The most painful thing to experience as an entrepreneur and business owner is to be betrayed by those you trusted enough to share the strategy of your vision to only see it being appropriated. Today was an interesting reminder of this breakable pattern. You see, with my first business, as I was looking to establish partnerships with identified key stakeholders, I laid out my vision to each member while including the ingredients yet always leaving out the special sauce (ok, a couple had a taste of the special sauce and luckily I have now refined it) and today, each and everyone of them is trying to implement a component of my vision. Sometimes, I wondered if their defiance or appropriation is due to their lack of creativity, insight or simply due to my features that are so youthful others feel they can supersede an agreement. The strange part of this story is the pattern I experienced was amongst African people (yes, each and every one of them is of African descent). Why I am writing this blog is for two reasons (aside from the fact it is therapeutic); firstly to share the importance of preserving your IP as an entrepreneur and business owner and secondly, the importance of valuing yourself enough to thrive for success.
To align your vision with those you seek to partner or collaborate with, time and discussions are invested; and with conviction I presented my concepts and shared my strategies including the programs devised with identified candidates. Starting end of 2015 all the way through Q3 of 2017, I lived a series of revelations about the realities of betrayal. You see, when you share your intellectual property without any boundaries and possible recourse, then expecting others to give it value can be far fetched even if one affirms insistently about their ethical behavior. Although I never put defense mechanisms to protect it, I have worked hard throughout the years to develop, hone and gradually deploy my vision. One main example is a recent experience where I had invested my resources showcasing as well as demonstrating my implementation strategy to a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. One last marking that led me to put ink to paper is a meeting that I had with the newly revealed “wolf” who came from time and time to my office on K street in Washington DC to listen and map out my thinking, often exemplified by taking pictures of the board each time we concluded (despite my discomfort). Little did I believe that such capture will only result in my concepts being utilized for an executive MBA completion and now a replica of my business? In all of this, I have now accepted that when someone is reluctant to sign an NDA from inception (even if it is a document of principle more than anything), a person who keeps proclaiming their ethical values and those that bark constantly about past performance halted by others demise, are indicators for distance and avoidance. Eventhough some say “imitation is the best form of flattery”, I believe in complementary skills/expertise and strength by the numbers of complementarity.
It is even more painful when you know you have put everything you have- your creativity, knowledge, experience and lastly your finances into something, only to realize how much it has been misused in the course of your entrepreneurial journey. My conviction of branding multicultural markets was to me an essential step towards strengthening the North America-Africa bond. I take full responsibility for my failure to listen to my own instinct. I put my heart, my mind and sacrificed what I cherished the most- my family- because to me the sacrifice would mean that as a second generation North American woman, I had the opportunity to build my business and establish an institutional legacy that would not only contribute in strengthening the two worlds I know best – North America and Africa- but also showcase that my parent’s sacrifice including my own would translate in a win-win (in addition to being the first woman in my family to live as a business owner and entrepreneur who will be able to assist my 7 nieces to do the same). Indeed, everything came at the right time – when I was already doing my business 6 years SWOT, two individuals targeted me to the point of making my life a living hell – accompanied by constant harassment. Today in retrospect, I can say it was giving me an opportunity to evaluate the inner workings of my value. One thing led to another, forcing me to rebrand my business and myself. The time was right and unquestionably I was ready to transition as my vision was more important than lamenting over betrayals because at the end of the day, my venture is my oxygen. Rebranding meant reflection, required shedding and necessitated a different energy as well as strategy. And that took time because shifting one’s mindset is a daily exercise and practice. As much as it has been challenging especially since I spent my 30’s attempting to realize my vision, at the door step of the big 40, to me rebranding means growth. So the importance of valuing yourself enough to thrive for success is vital for an entrepreneur. Yes these betrayals and self-awareness is part of the journey, which refines our abilities to be better leaders. It is a lesson to build with conviction, focus and determination. Betrayal, though disappointing, is what increases your value since it determines how centered and driven you will remain.
As an entrepreneur and founder, we seek to engage at all levels and the challenges are immense because having the right ecosystem means having the right mentors/coaches, team members, partners as well as collaborators and overall champions of your vision because the betrayal can break ones spirit and instill a sense of distrust. At the end of the day, when an entrepreneur launches, it means they have identified solutions that are unique to their experiences and often based on numerous echoes about unsolved problems. Only through experience which comes with time, entrepreneurs are able to decipher the hurdles encountered during the entrepreneurial path. Hence, an entrepreneur derailment is due to the entrepreneur “missing” fortitude. With determination to actualize the vision, the entrepreneur can dust off and continue the path. Your IP ( your solutions, strategies and even concepts) is your value as an entrepreneur and protecting it is your responsibility.
