CUSTOMER ALERT: 4 Warning Signs Of Customers You MUST Avoid!
The customer is always right, so you were told right? The customer is king, I’m sure you were also told this, right? Well there is just one minor detail they forgot to tell you and that single detail they left out is probably what has been frustrating your business.
What is that single detail about customers you weren’t told?
It’s ok to let some customers go because not all customer is right for your business.
This is the part you weren’t told and this is the part I want to talk about in this unusual article. Because for so long I have suffered too much in the hands of customers who I should never have involved myself with if I had been told what you are about to read here earlier.
Beware Of Customers From Hell, Choose Wisely!
You see all customers are not the same, so don’t waste time trying to satisfy all customers. As customers have the right to choose which company to do business with, so you also have the right to choose which customer to do business with. Business is all about value for value. It is a win-win relationship between you the seller and they the buyer. The right customers are those who understand this fact and won’t accept anything less.
I recently wrote an unusual article about 7 warning signs of a dying business, in it I talked about no word of mouth as one of the warning signs of a dying business. This is because customers are supposed to be one of your business partners who help you spread the word about the remarkable things you do. This is one of the reasons why you should choose your customers wisely. Not all of them fit the description of a partner.
As an entrepreneur, customers make or break your business. Besides your employees, customers are another set of people you should never joke with in business. The success or failure of your business depends on the customer. This is why you should choose your customers wisely. If you associate with the wrong set of customers your business is doomed!
4 Warning Signs Of Customers You MUST Avoid!
Below I present some obvious warning signs of customers who you shouldn’t allow in your business. You also have the right to allow them at your own risk; you will be the judge of that. My role is to share with you from my sad experiences with such customers!
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Don’t Believe In What You Are Selling
The very first warning sign of a customer who is not right for your business is one that says to you something like this; “you know I don’t believe in all these things you are telling me”. The next time you hear such a phrase from your customer, take to your heels.
How do you ever plan to sell to someone who obviously doesn’t believe in what you are offering as a solution to their problem? This is like selling ice to the Eskimos. You shouldn’t waste your time trying to convince or confuse or manipulate or any of the sales tactics you use, it won’t work. They are not for you, and they just made it clear. Selling to them is nothing short of a competition, more like a game with two opposing parties.
As entrepreneurs, we often make one major mistake, and that is this; just because the prospect showed some interest on the phone or via email or somehow, doesn’t mean they are the right customer. I used to make this mistake a lot. The high point of this mistake is when the prospect invites you to a talk in their office or comes over to your office. Because they have made this initial commitment, you can be fooled into thinking they believe in what you are selling.
In most cases, they are just trying to see if what you have to sell makes sense or not. Deep inside them, they don’t believe it will work. This is what is known as self fulfilling prophecies. When a customer believes that what you are suggesting might not work, in most cases it turns out so. Not because your solution is wrong, but because they started with a negative attitude and won’t put in the effort to make it work. These are the customers who don’t follow up on your instructions. They are the customers who want to have it their way. They already have their mind fixed on a particular solution they think is better than what you are offering, by all means let them be!
A quick word of caution here, there is a big difference between customers who don’t believe in what you are selling and customers who don’t understand what you are selling. Those who don’t understand need some education, but those who don’t believe, well, you know what to do –flee!
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Feels They Are Doing You A Favour
This is a classical, provoking and often funny twist of perception coming from customers you should desperately avoid. I talked about this in the introductory part of this unusual article above; business is value for value. The moment a customer begins to have the funny idea at the back of their mind that by buying from you, they are doing you a favour rather than seeing the transaction as a win-win deal, you should flee!
Why should you flee?
1. They will not spread the word about your business to others; after all, they are just buying to help you.
2. They will never implement or use what you are selling to them, they don’t need it. And when they don’t use it because they don’t need it, how do you get repeat purchase?
3. They treat you like trash; remember they are buying to help you and not themselves. You don’t matter; you are just one hungry entrepreneur who needs their money. Are we really that cheap as entrepreneurs?
4. They make you go the whole nine yards. Meaning, they don’t meet you half way, they leave you to do everything, making the whole relationship a one-sided thing. They play the passive role while leaving you to make rain. You will do all the thinking; make all the calls, rack your brain to figure out what exactly it is they want. Well here is the truth, nothing, so stop killing yourself over them.
5. They won’t appreciate you; remember in their mind you are only robbing them of their money. They are buying from you so that you leave them alone in peace.
I seriously don’t know about you, but for me, I’m not bearing the burden of entrepreneurship just because of the money. I am doing this also because of the joy of seeing my ideas translated into products/services that changes the world because of the extraordinary impact they have in people’s lives. So the money is only one fraction of the reward I expect to get from this entrepreneurial journey.
More than anything, I want my products/services to be used because that’s how results are achieved. That’s how the value of the business I am trying to build increases. If they aren’t being used, then I have failed as an entrepreneur regardless of how much money I make, because in the long run, the business will fold up. Or have you ever seen a profitable business whose products/services are not being used?
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Always Want To Underpay You
Another category of customers you should avoid are those who feel you charge too much and therefore always want to underpay you. Back to my introductory premise again; business is value for value. As entrepreneurs, the pride of what we do is in the value it brings to our target market. Now while not every entrepreneur goes a great deal to ensure what they offer up for sale is extraordinary, for the purpose of this unusual article, I will assume you are one of such entrepreneurs.
So having gone a great deal to provide something extraordinary and taking it a step further to communicate the unusual value you bring to the customer, and yet they turn out with a price that so undervalues your effort, what do you do? Flee!
Now don’t get me wrong, there are certainly several exceptions to this rule, one of them being low purchasing power. If a customer makes me understand that they value what I offer, but can’t afford what I am asking and goes ahead to offer me a lower price, depending on the project, I can concede. In business, this is known as considering all other non-monetary benefits attached to the sale. But if this isn’t the case, and more about the perception that I am trying to overcharge or rob them of more money, I peacefully take my leave.
Why Should You Leave?
1. The first obvious answer is simple, value. The relationship has to be perceived as a win-win, if not, then you are only going to make the sale and risk the relationship. I always emphasize that, making the sale does not guarantee business continuity. What guarantees business continuity is a profitable long term win-win relationship existing between you the seller and they the customer. I am not in business to make a customer for a day or a while; I want to make customers for life!
2. Creating and delivering exceptional value costs money and time, so when a customer fails to appreciate this fact, then they are simply aiding you out of business. The point is very clear, if you want more, be prepared to pay more and if you want to pay less, be prepared to get less. So unless you want to be out of business, don’t hang around customers who always want to underpay you.
3. They are mean people who always want to cheat others by always asking for more than they give. This is perhaps the most annoying reason to flee from customers who want to always underpay you. The reason they are seeking to underpay you is because they always want to be above you. They want to control you, boss you around and make you feel less of yourself. They are the ones who would always be on your neck to deliver. They are the ones who always expect you to put them first. They are the ones always seeking for attention, always calling, always complaining. They will make your life miserable for a chicken change. Is this what you signed up for as an entrepreneur? I didn’t think so too!
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Feels They Can Do What You Are Making Them Pay For
The classical phrase coming from such customers is this; “what’s so special in what you are going to do? I can do the same too just that I don’t have the time to”. Does this sound familiar to you? Customers who fall into this category never cease to amaze me. The reason is very simple; if you can do it yourself, why bother me? The very fact that there is some obvious reason however insignificant it might be to you for bringing me in to do what you can do, then you ought to pay me what I am asking.
Value again is the underlying premise here. Most people don’t realize that time is money. Anything you can’t do for lack of time, and you hire someone else to get it done for you, that’s serious value. Because of all resources on earth, time is the only non-renewable resource. Meaning once it is gone, it can never be regain for life. So what you are paying for as a customer is not the work being done, but the time being saved. That’s why air transportation is more costly than road or rail transportation. The reason behind this is the time being saved.
For customers in this category, a little orientation may work and help them see the value you bring. But for those who seem adamant and think you are simply asking for too much, then you know what to do, right? Flee!
Conclusion
I can go on and on pointing out several other experiences that serve as warning signs of customers you should avoid as much as possible. What I have realized over time is this, such customers only eat up your time and resources and won’t allow you to focus on getting the right customers into your business. You will often think that this is how all customers are, well you are partially right. This is how all wrong customers are. The day you encounter the right customer, you will better appreciate the need to choose wisely.
The bottom-line here is this, offer value to those who value your offering.
The core of business is relationship, so in essence choosing customers to work with is like choosing those to be friends with. You don’t want to hang around those who bring you down, right? You want to be in the company of those who see and treat you like the special, unique, extraordinary person you are. So go out and find your own kind or tribe of special, unique and extraordinary customers. Trust me, they are plenty out there!
Your turn
How true are some of these signs in your business? Besides fleeing, what other ways have you managed to deal with customers who seem to come from hell?
Would love to hear your views in the comment section below. I have shared my experiences, I hope you do the same and let’s make this a collaborative learning experience.
Thanks for reading, I know this was a particularly long read 🙂
- Published in Entrepreneurship, Thought Bank
Unusual Entrepreneur Interview With Babatunde Oladele Of TRWconsult.com
Welcome to another edition of the Unusual Entrepreneur Interviews and today I am very honoured to have gotten this Unusual Entrepreneur in question. He’s been one of my friends online since 2008, we met when he was still an employee and he shared his entrepreneurial dream with me. Today, I am glad he is making that dream a reality!
If you are just joining us for the first time, this is the unusual entrepreneur interview series. It is a parade of unusual entrepreneurs who are changing the world and profiting from purpose. Profiting from purpose by changing the world isn’t an impossible dream as many tend to think of it, but a realistic one as many unusual entrepreneurs have extraordinarily proven. Click here to read more unusual entrepreneur interviews.
Without further ado, let’s begin!
Interview Questions Part One
ENTREPRENEURSHIP – Awakening the Spirit of business
1. Can you please tell us a little about yourself and your business? What do you do? How do you do it? Why do you do it and who do you do it for?
I am Babatunde Oladele. I am a native of Usi Ekiti, Ido-Osi LGA of Ekiti State, Nigeria. I’m a graduate of English Literature. I also have a Master degree in Communications & Language Arts, both from the University of Ibadan. In addition, I am an alumnus of the School of Media & Communications (SMC) as well as Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), both of the Pan African University, where I did a certificate course in Advanced Writing & Reporting Skills (AWAReS) and Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management (CEM) programme respectively.
I am the Chief Responsibility Officer at The Ready Writers Consult, a company that provides professional Research, Writing, Editing, Publishing, Training and Consultancy services to corporate and individuals.
The Ready Writers Consult was set up to offer convenience to individuals and corporate concerns by taking up their research, writing, and editorial inconveniences, so that they could have time to do more in the areas of their core competence. We also aspire to curb the rate of ideas mortality and increase the rate of structured expressions in the society. The truth is, ideas and insights come to us all in a flicker of seconds, but if not documented, they disappear into oblivion with greater speed than they came.
Worse, still, if not documented with apposite words or presented in the right way, they end up communicating an entirely wrong message, rather than what the writer meant to say, to the audience; thus alienating the readers from the writer – a very sad phenomenon. These are the problems we set out to solve for individuals and corporate organisations in Nigeria and beyond.
2. How would you describe your entrepreneurial journey into the world of business? Where there any key incidents or life changing events that inspired your decision to become an entrepreneur?
Actually, while I was an undergraduate, I had always fancied that I would run my own business some day. I was what you would call a high-flyer while on campus. I was involved in several extra-curricular activities right from my 100 Level. At a time, I was the President of my Department’s students association, Editor-in-Chief of my hostel’s press club (IndyPress Organisation), PRO of the Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ), as well as Chairman of the Organising Committee of National Association of Students of English & Literary Studies; all of these were in a particular academic session!
There were times I wondered if I wasn’t being stupid getting involved in so many extra-curricular stuff. But I love being active and I was having fun doing all I was doing. These engagements really stretched me and afforded me a lot of exposures that I wouldn’t have if I had been a triangular student, who only does the round of lectures, library and fellowship. I thank God that I still graduated with a 2:1 at the end of the day. English is a course that is very demanding, as you get to read a lot of books. Particularly in the Literature courses, you have to read several prose, drama and poetry for comparative analysis. But all of these have proved really invaluable to me in what I do now.
I graduated from University of Ibadan (UI) brimming with confidence. I wanted to start a writing and publishing company then. But I didn’t have the funding required to start up. So I accepted an appointment and worked as PA to Mrs Ibukun Awosika of The Chair Centre Group for some years, whilst not taking my eyes off my aspiration. After about seven years of working, I became tired of the rat race of shuttling to and from Lekki every day. I told my principal that I wanted to resign and start out on my own. But she would not have it. She encouraged me instead to continue at my job and pursue my dream by the side.
Since I didn’t want to leave on a negative note, I decided to heed her counsel and continued with the job. I talked to a number of my friends who had a flair for writing and we started The Ready Writers Consult in my sitting room in May 2009. Eventually, two of them came aboard as fulltime staff, whilst the rest of us worked part time. But, as the demands for our services continued to grow through the months, I couldn’t cope with holding down two jobs again. So I had to inform my boss again that I needed to leave. That was in mid-2010. By this time, we had an office on CMD Road, Magodo, Lagos, and we were growing a comfortable list of clientele. After the formality of resignation and handing over, I eventually left my salary job in July 2010 and resumed full-time at TRW Consult in August 2010.
3. When you started out in business, what specific idea, purpose or vision was your key driving force?
The idea of starting a writing and editing company actually came to me in 2003. And I already had the name, The Ready Writers, since then. But, it was not incorporated until 2009. And, as I mentioned earlier, I did not have the wherewithal to start a business then, so it remained a burning idea through the years.
Now, to what led to it, I love writing and I love to read good pieces of writing too. But, these days, almost every page you open you see reveals a lot of substandard usage and improperly written expressions there. Those naturally get to me. And I wanted to do something about it. Besides, I also realised that many people have ideas that they would love to capture into books, but they do not have either the time to sit and write or the literary prowess to do it. I felt I could be of help. Those are major considerations for starting The Ready Writers Consult.
Our mission is to;
- (1) Bridge the gap between thoughts and prints; conception and organised expression,
- (2) Reduce the rate of idea mortality (that is ideas that come to mind and filter away unwritten, unshared or unpublished); and
- (3) Upgrade the standard of written communication in our public space.
4. What is your take on the general notion that entrepreneurs should build a business around what they naturally love to do?
It’s the best way to go really. Businesses founded outside of passion may not stand the test of time. The same applies to career; pursuing a career in any field that does not touch a core within you will always leave you with a hollow feeling, regardless of how mega the take-home is. However, once you are doing something you absolutely love to do or you are functioning in a field you are specifically endowed to operate in, it makes the journey easier and the vicissitudes of commerce more bearable.
5. What is your personal life mission as an entrepreneur? That is; what contributions do you want to make with your life or what would you like to be remembered for as an entrepreneur through the businesses you create when you die?
I am privileged to be revealed my life purpose by God in the book of Isaiah 61:3, ‘to give them beauty for ashes.’ I was created to give a better exchange, and this forms the basis of what we do at The Ready Writers Consult. When people come to us with their idea, we help them to convert it into a book, an essay, a blog, a presentation, or a multimedia product. When they come to us with their manuscript or other written materials, we help them to edit or rewrite it altogether to make it publish-worthy and more appealing to readers.
I would like to be remembered as someone who has helped innumerable people to fulfill their dreams, give expressions to their ideas and attain immortality by having their thoughts excellently documented and published.
6. What would you describe as the purpose of entrepreneurship? That is; what role do entrepreneurs play in the world?
I think entrepreneurship is all about offering value. Some people may launch out just to make money. But if the product or service you are offering is not perceived as valuable by the market, then your chances of making money will be limited. It is to the extent that the market attributes value to your output that your bottom line would increase.
Entrepreneurship is meeting identified needs and plugging holes for people for various reasons. It may be so that they can live longer and better, that they can make more money or not lose money, that they might look good or be perceived in a positive light in the society, and so on.
Interview Questions Part Two
STRATEGY – The unusual execution of business best practices
7. How do you identify business opportunities and what metrics do you use to measure their viability?
As I have mentioned, entrepreneurship is all about plugging holes. But not every hole is worth plugging, you have to do a risk analysis on each business opportunity you identify and on each prospect that beckons at you. Otherwise, one will just be busy working round the clock and not break even at the end of the day.
8. Do you have mentors, business coach or external consultants that you work closely with to grow yourself and your business? If yes, to what extent would you describe their impact on your business? If no, are there any particular reasons?
Books are my foremost business coaches and mentors. I learn a lot reading about the experiences of those who have built successful enterprises, how they overcome challenges and handled certain situations. I have also been privileged to attend the Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management (CEM) programme at the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Lagos Business School, thanks to Diamond Bank for that scholarship. The programme was an eye-opener for me in enterprise management and sustenance. And having worked as PA to Mrs Awosika for about seven years, I guess I can say I had a firsthand apprenticeship in entrepreneurship whilst in that posting as well.
9. How do you strategically use your time as an entrepreneur? What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs use their time for?
I think time management is a personal thing. What works for someone may not work for the next person. But it is essential to have a list of daily imperatives to input into your 24 hours on a daily basis. I, for instance, don’t joke with my daily devotion of prayer and Bible studies. I also take time out to read and do some core tasks I consider germane for my self-development and our corporate success. Family time is another very important chunk of my daily time expenditure.
10. How do you generate profitable customers for your business? What unusual approaches do you adopt for marketing your products/services?
The major marketing strategy we have been deploying so far is bulk SMS and distribution of flyers. We also get a lot of referrals from satisfied clients and those who know what we do.
11. Many entrepreneurs complain about not succeeding in business due to lack of adequate funding, what is your take on this matter and how do you cope with funding issues in your business?
I used to be in that shoe. But there is something I learnt from Mrs Awosika. She always says whatever business you want to do that you require millions of naira to start, you should note the amount you have at hand, be it N5,000 or N10,000, and start the N5,000/N10,000 version of that business. One of the reasons I couldn’t start The Ready Writers Consult since 2003 when I conceived the idea was because of funds. Funny enough, when we eventually started in 2009 I didn’t even have up to N50,000. But I knew better then and I was more prepared on all fronts to start.
Concerning the challenges of operational funding, I subscribed to the discipline of budgeting from an early stage of my life. I think I learnt that discipline from my mum really. Even till now, you see her with little pads with things to buy/do written on them, some cancelled, some retained. The art of budgeting has helped me to prioritise in terms of funding. Simple economics counsel that you do a scale of preference when you have many things contending for limited resources. For the first 12 months that I started working fulltime at TRW Consult, I didn’t collect salary, as there were several things we needed to do with money. I also didn’t buy a car until much later when we could afford it. So, I think budgeting, basic economics and personal discipline have been my own way of dealing with funding challenges. Very importantly too, I always cry out to God when funds are not coming in as they should. The Psalmist says He is my Shepherd, and I know the shepherd has the responsibility of providing for His flock, amongst other things. So, I also pray for His supply.
12. When starting out a new business, who are the likely possible partners or professional service providers you would recommend every entrepreneur work with?
The CEM programme at the EDC opened my eyes to a lot of things really. Firstly, I think every entrepreneur would require the services of an accountant, if even on a part time basis. As the saying goes, cash is the blood of every business concern. And the (mis)management of it principally is what determines how long the business would last. You also need the services of a human resource expert to help with the so-called greatest capital of the business. If there is no in-house marketing staff, then one will definitely need to engage the expertise of a marketing consultant. Once these three expertise are secured, I think every other one can follow in sequence based on your peculiar operational requirements.
13. The pricing of products/services is always an issue for entrepreneurs, what unusual approach do you take when it comes to pricing?
I must confess that is one of the major concerns I had when we started. Since we offer professional services, I spent days ruminating on, how do we price our services? How much do we charge for a particular service? Thank God, I got an eBook on Pricing around that time that I took time to digest. In that book, I learnt that pricing is foremost an individual thing; then you also consider a number of metrics to help you arrive at a reasonable price. At the end of deliberations with other members of the team, we concluded on pricing for sustainability and growth.
We realized that we cannot work for everybody, and we don’t even try to do it. We work only for those who value time and would rather outsource their research, writing and editing tasks to us to do whilst they devote their time to doing what they do best. And knowing that time is money, they are willing to pay for the convenience they derive from outsourcing their inconvenience to us.
Interview Questions Part Three
MISCELLANEOUS – Resourceful Recommendations, tools, books, and ideas for unusual entrepreneurs
14. Since you became an entrepreneur – someone who solves problems for people profitably; what has been your most outstanding accomplishments in the context of business?
I think the height of our fulfilment came when IBM honoured us with an Outstanding Enterprise Award in June 2011, whilst they were marking their own 100th year anniversary in Lagos, Nigeria. Another high for us was when Diamond Bank awarded us a scholarship to go for a 4-month enterprise management training at the EDC. We are still very young; we will be three in July 2012. So those laurels mean a lot to us.
Another accomplishment is our clientele. We work for a number of influential people who would prefer to remain anonymous. We respect our clients’ privacy and keep the work we do for them confidential. That’s why you don’t see the names of our clients displayed anywhere. We have worked for banks and corporate institutions, government officials, clergies, top professionals, and so forth. We also facilitate business communications, with emphasis on written communication, in the MBA classes of Lagos Business School.
The major high for us is when our clients call or email us to commend us for jobs well and professionally done. That gives us the greatest delight.
15. What would you describe as your major setbacks and what lessons did you pick from them?
What I consider our major setback was when one of our pioneer operatives pulled a fast one on us and was doing what is generally called PP with our structures and resources. He eventually left us and is still owing us a large sum. Another challenge we have is labour turnover. People come in and go when we can’t pay them what the banks and other big institutions pay. The funny thing is, at the point of application or interview, they tell us all sort of things; they were born to write, all they wanted to do is just to be given an opportunity to fulfil their passion, and all sorts. But, a few weeks down the line, you see them applying for jobs online or they tell you that their families are against what they are doing. Eventually, they leave.
We are trying our best to run with the resources at our disposal and to get our staff to buy into the vision and see the big picture, rather than focus on immediate gratification. We have instituted a structure where a staff can rise to becoming a shareholder in the company if they stay long enough and fulfil certain performance metrics. We have also put some incentives mechanism in place to help staff earn more than their take-home and give their utmost best on the job.
16. Where there any particular questions you expected me to ask that is beneficial to entrepreneurs and I didn’t? Kindly share with us such questions and their relevant answers here.
None for now. Thanks for the honour of your time and space.
Your Turn
What more would you like to know about the Unusual Babatunde Oladele? You can ask him further questions below in the comment section and I will be sure that you will get an answer directly from him.
Also, what did you learn from this unusual entrepreneur? What lessons, what philosophy of his strike you the most?
Babatunde has shared his unusual story with you, now is time to hear from you. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say 🙂
- Published in Interviews, Thought Bank
How To Boost Your Entrepreneurial Productivity
Are you a productive entrepreneur?
In the early days of naijapreneur, I wrote a very disturbing post titled Laziness checklist for entrepreneurs. It has grown to become one of the most searched for phrase on naijapreneur from Google generating thousands of visitors monthly. This is the follow up article.
As an entrepreneur you don’t ever consider yourself lazy or unproductive. You rather find yourself complaining of insufficient time, right? But here is the thing; most entrepreneurs are lazy and very unproductive. But before you start throwing stones at me, let’s be sure you understand what it means to be productive, ok?
What Is Productivity?
Productivity simply means getting more of the right things done. It is the ratio of time expended compared to results achieved.
I hope that was what you had in mind?
If not, I think I should be the one doing the stoning. 🙂
The very first sign of un-productivity is having more goals un-achieved. The more goals you have still hanging unfulfilled, the more unproductive you are. I know you have so many items on your to do list that’s why you often complain of insufficient time, right?
Here’s what you need to understand, you are not productive just because you get a lot of stuffs done. Getting a lot of stuff done is being busy —activity. Productivity is about getting more of the right things done. Productivity is about getting closer to your goals one activity at a time. It is not being busy; busyness is the opposite of idleness. Productivity is measured in terms of results.
So here are some questions for you; in your business, are you getting the kind of results you want? In your life, are you getting the kind of results you want? In your finances, are you getting the kind of results you want? With your employees, are you getting the kind of results you want?
If your answer is yes, then you are productive. If no, then we are on the same level. 🙂
How To Boost Your Entrepreneurial Productivity
1. Clarify Your Goals
The first step to getting the kind of results you want is that you define what those results are clearly. The essence of work is to achieve results; we don’t work for nothing, right? So before you start working or doing anything at all, clarify what you want to achieve first.
Here’s an example, at the start of the year I set out with three simple words to guide my thoughts, actions and expectations throughout the year. I wrote about it here, Effective Planning For 2012: Why New Year Resolutions Fail And What To Do Instead. Those words were produce, promote, and prosper.
Meaning, I will do more —produce, market more —promote and sell more —prosper.
For each of these words I created specific goals and revisit them from time to time. How much of them I accomplish is the measure of my productivity or un-productivity this year.
2. Prioritize Your Goals
Now here is the tricky part for entrepreneurs, including me. You don’t find it hard to set goals, right? The hard part is making those goals your priority. Once goals are set, in your quest to achieve them, you get distracted. It happens to every human being, it’s normal. Life is complex, so we end up several times in places or activities we didn’t bargain for.
What is not normal is continuing on this path like nothing is wrong. What is not normal is not retracing your steps every time you get off course. Your goals are like compass, they exist to get you back on track. They are not just for fancy, they are reminders of what you ought to be doing and pointers of where you need to be heading.
So every time you stray off track, stop everything you are doing and get your priorities right. This means you have to periodically review your activities to know how aligned or how off track they are from your goals. Just going on and on without this periodic alignment checks is how to be unproductive.
3. Eliminate Distractions
In the business of life, distractions abound. Some are self imposed and some are unavoidable. In either case distractions are anything that takes your mind off working on your goals.
So how do you eliminate distractions?
- Focus on one task per time: multi-tasking is a myth. You cannot successfully do two things at the same time. At most, you will end up with an average result from each task. Or you end up with so many abandoned projects. When working on a goal, get it done before taking on another one. Just as the great Albert Einstein stated, genius is the ability to focus on one thing until completion.
- Watch less TV: I am often surprised when I see entrepreneurs watching TV like normal people do. You are not a worker that closes from work and relaxes with a TV. You are an entrepreneur; your working hours is not fixed. Now don’t get me wrong, I do watch TV, but only once or twice a week, mainly in the night during weekends. Not watching TV gives me more time to get some more work done. Make watching TV a reward you earn when you have achieved some specific results.
- Become less social: this is going to annoy someone somehow. The truth is this, as an entrepreneur your success is tied to results unlike an employee who might hide under the collective results of others. Keep less friends, party less, chat less, tweet less, facebook less, browse less. All these are what keep you away from doing what you ought to be doing. My being social online or offline is with my goal in mind. I have realized that the more results you achieve in life and in business, the more friends you attract. Unless you are into public relations, there is such a thing as being over social.
4. Buy More Time
Your productivity as an entrepreneur is largely determined by the use of your time and how much you achieve. But time is limited in supply. You don’t have more than 24 hours in a day and you need more time to get things done, right? So what do you do? You buy more time.
How?
Get productivity tools: this is very important for you as an entrepreneur. You need tools to get more work done.
My business is very dependent on content development — I create resources that help people, businesses and lives to grow. Meaning, a large part of productivity for me is how much creative writing I get done. Whether it is business proposals, plans or profile or contents for a website, brochure, book, article, training/course or speech, I am always writing.
So, I recently checked on my 3-word goals this year [produce, promote, prosper] and noticed how far away I was from the goal of produce –creating more contents. On further analysis, I noticed it was due to poor power supply. In Nigeria where I live currently, power is an issue and you need power to type. I have a generating set that produces my own power, but then there is the cost of fueling it.
To save cost of fuel, I started writing on paper and retyping later when I put on the generator. This meant I spent more time writing, one on paper and the second on laptop. That wasn’t productive at all. I needed to write as long as I could, saving as much as I could both in cash and in time.
So what did I do? I got an Android tablet PC [the alternative to iPad] that have more battery life than my laptop allowing me to type as long as 6 hours straight. Now when the generator is on, I charge it while working on the internet on my laptop. This is helping my goal of producing more contents this year.
Tools are great productivity boosters. Another tool I use to buy more time is my blackberry smart phone. Since power is an issue, with my blackberry smart phone I get all my internet tasks done while on the go. I get and send emails, twitter, facebook, linkedin, blogging and all of my online stuffs are done from my BB.
Lastly, as a business consultant, when working with clients it is important to note every detail as much as possible. In the past, I go about with a notepad for jotting down these details. But this didn’t help much as I often had to interrupt my clients asking them to repeat what they had said earlier so I could put it down on my notepad. I solved this problem with a productivity tool known as digital voice recorder.
With this, I simply got every detail of my meetings with clients on record instead of on paper. This allowed me more time to focus on what the clients were saying and helped me to better create solutions for them. And the beautiful part, clients can’t deny the said this or that because it is on tape!
Conclusion
Productivity is about how you maximize your scarce resources of time and money to get the results you want. Taking a very close look at the way you use your time and on what you spend your money will help you discover how productive or unproductive you are as an entrepreneur. Productive entrepreneurs use their time to achieve set goals and spend their money to buy leverage [productivity tools] to get more done with less time.
Your Turn
What is your biggest productivity challenge as an entrepreneur?
How have you been coping with this and what additional tips besides those above are you familiar with?
What other productivity tools do you leverage on to get more work done?
- Published in Entrepreneurship, Thought Bank
Unusual Entrepreneur Interview With Larry Keltto Of TheSolopreneurLife.com
Welcome to another edition of the Unusual Entrepreneur Interview series. Lately I have been running into several more unusual entrepreneurs whose passion for changing the world and profiting from purpose is totally overwhelming. I recently read about 19 of such unusual women entrepreneurs who are building businesses that MATTER online. Head there and check them out for yourself, they really rock!
So Who Is Our Unusual Entrepreneur Guest For Today?
His name is Larry Keltto of “the Solopreneur life” a totally awesome dude. I ran into Larry in the launch year of naijapreneur back in 2010. He was the very first person to talk about the existence of naijapreneur to his community of Solopreneurs. That’s how awesome Larry really is!
How Unusual Is Larry Kelto?
Larry has been a Solopreneur since 1993 and has been helping several other Solopreneurs build purpose-driven businesses that change the world and profit from purpose™. And just in case you are wondering what Larry refers to as Solopreneurs, here’s his description of purpose-driven Solopreneurs in brief;
- They want to achieve socially significant goals through our work.
- They are hardwired to want to serve.
- They are empathetic.
- They don’t view “net worth” purely in monetary terms.
- They are grateful for what others have done for us.
- They strive to pay forward.
- They want to live lives of meaning.
Enough of the introduction, take it away Larry!
Interview Questions Part One
ENTREPRENEURSHIP – Awakening the Spirit of business
1. Can you please tell us a little about yourself and your business? What do you do?, how do you do it?, why do you do it and who do you do it for?
I’m a Solopreneur. I work from my home in Minnesota and I provide coachsulting and resources to purpose-driven Solopreneurs who want to change the world. I provide the coachsulting by phone and email, and I deliver resources via: my Web site, TheSolopreneurLife.com; Twitter; Facebook; and BlogTalkRadio. (I’ll get into the “why” in a moment.)
2. How would you describe your entrepreneurial journey into the world of business? Where there any key incidents or life changing events that inspired your decision to become an entrepreneur?
I was in the newspaper business when my wife and I got married, in 1993. We soon realized that my work hours would not mesh well with married life, so I decided to start my own business. My wife predicted that the business would change its shape many times over the years, and she was exactly right.
3. When you started out in business, what specific idea, purpose or vision was your key driving force?
I did not have a grand plan. In 1993, desktop publishing was in its infancy, and I had expert-level writing and editing ability, plus expert skills with a publishing program called QuarkXpress. I believed that those skills were marketable, and they were. I began working with a mix of local startups and established businesses, and my primary service was producing newsletters for those businesses.
4. What is your take on the general notion that entrepreneurs should build a business around what they naturally love to do?
I think passion is one element in a three-part formula. The other two elements are;
1). The market and its needs; and
2). Your skills.
If you can find the spot where passion, the market, and your skills overlap, that’s a great place from which to create a business.
5. What is your personal life mission as an entrepreneur? That is; what contributions do you want to make with your life or what would you like to be remembered for as an entrepreneur through the businesses you create when you die?
My mission is to help Solopreneurs succeed in their quests to change the world. In a way, I’m like a teacher — I find satisfaction in seeing the accomplishments of my students/clients.
6. What would you describe as the purpose of entrepreneurship? That is; what role do entrepreneurs play in the world?
I think entrepreneurs drive innovation, and innovation is the source of most human achievement. Entrepreneurs take risks and try new things that other people don’t. So I think entrepreneurs are responsible for the improvement and advancement of societies.
Interview Questions Part Two
STRATEGY – The unusual execution of business best practices
7. How do you identify business opportunities and what metrics do you use to measure their viability?
It’s not an exact science for me. I basically look at the three-part formula I referred to above: market need, skills to meet those needs, and passion. Often I will measure the three on a 10-point scale. Anything that approaches a 30-point score is going to be an attractive opportunity.
8. Do you have mentors, business coach or external consultants that you work closely with to grow yourself and your business? If yes, to what extent would you describe their impact on your business? If no, are there any particular reasons?
I have a circle of advisors, a group of about six people whom I consult when faced with challenges or decisions. They have had a huge positive impact on me — mostly in the realm of affirmation and encouragement.
9. How do you strategically use your time as an entrepreneur? What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs use their time for?
I think time-management tools are very unique to the individual. But I can say that Stephen Covey’s “quadrant” system has worked extremely well for me. Covey introduced the quadrant idea in his book “First Things First,” and I’m at my best when his system is front-and-center every day. The system identifies where you should be spending your time. I’ve learned that the highest and best use of time is on things that are important but not urgent, i.e., personal and professional development; personal health; and building of relationships.
10. How do you generate profitable customers for your business? What unusual approaches do you adopt for marketing your products/services?
Profitable customers typically are people with whom I believe I will develop a long-term relationship; recurring business is very important to any Solopreneur because it allows you to spend more time on billable work and less time on marketing.
I have a natural curiosity, a genuine desire to learn about people, so being able to ask questions and sincerely be interested in the answers probably sets me apart.
11. Many entrepreneurs complain about not succeeding in business due to lack of adequate funding, what is your take on this matter and how do you cope with funding issues in your business?
Funding hasn’t been a frustration for me. Maybe that means I haven’t set my sights high enough! I know how much revenue I need to reach my goals, and I’ve been able to reach them without borrowing. I wouldn’t come to me for finance advice. I have a handful of colleagues whom I turn to — and refer clients to — for finance expertise.
12. When starting out a new business, who are the likely possible partners or professional service providers you would recommend every entrepreneur work with?
All Solopreneurs must have an accountant who understands the needs of small-business owners and their businesses.
13. The pricing of products/services is always an issue for entrepreneurs, what unusual approach do you take when it comes to pricing?
I’m unusual. I offer “Pay What You Can” pricing. I have a posted price; along with the option that clients can opt for “Pay What You Can.” It’s something I had wanted to do for a long time, and I finally did it in 2011. For me, my business, and my niche, it’s perfect. I wouldn’t recommend it to everybody.
Interview Questions Part Three
MISCELLANEOUS – Resourceful Recommendations, tools, books, and ideas for unusual entrepreneurs
14. Since you became an entrepreneur – someone who solves problems for people profitably; what has been your most outstanding accomplishments in the context of business?
I think my accomplishments are threefold:
- Being able to stay in business for 18 years. That’s no small feat, thank you very much. I’ve been able to evolve, grow, and adapt. The world is much different than it was in 1993.
- The relationships I’ve built with clients, colleagues.
- Creating a business that fits both my business and personal goals. I started the business in order to keep my marriage strong, and the business continues to be positive for my family.
15. What would you describe as your major setbacks and what lessons did you pick from them?
I had a period of time — when our kids were small — when I allowed myself to become dependent on one client. I think it stunted my innovation and growth and made my business vulnerable. But to be fair to myself, the energy that had gone toward business development was spent on trying to raise our kids.
Eventually, as my kids got older, I walked away from that client. It took about 2 years to get back to where I wanted to be financially.
The lesson is to not become reliant on one client/customer.
16. Where there any particular questions you expected me to ask that is beneficial to entrepreneurs and I didn’t? Kindly share with us such questions and their relevant answers here.
If you were just starting out today, what would you do?
I’d be a teacher and a high school football coach.
Your Turn
What more would you like to know about the Unusual Larry Kelto? You can ask him further questions below in the comment section and I will be sure that you will get an answer directly from him.
Also, what did you learn from this unsual entrepreneur? What lessons, what philosophy of his strike you the most?
Larry has shared his unusual story with you, now is time to hear from you. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say 🙂
- Published in Interviews, Thought Bank