VALUE

Find The Intersection Between Your Business Values & Clients’ Needs

To make a real difference in the market, whatever you send out has to matter to two parties: your business and your client. As a business, you espouse certain values based your unique value proposition to the market. If you’d like to know more about this, kindly refer to my previous post here.

Because examples really help to drive the point home, I’d like you to imagine you own a fashion business that sells beautiful wedding gowns. You’d need to define how you are better than the rest in the market in your exact field. Perhaps your collection has unique locally-made pieces and as a brand you aim to support local designers while catering to brides’ needs. Next, you’d need to establish what your clients’ real need is. Perhaps your client is mostly young middle-income women between 25 to 40 who want to look stylish at their wedding without breaking the bank. Their need therefore, is to look stylish at an affordable price. Let’s assume you’ve established that their definition of affordable and yours are the same and you can actually provide your stylish gowns at that price while making a great profit. That’s your point of intersection. Much as you also aim to support local designers, that may not be a direct point of concern for your clients and therefore it will act a bonus. Your main focus in your marketing efforts should therefore be to communicate clearly to your client that you are affordable and stylish. It does not mean that your other values and qualities as a business do not matter. In fact, they may even be very important to your target clients. In this particular example given, I’m simply making an assumption for the sake of illustration.

I hope the example has helped to drive the point home. Think very carefully about the intersection between your business values and your clients’ needs. It will make a real difference. See you next time. I’ll leave you with this video below. Enjoy.

With love,

Keziah.

(The feature image was taken at an EABC conference I attended in 2017.)

Value & Its Importance (In the Marketplace)

When we think of doing business, we mostly think about the product or service we offer to the market. That product or service in and of itself though does not cover all the value perceived by the market. Your value proposition is way more than the product or service itself. I feel that this is especially pertinent in the creative industries because customers/clients buy the value they perceive based on their unique situations in life, as well as varied tastes and preferences.

It is therefore crucial that as creative entrepreneurs, we take the time to ask ourselves what our unique value proposition is and why it even matters to our clients. Why should your client/customer care about your product or service? If you stop serving or producing, who would be affected, and would they be affected greatly or not? What unique value are you adding to people’s lives in a way that matters? When you’ve answered these questions, you are one step closer to providing value that matters.

I’d like to add that you can differentiate yourself in the market by having an especially creative product or an especially creative delivery system. If you are a designer, you can be that designer that has exceptional never-seen-before pieces at a premium price or you could be a designer that follows the trends creatively, prices as the market prices, but delivers excellently and on time even more than any other designer. I recently read Good to Great by Jim Collins, an American researcher. One of the things he advises in the book is to figure out what you can be the best at in your market, and go for it tenaciously with laser focus. That will require that you carefully look at your strengths and perhaps even ask other people that know you or your business well, to help you define what you do exceptionally better at than other people.

Vusi Thembekwayo, an established entrepreneur and global speaker who hails from South Africa, says you can either be cheaper, better or faster to have a real edge in the market. That’s something for you to think about.

I’ll close this post by sharing a bonus treat. I did a YouTube series about creating value that matters and attached here is the very first episode. Enjoy and see you again, soon.

With love,

Keziah.

(The feature image is from my fashion brand The House of KEA during the CDEA bootcamp in 2017. The model is the beautiful Angela Kilusungu.)

Rich People Spend Lots of Money

The title of this blog post sounds obvious, doesn’t it? However, this was a revelation for me this week; not because I didn’t know this before, but because it sank deep in my soul in a way that it hadn’t before.

I am doing a leadership course at the Harvest Institute and part of the tasks in this course is to self-fund a trip by air to Nairobi for the Fearless Summit. This comes with looking for your own accommodation and food, in addition to paying for the summit itself. In between, there are many other small things you may need such as toiletries and whatnot. I tend to think of the details. I wished this was the only extra thing apart from tuition fees for the course but no – it isn’t! In addition to this, there are costs for publishing and printing a book, royal gifting, transportation for the monthly classes, and so on. When you add up all the money needed, it could easily end up around 6 million UGX.

My strategy coming in was to do my best to economize as much as possible and hope for as much miracle money as possible to be able to meet the financial obligations. However, God wanted to teach me something else. His agenda was to teach me abundance.

That is why when I received the poster below, there was an inclination towards signing up for it. I dismissed this inclination though because I felt I could do this on my own – book the ticket, look for accommodation etcetera. Later in that same week, I interacted with a friend who said she was paying for this package. She spoke about how convenient it is and the fact that one wouldn’t have to hassle. She also reassured me that the people organising are trustworthy and legitimate. She actually told me the name of the founder. My inclination towards this increased. However, I did not commit to it.

A few days later, God further prodded and directed me because that week, someone else shared a testimony with me about their experience with Speke & Grant. He had used their services last year for the very same summit and was so impressed. He had absolutely no bad thing to say. I still didn’t commit immediately.

I waited. I told God that the bills were high and I didn’t know whether I shouldn’t just hassle it out and save about 200,000 UGX or slightly more by doing my own bookings and follow-up. Then He highlighted to me that the rich live in convenience and abundance, which my friend had alluded to.

I still tarried. Then, He reminded me that this year I had committed to breaking the back of a poverty mindset for good. He said, “But what kind of money do you think the rich spend? You are scared of spending 6 million but the rich spend lots of money!”

I was stunned! It hit me that if I’m going to become rich, I’m actually going to have to spend WAY MORE than I currently spend, rather than way less, in the name of “economizing”. The point is, spending huge sums of money should not be something that scares me! Why? Because I am rich and the rich spend lots of money!

You can now see why it was a revelation for me. I have since then committed to the no-hassle package, despite not having a cent towards the package yet. I am perfectly peaceful about it too because I know I am rich and that whole package is already provided for.

Furthermore to this, our lead pastor did a teaching on “the blessing” and my attention was drawn to Abraham, in the bible who had a prosperous household of thousands. Clearly, his “bills” weren’t small.

My attention was also drawn to some of the most powerful cars I admire on the roads. I often feared to even look too long at these cars because, in mind, this was ” a thing for those people”. One day while I was riding on a boda boda, a sleek black car that looked like a range rover was turning the corner ahead of me. I was thinking about how expensive that car is, along with all related bills such as fuel and maintenance. And God whispered in my ear, “That’s normal for a rich person.” I could swear that something within me vibrated. I could see that the poverty mindset was being challenged!

In conclusion, the rich spend lots of money. Of course, they do not spend it unwisely, or they wouldn’t be rich in the first place; but the truth is, they don’t think cheap and they don’t compromise convenience and efficiency over a few bucks.

I am rich and I spend lots of money wisely. The same applies to you.

With love and sincere desire that you be released too,

Keziah.

The InsomniART Knight

His name is Emmanuel Mawero, otherwise known as the InsomniART Knight. I met him in Architecture school at Ardhi University in Tanzania. He joined three years after me but guess what? It wasn’t his first first-year in Architecture school. He had studied Architecture before in a Kenyan university and had been discontinued, not in his first or second or third year but in his repeat-third-year. Now, Architecture school is already hard enough. It’s also rather long: five years in most universities. At the time he was discontinued, his mother had just bought her car, his younger brother Roy was in college and his younger sister had just joined high school, so they had already spent quite a bit. Part of Emmanuel’s school loan from HELB, the Kenyan loan board had been set apart for helping with the home expenses and then suddenly after these events, it wasn’t there anymore.

He says, “The thought of mum taking up another loan to help with my fees at ARU was too much, considering Roy was also in college. Looking back, I’m in awe of how far God brought us.”

God has indeed brought him from far because he not only went back to first year of Architecture school and completed all five years, he has also bagged over three years of working experience and has completed his Architecture registration. See, for those that don’t know: after Architecture school, one has to get a minimum of two years work experience and sit a fresh set of exams before they get registered to practice officially. So basically, this whole process is longer than what medical doctors go through. And yet his was almost twice as long.

Having the setback in his life meant he got the opportunity to achieve most things after his previous classmates, such as graduation, work, even marriage. That delay seemed to have slowed him down. But he didn’t give up.

He currently works for EDG & Atelier Ltd. He is also a fine artist and writer. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter. (https://twitter.com/InsomniartK and https://instagram.com/insomniart_knight). To go to his facebook, click here.

I’m so proud to call him my friend.

Emmanuel’s story inspires me so much because it is a story of grit, of persistently pursuing that which you are convinced God has assigned you to, despite the challenges. 10 years after being discontinued from his first ARCH school, he’s achieved so much and even surpassed people who were ahead of him, despite having to start all over and “losing time”.

NEVER GIVE UP! Be faithful with your journey and assignment. (The text in the first image embedded was written by him.)

Keziah Elaine Ayikoru

NOELINE KIRABO’S STORY final part

We’ve arrived at our final installment of Noeline’s story. There is even more to learn in this final segment. If you missed the first two, you can read them here and here for the first and second part respectively. Enjoy reading today’s post.

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Along the growth path of your different initiatives, what are some of the challenges you’ve experienced?

“The biggest challenge was funding. It’s tough coming from the security of a paycheck to figuring out how to make it work. As a social entrepreneur, you are driven by the passion. You want to make a difference but then you realize it’s going to take money to run the venture. In the early stages, it’s really difficult to secure funding especially for purely local startups where you don’t have links to the US…or any other country. Secondly, you don’t have any record they can track for impact so it’s hard because possible funders are always asking for impact. So it becomes hard for you to prove yourself in that early stage. It does get better with time though.

Getting the kind of staff you need is also a challenge. You end up having to outsource many things because you don’t have the money to hire full-time people. This affects the quality.

In addition, the workload is really crazy. In my first year, I was doing jobs for like six people. You’re the accountant, the manager, the PRO, the HRO…yeah, so that was a very big challenge for me. The bigger challenge was in that initial start up phase. I’d say for people who are starting out that you just have to hang in there. The start is rough but it gets better with time.”

What was your lowest moment during the period of running your businesses and is there a point you wanted to give up?

She laughs at this point as she tells me there was not one low moment but plural – moments.

“There are moments I cried my eyes out. There are times I’d wait for all my staff to go and I’d just stay behind. I was frustrated. You see how hard your people work and you want to offer them better remuneration but you can’t and it kind of nudges you. They were really committed and I wasn’t able to offer them better money. Those were frustrating moments. And yes there were moments when I literally wanted to give up.

I got through those moments first, by speaking up. I learnt to speak up and ask for help and that’s where I’ll say that it’s important to have mentors and people that believe in you and also for me, the board that I have are not just people with profiles but they are my friends too. So I learnt to fall back to the support system I had. I once called a meeting and told my board I was done. They empathized with me and also appreciated what I wasn’t seeing and helped me see how much positive work I had already done. In addition, they committed and said they were sticking there with me and did all they could to help me. That helped me to cast my burden. You don’t have to carry it alone. I actually met Moses Mukisa in one of those times when I had a burnout. He sat me down and gave me a serious talk and told me I couldn’t live my life like that. He also gave me some useful advice and new angles for the business as well as useful links and contacts of people who could help. So that helped.

Furthermore prayer helped. When I was reading about kingdom business, I learnt the concept of having God as your CEO and business partner whereby I would involve God actively in the business. In that process, some ideas were birthed in prayer and He’d impress it on my heart to go approach some people and they actually helped. So, having a support system and prayer have helped a lot.”

At this point, I was amazed by all the knowledge I had gleaned. It appears to me she has already achieved quite a lot. I am curious to find out what she’s cooking for the next steps in her life.

What are your future goals, dreams and plans?

“I aspire to become a CEO of a group of companies. One of the things I have discovered about myself is I am a starter. I have the grace to start things. So I see myself starting many companies and then training and equipping people to run these different companies.

In addition to this, one of my goals is to empower 10,000 startups.

My dream for Kyusa is that it becomes an international model which can be used anywhere and by anyone. So we can create tool kits for startups whereby one can log in and have a self-paced program which an individual can implement. That’s one of my dreams; to see what we do become a model that can run online and can be replicated in different regions.

One of my personal ambitions is to have written 60 books by the time I am sixty years. One of the people who have inspired me to write is Mike Maddock. I found close to 500 books of his and his writing model is to use smaller books. Some are as small as 30 pages but they give one a lot to think about. You have young people that are turned off by big books but they are desperate for information so I want to create 60 books that anyone can pick up and read.

In addition to this, finally, I want to travel the world.”

As I wound up this interview down, there were only three more things I wanted to ask.

What’s your personal mission statement?

“To empower people to identify their life purpose and turn their passions into skills for fruitful living”

Any favourite quotes?

“If you can envision it, you can achieve it.”

“As a man thinks, so is he.”

“If you believe it, you can do it.”

“The dream is free. The hustle is sold separately.”

Your most impactful books?

As a Man Thinks by James Allen, In Pursuit of Purpose by Myles Munroe, Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and Little Black Book for Stunning Success by Robin Sharma

I hope you’ve enjoyed sitting at Noeline’s table and soaking in her journey and lessons to learn.

Keep shining and keep on keeping on.

With the best of regards,

Keziah.

NOELINE KIRABO’S STORY part 1

Noeline is an author, writer, motivational speaker, life coach, career mentor, trainer, social entrepreneur and business development consultant.

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It was a cloudy and threatening-to-rain day when I made my way to Kalerwe to the Kyusa offices. Noeline’s directions were precise to the dot and I got to the right office without any hiccups. Okay well, almost no hiccups. I almost went toward the wrong door until I spotted the Kyusa poster on the first door. Her welcome was warm. She sat next to an open window that showed an overgrown wild bush in the neighbouring plot. I had looked forward with anticipation to chatting with this vibrant young lady. Seated opposite her, I started asking her some questions. Her answers flowed like a river and her joyous laughter was plentiful.

Tell us a bit about your background and early childhood

“I was born in Jinja, then we relocated. I grew up in old Kampala for the biggest part of my life. It was an urban slum community and quite an experience because from a young age I got to see people hustle. I saw the challenges that people go through, the suffering and pain, the vulnerability and young girls becoming pregnant and eloping. That is where my connection comes from when it comes to community work because these are things I’ve seen and experienced. It is not something I read and researched about.

I was very sickly growing up so I had my own dynamic. On one side I was very fragile while on another side I was very adventurous so the combination was a big twist for many people. You either knew one side or the other side so my mum would go to school and argue how her daughter is purely innocent and the teachers would look at her with a you-have-no-idea-what-your-daughter-can-do look. I was quiet and reserved yet quite naughty. You’d walk into class and think ‘it can’t be her’ and yet everything tells you ‘it must be her’.” She laughed.

“Also, because I was sickly, I was exempted from many things such as punishment and the hard work. So at some point I took the same laissez faire attitude with my academics. I knew that even if I flunked, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. This went on until either P.5 or P.6, when I was forced to repeat a class and that was a wake up call for me.

I was taller than most of the people in my class so it was on that basis that my sister insisted I don’t repeat because it would kill my esteem. She advocated for me to change schools. At that time, I was in Mengo primary and I was moved to Bat Valley primary. It was at that point that I woke up and improved my academics. I wanted to prove myself and I realized that if I just put in a little effort, I’d actually get stuff done. I was very good with the Arts. Mathematics was my biggest challenge, (laughs) I guess still is, but I’ve come a long way.

For secondary I was put in Wanyange boarding school and that was a whole other experience because being sickly, away from home and having been pampered all my life, there I was. I had cousins in higher classes who watched out for me but that was my transition into independence, just learning to be able to stand. At first I became a bully then I outgrew it. I would get people to do stuff for me. Then I found my way into a leadership space though sadly at first, I used that to still get people to do stuff for me. Then I think it’s in my A level that I got to really serve and not to just get people to do stuff for me.”

Curious, I ask her what sparked that urge to change and use leadership for real service.

“I’d grown up in church all my life but it’s at that point that I became really serious with God. It was during my senior 4 transition. My mum fell sick and it’s in that moment that my faith meant more to me than anything. By the time I got to A-level I was really grounded and that’s what changed my perspective. I’m now a leader not to get privileges but basically to empower and mentor other people. I was a head girl and head of scripture union fellowship in my A-levels.”

How did your journey proceed after high school?

“After I did my high school, I passed and was admitted to university as a private student. I was super excited. However, I realized I wasn’t able to go to university. Mum was sick and going through chemotherapy. There was no money for university. I was brought to a place where I had to drop out not because I was daft or I didn’t want to study but because of matters out of my control. So that put me on a totally different path. To build my first CV, I did a number of online courses and that’s how I got a job which gave me formal training.”

What inspired you to get up and move forward from that discouragement of not being able to go to university?

“During that time I spent a lot of time with my mum in hospital taking care of her. Cancer, as a disease in Uganda was only starting to get on the rise and the perception toward it was similar to that of AIDS whereby it was assumed that when you get it, you die. But interestingly, my mum refused to die and it is something she verbalized. She said ‘I refuse to die’ and it would annoy me like crazy because I thought that it was her fate due to the general perception. A year later my mum actually pulled through and she is one of those cancer survivors that has no side effects…for me that was a miracle and the fact that she said she refused to die and that she needed to see her grand children, it was proof that her will kept her alive. So that’s where I picked the will to push for my dreams, to know that no matter where you are, you can actually push against the tides. I had seen her practically do it.

I had wanted to be a journalist or lawyer so at that point I asked myself what it was about those two professions that I loved. I realized it was that I wanted to speak for the vulnerable and bring justice in some way. So I started reading very wide and realized I was more interested in humanities and that took shape for me. I hate it when people are marginalized and I want to do my part to make a difference everyday.”

So how and when did you start the different initiatives that you run and what was the progression from one to the other? Did it all happen at once?

“Definitely not all at once. My very first initiative was Kyusa which I started in 2014. I left my last formal employment in 2012 and took a gap year in 2013 where I got a scholarship to go to India and do a course in social entrepreneurship. That helped shape the idea of what I wanted to do and this led to the launch of Kyusa, my first organization that I started from scratch. It’s been an experience and it was my first baby.

In 2015, I started getting offers from people who wanted me to do consultancy or training for them that didn’t fit within the Kyusa framework. This led to the birth of Newen consults, a company I started in partnership with a friend. Newen Consults does personal and business development consulting. Kyusa still remained my main focus though.

Around that time, I was mentoring and coaching young women and there a was period when seven women approached me for personalized coaching and mentoring around the same time. I knew that it would be a stretch for me. I prayed about it and that gave me the idea to do group mentoring. After that group mentoring pilot, there were people on the wait list already. This gave birth to the New Generations Mentoring program. This program was branded under Newen Consults. This has been running since 2016 and now we are in the fifth cohort. It’s been an amazing journey.

While doing business consultation, one of the things that bothered me was how there was little space for faith as a woman within the different business transactions. It was this that led me to read and research about “Kingdom Business” and interestingly there was not so much information about it. I had questions like at what point do I tithe as the business? At what point do I uphold my faith in business? Is there room for it because I can’t be one person and then another when it comes to business. So for a year we had this whatsapp group where we basically discussed business as women. We talked about tithe, prayer in business, sharing the gospel with workmates and so on. The network itself just grew over time. It’s not something that I woke up and decided to do. However, because I had started the initiative, I came on board as the founding president. We structured and registered it as the Christian Women’s Entrepreneurship Network and put in place a committee that runs it. This took effect in 2017.

Next in 2017 when I wanted to do my book launch for Find Your Significance, I published my book under Newen consults and now in addition, we offer this service as well as nurturing and training upcoming young authors and helping them launch their books.”

I had more questions and there is much more wisdom to be gleaned from Noeline. Let’s drink in this knowledge together slowly and fully. The second part of this interview will be published next Sunday on this same blog.

I believe you are looking forward to it too 🙂 .

See you next Sunday.

Best regards,

Keziah.

The Process Matters

Have you heard the saying, “The end justifies the means”? It is commonly used to excuse an erroneous process of achieving something, claiming that all that matters is the end product. How true could this statement be?

Well, in Robert T. Kiyosaki’s book titled Increasing Your Financial IQ, he says, “…the process is more important than the goal”. He argues that the process is what refines a person’s mindset and enables them be able to achieve a certain goal.

Furthermore, Bishop T.D. Jakes in one of his sermons said, “We want promotion without process.” He spoke about a prevailing microwave generation that desires quick results without the strenuous journey of growing and building, and yet it is the process we go through that enables us to mature and place ourselves in paths of significance, where we can finally achieve impact, holistic success and worthwhile recognition where it is due.

I also believe that holistic success relies heavily on a correct process. There are no shortcuts. But what is a correct process?

First, a correct process requires a certain dying to “self” so that a new and bigger thing can be born. John 12:24 says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” This means you may need to unlearn certain habits and learn new ones. You may have to move to a new location, change the company you keep, and so on. The basic principle is making a big shift in your mind so that you are open to new ways and new possibilities. It is leaving behind old things for new things. This dying to self is not a one-time thing for success is not achieved in one go but rather a continual process that requires sensitivity to the seasons of life, so that you make decisions with wisdom within season.

In addition, a correct process inspires growth and builds character. There is an element of overcoming challenges by solving puzzles. The victory rests in perseverance and endurance. Romans 5: 3-4 says, “…but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; ⁴and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” While a shady and dubious process such as bribing your way through may attain you the final goal, it will most likely leave you with little to no growth or true fulfillment. What’s more, you won’t even have the confidence to confidently share your journey for fear of being discovered. Let us instead adopt a problem-solver’s mindset and perseverance with the right attitude.

George Matthew Adams, an American newspaper columnist and founder of the George Matthew Adams Newspaper Service, once said, “ Character is greater than talent, genius, fame, money, friends – there is nothing to compare with it. A man may have all these and yet remain comparatively useless – be unhappy – and die a bankrupt in soul. ” We are building character when we tackle different challenges and endure the process faithfully without taking shortcuts.

In addition, a correct process involves a form of good mentorship directly or indirectly. I have never heard of a happily successful person that said their path did not include a precedent in the form of a person or a word. Either, they watched and learnt from a successful person’s path, listened to guidance from that person or read wise advice from an article or story. There is always a guidance factor whether it is a one-on-one close-knit mentorship, or a learning of good practices from different places. Sometimes mentorship happens by accident but a wise person will seek it out actively.

One of my favourite all time quotes is by George Matthew Adams.

He says, “There is no such thing as a ‘self-made’ man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.”

The journey is the most important part of our aspirations for it molds us. I know the process may be frustrating and many times we may be tempted to give up. However, let’s hold firm knowing victory lies on the other side of the challenge. Let us actively enjoy the process it will take for us to arrive at our due promotion.

Have a beautiful week ahead.

Regards,

Keziah.

NOTE: Most of the images used on this blog currently, are downloaded from the internet through random searches. Where an image source is not acknowledged, this blog DOES NOT claim ownership of it and we therefore acknowledge alternative ownership. Thank you.

“If you only place a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the rest of the world will not raise the price. And as a result of your own low self-esteem and poor sense of self-worth, you will fail to make a positive difference in the lives of others because you’ll think you have little to offer.”

John C. Maxwell from his book “Intentional Living”

One of the dictionary definitions of the word value is the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. Depending on your perception, you can place a high value on something that actually has a low value and vice versa. Why is it so important to have a healthy self-esteem? John C. Maxwell in the same book says,

“…it’s impossible to consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with how we feel about ourselves on the inside. Self-image dictates daily behavior. How we see ourselves regulates what we consistently do, and our regular behavior is what defines us, not what we might do on a rare occasion.”

Your perception of your value will affect the way you relate with others as well as the way you work. As a result you will either be pleasantly satisfied with your life, neutral or heavily dissatisfied.

Place two people with different perceptions in the exact same situation with the same potentials and limitations. The one that has a positive perception will view the limitations as opportunities to find solutions and generate new ideas. Regardless of how he/she feels emotionally, his/her mindset powers him/her up to step beyond the circumstances. However, the person that has a negative perception will emphasize the limitations, magnify them mentally, and as a result even the potentials seize to matter because they are so focused on the limitations they have blown up.

Our actions are activated by our thoughts. Your knowledge of your identity and true value will affect the decisions you make. We are intelligent beings with extremely high potential however some people never manifest their highest potential because they do not believe that they inherently have all they need.

One day after running around for a client and being tossed around, I was extremely frustrated and unhappy. My mum, who I expected to console me, asked me, “Why are you letting people treat you like a roadside tailor when you are a designer?” That hit me hard! We do not disrespect or underestimate roadside tailors at all. The point here is that I am much more. I had designed an outfit for my client from scratch and tailored it myself. I met her at her convenience, outside my workshop, more than twice for the measurements and fitting. In addition to all this, it was an order I took at a very short notice. I went over, above and beyond to try and satisfy this client because I viewed her as an important person but I made a huge mistake because I allowed her to toss me around and pay me peanuts at the end of the job. Because she was a C.E.O. of an important organization, I had exaggerated her value as a client and belittled myself thinking I had to do whatever it took to try and gain her as a client. The big mistake that I made was in perceiving the value I could offer as very little. In the process, I ended up selling myself very short and getting very frustrated in the process. By the end of that order I was physically and mentally exhausted. From that day I decided no more! I will not belittle my value as a person nor the value that the business offers ever again. Regardless of whether I am serving the president or my neighbourhood friend, they will meet me at the true value I offer. For me, that is a call to increase my value as a person by improving my skills even more and enhancing the value of the business in every aspect of its operations (process) and product so that when I ask to be paid a certain amount, the value for money is guarantied without question or appreciated despite question.

I had another contrary experience where I got an architectural work client. I was going to offer him a certain price but instead of telling him what I was thinking of asking for, I asked him what his minimum budget for the work was, to get an understanding of his offer. To my pleasant surprise, he told me a price that was three times what I was going to ask for. When I smiled slightly, he asked if the amount was too little. Again I had underestimated my value! And this time, I realized this client perceived my value at a much higher level than I thought he would! Friends, these illustrations are more than crystal clear. We need to have a proper perception of ourselves, and the value we bring to the table at any given time. That value can keep increasing, so we need to work on enhancing our skills and developing our minds.

Finally, I want to leave you with this question: what is the value of your time per minute? This week, I got a personal revelation that I shouldn’t focus on working longer hours to earn more, I simply need to increase the value of my minute and hence my hour. Basically, I need to increase the financial value of my time. I can do this through enhancing my skills and charging people right for my time because no matter how high my value is, if I do not let people know it, they will be more than happy to give me a lower value, in most cases. It does not mean that some time can’t be given for less or no cost, especially with good reason. It simply means that I will be more intentional about getting proper monetary value for my work.

So again, I’ll ask, “What is the monetary value of your minute?”

Our focus shouldn’t be on increasing the number of hours we work but rather, on increasing our value per hour.

Have a beautiful week.

Regards,

Keziah.

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