By Lawyer Abu Bakarr Turay aka Kabaka.

New Year resolutions have been the order at the end of every year. You will however realize that even if you are the most careful person in the world, there are bound to be moments of regrets and mistakes. There is imperfection in every human being. What most people don’t handle well is the measure of their imperfections. The latitude of their discretions. The weight of their actions and the gravity of the repercussions.

Every new year, we find ourselves doing the same things expecting different outcomes. The folly in doing this is that we tend to blame every other person than ourselves. Parents blame their children. Workers blame their employers. Students blame their tutors. Girlfriends blame their boyfriends and ultimately, the governed blame the government. No matter how long the list of the blame game goes, there’s always that one moment we admit to ourselves that we could have done better. That we could have taken better decisions, bolder and better steps and would have eventually achieved far better results. Most people think they have ran out of time. It’s never too late. Infact, it’s never late. Either it’s the right time, or it’s just not yet time.

I am sure readers are trying to figure out what has all this got to do with selling anything. Growing up, the Krio cliché “time na money” as old as it is, is a concept that many haven’t fully grasped. Lots of people have been wondering how time can be converted into money. Many people have too much time until they have no time. In the last decade the most important determinant factor of progress or retrogression for young folks has been social media. Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube have been some of the greatest beneficiaries of our time. These online platforms have consumed more time than many other things put together. The average screen time for young people has gone up astronomically in the past five years. Some people spend as much as 8 to 10 hours screen time per day. Workers spend more time on their phones than their jobs. Students spend more time on their phones than their studies and their books. Spending time on one’s phone isn’t all the problem. The greatest problem is what occupies our time when we are on on our phones. It’s an open secret that WhatsApp has won the social media battle. Almost every smart phone user in Sierra Leone has the app installed in their phones. Some have both the regular and the business WhatsApps. This app and it’s older brother Facebook have both taken a great number of years from some people. Unsuspectingly creating a bleak future. Nonetheless, there are quite a whole number of people who have been able to curtail their social media excesses and capitalize on the optimization of its usage. Social media in many nations have seen the advent of thousands of entrepreneurs which brings me to the question, “WHAT ARE YOU SELLING”?

My Bishop always tells us that he uses his free time to do two things; Read and Think. As simple as these two things may seem, they are now the most difficult for young people. Many aren’t reading at all. Reading what would make an improvement on one’s self. Reading materials that will not only edify souls, but also nourish brains. These things are considered boring. Infact, someone claimed a white man once said that if you want to hide anything from a black man, put it in a book. We are poor because of the way we think. We have been unable to bring forth ideas that would birth the trillion dollars projects. You can’t nurture a hundred dollars mentality and birth a billion dollars idea.

We have always had the misfortune of not maximizing the use of tools and technologies that have made other nations great. We have always failed to take advantage of things that give the rest of the world a competitive edge. What we are seeing is a lot of social media abuse and misuse. Those capitalizing on it for positive gains are in an infinitesimal percentage. In the music and entertainment industry in places like South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana, most of their products are being sold on digital platforms. Nobody really sells CDs these days. It now all boils down to streamings. David Adeleke aka Davido has 14.5 million Followers on Instagram. Every time he posts a video, it gets and average of 400,000 views in less than a week. Sometimes it takes just a day to get that number of views. This signifies the number of people interested in things he says or posts. It means there’s the possibility of millions of people being informed about the activities and products from Davido. Ordinarily it will look like just the usual social media showboating and bragging, but for these people, this is now purely business. Strictly business. They keep their pages active and lively enough to be able to sell products. These are major advertisement platforms. And we are only talking about social media pages. Not everyone will have a million followers. Not everyone will have even 5,000 followers. True. If that’s the case, please reduce your time on social media and go to work. Work on yourself. Work on your dreams. Work on your ideas. Not everyone will become a celebrity. But every hard worker is bound to reap rewards. My dear friend, what are you selling?

Have you sat down at any time this year to think an idea through for an hour? Thinking of nothing else but how to put that idea into practice? If you are to present yourself to anyone at this point to ask for support, what measure will they attach to your request? If you were the one listening to someone who has a business idea that you are now trying to poach potential investors, will you buy it? What are you earning? It is what you sell that determines what you earn. If you are not earning and you are not a student or retiree, you should be very worried. Even the disabled have told us disability isn’t inability. Are you a professional? How are you selling your services? Many just profess now, but aren’t professionals. Are you selling your body? What’s the worth? Is it bringing back just pizzas and a three year old Brazilian wig? Even if that’s what you want to sell, are you keeping fit? As a lady, You can’t have a potbelly and still wanna be in the “Raray” business. I have seen really dull people trying to be con artistes. The result has been Pademba Road. They are in the wrong business. If for one minute you decide that every move should bring benefits, there are a lot of places you wouldn’t go. Are you selling impressions? Wanting everyone to think you are what or who you are not? Living in a bubble? “De shabe game but can’t shabe brade”? To what end? Know this, Sometimes the people we try so hard to impress don’t even remember the colour of our clothes minutes after we leave their presence, needless to talk about what shoes we wore. You should always bear in mind that everyone has a problem. Some problems money can’t fix. But mostly it’s either they want more money, or they don’t have enough money. Those who want more money will always welcome new ideas and possibilities of making more. Those who don’t have enough have the responsibility of doing more thinking and as such bring up more ideas to be able to tap from those who already have. You have to have something to offer. Again, what are you selling?

The level of distraction on social media is not only alarming, it is very disturbing. Distraction is killing a key and most needed element of the social youthful workforce; it’s called Focus. Youths are losing direction. They are not being redirected, they are being misdirected. More “chillings”. More tramadol. More Kush. More alcohol. More weed. More sleep. More problems. More of all these things and less of the most important denominator, Money. We all know what the outcome will be. Many people hit me up and the very first line in their messages gets me disinterested immediately. An aspiring musician wants to be famous. They haven’t started but they want to be a star. A young accountant in the bank wants to own a big house and an expensive SUV. What are you earning? What are you selling to earn what you want?

An entrepreneur? What are you selling? The list of new entrepreneurs is endless, but the results are definitely not impressive. Repressive lending rates and shark infested financial institutions have made budding businesses to crumble even before they get started. The rest of the world aren’t playing or slowing down. In every nation, it’s the business sector that improves the country. Not politicians. It’s the indigenes that takes the challenge to develop their nations, not foreigners. Bear in mind that as much as our brothers and sisters overseas earn and remit funds back home, all those who are foreigners are doing likewise. We have an electrical and electronics industry ran by Indians. We have a mining industry and construction industry dominated by Lebanese. We have hotels and nice looking restaurants all owned by foreigners or naturalized citizens. “En Natin nor do di salone man”. This is no discrimination. Fact is, if we do have products to sell and do earn that money, it still goes away. The circulation within is weak. Sierra Leonean owned businesses that have survived in the past decade are very few. We must make great efforts to not only bring forth new business ideas, but to consciously maintain them.

Happy New Year People. Whatever you do this 2020, make sure it’s business oriented. It’s better for people to say “u lek money” than “u lek begga begga”. “Empty bag nor de timap”. God bless you all.