...I am a white collar job worker and soon joined the band wagon of "get a side huzle ; get a side huzle" after much consideration i opened up a small scale business.it is now running for the second year, then i realized why alot of Nigerian small businesses fold up within its first 3years...the following are my observations and lessons i learnt at doing business

1. most business minded people only follow band wagon and do not know the nitty gritty of the said business, hence they fail woefully and get frustrated in due time..i was a victim of this

2. If u want to lose your customers, give them credit sales: this i learnt the hard way as almost all..i mean about 99% customers dont pay their debt..and when u ask them for it, they become angry and feel offended and vow never to come to ur stand again whilst giving u the credit..

3. get proper funding before you make a start.. for alot of business, the more capital u have ,the more your profit, lest u labour in vain and get income not worth the stress

4. profit is not income: alot of business people dont even calculate the real profit from the income, many of them are just happy to make sales...they dont put into consideration: fixed cost, implicit cost, opportunity cost etc,

those that even calculate cost only calculate the variable cost which a an accounting cost....

For this i think the government shld issue out business certificate after like 3 months short training before anyone can start a bizness to better help them understand what they do and make the business last longer

5. unhealthy competition: this usually leads to price war..and its usually a good thing to the consumer, but the thing is u are fighting the price war with ppl who dont understand cost, hence they undercharge just to get an egde over u..u are forced to either undercharge or close shop

6. customer connection: believe this or not, customers are mny times emotionally inclined to a certain biz set up they like..they walk past alot of rivals to come to u...and many time even pay more than other charge..it happens to me alot as most of my customers are created by me, i use jokes, discuss of funny national trending issue in sport, politics, music, etc to create a connection with them

7. youth boost business: if youth dont patronize you, u are almost certainly bound to fail..this is not because of their numbers, but its because, they easily adapt to changes and understand price adjustment more than the elderly..the elderlies are the worst customers..

8. consistency: always open, try as mucp as u can to always have your stuck or be ready to deliver your services always..even when u dont make much profit from it on a bad day, just be there

9. Location: get a well planned location and focast the future of its development, do not patronise touts as your landlords, they can lose access control of the infrastructure you rented at anytime and you will b chased away from ut very good location

10. always spend withing you profit and never your income, alot of people in your business area will start to call you boss at once, please dont act like any boss as it will later come with a lot of responsibilities...which might later outweigh your profits..always keep your eyes on the profits

11. always pay government taxes, it gives confidence when you talk ..and gelps you to access certain funds...

if u have other good experience you can add

nice points

Hmm thanks for this

You have mentioned very solid points. Let me point out two things.

number 7 is a good mention but isn't generic. Some businesses have more elderly folks as customers.

Also, for number 3...As much as you want to have good funding for business, you must also have good management. So it is possible to thrive in certain businesses with certain threshold of funding. With the right management skill, the business will grow.

bigpicture001:
...I am a white collar job worker and soon joined the band wagon of "get a side huzle ; get a side huzle" after much consideration i opened up a small scale business.it is now running for the second year, then i realized why alot of Nigerian small businesses fold up within its first 3years...the following are my observations and lessons i learnt at doing business

1. most business minded people only follow band wagon and do not know the nitty gritty of the said business, hence they fail woefully and get frustrated in due time..i was a victim of this

2. If u want to lose your customers, give them credit sales: this i learnt the hard way as almost all..i mean about 99% customers dont pay their debt..and when u ask them for it, they become angry and feel offended and vow never to come to ur stand again whilst giving u the credit..

3. get proper funding before you make a start.. for alot of business, the more capital u have ,the more your profit, lest u labour in vain and get income not worth the stress

4. profit is not income: alot of business people dont even calculate the real profit from the income, many of them are just happy to make sales...they dont put into consideration: fixed cost, implicit cost, opportunity cost etc,

those that even calculate cost only calculate the variable cost which a an accounting cost....

For this i think the government shld issue out business certificate after like 3 months short training before anyone can start a bizness to better help them understand what they do and make the business last longer

5. unhealthy competition: this usually leads to price war..and its usually a good thing to the consumer, but the thing is u are fighting the price war with ppl who dont understand cost, hence they undercharge just to get an egde over u..u are forced to either undercharge or close shop

6. customer connection: believe this or not, customers are mny times emotionally inclined to a certain biz set up they like..they walk past alot of rivals to come to u...and many time even pay more than other charge..it happens to me alot as most of my customers are created by me, i use jokes, discuss of funny national trending issue in sport, politics, music, etc to create a connection with them

7. youth boost business: if youth dont patronize you, u are almost certainly bound to fail..this is not because of their numbers, but its because, they easily adapt to changes and understand price adjustment more than the elderly..the elderlies are the worst customers..

8. consistency: always open, try as mucp as u can to always have your stuck or be ready to deliver your services always..even when u dont make much profit from it on a bad day, just be there

9. Location: get a well planned location and focast the future of its development, do not patronise touts as your landlords, they can lose access control of the infrastructure you rented at anytime and you will b chased away from ut very good location

10. always spend withing you profit and never your income, alot of people in your business area will start to call you boss at once, please dont act like any boss as it will later come with a lot of responsibilities...which might later outweigh your profits..always keep your eyes on the profits

11. always pay government taxes, it gives confidence when you talk ..and gelps you to access certain funds...

if u have other good experience you can add

Hi

Issue of giving credit to customers in Nigeria is very dicey because Nigerians naturally just do not like to pay debts.

The best policy is strictly cash and carry basis but if you a rendering a service you make sure you collect advance of at least 60% before you even commence the engagement

Nice. Cash flow is king in business development

BennyDGreat:
You have mentioned very solid points. Let me point out two things.

number 7 is a good mention but isn't generic. Some businesses have more elderly folks as customers.

Also, for number 3...As much as you want to have good funding for business, you must also have good management. So it is possible to thrive in certain businesses with certain threshold of funding. With the right management skill, the business will grow.

actually is true in some businesses are tailored for the elderly...so those sectors are still relevant......but from experience, i noticed most elderlies are very rigid, they underprice nd walk away when you dont bulge, again be it in logistics, they are too scared their goods will loss, in health, they wil walk away on seeing too mny young professionals wanting to take care of them, on pos transactions, they usually dont pay above popular charges, in varsity admission, dey dont value skls outside the first generation schools, Even new trend like app transactions, ATM card usuage they are all too reluctant to adapt....

yes they are humans also, albeit they have experience some bad stuffs before, but u need to garner alot of youth as customers

at your second concern, yes its good you grow in it..but this funds from growth as a source of re- investment will giv u such a slow pace of expansion that u will almost find yourself static...

take for example, u plan to self fund the acquisition of an x-ray digital machine or CT scan machine using just body fliud test as your operation modus...yes, you will eventually get there, but might take you six years...

Kobicove:
Issue of giving credit to customers in Nigeria is very dicey because Nigerians naturally just do not like to pay debts.

The best policy is strictly cash and carry basis but if you a rendering a service you make sure you collect advance of at least 60% before you even commence the engagement

vety nice transactional policy set up

bigpicture001:


actually is true in some businesses are tailored for the elderly...so those sectors are still relevant......but from experience, i noticed most elderlies are very rigid, they underprice nd walk away when you dont bulge, again be it in logistics, they are too scared their goods will loss, in health, they wil walk away on seeing too mny young professionals wanting to take care of them, on pos transactions, they usually dont pay above popular charges, in varsity admission, dey dont value skls outside the first generation schools, Even new trend like app transactions, ATM card usuage they are all too reluctant to adapt....

yes they are humans also, albeit they have experience some bad stuffs before, but u need to garner alot of youth as customers

at your second concern, yes its good you grow in it..but this funds from growth as a source of re- investment will giv u such a slow pace of expansion that u will almost find yourself static...

take for example, u plan to self fund the acquisition of an x-ray digital machine or CT scan machine using just body fliud test as your operation modus...yes, you will eventually get there, but might take you six years...

One was asking me why I had substantial funds in my Opay account. He told me I should limit my money there because "they don't have a physical address (they do) and thus you don't have anywhere to lodge complaints if you have any".

OP don see shege.

Valid points

bigpicture001:


actually is true in some businesses are tailored for the elderly...so those sectors are still relevant......but from experience, i noticed most elderlies are very rigid, they underprice nd walk away when you dont bulge, again be it in logistics, they are too scared their goods will loss, in health, they wil walk away on seeing too mny young professionals wanting to take care of them, on pos transactions, they usually dont pay above popular charges, in varsity admission, dey dont value skls outside the first generation schools, Even new trend like app transactions, ATM card usuage they are all too reluctant to adapt....

yes they are humans also, albeit they have experience some bad stuffs before, but u need to garner alot of youth as customers

at your second concern, yes its good you grow in it..but this funds from growth as a source of re- investment will giv u such a slow pace of expansion that u will almost find yourself static...

take for example, u plan to self fund the acquisition of an x-ray digital machine or CT scan machine using just body fliud test as your operation modus...yes, you will eventually get there, but might take you six years...

You are absolutely right with your points.
Very smart submission. You are a very smart business man