The Secret to Landing Big Clients in Abuja

Today on the show, we're going to be looking at how to grow your business as a generator or mechanic. My name is Tarishma Ayede, I'm the host of the podcast. And the reason why we're looking at this today, again, how to grow your business as a generator mechanic, is because while I was on the radio show 3 weeks ago, somebody called in and that was his question. Now I'm recording today's podcast at home and of course, the kids are around, so expect to hear noise in the background.

All right, so the caller who hit me up on the airwaves, his name is Emmanuel Anuja calling from Abuja. Yes, from Abuja. And he wants ideas on how to grow his business. I can't remember exactly what we chatted, we chatted about on the air, but I'm of course by the time he got off the air and I was thinking of some other ideas because, well, let me put it this way. Whenever someone calls and asks, you know, how can I grow my business?

How can I do my this? How can I do my that. Now, since I'm coming from a traditional sales and business development perspective, you will find that a lot of the things that I start discussing involve prospecting, involve outreach and involve all the old school ideas. Let me repeat lots of the things that we will discuss if you reach out to me, if I'm training for your organization, if I'm coaching you, will involve the traditional stuff, outreach,

prospecting, talking, chatting, visiting, hustling, canvassing, whatever it is you want to call it. Because these old school methods are tried and trusted. And unfortunately for us, they're the only things that we can do now that give us some likelihood that income will come in the next one month, two months, you know, that kind of thing. Because all the online stuff we do is great. The online stuff we do is fantastic, but the online stuff that we do, particularly if we have an attitude of brand building or content marketing is not engineered to give us short term results.

Let me repeat, all that fancy stuff that we're doing online is not guaranteed to give us money. If we're doing it in January, it is not guaranteed to give us money in February or March or June or July or November or December. Just to let you guys know. Now there are some people who have started some social media thing in January and then the thing popped off in March. When that happens, celebrate for them and be happy for them.

But that is not the usual expectation to have around social media, social media activities. So that's the reason why when people say I want to grow my business, I want to increase my, this, I want to increase my that, I don't say I online, online, online, you know, yes, we will get there and we will do everything. But I want us to start with the immediate things first. You know, who are you talking to? Because lots of reasons why people's businesses are suffering is because nobody knows you and nobody knows what you do.

It is only when people know you and know that you can do this that we can start having that conversation about, you know, whether to patronize you or not. So I'll always start off with the old school stuff. So now Iman or Naja prospecting, sorry, building our business as a generator mechanic. So that's some of the stuff that we discussed on the air. And I made another podcast episode where I fleshed out prospecting in more details just to show some of the possibilities that I that are there.

And that's what I'm sharing with you guys on the show today. So yes, I say prospecting, but I also try to expand the his mind frame a little because, you know, over here on the podcast, the demographics of people listening over here on the podcast and it's slightly different, you know, who have a certain age. OK, there's some people who are 65 and above who listen to his podcast, but you guys are the minority. Like is it like 7% or something?

Sorry, look at me. I say you guys presolution of X. I'm not disrespecting my seniors. So some of our seniors here 65 and above, there are lots of people who are 18 to 20 something, but then, you know, that's 20 something to 40 something. That's like where the bulk of us are. And we typically tend to be educated, involved in certain kinds of industries. But of course, you know, now like on the radio show, if somebody calls, he's a plumber,

he's a mechanic. You know, it's a different, it's a different demography altogether. So when those kind of people call on my show, I try to all, I put this, OK, let me put it like this, because you started somewhere doesn't mean you have to remain somewhere. And I'm always very mindful of the fact that lots of us have kids or younger ones who are watching us. So sometimes it's from us that they take dressing. If you do something and you succeed to be like, hey, or bought a bone, tried this and the thing worked.

So therefore I can also try one or two things. So as a little kid, I saw my father trying to sell cement, trying to build house, trying to sell land. I saw Mumsy in the corporate career and I also saw her doing the side hustle. So I think it's no mistake that my brother and I also got engaged in a couple of things. I think it's because from small we saw Popsy trying to hustle one or two things, Mumsy trying to hustle one or three things.

So for the benefit of the kids and also for our self esteem, whenever these people call, you know, artisans, handiwork, craftspeople, and I tell them that we suppose upgrade, suppose upgrade. So I said some things to Emmanuel and another caller. OK, Emmanuel was the mechanic. Then there's another caller who was the plumber. I said some things about Google My Business and what's up my business. Now I know some of you will laugh and say why am I bothering telling mechanic and telling plumber Google My Business,

what's up my business? But The thing is I've already made podcast episodes on that. So no need to rehash or to repeat, just scroll back. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, look for the podcast episode that has Google My Business in it or What's Our Business? Then you get The Fugees there and you see the reason why even though somebody's doing handiwork, you can still benefit from putting your making sure you have a well optimized presence on these things.

So of course, we're already spoken about Google My Business and What's Our Business. So the last radio show was just me answering the man or not just question. Going hard now into prospecting. So prospecting now is the activities around #1 when you sit down with a pen and paper. I like pen and paper. Maybe you can use your phone. But The thing is, you have to write it out. You don't write it out. You forget. It's that simple.

You come up with wonderful ideas, and then your homeboy comes around and like, hey, show what's up now, blah, blah, blah. You guys, jeez, You know, you watch DSTV, you go and play snooker. By the time you come back, you're like, oh, what was I thinking about? You forgotten. But meanwhile, the idea you generated was a wonderful idea. Or you're female. You think of a wonderful idea, and then somebody calls you Nick at the house.

Yeah, I'm there. So you get food. I'm coming. She comes, she sits down, she whines to you about how her boyfriend did this, her boyfriend did that. Then she reads your head back and then she leaves and you know, now you don't have eBay anymore. Your soup. She has cut your soup by half. She has dumped all the rubbish about her boyfriend and now you've forgotten all those wonderful business ideas that you were thinking of.

So that's the reason why pen and paper, please, or your phone, write these things down. So prospecting #1 who are the people that might be interested in my product or my service? Write it down. Don't worry if the list is getting long, it's not a problem. This is sales. What we do is we're looking for any ideas that might be workable. So pour it down, write everything down. Who might be interested. Then we now ask ourselves, these people would have written down,

now where can I find them in the real world or where can I find them online? Write it down. Then we come up with a plan. How are we going to start conversations with these people that might lead to them buying in the future? So sitting down to craft this plan, that is the strategy behind prospecting. When you start to implement this plan to be going outside or to be sending DM or to be making phone call or to be placing advert, you know all of that,

shall you know, Well, some of us will quibble here and there and say, hey, Bros, some of the things you're saying, technically speaking is not prospecting again, but no problem. Shall I'm just saying is there's a process, the strategy involved. We'll sit and we'll think down Who are we chasing after? Where? Where do they hang out? Then what's the game plan? How are we going to pursue them? So all that all is prospecting.

Now, in this case, Emmanuel nodger, generator mechanic, big, big engines. Well, my assumption was that he does big engines because this was the rationale that I gave over the air. And I was lucky that some people called at the end of the show to say, young man, nothing that you said yes, and we're all older than me. Say young man, that thing that you say, I agree with you. Go on song, you're making sense. So this is my rationale.

If you're going to be a mechanic, time will pass as it is, you're better off working on the generator of somebody who has, you know, 12 points something kva generator and who pay you good money instead of working on a better pass my neighbor 1.5 kva. So one hour of work is to one hour of work. Just that one hour of work on a better pass my neighbor is not the same value as one hour of work on 12.5 kva. Or maybe you're lucky you get the contract for, I don't know,

Hilton Hotel. And maybe the own generator is, excuse me, maybe the own generator is, I don't know, 500 kva or something. So in my own opinion, the time will pass any which way. You might as well just make sure that you know the person, that you're seeing, the accounts that you're servicing, that you will come up with something good. That's my rationale. So in my own plan, I better pass my neighbor. Let's leave those people. 1.5

kva. Let's leave those people. Now let me repeat again before somebody misquotes me somewhere. I am not saying that some people are beneath us. Everybody is worthy of respect. Everybody is created in the image and likeness of God. Everybody is a human being worthy of dignity. I'm just recognizing the hard fact that, you know, I'm here. I'm a generator mechanic and I gas bills to pay and I have a wife at home. Apart from that, I want to leave behind some legacy, meaningful legacy for my children as generator mechanic.

So I'm not saying people who have a better pass my neighbor 1.5 kva. I'm not saying that they're rubbish. I'm just saying that in order for me to make a comfortable living, it would be better for me to spend a lot of my time looking for those people that have 10 kva, 12.5 KV, 30 A, sorry, 30 kva, 45K, whatever kva, all those big, big, big engines where I will go and my workmanship or my thank you will be 20K or 30K. Not that I'll go to the place where my workmanship, where my thank you will be, you know,

3000 naira or something. So the time will pass regardless. You're better off working on an engine where if you spend the whole day from morning to night, you come away with something substantial instead of you work on something from morning to night. You come home, your wife will ask you how was your day, you know, and then your mouth will be shaking. You don't have liver to open your mouth and say exactly how the day went.

And trust me, I know because I've been there. The situations where I've gone out, the only thing that I came back was 50K and then my wife asked how do you go? And in my mind, I'm, I'm just trying to fumble the conversation because if she hears that I went from morning to night, the only thing I came back with was 50K wala quarrel. So yeah, anyway, let's now to maximize our time and let's make sure that we go after good,

good, good ones like my mother-in-law says. My mother-in-law says, if you must eat a frog, eat a big frog, eat a healthy frog, eat a juicy frog. If you must eat a frog. So that's the Nazi scope now. So where we're going to find people with big, big engines in Abuja? First off, I told him, you know, we can try estate associations because we have different estates in Abuja. And I hear the fact that things started in Lagos South before even Abuja.

You know this, you know, gated community and stuff like that. So people in gated community, that is where all those big, big generators are never take light. And now we saw the boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom everywhere, Noise, noise, noise, noise, noise everywhere. So that is the those are the kinds of places that we should be looking for. Oh, sorry, one moment. You know, I told you the boys are around and I put rice on the fire.

Let me go and check because the last time that I bought the flat, the I bought the rice, they didn't allow me rest. I said, Dad, are you trying to burn down the house? So let me check this rice 1 moment OK I'm back. You'll be glad to hear that I haven't burnt the rice and I haven't burnt the meat. To be honest. Cooking stress, I don't like cooking. So when I look at people who enjoy cooking, I say you guys are really soft ahead.

If I didn't have to cook the fact it's one of the reasons why I want to hammer. So I will just have a house manager. So I just wake up in the morning and I say oh house manager, what are we having for breakfast today? Oh, yes, Can I have some plantain with some fried eggs, some sausages. Now let's see what else? A glass of milk, please. Well, thank you very much. So that's the kind of lifestyle that I want to live. Just wake up, house manager is already doing everything.

Then I call Pai, say PA, what's our first meeting for the day? So that's the kind of soft life I want to live. You should pray for me. Let me get there. So where are we? So we're targeting people now with big generators. So we have to go to do targeted outreach on prospecting. So we go to estates. Now estates usually have associations, all the landlords we meet like this landlord association, different courts associations, different tenancy association, you know, stuff like that.

So like the place that I live now for instance, they're different courts. So you know, a new court by USA court, this court, that court and then within the courts, there's block A block B, there's, you know, this, that. So the meeting is beholding like that. So you approach the estate and remember, we are in Nigeria. So everybody's security conscious, everybody's on high alert. So you don't just walk into a neighborhood like that and start knocking on people's doors.

If you're in Lagos and you try that crap. OK, Well, Lagos has improved. I remember when I was in, in Greg's in Oberlin day, it was one time 1 poor boy, I don't know what the boy did shot, but they just caught the boy and you don't believe it live like that. You brush the guy, carried tire, put on him, they lit the boy ablaze or shocked anyway. You know growing up in Abuja, we didn't see stuff like that. So when I came to Lagos and I

say hey, this is how Lagushans live, say ha, the gushes, you guys are something else anyway, so everybody's on high alert. So when you approach the estate now with the way some estates are set up in Abuja, you know like they have security office or liaison office or things like that, go straight there and start making your enquiries. You know, you're a generator mechanic, you're trying to drum my business. Can you meet with the chairman?

Can you meet with the security committee? Would it be possible to make a presentation at the next, you know, social hassle meeting? Now some of you will say look young man, these ideas are far fetched. No, it is not far fetched. I've consulted for a client. We're one of his sales people. That is precisely what the boy did. He went and he said can you hook me up with a chairman? He said we don't have chairman here, we have chair ladies.

Oh sorry, forgive me. So can we see chair lady? He saw chair lady and chair lady said you can come and present at the next meeting. But what you will do is this, you will only make a presentation, people will ask you questions. When you're done, you will leave. If there is any positive inquiry, I will get back to you. Negotiations be through me, you know, blah, blah, blah. You know how Nigeria can be now you understand.

But see, The thing is, it's better than nothing. It can work. So clearly in this case, you know, I'm sure Chair lady is trying to see how you know, she will take a percentage of something. Basha is still better than nothing. So these things work and if somebody can try it in solar cells, who is to say that? If you are a generation mechanic for big engines, who is to say you can try that too? So that is that estate runs.

Now while you're doing that, we also try and keep an eye on word of mouth. Word of mouth just means when you're dealing with people, you have very pleasant experience with them. In fact, they're so happy that by the time you leave, they say you will not believe what just happened. This is my mechanic, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or if somebody says I need a generator mechanic, my 12 KVA has packed up and we're now managing my 5 KVA.

You want somebody who say, oh, I know Felix. Felix is a very correct guy. This is her phone number. Call him, he will take care of you. Or in fact, wait, let me call Felix. He will come over here right now and don't worry, he will sort your problem. So excuse me, that's what we're aiming for now, word of mouth. So I had to say that over the air, and I was even happy that when I finished, somebody also called and I agreed.

I had to mention that when it comes to artisans, crafts, craftsmanship, handiwork, you know, you understand reliability, punctuality and being proactive. Unfortunately, too many of these boys, the reason why I'm saying boys is because I haven't seen a female mechanic yet. I know that they exist, but I haven't seen one. So all these boys now they're not reliable. You can't trust what they say. They're not punctual. They say, oh God, are they come?

You will see me now, now, now, now, now. That's the phone call you have at 1012 o'clock you still be calling them. You say where are you by or where are you say are they come at the come? So they're not punctual then they're not proactive, not proactive at all. They don't look into the future. They notice one problem, they fix that problem, only they can't do the math and say, oh, this problem, the reason why it's happening is because it could be because of another problem.

And so because of that, they fix the most immediate problem. They end up spending money later because, you know, you don't fix. In fact, let me stop being cryptic for me. You guys remember that time when all those broadcast episodes I was making in the mechanic where I was like every month I was at a mechanic was precisely the problem? Something happens, they fix the ball bearing, they could not. Some of you say why didn't I ask the question, but The thing is,

what I know about cars, how am I supposed to know? Did not do the math that look, the reason why whenever ball bearing has problems, you could be because of other because of alignment issues in the this and that, you know? So it was not until I got tired, after I had gone like 3 months, I decided to call another mechanic. This is somebody who works on Mumsy's car. Now, you know, because the person works for Mumsy's car and my auntie's car.

How will I put it? You know, they're mechanics and they're mechanics, but is one of those mechanics where go school. So the thing the guy knows his thing and because the guy goes school, he's expensive. But from what I've had with him, one is 1 and so far, to be honest, one is 1. And when I went there, we had an exhaustive conversation. So yes, there actually is a problem with the ball bearings. But if you look here, even though me, I don't understand what you're showing me.

If you look here, you can see that whenever you have problems with the bearings, sometimes it's an indication that maybe there's something wrong with the linkage and with the shaft and with this, that, that, that, that. So we can fix this now. But so if you're patient, just give me like 3 hours. Let me just think about this whole system. Let me look at linkage. Let me look at this, let me look at that. Let me see if any of these things are causing to the problem.

Now, The thing is, if none of these things are causing the problem, there's no problem. We'll copulate and then you will go. But if any of these things are leading to the problem, OK, it's best we solve this thing now because, Sir, to be frank with you, if I just change the ball bearing now, you'll be back here next month immediately. He said that. What do you think I said? I said that is precisely the problem I've been having.

And the level of trust I had in him went up because his professional diagnosis matched exactly what it is that I have been suffering. So that is the part there about being proactive. So those of us who do handiwork, you know, plumbers, mechanics or not, look, this thing helps. I know you don't want to sound as if you're cheating your customers, so there's a simple formula for it. OK, Olga, you want me to come and fix this, replace this, this L joint.

No problem. That's for all plumbers. Let me fix this L joint. I can't fix this L joint, Olga. But Olga, usually when this L joint problem happens, it could be because of problems in water pressure or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Do you want me to check and see if those are issues or not? OK, the reason why I'm asking is because if it could be any of these things causing it, if I fix this all joints now, I will still come back here in two months time.

So guys, up to you. What do you prefer? So you see with this simple formula, now you have put it in their own court. In fact, there's one guy I listened to his podcast, he's a roof repair person. So for him, the formula he uses, if sure, no problem, we can go up there and we can fix this leak. But Olga, Madam, if I go up on the roof and I see any other problem, should I tell you or should I keep quiet? That is his own formula.

There's some people who say keep quiet, fix that thing I told you to fix. He will go and fix it. Only there's some other people that will say, and if you see anything, tell me when he comes down, he will now say, OK, that leaks, I've fixed it. But these are the extra things that I saw. You see, there's an element of being proactive here. But at least put all the information on the table. Let the person decide. Let the man say with his own mouse that you mechanic, you have come again.

I told you to fix my bearing. Fix the bearing and don't tell me about anything else. Next month if he comes back, at least you can say auger. But I told you no. But I told you, if you didn't want us to fix this problem once and for all, this is how we'll do it. So please, handy work people. In fact, not even handy work people. The rest of us, no matter what you do, you're a consultant, you're a brand designer, you are an architect, you're a foreman.

You do catfish, you do whatever it is you do. Sure. Look, these things apply to all of us. Let's be reliable. Let's be punctual. Let's be proactive. It's part of building word of mouth. Now, the reason why I bring it up for plumbers, mechanics and stuff like that is because if you know anybody, maybe like one of your senior uncles, this is the job that they do. Please go and lecture your uncle in those trades. Nobody is doing it.

So the moment you do it, you stand out. It's that simple. It is that that simple. All right, so we're trying to do word of mouth. So now since we're trying to optimize for word of mouth, I suggested, I know some of you are not like this, but you know, I'm not forcing you is a suggestion. It's just suggestion. So I suggested that one thing you can do when you enter into those estates is you go and to make your presentation.

And then when you make your presentation, you can say that look, since I'm already here and it is still early morning. What I can do is if there's any of you who suspects that there might be issues with your system or you're not sure when last your generator was serviced, after this meeting I can follow you to your house. Let me just look at the system. If there's any problem, I'll point it out to you. If there's anything that needs to be fixed, just buy the materials and I'll fix it free of charge.

You buy the materials, I'll fix it free of charge so you don't have to pay my labour. But let me just have a look at your system. Now, in sales, part of the scope of isolating somebody like this, breaking somebody away from the parties, we want one-on-one time with the person that allows us to build rapport, allows us to build a relationship. It allows us to figure out what's going on, figure out what people really need, you know,

things like that. So that's the scope. That's the scope right there. And yeah, some of you don't like the free servicing part. But anyway, we can talk about all that later, whether you should be in free work or you should not do free work. But just remember, it's a scope, it's a plan. We're trying to just put one leg inside. All I put it, let me just say, we're trying to get a leg in, you know, small, small. Let them be knowing me in this estate.

Let them be knowing me in this, in this community. The goal is by the time I do it for Chief Lagbaja, who knows? Chief Lagbaja's neighbor might have a problem. They might prefer me, you know, And these things happen like there's one Carpenter, although my wife doesn't like this Carpenter. She calls him Orga 1 Nail because he believes that one nail can solve every problem. So in this estate, everybody knows Capital One Nail.

That's not his real name anyway. So that's the scope. Whenever there's a problem, everybody calls him. So these are ways that you can be getting people in this. How will I put it? OK, People in this socio economic status can be getting much more steady income, reliable income then put it that way. All right, so that's estates then let's see what else. And people who use big generators, now shops, commercial centres in Abuja,

they use heavy generators, big, big generators. So all these shops in Abuja central business district can go there. Supermarkets, hair salons, restaurants, cyber cafe, all of them. And the approach, remember we're talking about outreach here was a very approach, very direct, something you go introduce yourself. Do you have a mechanic or introduce yourself and notice you have a so, so, so engine outside. And The thing is making so, so,

so, so noise. It happens to be what I can, what I do. I'm looking around, trying to drum up some business. If you don't mind, let me have a look at the engine. You know, perhaps it needs a tune up, maybe it needs servicing or something like that. I'm willing to have a look at it for you for free. And you know, shall you understand, like what I said before, that's how I was just trying to get a leg in. If there's a problem, I'll fix it for you for free.

All you have to do is just get the parts. I'll call you back in another two weeks to see if everything is going OK. And all I ask of you is you consider that I become your regular generator guy so that if there's any problem, you hit me up now. Kind of simple, very direct approach. Then there's also guest houses, small hotels, event centres, all these people use generators a lot, church and mosque. Although when I said mosque, I

was now thinking, do people in mosque use generator? Because it looks at me as if in the mosque they come in in the morning and then by, you know, one they already left. So it's only usually church, you know, night VG and all that kind of thing. So church and mosque, although I think more church can approach those kind of people. And then also spoke about referral partnerships. That's also part of prospecting and direct outreach because sometimes when you ask yourself the question, who are my ideal customers, sometimes the answer is my ideal customers are already doing business with another person.

So the scope now becomes how can I approach this other person, partner with them, So we'll be sending ourselves some business. So in this case, now for somebody who's a generator mechanic, part dealers, your customers are already there because when the gym breaks down, where do they go? To the part dealers, you go and talk. To the part dealer, you go and talk to the people who sell generator. You know, Olga here natural as business, everything moving OK.

You know, I've been thinking we can turn into a partnership together. You sell big generators, I fix big generators and Olga here natural, you know that I'm a reputable guy and I always do good work. So can we turn into this arrangement so that any single time any of your customers need somebody, you send me? If I go there, I should be able to be giving you your 5%, your 10%, your blah, blah, blah. Have the conversation, see that's that's an option.

And these ideas are actually very basic because when I was coming into Abuja, it's in fact that's what I did in Lagos. That's why I did in Abuja because coming back from the UK, who did I know in Lagos? So we're trying to partner up with wedding planners. The same thing when I moved to Abuja, who did I know in Abuja trying to partner up with wedding planners, event planners, other professionals to try and get a leg in, scratch my back and scratch your back.

So those sorts of things as well. But as you can see now, how to grow your business as a generator mechanic, you can see that for me, the starting point is always these physical old school methods that never fail. Now, the reason why I like the physical old school methods is this. It gives you something that we call try. What do you call it? Again, qualitative data. There's quantitative data where you can fixed numbers to eat,

but then there's qualitative data. Qualitative data means you have the right feel or you have the right intuition about something. So when you're having direct interactions. Oh, sorry, look at me. I forgot my rice. Sorry. One moment. Let me check this rice. I'll be back. OK, I'm back. You'll be happy to know the rice is not burnt and the meat is not burnt. So yeah, the kids are eating now. Everybody's alive and everybody is well.

And when school resumes in another one week, I'll be back to my regular schedule and I won't have to apologize every single time on the microphone that they're going to be kids in the background. Anyway, that was that I had before I continue the story behind this too is really, really interesting. Now, at the time my wife met me, I've never been a good cook. So back when we were dating, I used to do one or two things,

you know, trying to impress her. Now so our grill chicken, you know, I'll do some nice things with Turkey, you know, pepper meat. Then I learned how to do what's this thing called the one with cow leg. Is it a butcher? OK, No, a butcher is the is like cassava that you sprinkle on it. What is cow leg again? OK, you see who is the one that is good head is one that is cow lecture. I don't know what The thing is. So I learned how to do that cow legs something.

So I used to impress her and then back then when we were dating, I told her, don't worry, by the time we marry, I'll make wonderful a Gucci soup for you, see. But this is the problem when you're talking with women, young men pay attention. You know, I said it as per you know, now you just say some stuff. I said that when we marry, I cook a Gucci soup for you. For 15 years, my wife has been carrying that thing in her head that when we were dating, he said you make a Gucci soup for me, you still haven't made a Gucci soup.

Can you imagine? So boys are big when you are toasting stage, be careful the things you say, be careful the expectations that you're setting up and it does it. So this last time, now that she travelled, I said ah, when she comes back now to start cooking and everything will be somehow. So that's why it's OK. Let me take it upon myself, let me go. I mixed you so I missed you and I thought my wife would be impressed. She came back, she said I missed you and she was like OK, one less thing for me to worry about.

Can you imagine? I missed you. Her responses 1 less thing for me to worry about instead of praising me for being the best husband in the world. Anyway, eventually she ate the Stew and she's like, yeah, it's all right, it's OK. Can't imagine women appreciate your husband as well. So that's the Stew that the kids are eating now. So that's that's the story of the of the Stew. So anyway, I guess I have to live up to my Gucci promise, but OK, maybe I'll do that next year when I make it.

I'll let you guys know how how it goes. So, so that's it about this to you. Where was I? OK, I was talking about referral partnerships. Yes. So referral partnerships now, people who deal in past, people who deal in generators. And I think that's it pretty much. I think I've exhausted some of the general ideas that can be done when somebody's a generator mechanic. Sorry, let me clear my nose. OK, sorry about that. Just recovering from a cold.

So these are just some of the general ideas that one can pursue. Well, like I said, typically I will explore all these basic traditional old school one-on-one things first because we're getting good qualitative data and that's where I left off. So qualitative data, those are insights that you get from talking with people that helps you to inform plans that you have for business expansion. So if you're having good conversations with people, good relationships, it is there that you'll get good ideas about where to expand your business,

what additional product lines to do or the additional revenue streams or problems that your customers have that your competitors don't know. And you know, because of that, you're you're service, you're you're servicing those problems, meeting those problems and having an edge over your competitors because other people are not having conversations with people. So this is one of the reasons why I like all these traditional one-on-one, because it forces you to be talking to people.

And then the side effect, which is when somebody called at the end of the just before we ended up the radio show, the side effect is you may not realize this going around and talking to people. The thing builds more confidence to go bolster yourself esteem. And I think that's the best thing about it really. So that's the reason why you will find, at least in the West anyway, that you say somebody is chairman of this, chairman of this, chairman of this, whether the chairman of IBM, chairman of whatever you will see in his CV,

the guy started off in sales. It is not a coincidence. So starting off as a young man, 20 something, 30 something, you're having to go here, go here, fix meeting, fix meeting, go for presentation, make proposal, do sales pitch, negotiate price, haggle, close, set appointments, all these things. You're building self esteem, you're building courage, you're building character, you're building poise, you're building carriage.

There's just a wait. After a while you step into the room like people see you before you open your mouth, before you open your mouth, you know, people see your aura. They say, see that young man over there, that's a natural born leader. Or you say, you see that baby over there, she knows where she's heading. That's a natural born leader over there. That's CEO material right there. So these are some of the benefits. So The thing is that even if you don't want to ever do anything sales related, you don't be a professional salesperson, but you know, you're starting your own business.

Still try inject yourself into the sales game. You want to pick up lots of transferable skills, lots of transferable skills. It's going to help you. It's going to really, really build you. It will come in handy. It will really, really come in handy. People will see and will have this small boy. Why is he so bold? You know that the reason why you're bold is because you know you've been engaged in all these kind of activities.

So you know yourself, you're competent, you know how to start conversations up with people. So 1 moment sorry about that was one of my kids was asking for most you. So at least one, at least some people appreciate me. Even if my wife doesn't appreciate me with my Stew, at least the children do. So where was I? So get engaged. You get qualitative data, you learn how to service your customers, you get good insights for innovating in your business.

Then you're also building good character, good courage, good competence, good, you know, good carriage, good everything. So it's a win win and that's why it's not from the traditional stuff. Then later on, we can now go and do the Internet, the Internet, the Internet. The problem that I have with Internet honestly, is because it breeds bad behaviour because Internet is all about sitting behind on the keyboard and then doing copy and paste.

People type from here to ineffectiveness and copy and paste from here to ineffectiveness. So anyway, that's the podcast episode for later. So that is how to grow your business. If you're a generator mechanic, your company new into the game. Unfortunately, there is no magic pill. And even if you don't like anything that I've said here, I promise you this. Starting off in business, I promise you this. It doesn't matter who you go and meet.

There is no answer that does not involve some level of graft or some level of hard work. And I can assure you, if you're going and anybody's promising you the 123 bullet points to do this, that that without stress, please avoid those people. Well, if you notice those people, let me give you their formula. If you notice, listen, see for me I'm here talking real stuff, talking practical stuff, and I'm doing this thing for free.

All those people, the 123 magic steps that will help you quadruple some. Have you noticed that they always want to collect your money first? They want you to drop 50K per head 1st and they will only do it if they're able to fill up the whole hall of 250 of you. So 250 people registrants. They paid for the hall 150K, then they collected 5050K per head, then now they will give you your that their magic secret. So this is secret.

I'm telling you anybody who is giving you the magic bullet that you will get this thing for free. You're a party. They're just trying to collect money or collect money on top of your head. Anybody who is telling you. So anything worthwhile, it will involve a certain level of graft. So even the people who I want to tell you this is how you build your business as a general mechanic online, it will still involve some level of graft,

whether it is grafting harder, copywriting, grafting harder, coming up with the ICP grafting card at coming up with what's it called, images for your advertisements or whatever. So even if you don't like what I've said, no problem, go and listen to somebody else, but whatever. But I'm telling you that it's going to involve some level of work either way, there's grafting involved. So that's it and that's all. Thank you very much for listening to the episode today.

And of course, if you'd like to connect. You can call send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you all at the next episode.