Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Kill the Lie: Why Zero Capital Startup Is Absolute BS in Nigeria

Transcript

Kill the Lie: Why Zero Capital Startup Is Absolute BS in Nigeria · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Today on the podcast, well, the episode is going to be very
• 0:04
  brief because I'm going to be looking at this issue of 0
• 0:07
  Capital Startup ideas. Again, I'm going to be looking
• 0:10
  at this whole idea of can you really start a business without
• 0:13
  putting any money down? And the reason why was because I
• 0:18
  made a podcast episode not too long ago, maybe 3 or 4 episodes
• 0:23
  back. And one of the core ideas in
• 0:26
  that podcast episode was that if you know to who, if you don't
• 0:32
  really have money, you can start your business by either entering
• 0:35
  into joint venture partnerships or what else. pre-orders, you
• 0:41
  can use pre-orders to get into business.
• 0:43
  And the pre-order essentially is when you collect money for the
• 0:47
  product. Well, usually products where you
• 0:49
  collect money for the products, you don't have the product in
• 0:52
  inventory, but you collect enough of a down payment or a
• 0:55
  deposit that you use to fulfill the order.
• 0:57
  So in other words, what you do is you collect money for the
• 1:01
  product. Now the deposit, you use it to
• 1:04
  buy the product and then deliver it to the customer and then you
• 1:08
  know, the balance is your profits.
• 1:09
  You know that kind of thing. Or sometimes, you know, people
• 1:12
  collect money in full. So that was the idea behind the
• 1:15
  podcast, that if you don't have a lot of money, then that is how
• 1:19
  you can finance your business. Oh, by the way, I'm making
• 1:22
  today's podcast recording out and about.
• 1:24
  It's a very early morning in Abuja and so I'm at the
• 1:28
  neighborhood mall. I just came to buy a car.
• 1:30
  And so people opening up their shops, you know, that that sort
• 1:33
  of thing. So where was I?
• 1:38
  So if this is the sort of thing that you like, you know,
• 1:39
  ruminations on business, thinking about how to move your
• 1:42
  business forward, then you are in the right place.
• 1:45
  My name is Tavishma Ayede, I'm the host of the podcast.
• 1:49
  And so please subscribe so you can get all this juicy goodness
• 1:52
  every single day. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube,
• 1:56
  Apple or any player of your choice.
• 1:58
  And if you'd love to connect with me, you can call, send me a
• 2:00
  text message via WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 2:06
  Again, there'll be some noise in the background because like I
• 2:09
  said, I'm at the neighborhood shop.
• 2:10
  You know how to buy a Cara, everybody's opening up their
• 2:12
  shops. So where was I?
• 2:17
  So the reason why I'm making today's podcast episode there is
• 2:19
  just looking at this whole idea again.
• 2:22
  Is it possible to start a business when you don't have
• 2:25
  money? You don't have shishi, you have
• 2:26
  0 money. Yes.
• 2:30
  So the reason why I'm revisiting this is this.
• 2:31
  I got a comment on the podcast episode from Josh Mark, and Josh
• 2:35
  Mark said that this sounds like one of those zero capital
• 2:38
  startup ideas, you know, kind of podcasts.
• 2:41
  And OK, well, First off, the Spotify has taken away the
• 2:46
  commenting feature. That's from our own end.
• 2:49
  That's the people who produce the podcast.
• 2:51
  So for those of you who are still trying to leave comments
• 2:53
  on Spotify, I really can't see the comments.
• 2:56
  The most I see is the first two or three lines and I can't see
• 3:00
  the rest. So I don't have a context to
• 3:01
  what it is that you're trying to say.
• 3:03
  So for Josh, Mark, I'm really sorry, but I could only see the
• 3:06
  first two or three lines where you said this sounds like a zero
• 3:09
  capital start up idea. I couldn't see the rest of the
• 3:12
  of the context of the podcast. So I leave my phone number at
• 3:15
  the beginning and at the end of every single episode.
• 3:18
  So please, you know, you can send comments to me over on
• 3:20
  WhatsApp so I can know exactly what it is that you're thinking.
• 3:23
  So if there's a question, I can address it.
• 3:26
  If there's something that needs clarification, I can get to it.
• 3:29
  If there's something that you disagree with, then we can have
• 3:31
  a fruitful conversation because you know, the way Spotify is
• 3:35
  actually, they know. They know rate US again, you
• 3:36
  know, we African podcasters. So the commenting feature was
• 3:39
  turned off. You guys are leaving comments
• 3:42
  and I really, really love it. And I thank you guys for leaving
• 3:45
  the comments. But honestly, honest, honestly,
• 3:48
  I can't see the comments. I can only see one or two lines.
• 3:52
  Seriously. So OK, maybe what you can do,
• 3:55
  Josh Mark and any other person who's trying to leave comments
• 3:57
  is you know what, just write the comment on Spotify, you know, do
• 4:00
  copy and paste. So just copy.
• 4:02
  Then go to WhatsApp, send me WhatsApp message.
• 4:07
  I just left this comment for you on your podcast, but just paste
• 4:10
  it there. Then we can begin the yarn and
• 4:13
  you know, then we'll have a fruitful conversation.
• 4:15
  So now Josh Mark said that podcast episode that I recorded,
• 4:18
  it sounded like one of those Euro capital startup ideas.
• 4:21
  Well, The thing is, I'm not sure what the guy they say, I mean
• 4:23
  like humorous kind of way or the guy is saying that, you know,
• 4:27
  I'm crossing over to the dark side.
• 4:28
  So that's why I'm making today's podcast episode.
• 4:31
  You know, in that podcast episode, I said one thing and I
• 4:34
  tried to say it strongly, although I think I said at the
• 4:37
  end of the episode, and I want to repeat it again, please,
• 4:41
  please, please and please all the zero startup capital idea,
• 4:45
  whatever, whatever, whatever is absolute beers.
• 4:48
  There is no business that if you want to start that you know how
• 4:54
  to drop at least one cobble or at least have to do one thing.
• 4:59
  You know, capital and starting a business can never be money or
• 5:05
  sweat. You know, people say sweat
• 5:06
  equity as per I didn't drop cobble, but at least I also
• 5:09
  smoke. So there's no amount of
• 5:11
  business, there's no kind of business that you would do
• 5:16
  anyway. In fact, let me double down.
• 5:18
  There's no business that you do that you won't drop at least one
• 5:21
  cobble or you won't hustle small.
• 5:24
  So I think that all these ideas are dangerous and they settle
• 5:26
  false expectations in people. And that's why people, you know,
• 5:30
  you meet somebody, generally they try one idea February, they
• 5:33
  try another idea March, you know, then before the end of the
• 5:36
  year they go back into paid employment and they say
• 5:38
  entrepreneurship sucks. Entrepreneurship doesn't work.
• 5:41
  We are setting up wrong expectations in people that they
• 5:44
  are. It's possible for them to start
• 5:45
  a business and you drop 1 cobble, but then you'll be
• 5:48
  successful. How or do you start a business
• 5:51
  and then you won't break a sweat once, but then you succeed.
• 5:54
  How so? I'm not in favor of all those
• 5:56
  sorts of things. I just want to make it very,
• 5:58
  very clear just in case anybody saw Judge Marks comment and
• 6:02
  assume that me, you know, I don't begin to peddle these kind
• 6:05
  of ideas that you know, here's the top five ideas for passive
• 6:09
  income that you don't have to drop 1 naira to start.
• 6:13
  So excuse me. So that that is not possible at
• 6:16
  all. So no matter the business that
• 6:19
  you do, you will have to spend at least one couple.
• 6:22
  And if you have dropped one couple, it is something.
• 6:25
  So there's no such thing as 0 naira ways to start the
• 6:28
  business. You actually did drop something
• 6:30
  bought you dropped or small. And so I let me move from first.
• 6:35
  I'm blocking somebody shop 1 moment.
• 6:39
  OK, sorry about that. I'm back.
• 6:41
  Because, you know, I was making the recording in the car and I
• 6:43
  was blocking somebody's shop. So I said limit shift because
• 6:46
  you know how these people can be.
• 6:47
  Now it's all there if you know, they buy a big move front.
• 6:51
  So, so even if it's One Cup or you have to drop now excuse me,
• 6:57
  coincidentally, I had spoken about the same thing on the
• 7:00
  radio show because some people had called in and were
• 7:02
  discussing these sorts of things.
• 7:04
  That's on my radio show, that's the business booster show on Rio
• 7:07
  Maria 91.3 FM, Abuja. So we're discussing these kind
• 7:11
  of things, we're discussing pre-orders.
• 7:13
  Then one lady sent a message to give testimony that this
• 7:17
  pre-order thing is true and that it works because when I was on
• 7:21
  the radio show, I was trying to address how some people say
• 7:23
  pre-order is 419. Now, how can you collect money
• 7:26
  from somebody Meanwhile you don't have inventory in shop.
• 7:30
  To be perfectly honest, I understand because the first
• 7:32
  time I heard of pre-orders, me too, I said I just seen that
• 7:34
  scam. That's what me I thought, but it
• 7:36
  took a while and I realized that, look, so long as you're
• 7:38
  doing certain things ethically, it's OK.
• 7:41
  And so she sent in her own testimony that look, this thing
• 7:44
  works. This thing is true.
• 7:45
  And she said that's how she has been financing her business.
• 7:48
  What she does is she takes posts, she takes links, she
• 7:52
  takes pictures from other people who have inventory and then she
• 7:56
  puts it up on her own social media, puts it up on her own
• 7:59
  Instagram, her own WhatsApp, whatever.
• 8:01
  And then people writing to say how far, how much she now
• 8:06
  negotiates and then collects the money.
• 8:08
  Then she now goes to the other people where she took the
• 8:10
  original links from. And then she pays them and
• 8:13
  collects the product and then ships it off to the other
• 8:15
  people. And that's how she's been
• 8:16
  running her business. So that is sort of like the
• 8:19
  pre-order thing going on. So that's what that Lady was
• 8:22
  doing on excuse me doing on WhatsApp and on Instagram.
• 8:28
  Then there also is another guy based in Abuja, His name is the
• 8:33
  business name is Saki Motor that is the king of cars and he's a
• 8:36
  car dealer and on his Instagram page, just check you know Saki
• 8:40
  Motor that is SARKIN their motor MOTA.
• 8:45
  So you know, that's just another way of saying motor or car.
• 8:52
  So if you go to Saki Motors Instagram handle, look for the
• 8:55
  episode where he said today, the Instagram post where he said
• 8:58
  today I'm taking off my glasses. That's because the guy was
• 9:01
  wearing sunglasses. You know, like, how about you?
• 9:03
  I used to wear glass all the time.
• 9:04
  So it's that that same kind of thing.
• 9:06
  So he said today I'm taking off my glasses.
• 9:07
  And then when he took off his glasses, he actually went into a
• 9:10
  personal reveal about how he started the business.
• 9:12
  And he spoke about how in the beginning when he was starting
• 9:15
  the car game, you know, motoring no gets as in single car, he
• 9:18
  didn't have no inventory. So what he was doing was he was
• 9:21
  joining lots of car groups and then he was collecting details
• 9:24
  of cars and then sharing those cars as if it was his own.
• 9:28
  Eventually somebody would say, oh boy, Alfana, I like these
• 9:30
  men, how much they will negotiate.
• 9:32
  He will now go back to the original Benz person and then,
• 9:36
  you know, sort everything and then collect something in the
• 9:38
  middle. So in a way that is also this
• 9:42
  pre-order thing. You're trying to get into
• 9:44
  business. You know, you want to sell cars,
• 9:46
  single car, single motor, you know, get boy, you are connected
• 9:50
  to people who have plenty of cars.
• 9:52
  You set up your storefront, whether your shop or whatever,
• 9:56
  or your Instagram handle or your website in such a way that you
• 9:59
  can collect orders and then you're fulfilling it on the back
• 10:03
  end or you're connecting people and then taking a cut.
• 10:06
  So this is sort of like the idea behind, you know, pre-orders and
• 10:11
  starting a business when you know who anything she she, you
• 10:14
  know, get, but you think you can access the market.
• 10:18
  So these are the kinds of ideas that we're exploring.
• 10:21
  Then Josh Mark said this sounds like a zero capital startup
• 10:24
  idea. I'm just going to assume that,
• 10:26
  you know, the guy was being humorous because that's one
• 10:31
  thing I appreciate about those of you who listen to the
• 10:32
  podcast, you know, you guys writing and you guys have a nice
• 10:35
  sense of humor and you know, with Josie and you know, it's
• 10:37
  all good. But for those of you who saw
• 10:39
  that comment, you know I don't want you guys to be misled
• 10:41
  because like I said, even if you spend 1 cobble, it was not a
• 10:47
  zero capital idea. Now unless you wear for a little
• 10:51
  bit, I've given you 2 examples now the psychic mortar.
• 10:55
  And then there's the other lady who's doing her thing on
• 10:58
  WhatsApp and then on Instagram. Now the first lady, what's up on
• 11:03
  Instagram who bought credit for her and data, is she not the
• 11:11
  one? At least she will buy credit 1/5
• 11:15
  for her phone. At least she will buy MTN data.
• 11:20
  You know, maybe the 2K at least 2K will give you like how many
• 11:24
  gig it will give you a monthly something, you know.
• 11:27
  So in her own case, that one 5 + 2 five, that's 4K.
• 11:32
  So in her own case 4K, she had to drop 4K.
• 11:37
  Now can you see why I say there's no such thing as zero
• 11:39
  capital startup idea? Because once we can trace
• 11:42
  somebody, drop money, no matter how small, we're not at 0.
• 11:47
  So now 4K is not a whole lot. And that's one of the reasons
• 11:52
  why, you know, I say some of the things that I saw on the podcast
• 11:54
  and on the on the radio show that look, really we don't have
• 11:58
  to be millionaires to start some things.
• 12:00
  Sometimes we can start with a small, small change.
• 12:03
  There's somebody who called in the tiger nut business lady.
• 12:05
  She started with 3000 tiger nuts to make the juice that was her
• 12:11
  startup capital of 3000. Then at the time she called in
• 12:15
  the radio show revenue that she was making monthly now 100K what
• 12:18
  she started with 3000. Therefore like the guy who does
• 12:22
  plantain chips in Abuja, he and his wife, they started 2017
• 12:26
  nineteen K that's her husband and wife were able to raise 19
• 12:29
  K. They started planting chips
• 12:31
  then. Now monthly revenues over
• 12:33
  1,000,000. So there is no such thing as
• 12:40
  zero capital start up idea, but I just like to let people know
• 12:43
  that you know anyhow, anyhow, sure we can rough it.
• 12:46
  We go over like we can enter small, we can shook head
• 12:49
  somehow, somehow, somehow. So for this lady now he wants a
• 12:54
  lady credit plus data at least 4K you start that is not zero
• 12:59
  capital. And then of course, plenty of
• 13:02
  sweat involved because you could recall people once in a while
• 13:06
  she'll have to go to a place, maybe physically I want to pick
• 13:08
  up the goods herself, you know, to cut down on cost of delivery
• 13:13
  or something. You know, I don't know, excuse
• 13:15
  me. But you can see that in this
• 13:17
  case, even though she's doing pre-order, it is not a zero
• 13:21
  capital idea because you have to buy credit and you have to buy
• 13:25
  data before she hooks up the whole thing.
• 13:27
  And then once in a while she will have to physically go to a
• 13:30
  location and collect the delivery herself.
• 13:33
  So there's no zero capital and then when it comes to sweat
• 13:36
  equity, she has broken a sweat, she has done something.
• 13:40
  Then back to circuit motor, same thing.
• 13:46
  In the beginning, he would have had to buy credit because you'll
• 13:50
  be calling the car dealers. So boy, how far you get
• 13:53
  Mercedes, which year, year 2025 model, next class?
• 13:58
  I want no Nigerian wagon on that phone call.
• 14:01
  It takes money, so he would have bought credit.
• 14:05
  Then he would also bought data to updating Instagram and
• 14:09
  everything like that. Then once in a while he will
• 14:12
  also be driving to people's excuse me, people's car
• 14:15
  location, because sometimes somebody will send you a photo
• 14:19
  and you'll like hi, this photo, not too not too tap, not too
• 14:22
  sweet as you can use to sell, because that's also something
• 14:24
  psyche motor does very well. The videos that he does of his
• 14:28
  cars very, very correct and his own mobile phone footage.
• 14:32
  So that's why I tell you people that you are thinking big, big
• 14:34
  camera this, that, that that like my friend, just start these
• 14:39
  modern tools, these modern phones, wonderful.
• 14:42
  And then the apps that we have on our phones wonderful, just
• 14:45
  start. So his videos are really, really
• 14:51
  good. So I'm sure in the early days
• 14:53
  people would have sent him photos or videos and hope like,
• 14:55
  no, I don't like this. You have to drive down there to
• 14:58
  the location and then make the video your own self.
• 15:02
  Now when you're doing all these I'm sorry excuse me, I have a
• 15:05
  cold, it's been a long weekend. The in laws are around and you
• 15:09
  know what celebrating. So I know how these things can
• 15:11
  be. You know you celebrate and you
• 15:14
  know sometimes your immunity breakdown.
• 15:17
  Excuse me. So where was I?
• 15:22
  So in this case, now you can see that there's no matter of 0
• 15:24
  capital because you buy money for coal.
• 15:28
  So 1 moment, OK, sorry about that.
• 15:32
  I'm back. I doesn't want to keep doing
• 15:34
  film, film inside your ear, you know, there's no professional.
• 15:37
  And then my other colleagues mother podcast as if they hear
• 15:39
  this podcast and they hear me doing fuel, fuel, fuel, fuel,
• 15:42
  fuel. They report me.
• 15:43
  In the association meeting you will say one of us is recording
• 15:46
  podcasts and the guy is not using best practice.
• 15:48
  The guy is using sloppy audio. So where was I I heard so psyche
• 15:55
  motor, you buy credit, you buy data, you will get TFAIR.
• 16:01
  So you can see that there's no trusting as a zero capital
• 16:04
  startup idea. None.
• 16:06
  You'll at least spend one couple.
• 16:08
  And if I can find one couple immediately start with 0.
• 16:12
  But however, just know, do not be paralyzed.
• 16:15
  Do not think I need to become a millionaire before I start.
• 16:19
  For those of us who are in the SME space, there's a way that
• 16:23
  you can shall raise a few coins and just shook head and then
• 16:27
  begin and then gain traction. And right now Cycle Motor is a
• 16:32
  respected auto dealer in Abuja. The fact the way he's going,
• 16:38
  maybe in another 10 years he might be respected auto dealer
• 16:41
  in northern Nigeria or in Nigeria as a whole, you know,
• 16:46
  but he had to start from somewhere.
• 16:47
  In the beginning, he didn't have car.
• 16:49
  Right now go to his parking lot. Even Tesla they have there even
• 16:55
  Teslas, the what do you call it? That one that looks like a tank
• 17:00
  now, not Tesla that looks like a tank.
• 17:02
  Go there. They have it.
• 17:04
  The one the Tesla that is shaped like a like a Porsche.
• 17:08
  I'd be like a Ferrari go there they have it.
• 17:12
  BMW is there, Mercedes-Benz is there, Honda is there, Hyundai
• 17:17
  is there, diesel car is there, fuel car is there, electric
• 17:22
  vehicle is there. But the guy started somewhere.
• 17:28
  So when I make this kind of episode, I'm just trying to
• 17:30
  inspire some people. You don't need to hold millions
• 17:32
  before you begin. But I will never join the
• 17:35
  bandwagon of those people who say zero capital startup idea.
• 17:37
  It's a false expectation. And I said it in that episode.
• 17:40
  I'm saying here again, anybody you see who's telling you 0
• 17:44
  capital startup idea, passive business something something
• 17:49
  money while you sleep, don't listen to that person.
• 17:54
  Don't Or if you listen to that person, just put some context
• 17:58
  behind it that you know what, there's no such thing as passive
• 18:01
  business. There's no such thing as your
• 18:02
  step 0 startup capital, but the person just using these flashy
• 18:06
  headlines for all of us who watch.
• 18:08
  So just have that back of your mind, you know, then watch.
• 18:11
  But the spirit of it is commendable that you don't have
• 18:15
  to hold millions before you begin.
• 18:16
  You don't have to be a done with it before you start your
• 18:19
  business. And so that's it.
• 18:21
  And that is all. Remember, if you'd love to
• 18:25
  connect, you can call send me a text message or a WhatsApp
• 18:27
  message on 08064662140. And if you like this kind of
• 18:34
  content, then keep listening. Scroll down in whatever feed
• 18:37
  you're in. If you're in Stitcher, keep
• 18:40
  scrolling. If you're on YouTube, keep
• 18:41
  scrolling. You're in Apple iTunes, keep
• 18:43
  scrolling. You're in Pod Bean, podcaster,
• 18:46
  pod, player, pod, whatever. Keep scrolling.
• 18:49
  There's over 1200 resources there in your feed.
• 18:53
  Now as at today's date, if you're listening in, you know,
• 18:57
  2046 or something, yeah, there would have been more episodes at
• 19:00
  our stage, probably don't enter like, you know, 4000 episodes or
• 19:03
  something. But for now, in 2025, it's just
• 19:06
  1002. So she keeps rolling.
• 19:10
  Keep listening. You like something, Note it
• 19:13
  down. You note it down.
• 19:14
  Apply it. You get results.
• 19:17
  Send your boy a message. Let me know.
• 19:19
  I listened to this episode. I tried this thing.
• 19:22
  This thing worked. I liked the testimony.
• 19:24
  Or send me a message. I listened to your episode.
• 19:26
  I tried this thing. This thing didn't work.
• 19:28
  Oh boy. All the things you're saying is
• 19:30
  rubbish. Let me know and let's have a
• 19:32
  conversation. Or I tried this thing.
• 19:38
  I was making progress. Then I entered.
• 19:40
  Busy here and then I hang here. Let's have a conversation.
• 19:45
  That's the reason why I give my phone number at the beginning
• 19:47
  and at the end of every episode. I'd love to hear from you guys.
• 19:50
  But remember, just like I told Josh, Mark, I'm telling you
• 19:53
  guys, Spotify, they not rate US again.
• 19:56
  We know African content creators.
• 20:00
  So they've removed the commenting feature from my own
• 20:02
  end. So all those comments you're
• 20:03
  dropping, honestly, I don't see it.
• 20:07
  Everything comes up in my notification.
• 20:09
  I will only see the first two or three lines if I see the two or
• 20:13
  three lines. And I tried to reply.
• 20:15
  That feature has been turned off.
• 20:16
  I can't reply. So if you're listening on
• 20:19
  Spotify, drop the comment. Sorry, not on Spotify.
• 20:22
  On YouTube, drop the comment there.
• 20:24
  Yeah, YouTube. Yeah, I can respond.
• 20:25
  Sharp, sharp. They will send me notifications.
• 20:27
  So, so, so and so just commented on your podcast.
• 20:30
  I go there and I respond. Excuse me, or send me a message
• 20:34
  on Spotify. So that's it.
• 20:37
  And that's all. I'll see you guys some other
• 20:39
  time.