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​Is LinkedIn a Magic Sales Tool? The Real Truth · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Today on the podcast, we don't have any topic in particular.
• 0:05
  It's just going to be a set of random topics because I
• 0:09
  responded to some people who called in on the radio show on
• 0:13
  the 11th of December 2025. And let's see, OK, we discussed
• 0:19
  a couple of things LinkedIn related, Let's see what else.
• 0:25
  OK, I think was mostly LinkedIn. So anyway, let's just get
• 0:29
  straight into it. Like I said today round on my
• 0:31
  episode, and this is just me addressing some people who
• 0:34
  called in on my radio show on the 11th of December in 2025.
• 0:40
  Now, this is your first time of listening to the podcast.
• 0:43
  My name is Tavi Shima Ayeri, I am a former lawyer turned
• 0:47
  business consultant. And yes, I also have a radio
• 0:50
  show on the regular airwaves. It's on Radio Maria, 91.3 FM.
• 0:55
  And once in a while I come over here on the podcast and I talk
• 0:59
  about some of the good stuff that we discussed over on the
• 1:01
  radio because as far as I know, well, there's this one guy in
• 1:05
  Abuja who listens to the podcast and also listens to the radio
• 1:07
  show. But for the rest of you, because
• 1:11
  we have over 3500 subscribers currently on Spotify, I just
• 1:16
  come over here and let you guys know that hey, last night I was
• 1:19
  on the air. I spoke to a bunch of folks, got
• 1:22
  some interesting stuff. This is what we spoke about.
• 1:26
  Now if you like these sorts of things, you're looking for a
• 1:31
  business, you're looking for business content where we talk
• 1:33
  about sales, marketing, business growth, those sorts of things,
• 1:37
  then make sure you subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, YouTube,
• 1:42
  Apple, or any player of your choice.
• 1:45
  Then if you'd love to connect with me, you can call, send me a
• 1:49
  text message or send me a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 1:57
  So that particular evening on the 11th of December 2025, four
• 2:04
  guys called in four chaps. First guy was Alex from
• 2:07
  Wagwanada. So for those of you who listen
• 2:10
  to the podcast, you know that that's like my my old hood
• 2:13
  because I went to Christ the King College in Wagwalada in
• 2:17
  Abuja LCT. So that's where I did my junior
• 2:20
  secondary school and we were the second set.
• 2:23
  So the pioneer set was I can't remember what.
• 2:26
  Yeah. So we came in after the pioneer
• 2:29
  set. So just in case you know,
• 2:30
  anybody who went to wax Wagwalada pioneer set or the
• 2:35
  second set, you know, those are definitely my guys.
• 2:37
  You just tell them, you know, you came across Tavis podcast.
• 2:41
  Don't say Tavis because they all know you know me as Tavisima.
• 2:45
  So just so you came across Tarvis podcast was your
• 2:47
  classmates, you know? Yeah, those are my guys.
• 2:50
  So Alex from Guevara, of course, not my classmate.
• 2:56
  Now Alex called in. OK, No, he didn't call in.
• 2:58
  He sent a message asking if LinkedIn is a place where sales
• 3:03
  and business is made easy. Let me repeat, if I like it when
• 3:08
  people ask this kind of question.
• 3:09
  He asked me whether LinkedIn is a place where sales and business
• 3:15
  can be made easily. I like asking all answering all
• 3:20
  these kind of questions. The reason why I was asking was
• 3:24
  because on that particular day, what we were discussing was
• 3:26
  this. There was someone who had called
• 3:28
  in the week before who was in the business of selling software
• 3:33
  solutions for sales analytics, customer analysis and financial
• 3:39
  analysis, financial reporting, all those sorts of things.
• 3:42
  And the person wanted to know how to sell his services.
• 3:47
  Now in discussing that guy's matter, we now discussed how
• 3:51
  that guy should be on LinkedIn because there are lots of you in
• 3:55
  Nigeria, especially people who want to advance their career or
• 3:58
  people who sell services who are not on LinkedIn.
• 4:01
  In fact, some people have not even heard of LinkedIn.
• 4:06
  The first time I came across like I just assumed everybody
• 4:11
  knew what LinkedIn was because last year that was 20/20/24.
• 4:17
  In 2024, I got to speak at a conference that was put together
• 4:21
  by NBCNBC. That's Nigerian bottling company
• 4:25
  that the people who own the franchise for Coca, Coca-Cola,
• 4:28
  Fanta, you know, all those things.
• 4:30
  And you know, the head offices in, you know, in Lagos, in
• 4:33
  Aggadingbi, for those of us who used to live in Ikeja, I know I
• 4:37
  don't pronounce the name correctly, but you know, forgive
• 4:39
  me, I, it's just one of those things, you know, you move to a
• 4:43
  location, you don't quite learn all the words correctly.
• 4:46
  So the excuse in Lagos. So NBC, you know, I know them
• 4:50
  now 'cause you always drive past going to church, you drive past,
• 4:54
  coming back from school, you drive past.
• 4:56
  So the conference was put together by the NBC Nigerian
• 4:59
  Bottling Conference. And it was about how you can use
• 5:01
  artificial intelligence to build your career or build your
• 5:04
  business. And this was a program that was
• 5:06
  aimed at youth between the ages of 18 to 35.
• 5:09
  And I was one of the speakers and we spoke last me and my Co
• 5:15
  how I say Co compare Abby Abby Co anchor so as well this thing
• 5:19
  now as one guy asked me that how do I open linked?
• 5:24
  I shock I said the guy said how do I open linked.
• 5:28
  That was the first time I heard and for the rest of the
• 5:31
  afternoon people are calling this thing linked as in they
• 5:35
  have never heard of it before. Do asking me what is linked?
• 5:40
  How do you open Linked, How do you use linked?
• 5:42
  I had to keep saying and saying and saying that evening I'm
• 5:47
  stressing it and it's LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn but still do
• 5:51
  asking me of linked. It was then I knew that there
• 5:54
  are lots of Nigerians who do not know about LinkedIn and who are
• 5:57
  not on LinkedIn even though they want to grow their career or
• 6:01
  they want to grow their service based business.
• 6:04
  When I say service based business, I mean you know those
• 6:08
  of us that sit inside office, you know lawyer, accountant,
• 6:12
  doctor, geologist, what else? OK, geologist also has the go to
• 6:17
  field. But you know someone, I'm saying
• 6:19
  Shah, you're selling yourself is not selling a product.
• 6:22
  So there are also Nigerians who are not on LinkedIn who are not
• 6:25
  aware of LinkedIn. So I was now telling that guy,
• 6:30
  the one who sells software solutions for financial
• 6:34
  analysis, customer analysis and sales analytics.
• 6:39
  I was telling the guide, I look you guys to be on LinkedIn.
• 6:43
  So because we spent like 30 minutes talking about LinkedIn
• 6:46
  on the radio. That's why this guy Alex that
• 6:50
  sent a message saying how far this LinkedIn that you guys are
• 6:53
  talking about, can we make sales and business easy on that
• 6:57
  platform? And that's why I love this
• 6:59
  question. I love this question because
• 7:02
  there are too many of you who are looking for an easy
• 7:04
  solution. Can we just stop this thing?
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  Think about it? Remember that song Since I was
• 7:12
  born and now I am old, You've been on this earth already,
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  3040, fifty years. If there was an easy way, you
• 7:21
  don't think you would have heard about it.
• 7:25
  And if there was an easy way, you don't think somebody would
• 7:27
  have already tapped in on it? You don't think you would have
• 7:31
  seen it? You've been alive for a while.
• 7:35
  If there was an easy way, you would have discovered it by now.
• 7:41
  There is no easy way. So let's stop this thinking.
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  Please. Let's stop looking for this
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  magic platform. It's not there does not exist.
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  There's none. Now.
• 7:54
  This is the reason why the reason why there's no magic
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  platform where sales and business can be made easy is
• 8:03
  because no matter the format that exists or the platform or
• 8:08
  the app or the website, it will require two things of you #1
• 8:12
  optimization and then #2 proper participation.
• 8:17
  Optimization means make your profile sweet, make your profile
• 8:23
  attractive. Give the information that people
• 8:28
  need when they come across your profile so they can quickly
• 8:31
  decipher who you are, what you do, how you can help, how they
• 8:37
  can connect with you. That is step one.
• 8:42
  And unfortunately, too many Nigerians on platforms are not
• 8:46
  even optimizing those platforms. There are people who open their
• 8:51
  WhatsApp business profile, but then on your name, you just
• 8:55
  leave it as a Janet Ezekiel and then you don't put anything
• 8:59
  again and you wonder why business is growing.
• 9:00
  It's not growing like who is Janet Ezekiel?
• 9:04
  What do you do? Do you sell soap?
• 9:07
  Do you sell perfume? Are you a beauty skin care
• 9:09
  therapist? Are you an accountant?
• 9:12
  Are you a geologist? Are you an architect?
• 9:16
  You just open WhatsApp business and you just put your name
• 9:19
  there, nothing else. How is WhatsApp business
• 9:23
  supposed to make business easy and smooth for you?
• 9:27
  Same thing with LinkedIn. People open a LinkedIn profile
• 9:30
  and you put nothing there. You just put your name, profile
• 9:33
  picture blank, educational history bank blank, professional
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  background blank. Are you looking to connect
• 9:39
  blank. Are you looking to grow a
• 9:41
  business blank. Interests blank.
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  Hobbies blank as in Mt What do you expect?
• 9:53
  Believe me, this happens a lot. It was I'm struggling with
• 9:56
  Instagram. I said, well, let me see your
• 9:57
  Instagram handle. I look at Instagram Hamilton and
• 9:59
  I say no wonder you're a business owner.
• 10:02
  But then your Instagram handle is, you know, Jeremiah 436.
• 10:05
  Like, who do you think wants to do business with Jeremiah 436?
• 10:10
  Who then the account has been open for six years and then you
• 10:15
  only put 5 posts. Does that inspire confidence in
• 10:20
  anybody? So truly, truly, I say on to the
• 10:26
  even if LinkedIn was that platform where sales and
• 10:29
  business can be made easy, the fact that most of you will go
• 10:35
  there and optimize your profile like you forget it won't work
• 10:39
  for you. You work for everybody else, but
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  don't work for you because you're not even bothering to
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  optimize your profile. Same thing.
• 10:47
  Google My Business. Have you gone to go and claim
• 10:50
  your business page? Have you updated it?
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  Have you put some pictures of projects that you finished
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  recently? Have you put up your opening
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  hours? Did you put your website there?
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  Did you put your office address there so that if somebody
• 11:01
  friends you on Google My Business, they can click through
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  and then LinkedIn can. Sorry, I say LinkedIn, Google
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  Maps can take them directly to your store.
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  Did you put your WhatsApp business number there?
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  Did you put a nice sweet description of who you are and
• 11:20
  what you do? So LinkedIn is not a magic
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  platform. Yes, it'll be sweet for you if
• 11:28
  you're trying to improve your career or try to sell your
• 11:31
  services, but if you don't optimize the profile, you're not
• 11:37
  ready. You haven't started work yet.
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  Then proper participation. Now, this is what I mean by
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  proper participation. I just made-up that word.
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  Every single social media platform, you get your own
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  culture, they'll have their own vibe.
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  When you're on Tiktok, you are your authentic self, vibes,
• 11:57
  phone, authentic self. When you are on Instagram,
• 12:02
  you're living your best life, a polished version of your life.
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  Because we're all trying to form on Instagram.
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  So on Instagram continue to deform.
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  Then when you are on Facebook, Facebook now is mostly a
• 12:17
  connection or something like no need to form really.
• 12:20
  When you want to talk to grammar, you go to Facebook.
• 12:22
  When you want to talk to your uncles and aunties, you go to
• 12:24
  Facebook. For those of us who are nephews
• 12:26
  and nieces are abroad, that's your nephews and nieces are old
• 12:30
  because I hear that the younger ones now that's Snapchat.
• 12:32
  And so so that kind of thing, classmates, you know, Facebook,
• 12:40
  but therefore LinkedIn, everybody is in a business
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  mindset, career mindset. So you cannot take TikTok
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  behavior and exhibit it on LinkedIn.
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  You cannot take LinkedIn behavior and exhibit it on
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  Facebook. You cannot take Facebook
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  behavior and start to use Facebook behavior on WhatsApp.
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  So play well and some of you have created the LinkedIn
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  profile and you haven't come to play the way that people play on
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  the platform. So you're on LinkedIn.
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  What you're putting pictures of your best life, showing your
• 13:14
  face up and down. I'm glad to show that I just
• 13:16
  recently been promoted. My children have graduated first
• 13:19
  class. I bought a brand new car like
• 13:23
  OK, all that is good for Instagram, but that's not what
• 13:28
  we do on LinkedIn. It's a professional networking
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  platform. So your children graduated first
• 13:35
  class, God has been good to you. And so how does that help you to
• 13:39
  connect with people on the platform?
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  So this is the reason why even if tomorrow LinkedIn becomes the
• 13:49
  place where money is being minted in dollars, some of you
• 13:52
  won't get it because you will not optimize your profile and
• 13:56
  you will not play on the platform the way you're supposed
• 13:59
  to play. So no, LinkedIn is not that
• 14:07
  place where sales and business comes easy.
• 14:09
  But yes, it is different because people are there to advance
• 14:11
  their career or to sell their services.
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  So optimize your profile, whatever it is that you play and
• 14:18
  make sure you learn the rules of the game and start playing
• 14:20
  accordingly. Then you can start reaping the
• 14:23
  benefits. That, my dear friends, is the
• 14:25
  reason why I got off TikTok because I go there, I'm talking
• 14:32
  business content, you know, sharp, sharp, quick, quick
• 14:35
  video. And it's not necessarily at
• 14:39
  least while I was on TikTok, like I don't know, maybe 2-3
• 14:43
  years ago, that was not the reason why people are on TikTok.
• 14:46
  So yes, I have that one video, I got like 10,000 views.
• 14:51
  But apart from that, people are not really on TikTok for this
• 14:54
  kind of thing. So even if people were minting
• 14:58
  dollars on TikTok because I was on TikTok in the wrong way,
• 15:03
  there was no how I was going to make that platform work.
• 15:05
  If I go back to TikTok, I need to make one or two changes and
• 15:10
  get back in vibe, get with the original vibe, get with the
• 15:14
  program for the platform. Then I can now join people and
• 15:17
  be meeting dollars from the platform.
• 15:22
  So is LinkedIn different? Yes, because the focus is
• 15:25
  business and career. Because of that, that is the
• 15:28
  reason why I keep saying it with my full chest.
• 15:31
  It is good for networking. Excuse me?
• 15:33
  It is good for business conversations.
• 15:37
  So with some creativity, we can make it work.
• 15:41
  Another caller on the show was Rinzi.
• 15:44
  Rinzi was a spare part dealer. This is the example that I gave
• 15:48
  Rinzi. You can open a LinkedIn profile,
• 15:51
  optimize it, put your face there, or put your company logo
• 15:54
  there in the description. Make sure you describe, be clear
• 15:57
  that you are an auto parts dealer.
• 16:00
  It doesn't matter that you sell spare parts.
• 16:02
  I think we can make it work. Then the content you'll be
• 16:08
  putting out, Mr. Rinzi, will be things around car maintenance,
• 16:14
  you know, whether maintenance or replacement, you know, auto
• 16:18
  care, what else, things like that.
• 16:20
  This is kind of content that you put out once in a while.
• 16:23
  You put up when you have info, you put up info on, you know,
• 16:26
  your promos or your discounts or new items that you have in
• 16:30
  stores and things like that. Then once in a while you will
• 16:35
  find opportunities to slide into people's DM because on LinkedIn,
• 16:39
  you know, people put it, oh, business expansion or something,
• 16:41
  something just acquired a new car fleet.
• 16:44
  So somebody now who is like arranged, you can sign into the
• 16:47
  person's DMS, congratulations, just so you acquired a new
• 16:51
  fleet. Congratulations, business is
• 16:53
  growing. You have some details about the
• 16:55
  fleet. It's not a bad thing.
• 16:57
  It's not a scene to not ask like, oh, OK, what plans do they
• 17:00
  have for fleet management? Some people say, oh, fleet
• 17:02
  management, we have that covered.
• 17:04
  Some people say fleet management.
• 17:05
  What is that? I've never heard of that.
• 17:08
  You now start talking about fleet management and fleet
• 17:10
  maintenance and that's how your services will come in because
• 17:13
  you're a part dealer. So I know that for those of you
• 17:18
  who are in the handiwork level, handiwork trades, you might not
• 17:23
  think LinkedIn immediately, but you know, sales is trial and
• 17:27
  error. Let's try like me, I tried
• 17:30
  LinkedIn, so I know LinkedIn, TikTok.
• 17:32
  I tried TikTok before I left TikTok.
• 17:36
  So you try some things pop off some things don't.
• 17:40
  So TikTok didn't work for me. I left Instagram was too much of
• 17:44
  a headache. I left Facebook one useless guy
• 17:49
  hacked me. I shut down the account I left
• 17:51
  LinkedIn seems to be working on OK I've stayed I'm still there
• 17:57
  so trial and error. So try and we see then.
• 18:06
  So just in case I've not made it clear, let me say it again.
• 18:11
  Should you be on LinkedIn? You listening to the podcast
• 18:13
  episode right now? If you're trying to build your
• 18:16
  career, I think you should be there.
• 18:19
  If you sell services, I think you should be there.
• 18:23
  I really think you should be there.
• 18:26
  Some of you who sell products, it might work.
• 18:29
  We can, you know, like I said, I've given you a plan for how
• 18:32
  like Irinzi might be able to make it work.
• 18:38
  But anyway, let me leave you there, Chuck.
• 18:41
  Those of you who want to be promoted, go to LinkedIn.
• 18:45
  Those of you who have services beyond LinkedIn, for those of
• 18:48
  you who have, you know, products for sale, you know, I don't
• 18:50
  know, hit me up. That's the reason why I give my
• 18:52
  phone number. Let's look at this thing on a
• 18:54
  case by case basis. Let's see who we can work for,
• 18:56
  who we can work for, or just check AI and ask AI and see what
• 19:01
  AI says, whether you stand a shot if you sell.
• 19:05
  OK, let's say you sell beauty skin care, for instance, let's
• 19:07
  say you sell bleaching cream. You know, go on AI and ask it
• 19:10
  and see how you can use LinkedIn to grow your business.
• 19:14
  You never know, there might be some useful ideas there.
• 19:19
  OK, so second caller now arrange a spare part dealer, but I can't
• 19:23
  remember the question that he had.
• 19:25
  So basically I just wrote him, you know, thanks for calling.
• 19:29
  Then let's see. OK, for that, another guy who
• 19:32
  wanted to get in touch with me. Let's see.
• 19:36
  Well, who else? OK, Kukui, another guy.
• 19:38
  Kukui called. OK, Kukui reached out because he
• 19:41
  wants to collaborate. So me and the guy were already
• 19:45
  chatting. So.
• 19:47
  Yeah. Anyway, that is all.
• 19:50
  So yeah, those are some of the calling people on the show.
• 19:54
  And OK, I think that's the only issue.
• 19:56
  Just this LinkedIn matter. Yeah, so I just said let me come
• 19:59
  over here. I share that LinkedIn thing with
• 20:02
  you real quick. Well, summary, please.
• 20:04
  Let's stop looking for magic platforms.
• 20:06
  It doesn't matter the platform, you will have to optimize.
• 20:10
  And you will have to take part according to the rules,
• 20:14
  according to the culture of the platform.
• 20:17
  So stop looking at what is hot. Just ask yourself what is there.
• 20:23
  Then, within reason, try and figure out if you think you can
• 20:28
  make it happen. And then trial and error, you
• 20:31
  try. Go and taste.
• 20:34
  They say taste and see that the Lord is good.
• 20:36
  Go and taste. So I'm tasting.
• 20:38
  You will know whether this thing works for me or it doesn't work.
• 20:42
  Or you can ask people who you see who are popping, who are
• 20:44
  rocking it. Like back when I was an event
• 20:48
  photographer, I wasn't good on Instagram online.
• 20:52
  My Instagram game was weak. But it didn't stop me from
• 20:56
  talking to other people who are rocking Instagram because there
• 20:59
  were people who are making good money on Instagram.
• 21:02
  In fact, there was this lady, let me not call her name.
• 21:06
  She, she's in decor space, she was doing work, Lagos and Abuja
• 21:12
  wedding and corporate and Instagram was the only thing she
• 21:17
  had no website. Well, of course she was not very
• 21:21
  helpful because I asked her like how do you do it?
• 21:24
  She says, I don't know, I just post.
• 21:27
  It's unfortunate. You know, some people are good
• 21:29
  at the game, but if you ask them break it down, they can't really
• 21:32
  break it down for you because some people just do it and
• 21:35
  they're good, but they can't tell you how or they can't tell
• 21:38
  you why. So I was now looking at our
• 21:39
  posts and now trying to reverse engineer to see how I could be
• 21:44
  good on Instagram as well. Anyway, I've said everything I
• 21:49
  need to say. No need to keep you guys longer.
• 21:52
  So that's it, that's all. I'll catch you guys at some
• 21:55
  other time and if you'd love to connect with me, you can call,
• 21:58
  send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064
• 22:03
  662140. Again, sorry about the noise in
• 22:07
  the background made today's recording at home, kids at home,
• 22:10
  wifey is home, you know, holiday period X mass in the air.
• 22:13
  You understand now? So yeah, that's it.
• 22:16
  I'll catch you guys.