Sustaining business growth in a down economy is not a simple feat to achieve. But believe it or not, that is exactly what some businessmen in Nigeria are doing. While some Nigerian businessmen are busy lamenting the poor manner the government is handling the current economic crisis (they do have a valid point though), some wise entrepreneurs are making steady business progress and getting fantastic returns on their various investment in the different sector sof the economy.

Truly, one man’s misfortune can be another’s fortune. If you doubt ask the undertaker, the more people die as a result of epidemic or natural disaster, the more his business booms. So, it is actually possible to be celebrating while others are lamenting, it simply depends on where you position yourself.

Every entrepreneur desire that his or her business should grow. Nobody wants to have the same turnover at the end of each financial year. However, just like most things in life, it is not about wishing for result, it is about taking the right steps to achieve the desired result. So how can an entrepreneur sustain business growth during an economic crisis? I’ll share with you five proven tips for steady business growth.

5 Proven Tips For Business Growth

1. Keep Your Current Customers Happy – A bird in hand is worth more than 1million that you are dreaming of getting with your marketing gimmicks. Keep your current customers. Do everything feasible to keep them happy and loyal to you. Don’t neglect complains or ignore their suggestion. If you’ve not been doing that, it is time to overhaul your customer care service such that it truly portray that you believe that the customer is king.

Get creative and devise ways to make it seem difficult and uneconomical for your customers to switch to  your competitors. Add value to your products and services at no extra cost to your customers. Some of those addons can actually be done without you eating into your profit. It just require a little brainstorming with your team to bring out ideas you never thought possible.

Give personalized services to each customer making him or her feel that he or she is the most important client you’ve got. Everyone appreciate being treated as a VIP. Give your customers that special touch of royalty. It won’t cost a dime to insist that your staff should treat each customer like a king. Just remind your team that it is the customer that pays the bills.

2. Increase Your Market Share -  There is an adage that the best form of defense is attack. Go after the customers of your competitors. Woo them with better offers and customized packages. Give them sufficient reason to consider ditching your rival and pitching their tent with you.

It is business war out there, so map out strategies on how you will gain more market share at the expense of your competitors. Go brainstorming with your team on how to provide higher quality product/service at the same price or lower than your competitors.

Don’t say it can’t be done. Keep working at it and soon, you and your team will figure a way out. Then you can go full swing into raiding your competitors of their loyal customers. Be tactical though, especially when dealing with competitors that have financial muscle.  If they get wind of your strategy, they may launch a counter-attack that you are not prepared for.

3. Be Proactive, Keep Current on Market Events -  Knowledge is power. It is your business to know what is happening and what is likely to happen soon in the market you belong. You need to keep tap on developments in the market that can affect your position.

Your ability to spot opportunities before competitors will give you an added advantage. Don’t wait until the news is spread on the print or electronic media before taking action. Successful businessmen sniff out information before it is made public. You need to watch industry shifts, changes in buying trends, seasonal changes, technological changes etc. The world is dynamic, what worked yesterday, may be obsolete today, so keep yourself up to date on market trends.

4. Strive to Enter New Markets – Don’t be a local champion in your present market. Look for opportunity to make profitable entry into other markets. Study markets that have potential for your business and plan how you will enter without loosing money to fierce competition in such market. Identify areas where you have an advantage over an existing competitor and ensure you can match the standards of quality and value being provided.

5. Diversify Your Business – Never put all your egg in one basket. Study businesses that are related to yours. Plan on diversifying into some of the simple ones such that you are not tied to a particular channel of income. Dangote Group is a good example of a Nigerian Business that has diversified successfully.

Business Growth don’t just happen. Successful Businessmen set goals, plan and work towards realizing their dream of steady business growth. If you don’t work it out, it won’t happen by accident. So, quit complaining and whining about the poor state of the nation’s economy. It is time to take advantage of the opportunities that have been made available by the economic crises. If you’re determined to experience Business Growth, nobody can stop you, because nobody have a blueprint for stopping you. Cheers

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, Competition, Customer service, Entrepreneur, Market share, Marketing, Nigeria, small business

Have you started your own bulk SMS reseller business? A guy just asked me that question, and I was wondering what made him ask. He was all excited as he gave me a quick lecture on how I have been missing out in the  new multi-million dollar business of reselling bulk sms to fellow Nigerians.

At first I was a bit confused and I was wondering if anything spectacular had happened within the few days I went offline (I took a break from the virtual world to face some pressing issues). As much as I can recollect, bulk SMS has been available as an online business opportunity for more than two years. Well, it didn’t take quite 2minutes before I recovered from the initial shock from his question. He helped me without by unwittingly mentioning the phrase “multi-million”. Whenever I hear the phrase, “multi-million dollar” or “multi-million naira”, my security antenna gets fine tuned. Such phrase often accompany “get rich quick scheme”. This is naija you know. If you play the “mugu”(fool), you may not even live to  regret your action. Anyway, in this particular case, it wasn’t about 419 or Nigerian Scam as foreigners will term it. It is about an old business that some con artists are parading as a new discovery.

Online sale of bulk SMS is indeed the new business-craze in town. Not that it is new elsewhere, just that Naija brothers and sisters have decided to zero in on bulk SMS reselling as the new online business that will bring in the million fast.  In case you don’t understand, the politicians have made it a taboo to think on anything less than seven digit income.  Everyone talks about making a million (naira or better still dollar) as fast as possible. Gone are the days of working patiently for years to build a fortune.

So, whenever a naija brother or sister hits a jackpot with a business idea, be rest assured that within a few weeks, many wannabe entreprenuers will abandon whatever they’ve been working on and rush in to make theirs too (even though many business mentor has pointed out that this is not the way to do business, yet, the lure for quick cash won’t let them listen). It amuse me when I see such rush by newbie entreprenurs who fail to find out how the first guy went from raw idea to achive business success! It is not about duplicating a business, it is all about learning how it works and working SMART. Ok, enough of my personal view.

Bulk SMS is the new business idea rocking right now in naija. Online Forex Trading seems to have lost its appeal. At least those who want to be a millionaire overnight are no longer seeing forex trading as the way to get rich overnight. No thanks to those who have exposed the deceit behind those Forex Trading Seminars. David Ajao won’t be forgiven by many of the con artist. I learnt that the sale of automatic forext trading robots to naija newbie forex traders have dropped significantly.

What is bulk SMS by the way?

Ok, so what is Bulk SMS? First, SMS means Short Message Service .  Bulk SMS  is simply a way of sending simple text messages to numerous contacts at once using the internet instead of your cellphone and you need not go through your telecom service provider. Am not quite sure the Nigerian Telecom operators such as MTN, Glo, Celtel, Zain, Etisalat etc love this idea, because it robs them of the abnormal revenue they make from Nigerians for each SMS sent via their networks. The telecom providers charges for SMS is higher than that offered by bulk SMS resellers.

Why use Bulk SMS?

I just told you.

1. It is cheaper. Unlike your service provider who will charge a higher fee for delivering the same text to a contact on a different network, bulk SMS gateways will deliver all SMS messages at the same flat rate irrespective of the destination.

2. It is easier to send to numerous contacts. Actually toyou can send SMS to millions, within a short time, for example, you can send a message to a million contact in less than five minutes. Once you have purchased the required credit, you upload a list of the contacts and write out the SMS message. One click will send to 1 contact or 1million contact, it is simply your choice.

3. You can schedule the delivery. This is another great feature. You can actually write a message now and schedule it to be delivered at a later date.

Bulk SMS Reseller Business

Ok, so how do I make money online from bulk SMS reselling. Simple, get a reseller account, (I won’t provide any link here because I am not promoting any) you can Google for it by typing “Bulk SMS resellers in Nigeria” into any of the popular search engine. Once you get a reseller account, the next step is to get clients. Yes, you need people who will buy smaller packages of the bulk SMS from you . For example, if you buy 5,000 units of SMS at the rate of 3.5naira per message, you can offer to sell each packages of 200units at 800naira. That is far cheaper to the 5naira that Nigerian service providers charge per SMS, so be rest assured you have a ready market. Also, you can design a website and offer to send SMS on behalf of people. Once they pay you, you simply send the SMS on their behalf to the list of contact they provide at the point of sale. This is a cool business for youngsters. You can sell the service to those wanting to announce an event e.g. a wedding ceremony, burial ceremony or a corporate event. I guess you’ve received such an SMS in recent times.

Some bulk SMS gateway provide the facility of inputting the sender’s number, so that you can actually receive reply. However, some charge a fee for such.

Is Bulk SMS reselling for me?

Well, only you can tell wether bulk SMS reselling is for you. I never encourage anyone to engage in a business he or she does not have passion for. It is easier to succeed at a business you are passionate about than one that irritate you. Now you know what Bulk SMS reselling business is all about. It is not a new business, but for Nigerians, it is a new way of making money online.

Will Bulk SMS Reselling Make me a millionaire?

Well, it all depends on you. Several successful entrepreneurs started off with business ideas that didn’t look promising, and yet they became financial giants. If you get yourself equipped with the right knowledge, set a goal for yourself and work persistently on it, this may actually give you an opportunity to make your first million. However, I must warn you that it will not happen overnight.

Warning: Scam Artists use Bulk SMS as a tool

Some will not agree with that it is not possible to make a million from SMS reselling overnight. I understand, such must have been told the story of someone that started Bulk SMS reselling and hit the first million naira within 30days. Yes, that is “possible”. It is done by sending fraudulent messages to unsuspecting people telling them funny stuffs to get them to reveal their bank financial details or part with some cash. I have received several SMS congratulating me that I have just won a million naira from my telecom provider. The sender name reflects the name of my Telecom Service Provider or her code, however, I knew they were fake because my telecom provider will never inform you that you have won a gift via text message. Instead, a phone call will be made and there will be announcement on the electronic or print media. So when next you receive a text message claiming to be from any of the Nigerian Telecom service provider informing you that you have just won a million naira, remember, this post . That is Bulk SMS being used by a con-artist to dupe you. If you’re greedy enough, you would have coughed out some cash before realizing that you’ve been defrauded.

Ok, enough of the gist. I guess it is high time I go get myself a Bulk SMS reseller account. Who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? For future updates to this post Bulk SMS resellers in Nigeria subscribe to my RSS free updates.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bulk SMS, Bulk SMS reseller, Business Idea, Con Artists, Dollar Business, get rich quick scheme, Naija Brothers, New Business, Online Business Opportunity, Reseller Business, Short message service, Short Messaging Service, Telecommunications

Naija For Life

While many feel there is no reason to celebrate, I totally disagree. I choose to pitch my tent with those who belief we have every reason to celebrate. Since there is life, there is hope of a better future. Martin Luther King did not live to see President Obama become the first black president of United States of America, but he foresaw the possibility in his mind when he declared “I have a dream….”

It doesn’t really matter if anyone thinks otherwise, I am personally convinced that Nigeria is going to get better. All the evil vices will surely come to an end. Those who are benefitting from the misfortune of Nigeria will be put to shame in the long run.

I am grateful to God that Nigeria has survived as nation, despite several political, financial and ethnic crisis. It is a sign that God has something great in store for us. If South Africa can get over apatheid, then Nigeria can get over these challenges and become a glorious nation.

To my fellow Nigerians at home and abroad, I say, happy independence day! Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Every successful entrepreneur understand that the phrase “The Client is always right” is a mere political statement to boost the ego of the client. Often times the client is ignorant and dead wrong. But who dare say that to his face. Since the client is the one holding the purse, he has to be praised like one of those monarchs of old and tactically guided to make the right decision. I guess that is why another phrase says the “client is King”. Else, he will get offended and go to the competitor. I’ll share with you a life-story from my friend, Leke who works in a construction company. I believe his story will teach you one or two useful lessons as an entrepreneur on what to do when a client goofs (by the way to goof is to make a silly mistake). Here is an excerpt of what he sent to me, though edited to reduce the length, the gist remains the same.

Yesterday, I had to combat with the mess created by an ignorant client. He earlier requested for a proposal on a project he want my company to execute. We sent a detailed proposal and gave three different options with different cost implications. In his own wisdom, he decided to create an entirely new fourth option by mixing features from two different options. Economically, it sounded like a good idea, but from professional experience we advised that it was too risky and if anything goes wrong, he will end up with a bill higher than any of the three options initially sent to him.

Did he listen? No, he argued and claimed that he was better off with his idea and we should go ahead because he was certain that it will work out fine. From his argument, it was obvious that he was more interested in the cost reduction being offered by his new option. He totally discounted the risk factor that ought to be built into the new option. After a long time of trying to persuade him to change his mind, we consented to his wish but requested that he put the decision in writing to be signed by all. That was done and there was warm hand-shake after the deal was sealed. However, I was very uncomfortable and I told my boss so.

Twenty four hours after the deal was sealed, the project started and everyone were busy working towards delivery on schedule. However, just about 60% into project completion, there was a hitch. A firm handling a particular aspect of the project has suddenly pulled out, claiming they cannot meet up with their promise due to some technical fault in their equipment (they never mobilized to site). That was a stupid thing to say after receiving mobilization fees, and of course they were part of the project design and planning. I will like you to note that in our initial proposal, we ensured that all parties involved in the project were capable firms and they were having enough stake in the project to warrant full commitment.

Unfortunately, the new option the client created introduced a new firm who we didn’t know much about (a competent firm was removed with the excuse that their charges was too high). During the negotiation meeting I pointed out the risk of using a firm that is not known, but the client was vouching for the new firm’s competency (that to me was a dumb thing to do). Well, the firm’s failure was at a critical moment, the entire project was getting messed up. A colossal loss was staring the client in the face and my company’s corporate reputation was at stake too.

I was summoned by my boss and asked to give a quick review of the project. Was I furious? You could actually feel the heat emanating from my face. After narrating the whole incidence all over again and showing evidences that the client was warned but he refused to take my advice, I expected my boss to write a stinker to the client telling him to go clean up his mess. My boss did otherwise.

He reminded me that the client remains one of our major clients even though he has made a stupid decision that resulted in loss of fund and time. So, I shouldn’t be upset and rub the blame deep on the client. Instead, I should note that it is at such a critical time like this that a business relationship with the client can be further strengthened. He told me plainly that I have no fault whatsoever and my team has acted in line with our company policy, however, I’ve got to clean up the mess created by the client. He told me to go back to the drawing board with the assumption that the mistake was mine since that is the only way my creative mind will agree to bring forth a solution. I didn’t like it, but I knew he was right, so I went back to my team and we started brainstorming on how to salvage the situation with as little fund as possible.

Kudo’s to my team member for their cooperation. We came up with ideas I never thought of before and the whole mess was cleared up. Then came another shocker. I wanted to pass the bill for the repair to the client, but my boss stopped me and instructed that it should be shared 50:50. So, the client was not only saved from a colossal loss, but was actually getting free consultancy from my company while paying only half of the cost of repair. It took some time before my brain could accept that, I was really upset and wanted to tell my boss it wasn’t fair and I personally consider it stupid. Even if the client is important, must we be held accountable for his mess?

Well, it was a good thing I held my tongue. I would have needed to apologize later to my boss. Today, we receive a thank you note from the client and a fresh request for a quote for an entirely new project. The client followed that up with a telephone call promising to always adhere by our professional advice. Looking back now, I understand why my boss, took the decisions he took. Maybe that is why he is the boss and I still report to him. I just wanted to share this with you.

Please extend my warm greetings to…………

I believe the story said it all. Even if your client goofed, it is not wise to rub the mess on his nose. Here are the lessons I got from the story.

• That the client is considered a king is no assurance that he will act wisely.

• When the client goofs, you need to handle the mess created carefully.

• Relationship is more important than short-term profit.

• Never show your anger to a client else you lose them to the competitors.

That’s it. When next you feel like boxing a client for goofing, remember that he holds the purse, so you must treat him like a king even when he is acting plain stupid. I’ll love to know how you handle difficult clients especially after they have created a mess by ignoring your professional advice. Please share your story in the comment section. You can get future updates to this post When the client goofs by subscribing to my RSS feed. Cheers.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, client's mistake, Competitor, Professional Experience, Right Decision, Risk Factor, Successful Entrepreneur

Poor Service Eventually Brings Bankruptcy

I get bothered when I see businesses attempting to increase their profit by cutting corners, capitalizing on consumers’ ignorance to cheat them. The truth is that those entrepreneurs are not wise. You may record a high profit today because you succeeded in cheating a customer, but be rest assured that the customer will eventually discover (even if it takes years) that he or she was cheated and will never patronize you again. If your business is undergoing financial crisis due to the global economic meltdown, it is time you start giving your customers more than they deserve, that way, they will stick with you until the trouble is over. I will share two story with you to buttress my point.

The Nameless Restaurant

Last week, while out of the office on an official assignment, I saw a little restaurant. It lacked all the Zeon signs and gorgeous display that makes eateries in Nigeria cities stand out. However, the place was filled with customer and my colleague volunteered to give me a quick lecture. He explained that even though the place doesn’t look beautiful (it was indeed plain looking), the quality of food being offered there is better than that of bigger competitors. Bankers, oil workers, businessmen etc (with their designer suits, babariga) prefer eating in that small spot instead of the bigger ones because of the quality of the food and the attitude of the staff to customers. So the customers come from far distance and park their Porsche cars to eat in that plain looking restaurant, the bigger competitors must be envious. The place doesn’t have a name, but I can’t forget the location.

The New Zealous Commenter on Nigerian Entrepreneur

Well, an incident this morning reminded me of that restaurant. As I was checking the back-end of my blog, I noticed a new commenter who took time to drop high quality comments. Even though I wasn’t in the mood to go checking other people’s blog, I couldn’t help but checkout the guy that was zealously dropping comments that are best described as half-posts.

Each comment was his personal view expressed with all sincerity. He wasn’t sounding like a praise singer, a keyword back-link seeker or a con-artist advertiser. I believe one of the reasons it made so much impression on me is because a lot of fellow Naija brothers have been trying to use my blog as a free advertisement board. They advertise their wares in a most annoying manner. Some do it in such a way that I really get angry and delete such comments (no matter how busy I am, I still moderate comments as much as I can, I hate spamming).

Well, since I wasn’t in the mood to spend time on the net, I dropped only two comments on that fellow’s blog. He didn’t ask for it, but I know he deserve more than those two. I’ve made up my mind to repeatedly visit his blog and add my little contribution to his blog.

To be successful, give quality service first, then expect great profit

The lesson from the two stories is to; Give Quality Service, Reap Great Profit. Ask any successful entrepreneur, he was first a giver before he became a receiver. Forget about grabbing and cheating your way to the top, even if you succeed at it, you won’t stay there long. If you doubt me, you can ask those Nigerian bankers who are currently singing to EFCC.

Thanks for visiting my blog you can get future updates to this post Give Quality Service, Reap Great Profit by subscribing to my RSS feed. Cheers.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Attitude, Bankruptcy, Business Success, Businessmen, Economic Crunch, Financial Crisis, Global Economic Meltdown, Nigeria Cities, Oil Workers, Principle, Quality Service

Human beings are quite creative. I’ll share a practical observation that I made with you. I live in the part of a city where the roads are so bad that individuals often prefer to park their private cars and use commercial vehicle (just to save on maintainance cost). As the situation got worse, (the government agencies simply closed their eyes to commuters plight), some smart small scale entrepreneurs started importing motorcycle and were giving them out to jobless young men on hire purchase. That was the begining of okada business in my community.

Those entrepreneur made so much money while the okada business last. Unfortunately, some criminals took advantage of the situation also and started using motorcycles as quick-get-away vehicles for their criminal activities. It became an everyday occurrence to hear story of people being robbed or assaulted by motorcyclist. The complain from the public was so much and the only solution the state government could think of was to ban the use of motorcycle altogether (never mind the fact that it sounds funny that it is now unlawful to use a motorcyle in my neighbourhood).

The ban was a great misfortune to many entrepreneurs and many youth who earned their living via okada business were thrown back into the unemployment club. While some entrepreneurs went home counting their loss, the smart entrepreneurs went home brainstorming on the next opportunity to catch on. For your information, the roads are still as bad as before.

Well, those smart entrepreneurs settled for a new business with TRICYCLES. We call it “KEKE NAPEP” At first, people were reluctant to enter the tricycles (human beings naturally resist changes). Well, it wasn’t long before we were forced to change and embrace keke napep as the best means of moving from one point to another.

The reason being that they are better at navigating the bad road and they also find it easy to pass in-between on-coming and on-going vehicles whenever there is traffic jam. The CAB-DRIVERS in my neighborhood hates those tricycle with passion. As far as they are concern the tricycles are business spoillers. They carry more passengers than the taxi (you may not believe it, but some carry as much as 6passengers beside the driver, that is Naija for you) and also make more trips per day.

Why am I discussing this? Well, I have being facing a lot of challenge with my online businesses. The soucrce of the challenge is just my ISP (Internet Service Provider). My company relies heavily on internet for communication with clients. Unfortunately, after dishing out a whooping sum of $200 per month (thirty thousand Nigerian naira) per month as rental for VSAT internet connectivity, we are stuck with a bad service provider that gives excuse instead of quality service. It is not easy to dump the ISP and go for another because they are still the best available in my neighborhood, and our present subscription covers several months.

So, I’m just praying and looking for an opportunity to get rid of them. When I get the right opportunity (I’m really on the look-out for it), I’m going to start an ISP company to serve my community.

If you’ve been wondering why my posting hasn’t been consistent, now you know. I’m not quitting blogging, I’m just fighting the challenges hindering me from getting online as I want to.  However, I’ve been busy exploiting some offline business opportunities too. I do really believe in multiple streams of income, so I have several baskets for my business eggs, not just one. Are there needs around you? Think deep, those needs will birth business opportunities for you. Cheers.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business Opportunities, Economic Crunch, Government Agencies, keke napep, Motorcyle, New Business, Okada, small scale entrepreneurs, Smart Entrepreneurs, Tricyles

I was chatting with a friend some weeks back and she asked if a particular Nigerian Bank was financially healthy. To me the question was absurd and I told her so. I even boasted that the era of banks going distressed is gone forever. Oh, how wrong I was. I had believed the lies that were told by my bankers. I believed the false reports tendered by the bankers as proof of health to the general public. The particular bank my friend was making enquiry about was among the five banks recently placed under searchlight by the CBN.

The five Nigerian Banks, according to CBN concentrated too much effort in granting loans to businesses in the highly risky oil and gas sector. As if that wasn’t enough, they set aside the rules governing loan approval and were utterly reckless in granting personal loans to insiders. Much of the loans were not properly collateralize as required by law. Simply put, they were playing lottery with depositors funds and jeopardizing investors funds.

While some people praised the effort of the CBN, some criticize the crude method used by the CBN. Recent information has shown that the CBN didn’t fine tune her findings before rushing to the press. Now the public is in a dilemma of what to believe! Well, I am not interested in the accusation and counter-accusations being traded by the CBN and the affected bankers. My personal concern is the effect of this ill wind on the economy of Nigeria.

Can I still trust my banker?

Until this millenum, small scale entrepreneur in Nigeria were quite skeptical of using banks.  They trusted their ‘Esusu’ ‘Akawo’ and other local cooperative societies better than the banks. However, it is practically impossible to expand ones business and play in the bigger market without making use of banks. So, many were forced to imbibe the culture of using the banking system.

Beside this, the activities of petty thieves and armed robbers have thought many that it is not a wise idea keeping large quantity of physical cash at home. Also, the introduction of ATM machine encouraged many entrepreneurs who are merchants to imbibe the culture of using banks for transfering money from one location to another. Gone are the days when merchants travelling from Onitsha to Lagos or any other part of Nigeria carries money on their person while travelling. The ATM card is safer and more portable.

Unfortunately, the recent activities of the bankers has cast serious doubts on the mind of the small scale entrepreneurs. The reality is that the average small scale businessman in Nigeria is now scared of putting his/her little fund in the bank. But how can you transact business without using the banks. This remains a dilemma! It is common sense to note that the risk of getting robbed while keeping physical cash is higher and more probable than the risk of a bank getting distressed. However, if bankers tells lies blatantly and engage in shoddy deals with depositors fund, should an entrepreneur still trust them?

I’m sorry if I disappointed you by not providing an answer to the nagging question, “Should I still trust my banker?” I really feel bad that the effort to encourage the public to imbibe the culture of keeping cash in the bank and doing less of physical cash transaction has been badly crippled by the dishonest financial institutions. The truth is, people are really getting scared of entrusting their funds with bankers.

Is there no Solution?

I really wish the regulatory bodies (CBN etc.) will wake up to their duties. Their primary assignment is to prevent fraudulent and illegal practices among the financial institutions. Their effort should be concentrated on prevention (not catching culprits long after the loot has been spent!)

I personally don’t give any kudos to CBN for their performance so far. As far as I’m concerned, they are partly to blame for the rottenness in the financial sector. If their inspectors and auditors are men of integrity who prefer good name to bribe, they would have discovered and reported long ago on the anomalies occurring in those banks books. Since they failed to give accurate and honest report as at when due, then I see them as accomplices who encouraged the bankers to misuse depositors funds.

The issue of non-performing loans

The outcry of the CBN on the mamoth size of the non-performing loans being carried by the banks is another issue that deserve closer srutiny. It is a well known fact that the various tiers of government are owning local entrepreneurs working for them. Instead of using the public fund in the coffer to settle contractors who have completed their job, some political office holders embezzle such fund while hiding behind official beureacracy.

Some of the entrepreneurs accused of owing non-performing loans in  those banks have come out to defend themselves and accused the government of being responsible for their inability to repay what they owed as at when due. If the government agencies refuses to pay an entrepreneur as agreed in a contract, then what right has the same government to insist that such entrepreneur should repay loan taken to execute the same contract?

If EFCC is serious about helping to recover the non-performing loans, then they should start by querying the top government officials in those parastatals that are owing contractors. The accountant-generals, commissioners of finance etc of each state and local government should be asked to explain to the public why they are not meeting up with the contract agreement made with the local entrepreneurs. The truth be told, we will have a better Nigeria if our leaders believe in the slogan, Good Leaders, Great Nation!

I’ll love to hear your opinion on this issue. Share with us in the comment section. You can get updates to this post Can You Still Trust Your Banker by subscribing to Nigerian Entrepreneur RSS feed, Cheers.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business Success, Cbn, Economy Of Nigeria, EFCC, Entrepreneur, Financial Crisis, Gas Sector, Loan Approval, Nigerian Banks, Nigerian Small Scale Business, Oil And Gas, Personal Loans, small business, Success Team

Keeping yourself motivated is crucial for you to achieve your goal in life and business. You need to motivate yourself in other to excel at your job. Also, you need to motivate whoever is working with you if you really want to have a winning team. Coaches understand this issue better. A team that is not motivated will surely get a poor performance irrespective of how talented the member of the team may be.

Motivating yourself to excel at your business should not be something you do only once a while. As a blogger, I have often been tempted to abandon blogging and move on to somethings I consider much more interesting. But then, there is a wise saying that quitters don’t win and winners don’t quit.

Self-motivation is an ongoing process that should include every facet of your business life. This means your mental attitude, physical well-being and appearance, work atmosphere, your interaction with others (clients and employees alike), and your off-the-job environment.

In this generation, there are professional motivational coaches who earn a living by giving talks to professionals and businessmen who are striving for success. I won’t ask you for any money, but here are five tips that will keep you motivated enough to realize your goal.

You Need a Positive Attitude – You may not be in a position to determine what happens to your or your business. However, you are 100% capable of determining how you react to the event. Your reaction to issues is much more important than the events themselves. If you react with a positive mental attitude, you will most likely figure out a way to turn adverse situation to an opportunity. However, whenever you put up a negative attitude, you simply end up magnifying the challenge you are facing until it becomes impossible to tackle.

Have you noticed that when you are around people/things that are uplifting and positive, you feel that way. You have more confidence in yourself, and know you can change whatever needs changing. If you can make your workplace such a place you’ll find happier workers and higher production. You might even find your employees look forward to coming to work!

Keep Personal Challenges Personal – As an entrepreneur, it is necessary for you to keep personal problems as personal and not mix them up with business challenges. You will make greater progress in your business if you keep your personal troubles at home and not rub them off on your employees or clients.

Once you are at work, give your full attention and energy to your business and forget about the challenges you had at home. This gives you a mental break from the troubles at home and also ensure that your team members do not get saddled with troubles they can’t possibly solve. Encourage each team member to keep their personal troubles at home too, except if they need personal advice. Discourage people from transferring personal troubles to the work-place and using it to react to fellow employee or clients.

Create Positive Affirmations – It is true that a man eventually becomes what he thinks about all day long. That means if you change what you think about, you can change your life. One way of achieving that is by taking time to write down positive affirmations on little piece of papers and read them out aloud to yourself all day long. What your eyes see and ears hear, your mind will believe. Try it! After you’ve written them down, read them aloud to yourself and do it every morning when you get into work. You’ll be amazed at what happens. Come up with a set of new ones every month. Statements such as, “I’m an important and valuable person,” or “I know I’ll make good use of my time today.” Repeating them out loud several times a day will help keep you motivated.

Take a Break – Remember that wise saying, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, the truth is all work and no “break” will make any entrepreneur an unhealthy person. Working round the clock without adequate rest is counter-productive. Your body and brain need time to rejuvenate. If you refuse to rest, you simply become less productive, and may actually end up a wreck due to stress. Don’t get wound up with the project or situation you’re working on that you don’t ease up. Thinking that it’ll be solved in the next few seconds, and then you’ll get a cup of coffee can lead you right up to quitting time. Regularly adhering to a specified break schedule, even if you’re the boss, releases the tension. If you work on a computer this is even a greater problem because before you realize it – you’ve been working in that same position for hours. The best answer to this is to set yourself a reminder on your appointment calendar for every 2 hours, and let the computer reminder chime send you the alert to move around. I’ve gotten into health trouble due to long hours of working on my desktop without resting. Eventually, I had to take several days off to recuperate. So, I strongly advise that you take a break, less you break-down.

Exercise Your Body – Your body need to be exercised to keep fit. Remember, health is the first wealth you must possess. A healthy body is about the greatest asset you can ever have as an entrepreneur. Irrespective of how wonderful your business ideas may be, if you are sick in your body, you may not be able to turn such business ideas to money making ventures. It is therefore wise to keep your body fit. By “exercise” I don’t mean that you should go out and join a gym and spend your lunch-time, 3-days-a-week there working out. What is really beneficial and workable is that at regular intervals, leave the task you are working on, get up and walk around your desk or room. Maybe go outside and get the mail and enjoy the sunlight (if you’re an entrepreneur that has a home office), or just get up and do a few stretches. Concentrated, tense thinking – typing – plotting plans – or whatever your work, makes all those muscles tighten up and knot up. Then when we move we “ooh” and “ouch” because we’ve knotted up into a ball of tension. Periodic stretching, even at our desk, or just getting up and walking over to the window and getting a different view can help. One of the greatest disservice modern business décor has done to us, is making our offices pristine, sleek, unencumbered spaces. There is nothing more relaxing than getting up from your desk and walking over to a peaceful, serene, seascape or pastoral painting and just drinking it in visually. Momentarily transporting your mind out of work and into that place does wonders. A few good paintings and less shiny chrome in offices would benefit us all.

I do hope you’ll put this 5 tips to use. They may sound simple or mere repetition of what you’ve read elsewhere. I never told you I manufactured them. However, I can sincerely tell you that the tips works. If you have a tip that works for you that I did not mention, kindly share with us in the comment section. You can get future updates to this article 5 Tips For Staying Motivated by subscribing to my RSS feed.

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Post tags: Business Life, Businessmen, Negative Attitude, Poor Performance, Positive Attitude, Positive Mental Attitude, Self Motivation, Success, Team Coaches, Winning Team, Work Atmosphere

If you are wondering how to choose a web hosting company, then read this article. There are thousands of web hosting companies doing business online. Each one have mouth watering hosting packages and makes reassuring promises to keep your business online 24/7. Making a choice among these can be quite difficult. How can you know the one that will truly provide your business the much needed excellent hosting solution at an affordable price?

Web Hosting Server

Big business enterprises can afford to own their own web hosting servers or pay for dedicated web hosting servers. This is not an option for most small scale entrepreneurs. Small scale business owners especially the home based business owners often have to make do with shared web hosting due to their small business budgets. This article is meant to provide help for such entrepreneurs.

What are the qualities to look for in a web hosting company?

1. Excellent Customer Support: Your hosting provider should be there for you 24/7 and give you instant access to the technicians you need to solve your problem. Ask them how long it takes for them to typically respond to your problem. A good test is to call them in the mid night to check if you get to a live, level 3 support. There must be provision for Live Chat as this tend to be more efficient in helping to troubleshoot website issues than phone calls or email. Go ahead and use their ticket system for pre-sale support, taking note of how many hours it takes them to attend to you. If their response time for sales is slow, then you can be rest assured that their response time for technical support will most likely be worse.

2. A Sound Infrastructure: Check whether they offer a multi-homed network powered by multiple bandwidth providers to ensure redundancy. Some offer a 100% guarantee on its network availability or network uptime. Getting information about this is not easy though. You may need to spend some time doing research about the web hosting company you have zero on. Read reviews and comments about their services in forums. Avoid website previews as they are often bias. A good place to get information about webhosting companies and their performance is webhostingtalk.com

3. Financial Stability: If you’re running very critical operations, you can’t afford to be with a hosting company that may not be in business in a few months. Check to see if the web hosting company is a one-man business being operated from a bedroom. There is nothing wrong with doing business with such as long as he or she is a reseller for a reputable web hosting company. However, you will be doing yourself a disfavor and courting trouble if you host your business website with a sole-proprietor who owns the servers he is using for business. Web hosting servers cost a lot of money and as such cannot be easily run by small scale business. Incorporated businesses tends to be more reliable.

4. Scalability: Be sure your web host company can easily upgrade your hosting package as your business grows. There should be provision for migrating from shared web hosting packages to dedicated servers or virtual private servers. Ensure the web host can accommodate e-commerce and storefronts, wireless capability, blogs, forums, chats, online interactive helps and anything else you may need to add onto your site as your business expands. The last thing you want to do is change host mid way. It is never an easy nor smooth experience moving your website from one hosting company to another.

5. Provision of Regular Backup: Ensure that the web host company is willing to make regular backup of your website which will be kept on a separate server. This will help to reduce the recovery time in case of a server failure. You need to make enquiry about this as some web host may deman extra payment to provide such service.

Pitfalls to avoid in choosing a web hosting company

Avoid like a plague, free or very inexpensive web hosting services. They often end up creating headache and heartache for entrepreneurs, with bouts of server downtimes. As a small business owner, you don’t want to start spending hours on phone or chatting to find out why your website is not up. Having paid for the web hosting service, you will love to focus on your core business and grow your business. Chasing after web hosting technicians and doing follow-up on support tickets will not increase your revenue. Also note that you are likely to have significant limitations in storage, number of email addresses, FTP upload, ability to install scripts etc when you choose a free web hosting company or a very inexpensive web host.

Avoid web hosting companies whose data centers are located in volatile areas. You don’t want to loose your online business website due to civil unrest in the location where the data center of the company is located.

This post is not a review of any web hosting company. Therefore there is no link to any web hosting company. If you have experience you will like to share as a user of web hosting services, kindly share it in the comment section below. You can get future updates to this post, How to choose a web hosting company by subscribing to my RSS feed. Cheers.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Based Business Owners, Business Budgets, Business Enterprises, Business Online, Home Based Business Owners, Hosting Solution, Network Availability, Network Uptime, Server Uptime, Small Scale Business, Small Scale Entrepreneur, Web Host Packages, Web Host Response Time, Web Hosting Companies, Web Hosting Company, Web Hosting Servers

Nigeria Seo

For about three months now, I have been working on building quality backlinks to my site. The result has been a significant improvement in my search engine traffic. Currently, the traffic from the search engines is about 62% of the monthly traffic to Nigerian Entrepreneur. Alexa seems to be happy with me too. I currently rank 71st in Nigeria.

I have worked tirelessly to improve my on-page site optimization and have read widely on the best way to implement SEO (search engine optimization) on a blog without spending a fortune. That has lead to better placement in SERP (search engine result pages).

The result of all the effort has been a steady and consistent flow of traffic from the search engines. Unfortunately, it seems Google is not happy that they have to send visitors my way. Now, my pagerank is being reduced!

When I first had a drop from Google PR4 to PR3 three weeks ago, I didn’t bother because I know that my hosting company changed the server hosting my files. The change resulted in a changed IP address for Nigerian Entrepreneur and to the best of my knowledge, that may have affected the way Google looks at the site.

However, things have since settled down and I was expecting a return to my PR4 with some inner pages having PR2. Well, I got a shock this morning. Nigerian Entrepreneur has been dropped by Google to PR2! To me that is ridiculous. I really wonder what the algorithm robot is using to arrive at such judgment.

I just felt angry, about the whole issue. However, after reading some posts about Google Page Rank dropping, (Some were written as far back as 2006) I decided that I will simply ignore the drop and continue working on writing quality content on my blog and building backlinks. That way, the visitors will keep coming. I really don’t have anything to loose other than the title of Google PR4. If I feel so bad, I may start my own PageRank website and guess what, I will rank myself 10 and rank Big G -10 (just kidding).

Having educated myself with articles written by others, I am just going to relax and continue doing my white hat SEO. The result I’m getting is a better deal than the title anyway. How do you compare a site with PR0 earning 4digit cheques in Google Adsense with a PR7 site that earns nothing but talks about a dying language in my little hometown. For an online entrepreneur seeking to make money online, the PR0 website is much more desirable. By the way, my Google Adsense earnings have been improving too. Thanks to G.

In case you find yourself in a similar situation crying Why is my Google PageRank Dropping? Don’t despair, you may not have done anything wrong (except if you are selling links or your blog has been marked as a linkfarm). If you are being penalize, it will not be a drop, it will be a complete wipe-out. You could be taken from high PR7 to PR0 in one day. If your PR is grayed out, then your website have been blacklisted!

If you have a better thought on why my Google PageRank is dropping, say it in a comment, cheers.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Backlinks, Entrepreneur, Google Pagerank, Hosting Company, Page Rank, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Result, Search Engine Result Page, Search Engine Traffic, Search Engines, Search Google, Search Traffic, SEO, Seo Optimization, SERP, Site Optimization

The following are some of the methods that I have employed to drive traffic to my website:

1. Word of mouth – I tell anyone that cares to listen that I have a website.
2. Email – I use the website address in my email signature.
3. Advertisement on other websites – Some paid adverts, some free adverts.
4. Link and Banner exchange – This is common among bloggers.
5. Forum participation – I was active in over fifteen different communities.
6. Comments on blogs – I drop quality comments in fellow bloggers ‘websites.
7. Social Bookmarking e.g. Blogcatalog, Delicious, Tweeter, Entrecard, Digg, StumbleUpon, Mixx, Reddit and several others.

Out of the seven website traffic strategies listed above, I spent more time on the last one, social network traffic. The reason why is obvious to the experts, it is the “get-quick-result” website traffic strategy. Unfortunately, it happens to be the most time consuming and least enduring website traffic generator.

Unlike the others, even if your website is one minute old, you can have 6,000 web visitors if you have a powerful social traffic club in place. Digg and StumbleUpon are notorious for such kind of feat. If a noteable Digg user or Stumbler smiles on your website and bookmark it, you will end up with more traffic than you can handle.

Why I don’t like Social Website Traffic

Social Website traffic requires constant participation in the social communities. You must keep on Stumbling, Digging making friends, doing others a favor so that you can get one in return and keeping yourself updated on the events in the social community so that you remain relevant. It is so much hard work and quite time consuming.

Why I settled for Search Engine Website Traffic

Search engine traffic is about the most difficult to build. It takes planning and focus. Before you can receive website traffic from the search engine, you must do your home-work on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), provide quality content and build quality back-links. This is not an easy task to perform. That is why many webmasters outsource their SEO and will rather pay for search engine traffic than work to rank high in the search engine. The ignorant ones, rely on social traffic to get visitors.

Well, the truth is that, social website traffic is indeed not the kind of traffic you are looking for. Social website traffic rarely converts to sale. Visitors that comes to your site from social communities such as StumbleUpon are not looking for what to buy, rather they are just STUMBLING around the web (the word “STUMBLING” is most appropriate to convene what I mean). If you are looking for buyers, or potential customers, you will be better off, getting targeted website traffic from the search engines.

Visitors from the search engines are people looking for a specific thing. They are not just passing away the time with the search engine, if you have what they need, or you have information on how they can get what they need, you can be rest assured that they will be happy to stay on your site. So what I have learned to do, can be broken down into three simple strategy:

1. Get my website on-page and off-page Search Engine Optimization right.
2. Provide Quality Content that address the need of the visitors that I am expecting.
3. Go out to build backlinks from authority websites in the niche that I am targeting for traffic.

That sounds simple, isn’t it? Well, the truth is that it is difficult to accomplish. So why do I insist that search engine website traffic is the best method for an entrepreneur, the answer is that you get to do the hard-work only once! Yes, you heard me right. Once you do the hardwork well and you get it right, you can actually go on to some other things. The search engine will take over and continually send targeted visitors to your business website.

I learnt this truth after much Stumbling and Digging in the wrong places for website traffic that converts. Now I know better. I don’t have to drop 300cards per day, nor Digg stories I am not interested in just to please someone. Stumbling articles is now done at my pleasure, not as one of my daily TO DO TASK!

If you are serious about getting targeted website traffic that converts to sale, then it is high time you start working on those three points listed above. It is no gainsaying, search engine traffic is best for business websites, Nigerian Entrepreneur is a living proof .

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Entrepreneur Website, Forum Participation, Network Traffic, Quality Comments, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Traffic, Search Engine Website Traffic, Social Communities, Stumbleupon, Traffic Club, Traffic Generator, Traffic Strategies, Traffic Strategy, Web Visitors, Website Traffic

If you think it’s only the government that needs a 7 Point Agenda, then you’re mistaken, one of my business mentor gave me a quick lecture on 7 Point Agenda for Business Success. Well, most of the points were not really new, but the God factor in business was unique. I couldn’t argue with him because the global financial meltdown has proved the experts wrong. If you care, here are the seven points without my usual long ramblings

1. Have a Goal

If you aim for nothing, you will get nowhere. Your goal must be specific and written down. The process of writing down a goal forces you to describe in a detailed manner what you really intend to achieve. When I started this website, Nigerian Entrepreneur, I wrote out my goal. It has helped to keep me focus and restrained me from following the bandwagon of every new fad that I come across.

2. Develop a blueprint for success

Creating a plan for your personal and business success cannot be over emphasized. If you fail to conscious make a good plan of how you intend to succeed in life, then you have just unconsciously planned to fail in life. Also note that if your plan is not written, then it doesn’t really exist. Don’t be afraid to write down your plan. You can always modify it as you get more informed about life and business.

3. Get Organized

Establish a to-do-list, plan your day and make people adjust to your schedule. God can only work with an organized person, and successful people don’t like associating with disorganized fellows. Nobody enjoys the company of a man who does not know where he is going, what he is doing and what he is aiming for. Circumstances and people should not dictate your schedule. If you don’t learn how to turn down unnecessary distortion of your daily schedule, then you can’t be a successful entrepreneur. Review your performance in the evening before hitting your bed.

4. Build Networks

You can’t be an island and succeed. While following the crowd is not right, trying to be an island is foolish too. You need people and people need you. You must understand that you have strengths and weaknesses. You are designed by God to contribute your strengths and receive help from others to combat your weaknesses. Build relationships before you need them.

5. Be generous with your saving and investment, but stingy with expenses

The size of your harvest is often a function of the seed you sowed. You must understand the difference between liabilities and assets. Anything that brings money into your business is an asset, anything that takes money out of your business is a liability (your Porsche car inclusive). Great business empires were not built by great spending, rather, they were made with great savings and wise investments.

6. Self Development

Continuous investment in yourself is the best decision you can take as an entrepreneur. The knowledge you possess is greater and much more important than the material possessions that you have acquired. A successful entrepreneur can start all over again and yet become successful if striped of all he has acquired. Material possession can be taken away from you, but only mental illness can rob you of what you have invested into your mind. Take time to read good books. Listen to great message that will motivate, inspire and uplift your spirit. Read bibliography of great men and women that impacted their generation.

7. Make God your senior business partner

Irrespective of how smart or intelligent you are, there are times when nothing works. That is when God steps in. If He is your senior partner, He sure will bail you out. My mentor buttress his point with the story of an American oil tycoon named John D. Rockefeller. See the poem he wrote at the age of 86

I was early taught to work as well as play,
My life has been one long, happy holiday;
Full of work and full of play-
I dropped the worry on the way-
And God was good to me everyday.

After reading the poem, I was greatly challenged. How many businessmen can say their life is one long happy holiday? Some of us are still afraid of taking annual vacation.

Well, after all said and done, I still challenged my mentor that President Yar’adua has a 7 Point Agenda which has not really achieved much for Nigerians. So what makes him think this will work. He simply challenged me to bring up my own success formula and prove it works by showing RESULT! He doesn’t believe in TALK, cos talk is cheap. Well, since I couldn’t argue the fact that he is a successful entrepreneur (that’s why I made him my business mentor in the first place), I simply kept my cool, wishing inside of me that I could somehow prove him wrong. Until I can match his success with a better result, I guess he remains the boss (my business mentor).

Now you have the 7 Points Agenda For Business Success, what are you going to do with it? Tell us in a comment! Cheers.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blueprint, Business Mentor, Business Success, Financial Meltdown, God Factor, Personal Success, Successful Entrepreneur

Well, the answer is simple. Creating a business plan is an essential step for any prudent entrepreneur to take, regardless of the size of the business. Skipping this step is tantamount to planning for business failure. There is an adage that, He who fails to plan has planned to fail.

What is a business Plan?

It is a roadmap detailing how an entrepreneur will move a business from its current status to the intended status. It details the current status of the business (finance, manpower and other resources) the goals of the business, reasons why the entrepreneur is convinced that those goals are achievable and strategies to be employed for making the goals a reality.

It is an attempt to predict future opportunities and put in place financial, operational and marketing strategies that will enable the entrepreneur achieve his/her goals. That sure sounds complicated, isn’t it.

Well, you need not bother, simply put a business plan is a map showing where you are now, where you intend to get to and how to get there. So the key elements you need to bother about are: Where is my business now? Where do I intend my business to be in Xmonths (6months, 12months or five years, it all depends on the individual. However, 12months is recommended as ideal time frame). How do I get there? Now that the definition is out of the way, lets get down to business.

Purpose of a Business Plan

The primary purpose of a business plan is to create a written outline that evaluates all aspects of the economic viability of a business venture. It must spell out in details your business goals, business prospects, the resources required and the strategy for attaining your goals.

It is unfortunate that most startup entrepreneurs are reluctant to write down their business plan. Your business plan is the roadmap you will need to chart the course of your business.

Common Myths about a Business Plan

1.      A business plan is not meant to be an excuse to procrastinate your business startup! If you are starting a home base business, it is not necessary to write volumes detailing all the beautiful dreams you have about the business. You will be better off if you jot down a few essential points and then start implementing them immediately.

2.      A business plan is not meant to be cast in iron. As you make progress in your entrepreneurship journey, you will often review your business plan to make changes. So , don’t be afraid of making mistakes. You can always amend it as you get more understanding of the business.

3.      Creating a business plan is not an attempt to write the next best seller. It is simply a business map to guide your business journey. So, don’t get stuck trying to write the most wonderful business plan.

4.      Business plans can’t all be the same. As ventures vary, so business plans varies. Factors such as types of business, opportunity, goals, size of business etc all contributes to the variance of one business plan to another.

Advantages of a business Plan?

Your business plan is going to be useful in a number of ways.

1.      First and foremost, it will define and focus your objective using appropriate information and analysis.

2.      It will aid you when dealing with potential investors, lenders or banks.

3.      Your business plan can uncover omission and/or weakness in your planning process.

4.      You can use the business plan to solicit opinions and advice from people, including those in your intended field of business, who will freely give you invaluable advice.

Pitfalls to avoid in your business Plan

1.      Use simple language in explaining issues. Make it easy to read and understand.

2.      Use reasonable time limits on future business projections. Better to stick with short-term objectives and modify the plan as your business progresses. Too often, long-range planning becomes meaningless because the reality of your business can be different from your initial concept.

3.      Avoid optimism. It is advisable to be extremely conservative in predicting capital requirements, timeline, sales and profits.

4.      Don’t assume someone won’t get a better idea than yours. Even if your business is dependent on a patented invention be realistic that competition will eventually arise.

5.      Don’t spend so much on startup. Success comes to those who start businesses with great prudence and not necessarily great startup capital.

6.      Do not ignore spelling out what your strategies will be in the event of business adversities. The raining days will surely come it is part of the normal business cycle.

Now that you understand what a business plan is, it is time you grab a pen a notepad and start wrting down the beautiful ideas that you’ve been dreming about all this while. Don’t be afraid of making mistake. Just put something down on paper first. In reality, it is practically impossible to predict all of the changing conditions that will surface. So, just put your best on paper first knowing that after you have opened for business, you will need to periodically review and update your plan.

If you enjoy this post on Creating A Business Plan, say so in a comment and also subscribe to my RSS for future updates. Cheers.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Choose a Small Business Idea to implement -  You can’t be a jack of all trade in business. Trying to do multiple things and calling yourself a general contractor is not the way to go. Even though there are multitudes of business opportunities, you only need one to succeed. If you are confused on how to create a business idea, read 10 tips for creating business ideas. If you have several and you don’t know how to choose, read Small Business Opportunity. The major factor is for you to determine where your passions lie and do what you enjoy doing as business. Of course that must be aligned with the changing reality in the industry you want to operate in. You should be out to serve others, not to please yourself! Money follows service, not pleasure.

Choosing the Legal Form Of Business – Deciding on the legal form of your business is not a decision to be taken lightly. Whether you choose to run a sole proprietorship, enter into partnership with another entrepreneur or form a corporation; your choice must be made with carefulness. This is because the business structure you choose will have an impact on your business and personal liability, how easy you’ll be able to raise fund as well as what your tax liabilities will be. If you ask for my candid opinion, I will advise you to incorporate your business, my reason for that can be found in a previous post I made, Incorporate Your Business.

Name Your Business – You need to give your business a name that project the right image. The name should be such that will not only distinguish you from others, but such that is easy to remember. Avoid names that are too long or complicated to pronounce. Remember word of mouth marketing is still about the most effective marketing strategy for any business. If your customer can’t remember your business name, something is wrong. If they find it difficult to pronounce it, because it is tongue twisting, then you have a problem.

Develop a Business Plan – A business plan is the blueprint or roadmap that shows how you intend to implement your business vision successfully. It should take note of the nature of the industry you wish to work in, set strategies for handling competitors and spell out the various resources that you will need to invest in the business. Remember those who fail to plan have already planned to fail. Don’t carry your business plan in your head, commit it into writing no matter how small the business is.

Get Startup Capital – The fund for startup is a critical issue to be decided upon carefully. If you are a newbie entrepreneur, I will advise that you avoid as much as possible, the temptation of taking a small business loan from either the government or your banker. You are better off raising soft-loans from several friends and relatives. My reason for this is because the probability of you loosing part or all of your startup capital is very high. Lack of experience is a serious challenge to newbie entrepreneurs, so start small with capital you can loose without going bankrupt.

Select a business location – If you are starting off in your home, then this may not be an issue (depending on the kind of business anyway). When choosing a business location, you need to take into account accessibility to your suppliers and clients. You may need a business mentor to assist you in choosing a good business location.

Get necessary business licenses and permits – Before launching out, it is necessary you get familiar with the government requirement for the kind of business you wish to engage in. ensure you get all the various licenses and permits that are statutorily required for you to operate the business. Playing ignorant in this area can be disastrous. Remember, being ignorance of the law is no excuse from jail term. Getting the necessary paperwork sorted out is always cheaper than hiring a lawyer to prove that you didn’t mean to break the law.

Establish an Accounting System – No matter how small your business is, right from day one, you need to keep accurate record of every transaction. You may not need a professional accountant to keep your day to day record, but you need one to advise you on the kind of record you need to keep so that you don’t get yourself into trouble with the Tax authorities in your locality. If you can’t afford to pay one, make friend with one and ask for his/her assistance. It can be heart breaking when you loose all your earnings or get yourself a jail term just because you fail to handle your Tax matter the way it ought to be. Never be penny wise pound foolish.

Insure Your Business – Wise entrepreneurs share risk. Why must you carry all the risk all by yourself? For a token amount paid periodically, you can share the risks associated with your business with an insurance company. No bother prays for disaster or law-suit, but it does happen. It is better to prepare than to be caught unaware.

Start Your Own Small Business Now!

Now you can’t claim any longer that you don’t know how to start your own small business. This post, has outline in a concise manner all that you need to start your own small business. You can get future updates to steps to starting a small business by subscribing to my RSS feed, that will also provide you more tips on starting up, staying competitive, and taking your small business to the next level.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, Business Ideas, business plan, Business Tips, Entrepreneur, small business, small business startup

You know quite well that a small business opportunity discovered and well executed is actually the only thing you need to turn your fortune around! Afterall, several successful entrepreneurs have testified that the first one million dollar is the hardest to make. So we know that we need just the right business opportunity which if well executed has the potential to launch us into wealth. Unfortunately, even though there are several small business opportunities around, you can’t get involve in all. Yes that is the dilemma. Lack of time, money and other resources will make it impossible for you to try out all the beautiful money making ideas that you fantasize with in your imagination

Due to the present global economic crash, those who were satisfied with working for salary before now are beginning to reconsider their stance on starting a small business. Several of my friend who used to make fun of me when I tell them that it is possible to run an internet based business alongside a paid job are now getting interested. Instead of browsing and spending time on social network sites chatting with strangers, they have now made the search engines their best friend. They spend hours searching online for an internet business opportunity that will be suitable for them. Unfortunately, such effort produces poor results.

The singular reason why many are yet to start their own business is because they have no clue where to start from. Some on the other hand do have a clue, because they have bought and read books on small business ideas or home business ideas. You must have come across such books. The title usually goes does, 101 Small Business Opportunities (since this title is not yet in existence, I guess I should write an e-book and give it that title). They were all excited while reading the book, and one will naturally expect them to start a small business once they finished. Well that is not usually the result. Many actually become paralysed after reading such books. The fear of failure keeps them back from taking action. If you have been considering starting your own business for more than 3months, you can be assured that it is either you are afraid of failure or you are suffering from information overload. Information overload is the second major hindrance to starting a small business.

How  Successful Entrepreneurs select business opportunities

Since there are several businesses one could venture into that do not require much capital and investment. The best small business startup strategy is Take Action Now!

1. Make a List – Make a list of at least ten of the common small business ideas you know of. There are business ideas and opportunities all around. If you are determined a little creativity is all it takes to succeed. When writing your list, don’t discard any business opportunity as being too small, because what you consider insignificant may end up as the best business opportunity. Some folks have become extremely wealthy by starting businesses that people considered stupid or unprofitable! Also, it is okay to include the idea of purchasing a small business franchise. It is not compulsory that you must invent your own small business from scratch.

2. Use Your Passion As Criteria For Small Business Idea Selection – Study the list carefully and strike out those you are least passionate about. You cannot be successful if you choose to run with a business idea that you hate. Successful entrepreneurs become successful running businesses they are passionate about. When you are passionate about a business vision, work suddenly becomes pleasure. The joy of seeing the progress being made by the business gives you the motivation you need to succeed. It is not all about money! Remember, if you provide services passionately, profit will follow you naturally and you will become wealthy! So your list must be founded on your passion, not what you consider as being the most lucrative business ideas!

3. Select 3 Small Business Idea For Further Research - Next select the best three ideas you feel you are most passionate about. Use your imagination to look into the future, at least 12months from the present. Will you still be enthusiastic working on any of these business ideas? Are you so passionate about any of them that you will continue working to see it succeed even when nobody is there to encourage you? This is the way to sieve the ideas.

4. Get Advice From Experienced Entrepreneurs – Visit successful entrepreneurs who are already implementing those ideas. (It is wise to go out of your locality so that the entrepreneur will not be afraid of you becoming his next competitor). If possible, chat with at least two entrepreneur for each business ideas you have selected. You will be surprise at the amount of information you will gather from such interviews. This singular step will save you a lot of pain in terms of fund, time and energy that would have been wasted due to your lack of business experience.

5.Pick Your First Small Business Risky Adventure! – Life is all about risk. So  face it. Tell yourself the truth, I wan to take a risk because refusal to deliberately and wisely take a risk at succeeding is itself a bad risk! Select a business opportunity to start with based on the tips garnered from your discussion with those entrepreneurs. You are not just taking a risk by so doing, instead you are doing what every successful entrepreneur does all the time. We take intelligent business risk based on quality information and experience gained from the past.

6. Get An Initial Capital – Get an amount you know you can afford to loose without going bankrupt. Don’t go for small business loan or empty your life savings. That will be a foolish thing to do.  Taking business risk is not the same thing as gambling or playing lottery.  Invest that into the idea you have selected and kick-off.

7.Get a business mentor – It will be nice if you can ask one of the entrepreneurs you interviewed to act as your business mentor. If you can’t get one of them, then get someone online to act as your business mentor. The fellow must be a successful entrepreneur, but not necessarily one that is in the same kind of business that you have ventured into.

8. Document Your Business Adventure – In conclusion I will suggest that you keep a personal journal where you will keep details of your business adventure for the first six months. Write down your experiences during this period. Record things that helped along the way and things that brought frustrations. Take note of business and personal decisions that work and those that got you into trouble. That journal will serve as a very useful business reference material (more valuable than books written by others on business strategies) in your future business adventures.

Start Your Own Small Business Now!

Ok, enough of the theory, get up NOW and take action! That is the only way to succeed. As you make progress with your small business opportunity, kindly return here (Nigerian Entrepreneur) to share your experience with us in the comment section. You can get future updates to this post and other Small business tips by subscribing to my RSS feed. See you at the top!

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Post tags: Business, Business Ideas, internet based business, internet business opportunity, money making ideas, small business franchise, small business ideas, small business opportunities, small business opportunity, starting a small business, starting your own business