BUSINESS MODELS #1
“Ideas rule the world”. You should probably stop reading
this and return to your cave if you can beat your chest and say you’ve not
heard that sentence ever before. Before we continue, this article is a sequel
to an earlier article which you can read by clicking HERE,
If you like. Although I would be referring to it a little, it won’t stop you
from grabbing the message if you begin from here. Ok?
Straight to the point, in the first post, I promised to be
back with BUSINESS models you can go into to actualize your entrepreneurial
dreams so, here I am. I didn’t go fetch them or anything; I just waited a while
to sieve my readers -It’s a writing STRATEGY. Because from this post on, I’m
only going to be talking to business-minded peeps and not our salary content
counterparts on the left hand side of The Cash-Flow quadrant (Google that up).
Let me quickly wet your taste buds. Late last year, I was
chatting with a friend who said “I’ll love to be like you bro. You’re so
business minded and even if you’re not getting returns on investments now; I
know it can’t be long. Just don’t forget us when the time comes.”
“So what exactly is stopping you sir?” I replied.
“Some people are just not cut out for businesses and
entrepreneurship generally. It takes a lot of guts, ambition and determination.
I mean there’s a lot of risk involved.”
We chatted for around an hour but all what his excuse for
not doing what he would have loved to do hovered around was: The FEAR of taking
risks. Pitiful!... I sent him a link to this particular article: HERE and we’ve not spoken
since then. He was right though cos the RISKS involved in starting a BUSINESS
are quite a handful and that scary statistics that over 85% of start-up
BUSINESSES don’t get to celebrate their 5th anniversary. FEAR and
the many dreams it’ll kill (Cool title for a post I might later work on).
Sorry about the digression, just wanted you to know how
blessed you are if you are still reading this and have a stint of setting
something up for yourself; which means you probably might have the ‘guts’ to
risk everything for that future of FINANCIAL FREEDOM. A feat only a few people
manage to achieve, some are still going to achieve and some will never achieve.
Yep! That’s the gospel truth. The percentage of people who have it in mind to
start a business and the percentage that actually goes on and start it is an
alarming 84% to 16% and out of this 16% who start up their businesses, over 8%
would fail in it. (That’s over 50% when that 16% is spread to a full percentage.
Wow!... I’m feeling like Mathematics guru right now. Lol!) but the fact will
ever remain that these over half who failed lived more adventurous lives and
sometimes have better latter years than those who never tried their hands on
something they can call their own. These people like my friend I spoke about
earlier are those who’ve lived their whole life working for either the
government or someone else. If it’s government, oh well *shrugs*, if it’s someone
else’s, too bad cos they’ll fall under those I call the ‘dream builders’. They
are paid every 30-31 days to help people like us move our ministry to the
permanent site. Did that sound harsh?!
“There are two kinds of people in the world- Those who build
their dreams and those who are hired to help others build theirs”. Where do you
belong?... That was a rhetorical question though.
If you look at the society today, people who have something
of their own, bringing in money for them are celebrities (related to the word
‘celebrated’). My personal ‘subject to scrutiny’ research shows GTBank boasts
the highest paid branch manager but his annual income can’t be compared to Alibaba
who’s a comedian of definitely lower educational qualification. See, there’s a
difference between getting money and being financially intelligent and that’s
why I read that an American musician who was worth over 8millionUSD as at 2011 now
sells ice cream (maybe at McDonalds). The reason why you should give yourself
the benefit of a doubt of owning a business goes on and on.
Wait!... Have I spoken about the business models yet?...
No?!... Why didn’t you remind me? You know once I start on my Entrepreneurial
Seminar, I can take all day.
BUSINESS MODELS
As we all know that we’re now in the INFORMATION AGE, and
there’s no free information anywhere, the information I’m going to be giving
you here also isn’t free. It comes at a cost. Chill out!... It won’t cost you
money. See your already wide eyes- Stingy fellow. What I’m going to be telling
you here, some of which cost me quite an amount of money would cost you just your
time and common sense.
Before I continue, I just wonder how rich Dangote would’ve
been if when he started his business, computers and smart phones were dominant
and Information spreads like wild fire like we have now. Mehn!... Don’t let me
digress again before you vex and close this page. (like I care Lol!)
There are just two ways to make money in any BUSINESS in
this present age and time and they are:
- - OFFLINE.
- - ONLINE.
Whichever one you deem fit to suit you, the basic requirement
of an entrepreneur is to find a pressing need or problem of a particular group
of people, proffer solution to it via which you become wiser, smarter and
richer. I attended a business seminar where one of the speakers made a
statement I really like. He said “If there is something you are really good at
doing, never do it for free”.
OFFLINE: Offline mode means your business has a real
location, a store/shop/class/etc. You have goods and/or services you render and
you meet most of your customers or clients in person. These includes: Make Up,
Catering and confectioneries, Importation and selling of products, Network
Marketing, Organizing of seminars, Event planning and management, fashion
design, etc.
There a lots of offline business that can make you rich and
more people are going into these businesses daily and that’s another aspect
where you can make money from any business you are already a pro at- Tutoring.
Make a time open for beginners to learn from you, share the information and
collect your tuition fees. The money collected can be invested into publicising
your organization or business outfit. House of Tara (The Make-Up goddess) at a
time made more money tutoring than even the actual make-up thingy. Gone are the
days when: If you know something, you keep the knowledge to yourself to reduce
competition. That doesn’t work anymore. These days, the best favour you can do
your business is to share the information with people who love what you do and
get paid for it and that Sharing of Information brings me to the best offline
business you can ever lay your hands on: NETWORK MARKETING.
ONLINE: Online means your business has no real location like
a shop or the likes and most times when you see adverts like “Work from home”
“Earn millions from the comfort of your living room” “Become rich in 30 days”
You’re just about to be introduced to an online business. You might have goods
you render via the Online platform but most times it’s more of services than
goods and you often don’t meet your clients in person. These includes:
Affiliate Marketing, Blogging, Referral trades, Bulk sms, Geek selling, Web
design, Info Marketing, Social Media strategizing, Freelance Writing, Advert
Consultation, etc.
Read my article on 13 Online Business Ideas: HERE
There are lots of online businesses that can make you rich
and more people are also going into these businesses daily, even more than the
offline because there are less risks involved and if you get your lines right,
you just might become the next big thing. There is an ocean of opportunities
online and I’ll advice you try your hands on any online business if you’re yet
to but you must be careful and if possible, go through someone who has deeper
experience on how to manoeuvre his or her way online because there are dark
spots and not everything you see online is what it seems. People have lost
their whole life savings through just one wrong step online and if you make
researches like I do, some people will tell you to never try anything
business-like online. It’s cos of their past experiences.
But there also people called ‘Laptop Millionaires’ who have
made money via this same online platform. Linda Ikeji recently acquired a N24M
Range Rover Vogue didn’t she? … All what she does is blog on celebrity gossips
and the likes. So you get the gist. Right?
New people venturing into online business also need tutoring
and mentoring. Just like those offline. Assume Linda Ikeji comes up with a book
titled “How To Become A Successful Blogger In One Year.” Lol!... Jaybee!...
your business mind though. Ok, how many copies do you think she would sell?
Information sharing is the only thing in this age that puts more money in your
pocket than a banker struggling for 6 years and that brings me to the best
online business you can ever lay your hands on: INFORMATION MARKETING.
This where I’ll stop for this article but I promise to back
to dissect, pieces and shed more light on those two best business models in my
next post. So you can decide if you prefer the online or offline or you can be
super adventurous and try your hands on both at the same time. It’s not a
crime.
Also, in my next post, I’ll be giving you both offline and
online business models you should NEVER even consider going into, if your time
is indeed precious. Remember, TIME is LIFE.
Do you feel I’ve wasted your time, I apologise. Send a mail
stating your complain to admin@maturemindstalk.com
and you’ll receive my special apologetic e-mail within 24 hours.
For the rest of us who’ve learnt one thing or the other,
you’re welcome and thanks a lot for the time you’ve shared with me. Do you have
a suggestion or contribution, use the e-mail above.
Till you read again from me again (which is of course,
sooner than you think), I remain my humble self:
Elijah ‘Jaybee’ Toyosi
Be safe and God bless.
Mature Minds Talk.
Keeping my fingers crossed...
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