See Why Business is Like a Seed
Every aspect of business can be likened to a seed.
You must have heard about the law of seed time and harvest. You can equally call it law of sowing and reaping. By extension, you can say it is about giving and receiving. That is what business is all about.
Every aspect of business is governed by this principle. In this article, I will show you how this law operates in business. But before I continue, let me explain to you what seed time and harvest is all about. For those that have an experience about farming, this may not be difficult for them to grasp. However, for the benefits of those who were raised and brought up in cities, who may not know anything about farming, I will try as much as possible to explain this in a layman language.
Any time we go to the market, we buy foodstuffs like yams, rice, beans, corns, pepper and tomatoes etc. All these are harvests. Before it gets to that point, somebody must have taken his time to cut and clear bush. He would have cultivated the soil and then planted seeds of whatever crops he wanted to grow. You plant the seed by digging it into the soil. After some days or weeks, depending on the type of crops the farmer have planted, the seed will germinate. As it germinates, it will continue to grow. Meanwhile, along the way, weeds (that is, unwanted plants) will start to grow too. The farmer, on a continuous basis, will be removing the weeds in order to give room for the crops to grow. If the weeds are not removed, the crops will be choked up and there may not be any harvest or the harvest will be poor. After few weeks or months, the crops will begin to fruit. When the crops or fruits are ripe, then it is time for harvest. It looks simple but any farmer will tell you that the procedures are not that easy.
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So, how does this relate to business? Let’s discuss few of them:
Business ideas
Every enterprise starts with a business idea. Whether you want to start a small business or you want to build a multinational company, it will begin with an idea. That idea is like a seed. Someone said that ideas are cheap. There are many great ideas all around. But before an idea will become a enterprise, you need to work on it by implementing it. Any idea not implemented is just a mere dream or a fantasy.
Just like a seed, any seed not planted will never grow not to talk about producing fruits. A small seed has capacity to become a forest if planted. In the same way, a business idea has capacity to become a conglomerate. But no matter how lofty an idea is, if you don’t work on it and transform it into business, the enterprise will never see the light of the day. The Preacher said, “He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regards the clouds shall not reap”. What a gospel truth! Some people will not work on their idea because they are waiting for the perfect condition or situation. The problem is that, that perfect situation will never come.
Until you take a step forward, you cannot move forward. Until you decide to start that business, the enterprise can never see the light of the day. Just like a farmer needs to plant before he reaps, you need to roll up your sleeves and work on your business idea before you can see that dream business becoming a reality. For you to ensure that your business idea succeed, you may need to deal with some “weeds”. These are people with negative tendencies. They will not see anything good about your business idea. They will tell you that it will not walk. They will even create fear in you. You should learn how to isolate them. It does not matter who they are. You need to guard your business idea jealously. You should consciously nurture it otherwise it will be choked
Capital
Do you know that a farmer has an option of eating that seed? By choice and determination, he decided to plant the seed. That does not mean that he had more than enough. But he had to make the sacrifice today by planting the seed so that he could enjoy the harvest tomorrow. Every entrepreneur will tell you the importance of capital. Without capital, you may not be able to take your business off the ground. It is understood that money is very scarce and it is difficult to come by especially for a budding entrepreneur. That is why you need your own seed capital. You may not have all the money but you need to sacrifice something before you can say you want to seek the help of other people. If you want to start a business and you don’t have anything to contribute, people will not take you serious. Out of the limited resources you have, you should be able to risk something. That will show other people that you believe that your business will succeed.
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Growing your business
After you must have started your business, the next phase is how to grow the business. This is very crucial. If you don’t grow the business, the enterprise may soon die a natural death. For you to grow the business, you still need to apply the law of seed time and harvest time. How? You grow your business by re-investing your profits. Just as a farmer will not eat or sell all his harvests. He has to set a portion aside for planting so that he can enjoy another harvest. Also, you can’t afford to withdraw all your profits from the enterprise. You need to plough back part of the profits into the enterprise for expansion purpose. Besides, what you bought with ten dollars last year may now cost fifteen dollars today by the reason of inflation. This means that if you don’t plough back the profits, the enterprise will be going down gradually as you may not be able to replenish your stocks.
Stakeholders
You need to invest into other stakeholders first before you start gaining from them. For instance, you need to satisfy your customers in order to enjoy their loyalty. You need to motivate your staff for them to become dedicated and committed to the pursuit of your business goals and objectives. You need to show your suppliers that you are reliable before you start enjoying favourable credit terms from them. So also are your bankers will like to know about your credit worthiness before they can advance you credit facilities.
Therefore, business is all about seed time and harvest time. Whatever you sow, you will reap. Let every business owner learn from this.