04/02/2023
Dear small business owner,
Especially those who operate in Nigeria...
If your small business makes enough to pay the bills, pay your staff, pay yourself a fair monthly salary, and have small change left, you should consider your business successful.
Don't let those big money stories you hear on social media get into your head and mess up your thinking.
Your focus should be on building a profitable business, not on being popular in the media and super broke in real life.
Building a profitable business regardless of the size of your company, should be your goal.
Most of the people you envy, those ones with big offices and rich Instagram profile, yes those ones you’re thinking about right now.
Many of them are struggling to maintain a healthy cashflow. Majority of them are struggling to pay salaries, but you won’t see it on the gram.
The debt on their neck will make you lose sleep.
You only see what they want you to see.
If your small business makes enough to sort the bills, pay salaries, and has a healthy operation, you should consider your business 100% successful.
Even if it is only two staff that you pay, consider your business successful.
Write out the things you did in January that worked well for your business, then intensify those things.
If you spent 50k on Ads in January and made 40k profit from that Ad, it's a success story.
This month, you should spend 80k on Ads, so you can reach more people.
If you sent out 60 proposals in January and got only two responses, that's cool. This month, send 90 proposals.
If you talked to 40 people about your business last month, this month talk to 80 people.
Learn how to use simple tools to improve your marketing.
To build an email list, you can use Mailchimp. It's free for the first 2000 subscribers. This would help you with email marketing.
If you don't have a website, learn how to build a salespage with wix. It's a simple drag & drop tool and it has a free package for starters.
Learn how to use canva to design your graphics. You can't continue to create boring visual content. People won't take you seriously.
Learn how to use inshot to edit your videos. It has a free and premium version. The free version is beyond amazing.
Another tool to help with your video editing? CapCut, and it’s free.
Learn how to use WhatsApp for your business,. Yes, WhatsApp is a big deal, especially now that human interaction is a major growth factor for small businesses.
Learn how to run Facebook Adverts. I have tons of free video on my YouTube channel (search for Courage Ngele on YouTube).
Advertising is one of the fastest and most effective ways to gain visibility, reach more people, spread word about your offers, make sales and grow your business.
Learn how to network with the right people. It would open so many doors for you.
Learn how to be a person who holds the door for others to walk through.
Learn how to ask for what you want. A closed mouth doesn't feed.
Learn how to render help, you shouldn’t be the one receiving all the time. Learn to give too.
Learn how to do the uncomfortable things today, make the money, then pay people to do the uncomfortable things for you.
Learn the business part of your business. This is very important.
Everyday, make sure you improve on something, no matter how little. That's what progress is about.
That's how to grow yourself, and also grow your business.
Keep learning, keep implementing and keep growing.
I wish you the best, my dear friend.
Till I write you again.
- Samuel Friday abah