12 Tips To Succeed as an Entrepreneur in Nigeria.

Entrepreneurship is a career path that require utmost dedication, determination, and perseverance. this article analyze 12 Tips To Succeed as an Entrepreneur in Nigeria.

Entrepreneurship is not always rosy as people think, just because successful entrepreneurs flaunt their wealth on social media platform but one thing they don’t display is the amount of hard work going on in background.

There are several stages to entrepreneurship but let’s highlight the two important stages.

The first stage is the starting stage, this is the period where you build your business, during this stage you are expected to face challenges that’ll shake you, many young entrepreneurs find it difficult surviving through this stage.

That’s why you see many new businesses fail within short period of time. Once you pass through this stage then you have a business, this means that no matter the challenge you might encounter, you’ll definitely overcome because it can’t be as difficult as the ones you encounter when getting started, when you are limited by capital with probably little entrepreneurial knowledge.

The second stage is when your business is up and running, this stage is usually fun and interesting depending on the structure you adopt for your business.

Some business structure allows the business own to free-up adequate time for himself so he can enjoy the reward that comes with his determination and dedication to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Some other business model enslave the entrepreneur, forcing him to work all day with little or no time for himself. It’s like sacrificing your time, conform, hobbies, all for money.

Entrepreneurship shouldn’t be a death sentence.

The difference between these two type of entrepreneurs is determined by the business structure they adopt for their business.

Your key responsibility as an entrepreneur is to build businesses. While setting up your first business you need to cultivate a mindset of a builder. Your job is to build your business and allow it run independently. Chances are you will be actively present at the early stage to oversee the entire affairs and be sure your plan is working as expected.

Once your business is up and running, you are expected to pull out and allow your team manage every aspect of your business. Then you’ll have to constantly check on your team to access their performance and also check to see if the result from their performance is as profitable as expected.

This allow you focus on growing and expanding your business or even venture into another business within a different industry. That’s how successful entrepreneurs end up having multiple businesses and still have all their time to themself.

They let money and people work for them, all they do is to set up the business and let it run without requiring their physical present at all times.

Now, let’s talk about 12 Tips To Succeed as an Entrepreneur in Nigeria

1. Believe in Yourself

The first stage to achieve success in every endeavor is to believe you can do it. Our environment is full of negative forces depending on your kind of environment but these forces does exist in every environment.

There are people who will always give you reasons why you can’t do something, why it won’t work. Everyone else can do it but not you. Stay away from such people regardless of how close you are, it’s different to attain success in such environment.

Limit the amount of information you share with such people because they will always see the negative side of your dreams. Look for positive people who are progressive and ready to help others grow. That’s the kind of environment where you’ll find the right motivation that will encourage you and keep reminding you that you’ll achieve success when you choose not to give up.

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2. Have Clarity about your Business

Have a clear understand of why you want to become an entrepreneur, what’s the core responsibility of your proposed business and who do you want to serve with your product. Don’t just start a business because someone ask you to start or because you see others doing it.

You need a clear roadmap that’ll guide your business startup process and operations.

3. Understand your Business Goals

What are the reasons behind your decision for becoming an entrepreneur? Why do you choose that business idea and what are your expectations within short term and long term of the existence of your business?

Many people admit to becoming an entrepreneur because it has a potential to help them earn more money. But that shouldn’t be your primary goal for starting a business.

It’s best for you to start a business with the intention to serve, that will position your mind towards improving on quality delivery and once you have a business that delivers quality service to its customers then you will make more money because we all love to patronize businesses that deliver great value.

4. Focus On Your Strengths

We all have different activities that we are good at, that doesn’t mean we can’t do other things but these specialized activities are more of our hobbies and talent.

These are activities that gives us fulfillment whenever we engage in them. In most cases these are activities we do for fun. Building a business around such activities make your journey as an entrepreneur an interesting journey.

Because you will love what you do and it won’t seems like work to you anymore. People who attain great achievement within a specific business industry testify that they love what they do so they find themself working on their business most of the time without feeling tired or stressed-out because they love what they do.

As an entrepreneur, you need to position yourself within activities that align with your strength then hire people to manage other area of your business that seems like your weaknesses.

5. Understand the Requirements needed

It’s important to be honest with yourself at this stage, don’t just guess. Make proper research, talk to people who are successful within such industry, those are the people that can share their true experience with with you, the challenges they encounter and how they overcome. These are real life applicable information you need as a guide during your entrepreneurial journey.

6. Be Ready to Serve

In business, your customers are the real boss. You’re in business to serve them with your product and service. Carefully select the group of audience you want to serve with your product and be ready to serve them diligently.

Never underestimate the power of customer feedback in business. You need them to tell you their opinion and expectations from your business. That will help you understand how they want to be served so your business practice can match with your customers expectations.

7. Hire Competent Staffs

Becoming a successful entrepreneur require the help of multiple hands on desk. Your business is expected to have many departments which include production, marketing, sales, and management. These departments need competent hands to drive growth within your establishment.

It’s not a good practice to hire someone based on pity, when it’s obvious that he can’t deliver the needed value but he desperately need the job. Such practice is like selling out your business for free.

Hire people based on professionalism and competence, people that can work diligently and deliver great result without been monitored. They are the ones that will help grow your business fast.

Once you have the right team on board, it’s important to make them feel valued, appreciate them, show concern about issues that affects them. Constantly reward and compensate them for additional value they bring to your business. This will enhance their commitment towards your business and encourage them to discharge their duties accurately.

8. Acquire Entrepreneurial Skills

Knowledge is power, having adequate knowledge about your business and the business aspect of your business help position you for greatness.

Entrepreneurship is far beyond just having a product and introduce it to the market. To manage your business to become successful you need an in-dept knowledge about entrepreneurship, team building, communications, time management, and leadership.

As an entrepreneur you need to be open to learning, in-fact be ready to acquire business knowledge from every available source and use these information to advance your business performance.

9. Manage your time effectively

Your time is your most important asset as an entrepreneur, once it’s lost it can never be regained. Money lost can be regained through hard work, damaged equipment can be replaced, incompetent staff can also be replaced but a time lost can never be regained.

Prioritize your activities based on importance, focus on activities that require your attention the most and delegate other activities to people who can assist.

This will help you free more time for yourself so you don’t get overwhelmed with the many responsibilities attached to being an entrepreneur. You can checkout my productivity and time management online course. It will help you understand how you can increase your productivity, set goals and achieve them fast, get more activities done within less time.

10. Take Calculated Risks

When a risk becomes calculated then it’s no more a risk. The word “calculated” makes the difference.

Taking calculated risk is about making sure to gather adequate information about such activity. Research about every stage, ask questions and be sure to follow a roadmap that has been proven to be successful.

Following such practice makes it a calculated risk because you’re not acting based on assumptions but based on track record that has worked for successful entrepreneurs and it’s still working pretty well.

11. Be Accountable

Since it’s your business, it’s easy to conclude that you’re accountable to no one, you hire and pay the staffs so why should they question you about your own business? That’s true. They dare not question your authority but they’re watching your moves closely and this will determine if your best talents will choose to remain in your establishment or seek better opportunities elsewhere, in a place where the attitude and behavior of their employer can be a source of motivation to them.

Be accountable to yourself, set rules for yourself as you have done for your employees and live by the rules. It will be difficult for any of your employees to break the rules that guide their operations when you are also been guided by rules. And if they do break any of the rules, they must be ready to face the consequences.

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12. Be Supportive

A little act of kindness goes a long way, build a business culture that encourage unity among your employees. Support your staffs in their personal needs and invest in their personal development.

Support others too as well, your customers need much support from you on how to get the best results from your product, educate them and help them understand why doing business with you is the best choice they’ve made for themself.

Stretch a helping hand to your competitors, especially those that are far ahead of you in business. It makes them feel comfortable holding you by the hand and walk you through some difficult business stages that you might not find it easy working through such path without professional guidance.

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Conclusion

Now that you understand the basic principles needed to succeed as an entrepreneur. You need to put these principles to practice. In this article, we already talked about 12 Tips To Succeed as an Entrepreneur in Nigeria which include:

1. Believe in Yourself
2. Have Clarity about your Business
3. Understand your Business Goals
4. Focus On Your Strengths
5. Understand the Requirements needed
6. Be Ready to Serve
7. Hire Competent Staffs
8. Acquire Entrepreneurial Skills
9. Manage your Time Effectively
10. Take Calculated Risks
11. Be Accountable
12. Be Supportive

We acquire information through different means on daily basics but only few people put these information to good use.

You’ve just acquire another helpful basic tips that’s capable of helping you become a successful entrepreneur, the best you can do is to put it to good use.

I wish you good luck.

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