Hey everybody. This is NJ, the host of the N J podcast. And this is significant lessons, Saturdays. This is part of the everyday series where we share insights and answers aspiration based on other people's lives. These people can be fictional or non-fictional. I still consider them inspirational. It's still good to learn from other peoples because we can shorten that up. A journey to success by not having to repeat mistakes that we would need to. And the more that you learn, the more that you grow and the better the person it is that you become. Saturday's a great time to learn because you can be relaxing or still grinding all day every day. It doesn't matter. Still a good time to learn. And that's today's show we're going to talk about Theo. He is the ex accountant who left the comfort of employment to create a business that sustainably employs more than 200 other people. He starts with the fastest growing sneaker brand in Africa, from his township home. After being rejected about 13 times, but to now has over 25 stores and counting sustainably employers over 200 people and has many great partnerships. The shoe brand is now recognized as one of the top 10 trusted brands in Africa. He is his exploits and passion have gone at him. Many accolades, such as young entrepreneur of the year, 2019. So that Africa from the south African pre premier business, premier awards, Forbes Africa 30 under 30 2019. The barbecue awards, Hennessy exome businessmen of the year award 2020 and top empowerment awards, 2020 top empowers. Young achiever of the, uh, his name is Theo by Lloyd. And here are some lessons that we can learn from him. Firstly, despise and nuts. The day of small beginnings. He said, I think for me, because I started from humble beginnings and I was very intentional. I've sacrificed so much and I've reinvested so much in starting a business. And literally I literally live my life. Even at times when things aren't going the right way, I just keep ongoing. I think it's something each and every person needs to have in them. What stops most people from starting is the fear of failure or being overwhelmed by the vision they have. And the time it will take to get to where they want to. However, every big company was one system. Every single one, they all start a small in a garage, a room or the boots of a car. It says the small beginnings that will help you remember where you came from and give you the strength to succeed. When things get tough, starting small and struggling to grow, develops a depth of character that perceived overnight success. Won't. Theo always points to the story of him starting from the boot of his car and refusing to quit, always sacrificing and giving back to the business, to build what he has today. Despise not the days of small beginnings as they build the character. You will need to stay at the top. The next lesson is no matter what. Keep going and favorable times and unfavorable times you work hard work is a great deal of effort and endurance in the world of business. You are 80% likely to. Therefore you will face hard times. You will be rejected. You will have times where you don't want to get up in the morning. You will have times when you think you can't make it anymore. When this happens, you need to remember that you are a gladiator and key. Working Theo has definitely faced resistance, rejection and ridicule on the path to success. He was first rejected 13 times before he got a meaningful partnership. Even at the Zenith of success, he is still facing resistance, rejection and ridicule. In spite of this, he has what I call his work. No matter what philosophy you said, they hate you. They criticized you work. They speak ill of you. You work their copy, you work. They sabotage you work. They say, no, you work there. Plant evil. You work in favorable and unfavorable times you work, work when things don't go well. Well, when you have no money work, when you don't have favor. Well, when things go well, work, when you still see the light at the end of the tunnel work, no matter what, there are lots of things you can't control, but you can't control how hard you work. The next lesson. Yeah. Scale fast. The O said, I literally lived my brand max letter house and said, think big, start small, then scale or fail fast. It's good to start small. And to do things, do small things. It's not good to stay small. If you had the opportunity to grow bigger, the bigger you grow, the more people you can serve. This is a thinking that has aided buzzers success. In growing fast, they have opened eight stores in three months and groove, a 300% in sales over a pandemic. This was not always the case. When the brand started with sales happening from the boot of a car. Your business, serves people more people need your service and can only get it. Once you decide to grow bigger, as fast as you can, while remaining patients the next lesson, we can learn us faster. Great partnerships. I have some, some easy to wear my shoe years later, he wore my shoe and then people asked if we'll resist you. Clients are the best people to position your. One of the nine building blocks of the business model. Canvas is the key partnerships you build the right partner will help you build your business, give you more exposure and insights. You never would have gotten on your. The partnership by two facet with the Misa helped grow the brands, exposure and sales, get more celebrities to wear the shoe and partner with other brands that just cause a lot steers and Forbes, Africa find the right partner, build the relationship with them and grow your brand. Don't get disheartened. If some turn you down the right partner, work with you at the right time. The next lesson you can learn is stick to the grand vision. The vision is to have over 600 stores worldwide. There is a saying that the greater your goal, the quicker it comes true, this is because of grander vision communicates to you and your mind that you need to work harder, do more and become more to make the goal happen. A grand goal gives you a greater sense of urgency and highest sense of responsibility, and you will have less time for excuses. When you feel like quitting, it becomes harder to create because the bigger the goal, the harder you work, and then the harder it will be to up. The Uber focused, have a grand vision that is bigger than them. And hence they get more done and waste less time. You know, Musk wants to change the world and get us to another planet. Hence he is achieving far more than the average. The Apollo has a create a grand vision that is bigger than him, the country and the African continent, his vision spans the globe in making the sneaker brand a premier choice around the world. This was his vision when he started and in such a short period, but he has dominated the industry and the country and is on course to keep dominating and go global. Why Theo stuck to and grew his grant. If you really want to mobilize your efforts, create a sense of urgency and find it harder to quit. You need to create a grand vision. I hope you enjoy this episode of significant lessons, Saturdays, where we covered lessons and insights from the entrepreneurial extraordinary let's go through the lessons again, despise not the days of small beginnings. No matter what, keep working scale fast foster great relationships, stick to the grand vision. And those are lessons that we can learn. If you enjoyed this episode, please like share comments and subscribe. If you are interested in any books and merchandise, please head over to the website. Have a fantastic Saturday, take these lessons from Mr. Poli in consequence iteration, if you're relaxing or you are working no matter what, I still look at time to learn these lessons and I will see you on the next episode.