Elfatih Ibrahim

Focus in the pursuit of your definite purpose.

 

Elfatih Ibrahim migrated to the United States from Sudan in the late eighties after he had obtained his BPharm, Honors degree from the University of Khartoum and secured his registration as a pharmacist by the Sudanese Medical Council. Elfatih then started to work at a community/ retail pharmacy in Albourgage, a city in the northern part of Sudan before he left 1989.

After landing in New York, Elfatih started volunteering at a local pharmacy. He decided early on to set up three simultaneous goals: passing the state board exams, attain his permanent residency, and obtain his drivers license.

Thereafter, Elfatih continued to work in various settings including retail pharmacy, community pharmacy and several chain drugstores for nearly twenty years before establishing Maxwell Pharmacy business along with a partner in 2006. While his partner left in the first few years, Elfatih kept at it and ran the company for 13 years before selling the business. After taking a few months off work, Elfatih he is excited to announce that has just recently established a new limited liability company specializing in an online marketing where he will be dedicating much of his time to for income generation and to help, guide or teach those who are looking to do the same in furthering their goals and better their lives.

Where did the idea for Maxwell Pharmacy come from?

Initially the business was started by a partner and me as we wanted to be able to provide the greatest amount of wellness to our pharmacy clients. Even after he left, I kept up that idea and belief throughout my entire time with the company.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

It was often hectic days during the time I was running the business. Every day, I was dealing with clients, providers, employees, vendors, system issues and regulations just to mention a few. However, by prioritizing tasks and using simple tools like writing your to do list form the night before or early morning was quite helpful

How do you bring ideas to life?

I believe that the best way to bring ideas to life is to follow a simple three step guide: visualize your idea, verbalize your idea, and then put it into action.

What’s one trend that excites you?

One trend that excites me is the growth of the international community. With technology, we are all much more connected and people are caring about the events that others around the world experience.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

One habit of mine that makes me productive is that I am constantly thinking about ways to improve my business and reduce errors and issues. There is always something to improve that I can be working on.

What advice would you give your younger self?

My advice would be to ensure that I am constantly reviewing and renewing my goals to be sure that they are still my desires and that I am on target to achieve them.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Something that I believe to be true that no one agrees with me on is that more and more businesses will become ‘Uberized’ as a service because people want convenience.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

One thing that I continuously do is strive to improve or create new habits that will help my business. Bad habits can take a long time to break and need to consciously be monitored. Developing good habits lets me ensure that my work is always improving.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

One strategy that has helped me grow my business is that I work my hardest every day. While many days you might want to take it easy, that just lets your problems increase rather than tackling them head on.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

During my early stages of my entrepreneurship, I often thought that given my amble past experience, I can always convince my customers of what I think and how I see things but it took me a while until I realized that I need to pay more attention and take in the customer’s point of view and that was one of the yard sticks that made me thread the needle in the right path.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

We all know that there is a Silicon Valley in California whereas there is what I call a Silicon rich zones in Sudan where venture capitalist could setup silicon production plants using the leverage of low cost labor become a major exporter to the world.

P.S. – The element silicon is used extensively as a semiconductor in solid-state devices in the computer and microelectronics industries.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I recently spent much more than a $100 in courses that help me sharpen new skills in my online marketing adventure, among which is a book (written in another language) called How to Succeed Before You Start, authored by Saed Younes.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Viral Launch is one of the excellent tools in many areas particularly useful for Product Discovery and Market Intelligence as it help identifying great products in profitable niches and empowers the user in launching these products.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I think many people are trapped in 9-5 jobs, so the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter might be a great way to start.

What is your favorite quote?

“Without faith you cannot achieve anything.”

Key Learnings:

• Thinking, imagination, soul searching, identifying goals and priorities and come up with an actionable plan (people don’t plan to fail but many people fail to plan).
• Read successful people books and listen to their interviews
• Focus in the pursuit of your definite purpose (happiness lies the process of accomplishing a worthwhile goal)
• If you work hard for somebody, why can’t you work harder for yourself?
• Have faith that you will have a better future (can you have faith in an unknown future for a known god?)