Category: Words

Random COVID-19 Reflections.

0. We are online & privileged, but we should never take anything for granted again. There are lives that have been devastated in ways we cannot imagine. This is an opportunity to reflect deeply on society’s imbalances and inequalities.

But we must also purpose to act once all this is over. We have now come face-to-face with an enemy that doesn’t discriminate.

On 6th June 2003, 9:01pm I sent myself this message (via True African):

“Over six months I have called this place home. And so it ends. The future beckons. Shall we proceed? Afterall, it is only destiny”.

I was 20 years old, and I had just quit my second and last formal job. I made the very risky decision to jump into self-employment without any sort of plan.

It’s been close to two decades of self-employment and entrepreneurship, with lots of trial & error, tons of mistakes and some polite success.

But the question that keeps coming back to me is: would I do it again?

A lot of people will quickly say they would do it again in a heartbeat.

Me? I’m not sure.

Obviously, each choice we make creates a divergence in our lives and in thousands of lives within the tapestry that surrounds us. We set into motion things, actions and journeys that are intertwined and irreversible.

The person I am today is the result of the choice I made when I quit my job, and no amount of hindsight will rationalize destiny.

In the eternally wise words of Master Ugwe, “One most often meets one’s destiny on the road one takes to avoid it.”

Paths diverge, trajectories and lives change and we make our peace.

On one hand, every single person I’ve employed, every client whose business was transformed (by any of the companies I’ve started), every child Fundi Bots has reached and every friend I made along that path… all of them were outcomes of that one inflexion point.

On the other hand, if I had stayed, I likely would’ve maintained and grown a career in web development, or decided to continue with school because of family pressure.

I’d probably be married by now (I can almost see the usual suspects commenting).

Maybe I wouldn’t have been as broke as I have been for the last 17 years.

So, there’s a psychological burden that choices like this bring, and one that many of us struggle with. Oftentimes, it manifests as regret, anger or longing for something that could have worked out a certain way, even though we have no guarantee of that fact.

And those regrets then transform into fear and uncertainty, and in extreme cases, an inability to make decisions that are perceived as too extreme.

The what-if questions overwhelm us into comfort-zones and inaction, and one-in-a-lifetime opportunities are missed because of our fear.

This becomes even more complex when we have people depending and counting on us to lead and to provide.

When you have families, teams and communities that look up to you each day for wisdom, guidance and leadership, the burden is multiplied because you must make GOOD decisions.

I choose – as much as I can – not to linger on regret because I believe that each choice I make is made on the assumption that it is the best choice, made with the best intentions.

And that only time can tell you whether you are right or wrong.

I don’t know what you’re struggling with right now, and I don’t know what that big decision is, but I sincerely hope that you can find clarity in the now and hope in the future.

I hope that you lean on the past simply as a reference point, and not as a tether or anchor holding you back.

We cannot predict tomorrow – for that is kismet, outside of our control – but we can plot the best course given the tools, knowledge and experience we have NOW.

And I pray, above all that you can learn to be at peace with the decision you make, no matter how it turns out.

As always, onwards. And upwards.
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[ I share weekly on my new YouTube Channel. Please watch and subscribe here: http://bit.ly/3aktiBW ]

“People romanticize their plans but dread the execution. The magic you’re looking for is in the work you’re avoiding.”

The fear of the work and the process is more real than we like to publicly admit because it requires us to step out of our comfort zones.

When I started Fundi Bots, I had all these grand dreams, ideas and plans that I knew I wanted us to achieve.

But I did not want to do the fundraising, because my comfort zone was in building things and innovating, not in meeting people and convincing them to fund our ideas.

So I spent years trying to get other people to handle the fundraising role, convincing myself that I wasn’t qualified or competent enough.

And while they were relatively successful, they still couldn’t articulate the vision with the passion and clarity that I had (which is another leadership challenge I’ll talk about later).

The same discomfort with building new business prospects, and pursuing leads led to constant cashflow issues at my previous companies. We cycled through marketing and salespeople like crazy.

But over time I learnt that when your ideas are too unique or too new for the market, then you, the founder are the best person to communicate & convince other people to join or support your work.

And I realized that as I kept avoiding the work that was important, as I stayed away from the process that was necessary for success, the money got less and people started leaving.

Which meant that each day, this dream of better education for Africa’s children kept fading away.

And so, with help from advisors and partners, I re-calibrated and slowly found a way to make fundraising fun and engaging for my personality type.

I worked on communicating better, and sharing more, and generally putting myself in uncomfortable spaces and places.

Because I knew that that’s where the magic was and that’s where the success would be.

And it’s worked well so far.

But, I’m still very uncomfortable. I’m still not a fan of crowds or large audiences. I don’t like giving speeches or being interviewed on TV.

But I know that all these things are necessary and are part of the process for the success of Fundi Bots.

[ Side note: Speaking of extreme discomfort, in less than four days, my YouTube channel will be launching. I’ll be sharing these stories and interviews with other entrepreneurs on YouTube.

Show some support by subscribing here. ]

And also, I now have a wonderful team that complements my weaknesses, and we have leaders in the organization who enjoy the things that make me uncomfortable.

Which means I’m beyond happy to let them thrive where I would struggle.

For example, I was recently invited to a learning conference in India. On closer inspection, I realized there was a lady on our team who would be exceptionally perfect for that conference.

And she tells how very heavily extroverted the entire event was, and how much fun she had!

So, the painful lessons I’ve learnt through this years-long metamorphosis will never be lost. For Fundi Bots or myself.

I have also learnt to love the process. And because of that, the success and the results that we dream of are closer and more achievable.

So, your dreams of results may excite you, but the reality will only appear after you’ve gone through the necessary process.

It’s never an easy process, but it gets easier because with time, you get better and you get stronger.

Learn to love the process.

Happy new week!

I struggle with procrastination (like we all do). We all prioritize exciting and immediately rewarding behaviour over that which is important (and often boring). A few years ago, I stumbled on an interesting perspective that helped me get better at getting things done.

The Philosophy of Two Selves

Procrastination (or any vice that prevents success, affects health, etc) can be considered as self-defeating behaviour. Literally, your present self is engaging in behaviour that is literally defeating your Future Self.

Research shows that most people, when thinking about their Future Self, have the same brain patterns/activity as when they think about a stranger. This means their current self has no emotional or mental connection to their Future Self as someone they know or empathise with.

The gap between intention and action is a gap between Present Self and Future Self. Self-continuity or empathy towards Future Self can be a first step in helping us avoid making bad choices in the present that undermine or hurt Future Self.

Pulling away from a task that’s necessary right now puts unnecessary stress on your Future Self. You have to realize that the person who has to suffer from the consequences of your current choices is your Future Self. (It seems rather obvious, no?)

But more importantly, the positive choices you make today will help Future Self work better, live healthier and generally have a more positive life.

So instead of thinking of your future as some abstract concept, visualize your Future Self and how they will be, look, live and act based on the choices you make today, right now.

Remind yourself how developing a daily exercise routine today will prevent health complications twenty years from now. Resolve that sending those twenty proposals or finishing that project right now will lead to a better life next year.

It’s a step that goes beyond simply stating goals because it allows you to see yourself and project the results of today’s work and choices into an actual person/lifestyle/event 6 months or 10 years from now. And your Future Self will be eternally grateful.

Quick Update: My YouTube Channel goes live on the 5th of March. Please subscribe and click the notification bell to get notified as soon as we go live!

Onwards & Upwards!

 

 

It takes a very, very long time to truly become yourself.

I heard this somewhere… I think from Dave Chapelle or Miles Davis, I’m not sure. But it stayed with me, and I have thought about it a lot. And today, as I turn one year older, it’s led me to a lot of reflections on this complex life I’ve had.

[Sometimes, the weariness of it all makes me feel like I’ve lived a hundred years].

For many years, I struggled to be someone else. I aspired to be like many of my heroes, the ones I idolized, some with their genius, their grit and their passion for changing the world. Others with their hubris and egos that ultimately led to their downfall.

I read all the books there were to read, and I watched videos and series and business reality shows endlessly. I tried lots of things and failed at almost all of them. Some worked, some were shelved and others took on a life of their own.

But then, over time, I realized that I had become… me. And for the first time, I was proud of who I was.

I think it was the intentionality of learning from the past. The deep reflection on what went wrong, what could have been done better and what definitely needed to go. It forced me to constantly self-evaluate and reflect on the choices and decisions. I learned to map the inflexion points where the failure started and ensure it shouldn’t happen again.

But I still struggled with purpose. I knew what I wanted to do, what I wanted to achieve, but there was still this emptiness. An emptiness that echoed in my very being; a deep, resounding question that wouldn’t go away.

“BUT WHY?”, the emptiness asked.

And one day, it hit me: I wanted to achieve all these things because at the end of the day, all I wanted was to help people live better lives. I wanted money so I could pay fees for someone or help someone else start a business or build a school or hospital for a community. And I still struggle justifying my own personal financial growth/gain versus the needs of humanity as a whole (in as much as I can impact a small fraction of humanity). It is a weakness that I have a love-hate relationship with.

They say becoming a millionaire is less about earning a million dollars, and more about the person you become along that journey. My journey has morphed from the pursuit of just money, to the pursuit of a better world for our children and their children’s children.

But I’ve also found that my deeper passion is helping other people achieve their goals, and watching their dreams come to life. It’s in building communities, raising people and creating solutions that move humanity forward.

Is it uselessly altruistic? Maybe. Will I succeed? Maybe. Am I the right people? Who knows. I am hopelessly and irrevocably flawed and failure is something I’ve made peace with. Fear will always be with us. Humanity is flawed, and the world is chaos.

We make plans, we have dreams and we justify our decisions and our actions with the stubborn subjectivity and selfishness that only humans are capable of.

But what matters more than anything else is that we move forward, together, and that we strive to create a world that has empathy, equity and respect for everyone, regardless of who they are, where they come from and what they look like.

So yeah, here we are, a year older. Questionably wiser. And about to take a daft step.

So, my biggest challenge to myself is to go extreme, to step so far outside my comfort zone that the mere thought of the thing I want to do still sends panic down my spine. But, here we go:

I’m starting a YouTube Channel.

I, Solomon King, introvert, hater-of-photos, refuser-of-interviews, selfie-snob, stammerer and God-knows-what else… am starting a YouTube Channel.

I know all you extroverts are rolling your eyes, but just typing this is giving me anxiety. 🤣 But, we move.

You can subscribe here https://youtube.com/c/SolomonKing

Right now, there’s nothing there, just a few random audio tracks I made last year.

What’s going to be on that channel? A little craziness, but mostly genuine, honest discussions with people about life, business, failure and the struggle for success. Raw, down-to-earth and personal conversations. Like talking to your father when he’s had too much whiskey.

We’ll talk about the tough things, the long journeys, the truth about what it actually means to make it (or to fail). Generally, we’ll discuss the side of life that people gloss over or hide in their attempts to paint perfect lives of unceasing success.

What won’t be there? Random stories of how “I started a business with two pineapples and now I own half of Kampala”. We’ll talk to people like you are I who are thriving, hustling, or figuring out what went wrong.

Basically, “omuntu wa wansi” trying to make the world better.

It takes a very, very long time to truly become yourself.

Maybe, in my own way, I can use my network, connections and experiences to help people out there discover their true selves and finally become who are meant to be.

If not, we shall fail together.

Onwards and upwards!