Capital is the lifeblood of the business because "capital" is the money we need to invest in business infrastructure and business activities.

Without capital we can’t start the business, and without capital we can’t grow the business.

We need capital for inventory, raw materials, spare parts, machines, marketing, advertising, paying salaries, paying taxes, hiring consultants, fuel for the generator, packaging costs, transportation costs, and a whole host of other things that have to be paid for before we can have a viable business.

If you are a service based business or a consultant you still need capital too!

The wedding photographer has to buy the camera, batteries, lighting accessories, website hosting, “recharge card” for talking to clients, and money for data amongst other things.

The computer coder or developer has to buy a computer, pay for coding software, antivirus, software crack codes, external storage, and off course they need to buy a UPS because we can’t rely on Nigerian utility companies to provide power 24/7.

The wedding florist has to buy flowers, nursery beds, and those special types of fridges where she can store clients bouquets before delivery on the wedding day or special occasion.

It doesn’t matter our business niche, we all need the almighty capital.

Because capital is so pivotal, you have a whole host of business commentators saying that the REAL reason why most businesses fail is a lack of capital.

Is that the case? Or is a lack of capital merely a symptom of the disease?

A lack of money to be invested is NOT the real reason why a business dies.

The real reason is because the promoters of the business lack a skill set required to attract capital in the first place!

Of course capital has to be retained and utilized effectively but that is a story for another day.

For now let us examine how "lack of capital" isn't the real problem, but a "lack of sales skills" is the major reason why people go out of business.

Capital is essential for businesses, and sales skills are a prerequisite for attracting capital.

This is our first premise.

Why and how is this so?

Because your source of capital in the early days is going to come from two major sources.

You can get capital from your customers, or you can get capital from investors.

Your savings are also another important source of capital, but let's ignore that for now and focus on the other two.

In the days that follow, we are going to explore how sales skills are tied to raising capital from your customers, and raising capital from your investors.