TWO BASIC THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW in business. Else you will SURELY crash! - MY BUSINESS JOURNEY (Issue #1)

WHY DO YOU DO BUSINESS? IS IT FOR THE FUN OR FOR THE PROFIT?

In the past, I have been a victim of the casualties that accompanied ignorance of these two tidbits. And I must really tell you, it dealt with me and my venture!

In business, one of the major things necessary for success is upholding certain basic principles. There are standards to respect whether they are formal theorems or a set of informal guidelines set from pools of experiences. If you keep falling short of these standards, sooner or later you are bound to fail.

1. DO NOT ALLOW EMPATHY, KINDNESS, AND TOO MUCH CONSIDERATION TO TAKE THE PLACE OF BUSINESS TRANSACTION IN YOUR ESTABLISHMENT.

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I lost over $2000 within 3 Months being Mr Nice Guy in one of my ventures some time ago.

If someone cannot afford a service or commodity do not out of pity sell it below the cost price. In reality, you would be running YOUR business down while being Mr. Nice Guy to the onlookers. Be sure that no one will help you up without any charges when you eventually go down.

Within the business world, no one cares whether you are a nice guy or not; people always lookout for your SUCCESS or FAILURE.
“Is he SUCCESSFUL?”
“He has been on that venture for a while now, what has he achieved?”
If you are not successful, then you are just a f***king failure, no matter how many empathetic gestures you have shown that resulted in your failure.

SUCCESS has a way of justifying everything; people will always make excuses for acts of strictness that you may have shown in the line of business.
“Well, he is just a principled business man.”
“If he hadn’t been careful, he wouldn’t have come this far.”
These are all excuses people make for SUCCESS because one way or the other people want to and will always identify with SUCCESS.

If you must be empathetic and kind, make sure someone else pays for the empathy you show. For example, if a service or commodity is sold for fifty Naira, and out of pity you chose to give it away for forty Naira (which in reality is the cost price), endeavor to regain the lost ten Naira from another customer willing to pay above fifty Naira otherwise you would have lost ten Naira to kindness. You can play Mr Philanthropist with the huge profits from your business venture and subsequently be the Mr Nice guy, but DO NOT play sentiments and empathy with business.

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/48036/how-empathy-is-important-for-parents-and-teens-when-things-get-stressful

Still on the matter of empathy, kindness and sentiments. SEPARATE FAMILY AND FRIENDS FROM BUSINESS. When friends and relatives come to do business, treat them nothing more than any other regular individual qualified to do same level of business with you. Family ties wield too much emotions that blind our eyes to some basic business truths, approaches and precautions. When these precautions are omitted on grounds of family/friends and things go sour during business, you will definitely lose your business or severe cordial relationship trying to save it; one of those will definitely happen! Save yourself that stress by putting things in the right perspective from the beginning of time.

All business transactions I made with relatives under the blind folds of family emotions, that turned sour, left a rift in either my business or relationship. The severity of this rift would have been far less if things were straightened before hand.

Again I say, separate family AND friends from business.

2. KNOW WHICH MARKET CLASS YOUR BUSINESS BELONGS.

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There are actually two classes:

The first class is one in which you produce for the public according to the public’s specifications. You bend to their will otherwise you may not make any sales. In this kind of business branding is not important but pleasing the customers is.

The second class is one in which you produce with a standard that the public have no choice but to accept provided the value attached to it is huge enough for the public to go for it. This business class has branding at its heart. What is produced is sold under a brand name that the public wants to associate with.

Don't spend too much funds branding a business that is dictated by people's choice; don't spend time appealing to people's want in a business that needs you to set a standard for and let the people accept the standards you set.

In Conclusion, I say…

These principles should not be crafted with rigidity in mind; they are set to maintain business order. If the sense of order is compromised, then, the possibility of your business suffocating to death becomes highly probable. BE KIND WITH YOUR PROFIT BUT BE STRICT WITH YOUR BUSINESS. However, do not act rude or without affection because you want to enforce these principles. You can enforce them graciously by acting in a friendly manner.

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Previously on MY BUSINESS JOURNEY...

• About MY BUSINESS JOURNEY series

Do well to grab a copy of 50 NUGGETS TO GETTING STARTED IN BUSINESS by Jabez Gabe. It contains many of the ideas shared above and MUCH MORE. The book is written to assist anyone who wants to re-invent himself towards business success. It is also for those who hope to start a business sometime in the future as well as for those who are having poor self-confidence that is hampering their success from shining forth. It is basically a quick guide to entrepreneurial success.

To place order for the hard or soft copies, drop a message on the comment section of this post or message me privately on Discord: @mrfelix#9825.