So you can blow the trumpet?

One of my many adventurous drives looking for land landed me somewhere in a place called Landless along Thika Garissa road. I can bet that some guys who were landless were settled there. I met Kamau, a land broker who never stops talking and chewing khat, his mouth is always green like that of a goat. The life that these fellows lead is sometimes amazing. And you would be quick to ignore them but you’d be surprised at how resourceful they can be. Think of a diamond in the rough. You see, this Kamau guy sometimes gets me some nice pieces of land and if I buy any of the land, I give him some good commission. The problem is that this fellow drinks himself silly, in fact if you attempt to call him an hour or so after you pay him any commission, you’ll find him already drunk and talking incoherently; it will be akin to talking to oneself. I think brokers have that mentality that the cash they get from land deals is almost painless or effortless.

Kamau and his problems aside, he showed me some few pieces off Thika Garissa road all the way up to some place called Magogoni, at the foot of Kilimambogo and bordering Ukambani. On our way back he remembered some nice land on sale near Thika Town and we headed there. I liked the land and I therefore requested to meet the owner, one Momanyi. The broker called him and he said he was too busy to meet me on short notice. He however agreed to meet me a week later.

I called my partner Paul and he agreed to accompany me to go meet Momanyi on that Saturday we were to meet. On our way to Town, I called Momanyi and requested him to meet us at Ambassadeur Hotel. His response was rather unexpected, “My friend, I don’t go to River Road. If you want to meet me, find your way to Serena”. I relayed the message to Paul and he laughed mischievously. I told him that I smelled a big rat coz I don’t like dealing with fellows who are all over themselves. Paul was insistent that we meet the fellow coz we might learn a few things from him.

When we packed at Serena, I called Momanyi and we linked up. Big bodied middle aged man with an average pot belly, dressed sharply and with designer shades to boot. We shoot hands introduced ourselves and ordered some drinks. His first question was whether we were serious we really wanted the land. We nodded to affirm so. He then asked us whether we have viewed the land and we replied in the affirmative. Then he cheekily made a comment to the effect that he hoped we could afford the land.

As we sipped our drinks the guy talked and talked big. Within twenty minutes or so he had mentioned of a very large development project he was undertaking in Karen for some 30 units each costing 30M and how he does it without any financing from a bank. He had mentioned how he finances politicians. “You see from here am dashing to chair a meeting, am financing my brother for the some parliamentary contest somewhere in Kisii. The other day I gave him 7 million for his campaigns. In fact am also supposed to clear some Land cruisers in Mombasa for the campaigns so you guys better be serious”, he said. It became a monologue and I was really struggling to listen to him.

After his self-adoration session, we asked for the paperwork to the land we were interested in. To our utter shock, the land was not even in his name. When we asked him why he is selling the land which does not bear his name, he said that he bought the land but decided to register it in his brother’s name now that during those days of the former regime big shots like him were being targeted by the powers that be. “Do you have the power of attorney or on what basis are you to sell the land?” we asked him. He did not have but said his brother is only a call away.

When we enquired for the price of the land, he told us it was worth 3M and non-negotiable. When we gave an offer of 2M, the guy was so irritated that he shot up from his seat and retorted; “Young boys, if you don’t have money, please take a walk, Mnafikiria shamba ni mkate? I don’t deal with people with no money “. He then yelled at one of the waiters and demanded for the bill. I realized that our talk was heading nowhere and I excused myself to go the gents.

By the time I came back I found Momanyi had already left but Paul had his smile back. “I hope when you become rich, you’ll not be as arrogant as this Momanyi guy”, Paul cautioned me. I however told Paul that my gut feeling was that the guy was a fake. You see, the majority of the filthy rich are generally humble people. You see the rich fellows in big cars are usually on the road very early and they have very good driving habits. After all they have no point to prove and their wealth speaks for itself. I am usually very skeptical of fellows who are always praising themselves. Even the good old book advises us in James 4:10: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up”

I suspect that most people are only humble simply because they are poor. Give them the money and overnight, they’d transform into very arrogant fellows. Next post we shall deal with a rather interesting concept “In business, do you act like a rabbit or a wise turtle?”

@marty, i have been following your posts,i am a young ambitious graduate.,i have been involved in business for "survival" . i have a long history in hustler-economics..i have been a tout at "machakos terminus",moved on to selling bags in Gikomba,got into campus,worked my way through it,got into a sales job after graduation,pushed too much,made too much,got screwed off my commissions, got into another stop gap sales job,am now getting 13k net saving 4k, surviving on the rest,i might access 250k in 6 months i want to get out of slavery for good.i would like some advice from you,coz for me this will be do or die..add me to your mailing list at (faitakim @ yahoo)please.

thanks guys for your advice.will take it into considerations. @New-farer pliz ve me ya email or email me at djane2013@gmail.com

you unknowingly inspired me...i think i will start hustling with the bags,maybe you should give me a few tips...

Rabbit or a Turtle?

We know that classic story of the rabbit (sungura Mjanja) and the turtle (mzee Kobe). The two met and agreed to have a race. When they raced for the first round, the turtle was slow as usual but steady, the rabbit was fast, but got distracted, took some rest in between, and explored around the sceneries, and even took a nap in between. Upon his perseverance, the turtle won the race (round one).

The Rabbit

So many businesses jump in the race too quickly where they hurriedly do things and don’t always think things through before they launch a product, service etc. They don’t stick to what their business is all about or they rush through things to beat the others without making sure all the ducks are in a row. To these companies the most important thing is to be front and center.

The Turtle

Then you have the happy, go-lucky turtle company that starts their business off with what they believe is a great model and start to set sail. They think through what they want others to think about their brand, they listen, they adapt while keeping a steady course to the finish line and end goal. They make sure they cover everything and are thorough with their plan. To them they want to finish strong, never take their eye off the goal but keep a steady pace.

How many businesses have you seen that start up and take off in the beginning but quickly deflate because of some issues they have or they didn’t quite think through? And how many businesses have you seen that don’t necessarily stand out at first but as time goes by the word of mouth travels and they are all over the place with a great format and concept? So this leads me to ask: “is your business the rabbit or the turtle?”

Lesson 1:
•For “Turtles”: It is ok to be slow, as long you persevere, don’t give up
•For “Rabbits”: Distraction and arrogance is often times the biggest obstacle of your success.
The rabbit with its ujanja thought to himself, now I know what I have done wrong, if I change my attitude, I should have a chance to win. So, he asked the turtle for the 2nd round; this time, he did exactly what he planned to do: very focused and changed attitude, he won the 2nd round.

Lesson 2:
It is possible to win if we are willing to humble ourselves and learn from the past mistakes. Then Turtle got thinking, “There must be a way I can do this!”. After careful inspecting different routes, he found one route would benefit him greatly. He asked rabbit for the 3rd round race. On this particular route--> there was a river in between. As you can imagine, for the Turtle, it was such an easy race, he swam so fast, outperformed Rabbit quite a bit. Turtle had a triumph!!!

Lesson 3:
When we know our gifts and talents well, and know how to use it wisely; we are unstoppable! By now, Rabbit and Turtle actually started to realize both of them have different strength and weakness. They thought what if they could work together as a team, they might achieve to finish the race faster together. So they decided to give it a try. They chose the exactly the same route of their last race. In some part of the race, since it was all dry land, Rabbit carried Turtle and ran fast, when it came to the river, Turtle let Rabbit sat upon his shell, and he swam fairly quickly. The result, they finished the race together in a much shorter time. They were thrilled!!!

Lesson 4:
When we are able to leverage each other’s strength and unite as a team, the result can be astounding!!! Now as buddies, Turtle and Rabbit put their head together again. They dreamed about helping other animal friends in the woods. Many of their friends had hard time to go from A to B fast enough for food, or had trouble to cross the river when they needed to; what if we could build something to transport them....thus, they built an innovative vehicle and achieved their dream of helping their friends to cross the land and the river safely and quickly. Also, this vehicle could be used by everyone after Rabbit and Turtle showed them how. The whole animal world was full of joy, because their pain/problem is solved!!!

Lesson 5:
An innovative “vehicle” or a “system” which is able to solve the pain/problem oftentimes is from dreamers; those who dare to dream and dream big.

Now think hard and long and deduce whether you are a turtle or a rabbit…by the way both are OK as long as they know their strengths and weaknesses and complement each other.