Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Why My Best Friends Are Also My Business Partners

Transcript

Why My Best Friends Are Also My Business Partners · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the podcast.
• 0:03
  Apologies because today's episode is an out and about
• 0:05
  episode. So expect to hear some noise in
• 0:07
  the background because I'm currently in the parking lot as
• 0:11
  usual and that's because I had a very productive meeting much
• 0:14
  earlier in the day. But I'm not going to let you
• 0:16
  guys know what's up with that. Only thing to meeting click
• 0:20
  first, then I'll let you guys know what's going on.
• 0:22
  Instead of just going home, I said let me go and wait outside
• 0:25
  the kids school and then do some work from there.
• 0:28
  So, you know, if you hear noise around, that's that's the reason
• 0:31
  why now today I'm not going to talk about my family situation
• 0:35
  or my kids or my business runs, but rather we're going to talk
• 0:38
  about business equity and the career growth.
• 0:42
  Now, the reason why we're having this conversation today is
• 0:45
  because a listener of the podcast, Joshua reached out to
• 0:49
  me. He also is a former client of
• 0:51
  mine. We've done some work together.
• 0:53
  And for those of you who have been listening and you remember
• 0:56
  the time when I was talking about a client who runs a
• 1:00
  production outfit and what they do is creating social media
• 1:04
  content for businesses, Nigerian businesses starting off in
• 1:10
  Lagos. The focus is Lagos.
• 1:12
  I mean, the focus in the beginning was Lagos because
• 1:14
  obviously they're in Lagos. And I was trying to prioritize
• 1:17
  the kinds of businesses where they'll be able to get, you
• 1:20
  know, one-on-one, you know, go and walk in, see, talk to
• 1:23
  someone because the physical connection is the easiest way to
• 1:27
  close the sale. I've discussed the
• 1:29
  communications hierarchy before on the podcast.
• 1:30
  So, you know, we'll talk about some of that more in the future.
• 1:34
  But just in case I've mentioned a couple of terms right now and
• 1:37
  you're lost, you don't understand what what some of
• 1:39
  those terms mean. And this is your first time of
• 1:42
  listening to the podcast. Then reach out, connect with me
• 1:44
  just like Joshua did. So you can call, send me a text
• 1:47
  message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 1:53
  Just ask your question. Have your first time listener,
• 1:55
  you know, let's let's chat. I'll keep you up to date.
• 1:59
  Anyway, so Joshua is the guy. He's our client that I was
• 2:02
  working with to see how we can roll out their services for
• 2:06
  content production, social media content production, and what
• 2:11
  makes their own business idea different.
• 2:14
  To be honest, at first I didn't think they can make it work, but
• 2:17
  they were trying. They're trying to provide
• 2:19
  content for businesses at less than the cost of hiring a social
• 2:24
  media manager and a, you know, a, a content person.
• 2:29
  So that's the whole business proposition.
• 2:31
  You're in business, you want to produce more content.
• 2:33
  It costs you X amount to pay for a social media manager and it
• 2:37
  costs you X amount to pay for a social media producer.
• 2:42
  You know, somebody should produce content in house.
• 2:44
  So their value proposition was they will create that content
• 2:47
  for you at less than the cost of those two employees.
• 2:50
  So that's why in the beginning I was like, you guys make this
• 2:53
  thing work. But, and I won't spill the
• 2:55
  sauce, but yeah, they can't make it work anyway.
• 2:58
  So Joshua reached out to me because he had a couple of
• 3:02
  questions. And that's why we started
• 3:03
  discussing these sorts of things, career growth and
• 3:06
  business equity. And I thought it was an
• 3:08
  interesting conversation. That's why I want to share with
• 3:10
  you guys over here on the podcast.
• 3:11
  And by the way, for those of you who've been listening to the
• 3:14
  podcast, when I say that, you know, my friends are people who
• 3:17
  have given me money and you don't understand.
• 3:19
  You think I'm materialistic. You know, today you see the
• 3:21
  reason why. Honestly, my friends are the
• 3:24
  people who have given me money. In fact, let me even break it
• 3:27
  down. Let me explain.
• 3:28
  What is your own friendship? People think that friendship is,
• 3:30
  you know, you feel cool with somebody and, and you know,
• 3:33
  that's the, the predominant air around friendship in Niger.
• 3:37
  So of course, you know, my children have picked up some of
• 3:39
  that. So I had to disabuse their minds
• 3:41
  of it. I had to tell them, look, no,
• 3:42
  no, no, no, no, that's not how it works.
• 3:44
  Friendship is not like you and me were cool and with a vibe,
• 3:47
  you know, that's not friendship. At first he didn't understand
• 3:50
  until one day there was somebody that he thought was his friend.
• 3:53
  And then he realized that, you know, the, the friendship or the
• 3:57
  feeling, not too mutual, you understand?
• 3:59
  So I told him that, look, guy, I've been telling you this, that
• 4:02
  that's not friendship. That friendship, first of all,
• 4:05
  is between peers, between equals.
• 4:08
  That means you guys are close in a setting.
• 4:10
  How do I put it? You guys are close enough in
• 4:13
  your personal circumstances. That's number one.
• 4:16
  And then #2 both of you are on the same journey together.
• 4:20
  Because of that, you guys have mutually, mutually reinforcing,
• 4:25
  how I put it, mutually reinforcing roles along that
• 4:27
  journey. So both of you are similar and
• 4:30
  then both of you are on the same path.
• 4:32
  That is what makes your friendship.
• 4:33
  So you can be feeling somebody and then somebody's cool with
• 4:35
  you and things like that. When you guys meet, you know,
• 4:38
  you gist, you know, you drink, go and play PlayStation, you
• 4:41
  know, you're all right, you know each other's families.
• 4:43
  But so long as you guys are not on the same path, don't be
• 4:45
  friendship with that at all. It's just a very nice social or
• 4:49
  something. You know the guy and a correct
• 4:51
  guy, the baby and a correct baby and would have a chill.
• 4:53
  That doesn't mean it's a friendship does not friendship
• 4:56
  means. But first of all, you guys have
• 4:59
  similar enough circumstances and then both of you are on the
• 5:01
  common path. That is what a friendship is.
• 5:04
  Some of you ask, where am I getting some of this from?
• 5:06
  Look, it's from the classical tradition all the way from
• 5:08
  Aristotle, you know, up until now.
• 5:10
  It's just that nowadays people keep on prioritizing STEM, you
• 5:14
  know, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
• 5:17
  People don't prioritize a liberal education anymore.
• 5:21
  So people are not learning philosophy, people are not
• 5:23
  learning history, people are not learning theology.
• 5:25
  People are not learning, you know, correct sciences, you
• 5:28
  know, correct things that will help you think as a human being.
• 5:31
  So because of that, people know they think again.
• 5:33
  And I know they reason things well, everybody just wakes up on
• 5:36
  social media. And you know, I think, I think
• 5:38
  it is my opinion, my opinion. I feel, I feel like stop that
• 5:41
  rubbish. There's a proper way to think.
• 5:44
  So you've been exposed to philosophy.
• 5:47
  It is something that you would have come across in your
• 5:49
  studies. You know what makes a
• 5:50
  friendship? Now, when I say my friend is
• 5:53
  Andwood who has given me money, some people say these guys have
• 5:56
  you like money too much, you're too materialistic.
• 5:57
  But wait, first reason it, what are the 2 criterias at least
• 6:02
  according to Aristotle, all the well ported.
• 6:04
  Now, first of all, both of you guys be in a similar situation.
• 6:07
  The clients that I work with for now, we are kind of in a similar
• 6:11
  situation where usually around the same age, you know, if I
• 6:14
  senior them, you know, don't go past, OK, that's some people are
• 6:17
  seeing like 20 years, but we're roughly kind of the same age.
• 6:22
  And then the people that I work with are entrepreneurial.
• 6:25
  They have either started their own business or they work for
• 6:28
  someone and are bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the
• 6:31
  whole thing like this guy Joshua.
• 6:33
  Joshua and I employee, the company actually belongs to
• 6:36
  somebody else. But then Joshua reached out to
• 6:37
  me to try and see how, you know, we go put two and two together
• 6:40
  and then blast this thing, grow this thing.
• 6:43
  By the way, if you are a Nigerian business owner or
• 6:47
  company owner, an employer and you have a member of staff like
• 6:50
  this, I beg support. These kind of people, these are
• 6:52
  the people that'll move your business.
• 6:55
  Joshua reached out to me as an employee.
• 6:57
  The business that he's growing is not his own business.
• 6:59
  It's his orga's business. Well, of course, Joshua knows
• 7:02
  what it is that he's doing because when you make progress
• 7:06
  on things like this, you get certain learnable skills, you
• 7:10
  build certain social capital that comes in very handy in the
• 7:13
  future. So like, let's say when Joshua
• 7:14
  is ready to move on and do his own thing and he tells his own
• 7:16
  orga, OK, I don't understand, you know, how to set up my own
• 7:19
  thing, you know, blah, blah, blah, that kind of thing.
• 7:21
  Joshua can even say, you know, where Alpha, you know, alpha,
• 7:24
  you want to invest. That's his investment capital
• 7:26
  there for you. If you don't believe me, it
• 7:29
  actually happens. Steve Jobs.
• 7:31
  OK, in the Steve Jobs case, the thing didn't click.
• 7:33
  Steve Jobs was actually working with another guy.
• 7:35
  I can't remember this other guy, but the company was Atari.
• 7:38
  For those of anyway, unless you were born in the 70s or 80s, you
• 7:41
  won't know Atari. Atari was one of these early
• 7:43
  computer console games. So when Job was leaving, Jobs
• 7:47
  went to go and meet us. A guy said oh guy, and they go
• 7:49
  and the guy said no problem. You know Fallout, you have my
• 7:52
  blessings. They say, oh, guy, you want to
• 7:53
  invest. And the guy said no, no, no.
• 7:56
  But then later on he, you know, he saw that Steve's Steven,
• 8:02
  you're a correct guy. So this company, they move, you
• 8:04
  know, you can actually, you know, when you have an
• 8:08
  entrepreneurial attitude within your organization, you're an old
• 8:11
  guy. It can be on good terms.
• 8:12
  You leave, everything is fine. You know, later on you can get
• 8:15
  introductions, you can get capital, you can get all kinds,
• 8:19
  all kinds of things. Anyway, I was like, so
• 8:23
  friendship people will people who give me money.
• 8:25
  So now Joshua and I, obviously young men on the come up,
• 8:29
  similar situation. Criteria 1 is met criteria #2 he
• 8:33
  has paid me money. He's a client that came to come
• 8:36
  and work for the organization to see how we can get the
• 8:38
  organization to grow. By the very fact that people pay
• 8:42
  me money, it shows that we're on the common path.
• 8:44
  I've invested in their progress. They invested in my own
• 8:46
  progress. If that is not the friendship,
• 8:48
  what else is the friendship? Now, I'm being real with you
• 8:51
  guys. I know when I say it, I say it
• 8:53
  as a joke, that friends are people who give me money.
• 8:55
  But really, if this is not a friendship, what else is?
• 8:58
  If this is not a friendship, then what else is?
• 9:03
  Similar context. We're on the same path.
• 9:05
  We're moving forward. That's a friendship.
• 9:10
  The rest of you who listen to the podcast, you're actually
• 9:12
  trying to fleece me, trying to get as much as you want out of
• 9:14
  me. Really.
• 9:18
  And The thing is actually, I don't mind.
• 9:19
  I'm putting out value because I know it serves me.
• 9:22
  But all of the people who hang around me, you know, we talk.
• 9:25
  We just, you consider us friends.
• 9:26
  You know, honestly speaking, we're not friends.
• 9:28
  They're just using me. You just want to see how much
• 9:30
  you can get for me for free. And it's OK.
• 9:32
  I don't mind. I'm cool with that.
• 9:34
  Don't just pretend and say you're my friend.
• 9:35
  You know, you're not. We're we're acquaintances and
• 9:37
  we're cool and that's OK. Will you give me money?
• 9:40
  You're my friend only for those of you who are still looking for
• 9:45
  free coaching, it's not a problem.
• 9:46
  Call, send me a text message, send me a WhatsApp message on
• 9:48
  08064662140. But I'll only answer one
• 9:54
  question. So think really hard about what
• 9:56
  your one question is going to be anyway.
• 9:59
  So as per George right now is the correct guy also reached out
• 10:03
  to me. You sent me a message about two
• 10:06
  days ago. It's just that things were kind
• 10:09
  of rough then, you know, on the move.
• 10:11
  So I didn't really respond to his message on to earlier this
• 10:13
  morning. So just this morning I will
• 10:15
  finish the convo. So he just sent me a message.
• 10:18
  He said brotherly, good afternoon.
• 10:19
  I've been listening to the last of your few podcasts, the ones
• 10:23
  that I missed. And so a question came into my
• 10:25
  mind. OK, let me summarize.
• 10:26
  So Josh said the question came to his mind.
• 10:29
  So he apologized. What I had seen is too direct.
• 10:31
  And then he asked me why have I not committed?
• 10:35
  Why have I not committed? When I saw that he said
• 10:37
  committed like how? And then the message continued.
• 10:42
  Joshua said that with all the amazing companies that I've been
• 10:44
  working with, I should have chosen one and stayed with it
• 10:47
  and applied my knowledge to the company so that I can own a
• 10:50
  stake in the company. Because after a while, the
• 10:52
  shares in the company are going to be worth a lot and I'll be
• 10:55
  making mad money in the long run.
• 10:57
  Or by the way, Joshua is correct, funny enough, that
• 11:01
  actually is my long term business plan, but I'll talk
• 11:03
  about that later. Let me just finish his own
• 11:05
  message first. So he continued, That may be the
• 11:07
  reason why I've not committed to any company that I'm working
• 11:10
  with for now, you know, so that I can invest in them and then
• 11:13
  have a stake and make my money off the worth of the company in
• 11:17
  the long run. So just I figured maybe I
• 11:20
  haven't found a company with enough long term potential that
• 11:24
  I can partner with. And then he thought that maybe
• 11:27
  what I'm doing is like, I'm on a mission and I'm a missionary and
• 11:30
  I'm trying to share, to share knowledge with Nigerians who
• 11:34
  don't know what's up. Well, in a sense he's correct.
• 11:37
  But make no mistake about that, and it's one thing I told him.
• 11:41
  I'm a masonry. I'm a masonry.
• 11:45
  This is all about the money. I'm telling you now so that
• 11:47
  yourself, you will not be confused about where I stand.
• 11:52
  So don't be confused when you meet me.
• 11:54
  You know, I'm all about the money.
• 11:57
  I'm a masonry. I'm sharing all this knowledge.
• 12:02
  OK, Well, to be honest, I'm sharing all this knowledge
• 12:04
  because it's good. My people suffer how the
• 12:08
  scripture said my people suffer, you know, for for lack of
• 12:10
  knowledge. One of the reasons why
• 12:12
  businesses are finished because people don't know what's up.
• 12:14
  I've seen people struggle, Uncle, auntie, mummy, daddy,
• 12:17
  everybody, people are struggling.
• 12:19
  We need to put this information out there.
• 12:21
  But at the end of the day, I'm also going.
• 12:23
  I'm also doing this because it benefits me when they let me
• 12:26
  continue. So, you know, I apologize.
• 12:28
  He said, oh, he might be off. He doesn't want to bug me.
• 12:31
  He just wanted to ask directly what I should ignore if he's too
• 12:35
  too personal. You know, that's how he ended
• 12:38
  the the message. So my response was at first I
• 12:43
  don't understand, you know, he was saying committed.
• 12:45
  But then I now understood and I said, yeah, actually I told him
• 12:48
  that, yeah, what I want to do actually is I want to be
• 12:49
  involved in private equity. That's what private equity does.
• 12:52
  You look at businesses that you think could be doing better.
• 12:55
  It's just that they don't know one or two things or maybe they
• 12:58
  don't have enough capital. You either supply that extra
• 13:00
  knowledge that they don't have or and you supply the money as
• 13:05
  well so you can grow the business and they make lots of
• 13:07
  money. So actually, yes, that is my
• 13:11
  long term vision. And I was glad to to see that
• 13:14
  some of you who are listening to the podcast were thinking in the
• 13:17
  same way. You know, you're, you're
• 13:18
  clocking it. So I'm looking for companies
• 13:21
  that the main blockage they have is sales.
• 13:27
  So if they have someone that invests, if they have someone
• 13:31
  who is able to get them to sort out the sales engine, they will
• 13:33
  move. But of course, it's not just
• 13:36
  sales expertise I want to bring to the table.
• 13:37
  I also want to bring capital as well.
• 13:40
  And you'll ask all the stuff that we talked, we spoke about.
• 13:42
  So I told him I'm keeping an eye out.
• 13:43
  I'm looking for good prospects. Right now I don't have funds to
• 13:46
  deploy because you know, to be honest, you know, now like I
• 13:48
  said, you know, I'm a young man, I'm on the come up and you know,
• 13:51
  things happen. I paid rent, I pay school fees.
• 13:54
  And then before you know it, compress or just knock.
• 13:56
  I say which kind of rubbish is this?
• 13:57
  In this heat compressor has now knock called mechanic.
• 14:01
  I say how far? By the time we ran the
• 14:03
  calculations, everything came like 250.
• 14:05
  I say well you should go and chill first.
• 14:10
  You should chill first because I'm currently looking on some
• 14:14
  money to come and when that money comes I actually have
• 14:16
  other things I want to put it. I say I'm not going to put 250
• 14:19
  on top AC. But The thing is now that the
• 14:22
  heat, I started to summon me and my family.
• 14:25
  My wife said this is ghetto, ghetto living.
• 14:27
  They were driving around with the AC.
• 14:29
  So yesterday I told her, look, you know what?
• 14:31
  Yeah, I'm looking towards one or two things.
• 14:33
  Any, anyone I click first. I'll just let me just sort out
• 14:36
  this AC. So yeah, right now I don't have
• 14:39
  spare funds to deploy and I'm keeping an eye out for good
• 14:43
  companies. Now I have found a company that
• 14:45
  has a good prospect and that is the company, the client I was
• 14:49
  talking about that he's a web developer, the one who is a web
• 14:53
  developer for bus transport companies.
• 14:55
  The business model is tight. You know, it's a small company
• 14:58
  working with them, improving their outreach to see how they
• 15:01
  can get more clients. The reason why I like the
• 15:04
  company is because, OK, I won't, I won't say the reason why
• 15:08
  because is like is like is a secret sauce.
• 15:10
  I don't want to say then you guys are not going to start
• 15:12
  copying it. But basically it's an easy sell.
• 15:15
  He makes all the money on the back end.
• 15:16
  So he he de risks the proposition for people that he's
• 15:20
  going to work, work with. And so because of that, you
• 15:23
  know, they, they want to work with him.
• 15:25
  And yeah, so I found a company like that.
• 15:27
  But The thing is, it's a small company.
• 15:29
  It's a small company. My specialty is sales.
• 15:32
  My specialty actually is not business management and human
• 15:35
  resources and everything because it's a small company.
• 15:37
  So as you know, as we are fixing the sales something, I do not
• 15:41
  have the knowledge and the, the, the specialty, the skills to be
• 15:48
  able to say, OK, uh huh. Accounting.
• 15:50
  This is how you're supposed to human resources.
• 15:53
  And so you suppose Duam hiring, this is how you suppose duam
• 15:56
  this and this and this and this and that and that.
• 15:58
  So there's a whole lot more. So I want to come into companies
• 16:02
  where the only thing missing is sales.
• 16:04
  Everything that's done set the missing piece is just sales.
• 16:09
  So I can't jump into any company until they have an an organized
• 16:15
  company structure. So I admitted to Joshua.
• 16:20
  Yeah. Excuse me.
• 16:22
  So I made him. Yeah.
• 16:23
  Like, God willing, this is how I'm going to build most of my
• 16:25
  wealth. Because quite early, I think it
• 16:30
  became clear that, you know, I'm not the idea guy.
• 16:32
  There's some guys who come up with brilliant business ideas.
• 16:34
  I'm not the idea guy. I'm the execution guy.
• 16:36
  I'm the guy who can look and say, oh, for real Word.
• 16:39
  This is what we're doing. All right, no problem.
• 16:41
  This is the best way to do it. Let's go.
• 16:44
  So I'm the execution guy. I have accepted, to be honest,
• 16:48
  sometimes it breaks my heart because I always thought I was a
• 16:50
  smart kid that I'll come up with some, you know, some, some
• 16:53
  ground breaking revolutionary idea that all of Niger and the
• 16:58
  world will know my name by, you know, but I've accepted.
• 17:01
  OK, yeah, no, I'm not the idea guy, I'm the execution guy.
• 17:04
  So I know that this is how I'm going to make my money.
• 17:07
  So I'm a masonry and I'm playing a long term game then.
• 17:11
  Plus, there's also one missing piece of the puzzle.
• 17:14
  I'm waiting for my wife to complete her CFA certification.
• 17:18
  CFA is chartered financial analyst.
• 17:21
  I'm not good with numbers, so I did what every reasonable person
• 17:25
  should do. Some of you will say if you're
• 17:27
  not good in numbers, what you should do is you should go and
• 17:29
  do remedial studies and get good at numbers.
• 17:32
  Yes, that makes sense. But I did the next best thing.
• 17:35
  I married a woman who is very good with numbers and she is
• 17:40
  going to be my salvation when it comes to business.
• 17:43
  So when she completes her CFA certification that's Chartered
• 17:46
  Financial Analysts, she is going to be running fundamental
• 17:50
  analysis on every single company that I'm going to be involved in
• 17:54
  because she knows numbers. If you give me a balance sheet,
• 17:57
  all I see is lines and graphs and I understand nothing.
• 18:01
  She looks at it, she asks one or two questions and she knows
• 18:03
  exactly what the problem is. I've seen her do it before, just
• 18:06
  simple balance sheet. I just gave it to her.
• 18:08
  She said, are these companies, I can't remember what she
• 18:10
  diagnosed said the company is something something something.
• 18:12
  I said, how do you know that? She said, look at this line on
• 18:14
  the balance sheet. It means that this is what
• 18:16
  they're currently suffering. I said, really?
• 18:18
  I asked around a couple of I asked a few questions and you
• 18:21
  know, it turns out she was right.
• 18:22
  From looking at numbers, she knew where some of the business
• 18:24
  problems were. So she my wife is my secret
• 18:26
  weapon. When she's done with this
• 18:29
  certification, any company say babe Ron analysis on this thing
• 18:33
  and let me know what's up. Orisha started threatening me
• 18:36
  that she's going to be charging me big money.
• 18:38
  I said I'm your husband now how can you be charging me?
• 18:40
  But anyway, no one is still in front.
• 18:44
  So if a company has significant financial issues, I won't know.
• 18:48
  If in a if a company has significant management issues, I
• 18:51
  won't know and I won't be able to figure out or she will.
• 18:54
  So she's also a significant part of the puzzle and she's in full
• 18:57
  time employment now. So, you know, to be honest,
• 19:00
  before she I would take the leap, you know, my own income.
• 19:02
  Suppose justify that move. You understand what I'm saying
• 19:06
  you know, I have to make sure that things are set here so that
• 19:09
  by the time she resigned and say Olga, I know they do the
• 19:12
  company, you know, my family, the family no go shake that will
• 19:15
  continue. So a few things.
• 19:17
  Suppose a line first. So that's also another piece of
• 19:19
  the puzzle. Then I also told Joshua that
• 19:22
  look, so as I'm concerned, we cool, we're friends.
• 19:28
  We are friends. I told you, you can ask me
• 19:30
  anything so long as you're not asking me questions about my
• 19:33
  wife. You don't ask me questions about
• 19:35
  my kids, You don't ask me questions about my parents.
• 19:37
  You can ask me anything else. Nothing is too personal.
• 19:41
  And I told him, even if you get too personal, don't I?
• 19:42
  I'll let you know. But we cool.
• 19:46
  In fact, the very fact that he sent me this message shows me
• 19:48
  that we are cool. He reached out to me, paid me
• 19:53
  money, we started working together.
• 19:59
  He now saw a few things that he's thinking that this my guy,
• 20:01
  you're not living up to your full potential.
• 20:03
  He sent me a message to say, bro, you suppose live up to your
• 20:06
  potential. If that is not your friend, then
• 20:09
  who is? So I told him, look, we're we
• 20:13
  cool, ask me anything. So I told him I really, really
• 20:17
  appreciate it because most of the people that listen to the
• 20:20
  show, he's anyway, let me not let me not say too much.
• 20:24
  Well. The people like Joshua, they
• 20:26
  reach out to me. They have my own interests at
• 20:28
  heart. There are very few, lots of
• 20:29
  people who reach out to me from the podcast.
• 20:31
  They're just trying to see what they can get for free.
• 20:35
  People reach out to me. They want money.
• 20:37
  I'm like, really? I'm ready, giving you free
• 20:40
  knowledge. You want me to do what I should
• 20:42
  now, finance your business for you to like, you think I'm
• 20:45
  Mother Theresa here. So a lot of people reach out to
• 20:49
  me just what they can get, what they can get, what they can get,
• 20:51
  what they can get. And if they can't get what they
• 20:57
  want on the terms that they want to go begin events.
• 21:04
  So anybody who gives me money is my friend.
• 21:10
  And people who give me money for some reason, they ask about my,
• 21:13
  they enquire about my future. Those are the ones who come in
• 21:16
  to say, but what's up? My opinion, it's been a while.
• 21:19
  Those of you who only want the guest stuff for me for free, I
• 21:21
  mean, think about it, those of you that we've had free
• 21:24
  conversations, you're listening to the show right now, When was
• 21:26
  the last time he reached out to me?
• 21:27
  Just say, oh boy, how far now, how you been?
• 21:29
  How's the family? What's going on?
• 21:31
  Are you cool? This NEPA situation that is
• 21:35
  going on in Abuja, the thing affect you, this election
• 21:39
  violence that was going on in Abuja, you know, are you in
• 21:41
  harm's way? Those of you who we've already
• 21:44
  had conversations, you've gotten free advice from me, free
• 21:46
  sessions, 234 sessions. Ask yourself, when was the last
• 21:49
  time you called me to say, my guy, are you cool?
• 21:53
  You haven't. It's people who pay me money
• 21:55
  that actually reach out and do these sorts of things.
• 21:57
  So I say it as a joke, but I'm also kind of serious.
• 22:01
  It is only people who give me money that are my friends.
• 22:04
  You ain't giving me money. You ain't my friend.
• 22:08
  So yeah, this supposed to be a sales podcast.
• 22:13
  Sorry that I'm talking personal issue.
• 22:14
  Don't worry. The next episode we're going to
• 22:16
  go back to concrete sales and business things, but based on
• 22:21
  the conversation that we we had, you know, there's a couple of
• 22:24
  lessons for other people who are listening.
• 22:27
  So yes, as you're running your businesses or you're running
• 22:30
  your career, don't just be doing job hopping.
• 22:32
  You should have a calculated plan.
• 22:35
  Some of you say no plan is perfect.
• 22:36
  You know, yes, no plan is perfect, but you start your
• 22:38
  plan, you execute. Over time, things will change,
• 22:43
  things change, but for now, this is the plan.
• 22:45
  So make sure that you have a plan, your business, you have a
• 22:47
  plan in your career. Then in case you never heard it
• 22:49
  before, there's something called private equity.
• 22:53
  People who make private, who make money in private equity,
• 22:56
  what they do is they take businesses, you turn it around,
• 23:00
  you take a business, you turn it around, you grow the profits,
• 23:02
  you make more money or you treat the business as a as an asset,
• 23:05
  You buy it low, you build it into something good and then you
• 23:08
  sell it off to something else. Yes, people are in business, are
• 23:11
  in the business of buying and selling businesses.
• 23:14
  So if you've never heard of it before, private equity is a
• 23:17
  thing. It's kind of young in Nigeria,
• 23:20
  what Americans call venture capital.
• 23:23
  You know, some people, the people in the UK say venture
• 23:26
  capital, Angel investing, that some of that has overlap,
• 23:29
  private equity, you know, but that's an academic question.
• 23:34
  But just to let you guys know that yes, there are different
• 23:36
  ways to make money. So if you haven't heard of
• 23:37
  private equity before, now you have.
• 23:40
  So go and do some research. You never know.
• 23:45
  Then let's see what else, what else, what else, what else, what
• 23:48
  else? What other thing can we learn?
• 23:52
  Some strategic thinking. So I told Joshua that what's
• 23:56
  going on right now is I'm in the process of sharpening my edge.
• 24:00
  Oh, sorry. Yeah, I said sharpening my edge.
• 24:02
  But I think what's his name? What's his name?
• 24:05
  5 Habits of Highly Effective People guy.
• 24:07
  What's his name? Steve.
• 24:08
  Stephen Covey. I think it's Stephen Covey.
• 24:11
  I can't remember. I think Covey's talks about
• 24:13
  sharpening your saw. I'll be sharpening your axe or
• 24:15
  something. Any.
• 24:16
  That's the whole metaphor. Now, look, I'm sharpening my
• 24:19
  edge. I'm sharpening my saw.
• 24:20
  Now the time is not right. So I had to sharpen my knife.
• 24:23
  I had to sharpen sharpen them. Sharpen them.
• 24:25
  When the opportunity is ready few I'll move.
• 24:29
  So I told him, yeah, that is what it is that I'm doing now.
• 24:31
  So the six, I can't remember the 65, I'll be 6, I'll be 7.
• 24:38
  Habits of highly effective people.
• 24:40
  Stephen Covey, you guys should check out that book.
• 24:42
  Really, really interesting book. So the part about sharpening the
• 24:45
  edge, I'll be sharpening your blade, sharpening your axe, I'll
• 24:48
  be sharpening your knife. I can't remember the metaphor.
• 24:50
  Just go and read that particular chapter.
• 24:53
  So that's what I'm doing right now.
• 24:55
  Then another business lesson that we can learn for people who
• 24:58
  are reading these things, we should keep our mind out, our
• 25:00
  eye out for complimentary and partnerships.
• 25:03
  So this thing with me and my wife in the making her and her
• 25:07
  chartered financial analyst certification, you know,
• 25:10
  complimentary partnerships. Oh, by the way, I'm, I'm
• 25:12
  kidding. I didn't marry her because she's
• 25:14
  good at math And you know, I married her for other reasons.
• 25:16
  You know, it just turns out this is one of those benefits.
• 25:19
  In fact, at the time that we're at Toasting stage and at the
• 25:21
  time that we're at Marine stage, she was not even thinking about
• 25:24
  this program. It's just that after she started
• 25:26
  working in securities and doing finance and she mentioned this,
• 25:30
  the thing just clicks. You know how like your loved one
• 25:32
  says something and you're like, nothing makes sense.
• 25:35
  And I told her, you know what, let us begin.
• 25:37
  No, no, no, no, no, no start. But you know how life is now
• 25:43
  because we started this journey before we had kids.
• 25:45
  So you know, you start and then there's work and then you have
• 25:47
  one or two kids and then life happens.
• 25:49
  But I'm very proud of the fact that my wife has passed smooth.
• 25:54
  Each time people complain haha. CFE is hard.
• 25:58
  Oh, she's a lawyer, She didn't study account.
• 26:00
  Will she pass? I say you don't know my wife.
• 26:02
  She will pass this exam. She will pass it.
• 26:03
  Well, one time, no receipt. We've come up with a plan.
• 26:09
  Be reading small, small every single day, 30-30 minutes, one,
• 26:13
  one hour. Whatever it is, just decide and
• 26:15
  stick to it. She will pass it.
• 26:17
  I'm very proud of her. Very, very proud of her.
• 26:20
  I see. I'm saying it publicly here.
• 26:21
  Now. If there's any of you who has
• 26:24
  heard about the exam, the CFA, that's the shattered financial
• 26:27
  analyst certification, and you think you want to take the
• 26:31
  course, you think it is a good idea, you know, sit down, sit
• 26:34
  down, discuss with your loved ones, discuss with Mumsy and
• 26:36
  Popsy, discuss with your spouse, discuss your boyfriend, your
• 26:38
  girlfriend, you will think that this is a good idea.
• 26:41
  I'm telling you, it can be done. Yes, lots of people fail.
• 26:45
  Lots of people fail, yes. And in Nigeria there are only
• 26:48
  about 400 of them that have this certification.
• 26:50
  So yes, it's an elite club. The reason why lots of people
• 26:53
  fail is not because they're not smart enough is because they're
• 26:56
  trying to write it as if you're writing Niger exam.
• 27:00
  They are not planning well. Come up with a schedule.
• 27:05
  Come up with a schedule. Give yourself time to study.
• 27:10
  This is not like Nigerian undergraduate, undergraduate
• 27:14
  course. That's the reason why lots of
• 27:15
  people feel that treating it like undergraduate course.
• 27:17
  The exam is a match. You now start reading in January
• 27:19
  how the syllabus is voluminous. So when I was in university,
• 27:26
  that's why my professor gave me the scope doctor, what's his
• 27:30
  name? So my constitutional law
• 27:32
  professor for these exams, give yourself a year and then study
• 27:39
  every single day. You'll be fine.
• 27:43
  Then final business lesson. Yeah, content.
• 27:46
  We can use content as a business market.
• 27:48
  That's so I say market business magnets.
• 27:50
  That's part of what I'm doing in putting out the podcast and
• 27:53
  that's why I say I'm a masonry. If you notice, I'm I am
• 27:56
  attracting certain kinds of *** to my side, like Joshua and
• 28:01
  other bright, sharp young Nigerians who are running
• 28:04
  things, whether they're employees or whether they're
• 28:05
  company owners. I'm attracting certain kinds of
• 28:08
  people to me. And as the podcast is growing
• 28:11
  and as the podcast is growing, there's some people self who
• 28:13
  will be thinking that this guy, Tavishima, I would like to have
• 28:17
  him on my cap table. And then the conversations will
• 28:19
  start that oh boy, what will it take for you to be an investor
• 28:23
  in this company or to be on the board of this company?
• 28:25
  And then this and this and that and that.
• 28:27
  I'm using content as a business magnet.
• 28:29
  So yes, I'm putting out the good news so that Nigerians can
• 28:31
  learn. But you can see that I'm a
• 28:33
  mercenary. It's about the money.
• 28:35
  I know where I'm heading and I'm a for good reason, because I'm
• 28:42
  tired of driving second hand car.
• 28:45
  What the hell? I suppose you drive brand new
• 28:47
  car. Brand new car is the world is
• 28:51
  mechanic. Mechanic today.
• 28:53
  AC knock this one knock this one knock Window is not working.
• 28:56
  I beg no Mickey Jesus. Anyway, anything else?
• 29:06
  I think that's it. Yeah. 30 minutes.
• 29:07
  So let me just bring today's episode to a close.
• 29:09
  I'm going to keep you guys for too long, so don't worry if I
• 29:12
  spoke about too many personal issues.
• 29:14
  The next episode is going to be purely business focused.
• 29:18
  No more. You know, stories that touch.
• 29:22
  Well, yeah. If you'd love to connect with me
• 29:23
  just like Joshua did 08064662140.
• 29:30
  If you don't care that you never want to give me money or you
• 29:34
  want to get as much free advice as possible, no problem.
• 29:37
  Try or look 08064662140. Call, send me a text message,
• 29:43
  send me a WhatsApp message. If you've been wondering that
• 29:47
  somebody like me would look good on your company cap table, I
• 29:50
  want to see how I can be involved.
• 29:51
  Oh, please reach out 08064662140.
• 29:57
  I'll keep on saying it that my friends are people who give me
• 30:00
  money. In fact, I'll recommend that you
• 30:03
  even use my own criteria as well, that your friends are
• 30:05
  people who give you money. It's it's not a bad criteria at
• 30:09
  all. And this is to say shout out to
• 30:14
  Joshua and a big thank you, especially a big thank you to
• 30:17
  all of you who've been listening to the podcast for a very long
• 30:19
  time. And you've given me money.
• 30:23
  And for some reason, you guys decide to treat me not just as a
• 30:26
  consultant, but treat me as a friend.
• 30:28
  And once in a while you reach out to say, oh boy, how far I
• 30:31
  truly, truly, truly, truly. I truly appreciate it.
• 30:36
  Now for the rest of you, let me give you a secret.
• 30:38
  Let me tell you something. You know how in Nigerians, they
• 30:41
  say, Nigerians say rich people. I mean, this is the reason why I
• 30:44
  was listening to Davido on the, I think was on the Honest Bunch
• 30:48
  podcast. I can't remember which podcast.
• 30:50
  And they asked him that. Is there any question that you
• 30:53
  wish people would ask you and Davido?
• 30:56
  Davido say and then he was thinking and then he say how are
• 31:01
  you? They say what do you mean?
• 31:02
  He say how are you? That has the conversation I wish
• 31:04
  people would have with me that people don't call me and say how
• 31:06
  are you? That my dear friends is the
• 31:10
  reason why rich people in Nigeria are me because people
• 31:15
  want things from them all the time.
• 31:17
  Nobody reaches out to say how are you?
• 31:20
  Nobody reaches out to say, what do you need?
• 31:23
  I was shocked to hear that. We do say The question that he
• 31:27
  wish people were asking me is we just call and say, oh, boy,
• 31:29
  what's up now? It's been a while.
• 31:31
  How are you? So not just me, but other people
• 31:35
  in your life reach out. Oh, boy, How are you?
• 31:38
  How have you been? OK.
• 31:39
  How are you? It's been a while.
• 31:41
  Are you good? Are you OK?
• 31:42
  All right, So let me end it here.
• 31:44
  Thanks for listening. Thanks for your time and
• 31:45
  attention. I'll catch you all some other
• 31:46
  time. And don't worry, the next
• 31:48
  episode won't be a diary session.
• 31:49
  We'll go back to hardcore business.
• 31:52
  So thanks for listening and I'll catch you all some other time.