Starts, stops, backtracks and a step forward: Why Entrepreneurship ? 🤨 - the Musings of Moko Bi
Hi. You may call me Moko Bi. These are my musings.
Why oh why, would anyone give up a steady paycheck in the name of entrepreneurship and the pursuit of happiness!?
And if you are Moko Bi, which I am, you probably throw about things like…
“I love the whole self determination and the consequences that come about from relative independence… and being a maker through my own head, heart and hands….bla bla bla“
Starts, stops, backtracks, a step forward, two steps back - then maybe, maybe… if you are fortunate, you can put it altogether and build something functional that is self sustaining, and maybe even support livelihoods.
The journey of the Entrepreneur is full of false starts, heartache, disappointments, loneliness and many hurry ups and waits.
It’s no secret many very good ideas never even make it to a startup phase… [ oh if I ever had a dis for my many dats…. I would definitely have a lot of dis and dats 🤨] …and even more discouraging is the rate at which young businesses fail, far more than succeed.
So why would I still seek a journey in entrepreneurship? The truth is, I like doing things at my own pace. I like making up the tune to the soundtrack of my life. Even more deeply impactful is using my own head, heart and hands to create and make. Not saying I am good at any of these things - BUT - I enjoy doing them.
I particularly like the idea of a Solopreneur. I especially sympathize with the stories and journeys of the micro business person. I love hearing the marketing jingles of - Ada ηoo - (salt from Ada). I am enamored by persistence of - eyε original plastic chairs fufro aba - eyε nkonya ooo eyε nkyonya ( call out for new chairs) - or - wu nasi, wu ba nu nasi (call outs for footwear for child and parent )
I don’t know much about how we got here as -sapiens sapiens, but what is obvious to me now… to be able to participate and have - Food, Shelter, Security and be part of a Social society, the average person has to earn a wage, or generate an income, in order to afford a sustained livelihood. Now the viability, sustainability and the humane-ness of such community models is subject to great socio economic and philosophical debates. The conversations around how - sapiens sapiens have chosen to organize their societies over different time periods, and community persuasions is probably as old as the first human. As one of the oldest known ancestor, I wonder what 'Lucy’ thought.
In general, the broad means of making a wage will either be personally meaningful or very much a means to an end.
I suppose one extreme is - earning a living for something you would do regardless - such as - even if everyone made the impending Mars trip and you were the only one left behind on this Rock - you would still do whatever that thing is. On the other hand, having no options and resorting to doing dead end tasks so you can eat may be a daily grind that is a reality for many.
Indulge me on this tangent.
Now, I am not expert on the matter, but I think Archaeologists like to dig. They often dig looking for clues to tell more of the story about the past. They often find remains that can be dated very far back to different eras. Sometimes these skeletons are all that remains of a life once lived. No known witnesses to share their stories of who they once were, what they did, what they liked, or who they once helped.
I suppose today, it may be easier for a future skeleton not to be solitary - the Information age transcending our lifetime will make it easier for future skeletons not to be strangers - especially when you throw DNA tech and Social media into the mix.
SO what!?
“SO, maybe we should just live, and let live - We just live our today, and let the future live tomorrow.”
So, my point here is… who you are and what you do today, may very well get lost in the arc of human history. The future may never know you even existed, or even worse, the future may know and yet not care. Not from malice, but simply because the future will be preoccupied with the today of then. You may not be completely irrelevant - but probably not top of mind. Like plenty who have come before you, their future, that is your today, is worried about its own future and how to survive its today, hence has little time left to be overly concerned about a past that no longer lives.
I feel there is so much I can and want to do. I am not always sure I will get a chance to do them. Guess there is some truth to the cliche - life being wasted on the youth.
In times like these - the downs - I cannot overstate how I feel - there seem to be such waste in the prudence of living for tomorrow, preparing for a rainy day - etc. A culture steeped in preparing you for the future has a potential to rob you from your today.
SO, maybe we should just live, and let live - We just live our today, and let the future live tomorrow.
BUT…
Well, if you really don’t want to disappear in the future, then I suppose there are a couple ways to project your legacy into the future - short of living eternally.
Though there are a myriad of reasons in the immediacy of now for persons to have offsprings, it ultimately serves as an extension of their legacy into the future of human time scales. Most people will be considered on the basis of where they fit in a family tree or genealogy network. Although one has to wonder how many families have an active family tree documented (narratives and visuals) and readily available for a present generation to periodically review and have a peek at the past. I venture to guess, that the average person at best knows about their grandparents, and very few know about the great grandparent generation prior.
Again… SO?
I like the idea of Solopreneurship - particularly today - because I can work towards earning a wage, while enjoying my solitude, all the while preparing notes for the breast pocket plate of my future skeleton that says - ‘Hi. You may call me Moko Bi. These are my musings.’