HOLD MY HANDS.......The diary of a Venture Designer

It all begins with an idea, and the vision begins to manifest itself. Entrepreneurship as it is referred to in recent times means several things to several people. To some a grand scheme, others a majestic accolade with grandeur and monumental achievement of some sort. Everybody wants to be referred to as an entrepreneur these days. Don’t be fooled by the package, the product is a process of extreme hard work and mad faith. I like to ideologize it as a beautifully set cake on a table stand adorned with all sort of colorful icing arrayed in different varieties and style. The berries and the syrups, the caramels and the raisins. A vicious blend of sugar, butter, flour, jellies, eggs, milk, and sometimes rum thus giving you a treat, igniting pleasure and satisfaction as you devour/gaze on this aesthetically finished desirable.

The detailing is much more profound with a lot of energy expended in a rigorous process of beating, mixing, stirring, and dressing respectively. Not to mention the overly heated oven that scorches and bakes the pudding under a continuously regulated temperature over a given period of time followed subsequently by the process of cooling, pruning, cutting and trimming, all cumulating to this seamlessly effortless final product. Such is the faith of this desirable (The Entrepreneur) increasingly been affiliated with. It is a cause, a higher calling propelling you to be dissatisfied with the present, defile status quo, leaving the known and venturing into a state of obscurity.

A journey fuelled with passion and adventure to discover, the discipline to forge ahead never returning back in other to fulfil destiny, or die trying. A total paradigm shift from the norm into a state where essence and believe is aggregated along its cause, connecting the dots, deciphering codes and solving lives puzzles presented to you along the way. A continuous struggle of outdoing the past, and breaking new grounds. Not a road for all to tread, it’s like a pitch black alley, with only a ray of light seen from a great distance, one is drawn to it with a hunch stirred up by a greater force from within.

And like Michele Welch, when I think of an Entrepreneur, I think of Innovation, collaboration, courage, creativity, imagination, determination, confidence, passion, fearlessness, strong, inquisitive, loyalty and a visionary. A breed of their own, who can touch, move and inspire.

An entrepreneur is not afraid of the dark, because he can see the light afar. He can climb mountains, and is not afraid of heights, because he never looks down, always ahead. He is not afraid of fire, because he is consumed from within. A fire burning with passion like a combustion system in an engine igniting and forcing its cylinders/piston to move spontaneously, thus creating energy and propelling motion. He is not afraid of water, because on it he sails the tides of time, seeking a greater knowledge, a higher truth in the glimpse of a vision. Armed with a search light and saddled with a boat like a sailor, he plunges into the deep defying the set cause of life, in other to achieve his calling.

And as every other calling, challenges, barriers and limitations will arise. Some life threatening, while others physically and emotionally scorching.  Just as the pudding goes through fire to become a cake, so is the faith of the entrepreneurial struggle. Although a breed of a kind, he is most times lonely, suffer disappointments, setbacks, shed tears and make huge sacrifices. He is often misunderstood and sometimes struggles to fulfil his dreams.

Oh yes! We fall several times, sometimes get beat down but we never stay down, we get up. We see the good in every evil and are resolved to do much more. We don’t give up, we don’t give in, we reach out and stretch forth thereby connecting the dots. We are strong believers with mad faith (as my friend would call it) and a dangerous determination to succeed against all odds.

Many have paved the way for us today, and many still are. Sadly, many also have been lost during the cause of the struggle and many more will be, but only a few live to tell the tale of the struggle and the success which we only see today.

Entrepreneurship is a journey! Are you well packed for it? If you are, then you are not alone, for there are many others like you. Just REACH OUT.

Akinyemi - The Visionary