STARTING SMALL.
Proverbs 6:6
It is not usually how much you started with, but the attitude with which you do your business. Attitude more than aptitude determine the altitude you reach in life. Many big businesses like First bank of Nigeria Plc, Leventis Group of Companies, Motorola and The New York Herald all started small. God did not make the ant small because he ran out of raw materials. He made the ant small to challenge our abilities.
Prerequisites For Success In Any Business.
- Conviction Consistency in the pursuit of success
- Character Chemistry
- Capacity
Business You Can Start Without Capital
- Using you skills and training as capital: Somebody wrote a proposal on how to run a leasing company. He got a group together that funded it and he is the chief operating officer of the company. The company is doing very well.
- By becoming a commissioned agent: There is a Nigerian I met in a country who got in contact with a motor servicing/parts manufacturing company in America. For every product that is sold in that country he makes a commission. Today he is a rich man and has his brother working under him.
- Property agent: As a young man or woman who knows your locality well, you can source out properties that are for sale and find those that want to buy. After agreeing at an agency fee you strike a deal. The same goes for those seeking accommodation Rent collection with commission is another area you can start with..
- An oversea admission agency: Many universities in Eastern Europe and Asia are facing economic crisis. They need foreign students to boost their income. Their school fees are cheap and facilities are good. You get in contact with them and act as their agent in Nigeria. You charge parents for securing admission for their kids in those schools.
- You can run training programs in churches and at your home for
- Fish farming
- Fish fed production
- Computer training
- Repairs of handsets e.t.c.
You charge the participants and use a church until you raise money for hotel halls.
- Landscaping and interior decoration and painting contacts
- Aluminum window works/doors
- Cladding business
- Event management (master of ceremony and comedy)/security provision.
- Printing jobs for people: books, banners, posters and large format printing.
- Environmental sanitation contracts/home cleaning.
- Website designing
Businesses you can start with small capital
- Painting mosaics and sculptures and portraits.
- Adire and batik production.
- Phone calls and recharge-card vending.
- Potato chips, plantain chips and popcorn production.
- Supplying snacks to schools and offices.
- Bean powder [flour], plantain flour and milk e.t.c.
- Fish farming, Snail farming.
- Bed sheets and fashion designing and sale.
- Books sale/supply for publishing companies
- Photocopying and ID card production/video coverage
- Newspaper vending at a stand.
- Sales of bread, vegetables, and fruits.
- Multilevel marketing.
- Fumigation and pest control.
- Labour supply.
- Driving school.
- CD sales/duplication.
- Drug envelope production.
Growing the business.
- You must reduce personal expenses
- You must save all you can
- You must leave the following in the mind of your customers
- Memory-leaving lasting impressions
- Mark
- Message
- You must practice linear expansivity of money
- Interact with those who have succeeded
- Join a cooperative society
- Work with people who are your relatives that buy into you vision-fiduciary
- Don’t hire someone you cannot fire
- Don’t be bigger than your business
- Proper supervision
Thank you for your attention, and i hope you found this lecture informative and inspiring. remember, entrepreneurship is a journey, not a destination.
Take the first step today, and don’t be afraid to fail. keep learning, growing and pushing forward.
Good luck, and I wish you all the best on your entrepreneurial endeavors
I remain your friend Dr. Charles Apoki.
