Owen’s art of financial independence

In the midst of economic recovery, statistics from knowledgeable economist becomes an intense creation of economic debate. By the time of writing this article, SA economy was signalling a recovery of 0.9% for the third quarter. This growth was the first for the duration of twelve months. However, further debate, speculate that the economy may have shown this sign of recovery but it is still early to celebrate this recovery because of the massive job losses that incurred in the period of one year. An estimated 400, 000, 00 jobs have been lost for the past one year.
In the midst of economic recovery, I happened to be in the crucial stage of my life’s success. During recessionary period Owen had prepared himself, unknowingly, to weather the economic storm. Although the preparation was not sufficient to fully cover all the requirements of activities that happen during the period, it made him proud to have shown a little bit of foresight in his finances. It is something he would draw his wisdom from. By the time of writing this article Owen was running up and down looking for a job that would fill the void left by retrenchment. The company he worked for the past three years had decided to offload some of its staff, due to restructuring. He was, unfortunately, listed on the staff that the company had wanted to leave out in the new structure. This had brought him under immense pressure to find another job or income generating means rather quickly. He gave himself at least forty days to find another job. This pressure was due to the fact that he had two critical credits that he did not want to lose, i.e. the house and the car. However, it was towards December that the retrenchment had happened, thus the pressure and the worry of not getting immediate response. As a timeless individual, he never stopped running around his deadline. This had made it difficult and challenging for him but he knew that through hardship he could achieve the status of success serendipity. He made it his point to make at least two applications, everyday, for the job. Despite the rejections that he encountered Owen knew that the only way to realising his wishes was to keep applying, following up and going to interviews. He also had an arrangement of looking for an exciting venture that would give him a breakthrough into realistic entrepreneurship. The more his plans come to mind, he thought of them directing him towards their realisation. He thought, handsomely, that he could only take action at a pace which enables his desires to come into fruition with painstaking care. His was merely an act of his Godly nature, to further the purposes that he had outlined himself to achieve. In the instance of careerism, he had learned a great deal from retrenchment. From now on, he would give his best shot in terms of dedicating himself and ensuring the high level of efficiency and accuracy. Excellency! He yearned for high level of excellency, first in his strategic thinking and then, qualitative execution. He vowed to devote much time in his neatness and professionalism when in corporate settings, from the personal outlook. And for more practical purpose of being in the position he would relish the settings where it would enable him to discuss an idea where there are different viewpoints and he become the one who facilitate an agreement. It could not be denied that Owen was an obsessive careerist. He found happiness and sense of expression in working hard to achieve both his career and personal goals. He had dreamed, wrote down and planned several times to become extremely wealthy. He had undying desire for ever growing investment account and running a business that have initial profit projection of R15,000,00 on its first few months of operation, that would keep his wits happily awake the whole 24 hours , and drive his creative passion up high for the rest of his life. However, he was looking for a job by the time dreaming such fruitful dreams. Why look for a job while holding such good plan? The reasoning behind job hunting was due to the fact that he had not yet found or toyed around an idea that could give him his initial monthly projected profit. And furthermore, he was looking for a job with a hope that he would lend an advertising or marketing position. Either of the two would mean another dream having come true because he wanted to understand and master their practicalities. He had psyched himself to deal, successfully, with success when it presents itself. He knew that he was not the one to let good opportunities pass by. What might have been the detour to his yearning for quicker returns would be attributed to his need for quicker returns. There has never been anything wrong with quicker returns, although there is lot of scepticism around their reality, as long as they come into fruition. When quick returns are gained- wishfully lots and lots of money- Owen would not have minded taking advantage of them.
He believed that he had to push back boundaries in order to reach his goals. He also knew that people within power positions, where he was directing his searches for a lucrative job opportunity, were in sync with his qualities and work style. They saw in him an intrapreneur who has passion for what he does and could relate rather well within his team. That was the advantage beyond his understanding of the systems that the position required one to master. He was a strict disciplinarian, mostly to himself! He thought himself capable of achieving goals he has set himself despite his very own doubt. He could be reflective in his own way and he found that made him a stronger, independent person. His was a very risky life that he thought could result in great success. When he did something he does it with much energy, vision and dedication that goes beyond his own abilities. He believed in being completely honest to himself than with anything. His profound believe was that he should be able to make enough money to fulfil cause that bothered his conscience.
When he got the job at Procter&Gamble manufacturing, Owen knew that there was only one way to go: up. Thus, he would not repeat the mistake of not using his creative power, intellect and communication ability to ensure that he does make a great contribution within the company.
His image of himself was not an inflexible either. He understood and appreciated that people he relates with would not necessarily see him the way he sees himself. However, it was not their call to project to him their own view of him. His was an inner perception of himself that could be understood only by the person inside. That’s how he understood and appreciated when people see him different from himself because it’s the outer world that he interacts with. This was the man who could overcome rejection towards its knees.
‘You can’t borrow your identity nor buy it. You must! Listen! You must create it to your true satisfaction,’ he once said.
Owen prayed for money all his life, thus he had so much than he himself could have imagined. His prayers culminated into hard work which was rewarded handsomely. He saw a bit of Jewish principles in him. ‘Make more, spend and save’ was his philosophy in his creation of the most interesting lifestyle, while looking at his background. He was not ashamed of loving money let alone the risk of making money. His mind was conditioned to make as much money as he could, regardless of whether as an employee or entrepreneur. ‘It was within my variable interest to formulate a prayer based on financial successes’, he once said, while standing firm on his decision to formulate the prayer. He apparently practiced his prayer twice a day.
Through the studying of the habits of highly effective people, Owen discovered an underlying skill that would stand to serve his effectiveness in human relations. He discovered a unique listening skill. He saw the skill as unique because of his genuine need to listening with intent to understand than to reply or judge. He learned emphatic listening. This skill would allow him to communicate his purpose from the other person’s point of view. This did not mean he would readily agree to anything that the other party is proposing but sought to figure out whether what is proposed is genuine or within his values. Steps he would take first to put himself under another’s point of view is diagnosis. He would ask questions logically and refraining to get emotional about finding the root of the problem. However, he understood that emotions do get in the way, but the book taught him that when he sense emotions coming into play he would revert to emphatic listening.
There was no doubt that he has enough courage to question, even his own assumptions about the way he had come to develop them and whether they serve his higher purpose. The main love to his heart with regard to communication would have been the way he wanted to engage his mind in a specific subject; marketing being the state of engrossment in his mind. The learning of all things marketing gave him more imaginable curiosity. Although this limited his relations to his immediate people, but he would concur later, ‘It was the best sacrifice that I could have made in my entire life and let alone painful. I wanted to understand the subject beyond my imagination. I wanted to be renowned for being in the level of Theodore Levitt, John Sculley and many well known marketing people. I wanted to achieve this by being unique in my understanding of the marketing practicality. I was not necessarily going to be bound to theoretical understanding but further to measure my understanding and performance in marketing by being the most sought after marketing specialist in the area of service. However, he did not remain complacent in thinking that he was fallible. He has inner humility, which could not remain visible to the outer world but a rather genuine humility. In comparison to others close to him he saw no reason of being in a state where his siblings or cousins have ever been. He wanted to be in a sustainable financial position more than them. Despite his will to achieve more than his relatives he did not see this perspective as competition with them, but it was a reasonable view that he held dearly. He yearned for life of abundance thus he would not be in the position where he had to ask anyone for money.
He was well read that sometimes his speech would not complete a sentence without stuttering or gasping for air. Sometimes, some people would see him as nice or soft, emotional or illogical, while he would only think that people saw him differently to himself. This did not mean that he was the self important person in his communication but he had the desire to see himself, as he would like other person to see him, thus get motivated to behave in the projected view.
He likes to see himself as a think tank kind of guy. One who does not have much concern about how the other person would see him. A contrary view for someone who was viewed to be in a survival mode- as per one reputable marketing director who once interviewed him for a job. However, he was not only in survival mode but he had dreams as well as goals. He wanted to achieve them with great pace and skill. The many parts that saw him want to achieve mainly financial success were very secretive to him and are perception during the course of achievement.
He was the most critical person to himself when he could not do something to the best of his abilities. Owen demanded the best out of himself. Although he had his own doubts, it did not stop him from believing in his abilities to become the best that he can be. Although there were moments where his interactions with the outer world he would question, he kept his head above waters that he would find, in him, the opportunity to rise above human relations challenges for the better. He believed his professional personality will grow to the higher standard realistically possible. He did not shy away from showing wisdom, truth, wealth and science in his day to day conduct of his life. He repeated these values over time in his head. He did not deny that he was hard on himself, but he also believed that being hard was the correct means of being on top of his game. Beauty in his personal life, beauty in his social life, beauty in his professional life, and he dreamt of anything beautiful to achieve. His timing for achievement was admirable. He believed in his charming and witty personality to get things done. He made it to himself that he will work on beautiful personality. Owen’s love and prayer for money gave him the commitment to realise his goals within his defined term.
As an eager learner, he believed in being willing to learn from the high achievers and yearned badly to associate and be at home with them. He would adopt their fruitful strength for his own usage.
His ideals for livings were in association with his earning potential. Below is the brief overview of what he needs to earn in order sustain his living standard and his professional career.

For business activities he needed at least R10000.00 set aside each month AND the spending breakdown was as follows:
R3000.00 for fuel
R500.00 for airtime
R6000.00 for roadside emergencies

To sustain his name and his other commitments he needed at least R15000.00 set aside each month and the commitment breakdown were as follows:
R3553 for home loan repayment
R994 for personal loan repayment
R2212 for car repayment
R315 for home insurance
R1455 for car insurance
R1000 for retirement annuity
R3000 for medical aid
R1000 for other investments
The remaining balance of R1971 was for other usage other than any planned situation within the home.
The amount he needed to earn in order to cover these costs living was at least R40000.00 per month, consistently. This was in consideration to the high taxation that was around for high income earners. He gave himself forty days period to begin generating this income. This was not only a man who wanted to just survive but a man who yearned and willing to sacrifice for realistic and concrete financial freedom. The association of people was not of very much concern to him but he had an undying willingness to find relevant people who had the courage and ready financial means to invest in the product that he was offering to them. The ambition that he had was indestructible. His wife has tried persistently, to no avail, to make him be human but his ambitions did not allow him so. Owen wanted his life to be really well balanced and its obstacles being immediately manageable. He believed that by selling he stood a chance of being really wealthy. That belief he held despite the view that people had about selling. He saw in selling an opportunity to be both an employee and an entrepreneur. His other strength was in him wanting ready commitment from his client because of his conviction that he was honest in his dealings and did not harbour unsavoury intentions. Owen was never the person who liked sharing his opinions about other people’s life or sense of direction, let alone his wife’s. He had maintained his neutrality in her decisions. This was not because of ignorance but because he understood human relations and the need for one to be right in their very irrational decisions. He knew that he must remember the art of psychology in dealing with people but use its practice to gain an advantage in communicating to people for his benefit. He was not necessarily about profit first but he was about excellent service then profit.
Beyond servicing his debts Owen also had progressive material ideas. To follow his after payments of two of his debts he wanted to trade in his Mini Cooper for the new version of Mini Cooper. He wanted to upgrade to another same difference of car. This would only happen after he had paid off his car and the personal loan. As reiterated in this piece of writing he understood the hard work lying ahead in order to complete the set targets. His new house was also in need of beautifying. It needed to be tiled inside and a wall built for further safety and completeness. He also held an idea of paving his yard for gregarious aesthetics. There was another small project back in Limpopo which he had to complete in order to venture freely around there.
On a deeper level Owen was psychologically aware. Aware, in a sense that he knew basic, general human thinking and perception. He did not initially understood how to utilise the psychology advantage but his continuous learning has taught him to use what would benefit him while not leading others’ to marginalised position. He was in no need, contrary to the view of others, of approval. He earned his approval. Or the unfounded perception that he appeared weak. His appearance was deeply founded to disarm human tension that brew when he meet people. Although he left his job as a Sales Consultant at Maxidor after the shortest stay of his career he remain loving to a career in Sales. He left due to their system of penalisation which he personally thought to be hampering one’s financial progress. Money was the great motivator for him. Not because he was greedy for wealth but because he had financial obligations to fulfil.
In his stance for super gifted communicator/orator he had integrated the idea of personal branding to enhance the message he encoded towards persuasive yet truthful conviction. His battle remained to be calm, composed and creative while in communication with decision maker. Although there was no evidence that no one is totally peaceful, calm inside while in conversation he was adamant that he could achieve feet with pragmatist trial and error. Having achieved this challenge would move him much closer towards accomplished personal branding. Marketing was seen as people’s career. It was Owen’s greatest desire to master the greater art of marketing as a career. His way of succeeding in the challenge was diverse in a sense that he remained open to others’ view. However, he had his own held view. Below is the list of some of them. Some he has achieved thus far:
1. To get a code 10 driver’s licence. Passed
2. To get a job as an Account Executive.
3. To earn at least R10, 000.00. Passed
4. To drive/own a red and black 2008 Mini Cooper S. Not fully done but Mini Cooper he has achieved.
5. To become an effective and efficient communicator of information, ideas. Achieved but not fully
6. To strategically network his skills.
7. To earn at least R40, 000.00 per month before the age of 28.
8. To become a marketing manager before the age of 28
9. To become a millionaire before the age of 30
10. To plan, execute marketing plans effectively and efficiently.

Owen had other million plans in his mind and the idea of achieving most of them kept him energised and determined to move ahead successfully.
He was not completely happy with his way of thinking sometimes. He had the tendency of thinking that other people are wrong. He was basically judgemental of people’s attitude. It was not necessarily the good of attitude he saw but his by-the-book way of life has taught him that it’s quite unhealthy to focus on other people’s life with the purpose of judging harshly. He yearned to focus solely in the success of his life, through his way of thinking. It was a saying, ‘your true connection to your success or talents comes from understanding, fully, the person within yourself.’ He wanted to be impeccably aware of his own strength and weaknesses, be able to do something positive about it. It could not be forgotten that Owen had a reserved personality, something which was misjudged as selectivity or anti-social. He valued his life challenges to focus on the behaviour or preferences of another. Although he could get carried away at times, he was relentlessly in search of that resolute inner guidance to steer him clear towards an accomplished sophistication. He would measure his accomplished sophistication by his ability to communicate it clear through his writing. Through his good listening skills and gullibility Owen discovered an interesting motive that people have when communicating. Through hindsight he noticed that some people talk in order to make themselves heard other than getting the point across. It was also a pity that others were talking because they wanted to prove their worth. Although it was hard to pick up these motives while in conversation he devised a plan that would help his listening psychology to keep his mind off these circumstances. He would just listen but never say a word. Before he could answer people’s question he would check the motive by asking the question ‘why’ and try as hard to sense the con of the answer, because others are so smart enough to realise that you picked up their connives. He did not want his mind to be overwhelmed by useless information. He was generally quiet, shy and reserved but did know the art of genuine human relations. His first sign human relations understanding was to stay away from arguments as soon as possible, stop talking to anyone who doesn’t share his values of win/win relationship. Although Owen believed in gentle art of persuasion he hardly understood it in practice. He wanted to understand the words resembling gentleness. Gentle persuasion was useful to him because he thought himself obligated to influence his immediate world.
His financial situation, by the time of this writing needed a big boost like previously related in this piece. He wanted to make a change to ensure there’s enough stability in his life’s prospect. His way of dealing with this challenge was, in personal terms computer program like-no emotions while he was still in hope of that break to save his reputation. He could do anything to save his financial reputation. It was not anything that he would be foolhardy about reality but in a sense that he believed that the energy he was giving to his situation would see him towards successful outing. When dealing with a challenge Owen had the tendency of applying his energy wholeheartedly. That was his main strength.
‘Perseverance and pragmatism would carry me towards his achievement’, he thought.
Hey, do not be fooled by his strong side exposed in this piece, Owen endured the bad side of life’s adventure. He had to go through the period of unemployment, ran through the risk of losing his strength, his possessions. It was not after all, all-system-go. He was lucky enough to find a job at the right time to save his blushes. He kept his unemployment a secret from his closest family and some friends of his. He did this because he did not like to them nor had anything against them but it was because of his belief that he would bounce back into the world of work rather quickly. ‘Damage control,’ he called it. ‘Keeping it private matter also enabled me to give my energy on finding another job sooner than they would note the difference,’ he went on. That was the same strategy that he applied to the creditors as well. ‘We did not find out that he was out of job for so long, until you told us,’ were the words from his three main creditors. He did manage to bounce back rather quickly, it seemed.
Despite his shortcomings, he yearned for diplomacy in dealing with people. The reasoning behind working on improving his diplomacy was his incessant obsession to realise his genius as a service marketer. His need for analytical reasoning was in the form of learning about a subject of concern and be able to make out whether there is any discrepancy that does not fit the ideal of that subject. That required his lateral thinking to match with the analytical nature. Still in the subject of mental ability, he also felt compelled by being in an excellent marketing state to structure his way of communication towards being recognise as a formal yet soulfully impactful way of communication. To achieve this, Owen would have to ensure his communication comes from the inside where he is very articulative when communicating from. The inside in this instance meant he would have to speak strictly from his nerve centre of his nervous system with regulated speech: from it rate, volume, words and tone. Furthermore, it was worth noting that he was gradually finding his core point of communication strength. His knowledge of knowledge was to know what to do with the knowledge that he had. ‘I found it rather useless to know something but do not have the capacity to use it for some benefit,’ he reiterated. He did not really believe in only talking about theories. He yearned for being able to put them into practice. ‘Most of the ideas I thought talked about were implementable. That’s the main reason I did not believe in much talk,’ he went on. Right actions speak louder than words!
In the quarter leading to April 2010, the employment index ran by Adcorp group was signalling employment growth estimated at 3%. It was a good sign for being in a position to be employed. However, he stopped short of trying to second guess himself and others. The only effect the index had on him was to remain prepared and pragmatic.
He was sometimes concerned about his being insecure but an ideal he once read calmed by stating, ‘the future belongs to the discontent’. ‘I was so discontent with myself, my achievements and my failures as well.’ How did his discontent affect his way of thinking? ‘My way of thinking was very much outside the psychological comprehension. Although I had in-depth knowledge of psychology, it only helped me to clear our unwanted way of thinking in my mind. I had a simple philosophy that would carry me above all things that I did. My philosophy was to keep to my vision, direction and values I have carved for myself. The most important of these were the ones I had formulated in 2005 after I had left my first job,’ he deliberated. Was there no regret in his ‘formulated vision, direction and values’? ‘Yes, a big regret. An error had I realised earlier I would have been in the bigger scheme of things,’ he said. What that might be got me more curious. ‘When I formulated a career vision I should have chosen to be in business for myself. I was blinded by the lack of resources and thought I could not make it.’ Wow! So he had no idea there was a way to rise above his lack of resources? ‘The thing is, I never thought myself resourceful or intelligent enough to achieve the feat,’ he said with his eyes still in awe. Was there still any hope of changing the career direction? ‘I think there is because currently I am busy with a business plan. Although, I think I would have been far had I went through with being entrepreneurial. I have set myself time to reach the entrepreneurial stage,’ he reassured. And looking at above financial plans, it was clear that he wanted to be an entrepreneur.

It was not a far cry to challenge the audacity of his being a people’s person. He felt himself lost at times when with people for pure social pleasure. How, though, did he plan to achieve his marketing genius or his killer sales executive status without high social skills? ‘I adhered to a thought: being with people does not mean talking your points all the time. Thus, I could be comfortable with my being reserved around people. At times I would be a probing conversationalist. I would brush up my people’s skills in that manner,’ he combatively said. It was not hard to comprehend, when looking at the evidence lying out of people achieving things in a different way. When he looked at the brand he realised that there were differences in the way they are positioned. ‘That should tell you something about the thinking behind brand. It’s people with different mentality who devise those branding strategies. So are we still blind to say there set ways of being a marketing genius? No. That has been proven overtime,’ his argument was valid.
He saw himself as a limitless individual who was bound for good things he saw worthy to work hard for. Although Owen was not fully in connection with his true talents he did try come into distinction of his original expression. He really loved to listen to writing. In that way he would come to ingrained habits of finding unique gifts that gifted people had he would relate to without much difficulty. It was his undeniable belief that ‘to think I am at the point of finding my true calling would literally means the financial rewards that come with answering the calling is beyond human imagination.’ What a rather bold observation anyone would make, considering they are just at the middle age of their youthful years.
In conclusion, the financial independence that Owen has artistic yearning to expression is no less ordinary.