Sometimes we wait too long as creators and entrepreneurs before we launch. We want to plan and research so that everything we need is available, and we don’t know how expensive waiting can be. We take our time and convince ourselves that what we are doing is right, that we are planning and being strategic. We are not. We are wasting time.
Speed of execution is a major advantage in business.
I had a private session with a member of my community yesterday and I spoke to her about the benefit of fast execution, of making all your mistakes on time and moving up the ladder with speed regardless of what your ladder is.
Your ladder could be selling more products, teaching more classes, recording more episodes, writing more books, launching more courses, speaking at more events, applying for more jobs, painting more artwork, creating more content. Speed has a crazy benefits.
The Crazy Guy In my Hood
There’s a guy in my hood. I do not know him personally but I monitor his activities. He has a shawarma outfit about three minutes drive to my house. When I arrived in Lagos, I got shawarma from his boys every other Friday. Before long he started making peppered goat meat. I love goat meat so I visit his stall every other weekend. After a while, he opened a restaurant beside his shawarma place. It was a bad move and it showed from how dry the restaurant was when I visited. First the restaurant was in front of a major food joint, secondly, his style of pricing was strangely pricey for the neighborhood. Soon, the restaurant became an experiment that failed. He closed it down and continued with his shawarma and Asun business.
After about three months, a shop erupted by the corner of the street a few meters from my house. The construction was rapid like the nest of a bird, it had a large room and a veranda that faced the road. The veranda had a burglary that protected those who sat in it from the glare of those who passed. They served beers, made Shawarma and peppered goat meat. It was the same guy. I had big concerns, the shop faced a gully road where cars and motorcycles slowed down when they passed. When there’s no rain, dust flies around in a way that makes the environment dusty and brown, when it rains, it becomes a swamp that swallows cars and tricycles. They had loud music, neon lights, TV and servers. It was a rough place but buzzy in its own way.
But the owner didn’t care about my concerns. He was determined to go on with his experiment and adjust along the way. That was exactly what he did. Barely a month after the bar started, he covered the beer space with a plastic wrap to create some privacy for his customers. I passed the place every evening after work and it felt like business was moving. In another week he drilled the wall of the shops again and created a private lounge. Activities slowed down a bit around the Shawarma spot for another two months and the Shawarma man came up with another plan.
I passed the shop one weekend and I discovered that construction was going on again! At this point I studied him like a project. He had a commendable quality: Speed of execution. He is fast and on his toes. He admitted his errors on time and pivoted without hesitation. He became my lecturer and his spot became my lecture hall even though I didn’t know what he looks like till now.
I watched his workers remove the burglary that stood behind the bar. They removed the wall that demarcated the private lounge and brought in used freezers, about four of them and by the following week a large banner announced his frozen foods business that sold all kinds of frozen meats: Cow meat, fish, Turkey, chicken, goat meat , shrimps etc
Perfection Is Progressive
He was rough with execution. None of the things he did looked furnished to me and he didn’t give a damn. I didn’t buy the peppered goat meat at this spot but he didn’t miss my patronage. He had his target market. He is unbothered and abrasive. While those who approached his shop for meat and other things did, others continued their analysis about whether the spot was good enough. There were safety concerns when he started but he managed them as he progressed. The imperfections will not go away at once. You will chip them away one after the other. But you won’t have that chance if you didn’t start
In a short range of events, the shawarma guy had tested his ideas. He failed, and used the next option. He is the most graphic example I’ve found on the streets. How many months would that take most of us, a lifetime of contemplations maybe. Years of self-doubt, crippling fear and excuses.
There are ideas in your head you haven’t tested for five years! That’s a pure waste of life. This hesitation is embedded in self doubts, excessive regard for what people would say. and looking for a perfect time.
My model made crazier moves. He got rams during the last Sallah. About 15 of them or more. I was incensed. How would you turn in the front of a food store into a ram market? It was during the rainy season, and they looked miserable. It was another bad move. But soon he announced his ram meat Asun and Ram meat Sharwarma. I nodded. That was a master of art in action.
It’s been two months now, he has drilled another shop into a fine beauty parlor for ladies who want to fix their nails and get fine apparel. He evolved fast. He didn’t take his failure personally, he merely took it as feedback.
Conduct the Damn Burial
Do not stay around what’s not yielding for too long. I watch Steve Harvey often. He talks about his marital mistakes quite openly too. He’s had two failed marriages. He is not proud of it, he admitted to being the problem on TV. He said he was naive. It must be very painful and I wish it never happened. But seeing how he openly expresses his gratitude for Marjorie, his wife puts a lot of questions in my heart. One failed marriage is enough to wreck a life and ruin a career like his. But with all its complications, he has a chance at life after obviously learning his lessons and applying them. Maybe Steve is lucky, but the fact remains that he is happy now.
The way some people hold on to what’s not working is terribly distressing. Conduct the damn burial, manage the complications and move on. You will live with the scar but you’d have stopped the drain.
Embrace Failure
Excessive phobia of failure is a problem. A big one. It denies us multiple chances at life. The worst that could happen has happened. But you have the opportunity to rewrite your mistakes.
We will fail. Fail in business, in career, in little and/or big things, we can even make marital mistakes like Steve. But we must learn and move beyond our failures and condemnations. Most of the great people I respect and honor today made mistakes, terrible ones. They moved on and created a great life nonetheless. Build a team of people who are not critical about failure. Don’t flog your team when they make progressive errors, (errors in the path of getting better, in the path of innovation) surround yourself with people who have so much bias for action that they don’t have the time to gloat over what went south.
Challenges are waiting for you in the path of that business or idea in your head. You had better start and get it over and done with. Yeah I know. I made it look scary but it’s the truth. Every idea has its own characteristic challenge in its DNA. You will face it. It would be tougher than you expect and you will experience the miracles that come with it. Some doors will open too smoothly. It’s the fact.
The day is running. Go make your damn mistakes and make a great life.
When you’re ready, Here’s 2 ways I can help you grow your business
1. Pick my Brain
Book a 1-hour intensive clarity session where I structure your gifts, talents, experiences, and skills and turn them into clear product and income ideas by sending an email to iyiolaabiola@gmail.com.
2. Build a strong personal or business brand
Let me shape your brand, teach you how to write with clarity, and confidence, help you communicate with purpose, and tell stories that connect, persuade, and convert across all digital platforms.
©Abiola Iyiola, 2026
Image: Freepik
