₦airaland Forum

BobUg28:

There's one other area I 'd like to chip in some advice__thats your customers! They are the ones who are in the position to determine how fast your business will grow. You have to take them very serious, when I say serious I mean very serious. Never joke with them to the point of loosing them. See if you can get their numbers, try calling or sending them sms once in a while, just to register that sense of self-importance and the feeling of some-one-actually-cares-for me. In a null shell, TAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS VERY SERIOUS!

Thank you for your advice Chief Bob. I no dey joke with my money o! Yes, my customers are my money. Lol.

As for getting their numbers, I've noticed that some of them tend to think that I'm trying to cross into the romantic territory when I ask for their number. Lol. In this women-focused business, a man needs to be skilled in flirting with and flattering his customers without offending them.

In order to keep my customers, I even started giving them gifts when they buy from my shop for the third time. It's just little cheap gifts o! So that some ladies here no go come my shop dey expect android phone as gift. Lol.

Although I did something slightly extra yesterday. I gave one of my customers a plate of raw abacha, half painter of garri and three mangos as gift. I took it to her room alongside the clothes I wanted to show her. This particular customer works near my shop and never has time to visit my shop during her working hours (8am to 8pm). She called me to ask me about a jeggings she'd seen the previous day. I went to her house with that jeggings, a jumpsuit, a top and some other trousers. She ended up buying five items instead of one. All this with the money she said she'd already budgeted for gas. She sef come dey wonder whether na Amurri juju I use confuse am. Lol.

Customers are not always that cooperative. Some will come to my shop, test almost all my clothes and leave promising to return some other time. I have no choice but to keep smiling and hoping that they'll actually return. Most times, they do anyway. I thank God.

Others will pick three items, of say N1,000 each, bargain to buy it N800 each. That's totaling N2,400 but will then mischievously hand me N2,000. Women eh! Trust me, I go hold them until them give me my remaining N400. Lol.

Few will pretend to leave or actually walk away, expecting me to call them back. Then come back five to fifteen minutes later to collect their desired clothes. Women! Lol.

As you all can see, it's an interesting business filled with endless drama. Lol.

organicfoods:
Cut and pound the leaves and soaked for 7 days. Sieve and use the water as insecticides.

Thank you so much for your guidance sir.

I finally got the dongoyaro leaves and fruits yesterday. I begged my neighbour to get it for me from her secondary school. She happily agreed. Though she insists I'm owing her Christmas, New Year, Valentine and Easter gifts. Lol.

I plucked off the leaves and pounded them this morning. E no easy to pound leaves o! Lol. Afterwards, I put it in a small container and poured in water for it to soak. I'll use it in the next seven days (May 3rd). Meanwhile, the pests devouring my green won't wait till seven days. So I decided to scatter some of the dry dongoyaro leaves on my farm for now.

Don't worry. You'll all get to see the pictures as soon as I get another free 15mb when next I recharge. Lol.

Business has been slow this week. No sales yesterday and today. Sighs. Tomorrow must compensate me with mega sales. Amen.

Inviting VivianUdeogu, Fortune02, GreatIyk4u, Totorimi, Orosunbolb, Macfarland, Superstar1, coolitempa, UyiIredia, Funkybabee, UdomoSam23, Abagworo, Slam7000, malton and months to the round table.

Come and invite others too let's brainstorm on lasting solutions to this menace.

Ogoski, these are very deep questions.

Especially the first one. That one too deep so I no go comment yet make I no drown. Lol.

I think freewill shall always exist. I think that the presence of a hell, which citizens of heaven can always see, will be enough to discourage anyone from rebelling against God ever again. It's just like that funny quote by that your Ugandan role model "You have freedom of speech but freedom after speech, that I cannot guaranty." Lol.

I think that the serpent simply refers to Satan or Lucifer in the story of Adam and Eve.

Ademat7:
fencing is d best option and I don't mean blocks but with wire(like d ones they put on fence in residential buildings that look spiral)and concrete pole,if u've been to ministry that have large expanse of land u will HV seen what I'm talking about before.

the concrete pole stand with equal spacing while the rope about 3 to 4 lines pass through d concrete pole,no cattle,goat,or sheep can pass through it even human being will not find it funny to cross because of the way it's normally done

Something like this?

Surfboard:
J-Rock!!!!!! Obinwa is here with me and he remembers you vividly. Good to meet you again bro.

Obinwa Joshua was my classmate. Hail am for me o!

My brothers, floreat o!

I'm a Hyde-J boy, 3F, '06 set. Used to be known as J:Rock in dorm. Inviting Nastyd, Surfboard etc. Make una come rack o! Lol.

It's unfair to say KC died after S.I. Balogun's era. What about S.M. Onoja (OON)? Onoja rejuvinated KC I swear. He was a great PKC. So great and passionate, he was made an honorary KCOB.

That's me in the beads standing beside him at the 2009 centinary celebration.

nastyd:
HERE!!!!!.....
'05 / '06 set?

'06. F. Hyde-J. But brother, how can you be so accurate in guessing? You be winch? Lol.

We started with S.I. Balogun and ended with S.M.Onoja. Great PKCs!

That's me in the beads standing beside Onoja (OON, CNN, 9months Abortion, Lol) at the 2009 centinary celebrations. He loved and tatched to KC so much, he was made an honorary old boy.

nastyd:
Floreat boyz!
Any Old boy here?

When the call is sounded All must answer...
Floreat! Lol

Guess what everyone. A darling Nairalander came visiting at my shop today. I was so happy to meet her. Anybody wey go fit guess her Nairaland identity, I go dash the person something. Lol.

Jefy, sorry for the late reply o! Facebook hid your message in the "message requests" folder because you probably sent the message before I accepted your friend request.

Meanwhile, I invite all of you to join the discussion on my latest thread "How to Stop the Herdsmen vs Farmers War" https://www.nairaland.com/3059133/how-stop-herdsmen-vs-farmers

I've been so bothered by the Fulani herdsmen issue. It affects me now that I'm a rural-dweller. The last time my father was around he lamented that the Fulani are now grazing near our family compound. Sighs.

Imagine running away from Boko Haram in the North, or leaving the South-West as I did, only to be killed by Fulani herdsmen in my own village. God forbid!

Yesterday, I heard that one man from Amurri (my village) who sells beef at Eke Agbani market was shot and robbed by Fulani herdsmen. They allegedly called him to come to a certain location to buy a cow. When he came, the Fulani herdsman pulled a gun. The Amurri man struggled with him but was overpowered by two other Fulani herdsmen who stabbed him. He was eventually shot and they disappeared with his cash. Thank God he didn't die. I hear he's in a hospital receiving treatment now. God help us.

Please join me there https://www.nairaland.com/3059133/how-stop-herdsmen-vs-farmers let's brainstorm on solutions to this worsening problem.

organicfoods:
Sniper Ke... Neem oil and dongoyaro leaves will solve the problem.

Wow! Thank you. I googled "neem oil"and "dongoyaro leaves" and found out that dongoyaro is the Nigerian name for neem. I asked my cousin and a neighbour where I can find it here in my village. They said it's abundant at a particular secondary school. I'll be going there to get the leaves and fruit as soon as possible. I'll make sure I plant it in my compound so that wetin I dey find for Sokoto go dey my shokoto forever. Lol.

michymeg:
Let me give you my two cents. Once you get someone who is interested in renting the container, go to the diokpa that permitted you to use the land and tell him that as result of the stress of your running your clothing business that you can no longer run the village business as well. So instead of leaving the container there to waste that you want to rent it out. His response will determine whether you will bring up the issue of sharing the rent proceeds or not.


Don't sell the container. Renting will pay better in the long run and you need the passive income. Besides the place might become lucrative tomorrow and you may decide to use it. Nothing beats the feeling of knowing that money will from somewhere at the end of the month whether you work or not. No matter how little the money is it can buy you a bucket of beans. My two cents.

Thank you very much. Onye ajuju adighi efu uzo true true. I especially love the way you concluded by mentioning my beloved beans. Lol.

midastouch:
@JohnNgene,

Maybe i did not elaborate further. Currently:

1. There is a worldwide movements against Conflict Diamonds (a.k.a blood diamonds)
2. In Nigeria, generally we have an aversion to Blood money (i.e. ritual money, kidnapping, armed robbery etc etc

We can now start a new movement against Conflict Beef!, and create a structure of reporting/declaration at markets/purchase points; that the meat you are buying was:

1. responsibly raised and sold and that nobody had to die for the meat to get to the market.
2. raised in a ranch / holding area devoid of violence
3. not bought off cattle rustlers who stole the meat from unlucky farmers

The expected backlash will put pressure on the suppliers and the Fulani herdsmen/and their sympathisers; to rein in impunity. It will also make cattle rustling less attractive.

Sir, you seem to be mistaking Nigeria for America o! Lol. Such campaigns don't work here unfortunately. Have you ever wondered why even with all the campaign against formalin frozen chicken, Nigerians are still stubbornly consuming it?

michymeg:
I suggest you rent out your village container for now, pending when you will get a capable hand that will manage the business for you.

I like this suggestion and have been considering it. My only challenge is how to handle my extended family that allowed me site the container on their land for free. When they find out that I've rented the container out, they might feel cheated. Though I think I could compensate them by paying them a percentage of the rent. Yes, that might work.

Or what about me selling the container for N80,000 (eighty thousand naira)? The N80,000 covers what I spent on building the container, transport, flooring plus profit for making the location a hot cake. Lol. If I should take this second option, the buyer will have to roof it and then pay rent directly to the land-owners while I sell off the goods I've already bought to my friend the Business Prefect. Hmmm...

No! What do you people think? Make una advise me abeg.

I did some weeding of my vegetable farm this morning. It rains every two or three days now so I don't do watering anymore. I had to change from my usual sleeveless into a longsleeve when I noticed that pishipishi (sun-flies) were devouring my arms. Lol. I might have to find a trouser very soon to protect my legs from them.

The ugu is doing very well. The green on other hand is under serious attack by millipedes/centipedes, caterpillars and grasshoppers. I wanted to use Sniper pesticide to fight the pests but I'm scared that it might poison my vegetables.

As for the cucumber, most of them have wilted and died. So I've replaced them with corn. The egusi is growing. Did you know that cucumber and egusi are crawlers/climbers? I no know before o!

midastouch:
[size=14pt]I have a different approach:[/size]

1. Change the market dynamics. Cattle farming is not the exclusive preserve of anyone. There can be thousands of Cattle ranches across the middle-belt, south-south, south-east and south-west. This will change the market and disrupt it. It will deepen the business and the country will reap the benefits. It will drop prices and make beef available everywhere. The current set-up where cattle is grazed from the North down to the South with the attendant chaos is not acceptable anymore.

2. Reject Bloody Meat: People should stop eating beef. I cannot have it on my conscience that my craving for beef is feeding the madness of ethnic cleansing, genocide, arson, rapes and land annexation. There are lots of alternatives to beef.

I agree with your first suggestion and I think that's what is being done at the Obudu Cattle Ranch.

As for a boycott of beef, that's impossible o! Do you know how tempting suya and kilishi are? What happens to "Share the GALA, share the..."? Lol. Unless, Nigeria becomes India where consumption of beef is a religious abomination.

GodisGood08, you mean farmers planting fruit trees, moringa etc as fences?

4) USE SAMBISA FOREST
This is Chinedu Mbaekwe's idea (friend him on www.facebook.com/chinedu.mbaekwe). He argues that instead of leaving the Sambisa forest after flushing out Boko Haram, the large expanse of land should be given to Fulani herdsmen and their cattle to occupy.

The clashes between herdsmen and farmers has been going on for a very long time and is getting worse. Why?
i) Farmers are now making use of their previously unfarmed lands in the bush due to increase in population and higher demand for food.
ii) Herdsmen are being armed by their ex-military, military and political beneficiaries to protect their cattle from theft.

As we can see, both parties are bound to have a clash of interests. Unfortunately, the current proposed National Grazing Bill which seeks to seize lands from farmers in favour of Fulani herdsmen is an unjustice and will cause bloodier clashes in the future. Now, what is the solution?

I propose three measures for a lasting solution to prevail.

1) FENCING OF FARMS:
This is easier said than done because of the huge funds involved. Nonetheless, if the state governments can assist farmers in fencing off their farms, I do not foresee a situation where cattle start flying over fences.

2) INSURANCE FOR STOLEN CATTLE
The government needs to have a record of each Fulani herdsman coming into the country and the exact number of his cattle. If any cattle is stolen, the government should first pay for it while investigating the reported theft.

3) COMMUNITY VIGILANTE
There should be a specially trained group of young men in each rural community whose primary responsibility is to monitor the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle as they graze from place to place and ensure that they do not feed on farm crops. They will also help in protecting the cattle from local thieves/robbers. This will obviously create jobs for our able-bodied idle youths.

What do you think about my proposed measures? Do they make sense? Abeg I no be Ben Murray Bruce o! Lol.

Ngene Chibueze John
(The Light of Africa!!)

This is no solution. It'll only create more problems.

whirlwind7:
If that receipt is for 1 year payment, it should read April 18, 2016 - April 17, 2017.
The recipient has lost one month.

Thank you so very much for the observation. You must be a lawyer with such attention to details. I didn't even notice it in my excitement. I went back to the landlord with the receipt immediately I read your comment.

Me: Sir, you made a mistake in this receipt o! (showing it to him) It should be April 18th to April 17th.
Landlord: January 1 to December 31st is what?
Me: (thinking)
His little son: One year!!!
Me: Sir, that's one year. But this is eleven months.

The argument ended when we brought down a calendar and actually counted it one by one from April 18th, May 18th, June 18th till we got to April 17th of the next year before he finally agreed and corrected his mistake. Lol.

I have regained my lost month. Thanks.

I made a major move today. A ¥20,000 (twenty thousand yuan) move. Una know sey dollar no dey reign again na. Lol

I just rented that small room you can see in the picture this morning for N20,000 (twenty thousand naira). It's in the same compound as my shop. So now, I've rented both a shop and a room from the same landlord.

I decided to take the room for the following reasons.
1) If masquerades block the road, I'll run and hide at my Agbani room. Lol.
2) It'll serve as an extension of my very small shop. I can keep goods there and customers can also change there if they need more room.
3) It'll save me from transportation stress and expenses.

"How did you get the N20,000?" you may be asking. Remember that money I said my model sister lent me? I actually didn't use it in Lagos. Well, I asked her to send me her account number on Saturday so that I'll pay her back. I know my darling younger sister. I knew that her intention is to dash me the money. But I had a backup plan in case she refused to send me her account number. I'd send it to my second sister's account to give it to her. Lol. That was when she explained to me that the money is part of the charity money mapped out by her boss at his NGO/foundation that she works for. Her explanation made sense to me.

Me: I hope your boss is not Dasuki or associated with Dasuki o!
Her: No way! My boss is legit men.

Lol. So I thanked her and told her to thank her boss for contributing to my progress.

Nothing at all. Ok, maybe the likes, shares and five-minutes fame. Lol

Police-wahala plus the malaria I was battling with made me forget to gist you people about how my Lagos business trip went.

The first good news is, I collected the watch and two shirts that Aunty Naijacutee donated to me. One of my friends bought the two shirts from me. Thank God!

The "Superdry Lumbergirl watch" is still posing in my showcase now waiting for a buyer. Lol. That's it in the picture. I'm offering it to any lucky lady for as low as N10,000 (ten thousand naira). The watch is actually worth £70 or N25,000 (seventy pounds or twenty five thousand naira). Google am if you think sey I dey lie. Lol.

The second good news is I was able to buy about 110 items (which includes jumpsuits, leggings, jeggings, trousers, three-quarters etc) for N46,100. My transport totals about N12,000 when I add the unexpected taxi (N1,000) plus police egunje (N500). Lol.

WOW! The rejected stone of NFF has become a cornerstone of FIFA.

I took this picture when the bus parked at Ore for the usual 10-15minutes food/toilet break.

I'm back home in Enugu. I got back here around 11pm yesterday night. My late arrival was caused by the fuel scarcity. Our bus had to queue for about one hour at a filling station. Then our driver had to stop at another filling station when we got to Onitsha around 8pm. We eventually got to the HolyGhost park in Enugu around 10:30pm. If it was the private park of the transport company (E.Ekesons) that I took, I would've slept there. But when I looked around the park, I saw many other transport company buses and knew that it won't be a safe place to spend the night with my goods.

I eventually boarded a taxi N1,000 to Agbani. The taxi only agreed to carry me for that price because he was already carrying two other passengers. Meanwhile, I'd already called my cousin to come pick me up at Agbani as soon as I arrived there.

When our taxi got to Amaechi road, we were stopped by some policemen at that point where a signboard reads "OBEAGU UNO". One of them ordered the driver to open his boot. He then ordered me to open my Ghana-must-go bag. I told him it's the clothes I sell at my shop. He raised one of the clothes, smelled it and...

Policeman: This is okirika. Na contraband!

Me: It's not contraband sir! I bought them in Lagos.

Policeman: Okirika is contraband! We will burn all these clothes here. (Dragging my bag to another seated officer)

Me: Sir, how can you call this contraband? I didn't buy them from outside Nigeria na! I bought them in Lagos. And there are some new clothes there.

Policeman: Show me the new clothes!

Me: See them sir. (Showing them to him)

Policeman: Where's the receipt?

Me: Sir, this is not contraband. I'm just a young man trying to survive. My shop is at Agbani. I'm not a armed robber or kidnapper.

Policeman: Even if you be kidnapper, this AK47 na for you.

Me: Sir, but this is not contraband.

After many minutes of grammar, deaf ears and delay.

Taxi driver: Bros, na you dey delay us here o! Cholu ha obugodulu five naira ka ha hapu gi.

Me: You mean five hundred naira? (I had to ask him cos I was scared he meant FIVE THOUSAND NAIRA. Lol)

Taxi driver: Yes!

I eventually had to settle the policemen N500 as the taxi driver had suggested. As we continued on our way to Agbani, the taxi driver told me that he once sold ladies' wears like me. He adviced me to always produce receipts for any clothes I buy. So that if the police ever tries to harass me, I'll simply hand them my receipts.

Wow! I really learnt a useful business lesson yesterday.

Ekaro o! This is Lagos! Lol.

Yes, I'm in Lagos right now. I left Enugu on Thursday morning. I'd planned to take a Libra bus straight to Ejigbo but I had to make do with Okeyson's when I couldn't find Libra park. They charged me N3,800 which was lower than what I had budgeted for considering this present fuel scarcity. Thank God!

As soon as I dropped at Cele around 5:30pm, I stormed the evening market there. No time to waste time. Lol. The next day, I equally stormed the Katangowa morning market. All these business secrets I'm revealing here, una go pay o! Especially the clothes sellers here. Lol.

I'd planned to return to Enugu this Saturday morning but I got an additional N20,000 loan from my model sister. So it definitely makes sense for me to storm more markets to buy even more goods. Doesn't it? After all, the more goods I buy, the more the transport expenses is spread across the the goods. Make I give small example because of some people wey be olodo. Lol.

E.g. If I spent N10,000 on transport to and fro. Then I buy 20 items, the transport expense on each item will be N500. Add my profit of say N200. The end result is that my wares will be too expensive. But if I buy 50 items, the transport expense on each will be N200 thereby increasing my profit margin. I dey feel like one Charles Soludo now o! Lol.

This is serious

Anatech, there's also another way to choose your domain name which you didn't mention.

If the domain name you wish to use has been taken, go to WhoIs.com to check for the contact details of its owner, call the owner and negotiate to buy it from him/her.

For instance, you can buy MyMainMarket.com, SultanOfSokoto.com and Biafia.com from me if you're interested.

Everyone, I can also suggest very simple and memorable .com domain names if you contact me. But no be free o! You go pay me at least N500 (five hundred naira). Lol.

SUL3.com

Hmmm...

Male and female
Equipments N300,000

Location is Port-Harcourt. PORT-HARCOURT!!!
Rent is N300,000 per annum

Miscellaneous N200,000

That means you should have at least N800,000 as your startup capital.

Though my experience in the business is zero. Lol. I just want to help you blow the whistle so that more experienced people can comment.