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Hello and welcome to the show. Today is going to be one of those noisy episodes because it's a late night recording and well, of course, you know, since I'm in Makudi, I'm definitely not in the audio booth. So today we're going to have some random rants and then have some business takeaways at the end of the episode. If you'd love to connect with me to explore opportunities, then call me on 080 64662140. The country code is +234 for those of you who are not Nigerian.
And then if you're looking for me on socials, the name to look for establishing my IED, you can find me on LinkedIn. I'm shutting down all my other profiles. And then of course, I've been banned from Twitter, so I'm not there. All right, So yeah. So like I said today, random runs, yeah. If you listen to the last episode, you know that recently we had a road trip to Magwadi, that was 2 days ago and the trip was absolutely fantastic because those of us from this part of the world, or rather this part of Nigeria, you know, are used to dealing with terrible,
terrible roads, you know, potholes, you know, now as in those of us who come from this side, you know, Benway, Plateau, Nassarwa, Taraba, roads are usually terrible. I hear that in the east that roads are also terrible as well, you know, with erosion and all that. But anyway, I haven't travelled to eastern Nigeria recently, so I can't let you know what's up on that part of the country. But surprisingly, before Nassau State University, the road was smooth all the way to Makudi.
As in, I'm not going to lie, as in the road was smooth, freshly tarred. The only bumps on the road were speed bumps. I don't know, it was like something out of a movie surprising. The road was very, very, very smooth. So it was a good trip. It was a very good trip. And I noticed that we also have a new university in Nassaua that's I think it's called Phoenix University or something like that. So those of you who are big boys in Abuja who like to go and look for small shops over the weekend, I'm sure you guys are happy to know that there's more playing grounds in Nassaua State and let's see what else.
OK. I also noticed on the road that the toll gates are back. Some nostalgia are there, you know, because the, you know, we used to have toll gates growing up back in the 80s, but then with the military government and around the 90's, the toll gates were dismantled. So I'm surprised seeing that they're back again. Maybe there's been a reversal of government policy. And so for those of you who hit the road, you know, between Abuja and Benue State, OK, well,
of course, if you're going to get to Plateau State, you have to pass through some parts of NASA. So I expect to pass a couple of toll gates, although they're not operational at the moment. I mean, they've been set up, but they're not collecting any money now. But I think cars is like, is it 500 bucks or maybe 1K? And I can't remember. Anyway, so that's about the trip. That's the random part. Now, let's get to the business take away.
OK? Yeah. So those of you been listening to the show, you will remember that I said me and my siblings were able to arrange for Mumsy to have solar panels in the house. And I must say it is worth the investment because this is the first time I'm staying in the house. That's in Mumsy's house with the solar panels. And you know, Ben is Bennu is practically like sun country as in the sunbelt of Nigeria. So the solar panels are great as in they're functioning really well.
And so, OK, sorry about that. I had to clear my throat because the downside of travelling to Makodi this time of the year is that Hamadan is really, really harsh over here. So weather is dry as hell. That's for those of us who are challenged with, you know, infections and cough and these sorts of things. Anyway, what was I? So I was saying that basically, you know, these things are worth the investment. So for people who are basically in the Sunbelt, so Benue State,
Nassara State, Taraba North, Central Core North, I really think it's something that the government should be investing in. And if you can't afford it, it's something that you definitely should be investing in as well. Because now that Mumsy has the solar panels, we've been able to run the fridges and the freezer for 16 hours daily at the very least. And I'm being serious here, you know, I have inverters that's back home in Abuja and I've been impressed with the performance.
But I mean, I don't know, it's hard to explain 'cause I remember coming to my goody back when we were little kids and how NEPA was crap over here, especially like my auntie used to live in North Bank back then. So we'll be crashing in North Bank and light used to be like candles and then now staying in Mumcy's house and we're having light basically 247 running fridge and freezer, 16, sometimes 20 hours a day. Well, it's, it's, it's incredible.
And it just got me thinking now for those of you who are in business where you have to do with produce and poultry and things like that, it might be a good investment. I mean, if you run a cold room and you have the ability to run a freezer for 16 hours daily. And I don't know if that's going to be a competitive advantage. And I don't know if the numbers work out, you know, as in investing in solar panel for these sorts of businesses,
whether it gives you a competitive edge, you know, I don't know, but it's something you guys ought to consider. It's absolutely fantastic. Anyway, so this is, that's not really the business take away. This is where the business take away comes in. Now the there's a small fault in the system and the fault is with the relay coils or something like that. That's for somebody who's knowledgeable in this sort of thing. That's what the guy just told us.
Now the problem is with the relay coils. Now the system works. It's just that when there's a switchover, there's a noticeable delay. Because the whole one of the cool things about these sorts of systems is you know when you're about to switch from solar to Nepal, from solar to Nepal, or from either to the inverter batteries, it's supposed to be seamless. The only thing here is the beep in the background. So but because of the problem with the relay costs, now there's a noticeable, noticeable delay like you notice, you know,
sometimes the TV will just what's that word when the trips off and then it starts again. Now it's something that should be a small fix or a low cost fix. And so because of that, most. He called up the guy who installed the solar panels. And as we're having the conversation, it became clear that this person who fixed up the solar panels, the person who me and my siblings decided to go for over the anyway, let me log into that.
But it turns out that, you know, the fellow didn't even store Mumsy's number. Some of you might think, how is this a problem? You've gone, you've done the job, you've collected your money, you've left. So how's that a problem? Now I have a, a some questions for you guys and these questions are not rhetorical. I keep saying on the podcast over and over again that the whole .1 of the ways of getting a viable business, a profitable business, a sustainable business, is to get repeat business and referrals and repeat.
You want your business to be viable. You want your business to be profitable. You want your business to be sustainable over a long period of time. Then the goal is to look for repeat business and referrals. So if you do solar panels or you're selfish or you're wedding photographer or you're a lawyer, the goal is not to collect big money one time from somebody. But the goal is to make sure that you collect big money one time from someone.
And the person comes back again to buy another product or a service from you. And after that, that the person refers you to a friend and to a family member or to an associate. And that's where the big money comes from. Because let us say that you set up solar panels from someone and the whole thing costs five M. It's not just enough to collect 5 M and rejoice and say that God has bought out your bread. The goal is to collect 5 M from this person today.
Be in good stead with the person so that the person buys extra services from you tomorrow. Even if it's only 2020 K maintenance fees every two, every two or three months, it's still something. But then to get the person to refer you to other people, maybe two or three other people who will end up giving you another 5 M again. So that is the scope. And let me repeat for those of you who are listening for the first time, for business to be viable, for business to be profitable, for business to be sustainable over a long period of time.
The goal is not to collect big money from somebody once. The goal is to get repeat business and to get referrals. Now what does repeat business and referrals have to do with storing numbers? How are you going to get repeat business from someone if you do not store their damn phone number in the 1st place? How I hope some of you are beginning to see, especially from this part of the world, because in these parts, you know, our people, they will say that it's village people that are chasing you.
That's why your business is not moving. For a whole bunch of us, the reason why our business is not moving is because of all these small, small things here and there. People pay you good money to do a job. You don't even store their phone number. How do you think you're going to get repeat business from them? How do you think you're going to get referrals from them? And then Speaking of phone numbers, if you want to reach out and connect with me, the phone number is 08064662140,
country code +234. I'm on socials as Tavishima Ayuddin, especially on LinkedIn. Now back to this whole rant. Now think about it. If somebody has paid you good money to do a job and that customer knows that you didn't store their number, does that make the customer feel like they are important to you? Think about it and if the customer knows or gets the idea that they are not important to you, do you think that is the beginning of a good customer experience or a good user experience?
Think about it. One more question. If the customer knows you didn't store the number, if they feel like they're not important to you, and if they feel like they're getting a poor customer experience, a poor user experience, do you think this customer is going to Rep you if they know that you don't send them? Think about it. Let me ask you one more time. Do you think this customer is going to Rep you if they know that you don't send them?
Anyway, how does the story end? The guy doesn't seem eager to come for a small change. More or less, that's just the end of the story. Let me ask you now, given the situation, do you think Mom C is going to refer in the future or do you think me and my siblings who push for this business are going to be fair in the future? We're happy about the system. There's no problem. It works very well. Like I said, deep freezer is on on average 16 hours daily.
Sometimes deep freezer and freezer are on 20 hours of a day. So we're very happy with the system. But truth of the matter is we're gushing about the solar system, but the way things have turned out, none of us are gushing about the provider. So somebody can come and meet me and come and meet Mumsy and be like, hey, what's up, blah, blah, blah. This thing seems really good. What do you think I'm thinking? And we can say, Oh yes, yes,
yes, it's a wonderful idea, go ahead, invest. But do you think any of us are ready right now to refer this particular person? Think about it. These are ways that you distinguish yourself and these are ways to get repeat business. How to get referrals just by storing people's phone numbers, by being in touch, by having some phone game, by having some follow up game. Now the question is, how are we going to deal with small change?
Because I understand that as business people, we only want to run when the money is big. When we hear big money, then we move. If it's small money, we're like, yeah, it's not worth my while or OK, let me send one of my boys. How do we deal with it in different ways? But my recommendation, at least today until I think about it in some more depth, I would say is costed. Schedule it and then expand the diagnostics to make it worth your while.
Let me explain. The one is costed. If you're going to come out and it's more change, at the very least just make it a maintenance call and then put transport. In Abuja, people who provide solar and in Lagos, people who provide solar already doing that, like battery maintenance for instance, they say that maintaining your batteries is easy. You just open the cover now, pour alkaline water inside, blah, blah, blah. But some of us are afraid, like me, I'm afraid I don't touch electrical equipment.
So I always call my guy back like, hey dude, it's time, Come and maintain this battery. Come and service it. He tells me like, look, you can't service it yourself. And I say, yeah, I know, I know I can service it myself, but I don't want to touch any of this electrical stuff. You come and do the servicing for me. So what he does is he charges ME15K every time he's coming out to come and do the servicing. He told me straight up, look,
the water is not expensive. The water is like 1K5. So basically 3K4K will buy all the water that we need. But he tells me how look, you know, transport, at the very least transport. So I say, OK, no problem, 15K cost it and have that conversation. OK, no problem ma'am, I'll come out for it. But mummy, you know how things are with this country. I bet no vex, you know, last, last at least I'll collect 10K, cost it, and have the conversation with the client instead of Hemming and hawing and pussyfooting.
And then they can tell that OK, because this one is small change, it's not a problem. It's not worth your while, but if it's big, big something, big maintenance that they can now charge like 400K, then they'll show up quickly. So step one, cost it. Have the conversation and be upfront about it. Then #2 schedule these damn things. Like I told you in Abuja and in Lagos, they're already doing it, maintaining our battery.
We have to maintain it every two, two or three, three months. Schedule the thing Mummy. I'll be coming by the house every two, 2-3, three months to make sure that everything is OK, system is well maintained, everything is well, this, everything is well, that Mummy. Novix. At the very least, we'll need transport 15K Schedule it. For most people, 15K every three months is not a problem, especially if the person has enough money to buy a solar panel in the 1st place.
So cost these things in the beginning, Schedule it, make it part of a service package and that is one way of distinguishing yourself from other people because we know that the average Nigerian business person is going to show up, install the thing, collect the money and leave you who shows up and has a plan for installing and coming back time to time to maintain the damn thing. Even if you're collecting small, small change, do come and do it.
That is one way of setting yourself apart. And think about it. If you install the solar panels and leave and never come back, how are you going to get repeat business or referrals? And the person who installs the solar panels but is coming back every 3, three months? People are seeing you, Madam is seeing you, neighbors are seeing you, you're coming and you're going. You seem like you're a thoughtful guy or girl. Everything is nice and well maintained.
When the time comes up for referrals, who do you think they're going to call? Isn't not the person that they've been seeing every 3 three months. Think about it think so cost it change the lid and then the last one, expand the diagnostics to make it worth your while. For those of you who are, you know, machine maintenance service based people, this thing is just physics. I be chemistry things breakdown. With your years of experience,
you know that certain kinds of things are going to break down. So if somebody calls you to say that there's a problem with the relay coil. Now I'm just making stuff up here because this is not my area of speciality. But if somebody comes to say that there's a problem with the relay coil, you as a service technician, you know that OK, if relay coil has problems, it can affect this part and this part and that part. So when you show up, don't just fix your retail coil, sorry,
relay coil and then leave. Expand the diagnostics. OK, Mommy, now that I'm here and I fixed the relay course, I need to check this. I need to check this. I need to check this to be sure that this problem has not affected this and that this problem has not affected that. Mommy, is he OK? Can we go ahead? Or by the way, if we do it and we discover any problem, should I let you know at least just make sure that this thing does not break down in the future?
Of course, most people are going to say yes now. I sure go ahead and check it. If there's any serious problem, I beg tell me so that there's a problem so that we know just to stop any problem in the future. And that is how you can make some of these visits watch a while because it can come in. And the problem at first you thought was really a quote 500 naira. But by the time you look around and you see that, oh, OK, retail quote 500 naira, but there is this other problem or this other problem that we can fix for this amount or that amount or that we can prevent by doing this kind of maintenance for that amount.
And that is how you start expanding the average order size when you go out. Some of you might say, oh, I don't want to steal from people. It is not stealing. It is a valuable service that you are providing. I've been in a situation where I had a problem with my car and I went the mechanic just fixed it, but only that. And then two months later, I was back for another problem. And at some point, you know, as the guy that, OK, look, that time that I came to fix this, if we fix this and we fix this other thing, could it have prevented the problem?
And he said yes. I told him like, so why didn't you tell me? And he was quiet. Those of you who are in these sorts of industries, you're fixing machine, you're fixing this. You owe it up to your clients to tell them. Hello. OK, Olga, you came today and what you want to fix, it's just the Boris or it's just the wheel alignment. But actually this is a sign of something bigger. The sign could be here, it could be here. OK, just leave this car.
Let me run maintenance on it and let me see what's going on. Let me try and diagnose what the problem is. And OK, as we diagnose it, if we see any bigger problem, should I let you know? Then you keep quiet. Of course the guy is going to say if you see anything, let me know. At least let it be the customer's choice. That OK, Thank you for telling me. Fix the small one, that big one, and no problem. We'll deal with it later.
At least when the problem arises, the guy will remember that you told him. So that's my own recommendation. If you don't want to go out for a small change, don't ham and Haw. Don't start doing one kind. You know, ignoring calls and stuff like that. Have a friend conversation, cost the damn thing and then come out. If you don't know how to cost it, then no problem, charge for transport. I say ah mummy, I'll collect 15K.
Charge for transport in Abuja. They're doing it in Lagos, they're doing it in other parts of the country. I think it can work as well. Then schedule these things. Make it a regular something be showing up every two, two months or every 3, three months depending on what it is that you sell. Also depending on the health of the machinery. Then expand your diagnostic. Don't just come and fix one thing and then leave. If somebody calls you that AC
compressor has blown, don't just come and replace the AC compressor and then leave. You come, you fix the air conditioner compressor, and then you think about it. For a compressor to blow it means that there might have been an electrical problem somewhere that created an what was it called overcharge or something. Try and trace the fault of the overcharge or sorry, no overcharge. I can't remember this because this is surcharge, you know,
when current just goes too high Chan traffic and what the problem is and tell the guy hello Olga, yes, I've replaced your compressor. But normally for compressor to blow it means that there might have been a problem from here, from here, from here. OK, just give me like 20 minutes. Let me check. Let me diagnose this thing. OK? If I see any problem, should I tell you? I keep quiet. The guy was, of course. Now tell me. Then go ahead and do it.
You might discover nothing. No problem. At least they will think of you as a meticulous guy so that in the future they'll call you. They'll say, oh, this guy, he knows his job. If you find something and they can afford to, then you have expanded the average order size for today. They've made an extra bit of income. They will also be happy because you have prevented some problems from reoccurring. And by the way, I have lived through this, another example that my guy showed up and only fixed the the compressor, the AC
compressor, but did not diagnose that the problem was another electrical problem. And think about it, do you think I was happy that you fix compressor today? Then in three months time I'm calling you back from Compressor again, only to now find out that the problem was caused by some other electrical fault? Do you think I was happy? So those of you in these trades, think about it. If you're not in these trades, think about it.
You want a viable business, you want a profitable business, you want sustainable business, then the game is repeat business and the game is referrals. So make sure you are storing people's numbers and make sure you stay top of mind and people see you again and again. Whether it's WhatsApp game or Instagram game or showing up for maintenance calls, you need to find ways of remaining top of mind. Anyway, so that's it. That's just the business Nuggets for today.
Market Day has been fun. You know how it is now for those of us in this part of the world, you know, now we like food, we like drink. And I'm trusting that wherever it is that you come from, especially if you're Nigerian or excuse me, Ghanaian or whatever. So excuse me, I'm assuming that we're all the same, like, you know, we want to spend time with our family and want to have fun, good food, good drinks. And for those of us who have kids, you know, you're around and all the cousins are playing,
as always, such a joy. So still, it's my prayer that for those of us who have travelled and for those of you who still have plans to travel, whether you're heading back home to the villa or whether you're heading to Tenerife or wherever, you know, those of you who are travelling to fancy places, you know, spend Christmas in Canada or France or something, it's my prayer that your travels will be safe. The family members that we go to go and meet are going to meet everybody safe and in good health.
My prayer that we all have fun. It's my prayer that we wrap up 2025 with love and with joy and with bliss and that we come back strong for 2025. Oh, sorry, that we wrap up 2024 and then come back strong for 2025. And I'm looking forward to a wonderful year for also professionally, business wise, family wise, spiritually, everything wise. So hope you guys have fun. It's going to be Christmas in another three days. And yeah, hoping that you all enjoy your holidays and then we'll have a wonderful Christmas.
I'm not sure if I can record tomorrow because I won't lie nowadays, now you come home, you haven't seen cousins in a while, you haven't seen uncles and aunties. So we've just been going up and down, going up and down. So, and if I make it tomorrow, I'll catch you guys tomorrow. If not, you'll probably hear from me maybe sometime after Christmas. So either way, have fun, have a wonderful night. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.