Naija Go Getters

I was at the Thisday concert this past weekend and saw Chris brown perform. After numerous inconveniences, such as getting my shoes into mud and being pushed around by the many people trying to get a decent view of the stage, he eventually came on stage. Personally I am not a Chris brown fan; however I must say his performance wasn’t too bad. Amidst the cheering and rowdiness it occurred to me that the interaction between Chris brown and the cheering audience encapsulated a message about success.

Although some people had paid 10,000 naira or 50,000 naira depending on the ticket type, they still cheered and where screaming while he performed. For a minute, this behavior seemed irrational to me. I wondered if we usually pay for service and then still cheer the service provider. It then occurred to me that this is what happiness when the good or service provider performs excellently. As a result of his hard work, dedication and talent, Mr. Brown was able to make the audience happy, and as a result they appreciated him with their cheers. When was the last time you executed your duties with such excellence that the person on the receiving end becomes that excited and happy? Other lines of work might not create a loud crowd, yet if we perform well, besides paying us, our customers would appreciate us. We should strive to be superstars to our customers. Note that one only wins fans by creating exceptional value for them. Think of your favorite brand or company, then think of why you like them. It is probably because they are the best at solving one of your problems or needs.

            Half way into his performance, I realized what a good performer Chris brown was. It then occurred to me that the cheers and happy audience was the result of very hard work on his part. If we are to become superstars to our customers, we have to strife to serve them excellently, while having their happiness as our ultimate goal.

Technology is a general term often used to refer to cheaper and more efficient ways of doing things. Several examples exist to support this fact. Just about every industry has found a way to become more efficient by using technology. In business, not taking advantage of technological advances is like racing with a bicycle when everyone is using a car or jet; you put yourself at a disadvantage. In very competitive markets, the highest performers are usually those who make the best use of technology. Cell phones, laptops and email’s are some ways technology has already helped many of us. So why not keep searching for new ways technology can help your business? Technology increases efficiency, reduces cost, saves time, makes information more accessible, and creates opportunities for new products and services (innovation).

It makes business sense to keep looking for more efficient ways to carry out your business. The Japanese call this principle (Kaizen) which basically means daily improvement. Technology offers us an avenue to improve the way we run our business. It is easy not to be aware of technology that could be beneficial to us. Hence, we must consciously seek new technology . As a “go-getter” you should be one of the first to know about a technological advance in your line of business. There are all sorts of software’s, machines, products and even websites we don’t know about, but are useful to us, lets start finding out. I hope we would make a conscious effort to seek ways we can leverage technology.

Think and grow rich by Napoleon hill is unarguably one the most influential success literature books. This great book is the result of interviewing 504 of Americans most successful men, some of which include Henry ford, John Rockefeller, and three American presidents. After 20 years of interviews, the author was able to identify 13 principles which were common to the success of the men he had interviewed.

The first principle he talks about is Desire. He explains that we must first have a burning desire to be rich, but that we also have to follow through with concrete action.

I would like to share with you, 6 step which napoleon hill explains transform desire into riches. The following list is a direct citation from the book, Think and grow rich

1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient to merely say “I want plenty of money.” Be definite as to the amount.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as something for nothing)
3. Establish the definite date when you intend to posses the money you desire
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
5. Write out a clear concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it

6. Read your written statement aloud twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. As you read- see and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money.

This book is a good investment for the aspiring entrepreneur. The overarching theme of the book is that “as a man thinks so is he”. Once we believe we can become rich our reality becomes so. The above steps are a

The function of a business is to add value to its customers and itself i.e. the owner(s) of the business. Most businesses add value to their customers in form of a goods or services, and they create value for themselves in form of a profit. Both functions should be seen as equally important.  Ensuring that you add value doesn’t only make good business sense but it’s also ethical. From a business perspective, if your customers are not truly benefiting by patronizing you, they won’t be your customers for too long. A lot of business fails because they aren’t loyal to their customers, in terms of providing them value. One can make the argument that it is also unethical to not create value for your customer and still get money from them. The idea behind a business transaction is that two people make an exchange because they both there is a benefit for each participant in the exchange. As a business, you should always deliver your own half of the bargain. If people pay for quality catering service, as long as they make payment they should receive quality catering service. It is almost robbery to collect money and not perform. A low quality good or service could also be considered non-performance. It is unfair to the other party in the transaction because they have paid the full amount, hence you should deliver a hundred percent.

Clearly define what you offer your customer in terms of value and always strife to meet that standard; it is just as important as the value you seek to add to your company. Your profit does not exist if the value you offer doesn’t exist, hence focus on both. In business like in life we reap what we sow, if you care about adding value to your customers, they will make you rich.

Each one of us at some point has had to depend on the leadership and guidance of another person. As kids we had our parents and teachers, then our professors and eventually for some people their Boss’s. This idea of being guided and supervised by someone else is perfectly normal in most societies. It won’t be strange to see a 45 year old manager under the guidance of a CEO. This General dependency on the leadership and guidance of others makes stepping into a leadership role an adjustment for many. Leadership is a different game entirely, and requires a different mindset and set of skills. Most people would however tell you that the adjustment into a leadership position isn’t impossibly difficult, especially with the right guidance, and I find this to be true. However I would like to make a slight distinction in leadership. There is leading other people and there is personal leadership i.e. leading oneself. Both could be challenging and are important to entrepreneurial success; however I would like to focus on personal leadership in this blog entry.

            Personal leadership is the most critical to entrepreneurship. An acceptable definition of entrepreneurship could be “being your own boss”. When we decide to become entrepreneurs we implicitly accept the responsibility of being our own Boss. We decide to manage our time, results, input, attitude and a whole range of factors which determine success. There is no one to ensure you make deadlines, or no one to punish you if you fail to perform. This task of being one’s own boss could really be a challenge, especially for many of us who have been under the guidance and supervision of others for most of our lives.

The CEO plays a very important role in the success or failure of a company. It is his or her responsibility to ensure that all that is required to make the business succeed is in place. Often time’s people would tell you the difference between a good and bad company is the CEO. As your own boss, your effectiveness is essential to the success of your business. It is possible to get an experienced CEO to manage your company for you, but many entrepreneurs cant afford to do that at the start. Most entrepreneurs have to step into the role of CEO, and do a good job at it, for them to succeed. If you were the CEO of a company of 20 staff, would you condone your staff chatting or watching TV all day at the office? My guess is probably not. So why do you as your own boss condone your slacking on the job? My point is, it could be harder to lead yourself than it is to lead others. Have you defined your working hours and do you stick to it? You probably think letting your staff watch TV in the office is bad for business, so why do you as your only employee do it? i.e. if you do

The relative difficulty of personal leadership is in my opinion one of the reasons many people find it hard to be entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship isn’t just good ideas, it also entails personal accountability and leadership. This ability to effectively lead you is the product of a good character. I think the starting point for any one who wants to be an entrepreneur is to develop a good Character. The topic of character isn’t something I can fully touch on in this blog entry. It would be a recurring theme on the NGG blog.  There are various components of a good character, and of course this is a very subjective idea. I would like to briefly touch on one aspect of a good character which is “personal integrity”. By personal integrity, I mean doing what you say you would do. A person with a high personal integrity takes themselves seriously enough not to fail to do what they have told themselves they would do. This way the CEO, which is you is getting more authority and can become more effective. If you have developed the habit of doing what you say you would do, then as your own CEO you tell yourself, no missing deadlines and you are bound to stick with it. I consider personal integrity to be a skill, and just like every skill it is developed by practice. One way to develop this skill is by setting goals and ensuring you stick to them. Gradually one develops the ability and discipline to do what you tell your self you would do. Setting goals is very important in developing personal integrity, because it gives us something to measure and be accountable to. Start today by setting small goals and tasks for yourself and ensure you accomplish them. It certainly feels good when you accomplish something you set out to do, but most importantly it is essential to being an entrepreneur. This could be an interesting task, set a goal or task, and if you fail to accomplish it due to your own fault, punish your self, maybe do push-ups or something. Eventually you would get to a point whereby all you need to do is assign yourself a goal or task and it’s as good as done. By the grace of God, in the near future there would be more blog entries on how one can become a better CEO

Peace out

Naija-go-getters plans to occupy a very essential space in a developing Nigeria. This organization is created on the premise that Nigeria is growing and taking its destiny into its hand. In the past we understand that the state of the Nigerian economy has been subject to factors outside the control of Nigerians. I.e. bad governments and international interest. I am here to tell you that this situation is changing and for the better. Nigeria like most countries in the world is seeing the effects of Globalization. This term is definitely one of the most popular terms in the 21^st century, what does it really mean? In my own terms, globalization is the homogenization of nations of the worlds economically, politically and socially. Currently globalization has been manifesting itself as the democratization of countries, the liberalization of their economies and the mixing of cultures, though some say it the spread of just one culture. As a result of economic liberalization the Nigerian government has changed the regulations in many industries and sectors of the economy to allow free private participation. If we as Nigerians invest and develop the business opportunities in our economy, then we determine its economic future. One benefit of Nigerians owning the business interest in Nigeria is that money would be available tomorrow for the development of the country and further creation of jobs. However if for instance a Dutch company invests their money, a good portion of that money would end up sitting in a Dutch bank, for Dutch development. This is not to say we do not need foreign investors to help develop our economy. All i am saying is we shouldn’t leave development of, and investment in the Nigerian economy solely to foreign investors. Nigeria has a lot of local capital currently not being utilized. As leaders of tomorrow all we need to do is get creative and find ways to mobilize this capital and utilize them wisely. There are several tools at our disposal which can help us attract capital to our ventures. Some of them include persistence, networking, innovation and faith. Remember where there is a will there is a way. By the way, it is unlikely you would get any bank or venture capitalist to loan you money to start a pure water business. However the more creative and economically profitable your business is, the more likely you are to attract funding. In light of all this Naija-Go-getters aims to facilitate the success of Nigerian entrepreneurs by providing knowledge, information and networking opportunities.

Networking is an aspect of business a lot of young entrepreneurs tend to overlook. I, like most young entrepreneurs used to think networking couldn’t be that important since it isn’t as tasking as many other aspects of entrepreneurship. Business is business right? And not play? At this point let me explicitly correct a misconception I used to have, networking is also serious business and it should be treated as such. You have probably heard that “it is not what you know but who you know.” This is a very big key to success that gets underplayed. Credentials certainly matter, but being that we are social beings, we tend to put a premium on relationships. There is usually more than one person qualified for a loan, contract or even a job. So, qualification isn’t always the deciding factor as we might think. Even when one candidate stands out as the best in terms of qualification, relationships play a big role. I am not saying you should go around licking people’s shoes or lobbying, all I am saying is that no one gets to the top by themselves. Almost every successful person would tell you that they allied with people, or were assisted by others on their way to the top. As a general rule, be friendly to people, treat them with respect and be of help to them if you can. These people could be allies tomorrow, and the might not. But living this way certainly increases your social capital. The more social capital you have the more people you have available to assist or ally with you in the future. Often times you would hear people say they got an opportunity by luck or that someone informed them about it. Why do they get lucky and you dont? Every day and second is an opportunity to network. Care about people, learn about them, introduce yourself, tell them what you do, and keep making acquaintances. You never know which could develop into a life long friendship or business partnership. Print business cards, and distribute them. You never know when someone might be interested in your service or business.

I have learned that the more people you are able to get to work with you on your project the more likely you are to succeed. This seems counter to the idea of entrepreneurship, especially for young entrepreneurs, most of who are sole proprietors. Most of my business ideas that failed where the ones that stayed in my head. The projects I have seen succeed, are the ones I was able to work with other people on. Most successful entrepreneurs tend to think this is the case. You would hardly find an entrepreneur who was successful and did it all by himself. I think the reason why we are more successful when we work with people, is that we are not good at everything. There are certain aspects of business where I have an edge, and other aspects where I am just average to poor. If I am able to focus on the areas where I am good and let someone else focus on the areas they are good at, we are more likely to be efficient and successful. I am not making a case against sole proprietorship. It is still possible to be a sol e proprietor and get other people to work with you. All I am saying is when need be always solicit the assistance of others. Networking makes it possible to find good partners and allies. Good help could be hard to find, network it. Lately I witnessed the power of networking and alliance. A friend had a business idea of starting a technology company. He had a wonderful business idea and model, but he didn’t know enough about information technology. Instead of undertaking the project by himself, and having to go through the learning curve, he looked for someone who he could work with who was good technologically. To cut the long story short, through a friend he met someone who had a lot of experience with technology and was on the same page with him. They partnered and the company is now able to go much farther than he was able to take it himself. Consider your project is there an area where you can let someone better than you handle it? Naija Gogetters lets start networking today!!

According to an article in business day (Jan, 31^st, 08), UBA in collaboration with MTN is launching a reality show for entrepreneurs. “The initiative called “Dragons Den” is a business reality TV show aimed at providing a platform for entrepreneurs with innovations and great ideas in Nigeria to fully explore their potentials”( Business day) . The concept of the show is quite interesting. Entrepreneurs get the opportunity to pitch their idea to a panel of five experienced entrepreneurs, who have each put down 10 million naira of their own money, making the available funds 50million naira. The entrepreneurs are considered the pitchers and the panel, is called the dragons. Entrepreneurs who are able to come up with a proposal which interests the dragons, gets funding for their investment. The dragons get some equity in the idea in return for the funding. This is a reality show based on the concept of venture capitalist. I think this show could have the benefit of making other financial institutions realize the amount of bright ideas out there that would be a profitable avenue for investing their capital, and hence improve funding for entrepreneurs. Naija-go-getters, go out there, dazzle them with you bright ideas, get your capital and grow your business. By the way check out the shows website at http://www.dragonsdennigeria.com/about.html. It is aesthetically appealing, and includes interesting information about the origin of the show, the rules of the game and how to register.

Peace and success be on to you.

ladipo

Think. Create. Become: Moving From Ideas To Reality.

I should! I think! I can! It can be done! Can’t it? How? That’s how it usually starts, with thoughts of oughts and assertions (I think?).  Okay, it may not exactly be so but every human endeavor is preceded by an idea.  Every thing we do is a decision to carry out some preconceived action e.g. something as easy as eating is a decision, you can chose to fast or eat, and you can as well choose to eat Eba or a burger.  Everything is rooted in an idea of some kind.

I do not think that the notion that ideas rule the world is over rated, if in doubt think of this: Bill Gates had an idea that as personal computers become a part of every home and office, it will be necessary to develop an easy to use operating system for these personal computers, the result is that the computer you are using is most likely Windows powered and on the other hand Bill Gates is a multibillionaire.

However ideas come in different forms: the outstanding and the outlandishly unrealistic. This however does not mean that the seemingly silliest of ideas may not be profitable: somehow they usually are e.g. the airplane was considered a silly and unworthy investment in the 19th century, man would never fly,  but now planes are just a part of everyday living.  As an entrepreneur you must consider your ideas in terms of the bottom-line: profit.

Toyota couldn’t have been wrong when they said “Good thinking, Good product.” if you are going to be a good entrepreneur you are going to have to think, but not just think for the sake of thinking, but for the forward movement of your business venture.

 I believe to have a successful business venture you must THINK, CREATE, and BECOME.  My disposition will be discussed in a series where each concept is discussed.

THINK

I believe that the mind is totally inept at things beyond its exposure, or things it has refused to learn e.g. I do not understand my language (bini), yet my parents have interacted with it for the 21 years of my life. How come? I was never taught and I have never bothered to learn it.  Yet I speak Yoruba to a certain degree. My point: even if we have a chance to understand certain things we can also refuse to learn. Do you expect that you will be able to run a business of your own if you have no understanding of business management or because all you know is that you have a business idea?  I don’t think so. Every person walking on the street is probably loaded with ideas and possibly with better ones than yours, but when you realize that ideas are nothing short of potentials that demand support to become realties, you will know that your ideas alone can not make you successful.

As said by Jesus Christ “For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it. Luke 14:28”.  My point is to be able to think through an idea you need amongst all things the requisite intellectual capital i.e. knowledge and much more needed to understand the concepts that will keep that venture alive e.g. if you want to run a salon, you must know what it takes to run the particular kind of salon you want. Is it going to be a classy salon (with a specific experience synonymous with your brand) or is it just going to be a regular street corner salon. A knowledge and understanding of what your intending business entails is necessary to safeguard your business from imminent death before you even make the other steps to start out with your venture: thinking is the first and most important continuous step in business.

Knowledge and understanding make for wise choices; they must be a major part of the mix that fuels your entrepreneurial drive. Not having the right information may damage your whole effort, thinking is most times based on what you know and even when you venture into new terrain you will eventually research into the profitability of such venture.  You can only conceive on the principles that you know.

For example if I had N100, and I wanted to go into pure water hawking (everybody help me say God forbid: but there is dignity in labour and hawkers have helped many an empty stomach) I must know that a bag of pure water in its warm state cost N60 and a cold bag costs N80, and that there are 20 sachets in each bag and each sachet cost N5.  Having this information keeps me from:

Being cheated.

Buying 20 sachets instead of a bag, remember that both are one bag of pure water but they cost different prices.

Since it is easier to sell cold water in the traffic (which removes the price of rent), I will buy a cold bag of pure water and target danfo’s and cars without air conditioning, expectedly I will sell more sachets faster than I would have sold had I bought a N60 bag. Then I will continue replenishing my stock till the day runs out.  At the end of the day if I sell 10-15 bags, I would have had a profit of N200-300 with less effort and time than it would have taken to sell 3-4 warm pure water bags with a profit of 120-160. If I continue doing with this rate of sales I would have generated between N6000-9000 profit monthly as against N3600-4800 in selling warm pure water. Who knows I might just think of adding PET bottled drinks like Coke, Fanta, La Casera.

As I earlier stated every idea to become a reality needs support, when thinking through your ideas you must base your thoughts on this three things

Time

Efficiency

Money

These concepts are so inter-related that I think that there exists only a thin line that differentiates them as the failure in one of them may affect the overall success of your venture.

Time: the saying that time is money is hardly a lie, since the time spent in a failing venture could actually have been used in doing something more profitable.  While you are still going through the process of planning your business you must ask time based questions as:

Is this product relevant in as at present or in the near future?

How soon can it be delivered?

Is it worth the time?

How soon would I get the return on my investment?

Efficiency:  This basically implies producing and delivering the goods as at when due without incurring additional costs.  Your thoughts should include:

How soon can this product be produced?

Is there a faster and safer way of producing it than I know?

What rate of production would increase capacity and profits as well as reduce production costs?

How does my present efficiency affect or limit my  profit?

Money: Who wants to be a millionaire? Everyone!!! But we all have to mind our money. The fastest means of increasing your capacity is to be more liquid (have more cash at your disposal). As an entrepreneur you must focus on how all your efforts will stream into giving you more cash than you invested in the first place. So when you should think:

How much do I need to start this business (initial capital)?

What is the best means of financing?

What do I expect as my return on investment (ROI)?

What would my overhead cost be like?

When do I get my ROI?

How much and how soon do I need to produce to make profit?

As you can see from the above stated Time, Efficiency and Money (capital and profits) are all related, if I don’t produce(efficiency) on time I’ll incur  more costs(money) which might mean losses(money).  Money is often the parameter of measuring business success.

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” Proverbs 16:25.  Your idea might seem like the right one but it might not just be what you think it is, I plead with you to get the right information before you take any step towards your entrepreneurial venture, because when it seems that your business is not thriving you might end up taking steps that are only headed the wrong way, good information ensures that you have a well mapped out route and you can make calculated risks along the line. Friend, there are many beautiful ways to fail. I pray you never find one of them.

As entrepreneurs and individuals there are certain behaviors or lack of behaviors in our lives that constitute barriers to our success. I am a strong believer in the idea that, the biggest obstacle to one’s success, is the man in the mirror i.e. you. It takes some honesty and a little bit of reflection to identify some of these behaviors that hinder us. An example of such a behavior that hinders entrepreneurial success is the habit of procrastination. A lot of people come up with wonderful ideas that have the potential of being a really successful business; however as a result of their habit of procrastinating they are never able to make a success out of their ideas. In order for such an entrepreneur to succeed they would have to get rid of the habit of procrastination and other such habits For us to move forward and attain our full potential, we have to identify those things in our lives which hinder us and get rid of them.

We as human beings have some unique characteristics that make it possible for us to change our selves. The first of the characteristics is our ability to be self aware. This is simply our ability to objectively assess ourselves and think about ourselves. I can seat in my room and think about myself, asking questions such as, what kind of person am I? What am I really afraid of? This ability, is uniquely human, my dog cannot stop and truly asses itself if it wanted to. Our ability to assess ourselves makes it possible for us to change, because we are able identify things about ourselves that we might need to change or become better at. Another human characteristic that can help us change is the power of our imagination. We are able to imagine that which we would rather see. Imagination helps us build belief that we can change or develop the habits we desire. Believe is essential in accomplishing anything. I have to first believe I can drive a car before I would be able to learn it. If I thought a car was something only aliens could drive, I probably wouldn’t have being able to learn it. “Difficulty is a state of mind” through our imagination we are able to get rid of that difficulty.

Another human characteristic which can help us change is conscience. This is that little thing within us, that tells us what is right and what is wrong. If we choose to listen to that small voice we wouldn’t do some of the things we do, which end up hindering us. For example, that small voice or feeling might have been telling you that instead of going to that party last night you should have worked on that project, but instead you ignored that voice and procrastinated, now it is 6 months and you still haven’t done anything because you still don’t listen to that voice or feeling. Like with most things, practice makes perfect. The more we listen to our conscience the stronger it becomes, and the more able we are to be led by it.

Finally we as humans have independent will, i.e. the ability to do what we want to do. We are absolutely free to choose our actions. I understand that sometimes we may not do something because we don’t feel like, but none the less we are able to. For instance, if you tell me to put my hand in fire, I most certainly wouldn’t feel like; however I am still capable of moving my hands straight inside. Our actions are subject to us, we have the power to control and guide them. Often times we   relinquish this power to situations, we let the situation or our emotions dictate our actions. Rather we should subject our actions to values which we have determined to be good, instead of our situation. For instance if I have decided to subject myself to diligence and a circumstance arises where I should be working but I don’t feel like, I am able to work regardless of weather I like It or not.

All these human characteristics make it possible for us to change ourselves for the better. Through self awareness we are able to identify that which hinders us from success. We are able to get rid of them, through our imagination, and independent will, with our conscience being our guide.