Still Establishing Myself
Well that was an interesting year. Nothing like how I expected or initially wanted it to turn out. It was the year that I really tried to establish myself in Nigeria. I think that I mostly accomplished that. Though it was a painful endeavor. This is a hardship country after all with most expats coming here with generous compensation packages.
I came with a backpack. Yet I am still here, having given up an easy life in California for difficulty and uncertainty. I suppose that has changed me in many ways, living in a hostile environment. I’ve become considerably more aggressive in my handling of other people and increasingly paranoid. 5 years after college, there is no boss to defer to, nor peers around me, either by choice or necessity (due to my choices). It is quite isolating having most everyone around just peel off like that.
But from all the aggregation, farming, harvesting, meeting customers, trade show. I’ve learned much, now it’s just a matter of translating that into a workable model in 2023 and scaling it thereafter. It has taken a considerable amount of patience, more then I thought I had in me because up until this point, I’ve always overestimated what I could accomplish in a relatively short period of time.
The Biggest Lesson in 2022
The urgency is important of course. But incredibly high expectations will lead to let downs most of the time. It is a product of maturity I think. You do what you need to do and take it as an upmost priority sure, but that doesn’t mean frantically running around making all these little adjustments. Let things play out and gather the new data, and make adjustments from there.
Sometimes, the best thing to do is nothing.
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Having said that, my time in Nigeria has not all been career focused.
I learned how to swim for one. I’m not great at it sure, but it’s workable. It was a lot of work and I likely took longer then most people to learn.
I also learned how to drive a manual car. Wasn’t too difficult and I’m no expert, but it’s functional. And it was done driving on Lagos roads, which is saying something.
2023: The Year of Refinement
Moving forward into 2023 with a small team and a lot of hard won experience, some things to keep in mind.
Stay Patient: Frantic moves means mistakes, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.
Temper Expectations: Attack with urgency, but know that results take time.
Assess People: New people will be brought in in 2023, gauge their abilities, potential and limitations.
With that being said, I don’t have a whole lot more to add. Though I did have eye opening experiences in my first trip to Europe going to Ukraine and my first trip to the Middle East in Egypt. I just wanted to get into less technical details.
And I have been posting here infrequently now. Quite frankly my mind is preoccupied with a single minded objective. So anything interesting, I’ll post here.
Kingston S. Lim
28th Dec 2022
Lagos, Nigeria
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Kingston S. Lim 