Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / It's Not a Race: Dealing with the Success of Others in Business

Transcript

It's Not a Race: Dealing with the Success of Others in Business · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Hello, and welcome to the show. We're taking today's recording
• 0:05
  from my desk and of course, the kids are home, so I expect to
• 0:07
  hear the usual interruptions in the background.
• 0:10
  Now, this is your first time listening to the show.
• 0:12
  The goal of this show is free business education.
• 0:14
  So stick around because you might learn a thing or two.
• 0:17
  And if you find that you've gotten lots of value from it by
• 0:20
  the time you're done listening to the episode, please share,
• 0:23
  promote. I'll talk about the show so that
• 0:26
  your friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can
• 0:28
  benefit from the questions that we tackle over here.
• 0:31
  And if you have further sales or marketing questions, then you
• 0:34
  can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
• 0:40
  The country code is +234 for those of you who are not
• 0:44
  Nigerian. So today on the show we're going
• 0:47
  to look at the question, what to do when your friend gets
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  £15,000,000. Yes, I repeat, what are you
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  supposed to do when your friend gets £15,000,000?
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  And some of you are wondering where did that come from and
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  why? It's very simple.
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  So it is the context. My friend, Well, not really a
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  friend because we went to the same school together.
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  I mean, at this point it's more like an acquaintance.
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  I mean, you know how it is in university, you know, you meet
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  people, you know, you guys chill out once in a while, interesting
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  conversations, that sort of thing.
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  But then you graduate, you know, you get families, you move to
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  different cities and then in after time you kind of fall
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  apart. Now Kyodo runs an outfield
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  called Caena that is CAENA and I think they're in the analytics
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  business and they do fundraising for startups.
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  So not just fundraising, but you know, sharp finance related
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  stuff for startups. And he's based in the UK.
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  So he's one of those people who didn't come back, you know, so a
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  bunch of us, you know, moved out, did the masters, you know,
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  worked a bit and then came back. Well, he's one of the people who
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  stayed behind. Now Caddy and I, the reason why
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  we know each other is because back in OAU days, I think he was
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  in the, I think was an engineering department or
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  something like that. So I was in law and then, you
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  know, you know how it is now, you know, I was in law, some
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  people in hockey, some people in medicine, you know, stuff like
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  that. So I think it was one of those
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  engineering people. And apart from way to OU, we
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  also work together on a couple of committees.
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  There was this body that we were both members of, that's the
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  NFCS, that's the Nigerian Federation of Catholic Students.
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  I'm not sure if it's still in existence anymore.
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  So yeah, we both served on a couple of committees then.
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  So, and it has the back story. That's how, you know, over 2
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  decades ago. That's how, you know, Caddy and
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  I met, you know, to be frank, I kind of remember how long it's
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  been since we've known each other.
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  So one day I was just minding my business now, just chilling on
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  LinkedIn because that's the only social media that I have.
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  And then I saw the News Live and direct that Karate had just
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  exited his company or he had been bought out in his company
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  to the tune of £15,000,000. And I repeat 15 big ones,
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  1,000,000 lbs, not 15,000,000 Naira.
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  I see £1,000,000. So of course once I saw it now
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  my reaction was like ah correct, carried in on makeup, carried in
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  on cash out, you know, and I thought let me call him to
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  congratulate him. They're just no, let me just ask
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  you, the phone is probably going to be busy, you know, as the
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  news has just dropped. So you know, people just be
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  bugging up his phone, you know, that kind of thing.
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  So it's OK, I'll just holler the guy later.
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  Now then I was minding my business.
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  Now is there anything just dawned on me?
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  I now had a WTF moment and I was like 50,000,000 lbs.
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  I just brought up my phone. I just checked the calculator
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  because I have the currency app it's inbuilt into my phone and I
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  just I ran the numbers and if the nobody thing gave me was
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  32.3 billion naira, I say haha. I say no no no, no, no, no no
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  no. I hit C erased.
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  I did the thing again £50 million.
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  The number came back, 32.3 billion naira is then, you know,
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  I started to have my own WTF moment.
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  Some of you might be thinking, no, no, this unrealistic, this
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  kind of thing never happens. But actually, yeah, it does
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  happen all the time. It's just the peculiarities of
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  the naira in relation to the dollar and relation to the
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  pound. So there are people who raise
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  money in dollars, you know, get finance financing in dollars and
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  in pounds and then come and start businesses in Nigeria,
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  which I think one of the reasons why fintech companies were the
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  rage, you know, a while back in Nigeria because you can go to
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  you know, America or the UK, you're going to raise some small
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  coins. You know, you raise maybe like
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  $5,000,000 or something. But The thing is by the time you
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  raise 5 M in dollars and you come and you know, you translate
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  into naira, you know, the thing now becomes, you know, huge now
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  becomes, you understand now as a huge.
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  So it's one of these things. So don't say no, it's not
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  possible. These things don't happen yet
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  they do happen. If all you have to do is pay
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  attention to the right blog post or subscribe to the right
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  newsletters. You always hear about all this
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  Nigerian company, this Nigerian startup raise $10 million seed
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  funding or founder also so, so and so exits you know $3,000,000
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  is that that that? So it happens all the time.
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  So it is doable in case one of those people who think Oh no,
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  these things don't happen. Anyway, so back to what I said.
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  Now, like I said, I was having my own WTF moment.
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  Now, I remember that before Carrie D left his job in
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  investment banking and went into the startup because it's
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  something that he's been public about and it's something that
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  some of us talk about. You know, his wife, he was in
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  support of him resigning to get the job.
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  Or by the way, this is a, a big thank you to wives, girlfriends,
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  husbands, you know, supportive spouses who get fully behind
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  when someone decides that, OK, you know what?
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  This is the business we're going to run.
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  This is how we're going to do. This is how we're going to do
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  that. I mean, there's some of you that
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  are absolute troopers. You just go 100% like I'm your
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  ride or die. We'll make this thing happen.
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  So this is just to say thank you to you spouses that stand behind
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  those of us who don't take the traditional career out yet.
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  Let me put it that way. So that was my first WTF moment.
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  I was now thinking, ah, man, his wife supported him, he resigned
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  and man, that's a good, that's a good ROI.
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  Like £50 million, that's good. Return on investment, 32 billion
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  naira, that's, that's some good cash.
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  That's really good. So that's my first WTF moment.
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  I was now thinking, where's my own ROI for my wife?
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  I mean, like Cardi has done this thing.
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  Yeah, sure. It took a very long time, Basha.
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  The thing clicked eventually and depending on how you look at it,
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  my guy is 15 M good in pounds or 32B good in naira.
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  Now, of course, when these things happen, it's not as if
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  they'll just drop the whole money inside your account like
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  that. No, no, no.
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  These things are, you know, typically structured, you know,
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  receive some cash upfront. Maybe you now receive some
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  company stock and then there's some deferred payment here
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  because I want you to remain and as a consultant or something,
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  something, something. So whenever you see the
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  headlines and you hear that your classmate just cashed out £50
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  million, you know, it's not as if they transferred £50 million
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  to his account. Bam.
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  It means the total worth of everything is £15,000,000.
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  But it doesn't mean that that's all the cash you receive.
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  So small cash went on your hand. Small bonus will come like this.
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  This one will be deferred when you hit this milestone, this
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  one. So there's a way that these
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  things are structured, but the thing shies any which way, any
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  which way, it's not a bad deal. So does my own WTF moment.
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  I was now thinking, you know, where's the arrow wife for my
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  own wife now. Now for people who have
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  supported me in my own in my own journey.
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  And then I will started thinking no more.
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  I would want to do this to myself because when I was
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  younger, I really had a lack of focus, you know, going into law.
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  It's not as if I decided I kind of fell into law.
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  The next thing you know, I'm doing photography, The next
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  thing you know I'm doing music production, the next thing you
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  know, me and my brother wearing this export business and the
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  next thing you know, I'm making documentaries.
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  I just like I it's my fault self.
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  Why didn't I just stay and focus?
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  And then I now started getting into anger issues, you know,
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  like serious anger issues, like I'm the one that did myself.
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  But then I remember the one sermon that I listened to a long
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  time ago, long, long time ago. Now, even though I'm Catholic,
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  you know, it doesn't stop me from listening to material from
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  other preachers. And there's this guy that I
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  like, TD Jakes Bishop. TD Jakes, a pastor, he writes
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  books and then he also does movies and stuff like that.
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  I think, I think he's a correct guy if you're looking at things
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  from an entrepreneurial point of view.
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  I think TD Jakes, that's the guy to look to.
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  Because if I consider him more as a businessman than a pastor,
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  to be honest, that's just the vibe I get from him.
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  So I saw this material about where TDJ was talking about how
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  A1 period in his life, like he was having some mild beef, like
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  serious beef, serious jealousy issues because he was staying
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  there in his own small church, you know, small congregation.
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  Meanwhile, his people, his contemporaries, all of them
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  building mega churches. Anyhow, mega church here, mega
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  church here expanding 2 branch, 3 branch, 5 branch each branch
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  mega church. And he said was in a really bad
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  spot. And so one day he just realized
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  that he needed to just relax and free this thing.
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  And so he prayed to God. I told God, I look, this guy is
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  blowing, this guy is hammering, this guy is he's making it.
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  Father, Lord, you know, I thank you for their life and I thank
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  you for the blessings that all of them are enjoying.
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  Continue to bless them, continue to progress them.
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  My father has progressed them. Me too.
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  Bless the worker of my own hand. Bless the worker of my own
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  hustle so that your own good time, my own will blow.
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  And now it's a simple prayer. The first time I heard it, the
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  reason why I struck a chord in me was because, I mean, there's
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  some people who will never admit to this, but for those of us who
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  do, it's not an easy thing. So for TD Jakes to admit, it's
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  not an easy thing. For me to admit, it's not an
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  easy thing staying there, minding your own business.
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  You know something happens to one of your boys and of course
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  you're happy. But then the WTF moment, now
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  sing, sing and now start feeling one kind because somebody else
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  is making progress. So if you're like me, you're
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  just chilling and your classmate has gotten £50 million.
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  If you're one of those people who's prone to these sorts of
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  feelings, I understand perfectly well.
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  Just know that you're not alone. There's a couple of us who are
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  dealing with these sorts of things.
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  When that happens, honestly, I really think the best thing we
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  can do is just free it and give it up to God, The Heavenly
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  Father. God, they don't make up the guy,
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  don't hammer £15,000,000. Continue to bless him, continue
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  to progress him, continue to move him forward, you know,
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  continue to move him until he arrives at his promised land.
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  But then me also, Heavenly Father rid me of these feelings.
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  Be with me, help me, grow me, help me to become a better man.
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  I mean, of course, if you're a woman listening, help me to
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  become a better woman. And then also bless me for the
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  work of my hands and prepare me so that I'm fully equipped, I'm
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  fully prepared, and I'm ready for when you take me to the
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  place that you are prepared for me.
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  That's most honest, most basic thing that you can do for those
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  of you who have those feelings, for those of you who never have
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  these kind of feelings. OK, no problem.
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  I guess just turn off the episode then or skip to another
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  episode. Let me talk to people who go
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  through these WTF moments. That's the best you can do.
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  Thank God for the person's life. Ask God to continue to bless the
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  person. Ask God to help you and to heal
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  you. And ask God to to prepare you,
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  to shape you, and to mold you for when your own time comes.
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  Because truth of the matter is to build a start up to the level
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  that other people are willing to say or more.
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  This, this, this thing is tight. Let me collect it from you.
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  Are you collect £15,000,000. You know, it takes a lot.
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  That's a whole level of discipline.
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  There's a whole level of skill. There's a whole level of yeah, I
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  know I talk about operating procedures a lot, but there's a
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  whole lot of frameworks in place.
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  I mean, think about what it takes to build a team like that.
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  When you're managing people, managing locations, managing
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  inventory. It takes a lot.
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  So that's the best you can do. Let's pray.
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  Ask God to keep blessing the person.
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  Pray to God, ask Him to bless you.
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  Ask Him to keep working on you and to prepare you for when your
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  own time comes. And then there's this thing
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  about social media. Unfortunately, because we have
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  social media now, the problem is a whole lot of us are having WTF
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  moments every single month. That's the problem.
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  It's not as if this thing hasn't always happened.
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  It has. It's just that in the good old
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  days, by the time you hear that Carly has, you know, blown and
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  has gotten 15 M pounds, The thing is, you know, you'd only
• 13:47
  hit a class reunion or something.
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  You only hear that kind of just maybe like once in a year.
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  But because of social media now, everybody's connected and people
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  are trying to, you know, hype themselves, trying to blow
• 13:57
  themselves up. Everybody's putting up the
• 13:59
  highlight reel. We get to see these things every
• 14:02
  month or maybe every week. So maybe that's just a problem
• 14:05
  now. So for some of us, we need to
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  take it easy and maybe not consume social media that much.
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  Or when we consume social media, we just take it with a grain of
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  salt that everybody is just showing their own highlight
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  reel. They're showing the best things.
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  They're not showing necessarily the worst things.
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  So maybe we should take some of these things with a pinch of
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  salt. Anyway, the biggest clicker I'll
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  be the biggest thing at the end of the day was remember I said
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  when that news dropped on the Internet said was April first.
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  It turns out the whole thing was an April Fool's joke after all.
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  So Kara did not make out with 15 M So no, he does not have 32.3
• 14:53
  billion naira, but still, check out his stuff.
• 14:56
  Like I said, the company's Kaena CAENA and check him out, see the
• 15:01
  kind of things that he's into. If nothing else, all those of
• 15:06
  you listening to this podcast to be inspired and to broaden your
• 15:10
  horizons. You know, we Nigerians were
• 15:12
  sharp or smart. We're aggressive, we're go
• 15:14
  getters, we're working in different fields, we're doing
• 15:18
  different things, we're all in different kinds of endeavors.
• 15:21
  So I always want people to go outside, go and see what we are
• 15:24
  doing. Go and see what sharp boys,
• 15:25
  sharp games, sharp sharp babes, sharp girls, women are doing.
• 15:31
  So look at this company. Look out there, you social media
• 15:35
  the right way. You follow me on LinkedIn.
• 15:38
  Follow people like him on LinkedIn.
• 15:40
  Small time it will, it will show suggested.
• 15:42
  You can also follow these headlines, follow these kind of
• 15:44
  people as well. Open your eyes, broaden your
• 15:47
  horizons. See what we Nigerians are doing
• 15:49
  out there in the world, both home and abroad.
• 15:56
  But most important lesson is this.
• 15:58
  Yeah, he did April Fools on all of us.
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  He doesn't have 15 M, But The thing is, those of us who are
• 16:09
  like TD Jakes and me who have these WTF moments, you know,
• 16:13
  when you hear that somebody don't make up the guy on blue,
• 16:16
  the guy don't elevate, you know, the guy don't transform, the guy
• 16:20
  don't materialize, you get into these WTF moments, whether is it
• 16:24
  proposed or not, there's some work we need to do on ourselves.
• 16:28
  We need to get ready with hard work, with patience and
• 16:33
  perseverance and with prayers and we'll get there.
• 16:37
  So that's why I made today's episode.
• 16:39
  Just in case you're like me, you're just minding your
• 16:42
  business next year, you're here, they're a guy that has
• 16:47
  £15,000,000. And then you now fall into the
• 16:50
  what the this is what you do anyway.
• 16:55
  So that's all for today folks. If you've got questions that are
• 16:58
  sales and marketing related, of course, I didn't see anything
• 17:01
  sales and marketing related today.
• 17:04
  But even though the focus of this year is business education,
• 17:06
  typically I look at things from sales and business, business
• 17:10
  development perspective. So who knows, maybe one day if I
• 17:14
  run into carried, yeah, I might. Yeah, I think I should do that.
• 17:19
  If I run into him, we should make that an interview session.
• 17:22
  I think will be a good thing for you guys to hear, not just the
• 17:25
  personal side, you know, how did he decide?
• 17:27
  Because remember when we talk about starting a business, the
• 17:30
  framework that I put over here is starting a business in three
• 17:32
  easy steps involve making sure you have the right idea, making
• 17:38
  sure that there's market demand or that the business is doable,
• 17:41
  it's feasible, and making sure that you can have the right
• 17:44
  selling framework around that idea.
• 17:46
  So be nice to have a job with him or some other individuals
• 17:50
  like him. So how did you decide?
• 17:52
  How did you know this was the right idea?
• 17:53
  How did you come up with the MVP?
• 17:55
  How did you achieve product market fit?
• 17:57
  How are you guys sure that there's market demand?
• 17:59
  How are you guys sure that this idea was going to work?
• 18:02
  How did you come up with the selling frameworks?
• 18:04
  How did you get your first set of 10 clients?
• 18:06
  20-30, Fifty 101,000. Yeah, that'll be a good
• 18:13
  conversation to have anyway. So if you have sales and
• 18:15
  marketing questions now, remember you can call SMS or
• 18:17
  WhatsApp me on 08064662140. The country code is +234.
• 18:24
  So thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 18:26
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode.
• 18:30
  And God willing, no matter how long, hopefully we'll all get to
• 18:34
  the point where we can wake up one day, open our bank accounts
• 18:37
  and see that we have £15,000,000 richer.
• 18:41
  So I'll catch you guys at the next episode.