You Are On Your Own Not Alone; The Importance Of Faith On An Entrepreneurial Journey

I read somewhere that 8 out of 10 startups fail within their first 2 years. Well, by the grace of God, my two startups; Corporate Training Solutions and The Fabulous Woman Network (The FWN) are over 3 years and 2 years, respectively. I feel so grateful to have been able to come this far and I thought I would share three of the strategies that have worked for my team and I. So if you have a startup, are looking to have one or are simply curious, then this is from me to you avec love.

Have Faith
I will use a recent event to demonstrate what I mean. One of the events we have been organising at The Fabulous Woman Network is our Executive Strategy Retreats with Yawa Hansen-Quao, Founder of the Leading Ladies Network and an Executive Leadership Coach. In 2017, we had two sessions, in Kumasi and then in Accra. It was targeted at leaders and professionals and the rates were quite expensive as the costs involved are very high. Marketing them was not a funny joke as a lot of people even within my target market moaned that the rates were too expensive. Every day, after a potential participant told me ‘no, I can’t afford it’, I would question myself ‘are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, will people really pay this much to attend an event they are not used to?’ Interestingly, every time I would doubt myself I would feel in my spirit ‘don’t worry, just do it’. Well, not only did the Kumasi and Accra events come off successfully with the participants so grateful and giving many positive feedback, we had a residential session at the Coconut Grove Beach Resort in Elmina this year and oh my, it was just fabulous! To think that everything in me wanted to give up almost every day before the event! I am so happy I held on to the little shred of faith I had and trusted Jesus to make things happen. And guess what, it is this same tiny-mini-mustard-seed of faith that made me announce that our next Executive Strategy Retreat will happen in Dubai come 2019! I cannot stress enough, how important the role of faith is on an entrepreneurial journey. What vision has been laid on your heart? Have faith, it can actually happen.

Ama Duncan