ONE STEP AT A TIME

Graduates who are fresh out of school are the most frustrated lot in this country. And the reason is simple -high expectations. We get out of school thinking that we're going to earn six-figure salaries immediately, buy sleek cars in six months, and rent apartments in Kileleshwa.

The truth is, life seldom works that way. I look at life as a progressive journey. You have to begin from somewhere. You have to use a Matatu to work at some point in your life, and you should realize that there is nothing wrong with that. Your first house might be a small room that only fits your bed. Again, there is nothing wrong with that.

The point is, life has to begin from somewhere. Personally, I don't want instant success. If it's not sustainable, I don't want it. My success must be premised on a robust foundation. It must be forged through sweat, tears, and blood. That way, it will be long-lasting. For that reason, I have to be patient and persistent.

When you have high expectations, you cut out some opportunities. I have a friend who started his tenure wit Deloitte (the audit firm) as a trainee graduate earning only 30K. This figure can barely sustain you through a month in Nairobi. Two years down the line, he's earning close to 120K.

If he said that he would not take a job that pays 30K, maybe he'd still be tarmacking. Open yourself to things like unpaid internships if its a great organization. Companies like Safaricom give first consideration to folks who have interned with them when employment opportunities come up. No firm can spend money training you for more than three months then watch you walk through the door to go and apply those skills elsewhere.

Every great company you know today started from somewhere. Jeff Bezos drew Amazon's first logo himself because he didn't even have the money to hire a designer. His first office was a small table and a Mackintosh computer in his mother's garage.

For two years, Mark Zuckerberg ran Facebook from a college dorm. By 27, Nigerian Jason Njoku had failed so terribly in life that he had to move back to his parent's house. And in the next four years, he founded and ran Iroko Partners from his mother's kitchen table. Today, Njogu's networth is $40 million.

One of my favorite books is Dale Canergie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Today, the book has sold over 15 million copies. But do you know how it started? As a lecture. Dale delivered a lecture which soon expanded to a set of rules printed on a postcard and subsequently a book after 15 years of painstaking experimentation.

Great business start small. Great leaders start small. In fact the smaller it is, the more likely its chances of succeeding. The evolutionary process of a brand (individual or company) is as critical as its success.