Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

Rich or Poor. You Decide.

I am sure you have all heard the saying: “The end justifies the means.”. Loosely deciphered, this means doing whatever it takes to get where you aspire to be. Changing what you can’t accept and even hurting a few people on the way, To get what you want. Chanelling positive energy. Forcing the universe to align itself to your base desires. Never taking ‘No’, ‘Maybe’ or ‘We will see’ for an answer.

At the end of the day, people will see the REASON why so many people had to be disapointed, hurt etc, for you to get where you are. Or do what you did. They will marvel at the beauty of the end-product and forget all the pain. Guys will say ‘You are good. It was all worth it’. Unless they are just typical estate dogs who scorn at anything they are not associated with.

Then comes the sister quote: “The means justifies the end”. Accepting what you can’t change. Saying all the things losers and pussies say, e.g. “That is what God planned.”, “We tried our best”, “We had no funding.”, “We blame Safaricom”, “I wish I were a Mzungu”. Then comes my favorite “Who needs money?”, “Wameiba”, “Pesa ni za Shetani”. etc. Fuck you.

But then comes the thin line. Morality vs Results. Ruthlessness vs Goodwill/Blessing/Good Karma. Allow me to Shamelessly quote James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh , one of my favorite all-time books [Best book. I highly recommend it to anyone ]:

“

A man may be honest in certain directions, yet suffer privations. A man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet acquire wealth. But the conclusion usually formed that the one man fails because of his particular honesty, and that the other prospers because of his particular dishonesty, is the result of a superficial judgment, which assumes that the dishonest man is almost totally corrupt, and honest man almost entirely virtuous.

 

In the light of a deeper knowledge and wider experience, such judgment is found to be erroneous. The dishonest man may have some admirable virtues which the other does not possess; and the honest man obnoxious vices which are absent in the other.

 

The honest man reaps the good results of his honest thoughts and acts; he also brings upon himself the sufferings which his vices produce. The dishonest man likewise garners his own suffering and happiness.It is pleasing to human vanity to believe that one suffers because of one’s virtue. But not until a man has extirpated every sickly, bitter, and impure thought from his mind, and washed every sinful stain from his soul, can he be in a position to know and declare that his sufferings are the result of his good, and not of his bad qualities. And on the way to that supreme perfection, he will have found working in his mind and life, the Great Law which is absolutely just, and which cannot give good for evil, evil for good.

 

Possessed of such knowledge, he will then know, looking back upon his past ignorance and blindness, that his life is, and always was, justly ordered, and that all his past experiences, good and bad, were the equitable outworking of his evolving, yet unevolved self.

“

I could not explain it better. You will never be rich because you love your mother, or pray to a god daily or do all the good things your pastor told you to do. Or because you wake up every day and go to work by 7am. You will become RICH or POOR based on your thoughts. Simple as.

But as Humans/Kenyans, it is always good to just sit in our $30 Sofasets hoping against hope and saying, “One day this will all change. We will be rich and happy.”. And the beat goes on. The rich become richer. The poor also prosper. In poverty.

People who try less and work less than you will always be better than you, financially. Why? Because of the power of attraction. Positive energy. You want something bad enough? It will come to you. As soon as you deserve it. You will never get what you want or work hard for. You will always get what you DESERVE.

So, the question begs. “How do you channel positive energy to achieve what you DESERVE?”. The answer is right there. You are. Right now you are getting EXACTLY what you deserve. It is not fate. Fate is for the mentally weak.

Wealth [Monetary, Health-wise, Mental] is all a product of ones thought and focus.

Focus on what is WRONG, UNFAIR and NOT WORKING in your life, and you will get exactly what you deserve. Misery. Poverty. Sadness. Focus on what you want, the picture of success, you in that Kompressor, you being in every gals to-do list, etc.. and It will happen. Very soon. Nothing happens by chance. The universe respects your deepest desires. And always makes you realize them.

It all depends on you. The rest of us are just spectators and distractions. Kazi kwako.

Back to code.

Wazi.

March 18, 2010.

It is the Tandaa Local Content Conference today in Nairobi. Thanks to ICT Board again.

I am at iHub Kenya and just heard Wanyama [@kenyafreelancer], say “What more do we Kenyans want? We have Fibre now”

I am at iHub Kenya and just heard Cynthia Muyoti of FabGuru , say “Facebook has made my business better? 1391 fans todate and I am soon expanding my Shoes Business”

Seated next to me is Agosta Liko, Mbugua Njihia and John Karanja. I hear talk after talk. Aly Khan Satchu talks about how anyone can be rich and gives examples.

So I brainstorm with fellow coders and the question becomes; ‘How can Kenyan Coders be rich?’. Not the “i can afford to go out and i own a toyota” rich. Or the “I pay all my bills and my rent is always paid on time” rich. How about the “I look at the food names on the menu, not the price before I order rich”, or the “I am undecided whether to drive my Range or my Mustang today rich”.

50 Cent said ‘get rich or die trying’ [GRODT], but I tell you, try ‘get rich or get rich’ [GRoGR]. We are in a position never experienced before. So, for free as usual, I will list the top 10 opportunities that are there open-legged and wet and just waiting for Kenyan coders to smell the coffee and dive in and start making the old-Money conglomerate wish they could impregnate their daughters.Only coders?? Naaah! ANYONE can jump into the eChapaa bandwagon. It is free and there for everyone.

My Top 10

1. Local Digital Content – Yes. Content is the buzzword. Enough Said. Anything you know [Yes, am speaking to Pamela, Wangechi and Anyanche] is sellable. Just grab word-press and google-checkout and walla!
2. Content Discovery Tools – Coders. The challenge is yours. Java Applications, Desktop Applications. There is over KSHS 100M not made per month by PRSPs because of lack of content discovery tools. That is why the guys down South are inviting  likes of Symbiotic to go down there and consult on HOW to convert content and knowledge into wallet-content.
3. Mobile Apps – Think of anything useful as a mobile phone app and there are 100, 000 people who NEED it and will PAY 20 bob each for it.
4. Mobile Games – Here we go again. the limit is only your imagination. grab a keyboard and write some code!! Stop these silly excuses that ‘programming is hard’. I got a miserable B in KCSE and can code, sembuse wewe!! But whatever you do, please don’t use VB.
5. Hacking and Security – The silence is deafening, but the hackers are on their way. Be equipped to defend Kenya. Your hacking knowledge will be invaluable in 3-6 months time. Tick.. tock…
6. Animation and Design – Some foreign jamaaz came here, partnered with HomeBoyz Studions and now are making millions of dollars per month. What are Kenyans doing? Facebook all day and complaining about how hard life is, how much of a a parent-hater Esther Arunga is and how much money Ruto is stealing. Kaeni papo hapo.
7. Kenyan Social Networks – YES. I said it. You can start your own Facebook tomorrow and become rich like crazy. There are 4M Kenyans with an Internet Connections. This number grows by the day. there are only 580, 000 kenyans on facebook. This is 14.5% percent of Kenyans with Internet. So what are the other 85.5% doing? Waiting for you to give them something better. Something Kenyan. Something more contextual. Lala tu.
8. Adult Sites – Ati Eish? We all know Kenyan is the mdinyano capital of East Africa. An average slut makes KSHS 2, 500 per night. And those are the cheap ones. Connect the clients and the vendors. Simple as! I wont say anything more.
9. eParty – Bring clubbing to the mobile phone. Hook people up to YOU on thursdays, fridays and sato. Just charge each user 10 bob per week. Kenyans will pay.
10. Your own WebTV Show – If you are that Kibera guy who can dance like MJ or that Kileleshwa bathroom singer, get heard online! Make some money. Sell yourself!

So maswali ni, what do KENYANS want! Are you going to waste all day thinking up cocky status updates for facebook and poking strangers who you mean NOTHING to, or are you going to monetize your time? Are you going to waste your life away in the digital world, or are you going to focus on what will really make your momma smile in public pointing at you and say, “yeah! that’s my baby!”. Are you going to complain all day about the government, corruption, the kaanjo and these bloody foreigners, or are you going to take control of your life?

Amua mwenyewe!

Ehh, back to code! Pole timo.