At a family meeting just after Christmas last month, the general discussion morphed into a serious dissection of the financial plans everyone had for the New Year. It was about how each planned to improve status economically.
Being a democratic family, everyone was given a chance to voice dreams and desires – and how they planned to achieve their goals.
An aunt said if she got a little boost financially, she would up her sugar selling business by buying more sugarcane wholesale and selling it to pupils at a local primary school. She argued that lack of financial muscle saw her sell the same size of cane year in year out.
A cousin said she wanted to expand her omena selling business to also embrace fried and fresh fish.
I listened to the others talk about their dreams and felt like screaming. I wanted someone to walk out of the comfort zone and talk big. For example, the omena seller should have presented a mega project like starting a hotel business and expanding it by the end of the year. Or getting to the source to buy the fish and sell it to small-scale traders.
The sugarcane seller should have come up with a better idea such as being the wholesale seller not the one who spends the whole day in the sun cutting and selling Sh10 or so cane pieces to thirsty students.
Yet these idea nurturers squandered a golden opportunity for in our midst were successful members who could have been challenged to partner with any of them if they presented a brilliant idea or support them generously on their walk to financial freedom.
In this new year, it is foolish to stick to something you have done over the years and yet it has not improved your financial status. Within you there is power to be big.
It is just a matter of telling your brain that you are not accepting AVERAGE any more. Then challenge yourself to do the IMPOSSIBLE.
If you are always complaining about your job and the poor pay you get at the end of the month, then it is time to review the tenacity of holding on to an employer that does not meet your financial needs.
Don't just complain, do something about it. Get a new job or start a manageable business on the side to boost your monthly income.
If it is a business and the returns are not what you expected, sit down with pen and paper, go through the cash flows before making a decision whether to hang on with the hope that it will get better or to abandon it and try your hand in something else.
My friend who was rearing rabbits on the side told me she is not continuing with the business this year. She explained that despite the animals being lucrative, buyers are slow to come by and when the many companies that deal with doe meat come to the farm, they offer ridiculously low prices and take forever to pay.
"When something is not working, forget about it. Don't stick to a liability," she advises. She has now moved on and is growing tomatoes in a humongous green house; and that is in addition to being fully employed as a bank manager.
The people who have made it big time in business and other areas say generally that they managed to achieve this iconic state because they set their mind on it. They told themselves that they were capable.
When you convince your mind that you can do better and change your position from where you are right now, you will achieve your dream because that is the path you have set out for yourself.
In other words, you have control over your life. Whether you achieve great success or not is upon you to decide. You have the power to become what you want.
Therefore, stop whining and claim your greatness. This is your year of success; the year of financial freedom. There is nothing to stop you from achieving it but yourself.