CONVERSION STRATEGY: Your Marketing Is DEAD Without It!
The importance of marketing is not alien to an entrepreneur. You already know without being told that marketing is how you get your products/services sold.
So this unusual article is not about marketing, it’s about why your marketing isn’t working. It’s about your conversion strategy, the critical missing link in your marketing arsenal. It’s about fixing your marketing strategy so that it can begin to work as it’s supposed to – bring in sales!
The Critical Missing Link in Your Marketing Arsenal
If you’ve been in business for about 3-5 years, I’m sure you would be familiar with what I am about to say next.
Sales is NOT made in an instant!
That you have some form of marketing system in place isn’t a guarantee that you will always make the sale.
That you are running an ad, either online or offline doesn’t mean anyone who comes in contact with the ad will eventually buy.
That you have a team of salespeople making presentations daily to your target customers doesn’t guarantee instant sales.
The greatest deception that can ever happen to an entrepreneur is thinking or believing that sales can be made in an instant. Now, don’t get me wrong, as you know, there’s always an exception to every rule; both in life and in business.
So for this rule, let me quickly mention the exception. The only time sales is made in an instant is when you are selling a commodity. A commodity is a product/service that is as generic as sand and as common as air. In other words, there’s nothing really special or unique about the product/service. Such a product/service is not a brand and will ultimately be left to the mercy of price.
But if there’s any drop of uniqueness, difference or novelty about your product/service, then it has the potential of becoming a brand and you shouldn’t expect an instant sales from your marketing efforts.
Why?
Because of the buying decision making process.
Between the first time a potential customer comes in contact with your product/service and the time they eventually buy, there’s a big gap. That gap is the buying decision making process and it needs to be deliberately guided.
This is why you need a conversion strategy.
What’s Your Conversion Strategy?
The job of marketing is to create an attention or awareness for your products/services. This is what I refer to as the first encounter with your brand. Before anyone will buy a product/service, they must first know that such a product/service exists. It is the job of marketing to make sure that they do.
And there are different ways of making this happen;
- Advertisement: TV, Radio, Billboard, Online, Print, etc.
- Word-of-Mouth: recommendation from family and friends, colleagues, etc.
- Direct Marketing: one-on-one sales, telemarketing, SMS, email marketing, etc.
- Retail Marketing: sales outlets, exhibitions, trade shows, shelf space branding, product packaging, etc.
All of these and many more are the several ways of creating that first initial exposure for your product/service with the intended target market. Expecting to make the sale on this first encounter with your brand is why so many marketing efforts fail.
This doesn’t also mean that you cannot get lucky and make the sale on first contact, you can. But don’t always bet on it. Erroneously accepting this notion of making the sale on first contact as the norm is like expecting to take your date to bed on your first date.
While this may happen for some, it’s not the rule, but an exception and one that is completely subject to chance. And you shouldn’t leave your marketing to chance; this is the essence of a conversion strategy.
Your conversion strategy is how to deliberately initiate, sustain and nurture the fragile relationship your marketing efforts has just helped you create with the potential buyers of your product/service. The most important keyword here is “deliberately”. Your conversion strategy is not automatic, it must be deliberately created.
In popular marketing terms, your conversion strategy is your sales funnel. It’s how you turn a PROSPECT [potential customer] to SALES [customer]. Without it, all your marketing efforts have failed.
In fact, the whole essence of your marketing is to get the attention and interest of your target market in order to initiate, sustain and nurture a relationship with them. Your conversion strategy is how you take the attention and interest your marketing created and turn them into sales.
It’s not sufficient to just capture their attention and interest, a relationship with the potential customer must be initiated, sustained and nurtured. The end goal of this relationship is the eventual sale of your products/services. But if you attempt to force the sale on them on your first encounter, you will most certainly be resented and will ultimately lose the sale.
How to Create a Winning Conversion Strategy
To create a winning conversion strategy, the following essential elements must be put in place;
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Establish a Direct Communication Link With Potential Customers
The very first step in creating a winning conversion strategy is to establish a direct communication link with the potential customer. This simply means capturing their contact details. This can vary depending on the product/service involved.
But in most cases, there are generally 3 kinds of contact details you need to establish a direct communication link with the potential customer;
- Phone Number
- Email Address
- Contact Address
Anyone of these 3 or a combination of any two will do. But I must warn you, such details don’t come by easily. Your potential customers will not part with them until they are given a compelling reason to do so.
To get access to their contact details, you have to be willing to give them something valuable in return for free. This is generally known as bait and it can take various forms depending on the product/service and the peculiarities of the target market.
For example, when we ran a cybercafé, we gave out 10 minutes worth of browsing ticket for free to every first time customer in exchange for them to become registered members. Of course, the membership registration was also free and also came with more value added perks, but it required them to drop their contact details.
On this blog, naijapreneur, the bait is the free “The Entrepreneur’s Journey” ebook which I give away in exchange for email addresses of my readers. This is one of the popular baits used online to capture the contact details of potential customers who visit a website.
The list of what you can give away for free in exchange for the contact details of potential customers is endless, you just need a little bit of creativity and ample knowledge of your target customer’s needs and wants.
The bottom-line is to give away something they will value and that is closely related to the products/services you are selling. Examples include;
- Information Products: eBooks, video tutorials, podcasts, online course, newsletter, etc.
- Limited Access: free trial subscriptions, free trial downloads, free trial membership, etc.
- Sample Products: free air time, make up, training, product testing, etc.
- Promo Items: branded souvenirs, etc.
- Free Consultations: coaching session, diagnostics, therapy, etc.
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Demonstrate Value Through Periodic Engagement
Now that you have established a direct communication link with your potential customers, your next step in developing a winning conversion strategy is to demonstrate value by engaging with your potential customers periodically.
That you have direct communication link with them is not a license for you to overwhelm them with endless sales letters or promos, no. Remember this is a relationship you are nurturing, so always think win-win and not win-lose. In other words, put the needs of your potential customers first.
Your goal here is to engage with them by demonstrating value. I call this strategy educate and influence. Here is where you demonstrate the superior value of your product/service. Rather than making claims, you simply demonstrate what makes your brand special. You demonstrate your thought leadership [expertise] as a brand.
You can do this through the following;
- Case Studies: share stories on how your product/service is helping other customers
- Articles: offer practical ideas and tips that addresses their major problems
- Testimonials: share what your satisfied customers are saying about your product/service
- Industry News: keep them abreast with relevant industry trends, issues and events
- Market Surveys: engage them with thoughtful questions to help you understand their needs
- Product/Service Updates: educate them on how your products/services can solve their problems
All these will keep your brand top on their mind without abusing the privilege of engaging with them. Over time, their perception of your brand will increase as you continuously engage with them by demonstrating value.
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Make an Irresistible Offer
As you nurture a win-win relationship with them through value adding periodic engagements, they would have been ripe for the sale. Most times, even before you make an offer, they would have started contacting you to buy.
It’s at this point that you can take the relationship further and create an exclusive irresistible offer about your product/service that will benefit them. This is when you out rightly ask for the sale. The benefit of making an irresistible offer is that it helps many who aren’t ready to buy yet, take advantage of the promo offer.
Don’t try to lump all your offers at once, create several offers and introduce it to them periodically.
Conclusion
Every marketing effort starts with the target market and ends with a sale. Your conversion strategy is the journey you take the target customer through from their first contact with your brand till they eventually buy.
The process looks like this;
Target Market -> Prospect -> Customer -> Repeat Customer.
Without a winning conversion strategy, you can lose the potential customer half way before they become customers. This is the reason why most marketing fails, because of the absence of a deliberate conversion strategy to help the target customer through their buying decision making process.
- Published in Marketing, Thought Bank
Unusual Entrepreneur Interview with Michael Fratkin of ResolutionCare.com
In today’s edition of the Unusual Entrepreneurs Interview, I have on the hot seat a medical Doctor whose passion for palliative care – specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses moved him to embark on the entrepreneur’s journey.
I present to you Dr. Michael D. Fratkin, the founder of ResolutionCare – a community based palliative care startup dedicated to empowering patients, till the very end!
In this unusual entrepreneur interview, Michael shares how he;
- Successfully funded ResolutionCare with an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign
- Successfully transitioned from a medical doctor to an entrepreneur through the help of strategic consultants who provided the much needed business advisory/support
- Strategically leveraged on trending technologies to create a unique business model
- And many more….
Without further ado, here’s the unusual story of the unusual medical doctor who turned entrepreneur!
Part 1: Michael Fratkin Unusual Entrepreneur Interview
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Awakening the Spirit of business
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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 a father, husband, brother and son…and I am also a rural palliative care physician. After years of isolated overwork in the absence of needed support/team and dependence on distressed healthcare system, I launched a startup on the strength of an outpouring of public support in the form of a crowd-funding campaign that raised $150,000.
ResolutionCare is a community based palliative care team caring for people with serious illness in their home with either house calls, or virtual house calls via telemedicine, or both.
Our “why” has something to do with the care of people no longer able to maintain the illusion of their immortality, provided by those of who still can. We now serve our local community in Humboldt County, we are immediately extending access to 14 rural Northern California counties, and we are actively architecting a national scaling effort.
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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?
As a frustrated and nearly burned out physician, long on passion and short on business chops, it has been quite a wild ride! The learning curve has been nearly vertical and dizzying. Our success was due to two things:
- My intuitive understanding of what I do not know and
- A recognition of inspired individuals that do!
Last July, I was waking up my nine year old daughter Bella. As she opened her eyes, she said, “Goodbye Daddy.” Not good morning, not hello. That day I pulled the trigger on this project with the commitment that I am NOT going to be a “Goodbye Daddy” Daddy!
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When you started out in business, what specific idea, purpose or vision was your key driving force?
- The mismatch between what people and their families want from healthcare as they approach the completion of their lives and what their experience turns out to be. Solutions from within the distressed institutions invested in the past just ain’t happening. It was necessary to get outside the box and develop a new way to deliver and to pay for compassionate care entirely centered on what the person themselves defines as value.
We are investing in a future of health care that is anchored in quality of life, satisfaction, and the sustainable well-being of dedicated professionals. While we understand that this will save huge amounts of wasted healthcare expenditures for payors, our investment is in raising the bar on the care received by the most vulnerable among us.
- The maturity of cloud-based videoconferencing, the penetration of video-enabled devices, and the tipping point of people getting comfortable with this form of remote communication all combine with an electrified social conversation about the failures of our system to meet the needs of people with serious illness lit the fuse of ResolutionCare.
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What is your take on the general notion that entrepreneurs should build a business around what they naturally love to do?
I am not sure I can imagine doing it otherwise. What’s the point?
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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 personal life mission as an entrepreneur follows my personal life mission as a person…at the end of my life, I hope to feel complete, loved, and cared for. The memory of me is less important than setting into motion a tangible benefit to others….beginning with my family and extending to all of us.
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What would you describe as the purpose of entrepreneurship? That is; what role do entrepreneurs play in the world?
I am just a beginner here, but it has something to do with the management of risk to advance innovation in service to some vision of a better world.
Part 2: Michael Fratkin Unusual Entrepreneur Interview
STRATEGY: The unusual execution of business best practices
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How do you identify business opportunities and what metrics do you use to measure their viability?
We center our business development in a deep understanding of what’s missing for people with serious illness, then reverse engineer solutions that also solve problems for the many competing stakeholders…payors, provider, referring physicians, health systems, etc… Their interests are all secondary to what’s needed by the people we all serve.
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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 am incredibly grateful to consultants supporting crowdfunding, strategic communication, and business strategy. Without their expertise and engagement, I’m just another burned out doctor with a good idea.
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How do you strategically use your time as an entrepreneur? What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs use their time for?
I architect my schedule for sustainability and balance. Little to no work in evenings and weekends…that time belongs to my family and friends. I take Wednesday morning off to hang out with my wife alone while the kids are at school.
I get up at four am to take advantage of a peaceful environment (i.e. sleeping family!) and then I work like crazy all the rest of the time. In order to not let the project gobble up your whole life, you have to grab time away and structures like the above to ensure that the things outside of work that make life worthwhile don’t evaporate.
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How do you generate profitable customers for your business? What unusual approaches do you adopt for marketing your products/services?
We both enjoy and suffer from a marketplace where there is at least four times the demand than there is supply. Our marketing is to advance our vision and our field…not to scare up “customers”.
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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 suspect its not the funding that’s usually lacking, but rather the vision, timing, team, and something absolutely worth doing…the value proposition.
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When starting out a new business, who are the likely possible partners or professional service providers you would recommend every entrepreneur work with?
The people you serve or to whom you provide a product. Some people call them “customers”, but I call them partners. Get the help you need from people who “get it”. They have to feel what you feel and at least relate to your passion, if not be infected by it themselves.
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The pricing of products/services is always an issue for entrepreneurs, what unusual approach do you take when it comes to pricing?
In the current healthcare financing universe, the revenue for services provided are somewhat standardized. Going forward, we are investing in a future where payment is at least contingent on the value experienced by people who our services are designed for. It is a dynamic conversation in the field of palliative care and policymakers in which ResolutionCare actively participates as an emerging thought leader.
Part 3: Michael Fratkin Unusual Entrepreneur Interview
MISCELLANEOUS: Resourceful Recommendations, tools, books, and ideas for entrepreneurs
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Since you became an entrepreneur – someone who solves problems for people profitably; what has been your most outstanding accomplishments in the context of business?
The growing opportunity to be heard as I articulate the heart and soul of medicine with the credibility of building a viable and sustainable model for the compassionate and capable care of everyone everywhere as they face the completion of life.
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What would you describe as your major setbacks and what lessons did you pick from them?
The setbacks have all yielded the kind of learning I need. Though painful failures in communication and coordination have had negative consequences, there really is no other way to learn the critical elements of leadership than making mistakes and taking responsibility. This modeling of vulnerability has helped create a safe and collaborative culture that encourages people to share their fumbles as easily as their triumphs.
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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.
I look forward to a conversation and hope you are intrigued enough to arrange a podcast!
Your Turn
I’m so convinced you had more than you asked for in this interview. But just in case, he missed out something, what more would you like to know about the unusual medical doctor who turned entrepreneur?
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? What strategies did you pick up from him?
Michael 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
TEAM BUILDING CHECKLIST: 5 Winning Qualities of the Right VISION PARTNERS
Team building is a crucial part of your success story as an entrepreneur. It is so crucial that I have personally coined up two words to better convey the importance of building a team – vision partners.
Team building is about creating vision partners for your business. You see, business is a team’s sport, and only the teams with the best players win!
Very early in my entrepreneurial journey, I learnt this valuable business lesson about team building, thanks to Robert Kiyosaki.
Learning this principle about team building was such a great eye opener for me, it made me arrive at two critical decisions that have served me well as an entrepreneur.
- To never go on this entrepreneurial journey alone.
- To always be on the lookout for the best players to bring onboard.
Many entrepreneurs don’t take this issue of team building very seriously. If they even do, it’s often later in their entrepreneurial journey, rather than early, that they begin to consider this issue seriously.
Here’s the plain truth; all other things you need in your business to make it work can’t work without people. So pushing this issue of team building aside until later in your entrepreneurial journey isn’t quite a smart choice.
Now is the time to begin to prioritize the need to surround yourself and your business with the best available minds, talents and skills you can find. Having them around early will make the difference between success and failure on the long run!
Debunking the #1 Myth of Team Building
Before going ahead to the 5 winning qualities of the right team players, I want to quickly debunk a prevailing myth many entrepreneurs have about team building. What’s this myth?
You Need Money to Hire the Best Teams
This is often the most prevailing reason many entrepreneurs give for not building a team early enough in their entrepreneurial journey. They allow the lack of money to limit their potentials to attract the best team members.
This is one of those entrepreneurial fallacies and myths about team building that needs to be debunked. And I will give you some real life examples to validate this.
Was built by assembling the best online marketing minds Brian Clark met along his entrepreneurial journey. These were people like himself who were also passionate about building a digital media company.
All he had to do to get them onboard was to share the vision of a preferable future if they all decide to work together as a team. At the time of bringing them onboard, he didn’t have any money set aside to pay as salaries for each of them. He only presented the opportunity for collaboration and left the products they would co-create to determine how much financial reward they would all get.
Through this, he was able to get such A-list online entrepreneurs such as Sonia Simone, Chris Garret, Tony Clark, Brian Gardner, Robert Bruce, and others on his team. Every one of these guys had their own businesses and was doing well by themselves. But the opportunity of working together was going to make them become greater than they could have achieved alone.
- Apple Inc.
When Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, they didn’t have any salary structures in place to pay for the founding team members they brought onboard. The potentials of the opportunity they were introduced to presented enough motivation that inspired them to get onboard while deferring their financial compensation till later.
If Steve Jobs had let the thought of not having enough money hold him back from reaching out to get the best players onboard, Apple wouldn’t have become the success story it is today. Rather, he allowed the enormity of the opportunity they were all pursuing to determine how much they all stood to gain if they all worked together to make it a success.
Mark Zuckerberg built facebook through his founding team members he assembled on campus. They comprised of his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.
Just imagine how much money he had to pay them to get them onboard early on his entrepreneurial journey?
Nothing!
Again, he only shared the potentials of the opportunity they were going to all pursue together and allowed the product they would co-create determine how much they were each going to get paid when it became a success.
Money is a Factor, But NOT a Limitation of Team Building
It’s a fact you do need to consider the financial reward of each vision partner you want to bring onboard, but it’s not up to you. It’s up to the opportunity!
When starting out, nothing can be more obvious than your inability to pay for the right vision partners. If you had the money to pay them, they wouldn’t qualify as vision partners would they?
So stop trying to magnify your inability to pay, the right vision partners are already aware of this. They aren’t counting on you to pay them what they know you can’t afford when starting out, they are only counting on your leadership.
They realize it’s up to the vision to provide the financial reward that will compensate for their contributions. What they require from you far more than you can ever afford financially is your leadership.
Much more than they believe the vision and want to pursue the opportunity together, they have to believe in your capacity as their leader to help them successfully deliver the vision. Stop focusing on your lack of money to hire the best teams, rather focus on your capacity as an entrepreneurial leader assembling a team of vision partners.
TEAM BUILDING CHECKLIST: 5 Winning Qualities of the Right VISION PARTNERS
Now that we’ve debunked the #1 myth of team building, it’s time to talk about the 5 winning qualities of the right vision partners. These are the checklist I have used to choose my vision partners over my 10 years in business. They have served me well; I hope they do the same for you too!
- They get IT
- They get YOU
- They get ON with it
- They get THERE with you
- They get READY for what’s next
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They get IT
The first winning quality of the right vision partners is that ‘they get IT’. What do I mean by ‘they get IT’?
In team building, there are essentially 3 core attributes the right vision partners need to get that qualifies them to come onboard. And this is what I mean by ‘they get IT’; the ‘IT’ here represents these core attributes;
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Shared Vision
Not everyone can or should qualify to join your team of vision partners, only the right people should make the team. Its more headache trying to change the wrong person into the right person for your team than it is to diligently seek out and enlist the right person.
Remember what you are looking for is a vision partner, so having a shared vision is one of the distinguishing qualities you need to lookout. The right vision partner is someone who also shares the same vision as you the founder of the company.
- He/she must also want to build a business that MATTERS.
- He/she must also seek to change the world and profit from purpose as you.
- He/she must also buy into the purpose, vision and mission of the company.
- He/she must also be passionate about the products/services you are co-creating together.
- He/she must also be passionate about the problems you are in business to solve for your target customers.
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Shared Values
The second core attribute they need to get is shared values. It’s difficult to build a team of vision partners with conflicting values. Your values are what dictate your intentions [thoughts], actions [activities] as well as dispositions [behaviours]. They constitute the internal codes that power your external realities.
Team building without shared values is the recipe for disaster. Why? Because you will never be able to align the thoughts, activities and behaviours of your vision partners towards achieving the shared vision of the company.
Shared values are what will determine the culture and personality of the organization. That’s why your team of vision partners must;
- Exemplify similar virtues.
- Possess similar work ethics.
- Passionate about similar ideas.
- Uphold similar principles of life.
- Share similar business philosophy.
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Complementary Skills
The third core attribute your team of vision partners needs to get is complementary skills. The whole essence of team building is to maximize your results by amplifying your efforts. In other words, together efforts achieve more.
So you shouldn’t be on the lookout for a duplicate of yourself but rather you should seek out a complement of yourself. Don’t select someone that has the same skill set just like you, rather select someone that possesses the skill set that you lack.
The goal is to see your business as a big puzzle and your team of vision partners as the different pieces of the puzzle that needs to be fit together to complete the puzzle. So it doesn’t quite pay to have the same skill set onboard as vision partners. You need people with complementary skills.
This is very crucial because as the business grows, each of them will then duplicate themselves by hiring more of their kinds to facilitate that specific operational function.
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They get YOU
When it comes to team building, as I have mentioned earlier above, your fundamental role and function on the team is leadership. Your vision partners are counting on your capacity to function as an entrepreneurial leader.
They need your guidance and direction to be able to work together in co-creating the shared vision of the business. So it’s absolutely important they also buy into you as the leader of the business and not just into the vision alone.
This is what I mean by ‘they get YOU’.
- Getting YOU is about your vision partner’s unwavering believe in your capacity and the trust earned from your character as a person.
- Getting YOU is about your vision partner’s mutual understanding of what you are trying to accomplish through the business.
- Getting YOU is about your vision partner’s unwavering commitment to submit to your leadership.
- Getting YOU is about your vision partner’s knowledge of you, admiration for what you are trying to accomplish, and the confidence that you can deliver.
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They get ON with it
In team building, the right vision partners are master executors. They are not time wasters or eye-service workers. They are neither slothful nor deceitful. They work without supervision and don’t need to be micro-managed.
This is because they first get IT and then they get YOU, so it’s time to get ON with it. For them, these two winning qualities serve as the basis of their internal motivation to execute persistently. They work because they do what they love and love what they do. For them, work is play!
This is what I mean by ‘they get ON with it’.
So the right vision partner is anyone you’ve carefully observed and repeatedly seen exhibiting the following principles of self mastery;
- Being proactive – taking initiatives without being told
- Beginning with the End in Mind – aligning actions with purpose
- Putting First Things First – working according to priority
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They get THERE with you
When it comes to team building, the right vision partners are those who are in it for the long haul. The entrepreneurial journey as I have often said is not a sprint, but a marathon. Building a business that MATTERS takes time.
So you wouldn’t be doing yourself and your business any favour if you surround yourself with short term vision partners. These are the people who are only in it for the immediate gain your business brings. They are always looking for a quick exit strategy; they want to make it big and fast, and then cash out.
The right vision partners don’t just get IT or get YOU or get ON with it; they also want to get THERE with you. For them, the journey is as important as the destination.
This is what I mean by ‘they get THERE with you’.
- Getting THERE with you is about your vision partner’s commitment to the cause/vision/purpose/mission.
- Getting THERE with you is about your vision partner’s willingness to integrate their dreams into yours to make it bigger, better and greater.
- Getting THERE with you is about your vision partner’s capacity to hang on regardless of other tempting opportunities out there within their reach.
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They get READY for what’s next
In team building, the right vision partners don’t rest on their laurels. They realize there’s always more out there that needs to be done. So they are never complacent as a result of today’s achievements, no. They are always ever reaching out for what’s next.
One of the dangers of success is the hubris that comes with it. In his book “How the Mighty Fall”, management Guru Jim Collins has this to say about the hubris born of success;
“Great enterprises can become insulated by success; accumulated momentum can carry an enterprise forward for a while, even if its leaders make poor decisions or lose discipline. The hubris born of success kicks in when people become arrogant, regarding success virtually as an entitlement and they lose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place. When the rhetoric of success (“We’re successful because we do these specific things”) replaces penetrating understanding and insight (“We’re successful because we understand why we do these specific things and under what conditions they would no longer work”), decline will very likely follow.”
The right vision partners never lose sight of the underlying factors, principles and processes that makes them successful, no. They never relent on their quest to achieve their purpose despite how successful they must have come. They keep on raising the bar!
This is what I mean by ‘they get READY for what’s next’.
- Getting READY for what’s next is about your vision partner’s dedication to their craft.
- Getting READY for what’s next is about your vision partner’s discipline to keep sharpening the saw – improving themselves.
- Getting READY for what’s next is about your vision partner’s capacity to be more and do more than has been done before.
Conclusion
Don’t wait till you are big before you start choosing the right vision partners. Team building is possible for you even as a startup with no money. The potentials of your business idea and the opportunity it presents is enough compensation to get the right team onboard.
And don’t forget to keep in mind these 5 winning qualities of the right vision partners;
- They get IT
- They get YOU
- They get ON with it
- They get THERE with you
- They get READY for what’s next
I am sure there are more to these 5 team building checklists for entrepreneurs; feel free to add your own in the comments. Thanks!
- Published in Entrepreneurship
Unusual Entrepreneur Interview with Walter Emiedafe of SapientVendors.com.ng
In today’s edition of the Unusual Entrepreneurs Interview, I have on the hot seat one of our clients and also an entrepreneurial friend of mine; Walter Emiedafe, CEO of Sapient Vendors Ltd. We met in 2012 at a business conference and immediately bonded as like minds.
I have been trying to get him on the unusual entrepreneur interview series for over 2 years now, so when he eventually agreed to give it s a shot 2 weeks ago, I was so glad.
Walter is one of the rare unusual entrepreneurs who ‘get it’ and by that I mean who understands what it means to be in business and is 110% committed to paying the price of greatness. He’s not your average everyday entrepreneur who wishes or dreams for things to get better in their business but sit back and does nothing.
No!
Walter is both a big dreamer and a big doer. Like I love to say; “he’s a doing dreamer”. And so, in this interview you will meet an unusual guy who;
- Has failed over 6 times on different business ventures and yet never gave up.
- Was forced into entrepreneurship earlier than he would have wanted to because of family responsibilities.
- Has undertaken projects with zero capital and succeeded.
- Attended an entrepreneurship training program on scholarship because he didn’t allow his lack of personal funding to deter him.
- Has implemented every advice ever given to him by his mentors without fail.
- Understands the immense value of teamwork and the profound competitive advantage it brings to a startup.
- Has a track record of 22 100% completed construction projects out of 25 projects contracted to his company.
Enough said already, hear from the horse’s mouth yourself; take it away Walter!
Part 1: Walter Emiedafe Unusual Entrepreneur Interview
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Awakening the Spirit of business
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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?
My name is Walter Emiedafe and I am the CEO of Sapient Vendors Ltd. – a Construction based firm I started with two other partners Olalekan Ajani a builder and Adebisi Adewuyi a Quantity surveyor. I had to mention them in that order because that was the sequence of their entry into the partnership, during the evolution of the brand. I studied statistics from the premier university (University of Ibadan).
Our entrance into the construction business was inspired by a growing shortage of quality construction service in the country, especially from indigenous contractors. We noticed that the construction challenges clients were facing with indigenous contractors encompass poor project management (which results in project abandonment, time & cost overrun), unprofessionalism, undercapitalization, poor communication skills and budgetary limitation.
Our clients are corporate bodies within diverse industries (residential, commercial and industrial clients across the oil and gas, banking, real estate, maritime and construction industry in Nigeria).
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How would you describe your entrepreneurial journey into the world of business?
The journey started 15years ago in my Father’s tailoring outfit (Vikky Creations Ltd) the go to shop for your tailoring need based in Lebanon Street, Ibadan, due to the quality of stitches you get. I spent four years there, managing all business operations, marketing, customer relationship, procurement of fabrics and other related input that goes into getting a finished fabric, personnel management, general finishes except tailoring itself.
All these were against my will, so I can say that was a reason I never got involved in the daunting exercise of peddling the machine. My Dad and I had diverging management approach to business, so we had a lot of arguments. It was a practical business school experience, I learnt a lot from same experience, especially reputation management, being true to your words, team management, how to calm an angry customer and make him your friend.
Unfortunately for my Dad, who had no plan B for my exit, I still feel bad I left his business the way I left, and it was because I was not seeing a future within that space.
The next phase was my foray into international business, internet marketing of gemstones. I and a few friends Tope Dixon and Musiliu Akanni without capital invited two Indians into Nigeria to buy Gemstones in the likes of Tourmaline, Garnet, Topaz, and Quartz. The venture failed, because we didn’t put in the right legal framework for their market entry, and the sly Indians capitalized on our liberality.
Then I started using my internet skills to sell industrial minerals and Gemstones for Jimmy International Merchants Ltd, but was never encouraged by the way I was priced, because I wasn’t the custodian of the minerals, so had to make do with the paltry sum handed over to me. But I learnt a lot from the industry, and also noticed the industry was too informal and unorganized. Hence, I knew I had to acquire a new skill (administrative skill).
Then I met Mr. Adebayo Olaniyan of Tons Development Ltd, he imparted so much in my life. His organization was the second real life business school I attended. I was exposed to a lot of things from procurement to building a relationship with your bankers, and business development.
During the first year of working with him, I registered ARQUS Ventures with two partners, we closed a few deals. But my engagement at Tons Development Ltd, which was becoming promising never allowed me to project the ARQUS brand, and since it was my first time working within an organized environment, I had to let go of other ambition.
So I got so involved in the organization, that I was perceived a Director in the organization. I spent six years there, before our values and needs shifted. If there was something I wish I could undo, it’s how to mend our broken relationship because of our divergent views, and also because he groomed me to be a better entrepreneur.
A lot of things would have been vague to me, without being under his tutelage, as a mentee and employee. But, what I learnt was to be constantly open to ideas from your employees, never be too far from them.
While I was gainfully employed at Tons Development Ltd, I registered Sapient Vendors Ltd in 2010. I worked for two additional years before stepping out into the fierce business environment. By October, 2015 it would have been three years full time dedication to Sapient Vendors Ltd.
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Where there any key incidents or life changing events that inspired your decision to become an entrepreneur?
My experience at Vikky Creations Ltd inspired my decision. A secondary school leaver with no management experience being handed the responsibility to run a family business that feeds a family of six, pay its bills and all other sorts.
And interestingly I survived. Interestingly, I was able to capture a niche of clients for myself, when my Dad and I had divergent views on pricing. We had a few clients who couldn’t afford to pay the company’s standard pricing, I could profitably render same service to these cadres of client but he couldn’t. So I started selling same service to them, and would say I made good cash back then, it was fun and fulfilling.
Secondly, while working at Tons Development Ltd, I enrolled for entrepreneurship training at Fate Foundation (2007). Then, I couldn’t afford to pay the fees (N50, 000). I was sincere with the admission personnel, so she invited me to pitch my business idea.
I quickly went to a Cybercafe, penned, printed and submitted my idea. After review, I was a lucky recipient of Citi Bank sponsored scholarship. So I had my firsthand entrepreneurship training from Fate Foundation. The concepts taught were easy to grasp, because I could easily relate what I was being taught with my experience at my workplace.
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When you started out in business, what specific idea, purpose or vision was your key driving force?
- To become a sector benchmark in delivering innovative solutions.
- I saw opportunities instead of problems.
- I wanted to convert my experience into service that could be paid for.
- The need for a strong brand that would compete with the likes Julius Berger (long term).
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What is your take on the general notion that entrepreneurs should build a business around what they naturally love to do?
It is important to build a business around what you naturally love to do. Your business is like your spouse, if you are not passionate about her, the whole relationship would crumble, same with business.
I always had passion for engineering, in fact I wanted to study Mechanical Engineering, but JAMB frustrated me, and really it wasn’t the fault of JAMB. I had to manage Vikky Creations and study at the same time, and if you were ever close to a successful Tailor back in the days, am sure you would understand how time was never enough to attend to personal issues.
I had to bring that up because, somehow the winds of destiny swept me to the shores of my desires (Engineering).
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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?
At a point in this journey, we would start some CSR initiative targeted towards Primary, and Secondary school leavers who were handed responsibilities they never bargained for (especially hawking). We would empower them, because they are having firsthand enterprising experience, but are not aware of its potential and if not well empowered they get sucked into the black hole of street urchins.
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What would you describe as the purpose of entrepreneurship? That is; what role do entrepreneurs play in the world?
Value creation which cut across the below listed stakeholders;
- Customers
- Employees
- Investors (Partners and would be equity investors)
- Environment
Part 2: Walter Emiedafe Unusual Entrepreneur Interview
STRATEGY: The unusual execution of business best practices
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How do you identify business opportunities and what metrics do you use to measure their viability?
- Network
- Reading of business journals and market research reports.
- A combination of experience and intuition. And do note that intuition is a catalogue of experience stored in your subconscious mind.
- Risk analysis (How would you get paid, who is responsible to pay for your service, is the client willing to sign a contract of engagement? If not flee. The last point is a warning sign that you would work for God! Lol!)
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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?
Yes!
The first entrepreneur mentor I had was Mr. Ademola Agboola of Fast Pace Limited through Fate Foundation. He taught me that perception was key; so the journey to re-package our corporate profile commenced from that point and so we engaged an external consultant.
He calmed my steam a bit, especially due to my over ambitiousness, he encouraged organic growth.
He taught me how to manage external business partners; I soon had more practical experience down the road.
I learnt how to network at events via this relationship.
My other mentor, Alibaba – the Godfather of Nigerian Stand-Up comedy, thought me how to appreciate my clients after patronage.
Gave me a better idea on how my logo and call cards should feel to a prospect, and encouraged the use of social media for promoting the brand.
He also shared the Zacheaus Philosophy with me;
- Know your limitations (Challenges)
- Work out a solution: using Alibaba’s recommended tools
- Reading
- Networking
- Learn from other people’s challenge.
My third mentor, Ononuju Irukwu opened my eyes to accountability, as it would improve our corporate governance when we finally plan to raise equity. Hence we partnered with Xero. Now we can have our audited account in lesser time.
She also encouraged board restructuring, the engagement of a Legal practitioner to vet all contracts and emphasized the importance of Insurance.
All the above we have implemented.
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How do you strategically use your time as an entrepreneur? What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs use their time for?
- Executing on business strategy.
- Attending diverse seminars and forums to network and learn from Industry leaders.
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How do you generate profitable customers for your business? What unusual approaches do you adopt for marketing your products/services?
We never started from profitable clients; we started rendering our services to individual clients, and were owed a lot of money. Because there was no binding contract which was enforceable by the law. The same followed with our first corporate client (A typical Nigerian partnership run like a one man business).
Besides attending high profile business events for networking purposes, and submitting targeted proposals to prospective clients, we’ve recently adopted digital marketing through Differentiate Online. And I can proudly say that it was one of the best business decisions we’ve made since late last year; our brand visibility, lead generation and conversion strategy has greatly improved as a result.
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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?
Lack of funding is never the problem; the problem is lack of passion, resilience and lack of value created. Wealth and money flows in the direction of value, and the quality of value you create is a function of the quality of your mind.
We have funded project with next to zero account balance (this is in comparison to the capital required to execute a project). And also to expatiate on value, banks are not the only source of funding, your friends and partners are other sources. How are you communicating the value of their input to them, is it a me thing or our thing (teamwork)?
Lastly, lack of integrity would repel funding. Integrity is another source of capital; can you be trusted with money? Can your suppliers and workers trust that when you get their goods and services on credit you would pay them their bits when you are liquid? When you borrow, do you have the desire to pay back? Or rather prefer to default because you are smart?
Fix the above and capital would come running at you!
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When starting out a new business, who are the likely possible partners or professional service providers you would recommend every entrepreneur work with?
- Accountants
- Auditors
- Lawyers
- Marketing Consultant to help with your personas and target audience
- Technically competent consultants within the desired industry, this would reduce waste of time and capital.
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The pricing of products/services is always an issue for entrepreneurs, what unusual approach do you take when it comes to pricing?
It depends on each individual’s competitive strategy (long-term or short term).
Part 3: Walter Emiedafe Unusual Entrepreneur Interview
MISCELLANEOUS: Resourceful Recommendations, tools, books, and ideas for entrepreneurs
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What would you describe as your major setbacks and what lessons did you pick from them?
1). Niche market created within Vikky Creations Ltd was profitable, but my emotional attachment to the workforce led me to use generated profit to offset owed salaries.
2). Gemstones export with the two Indian companies invited to Nigeria failed, because there was no legally binding agreement guiding their market entry, and the organization we partnered with wasn’t well structured and had no financial resource to back the venture, hence was a self financed venture.
3). Supply of Clay to Lafarge, Ewekoro. Borrowed N80, 000.00 from a senior friend (Pastor Adewunmi Oke The CEO of Heterogeneous Systems Ltd), added an additional N32, 000 saved to start of the venture. On paper the project was profitable, since I was still gainfully employed at Tons Development, had to delegate the supply to a local indigene. The business went bad, but I made sure I paid off the loan.
4). Bulk purchase of granite and reselling to would be buyers. The field sales person gave a couple of excuse, so had to cut my losses. My loss was about 35% of investment capital.
5). Exportation of Zinc ore via cooperative export scheme, organized by 3tImpex. Had the support of one of the company’s present partner (Olalekan Ajani). Total capital injected N700, 000.00 (My quota: N400, 000.00, Lekan’s Quota: N300, 000). Business failed because the essay report provided by the indigenous certifying body painted a wrong picture of the quality of the ore (below the contractually agreed upon specification), hence the Chinese importer paid lesser than the invested sum by all cooperative member. These was my total savings invested in a venture that I thought would have been a bailout from paid employment. So I returned back to zero capital.
6). Was successful in the first Psychometric test and unsecured loan disbursement organized by Stanbic IBTC. I used same loan to execute an individual client’s project (residential). Till date he is yet to pay for the service rendered. Lesson learnt: without a documented agreement, never spend a dime on a client’s project based on blind trust.
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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.
Appreciation
- Mara Mentors: Providing linkage to Alibaba GCFR + Ononuju Irukwu of Chapelhill & Denhamm
- Fate Foundation – Providing linkage to Ademola Agoola of Fast Pace Ltd
- Adebayo Olaniyan of Tons Development Ltd
- Citi Bank – Scholarship @ Fate Foundation
- Ademola Agoola of Fast Pace Ltd
Your Turn
I’m so convinced you had more than you asked for in this interview. But just in case, he missed out something, what more would you like to know about the unusual Walter Emiedafe?
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? What strategies did you pick up from him?
Walter 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
EXPOSED: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
To demystify entrepreneurship, we have to start with the definition.
What is Entrepreneurship?
In the simplest form ever;
“ENTREPRENEURSHIP is about USING your LIFE to MAKE A DIFFERENCE through a BUSINESS.”
This is my personal definition of entrepreneurship. And in this definition, lies the 3 critical components that are necessary to successfully pursue your entrepreneurial dreams and eventually build a business that MATTERS!
The 3Ps of Entrepreneurship
- The PERSON (who): using your life
- The PURPOSE (why/what): to make a difference
- The PROCESS (how): through a Business
Let’s look at each critical component in more details.
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The PERSON (who): using your Life
The entrepreneurial journey is embarked upon by an individual or group of individuals. And to a very large extent, the success or failure of the business to be created is going to be greatly determined by the founder(s).
This is why it’s imperative for us to start the exploration of this subject matter of entrepreneurship from a personal perspective. Because believe it or not, business and life are both sides of the same coin. At the very fundamental level, business is not separate from life, but an extension of life.
So any attempt to separate one from the other, will ultimately compromise the very essence of entrepreneurship.
The Entrepreneur: Who Are You?
Entrepreneurship is the most unusual journey you will ever embark on in your life, so you’ve got to be absolutely certain it’s how you want to live your life and what you want to use your life for.
Entrepreneurship is not complete without you the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is fulfilled through you; you are the one who gives birth to your business.
Your business is whatever you say it is. Your business can and will only go as far as you want to take it.
You and your business are inextricably linked. Your business derives its purpose from your purpose; your business derives its meaning from your life.
So this leads us to the BIG question every entrepreneur or would be entrepreneur must answer; who are you?
Until you have discovered yourself, every business you start will eventually fail. I know this is hard to believe, so I am going to prove it.
According to Bill Aulet, the professor of entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Author of Disciplined Entrepreneurship; there are primarily 3 ways of starting a new business venture.
Meaning, there are basically 3 ways of becoming an entrepreneur;
- YOU have a breakthrough technology
- YOU have an idea
- YOU have a passion
Did you notice every one of the 3 ways of becoming an entrepreneur started with YOU? From the above, the only constant element is YOU. It takes YOU to create a breakthrough technology; it takes YOU to come up with a viable business idea; and finally, it takes YOU to have passion.
At the epicenter of entrepreneurship is YOU!
YOU will have to decide based on any of these 3 options how YOU want to become an entrepreneur. And your ability to make the right choice will greatly depend on your understanding of yourself as a person.
Knowing who you are; what you like and dislike; your strengths and weaknesses; your interests, abilities and skills; your character, temperament and values; your experiences, challenges, desires and realities; all add up to determine your success or failure as an entrepreneur.
So going into business without first discovering yourself and understanding who you are, is a guaranteed recipe for failure. Why? Because not knowing yourself will hinder your ability to accurately choose the right business that will suit your person.
In the end, you will find yourself in a line of business you are inadequately equipped for and will eventually lack the personal qualities to scale through thereby leading to business failure. You can avoid this by consciously seeking to know yourself better.
Remember, entrepreneurship is about using your life to make a difference through a business. So this is your life you are using up to create and build a business, don’t waste it on the wrong kind of business.
Self Discovery Tools
Here are a few tools that can help you know more about yourself;
16 Personalities – this is a personality discovery tool. Take the test to find out more about your person.
101 Self Discovery Questions – this is a great list of 101 important questions to ask yourself
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The PURPOSE (why/what): to make a Difference
The second critical component of entrepreneurship is the purpose. In other words; to what end is your entrepreneurial journey? Or better still; why did you become an entrepreneur? What are you trying to accomplish by becoming an entrepreneur?
This critical component of entrepreneurship is necessary for all existing entrepreneurs and would be entrepreneurs because it serves as a compass to guide your business activities. Without it, many entrepreneurs have derailed and watched their businesses collapse as a result.
There’s only one true purpose for entrepreneurship; to make a difference in the lives of your customers through the products/services you create and sell to them.
In other words, the purpose of entrepreneurship is to add value for customers and ultimately society. If a business is to succeed, it must aim to add value to customers through continuous innovation and finding new ways of making a difference.
The reason many people go into business and eventually fail is because they didn’t clearly understand the purpose of entrepreneurship. To many in this category, entrepreneurship is about making all the money you can through a business.
Consequently, they go into business with a selfish mentality determined to GET as much money as they can without first considering how much they have to GIVE in exchange for the money they seek.
Entrepreneurs with this selfish mentality fail in business because they have violated the very purpose of entrepreneurship, which is to make a difference through your products/services. Thinking about the money [profit] you will get first rather than the products/services [value] you should create is the recipe for business failure.
In the world of business, there’s only one way to make money; consistently creating and selling products/services that add value to humanity. Death is the eventual outcome of any business that doesn’t make this purpose of entrepreneurship their core guiding principle.
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The PROCESS (how): through a Business
Business is the tool entrepreneurs use to make a difference in the lives of their target customers. Without creating a business, entrepreneurs greatly limit their capacity to make a difference. Why? Because you are limited as a person.
As an individual, there’s only so much you can do to satisfy your customers. Sooner or later, you will be overwhelmed by all the different activities required to provide the products/services your customers demand. So don’t attempt to go down that road, you will only entrap yourself.
The process of entrepreneurship is all about building a business and not about doing business. The reason for the failure of most small businesses can be traced back to this mistake of doing rather than building a business.
Building a business is about creating systems that will power the activities required to create and sell products/services to your customers. These systems will involve both people and machines; through them your capacity as an entrepreneur to make a difference is greatly amplified.
There are essentially 5 core inter-related systems you need to create;
- Human Resources [HR] – a specific process of finding, hiring, training, retaining and firing workers
- Finance – a specific process of sourcing, allocating and managing funds
- Marketing – a specific process of attracting, retaining and growing profitable customers
- Production – a specific process of converting resources into finished goods and services
- Distribution – a specific process of delivering products/services to your customers
The process of entrepreneurship is about putting all these things in place in your business. They are the pillars on which you will build your business. The more effective and efficient these core inter-dependent systems are, the quicker your business will grow and the bigger the difference you can make.
- Published in Entrepreneurship
Unusual Entrepreneur Interview Questions With Dave Schneider of NinjaOutreach.com
Welcome to another edition of the Unusual Entrepreneur Interviews and today I have with me Dave Schneider, a 27 years old Entrepreneur and the co-founder of NinjaOutreach – a content marketing outreach solution for digital marketers, bloggers and small businesses.
In this interview, he shared with us why he decided to abandon a well paying corporate job [$70k+ per year] and launch out on his own to pursue his dreams as an entrepreneur. He also takes us behind the scenes on;
- How to define a price for your product/service, using the tier method
- Why entrepreneurs should only pursue an idea that is large enough to grow into something great
- The essential role mentors play in the life of every entrepreneur and what a mentor will never do for you
- The importance of knowing your limitations as an entrepreneur and being realistic with your available resources when pursuing new business ideas/opportunities
- And many more…
What are you waiting for?
Start digging in!
Interview Questions Part One
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Awakening the Spirit of business
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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 27 years old from Boston Massachusetts. I graduated from Harvard with a degree in mathematics and worked at Capital One as a business analyst for two years.
Afterwards I left my job and went backpacking around the world for two years with my girlfriend. During that time we started numerous businesses such as buying and selling websites, advertising, and SEO, and were able to replace our previous full time income.
For the last four years I have been developing my skills as a digital marketer, and in June 2014 I partnered with two other digital entrepreneurs and began developing and marketing NinjaOutreach, a blogger outreach software for digital marketers and small businesses interested in growing their presence online.
Previously, this would have required several different tools to find the leads, extract the data, and outreach to them. We do this all in one, and do it much faster. NinjaOutreach collects an immense amount of data from a variety of sources into a searchable database, and allows people to email customized templates from within the platform.
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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?
When I started traveling we decided to start a travel blog. This was my foray into online marketing. I learned about blogging, how to generate traffic, how to capture leads, and how to make sales.
Eventually this travel blog hobby spiraled into a fledgling business, and it really opened my eyes that an individual could generate income on his own – without a company paycheck, and have a lot more fun doing it.
Since then I’ve never looked back and it has been my goal to build a sustainable lifestyle business that will allow me to work from anywhere in the world.
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When you started out in business, what specific idea, purpose or vision was your key driving force?
When I first started out, I simply had to make money. That was the main driving force. I wanted to show myself and frankly other people as well that I could go a non-traditional path and earn my own living.
Nowadays money is still a factor, but I can be less money driven and more focused on providing value to the end customer. NinjaOutreach is far from a quick buck. Investing in a software startup is a grind and requires patience and years to become successful, but I know it’s a valuable product and will improve the lives of business owners, and that’s what drives us forward.
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What is your take on the general notion that entrepreneurs should build a business around what they naturally love to do?
I agree with this 100%.
When you start a business you’re going to have a lot of ups and downs. Some of the downs are often referred to as the valley of despair.
This is where most people fail and quit.
The more passionate you are about what you’re doing, the more able you are to persevere during these very difficult times.
I have run a business before where I was making quite a bit of money, but had zero passion for it, and eventually I just let it fade out of my own disinterest.
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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 think there are two end goals.
Teach people – I believe that entrepreneurs have an inner desire to teach people. I’ve always been a teacher. My dad was a teacher. My sister is a teacher. I just want to teach in a field that interests me – entrepreneurship.
Social Good – Although NinjaOutreach is a valuable product that can improve the lives of business owners, I wouldn’t classify it as a social good, like clean tech. Eventually, I want to transition into more of these types of projects, and have a greater impact on humanity.
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What would you describe as the purpose of entrepreneurship? That is; what role do entrepreneurs play in the world?
The purpose of entrepreneurship is to innovate, and therefore allow the world to progress, improving the lives of everyone.
Interview Questions Part Two
STRATEGY: The unusual execution of business best practices
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How do you identify business opportunities and what metrics do you use to measure their viability?
Finding a good business opportunity is about finding the balance between the size of the pie and the resources required to pull it off. You have to know your own limitations as an entrepreneur and be realistic about what resources you have access to. Of course this has been proven wrong countless times before, where people who came from nothing dreamed big and achieved big – but I do think as a general rule it helps to be realistic.
At the same time you want to be pursuing an idea that is large enough to grow into something great. I see a lot of people wasting time on very small-minded thinking (like building a small niche site), that could never make more than a few thousand dollars a month, at most.
The fact is the amount of effort these things require is not altogether different, so go big, but be conscious of your resources because if you run out, it’s game over.
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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 used SCORE as a means of getting one business mentor who I speak with every few months about my business. It helps to be able to speak with someone who is older, wiser, and has been there and can provide hands on advice and support.
That said, most of the day to day activities are between my team and I. Inevitably even with a mentor, you have to be prepared to be the one in the trenches, executing day after day.
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How do you strategically use your time as an entrepreneur? What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs use their time for?
Firstly, if there is anything I can outsource, I do. I have assistants, hired off of oDesk usually, who handle a lot of the minute things like online research, organizing, etc. This helps free up my time to do things that only I can do, like this interview.
I try to balance my time between the product and the marketing. Both need attention and both are closely related, and it’s important not to get overly focused on one or the other. So, when my developer is working, I am probably more focused on product and answering his questions. When he is not, I go into marketing mode.
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How do you generate profitable customers for your business? What unusual approaches do you adopt for marketing your products/services?
What’s unusual about our method is that our tool is for blogger outreach and lead generation, so we basically use our tool to sell itself.
Of course, it is not direct. There is a channel involved, which is usually email. That said, I use our tool to find bloggers, affiliates, and general influencers who we can partner with. We do a lot of content marketing like guest posts, product reviews, giveaways, and things like that to get in front of other audiences.
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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 think this comes back to my point about resources. I would be very wary about attacking a problem that depends on funding. NinjaOutreach could benefit from funding, but I believe that it can succeed even as a bootstrapped product, so I know that if we don’t get funding, we’re not going to go belly up tomorrow. We’re aware of our costs and what kind of money we have available to invest in the business, and we know that we have the talent on the team to see it through.
If you are having issues getting funding then you need to further prove the business. If you are having issues proving the business, then it may be that something is wrong with it, or you simply don’t have the help. In that case, consider taking on additional founders or employees and giving them equity, so that you can grow the business to become something that’s investable.
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When starting out a new business, who are the likely possible partners or professional service providers you would recommend every entrepreneur work with?
Naturally my recommendation is to look at bloggers and influencers in your niche and try to persuade them to partner with you. They have large audiences and this can really accelerate your growth. If you’re not sure how to work with influencers, consider this case study on LeadPages.
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The pricing of products/services is always an issue for entrepreneurs, what unusual approach do you take when it comes to pricing?
I’m certainly not a pricing expert but I have heard the following principles:
1. Always tier your pricing, because a high proportion of the revenue will come from the high end tier, even though it will likely represent the lowest number of customers.
2. Make the tiers different enough to stand out, something like 1x, 2x, 5x.
Interview Questions Part Three
MISCELLANEOUS: Resourceful Recommendations, tools, books, and ideas for entrepreneurs
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Since you became an entrepreneur – someone who solves problems for people profitably; what has been your most outstanding accomplishments in the context of business?
So far it remains the travel blogging business I started on the road. This business became around a $20k per month service business, where we were selling advertising on travel blogs to agencies. I ran this with my girlfriend and a few contracted assistants, and we did it while traveling the world full time (over 40 countries). It received zero funding.
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What would you describe as your major setbacks and what lessons did you pick from them?
Some of my major setbacks were partly external, for example, the aforementioned business had issues with Google and they basically de-indexed a lot of our websites, which cut the legs out from under the business when it was just taking off.
Personally, I’ve attempted some businesses that I think had the potential to be successful, but I got discouraged too early and gave up. This is what i mean when I say you have to be passionate about what you’re doing. I wasn’t passionate about either of those businesses, at least not to the extent that I was willing to see them through hard times and rough starts.
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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.
Perhaps a question about trends, such as: What’s one trend that really excites you?
I really love the growth in blogging, as well as quality content creation and content promotion. More and more there is quality information being put out there and people are taking their blogs more seriously. As a result brands and businesses are coming around and looking at online audiences as effective markets that they want to tap into. Naturally this trend bodes well for our blogger outreach software.
Your Turn
I’m so convinced you had more than you asked for in this interview. But just in case, he missed out something, what more would you like to know about the unusual Dave Schneider?
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? What strategies did you pick up from him?
Dave has shared his unusual story with you, now is time to hear from you. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say!
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