Becoming Money: Let's get in(formation)!

In this post, I want to dig into "Becoming Money", the first chapter in the book "It's About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated Into Your Greatest Advantage" by Arlan Hamilton.

Self-belief alone will not achieve your goals, but achieving your goals without self-belief will be almost impossible.

In this first chapter, Arlan Hamilton talks about the power of knowledge. How she went from hearing about Silicon Valley, investments, to learning all about it from audiobooks, blogs, articles anything she can put her hands on. Being broke and homeless she had to be resourceful and relentless in her pursuit of her dream to be one day a venture capitalist. She wanted to know everything that needed to be known about start ups, venture capitalism and investing, she became obsessed with it and mentored herself for years before she got a mentor who helped her level up her game.

Arlan says that successful people swear by the mantra money attracts money, by that they mean that what you are doing or the system you have put in place, ensures that your money and assets work for you even when you are not working. Her advice if you do not have money nor asset, is to become THE ASSET. You must make yourself not only valuable but undeniably valuable. How to do that? By mastering the subject you are interested in. Learning all you need to know about it. Today, there is zero excuse, knowledge is at our fingertips. If you live in Africa, you might say that internet is expensive, but the bit of internet you pay for and spend on Facebook, can be allocated to learning something about an industry you are interested in entering.

It took Arlan Hamilton, three years of researching and reaching out to Silicon Valley from a distance for something substantial to finally come out. She stresses on the importance of acquiring information and wielding it whenever it is needed. She would make use of any opportunity to learn, using the internet at a friend's house, sitting in hotels' lobby, living in an airport to take advantage of the free wifi, she has done it all. Nowadays, there are so many ways to access knowledge, YouTube and Podcasts alone are a gold mine of information on any subject you are interested in. LEARN to use knowledge at your advantage, build confidence with information. And above all be consistent, You must dedicate yourself to doing it every day.

Build your intellectual capital daily, be known for something, take pride in mastering your craft in whatever industry you are in or wish to be. Be relentless and intentional in your pursuit of knowledge and make a living out of it. Be prepared so when an opportunity comes your way you are ready, or you can be the one through your learning who comes up with an opportunity for yourself.

Learning does not stop at school and learning does not happen only in schools, I am sure we all know or hear of people with no formal education who are super wealthy. There are many sources at your disposal today to not only seek knowledge but consume it, as listed above and you have Apps, as well, I personally use a few, but I use daily Deepstach, where you can learn something in just few minutes, and for free.

Arlan Hamilton's story is about grit, intentionality and believing in oneself, at a point of her life she was homeless, she has no college degree, despite all odds she founded a venture capital fund, called Backstage that had invested today in 200 businesses led by minority founders, everything she knew about venture capitalism she taught herself. If she can do it, you can do it. I will end this blog by quoting her: Remember, when Beyoncé, says "Ladies, let's get in formation" she was also saying "Let's get information" indeed.

Information: https://backstagecapital.com/

Truly Yours,

The Queen Africa