Welcome back ma.
Hope your mum is in perfect health now.

welcome back ma,we all miss you.hope your mum's health is okey now. Thank God for journey mercy

juliebest:
Welcome back ma.
Hope your mum is in perfect health now.

Thanks Julie Best. my mum is recuperating and her progress is satisfactory considering that she is no spring chicken.

Kingkingsley:
welcome back ma,we all miss you.hope your mum's health is okey now. Thank God for journey mercy

Thanks Kingkingsley. Its indeed nice to be back home and yes she is making good progress.

Monday morning always has an exhilarating feel for me. And that is the feeling I had as I hit the road yesterday.

While I dread the challenges that are posed by the infamous Port Harcourt traffic and the ever looming rejection by prospective customers I still perceive Mondays as a refreshing commencement of a new season of opportunities especially as it concerns building my network.

Yes, that is what selling is all about; Building a network. The most practical approach to being successful in business or rather trade is to build and sustain a loyal effective network. Trust me, all the contacts that you glean in your quest to sell whatever you are selling at the moment is are very important. As a matter of fact, both the prospects that patronize you in what you are currently selling now and those who don’t patronize at that time are all equally important to you.

Nurture your contacts and you will find them all useful to you in the immediate or remote future. That is why I advise that you take a serious interest in your clients. Genuinely show interest and ensure that you connect with them at a particular frequency. Don’t let them see you as someone who is just interested in returns or sales but rather let them see you as a friend. Compliment them where you can and advise them where necessary. Make all this as real as possible. No acting or pretenses whatsoever. Some people are experienced enough to see right through an act especially the very poorly scripted and badly delivered ones.

Way to go Madam Karine. I must say its really good to have you back. Its so sad that we had to miss you for so long. I was planning seriously with the tips I got here. My wife is working seriously on starting a snack selling business that models your sucess. Thank you for the effort. This is really our biggest blessing since joining Nairaland.

Allstrasse:
Way to go Madam Karine. I must say its really good to have you back. Its so sad that we had to miss you for so long. I was planning seriously with the tips I got here. My wife is working seriously on starting a snack selling business that models your sucess. Thank you for the effort. This is really our biggest blessing since joining Nairaland.

The pleasure is all mine.

My return to business yesterday morning was quite fulfilling.

I first of all checked out my big buyers in Slaughter market and the visited the not so small buyers in Abuloma axis.

Most of them were very happy to have me back primarily because their stock was completely depleted. For some of them I had provided some credit facility when I was leaving for India since it did not make sense for me to leave the goods in my store considering the time I was going to be away.

I was quite pleasantly amazed that some of them had paid the monies in my account. Most of them paid me on my return yesterday while a few of them promised to pay subsequently.

Two outstanding cases I would like to expand on just to share the lessons therefrom.It may be useful but I cannot say as of yet.

During my trip I had bought a few cheap Indian stuff to share among my relatives and friends. You know in Nigeria the reason for travelling abroad is usually immaterial in the face of your loved ones. You must bring something back even if you came back after a medical trip. So among other things I had decided to buy some Indian saris' and some very cheap chiffon scarfs that were really colourful and attractive. The scarfs came 12 for the equivalent of 2 USD in rupees. So I splashed 10 dollars on 5 dozen scarfs and the Indian merchant happily added an extra half dozen as 'jara'. Th intention was to share this among my relatives and also my customers in Port Harcourt and the female staff of PH depot at Woji. Honestly as cheap as it was it came in so useful that you simply have no idea. After all it is free and 'imported'. Such is the mentality some of us harbour.

Karin001:
The concept of CAPITAL means different things to different people. for some it could be large tracts of land, form others it could be a large amount of money ( think with me; have you ever noticed that when the word capital is mentioned in many discussion circles what come to mind for most people is very large sums of money?), for others it could just be equipment, buildings. Nobody ever thinks of health as capital, fewer people think of expertise as capital and I dare say that just an infinitesimal number of people have bought into the most recent thinking of capital being nothing more than an idea or information that is temporarily exclusive to you which if backed by expertise and massive action will translate into unprecedented success. These are my thoughts.

educated on capital thanks ... i have capital!!! idea,health,information even tho no cash yet

1. Aunti Bunmi, the transfigured shrew.

One of the women I have been selling to for a while always takes credit and never pays until you replenish her stock.
Before my trip we had a serious showdown; she had finished her stock and refused to pay for the goods since I didn’t come with any replenishment. I explained to her then that I wasn’t going to be around and needed as much cash as possible. She insisted on only paying when I brought stock.

Yesterday I approached her again but this time not to ask for my money but just to say hi. When she saw me approaching she registered her displeasure by putting on a terrible scowl on her face. Apparently going there without any stock, it was obvious that I had come to create a scene so she inwardly prepared for battle and the scowl was meant to intimidate or cower me. As pained as I was I still mustered my widest smile while praying inwardly for strength and patience to persevere.

On greeting her; Good morning Aunty Bunmi, her response was a very impatient grunt; enhe! So you have come again without stock abi? You are being stubborn abi? Do you know what happens to the stubborn fly? She went on and on and on . At some point it dawned on her that I wasn't firing back as I usually do so she changed gear and became quiet and then asked me if was both deaf and mute simultaneously? Why wasn't I talking? What happened to all my onyinbo grammar? I then told her that she should relax that I just returned from my trip and decided to check on my customers. She then asked of what need is it for me to check on customers when I don’t have stock and that her customers have worried the living daylight out of her and that she had lost some of her customers on this account. And by the way, was I expecting my customers to die or fold up their business because I refused to supply my 'money ritual chin-chin'?

I steeled myself and prayed for help to tolerate and overcome this woman. At that point I brought out the scarf already wrapped with attractive wrapping paper and ribbons and offered it to her saying that it was something that I bought for her from India. She was perplexed and awestruck at the same time. But she relaxed at that point but there were still large question marks in bold type all over her countenance and she then asked me jokingly if I had brought a bomb to detonate in her shop because of a paltry 100,000 that I was owing her. She collected the scarf and added that she has to open package very close to me so that we will die together. She opened it carefully and I noticed that her features were softening by the minute. On seeing the cheap but very attractive multi-coloured scarf, her reaction was startling. She was transfixed and just about when the tears were dropping she ran inside her shop but it was too late I could still hear her sobbing. That I was shocked is an understatement. I also lost a few tears myself.

I waited for her to come out but she didn’t.

All she did was to call Ronke her sales girl inside who later emerged with 100,000 and the scarf telling me Aunty Bunmi sent it and requested that I leave her shop.

I was stupefied.

I rejected the money and scarf and now took a seat insisting that she come out and meet me. She took her time but on realizing that I wasnt going to budge, she came out a bit embarrassed that I had seen her in such a vulnerable state.

She then sent Ronke out and asked me with a most peaceful tone that I didn’t think she was capable of; why did I buy her the scarf as difficult as she was to me?

I then explained that I liked her very much and I always felt that I met her on her bad days and that one day I would be fortunate to meet her on her good day. She cried again and then obliged me a short history of her life;…… Interesting lives we lead. Simply amazing.

uvalued:


educated on capital thanks ... i have capital!!! idea,health,information even tho no cash yet

Uvalued, forgive my intrusion but what the lady wrote about capital earlier is no joke. I faulted it when I first read it but when I gave serious thought to it over several weeks, I realized that nothing could be truer than the stated position. Think about it yourself. Capital isnt just cash. Ot entails so much else. The lady is not being new agey at all. It is a new recognition.

Aunty OP can you pls continue? We are dying of suspense.

In her narration, Wunmi told me she was 53, and had been married twice and ever since her parents’ death when she was a teenager, no one had ever showed her any appreciation, not her husband(s), not her relatives, not her friends. No one had ever given her a gift of even a handkerchief in almost 30 years and here I arrive and despite her coldness to me I still gave her something and that was very special and that accounted for her tears.

She was now rejecting the scarf because she didn’t deserve it. I insisted and finally convinced her to keep it and she grudgingly agreed. And then suddenly, from out of the blue she just dragged me up and gave me a bear hug almost extinguishing me. She then insisted that I must take the 100, 000 and I agreed gratefully.

You know now pretending to be a bigger girl while dying inside to collect it.

To cap it all Aunty Bunmi then did something that shocked me, she went in and brought another 200,000.00 and requested that I take it as an upfront payment for the next supply. I was shocked but my resistance was very feeble and half-hearted. I collected the money and left after profuse thanks. I could barely get out of her sight before touching the money in my bag again and jumping for joy. But I decided to control myself lest fellow pedestrians see ,e as a newly cracked case just escaping from 'Yaba left' and more-so I was wanted to pay it into the bank and receive an alert.

For all I know this could just be a bad dream or a deep seated form of Malaria playing games with me through my very fertile imagination. I did get the alert. It is for real but I was completely overwhelmed.

Aunti Bunmi, the transfigured shrew who had promised never ever to pay upfront and only to pay previous debts when stock was replenished.

Summarily, a very cheap scarf which I bought for 2 dollars per dozen and gave her occasioned a 180 degrees change.

Please note that it really wasn’t the item in question but the gesture.

Allstrasse:


Uvalued, forgive my intrusion but what the lady wrote about capital earlier is no joke. I faulted it when I first read it but when I gave serious thought to it over several weeks, I realized that nothing could be truer than the stated position. Think about it yourself. Capital isnt just cash. Ot entails so much else. The lady is not being new agey at all. It is a new recognition.

true

2.Mummy Kelechi. An epitome of Fiscal discipline and Inexplicable Integrity

Mummy Kelechi was owing me the sum of 100,000.00 before my trip.

Normally she doesn’t owe more than a few days. If you deliver and you meet her in person she pays you immediately but in most cases I get to her shop before her daily resumption time which is about 10.00 am. This time around she I had requested that she send the money to my account since I was going to be away. She was emphatic that she wouldn’t as she cannot really trust anybody to send and she would be too busy to go to the bank but that my money would be intact on my return.

Yesterday I went to her shop and guess what?

She didn’t just dip her hands into her till and pay me as other traders are wont to do but she went to the safe and on opening it brought out brown envelope with my name and phone number written on it and below that was clearly written; ‘being payment reserved for the supply of 50 cartons of chin-chin on the 5th of May 2016.’ Wow!

I asked her why she went through the trouble of writing all that down on the envelope. She became quiet for a while and then switched the topic to my mum and the Indian experience.

I told her about it and she kept offering prayers of gratitude for my mum and also prayers of blessing for children all around the world who were taking care of their parents in their times of need.

I then offered her a scarf and I informed her that I was taking my leave.

She excused herself and went inside again and came back with another envelope and she handed it to me and said it was an upfront payment for the next supply. On this envelope was written profits from Fairy chin-chin sales. In the envelop was the sum of 96,000. Naira. She now brought 4,000 from her bag and added to it bringing the sum to 100k.

The most surprising thing she did however was the fact that when she accompanied me to the car park she gave me another 10,000 saying it is her contribution to the expenses we incurred for my mum.

Then she added that as a reply to my question regarding why stuff was written on the envelops in her safe, she is 62 years old and she is thankful for having a great life but that she understands that her final call could come any day and she wouldn’t like any confusion as regards her life and so this was a preparation for that day. Her kids and others should not experience any difficulties in knowing what belongs to who.

I was humbled and thanked her profusely and then departed. A great lesson in Fiscal management and integrity.
Phew! It had been a wonderful day filled with blessings and lessons on possibilities.

I quickly went to the bank and placed an order for 1000 bags together and confirmed my order by telephone. I was simply grateful for today’s experience.

When I set out in the morning I was only hoping to order for 300 bags because of the available cash but ended up ordering for 1000 bags.

Impressive I would say.

Thanks for sharing these stories Karin. You are always a blessing.

Karin001:


Hello my dear friend. Thanks, for the warm welcome. I remembered you a lot while I was away. I had really wanted to see you when I stopped over in Lagos but I had really missed my family I had to hurry and go back to them.

I did mention you in one of my business discussions while in Lagos and we deliberated on your matter at length.

Summarily, I have good news for you.

Baring all odds, I will chat with you later tonight if you are still awake.

Cheers and take good care of yourself.

Thanks darling. My ears are itching for the good news o! Looking forward to the chat.

This morning I have been assured by the Operations Manager that my goods will leave Lagos state today for Port Harcourt.

Only 700 bags will come as the vehicle that is available for immediate departure is a Peugeot Boxer.
Its maximum capacity is 700 bags of chi-chin.

Subsequently, there will be a supply of 300 bags which will come as an attachment to the goods for the Port Harcourt Depot. I'm looking forward to receiving these good as I already have orders for a total of 400 bags. I am planning to order for another set of goods immediately after supplying 500 bags of the coming order.

This is usually the most trying period in the cycle of this business. You really cannot close your eyes to sleep properly while your entire life savings is traversing dangerous expressways in rickety cars and sometimes with irresponsible drivers trying to find its way to you. It can be very draining.

Sometimes I wonder how the owners of luxury bus companies sleep at night. Most especially the ones that operate the infamous night buses. I doff my hat for them.

Anybody in the house who has reliable buses and drivers and who can offer consistent trips from Lagos to Port Harcourt may contact me via PM. I am very inclined to doing business with a Nairaland co-traveller. Your bus must however be pristine and must be able to do the delivery within 24 hours. Owners of trucks with capacities of 3.5 tonnage and above may contact me via pm.

I am so excited about my resumption. Calls have started coming in from both big and small buyers. So far today I have received 32 calls.

There is really so much that can be learnt from action.

I must confess that my return from India was both exciting and anxiety filled. I was wondering what would be my fate when I got back.

While I knew it would be hard work to restart the business, I was positive that I would be able to get it done but maybe with a little less speed. Incidentally, the wailing of people as regards the economy did not have that much impact on me. The fact that the margins were also becoming smaller did not also deter me that much.

I just kept the focus on what volume I needed to sell to overcome the attendant difficulties resulting from the drop in margins.

Monday will be he test of my faith. I have 700 bags to sell off and I intend to offload them in Port Harcourt within a maximum of two weeks. If I can do this successfully I would have earned a gross profit of 70,000.00 only and since my overheads are pretty low my net profit would be somewhere around 50,000.

Tonight after my hubby and kids have retired or maybe tomorrow afternoon I intend to write about the following;

1. How small businesses can be started with very little capital and run into profitability.
There is no need waiting for the traditional requirements such as sufficient capital, a car for moving around and a well located shop.
These requirements can be circumvented successfully without too much damage.

2. How to manage the fluctuations in prices from your supplier without allowing affect your sales.

3. I will also show how calculating profit margins based on individual units may not present a wholesome picture.

Do keep a date

About three years ago, after losing my job occasioned by a ‘right sizing’ in the company I had worked happily for over five years I was quite happy as against what the common norm was. Well, not really happy-happy, but maybe relieved.

I refused to be discouraged by the very ominous fact that the economic situation of the company as at then only allowed them to severe the relationship with just three months’ salaries which was not much. While my colleagues, or rather immediate ex-colleagues were seriously growling and seeking legal approaches to ensure a well-deserved settlement I decided to take a break and just think.

Small businesses can be started with very little capital and run into profitability.

There is no need waiting for the traditional requirements such as sufficient capital, a car for moving around and a well located shop.

These requirements can be circumvented successfully without too much damage.

Just start where you are and with what you have and plod along. the advantage we have in Nigeria is that unlike many developed countries you can start a business at the smallest level as a reflection of what your economic standing permits.
Please note at this stage you may not be making tangible profit but believe me the mistakes you will make at this point will be really cheap especially when compared with those mistakes being made in the future when you are a lot more stable financially.

Fortunately, my love for books had just guided me to the book; Awaken the Giant within’ by Anthony Robbins.

There was no time to waste. All the people I consulted kept advising that I search for a new job since I had already grown so far in my career. I was determined that it was time to drop my certificates and do business. My loved ones were concerned about my lack of adequate capital but I explained to them and everyone else who cared to listen that in my in my time, I have seen many people who have started very small and are doing very well just a few years after. I must nonetheless confess that I had butterflies in my stomach each time I noted that my total capital amounted to only about Two Hundred Thousand Naira only. It gave me goose pimples and all I could really do at that time was await the answer to my prayer which was essentially for guidance that will lead me into a business that will flourish even with the little capital that I could muster.

During that waiting period I went to the airport to drop my hubby off and ran into a classmate of mine during my University days. It was quite an enchanting experience which became the pivot for my next move. Angela (not her real name) was the daughter of a traditional ruler in Eastern Nigeria and had quite an upper class upbringing with all the perks and luxuries that money and societal status could procure. She was the only daughter of a king. Quite a princess if you ask me.

Though a diversion, I will recall an incident that took place in school just to give my riders an idea of how wealthy she was. During one of her father’s numerous business trips to our university town he decided to visit her princess at the flat he had rented for her and while awaiting her return, he treated us to some delicacies from one of the foremost eateries in town.

Angela then arrived on top of an Okada. The king saw her daughter alighting and almost passed out. We thought he was dying. His shock drew from the fact that the daughter was careless enough to climb the contraption called ‘Okada’. All entreaties that it was safe and all students were clients of this form of transportation fell on deaf ears. Her father gifted her with a car that same day before leaving town.

That’s how wealthy he was even though I think he was a bit arrogant.

His daughter however, was an epitome of humility and modesty. You could never tell she was royalty. She dated a very humble guy in school back then. This guy; John, was really poor and was raised with 3 other siblings by his widowed mum who sold Akara on the roadside by the city centre.

This was the best Akara in town then.

Some people in this forum may relate with this particular akara scenario if they attended the same university or lived in that town for a while. The struggle for the Mamas' Akara every evening is better imagined.

On this fateful day at the airport Angel regaled me with her story.

She and John had dated till and after graduation. Her father had died and his brother (Angela’s uncle) took over the stool.

When she was ready for marriage and introduced John to her uncle, they turned him down
saying he was the unemployed son of a pauper frying akara for a living.
Stubborn Angela went ahead and married John in a civil ceremony at Ikoyi registry.

John had just started frying puff-puff while Princess Angela was a bread distributor for UTC foods. They started really small and today Angela has a major bakery in Lagos while John fries puff-puff big time on the fringes of Ogun state.

They live on one acre of land and John sells puff-puff in excess of 3 million Naira daily. They started out in 2004 and today John drives a Toyota Prado while his wife drives Sienna both bought brand new from Metropolitan motors on the same day.

Each time I see those Ghana guys plying their sales with puff-puff filled cases I cannot help but imagine that that could be John and Angela making money.

I just hope that the new law in Lagos state will not crash their sales significantly.

And Angela did reconcile with her family. Her brother became king and she had the traditional marriage only worthy of a Princess. Both businesses started in 2004 with the sum of 200,000.00.

I would not be deterred. And I will never despise the days of my humble beginnings.

How to manage the fluctuations in prices from your supplier without allowing affect your sales volume and Turnover.

One of the factors that work against the small scale business especially these dealing with non-essential goods is price fluctuation in the market place. In an economy like ours which is wholly a mono product economy which is again tied to the apron strings of the International economy, such fluctuations are very frequent thus resulting in inconsistencies that can cause significant disruptions in an already precarious economic milieu. Unfortunately these prices always look north and this has very devastating effects on the trader especially the newbie in sales.

@ op, thanks so much for taking up this task to share inspiring thoughts. I had to search you out on this forum after the insights you shed on a thread i opened asking for input concerning FMCG. Please, where do you have your depot in phc. I would love to visit and do business with you. Thanks!

In the world of trading as I have come to discover, the price of your promoted product plays a very significant role in the success of your business especially for the not so popular brands. A simple example regarding price fluctuations as it affects the market generally and the retailer in particular will suffice here:

For us housewives, our daily household laundry was redefined some years ago by the incursion of the attractively and economically packed Indonesian brands of detergent; Ariel and Klin into the Nigerian market. This was a serious set-back to the common household names we grew up with which were Omo and Elephant. Tagging along was the equally very attractively packed and economically packed B29 bar soap which was a welcome replacement to the existing options; Premier and Sunshine which dominated the market in the era of our mothers.

Please note that while Ariel and Klin were not necessarily cheaper than Elephant and Omo, they were packed in easy to afford units thus ensuring more reach and a deeper penetration into the market. Another plus was the fact they came in a different powder colour which was quite innovative on their part.

Growing up, I erroneously thought that the imported detergent brand; Persil was meant only for the washing machine and more specifically for my dad’s work shirts and my Mum’s undergarments which were mainly white. Over time Nigerian women have come to appreciate that nothing beats white when it comes to laundry soaps or detergents.

The economy took a toll on these brands such that the prices began to increase and the competition from other imported brands which was then compounded by the introduction of the repackaged Omo, Elephant plus the launch of Sunlight detergent and all of them copied the economy pack model. Gradually, their dominance of the market waned as a result of their increasing prices.

This was an open invitation to more efficient companies with lean operating expenses to make an incursion into the market place. By this time Ariel and Klin were selling in a very keenly competitive segment. Then comes Waw, which arrives with a not so attractive packaging but with a superbly attractive pricing. They presented their soaps in both detergent form and bar type.

Today Wawa and Sunshine detergent primarily dominate that sector even though in different packaging sizes. For one reason or the other Waw has been able to keep their prices within an acceptable band thus being rewarded with an ever increasing patronage.

Other examples abound where price fluctuations have enthroned and dethroned products as kings and queens of particular sectors, one just has to look objectively.

The big question is how do you as a trader manage this inconsistency in prices.

Many theories probably abound about this but I will present my opinion which is just that; an opinion but predicated on my personal experience and studies undertaken in this field.

waiting to see how you will treat this one graciously. note using mimi chin chin and the one you are selling. thanks for this thread