I was recently featured as Entrepreneur For The Month on Pinpoint Magazine and I shared entrepreneurial tips for start ups.
I will be expounding on what I shared and I do hope, this will be helpful to someone reading this:
Set policies as you go. It will help reduce risk of loss and position you for success
There is common phrase that necessity is the mot
her of invention.
This saying is quite true.
In my early days of entrepreneurship, I was contracted to coordinate a birthday event in a particular location. I deployed staff to comb that location for a cost effective and exotic location and we got 20 hotels and event centers.
After all inspections were completed, we scaled it down to 5, then we picked the best event center based on price and aesthetic.
I prepared a bill complete with pictures of the location, catering, parking etc.
That was it, the client stopped calling.
So I called to find out what happened and she says "I know the place". Implication was, she did not need my services any longer.
I licked my wounds and came up with a policy of restricting the amount of information I give to clients until I have a financial commitment from them.
Irrespective of how many MBA's you might have or maybe you have an uncountable number of PHDs, what you have learnt in class is useless unless you apply that bit of knowledge in real life scenarios, deduce your own conclusions, then evolve.
I cannot emphasize this enough - the Nigerian business scene is a tough one. The business terrain has disproved many a theory.
We are a unique people and if you must survive as a business person in Nigeria, you may have to be humble enough to unlearn most of th;e things that you learned in school.
As you do business in Nigeria and as academic principles are disproved, make new laws (policies). Let these policies guide you. Remember why you made these policies and carefully do not break them.
Reasons why you must never break your policies are:
(i) It is a bad precedence for your staff. They will not take your laws any serious.
(ii) Let these laws stop you from making the same mistake again, albeit with larger funds.
Many business have gone under because they allowed history to repeat itself.
Hope this tip has been helpful?
Please share your personal experiences and how it has led you to come up with your guiding principle and policy.
Till with meet again, keep winning.
Mr David Chiaka
@MrChiaka
