Searching Through Dustbins

An Authentic Account of the Birth of a Business

Abed Tau

• Publisher: Tracey McDonald Publishers
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780639992846
• eBook ISBN: 9780639992853
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Biographies
• Index: Business

'My book is one of authenticity, my interest is to spread an idea and hopefully have a hand in creating more lasting entrepreneurs in our beautiful country.' – ABED TAU

Many people believe that quitting your job and becoming an entrepreneur is a romantic notion, but being your own boss isn't just about freedom. Nor is it about the status that comes your way when you innovate the product or service that no one knew, until now, they simply could not live without. And it's not even about the amazing income you'll be getting when your start-up hits the big time.

Entrepreneurship is none of these things. It's about plain hard work which often garners little – if any – reward. It's about keeping going even when you feel you have no more to give and remaining focused and consistent when all you want to do is walk away. It's about searching through dustbins for business, leaving no stone unturned.

Abed Tau knows this because he has walked the entrepreneurial road many times. Having started a number of businesses – some successful, others not – he knows what it's like, and what it takes, to be an entrepreneur.

While entrepreneurship may ultimately be richly rewarding, it's important to know some of the challenges upfront before you set off to chase your dream. In Searching Through Dustbins, Abed shares his experiences with candour and humour, painting an honest picture of the life of an entrepreneur. Essential reading for any would-be or start-up business owner, it's a vital insight into what to expect and it also provides pragmatic advice for starting or building a business.

Searching Through Dustbins comes from the heart and speaks to the heart. It will inspire and motivate you, while ensuring that your entrepreneurial dreams and aspirations stay on track.

EPILOGUE

PART OF THE JOURNEY IS THE END

Dylan and I have regular board meetings with our Tuta-Me investors, where we update them on our progress and plans for the coming months.

They’re usually pretty standard, but at one of our most recent meetings, the investors asked us something rather out of the ordinary: ‘What are you guys going to do after Tuta-Me? What’s next on your path?’

I paused for a moment, trying to come up with an articulate answer, but before I could say anything Dylan responded: ‘Abed and I are entrepreneurs. We are going to spend the rest of our lives figuring out businesses, establishing start-ups, growing businesses and creating value.’ He went on to compare us to a bird that’s been caged, and that longs for the day it is released so that it can be free to fly and roam the skies. ‘Both of us are out of the cage, and we’re going to do everything possible to remain outside.’

I couldn’t have given a better answer. My truth is that I’m so in love with business and its entire process. Building a business is one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life, but I would choose to do it all over again – and again – if given the chance. I quit my job five years ago so that I could dive into business and learn as much about it as I could, and instead I found myself embarking on a journey that taught me about life. My journey into business has been a journey of self-actualisation; a journey of discovery. I will never stop thinking, with wonder, about the impact the businesses we started have had on my family, friends, employees, communities and the other companies we work with.

Even though I agreed 200 per cent with Dylan’s answer, the question was a personal one, and I continued to reflect on it for weeks after that board meeting. To be quite honest, I think I will consider the question of ‘what’s next?’ for the rest of my life. I don’t have all the answers, and probably never will, but I do know that I will continue to do more of what I am doing now.

My hope and desire is that our businesses – Thamani, Silicon Maboneng and Tuta-Me – outlive us and continue to employ young people and create value for the communities and customers they serve. It requires an insurmountable amount of energy and effort to start a business, and an even greater effort and energy to sustain it, so I’m not sure if I will be starting any new businesses anytime soon. That said, as I write this, I have ideas for three new start-ups – so who knows what the future holds?

I think the next stage in my journey can be summed up by three poems I learned in my matric English classes. They’re timeless in both their message and their meaning, and they hold special resonance for me.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

… I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

This really encapsulates how I feel about the decision I took on 26 February 2014, my crown birthday, to leave employment and all its comforts – most of all, the SMS I’d receive on the twenty-fifth of every month, telling me that I had just received my salary and that I could still pay my rent, my car and groceries, and the occasional night out with friends.

I was venturing into a space where there would be no stable salary (and certainly no reassuring SMS), and indeed I could be telling this story with a sigh – but the truth is that we have been very lucky. Things seem to be working out; we are carrying on, we are paying the bills.

Entrepreneurship is definitely the road less travelled. It is less grassy, it has thorns and potholes, but it also holds rich rewards for those who are prepared to take the risk and put up with the discomfort. I know that the choice I made was right for me (and I know that my business partners feel the same way) – even though I’m equally certain that we’ll encounter more forks on the road as we go further along our path. I know that we’ll be confronted with more tough decisions, but I’m confident that we will always choose the adventure over the predictable.

J

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms ...

Walden – Henry David Thoreau

They say that you should not test the depth of water with both feet. Well, that’s exactly what I did. I jumped into entrepreneurship with both feet, without knowing what lay beneath the surface. I became an entrepreneur to learn about business, but the process has turned me into a scholar of people, love, patience, humanity and life. I have learned more about myself than I have learned about business.

You’re probably already aware of Maslow’s Hierarchy, a pyramid of human needs which is topped by self-­actualisation. This is defined as ‘realising personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences’. It’s a desire ‘to become everything one is capable of becoming’. I think that entrepreneurship has brought me closer to this state. I have grown, as a person, in leaps and bounds, and continue to grow every day.

I found life’s marrow in entrepreneurship, and I intend to keep sucking that marrow out of life, just as Thoreau did. Steve Jobs once said, ‘Death is the single best invention of life … It replaces the old with the new. It’s a constant reminder that our time on earth is limited.’ He was right: life is short, and I don’t want to feel that I wasted my life because I didn’t live out my dreams – and you shouldn’t, either. You don’t have to choose entrepreneurship, but you must choose happiness, whatever that means for you. Maybe it mean...

Table of contents

• Contents
• INTRODUCTION
• PROLOGUE
• THE FIRST DOOR THAT YOU OPEN MAY NOT BE THE RIGHT ONE
• WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?
• BORING IS GOOD; STAY FAR AWAY FROM EXCITING
• THE FIRST 100 DAYS
• CRICKET: THE GREATEST BUSINESS METAPHOR IN THE WORLD
• THE ART OF SHOWING UP
• THE ROLE OF TIME
• KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE
• SUCCESS: WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
• IS THERE A PERFECT TIME TO GIVE UP?
• ON RAISING FUNDING FOR YOUR BUSINESS
• LISTEN TO YOUR INNER CHILD
• CHANCES AND OPPORTUNITIES: WHAT TO DO WITH THEM
• IDEAS ARE LIKE BILLS: EVERYBODY HAS THEM
• UNPACKING THE BUZZWORDS
• DO YOU WANT TO BECOME FAMOUS OR RICH?
• I HAVE NEVER MET A MILLIONAIRE DRESSED IN A SUIT
• LISTEN, TAKE GENUINE INTEREST, BE AUTHENTIC
• LESSONS FROM PINKY AND THE BRAIN
• LESSONS TO TEACH YOUR KIDS
• STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH
• EVERY DAY IS THE SUPER BOWL
• THE OPPORTUNE TIME TO START
• NOT EVERYTHING THAT’S SHINY SHINES
• IF IT’S BROKEN, DON’T CONTINUE TO BREAK IT
• COMPETITION IS FOR LOSERS
• WHEN YOU FINALLY ARRIVE, DON’T FORGET THE TASTE OF TWO MINUTE NOODLES
• YOUR FIRST HIRE COULD BE YOUR LAST
• FISH WHERE THE FISH ARE
• THE POPCORN I REGRET GIVING UP
• PART OF THE JOURNEY IS THE END
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR