POV:

It’s 10:05pm, 1 hour and 5 minutes past my usual sales-round time on paper. 

I’ve only just had dinner a couple of minutes ago and am beginning to feel a little drowsy. 

Sluggishly, I get off my bed and slowly change into my “work clothes”, after which I reach for my key to open up my locker. 

After fiddling with the bunch of keys and finally picking out the right key by observing the subtle difference in the “rust intensity” between them, I unlock the small padlock safely “guarding” the contents of a Ghana-must-go bag. 

I tug at the Ghana-must-go sack and reach inside it to bring out another large blue nylon bag containing my goods (Smartphone Accessories). 

Next, I put my things — my laptop, earphones, et cetera — in order and make sure they’re safe, on my bed, and then I ask a roommate to keep watch over them as 2FA). 

Then I step out of my room with my game face on, blue nylon bag in hand, my branded face cap on and a ready to go attitude — with absolutely no idea how that day’s sales round will go. 

That right there, is a vivid description of how practically every day is for me. 

Every single night I step out of my room to go to each room in my hostel making my sales rounds, I have ZERO idea how that night is going to turn out.

I have no idea whether I will make any sale — many sales, little sales or no sale.  

It’s impossible to even predict. 

Trust me, I’ve tried. 

I’ve tried timing my going-out time, 

Tried starting from the ground floor, 

Tried starting from the top floor, 

Tried starting from the right hand side, and the left too. 

Tried being more enthusiastic or more persuasive while in action. 

I’ve tried practically everything. 

And I’ve come to realize and concede that I can never predict what will happen each night. 

There have been days where I started making my rounds around 11pm, and I made more sales than when I started much earlier. 

There have been days where the number of sales I made from people who came to look for me in my room were more than the sales I made when I actually went round the rooms. 

And there have been days where I didn’t make a single sale. (Too many actually)

But in spite of the uncertainty I face everyday, I show up regardless. 

And you know what’s interesting?

It’s the uncertainty of business (heck, of life generally) that keeps things interesting. 

And lI wouldn’t have it any other way to be honest. 

I mean, what would be the fun in waking up everyday and knowing exactly what will happen throughout that day?

What would be the point of living then? 

What would be the motivation for showing up?

What would keep things fresh and interesting always?

Exactly. 

Now you’re getting the gist. 

So I just go out every night wondering, “what does God have in store for me today?”

And whether it’s a good day, or a not so good day, I accept it and give thanks to God. 

P.S. There are no bad days, because sales is not the only metric I use to determine how good a day at the office is for me. 

Because even if sales don’t happen, and other things such as enquiries, recommendations, discussions and so on around what I do/sell happen, 

Then that, to me, is not a bad day. 

Now, I don’t exactly know what the main lesson of today’s mail is. 

But here’s what I think it is. 

Embrace uncertainty. 

Whether it’s in your life, your business, your academics, everything basically. 

Because in truth, no one knows tomorrow. 

You can only pray for God to orchestrate circumstances to favour you daily. 

And even when they don’t favour you, or don’t seem to at least (because of your limited perspective), 

You accept it and move on, with God’s help (yes, because we all need God’s help). 

But most of all, don’t let uncertainty, or fear of the unknown future, stop you from showing up or doing what you need to do, 

And rob you of the potential results you could get, and the thrill of just living in the moment. 

I hope you learnt something from this mail today. 

Let me know what you think. 

See you tomorrow.  

— KD™