Entrepreneurship a Huge Lift

Entrepreneurship: A Huge Lift

 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP is as old as human. Everyone knows what entrepreneurship means and giving its definition in this piece is tantamount to repetition. The pepper seller, groundnut seller, subsistence farmer as well as mechanised farmer, computer seller, handset seller, food seller and the owner of a small or big supermarket– name it, the list is endless. Anyone who is not on pay roll of an employer and relies on whatever he realizes and generates as his take home is an entrepreneur.

 

Everyone is endowed with the trait of becoming an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur has nothing to do with age, formal education, gender or geography. It has nothing to do with experience or your formal years of education or your level of intellect. There are individuals who are functionally illiterate who have become multimillionaires, while there are others who are absolutely brilliant but are poor and wage slaves till the end of their lives.

 

As the topic of this article connotes, entrepreneurship is the only phenomenon that can lift whoever embraces it beyond the limit. All the successful people we talk about today are products of entrepreneurship. I do think it is only entrepreneurship that can give one a free hand without criticism, and if at all, very minimal. Imagine a minister, not even the President, can procure property without criticism even though he has his money to do so. If an entrepreneur buys a private jet, the only thing the public can say is, “He should have used the money to help the poor.” The story is not the same for the wage slave or political appointees.

 

Zig Ziglar said: “If you can offer people what they want, you will get all what you want.” The moment you can provide the world what is useful for them, they will pay you in return and swim in the millions. The television in your house, the mobile phone in your hand, the shoes on your feet, the clothes you wear, the food you are eating, everything you use in your life, do you realize all these are not free? You paid for them; as you paid for them, you have already made the providers increase their wealth and decrease yours because you are a consumer. What can you sell to people and collect your money from them and become a millionaire? Think!

 

When Thomas Edison invented light bulb, people recognized the need and paid him for it. Edison became rich from the turnover of his invention. Alexander Graham Bell invented the analog telephone and he said: “I want to put it in every home.” He was successful and consumers paid for it all over the world. Somebody said that the dream of Bell is archaic, “I will put phone in the hand of everybody.” That was the genesis of mobile phone and we are now using more than one. The inventors are entrepreneurs; we are consumers, low income earners made them to be richer. The world is waiting for your invention, very useful, we will pay for it and you get your millions.

 

For years my fellow countrymen were living in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, not knowing that billions of dollars were under their feet. Not until SPDC came from UK, discovered oil on 15 January, 1956, that they realized the treasure. An entrepreneur discovers new thing onshore and offshore. In the bush, in the river, the treasures are there waiting for extraction. Was it not inside the bush cocoa in Western Region was discovered and made people millionaires, groundnut from Northern Region, rubber from Mid-Western Region and palm produce from Eastern Region? What happened to those that engaged in the plantation’s business in those days? Yes, you got it, they became millionaires. If you can discover any treasure, you are an entrepreneur, treading the path to be a millionaire.

 

Do you understand the language of entrepreneurs? I want to reveal the top secret of people who get your money. They say, “I want people give me money everyday. I want to give them essential products that they can’t do without.” Dangote is saying if you want to eat, come and give me the money, I will provide food for you, if you want to build house I will give you cement, your motor needs fuel I will provide fuel on one condition, you will add to my wealth.

 

Network providers: MTN, GLO, Etisalat and Airtel, their language is to connect you with your loved ones and business associates. They are saying we will make communication easier for you, even in your bathrooms; we will charge you per second but we need more than 10 million subscribers to connect in a minute. That is how you increase our wealth and we pay you nothing in return. Unilever is telling you, if you want to brush your teeth, we give you paste, we give you detergent to wash your clothes, we provide toilet soap for you but not free of charge, pay us token and make us billionaires. Think of how other companies speak their languages. Which language you can speak to make yourself rich and become billionaires?

 

An average African doesn’t speak the way the entrepreneurs speak. We fail to recognise the valuable service to render and get greater reward (money). We do things free. Have you not seen the best cook in your area, who cooks in every occasion because of her culinary expertise? She does it for free, fail to think of becoming an entrepreneur, unable to realize the gift and turn it into a profession, get his money from the service and eat at the table of billionaires. What is your talent? Think of how you can turn it into money. I have seen men selling food and making their money from the proceeds. Sell something that people need and get your money from your offer.

 

Another opportunity for aspiring or existing entrepreneur is packaging and industrialisation of local products. Here we go; Soya milk has been selling in this country for years in nylon and disposed bottle water. When we failed to industrialise it, another company from overseas is now packaging it in bottle and we buy it and pay handsomely to quench our thirst and make the company rich. Who is going to package Sobo, Kunu, Adoyo and Pito for us? We are ready to drink these and make you rich.

 

Is there any Nigerian entrepreneur out there to break the ice? If we fail to do it now, we will import it tomorrow and make other countries richer. Whenever a product is packaged, people pay more. The shirt we are producing in Nigeria, packaged in ordinary nylon or hung in the shop can be sold cheaper than the same product packaged in carton but of inferior quality. All that is required is it is given a brand name and tag, and then sell at an exorbitant price. Package your product, sell it higher price and make your money. That is how entrepreneurship can give you a huge lift.

 

You can just flick a switch that says, “become an entrepreneur” and expect an easy life, success, riches and recognition to come your way. It takes hard work and you will work long hours. One of the founders of Sony, Akio Morita said: “An entrepreneur is a man who falls seven times and gets up eight times.” You must be ready to take risks and encounter failure on your way to the Promised Land. But there is nothing like failure except people stop trying.

 

As long as you keep trying every day, you will meet the opportunity to be successful, the second you stop in your efforts, you miss that awaited opportunity. An entrepreneur is always ready to take risks, to dare the path others are afraid to walk, engaging in legitimate business. Ask all successful entrepreneurs, they will have stories to tell you about their failures. Anyone who is afraid to fail at subsequent attempts will never achieve any tangible thing in his life.

 

Let go 3Ds, I am not talking of programme used to carry out architectural design. It means the difficult, dirty and dangerous jobs. Many people find these jobs disgusting but those who embrace them are getting millions of naira. The jobs like cleaning, sewage disposal, waste disposal and many more. I have been to many states as a professional speaker, some are so dirty but I see all the dirty states as an opportunity for those who can engage in 3D business.

 

There is a way to instigate and make all residents clean their environments through you. An entrepreneur sees beyond the waste, they recycle it and turn it into money. Have you not seen people collecting used cans, bottles and iron? Some buy it while some pick it free from our dust bins. Can you see how some people turn trash to treasure? Another opportunity to give you a huge lift.

 

No matter your position today, president, senator, director, chairman, permanent secretary, employee in a big company and many more. If your appointment is terminated today, will you be able to maintain your standard of living for one year? If no, why can’t you embrace entrepreneurship? The only solution to the development of this country is entrepreneurship. In fact, what makes China a developed country is entrepreneurship. So, what will make our nation develop is to offer the world valuable products that will bring greater reward in terms of money and increase our GDP exponentially. Many of the politicians and office holders become irrelevant in the society immediately they leave office but the story will never be the same for one who had embraced entrepreneurship before he left office.

 

There must be planning on whatever one wants to venture into because proper planning prevents poor performance. A majority of entrepreneurs fail today because of shallow planning and lack of mentoring. You need to have a business plan which you follow as guide on every step you take on a daily basis because you need to grow your business. If one fails to grow, the business is dead. In writing your business plan, you have to use KISS (Keep It Short and Simple).

 

You can make it simple book keeping. Just write sales, cost and profit. Do you know why? Because you may need to solicit for fund from government, well wishers or bank. If business plan is not shown, they will take you for granted – unserious. As an entrepreneur, at the start of the day and week ask yourself, “What is the most valuable work I should be doing?” Set your scale of preference on daily basis in order to achieve your goal.

 

20 years ago, there was nothing like Mr. Biggs, Tantalizers, Kilimanjaro, Mama Cass, Green Plate and many other fast food outlets. Nigerians who went to America saw how MacDonald is thriving, borrowed the idea and introduced it to the country and we started patronizing them and making them millionaires. That is borrowing method. Is there any product you see abroad that will be beneficial to people at home? Is there any product at home you think people abroad will like to have? Just engage in import or export and make your money. An entrepreneur sees opportunity everywhere. You can’t just be travelling, open your eyes to tap the ideas and concept to secure your future and that of your children.

 

Leveraging yourself to earn money is where you multiply your time through the efforts of others by setting up Multiple Sources of Income (MSI). This is, without question, the very best way to increase your income. Make a decision to have many sources of income; it’s the strategy that wealthy people have used dating clear back to the ancient Babylonians. Unfortunately, this strategy is only used by approximately one per cent of our population, yet that one per cent earns approximately 96 per cent of all the money that is earned! You are only a decision away from membership.

 

To control your life, your time, your income and future, embrace entrepreneurship. Only entrepreneurship can give you freedom in life and offer you huge lift in all ramifications. Go and do something to claim it, it is not a matter of mouth. Action travels farther than idleness.
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