Myth: The Solopreneur Journey - Why Every Business Needs a Team (Even You!)

Hello and welcome to the show. Today is another out and about recording, so expect to hear the usual interruptions in the background. Let's see. So we're going to take off from where we stopped yesterday. If I remember correctly. We're still on my advice for first time entrepreneurs, people who have limited business experience and who want practical guidance. OK, this is your first time I'm listening to the show. If you listened to the previous four, four episodes, you hear a bunch of stuff about my ideas about how you should, or rather how you shouldn't pay too much attention to how you select your business name branding, my ideas around intellectual property protection, what else?

A whole bunch of stuff anyway, that I think first time business people need to pay attention to. So once you're done listening to this episode, skip back, listen to the other 4-5 and you get a richer perspective about what it is that I'm trying to impart or to pass along to people who have limited business experience and who want to throw their hat in the ring and who want to get in the game. Now, one of the things that I

want to dispel for first time entrepreneurs today is this whole thing of being self-made solo, this solo, this solo that, because there's a lot of all that talk going around. So particularly for young men, you know, we all want to be self-made. And then there are some people who are, what's the word? Is it misanthropos, misanthropopes or anyway, I'm sure some of you know the word I'm trying to hint at. There are some people who just don't like people basically.

So if you're one of those folks who doesn't like people, you want to do something that you don't have to do with people. I'm not sure that being involved in business is the line of work for you. And if you're one of those people who is looking to be a self-made, this self-made that you don't like how Donald Trump says he's a self-made businessman and everything, I'm here to bust your bubble that there's no self-made thing because because business is essentially A-Team sport, even for people who have lifestyle businesses.

So even if you look at the woman in your neighbourhood who runs a canteen, for instance, you know, she has a whole ecosystem around her. OK, for instance, Yeah, the lady that I'm staying in front of right now because I'm parked in front of someone's Mama boots. So let me just make this recording quickly and then head on to other things. So this lady that runs the mamapud, she shows up here every morning and she opens up the the shack and then these two Al madjori type looking boys come along and then one of them sweeps the other one arranges the tables.

And then the taxi driver that drops off here off every day. It's the same taxi driver. He helps her unload the stuff. Let's see, what else? OK, there's another Al Majuri type looking kid who comes along later on and who sort of acts like a server. And then once in a while there's another Al Majuri type looking dude who comes by the way. So I'm not trying to be disparaging when I say Al Majuri, but I spent some time in Kano doing my youth service.

So unfortunately in Nigeria, we do have these young men. I don't know how they get into these situations, but they rely on the goodwill of other people within the community to survive. So when I say Al Madjuri, that is what I mean. So I'm not sure what the proper Islamic connotation is, but when an average everyday Nigerian like me who's not Muslim says a majori, that is what they mean. That is what we mean. So these young men who are out and about in the neighbourhood and who rely on the charity or the goodwill of other people in the community to survive because they don't have means to take care of themselves, whether it's by taking Alps and stuff like that.

So, yeah, so this woman, she has her shop and then or her stall or whatever it is, you know, the Maraput, and then these are the young men who come around and then stuff like that. Now, she might think of herself as a solopreneur or she's involved in this thing alone, but you can see that in an informal sense. You can see that there's already some team and there's some ecosystem around her that helps her business to serve survivor thrive.

There's the taxi driver who drops her off, who also double S as a delivery guy. There's the two imagery boys who come early in the day who serve as the sanitation crew. Then there's the imagery boy who comes later on at around maybe 9:00-ish or so, who's kind of like the server and the dishwasher. And you can see that she's not really. Yeah, she bears the broad for running the business and things like that, but there's still a certain amount of people management and logistics that is involved on her own part.

And that's the reason why I'm saying that you can't really say that anybody is self-made because in the early days when it's a tiny shark, she has an ecosystem around her. Now, God willing, eventually she's going to grow beyond this, get her own space, build a much more, you know, instead of it being wooden planks and zinc, she's going to move to a place where there's going to be a proper building. And even then, you know, now she'll have sales girls,

properly trained sales boys, cooks, things like that. I hope you guys are starting to see the picture that I'm trying to create here, that ultimately she's going to be financially responsible for supplies, everything working and things like that. But you can't say that for her, being in business is a solo sport because she has a team around her, whether it's people who are volunteering or whether it's people that are paid.

So business is a team sport for every single person who's an entrepreneur. The only thing that we can do is to think and try to anticipate what kind, what quality, what level of team that we need around us and start planning for it deliberately. So for the person who says that they want to be a digital nomad, you know, you want to live in Singapore and walk off your laptop or you're tired of Nigeria, so you want to relocate to Dubai and run your business off of your off of your computer.

Let's say you're a a crypto Wiz or something like that or a stock trader or so, yeah, maybe some of those folks, you can find people like that that completely isolate themselves, cut themselves off from everyone. But for most people who are going to be involved in business, you'll find that there's no business that operates in isolation. Most of us are going to have to deal with suppliers and get raw materials. That bunch of us will have to deal with deliveries and we have to deal with product fulfillment.

Fulfillment is how I describe fulfillment. OK, let me go back to the wedding photography example 'cause that's where I started off from. So yes, your wedding photographer, is it just you or maybe just you and your wife or you and your girlfriend or you and your siblings? OK, no, let me use the solo person since we're talking about how business is a team, team sport. So you go, you shoot the wedding, you do the editing, you do the whatever, you design the book, but then delivery, sorry,

fulfillment falls on somebody else because you can't produce the book by yourself. There are some wedding photographers I know, like back like 15 years ago, who produced the books by themselves. There's one guy in Lagos, his name was Udufua. Udufua Photos, but I told him was not sustainable because making a book is hard enough, you know, printing the whole thing and then binding on the whatever. But anyway, he was trying to keep costs down, so he used to do everything himself.

So back to the wedding photographer guy. So fulfillment now falls on somebody else. Somebody else makes the frames. Somebody else makes the books, somebody else makes the, the, what do you call a souvenirs if you're one of those people who deliver souvenirs to your clients, like calendars and Diaries and things like that. So that is what I mean by the fulfilment functions. And so you can see that that falls on other people.

So fulfilment or production. And then for those of you who are going to be involved in businesses where you raise funds, then the stakeholder management, some of you have to deal with government regulators depending on the business that you do. So if you're a cake artist, for instance, I think you're supposed to have the registration papers from the local government to say that you can create pastries and you can create food and sell food and things like that.

I don't think most people have that certification, but there is stuff like that. Well, at least in Abuja anyway. That's more those certifications they're supposed to get from AMAK. That's the Abuja Municipal Area Council. Yeah, so and I think in Lagos there will be something similar. So you can see that no matter what business it is that you're involved in, you're going to have to deal with people at some point. So determine who is going to be critical for your team and then start keeping an eye out for those sorts of people and make sure that you either Co-op them,

beg them, hire them, bribe them, whatever it is that you have to do. Just determine who is critical and make sure that you get those people to be a part of your crew from the gecko. Like this lady who is, I know some people say she's taking advantage of these young men, but I really don't think she's taking advantage of them. I think it's more of a symbiotic relationship. So this is the business that she does. These young men have nothing else doing and they have no support.

And so they come, they help, She gives them food once in a while, she gives them money. So I think it's more of a symbiotic relationship. So I'm not saying that you should Co opt imageries into the running of your business. I'm just saying that we all need a team, so we have to think about the team that we need to start planning for that and see how we can get people on board. So if you're a first time entrepreneur, you have limited business experience and you don't like people, my honest advice to you is just go and be an employee.

Because if you're an employee, you actually can go to work, plug in your headphones. Where in Nigeria you can go to work and plug in your headphones if you work in the UK and if you work in in America, you can't plug in your headphones because regulations require that people should be alert and blah, blah, blah. You know, it's a health and safety thing. I guess. They're afraid that if your headphones are plugged in and the fire alarm goes off, you don't hear, then you get burnt down and then the company has liability, you know, because you died in their building.

So yeah, in Nigeria, you can go in, plug in your headphones and the only person you have to deal with is your line manager or your direct reports. And you can have limited interactions with people. So if you don't like people, don't go into business, become an employee because really business has lots of dynamic people interactions. So you cannot avoid it. So for those of you that are Miss Anne Forbes or Miss Anthropes or miss an whatever that word is, you know you don't like people, go and be an employee.

Plug in your headphones. If your line manager decides to argue with you, say look, OK, my job is to do XYZ, right? So far I have delivered XYZ, so the fact that my headphones are plugged in should not be a problem because you paid me for XYZ. My earphones are plugged in, I'm delivering XYZ. Can you pay me, please? Time is up, it's four PMI want to go home and then you don't have to deal with people there. For those of you who are laboring under the assumption that you're going to be a self-made this, a self-made that, you can keep telling people that yes, I'm a self-made millionaire or whatever, but let's face it, nobody is self-made.

So even that Donald Trump and the whole self-made thing, like self-made, how you were born into a family, you had support of Mumsy and Popsy. Popsy happened to be a successful businessman, the social capital, you learnt a couple of things from him. You had the advantage of certain networks and introductions. This, this self-made man thing, self-made woman thing doesn't exist. But then again, yes, if you've been through difficult circumstances and you have to give yourself a pat on the back,

then please, by all means. So like this lady who runs the Mamaput, you know, it's my prayer that one day she's going to grow beyond these circumstances because this is a gruelling way to make a living. Or she shows up here every day, she's dedicated, she's doing her thing. So it's my prayer that she will grow beyond this, especially since for a woman like her who is also trying to take care of people in the neighbourhood, you can see that she has a good heart and she's not just after the profits, but she's also trying to make some level of social impact.

And she's really, really nice woman. So it's it's my prayer that she grows beyond this and it's also my prayer for people in cottage industries, not just in Nigeria but in any other part of the world. It's also part of the reason why I make the podcast because I believe that lots of us are living below our potential when it comes to business growth and business development because we lack one critical skill that we need to move the business forward, which is sales.

Whether you call it sales, business promotion, marketing or whatever it is that you want to call it. Anyway, I lost my train of thought, but summary, if you're a first time entrepreneur, there's no solo whatever and you can't be involved in business if you don't like people because business is a team sport. You are going to need a team around you. So with that, let me bring this to a close. And I don't have my sheet in front of me today, but I think there's one more issue that we have to deal with.

And then we'll be able to bring this arc to a close where we've been looking at practical guidance that I'd like to give people who are first time entrepreneurs and who have limited business experience so far. I hope that what I've been saying in this series has been helpful. And what has been helpful or not helpful. You have questions, comments, queries, stuff you disagree with. Hit me up on LinkedIn. My name is Tavishima Ayede, I'm the host of the show.

You can confirm the spelling of my name from the link. We're currently listening to this episode. My e-mail address is there, then my phone number will be there as well. But let me just spit it out anyway. So my phone number, you can hit me up on WhatsApp or Telegram. Telegram I check maybe once a month, but WhatsApp, I'm there every day. My phone number is 08064662140 and the country code is +234 for those of you who are not Nigerian.

So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode and I have to give myself a pat on the back because I did another 15 minute recording. Don't forget to let me know what what format you guys prefer, if I keep it to this whole 1015 minute thing or if the 30 minute ramblings are OK. So I'll catch you guys tomorrow.