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Is anyone following? I'm not proceeding to the next topic until I get some answers to the assignment.

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Testing out your idea for a new business before you quit your day job is always a wise idea. It gives you a chance to make sure you really enjoy working for yourself and that your business is economically viable, while still allowing you the financial security of a steady paycheck. It can be a great way to “test-drive” your entrepreneurial dreams.

That said, having a side hustle is by no means easy. In fact, one of the things it winds up testing, inadvertently, is whether you’ve got the dedication and motivation it will take to be an entrepreneur. If you can manage the stress of day job/dream job double life, chances are you’ve got what it takes to run your own business.

I side hustled for two and a half years before going off on my own, and I know how challenging it can be. If you’re currently working a side hustle, or are thinking of starting one, here are a few key things to keep in mind to keep your business (and your sanity!) from going under in the process:

Learn to Say “No”

Just as important as your to-do list is your not-to-do list. You only have so many hours in a day, and if you’re running a side gig, chances are you’re already stretching those hours pretty thin. Now is not the time to try to make everyone happy or be everyone’s friend; now is the time to know your limits and take a stand to enforce them.

Practice and become comfortable with phrases like, “I’m sorry, but my plate is full,” and, “I wish I could, but I’m booked up right now.” The key to saying no without sounding like a jerk is to keep it simple (no long, flowing excuses), express your sincere regret, and leave it at that. You have every right to set your own priorities—and if you want your side hustle to ever become a full-time hustle, you’re going to have to.

80/20 Everything

You’ve likely heard of the Pareto Principle: 80 percent of your outcome stems from 20 percent of your efforts. In essence, it argues that it’s smartest to focus your energy on the tasks that give you the highest return on investment. Everything else? You can probably get away with letting it slide.

This is true not only when it comes to your business, but also when it comes to the rest of your life. When you’re holding down two jobs, you can’t beat yourself up too much when certain things in your life fall by the wayside. Rather than trying to do everything, focus on just trying to do the essentials. Your house may be a little messy, but at least you can do enough laundry to keep your family clothed and enough dishes that you have something to eat off of each night. You may not be able to make meals from scratch, but try to get healthier takeout on the nights you’re crunched for time.

Schedule in Some “Me” Time

When you’re in full-on hustler mode, it can feel wasteful and selfish to spend time on anything that isn’t “billable.” (Believe me, I know.) But the harsh truth is that your business won’t last very long if you crash and burn out. If you can’t get yourself to take a break now and then for your sake, get yourself to take one for your business’s sake.

If it helps, schedule in time for yourself on your calendar just like you’d schedule in time for a project. Treat yourself as another client, and adhere to your assigned “me” time with the same discipline you’d adhere to a client deadline.

Trust me. It will be worth it. Hustling is ultimately a long game, and you want to keep yourself in working order.

Asking for help is one thing; asking for financial help is another beast on its own. Yet many entrepreneurs turn to family and friends to help fund their business.

A recent study shows that 63 percent of entrepreneurs “self-financed” their business, but that doesn’t mean every owner saved up their own money. Upon closer investigation, at least half of these entrepreneurs asked friends and family for financial support.

If you want your loved ones to buy into the business, you need to get over the awkward feelings of asking for help and convince them that you’re serious about this business and have a plan to make it successful.

To do so, you’ll want to follow these tips to ask friends and family for startup cash:
1. Have a solid business plan

Whether you’re asking your best friend or going to the Bank of Mom and Dad, you need to treat the discussion like you would with a banker. You wouldn’t get a bank loan without a business plan, and you shouldn’t expect others to make an investment without one either. A business plan sets clear goals for your business and shows prospective investors how you plan to make a profit.

2. Ask for enough money

When you’re asking friends and family to part with their hard-earned cash, your instinct is probably to ask for as little as possible, but this is the wrong approach. If you don’t have enough money to start the business, it won’t succeed. You need to consider three pools of money:

• Initial investment: Money needed to get the business ready for customers.

• Working capital: Money needed to keep the business going until you hit your break-even point.

• Home capital: Money needed to personally survive while the business is launched. You need money to pay your own bills—don’t forget this piece! A six-month reserve is a good rule of thumb.

3. Make a payment plan

How do you plan to repay your family of investors? Figure out a plan to pay everyone back, with interest. Schedule the first payment six months after the business opens.

The plan should also include “what ifs”: What if you can’t make a payment one month? What’s the plan then? By having these issues worked out ahead of time, you’ll save problems down the road. Put it all in writing, too. A legal document is best.

4. Expect investors to take an active role

The friends and family that contribute to the business may want a say in how things are done. It’s something you should discuss before taking any money. Investors, even if they are your parents, will want to protect their investment. Expect them to check in, ask questions about the business, and give you unsolicited advice. Don’t take it personally, it’s a business relationship, and you should treat it as such.

Above all else, you want to show your family that you are professional and prepared. Show them you’re ready for the big time by having all the necessary documents and by answering any questions they have.

If you own your own business and find that you simply don’t have enough time on your hands to be able to do all the things you need to do, you may be asking yourself should you hire an employee?

If you’ve already got employees, your question will be similar, when is the right time to hire another employee? Regardless of the structure of your business, there will be times when you need to make this decision and it’s not always as simple as acknowledging there’s too much on your plate…

To help you figure things out, start with a list of advantages and disadvantages.

Figuring out whether the time is right, may be as simple as making your own pros and cons list. This is a good first step before you look into cash flow, last year’s financials and your workload. Consider this testing the waters. Here’s an example list:

Advantages of hiring a new employee:

• You’ll have more help to handle the tasks that are overwhelming you.

• A new employee can breathe new life into your business and generate new ideas.

• Someone will be there to share those exciting moments. As some may say, you’ll have “someone to high five” when things go right.

Disadvantages of hiring a new employee:

• An employee costs you money.

• A new employee requires a big time investment upfront.

• You’ll carry added stress of another person being dependent on your business.

• You’ll need to manage and monitor the new employee.

Once you’ve created your list, and perhaps once the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, you can move on to the next step – genuinely trying to work out whether or not you should hire a new employee.

Should you hire a new employee?

If you’re still unsure about whether or not you can justify hiring an additional employee, it may be worth sitting down to to see if you can pinpoint those signs that say you really should bite the bullet.

Four signs you’re ready to hire

1. When you turn down work.

If you have to turn down work because you can’t fit another project into your schedule, it’s a good indicator that your business is ready for help.
No business owner doesn’t want to earn more money, but some don’t want the added work or complications that come with hiring someone new. Again, you’ll need to be honest with yourself.

2. If you identify a new revenue stream but need additional skills.

Diversifying your business is a smart move. Along the way, you’ll probably find a new source of revenue that you could tap, but might lack some of the skills necessary to really dive in.

Sometimes you will come up with great business ideas that you are just not personally equipped to execute on. This is a great problem to have and the right employee can truly make the difference in taking your business to the next level.

3. If complaints are rolling in.

If you’re spreading yourself too thin, it shows.

If customers start complaining about your work or about your timeliness, it’s a sign that you’re spread too thin. If you’re not able to commit yourself to each and every project, you’ll want to hire an additional employee. Bad word of mouth can damage your reputation and revenue, so you should hire someone soon if this is happening at your business. Even if you are just bringing someone in to answer your phones, field emails, or tackle your accounting practices, you will get those hours back to commit to clients.

4. When you have a steady stream of revenue

It takes a while for businesses to gain a steady stream of income, and you don’t want to take on an employee until that happens. An employee can help your business grow, but before making any staff additions, you’ll want to make sure you have the revenue available to pay him or her.

sigba:
Following..
What's up with d bleep.com idea?

The idea was never bleep.com. It was the application that changed it to bleep.com. As at then, I had not acquired the domain, so as a cautionary measure, I represented it with triple x. That said, the idea is still very much in place. I've been busy compiling business plans for various industries. The web development is in progress. You can check it out on my signature. On completion, You'll be duly informed.

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Raymondenyi:
Does this entail selling of e-books or seminars? If it does pls say it ontime, so I'll evaporate early enof

I am not selling any ebook. I'm going to reveal everything I know about starting and running a business on this thread FREE OF CHARGE, from identifying viable business opportunities, through planning, execution, advertising, when to add additional hand etc.

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Eggcelent:
Nice Piece. It Is A Norm In Nigeria That Nigerians Ride On Fads Even When They Only Have Shallow Understanding Of What It Is All About. Entrepreneur Was A Word People Started Throwing About As A Fad

It's universal, not a Nigerian trend.

Majority of us will be quick to refer to ourselves as entrepreneurs without knowing what it actually means to be one. What you are about to learn today will enlighten you better as to where you belong. This write-up will be short and straight-to-the-point, so as not to confuse you . Happy reading.

The word entrepreneur is of French origin. It was coined from the French word, entreprendre – meaning to undertake. That is to say that an entrepreneur is a risk taker or an adventurer. The first set of people to be referred to as entrepreneurs were so called because they identified inefficient use of resources and capital and deployed them into areas with better productivity and higher yield. In other words, entrepreneurs seek opportunities for profit and by so doing, create new markets and fresh opportunities.

How is an entrepreneur different from a regular businessman? They both have the same objective – to make a profit, but they go about it differently. A businessman buys and sells goods or renders services just like everyone else. He does not differentiate his offerings from that of his competitors. Better put as “without innovation” or “innovationless”. If there is any word like that. Businesses in the past have operated successfully on this model, but that is not the case in this 21st century.

Like I said earlier, an entrepreneur is a risk taker. He doesn’t take just any risk but calculated risks. And unlike the businessman, he differentiates his business from that of his competitors by creating what the business gurus refer to as a unique selling point or unique selling proposition – that is the only reason customers will patronize you instead of your competitors. An entrepreneur is an inventor. He invents better ways of doing the same thing. Another quality of an entrepreneur is that he scans his environment for business opportunities. What are these opportunities? Human problems that can be solved or improvement in existing goods or services.

The reason most people fail in business is that they create a product and start looking for a market. An entrepreneur does not do that. Instead, he searches his environment for problems. Then, he proceeds to creating a product (good or service) capable of solving the identified problem. In that case, he doesn’t have to struggle to sell his products. All that he needs to do thereafter is to introduce the product to the market (people or businesses experiencing the problem) by advertising, and they will be more than willing to exchange money for a solution.

I believe at this point, you have sufficient information to decide the camp you belong. So, which are you? An entrepreneur or a businessman?

veetubes:
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Thanks.

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2sExy1:
DATABOY... YOU ARE IMPRESSIVE!

Where all those people wey dey say entrepreneurship na hustling... Like say d owners of their company where they work didn't hustle at the beginning.

Yes, entrepreneurship is about hustling. But that's the planting phase. The harvesting phase is enjoyment. Talking from experience.

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A professionally written LinkedIn profile is a powerful online marketing and job search tool that will showcase your accomplishments, expertise and position you as a leader in your industry outside of the traditional CV format.

For those of you who think designing a compelling profile is an herculean task, we have a team of skilled professionals at CV Wizards to assist you in making your profile the best. We’ll give your profile the makeover it requires to draw attention from top recruiters. Before we start writing your LinkedIn profile, we’ll hold a one-on-one telephone consultation with you, to extract your unique value, professional brand, career history and more to create a customized and keyword-searchable profile that clearly defines your strengths and makes you stand out from the crowd.

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Note: Our LinkedIn writing service is a comprehensive service that includes the writing, strategizing, SEO optimization, keyword optimization, branding, and improvement of your LinkedIn profile, unlike other writers, we don’t copy and paste your CV. A good LinkedIn profile shouldn’t be a replica of your CV.

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Saw this on my mentor's Facebook profile. I can't help but share. Read and get inspired. I hope it makes front page.

"Some years ago I was travelling to Amai my own town and I was waiting for bus to arrive.

I was approached by a nicely dressed elderly gentleman in need of directions.

I told him I had no idea what he was looking for as I too was just passing through.

To this day I'm not sure why, but we started talking as if we had known each other for years.

We talked about life, people and eventually the conversation turned to business.

It was here that the gentlemen saw something in me, I suppose, that made him feel like sharing what he said was the greatest secret ever told.

He said everyone had heard it but almost no one paid any attention to it, even though it was the one thing that could bestow a fortune upon any man or woman who used it.

My ears where definitely starting to perk up. Something about his tone told me this man knew from whereof he spoke. And I wanted to know what the secret was with a passion.

He must have sensed my anxiousness because at that very moment he gave me a warning that was almost a scolding.

I'll try to recount here as best I can the rest of our conversation...

Man: "Do not make the mistake of shrugging off what I am about to tell you because you have heard it before.

No doubt you have heard it already from at least one person in your life.

You may have even heard it many times. Do you have any aversion to religion Mr. Tony Egba ?"

Tony Egba: "No I don't. I don't believe many preachers know what they are talking about or even what they are trying to teach, but I do know the Bible has a lot of great knowledge in it." And I believe that it is the word of God.

Man: "Good. I would not want you to discount what I am about to tell you because it does come directly from the Bible. But its applications reach far beyond what most people can conceive of. It will take thought, intense pondering on your part, to begin to get some inkling of its power."

"This simple secret, when applied to business, will draw money to you as easily as water runs down a mountain. Even a fool can apply it and prosper. When applied to relationships, it will create more friends than you can handle" (laughing heartily)

Tony Egba; "What is it, I'm dying to know now?"

Man: "Patience Tony Egba , Patience. I will not give it to you as it has always been repeated by fools who have no respect or knowledge of what it even means. No. I will give it to you another way. What type of business are you interested in?"

Tony Egba; "Well, I'm an Agricultural Engineering Consultant, I am a motivational speaker and an Author

Man: "Fine. Fine. Comsultancy it is. Let me tell you how to create a fortune in this Comsultancy. All you have to do is create the product you want to buy"

TonyEgba: "I don't understand"

Man: "You will"

"You see, you are your market. Whatever you want, there are millions of other people wanting the same thing. That elusive product you are looking for is the product millions of others are also looking for right now."

"All you have to do is create the product you want to buy, the product you yourself have been looking for.

Once you have this product, what would you want the consultant to say so that you know this is the product you have been looking for?"

"If someone else where selling this product, what would you want the ad to say, what would get you to buy this product? When you have that answer, that is the proposal you want to create."

Tony Egba : "I see." (hesitantly)

Man: "See the business across the street here? (Fast food joint) I could triple the business that place does inside of 10 minutes. That's what I do by the way." (smiling)

"All I would do is walk into the business as a customer. I would sit there and imagine all the things that could be done to me that would make me a loyal customer to that business for life. What could they do for me that would make me feel this way?"

"Once I had the answers to that question, I would implement them across the board. Every customer would be treated the way I had imagined. And without any doubt what so ever that business would triple the profits it now makes."

Tony Egba; "I think I know..."

Man: "Wait, you don't really know anything yet. That's the problem with people. They brush something off because of where it came from or because they heard it many times. Leave that for fools. You won't "know it" until you have deeply pondered it and put it to use."

Tony Egba : "Ok"

Man: "What I am telling you has power undreamed of. The simple words used to describe it cannot contain it. Does not do justice to it, and has been prostituted by blabber mouths who let wisdom fall off their lips with not even a single brain cell grasping what they are rambling about."

"What I am telling you is Law, not man's Law, but the very Law's of nature herself. It's the way things work and those who truly understand it rise to the top in every field known to man."

"What people don't understand is that it applies to everything. This secret can be applied with virtually every step you take, everything you do, every word you speak and everyone concerned profits by it."

"If you are a writer, write like you would like to be written to"

"If you are a salesman, sell like you would like to be sold to"

"If you are a speaker, speak like you would like to be spoken to"

"If you want more love, then love like you would like to be loved"

"If you want more friends, be the friend you would like to see"

"When you infuse everything you do with this secret it takes on a magical power. Businesses dominate the market, books become best sellers, leaders attract huge and loyal followings."

"How would you like it?"
"How would you respond to it?"
"How would it make you feel?"

"Those are great questions to think about every time you do or create something.

You will get into the hearts and minds of everyone who comes under your influence if you will first think how you would have it done to you."

"I'm certain you already know the quote from the Bible I'm referring to. But don't repeat it, just ponder it and practice it."

Tony Egba : "I do. But I've never thought of how it could actually apply to everything in life. I too was one of those fools who passed it over without so much as a second thought. I really want to thank you for sharing this with me."

Man: "It's been a real pleasure talking with you Tony Egba, have a safe journey."

And with that, he was gone. The funny thing was, as I was riding home on the bus I realized I never got his name, nor do I remember ever giving him mine.

Maybe he saw my name in the book I was holding. I'm not sure. It really doesn't matter. What does matter is that I've profited from that advice for the last 15 years.

I'm not even really any good at it either and I've still pulled in huge amounts of money. Especially from the Internet.

This is one place this knowledge can really shine. People have always asked me my secret.

How come you are is still here, with the same products, with all this competition, after all these years?

This one simple secret is the answer. I always ask myself how would I like to be treated by this company? What would I like to see? What would I like to get? How would I like to be dealt with?

Those simple questions are all you have to answer. When you do get the answers, put them into action and watch what happens.

Create The Site You've Been Looking For

Write Like You Would Like To Be Written To

Sell Like You Would Like To Be Sold To

Talk Like You Would Like To Be Talked To

Deal Like You Would Like To Be Dealt With

Create For Others What You Would Like Created For You

Excite Others The Way You Would Like To Be Excited

Give to others the way you like to be treated

Love others the way you like to be Loved

I LOVE YOU!

Ton¥ €gba

08038037674

www.tonyegba.com"

If true, that would be the beginning of the end for Facebook.

Danjunior: Sorry but you are talking trash!!

He is not talking trash, You don't know Jack about the system or maybe you are one of the officers. The level of corruption in the Nigerian military, you can't find anywhere else. What do you say of this, fund is released for your RCA or other allowances, and one clown who sits in an air conditioned office will pocket every thing or may be, give you less than 20% and tell you the military is paying you salary. He earns times ten of your salary, yet when he gets hold of your other entitlement, he converts it to his. What do you call that? It may take long, but surely it will be sorted out one day.

mikeyj: OK Great! Looking at your above reply, and the WHO.IS record on CVWizards.com , I can see it was formed 2013 – How have your sales/progress been?

Secondly, Your proposed management consulting firm what would be the services you render? Could you bullet point them?

One thing about setting up a consulting firm(“IT consulting” for example) is that : you might have to be a specialist in one area at Least

Actually, I started writing CVs in 2011 using the name CV World (Not registered). I didn't have a website then. (Sorry, my attention is needed. Will be back)

I have not handled a formal business consulting project before, but I've successfully founded and managed my own business, CV Wizards. I have a B.Sc. in Accounting from the University of Benin and almost done with my MBA. Like I said, I've in my possession a consulting file from a retired American mangement consultant. The file contains all the reports he submitted to his clients for over 40 years. When I get a client, all I need to do is to search for a related case, customize and send the report.

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@ seun: I've got another message for you. Kindly check your box.

This post is already on the business thread. I don't want to violate the rules by posting a topic twice. Here's the link; https://www.nairaland.com/1826518/want-start-consulting-company-like#24924127