Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / The Real Way to Validate Your Business Idea

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The Real Way to Validate Your Business Idea · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:00
Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
0:02
I'd like to apologize in advance because today's episode is going
0:06
to be a very noisy episode because it's a Sunday evening,
0:09
the kids are at catechism classes, and as usual, there's
0:12
going to be lots of noise in the background.
0:14
Apart from the construction site, there also is like some
0:18
matching band practice going on in the school next door.
0:23
So there's going to be a lot of noise.
0:25
So hopefully the microphone is going to be able to cut out all
0:29
this noise. But just in case you hear new
0:31
stuff, that's where it's coming from.
0:33
Now today on the podcast, I want us to talk about validating
0:36
business ideas. Now the, OK, some of you here
0:42
validating business idea, you're wondering, like, what does that
0:45
mean? OK, I understand that.
0:46
Use a bunch of grammar on the podcast.
0:48
So let me just break this up now.
0:50
Validating is the process of trying to figure out if
0:52
something is true. Yeah, yeah.
0:56
Validating is just trying to figure out if something is true.
0:59
Now, when we use that in the business context, not a
1:01
philosophical context, what we're trying to find out is
1:04
whether this business can work, whether this is an idea that
1:08
people want, whether this is an idea that people pay for,
1:13
whether there is demand behind this idea because it doesn't
1:17
matter what it is. We think no matter how
1:19
wonderful, how beautiful, how noble or whatever, if people
1:23
ain't paying for this thing, then there is no point starting
1:25
the business. So let me give an example.
1:29
This one is a little bit cyclical because, you know, I
1:33
mentioned like two or three episodes ago about how my
1:35
parents were, you know, village kids.
1:37
I grew up in the village like proper, proper village like
1:40
thatch rules. So there was a certain time in
1:43
Nigeria when everybody was moving away from the thatch, you
1:48
know, like raffia palm for roofing and people are moving
1:51
into moving to zinc and all these other things.
1:55
So if you are in the business of doing raffia roofing back in
2:00
those days, I sorry for you. You're on your own or yours your
2:06
own, like no progress for you because your skill is that roof
2:13
making. You know that is your skill,
2:16
that is your life, that is your whatever.
2:19
And sincerely, you believe that thatch rules are the best.
2:24
Yes, of course they catch fire easily, but The thing is apart
2:26
from that they keep out rain and then they also keep out heat
2:31
better than you know, the modern roofing systems.
2:36
But unfortunately there was just a certain time when these things
2:39
fell out of fashion. So if you were in the business
2:41
of thatch roof making or supplying thatch, you had to go
2:46
and do something else. But now the pendulum has swung
2:49
in the other direction. And I hear that now people who
2:52
can make fetch roofs, they fetch a significant amount of money
2:57
because, you know, some people like the how I put it, some
3:03
people just like that. You know that more rustic look
3:07
like even hotels for instance in Abuja, you know some of them by
3:11
the poolside. You know, you have a small, you
3:13
know, you build a small something and then you put a
3:16
touch roof over it. And so those people are in,
3:20
they're hard to find. And so right now this is a skill
3:24
that costs a lot. They hear that they charge
3:27
millions and millions and millions now people who can make
3:30
that rules. So it is something that is now
3:36
in demand and it's something that you can validate as a
3:40
business concept. So 20-30 years ago, you couldn't
3:44
validate it because everybody in Nigeria is moving towards zinc.
3:48
And is it terrace or what do you call it?
3:51
You people who do buildings, you know what I'm talking about.
3:54
But then now the pendulum has swung.
3:57
So if you want to go and start a roof thatching business, I
4:02
believe thatching roof business or whatever it is we're going to
4:04
call it, yes, that is a business idea that can be validated.
4:07
So that's what we mean when we say validate a business idea,
4:11
show that this business can work, show that people are
4:14
willing to pay money for this idea, show that there is demand,
4:18
show that people are interested, show that the people who are
4:21
interested actually have money and are willing to pay.
4:25
So these and many more are some of the things that we talk about
4:31
when we are all talking about validating business idea.
4:38
Now, the reason why we're talking about this today is
4:40
because I was talking to a podcast listener and just in
4:43
case you're wondering, Yep, it's it's you.
4:46
I'm talking about you again. And this particular fellow wants
4:51
to start off a business. And the idea that he has in mind
4:54
is on training people how to speak Yoruba, weather training
4:59
people how to speak Yoruba, online or physical classes.
5:03
I was wondering whether it was a good idea.
5:07
So when the guy reached out to me, I told him the same thing
5:10
that I tell everybody else who asks me.
5:13
And just in case you're curious and you want to ask me, I'm
5:15
letting you know what the answer is going to be right now, if
5:18
anybody reaches out to me to ask me, what do you think?
5:20
This is a good idea. My answer is always, how am I
5:23
supposed to know? Am I the target audience?
5:27
Don't ask me. Look for the target audience and
5:31
then ask them. They are the people who are
5:33
going to be able to tell you what's up.
5:36
Because I've been doing this long enough now to realize that,
5:40
you know, it's not about me. And some ideas that people tell
5:42
me, and I said what? This thing would never work in
5:45
Nigeria. This thing would never work like
5:47
Airbnb for a long time. I said Airbnb in Nigeria is
5:52
rubbish. The Airbnb will work in America
5:55
and in the UK. This thing will never work in
5:57
Nigeria. But lo and behold, Lagos and
5:59
Abuja, people are putting the apartment on Airbnb.
6:02
In fact, in my neighborhood, some people, their vets say one
6:06
of the landlords has put his house on Airbnb.
6:09
So every once in a while we wake up and you know, we see some
6:12
kind roughly and some scruffy looking fellows, you know,
6:16
coming to rent his place. So it's not about me, it's about
6:19
the target audience. Because if you had left it to
6:21
me, I would have advised Airbnb, I'll say stay out of Niger that
6:25
you can't work in this thing, will not work in Nigeria.
6:27
This will not work in Ghana, this will not work in South
6:29
Africa. If anybody had asked me, I would
6:31
have said that with my food chest.
6:33
Well, lo and behold, Airbnb, I think they work in Niger and in
6:37
South Africa where I don't know about Ghana.
6:41
So when people ask me, do you think it's a good business,
6:44
business idea? The answer is I don't know.
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You shouldn't be asking me except if you think that I am
6:52
the ideal customer. I match the ICP, the ideal
6:56
customer profile, the target audience.
6:59
So I told them the same thing that I tell everybody else,
7:02
which is who are the people that you think need the service, who
7:04
might be interested in this protocol service?
7:06
Go and ask them. And by the way, for those of you
7:09
who have been hearing me advertising my offering, which
7:13
is how to start your business in three easy steps, especially for
7:16
those of you who have 345 business ideas, you don't know
7:19
which one to start. And I say reach out to me, let's
7:21
pick the right one, and then let's validate the business
7:23
idea. This is exactly what we're going
7:26
to run through. Also, validating the idea
7:28
doesn't mean I'm going to give you an answer.
7:30
It means we're going to come up with a plan.
7:34
All right? And part of the plan means we're
7:36
going to come up with a list of people to talk to or segments of
7:40
people we need to approach. Then we'll come up with a plan
7:42
for how we are going to approach those people, whether we'll talk
7:45
to them in the flesh or whether we'll make phone calls, or
7:48
whether we'll send WhatsApp messages or whether we'll send
7:50
emails. And then we'll come up with a
7:52
plan to systematically start talking to all of these people.
7:57
Unfortunately, this is the only way we can validate a business
8:02
idea. If any of you was looking for a
8:05
shortcut, I'm sorry. Now in America, there are some
8:09
companies that are making a killing right now talking about
8:13
synthetic audiences. Now the idea behind a synthetic
8:16
audience is this because it's expensive to do customer
8:20
research, customer sampling, and you know, stuff like that.
8:23
It's expensive and time consuming.
8:25
There are some people that have a thesis that you can use AI
8:29
tools to create computer models and then you can just ask the
8:32
computer models, computer models of potential customers.
8:36
Then you can ask the AI tools questions, you can interrogate
8:42
them and supposedly they're going to give you good data
8:45
about how the actual audiences might respond.
8:49
So for this guy now wants to start this business about
8:52
coaching, teaching people Yoruba online.
8:57
And by the way, my honest response I thought was a bad
9:00
idea, but cliffhanger, just wait.
9:03
By the time we get to the end of the episode, it will surprise
9:06
you because if you had asked me how that I said bad idea,
9:09
Nigerians don't pay for this thing.
9:11
But like I said, cliffhanger D, let's keep listening.
9:15
So where was I now? So now for this guy, the people
9:20
who are behind creating synthetic audiences, they
9:23
believe that you can create a computer model about Nigerians.
9:27
And so you can ask the model a bunch of questions and then the
9:31
model is going to be able to let you know that, yeah, Nigerians
9:35
are interested in this kind of thing, you know, blah, blah,
9:37
blah or whatnot. Now, I don't want to sound like
9:41
an illiterate somebody, but maybe because of my background
9:46
in sales, I don't think we are there yet.
9:50
Where how I put it, OK, now I'm from a certain generation,
9:57
granted, but I am one of those people who still believes that
10:04
what we what how we can use data is to interpret what is going
10:08
on, not necessarily to predict. So if you have done actual
10:12
research to measure people's need for languages or how many
10:17
families don't speak Yoruba again and you know, blah, blah,
10:19
blah, stuff like that. And then you collected those
10:22
data from actual human beings. I'm one of those people that
10:24
believes that we can use AI to interrogate that actual data and
10:28
come up with some predictions. But to say that we'll take AI
10:33
and then start creating models on our own based on what?
10:38
And then we'll start issuing the AI queries, and then it will
10:41
give us reliable, reliable information.
10:48
I don't think we're there yet, but anyway, just in case you're
10:50
curious about this sort of thing, I think they call them
10:52
synthetic audiences. So just go and do some research.
10:56
And by the way, if you're a listener of the podcast and
10:58
you're based in Nigeria and you know, this is your business, you
11:01
know, you're one of these companies that creates synthetic
11:04
models for people to do Business Research, research on.
11:07
Please reach out to me. I'd like to have a chat with
11:08
you. Let me know exactly what it is,
11:10
what it is that is going on. You know, you might be the one
11:12
to educate me and enlighten me and bring me to the truth.
11:17
So unfortunately for this guy who wants to do, wants to teach
11:21
people Yoruba, this is the only way we can't validate this
11:25
business idea. So it's going to be some some
11:27
legwork, some phone call work, some WhatsApp typing on your,
11:32
your thumbs work, some sending e-mail work.
11:36
You know, that's how we're going to have to validate this thing.
11:40
But basically, the main thing I want to pass across to those of
11:44
you listening to the podcast today is this.
11:46
If you think something might be a good business idea, honestly
11:50
speaking, the way to find out is not to go and ask an online
11:53
mentor or an online influencer or, you know, whatever it is
11:57
that you people categorize us as.
11:59
By the way, I don't like any of those labels.
12:01
I'm not an influencer because influencers are people who
12:04
actually move market. That's the reason why Taylor
12:08
Swift is an influencer because that people wake up today and
12:11
wear T-shirts. Before you know it T-shirt don't
12:14
sell out as you can't find it again.
12:16
Because Taylor Swift she wore T-shirt, that's an influencer.
12:21
Then Kim Kardashian, that's an influencer.
12:23
If Kim Kardashian says all of you go and buy this Brazil, the
12:27
Brazil will finish inside the market.
12:29
That's how you know influencers. So influencers are not just
12:32
people who have an audience. All right, So yes, I have
12:35
subscribers here, you know, close to 3500 on Spotify alone.
12:39
I'm not sure about the other places yet because I can't
12:41
verify. But The thing is, I don't move,
12:44
you know, I don't have the power to say all of you go and do this
12:46
and then people just rush. So I'm not an influencer.
12:52
I have to say that because there's some people who reach
12:53
out to me. I want to discuss influence
12:55
ideas. And unfortunately for me, I'm
12:58
Catholic. I was raised Catholic, so you
13:01
know how it is in the Catholic Church.
13:02
Now I'm duty bound to tell them that.
13:03
Look, you know what? Yeah, so you can see that I'm
13:07
asking small audience, but it's not as if if I give the command,
13:12
all 3500 of them will go and buy from you.
13:15
That is not like that. I'm not at that level yet.
13:19
So I let most people know. So far, I don't think people
13:22
appreciate the honesty. So sometimes I wonder should I
13:25
just be in Nigeria and when somebody comes, I just keep
13:27
quiet and I just grab the money and then I learn.
13:31
Then I'll let them learn from experience.
13:33
But anyway, I don't want to tarnish my reputation.
13:36
So don't go and ask an online mentor, don't go and ask an
13:38
influencer, don't go and ask an anybody.
13:40
If you think this is a good idea, then put in the work.
13:44
If you respect this might be a good idea, put in the work to
13:46
validate the business idea. And right now of validating the
13:50
business idea means talking to the people who might have the
13:53
need. If you don't know who the people
13:55
are, then researching people who might have the need, researching
13:59
people who might have the problem, and then coming up with
14:02
a plan so you can start talking to them one by one.
14:06
When I say 1 by 1, yes, I mean 1 by 1.
14:08
How many people do you have to talk to?
14:11
I don't know. We take this on a case by case
14:12
basis, but typically if you can come up with a list of 1020
14:16
people, and not only do you talk to them, be able to sell some
14:20
stuff, it's a good sign. You talk to 10 people and you
14:24
sell. If you talk to 20 people, you
14:26
sell 12 and the 12 of them you sold easily.
14:29
OK, maybe that means there's room for traction.
14:32
But then let's say for instance, you talk to 20 people and out of
14:37
the 20 you only sell 5. And even that five you sold was
14:40
like pulling teeth. OK, Maybe it's a sign.
14:44
So there's no hard and fast, you know, Musha one-on-one.
14:50
Now the problem we're doing this thing as a group because I have
14:52
one customer who wanted to validate the business idea by
14:55
talking in the group. And I told the guy that, look,
14:58
this group thing I understand because this guy, he's, he's a
15:01
tech bro. And you know how they like to do
15:03
in, in tech now, they always like to be efficient, you know,
15:06
economies of scale this, that, that, that.
15:09
So he was thinking, you know, kill 50 bears in one stone.
15:12
And I told him, I look, this is what's going to happen because
15:15
in sales and in marketing, we already figured this out.
15:18
There's something that is called group think.
15:20
What happens is somebody who is smart, who is charismatic, who
15:23
is charming, who is the leader of the power, stand up and say
15:25
something and everybody will say, oh, yeah, that sounds like
15:28
a good idea. That sounds like a good idea.
15:29
And before you know it, you have not gotten the opinion of
15:31
anybody else. So This is why it is not a good
15:35
idea at all, this group thing. So we're talking to people
15:39
one-on-one. Now he insists he wants to do a
15:42
group thing, so this is the compromise reach.
15:43
That's OK, no problem, we'll do group.
15:45
But you know what? First of all, we'll chat up a
15:47
list of some people. Shabby.
15:49
You say you know 50 because he's coming up with an app and he
15:53
knows 50 people who might need the app.
15:55
I say, good. This initial group of 50, we go
15:58
approach them one-on-one. When we approach them one-on-one
16:02
from those 50, we'll have an idea of the key themes that are
16:05
involved in this your app, the key problems that are involved,
16:10
the key challenges or the key vision that people are, the key
16:14
vision that people have, the key problems that are trying to
16:16
solve. Like we'll get some key key,
16:18
some main things from talking to these 50.
16:21
Then the key themes, the key themes, the key messages, the
16:25
key problems, the key, whatever that we get, we can now take
16:28
that and then use it to create what is this thing called?
16:31
Questionnaire, online questionnaire.
16:34
And then now blast the online questionnaire to everybody else.
16:37
That'll be a much more honest way of going about it than in
16:43
the beginning trying to do this on the group, group, group
16:45
level. So please, all of you who are
16:47
thinking, what's it called? I can't remember the name, what
16:51
do they call it again? Focus group, customer, focus
16:55
group, customer, focus group. Stop this group thing.
17:01
There is a reason why you should think it.
17:04
There's a reason why customer focus groups are very, very
17:07
popular in the 70s, in the 80s, you know, in the 60s, but they
17:12
are not popular today. There's a reason why because
17:16
groupthink moves a lot and it will color the results you get.
17:20
The results will not be accurate.
17:24
In fact, there's these people can't remember the name of the
17:29
company, but what they were trying to do was doing the
17:32
photography business. They wanted to create an
17:34
alternative to photo frames. And so they were trying to get
17:39
into the market. They were doing what's it
17:43
called, this group thing I just mentioned now I should have
17:45
written it down customer something, sorry group probably
17:51
can't remember. And they wanted to find out the
17:53
opinion of people on these things.
17:55
And they went in there and they started asking people, what do
17:59
you think this thing is worth? And it's, I run into all kinds
18:02
of problems because somebody will stand up and say, if you
18:04
go, once the person has said, if you go, it has colored
18:06
everybody's perception. Then they tried coming about it
18:11
in another way by going up to the, by going up to, to the
18:18
groups and then talking in terms of iPads.
18:24
So they'll say this is an iPad, it does this, it does this, it
18:26
does this, it's worth. So, so, so So what do you think
18:29
this is worth? And even that was still giving
18:31
them issues. But at the end of the day, where
18:34
do we able to get real data for this thing was when they
18:36
actually started trying to sell copies.
18:38
They say this is the thing because so, so, so pounds you
18:41
buy or you won't buy. That's when they started seeing
18:44
the real thing. And it's something that I've
18:46
even faced before because I remember starting off in in the
18:50
beginning in wedding photography, because even though
18:53
my professional background was in law, later on when I returned
18:57
to Niger, I became a wedding photographer.
18:59
And it was something that I faced in the beginning.
19:01
When I was starting, I told you guys that we invested a lot of
19:03
time into making sure that the website was right and we looked
19:06
expensive. We really looked expensive.
19:08
And whenever I was talking to people that how far, what do you
19:12
think, What do you think? What do you think people say?
19:14
Ah, correct. 400K, you know, 400K500K.
19:17
That's what people were telling me to my face that correct, man,
19:21
you look like 400 K, You look like 500 K.
19:23
That's what people were telling me.
19:25
But then when you know, they propose, they're getting ready
19:30
to get married and I'll go and be there so well for now.
19:33
So remember now that time we spoke now saying what did we
19:36
discuss? And I found they would say, and
19:39
I found they would say personal answer.
19:42
You know what, there's this thing I'm doing, there's this
19:44
thing I'm doing, I'm coming, I'm coming.
19:45
I do come. I do come that I had to come.
19:47
I had to come. That's how I was not seeing that
19:49
400K, that 500K again. So when you're doing this thing
19:55
as a group, you can get group think.
19:57
And when you're trying to ask people, would you pay for these
19:59
people? It's easy to say yes, I'll pay
20:00
for this. But then when you try and sell
20:03
something to somebody and say this thing is here, the thing
20:05
cost 400 K, it is then you will see their true mind.
20:08
Those people who think it is expensive, those say 400K for
20:10
what that issue might be serious.
20:13
The people who think it's a steal, they'll say 400K.
20:16
Please your account details, can I pay a deposit of 300K today?
20:21
I'll balance you next week. So to validate, validate a
20:26
business idea. The the real test is not to go
20:29
around asking people what do you feel?
20:31
What do you think? And asking people to vote in
20:32
groups actually is to go and try and sell something.
20:37
OK, 20 minutes. So let me see.
20:38
Let me try and wrap up. Anyway, summary because I was
20:43
curious. I didn't tell this guy that look
20:46
going to go and teach people Yoruba online is a bad idea
20:49
because honestly I was thinking people won't pay because let's
20:52
face it, you know how Yoruba people now do you want to pay
20:55
money for anything except if it's on one bed?
20:58
If it is you know as Yoruba people can be.
21:03
Anyway let me not say too much after all I have Yoruba in laws
21:08
so let me keep quiet. But I thought, look, terrible
21:10
idea, this will never happen. It was EBO.
21:13
I said, Oh yes, I think EBO people will pay for their
21:16
children to learn how to speak Igbo online, provided you're
21:19
giving them the right kind of IBO.
21:20
Because I think for Igbo, like Anambra, IBO is different from
21:24
IMO IBO is different from Delta IBO is different from this IBO,
21:28
that IBO. So I was thinking, OK, yeah,
21:30
maybe there might be a market for the people who boy your
21:32
people. I said never, this will never
21:34
work. But I didn't tell this guy, so I
21:40
say let me just go online, let me see what's what's happening,
21:42
let me do some research. Then this guy is basically about
21:45
on. So I said OK, no problem, let me
21:47
just now fool around. Then I started finding out some
21:52
stuff that apparently people in diaspora and returnees, you know
21:57
people that jackpot before and who are now coming back,
22:01
Apparently lots of them are not too happy.
22:04
All these people coming from USAUK, Canada.
22:08
In fact, there's a phenomenon I saw online, they called it a
22:10
cultural guilt. So people are beginning to feel
22:12
cultural guilt that the children cannot speak their their
22:16
language. So he's looking as if to
22:18
validate this idea, you'd have to talk to, you'd have to go to
22:23
high end private schools in the battle, like ISI International
22:27
School in battle. Let's see what else live Fort,
22:30
you know, that's the kind of schools where people who are,
22:32
you know, returnees is the kind of school that they go into.
22:35
So actually we need to look for a way to find these parents and
22:39
start having these conversations with them, whether they will pay
22:42
for an immersion camp. Now I know that somebody tried
22:44
this thing for TV language in Benin State as there's a camp,
22:48
you know, during holiday, everybody just come, you know,
22:51
so that through immersion you get the children to learn how to
22:53
speak the language. And I hear that the program
22:56
didn't work. So I don't know if it's that tea
22:59
people are not willing to pay for their children to learn tea
23:01
for. Maybe the cap was not
23:02
administered well, maybe it was not marketed well, I don't know.
23:06
But sure, you can talk to. Yeah, we can.
23:13
Like how about this, If you find Jack by parents, the parents who
23:17
have the ones who Jack by before and they've come back, the
23:20
returnees, it's it's possible. I didn't know that there's
23:25
something called, you know, cultural guilt that is being
23:28
studied on a, you know, I thought individually one-on-one,
23:31
some families here and they have these issues, but I didn't know
23:33
that, you know, huge members of tribes in Niger are going
23:39
through these sorts of things then OK.
23:43
I also found out that in Ibadan where this guy stays that the,
23:50
because Ibadan is a it's like a metro metropolitan hub.
23:55
So I know some of you will laugh and we don't worry.
23:57
Like, you know, some of us and we hear a battle.
24:01
Some of you weren't here, but all you think of is roasted
24:03
roofs and stuff like that. But Ibana is actually more
24:05
polished than natural because that's good in new fair.
24:08
So when I had to pass through battle, I was, I was surprised
24:12
the first time I went through was a Jerry.
24:14
I can't remember Shabbat, like I said, neighbor on BDS like I was
24:17
stripped. I was impressed.
24:20
So, Ibana is not as a Bush as it is, but don't tell my
24:23
sister-in-law that I said that because my sister-in-law is from
24:26
a battle. So from today until the day the
24:29
world ends, I'll continue to abuse her that she's a village
24:31
girl. But I'll never admit to her that
24:35
Ibadan, Ibadan, try as an Ibadan is actually it's better than
24:39
it's better than where we come from as in they've seen
24:41
development. So because Ibadan, it's like a
24:46
metropolitan centre, you have people who come in from
24:49
different parts of the country, whether the East and NSS, you
24:52
know, banks, NGOs, civil service.
24:55
So it might be possible that we can talk to maybe like HR
25:02
managers, let's see what else. I'll be looking for non Yoruba
25:08
professionals in areas like Bodhija or Akala Express in all
25:13
these areas. And yeah, we can find people
25:17
like that and start asking them whether, for instance, knowing
25:20
Yoruba effects their ability to, you know, build rapport in the
25:24
business context, you know, stuff like that.
25:27
You know, you never know, you might be able to come up with
25:29
some executive Yoruba. I don't know, Yoruba language
25:35
for executives or something for busy execs.
25:37
You know, I don't know, just fooling around, just me looking
25:42
online and then let's see what else.
25:47
Sorry, I have a small cold. What else?
25:52
What else? What else?
25:54
OK, any, those are some of the ideas when I was just fooling
25:56
around on the Internet. But then this was a shocker
26:00
because remember I said that if the guy had asked me, I would
26:05
have said Yoruba online never work Yoruba physical class never
26:11
work Yoruba people will not be if the guy had asked me.
26:15
And that's the reason why you should go and do your own
26:16
research and validate. I found something that is called
26:20
super Prof super Prof dot Ng that is SUPER.
26:24
And then Prof Prof super Prof dot Ng or something like that or
26:30
more, you don't believe this thing is a it's an online
26:36
platform where private tutors go to register themselves to sell
26:41
different kinds of services. So on Super Prof, I saw people
26:43
who are selling health and Wellness, who are selling
26:46
fitness, people who are selling mathematics, physics, you know,
26:50
like go and pay them 5000 an hour and they'll teach you
26:54
maths, they'll teach you physics, they'll help you pass
26:55
job, you know, stuff like that. I had no idea that this thing
26:59
exists and this thing is gaining, gaining steam, I think
27:03
is rising and rising. So yeah, it's possible that you
27:09
can talk to tutors on Super Prof and then find out most of
27:15
whether this is a market. But the thing that surprised me
27:18
was if you search Yoruba tutors on the Super Prof at the date of
27:24
this recording, there are currently over 100 Yoruba tutors
27:28
listed on the platform. And they charge anything from
27:33
3000 five, 400 naira per hour up to 5000 naira per hour.
27:40
Can you pursue what I'm saying that if you had asked me, Tava
27:43
Shima, what do you think I would have said?
27:45
Forget this thing that there's no room for growth, that Yoruba
27:49
people will never pay. Meanwhile, there is a website
27:52
where people are already paying tutors for Yoruba.
27:57
They're already paying them. Where did I write it again?
28:01
Between 3400 per hour and then 5000 naira per hour.
28:08
So the scope that some of these tutors are using, because I
28:10
looked at some of the profiles, some of them are offering the
28:14
first hour for free. Now, of course there's some
28:16
people that will do the first hour for free and their runaway.
28:18
But The thing is, I'm sure even if you're getting AI don't know,
28:23
maybe a 10% conversion, maybe like you talk to 10 people and
28:28
then only one agrees to to pay. OK, is that a good conversion?
28:33
I don't know. But somehow they're making it
28:34
work. That's offering the first hour
28:36
for free. So some of them are offering
28:40
webcam that's or face to face where they go and meet in
28:44
somebody's house. By the way, for those of you who
28:46
go to people's houses or play people's places or work, please,
28:50
you know why Niger Social Security first be be very
28:55
vigilant. Shine your eye, please,
28:57
especially females, shine your eye.
29:00
And then also let people know where you are and then what
29:02
you're up to. Because the things that we see
29:04
on the news nowadays, like, man, it's crazy stuff.
29:08
So yeah, some of them are offering the first session for
29:13
free. So that's it.
29:16
That's one that surprised me that not only is it a valid
29:20
business idea, apparently it looks like The thing is growing.
29:23
And it also looks like this guy already has some competition
29:27
because I'm Super Prof is a platform where people who want
29:31
to teach others Yoruba are already doing it.
29:34
Now, can you see the reason why you don't go and ask an online
29:38
influencer or a guru or whatever it is you think we are?
29:41
We do not know everything. We don't.
29:45
If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time,
29:48
I've already been talking about my approach, my frameworks for
29:51
validating a business idea. You know, take the system and
29:54
apply the system. That's where you'll find the
29:57
truth. Not asking me my own subjective
29:59
opinion. Then apart from superproof, it
30:04
looks like there are also physical centers in Ibadan where
30:07
people can go and learn Yoruba because there's a Yoruba
30:11
language center in the University of Ibadan.
30:13
From what I saw online, looks like it's near UI gates and you
30:18
know you can go there to go and receive lessons.
30:21
Then there's the Pinnacle College of Media Arts and
30:26
Communication that is in Ibadan and then they offer like adult
30:31
education for professionals. You can also receive Yoruba.
30:35
You can also receive education in Yoruba there.
30:38
By the way, don't take what I say as gospel truth.
30:40
Go and verify all these things by by yourself.
30:43
Then also a lead City University.
30:48
From what I saw online, it looks like they have a program, OK,
30:55
for this is for professionals and bilingual experts.
30:57
OK, This one is more advanced. But basically from the things
31:02
that we're throwing around here, can you see that if you had
31:05
asked me or I've said nobody will pay for Yoruba education,
31:08
but it looks as if the business is beginning.
31:13
It looks as if the business is moving.
31:15
So my guy that refused to call your name.
31:25
Anyway, I hope this has been useful for you in particular.
31:28
You don't want to start this idea for teaching people Yoruba.
31:35
And you can see why I said you should try and validate this
31:38
concept on your own. And you can see how sometimes
31:41
doing simple searches on Google can open up your eyes to the
31:46
fact whether this idea is doable, whether people are doing
31:49
it or maybe if people have done it before and the thing failed.
31:53
It will be nice to do that research online and then see
31:57
whether people have done this before and whether they failed
32:02
or maybe even why they failed so that, you know, how you do your
32:05
own different. So yeah.
32:11
So I think, I think that's it. That's it.
32:15
Then I also did some Kung Fu on ChatGPT and after.
32:20
So not IGBT, Google Gemini. So when Google Gemini analyzed
32:23
the whole thing, Gemini's recommendation was that the
32:27
people on Super Prof, what they teach, they teach Yoruba, but
32:29
they teach it in an academic sense.
32:32
And I understand now because because like for my own
32:36
language, TV language, you know, academic TV and then street TV
32:40
are not the same. Academic TV is more formal.
32:43
I'm not, I don't speak TV, so don't ask me to speak for you.
32:45
But since I understand very well, I have always known that
32:50
when we're in church and people are speaking teeth or when we're
32:53
in the university context and people are speaking teeth, you
32:55
know, like lecturer to students is very different from when boys
32:59
and girls are just speaking on the street.
33:02
So there's some languages like I think even Arabic has that
33:07
dichotomy. So they are the Arab that you
33:10
speak in a lecture setting is very, very formal and it's
33:15
different from the Arab that you speak when you're on the
33:17
streets. So there's some things that
33:20
languages that have this, this twofold thing going on.
33:23
So it looks like Yoruba is like that.
33:25
So Google Germany said that what people do on super profits that
33:29
they're teaching you academic Yoruba, but not necessarily
33:32
Yoruba on the streets or survival Yoruba as they put it.
33:35
So for those of you who are trying to enter into this
33:38
market, I guess that is how you can distinguish yourself to say
33:41
that look, if you go through super Prof, if you go through
33:44
Leeds University, if you go through you are and all these
33:47
places you're going to learn academic Yoruba.
33:50
But when you teach you, you're above the streets.
33:52
If you want to negotiate in the market, if you want to talk to
33:55
your mechanic, if you want to conduct business or, you know,
34:00
if you want to talk to that people who feel as if like, you
34:03
know, like you're a native speaker, that is all we're going
34:05
to teach you. I'm going to teach you.
34:06
You're about the streets. We're not going to teach you
34:11
academic, academic Yoruba. OK, so 30 minutes.
34:16
Let me bring this to a close. So basically what I wanted to
34:21
pass across was this. Before you jump into any
34:23
business, validate the business idea.
34:26
To validate it just means you make sure that this business
34:29
can't work. Now, there's no 100% guarantee,
34:32
but if you can find some people who say it is a good idea, who
34:36
think it's a good idea, and some people are willing to exchange
34:38
some coins so that they can receive the benefit of your
34:42
products, receive the benefit of your service, then it might be a
34:44
good idea to continue pursuing these things some more.
34:48
So listen to older episodes of the podcast so you can get more
34:53
specific ideas around how to validate your validate your your
35:00
business idea. And then what else?
35:03
Something I wanted to mention but you think just skip my mind.
35:09
Anyway, listen to all the episodes and you'll get caught
35:10
up to speed. Then for those of you who want
35:13
to start 345, who want to start business, you have 345 ideas.
35:17
You don't know which one to start, then reach out.
35:19
Let's select the right idea and then let's validate the business
35:22
idea. And I've already told you what
35:23
is involved. Validating the business idea is
35:26
not me giving you my opinion on whether this idea is good or
35:29
not. Validating the business idea
35:32
means we're going to come up with a plan and we're going.
35:34
You are going to talk to people, not me, not me.
35:37
Once in a while I call on behalf of my customers when they start
35:40
telling me some things that I want to check.
35:43
Like there's one of my customers who ran an advertising campaign
35:46
and the salespeople started complaining that man, these
35:48
leads are rubbish, these leads are rubbish.
35:51
So to check, I started calling myself and I'm glad I called
35:56
because I now told them that what do you mean these leads are
35:58
rubbish now? These leads are OK, there's no
36:02
problem with these leads. And we now knew that what we had
36:04
to do was to work on their questioning framework.
36:07
They were not starting conversations with people
36:10
properly. That was the problem, not that
36:12
the leads were rubbish. So if you reach out to me, you
36:18
would do the call. If you're complaining too much,
36:21
OK, I might make one or two phone calls to be sure, but you
36:25
are the one who's going to put in the work.
36:27
So we select the idea, we validate the business idea, we
36:30
create a selling framework around it, and then let's begin
36:34
the the whole process of making sure that we can build
36:37
sustainable businesses. So that's it.
36:40
And that is all for today. Thank you very much for
36:42
listening. Remember, if you want to start
36:45
off your business in three easy steps, you need help in
36:47
validating your business idea. You can call, send me a text
36:50
message or a water message on 0806466214.
36:57
Zero. And what else?
37:00
Yeah, that's it. So you guys enjoy the rest of
37:02
your weekend and I'll be in touch some other time.