ILP-0091: The Biggest Mistake Most Immigrant Business Owners And Executives Make

According to Martin Luther King Jr., "If a man is called to be a street sweeper. He should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all hosts of heaven and earth pause to say; Here lives a great sweeper who did his job well"

My name is Dapo Bankole and today, I am talking about how to start right in Canada. Pretty much.

The biggest mistake we make as immigrant business owners and executives is that we build our business before deciding what lifestyle you really want. Now think about that for a moment.

The problem is that when a street sweeper does his job so well that figuratively, even the hosts of heaven say "Here lives a great sweeper who did his job well", many would wonder why a street sweeper would do such a great job when he is not the property owner. Reflect on that for a bit. Have your colleagues ever asked you why you work so hard? Have they jokingly said you work like you own the organization or that you work so hard as if you are being paid much more than you earn? Did you hear that before? Good.

That brings me to my next point - If you are working for someone else, you are still a business owner, you are still an executive. That’s called YOU incorporated. Everything that I am about to talk about applies to you as well. So business owners, executives, and individuals, building your business before deciding what lifestyle you want is your biggest mistake. The solution is to design your lifestyle first, then build your business to get you there. See, the business is the vehicle. The employment that you have is the vehicle. That’s what we need to do.

The challenge is that a lot of times we build our businesses first and it boxes us into a corner as far as our lifestyle, and sometimes we create a successful business and then we start thinking about, “Well, I’d really like to have this business to provide me some lifestyle,” but then you have to possibly make some changes to the business and sometimes those tweaks don't do well for the business and therefore the business suffers and therefore your lifestyle will suffer too. My main point is therefore that you design your lifestyle first, then build your business to get you there.

When you move to Canada as permanent residents, you are not here on a vacation so take it easy. I know economics is important but, relax. Let's do it right.

Now you’ve heard that time equals money. Well, let’s analyze that just a little bit. You can spend time. You can spend money. Can you waste time and waste money? Sure. Can you leverage time and leverage money? Absolutely. Can you manage your time? Can you manage your money? Yes. Can you use other people's time? Yes. Can you use other people's money? Yes. Can you save it for future use? Money yes but time no. You see, time does not equal money. And the real issue is time plus money equals lifestyle, and that's what we're really after.

It's part of why we left our countries of origin and embraced Canada as our new home.

Depending on your experience level, you've probably figured out that going after all the money won't afford you the time to do the things you really want to do. Have you been on a job that pays your bill and gives you a lot of things yet you feel trapped and unfulfilled? Yeah. I have been there. If it was just the time, sometimes I didn’t make the money. You've probably figured out it wasn’t one or the other. I want a combination of both. Now when you put those two together it gives us what we’re really after which is the lifestyle.

For you, what is lifestyle?

Well, I found out that lifestyle really means something different to everyone, and that's the good news. For me, I believe that lifestyle is being able to do what you want, when you want, where you want, with who you want, and how you want, without worrying about time or money. I'll say it again. It is being able to do what you want, when you want, where you want, with who you want, and how you want, without worrying about time or money.

So, before you rush into building that vehicle that will take you to your desired lifestyle, you need to decide - it's not about making it happen but discovering your own north pole which will determine the type of vehicle that will take you there.

So what are the things to consider when you are designing the preferred lifestyle that you want?

Join me in the next episode!

Dapo Bankole.