Meet the Business Builder

2012 went so fast and now the new year is here. There’s no time to waste and my motto for 2012 was “Eat that frog”. As the Business writer for OnIn London, it’s only right that I introduce myself to you and give you a little bit of my background story about my journey. I am Opy Onas founder of Proten™ which is a Business Start-Up Coaching company. My company coaches individuals to find a business idea and turn that idea into a business venture. I am a keynote speaker, facilitator, Business Start-Up Coach and the author of the upcoming book entitled ‘Turn your Passion Into Your Profession.’

I am what some might call a builder or an architect as I help individuals develop their ideas or talent and turn these into a Business venture. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else, there is something fulfilling about helping people fulfil their potential, a bit like scoring the winning goal for a World Cup Final. (I think I caught you imaging it).

As well as speaking, another great passion of mine is writing, so when I got the opportunity to write for OnIn London, I could not turn down the chance as it was an opportunity to write about being a Londoner during this amazing time of entrepreneurship.

2012 was saw a big surge in the level of entrepreneurs that are being raised in London. From the perspective of our company, the number of clients that we had taken on last year since January had doubled. Unemployment and less job opportunities has led many people to look at their skills and passions, examining ways of turning this into a business venture.

One of the exciting things about being in Business is that you cannot predict some of the obstacles that you may face on your journey and I’ve learnt this quickly in various ways. The recent setback came in the form of the name change which was forced upon my company. You can imagine the hassle that we’ve had to go through after working hard to build a brand for the company over the past year and suddenly realise that we cannot keep the name of the company due to some Trademark issues.

This means that we’ve had to rebrand the company and create a new name as well as building new websites, logos and reprinting our materials. The process has been very strenuous and costly as you can imagine but it’s allowed us to re-examine our approach and ways that we serve our customers. In other words, I’m saying that not all setbacks are bad and sometimes they allow you to pause and re-examine your approach.

The first tip that I will leave with you is to always look at the positive side of every situation especially if you are considering starting your own Business. You will have to develop an optimistic mindset, dream big but most importantly TAKE ACTION.

That’s just a little introduction and an update of what I’ve been up to. As time goes on, you will find out more about me and I will keep you updated on my 2013 journey and some of the exciting projects that we are working on.

Here’s an inspirational quote I came across recently and I hope it motivates you to take the bold step towards your dream:

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”

Nolan Bushnell