The 4 Pillars of Your Business Sweet Spot: Profit, Ease, Process, & Purpose

Hello and welcome to the show. In case you haven't figured out, we are back to the regular questions for the podcast. But as usual, if anything interesting comes along and I need to make a detour, I will. And of course, I'll warn you guys along the way and I'll always do my best to get back to the list of questions that we have for the show. Now today's question is how do you identify your sweet spot in business? Now, of course, this question assumes that there is such a thing as a sweet spot.

So let's tackle that question first. Is there such a thing as a sweet spot? Some people say yes, some people say no. Now, let me pay attention to the naysayers. For people who say no, they just focus rather on ruthless execution. They think of themselves as business people, as operators. So in that case, any business will do, whether it is running a public toilet or running an advertising agency or baking cakes or whatever it is.

I mean, for as far as they're concerned, it's all the same. It's a business. It's great to make money. Let's just figure it out, execute ruthlessly, and then that's it. So they are similar to employees who are in it for the paycheck. Now, I'm not one of, I'm not someone who's going to trash folks like this, people who pay attention to the bottom line. So if you have one of your staff members or you know, someone who is an employee for a paycheck, I

don't think that's a problem really. I mean, so long as everybody does their job. So if someone is a ruthless executor and they think of themselves as a business operative and it's just the bottom line and whether it is selling rice or selling yams or selling engineering equipment or whatever, I mean, so long as they can do a good, good job after it added ethically and let's see what else, you know, they just meet the usual moral,

ethical, legal parameters. I really think there's no problem. Just like in the same way all those employees who clock in at 9, clock out at 5, do exactly what they're supposed to do, even if they don't do anything more. I mean, so long as you can't fault them for the performance, I don't think that there's a problem. So those are people who are on the no end of the spectrum. So in my own opinion over here on the podcast, no judgement.

So if you're one of those no people and as an employee you're thinking purely about the paycheck or when it comes to the business, you're thinking purely, you're thinking of yourself as an assassin. And so so long as people point you in the target, you will do it. So if it is selling water, it's a it's a water distribution business to to different shopping centres in Abuja or in Lagos, you know you're going to do it. So wherever they point you, you go.

If you're that kind of person, then no problem. But yeah, of course, you know, it all rests on execution. So make sure that you wake up every day and you appear assassin and you are ruthless and you're faithful and you should be fine. Now for those people who are on the yes end of the spectrum, who worry about whether they're in the sweet spot, I would say they're closer to employees, people who work for organizations, who are always thinking about purpose, always thinking about passion, and who are always thinking about personal fulfillment and those sorts of things.

Now, in my own opinion, that's also not a problem, provided that you have an employee who comes in, he clocks in at 9 or she clocks in at 9:00. But if they clock in and they spend all their time with their day in the clouds and they don't do exactly what it is that they're supposed to do, or maybe they're all up in their fields and then that affects their performance, then I guess that is a problem. But you find that most people are neither fully in the YES

camp or fully in the no camp where a mix of both. So yes, we should be operators, we should be assassins, we should ruthlessly execute, but then we should also be worried about personal purpose, passion, fulfilment and all those things as sees fit. So if we're going to step down from the employee thing and focus squarely on business and we're thinking about a sweet spot when it comes to business, then yes, there's several things that you can look at that will help you determine if you are in your sweet spot.

By the way, before I continue, because you are not in the sweet spot, it doesn't mean that this can be a profitable business that is going to serve you and the family. Well, I think that's also something else to consider because there are people, business influencers, stuff like that. You know, people who stop doing some businesses because it's not their sweet spot. I just want you to understand that some of those people,

especially those people in the West are in a different position that we are. There's this podcast. I listen to my first million and they're big boys in quote, as we'll see in the Nigerian context. You know, they're big boys. So they have several businesses each doing millions or maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars. And one of them dropped one of the businesses precisely because of that. So sometimes it does several 100

thousands, sometimes it crosses a billion. But he didn't think it was worth his time. And so he dropped and he's looking for something else, you know, in his sweet spot. So I'm just trying to say that, you know, he's in a different position. He has a couple of things going. So he can afford to say, you know what, this thing is making money. But it's not my speech, my sweet spot. Let me just actually let me move on to something else.

You might not be in that situation. So in fact, if you are in that situation, you're doing something. Right now it's bringing in 10s of thousands, several hundreds of thousands or whatever. It's some sort of income, but it's not quite your sweet spot. If you don't have any viable alternatives, then in my own opinion, you know, please just hang out with that thing until you do have some alternatives and then you can play fancy.

You don't like Richard Branson. You know, they will say, oh, this thing is working, it's producing millions of pounds and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's not meeting this metric, not meeting this metric. So we're going to divest and we're going to hand over and then stuff like that. So, you know, let's relax. Eventually we're going to get to the Branson big boy stage or the big girl stage like Moab would do. I think she used to be into hotels.

I think she owned well anyway, this is just. I don't know for sure. I heard that she won't protect hotels at some point, but you know, of course left that I moved to something else. So eventually you're going to be like a big girl, you're going to be like MO Abudu and you're going to say, oh, this hotel thing is not making the kind of money I want. Let me get rid of it. Let me move into something else. So we'll get to that stage.

But for now, don't get too wetted. All sweet spot thing. So back to helping you find your sweet spot, in case you are looking for your sweet spot in business, number one, I'd like to start off with, have you been able to find profitable customer segments. So if this is a viable business idea that people that are willing to pay for the idea for the product, for the service, you found a profitable customer segment. I mean, for me, I think that's the beginning of a sweet spot because if it's not a profitable segment, then why are you there?

Why are you wasting time? Why are you wasting money? It's not like you're running a charity. If you're running a charity, then of course we're talking about other kinds of considerations, so which we're not looking at in this podcast. But first and foremost, have you found a profitable customer segment? A profitable marketing issue? Profitable. You know, you get the point, Can you spend X to do something and then you get back, you know, X *

3 or X * 10 or X + 5 or X plus whatever. I mean, you get the whole point. Then next, I'd say ease of doing business. Because especially from my experience as a wedding photographer, I've realized that there are some situations where you go in and maybe you make a 500K worth of profit, but to get that 500K worth of profit, you feel like you sold your soul and you mortgage your son and you let's see what else you you just feel like you gave the whole world.

And then there's situations where you do, you know, some quick runs here and there and the only money you make out of it is maybe 80K or 120K. But 120 K seemed easy, it seemed fulfilling, it seemed to give you life. So I'm one of those people who says you know take both and that 500K that is worth you know, has plenty of hassles with it. You know take it if you can if the hassle is not too bad. But I must admit that 80K, that 120 K that comes with ease of mind and whatever, it's a lot easier to sustain your mojo on on on that kind of money.

So if and thankfully none of us are in that situation where you definitely have to choose between 500 K, 1 million with plenty of stress or 80K120K, that comes nice and easy. But if you had to choose, I would say look for that 80 K 120 Ki mean. It's smaller, but it's a lot easier. It comes with a whole more joy. It'll be easier to say, you know what, this 8080 K that I'm collecting, Let me see how many of these 80 KS I can put through the system.

So that's my own take. So profitable segment. Yes. And I also have to look at ease of doing business because some customers are an absolute nightmare to deal with. So if it's a proper segment and you enjoy working with those kind of customers, then in fact I'd say key in there's ease of business there. These people are easy to work with. Try and see how many referrals recommendations that you can get from them. Try and palate into other try and maximize the lifetime customer value.

Well you get the whole point. Let's try and see how much value we can extract from that situation. So profitable segments 1 user doing business #2 then #3. Do you have a well honed sales process or selling framework around it? You're not going to be selling forever. At some point you're going to have to delegate to your younger brother, younger sister, sales boy, sales girl, business partner, associates, whatever. At some point you're going to have to build a team around you.

So is this something that you can create a selling framework that is that doesn't have to revolve around you? If it's something that you can do that, then I think that that's also a a sweet spot because if it's a profitable segment and there's ease of doing business, but it's only something that you are uniquely suited to do, let's say, OK, back to the wedding photographer, I think, let's say it's a particular wedding style,

wedding photography style that is hard to teach other people why it's unpopular so other people don't want to do, then essentially it has to be you handling the sales calls. OK, no, no, that one doesn't apply because you can actually be the person shooting, whether you can get somebody else to do the selling. OK, that's not a good example, but the one I was just trying to make was that if there's a situation where it's profitable,

there's ease of doing business, but you have to be totally wedded to that thing 24/7, then you can't really call yourself a business owner per SE. You're just self-employed essentially you just have a high paying job. The thing is just that you customize the boss and you are the employee. But then again, it depends on what it is you're trying to do. If you're trying to build a business, then this whole thing of selling frameworks and processes, marketing processes,

things like that, absolutely important. If you want to build a lifestyle business or a passion business or whatever people call it, like you don't mind that you're self-employed, then hey, it's not a problem. Then scratch this criteria that I just mentioned, then let's see where was I? OK, So profitable segments, use of doing business, sales framework or sales processes. OK, yes, I have the final one. So passion, purpose, societal impact, you know, all those sorts of things.

So does it, what's the word? You know, does it juice you up? Does it make you happy? This is something you're passionate at. Does it meet your skill set? Does it meet your your natural effort? How else? And I'm sure you guys get the gist of what it is I'm trying to say. So if you're able to find that you're involved in the business and it's a profitable segment, the there's market demand, there's ease of doing business there.

The sales process is you've set it up with something that can be easy to delegate, let's see what else. And then it's something that gives the kind of emotional impact or societal impact or religious impact or whatever impact that you're trying to look for. Then I would say that it's a sweet spot. But here's the thing, either way, whether you are in the Yes camp or in the no camp, you know people who say yes, there's a sweet spot, I'm looking for it,

Or people who say no, there's no sweet spot. In fact, I don't care if there's a sweet spot. Just give me something that gives me cold, hard cash. So whether you're on the Yes camp or you're on the no camp, unfortunately you're going to have to take some idea. You're going to have to run it. You're going to have to execute it first. It is only in the process of running and executing that you're going to be able to figure out that, you know what?

I thought I was a passion person, but I can't be bothered about passion. I just need cold hard cash. This one is bringing IN200K every month. This one is bringing in 1.6 every month. You know what? I will get rid of that 200K per month one and I'll stick to this one as give me 1.5 because I'm all about the cold hard cash. It's only when you run it that you will know and and vice versa. You might be on that 1.5 thing, but you think, man, this thing is so less.

I was happier when I was only making 400K or when I was making only two 100K per month. And then you go back to that 200 K thing or you have to run it first. So people who are asking this question, is there such a thing as a sweet spot? How do you identify your sweet spot? And you're asking this question, but you haven't started anything, You're just wasting your time. So yeah, you've listened to the podcast, but if you haven't started, go ahead and start.

That's where you're going to. The only way that you know for sure where you fall, whether you're in the yes camp or you're in the no camp. So that's all for today folks. Please connect with me on WhatsApp and LinkedIn so that we can have a chat. The phone number is O 806-466-2140. The country code is +234. For those of you who hit me up outside the shores of Nigeria. Again the number is 08064662140. And if you're looking for me on LinkedIn or other socials, my name is Tavishima Ayede.

I'm the host of the show. Don't worry about the spelling of my name, you'll find it from the link. We're currently listening to this podcast episode, so you'll find my name there and my e-mail address there. So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.