Habari Gani (What’s the News)? Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)!

The second principle of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) is Kujichagulia or Self-Determination. This principle means to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

For Black Online Marketers, this means being comfortable in the knowledge that you are the master of your fate. It means adopting an abundance attitude and not allowing false notions of scarcity to scare you away from the success that awaits you. Only you can do you and the more you do you, the better you get at doing you. if you’re not making some mistakes along the way, you aren’t making enough progress toward becoming ultimately successful. Mistakes are part of the learning process. To borrow from popular culture–Star Wars, to be specific–”Do or do not. There is no try.”

December 28th — Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)

Habari Gani (What’s the News)? Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)!

The third principle of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) is Ujima (collective work and responsibility). This principle means to build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together.

For Black Online Marketers, this means offering help and assistance to those who are new to internet marketing and wondering whether it’s really possible to make a full or part time living online. In these difficult economic times, more people than ever before are looking for ways to secure their financial standing and lesson their reliance on corporate salaries as a source of fiscal peace of mind.

Online marketing is not difficult but it does require adherence to fundamental rules of engagement and online protocols that have been tested time and time again as proven strategies for success. You can waste a lot of time and money trying through self-directed trial and error.

There is nothing to lose and plenty to gain through collective work. If you view the world through a purely competitive lens and decide not to assist others, you lose out on potential opportunities to partner with individuals who in some cases will become more successful than you and most others in this business. Through relationships and joint venture or affiliate arrangements, you can create volume and awareness through revenue sharing that will exceed anything you could do by yourself. Would you rather have 100% of nothing or 50% of a doubled, tripled or larger growth opportunity?

December 29th — Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

Habari Gani (What’s the News)? Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)!The fourth principle of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) is Ujamaa (cooperative economics). This principle means to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

For Black Online Marketers, this means committing fully to entrepreneurship as a means to master and control our financial destinies.

Most entrepreneurs who have lived comfortable lives as middle-level and upper-level executives will tell you that a full-time salary is nice, but you won’t necessarily get rich working for someone else. Entrepreneurship offers the best opportunity to maximize your profit potential and to achieve real wealth.

When you begin your business or as you look for new ways to grow and sustain good results, remember that no enterprise exists in a vacuum. Businesses not only need loyal customers but they often require services from other businesses to thrive and prosper. Pursue relationships with other like-minded business people to ensure your long-term success.

December 30th — Nia (Purpose)

Habari Gani (What’s the News)? Nia (Purpose)!

The fifth principle of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) is Nia (Purpose). This principles means to make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Black Online Marketers can demonstrate purpose in their online initiatives by ensuring that the time we spend online is focused and deliberate. It’s easy to get distracted in our social networking and conversations with the many friends and wonderful people that you meet via the internet.

The hard part is making sure that your efforts at socializing also create opportunities to cultivate partnerships or awareness for your products and services in addition to educating yourself and others about the importance of community development through entrepreneurship.

While you’re online twittering, blogging, surfing, bookmarking, posting, and doing all the other things that cause hours to pass like minutes, make sure to spend time marketing, responding to questions, providing information, and developing your expertise so that social becomes service and service becomes security–financial security for you and for the larger community of individuals and businesses with whom you do business.

December 31st — Kuumba (Creativity)

Habari Gani (What’s the News)? Kuumba (Creativity)!

The sixth principle of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) is Kuumba (Creativity). Creativity is a fundamental competency that distinguishes successful entrepreneurs who love their businesses from non-entrepreneurs and others who are simply working to make a living. For Black Online Marketers, creativity is all the more important in ensuring that our businesses are competitive, provide customer value, and fully leverage all of our resources toward optimizing profit while maintaining stability and growth.

Entrepreneurs aren’t strangers to risk or resource constraints. As Black entrepreneurs, we have a special knack for being realistic about our circumstances when things are less than ideal without allowing practicalities become impossibilities. Optimism and creativity are the basis for a confident swagger that is evident in Black Online Marketers who fully understand that even failure holds valuable lessons for subsequent success.

As you make plans for greater abundance in the New Year, open your mind to new and different creative possibilities that will work to expand your options and provide additional benefits to the community you serve through your efforts.

January 1st — Imani (Faith)

Habari Gani (What’s the News)? Imani (Faith)!The seventh principle of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) is Imani (Faith). This principles means to believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Once you overcome any personal doubts and fears about whether you can really succeed as an online entrepreneur, you will need to rely on steadfast faith to keep those doubts from creeping up again and stealing your victory.

Many people won’t ever understand what it is you do exactly much less that you can really make part-time or full-time income from your internet marketing activities and businesses. This is why it’s so important to connect with other like-minded individuals who are beginning their own businesses, managing successful online enterprises, teaching others how to avoid common failures and leading the way for a new generation of Black Online Marketers.

You are doing a great and noble work by providing for your own financial independence in addition to building opportunities for others to succeed because of your efforts. Have faith that you will learn what you need to learn exactly when you need to learn it and that your every struggle take you one step closer to your pre-ordained success.