Mr.Usiere Uko is the author of ‘Practical Steps to Financial Freedom and Independence’. In this article, he explains how to overcome the dilemma of choosing a particular line of business over others.
Deciding which business to go into is a challenge for many. The first impulse when it comes to starting a business is what will be lucrative and bring money immediately. There is nothing wrong with a profit motive. For a business to grow sustainably, it needs to make profit. A business is not a charity organisation. However making a decision based on how lucrative a business seems to be is a trap many fall into. It leads you in the wrong direction, often away from where your passion and skill lies, which is your competitive advantage.
Following the money
When you look around you and see a business that seems to be booming, what you see is a finished product, the end product of a process. You don’t get to see the experience, internship, passion, skill, focus and persistence, mistakes and failures, trial and error, small and uncertain beginnings, going on in the face of discouragement. All you see is the crowd of customers, the queue in front of the tellers and the ringing sound of the cash registers. You don’t see the price paid to get there. You want a piece of the action.
The temptation is to take away your eyes away from who you are and what you have to offer, and focus on the easiest way to get the same result. Based on the pull to make quick money by tapping into and existing market, we often jump head first into a line of business we have no experience, skill or passion for. To complicate issues, we don’t start small. We rent an office, buy vehicles, hire staff and make the right noises. We are open for business. We believe if we open our doors for business, the customers will surely come, like they did for Mrs A. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that if we offer a ‘better’ product at a lower price, the customers will switch from Mrs A and come to us. This is not always the case. A Mercedes Benz lover will not switch to Honda Accord simply because it is cheaper and more fuel efficient. There is something that Mercedes Benz offers its users that is beyond the price tag and fuel efficiency. There is the issue of class, brand loyalty etc which are intangible but very real to those that belong to that club.
McDonalds does not make the best hamburgers in town, but they are the best in class when it comes to marketing hamburgers and giving users a unique experience. Each person stepping into McDonalds knows fast foods are junk food and is it not the best for the body, but nonetheless in the keep coming and coming. You can open a shop next door and sell the healthiest of fast foods but you can soon go out of business due to lack of patronage. Coming to town and trying to copy what the other person is doing without understanding the market is often a leap in the dark.
Who are you?
The first step in deciding what business to go into is to find out who you really are, what you are passionate about, what you love doing, what you are good at and what you have to offer. At the beginning, you may not have the requisite skill in the area your passion lies, but skills can be learned. Passion cannot be conjured. You may have 20 years’ experience doing a job you hate. That does not mean you are doomed to doing it for the rest of your life because that is where your skills are. If you lack skills, you can go work to gain skills. Work to learn rather than work for money. If you can acquire skills in your area of passion, you have the ingredients for long term success in life, success that comes from being in tune with your true self, performing at the peak and getting rewarded beyond your wildest imaginations.
People give you money in exchange for goods or services. You are solving a problem, meeting a need and adding value which results in money changing hands. It is then logical that if you want to make money, you need to solve a problem or add value in one shape or form. The platform for doing this is starting a business. We all have something to give. Our business is the platform to give that gift. The question then becomes what is your gift?
What are you passionate about?
What are you good at? What do you love doing? What energizes you? What is it that when you start doing, you don’t get bored. What would excite you so much that you jump out of bed in the morning and stay up late? What would you do that it seems like you are getting paid while having fun? What would you do that would make work seem like play. What gives you the adrenaline rush?
Most people know what they don’t want to do. Top on the list is going to work Monday morning. That is why we have Thank God its Friday, we love vacations, strikes etc, anything that keeps us away from work. Statistics from Mortality reports of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in 19830-0199 show that most heart attacks occurs 9.00 – 11.00 AM Monday morning. Monday seems to be the most depressing day for most employees. Have you noticed the excitement shown by CNN news anchors and correspondents? It is easy to see passion in their body language and their voice. Some put themselves in the line of fire to bring us live news reports so that we will ‘be the first to know’.
Your business idea lies in you
The major task in deciding what business to go into is to know yourself, and be yourself. Do not try to become someone else, no matter how lucrative the career. You can never attain your utmost potential, trying to be someone else. You are not the course you read at the university. The hood does not make a monk. You are who you really are on the inside, behind the façade. You can never perform at the peak and be the best you can be by trying to be what you are not. Passion gives you energy. Energy is the fuel of life. If your energy (batteries) level is low, you cannot perform at the peak. Your performance drops naturally. You will be struggling. You may perform above average, but that is not good enough if you want to play at the top. You have to put your best foot forward.
Business opportunities are limitless in Nigeria. There is nothing you are good at, that if you become very good at it, you will not make tons of money. The issue is which opportunity suits you. To answer that, you have to answer the question – who are you? The answer to what your business idea is lies in you.