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After blogging about “the power of small money”, I was going to immediately start pouring my empiricism on the above-subject head but something stopped me; the inability to communicate this topic appropriately without my dear readers going off tangent. The major problem with this model of doing business is how people can lose focus because FOCUS is a major prerequisite to success in any endeavor.

 

The idea behind multiple streams of income seems like a total panacea to the uncertainty syndrome that most entrepreneurs encounter but on hindsight the complexity derived from implementing this strategy to solve financial crisis may put the actor in more problems than he/she first encountered. On one of my talk with some group of entrepreneurs, I posited multiple streams of incomes as a solution to uncertainty syndrome.

 

My idea was simple; entrepreneurs’ greatest burden is “uncertainty’ – not sure if their grandeur ideas will be economically viable if implemented. This skepticism, though valid, may be the major block to successful project implementation leading to procrastination, analysis-paralysis and time-mismanagement. The fear that uncertainty breeds is burdened enough to destroy the greatest idea implementation.

 

My first solution was this; fail as fast as possible on a small scale. There is no greater clarity to success than failure and there is no venture that you will not learn through failure no matter how many gurus you study and read about. The solution is taking action which leads to failure which eventually leads to clarity. Failure is derived in any project as the inability to fully comprehend the needed solution to the task.

 

Now, all said and done; you have a great idea that you think the world needs; you believe this idea is so novel that it will transform the world around you; you believe in this idea so much that you were able to source for funds to implement it. Then you get stuck, consumers don’t get it; they are just not buying it. Your novel product is hanging on the air; the time you gave your investor is running out.

 

This is such a normal constraint; trust me, I have been in this position countless time. Well, Bill Gates, Google guys, etc all face this scenario and they sort it out by first by releasing a beta version of their novel idea. This allows them to evaluate consumers’ reaction to the idea. No matter how wonderful an idea is, it’s simply an idea. Please, don’t leave your present job based on an idea.

 

You implement the idea on a small scale; difficulties will arise like consumers not buying, over budgeting, unstable suppliers, logistic issues, etc. You stay on the business until you are able to resolve the issue. Resolving the issue is scoped in various ways; are you making sales or are you profiting? If you are a start-up, I strongly advise you to focus on sales than profit making.

 

Why sales and not profit? It is unlikely, you will profit in the first year if you think strategically. Sales build brand equity, consumer evangelists, market share, receptive channel distributors and most importantly; cash flow while profit making may hinder these important business assets. The mere focus on profit making describes your entrepreneurial leanings and leads me to a challenge that is associated with multiple streams of income;

 

Opportunistic and Strategic Entrepreneurs; the former thinks short term while the latter thinks long term. The former moves from one project to another looking for the one that will give immediate returns while the latter stick to one project until a breakthrough is achieved before moving to the next project. The latter is always more influential and wealthier than the former. It’s simply a matter of time.

 

How do strategic entrepreneurs achieve multiple stream of income? This is my second solution: They do this by thinking linearly; whatever project they venture in has one singular theme. It is this theme that drives them to the choice of project to engage in. POeTSolvers Limited has one singular theme; to empower Nigerian financially. Though we are not perfect, we venture in projects that only resonate with this.

 

 

I had a target at the beginning of this year to grow my asset base to 250 million naira by the end of the year. This target was empowering, inducing and encouraging but it defies the POeTSolvers theme. For me to achieve this feat, I must see every individual I encounter as a money making machine and how each individual can lead me to the envisioned goal. This vision was demeaning to humanity.

 

I changed my personal target to how can I make 250 millionaires before the end of the year. I realized the time frame was short because money making is a mind-thing not a possession acquisition thing so I gave myself a personal target for the end of 2009. We have sold more than 200 pieces of our JOBFinder Manual and hopefully 50 of those that purchase it will actually read it and implement it.

 

50 of those that read it and implement it successfully will get a job in a plush company where the starting amount will be 1.5 million naira. Therefore, we have created 50 millionaires and we believe we will be able to sell more than a thousand copies before the end of the year. The more we sell the more millionaires we make. We also use our JOBFinder website to improve job seekers experience.

 

We also plan to give for FREE; an in-house developed e-book on how to make money through Dubai Gold Commodity Exchange and other gold trading platforms; we believe this will increase our targets. Other investment schemes are lined up to alleviate poverty in the rural slums of Lagos. We will keep you updated! Everything we do, we align to empowering Nigerians financially.

 

Blogging is also a lucrative venture but you have to have a strategic mindset while blogging. There are so many things we plan to do but we have to do them one at a time. I have to get my MBA out of the way which I will hopefully finish in January. I have deferred to sign some contracts with some foreign partners because of my MBA program; I have to finish one project at a time.

 

I am sorry, I cannot finish this topic now; I don’t want to make promises because I have made so much and I am unable to keep them on time; I have not concluded “The power of small money”. I hope to conclude it soon. This is the beginning of this topic; if you work in a company or you are a start-up entrepreneur, you need this topic to make life very easy for you. Please, pray for me that I have enough strength to serve you. Ciao!