It was an insightful moment with Praise family on Sunday, 26th March, 2012 during her monthly seminar titled, “THE STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.” The audience was held spell-bound for an hour and thirty minutes, as they listened with rapt attention to the speaker, Mr. Peter Oyinrinaya, a professional banker and a businessman, who spoke extensively on practical steps and principles to engage in building a lasting and successful business.
According to him, there are no new strategies for building a business, but that most people lack the will to take the initiative of starting their own business due to the fear of failure. He emphasized: “that you make mistakes in a certain business and fail does not mean that such business does not work, instead consider it an opportunity to start again in a better way.” He went further to state that, you do not need a university degree to build a successful business. Education is important though, but not a prerequisite for success in business, as most successful business people around the world are not academic scholars.
However, the following imperatives were strongly recommended for growing a lasting and successful business:
1. Find out what you have passion for and build your business around it.
2. Acquire the necessary skills in your chosen line of business to avoid outright failure.
3. Before commencement, it is necessary to have a business plan for short term, medium and long term goals. Then register a business name, at least a “Venture” or an “Enterprise” which is relatively cheap, compared to what most people think. The idea is to secure the name and the future of your business so that it doesn’t get registered by someone else, after you must have put in so much.
4. You must be ready to take calculated risk, and the higher the risk the greater the reward. According to the speaker, those who are not ready to take risk are the ones actually taking risk because if you do not take risk in business, you may not go far.
5. Always be prepared to take intelligent feedback – develop the capacity to handle criticism in such a manner that will translate into improved products or services.
6. There must be an internal control system to check how money comes into the business and how much is going out. To this end, proper and accurate documentation of cash flow is key. Then remember, your business is not you; it’s a separate legal entity and should be operated as such.
7. In your industry, determine where you have competitive advantage and carve a niche for yourself in that line. Specialize in one thing first, and then diversify to other areas. “Diversification in business is one of the secretes of creating oceanic wealth” - Sam.
8. Develop a strong business network – in business, anybody you meet is a contact point and as such, do not take people for granted because they form the life of your business.
9. Strategic marketing will put your business in the frontline and secure a fare market share for your products or services. Without marketing, your business will remain obscure, and a business does not thrive in obscurity. In conclusion, the speaker emphasized that learning the above principles is just a step, the result will only be achieved when they are effectively deployed in your business practice.
The seminar came to a close with question and answer session, along with light refreshment. Yet, participants were unwilling to go as they were seen flanking around the speaker, asking questions and seeking clarifications on issues, at the same time exchanging contacts with him.
Well, if you were not there, you missed a lot. But don’t worry another one is coming up this month. The title is “The Place of Education in Career Development”. Details will be communicated in due course. Stay blessed.
Reported by: Sam Akhigbe.
According to him, there are no new strategies for building a business, but that most people lack the will to take the initiative of starting their own business due to the fear of failure. He emphasized: “that you make mistakes in a certain business and fail does not mean that such business does not work, instead consider it an opportunity to start again in a better way.” He went further to state that, you do not need a university degree to build a successful business. Education is important though, but not a prerequisite for success in business, as most successful business people around the world are not academic scholars.
However, the following imperatives were strongly recommended for growing a lasting and successful business:
1. Find out what you have passion for and build your business around it.
2. Acquire the necessary skills in your chosen line of business to avoid outright failure.
3. Before commencement, it is necessary to have a business plan for short term, medium and long term goals. Then register a business name, at least a “Venture” or an “Enterprise” which is relatively cheap, compared to what most people think. The idea is to secure the name and the future of your business so that it doesn’t get registered by someone else, after you must have put in so much.
4. You must be ready to take calculated risk, and the higher the risk the greater the reward. According to the speaker, those who are not ready to take risk are the ones actually taking risk because if you do not take risk in business, you may not go far.
5. Always be prepared to take intelligent feedback – develop the capacity to handle criticism in such a manner that will translate into improved products or services.
6. There must be an internal control system to check how money comes into the business and how much is going out. To this end, proper and accurate documentation of cash flow is key. Then remember, your business is not you; it’s a separate legal entity and should be operated as such.
7. In your industry, determine where you have competitive advantage and carve a niche for yourself in that line. Specialize in one thing first, and then diversify to other areas. “Diversification in business is one of the secretes of creating oceanic wealth” - Sam.
8. Develop a strong business network – in business, anybody you meet is a contact point and as such, do not take people for granted because they form the life of your business.
9. Strategic marketing will put your business in the frontline and secure a fare market share for your products or services. Without marketing, your business will remain obscure, and a business does not thrive in obscurity. In conclusion, the speaker emphasized that learning the above principles is just a step, the result will only be achieved when they are effectively deployed in your business practice.
The seminar came to a close with question and answer session, along with light refreshment. Yet, participants were unwilling to go as they were seen flanking around the speaker, asking questions and seeking clarifications on issues, at the same time exchanging contacts with him.
Well, if you were not there, you missed a lot. But don’t worry another one is coming up this month. The title is “The Place of Education in Career Development”. Details will be communicated in due course. Stay blessed.
Reported by: Sam Akhigbe.
what a great and useful article! thanks for the sharing! I'm also thinking to start my own business in the near future. My role models are successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Larry Page or Yuri Mintskovsky. I would like to meet them in person!
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