Your friends don't owe you support!

If you're looking to start a business with the hope that your friends and family will be your number one supporters and customers, you're setting yourself up to be brutally disappointed.

Before you started your line of business, your friends and family members already had people that were providing them with the same kind of goods/services you're selling/rendering. So, don't expect them to instantly abandon their age long clients for you. It may not happen soon; it may never happen either.

You sent pictures/flyers of your goods/services to them to help you repost on their social media handles and they refused and you're so angry that you have decided to delete their numbers from your phone? Uncle, calm down. It hasn't gotten to that.

Granted, we all need the support of others to grow/succeed but there is no rule that says that that support must come from family and friends. Majority of your supporters/destiny helpers will be total strangers. If you're an entrepreneur, you can attest to this.

People have different reasons for failing to 'support' others. It could be that they are simply not interested in your brand or maybe they don't trust your brand enough to vouch for it. It could also be that they are paying you back for not supporting their own businesses in the past.

You need to keep an open mind: if your friends support you, be happy and if they don't, still be happy. Don't use their lack of support as an excuse to end a beautiful relationship. Just because they don't seem to give you the kind of encouragement you need today doesn't mean that they won't ever give it to you. And even if they don't ever support you, you can still succeed without them unless you decide otherwise.

So, stop this entitlement mindset. Get your butts off that sad chair and get working. Do all you need to do to grow your business and leave the rest to God.

I hope this piece helps an entrepreneur out there that's struggling with the feeling of rejection and aloneness.

Good morning and happy mid week!

A little over two years ago, I took a writing course and came out well equipped and ready to start making good money from it. I tried getting people to know what services I offered and to hire me but that didn't happen.

One year passed and I still couldn't make a dime from writing. I went over the same circle of writing a stockpile of copies only to end up not knowing where/how to get clients. My repeated frustrating experiences of not knowing how to get premium clients led me into attempting to change career path.

Just when I was about giving up, I discovered that there is a marketplace for almost all the skills/services in the world. I discovered how to sell my services on freelancing sites and get paid in dollars. For the past eleven months, I have consistently made enough income from freelance copywriting to take care of my bills.

As a way of giving back to the society, I have dedicated this week to teaching people for free what I know about Copywriting and freelancing. You can DM me on WhatsApp (08106344658).

Don't give up on your career/business. The best is yet to come.

Dear Meg,

I believe you received my letter yesterday. I'm glad that you have finally settled on a niche for your freelancing career. But having a niche is one thing and having an outstanding profile is another thing and both of them are necessary for a successful freelancing career.

Your profile should be able to address your prospective clients' problem(s) and position you as the solution to these problems. Don't just write a few vague words and leave them hanging on your profile. By all means, make your profile outstanding.

Also, avoid the selfish pronoun 'I' and do more of 'you'. It's your profile, granted but it isn't just about you. Really, it's about your clients and how their problems could be solved.

Let me end this letter here. Tomorrow, I will write to you about the role of your skill sets in advancing your freelancing career. Until I write to you again, feel free to slide into my slippery Facebook DM (Aniebiet Nkanga) for counsel.

Love,
Anii.

Dear Meg,

I understand that you're about starting your career as a freelancer which is why I'm writing to you as a colleague in the freelance world.

Before you set out fully, choose a niche you're most passionate about. It's okay to offer two related (or maybe different) services but it isn't okay to offer all the services. The reason is simple: your potential clients want to hire an expert in a certain field and not a jack-of-all-trades. The moment they perceive from your profile that you fall into the second category, they will elope with their jobs (and by extension, your money).

So, calm down and ask yourself which area you're really skilled at and most passionate about before setting out. If you're deficient in your niche of interest, you can always subscribe to any of the free or paid online courses and trainings. You can also make Google and YouTube your closest friends. It will do you a lot of good and it will save you a lot of frustrations in the long run.

I will write to you tomorrow about how to craft an outstanding profile on any freelancing site but until then, feel free to slide into my ever slippery DM to seek counsel.

Love,
Anii.

Day 1:

You're in it for the Wrong Reason!

We all grew up believing that the aim of every business is to make/maximize profit but we all forgot to take into consideration the fact that the primary aim of every business is to satisfy customers.

If your only reason for starting up a business is to make money, you're doomed to fail.

Listen to me, money only follows value. I repeat, money only follows value! You have to create value around your skills. Give your clients top value and they will give you their money in return.

Money is the reward for value. Highly successful businesses thrive on this principle: Give top value to them, they give you their money. Simple.

Sadly, most of us are trying to do the reverse in our various businesses and that's why we keep failing. We fail not because we don't have the ability to be successful but because we have refused to create value for our clients.

So, if you want to succeed in your business, you have to go back to the drawing board. Deal with your motives. Learn to give your clients top value and they will reciprocate by giving you their money.

Happy new month to you!