Uncle Akin: Amuludun Farms: Three (3) Years After

We set out on the task of farming with zero experience, but willing to learn, implement, and grow. We leaped and found our wings on the way down. I cringe at the thought of our earlier plans.

I, in my crazy dreams, as usual, wanted to build a chapel, and library on the site. I dreamed of an office with a waterfall. Do you blame me? I was at my home in Houston and could only think of Utopia.

I had never been to the area, not to talk of ever being to the village before. I had never met my first employee (Farm Manager) face-to-face. Yet I transacted monies through her and had employed her.

Additionally, we employed our second employee without me ever seeing him face-to-face. He read Agric Education. So, we thought he could bring to us the knowledge we lacked. We gave him the title Technical Manager.

He was living in Benin at the time we engaged him. We relocated him to Ibadan, providing him with a fully furnished apartment. Our Farm Manager lived in Ibadan already. We were finding our wings on the way down.

So, three (3) years later, what would I have done differently? My dear sister, Moji Lawal Ogunbameru felt I should have gone to learn first from someone who had done it before. She is right, but I would not have done it at all if I did.

If I had second-guessed doing it, I would not have done it. I am a recovering perfectionist. My survival brain would have thought me out of it. Yes, it has cost me a whole lot more than I could have spent to get here, but it has been worth the journey.
"Leap and grow your wings on the way down. Put all your bets on you and on your ability to achieve your goals. Throw caution to the wind!" ― Les Brown.

Organizational Behavior is composed of the behavior of the individuals in an organization. Technically speaking, the individuals are themselves organizations - organisms. Putting a business together required a knowledge of this dynamisms and working it to produce the desired results for the organization.

My first two employees and myself were strange bedfellows in some ways. I employed them after only meeting them online. They were already working for me, on paid status, before our face-to-face. My first employee had some working experience, married, and with kids. She was actually heavily pregnant when she started working for me.

My second employee had just finished his Youth Service. So, had zero working experience. I was willing to grow with them. Each one only needed to pull their own weight and see themselves as a part of the whole. I expected them to work with each other, the same way I worked with them.

I took them in as family. That is the only way I know how to work with people. I love people. That's not a fad. It's just like saying I am a male. That is the way I work at my 9 to 5. And could not stand anything otherwise. I might not be a religious person, but I am a very spiritual person. I treasure harmony a great deal.

My two employees, like every human, had some work to do in this wise. We were all learning a new dance, and it needed some adapting to. There were issues along the lines of communication. I tried to resolve that by having a weekly planning communication. There were probably hidden issues on who was boss, etc.

I tried to help resolve their differences, but it was all to no avail. And, I could not have people working under me not in harmony. So, I had to ease off my first employee. I don't aim to be a nice person. I aim to be a good person. I was not going to hold back making the difficult decisions.

And, they don't have to be the right decisions. They just need be my decisions. I learn from the bad decisions and make better the good ones. In this case, this was probably not the right decision, in retrospect. How would I have known if I did not make it?

#daretostart #makethedecision #HumanExperience #humanenergy