All over the world, micro, small-medium scale businesses have been
generally believed to be the most potent weapon for conquering poverty and unemployment.
Rather than just wasting away the productive years of your life waiting for a
non-existing job, micro, small-medium scale businesses offers people the
opportunity of taking control of their destinies, doing what they love and
enjoy greater level of freedom.
As most national economies, including our nation Nigeria have been
experiencing so much erratic fluctuations, relying on a single source of income
is one way of exposing yourself to unsafe future. That is why, owning a business
is one sure way of taking control of your financial destiny. I always feel very sad each time I see
workers on television protesting or lamenting their woes over delayed payment
of their wages. According to Kasey Gahler CEO, Gahler Financial, “One reason to
own a small business is the ability to direct the culture of your company.” In his
words, "When you're in the driver's seat, you are making the decisions on
how best to steer your company into the future.”
For the fact that this page was created to assist those who have
been nurturing the idea of starting their small businesses, in this part we
will be considering the major challenge drawing many of such people backwards. The
problem of “How and Where Do I start from?”
While considering the option of starting your own personal business,
it is important to first check if you possess certain characteristics which
have been observed by experts to be critical to success in any business. Some
of the key attributes that are essential for success in business are as
follows:
a.
Personal motivation: The destiny of the business
depends entirely on you; not the economy or the government so, it is important that
you keep motivating yourself and others working with you to push the business
to success. Lack of motivation results to procrastination, fault-finding, blame
game, absence of innovation, and this will lead to business failure.
b.
Resilience and strong determination: Starting a new business is like
learning how to drive a car for the first time. Fear, anxiety and doubt will
always try to take you out but if you are resilient and determined to make the
business work, you will succeed. As you continue, mistakes are bound to occur
but as you learn from such mistakes, take corrective measures, adopt better approaches;
gradually and steadily you will overcome all obstacles.
c.
Knowledge and skills: Skill is important for success
in business. Take time to learn the rules and acquire the relevant skills
before jumping into the business. Too many mistakes arising from ignorance
could have a very devastating effect on the business. Some of the areas that
you need to have certain level of skill include finance/accounting, marketing,
negotiation, customer service, selling, cash management and planning.
Another major factor hindering people from starting the kind of business
that they have been dreaming about is money. For many people, their aspirations
for owning a personal business have been placed on hold by lack of money. But there
is also a way out. Today, more than ever before, several doors of opportunities
have been opened to assist people raise easy and substantial amounts of money
to pursue the business of their dreams.
As I wrote in part one, “A man who wants to do something will find
a way; a man who doesn't will find an excuse” – (Stephen Dooley, Jr). I want to
buttress this point with a story. On 19th
of February, 2011, I hosted a business seminar at Fidmed Hotels Asaba, Delta
State. Coincidentally, that was the day Nigeria’s immediate past President
Goodluck Jonathan visited Asaba on his campaign tours for the 2011 presidential
election so, his visit adversely affected the turnout of the seminar. The seminar
was all about making money from production of liquid soap and disinfectants.
But there was one participant, a single mother young lady who
approached me at the end of the seminar and told me that she already signed up with
a pure water factory as a distributor but that she has no money to start the
business. In the course of our discussion, I observed that she is someone who
possesses the ability to influence others. She also told me that what is needed
to start the pure water distribution business is about N80,000. The money was
for her to hire vehicle and also buy water from the factory. I saw the zeal and the strong determination in
her so I told her there are several ways that she can raise such an amount
without even borrowing. She became curious.
So, I told her to find 10 persons that will be ready to join her
to do weekly contributions of N10,000. When I said that, she shouted, “Where
will I be getting 10k every week?” Then, I explained to her she do not even
need to get 10k before she start; all she needs to do is to find 10 persons who
are capable of saving such an amount weekly.
After each contribution, the money is giving to one person and you keep
rotating it until every member of the group has collected. So, I left back to
Lagos. After about 2 weeks plus, she called me that she has seen 9 persons who
are willing to do that. When I heard that, I said to her, “now your business
don start be that.” I told her to plead with other members so that they allow
her to be the first to collect. Luckily they agreed. That was how she got N90,000
and started the pure water distribution business.
The next time she called me around August, 2011, every member of
the group has received his/her contribution and she had even added the liquid
soap production to her business. And you know what, her dream would have died
if not because she was very determined.
What is your dream? The bigger your dream, the more chances you
have at receiving help. Or you can start as a micro business and grow into a
mega enterprise. In my next article on this page, I will be focusing on some
amazing opportunities that you can invest in as micro business and grow into a
multi million naira business within 6 months. Does it sound unbelievable? Watch out
for it.
Thinking Minds Integrated
Business Solutions organizes
monthly sensitization seminars on the practical ways of establishing micro,
small-medium scale enterprises. For free consultancy services, call:
2348033291724, 2348052833097. E-mail: thinkingminds@ymail.com.
