Garden Spices Magazine
LIFEPRENEURSHIP – FROM SURVIVAL TO SIGNIFICANCE, FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY
“We are unlimited beings. We have no ceiling. The capabilities and the talents and the gifts and the power that is within every single individual that is on this planet, is unlimited.” ~Michael Bernard Beckwith
Over the last ten years or so the word entrepreneur has become a buzz word everywhere across the globe. This has continued to create excitement in different sectors since it has been seen a magic pill to the global problem of addressing unemployment. Indeed, it has made its mark, especially for the young fresh graduates. They have been unable to find white collars and as a result. turn into innovative entrepreneurs who are out to solve one problem or another.
The most significant ones are the social entrepreneurs who are guided by purpose and impact and choose to focus on addressing the 3Ps, People, Planet and Profit. Before, most businesses were focused solely on their bottom line, which was solely focused on profits. Over time there has been a need to go beyond profits and ensure that posterity also inherits a piece of earth better than how we found it.
Indeed, there have been numerous investments in the entrepreneurship space that has brought about unprecedented and never imagined innovations that we now use every day. From mobile money transfer (m-pesa) in Kenya, Facebok (USA) to Alibaba an online store in China. This trend seems to have grown rapidly. This sector has raised another interesting aspect, investors. These investors who range from individuals to companies have also assisted in growing the entrepreneurship cycle.
Entrepreneurs now range from those who innovate ideas, run impactful organizations, invest in enterprises to intrapreneurs who are employed but are always improving companies. It has come to be realized that actually everyone is actually an entrepreneur, there are those who were born entrepreneurs and they are those who are self-taught and made.
I have been personally involved in a lot of entrepreneur assignments and challenges and once, I even worked as an MBA business coach. There was so much focus on the technical aspects, especially in business plan writing. Students and entrepreneurs have mastered this art of business plan development. This has progressed to the development of business model canvas (BMC) and lean canvas at the onset of an idea. Even so, the popularity of business plans has ceased. What I noticed over time was the failure by a large percentage of entrepreneurs to execute their innovative ideas.
It just hit me once when I was working with an entrepreneur who was at the point of scaling her business. She had the business know-how and everything seemed to be in place. However, there was uncertainty and personal baggage that were blocking this successful entrepreneur. I had to remove the business coach hat and start exploring with her beyond her business and focus on her personal development and how this could have an impact on her business.
The experience with this entrepreneur is what gave birth to life entrepreneurship, which I have now christened Lifepreneurs. These are high impact people who want to create an outstanding personal and professional lives by identifying personal barriers that hinder the success or legacy they wish to create. This is a new buzz word! How do we support, nurture, train and create a safe space for people who want to live a significant life? How do we become our own live entrepreneurs? Once we take care of the self-enterprise (our personal selves) then are we able to have a successful and extraordinary journey in everything we are doing and wish to undertake and thereby create a personal legacy.
Lifepreneurship is about developing an authentic, personal vision for life and then going for it. It’s about awakening to the opportunities around us and setting audacious goals. It’s about taking action and making a difference. It’s about taking time out for reflection so we can renew ourselves for the road ahead. It’s not just living life, but leading life. Lifepreneurs act as an inspiring rallying cry for people who are seeking a better path, but it also offers a provocative portrayal of the impact this entrepreneurial mindset is having upon our workplaces, learning institutions, communities, and families.
A lifepreneur is indeed a change agent that is keen to build major milestones in their lives and in the organizations they work in. there are many dynamics that influence how to live our life, how we work with others and ultimately how we work with, manage or start enterprises. There is indeed a cry for people to effectively co-create and collaborate to solve some of the world complex problems and this indeed is the path of a lifepreneur.
The clarion call is for us to stop living as a flag that flies wherever the wind blows and instead reflect deeply on where we want to go in life and actively steer in that direction. Time indeed has come where we have stopped leading our lives as a rudderless ship in the high seas and deliberately create steps that will bring the transformation we so desire deep within ourselves.
The starting point, of course, is to learn and embrace our personality together with identifying those fears and beliefs that have stopped us to be extraordinary. Then once this is done, time will be ripe to create a new map with inspiring actions ready.
-Bikundo Onyari
Bikundo is a self-taught lifepreneur based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a NLP coach, life/business coach, facilitator and trainer. He teaches high impact professionals on how to defy the impossible in their personal and professional lives in order to produce immediate, unprecedented and lasting results. He achieves this by supporting them develop authentic personal vision for life and going for it! You can reach him on Twitter @alifepreneur and linkedIn page https://www.linkedin.com/in/bikundoonyari/