The Anatomy Of Employment: Why Becoming Your Own Boss Is The Smartest Decision Of Your Life!
Lately, I have been observing the search queries [keywords] used by people to get to naijapreneur! One of the top phrases used by searchers to get to this site is this; “why become an entrepreneur?” or “why should one become an entrepreneur?”
This is an obvious indication that there are a lot of folks out there who are in search of valid reasons for becoming an entrepreneur. Luckily for them, I have written on this issue on naijapreneur precisely these two unusual articles;
Why did you become an entrepreneur?
9 ways how NOT to start a business
However, the answers in these posts were written for entrepreneurs who were already in business and was intended to correct their erroneous perception of entrepreneurship as a money making venture only rather than a what it really is – a problem solving or value adding venture.
I didn’t write for those who were currently employees and were in search of answers whether to quit their jobs and take the leap of faith or remain stuck on the rat race. This is the essence of this unusual article, to talk about entrepreneurship from the employees’ perspective and to further encourage you who have already taken the leap of faith that you didn’t make the wrong choice.
A little word of caution, this is a long one, so brace up yourself for a long read –over 3000 words! But I assure, the patient dog will eat the fattest bone on this one. You will never regret reading it to the end and you will mostly like want to share it with a lot of people.
Let’s begin!
The Anatomy of Employment [Job]
A job is the work you do for a business owner and receive a reward in the form of salaries or wages. It has fixed schedules and a very clear description of what is expected of you. A job is also the position you own in an organization for which you are expected to fulfill certain functions in order to get paid.
The availability of a position in an organization and your consistent ability to perform certain functions are the two key factors that determine the ownership of a job. Meaning that you can own a job so long as an organization has a vacant position you can occupy and certain problems they need you to solve.
In other words, a job basically means trading your time, skills, experience, knowledge, talent, ideas, and contacts in an organization based on the requirements of the position you occupy in exchange for a financial reward known as salary or wages.
As a result, every employee is a seller of time, skills, experience, knowledge, talent, ideas, and contacts while an employer is the buyer of all these things.
Time, skills, experience, knowledge, talent, ideas, and contacts are the value an employee brings to an organization for which the employer agrees to pay a certain amount of money in return for the right to own and use these things however he/she pleases. A job therefore, is a functional position employees are paid to occupy for a specified period of time.
A job is a risky thing to own
There’s an age long saying that goes like this; “there’s always two sides to every story”. The same is true for every concept ever conceived by man. There are several sides to every idea, concept, theory or thing in life; what really differs is not the concept, idea, theory or thing itself, but ‘how’ we humans perceive or see them.
What really changes, is how we think about these things; the individual subjective meanings we attribute to them. And as it’s been scientifically proven, we humans see and interpret things from our own angle, that is, from our own side of the story.
Rarely do we try to understand and view things from the other side of the story; that is, looking at things from the other person’s perspective. A much clearer understanding is often gained when we try to see the whole angles or sides to a thing. Only then can we accurately make the right decisions and take the right actions.
So what has this got to do with the issue of becoming an entrepreneur?
A lot…
In every organization, there are basically two parties involved;
- Workers [employees] and
- Owners [employers].
A job [functional position] is what every employee owns in an organization, assets are what every employer owns in an organization.
Everything in an organization, including the workers is an asset to the employer. And with every asset owned by an employer, comes a certain cost of maintenance. This cost of maintaining an asset is regarded as a liability.
An asset is anything that is capable of making you earn money [generate income] and a liability is anything that is capable of making you spend money [extract income].
To employees, a job is a source of income [asset] because it brings money into their pocket. To an employer, an employee is both a source of income [asset] and an expense [liability]. How?
A worker is only an asset so long as he/she is still capable of generating income for the business by consistently performing certain functions; remember our definition of a job? But always a liability in that money goes out of the business in the form of salaries and wages [cost of maintaining assets] paid out to workers regularly.
These are the two sides to the story of employment; the employees’ side and the employers’ side. What every employee regards as an asset [generates money] to them is what every employer regards as a liability [extracts money].
The very same money employees regard as income is what employers regard as expenses. If you were to ask every accountant this question; “on what side is salary and wages categorized in the financial report of every organization?” They would gladly tell you that it falls under the operating expenses column of the profit and loss account.
The really funny thing is that neither the employees nor the money paid out as salaries or wages to them are regarded or treated as assets in the financial records of a business or organization.
The balance sheet is the only financial statement that describes the overall assets and liabilities of a business or organization. But guess what? There’s no record of employees and the money paid out to them. Why? Because the income employees earn is the cost employers bear as a result of using the employees as assets for generating money for the business.
Both the employees and the money paid out to them are regarded as cost of operation and are written off as such in the profit and loss account of every business or organization. I honestly wish there’s an easier or less harsh way to put this, but I am sorry for what I am about to say next.
As an employee, you are an expense [liability] to the organization you work for!
Truth is bitter!
Believe me, there’s absolutely no easier way to put this than I just did. It didn’t feel good too when I realized this bitter truth. For crying out loud, as an employee, you’re being used as an income generating tool. Meaning you are very, very expendable – they can do without you.
Why?
Because you are only as good as the money you make the company or your employer. They can willingly get rid of you whenever they wish or think you are no longer valuable and only they can determine how valuable you are or not on the job.
There you are!
Why do you think it’s always easy for employers to lay off employees at the slightest economic down turn? Because they want to cut down on operating expenses and unfortunately for the employees, they are top on the list of operating expenses.
So when push comes to shove, and every employer is faced with the harsh realities of survival, the workers are the very first point of call when it comes to the reduction of operating expenses in every organization.
Whether it is a profit making organization [business] or not for profit organization [social], salaries and wages paid to employees is always an expense. It’s because of this singular reason that has made a job a risky thing to own.
Why?
Because in the end, what you think you own and call an asset because it brings you money is what the very person [employer] who controls how much money your so called asset [job] generates for you, considers otherwise.
To them, they own you [asset] and because you are a source through which money is extracted from them [liability], they can decide to let go of you whenever they feel they can no longer put up with your cost of maintenance – expenses!
What are you working for, a job or a business?
I can almost hear you screaming out these words right now in your thought; “but employees also make employers money [asset], in fact, without the employees, employers can’t do business.”
Very true, quite true indeed. But here’s the real truth; the estimation of the value you bring as an employee to an organization is best evaluated by the owner. And if the owner says, “Hey Tom, your services are no longer needed in this organization; therefore, you are hereby fired!”
There’s little or nothing anyone can do about that, the highest you would get is a fair compensation for the dismissal. And if the organization pays out any form of gratuity or pension, the better for you. Besides that, nothing else counts. You are fired, is you are fired. Nothing more, nothing less.
So if I were you, rather than argue about your perceived right as an asset in the eyes of an employer, I would begin to take my financial future more seriously than banking on one job which obviously will never be my own. The earlier you come to terms with this reality, the better for you and everyone you love.
The outcome of your financial future is not in the hands of your employer, neither is it in the hands of the government. Your financial future is in your hands, decide today what you want it to be. I have written this unusual article to help you confront the bitter truth of your financial future and challenge you to take up the responsibility of putting an end to financial struggle in your life.
As it is increasingly becoming obvious, most especially since after the global economic meltdown, everyone is getting to face the often avoided truth that there’s no such thing as job security. The only security is the one you build, own and control yourself – a business. Counting on a job to make you financially secure is an illusion that you need to wake up from fast!
Why it pays to work on a business rather than a job
A job is short term solution to a lifelong problem. Staking all your life on it will be a fatal mistake. The problem [financial struggle] will continually outpace the solution [paycheck] you are proffering. This is because a job was never created to solve your financial problems for life. It was designed to make you needy [dependent] for life. It was designed to pacify [make less painful] the problem of lack of money but never to nullify [abolish] it.
As long as the job remains, the trick is to make your financial problems less obvious. But once the job stops, that same old problem of lack of money which was never actually solved suddenly resurfaces again. Why? Because all a job does is to shift your focus from the problem [financial struggle] to the paycheck [temporary cure for lack of money].
For as long as the paycheck keeps coming, your problem of lack of money appears to be over.
But is it really over?
What you never stop to ask yourself is this; “who is actually making the problem of lack of money less painful, me or my boss?” If you ever come to this realization, then maybe you’ll stop feeling secure about an uncertain job. The feeling of being secure can only come from what you have a direct control over.
How can you feel secure about a job your boss directly controls? How can you feel secure when you are not in charge? How can you call a job yours when someone else designed the position you currently occupy? How can you feel secure or safe about a company you work for?
The very notion of “a job” negates the essence of security. Remember, a job is only a functional position you are being paid to occupy for a specified period of time.
It always has an expiration date. Security can only come from being in control and you can only control what you own. Unfortunately, in all my short stay on earth, I’ve never come across a job that is owned. What I’ve seen so far are job positions that were created for people to occupy.
Just because you fill the position doesn’t make you the owner and since you’re not the owner, you can be replaced. Why? Because a job you call your own is only yours to own temporarily as long as the boss says so.
Owning a Job VS owning a Business
A job was created to be “worked in” [physical engagement] and not to be “worked on” [mental engagement]. A job is like a car; you’ve got to be in it before you can drive it. Your physical engagement will always be a requirement.
There’s no other way to having a job than to “work in” one. You can never be free from what you “work in” [job], you can only be free from what you “work on” [business]. The former [job] requires all your time, while the later requires some of your time.
You do a job, but you build a business. You engage in a job, but you create a business. You are inside one doing all the work [job], but on top of the other calling all the shots [business].
A job requires your presence to make money; a business depends on asset to generate money. A job gives you money [active income]; a business makes you wealth [passive income]. The difference is TIME.
A job takes your time and gives you money, but a business frees your time and still gives you money. In a job, your time, skills, experience, knowledge, talent, ideas, and contacts is being exchanged for money; the more money you make, the less time you have. And time is an irreplaceable resource, once used it can never be replaced.
Eventually, you would run out of time because there’s a universal constraint placed on every human–AGE.
Remember the two key factors that determine the ownership of a job –availability of a position in an organization and your consistent ability to perform certain functions. Well I have got news for you; age is the barrier to them both.
The older we grow, the less we can physically do. The less we can physically do, the less functional positions we will be needed by employers to occupy.
Ultimately, as we age we lose our capacity to physically perform. Life has been designed in such a way that there’s an opposite relationship between age and our capacity to perform. As age goes up, our capacity to perform comes down.
This implies that there’s a deadline on our working years; much like an expiration date when despite our increasing needs, the ability to work would have diminished. The reality of this fact of life poses a rather disturbing question to you; “how long will your earned income serve you when your working years are over?”
I am sure you’ve never thought of asking yourself that question. Don’t wait till that time to find out, it would be too late then; now is the best time to start. START NOW!
Are you saying being an Employee is bad?
Absolutely Not!
There is nothing bad with being an employee per se. At some point or the other in our adult lives we would be engaged in some form of employment or the other. But here is the truth, a job or being employed is a transition. Meaning, it’s not the end, but only a means to an end.
What is bad is holding on to employment as the solution to the long term problem of financial struggle. What is bad is thinking that a job is all you need to be financially free or secured. The inherent danger of employment is being caught in the rat race for life.
It is when you begin to view your job as the way out of your financial struggle that makes employment bad. Having a job isn’t bad, betting all your financial future on it is what is bad. Having a job isn’t bad, thinking it’s all you need to be wealthy is what is bad. Why? Because as you’ve seen so far, a job is a short term solution [paycheck] to a long term problem [financial struggle].
You cannot solve a permanent problem with a temporary solution. That you are employed in a job right now is good, forgetting to do anything on your own that will guarantee your financial future apart from your job is what is bad. As you work, always bear it in mind that a job is only temporary and therefore you must begin to plan on how to start your own business.
Never let the illusion of a paycheck distract your vision of a financially free future. You can start a part time business that will help you build assets [wealth] while you are still working for a paycheck [money].
Don’t get carried away by the temporary thrill of working for money that you forget to start building a business that will guarantee perpetual wealth. Money is too short a solution to solve a long term problem of financial struggle. Wealth and not money, is the lasting solution to financial struggle!
Your Turn
If you got this far, thumbs up to you!
So what do you think of my anatomy of employment? Did you find it useful, enlightening or disturbing?
To the entrepreneurs reading this, do you honestly feel becoming an entrepreneur was the best decision of your entire life? Do you have any regrets?
To you employee reading this, do you honestly feel this way about employment?
Kindly share your thoughts and comments below.
One Last Thing!
Please retweet on twitter, share and like this post on facebook, linkedin and google+. If it made a difference on you, it will on others too!
- Published in Entrepreneurship, Profitability, Start Up, Thought Bank
The Origin Of Profits: An Unusual Strategy For Increasing Profitability
After all is said and done, profit is essential to a business’ survival as air is essential to life. But how does one make profits? Or put another way, where the heck does profit come from? 
Proffering an answer to these questions is the essence of this unusual article. This article has been overdue, I’m glad I finally wrote it, thanks to Sonia Simone’s article about Profitable Idealism that sparked up the inspiration.
Question: What Is The Origin Of Profits?
I have always believed that there’s more to profits than just chasing money. Dr. Stephen R. Covey helped clarify my thoughts when he came up with a perfect analogy in his classic book, ‘The 7 Habits of highly effective people’. He talked about the production and production capacity [P/PC] balance using the analogy of a goose and the golden eggs. I am building up on his analogy by relating the underlying principle to business.
- Published in Profitability, Thought Bank
Why CREDIBILITY Comes Before PROFITABILITY
I know you want to make profits. I also know that you want lots of it. I have come to tell you that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, except for one minor often neglected fact, which is, “what is the origin of profits?”
In my little experience in the world of business, going to 5 years now, I have discovered one truth and have often made it the guiding principle behind most of my business actions and decisions.
That truth is this; “building credibility comes before profitability”. In the lay man terms, here’s what I mean; “seeing is believing”.
I cannot stress this fact enough, because it is at the core of everything we do as entrepreneurs. People don’t pay for or buy words, or promises, or mind blowing ads, they pay for and buy results.
There’s no way you are going to get money from people, until they can see, feel and know that you can deliver on your words, promises and mind blowing ads.
It is not easy to part with money, because it is not easy to make it in the first place.
This is why as entrepreneurs and business owners, your first task is to instill that sense of competence, credibility, capability or trust in the mind of your target market or prospects long before you ever ask for a sale.
Listen, “seeing is believing”, take it or leave it.
People need proves that they are not throwing their hard earned money away as a result of doing business with you. They want you to show them why it is you and no other person or business that should deserve their hard earned currency. This is the test of every business; the fight for the customer or prospects’ money.
This article has been unusually written to help you win that fight, not luckily, but strategically. How? Because as always, I’m going to unusually break down this principle to its most simplified form such that the knowledge and insight will be naturally clear to you and practical enough to put to use immediately. And to top it up, at the end I will be sharing two practical case studies to help you see this principle at work.
Now, let us begin!
What is credibility?
Credibility is that perceived sense or feeling of trust or belief that people have towards you as a result of relating with you.
Credibility is the ability to inspire or earn the trust, belief or confidence of others towards you based on a combination of certain factors or qualities they have seen at play in your life.
Credibility is the direct result of exhibiting certain qualities consistently.
Credibility is earned, meaning it doesn’t come freely; it is a direct outcome of a conscious effort. Credibility is not a thing you can give; it is a thing you get. It is not up to you to say [you can’t give it], it is up to others to say [you receive it].
Credibility is not in your hands; credibility is in the hands of others. It is the impression others have about you and all that you do or represent.
It is your perceived sense of value or worth in the eyes of others when it comes to certain issues regarding life or business. Credibility is all about managing others perception of you.
Credibility is the feedback you get from others as a result of who you are, what you do and what you represent. It is the highest form of compliment you could ever ask for in life or in business.
In the world of marketing, the whole concept of a brand is wrapped around credibility. A brand is a marketer’s definition of the credibility or trust customers have towards a particular business, company or organization and the products or services they offer.
It is the summation of feelings or overall perception a customer has towards a particular business, company or organization and the products or services they offer.
A brand is that level of credibility, trust, confidence or belief others have come to place or associate with a particular business, company or organization and all that it represents.
A brand is only a brand so long as other people still has a certain level of trust, belief, confidence or credibility towards it. Once that sense, feeling or perception of trust, belief, confidence or credibility diminishes, a brand ceases to exist.
At its very core, a brand exists in other people’s mind and not in yours. In your eyes a brand could still exist, but in the eyes of others, it is already dead. The bitter truth is, it is what others generally say about you and what your business represents that gets taken as credibility or not. Your credibility lies in the hands of others. You are as credible as others say you are or aren’t.
Meaning, your business, product or service is only as good as others say it is. In business as well as in life, your overall value is collectively estimated by other’s perception of you and all that you represent. Your credibility in life or in business lies outside of yourself. And this is why profitability only happens after credibility has been established.
Why does credibility matter?
At the core of everything we do in life and in business is the desire to influence. We are all in the game of influence. We all want to dictate the response of others in our favour. Children cry when they are hungry because they want to influence their parent’s attention at that particular time.
Ladies look seductive in order to influence the attention of men. Men spend in order to influence the perception of women. Marketers advertise in order to influence the purchasing decision of buyers. Politicians campaign in order to influence the voter’s decision in their favour.
In a rather subtle way, we all want to have a certain level of control over the behaviour or reaction of others in response to what we do, say or think. In the end, nothing is wrong with wanting to influence others, so long as it is not coerced [forced].
That is, nothing is wrong with playing the influence game once it is done legitimately and ethically. As a matter of fact, people do always want to be influenced, but not compelled. They want to own the final decision or choice to act.
However, they need certain level of information from the environment on which to draw a clue or base their final decision or choice. This is where the issue of credibility comes into play.
Credibility is the only legitimate, moral and ethical form of influence permissible by law and nature.
Credibility is influence earned. Credibility is the permission or privilege given by others to you to be influenced by you. Why?
Because over time you’ve earned that permission or privilege as a result of certain consistent actions, qualities or behaviours you’ve been exhibiting from which they have been benefiting. Because they have seen those consistent behaviours, actions and qualities and have come to value them, therefore they let down their guards and allow themselves to be influenced by you.
Credibility is a social license; once abused, it can be retrieved or revoked. The license is only valid so long as it is not wrongfully used.
Meaning, you can only keep influencing the behaviour, actions or decisions of others as long as you’re consistently doing what gave you the right to earn it in the first place. Your right to influence ceases once you credibility diminishes.
Can credibility be developed?
Yes! Below I offer the basic ingredients necessary for earning the credibility required for gaining the right to influence the actions or decisions of your customers which eventually leads to profitability. Let’s now begin the process with two peculiar case studies to wrap it all up!
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Who are you by the way?
[Getting the word out]
I am willing and absolutely comfortable handing out my money to someone I have heard of somewhere else before now. This is the reaction of every customer, prospect or client out there. You want to make the sale?
Don’t be the first or only person that is just mentioning the name of your business, product or service, it somehow raises people’s suspicion. Here’s what comes to their mind; “If it were that good, how come I have never heard of it before?” why? Because I will not give out my money to just anybody.
It is a very logical thing to do. You cannot come to me reciting all your sales pitch and just expect me to hand you my hard earned money simply because you can speak good English or wear a nice looking suit. Absolutely not!
That’s not how it works; you’ve got to build credibility first.
Meaning, you’ve got to earn the right to influence me first. And the first place to start is to announce the existence of your business and its products/services long before you come into the presence of the prospect, client or customer.
How do you do this?
Marketing.
Marketing is the core business function that deals with the entire process of finding, attracting and keeping customers or clients for life as a result of consistently creating, communicating and delivering superior value to them in form of products/services.
Marketing is what helps you identify the prospect or target customers for what you want to sell. Marketing is what reveals what they need or what their problems are, without which, you cannot create a solution or product/service that will meet their needs and solve their problems.
Marketing is what helps you to first get the news of your business’ existence to them long before you show up physically. Marketing is what bridges the gap between you and the target prospects or customers. Marketing is a tool for building credibility. You had better learn how to use it, or else don’t expect profits!
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What have you done and for whom?
[Showcasing your track record]
I am willing and absolutely comfortable handing out my money to you if you can just show me what you’ve been able to accomplish in the past through this particular product or service you’re now offering me. Nobody likes to be an experiment, most especially, if they are going to be the first specimen.
Prospects, clients or target markets want to know what you and your business has done that relates to what you are now offering for sale. There’s no need going out there to meet with the client or prospect if you don’t have any results to point to. The true test of competence is the quantity and quality of results presented.
No one cares how you got the deal, prospect or client; they just want to know if and how you met the needs and solved the problem. This is why it is important when staring out in business as an entrepreneur, to focus on getting as many jobs done so as to be able to build up your portfolio or track record for future references. Some people advice against doing things in business for free, I would say it depends.
If you know the person you want to do a free work for, especially those of us in the service industry, has a lot of social influence, that is, knows a lot of people who can be possible prospects, then go ahead. But be smart, that you are doing it for them free doesn’t mean you do it for free for everyone that comes from them also.
Furthermore, be careful to really assess their social influence, not everyone who is popular is important. Get that into your entrepreneurial head! You want to be sure that they don’t just know a lot of people, but that a lot of important people also know them.
I mean, I do know Barrack Obama; he’s the president of the United States for crying out loud. But hey, does he know me? That’s the big question you need to always answer before deciding to do a free service for anyone.
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How long have you been doing this?
[If I must be influenced, you must be experienced]
You must be really good if you’ve managed to be around for a considerable period of time. Why? Because experience is not gotten overnight; it is built over a long period of time. Besides results, experience is one other thing that counts in business.
The fact that you’ve been doing a particular thing for a considerable period of time goes a long way to show that you would have developed a deeper level of knowledge and insight better than someone who is just starting out. And this can be translated into a very valuable source of credibility.
In marketing under the concept of differentiation and positioning, it is called leveraging on heritage. Heritage simply means the riches of the past or wealth of experience of the past. It is something that has been passed from years to years.
Why does the number of years in business count for credibility? Because experience can never be bought with money. It is only acquired over time. Time is the only way to measure experience.
The idea is very simple; passing a road for the first time or doing a thing for the first time often looks difficult and your confidence level is usually low because of the fear of making mistakes.
But over time, doing the same thing over and over again, your confidence level soars and the time it took you to complete the task the first time will considerably be reducing the more you do that particular task or thing.
This is why experience counts for credibility; it reduces the number of possible mistakes and increases the speed at which the task gets completed. All of these gets converted into credibility in the eyes of the client or prospect in terms of time savings and cost savings.
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What are others saying about you?
[The battle for social proof]
I am willing and comfortable to do business with you, if there are other people out there talking about you positively. The need for social proof has increasingly become very important most especially since the rise of the internet and social media where it’s now easy to check up the credibility of just about anybody or company.
What you do both as an entrepreneur and also as the ambassador of your business is no longer hidden or secret, thanks to Google. The only time a word doesn’t go out there about you or your business is if you have never used the internet or don’t have an email address.
But so long as you have an email, it shows you have registered your presence on the World Wide Web and Google will most certainly find you!
Therefore, it is important to guard your business reputation and make sure you are consistent wherever and to whomever you are dealing with in business or personally. They can do a background check on your business or reputation as an entrepreneur.
So get out there, and make sure what others are saying about you connotes a positive image of your company, business or brand. If you have done wrong in the past, be sure to make up and apologize.
No one is perfect, so if a client has an issue previously with you or your business, be sure to address and try to remedy the situation as fast as possible, before it becomes the next blog post of that person.
CASE STUDY:
Never Go to Print as an Author Unless You’ve 1st Built an Audience
A friend of mine some years ago made up his mind to write a book. Before embarking on the process of compiling the articles he had previously written, I advised him not to publish the book yet, at the very least, not until he established some credibility.
My point was simple; why publish a book, when no one other than your family and friends knows or has heard about you? Why publish a book offering principles or ideas no one else other than you has put to use? Why publish a book when your life as the author didn’t reflect or epitomize the principles or ideas you’re writing about?
I encouraged him to test his ideas and principles by creating and running a blog or a group on Facebook where he could gradually but consistently share these ideas or principles and get feedback on their potential to change and create positive results.
I asked him to point or mention examples of people who he had shared the ideas or principles he wanted to write about with and who got positive results when they applied what he recommended.
Surprisingly, he couldn’t come up with concrete names or examples of those he could go to who have proofs of his ideas or principles at work and could boldly come out to testify.
In a rather funny twist of events, he went ahead and published the book without informing me while it was being published till it was out in print. And so he went out to market his book, but guess what? He met roadblocks; no one was willing to stock the books on their bookshelves.
They weren’t so sure it was going to sell because they had never heard of the author up until then. Even I being his so called friend didn’t bother going through it. Why? Because he didn’t come across to me as someone who was practicing what he was preaching.
A smarter Approach …Using credibility as a LEVERAGE!
Chris Brogan and Julien Smith are the authors of “Trust Agents: Using the web to build influence, improve reputation and earn trust” a book that made the New York Times best sellers list in just about two weeks or so of its release.
I strongly recommend the book for all entrepreneurs serious about building SIGNIFICANT businesses. In fact, as I write this, I am reading it for the second time this year.
How did Chris and Julien pull it off?
They were the best at using credibility as leverage for profitability. Chris had been blogging for the past 10 years before he decided to co-author the book with Julien who had also been on the web for long.
They had both initially written an ebook called “Trust Economies” [click on title to download your copy] published by Changethis an online ebook publishing organization founded by Seth Godin [they are also publishing my 1st ebook too :)] to test the principles and ideas which they later expanded in the hardcover book.
They spent years building their credibility amongst their audience and when the book was eventually released Chris made an audacious statement;
“Over the years, I’ve done what I can to be helpful to as many people as humanly possible, without ever asking for much in return. It’s the right way to do it. But now, I’m asking for your support.”
It was the most audacious statement and ultimate test of credibility ever, it worked and it’s still working till now. Everyone bought the book and so many people didn’t just buy one copy, they both in droves. You can read all about it here; the big push!
The conclusion
Credibility is a great leverage for building profitability in business if you can only learn to put it first before profitability. It can take you to places you have never anticipated and it can bring you closer to your entrepreneurial goals faster than any other business strategy.
Learn to master the four steps above and see credibility do wonders for your business.
Hint: I created this site, naijapreneur! For credibility sake! Wouldn’t you agree with me that the leverage of credibility is already at work here? If you think otherwise, be bold to share your thoughts, opinion or suggestions in the comment box below. Thanks for enduring the reading process; I know it was pretty long! 🙂
- Published in Profitability, Thought Bank
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