RuddyFusion:
Good points.....nice one OP

RuddyFusion:
Good points.....nice one OP

RuddyFusion:
Good points.....nice one OP

RuddyFusion:
Good points.....nice one OP

PointZerom:
Business is successful when friends and relatives pay for services renderd. I only give my goods on credit to 90yrs olds but you must come with your parents.

Webman007:
The fear of falling keeps many from making an attempt on being their own BOSS

kalu61:
You are taking to me. l missed an opportunity but will take the risk before years run out. There is this fear especially when people you value says order wise.

Doerstech:
Months ago I wrote a post about 3 things to do when you received a sack letter. I wrote that post, the day I was made to resign from my last paid employment. I got home and tried working on the things I wrote on that post which is

]1) Reflection: Had a deep thought about the past few months on my paid employment, my mistakes, challenges and triumphs.

2) I took note of my strengths, weakness and opportunities around me.

3) Then I took action

The result is that, few days after I started by own business. I didn’t just make a start after leaving my last paid job, but the background work has been on long before the forced resignation. Before then I have taken steps to document

What I was frequently asked to do by friends, colleague and others for which I was paid for ( in this case Website design, Web Maintenance , Content creation and optimization, SEO and Social Media Management activities )

I sat down wrote a business plan around it, put one or two things together and went to CAC got the business name registered and did other things i ought to, to make it a legal entity.

Once I left my paid employment, I dusted up the business plan and ran with it. The business is still in its embryonic state with no physical location ( my meeting points with clients far and near has been my emails, WhatsApp number, eateries on both the island and mainland of Lagos and any other location sometimes home and offices of my clients ).

So far I have leant valuable lessons that I will work improving come 2018.

1) IT’S MORE WORK AND A BIT LONELY AT FIRST:

Some people always assume that having their own business will mean less work and ultimately more freedom to do anything they like.
Yes, to an extent you’re right, I remember having to get home late and wake up very early to beat the traffic as I journey from the mainland to the island and we all know how Lagos traffic is especially on a Monday morning the stress and all that, as your own boss who might not have to be doing this ritual all the time but that doesn’t mean you will be in bed snoring when others are up running off to their various offices, far from it.

I found myself working more since am mostly everything from the very beginning and unlike before when you have just one boss, this time you will have many bosses with each making many demands and expecting you to deliver at the very best.

I’ll have to get up much earlier, run from one appointment to the other, stay up late to find answers, found myself missing out on some activities and bit more alone.

But then, nothing quantifies the joy, when one more clients get satisfied, an alert hit your bank account and more trust established as you build your business.



2) MOST OF YOUR FIRST SET OF CLIENTS WILL COME FROM FRIENDS, FAMILY AND REFERRALS

Yes my first few clients came from friends and colleagues who knows my skill set and abilities and have seen me work in real time. I start hearing things like “Help me build a website for my business” “A friend needs a website for his/her business” and when the phone rang, I will hear things like “A friend gave me your number that you can do so and so”

From the above list came my most loyal and trusted set of clients.


3) YOU NEED TO SET A DEFINED CEILING IN YOUR PRODUCTS/SERVICE OFFERING.

One of the qualities that will enable offer your best when you’re starting out, is knowing your business inside out. Having a well-grounded knowledge of your business will enable you define your offering’s properly to your clients including costing and other extras.

When you don’t know the above, you won’t be able to have a define ceiling and those who are out to exploit you will exploit you to the full.
It’s also important to know that you’re running a business and not a play ground for family and friends, you must be able to define the boundaries that guides your business and reviews this as you grow from one man show to a multinational empire.

4) YOU CAN’T SATISFY EVERYONE
Unfortunately, no matter how much you try, you can’t just satisfy everyone and you don’t need to as your business is not meant for everyone. Some will tag your products/services as expansive, some will want you to do the impossible, but it's your duty to politely let them know your stands, the values you offer and nothing more.

Most of those who proves unnecessarily difficult might be competitors masking as clients trying to sieve as much information from you as they can, I personally do not do this, but they’re those who do. So you just have to watch out.

5) BE WILLING TO TAKE RISK AND IMPROVE ON AREAS YOU SHOULD IMPROVE ON

I didn’t know everything in my field before starting ( I'm still learning and I will keep learning till the end ) and base on that sometimes I will turn down some jobs.

But I soon learnt that I need not know everything and need not struggle with Google or Youtube for a DIY steps to do the things I don’t know when I can easily outsource same to a master and still get paid for what it’s worth.

Things might go wrong here if the person you outsourced to is a dubious character, but from the questions you’re been asked, you can easily find out areas to improve on and become better in your craft.

BONUS: SOMETIMES YOU WILL BE TEMPTED TO QUIT Yes this one is common, especially when the initial euphoria you have about how your business blowing begins to die down...

The up's and down's.

The confusion from people not really understanding what you're doing especially when you work from home.

The subtle and direct voices and urges from your family asking you to look for 9-5 Jobs again.

The long calls, meetings with clients that later failed to translate into sells.

The months with long silence as if your business does;t exist.....

Etc i can on and on. As a young business person you will have these moments and that's when you ought to look inward and pull your creative tricks to unveil the other sides of your business and not time to quit.



The above are my lessons thus far. Sometimes it look as if i made a mistake working for myself and maybe i should jump back again into the labor market for another interview for a 9 - 5 job, but then everything is going on fine and I'm learning everyday.

My Christian brothers will say, today is the day of salvation, now is the acceptable time, tomorrow may be too late. You don’t have to wait till tomorrow, you can start that business today.

Start with what you have.

Start from where you are.

Someone is waiting to pay you for your services.

By Rutherford Ejimonu - 08095966698