Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Myth: The Solopreneur Journey - Why Every Business Needs a Team (Even You!)

Transcript

Myth: The Solopreneur Journey - Why Every Business Needs a Team (Even You!) · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today is another out and about
• 0:05
  recording, so expect to hear the usual interruptions in the
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  background. Let's see.
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  So we're going to take off from where we stopped yesterday.
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  If I remember correctly. We're still on my advice for
• 0:17
  first time entrepreneurs, people who have limited business
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  experience and who want practical guidance.
• 0:25
  OK, this is your first time I'm listening to the show.
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  If you listened to the previous four, four episodes, you hear a
• 0:31
  bunch of stuff about my ideas about how you should, or rather
• 0:38
  how you shouldn't pay too much attention to how you select your
• 0:41
  business name branding, my ideas around intellectual property
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  protection, what else? A whole bunch of stuff anyway,
• 0:49
  that I think first time business people need to pay attention to.
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  So once you're done listening to this episode, skip back, listen
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  to the other 4-5 and you get a richer perspective about what it
• 1:00
  is that I'm trying to impart or to pass along to people who have
• 1:04
  limited business experience and who want to throw their hat in
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  the ring and who want to get in the game.
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  Now, one of the things that I want to dispel for first time
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  entrepreneurs today is this whole thing of being self-made
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  solo, this solo, this solo that, because there's a lot of all
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  that talk going around. So particularly for young men,
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  you know, we all want to be self-made.
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  And then there are some people who are, what's the word?
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  Is it misanthropos, misanthropopes or anyway, I'm
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  sure some of you know the word I'm trying to hint at.
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  There are some people who just don't like people basically.
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  So if you're one of those folks who doesn't like people, you
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  want to do something that you don't have to do with people.
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  I'm not sure that being involved in business is the line of work
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  for you. And if you're one of those
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  people who is looking to be a self-made, this self-made that
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  you don't like how Donald Trump says he's a self-made
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  businessman and everything, I'm here to bust your bubble that
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  there's no self-made thing because because business is
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  essentially A-Team sport, even for people who have lifestyle
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  businesses. So even if you look at the woman
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  in your neighbourhood who runs a canteen, for instance, you know,
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  she has a whole ecosystem around her.
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  OK, for instance, Yeah, the lady that I'm staying in front of
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  right now because I'm parked in front of someone's Mama boots.
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  So let me just make this recording quickly and then head
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  on to other things. So this lady that runs the
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  mamapud, she shows up here every morning and she opens up the the
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  shack and then these two Al madjori type looking boys come
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  along and then one of them sweeps the other one arranges
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  the tables. And then the taxi driver that
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  drops off here off every day. It's the same taxi driver.
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  He helps her unload the stuff. Let's see, what else?
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  OK, there's another Al Majuri type looking kid who comes along
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  later on and who sort of acts like a server.
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  And then once in a while there's another Al Majuri type looking
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  dude who comes by the way. So I'm not trying to be
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  disparaging when I say Al Majuri, but I spent some time in
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  Kano doing my youth service. So unfortunately in Nigeria, we
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  do have these young men. I don't know how they get into
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  these situations, but they rely on the goodwill of other people
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  within the community to survive. So when I say Al Madjuri, that
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  is what I mean. So I'm not sure what the proper
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  Islamic connotation is, but when an average everyday Nigerian
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  like me who's not Muslim says a majori, that is what they mean.
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  That is what we mean. So these young men who are out
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  and about in the neighbourhood and who rely on the charity or
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  the goodwill of other people in the community to survive because
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  they don't have means to take care of themselves, whether it's
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  by taking Alps and stuff like that.
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  So, yeah, so this woman, she has her shop and then or her stall
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  or whatever it is, you know, the Maraput, and then these are the
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  young men who come around and then stuff like that.
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  Now, she might think of herself as a solopreneur or she's
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  involved in this thing alone, but you can see that in an
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  informal sense. You can see that there's already
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  some team and there's some ecosystem around her that helps
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  her business to serve survivor thrive.
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  There's the taxi driver who drops her off, who also double S
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  as a delivery guy. There's the two imagery boys who
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  come early in the day who serve as the sanitation crew.
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  Then there's the imagery boy who comes later on at around maybe
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  9:00-ish or so, who's kind of like the server and the
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  dishwasher. And you can see that she's not
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  really. Yeah, she bears the broad for
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  running the business and things like that, but there's still a
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  certain amount of people management and logistics that is
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  involved on her own part. And that's the reason why I'm
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  saying that you can't really say that anybody is self-made
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  because in the early days when it's a tiny shark, she has an
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  ecosystem around her. Now, God willing, eventually
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  she's going to grow beyond this, get her own space, build a much
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  more, you know, instead of it being wooden planks and zinc,
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  she's going to move to a place where there's going to be a
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  proper building. And even then, you know, now
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  she'll have sales girls, properly trained sales boys,
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  cooks, things like that. I hope you guys are starting to
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  see the picture that I'm trying to create here, that ultimately
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  she's going to be financially responsible for supplies,
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  everything working and things like that.
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  But you can't say that for her, being in business is a solo
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  sport because she has a team around her, whether it's people
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  who are volunteering or whether it's people that are paid.
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  So business is a team sport for every single person who's an
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  entrepreneur. The only thing that we can do is
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  to think and try to anticipate what kind, what quality, what
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  level of team that we need around us and start planning for
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  it deliberately. So for the person who says that
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  they want to be a digital nomad, you know, you want to live in
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  Singapore and walk off your laptop or you're tired of
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  Nigeria, so you want to relocate to Dubai and run your business
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  off of your off of your computer.
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  Let's say you're a a crypto Wiz or something like that or a
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  stock trader or so, yeah, maybe some of those folks, you can
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  find people like that that completely isolate themselves,
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  cut themselves off from everyone.
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  But for most people who are going to be involved in
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  business, you'll find that there's no business that
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  operates in isolation. Most of us are going to have to
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  deal with suppliers and get raw materials.
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  That bunch of us will have to deal with deliveries and we have
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  to deal with product fulfillment.
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  Fulfillment is how I describe fulfillment.
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  OK, let me go back to the wedding photography example
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  'cause that's where I started off from.
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  So yes, your wedding photographer, is it just you or
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  maybe just you and your wife or you and your girlfriend or you
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  and your siblings? OK, no, let me use the solo
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  person since we're talking about how business is a team, team
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  sport. So you go, you shoot the
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  wedding, you do the editing, you do the whatever, you design the
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  book, but then delivery, sorry, fulfillment falls on somebody
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  else because you can't produce the book by yourself.
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  There are some wedding photographers I know, like back
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  like 15 years ago, who produced the books by themselves.
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  There's one guy in Lagos, his name was Udufua.
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  Udufua Photos, but I told him was not sustainable because
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  making a book is hard enough, you know, printing the whole
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  thing and then binding on the whatever.
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  But anyway, he was trying to keep costs down, so he used to
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  do everything himself. So back to the wedding
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  photographer guy. So fulfillment now falls on
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  somebody else. Somebody else makes the frames.
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  Somebody else makes the books, somebody else makes the, the,
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  what do you call a souvenirs if you're one of those people who
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  deliver souvenirs to your clients, like calendars and
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  Diaries and things like that. So that is what I mean by the
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  fulfilment functions. And so you can see that that
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  falls on other people. So fulfilment or production.
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  And then for those of you who are going to be involved in
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  businesses where you raise funds, then the stakeholder
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  management, some of you have to deal with government regulators
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  depending on the business that you do.
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  So if you're a cake artist, for instance, I think you're
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  supposed to have the registration papers from the
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  local government to say that you can create pastries and you can
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  create food and sell food and things like that.
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  I don't think most people have that certification, but there is
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  stuff like that. Well, at least in Abuja anyway.
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  That's more those certifications they're supposed to get from
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  AMAK. That's the Abuja Municipal Area
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  Council. Yeah, so and I think in Lagos
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  there will be something similar. So you can see that no matter
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  what business it is that you're involved in, you're going to
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  have to deal with people at some point.
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  So determine who is going to be critical for your team and then
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  start keeping an eye out for those sorts of people and make
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  sure that you either Co-op them, beg them, hire them, bribe them,
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  whatever it is that you have to do.
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  Just determine who is critical and make sure that you get those
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  people to be a part of your crew from the gecko.
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  Like this lady who is, I know some people say she's taking
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  advantage of these young men, but I really don't think she's
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  taking advantage of them. I think it's more of a symbiotic
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  relationship. So this is the business that she
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  does. These young men have nothing
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  else doing and they have no support.
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  And so they come, they help, She gives them food once in a while,
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  she gives them money. So I think it's more of a
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  symbiotic relationship. So I'm not saying that you
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  should Co opt imageries into the running of your business.
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  I'm just saying that we all need a team, so we have to think
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  about the team that we need to start planning for that and see
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  how we can get people on board. So if you're a first time
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  entrepreneur, you have limited business experience and you
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  don't like people, my honest advice to you is just go and be
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  an employee. Because if you're an employee,
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  you actually can go to work, plug in your headphones.
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  Where in Nigeria you can go to work and plug in your headphones
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  if you work in the UK and if you work in in America, you can't
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  plug in your headphones because regulations require that people
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  should be alert and blah, blah, blah.
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  You know, it's a health and safety thing.
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  I guess. They're afraid that if your
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  headphones are plugged in and the fire alarm goes off, you
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  don't hear, then you get burnt down and then the company has
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  liability, you know, because you died in their building.
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  So yeah, in Nigeria, you can go in, plug in your headphones and
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  the only person you have to deal with is your line manager or
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  your direct reports. And you can have limited
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  interactions with people. So if you don't like people,
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  don't go into business, become an employee because really
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  business has lots of dynamic people interactions.
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  So you cannot avoid it. So for those of you that are
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  Miss Anne Forbes or Miss Anthropes or miss an whatever
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  that word is, you know you don't like people, go and be an
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  employee. Plug in your headphones.
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  If your line manager decides to argue with you, say look, OK, my
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  job is to do XYZ, right? So far I have delivered XYZ, so
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  the fact that my headphones are plugged in should not be a
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  problem because you paid me for XYZ.
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  My earphones are plugged in, I'm delivering XYZ.
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  Can you pay me, please? Time is up, it's four PMI want
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  to go home and then you don't have to deal with people there.
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  For those of you who are laboring under the assumption
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  that you're going to be a self-made this, a self-made
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  that, you can keep telling people that yes, I'm a self-made
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  millionaire or whatever, but let's face it, nobody is
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  self-made. So even that Donald Trump and
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  the whole self-made thing, like self-made, how you were born
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  into a family, you had support of Mumsy and Popsy.
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  Popsy happened to be a successful businessman, the
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  social capital, you learnt a couple of things from him.
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  You had the advantage of certain networks and introductions.
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  This, this self-made man thing, self-made woman thing doesn't
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  exist. But then again, yes, if you've
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  been through difficult circumstances and you have to
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  give yourself a pat on the back, then please, by all means.
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  So like this lady who runs the Mamaput, you know, it's my
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  prayer that one day she's going to grow beyond these
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  circumstances because this is a gruelling way to make a living.
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  Or she shows up here every day, she's dedicated, she's doing her
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  thing. So it's my prayer that she will
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  grow beyond this, especially since for a woman like her who
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  is also trying to take care of people in the neighbourhood, you
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  can see that she has a good heart and she's not just after
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  the profits, but she's also trying to make some level of
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  social impact. And she's really, really nice
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  woman. So it's it's my prayer that she
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  grows beyond this and it's also my prayer for people in cottage
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  industries, not just in Nigeria but in any other part of the
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  world. It's also part of the reason why
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  I make the podcast because I believe that lots of us are
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  living below our potential when it comes to business growth and
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  business development because we lack one critical skill that we
• 13:22
  need to move the business forward, which is sales.
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  Whether you call it sales, business promotion, marketing or
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  whatever it is that you want to call it.
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  Anyway, I lost my train of thought, but summary, if you're
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  a first time entrepreneur, there's no solo whatever and you
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  can't be involved in business if you don't like people because
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  business is a team sport. You are going to need a team
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  around you. So with that, let me bring this
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  to a close. And I don't have my sheet in
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  front of me today, but I think there's one more issue that we
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  have to deal with. And then we'll be able to bring
• 13:56
  this arc to a close where we've been looking at practical
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  guidance that I'd like to give people who are first time
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  entrepreneurs and who have limited business experience so
• 14:05
  far. I hope that what I've been
• 14:06
  saying in this series has been helpful.
• 14:10
  And what has been helpful or not helpful.
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  You have questions, comments, queries, stuff you disagree
• 14:15
  with. Hit me up on LinkedIn.
• 14:16
  My name is Tavishima Ayede, I'm the host of the show.
• 14:19
  You can confirm the spelling of my name from the link.
• 14:21
  We're currently listening to this episode.
• 14:24
  My e-mail address is there, then my phone number will be there as
• 14:27
  well. But let me just spit it out
• 14:29
  anyway. So my phone number, you can hit
• 14:31
  me up on WhatsApp or Telegram. Telegram I check maybe once a
• 14:35
  month, but WhatsApp, I'm there every day.
• 14:37
  My phone number is 08064662140 and the country code is +234 for
• 14:45
  those of you who are not Nigerian.
• 14:46
  So thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 14:48
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode and I have to give
• 14:51
  myself a pat on the back because I did another 15 minute
• 14:53
  recording. Don't forget to let me know what
• 14:55
  what format you guys prefer, if I keep it to this whole 1015
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  minute thing or if the 30 minute ramblings are OK.
• 15:02
  So I'll catch you guys tomorrow.