STARS NEED DARKNESS TO SHINE!

The last two years have been the toughest for me in business, yet this has ended up being the most creative, innovative and enterprising period of my life. I have seen my business brand spread like wildfire, even without putting money into advertising, simply because I was acting in response to challenges; it was a do-or-die situation. When someone threatens your life, when you sense the danger of death, the survival instinct in you is instantly summoned to make you fight with all your might; you could even jump a wall 3 times your height, even a bedridden patient can run out of the hospital, holding the drip bottle! All because surviving is the first responsibility every human being has.

Same with business. When my business is threatened, that's the time I bring out the best in me. I fight with all I have – I leverage all my talents, skills, networks… to ensure I survive. I think I specialise in dealing with challenges. I enjoy seeing myself as a creator of solutions. I feel glad doing successfully what people think I cannot do. So while I thought I was fighting only to survive, I found I had not only survived but also grown!

It is during this most challenging period, when I had both business and personal/family challenges threatening to strangle me that I created a new product (WI-Magazine) that is now reaching close to 10,000 people every month, with amazing testimonies from our readers and advertisers. Amidst laughter from those that knew my challenges, I have managed to tremendously reduce my company’s liabilities more than some big companies we see around. It is during this same period that we published one of the best books ever written by a Ugandan on the theme business: #IamNotSorryForMyMistakes by #DicksonMushabe (if you don't have a copy yet, you are risking repeating mistakes that are already published; and I won’t need to remind you that WORLD OF INSPIRATION is the place you can find this book at 20k). During this period I have had to discipline myself the way soldiers are disciplined during their training. For instance I have learnt to cut down my expenditure to unimaginable magnitudes. I have no problem being seen using public means.

At the end of the day, I have realised that the challenges that came to bury me have ended up planting me! I now feel ‪#‎WorldOfInspiration is becoming the company I have always dreamt of. I now have the confidence to dream dreams that were hitherto mere fiction. I am no longer afraid to say I am aiming at making a million dollars in one year and a billion dollars before I leave this planet, but most importantly, create jobs, inspire millions of Africans and leave a legacy, because for me it’s not all about money.

In my priorities, money comes number 2, after serving God and society.  This is why I have created several platforms to mentor and inspire others – such as the monthly AUTHORS’ FORUM that’s creating a generation of creative entrepreneurs in Uganda, WORLD OF INSPIRATION PUBLICATIONS that’s telling Uganda’s stories and wisdom through books, WI SCHOOL OF INSPIRATION that’s equipping the Ugandan population with skills and principles that they couldn’t learn from academic institutions, WI MAGAZINE the pioneer inspirational magazine in East Africa... I do all this, not just for money, but because I love doing them.

So my friend, never be afraid of problems. I will say it again: Stars are able to shine because of the darkness around them. Maybe this is the message you were waiting for to straighten your attitude and begin working towards becoming that shining star you have always wanted to be, despite the darkness that surrounds you everyday. May God bless you in a special way today. May the Almighty favour everyone who has supported my business journey – my mentors Patrick Bitature, Amos Wekesa, Dr Edward Kazaire, Vincent Tumwijukye, Emma Katongole and others, all my customers, my current and former employees, my fans, and of course those who closed doors before me, laughed at me and did not believe in me, because without them, I wouldn’t have learnt how to grow on my own (just to paraphrase the words of Albert Einstein).

I promise to continue creating time to share with you such inspirations from my business journey that I am compiling for my coming book ‘DREAMS COME TRUE’. I will be sharing these inspirations with you at least once a week only via this page; so if you haven’t liked this page, do so and also share it with your friends and invite them to like it. Also don’t miss my monthly column in #WIMagazine dabbed #MrInspiration.

#WithLove from ROBERT BAKE TUMUHAISE.

Stay blessed and inspired!