LESSONS FROM THE WOMEN IN BUSINESS COCKTAIL MIXER 2018

Picture: Courtesy of Pearls for Her Facebook Page

I believe you have been able to read my first post on the Women In Business Cocktail Mixer.

The link to the article is….. https://sybellamichelleken.wixsite.com/sybellakenyangi/single-post/2018/06/17/ATTENDING-THE-WOMEN-IN-BUSINESS-COCKTAIL-MIXER-2018

In this article, I am going to highlight what I learned from this event, and I hope you will be able to learn something.

The panelists were Charlyn Kentaro, proprietor of Kentaro Handmade Organics, Juliana Nasasira, proprietor of Kwesh Fashion House, Melissa Lutara, proprietor of Crumbs Bakeshop, Prim Karunga, proprietor “Kweli” Skin Organics, and Diana Habasa, proprietor of Dream House Events.

I am not going to highlight a lot on who said what, but I will just mention the lessons I picked from all the panelists, and I will occasionally drop in a few names along side the advice they were giving.

The lessons I picked are;

1. Having a support team is important as you pursue your calling. It could be support from your family, or just people you would call “cheerleaders.” These are the people who will help you, and support you, either mentally, physically, financially, but they will be there for you, as you pursue your calling.Prim Karunga of Kweli Skin Organics said, “Always surround yourself with people with positivity and that are always rooting for you!”

2. It's important to tithe. Returning the Lords tithe is important, because it’s God who gives you the money you get from all of your customers, and He is the one who brings you those customers.

3. If you are married, doing a business together with your husband, or wife, can be a good idea. Diana Habasa, one of the panelists mentioned that when she partnered with her husband, and introduced her husband to her business, things became better in the business, than when she had been doing it alone on her own, without involving him. They have since decided to work together, and things got better in the business when they decided to walk together.They have been able to become more successful when she decided to involve him rather than when she said she had decided that "Kano kange"… translated, “This is mine”, literally meaning that “this is her thing, and she is doing it on her own, on her own terms.”

4. When you are jobless, don't just sit at home. At least have something you are doing to develop yourself. You can also leave the house during the day, and go to the internet café and research on different businesses, and how to start them, and what it will require to run them.

5. When choosing people to work with, it’s important to find a team that is passionate and supportive. Always remember to pray for your team.

6. Book keeping is important in your business, so that you can keep track of everything you are selling, purchasing etc. It's also important to keep documentation of everything that happens in the business.

7. There are a few things that you will need to sacrifice in order to be successful.Charlyn of Kentaro Hand Made Organics had to sacrifice her social life, at some point. Sometimes her sisters would even tease her about how she was missing out on a lot of things as she was building her brand. There are some things you will have to let go of temporarily, just to see your dream come true. Your business becomes like your baby.

8. As a woman, it's very okay to “get your hands dirty.”Getting your hands dirty in the sense of working hard, and being involved in the daily activities required to run the business. Don’t leave someone else to do all the hard work.

9. Research is very important before, and after you start doing business.

10. The course you do at University shouldn't dictate what you do for a living.

11. As you are pursuing your life purpose, and whatever you are supposed to do, you need to be persistent and chase after those people who you know will help you. Chase after those who you know in your networks might know more than you regarding a certain subject.

12. Try different businesses that you feel are on your heart, until you land on what works for you. You need to experiment and see what works best for you.

13. Finding trustworthy people to work with is a bit hard, so it’s important to pray about the team you will need in your business.

14. Start a business from a challenge, or problem you are either facing, or a problem you see in society. For example, The founder of Kweli Skin Organics had eczema. She and her parents had tried everything in vain, to treat the eczema, but it kept coming back. Failing to find good chemicals to help her with this skin problem, is how the seed was planted in her to start the business of making her own line of skin care products.The problem you are facing right now could be something many other people out there are also struggling with. You can find a solution to that problem, and sell it as either a product or service.

15. Starting a business is great, but the real day to day activities where you will need to run the business, will see you spend a lot of time managing your business and accounts. Also, when it comes to working with people, sometimes managing people can be a headache.

16. As you run your business, it's important to be kind to yourself. Don't forget to spend time on yourself, as it’s easy to get caught up with the many responsibilities.

17. As women, we also need to be kind to each other, and we shouldn't try to pull each other down. "Empowered women empower women."

18. It’s important to motivate your employees every now and then. You need to treat your employees well and be honest with them.

19. Don't settle and never be comfortable. Always be on your toes and always look out for what's happening in your line of business, or industry, because your competition is always looking out for ways to be better. Competition can be very stiff sometimes.

20. Business is harder at the beginning as you start, and it's not as hard as it was at the start...as you progress.

21. Your passion will keep following you around until you do something about it! It follows you around, like the way a fly that wants to eat your food keeps coming close to your food, right in your face! That’s how you will be able to tell that that is your passion, and that you will need to follow your passion.

22. Be open when you are going through stress at work, and talk about it and don't just hide it or keep quiet!

23. When you are trying to get a job, you need to sell yourself like you are selling a product!

24. Be more interested in singing to one person, or rather, making an impact, even if it is to one person, rather than trying to grab the attention of millions. If you are trying to chase the millions, it will be very difficult, especially for a new kind of product or service that is trying to hit the market for the first time. Be more interested in making an impact. Just because someone gets a thousand likes on their Facebook Business page, it doesn't translate to sales.

25. Don't get tired of pushing what you are selling, especially if you have a unique great product you are selling. Don't try to copy people.

26. Write your vision and mission down. It's important to visualize, because whatever you see in the physical first starts with you imagining it and creating a vision book.

27. Do enough research and see how to better your business. People can look to exploit that small mistake you have in your business, so always research and see how to make your business better.

28. Many of the values you have as an individual will rub off onto your team, and will have an impact/influence on your team. Values are important because, as you build networks, people will begin to know and learn that they can trust you, and will stay loyal to you because of your value system. When you stay true to your value system, people will look for you.

29. Be careful who you tell your ideas to, because some people are always trying to steal people’s ideas rather than help you, especially in Africa.

30. Dress code is very important and how you present yourself for a job, as you market yourself, is very important. One of the panelists mentioned how at the start of her business, she lost a gig with one of her first clients, because she went to meet her clients in a vest, and was a bit shy and timid. She was later able to overcome that and became the bold and confident lady she has become today.

31. Its okay to start small, you don't always have to start big. If people can trust you with little and it works, then they can trust you with more tomorrow.

32. Don't promise a lot and deliver little. Always, “Under promise and over deliver!” Always be clear in your communication with your clients. -Some of the challenges Kwesh faced as she was building her brand in fashion abroad is that Fashion abroad, internationally, is dominated by men. The other challenge she faced is that since she started when she was young, she would have some employees who were much older than her, for example, she had an employee, a 40year old man with children, as her employee. So, at her young age, being able to give them orders was a bit hard for her since she was much younger than him.

33. When you are growing a brand, it's like a baby; it has to grow gradually... step by step. Don’t rush it!

To conclude my post today, when the panelists were asked one word to sum up what has made them successful, and that they would attribute to their success, each of the 5 panelists had something to say. They said;

• God,

• Resilience,

• OCD, (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

• Passion,

• Do

During the cocktail mixer, I was able to meet up with a young lady who goes by the names of Kengaaju Ann, who is in the process of opening up her own Tax consultancy, at the age of 24 years.

She will be the first person I will profile for my profile interviews category, here on the blog.

Thank you and stay blessed!