Plan To Start A Business In Nigeria? Don’t Quit Your Job Yet Until You Read This

July 16, 2014 – Plan To Start A Business In Nigeria? Don’t Quit Your Job Yet Until You Read This

Ever been on an interstate coach before? Well everyone has. Ever had to alight in frustration and join another one moving in the opposite direction because for some reason you have realized that you are now thirty kilometres past your intended destination? Believe it when I tell you it is not a beautiful experience.

Imagine graduating from a good university with good grade and two years down the line, you still find yourself in a position where you still keep wake hours on end poring on pages and pages of job vacancies and throwing you CV everywhere. Eventually, one day, you got an SMS from a ‘company’ inviting you for interview and as it would turn out, you expectation was short-lived when, it turned out that the ‘company’ is a one man start-up.
So later he calls to congratulate you on the new job, asking you to resume immediately. Since it been a rough two years since you graduated and are itching to leave home, you reluctantly resume, vowing to yourself that the slightest unwise move from him will make you quit.

Three years down the line, that little capital-starved trying-to-survive startup has grown from a position of utter nothingness to possess a formidable presence in all the major cities in the country with dozens in employ and multiple of hundreds of million in capital base.

And you sit back one day and begin to consider that how much you have contributed to the growth of the company. How you have worked really hard to make the company what it is now and how many investors you personally have convinced into putting their money down not to mention the fact that most of the ideas that made the company what it was came from you.

At this point, no matter how much you are paid by way of salary or benefit, something in the inside of you will begin rise up. You have suddenly realized that you are the livewire of the company but you do not own it. Many people will began making immediate moves to break off and start their own firm. There is nothing wrong in being in business for yourself, but here are a few tip that will help so you may not crash and burn.

1. Make sure you are ready. Many people rush into business because of the romanticism they fill their imaginations with. Others simply do not sit down to count the cost, make plans or have detailed understanding of what being in business entails, so when the going gets really tough, they begin to mentally throw in the towel.
2. Make sure you have contingency plans. The fact that you are the one who brought in investors in the previous business is no guarantee that once you break off, they will come running after you. It may take a while to raise capital but be focused and keep at it, eventually when they see good prospect, they will be convinced.
3. Never rush in: In business, timing is very important but unpreparedness is an unforgivable offence. You may need to begin the process while still under someone’s paycheque. You may begin with company registration, market survey, you may even have to take a few courses in selling or management. Whatever you may have to do, just do it, but never rush into business unprepared or just because you envy another man’s success:
4. Business is not gamble. Many do not understand that business is not like the casino. You see, you cannot afford to gamble with your life saving. If you must launch out, you must be ready to take responsibility and until you are ready to take complete responsibility, you may as well not venture yet.
5. Be careful who you break off with. Many people are in the habit of breaking away with some other members of their former workplace. Be careful who you break off with. While some will propel the growth of your new start-up, others will pull it down and bring you back to where you started.
6. Keep sentiments out of your hiring process. If you must hire when you break off, make sure that you really need the extra hands you are bringing in and when eventually you hire make sure you take only people who are qualified for the job and don’t let familiarity kill your business.

About the author: Ifeanyi J. Igbokwe is a peak performance expert, motivational speaker, consultant and an action coach with special interest with personal and corporate growth and effectiveness. Email: [email protected]