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Hello and welcome to the show. Taking today's recording at my desk and hopefully there shouldn't be any interruptions today. If this is your first time of discovering the podcast, this is not a show about me, but rather it's a show that is focused on free business education. So if by the time you are done listening to the podcast, you feel like there's some value here, then share, promote and talk about the show so that your friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle.
They can do that by subscribing Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of their choice. And if you, dear listener, have any questions, any sales and marketing related questions, then bring them to me. You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Now today on the show, let's see, looking at my notes, aha. So today on the show, we're going to have more answers from from the radio show. So for those of you who are listening for the first time, I
also have a radio shows, the business booster show on Radio Maria Abuja 91.3 FM can only be heard live. A bunch of you have already called in by the way. Thank you very much for those of you who listen to the podcast and who also call into the show, like Wendy and Emmanuel and I can't remember two or three other people. It's an absolute ego boost, you know, to be there live on the air. And then hey, what do you know, somebody calls the person also is a podcast listener.
So thank you very much for the support and for the encouragement. Now Speaking of Wendy, Wendy podcast listener who also called into the show, she had a question and the situation was this. Now, Wendy, like most of us, has multiple businesses and she wanted a way to talk about those businesses when in front of potential customers, in front of potential clients without sounding unfocused because we all know how that conversation goes, like, hey, what's up, how you doing, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, my name is Tavish Shima and I'm currently in AI Who? And then I have this side hustle, we do poultry, then also have this side hustle. I'm into import and export of cars. And then I also have this side hustle, me and my wife, we run in daycare. And then I also, you know, so as you say, and then I then, but I do this, I also do this, I also do that. You end up sounding unfocused. Now there's one thing I said on the air that I'm going to repeat here, having one or two rounds or maybe two or three, you know,
I understand. But by the time you start getting 5678, I personally believe that you, you're in that situation truly, truly, you're all focused. And let's be straight here. Nobody is superhuman. There's no how that you're going to tackle, you know, 567 things and get them to fly all at the same time. It just ain't going to happen. The problem is some of you look at Dangote and some of you look at some American types and then you say serial entrepreneur,
serial entrepreneur. You know, you forget that when you hear serial entrepreneur like, like serial killers. The serial means one after another. It doesn't mean at the same time the serial killer who killed 45 people didn't kill the 45 people at the same time. The person killed one person after another and after another. Now I know that's a distasteful example, but I just want us to get our thinking right. Serial entrepreneurs did not build everything bound in one sitting.
It was one after another after another. So if Elon is your guy, there's one other business before the payment thing, you know, with PayPal Mafia, and then another and another and another. You build one thing, the thing will settle first. The thing is stable first. The thing is growing first, then you move on. Then let's come back home, down with it. It's the same thing I hear. I don't know. I have not confirmed. I have not read his biography and I don't know the guy.
If you have down with his phone number please hook us up. He sounds like a correct guy. I would like to get to know him, you know, just chill, hang out with him, you know, just shoot the shit, you know, talk yet know each other. So if you you're connected with down with it, please let me know. Hook a boy up. So for dangity, I even hear that he started trading first from trading, then importing cement from importing cement, then let us set up cement factory and then like that and like that and like that.
And then now he has the refinery. So cement is solid standing refinery solid. Well, OK, well, refinery is still new as a 2025 S refinery looks like it's going to be solid standing. Spaghetti is there standing. Sugar is there standing, Salt is there standing. But he did not start cement and sugar and salt and refinery on the same day. So use serial intrapreneur types. Remember the cereal part? Cereal means we tackle 11 after another after another after another.
And just like when they say somebody is a cereal womanizer, it doesn't mean that the guy cancelled 5 chicks at the same time. It is one after another after another after another. OK, let me stop before I use another Distasteful analogy, distasteful metaphor. So let's get back to Wendy's situation now. OK, so this is my advice. Now, sometimes you worry too much. I want to say when we're with potential customers, but the focus should actually be to the other party, or rather on the other party that you're talking to because that is what will determine what you're going to see and which of your businesses that you are going to focus on.
So let me repeat, it's not about you. It's not about your branding, it's not about your packaging, it's not about how fluent you sound. It's about who am I talking to right now? What are their needs? Where are they coming from? What are they trying to achieve? What are they running from? That is what will determine the kind of service that you are going to talk to them about if you have multiple businesses. So instead of saying hi, I'm Wendy, I'm a wedding planner and I also have other businesses in tech and also have other businesses in XYZ.
Instead of saying that, which will make you seem kind of let's forget the on focus thing. The biggest problem actually is that if you start a conversation of by saying hi, I'm Wendy, I'm a wedding planner, also have businesses in tech and XYZ. Problem is the person leaves our conversation and there's nowhere for the person to slaught you in their mind about what they do. So for those of you listening to the podcast now, because you only have one association with me, if you know someone who runs a business who has three or four sales people and they're kind of struggling and the person is complaining, I will pop into your mind because there is a very neat and clear category in your mind that you have slotted me into.
Like, oh, that guy, that podcast I listen to, what's his name? Oh, let me check my YouTube. Let me check here. And then you find me because there's a very clean category that you have put me in. So if you come and say hi, I'm Wendy, I'm a wedding planner, also have businesses in tech and also have business in XYZ. There is no clean category that you can just slot Wendy into. So we should try to get the other person talking, focus on getting the other person talking.
And that will determine what it is that we are going to now emphasize whether we'll talk weddings or whether we'll talk tech or that we'll talk the other businesses. So instead of hi, I'm Wendy, I'm a wedding planner and I also have other businesses in tech and ABC. We say hi, I'm Wendy and you are on your way to hear the person's name. Nice to meet you. What do you do? And then you continue to flow from there. The person is talking, the person is talking, the person is talking from there you now say,
oh, funny you mention that I actually have business interest in tech. Me and my team, we're currently working on AI and how we can do this, this and that that, that that. Is that the sort of problem that your business has? So. Oh, yes, actually it is. Oh, OK, cool. I'm going to be in your part of town Wednesday next week. Can I come over to your office? 9:00 Let's have a conversation. Let's see if me and my team will be able to help.
Oh yeah, sure. That works perfectly. So you see, I'm having a conversation with the person. And by hearing what problems it is that they have, you now know that. OK, now it is time to talk about my tech skills or my tech business. There will be other times when you'll be like, oh, OK, this is the perfect time to talk about my wedding planning. And then of course, if you are in a general networking session, for instance, just the conversation of what brings you here or how do you know so, so,
so and so assuming so and so is the host. Like if I'm hosting A networking session, let's say in Abuja for all the listeners of my show and you know, I guess it will be an OK question to answer. Oh, OK. Apart from the podcast, what brings you here? You're very general, very open. Get the person talking. So that should be the focus. Don't focus on you and how you can say everything, right? Focus on the other person. Who are they?
Where are they coming from? Where are they running to? I'll be, what are they running from? What are they aiming for? What are they trying to avoid? What are the biggest problems that they face? You know, all those sorts of questions. That is all determined, but I also mentioned to Wendy that for social media, unfortunately we have to choose and we have to come up with a deliberate strategy. So since Wendy does events and then she does tech, my own guess is Instagram.
Since Instagram is good for multimedia, you know, audio, video, photos. My guess is Instagram would be good for the wedding planning. LinkedIn seems more formal, more official. I could be wrong but it's just the vibe me I'm getting for now. So maybe for LinkedIn that's where I should should put all the other tech things. So for social media we will have to pick because it's even worse on social media. If you don't believe me, when you're going to social media and you see one of those people on LinkedIn, for instance, who their bio is like 6 lines long and it says serial entrepreneur,
multi hyphenate, crypto enthusiasts, real estate mogul, this that as in you know, 5 or 6 lines of all that crap. You finish just close your eyes and then try and say, OK, what does this person do? You can't think of anything because it's 5 lines or what are rubbish. But if the person just puts one, only one, you open it on LinkedIn, you see and then the person is written there. Crypto enthusiast. Even though you're not sure what a crypto enthusiast is, the next time you hear crypto, you remember, oh, Chukudi, I saw Chukudi's profile last week.
I think Chukudi is into something crypto related. Let me buzz Chukudi. Hey Chukudi, what's up hiding? I saw a LinkedIn profile, but I said crypto enthusiast, you know what exactly do you do? So you see one thing so that somebody can slot you into their head in one convenient category. So for social media, we have to pick a lane. Then next there was a Patrick Sylvester who called from Luby and OK, Patrick was one of the people who was trying to be helpful because on the radio show, of course, I give people advice.
And then other people who also think who also have useful perspectives to lend also call as well. You know, it's it's a free show, so it's not a problem. So I had spoken the week before, I had given some advice to another caller who was Anita, who was looking for connections into the world of industrial cleaning. And one of the suggestions I gave her was to join the Abuja Chamber of Commerce. And so Patrick called, that's another listener of the show.
And in his own opinion, he said I should have taught her about the fundamentals of cleaning and the equipment. And I admitted, yeah, that was a good idea. But actually it's beyond the scope of the show. And because it's beyond the scope of the show, and also because as a sales and business development consultant, I do not know everything in the whole wide world. I know a lot when it comes to sales, especially personal sales.
Like I want to introduce myself to somebody. I want to be connected to this person or I'm talking to this person. The person is refusing to buy. The person is not agreeing for a meeting. The person disagrees with my agenda. How can I move this relationship forward? How can I move this agenda with this stakeholder, you know, to the next level? Those are the kinds of problems that I solve, and I know a lot about that, but I don't know every conceivable thing under the sun.
So I told the audience that, yes, it would be nice when somebody calls and they want to get into industrial cleaning, It would be nice if I can have some advice for them about the fundamentals of cleaning and equipment. What is beyond the scope of the show? And it's not realistically possible. I mean, yeah, I'm a smart dude, but I can't know everything. It's not possible. And that's precisely the reason why I always keep saying on my radio show that people should go out and then work first,
especially things that have highly technical components. So fisheries and poultry, there's some people have called in for advice on those sorts of businesses. None is technical. Go online work. I can't tell you which kind of catfish is the best to buy or when catfish is sick, what protocols to clean your water or how to treat the catfish or whatever. There's some highly technical stuff there, like even the water levels, the pH levels, you have to keep the pH levels of a certain, what's the word pH
levels? A certain level that is pH is the acidity levels or the, or the base levels of the water. The pH is too high and The thing is acid. All the fish would die if the pH is too low on The thing is base. I have no idea what happens, but my guess is it's probably not good. So all these things, I have technical components. I always tell people, go online work, look for somebody who knows you think, go online work. Look for somebody who is a specialist, go online work.
Look for somebody who is doing it on day-to-day, go online work, go and be an apprentice. Because subject matter expertise is the beginning of thriving in sales. Because if we don't have subject matter expertise, we're not going to be able to talk convincingly about the business, about the product and won't be able to convince anybody to buy a gang. That's the reason why me right now, if you ask me to go and sell catfish, I will flop because ask me one or two questions.
I'll be saying I'm coming, I'm coming. Let me ask my wife, Let me ask my wife. In our mind I'll be thinking, look, is this your business or not? Which one is? Let me ask my wife, let me ask my wife. And nobody will be confident. They'll be thinking, look, this guy is a joker. He doesn't know anything. The way he's the catfish is probably 6 of If I go and buy 500 heads of catfish from him, I'll be surprised if I buy today, tomorrow, 485 of them will just go and die.
You know, I'll be able to talk convincingly about anything. So subject matter expertise really very, very important. So that's the reason why I tell people go online work mind this technical go online work. The person that called about construction metals and glasses and everything, he had started tutilage with someone, but he abandoned it halfway. And my advice, so simple guy, go online work, I can answer questions around market access and around stakeholder relations.
Market access just means I'm trying to get in touch with customers while I'm trying to get connections. So I can move my product that is market access. And I can answer some questions around stakeholders, stakeholder relations, like this person is my mentee or this person is my beneficiary or this person invested in my business or something. And I want to move the relationship this way. I want to move the relationship that way I can answer some questions like that.
Yeah, sure. But, you know, what is the best glass to sell? What is the best construction metals to sell? Like, I have no idea. I can't even remember the difference between metals and alloys. I mean, that was secondary school, so I can't help you there. So you're in construction. Go and land work. Another person called in on the show. Chocolate production and tempering chocolate, tempering milk, you know, all those sorts of things.
Yeah, sure. I can answer questions about market access, finding customers, but concerning this technical thing, go and land work. So for those of you who even reach out to me in person, don't be surprised if I, you know, throw that phrase on you. You know, because at some point when we get beyond the sales and the marketing issues, my answer to you will be, you know, go online work first. When you learn the work and you know what's up, you know, you can come back and both of us can have a useful conversation about how to move things forward.
Then let's see what else, OK? Patrick also wanted Anita to know that belonging to the Abuja Chamber of Commerce requires 2 referees and you have to pay some, some dues. I won't like the dues that you know you're expensive, small. I won't say how much because it's been a while since I've been a member of commerce. My brother and I were members of Lagos Chamber of Commerce back in our export days when we're in Lagos when we're exporting charcoal and sesame.
So it's not as if it's expensive but it's not as if it's cheap. Let me just leave it like that. If you're interested, go and do some research. The Chamber of Commerce most likely in your part of your city, so Port Harcourt, Abuja, Lagos, Kano, you know, go and check. I'm sure there is. I don't know if there's Chamber of Commerce in Abakaliki, but you know, go and check. You never know. So he was saying you need 2 referees and you need to pay dues.
And I told Patrick that. Yeah, correct. Correct. You're actually on point and thanks for bringing that out. I forgot to mention the requirements, but then I also wanted to stress one thing because I didn't want it to be as if while saying that because Chamber of Commerce you have to drop money, you know, small money and that's all small requirements that you have to meet that because of that you should run away from Chamber of Commerce.
So I had to stress it on the show that, look, unfortunately, when we're talking business networking, unfortunately there's going to be cost, whether in terms of rally, in terms of money, in terms of paper or in terms of time, but there will be cost. The question now is whether the cost, the cost is going to be worth it, the money that I will drop or the time that I will drop, the time that I will invest. Is it going to get me good clients or is it going to get me good connections that could lead to better opportunities in the future?
And so I wanted people to know that, look, that's the best way to look at it. That's how you should be looking at it. If you're looking at the naira on Cobo, you won't take any actions. I've told you guys on the podcast, I was a wedding photographer and to be honest, for the first like 5 years I didn't run a single Instagram ad, not even one because I was looking at the costs. There's no matter of this thing cost money.
Therefore I will not do it. I mean at some point you have to drop something so that your business can grow. The conversation should have been OK. Instagram ads, how much do they cost other people using it to good effect. I should have gone to speak to other people. This Instagram ads that you're running. I don't know how they do himself. How you do run them. Ask one or two questions. Go and learn one or two things and then I should have tried with some small money.
Back in those days, you could drop like 5K and then you advertise for a whole week. I know some of you shout now like 5K. Well, yeah, back then 5K we advertise for like a week, you know, get access to thousands of people. So with a budget of like 20 KA month, you actually could do something. That was back then, I don't know about now. So. So that's what I should have done instead of just saying I don't want to spend money.
I don't want to spend money. And I said it. I went like five years. Actually. It's more than that. I don't want to say the truth so that you guys won't, you know, lose respect for me. But more than five years, I didn't run one, one single Instagram ad. I did not run one single paid promo. I did not do one single Google advert. I did not passing nothing. Too many of you are looking at the cost, it's benefits. I'll be, how do they say it again, risk, I'll be risk versus reward, benefit versus something, something I can't remember the expression.
So that's the way to look at it. So I mentioned that there are other things apart from Chamber of Commerce, there's BNI international, that's business networking international. There's a fee that you pay and apart from that BNI we only meet 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM for those who have kids, you know, OK, that's, that's problematic. You know, school runs and everything, especially if you're A1 car household like me. Then what else lands international, you know, all these other people.
But anyway, Shah dues is involved and I mentioned that look, even if we say it's only secondary school association, because I went to CKC Christ King College regular day in Abuja. That was my first secondary school after that Saint Gregory's College Southwest Eco you shout out to all you Gregory hands listening to this podcast right now. So CKC and then Greg's even those associations, the due is not the due is not expensive.
But even now on even there, we still have to pay dues. So any which way, even if you say you're going to do networking, FGC, Obama show, you will still pay dues. Doesn't matter. You will still pay dues then. OK, Patrick advised that I should focus on micro businesses and I told him yes, yes, yes, yes. It's good. It's nice to have a focus. But The thing is when I have a podcast like this and you know the radio show, sometimes I get questions from all corners of the business.
Fair. So maybe in the future, but right now I enjoy tackling the challenges and answering the questions and showing how sales and business development principles apply no matter the sector that you belong in. Like for the radio stream in particular, somebody has called, the person has a tech startup, another person has called, the person is running an E library. He wants to monetize it. You already know that somebody has called fisheries, another person has called poultry,
somebody has called real estate, another person has called construction. So, you know, on and on and on and on. So I try to tackle all these issues, you know, as many as possible. But right now I'm not going to say that if you're an ado go, don't call. If you're an ado, go, I might still be able to help you. Like, yeah, you're a certified big boy. You know, you're paid up. You're a certified big girl, you know, still call.
I might be able to help. Let me listen, let me hear. Might be able to work out one or two things if you're a micro person, I definitely will take your call because I believe that, you know, money is not just the most important thing, you know, so micro people, I know that you guys can't pay anything. Like there's one guy who's talking about charging phones right now, buying generator, blah, blah, blah. I know to be honest, I know I'm not going to get anything from this guy, but you know, money is not the money is not the All in all.
So I'm still answering the guys questions. Let's see how we can put together this and let me see how we can, you know, move this thing forward. You know, after all, like I had when I came into business, somebody that told me that, you know, everything is not money. You're trying to help some people. If God uses used to bless somebody is not bad. That's how God you use another person to bless you too. So I'm just trying to pay you forward.
Some people said you look like a nice guy. No problem. Let's let's do one or two things. So you're trying to pay you forward and you two listening to the show when you arrive, you know, try and pay for to know everything is is money. There are times that, you know, you maximize value, as in you squeeze all the money you can get. If you can squeeze, you know, 5M or 10M from the situation, you know, squeeze it. But then once in a while you see somebody, you know that nothing,
nothing not who will come from this thing. Let me just help this person. I'm not dropping money. All I'm just dropping is my time. Let me help the person. Answer one or two questions, make one or two introductions. So yeah, that's it. So I answer questions from everyone. Then there was, let's see, OK, Kingsley from Lube and he said his problem is funds. He wants to know all kinds of funds, all kinds of business finances available in Nigeria.
And I told him that, look, it depends. Oh, that is very broad. It depends on the company, depends on nature of the business, size of the company, all those sorts of things. So I need more details. I told Kingsley to send me a WhatsApp message, you know he didn't send. So I'm going to make do a segment another week or two just exploring different kinds of finance that are available for different kinds of businesses. Then excuse me, he had another question on whether mortgage finance.
Yeah, whether mortgage finance is available, whether you can use that as a form of business finance, whether you can take use mortgage to finance your business. Now, when he asked the question, I was kind of confused because even though the guy was saying mortgage, mortgage, in my mind I was thinking, does this guy mean microfinance? Microfinance, you know. Well, The thing is, I forgot to ask. I forgot to clarify because, you know, in my mind the guy was going to send me a WhatsApp message anyway, then I would have clarified.
So even though he was saying mortgage finance, I honestly think he meant microfinance. But either way, I still answered the question. I said, look, mortgage bank, yeah, no problem. Whether you can use it as a form of business finance depends on the kind of business. So you can use mortgage banks for business finance only if your business is tied to landed property in any way. So you can go to a mortgage bank and get a commercial mortgage because you want to buy property, you want to buy office space, you want to buy a warehouse, you want to buy a retail location.
If your business involves those kinds of things, then you can see that you can now get a commercial mortgage to finance the business. Then there's also equity loans or lines or credit. That is where you have a business. Your business already has landed property or buildings, and then you use the landed property or the buildings to get a loan and the bank will now use that building or that land as collateral. So that's another way you can get money for your business.
Then there's also construction loans. Mortgage banks also offer construction loans to build commercial properties, but then also had to put it out there that if you're going to go this route, mortgage bank even microfinance banks off. That's where you don't start entering business plan financial projections, you know and all those things. So you definitely have to dot your IS and cross your T's as everything gets to be on point.
Those of us who run our businesses from, you know, I told you about how my last accountant, I had a guy used to be frustrated that I will just carry all the receipt and give him say, well, here's the receipt. I'll print out bank statements and I say, OK, here's all my bank statements. And then any extra, extra thing that I have and I give him as, OK, here, here's all the information, go and sort it out. So for those of us who run our businesses that way, no, that's,
that's not going to work. Everything's going to have to be tidy. Everything's going to have to be detailed because when you're looking for money from investors, equity investors or trying to get a loan from the bank, people are going to be asking you very, very exact questions. How much did you spend Q1? How much did you first quarter? How much did you spend? What is your, what is the cost of goods? What else? What is working capital that you need per week or per month or per whatever going to be very,
very specific questions. So your house has to be in order if you're going to go down that route. So those were some of the questions that I tackled. What's the days of OK, today is Wednesday. How OK was it from Tuesday yesterday that I tackled all these things? Yeah. So these are some of the things that I tackled on the radio show yesterday. I forget. Let me just come and share some of them with you over here, because I figured that there's some stuff that we could learn,
especially. Sorry. Let me scroll through my notes. Yeah, especially the part about introducing ourselves and talking about our business. Yeah, the first part. The first part, Wendy, because for those of us who have two or three hustles, we definitely find ourselves in those situations. So let me scroll through my notes. I think. Yeah, I think that's all. Pretty much. So that's all folks. Remember, if you have any sales or marketing questions, bring them to me.
You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you, dear listener, at the next episode.