And So It Begins

Hi,

Its been a while since i've done a blog post, but I’m back now. In my previous posts, I blogged about what mattered most to me. Back then, it was creating your own path and finding what makes you happy, irrespective of social ideals. This has changed, now I believe that there is no sustainable satisfaction other than in Christ Jesus.

Before coming to this conclusion, I believed life was based on a journey of trials and tribulations before you get to the top, where everything you went through feels worth it. I don't think i'm alone in this thinking…. I think as a society we are accustom to slaving for safety & security, while some risk it all and slave for their hearts desires, usually outside their comfort zone. As a result of my beliefs, I broke out and chased my goals. I made a lot of progress, built a team of people way smarter than me, learnt from the best and worked really hard. Unfortunately, things didn't go as expected.

If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't change anything because I may not have come to this conclusion. The foundation of all my intentions have always been based around love, selflessness and courage, but the mistake was the belief that only in unconventional journeys could you truly reach the pinnacles of love, selflessness and courage.

I would liken this to journeys of great entrepreneurs past, who fought courageously to the top of their industries, then find a greater satisfaction in giving away their wealth in love and selflessness. A prime example of this is the second richest man who ever lived, John D Rockefeller (after King Solomon). You know you have done well when you are asked by your government to break and sell your assets and still, in death a piece is the largest organisation in the world (Exxonmobil). It has been well documented that, though he owned 2% of the American Economy, he was visibly happier in his charitable exploits.

All I want was to build something people love, and become financially liberated, so I can start tackling the world’s real problems like giving a life to those on the line and helping those who want to honestly get ahead move faster.

Now in Christ, I have realised that I can show love & selflessness to my fellow men and it takes courage to stand by Christ and I don't have to slave. I still have my aspirations, but this is going to be the foundation of every post I publish now.

This is me sharing the best of my life (Christ) with you, because I love and care about you.

(Sorry, I know the title doesn't completely relate, but i just started writing and ……..)

THE END

Coming Soon… Max Interval Christianity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uA-M5LZ_h0
Coming Soon… Max Interval Christianity

The Art of Micro-Management

When you think of Micromanagement, I'm sure this image comes to mind. I searched for the definition of management through Google, and came across words like deal, control, handle and supervise. These words are rather hostile, yet most companies use the word "Management", without checking for the definition (Mainstream thinking).

As far as I know, there is only one question that will be answered with "Yes" by every human being.

"Do you want to be successful?", yet most of us will end up not being successful (Sad but true).

For the sake of understanding my Theory, I will use money as a measurement of success.

"The 1 Percent" is a documentary released in late 2006, which highlights the fact that 42.2% of America's wealth is owned by 1% of the population. Personally, I see nothing wrong with it, as long as you got your money the right way. In most cases, these people own businesses, or own assets which are managed by a team.

The Breakdown
100% of the people on the earth want to be successful,

Out of the 100% only about 40% (probably less) know the definition of their success (like being a musician).

Out of the 40%, about 20% know how successful they want to be (like playing at a specific opera house, or earning £80,000 a year playing 4 days a week, so he/she has time for other things).

Out of the 20%, only about 10% know how to get there (Practising, so I'm good enough to charge £500 per show, so by November I've hit my year's target).

Out of the 10%, only 5% set measurable goals (I should be at "this" skill level at playing the guitar by the 25th of July).

Out of the 5%, only 1% micromanage their goals

Based on my research, the difference between the 1% percent and the 99% apart from wealth is Micromanagement.

Micromanagement is not letting a day pass, without consciously work towards your goals. I'm not talking about none stop work, a lot of rest is part of micromanagement.

It's as easy as listing 5 things towards your goal you will do before the end of the day and creating a chart, so you can write down how many you did that day.

It's not for everyone though, just the 1%

THE END

Feel free to email me,
If you want to chat about it
akasadze@gmail.com

        
       

The Entrepreneurial Mindset

Adi Gold is a representation of where I want to be and what I want to accomplish. I dream to live, and work on projects that make my Monday mornings exciting (for those that work, it is a big deal). In other words, I want to work on the toughest problems and crack them.

Within the corporate environment, this luxury is given to those that are highly experienced and have a considerable level of networking skills. So, I chose to take the entrepreneurial route. It would be really cool if everyone chased their dreams, but the journey is not for everyone. Here's why

  

1. Dissatisfaction: If you are satisfied with the way things are, the odds say you will never start a company, because you will see no need to, apart from success or social ideals (which is not enough). Your dissatisfaction doesn't need to stem from the idea itself, it may be from your life or even your boss. Drew Houston (Founder of Dropbox at 24) forgot his USB on a trip, and was dissatisfied with needing a USB to access his files. He started writing the code for Dropbox on the spot, fast-forward to 2013, Dropbox valuation $4 billion.  
2. Selflessness: Entrepreneurship is a very selfless act; I'll use Mark Zuckerberg to explain how. The reason he started Facebook was because he wanted something cool he could use with and his friends. Once Facebook took off, he never had time to use it (he couldn't even access his profile because he knew the system would crash if he did).
3. Persistency: James Dyson (the guy that made the cool hoover) made 5,127 prototypes. Failure is in giving up. That said, try to pick projects that have decent R.O.I time scales (beware of the "Pursuit of happiness" Syndrome, if you need quick results). 
4. Passionate: Start-ups are all about passion... For every idea you have, or problem you want to solve, there are already solutions in the market. If you are not passionate enough about your solution, your customers will not be passionate either. 

I believe, these are the primary success factors in any founding team. It's really not about being smart

So, when you get an idea or a problem, you can ask yourself these questions

1. How dissatisfied am I with the current solution in the market?
2. Am I willing to put everything aside to solely work on this project?
3. Am I ready to dedicate myself regardless of how challenging it is or how long it will take?
4. How passionate am I about this problem? Are people as passionate as I am?

If the answers are "Yes", then you are in the right frame of mind to start your entrepreneurial journey. If not, back to the drawing board, but remember giving up is failing.

THE END

Mainstream Thinking?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGMYdalClU

I was scanning through my laptop deleting unnecessary files, when I saw a note reminding me to finish watching a documentary I was 30 minutes into. It was based on the unglamorous side of humanity. It clearly showed the everyday connection our lives have to animal cruelty and deforestation.

Don't worry, I'm not going to explain why we should become vegetarians and plant trees.

The video above gives me chills every time I watch it. My subconscious reads it as bad, yet I live it and my subconscious is off then. It’s like watching a movie that makes you cry, then seeing a section of the movie in real life, which you know connects the grim back-end that caused your tears, yet you don't care.

This is called “Mainstream Thinking”.... It's the norm, so we don't care or we punish ourselves by learning to live with dissatisfaction. This is why people suffer from depression.

Depressions... The psychological punishment subconsciously inflicted on one's self, for trying to live with things he/she is dissatisfied with.

Adi Gold

If you were given the chance to change one thing in the world today what would it be? Take a minute to think about it.

The greatest lie we have told ourselves is, "If we have the chance" because we do. It definitely wouldn't be easy and people may think you are mad, or try to stop you but that's the fun part.

Mainstream thinking has enslaved us into believing we don't have the ability to change things.

THE END

This post is laying the foundation for my next post
"The Entrepreneurial Mind-set" 

Founders and Friends

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were neighbours as kids and have been close friends ever since?

Lesson 3: When venturing into the unknown, it is best to do it with a friend.

It's really weird, but all my close friends have been dreamers (I actually had a friend nicknamed "Dreamer"). Though most of them didn't take the dive I did, they keep me motivated enough to chase mine.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck probably talked a lot about how they were going to dominate Hollywood and become movie stars. They must have hung-out and talked about it so much that their belief levels were Sky-high.

That's the most important reason to dream with a friend, or have people with similar or relatable goals around you often.

They keep you going

When I started my Entrepreneurial journey, the first challenge I came across was finding a technical co-founder. At first I thought my idea was so amazing that I would find someone that would want to work with me. Trust me that will probably not happen for two reasons

1. Every software engineer has their own little project which they believe will end up being the next Facebook
2. Your idea is only 1% of your entrepreneurial journey as my mum would say, "Anyone can use their mouth to make sweet stew".... but craftsmanship is everything

Steve Jobs explained it better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NsSBnmmhx4Y

Here's how I solved it

Instead of looking for a co-founder, I started looking for a friend. When I met people, I never spoke about my project or how I was an entrepreneur. I let them talk about what they did and I always made them show off their cool little project on their phone (every good programmer has one). By looking at their project, I knew if they had the skills needed.

I still didn't find a co-founder that way, but I got advice on where to find one, a website for people looking to work on cool projects. So, I made the most technical advert possible (copy and paste from other ads on the site). Then I wrote two fundamental things

1. If you are not looking to working on a very disruptive project, do not apply
2. I am not just looking for a co-founder but also a friend

It worked, I found the coolest co-founder. He doesn't live in London and we have never met, but our relationship is great. He is one of the coolest people I know, because he lives life just like my dreamer friends. He works for a big company, but is not comfortable and still dreams. He takes a lot of holidays and likes skiing (which I find pretty cool). It’s not easy working, as we have never met, but I wouldn't stop working with him even if my room-mate worked for Google.

Hopefully we will end up like these guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RIS5GJqAg

 Also... Though I had a plan the journey was very different

Lesson 4: Expect the unexpected, but have a good plan

The Irony of Percieved Success

This is a picture of one of the world's most popular inventors. He pretty much laid the foundation for everything that is anything in the world. He created the first practical light-bulb and held over 1093 patents (excluding those registered in Europe).

Yet, on record he spent more than half his life failing at almost everything he touched.

There are two types of failures, those that plan to fail and those that attempt, but fail... Thomas Edison was the latter.

I read about him, and found two fundamental things that made him who we remember:

Fact 1

He was partially deaf by the age of 12 (he couldn't hear sentences, but picked up sound).

In America, 12 years old kids are in middle school, where they are introduced to lab reports (the cycle of Experiment, Fail, and Report). That's pretty much what he did for the rest of his life.

Fact 2

Thomas Edison had some disastrous failures that made him the laughing stock of the world.

The first was "Concrete Furniture" which was too heavy to lift; The second was a supposed "Talking Doll" that only screamed, scaring children. Though he could barely hear the world laughing, he hung the newspaper cartoon images making a fool of him on his office walls.

In the society we live in, we tend to be scared of experimenting, so we fail before we even start.

We live in a world where planning to fail is regarded as success, and attempting but failing is regarded as failure (rather than a successful attempt).

The first lesson I learnt: In order to be successful, you have to be prepared to fail.

THE END

After writing this, I thought about the definition of success and concluded that success is what you make it. That means what wrote is wrong in a few ways.

Lesson Two: Always think Critically  

"No... I want to be an Entrepreneur"

That's my dad and I at my graduating ceremony when he asked when I was starting my Masters. I looked at him and laughed (When you are really not joking, but you smile).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Iw0-U9OknI

 It was a bitter sweet day because, though I was happy to be leaving school, I felt like I had wasted so much time doing something I didn't love.

School was too structured and had no innovation, I felt like a cow in a caged barn being milked of creativity and expression(doing the same thing every day).

A few days later, my old man and I sat down to have the talk he was trying to ease me into earlier.

My dad's one heck of a salesman, so before he asked me the only question that mattered, he asked about 20 questions that he knew I would answer with "Yes". Then he asked the real question,

"You are moving to Nigeria at the end of the holiday, Right?” (That's how salesmen ask questions)

Then I replied "No", followed by an awkward silence. Being a salesman myself I took the chance to start my sales pitch. It was titles, "I want to be an Entrepreneur". I spoke for about an hour, with him saying nothing. The second awkward silence came; it was longer, than the first.

Then he replied, "OK". 

The reply scared me, because I knew how much working with me meant to him. Yet he put my desires ahead of his.

THE END    

Introductory Letter

Hi,

This blog is the documentation of my entrepreneurial journey. A Lot of people want to start businesses but are scared, don't know where to start, or don't have any good ideas. This blog will show you the London tech scene and how I overcame the "Buts". I still have a long way to go.

My company is called "TugBox" (Download the app on the Apple app store, its a bit buggy)

The next post will be My Business Pitch...

Stay tuned