MY BUSINESS, MY BABY
A lot of students are involved in diverse business activities,
both legal and illegal, everyday. My focus is on the legal businesses; the
other part can be discussed by some other entity.
As Brian Tracy rightly puts it, Business is an art of
creativity and keeping a customer in a cost-effective manner. Profits are not
the purpose of a business (I know this will shock some non-business students
who might have been taught that businesses are meant for profit making). As
Peter Drucker said, “errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure”.
A lot of positivity accompanied the year 2018 at all levels
and spheres of life. The year did not start badly, either; oil price in Nigeria
hit the $70 mark, inflation in Nigeria declined to 15.37, amongst a few others.
As a business leader, my own question would be, “how well-placed are you in an
advantageous position for this much-anticipated economic uplift?”
In today’s Nigeria, the people-agenda is much more pertinent.
The process of how you conduct your business affairs as a student, whether a
start-up, evolving or fully developed one, is dependent on the truth that to
maximize your business potential, you must treat it like a baby.
I have outlined some points to explain the concept of
treating your business like a baby:
1. It needs to be
well fed: Learn to re-invest in your business. Pump resources into it: money,
labor and otherwise. Learn to advertise
and keep the business robust.
2. Keep it healthy,
always: Like a mother always looks out for signs and symptoms, so it is
with businesses; do not wait until it is ill before you act. Learn the concept
of innovation, packaging, etc.
3. The baby needs
good parents: Productive partnerships are like good parents and house-helps;
they help build the business.
4. It needs
nurturing: Just like a new born baby with innate talent that needs
nurturing, so does the business. Do not give up because something is not going
right in the business; learn to keep nurturing it.
Businesses experience transformations due to the leader’s
belief and investment in money, time and great people.
Happy ‘businessing’ in
2018.
Adapted from Seni Adetu
