8 Things You Should Know Before Starting Your Business In Nigeria

Seven out of ten people feel the urge to start up their own business, the urge to be their own boss and enjoy all the luxury that comes with it.

The thought of not being fired, not being queried by anyone or having to wake up as early as 5a.m, beat traffic, sit in an office all day long just to make ends meet can be very soothing.

However, the truth is, starting a business in Nigeria isn’t really as easy as it sounds.

In fact, most of the business brands fail in their first year of start-up, and a whooping 7 out of 10 business fail within 10 years.

Launching your own brand could be difficult, and what keeps you going is what you have planned and the way you message your business.

Here are 8 things you should know before starting your own business.

Find A Business Idea You Are Passionate About

The primary goal behind launching a business is what will help you on the long-run.

Setting your priorities straight gives you a purpose to continue even when things aren’t going so smoothly which is normal in all businesses.

Making money is one of the major drives to starting a business but making this your main intention can discourage you even more.

Whatever your idea of business may be, let your passion or interests drive you, it will make starting up a business more fun and enjoyable than stressful for you.

Do You Truly Have An Audience For Your Business?

Honesty is the most important key to a great business. Being honest with yourself makes you a better business man or woman.

Creating a great business begins with solving the problem of the people.

Once you can solve a problem, and people are ready to pay for it, then you are good to it.

Ask yourself the big question; are people really in need of my service? The larger your customer base, the larger your business potential.

Making researches and quick surveys are one of the ways to prevent yourself from being completely ignorant.

These researches will be the foundation of the growth of your business.

Do Not Be Afraid To Start Small

Starting small shouldn’t be your greatest fear or discouragement, literally most great businesses now, started from somewhere.

As a matter of fact, going too big in the early years is one of the reasons why so many businesses failed earlier than they should.

So many entrepreneurs who were so confident of selling their business idea ended up investing all their capitals into it to make a big from start, only to fail.

Starting small gives you time to learn, become more dynamic and see the market structure while also securing your finances so you don’t go bankrupt.

It doesn’t matter if you have only one customer per week, it’s a process. Just take note of your progress and learn as you go.

Coming Up With A Business Name And Logo

A business name and logo that speak is one of the most creative parts of launching your brand.

Coming up with a perfect logo design to picture your services or products or a name that sells you out is an underrated process during business launching.

A logo and a brand name is one of the major factors that makes you stand out amongst your competitors and easily identifiable.

Coming up with names comes easy for some and could be an entirely difficult task to some.

Either ways here are a few ways you could get a brand name:

• Using Acronyms: this is one of the commonest ways to come up with a brand name. Try the initials of your names or a phrase that you like.
• Use nicknames: using your nickname makes it easier to identify you and your business anywhere in the world.

• Use foreign languages: picking a Greek or Latin name gives your brand a stronger feel to it, making people more inquisitive about the origin of that name.
• Switch up the spelling: this is another creative way of coming up with a brand name. Picking a word that conveys a meaning that sells out your brand but changing a word or two, spelling it out the way it’s pronounced too.
• Use your own name: sometimes you may want to sound so professional that the need to use your birth name arises. If all other options don’t satisfy you, using your own name is the best way to be sure.

Whatever name you pick remember to keep it pronounceable and easier to remember.

Develop Necessary Skills

The secret to owning a successful business is being versatile as a boss.

In fact, god management skill could be the most important factor for businesses to survive.

While you can easily get things done for you by your workers, the ability to participate in all branches of your business makes you more independent and increase proficiency in your business.

Developing new skills helps you develop as an individual and this development will reflect in the growth of your business.

Whatever business you are going into, some skills are just as important as the main service or product you are selling. Some of these skills include:

• Communication skills: in the world of business, people with good communication skills tend to be more successful because of their ability to be very social and communicate easily. Communication is key to all forms of business relationships. Do not be afraid to walk up to a random person to tell them what your business is about, you might meet your biggest clients this way. Also, if you cannot carry your followers along, you will form a bad leader and it will become difficult for you to grow the business.

•  Leadership skills: The ability to give orders in the politest and authoritative way is essential. Also, a leader is more than just giving orders to the followers. You need to be able to inspire progress and share the vision with your followers. That way, they will be more diligent than ever. A good example of a good leader who inspires his followers is Tony Elumelu (the chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation)

• Time Management
• Marketing Skills

Plan Your Marketing Game

Advertising is the easiest way to put yourself in the business market.

There are several ways to advertise your business, and depending on the type of business you are into, some method just sells better.

For example, if you are into Sales of scholarship, exam and job past questions and answers, one of the best methods of advert will be through Online sponsored post on blogs that have your target audience as their main website visitors.

You can also run Facebook ads that are well targeted, and direct viewers to your sales page.

The point is, you need to find out what works best in your own case and that will depend on what you are selling.

Some other means of advertisement you can check include:

• Billboards
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• TV commercials
• Social media.

Find Out More About Your Target Audience

It is vey possible that your target audience is actually more than the people you have in mind.

This is why business research is actually a very important process before you start.

You can do small-scale and large-scale research before you start.

You can also check up on your competitors (big brands in your market already) or you can study closely related businesses.

Author Bio

Adelana John is a content writer and web designer. When he’s not writing or reading, he is most likely surfing the net for information. Check out his recruitment blog.