Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Equity 101: Securing the Right Investor

Transcript

Equity 101: Securing the Right Investor · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome to the show. Today is one of those art and
0:04
about recordings as well. So expect to hear some noise in
0:06
the background, no cars driving by and people having
0:09
conversations, stuff like that. Now today what we're going to be
0:12
looking at is equity as a source of business financing.
0:16
If this is your first time of listening to the show, don't
0:19
worry, don't run away. The terms might sound very big,
0:23
but the ideas behind them are very, very simple.
0:27
And as we go on in the episode, you know, teasing out what the
0:31
main issues are, you see that it's quite easy to understand.
0:34
Well, if this is your first time of listening to the show, I need
0:36
to let you in on the context or the background.
0:41
This is a series of conversations that we've been
0:43
having over here concerning. The real life.
0:45
Lady. We're going to call her Wonder
0:47
Woman. That is not her real name.
0:49
And I'm calling her Wonder Woman because, well, she's a wonderful
0:52
lady and she has wonderful aspirations, but I don't have
0:55
permission to use her real name over here on the podcast.
0:57
So we're going to be calling her Wonder Woman.
1:00
And then I've also made a series of episodes before this, I'm not
1:05
sure how many, but if you just skip back for like one week, you
1:08
know, you'll be able to get caught up to speed on all the
1:10
things we've been talking about. South Wonder Woman is based in
1:13
Makodi, which is the capital of Benway State, and she's into all
1:16
fine things, cuisine and catering, and she's a listener
1:21
of the show. And the reason why both of us
1:23
were having a conversation is because she's been Hanford by a
1:26
lack of finance when it comes to business growth and expansion.
1:30
So she wants to grow, she wants to expand, There's some new
1:32
things she wants to put on the menu, you know, some kind
1:35
peppered meats and things like that, which I think sounds
1:37
absolutely delicious. And because of that, I'm going
1:39
to keep 1 old man's contact details so that the next time
1:42
I'm in Marco Dio, come and taste some of our goodness now.
1:47
Yeah. So in our opinion, the thing
1:49
that is stopping her from expanding the business is lack
1:51
of finance. And the whole point of the
1:53
episodes that I've been making up to now is that it's not lack
1:56
of finance that is killing her business or killing any other
1:58
business for that matter, but there's a lack of sales skills
2:01
because you can use skills, sales skills.
2:03
So I forgive me to solve your financing problems.
2:06
And so today's episode is a continuation of that whole gist.
2:10
And that's the reason why we're looking at equity as a source of
2:13
financing, because we've looked at how she can use sales skills
2:16
to bootstrap the business. Bootstrap just means you raise
2:19
the money, sha, from your savings from whatever you can
2:21
find in your pocket, your bank account, your, your bag, you
2:24
know, any which way SHA, you know, that's bootstrapping.
2:27
It was launching the business for your savings.
2:29
So I think we've done bootstrapping.
2:31
I also think we've done, let me see what else revenue, trying to
2:37
expand your revenue. And then when you get revenue,
2:39
you now plow the money back into business.
2:41
So we've looked at how she can acquire new customers, how she
2:44
can get old customers to come back and buy again, how she can
2:47
get old customers to spend more money each time that they come.
2:50
And also how we can get old customers and new customers to
2:55
bring their friends, their family members and their
2:56
associates. Also to bring their enemies to
2:58
come and buy from her as well. So all of that is what we
3:02
explored in previous episodes. So this is your first time
3:04
listening to the podcast. There's a lot that you have to
3:05
catch up on after listening this episode.
3:08
Just go and count one week, you know, 123-4567.
3:11
Start listening from there. Get caught up to speed.
3:15
So yeah, that's it. That's what we're going to be
3:18
looking at today. Now, if you'd love to connect,
3:21
the phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234 for
3:28
those of you who are not Nigerian.
3:29
And yes, that is my WhatsApp number as well.
3:31
You guys can reach me there. Then also connect with me on
3:34
socials. I'm on LinkedIn as Tavishima
3:37
aide. I'm also on YouTube as well.
3:39
So yeah, equity as a source of business financing.
3:43
I've given you guys the context, especially those of you who are
3:45
brand new to the show, and this is the one I promised you guys
3:52
that I would get into. Now, the back story is this
3:56
Wonder Woman, because, you know, I've been talking to you guys
3:59
since last year about why it's not a good idea to get into
4:01
business with your boyfriend and blah, blah, blah.
4:03
That's if you're a young lady. And I said I'd make a podcast
4:06
about that in the future. So this is going to be one of
4:08
those podcast episodes episodes. I'm going to touch on this whole
4:11
issue of, you know, you being in business with your boyfriend,
4:14
your toaster, your maybe wannabe Koda Shuda Wuda.
4:19
Someone is liking me, I'm liking them.
4:21
My friends think he's cute, I think he's hot, blah, blah,
4:23
blah, all of those things. So today is going to be the
4:25
episode where I delve small into it.
4:28
I might doing full episode later.
4:32
Now the reason why this thing is coming up is because remember
4:34
we're talking about equity financing.
4:36
Equity just means somebody is giving you money and they want
4:38
to share in your business. Summary.
4:40
That's what equity means. Now, in this case, there is a
4:43
willing financier in Wonder Woman's story, financier is just
4:47
somebody who's going to drop every, you know, drop money for
4:49
you. And I asked a couple of
4:52
questions and she said they're just friends and know her own
4:55
part. Yeah, I understand that they're
4:57
just friends, but I'm also not convinced because let's be real,
5:02
I'm a young man. In fact, when people, people
5:06
will even say I'm a holy man and even amongst, well, first of
5:10
all, I don't think I'm holy. But I'm just saying that if you
5:12
are to take Nigerian guys, you know, you line us all up
5:16
together and you look at angels on one end and demons on the
5:20
other end. Let's say angels are A10 and
5:23
demons are a -, 1. Most people I think would put me
5:28
around maybe four or five. So I'm not that bad.
5:32
So even among ordinary guys like me who have sense, we don't have
5:35
diabolical motives. I know that people don't just
5:38
drop money for your business because of Jesus and God and the
5:43
good of mankind or just because of purely altruistic motives.
5:47
So that's one of the reasons why I'm just not convinced.
5:51
Maybe some of you might say I'm being overtly cynical, Maybe.
5:55
But The thing is, financing a restaurant in Makudi is not
5:58
going to be cheap. In fact, financing a restaurant
6:00
in any part of the country is not going to be cheap.
6:02
I'm currently looking for a house right now in Abuja.
6:04
Agents want to kill me in this place.
6:06
Everybody is talking about 20% agency fee as in 20% agency as
6:11
in like for what? Like what are you guys doing?
6:14
The place is crappy. You're not going to do anything
6:16
and you know you want me to provide.
6:19
The only thing they're not asking me for is my birth
6:21
certificate and my marriage certificate.
6:23
Don't want to know everything else and then any small shack in
6:27
the corner because it's close to the city center.
6:29
Everybody's calling. 4,000,006 million, 10 million, just
6:31
million million million. As in for what?
6:33
You guys don't even clean these places and maintain them.
6:35
Well then you know, so rent is crazy in Abuja.
6:40
So I can imagine that rent is crazy in Lagos, in Port
6:43
Harcourt, in wherever. OK.
6:44
When I lived in Kano, rent there was actually sweet cost of
6:47
living in Kano I think is not bad.
6:51
But my wife said over her dead body, we're not doing Kano.
6:53
We had that conversation early in our marriage.
6:56
So because Kano is not a bad place to stay, I know some of
6:58
you might disagree, but and then my wife said over her dead body
7:02
and I don't want her to die anytime soon.
7:04
So yeah, we're not in Kano, we're in Abuja.
7:07
So in Makodi now you want to do restaurant business, even if
7:12
it's one small space in Makodi in the city center rents they'll
7:16
be calling like one M for you. 1,000,001.5 OK.
7:19
Then there's staffing costs, no problem.
7:21
Then there's utility because you have to pay Nepal bill, you have
7:24
to pay water and all of that, maybe even by generator because
7:28
light in Makodi is a crap. I mean Nepal and Makodi is
7:31
anyhow anyhow. And if you live in Lagos and
7:33
Abuja, you won't understand what it is you're enjoying until you
7:35
go to other parts of the country and see how badly that people
7:38
suffer. Because like when I was in Kano,
7:41
I was in city center in Kano, I was off from had Asia Rd. that's
7:45
where I lived on had Asia Rd. I was quoting with one guy like
7:48
that Didier. I'm a Cameroonian, nicest guy
7:51
I've ever met. Just took me in this total
7:53
stranger. So me and DDA's place was on had
7:55
Asia Rd. but the place where I was supposed to serve in Kano
7:59
was in Rano local government. And then all those local
8:02
governments that are there, those Rano local government, I
8:05
think Bunkuri and all those other places.
8:07
I mean you believe that in Rano. While I was there, I don't know
8:11
if things have changed, but while I was in Rano local
8:13
government I think I only saw NEPA like 4 times.
8:17
I'm not lying. So every single business person
8:21
in Renault local government, it was standard that you have your
8:24
generator and you run your generator every single day.
8:28
That was just standard. So Cyber Cafe or the person that
8:31
sells fish or the person that does, I mean, it doesn't matter
8:35
what your business was. You just had to buy generator.
8:40
So generator was your main source of light then.
8:42
NEPA was now the backup if you can put it like that anyway.
8:47
So in marketing, yes, you have to budget for a generator.
8:51
Then of course, there's also going to be local government
8:53
taxes because in marketing it's also the same thing as in Lagos.
8:58
And like in Abuja, you want to start up your business, there's
9:00
going to be food, there's going to be alcohol, You have to pay
9:03
for alcohol license, you have to pay for health inspection, you
9:05
have to pay for this, you have to pay for that.
9:07
Then there's also state taxes. So Wonder Woman, Yeah, you said
9:13
that you guys are just friends. And yeah, I'm convinced.
9:15
But to be honest, I'm a guy. So is this guy going to just
9:22
drop 1.5 on rent money for staffing by generator?
9:26
Feel for generator. What else?
9:30
Water, lights, local local government taxes, everything.
9:33
Renovation on the renovating the building.
9:35
I don't know how much is going to add up to.
9:37
Let's just say that rent is 1.5. Everything else, let's just say
9:40
is 31.52. Let's just say it's 3 million.
9:44
So you. Really think that this guy is
9:47
just going to drop 3 M just like that?
9:50
Anyway, forgive me if I'm being cynical, but today we're now
9:54
going to explore the conversations that Wonder Woman
9:57
should be having with this potential financier.
10:04
Yeah. Anyway, we're going to explore
10:05
conversation that Wonder Woman should be having with this
10:07
potential financier, this guy who might be dropping like 3M.
10:11
This is me just guessing by the way.
10:12
I don't know how much it is that she needs to get the business up
10:15
and going. And we're going to look at how
10:17
sales skills can help with equity investors.
10:20
And that's the reason why I said that even those of you who are
10:22
married, you're off the market or maybe you're in a situation
10:26
ship or you know, friendship with benefits, you know,
10:28
whatever it is. That's the reason why I said
10:30
today, you guys should still listen because there's a lot
10:32
that we can learn from. Because in trying to figure out
10:34
this problem of whether Wonder Woman should be collecting money
10:37
from this guy, we have to run through a couple of things that
10:40
everybody else also has to consider if we should be
10:43
collecting money from someone. So the same thing that Wonder
10:46
Woman has to look at before she collects money from this guy is
10:49
the same thing that I have to look at before I collect money
10:52
from my rich uncle or from any other person who wants to
10:55
finance my business. So let's see.
10:59
OK, before we continue shout out, today's shout out goes.
11:02
To Israel. And not the country, Israel, the
11:05
person. And he owns Icon Homes and
11:09
properties. He's a podcast listener, listens
11:11
on Spotify, reached out to me on WhatsApp and he said thanks for
11:16
the tips, Not for him. The tips are very useful because
11:19
when he started off his career in real estate.
11:22
And yes, this podcast has been around for a while.
11:24
I think it's maybe about five years.
11:25
I have to go and check. I can't remember.
11:27
I'm not sure at least four years anyway, but we have over 1020
11:31
episodes so far. So yes, there are some people
11:34
who've been listening to this podcast since the inception of
11:36
their businesses. So it's giving him tips on how
11:39
to meet with clients and how to treat clients, how to handle
11:42
clients. And so thank you very much,
11:44
Israel, for listening to the show.
11:45
Please also share the show in general or podcast episodes that
11:49
you have found inspiring with other listeners so that they can
11:52
get some goodness as well. So now let's get on to equity
11:57
financing as a source of business.
11:58
And let's answer the central question.
12:00
Wonder Woman, should she be collecting money from this guy
12:04
who is in her class? I say, are you guys dating?
12:09
She laughs. You say they're just friends.
12:10
In fact, that's the laughter is the one that even is the one
12:14
that even maybe not to believe the whole thing in the beginning
12:18
because it wasn't as if she said our God forbid I will never date
12:22
somebody like that. We're just friends.
12:23
It was laughter. We're just friends.
12:24
OK, no problem. All right, now, first of all, we
12:28
have to define what is equity. Like I said, equity just means
12:32
somebody's giving you money and the person says, look, I'm
12:35
giving you this 500K and I want to share your business.
12:38
I want to share your profits. Equity is a business marriage.
12:41
Equity just means till death do us part that as I've given you
12:45
this 500K, you and me, we are in business partnership until the
12:49
day that we wind up this business or this business dies.
12:54
So long as this business exists is you and me, we are new
12:56
together. We wear the same trouser, we
12:58
wear the same shirt, the same skirt.
13:01
So equity, that is what equity means.
13:04
Of course, if you want to look at the technical legal
13:06
definition or business definition, you know, will be
13:08
much more fancy. But I'm just trying to say that
13:10
in actual effect though, this is what equity means.
13:13
Equity is a long term marriage. If somebody draws money as an
13:16
equity partner, the person is now your business husband, the
13:19
person is now your business wife.
13:21
You can't run away from it. So Wonder Woman and other young
13:25
ladies listening to this podcast, Are you ready for a
13:29
business marriage? Especially when entanglement
13:33
starts to show up. He's liking me.
13:35
Maybe he's not liking me. We liked each other and
13:37
everything was cool, but now he's liking another girl or we
13:41
were liking each other, but now me, I'm liking somebody else and
13:44
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, all these things that
13:46
come up, you know? So think about it though.
13:50
Are you ready for a business marriage?
13:51
Because for all intents and purposes, equity equals business
13:56
marriage because the person has dropped money and the person now
13:59
owns a share in your business. Of course you guys are going to
14:04
excuse me, you guys are going to have those agreements, you know,
14:08
how much money are you dropping in was the share of the
14:09
business, you know, and all those sorts of things.
14:12
So the things now to consider if you are in so excuse me, Hamatan
14:18
is still here. So it's destroying my voice.
14:21
So the things that we have to consider now if you're in Wonder
14:24
Woman's position and remember I said the same for everybody
14:28
else. So like me, for instance, if
14:29
there's one of my rich uncles in the village, maybe he's a
14:31
billionaire and I need maybe like, you know, 20 M to move my
14:35
business forward and I'm talking to him.
14:37
It's still the same thing. The same conversation that
14:39
Wonder Woman needs to be having with this a classmate who wants
14:42
to drop money is the same conversation that I need to be
14:44
having with my rich uncle. Or maybe we're down with it.
14:47
Down with it decides that he wants to finance one of my
14:48
business ideas and but down with it.
14:50
You're listening, you know, shout out.
14:52
I give my phone number at the end of every episode.
14:54
You know how large your boy, you know, be nice for us to to meet,
14:58
you know, talk one or two things.
14:59
You know, bless your brother's life.
15:02
Yeah, Where were we? So things to consider.
15:07
So equity now, like I said, equity person is dropping money.
15:10
The person owns a part of your business.
15:12
You can't tell the person they're for for at any point,
15:15
just so you know, and these are some other complications.
15:18
And if you listen to podcasts or you read books about startups in
15:23
America and you know, stuff like that, these are some of the
15:26
things that come up. Like some people say the reason
15:28
why this guy who started, what's his name, Uber Travis.
15:33
Is it Travis? I'll be Travis something the guy
15:35
who started Uber. So some people say that that's
15:39
how he got screwed out of his company, that he started this
15:41
company, He needed money, he took equity, he agreed to some
15:45
terms when things were getting kind of rough.
15:47
And then people were saying that Travis was abusive.
15:51
I can't remember what kind of abuse, you know, whether it's,
15:53
you know, psychological abuse or sexual abuse.
15:55
I can't remember Sharp. But, you know, those talk about
15:57
abusive world culture and in the business and stuff like that.
16:00
And that's how he lost control of the business.
16:02
And that's how they voted him out.
16:03
And then they brought somebody else in because of terms that he
16:06
signed. Earlier on when he was looking
16:09
for equity, you collect equity money, the person becomes a part
16:14
owner. You cannot tell the person F of.
16:16
In fact, depending on what you signed, it might be the person I
16:18
even tell you F of. Get out of here.
16:20
Useless board. So be careful.
16:22
So that's one thing to consider part ownership.
16:25
Another thing to consider is this.
16:27
Please my Nigerian brothers and sisters listening to this,
16:30
especially for those of you who consider yourself to be artists,
16:33
please listen very, very, very well.
16:36
People who drop money for equity typically are looking for very
16:41
high returns. If you go and collect money from
16:44
mumsy popsy uncle, you know, classmates, whatever, and you
16:50
say I beg lend me 500 Ki can pay you back next year 600K.
16:54
You know that one is different. Equity investors, when they drop
16:57
money, they're not looking for small change like that.
16:59
They're not looking for I drop 500, you give me 600 K back.
17:02
That's not what they're looking for.
17:04
They are looking for big returns.
17:07
So when somebody says that he wants to drop money in your
17:11
business and own a share of the business, this person wants to
17:13
cash out on a big level. The good news is the person
17:16
thinks that your business idea is solid and there's lots of
17:18
money to be made. So that's good news.
17:21
The thing is, you now have to think, Are you sure you can't
17:25
match the level of returns that people are looking?
17:27
For. Now, the reason why I say, you
17:31
know, like Wonder Woman, you know, catering, I started off as
17:34
a wedding photographer. You know, you're an artist,
17:36
you're whatever. Are these the kind of businesses
17:39
that are even good to be collecting equity in the first
17:41
place in the 1st place? Restaurant business, photography
17:44
business, art business, I don't know, shower my business, is it
17:50
kind of thing should be collecting equity money because
17:52
people are looking for good big, big, big, big money.
17:55
And in fact, early on, before I even started my career as a
17:58
consultant, back when I was still a wedding photographer,
18:00
there was one of my guys in Abuja that some people
18:02
approached him. You know, young man, you're
18:04
sharp, you know, blah, blah, blah.
18:05
Or from the same place. We believe in you.
18:07
This, that is how much we drop. We can make this team blow, you
18:10
know, equity partnership, this and this and that.
18:12
A guy came and met me. What do you think?
18:14
And I told him that guy with the amount of money that these
18:17
people are dropping, and especially since they're looking
18:19
at being equity investors, these guys are going to want something
18:22
back in return. And the way I'm reading these,
18:26
these guys, they're going to want their money back quick,
18:29
quick, quick. Not even like five years or
18:32
seven years, 10 years, like by next year does you know, they're
18:35
going to start harassing you. But anyway, I think he's on his
18:39
own opinion at the time was like, what is, you know, like
18:44
what is business without risk, you know, that kind of thing.
18:45
So he went ahead equity no problem, collected money, went
18:49
to go and rent a solid apartment, decked it out with
18:54
photography equipment, got himself marketing stuff.
18:57
As in everything was tight, branding on point.
19:01
I will I even miss up. I was jealous.
19:02
I was like OK maybe I should have collected this money.
19:06
I know. Like things were going OK for a
19:09
while until what I said started to happen.
19:14
Things are not growing fast enough.
19:16
Business is not making enough returns.
19:18
I know these are some of the conversations that I was having
19:21
with this friend of mine. You know, photography business
19:24
is not the kind of business that, you know, you invest
19:26
3,000,000 today in January, and then, you know, by December, you
19:33
know that 3,000,000 is now worth 12 million or something.
19:35
You know, it's not like that. It's small, small, small, small,
19:38
small. But The thing is, when people
19:39
hear photography, they just hear that you cover the wedding 500K
19:43
and in their mind they're thinking, wow, OK, 500K, if I'm
19:47
doing two people a month, that is one M, over the course of a
19:50
year that is 12 M, you know, this and this, that and that.
19:53
So that's just simple math that people do in their head.
19:56
But unfortunately it's not that. It's not that simple.
20:00
So of course there was quarrel and of course there was problem.
20:05
Now this my guy, he's a very decent fellow and he doesn't
20:08
like any kind of biggie and he likes to be an honourable
20:10
fellow. So he made sure that everybody
20:12
was good, he liquidated everything, he made sure that
20:14
everybody got their money back, even to the extent of selling
20:18
his own personal camera, his own personal gear, his own personal
20:20
everything. He sold everything just so that
20:23
everybody would get back their money.
20:26
Then my guy now became morose when he do some kind depression
20:30
and next thing he faded back to Lagos to go and be with his
20:32
folks. And in the photography community
20:35
in Abuja, we haven't seen him since.
20:36
Of course, he's now off to a new career in Lagos.
20:39
And yeah, he's, he's, he's doing OK.
20:42
But I can imagine, I know some of you will say, you know, like,
20:48
oh, how much is it? See, but The thing is for young
20:50
men and we, I'm still young. So you can imagine that even
20:54
then we were younger. So for a young man, you're just
20:57
starting off life. If you have basic of like, you
21:00
know, 57 million over your head, it actually feels very, very
21:04
heavy. I know for someone like Dangote,
21:07
you know, 5 million is not is, you know, is, is nothing like
21:11
why you're harassing me. I'll pay you back.
21:13
It's only 5 M. But even now self having done
21:17
with it, no, for me actually is, is is is something.
21:21
So yeah, it was a big deal. And and then that's how that
21:26
whole thing ended. So just to let you know, Wonder
21:29
Woman or anybody in Wonder Woman situation, anybody who is
21:33
dropping money on equity, the person is thinking, man, there
21:37
are big returns here. We want to cash out.
21:40
You guys need to have those conversations and you guys need
21:43
to have the right level of expectations.
21:46
Now, since this is part ownership and you can't tell
21:49
them the F off. In fact, if you don't read the
21:51
contract properly, they're the ones that are able to tell you
21:54
the F off and get out. You should have those
21:57
conversations about control, you know, who is controlling what
22:02
and how. Of course they might have the
22:05
level of control depending on the percentage that they drop in
22:07
the business, but you guys need to have that conversation.
22:10
You guys also need to have conversations about the guy's
22:14
expertise because sometimes when people drop equities because
22:17
they have expertise that can help move the business forward.
22:21
So, you know, is it just money they're dropping or they're
22:24
going to do mentorship and let me see business connections and
22:28
all those kinds of things. And if I ask the business model
22:31
that I'm going to do in a couple of years, you know, when, you
22:34
know, when I'm standing well, when my legs are solid, you
22:36
know, this is actually the sort of thing that I want to get
22:39
involved in private equity, the equity model.
22:42
Because I have sales skills. And I know that for some people,
22:46
all we have to do is tweak the sales process here, treat the
22:49
sales process. They're tidy this thing up here,
22:51
tidy this thing up here, and we can build a convincing business
22:54
out of this thing. So for me, you will not just be
22:57
dropping money, but also dropping my expertise so that we
23:00
can grow the value of this company together.
23:02
So yes, I'm going to be involved in equity later on, you know,
23:06
when I grow up and I become a big boy.
23:09
So how are we going to use sales skills now as Wonder Woman or as
23:15
anybody who is looking for, excuse me, equity financing?
23:18
How are sales is going to help you now in securing equity
23:20
financing? Luckily, if you've been
23:24
listening to the show for the last maybe two few weeks,
23:27
remember that we read a book called How to Sell like a spy
23:32
lessons in something something espionage.
23:34
I can't remember. The author is Jeremy Hurwitz, so
23:37
just Google Jeremy. Jeremy is Jeremy.
23:42
I'm spelling it just in case there's a tea person listening.
23:44
I think, you know, I said that Zeremu, it's not Zeremu, it's
23:47
Jeremy because you know, anyway, that's a tea joke.
23:51
You won't get it. So Jeremy Hurwitz here, which is
23:56
hi, how's it now? HUREWITZI think so we're just
24:02
any just put out there and put some like aspire thing will come
24:05
up. So we're talking about the book
24:08
and how the author was talking about elicitation as a means of
24:11
getting information from people. Elicitation does meaning getting
24:15
people to talk calmly, getting people to talk freely, get
24:17
people to talk, relax, you know, so you get to know what's on the
24:20
person's mind. It's important to know that as a
24:23
spy. So that will determine your
24:25
course of action. You need to know that as a
24:26
diplomat, so you know how you will advise your president when
24:29
you go back to your country. And as a business person, you
24:32
need this skill so that you know how to plot your next motion.
24:35
Now, OK, this guy's thinking like this.
24:37
This guy's thinking that like that.
24:38
So maybe I should move like this.
24:39
Maybe I should move like that. So that is elicitation.
24:42
So these are the sales skills that you need when it comes to
24:44
helping out with equity financial financing.
24:47
So Jeremy Hurwitz, he calls it elicitation on this podcast.
24:50
I use traditional term, which is discovery and qualification
24:54
where you ask ask questions and you engage in conversations
24:58
around the person, who is this person?
25:00
Who is this person? What are they about, you know,
25:02
blah, blah, blah. And then about the opportunity,
25:04
what is the problem that they're trying to solve here, you know,
25:07
and you know, all these sorts of things.
25:09
So the traditional sales terms is discovery and qualification.
25:12
There are some other people, business writers, who call this
25:14
phase investigation. You know, when you're talking to
25:16
people, you're trying to size each other up, you're trying to
25:18
figure out what's going on. Some people call this
25:20
investigation, other people just call it business conversation.
25:23
But whether we call it elicitation or business
25:27
conversation or investigation or discovery and qualification,
25:31
we're all talking about the same thing.
25:34
And sales skills come in handy there.
25:37
So the conversation point that Wonder Woman needs to be having
25:40
with this guy who's a classmate who might be dropping money for
25:43
the restaurant. And also if you are trying to
25:45
raise money to find a restaurant, you know, talking to
25:48
your rich uncle or rich auntie concession, you need to be
25:51
having a, if you find out their investment preferences, you need
25:55
to figure out the industry they're coming from or the
25:57
industries that they like, what stage of businesses they like to
25:59
invest in, what size and all these kinds of things.
26:02
And in hindsight, that's how I knew my friend was in in, in
26:04
trouble because these people are dropping money.
26:06
They are coming from a different industry and used to dealing
26:09
with businesses at a different size.
26:10
But photography is different, you know, it's smaller.
26:13
The money sounds big. Yes, 305 hundred per client, The
26:16
money sounds big, but different industry, different states,
26:19
different size. That's the beginning of me
26:21
knowing that. OK, look, the expectations are
26:23
just off because these guys, yes, they have the money, but
26:27
they're coming from a high level.
26:28
They're used to playing at a certain stage.
26:30
They don't know that photography business is a small stage.
26:33
So on Norman, you should be having conversations with this.
26:35
Your classmate, maybe he's used to dropping money for other
26:38
kinds of businesses and seeing returns, you know, sharp, sharp,
26:41
sharp. You guys need to have that
26:43
conversation so that, you know, whether it's a good match, OK?
26:47
He's used to dropping money for maybe buying and selling cars.
26:51
Let's say the guys paid up. And so he drops money for his
26:54
boys in Lagos to buy cars in Lagos and then ship the cars
26:57
down to Michael and Abuja and then they sell the cars.
27:00
So that's what they used to. You guys need to have the
27:02
conversation, you know, OK. Is the level of investment the
27:05
same? Is the level of returns the
27:08
same? Is the timing of returns the
27:09
same? You guys need to have that
27:10
conversation. Then you also guys need to have
27:13
conversations over participation and control.
27:17
So on Norman, you need to have a conversation with all your
27:19
classmates. Who's paid up?
27:21
How much money is he dropping? How much control does he
27:24
expects? Does he want an office in the
27:26
complex? Is he going to be coming in
27:28
every day or just Monday and Friday?
27:30
This is all just be looking at finances.
27:32
Or are you guys going to be having board meeting every one
27:36
or two weeks? And by the way, if you're having
27:38
board meeting, please let the board meeting be nice and
27:40
official. Go to an office, sit down and
27:42
have a board meeting. Don't go to the flat and have a
27:44
board meeting. And he should not, he should not
27:46
come to your flat and have a board meeting.
27:48
Please, let's keep this professional.
27:50
So you need to have those conversations over expectations,
27:56
participation and control. Then you guys need to have those
27:58
conversations over documentation and legal because equity by word
28:03
of mouth is a capital. Neve.
28:06
R Capital NO, never no, don't do it.
28:11
No one collect money from somebody for equity
28:13
participation. And you know you will now start
28:16
saying and what I said and oh, he said they said if you check
28:20
this e-mail date, if you check this WhatsApp message, you now
28:23
start acting WhatsApp message. Start looking at Instagram DM.
28:26
No, no, no, no, no, no, no don't do it.
28:29
If this thing is equity, please, we are going to have some kind
28:32
documentation no matter how small.
28:34
If you don't have a lawyer, want to talk to your brother or your
28:37
cousin or your sister who just finished law school like 2 years
28:40
back. It's not ideal, but at least it
28:43
is something. Ideally you should go and have a
28:45
lawyer, but you know, it's better than just people doing
28:48
things by word of mouth. So this is a capital NO.
28:50
If it is equity, if you're going to go and talk to Popsy and
28:53
Momsy and Popsy says I have no problem, I give you 500 K next
28:56
year, give me back 600. That's a different thing.
28:58
Is Popsy your family, you know each other, you know, it's a
29:02
simple thing. It won't get too complicated.
29:04
The only thing is just that, you know, Popsy might be angry if he
29:06
gave you the money in January and then January 26th, 2026
29:10
comes around, you don't say anything and it's March and he
29:13
didn't say anything. You know, then now he will start
29:15
getting angry. But it's it's simpler then you
29:21
also need to have this conversation, Wonder Woman with
29:23
this, your classmate who is paid up about the investor, what his
29:28
role is as an investor is the only money that you're dropping.
29:31
OK, Are you dropping money and invest with some mentorship
29:35
because the guy has been involved in some businesses
29:37
before. I don't want to say what the
29:38
businesses are on air. Well, she doesn't agree with the
29:41
business choice, but let's pretend by now for now that it's
29:43
a buying and importing cars and then selling in Lagos and Abuja.
29:48
So, yeah, is it mentorship? What kind of mentorship can he
29:53
bring to the game with his years of experience in buying and
29:55
selling cars Or, you know, does he have a network access that he
29:59
can bring to the business so that this business will blow, so
30:01
that this business will grow? We need to have the conversation
30:04
around investor role, investor roles.
30:06
Now, if you like watching business TV, there's one reason
30:08
why I'm watching Dragons Den is a good idea because you see
30:11
things like this playing out live and direct on the screen
30:14
because the drivers are not just dropping money.
30:16
Some of them have connects, some of them have industry hookups,
30:19
some of them have different sales channels, you know, to
30:20
help me move the business forward.
30:22
So when you're trying to consider equity investment from
30:25
people, it's not always just how much are they dropping.
30:27
You know, sometimes you might be looking at two people.
30:30
One person is saying I will drop one M, Another person is saying
30:32
I will drop 2M. Sometimes the person who is
30:34
saying I will drop 1M, but I have these access, I have access
30:37
to these connections to that. Sometimes that one M might be
30:40
better than connecting the two M where the person says, no, I'm
30:43
giving you money only figure it figure it out by yourself.
30:48
So one woman be having conversations with your
30:50
classmates on his role as an investor.
30:53
Then of course, one woman, you guys to be doing some background
30:56
checks on your own. Do some information gathering.
30:59
Talk to people who knows this guy who has done business with
31:03
him. Remember that book Sell Like a
31:05
Spy? You know the conversation
31:07
techniques that this guy was talking about information
31:09
gathering. You know he's also sales as well
31:12
because you need to figure out what has his experience been
31:15
with other founders. It might look like a sweet deal,
31:17
but if you discover that he has done this business with six
31:21
other chicks before and he quarrelled with five of them,
31:25
maybe that's a red flag. Maybe he's not even chicks.
31:28
Maybe he has financed other people's business before.
31:30
He has dropped money for eight businesses and he ended up
31:33
quarrelling with 12 people. Now it's definitely a red flag
31:36
if I even quarreled with more than the people that he finance.
31:39
So boy, you need to be asking people, you need to know who
31:42
this guy is. You know, what's his background?
31:44
Where is he coming from? Where's the money coming from?
31:46
Is he legit? Not legit.
31:48
How does he decide where to drop money?
31:50
The people that he has dropped money before invested money
31:52
before. How did he pan out?
31:53
What what level of benefit did he bring to those people?
31:58
You know, stuff like that. So all these soft, soft
32:00
conversations, all of this is sales skills as well, and also
32:05
covering in the book that we did, which was sell like a spy.
32:10
Jeremy Heurits. So now how do you have these
32:13
conversations? Because I'm sure some of you
32:15
realize that. OK, yeah, you've given us some
32:17
good pointers, things to talk about.
32:18
And Please remember, this is not just for Wonder Woman.
32:20
Like I said, you want to raise money from your rich uncle or
32:24
your rich auntie, or we want your pastor to be an equity
32:28
investor is the same thing. These are the conversations you
32:30
should be having with pastor as well.
32:32
Then how to have these conversations?
32:33
The conversations have to be open-ended.
32:36
That means you should be asking questions that to answer the
32:40
question the person has to give you a story.
32:42
If you just ask questions that can be answered with yes or no,
32:45
then that is a terrible idea. That's a bad idea.
32:48
So you need to ask open-ended questions who, why, what, where,
32:51
when, how and that is going to give you all the information
32:55
that you. Need.
32:58
So like, let me see, let me see, let me look at what did I say?
33:03
OK, investor rule now capital only.
33:05
So he's not just asking him, OK, so bro, you want to be invested
33:09
in the business? Is it just a dropping capital?
33:12
Only he can say yes or he can say no.
33:14
I mean, that is not good. If he says yes, that's too flat.
33:19
If he says no, you can ask for a lot of questions, but you can
33:22
now say, OK, so who, why, what, where, when, how?
33:28
OK, What is your typical level of involvement with the
33:31
businesses that you invest in? Yes, yeah, let's go with that
33:34
for now. What is your typical level of
33:37
involvement for the businesses that you are involved in when
33:41
you're asking these questions? You don't have to.
33:42
You don't have to sound formal like me.
33:44
I'm on the formal end, but you can be on the casual end.
33:46
It's not a problem. It's not really who you are or
33:50
how you sound. It's the kind of information
33:52
that you elicit. So asking that kind of question
33:55
now that what is your typical kind of involvement?
33:58
The person has to tell me a story like, well, usually in the
34:01
past, this is how I used to be investing my money and blah,
34:03
blah, blah. But with you, you know, I like
34:07
your mind, I like your heart. God has shown me that you're a
34:09
nice person, blah, blah, blah. So between you and I to be like
34:12
this would be like that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
34:14
So the person has to tell you a story to answer the
34:16
conversation. So that's what we mean when we
34:17
said the conversation should be open-ended.
34:21
Just start off the conversations with who, why, what, where, how,
34:26
when. So those sorts of things, basic
34:29
stuff that they taught us in primary school in Niger.
34:31
The other ways of keeping conversations open-ended, but
34:34
let's just leave it like this for now.
34:36
Then you should be question LED. That means you should be asking
34:39
a whole bunch of questions. So Wonder Woman, when you're
34:42
having this conversation with fine boyfriend and Sia, you
34:46
should be asking him questions. All right, please keep these
34:50
questions in a nice business setting.
34:53
If if you're having this conversation, you go to his
34:56
room, you guys are chilling, you know, there's nice music in the
34:58
background. He brings out some drinks and
35:00
you guys are having this conversation and it's not pure.
35:03
Also, if he comes to your flat, you know, you cook some fine
35:06
food and everything. There's music, there's drinks,
35:08
you know, there's Netflix. You ain't gonna cut it after
35:13
lectures, stay behind in the in the class, you know, tell your
35:16
friends you see them later. Sit down in the class and have
35:18
these conversations or have a proper business date.
35:26
Go to Co working space, Yvonne Yvonne incubation hub.
35:31
They market. They have a Co working space.
35:32
So their Co working spaces and market.
35:34
Go to Co working space. There's no expensive.
35:36
Pay 2/5 for an hour or something and then sit down there.
35:39
You guys have this conversation. So the conversation should be
35:44
open-ended. The conversation should be
35:46
question LED. You should be asking a lot of
35:48
the questions and then you also need to structure the
35:51
conversations and stagger them one theme at a time, one
35:54
conversation at a time, because all of this is plenty.
35:58
All of this story that I'm telling you now, you can't ask
36:00
this thing in one conversation. You miss lots of stuff.
36:03
So it's best to fix some time and sit down today and in your
36:06
own head, you know that, OK, what you're trying to figure out
36:09
now is his investment preferences.
36:10
And then you guys have the conversation.
36:12
Be surprised at that alone, you know, his background, his
36:15
preferences, what he's looking for, expectations.
36:18
I'm surprised that that kind of conversation might take like one
36:20
hour. After one hour you guys are
36:21
tired. It's OK, I no problem yeah, you
36:25
said lots of stuff. I need to think about it.
36:27
I still have a few more questions regarding other things
36:30
like participation and control, like, you know, blah, blah,
36:34
blah, this and this and that and that.
36:35
But it's OK if we do that at at another time, you know, so you
36:40
fix the meeting for the next date, but stagger these
36:42
conversations out because you can't have this conversation and
36:45
finish everything in one day. So structure it, stagger it 1
36:50
theme at a time. You can't finish this in one
36:52
day. And if you look at how all the
36:54
big boys and girls that you like, you know, Zuckerberg, them
36:58
and all the people in America, you know, you don't finish these
37:00
conversations in one day. You know, phone call today,
37:02
meeting tomorrow, investor page next tomorrow, you send over
37:06
time sheet, look at time sheet, you know, another meeting.
37:10
Clarify this, clarify that, you know, it takes a while.
37:12
It's not just one sitting. So yeah, that's that's just it.
37:18
So of course you've been listening to this show for any
37:22
length of time. You know my point of view on
37:23
this, that you're a young girl. He's a young boy.
37:30
It's not as if you're ugly. You know him too, you know, As
37:32
if he looks like a lizard. You know anything can happen.
37:35
So my own opinion, don't be, don't, don't, don't do business
37:39
with this guy. My own opinion, not knowing
37:43
more. Some of you might differ, but
37:45
that's just my own opinion. If it's a potential toaster, a
37:49
potential liker, maybe. I'm liking him.
37:53
My friend thinks he's cute. His friends say I'm cute, he is
37:58
whatever, whatever, whatever. For me, Capital.
38:00
NO, except if you guys have had very clear business
38:07
conversations, especially when this level of business
38:10
involvement is going to be at the level of equity, because
38:13
when it comes to equity, it's a long term marriage.
38:18
So let's just keep it safe because you enter into this long
38:23
term business marriage and then entanglements start to happen.
38:27
It's unnecessary. Emotional, also called business
38:33
is hard enough. You know, we don't need the
38:35
emotional angst and the, the how would I even say this itself?
38:43
You know, the turbulence, the look, it's, it's, it's tough
38:48
enough. I'm sure you guys understand
38:50
what this is I'm trying to say, especially for those of you who
38:53
are trying to start up these things in school.
38:55
You know, you're chasing your GPA.
38:56
Your GPA is probably not doing too good.
38:58
You're worried about your work with God.
38:59
You're trying to do this business and then, you know,
39:03
next thing entanglement is now entering the issue and a big
39:06
distress is just much. So it's easier to have these
39:09
sorts of conversations with your husband, in my own opinion.
39:11
But even then again, there are people who will tell you that,
39:13
yes, even when the person is your husband, these
39:15
conversations will still be hard enough.
39:17
But that's my point exactly. So left to me, Wonder Woman, you
39:20
said that you guys are just friends and I believe you, but
39:24
you said it with a smile. And so I'm just saying these
39:27
things to you in code just in case there's something I have
39:30
not heard or just in case there's something that financier
39:35
Boy has not said. These are my full opinions on
39:39
the matter. And so for those of you who are
39:42
happily married or no entanglements, no relationship
39:45
status, no whatever, it's still the same thing.
39:48
You are looking for an equity financier.
39:50
These are the kinds of conversations that you should be
39:52
having with them because it's going to be a long term marriage
39:56
and you can't tell them therefore.
39:58
And if you end up like a boy, what's his name again?
40:01
I think his name is Travis. I'm not sure.
40:03
You can check later. Oh, shout out to a KTS.
40:07
He fact checked me on something when I was talking about Corin.
40:09
He said Corin is the council. Of registered engineers in
40:14
Nigeria. So thank you very much, Corinne
40:15
for thank you very much a KTS for pointing that out.
40:19
So like I said on the podcast, you know, I'm not perfect.
40:22
I don't know any everything. So whenever I make mistakes, I
40:25
mean you guys can point that out.
40:27
You just send me a message and let me say it over here on the
40:29
group so that we can all be educated together.
40:33
So what was I saying now? I lost my train of thought, OK,
40:41
and it maybe wasn't important. So yeah, that's it.
40:45
So if you'd love to connect with me, the phone number is
40:47
08064662140. Country code is +234.
40:52
For those of you who are not Nigerian, that's my WhatsApp
40:55
number as well. Now connect with me on socials,
40:58
the name to look for establishing my IED on LinkedIn
41:00
and I'm tablishing my IED on YouTube as well.
41:05
Unfortunately, I can't find the lists where I wrote down all
41:08
these financing options, so I'm running off of memory here.
41:12
Now that we have done equity, I think the next thing on the list
41:16
should be loan. I think you should be loan.
41:19
Please, any listener of the show, you've been taking notes
41:22
and if you remember the master plan, what the master plan is
41:25
supposed to be, just send me a message.
41:28
My contact details are are here so that we can get back on track
41:31
because I'm not sure what happened.
41:32
You know, maybe my little son, you know, tore it up or
41:35
something. So next will be loan so that we
41:37
can see how Wonder Woman can use scale sales skills to cure the
41:45
sourcing financing problem. If I was going to take a loan.
41:49
So thanks for your time and attention.
41:50
I'll catch you guys at the next episode.