Do you use any tech tools in your job? Besides Uhasibu.
Wow, is there anything I do that is not tech-related?
We use Uhasibu for accounting. We use Sugar CRM for sales, and we want to integrate that with Uhasibu sign up. So those all get pushed to CRM as a new lead- then I can reach out to them.
And Google for everything. Gmail, documents, collaboration, storage, calendar.
I remember when I met Mike for the first time, he was so impressed I knew Camtasia for video editing. It was just something I did in my free time. So I wound up doing all of our testimonials. So yea, it was really good I knew a tech tool besides “Facebook.”
The beauty of having some tech background makes it so much easier for you to learn everything else. You just sit for 5-10 minutes and you have it. For example, Adobe Illustrator. One time, I needed photos on business cards changed and got a quote for 5,000. And I said, wait, I have Illustrator, let me do it.
What does your company culture look like?
Books are a very important things we stress when join the company – we actually have set time read books at our office. Everyone has to read. If there is no electricity or internet – grab a book and read. That’s a really strong culture we have. This has really helped because I’ve learned so many thing from these books – sales, marketing, everything. I remember there was a time we were launching a new product and needed huge PR. I actually took a course on Udemy – I have improved, and it doesn’t sound like a big deal but it’s something we would have had to hire someone else to do.
Any skills you need, just get a book or a course – a video course or whatever. Set up time everyday and just read it. As you are making coffee in the morning, sit down for 15 minutes and learn a new skill!. I did the entire PR for the event and it went super well.
Do you have recommendations on places to learn new skills?
Udemy and Coursera. Books to read? Essentials of Service Marketing. The book we have in the office got just a bit torn and we immediately ordered a new one.
Then Founders Dilemma, and Lean Startup for entrepreneurs – that’s a pretty good book. I’m still reading it. Everyone I recommend it to loves it.
There is one I read when I finished university and joined Uhasibu full time. It was called Survive Your Promotion! and talked about what you need to do to manage that transition.
Any advice to job seekers?
Have fun at what you do. The minute you wake up in the morning, wondering what you are doing with your life – that’s the time to pivot and do something else with your life.
I am not a champion for traditional employment. I don’t believe or preach to people to join traditional employment. If that’s really who you are, go for it. I just think traditional employment doesn’t allow for growth. You become good at that thing you are employed to do. Eg. accountant/auditor. You are not the first or last person to do that job. If you leave tomorrow, someone will just take over – you are just delivering what you are told to do. This is as opposed to joining a company that doesn’t look very focused and that is still trying to put structures together. So the input you give is more valuable, so there is more growth for you as an individual. That’s the kind of person I am and the type of company I like.
When I finished university, I had the opportunity to join the big 4 in auditing. I felt like I had to decide to be a drop in the ocean or become the ocean itself.
The problem with traditional employment is that people don’t care about you and if you’re happy. They are paying you to churn out deliverables.
So, find stuff you are passionate about and go for that. If you are passionate about auditing do that, and do it to the best of your ability. If not, do something else.
Any last thoughts?
It’s not been an easy journey. Sometimes I wake up and wonder what I’m doing. The beauty of a smaller enterprise is that you can talk about what you are going through and feeling. So when I reached that point, I talked to Mike. He said the reason you are feeling that way is because you have outgrown what you are doing – so you need to find something else. That’s when we hired someone to do the duties I was doing and I had time to grow somewhere else. I had the opportunity to grow into strategy.
Entrepreneurship is a crazy journey and not for the faint-hearted. Everyone makes it looks flashy, but it’s not flashy. It’s a challenge every morning. But the returns are good – when you see yourself changing the way people do things and making their lives easier.
We focus on empowering SMEs, helping them run businesses more effectively – when you change the life of one SME, you are happy because they are doing much better.
I was at an AkiraChix mentoring session and one girl told me she wanted to study HR. I asked her why. She said she goes to schools and tries to help girls figure out what they want to do and inspire young people.
So I asked her again why she wants to do HR? She’s 18 and been told to do something in HR. I asked is that really what you want to do or what you’ve been told to do?
I said – clearly, you should go into something like community development. You should find your passion and go and study it, and not just study what are told to do.
I hope she really listens to that.
Everybody goes to school and you hear about people who studied law but are now running an IT startup – what a waste, what is that law degree doing for you?
I am happy that my academics worked with my career path. But I see a lot of people doing things just for the sake of doing it.
That is a personal challenge I am going through trying to figure out if I should get my masters – I’m thinking about if it’s something I want to do and why I would do it.
The day I answer the question – what do I want out of my masters? Then I’ll start. Until I find that answer, I can’t justify doing that.
So again, every young person should start asking themselves – why are you doing this? What do you want from this – really, seriously.
