Sales & Product-Market Fit: The Secrets to Business Success (You Can't Afford to Ignore!)

Hello and welcome to the show. Today's episode is going to be a noisy 1 because I am out and about. And today I'm going to take a detour because we're supposed to be talking about the Nigerian lady who wants to start a practice legal consultancy, practice as a securities compliance consultancy. But we're going to take a break from that today because the radio show, my radio show went live yesterday. So I figured, let me just come up here and then share with you some of this stuff that I

discussed with the radio audience yesterday. Yeah. So that's what we're going to tackle today. I have some of my notes from yesterday, and we'll just go over it real quick. But OK, Well, my first experience as a broadcaster, it was was really interesting, really, really interesting, I must say. You know, podcasting and being on the radio entirely two different things. You know, I have much more leeway here, you know, for humour, for, you know, time management, things like that.

Because on the radio, you know, things have to be really, really chop, chop, chop, you know, quick go to music break, quick go to music break and some viewer calls and then another call bumps in. So it wasn't quite like, it wasn't quite like, you know, live speaking live, because when you speak live, you actually get to finish one question before somebody else raises their hand, you know, but then on on radio yesterday was kind of chop,

chop, chop, you know, questions coming in. So it was an was an interesting experience. My radio producer said I did a fantastic job and the few people who I spoke to afterwards after the show aired were also I'm happy with my response. So it looks like that experiment is going quite well. So after a few months, I'll let you guys know the results of my experiment. You know, whether we can use radio for business development purposes and the best way to do it because you know, apart from putting out all the goodness out there, this actually is that experiment to see if I can use radio for business development.

So let's see. So the things that we discussed on the show, well, first of all, I introduced the show to people there. How did I put it again? OK, Well, the focus of the show, as I explained it to my radio audience yesterday, was to reach out to people who have SM ES, excuse me, small and medium scale enterprises, nano and micro businesses, self-employed people, business owners and then career individuals who are looking to build a side hustle.

And I'm glad I added that one because one of the people who called actually is an employee currently in the real estate marketing firm. But of course the guy wants to start his own thing some someplace else. So I'm glad that I put that there so that people like that could call then. Oh yeah, Before I forget, one thing that's really, really I found really, really interesting is that when you cough on air, it sounds really loud.

So now I know for sure that, yeah, because I'm, I'm over here making the podcast. I'm really complacent. You know, I clear my throat, you know, things like that. When you do that on radio, man, it sounds really loud, you know, And I know that because I had the, the, what do you call those things? Headphones in. So I could hear what was going on really live over the air. So now I know that I need to take my voice routine very seriously.

You know, I need to find a coach, a voice coach. I also need to do all the fancy stuff that people do to them, take care of their voice, you know, whether it's a drink or crow or take hot water and melon and, you know, all that stuff. So that when next time I'm on the radio, I can sound silky smooth like all those professionals and I don't have to, you know, cough and hack and things like that. So, yeah, that was, that was a really interesting experience.

But it's been fun. It's been fun so far. Episode 1 real good then let's see what else then. I now try to explore the central question that most Nigerians believe about business failure because in this part of the world, if your business fails, people just say lack of capital or they say unfavourable economic conditions. In other words, my business didn't succeed because I didn't have enough capital or my business didn't succeed because of something that Tinbu has done.

Tinbu has messed up the economy. Oh, yeah. That's also another thing on radio, You know, over here on the podcast, yeah, I can speak my opinions freely. But then you go on radio, and you need to be much more measured and you need to be much more objective. So I made a comment about how lots of people think that their businesses are suffering because of things that Tinibo have done. And then I received comments, you know, warning me that I

should not be partisan. So I had to. After we came back from the music break, I had to let people know that. Look, it relax. You know when I said your business is not suffering because of something that Tinamou did and that I was not trying to be partisan and I was not trying to wait until that whole thing of APC versus PDP. I was just trying to say that whether the economy is good and whether the government is good, there are people who are successful in business and when the economy is bad and the government is bad, there are people who still are successful in business.

So the prerogative for those of us who want to build successful businesses, we should try and figure out the principles, the frameworks, the whatever it is that we need to do so that we can do those things. And our businesses are going to be good regardless of whether things go up or go down. So let's look at the big three billionaires right now. OK, well, I don't know that the three current big three because you know, Nigeria will have a couple of billionaires We have or two deco of Honeywell.

Then there's a dinner gap of Globe. Then there's what's his name, my Uncle Tony. Tony. Tony, Tony, Tony, What's his name now? Tony something Shah of which bank? I can't remember, but he he owns music Horizons of Horizons. You know, those are the people who own transport Hilton Hotel. Tony, what's his name? I know you guys know who I'm talking about. There's Uncle Tony. Then who else? There's Dangote. So so let's just say the big four.

Well, of course, I'm sure Nigeria has much more billionaires apart from O2 Deco of Honeywell, identical of glue. What's the name Dangote of Dangote Industries And then Tonio Lumelu. Yes. And then Tonio Lumelu of, of which bank is Tonio Lumelu is the first banker and he's the bank that has red anyway and he owns Hilton Hotel. So now if you look at those individuals in particular, you will get a, you will get the gist of what it is that I'm trying to say because I don't want to call any names.

There are some people whose businesses have steadily been, I mean, amongst these billionaires I've called, you will say that there's at least one of them. It looks as if his business has been going down, down, down, down, down since the days of Babangida up till now. It looks like the person's fortunes have been going down. There's also another person on this list. It looks as if his business has been growing, you know, up and down.

It has moments and, you know, moments where it goes up, moments where it goes down. And then there's also another individual in this group who it looks as if his business has been steadily on the incline, you know, going up since the days of Barangita up until now. So I'm not going to call any names. I'll just leave you guys to make that judgement for yourself. So the point that I was trying to makeover on the show is that if you look at these individuals, you'll see that you know, government come government go, military in power, civilian in power, Hausa man in power,

Yoruba man in power, Niger Delta man in power. So it didn't matter, you know whose government, there's somebody whose business has been going down and it has been going down since Bawangita zone. He still have been on it anyway. But the person has been going down and it has been going down irrespective of whether PDP and APC have been in power, irrespective of whether a northerner has been in power or a southerner or good luck.

Jonathan has been in power and there's one individual there whose business has been on the incline going up since the days of IBB and his business has been going up regardless of whether a military man was in power or a civilian was in power, a Yoruba man was in power or a house and man was in power. And then for the people whose businesses have been up and down regardless, I mean, I think you get my point. And sometimes the reason why your business is going up or going down has very little to do with whichever government is in power.

Also, if you want to make the excuse that unfavourable economic conditions is the reason why your business is suffering, then I mean, look, let's be a big boy about it or be a big girl about it. And so if teen boy has done something and it's messed up the whole economy, you think it's only you that is affecting? It's affecting everybody now, it's affecting me is affecting you, is affecting Popsy and Mumsy is affecting every single business person.

So it's not as if Tin would do something and then the thing uniquely picked out you to now distress your own business or stress you out. It affects everybody. So just, you know, shut the effort and try and get your business on the road. Oh, by the way, another experience with radio broadcasting and I realize that I have to watch my tongue. I can't make the jokes that usually crack over here on the podcast. I can't use the language that I

use over here on the podcast. So I had to do a lot of self censorship. So that was going to be thinking perhaps I even need to change the style of the podcast so that I don't have to do this mental thing, this context switching, like, OK, am I on the podcast? Am I on, I'm out live on air, you know, just keep it consistent. Bernie. Yes. So that was the second thing that I spoke about. And for those of you who have a plan on being on radio, just realize that these are some of the niceties.

You can't go out there and crack all the jokes you want to crack and say all the things that you want to say. And you have to try to be much more objective and nuanced when you speak. So that was the first thing that I looked at with the radio audience, that look, lack of capital is not killing your business and unfavourable economic conditions are not killing your business. So let's get rid of those excuses. Now. Another reason why I want us to get rid of all those excuses is because we need to look at things that are family within our control.

If we keep looking at in favourable economic conditions, we have no control over that. Because even if you think Peter OB or whoever or Madame Due Process, what's her name? She didn't run again this time Madame Due Process, what's her name? Obi Ezequeserly. And so whether you think Obi Ezequeserly or Peter OB is when you turn this country around, there's nothing that you can do personally to make sure that happens. The best you can do is to go and cast your vote and pray that OBS

sequentially runs again. But it's something that is beyond your control. So I think we should always look at things that are within our control to move our business forward. So now for my radio audience, I just want to look at the real corporate and the things that we should be paying attention to actually is lack of sales skills and the lack of product market fit. Those are the reasons why businesses are suffering nowadays.

You don't know how to sell period or you didn't achieve the product market fit before you started. Then let's see what else? What else? OK, before I went into defining that, I, you know, took a music break and then I also told people where they could stream the show. So I'm going to share that with you guys in case you are living somewhere. Maybe you're a Nigerian in diaspora, maybe you're a Nigerian, you live in Canada or you live in China and you're wondering, oh, how can I catch this young man's radio show?

So all you have to do is just to check the Radio Maria Play app, it's on Google Play Store, also Apple iTunes store. So you check the Radio Maria Play and then you'll be able to tune in at Tuesdays, 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. By the way, when we say 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM, for those of you international audience, we're talking Nigerian time because there's one listener in the UK who tried listening and we spoke afterwards, but the person got that whole day times.

Sorry, is it daytime day times saving thing mixed up? So when the guy wanted to tune in at 7:00 PM to listen to the show, they actually tried tuning in at 7:00 PM UK time. And 7:00 PM UK time currently is Niger, 8:00 PM. So the person just got the last few minutes of the show. So just bear that in mind. If you're in China, it's not 7:00 PM Chinese time, it's 7:00 PM Niger time. So look at your clock and set the what's it called, world clock, whatever on your phone so you can figure out what time it is in Nigeria.

Then you can also stream the show live on radio. Maria dot Ng. So for those of you who are outside the country, you want to hear what your voice sounds like on the radio. Then that's it. That's how you can hit me up. Then I think after that, sorry one moment, let me look up my notes. Also, that's another thing, being on radio, you need to have a nice well prepared script. You can't just go and be freestyling. So had a proper script for the radio show.

In fact, you guys would have been very proud of me because I showed up looking real professional with my script, everything all typed out, looking all good. So, you know, your boy tried. You guys would be proud. Where was I? Yeah. So now after that, I now try to define the key terms so that people understand what it is that we're talking about. Because over here on the podcast, especially those of you who've been following me for years, you know, we have over 1034 episodes now.

You guys already know what some of these times mean. But then again, you know, since radio has much more, what is the word? You know, it's a much more broader demographic. It's not as if everybody who called into the show was going to be a, you know, self improvement junkie or a business bro or a mindfulness or, you know, things like that. People who just immediately get what it is I were talking about. So I had to try and speak to a much more, what's the word now?

How will I put it? I had to try and speak in terms that are much more accessible. Let me put it that way. So that's why I was really important to define the terms because sales, yeah, everybody knows what sales means. Well, they think they know what it means. Then product market fit. Some people will be like product market. What? What is this guy talking about? So in defining sales, I basically just try to tell them that, look, in this part of the world, whenever we hear sales,

we think toasting, we think sweet mouth, we think being gregarious and flowing with people. So if you flow with people, you have sweet mouths, you can say, you know, you can't talk freely, you're extroverted and people say, OK, you should be in sales. So what I tried to impress upon the radio audience was to tell them I look, that is not what sales is. That sales first and foremost. When you think about that, you think business conversation or business relationship.

Now I had to stress that because in this part of the world, when you hear sweet mouth or when you hear toasting, it actually is you, the toaster who is doing most of the talking. And that is where people begin to fail. I repeat in this part of the world in Nigeria, when we hear sales and we think toasting, it is up to the toaster to do most of the talking. It is up to the sweet mouth to do most of the talking. And that is the reason why a lot of you are failing because you're heading into business situations and you're trying to toast your way or try to sweet talk your way into the sale and it does not work like that.

This thing has to be a business conversation. It has to be A2 sided, A2 way relationship. I talk my own, you talk your own. That's how I should flow. It's not about a sweet mouth dominating the conversation or about a toaster trying to toast their way into your wallet. That's not how it works. Then I also tried to get the radio audience to realize that when we talk about sales, the talking that we're doing is not even about toasting somebody to buy straight up.

It's about figuring out if somebody's even interested in the 1st place. Because one of the callers who called it, the real estate guy was one of his frustrations that you find somebody, the person has a correct car, person has correct suit, Boomer has a nice wig. She's looking all right. Be like, say, you know, they're really, really paid up. But then when you start trying to toast them to buy a property or something, they say, let me get back to you.

They say they're not interested. Of course they will say they're not interested. Like, relax, you're coming on too strong. You're coming on too hard. The first point of call is to figure out if this person is even interested in the 1st place. And I said it now look, for instance, if I get some nice paper now, I would like to change my car eventually. But The thing is changing my car is not the biggest priority that I have right now.

When money comes right now, I'm always thinking about things like, OK, well, fuel, fuel expenses have gone up for sure. So whatever money comes in, the first thing I do is I load up my phone. You know, I buy credit. I won't say how much credit I buy because some of you be like, ah, do you spend that much on credit? And yes, I do, because the more people that I talk to, the more money I make. So I need to make sure that my phone is always loaded so that I

can be calling prospects back and, you know, try and work on one or two things. So that's the first thing I do. I load up my phone real heavy. Then I also set aside money for fuel. Real heavy. I need plenty and plenty of money for fuel. Because you know what? Does it profit you if there's a meeting or somebody calls you, but then you look at a fuel tank, maybe it's quarter tank or something, and then you check your wallet.

You see that, OK, I only have 100K in my account. If I now use 40K to buy fuel, it will only be 60. You know that dangerous dance like a whole lot of us do. Now you're now wondering what to do. So I will set aside money for fuel, then what else? Then I like to pay, make sure that we have money for school fees upfront. I don't like that whole thing of school fees is in January, then November, December. We're now beginning to sweat.

So whenever money comes in, I like to just load up things. Then of course, put money aside to saving things like that. So with all these things on my mind, when money comes right now, buying a new car is not the the thing of my priority at all, even though it would be nice. So like I told them, if you just see me, you look at my car, you say, Olga Bros, it's your car is old, it's time to buy a new one. It doesn't necessarily mean I am in the market for cars.

So you can't just size somebody up like this and say, OK, this guy should buy a new car. Maybe I should buy a new car. Maybe if you see my car, you'll let me know whether I think I should buy a new car or not. But The thing is I'm not there yet. So the first thing you do if you're selling cars when you get to me, after you do that whole sizing up thing is at some point you have to ask, have you have you thought about buying a new car?

Have you thought about changing your car? Are you curious to find out what you could get for this car if you tried trading it in? You have to ask all these soft, soft, small, small questions to figure out if the person is interested in the 1st place. That is all. I'll let you know whether this person is cool, you know, let me follow the person. I'll be talking or man, there's no Rd. here. Let me just flash you this person.

This door is closed. So the first point of call when we're having these sales conversations is figure out if the person is interested in the 1st place. If the person is closed, don't try and open the person, just leave him, leave her be going because that whole let me open up, let me educate, let me this man is hard work. Now when it comes to sales, we're trying to reduce the level of work that we are doing. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but actually when it comes to sales, we are trying to reduce the level of work that we are doing.

So 1 moment a bunch of idiots just showed up. So let me wind up the windows so that we can have our own conversation in peace. Sorry about that. Some *** are just rude. As if some *** are just downright rude. You can see over here and I'm on the phone. As far as you know, I'm having a conversation with somebody. I could be quarreling with my wife. I can be trying to get a business deal going or something like that. You *** just come out and then just start talking.

Anyhow, next to the car. Some people are just rude. Hey, what was I? So for sales now, hey, definition of sales. So that's the first thing. Figure out if the person is interested, if somebody is interested, that's how we know whether we're going to be able to make progress or not. Then the people are interested, the sales process involves trying to figure out what problems they have or the visions that they have in their business or their personal life.

So let's say you ask that question like, hey Bros, you know, you're a big boy now, but if your car is looking old, you know, and then we laugh and say, look, forget that thing. And then you say, but seriously, bro, have you ever thought about it? If you think about the trading this your Toyota. So, so yeah, you might be able to get up to like that kind, maybe 100K if you do a trade off, if you say that kind of thing, somebody might be interested.

So in that case, let's just say, maybe I say, are you serious for this car if I trade it in 800K saying yes, no. And then you see these bands over here, these bands is worth 5 M. So if you're going to trade in instead of paying 5 M for these bands, what you pay is 4.2 for someone that might be enough to get the conversation going. So let's just say it now that now I'm interested because what the person has said that if I

drop my car, they will move 800K or 900K on the next car. The next step is try and figure out the problems or the visions that the person has in their business or their personal life. So you start asking so oh this do it herself. You know, if you are considering to trade, trade it in. Why would you even trade it in yourself, especially since to let us have good mileage. Yeah, the Toyota has good mileage. But you know, I've been using this car for like 7 years.

My wife is complaining. She says, you know, we need something new in our life that how can we just be stagnant, you know, that kind of thing, you know, blah, blah, blah. If you get the person talking and the person starts talking like this. Now obviously the person is talking in terms of the vision that they have for their life. It will now give you a sense of what kind of car you can recommend to them. You know to to fulfill that vision.

So if his wife has been complaining, the attitude is tell me more. What is your wife saying or what kind of car does your wife has in mind or what does your wife mean when she says progress? Is progress Mercedes-Benz or BMW or is Mercedes-Benz just means or sorry, all those progress mean we're currently driving 2009 version of Toyota, but progress means, you know, we should be using 2023 version or 2002 thousand 2025 version.

You ask? This is how you know somebody's interested and this is how you now be able to know, OK, which kind of car am I recommending? Or it could be problem for instance, the person will be like, yeah, I would like to trade in this car because this Benz, this Mercedes-Benz is very sweet. But I won't like I'm spending like 120 K in fuel every single week and I can't keep living like this. How will a single guy like me,

small boy like me be spending 200K every single week just buying fuel? I beg, let me downgrade, let me get something, let me get Toyota. In that case, person is coming from the problem angle. But then you also ask questions like 120K200K in fuel. How come now what do you do? I'll be where are you driving it? Do you drive to Makodi every week, blah, blah, blah questions. You figure out exactly what the problem, what the problem is,

what the person's requirements are. And it's from there that you're going to be able to make a recommendation that, OK, yes, you're stepping down. But based on the level of driving that you've been doing, if you go and get Toyota Corolla, you will kill this Corolla cause Corolla is, is OK, but Corolla is not as strong as, you know, this G wagon that you're driving. So what you should do is as you're stepping down, don't step down to Corolla, step down to Toyota Helox to Helox is also fuel efficient.

So you see, this is how the sales process works. You don't just show up and then start trying to sweep mouth somebody from the beginning, trying to toast somebody from the beginning. The sweet mouth and the toasting is good. If you have a sweet mouth is good. Continue learning the sweet mouth thing. If you're a good toaster, it's good. Continue to up your toasting game. But remember it's a business conversation and it's a relationship.

So it's two way. I talk my own. You talk your own. But First off, softly figure out who is interested. If the person is interested, tell me more, you know, get the person to share more about the problem, about the vision. Then in your mind you already know whether you have a product or service that can match the problem. After that, that is where your sweet mouth comes in or your toasting comes in. You now try and make a convincing proposal.

Now, can you see that sweet mouth is important but sweet mouth is not? Where you start with sweet mouth and toasting is towards the end. But most Nigerians when they hear sales, they think sweet mouth and they think toasting. So we will sweet mouth it and we will toast. But the toasting is at the end, the toasting is not at the beginning. Then after that, we now try and get them to take action. And that's how I'm defined what sales was for them.

And I'll keep on stressing that because you won't believe how many Nigerians still think, oh, that guy is a good talker. She's a good talker. She dresses well, he dresses well. They'll be good in sales. It's, it's, it's, it's not just that. I mean, somebody even approached me in the past, a long time ago and the person figured I was good in sales because I'm tall. And my mind, I'm thinking like, because I'm tall, I really,

well, first of all, the guy was not that short himself because he's 5 something. I mean, I'm 6/1, so I understand why the girl says because I'm tall. But in my mind I'm thinking, look, you're fairly successful dude yourself. You really think it is your height that has been holding you back? But I didn't tell him anyway. But yeah, there's some people who have those real funny ideas. Yes, she's good in sales because she's yellow and tall.

OK. He's good in sales because he's a he's a dark and tall any. Let me move on. So the next thing that I tried to explain to the radio audience was what product market fit is and how this is central to being good in business, I mean, for your business to survive. So let me have a look at my notes. What did I write? What did I write? Yeah. So I told him that the central question is when it comes to product market fit, is this #1

market demand. Some of you entire business. And you don't have to figure out this market demand. If the market demand is low, then clearly before you enter this business, you already know you're losing proposition, you're already dying because the market demand is 0 or the market demand is plummeting. So it's not just enough that you have a product or a service. And I think it's a good idea, but we had need to now figure out this question.

Is there demand for this thing? Then the next question to tackle when it comes to product market field is whether this is a problem while solving because some people have problems, but they don't think it's a big enough problem to to do anything about it to to drop money to solve that problem. So some people have a problem, but I don't want to drop money for it. Then really should you be in that line of business? So back when I was consulting with somebody for the in the solar industry, it's one thing we didn't get to try out, but I

really, really had this hunch that the messaging should have been for people who are in band A and people who are in the lower bands. Because people who are in band A are paying serious, serious, serious cheddar for their power. There's a friend of mine whose Mumsy is spending on average 80,000 naira per week because of where she lives in Asokoro. And there's another guy in Lagos that I was complaining about my own Nepal wars.

And the person was like, wait, sorry, sorry. How much credit did you say you bought? And I said, well, I buy sometimes 20,000 sometimes 40,000 in a month. And the guy was like, how is that possible? I, I was like, what do you mean? How is that possible? He said that where he lives in Lagos Band-Aid that they're paying over 250 KA month in Nepal. So what was that? So this was my theory that for somebody who is paying 80 K

every single week for Nepal or 250K every single month for Nepal, and you're trying to sell inverter solar power, stuff like that for them. You can lean in real, real, real, real heavy on this whole thing of if you buy this thing now, you're going to be saving money on Napa in the future. Oh, by the way, I've seen this thing work because while I was in Mumsy over on the Christmas for the Christmas holidays, because we're able to put together solar for her.

I've seen how it works. Basically during the day when the sun is shining, mummy just turns off. Napa was that simple And she's powering the whole house using solar. I mean nothing is is brilliant, you think it makes sense intellectually, but you have to leave it and see it to really understand what I'm saying. So like today is a hot day in Abuja. So my guess is it's going to be even hotter in Lagos. So on a day like this, Mumsy just goes outside and then she turns off net back.

Well, OK, well for Mumsy is not one of those automatic We didn't get one of those packages where everything is automated. So she has to still go and do some things manually, but still, it's better than her trying to manually turn on a generator, you know, with none of us in the house, no children in the house. So she just goes outside and then she does that that that thing that used to flip for generator. So she just go and do Bam, bam,

Napa is off and then she's running the whole house on solar. So effectively Mumsy has caught her electricity bills by more than half, really more than half. Because once the song comes up, boom boom, she switches over to solar and she is not touching NEPA again. So it is only later on in the evening, like around that time, 5-6 ish, she will now do boom boom and then switch over to NEPA so that NEPA can now take over and then she can run security lights and then things like that.

So for people in Band-Aid, there's a huge problem that they might be willing to pay money for. So if you tell somebody that, look Bros, you are now spending 250K in power every single month. What if I was to show you how with solar over time we can make sure that you're only spending 100K in electricity bills every single month. That kind of person might say, OK, tell me more because he thinks that there is a problem worth solving.

So all of you have entered into business and you haven't even tried to answer this question. Is there demand for this thing itself? About the people who are demanding, do they think it's a problem worth solving? Because if they don't think it's a problem worth solving, they will not drop money. The example I give over here on the podcast and I'm giving again is my this my jalopy that I'm driving the window on the driver's side, the passenger side in the front.

It doesn't work. Whenever Mumsy is eating in Abuja, when Mumsy enters the car, the first thing she says is when are you going to fix this window? And I tell her I am not fixing this window because my AC is tight, so there's no need to fix the window because my AC is tight. My my AC is always tight. So as long as AC is tight, I don't care if that window is not working. If my AC breaks down OK, I might now go and fix that window so that the other person in the car won't die because Breeze is not entering the car.

Because for me, whether I'm right or wrong, as far as I'm concerned, it's not a problem worth solving. And every time I go to the mechanic, mechanic says the same thing, OK, whenever we're going to fix this window and I say, look, pay attention to what I came here for, leave that window. I'm not fixing that window because for me it's not a problem worth solving. So is there demand for this thing? And are people going to drop money for it?

Do they think it's a problem that is worth solving? Then there's also the thing of addressable market when it comes to product market fit. Do you have enough people who are willing to buy or use this thing? Because if there are enough people, if there's demand and enough of them and it's a problem, what solving are they willing to drop money, then these are the ingredients for being successful in business. So the example that I gave was this vegetarian craze that was rocking Abuja and Lagos a while ago.

It looks like the vegetarian thing is here to stay. So me now as a layman, years ago, when people asked me about the vegetarian meat thing, my own, my own rationale was this. And look, Nigerians love meat, Abuja people love Surya and Sharma and stuff like that. And in Lagos, they love their meat as well. So in my own opinion, I would say, look, vegetarian business, don't try yourself, the thing will fail. That's what I used to say.

But then there are some people who are very successful in this business because of soy and other vegetarian substitutes like tofu. You take soy that's, I think, dawa dawa, and you take tofu and all those things. I make it to look like meat. And so some people sell those substitutes. And in my own opinion, I'm like, who the hell would buy this? First of all, this thing looks funny. I don't know what it tastes like. And then The thing is even more expensive than the natural meat itself.

Who will buy this thing? That's why if anybody had asked me, I said it's a bad business. But people who have entered the business, they have figured out product market fit. They have figured out that there is a demand. There are some people who are saying, look, I do not want to die. I am not going to eat meat again. I will only eat the substitutes. So there is a demand. Then those people also think it is a problem worth solving.

So they're not deterred by the fact that if you go to the market, you will get one kilogram of beef for 6/5, but if you want to buy 1 kilogram of this vegetarian stuff, you're going to pay 13 K. For them, it's not a problem. So let's repeat, there's a demand. There are people who want this thing. They think it's a problem worth solving, and they have no problems paying double the price of normal meat. For me, I think that's madness by the way, that they're paying twice the price of this thing.

I think it's madness. But anyway, maybe if I meet somebody in the business and I talked to some of the consumers, I really understand what is going on. Maybe it's a fear of death. Maybe they're wealthy people and they're afraid of dying. So maybe that's it anyway. And then there's enough of these people who are willing to use these things. So there's an addressable market. So there are people who are making a living selling vegetarian meat substitutes in Abuja and Lagos regardless of what I feel.

So if you ask me, Tavish Shimmer, I would say bad business idea, don't go there. But the people are succeeding because there's product market fit, there is a demand, the people think it's a problem worth solving, so they're willing to pay and then there's a large enough addressable market. So I hope I was able to convince the radio audience and I hope I've been able to convince you guys that you can see now why these are the two big things that we need to solve when it comes to business growth and business success.

Can you sell? Do you know how to handle the conversation, how to have the conversation? And can you figure out the mathematics of the equation? Product market fit? Is there demand? Are people going to pay for this thing? And are they enough people to make this thing profitable? So that essentially was what I tried to share with my radio audience on day one. So let me have a look at my notes. Let's see if there's anything else.

I think that was the main thing. I tried to share my radio audience on day one. And then after that, we opened up the lines and then we started taking some questions. Lots of the questions were dropped. One person was able to what's up in a question, but I had a conversation with three people. So since we have done close to 40 minutes of today's podcast episode, I'm not going to go into detail on those three people, but I definitely will tackle their own questions over here on the podcast at a later date.

And interestingly, one of them had to deal, had to deal with investments. But I told together, look, investments is not my specialty and you really shouldn't be getting investments. This advice from all APS, not from all their personalities, but I was able to direct him to some resources from the Security and Exchange Commission because they have registered broke stock brokers who are there. So I'm more the less what you guys know as well.

So you have investment issues. OK, it's OK. You can listen to what podcasters are saying and you can listen to what radio people are saying. But please, please, please, please, please go and check the Securities and Exchange website, the SETSEC, they have a list of registered stockbrokers that are there in the country. Scroll down to your section. So let's say you are based in Orbakaliki, just Scroll down to a bucket leaking and see the registered stockbrokers who are there.

And then go in there, have a chat with those people. You know they'll be OK, they'll be OK to have a chat with you. Although there's some people who are very standoffish, you know they will look at you if your suit is not this, if you're not looking sharp, then they will be treating you one time. And you know you don't want to do business with those people anyway. But check the list, look for registered stockbrokers in your area.

Go and ask those people, the stockbrokers who actually know what's up and who can give you good qualified advice. So that was it. That was my day one on radio, and that was the adventure. That was the fun that I had. Looking forward to the next episode. If any of you listen using the app or streaming, feel free to call. We will. We will talk to anyone. So that's it. It was fun and it was good. And yeah, I've learned that podcasting is definitely not is everything as radio.

So I guess I'm even more glad now for the podcast because when I keep back, relax, we can have a conversation. I can cough, it's not a problem. And if I say something about good luck, Jonathan or Tinubo or whatever, I trust that you guys over here on the podcast are not going to misunderstand what it is. And I'm saying. And you get me in the proper context, especially since I can do really silly things like talk for 40 minutes straight without going for a music break.

So that's it. Thank you very much for your time and attention. If you'd love to connect to have a strategy session or a business audit or you have questions that you want to ask, the phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234. That's my WhatsApp number as well. Then you can also connect with me on LinkedIn and aim to look for establishing my IED, my YouTube channel where I host all the other videos. That's the name you should look for as well.

Tavishima Aidi. And yes, just in case you are curious, when he came to calling out the phone number, I swear I almost made that mistake. I almost called up my own, my own phone number. But it's a good thing that they had the calling number there on the table laminated. So I just looked at it and then I I called it out here. So that would have been a very, very interesting mistake. If I give up my phone number live over the air.

I mean, that happened. My producer would have just gone ballistic. But anyway, it, it, it turned out well. So I'll catch you guys at the next episode tomorrow. We're going to go back to the case study. Yoruba baby lawyer, sorry, I know you're about a female baby lawyer from Lagos who is thinking of starting going into legal practice on her own as a consultant for securities compliance. We'll go back to that case study and we'll continue discussing how it is that you're supposed to look for customers in case you're starting up a service that is similar.

So thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys in the next episode.