Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Turning Your Expertise into Extra Income: The Plan B Blueprint
Transcript
- 0:01Hello and welcome to the show. Today's episode is being
- 0:04recorded at my desk and it's a full house just in case we have
- 0:07the usual interruptions in the background.
- 0:09If this is your first time listening to the show, the goal
- 0:12of this podcast is free business education, so you're in the
- 0:15right place. And by the time we're done,
- 0:18please share, promote and talk about the show so that your
- 0:20friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit
- 0:24from all the issues that we tackle over here.
- 0:27They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or
- 0:31whatever player of their choice. And if you in particular have
- 0:35any sales or marketing questions, then bring them to
- 0:37me. You can SMS or call or WhatsApp
- 0:41me on 08064662140. Today I want us to look at some
- 0:50business ideas. And, you know, all this talk
- 0:52about Plan A, Plan B, because somebody called me on the radio
- 0:57show, the one that I have on Radio Maria, and we had quite a
- 1:00discussion over there. In fact, some people even called
- 1:02in to give their own opinions. And I figured, you know, it's a
- 1:06very good thing to talk about over here today.
- 1:10So let's get on with this whole Plan A and Plan B thing.
- 1:14A Lady Dorcas, she called in and she wanted a business idea for a
- 1:21Plan B OK, No, she didn't call in.
- 1:22She sent an SMS, so she wanted the business idea for Plan B and
- 1:27her conditions were as follows that it has to be something
- 1:31that's in her area and let's see what else.
- 1:34OK. I think those, I think that was
- 1:36the only condition that was attached.
- 1:38So remember, she says she wants a Plan B and her Plan B has to
- 1:42be in the same area that she is. And unfortunately, there wasn't
- 1:46much more detail after that. And this is one of the reasons
- 1:49why not just on the radio show, but over here on the podcast,
- 1:53that's for those of you who reach out to me on WhatsApp.
- 1:56I mean, some of you just ask questions and you don't have a
- 1:58lot of context behind it. And, you know, actually need
- 2:02more context because I noticed that some of you that ask a few
- 2:05questions and then you just tune out.
- 2:07You know, I'm not asking you questions because I don't have
- 2:10anything else better to do with my time.
- 2:12But The thing is, if I'm going to give you an answer that is
- 2:16relevant to you and is useful to you, it's applicable in a
- 2:21particular context, I'm going to have to know some more.
- 2:24So you can't just reach out and say I'm looking at the Plan B.
- 2:27The Plan B must be in my area. You know, I don't know what your
- 2:30plan A is. I don't know what you're doing.
- 2:33I don't know what your area is. In fact, I also wanted to know
- 2:37why must it be in your area? Is it something with, you know,
- 2:40supervision you want to be around so that you can
- 2:42supervise? Because there's some people who,
- 2:45you know, in the real estate space who say don't buy anything
- 2:47that is not in your backyard. You know, in other words, if you
- 2:49live in Lagos on the mainland, don't buy real estate that is in
- 2:53Lagos in Lucky, you know. So that's the kind of idea that
- 2:57if you live on the mainland, buy real estate on the mainland.
- 3:00So you know, anything, shop, shop, you can just dash there
- 3:03and go and see, you know, how far out my house, that kind of
- 3:05thing. So those were the sorts of
- 3:08questions that follow up questions I would have asked,
- 3:10but of course you didn't provide any more details even though I
- 3:13asked on the air for not just her, but for other people, like,
- 3:16OK, these people you sent in questions.
- 3:19I need some more context. I need some more info, you know,
- 3:21send a WhatsApp, you know, but they didn't.
- 3:24So I just tackled it anyway based on the limited assumptions
- 3:27that I had. So yeah, why mostly being in
- 3:31your backyard? Why mostly being in your area?
- 3:34Which area are you at? You know?
- 3:35So, yeah. So if you do reach out, please,
- 3:39the more details you can, you can give me for your questions,
- 3:44the better. So this whole thing of Plan B
- 3:50and now said lots of us actually should be looking at our plan A
- 3:57because there are lots of people who, you know, you're already
- 4:00doing something. Now you think the thing you're
- 4:03doing is not sweet or the thing that you're doing is not
- 4:06bringing in the kind of money that you like.
- 4:10So therefore, you're now thinking of Plan B, which is in
- 4:13another space, another industry, another XYZ.
- 4:19But I firmly believe, especially for those of us who are fresh,
- 4:23we're new in this whole business thing, good business ideas can
- 4:27flow from your Plan A. Let me repeat, you're currently
- 4:32doing Plan A Plan A is not sweet.
- 4:34Plan A is not giving you money or Plan A does not have room for
- 4:38career progression or for, you know, whatever.
- 4:41Good ideas can come from Plan A, and This is why good ideas can
- 4:48come from the Plan A, the thing you're currently doing, because
- 4:51the thing that you're currently doing, you have some familiarity
- 4:54with that thing. You already know it.
- 4:57Nobody has to teach you. You don't have to go and spend
- 5:00time and money trying to learn something else.
- 5:03You already have some level of expertise assuming you are a
- 5:06diligent somebody. If you're not a diligent person,
- 5:09then you know really I can't help you because it doesn't
- 5:11matter what advice I give you. The way you're carrying your non
- 5:15diligence in your plan A, you would transfer it to your Plan B
- 5:18and any which way you just mess yourself up.
- 5:21So I'm assuming that you're diligent and if you're diligent,
- 5:24you would have carried small expertise no matter how small.
- 5:29Then most importantly, you have knowledge of the customer base
- 5:33in your plan A because after all, is there something that
- 5:36you're doing right now, the job that you're doing right now, the
- 5:40hustle that you're doing right now?
- 5:43So you already know the customer base or the stakeholders like
- 5:46you know the every, every, You have a sense of it.
- 5:50Then finally, you have some credibility or you already have
- 5:54some reputation in this plan A. Because of that, when you are
- 6:00fed up with your Plan A, it makes more sense to say, OK,
- 6:04this skill set that I have, this knowledge that I have, this
- 6:08familiarity that I have, the stakeholders I know, this
- 6:11customer base, blah, blah, blah. What other business
- 6:13opportunities can I look for that are directly tied into this
- 6:17Plan A? Because the problem we're
- 6:20looking for a Plan B that is in a new space is you will have to
- 6:23go and learn a whole new bunch of stuff.
- 6:26You will spend time, you will spend money.
- 6:28It will take you a while to get expertise in this new field that
- 6:31you're branching into, the customers, this space you're
- 6:35branching into, you do not know and then you have no
- 6:38credibility, you have no name in that space.
- 6:43So this is the example that I gave on the show.
- 6:45And then for somebody else who called after her.
- 6:48In fact, we even examined ourselves.
- 6:49But let me just give the example that I gave on the show.
- 6:51So this was the example. So the example I gave was take
- 6:56me as a baby lawyer back in my baby lawyer days.
- 6:59Now let's say I started working for one senior, you know, back
- 7:03then also used to call them, you know, your senior colleagues.
- 7:05So let's say I started working on one senior and the senior was
- 7:07paying ME70K. And because of that I'm not
- 7:10happy. Oh, by the way, I graduated a
- 7:13while ago. You know my, my trick number is,
- 7:15you know, 1996. So you know that graduated a
- 7:18while ago. So back then 70K would not have
- 7:21been sweet, but 70K would not have been entirely rubbish.
- 7:25I know that now 70 K is minimum wage and it is rubbish but I'm
- 7:28just saying for when I graduated 70K yeah it was not correct boss
- 7:33not too bad. So my senior is fame is 70 Ki
- 7:38begin to grumble and I'm thinking Oh my guys do Plan B.
- 7:43If my Plan B now remember I'm a baby lawyer.
- 7:47I graduated in law. I've been working here for like
- 7:492-3 years. If my Plan B is now that I want
- 7:52to go and do tailoring, fashion design or photography or
- 7:56whatever, I'm going to have to learn a new skill.
- 8:01I will have to pay someone or invest my time in learning
- 8:04fashion design or learning photography.
- 8:07Assuming it's not something that comes in it because you know,
- 8:09some people have the talent as in you know, follow com as in as
- 8:12they are born. You just have some talent.
- 8:15So assuming it's not one of those in late talent things, you
- 8:18now have to get familiar with something else.
- 8:21You don't have to learn a new industry.
- 8:24You now have to learn a new set of customers, a new set of
- 8:27stakeholders, a new set of expectations.
- 8:30You're now trying to build reputation.
- 8:32And these things take time. And when you're frustrated in
- 8:35your plan A and you're trying to look for Plan B, time and money
- 8:40is precisely the thing that you do not have.
- 8:42If you're frustrated as a baby lawyer, you're actually trying
- 8:45to see how can I quickly, you know, be raising this my level
- 8:50of income from 70K and adding other things.
- 8:53Not that I'm planning to move on to something else.
- 8:56But then the thing I have chosen requires another incubation
- 9:00stage of maybe 2-3 years of learning or something or
- 9:04establishing a name before you start seeing money.
- 9:06I hope you guys have flowing, you know, hope you guys are
- 9:09following, following me. If you're not, I give my phone
- 9:13number at the beginning of every episode and at the end of every
- 9:16episode. So send me a WhatsApp message or
- 9:19send me an SMS. You say, bro, I had this
- 9:21episode. This thing you say is a lie.
- 9:23I know I agree and you know we'll have a talk about it and
- 9:27in fact it might even inspire a follow up episode.
- 9:30So me now as a baby lawyer, any 70K, are frustrated that my
- 9:35senior is not treating me well, he's not paying me well.
- 9:38Instead of looking at another industry, it makes more sense to
- 9:42now see what other opportunities given the expertise I already
- 9:48have, the knowledge base I already have, the credibility
- 9:52and reputation I already have. What avenues for extra income
- 9:55can I pursue First? I Max it out before I now start
- 10:00stretching and say OK, I'm going to go and do Plan B.
- 10:04And so the lady on the air, well of course she didn't give me
- 10:08details, but on the air this was just me freestyling.
- 10:10Now these are some things that as a baby lawyer I would look at
- 10:14CAC registration. Lots of people want to start
- 10:16businesses. If my OGA is not treating me
- 10:18well in the office, nothing stops me from doing PP.
- 10:22You know, in law and in medicine, PP, we call it private
- 10:24practice. And I think, yeah, it's private
- 10:26practice. That's what we used to call you
- 10:27back in a day. I don't know about now.
- 10:29So you're my organ. No problem.
- 10:31It doesn't mean that on my own time I can't be coordinating one
- 10:34or two horses. So we used to call it PP back
- 10:38then. Lawyers will be doing you work
- 10:39for yoga, but you now do private practice.
- 10:42Medicine is the same thing. You have yoga, but you also be
- 10:45doing your side, your PP, your cyber practice, private
- 10:49practice. So I can be doing CAC
- 10:52registration for people work for my yoga from 8, leave the office
- 10:58by 5:00 and then by 6:00 in the evening I can start looking at
- 11:03other people's business ideas, preparing the articles and
- 11:06memorandum of association, all the paperwork, you know, all the
- 11:09everything that we need to do. Prepare it on my own time so
- 11:14that my girl won't come and say that.
- 11:16Look, I'm paying you 70K so I expect for you to work for me
- 11:20and not to do anything as in this one.
- 11:22I'll be doing it on my own time so nobody can quarrel me that.
- 11:25Yes, it's PP, but I did it when I went home.
- 11:28I didn't do it in your office, I didn't use your material.
- 11:30So you can't answer me. This is my own, my own side of
- 11:33my own side, something. So as a baby lawyer, you can be
- 11:37doing CAC registration for people and there's no problem.
- 11:40There's some businesses or there's some people who like to
- 11:43do who need legal research. Nothing stops you from doing
- 11:47legal research on your own time. Even if you're going to use your
- 11:53gas. Please, you know, some seniors
- 11:55are are OK. Some seniors are cool.
- 11:58You can tell them that. OK, senior, you know, to be
- 12:01honest, there's some private whatever you know that I'm
- 12:04pushing and I beg. I'll be coming into the office
- 12:07on Saturday. You know, if there's anything
- 12:09you want me to do, I will do. But I also spend like one or two
- 12:12hours, I'll use the office library because I'm trying to
- 12:15tidy up one or two things. If you don't believe me, my
- 12:18cousin who is currently a senior advocate of Nigeria, he when he
- 12:22was with, how was this guy's name, another senior advocate, I
- 12:26can't remember his name. The senior advocate didn't mind.
- 12:29You know, he knew that everybody has one or two things that you
- 12:32know they are pursuing, but he didn't mind.
- 12:35OK, no problem. You guys want to come in on
- 12:37Saturday? So long as you make sure we're
- 12:39done with this matter, this matter, this matter, sure, no
- 12:42problem. And that's how my cousin and a
- 12:44bunch of other people, that's how they started.
- 12:46You just have natural power. Your senior, you're straight up
- 12:49with your senior and you make sure that you deliver whatever
- 12:52it is that you guys are working on.
- 12:53And some of them are cool like that, Sure, no problem.
- 12:56You want to come on Saturday, You want to come on Sunday?
- 12:58No problem. You want to use the library?
- 13:00No problem. So legal research, that one is
- 13:04also there. Then there's some people that
- 13:06need some help when it comes to contract drafting and review.
- 13:10You know, I've signed something, I've signed Tennessee agreement,
- 13:13I've signed non disclosure, I've signed whatever.
- 13:15We are all the lawyer. Please let me look at it.
- 13:17When you look at it, I'll give you 50 K Oh, sorry, I don't know
- 13:21how much you know, people charge now.
- 13:22So I'm still thinking, you know, like back when I graduated.
- 13:25So if you looked at something and somebody gave you 50K, you
- 13:29know, back when I graduated, it wasn't a bad deal.
- 13:32But now I don't know how much lawyers will charge.
- 13:34So please don't say I'm telling lawyers to be collecting 50K.
- 13:39I'm using the time off. Like I said, my my trick number
- 13:43is 1996. So that's the idea I'm using to
- 13:46tackle this question. Then let's see what else.
- 13:49One idea I came off from was tutor that's teaching people.
- 13:54There's a law school in Wari in Abuja, there's a law school in
- 13:59Inugu, law school campus in Inugu, law school campus in
- 14:02Lagos and they should be for Abuja, Kano, Inugu, Lagos.
- 14:11Yes. So you can be going down by
- 14:13teaching people. OK.
- 14:16Are you getting ready to prepare for the BI exam?
- 14:20That's the big exam that we write before they give us our
- 14:23qualification, our qualification, our license so
- 14:26that we can practice law. You don't want me teaching
- 14:28people. So those are the examples that
- 14:31are just free. Start on the air.
- 14:32So you can see now how your Plan B can take advantage of your
- 14:37expertise and your knowledge that you have and the reputation
- 14:41that you have in your Plan A for that kind of thing.
- 14:45Now as a baby lawyer, I don't have to learn anything new.
- 14:49I don't have to meet anybody new, I don't have to network in
- 14:54any new circumstances. I don't have to, you know, there
- 14:58is no learning curve. I don't have to learn, practice
- 15:01anything, build expertise or whatever in the new industry.
- 15:04All I need to do is just to step aside small after hours and I
- 15:10can start building my plan BI, repeat.
- 15:16Too many people are looking for a Plan B that is totally
- 15:20different from your Plan A. You're making your journey
- 15:23longer than it need be. Now, the next person that called
- 15:27after we had discussed this matter, the ladies in the
- 15:29poultry business in Lagos, that's right in Abuja.
- 15:34Now for her, the poultry thing has become, you know,
- 15:38hyperinflation now. So cost of chicken has gone up,
- 15:41you know everything. So basically the business was
- 15:43good, but with the way the economy has turned recently is
- 15:47no longer a good hustle for her because the cost of maintaining
- 15:50this chicken and everything, the cost price that she wants to
- 15:52sell it at people in the market are not buying.
- 15:55If our people in the market are owing her money, they're holding
- 15:59her like 150 K. That's what she said.
- 16:02And then she has chickens at home.
- 16:04That is just inventory that sitting I do that she can't sell
- 16:07because, you know, I mean, think about it.
- 16:09If you raise this chicken and you do the math and it's like
- 16:12raising these chicken cost you, but I'm not in the chicken space
- 16:15so I have no idea. I'm just making stuff up.
- 16:17So please, nobody should crucify me.
- 16:19So if it cost you, let's say like 7-5 to raise one chicken,
- 16:24it doesn't make sense If you're not going to take the chicken to
- 16:26the market and you sell it at 76, I mean like, how can you
- 16:28profit 100 naira on top each chicken?
- 16:30Doesn't make sense. So I don't know what adequate
- 16:33profit margins are. But you know, in my own opinion,
- 16:36I mean my own guess, if it cost me like 7 K to raise each
- 16:40chicken to majority, you know, chicken feed plus this plus this
- 16:44plus that, plus plainly the boys who work for me, you average out
- 16:48the amount costing me like 7 K before me.
- 16:51I think the least I'll try and sell my chickens would be 10K at
- 16:53least maybe 1:15 if I won't try for 15K.
- 16:56So let me try and at least double the money that goes into
- 17:00it. So because of that, now she says
- 17:04she's looking for Plan B, another industry.
- 17:08So now told her look Madam, based on what we discussed
- 17:11before is the same thing over here.
- 17:13If you're going to look for Plan B, 'cause you mentioned some
- 17:16other industries, all these other industries is a new space.
- 17:21You don't have familiarity. There you go.
- 17:23You have to go and learn and you have to pay somebody to teach
- 17:26you or you have to go and be doing apprenticeship or
- 17:28research. You will take time to build up
- 17:31expertise. You will take time to learn a
- 17:34whole new set of customers and their expectations and you will
- 17:39take time to build up your credibility and reputation.
- 17:41And right now people are owe you 150 K.
- 17:45You have inventory that you have a Max you have a maxed out so so
- 17:49inventory that you haven't sold a Plan B in a new whatever Madam
- 17:55is too much stress. So I told her, you know what
- 17:59give me some time. Let me think the next episode
- 18:01I'll come back with some more ideas.
- 18:03That's how we ended. She now called the phone the
- 18:05very next person I called said, bro what you said is correct.
- 18:10I agree with you, instead of her looking for XYZ industries.
- 18:15I can't remember what she mentioned.
- 18:16He said this woman is better off instead of selling so I can't
- 18:21remember the names. The one that you sell for meat
- 18:23is called something Abby's brought broiler.
- 18:25Abby. She said inside this woman
- 18:26selling broiler for meat, she should now switch and be selling
- 18:30layers for eggs. The layers will be laying the
- 18:35egg. You'll be selling the egg after
- 18:39a while when the layer has passed his due date.
- 18:42You can now slaughter that one. And I said, ah Madam, thank you
- 18:45very much. Perfect example for somebody who
- 18:49has been railing raising broilers for meat.
- 18:53Thinking of Plan B in farming. It doesn't make sense.
- 18:56In my own opinion, you're better off doing Plan B.
- 18:59That will take advantage of your familiarity, your expertise,
- 19:02your knowledge, your skill set, your credibility, your
- 19:05reputation that you already have now in the chicken space.
- 19:09So if you're now raising layers and selling eggs, the people in
- 19:14the market, they already know you as a chicken woman.
- 19:17So to make the step from broilers selling chicken broiler
- 19:23meat to now chicken layer eggs, it is a small step.
- 19:29People already know that when they see you, they see chicken.
- 19:35You already know how to raise chickens.
- 19:38You already know the diseases that chickens face.
- 19:41You already know the things that chickens need to eat.
- 19:45You already have an idea of who are the market dealers who are
- 19:48dealing in chicken kinds of, you know, chicken related stuff.
- 19:53It is a small step. You can see quicker returns.
- 19:58Your Plan B doesn't always have to be something entirely
- 20:03different from your plan A. So please.
- 20:08Let's bear that in mind. Anyway, apart from that
- 20:12brilliant example later on, I was now thinking of the matter
- 20:15and I came up with some other stuff you can do some value add.
- 20:24Abby is that value add and I can't remember his value add
- 20:26anyway. But bottom line is this is
- 20:28something else I thought of. OK, selling the chicken hole in
- 20:31the market. People are no longer buying
- 20:33because it's too expensive. So I thought about it.
- 20:36What if you train up your boys small and then you guys start
- 20:41butchering the chicken in your own place and then you package
- 20:45it in your own place and then start selling the parts instead
- 20:51of the whole chicken selling chicken parts, you might be able
- 20:54to do that as a profit. And my own justification now was
- 21:01instead of spending time at resources lending a new trade,
- 21:05all she has to do now really is look for someone to train her
- 21:09boys quickly on this is how you butcher chicken.
- 21:11And then all she has to do now is to buy a deep freezer that
- 21:15can be done in a shorter period of time and you can now
- 21:18transition into something else. And I made a whole list of other
- 21:22stuff. I can't remember where I kept
- 21:24those notes. But anyway, I'll get to it later
- 21:26on and then we'll share that on, on the on the podcast.
- 21:29But that is also another example apart from the baby lawyer
- 21:32example to show how your Plan B doesn't have to be entirely new.
- 21:40So you know, of course, everybody does whatever it is
- 21:43they want to do. So if you insist you want to go
- 21:44into a new industry, then you don't find, I can't force you.
- 21:47But for quick, quick, quick, quick, quick results, your Plan
- 21:51B should be something that is directly tied in to your Plan A.
- 21:56What you're doing now, because you have familiarity in this
- 22:00space, you've built some expertise in this space for the
- 22:04last 23456 years you've been doing it.
- 22:07By the way, the woman I was doing chicken, she's been doing
- 22:09it for like 10 years. Then you know the customers, you
- 22:14know the stakeholders. Like this woman in particular,
- 22:17she already knows the market, people, market association, the
- 22:19market, every, every. You know the customers, you know
- 22:23the stakeholders, you have some credibility, you have some
- 22:26reputation. Everybody knows that is Madame
- 22:30that we've been dealing with chickens for the last 10 years.
- 22:32If she's coming now, she wants to start dealing in Google, for
- 22:35instance, vegetable. It's, you know, maybe it's not
- 22:41too much of A stretch, but it's a new thing, you know, after
- 22:45start making inroads into the Google networks in the market.
- 22:48But if they know you as chicken woman for 10 years, I am going
- 22:51to do Plan B Trying to say I'm moving from broiler, excuse me,
- 22:56from broiler to layers. So much smaller step.
- 22:59So that's all for today folks. I hope I've been able to
- 23:03convince and not confuse any of you listening.
- 23:06But like I said, if you have any questions, especially if they're
- 23:10sales and marketing related, all you have to do is call SMS or
- 23:13WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Let me know what you think.
- 23:19Let me know what you disagree with.
- 23:21So thank you very much for your time and attention.
- 23:23I'll catch you, dear listener, at the next episode.