When someone who has traveled that road before is mentoring you, the route to success as an entrepreneur is far less difficult. Having a profit mindset can help you become a prosperous businessman.
Anywhere in the world, starting a business is a very dangerous step for prospective entrepreneurs. While there is huge potential for success and financial independence if the business is wisely managed, there is also a significant likelihood of failure, especially in our wonderful country Nigeria.
In Nigeria, the rate of business failure and collapse is infamous. Nigerian company owners have suffered greatly as a result of the nation’s economic unrest. Even though we’re in the so-called “post-recession phase,” businesses are still closing their doors, and the few that are still in it are barely managing to turn a profit.
Without a doubt, it is difficult to conduct business in Nigeria, but despite this, companies continue to grow and prosper there. You can either accept the facts as they are and make a deliberate, determined effort to succeed at your chosen business and no, you don’t have to personally know Dangote or be related to Otedola or you can choose to be among the majority that berates the government and gripes about the terrible state of the power sector (and really, almost every sector in the country).
Get others to do the work for you but always take the credit, Robert Greene writes in his timeless classic “48 principles of power.” While it may appear as though he is advocating the exploitation of people, what he means is to build on the successes—not the failures—of those who have succeeded before you and to draw on their wisdom, experience, and mistakes as you pursue your goals.
In actuality, you won’t obtain wise business counsel from your friendly neighborhood merchant who is barely scraping by, or from your father who toiled away for over 30 years for the government and is still living on the streets (tough to admit, I know, but no delusions on the road to success).
Reading business books by well-known and successful entrepreneurs is a very wise and financially rewarding activity, but you should always take the advice they give with a grain of salt because of the peculiarities of Nigeria and the variety of business initiatives that are undertaken there.
Factors to success
According to my findings, thorough planning and the cultivation or possession of specific attributes might mean the difference between success and mediocrity in any area of one’s life. Lack of planning in any endeavor is a surefire way to fall short of your goals; you might get lucky and scrape by, but true success will always evade you (a topic for another day). Without straying, I decided to concentrate on characteristics that position you for business success.
As follows, in no particular order:
i. Develop a mental strength
ii. Hardwork
iii. Productive attitude to unfavorable circumstances.
iv. Self-discipline
v. Persistence
vi. Be bold and have confidence in yourself.
vii. Forward thinking
viii. Sometimes have a cunning mindset toward achieving an analytical view.
10 Tips For a Successful Business in Nigeria
1. Make quality work for you as your mantra: The adage “You are only as good as your last product” is common in business, and for good reason: in a nation where compromising on quality is the norm and the trend set by our leaders, consistently providing quality to your customers sets you apart from the competition and encourages them to act as your best advocates.
Giving your best effort in all you do, from dealing with clients, even the most challenging ones, pleasantly and civilly to providing a high-quality product or service on time, is what is meant by providing quality service.
2. Attempt to master your field and do so: Get better at what you do until you reach a high degree of expertise; this puts you on a different playing field from your rivals and makes it possible for you to get the kind of elite clients and customers that most people can only imagine.
Many people can claim to have been in business for 20 years or longer, but very few can also say that over that time they have improved at what they do and adapted to the always-shifting business environment.
3. Know your finance level: The most crucial piece of advice here is probably to focus on finance rather than profits alone. While profits should be a top priority for any business, finance is concerned with how money flows into and out of an organization.
While spending should match up with a well-constructed budget, a company could make a healthy profit and still not be successful. As part of long-term goals to promote your services and attract a large customer base, profit may occasionally be postponed. Finally, in your desire to make money, avoid taking every job you come across; some tasks are not worth the stress and money they require.
4. Work hard and intelligently: You know that to accomplish anything significant in Nigeria, you will have to break your back. No matter how the media tries to portray it, smart work is not a replacement for hard work. Smart work often involves working harder than ever, just in more innovative and effective ways.
5. Have a fantastic mentor: The value of a mentor cannot be emphasized; a great mentor should have reached or be on the verge of reaching a level in the company that you aspire to. Although they both serve as excellent role models, your mentor need not be Dangote or Linda Ikeji. Ideally, a good mentor will be both approachable and impartial.
6. Right Hire: This might be a make-or-break moment for the business as the employees you choose can either make life simpler for you or make it more difficult as your firm expands to a certain degree and you need to hire people to carry out the idea.
7. Recognize your industry: This subject could be covered in detail in a full post, but I’ll just highlight the key points. Every company has a target market, and you must tailor your goods and services to fit into that environment. This requires taking into account elements like your company’s location, the level of demand for your goods, and customer complaints. It also requires being aware of the various needs of your clients and having the foresight to foresee shifting trends.
8. Possess a viable business concept: Your business plan should be more than simply a summary of your goals and, most importantly, more than just a strategy for raising startup cash. Doable and realistic goals should be included in your company strategy to serve as a guide for both short- and long-term decisions. Even while your strategy must be strictly followed, it should not be overly rigid and should be intelligently altered when trends and client expectations change regularly.
9. Delegate: This entails assigning tasks to personnel who have demonstrated their worthwhile nevertheless managing and arranging the procedure. Along with helping you gauge your employees’ progress, this also gives you time to analyze market trends by relieving you of tedious responsibilities.
10. Continuous Network: In our country, relationships are more important than merit to gain fantastic employment or clients—the “who you know” tendency. You can now sob and whine that life is unfair, but that won’t change anything, and, to be honest, it gets old after a while.
You may actively seek out opportunities to meet and interact with the proper people instead of taking that pitiful and subpar attitude, and the caliber of your product or service will speak for you even when you aren’t there.
Conclusion
Whatever business model you choose, there are some principles that, while maintaining the integrity of your business vision, ensure success and reduce failure.
