Are you a FLAP Entrepreneur or Jobreneur?

 Recently, I inter-acted with Kgosana Dr Koketso Rakhudu (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrh-kgosana-dr-koketso-rakhudu-7b94ab254/). He was the guest speaker at a business development training that I was facilitating under the auspices of the Do More Foundation (https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-do-more-foundation/), in collaboration with Niya Consulting (https://www.linkedin.com/company/niya-consulting/).

Whenever I am in the company of greatness, I become an attentive student. So as Dr Rakhudu addressed the participants, I also took notes. His motivation speech revolved around an acronym that he has coined, known as FLAP. In full, FLAP stands for: Follow, Love, Accept and Professional.

Dr Rakhudu’s brief motivation left me with food for thought. I have been reflecting on the acronym since he talked about it. Hence the title of this post: Are you a FLAP Entrepreneur or Jobpreneur?

Living in a community where the unemployment rate is at an all-time high, and the youth are mostly affected, it is time to re-boot the mindset of the millennials to think creatively yet with a conservative attitude. That is what FLAP triggered in my thinking.

Participants of the business development programme are female entrepreneurs with active business ventures - mostly in their start-up phase. The potential to grow any of those respective ventures into vibrant and profitable businesses is huge. The key, however, is for the female entrepreneurs to challenge their respective mindsets towards further growth, development, and ultimately business success.

I have tried to reflect on this acronym from my experience as a Business Development Coach and as an individual interested in life-long learning. Here below is my reflection on each letter in the acronym – FLAP.

Who do you Follow?

This is a question that those in Leadership are usually asked. The purpose behind the question is to raise an individual’s awareness – that what or who one chooses to follow is critical towards one’s dreams, goals and values. In fact the reality is that we are all leaders, if one considers that self-leadership is significant, especially as Entrepreneurs or as Jobpreneurs (Employees). So it is crucial for one to choose wisely who or what to follow so as to stay on track.

Do you Love what you do?

There is a quote by Marc Anthony that says, “If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.” While many of us may find ourselves in spaces where what we do – in terms of work – conflicts with what we really love to do, eventually you will have to find means of turning your passion into profits. As a Coach I would ask: “do you love what you do?” “If not, what are you doing about what you would love to do?” Yes, you will need the cash flow to keep the lights on, by sometimes doing that which is necessary, but what will keep you going in the long-run is doing what you love.

Have you Accepted where you are?

Allow me to quote an inspiring poem by Edgar A. Guest. It succinctly sums this aspect of Acceptance:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low but the debts are high,

And you want to smile but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many failures turn about

When we might have won had we stuck it out.

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out –

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

You can never tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

In other words, accept where you are in life and soldier on towards victory!

Be Professional

The famous Walt Disney once said, “Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.”

Many business opportunities and employment possibilities are lost because someone did not take the trouble to do something well, even a simple spell check. I have seen CVs where the individual misspelt their own name. How can such an individual expect a hiring officer to look at the CV twice? Being professional starts with paying attention to detail and doing things well. Will Rogers bluntly puts it: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Yes, there is always room for improvement. But it is better to aim at doing it right the first time. Being professional is therefore, non-negotiable if one wants to achieve the results required.

FLAP - what a powerful acronym for the Entrepreneur and Jobpreneur to reflect on. Thank you Dr Rakhudu for revealing the acronym to me.

Question is: “Are you a FLAP Entrepreneur or Jobreneur”