The OctopusEntrepreneur

Wangari Kimani-Maina

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Acknowledgements

This being the first e-book in the Esteemed™ series, I stand in awe of

the Lord Jesus Christ and our very able Father and God in Heaven. I

acknowledge that without you sending the Holy Spirit to open my

eyes, this would not be. My husband Patrick, for agreeing to be God’s

vessel and opening our lives to the words of God in the Bible,

Jeremiah 33:2-3: “call to me and I will answer you and tell you great

and unsearchable things you do not know.” I love you sweetheart and

thank you for believing in me. Our precious Mishael, for bringing me

to the place where God spoke to me and for causing me to halt long

enough to write. To my parents, I love you

Copyright

© This e-book is the original production and publication of Esteemed

Royale. It may not be reproduced in part or in whole without the

written approval of the author.

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Contents

Introduction

Two arms, six appendages

3-Hearted Entrepreneur

The brain @ the top of the body

Camouflage – blend and grow

Cut off time

Sticking to it

Malleability

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Introduction

Background

The other day I went into a search mode about the octopus. A slimy

8-legged creature is what I visualized it to be based on my primary

school teaching. I actually realized they are arms and legs hence the

generalized term of appendages.

The octopus struck me for its great features

Eight arms

Three hearts

Developed brain

Camouflage ability

Cutting of its appendages

Sticky appendages

Only one bone in its body

The inspiration behind this e-book does not seek to increase your

scientific knowledge of the octopus. God inspired the writing of this

e-book so that we may relate the features of this magnificent creature

to our entrepreneurial selves, our businesses and subsequently,

ourselves to the nature of our maker, God in Heaven.

Isn’t it amazing that God did not create anything that has two heads?

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Merging the Octopus and the Entrepreneur

A lot of people have the idea of being free from a job and so they

capitalize on the self employment and business ownership channels.

For some this continues to be a distant dream that cannot be because

of a million and one reasons. For those who dare go for the dream,

much is required of them.

I remember when one of my mentors started his business. I was

young in age but I distinctly remember him working out of a small

room that was the size of a hostel cubicle. Yet from that small room,

he developed designs and decorations that took him to trade shows

and fairs across the country. On the road of setting up his business, he

put on many hats – designer, driver, technician, managing director,

business partner and so much more. He had to bear insults, praises,

demotivating speeches, undercuts from competitors, losses to

unscrupulous partners and even attempts on his life.

Today, he stands tall with his multimillion shilling business in Kenya,

and within East Africa. He found his calling and he grew in it,

learning the ropes and teaching them to his wife, children and family

members that would have the interest. He reaps from the simple

element of being an Octopus Entrepreneur.

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Two arms, six appendages

Artist, biologist, astronomer, geographer, farmer, manager, creator, beginner,

finisher, landscaper … name it, He is the best at it and He has got it all together

(The Bible, Genesis Chapter 1 & 2)

ntrepreneurship is a strange world to be in. what however is

lovely about it is that the epitome of entrepreneurship is best

captured in the creation story. God put an order into His creation.

Before bringing animals into the world, God made sure there was

vegetation. Before He created man to have dominion over the earth

and its components, He made sure there was a separation between

the heavens and the earth. With this entire grand plan and so many

tasks, God had to wear many hats. He knew the chemical balance in

the animal bodies, the need for water to grow vegetation and even the

value of the different gases in the atmosphere. He also knew about

rest.

Entrepreneurs need to put on God’s shows – see the end picture, then

come back to the beginning to start putting it all together. For

instance, one who is thinking of investing in buses for long distance

travel, (s) he does not think of only one bus at the time of

conceptualizing the business; (s) he first sees a fleet of buses then

begins to think of how one can turn into ten.

E

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Whilst engaging in entrepreneurship, the God way, individuals must

realize that there is a lot to be done, and some may be done through

other people. The bottom line will be to engage in a psychological

transformation into the octopus with the eight appendages.

When God created the Octopus, He must have known that the

creature needed a well developed brain to manage the eight

appendages otherwise it would tie itself in knots (quite literally). In

my research, I did seek for any one instance of an octopus tying itself up.

Anyhow, the eight work in perfect coordination.

You are an octopus entrepreneur once you develop your God-given 8

appendages

You

create a business

from nothing

manage people

Manage your brand/

product/ service

manage customers

keep nasty competition

at bay

keep good competition

close

Family and Friends

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All these while ensuring you still have what has come to be famously

known as work-life balance! – It simply calls for God’s grace.

Supernatural grace is what keeps the 8 appendages working to your advantage

While swimming in the underwater world, the octopus trails its

eight behind it. Never is it the other way around. As a successful

octopus entrepreneur, you need to learn to swim with your eight

behind you; i.e. you are leading with your head because that is where

your sight is at. Imagine if you jumped into a pool to swim with your

legs and hands in front of you; or what would happen if you got stuck

in a hole and the only loose end is your head. What would provide the

physical means of disentangling you?

As an entrepreneur your assignment is not one. You need to be an

octopus entrepreneur who, when one arm is trying to develop a

competitive product, the other arm is busy recruiting loyal team

members, another arm is building a profitable customer base, another

is effectively managing competition, and another is creating a balance

between your business and the community in which you operate; yet

another is balancing between the business, you and your family/

friends.

Esteemed Nugget

Philippians 4:8 – I can do everything through Him (Christ) who gives me strength

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3-Hearted Entrepreneur

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also – Jesus Christ

(The Bible, Matthew 6:21)

Couldn’t put it any better than Christ did. Research on the

octopus indicates that it has 3 hearts which pump blood to

specific parts of the body. The three hearts ensure its survival and

without one, it is as good as dead.

For the entrepreneur, anything less than three “hearts” guarantees

failure, non-achievement of set goals, stagnation and mediocrity. The

entrepreneurs 3 “hearts” are visualized below:

Soul

Heart

Mind

I

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Allow me to take you back to the creation story. After He had created

everything, God looked and saw that it was good (Genesis chapter 1).

When creating, God was wholly involved in His and His heart.

When it came to creating man in His own image, He not only did it

the way He had done the rest of the creation, this one, He called

Himself, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit, (Trinity), all of whom

make up God. He wanted His image and when He was done, another

look at the complex creation and He saw it was very good.

Every business venture requires the entrepreneur’s heart, soul and

mind.

The heart embodies a passion that cannot be denied.

A passion that allows you to:

work tirelessly even when the revenues/ cash flows are nil or

going towards negative, as you await a turnaround moment

weather all the negative comments over why you will not succeed

in business

weather the storm when everything seems to be going wrong

encourage and support your staff, partners and associates with no

reservations, seeking the best for each of them.

The soul is what gives life to the business. It is the essence of being alive as a

business entity.

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Without a soul, your business is an empty shell. An empty shell is an

opportunity for every negative, life sucking thing to inhabit your

business.

It is a business that has a soul, which has a strong mission and

purpose. It is the eternal nature of the soul that allows one to live

beyond the physical world. So it is in business.

The soul that an entrepreneur gives to his business allows that

enterprise to:-

coin and live a mission beyond the first ten years of existence/

operations

exist for more than monetary gains. While the essence of business

is to make money, the soul enables it to make that money from

and give back to its source – the people who and the environment

which consists its existence.

be one that creates generational wealth. Have you ever seen those

businesses which are called something like Jack & Brothers Co

Ltd or Richard & Sons or Berkeley & Berkeley Investments? A

dig through such may reveal generations that at one time or

another ran the enterprise for years and years. That’s what a

business with a soul tends to look like.

The mind is the house for the vision.

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A man without a vision is living one day at a time, taking in whatever

life has to offer. So it is with a business enterprise without a mind. It

has no vision, no possibility of greatness, no chance of living beyond

survival. Chances of its operations going beyond the first five years

are very slim.

The business mind:

embraces the passion of the heart and spirit in the soul, to drive

the business ahead.

provides fertile ground for healthy business risks

provides a safety net and cushion to break a would be nasty fall

when things go awry

provides a balance for the heart and soul to avoid extremist

activities and actions bordering on the fanatical

Esteemed Nugget

Matthew 22:34-45 and Mark 12:28-31 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

Love your neighbour as yourself

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The brain @ the top of the body

So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof; for

the people had a mind to work

(The Bible, Nehemiah 4:6)

was not a really smart student of biology despite my deep

desire and efforts to pass the subject so as to improve my

overall grade (not a very good reason). However the subject of

the brain really interested me. This was especially after watching

drama movies whose characters were at times considered brain dead.

The brain is a critical element of the human body or any living

creature such as the octopus. Again, you can’t help but marvel at

God’s ingenious nature and knowledge to create a brain. Did you

know that an octopus is intelligent enough to hold a closed can with

one of its arms while trying to pry it open with another arm?

Scientific studies of some of the octopus species have shown that the

octopus has a high level of intelligence.

And why not? The animal has to single handedly (no pun intended)

manipulate all eight appendages, it has to determine in a dangerous

situation, whether to camouflage or cut of its arm (see later chapters).

I

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An octopus entrepreneur ensures that he has a brain to keep the

enterprise alive as well as create, sustain and regenerate the life

substance (brain) of the business. It is what some governments refer

to as the kitchen cabinet; conglomerates use the word think tank. For

SMEs, it is simply the brain of the business. As depict

Kiyosaki’s book, Before you Quit Your Job, 10 things every entrepreneur should

know, a business enterprise consists of eight key elements (not

necessarily in order of importance)

Concept Depicted from the BI triangle in the Robert Kiyosaki series of books

Product

Legal

Systems

Communication

Cashflow

An octopus entrepreneur ensures that he has a brain to keep the

rise alive as well as create, sustain and regenerate the life

) of the business. It is what some governments refer

to as the kitchen cabinet; conglomerates use the word think tank. For

SMEs, it is simply the brain of the business. As depicted in Robert

0 things every entrepreneur should

a business enterprise consists of eight key elements (not

eries of books

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The other three are Mission at the base of the triangle, leadership at

the right hand side of the triangle and Team, on the left hand side of

what Robert Kiyosaki calls the BI Triangle.

An octopus entrepreneur ensures that the eight appendages are

healthy, effective, continuously maturing with the business. He can

only do this courtesy of the brain.

An X-ray of an octopus entrepreneur’s brain/ think tank

Camouflage – blend and grow

What are my areas of improvement?

Do we need to enter foreign markets?

Strategy

Mission

Team Performance

SimplicityGrowth

Competitive advantage

Generational Wealth

Expansion

Unity in diversity

Market forces

Profitability

Social Responsibility

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What are our cash flows like?

Are we on our mission or have we deviated?

Where is this business going to be in my absence?

What is the future of this industry?

What re the new ways of delivering quality to our customers

Who are the new industry players?

What can I offer better that the competition and still remain

profitable

If God put a brain in an octopus, how about us, who were created in

His own image? This is my thought process – if we are in the image of

God, then He must have a brain. His brain must have been very handy

in the creation of the earth and the heavens. Now, if my Maker has

such a beautiful, creative, intelligent brain, what about me, who He

created in His own likeness? All I have to do is stay connected to my

Maker and my octopus entrepreneur mind will do great exploits and

can co-ordinate a think tank for my enterprise.

Esteemed Nugget

Romans 12:2: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and

approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will

John 15:1-8: I am the vine, you are the branches, if a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from Me, you can do nothing

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Camouflage – Blend and grow

Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews…

(The Bible, John 11: 54)

t was amazing to discover that when the octopus is in

danger and unable to take flight, it will release some liquid

from its body (like ink) or it will make itself look like its

surroundings – such as the coral, star fish, algae or jelly fish. The prey

is then confused over where the octopus has gone to. All this to

protect itself and ensure its life goes on.

When his life was almost at its pinnacle here on earth, Christ faced

the threat of death at the hands of the Jews who saw Him as a liar and

the enemy because He proclaimed the Kingdom of God and not what

the religious doctrines had stuck to. Knowing full well on the timings

of His death, the gospel of John chapter 11 in the Bible indicates that

Jesus grew very careful about mingling with people. And he was very

successful. During one of the feasts in which the Pharisees saw as a

perfect opportunity to seize Him, He turned up looking like one of

the people in the crowd. He stayed unseen until He got to the fore

front where He started speaking much to the amazement of the

people. I imagine some had waited at the main entrance of the venue

from the beginning of the festival hoping to catch Jesus. As such,

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seeing Him up there was not only annoying but a shame for their lack

of vigilance.

An octopus entrepreneur needs to camouflage in the business world. “Blend and grow” would be the logic behind the camouflage

When Bill Gates presented his Microsoft idea to IBM back in the

days, he was dismissed; but he continued and went on to implement.

Am sure the management of IBM have always regretted. Camouflage

means working your magic under wraps. Your competition is always

looking at your next move or idea so that he can implement before

you. The foolish entrepreneur does it all out there not knowing that

someone can pick the idea and implement it better than they can.

An octopus entrepreneur is different. By the time the competition

knows what you are up to, the idea is usually well under

implementation and they can only but try to copy it for themselves.

Camouflage means blending with fellow entrepreneurs. Not

necessarily in the same field; but ensuring they are people you can

learn from. Learning through mentorship and coaching, networking

sessions, seminars and conferences. It cannot be stressed ever more

deeply, how important blending is. You learn

What you are going through as tough has a solution

What others do to get affordable financing

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What others do for team building

The latest customer relationship management tips

The latest useful technologies in the market

Which markets to venture into and a host of other lessons

Camouflage is all about calmness. It is the wisest man to walk on

the face of the earth that said “calmness can lay great errors to rest” (The

Bible, Ecclesiastes 10:4). I couldn’t agree more. When the octopus

entrepreneur is camouflaging, he is careful which feathers to ruffle, so

as not wake sleeping giants. It is in calmness that one thinks clearly

and strategically about the business in its current state and the

future.

The business world can be pretty nasty. Not much provocation of

giants is required for them to quash an octopus entrepreneur. They

will seek to slander you, buy you off, run you out of business or even

copy your originality and promote it as theirs because of their muscle.

That is why your 8 appendages and brain as an octopus entrepreneur

(previous chapters) needs to be well developed.

Esteemed Nugget

The Bible, 1st Kings 19:11-34

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an

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earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper…

… There in, the Lord spoke

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Cut off time

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very

self? - Chris

(The Bible Luke 9:25)

id you know that the octopus can cut off one of its

appendages and it will grow right back? It will usually do

this to escape danger. Like when it is running from an

attacker and one of its appendages gets stuck, it cuts off that one. The

predator is then left with the arm or goes on chasing after the arm

instead of the octopus.

For an octopus entrepreneur there are two scenarios for cutting off an

appendage or two. These however should not be mistaken for giving

up.

1st – when a deal or direction you are taking shows signs of regret,

corruption, negative publicity and anything else that would bring

shame to you as a person, and your enterprise; or something that

would not stand upright in the presence of God.

2nd – when all other options of going forward are exhausted and there

is no more opportunity. Giving up is simply refusing to fight anymore

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despite the fact that you still have the ability to press on some more

and there are opportunities for success.

Giving up is downright sinful for the octopus entrepreneur

Let us examine the two scenarios

Cut off for a comeback

The story of the prodigal son is not new. A young man requested his

rich father for his share of inheritance then he left for the great city.

There he squandered it all and eventually became a lowly employee

taking care of pigs. At the very worst of moments, he reached the

point of saying “enough is enough, am going home.” That was his cut-

off point. His father’s servants were having a better life than him. In

his thinking, he arrived at the conclusion that even if he would not be

regarded as a son, at least he could settle for servant hood.

Every business faces a cut-off point more than once in its existence,

and so does the entrepreneur. It is the octopus entrepreneur,

however, who exercises his ability to cut-off one appendage so as not

to lose the whole body. It may be a franchise deal you have pursued

for a long time. After so many negotiations, you extend your hand and

tell the franchisor, “it’s been nice knowing you ladies and gentlemen”

and you walk out the door knowing the papers will never be signed.

That’s your cut-off point. The octopus entrepreneur will brood for one

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hour and after that your think tank comes alive to generate a concept

that may lead you to another franchisor in the same industry but with

a better product/ franchise deal. That’s your come back!

Cut off for a rebirth

What would happen to an octopus entrepreneur’s business interests

if they fell through for one reason or the other? (S) he would find a

way to rebuild from dust.

In the old testament of the Bible (Numbers 10:11-14:45), the Israelites

were to enter the promised land of Canaan. God instructed Moses to

send out spies who did not give a very good report except for two

men (Caleb and Joshua). This negative report caused the Israelites to

start murmuring against Moses and God. God was not amused and

He got to His cut-off point. He condemned them to wander in the

desert for 40 years. In essence, He shed off a generation that simply

angered and treated Him with contempt. In those 40 years, a new

generation formed and it is this one that entered Canaan under the

leadership of Joshua. Even Moses (though for a different reason,

disobedience) did not enter the Promised Land. He was a faithful

servant of God, who had face to face conversations with the

Almighty, yet he saw it from afar, sitting on a mountain top.

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Rebirth is a process which calls for the complete death of the old. Just

like a newborn is a whole entity on its own with no roots in another

body, so is rebirth. A new entity that does not have the blemishes of

the past.

In business, rebirth and cut-off points can be painful and devastating.

Watching everything you have built come to a grinding halt or

tumbling down is not easy. Worst of all is knowing that you have to

start all over again from scratch

Fig 1: An octopus entrepreneur’s business curve

Time

Cut

-off

Progress

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Handling cut-off like an octopus entrepreneur

Cut-off for a comeback or for a rebirth must not be a single event. It

should be a process characterized by firm changes over time. It is

while your curve is on the upward trend that a cut-off should be

considered and a new curve started, Fig. 1

If the cut-off point is put off, two things are bound to happen. One,

the growth will reach its peak and flatten out. Two, once flat, it is

only a matter of time before it starts taking a dip, Fig. 2. Cut-off at

Cut-off

Fig 2: Worst business curve Time

Progress

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either of these two points is the worst because it seems like starting

all over again.

Cut-off point in the mind of the entrepreneur exists even before the

curve starts growing. So how does one handle cut-off points?

a) Build it into the strategic plan

Dreaming big about your enterprise will help you achieve this. If

you are running a grocery shop, consider issues such as – what if

your customer base was so wide and so loyal to you that you have

a self service store with a wider range of products?

Cut-off point: atop having a shop keeper mentality!

If you are carving curios for sales in the retail market to tourists,

what happened to you when the industry goes into a slump?

Cut-off point: stop retail business and seek wholesales business

abroad courtesy of technological advances such as Facebook,

Twitter, e-bay, Amazon etc

b) Have a strong mission

Football is all about scoring goals. It doesn’t matter whether you

use the left leg, head, chest or kick with your ankle, as long as you

do it in the designated areas. The bottom line is you follow the

rules and score the goals.

So it is for your business. If your goal is to make money, as long as

you are playing by the rules, you can do anything. A holding

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company can be in the vehicle industry, food, pharmaceuticals or

telecommunication industries all at the same time. Cut-off points

can bring about a diversified portfolio which can only be

sustained by a strong mission

c) Stay informed

Knowing your industry, products and customers will help you

identify when to cut off.

The bottom line is that knowing when to let go and why, gives the octopus

entrepreneur an edge to reestablish/ reaffirm his/ her presence in the business

Esteemed Nugget

Proverbs 12:28 – Solomon

In the way of righteousness there is life, along that path is immortality

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Sticking to it

Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and

the Lord has taken away, may the Name of the Lord be praised

… shall we accept good from God and not trouble?

The Bible (Job 1:20, 2:10)

hen researching on the octopus, I laughed at one

description of the inner side of the appendages. They are

lined with some sticky substance that allows the

octopus to hold many things under the arms. The write was likening

it to a woman who is trying to balance shopping bags under her arms.

What made me laugh was the image of an octopus in high heels

leaving the shopping mall with bags under six arms.

Thinking about it, I realized that this is a great feature for the octopus

entrepreneur. Every day you get exposed to so much information,

ideas and people. It is the ability to attach the relevant to yourself

that allows you to accumulate much resource to run your enterprise

effectively. In addition to amassing the resources, this feature of

allows you to hold on and keep up a fight worth having.

A read through the book of Job in the Bible reveals that Job was a man

faithful to God. He lost everything yet he maintained his faithfulness

to God. Even at the very worst of times when he couldn’t understand

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how even though he had remained blameless, upright, shunning evil

and fearing God, he was suffering great loss, he still confessed God’s

awesomeness

The Octopus entrepreneur needs to be like these men of old, who

knew their purpose and believed God with no wavering. Joseph, still

in the Bible, with all his trouble of being sold into slavery by his

brothers and being jailed wrongfully, refused to sin by complaining or

murmuring. At the end of it all he was raised to the level of Prime

Minister in Egypt. He stuck to his purpose. Shadrack, Meshack and

Abednego refused to worship any other God. They were even thrown

into a fire to burn. They suffered through their dedication to worship

the One True God but they refused to change. Eventually God came

through for them. So it is in business

There is always a price to pay for refusing to let go and sticking to your guns. There

is also a great reward for the ability to stick.

You need to stick to the worthy fight. For instance a dream client you

have always wanted to have, you need to do everything possible

(legal/ moral of course) to get them. Even if they say no fifty nine

times, it is on the sixtieth that they will say yes. And even if they

don’t stick to them and pray until they come on board.

Key elements for sticking to it include:

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Prayer: nothing works quite like this

Ability to bounce back from failure or rejection

Ability to reinvent yourself and the business

Believing in the goal to be achieved

Working single-mindedly towards your mission

Esteemed Nugget

1 Corinthians 9:26

Therefore do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body, and make it my slave so that after I have preached to

others, I myself will not be disqualified from the prize

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Malleability

He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored

The Bible - Proverbs 13:18

iven that it only has one bone, an octopus is certainly

very flexible and malleable. For that reason, it can go

through the narrowest spaces as it swims in the water

along the sea or ocean bed

Malleability is not a feature you can remove from business.

Sometimes you make mistakes and you have to change the direction

you were taking. Sometimes you may hit a hurdle that you can only

go around it. Sometimes the business environment simply forces you

to change.

Rigidity in business is lethal, especially in the 21st century where

technology is changing daily. Look at newspapers and magazines. For

years sales of printed copies have been a major source of revenue for

the printing and publishing houses. Today with the Apple iPad and

Amazon Kindle as well as the World Wide Web, the revenue base is

changing. If your newspaper, magazine, newsletter or book is not

online, there is a great market you have not captures

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There is a way that seems right to a man but it leads to death. A simple man

believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps - Proverbs 14:12, 15

An artist who insists on displaying and selling his artworks in a

physical gallery, out to consider an online art exhibition using flash

technology on a website, online auction for pieces of art, facebook

and/ or other social and business networking sites. A farmer who

relies on the old farming technologies needs to get online to see the

latest advancements in farming technology. A student in mass

communication who one day hopes to own and manage a production

house can revolutionize their dream by shooting local videos and

sharing them on YouTube as often as possible to simply create a name

and command a following.

Malleability creates grounds for self improvement, business

development, innovation and thinking out of the proverbial box. Not

to be confused with being swayed by every blowing wind,

malleability allows you to remain focused on your ultimate goal but

open to diversity and different ways of doing things.

Esteemed Nugget

Proverbs 13:14 – the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death

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References

1. The BibleOn the various words of men chosen by God to accomplish His will on earth

2. The InternetOn researching for the octopus features

The End