CEO of Vector Consulting – shares first-hand experiences on establishing yourself.
In my case, Vector Consulting was conceptualised in 2005 after experiencing two defining moments.
The loss of my sons Zacharia and Muhammed in two separate incidents.
I had lost the will to live … to continue after my sons passed away. I felt that Allah SWT was at war with me.
I was in a depressive state, making decisions not in the business’s best interest, my staff and myself. As a result, I made mistakes that forced me to sell the business.
Then I decided to go into consultancy to regroup and regather my thoughts.
I would not want anyone to experience what happened to me. Family businesses are the backbone of any country’s economy. They are the mainstay of our NGOs and society.
Hence my desire to share my experiences to help entrepreneurs and professionals succeed.
Vector Consulting started informally when I began speaking to people.
There are my suggestions to help your business or career succeed
- Have a vision and Mission
- Authenticity
- Passion
- Connect with people
- Disseminate quality information.
- Be happy with what you are doing.
- Seek knowledge and team up with experts.
You are setting a Vision and Mission. I Realised one thing in life – you must have a vision. You must know your direction and what I want to achieve.
Preservation of Wealth and Making a Global Difference is my vision.
I preserve wealth through talks, publishing books, social media, and flyers. These give me the direction of how I will achieve my goal.
Then you know how to execute.… that is your Mission and purpose.
Authenticity: We need to be authentic as individuals. To succeed, focus on a niche market and what you are doing.
This authenticity should reflect your personal life, belief system, and emotional and mental stamina. These characteristics will build a sustainable business.
Passion: Everyone around you must feel your love for your service or product. Everyone should recognise that you have a purpose; who knows where he comes from and knows exactly what he is talking about?
Connect with people using the KISS communication approach – viz Keep it SIMPLE and Straight.
The information you convey should ensure that the person on the other side understands what you are saying verbally and non-verbally. Ease of understanding you build sustainable businesses.
Communication is the glue. It keeps you connected with your customers. The words you use to express yourself keep your business together.
Disseminate Quality Information
Customers will appreciate that you know your product or service and you exude confidence in what you are doing.
The quality of information and discussion will make you an authority on the product or service. When this happens, you become relevant in society and the people around you.
Providing exceptional service is the next step in the success of your business, which then becomes sustainable. It also means that you built good relationships.
Once this happens, people start believing in your information and product. They have empathy for you, and your authenticity increases.
Be happy with what you are doing.
You must be happy with whatever you do and on your terms. Whether one is a driver, lawyer, or accountant, while establishing yourself, you know the rules of the game played.
Seek knowledge and team up with experts.
At 40, I returned to university because of a gap in my life.
I found myself engaging people half my age. By collaborating with them and building relationships, I realised that to succeed in your field, you must become a specialist.
This means working with diverse types of people who are also specialists in their fields. I engage with Shariah scholars, lawyers, advocates, auditors, accountants, psychologists and even coaches in unusual parts of the world.
Learning from them enabled me to address a problem and find a solution. You are putting a structure together. Your offering becomes of a higher standard.
We work as a team. In the process, we find we are ourselves learning.
About the author: Ahmed Seedat has shaped the How to Succeed handbook series for every Family-Owned Business, “Preservation Of Wealth,” A guide to managing your family business. This entails experience gained through working in his family business and as the CEO at Vector Consulting, which assists families in moving from a person-driven to a process-driven business and sets them on a path to success.