Solopreneur or Entrepreneur? What Really Matters (Plus: The Danger of Too Many Hats)

Hello and welcome to the show. I'm recording today's episode outside. I'm in the car, the parking lot at Grand Square, and I'm here with the kids because I'm supposed to meet someone in a few minutes. So I said let me just make a quick recording. So anyway, since you know, because of where I am expecting to have some interruptions. Now, this is your first time listening to the show. Don't worry, don't run away. The goal of this show is free business education and I'm sure you're going to get lots of value from it.

So after you're done, Please remember to share, promote and talk about the show so that your friends and family members in Nigeria or abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle. And if you have sales and marketing questions after we're done, you can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. The country code is +234 for those of you who are not Nigerian. Now today on the show, I'm hoping I can tackle 2 questions quickly.

OK, well, no questions anyway. Well, one of them is a question on solopreneurship. So I wanted to look at whether you are a solopreneur, whether I am a solopreneur, whether you are a solopreneur, what is entrepreneurship, all those sorts of things. And then everyone is that a bunch of you who reach out are still at the ideation stage. You have a bunch of possible ideas that you have for your businesses. You can't decide which is which.

And so we're also going to have that conversation as well. So let me start off with the solopreneur thing, OK? Before this solopreneur thing, shout out to Rex on Spotify, OK? He mentioned some of the comments that he has ideas about AI, and so I put it there on the Spotify comments. Yeah. So Rex Samia, what's our message? I'd love to see what you're working on that is AI related, especially since I use AI every day on the course of my business, and I'm a strong believer that we all should be using AI tools to move our business forward.

Then shout out also to Lao Lu or Lo. I like this kind of surname if I remember correctly, because my Yoruba is really crappy. Excuse me, my Yoruba is really crappy. I didn't spend much time in well, from about 13 lived in Lagos. Now from there went to OU. So I picked up some Yoruba. So or lower is like the, the person that has money. So that's the kind of name I like, but you have to be careful how you pronounce it because I

think if you say or lower, it means the person that has money. But then if you say oh, lower, it means the person does not have money. So one of those interesting names, but I'm believing and I'm the queen that Laul Laulu is all low as we have plenty of money. So thank you for listening and commenting on the podcast. Laulu says this is the first Nigerian owned podcast that he has listened to and he wished he had discovered it sooner.

And yes, my brother, I wish you had. Oh, Laulu can be a woman's name too. OK, well my brother or sister, I wish you had discovered the show sooner as well. And just as you have discovered it and you're getting value from it, please share with other people. Then Rex also asked the question that sorry Lao Lu answered the question that I think some of you might have Now Lao asked me where can I find how can he find or how can she find more AI

related content that I have made? And yeah, so this is the answer. Searching within the podcast is quite difficult. So if you go to YouTube rather, because all my all the podcast episodes are there. So if you go to YouTube and you just search Tavi Shimmer podcast AI, every single episode I've made about AI is going to show up there in your YouTube feed. So again, if you want to see more of the stuff that I've done related to AI, go to YouTube and then type in Tavi Shimmer podcast, AI Tavi Shimmer.

That's my name, TAVER SHIMA. And no, I'm not half Japanese, I'm not half German, I'm not half anything fool. Nigerian teeth. That's for those of you who have never heard that name before. OK, now straight to this whole thing of solopreneur because someone I think was Rex said he likes the stuff I'm putting out and he's following some of those principles so that you know, he can build his career as a solopreneur or he referred to me as a solopreneur.

And so that reminded me about something I've been talking about on the podcast for a very long while. And I also want to re emphasize or bring up here again, because some of you are just new discovering the show. So you haven't come across some of these ideas. Now, whenever people say I'm a solopreneur, I'm a mom preneur, I'm a lawyer preneur, I'm a this preneur, I'm a that preneur, I am quick to step in because when we come up with these newfangled times, it comes up with all kinds of expectations.

And at the end of the day, it leads to frustrations because if we're not clear about who we are and what we're doing, we're also not going to be very clear about what we can expect in return for the level of effort that we are putting in. And it can cause some confusion. That's why some people say kind entrepreneurship is hard. But then I look at them and I'm like, yeah, what you're doing is hard, but what you're doing is not entrepreneurship.

So you're doing one thing, calling it something else and expecting some other kind of results when really what you're doing will never yield to the results of entrepreneurship because really you are not doing entrepreneurship. So we really need to be clear about all these terms. So that's the first question for today. Am IA solopreneur because some of you think I am or are you a solopreneur because some of you think you are?

Now solopreneur just means how do I put it? When people say solopreneur, what they mean is an entrepreneur who is working alone. I repeat, when people say solopreneur in Niger by Azantran is they mean this person is an entrepreneur who is working alone. But is that even possible? Is there such a thing as an entrepreneur who works alone? So let's break it down a little bit. Now entrepreneur in the traditional meaning of the word I think is French.

I can't remember. It's been a while, and it's a surprisingly old word. It's hundreds of years old. It's the popular time now. But this is a word that is hundreds of years old because, like I said, it's French. I should really go and check the the root word. But what it means in its original term is a person who assumes the risk of enterprise. I repeat, an entrepreneur is the person who assumes the risk of enterprise. That means the person who brings all the factions of production together and who tries to promote the business and get the business going.

Remember, this is an old term and in the old times, we used to talk about factors of production. Now people don't talk about factors of production anymore. But you know, Nigerians listening to the show, you know, from secondary school, you remember now factors of production, land, labor, capital, material, blah, blah, blah, all those things. So the person who drops by, the person who brings money that is capital, that person is the entrepreneur.

The person who fronts labour, that's paying the cost to pay the sales team, the developer, the this, the whatever, that's the entrepreneur. The person who fronts the money for materials and all those other things, that is the person who is an entrepreneur. So the person who is bringing together all these factors of production and bearing the list is the person who is an entrepreneur. Now I'm sure you realize that from the old definitions of the word entrepreneur, you can see that the entrepreneur is always oriented towards building sustainable systems that exist outside of him or her.

I repeat, since the old meaning of the word entrepreneur is someone who is assuming the risk of capital, labor, materials, all these other things, the person usually is building something that is bigger than him or her or that is sustainable and will outlive him or her. Which is the reason why we can talk about Walt Disney as an entrepreneur. He was building something bigger than him, building something that was going to be sustainable and that would outlive him and maybe even his children's children at this rate.

Because I think now it's the grandchildren who who are like majority shareholders. So we cannot talk about a solopreneur because there's no such thing as an entrepreneur who is working alone. Because by the very definition, the entrepreneur is building something that is bigger than himself or herself and is putting together sustainable systems that will outlive himself or herself, building something that is sustainable or building something that they can sell.

So if you are a solo something like me, I'm doing consulting services, but I'm solo, or you're a wedding photographer about your solo, or you're an architect, but you are solo, or you're an accountant, but you're solo. My own opinion, stop calling yourself solopreneur because you'll be calling yourself solopreneur feeling like what you're doing is entrepreneurship. And then I'll be saying, hi, Entrepreneurship is hard.

But meanwhile, you have not been doing intrapreneurship. You've not been trying to build sustainable systems around yourself. And of course, it will be hard because a solo thing, a solo person, solo lawyer, solo accountant, the problem is that your personal effort and attention is required every single day. I can't take a break. People who are entrepreneurs and who are building businesses, they can say, oh, you know what,

life is hard. Let me go and flex more in America. You know two months I'll come back. I can't do that. If I take a break and I say let me go and flex more, what happens? Things will stop, things will grind to a halt. So if you are a solo person, just stick to the old terms. You are a self-employed person or in Nigeria as they used to tell us in primary school, you are a sole trader. I know it doesn't sound sexy but facts are facts.

So I'm a sole trader or I'm self-employed. I'm not an entrepreneur. And that's also more UBC. Entrepreneurship is hard. And then you resign. No, you didn't even try entrepreneurship. Trying entrepreneurship as an architect means you're trying to build a firm. And then over time, excuse me, if you do it right, it will get easier because you build pool, you build marketing systems, sales systems, you, you build a team. And then these things will start running whether you're involved every day or not.

And then eventually you'll be able to get to the point where you can say, ah, I'm tired, let me travel to Villa, let me go and rest for two weeks. Or let me travel to America, let me go and rest for two months. That is entrepreneurship. So a whole lot of us who are solo things, I know it doesn't sound sexy, doesn't sound cool, but let's stop trying to sexify ourselves. You're self-employed or you're a sole trader. Full stop.

And off with the new fancy names. You know this will open nothing. Mom preneur this printer that preneur lawyer preneur beauty printer like what the hell? It's becoming too much. So if you're a solo person, you're self-employed or you're a sole trader. Hi, I'm self-employed. Hi, I'm a sole trader. The old times are fine. Even though sole trader you know sounds as if I sell or cricket under the bridge. But facts are facts.

I am what I am. The goal eventually is that I am going to build a sustainable business. But until then, I'm not an entrepreneur yet. And if you're a solo person, a solo anything, a solo lawyer, you are not an entrepreneur yet. So as a baby lawyer, it's just you. After a while, you partner with three or four of your classmates. You will do for like 7 years, you know, start hiring. You know, people you know. Before you know it, you guys have a plan and a system for everything.

Then you are now an entrepreneur. There's a business, there's somebody who there's a system that is in charge of marketing and promotions. You guys have figured out the most efficient way to do networking. Casework is assigned between senior lawyers and junior lawyers. You know, things are taking shape at that stage. You can now say, why don't tire, Let me go to the UK, let me go and rest for two months and the business will fall apart.

Then you got an entrepreneur. So whether you are happy or not with what I've said, I guess what I'm trying to say is look just decide if you're a solo person. Now acknowledge yes I'm self-employed, I'm a sole trader. But then decide am I going to stay here and be solo all my life or I want to build something then just decide. But either way it's all good. I'm not saying entrepreneurship is better than sole proprietorship.

Sole trader, self-employed. I'm not saying that better because, you know, it depends. Some people are just trying to build something. You know, there's some people who their goal is this thing works them. So I can gather millions and millions and millions. By the time the children finish with school and I have something for retirement, I'm OK. If that's your goal, school. Then there's some people who say, look, I must build this thing, it must be big.

I must stand on a national scale and I must float on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. You know, if those are visions too, you know, it's all good, but let's just be clear about these things and let's talk. Come over all these fancy terms. No such thing as lawyer preneur. No such thing as solopreneur, No such thing as mom preneur. If we're trying to motivate ourselves, let's motivate, motivate ourselves some other ways. But it's not about the title.

So again, these are the essential questions. You know, are you solo or are you trying to scale? If you're trying to scale the business, it means you're trying to come up with systems and you're trying to use multiple people. The whole idea is you're trying to leverage other people's effort and leverage systems to grow and to blow. So if you're trying to scale, you're an entrepreneur. That is the reason why we say Dangote is an entrepreneur,

because the goal is to leverage systems, leverage other people's capital, leverage multiple people, the teams and the employees and all that. That's why we say Dangote is, is an entrepreneur. My client who I'm currently working with in Benin City, I can call him an entrepreneur because he's trying to leverage people. He has a team, He wants to leverage multiple locations. What else He's trying to establish systems in place.

That's the reason why I'm working with him so that we can come up with the standard operation procedures for sales. So he is an entrepreneur. Boston Consulting Group, you can call them entrepreneurs, they're consultants. The same people, McKenzie, you can call them entrepreneurs because they're building global consulting practices. So the auger of BCG or the head of McKinsey and consulting, the senior partners, all of them can say let's go and rest in Switzerland for two months and the business will all die.

Things will be fine. Jay-Z. We can say Jay-Z is an entrepreneur. Yes, he started off as a solo person doing music, but now he's not the clothing business, he's got the alcohol business. I think there's also perfume business and then what else? Then he's also doing venture capital so he can decide. He and Beyoncé can decide that they will go and ski in Switzerland for six months and the business will not die. Those people, you call them entrepreneurs.

But me, I'm self-employed, sole proprietor, sole trader, Professor Peter Drucker, that I love and respect. The man himself, he's also, so while he was also self-employed, also trader, also proprietor because he was an academic and a consultant, but really he was a one man show. Michael Jackson. We can't really say Michael Jackson was an entrepreneur because Michael Jackson was solo with a music career. Now of course, Michael Jackson ended up making lots of money by buying other people's intellectual property.

You know The Beatles, who else? The Beatles, I think Elvis Presley, you know, he bought most of their songs, acquired their IP, And so because of that, his estate was able to make money through that. But really, Michael Jackson was more or less a solo person, a sole trader. So we can't say Michael Jackson was an entrepreneur. You know, what about born a boy? Born a boy, you know, it's just him. He's alone, he's a soul,

whatever. What about Davido? And Davido is different. We can't say Davido entrepreneur because yes, he started off solo with the music, but he has his alcohol business going on and I hear that he's also doing one or two things, you know, like real estate and or whatnot. So that's the way to think about it anyway, So I've overstressed this part. So let me just bring this to this part very close, especially since we've done 17 minutes now on this whole thing about people, this whole thing about hold on.

OK, sorry about that. One of my kids was trying to get my attention and really I should be wrapping it up soon because the person I'm expecting is probably will be here in a few minutes. And so the thing I said about, you know, people have multiple ideas, you know, people running around saying I'm multi haphinite, multi, haphinite, multi, creative multi this, multi that, like you should be coming down, becoming down. It's too much.

You can't make progress this way. I was having a chat with someone. How's your listener of the podcast? The guy had the stuff about the charcoal. He said, ah, charcoal. Yeah, it makes sense. You know he's interested, you are on UX, banking UPS, he's interested, websites he's interested, call support, he's interested. Also trying to find out what can you make good money at? Like it's too much. We are interested in loads of things.

But The thing is you can't build any sustainable business. Whether you want to be an entrepreneur or whether you want to be a sole trader or sole proprietorship, you can't build anything solid. If your mind is scattered in five different directions, you have to pick one. It's either going to be Charcoal or you are on UX or website or call support. Call support is like when you open the call center, pick one. There's no way you can run all of those together.

And I'm seeing this as a pattern because there's someone else who reached out to me and he's interested in being an author. So he has written a few things. Then he also has a skin and beauty thing that he's into that is going on. Then he also has this food thing on the side that he's selling. And then what else? Then he also was interested in some of the stuff that I said about AI, like it's too much, you're scattered.

Pick one, pick one. Except if you're a highly disciplined human being who says on Monday I'm going to pay attention to Charcoal. On Tuesday, it's going to be exclusively you are UX. On Wednesday, it's going to be exclusively websites. On Thursday, exclusively call support. Like you can't make it work. It's too much. Pick one. Then some people now say oh what about Dangote? I'm like OK, perfect. Dangote is the perfect example.

Dangote didn't start doing everything at once. He started by trading cement first. When trading cement was now settled, it was now OK next in cement factory. Then when cement factory was settled, next thing was OK spaghetti. Then when spaghetti was now settled, then next thing was juice. The juice business did not settle. The thing packed up and then I can't remember what he did else. And then now it is refinery and by the time refinery settle, I'm sure the next playbook is going to be expands to all the African countries.

But you can see how the people that you like to celebrate has multi hyphenates or multi entrepreneurs or you know, serial entrepreneurs or whatever. You can see how they didn't start doing everything in one day. The same thing with Richard Branson, it is they start here. When this one is settled, this one has grown, this one is sustainable, this one has blue. And it's OK, now what next? And then they move on. And then they move on.

The same thing with what's his name, this guy that has Trump's right hand man. Now what's his name now? This is guy X Melon, OSK, Elon Musk people. So multi, half in it, multi this, yeah, maybe multi, this, multi that. But it wasn't everything at the first time. It was him and then the PayPal guys. And they're trying to figure out how we're going to solve the problem of payments. The only payments is settled and then payments is strong.

Then they move on to other things. Then it was not a matter of electric cars. Then electric cars is doing well, is now strong. Then next thing, OK, what next? Rockets and the whole thing of putting somebody on the moon. But it was not a matter of day one. Let me do payments company, let me do car company, Let me do rocket company from day one. No, that's not how it is. So we need to pick a skill set. We need to pick something.

So for the person who is generally interested in Charcoal, UIUX, banking apps, websites, call support and AI, The thing is just sit down and have a conversation with yourself. What are you passionate about? What is your skill set or where are there significant market gaps? Those are the things you should be thinking about, your passion, your skill set or market gaps. Then, you know, write down all these your fancy ideas and then rank them, whichever you want to rank it, even if you want to rank it alphabetically and then start tackling it like that.

Even now it's OK. Or if you want to rank it based on OK, this is the one that I think is most probable. It's all right, by the way, put on sheet of paper and then rank it. Then start testing the viability of these ideas. And of course, you've been listening to the show. To test the viability of something means you have to do some sales motions, go out into the market, try and see what you can sell, how much of it you can sell, and see if the profit margin is enough to reinvest in the business.

And also so that you can put some change for yourself. So you can afford Internet, can afford fuel, you can afford charmer. Once in a while. If it is not enough, then yeah, they move on to the next thing on the list. But The thing is, if you spend too much time in, you know, I can do this, I can do this. This is my side also. This is my side also. I mean, you yourself, think about it, you work in Zenith Bank, but then you have five side hustles.

You will not be successful in your Zenith Bank career because you're not paying attention to it. And then you have five side hustles. Like how, how, how you pay attention to five side hustles. Some of you are spending too much time in Maybelland and it's OK to maybe this, maybe this, maybe that. But at some point we have to just decide, I'll pick one thing and start running with it. So on that question, yeah, that's it.

Just pick one. Anyone pick one? What are passionate about? What is your skill set? What are the market gaps right now? These ideas rank it, rate them somehow. Start from #1 begin their work now. And I start all these hyphenated BS, multi haphinated BS. Yeah, you can truly be a multi hyphenate something something something. But I don't know of any multi haphinate that started and did everything at once. If you know them, I give up my phone number all the time every episode of the show.

So reach out let me know. But as far as I know, this is how they all start. You start with one. When one is strong, you move to 2. When 2 is strong, you move to 3. When 3 is strong you move to 4. But I don't know anybody who started off on day one. I said I'm building 1234 and I'll build all of them. Mega doesn't happen like that. And then so that's all folks, if you have got sales and marketing questions, remember you can call SMS on WhatsApp on 08064662140,

country code +234. Thank you for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys on the next episode.