessarily have to have your social or financial status, but your environment predicts your future. Value diversity within your environment. Allow yourself be surrounded by all different kind of people with different skill sets. Some important skillsets you will be able to learn them from you surroundings and not paid classes. But focus on quality over quantity.

Last words...

I am glad to have shared with you this important information that can be turned to a great life time wisdom to you. Follow my podcast every Monday for more empowerment stories and business advice.

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