Solomon Perkins

Hi, Happy New Year! I’m sure you’d agree that there is so much to be grateful for. For one, we’ve made it through another year. So how was 2018 for you? For me, it was a year filled with challenges, uncertainty and achievements more than I had anticipated. In retrospect, here are some of the lessons learnt for both my professional and personal life.

Career

It is true that growth is always outside your comfort zone and last year I took a big leap of faith in my career. In January of last year, I disrupted myself by taking up an offer as an Assistant Development Manager at another IT firm. Having worked with a team of awesome Engineers it was a difficult decision. There was no push factor as I thoroughly enjoyed my job. We had a great environment, team members were like family and we were like one big well-oiled machine. The right boxes were checked on what a good IT company should be.

I wanted a new challenge and so I went outside my comfort zone and disrupted my career. Initially, I felt that this new opportunity was above my capabilities, but I took the position after receiving the much-needed feedback from my mentors. In hindsight, I’m happy I made that brave step as a new growth level has been reached.

Entrepreneurship: Take One

It was as if starting a new career wasn’t enough, I began my entreprenerial journey by starting a pepper farm with a few friends. After a year of planning, we started the business with a different objective than that of our parents. We realized that the community has huge growth potential. However, the farmers don’t have the necessary tools to capitalize on these opportunities. Our idea is to apply the venture capitalist model to farming. In a future blog post will share in greater details, but the idea is to help farmers increase their yield by providing them with the tools necessary. However, we didn’t have the capital or the business proof to execute the idea at scale. So we decided to prove the model while generating the well-needed capital with a pepper farm. The crop is supplying a local factory over 1000 pounds (lbs) of pepper within a year. But more details coming soon.

As Buju said, It is not an easy road. Starting a business is no joke, it took time, capital and a lot of hard work to get it started - by hard work I mean manual labour. But I’m grateful for what we’ve accomplished thus far.

Personal Growth

It is another year of growth and I’m grateful for that. Not vertical but mental growth in my personality and my interactions with my fellow citizens.

Listened more. Two ears and one mouth is the phrase I believed summed up my year. I started to put myself in other people’s shoes by listening more often. A simple example of this was with my mentees. I have them identify possible solutions to their problems, instead of providing the solution. I realised it created more dialogue and build more trust.

Being more grateful. I had the opportunity of achieving a few objectives, among those were presenting at a few technology conferences and some home improvements. I also volunteered at a couple of programs, one included a back to school drive in my community. I also watched as a few of my friends achieve new levels in their personal, professional and spiritual lives. There is so much to be thankful for but as the Holy Book said, in all things give thanks.

Growth feedback. Not all was rosy thought the year. Having successfully completed my solar off-grid project, I wanted to take another step in the renewable lifestyle by setting up a biodigester system. I wasn’t able to complete the project due to unforeseen issues, but the prototype version was a success.

Looking For Better And Greater Things.

Having lived through the challenges of 2018, I do believe that this year I can do better. There were instances when I didn’t capitalise on the opportunities but this year I will put more “pep in my steps” (if life spear). Since no day is guaranteed, setting and achieving daily goals has become my daily mission.

I wish for you and you’re family a happy and a prosperous new year. Remember to:

Love your life. Perfect your life. Beautify all things in your life - Tecumseh.