Refusing to take my own advice and go to sleep late one night after wrapping up some design work with the aim of ‘sleeping on the idea’ I decided to watch some Shark Tank episodes on Youtube. Watching people pitch varying businesses to seasoned business men and womyn in exchange for investment or sensational advice is never a bad choice. I love Dragon’s den and Shark Tank!
On this episode of Shark Tank, Two young ladies pitched an online business where they consult on interior décor. The client reaches out to them via the website to book a free initial consultation before they decide to work for the client. Mark Cuban, billionaire business mogul, took an interest in the ladies because they were young, vibrant and braved the odds to set out to start a professional business at a young age. The ladies did not get any investment in the tank due to one issue or the other but one advice Mark Cuban gave these ladies stuck with me.
Mark asked them, “If you are not able to get an investment here today, what will happen to the business?” The ladies replied that they would have to set the business aside and get jobs because the business was beginning to gulp all their cash and they were getting cash strapped. Therefore they need jobs to survive, and with their business acumen getting a job would be easy. Mark jumped in immediately he heard there reply, it was like yelling Allah-akbar on a plane in Texas. He begged them not to abandon their project, he begged them to HUSTLE, sleep on their floors of their friend’s apartments, re-strategize on their service offerings and keep going, pump whatever little money they have into the business, cut their personal expenses but whatever they do they should not leave their HUSTLE to get a job. He hated their response to put it mildly.
In relation to Mnena’s article, we have all come across a Nigerian business that has ‘swindled’ us for a quick buck which we don’t notice until it’s too late and they are gone with the wind and with our money in exchange for a sub-standard service or product. However, to say the HUSTLE must die, is saying the pursuit of dreams must die, little businesses should fold up during their early stages because they cannot match the standards set by the market leaders. This can diminish the vigour of some would be entrepreneurs. If we were perfect from the beginning, how would we develop? Whatever happened to looking back in ten years at your first product and laughing at how ridiculous it was? As Reid Hoffman put it “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late
TRUE entrepreneurs identify a need and develop a solution to such need, no matter how mundane this solution might be they still offer it to the public. TRUE entrepreneurs follow their gut, they aim to deliver the best product to combat the need identified, they plan but even a plan cannot cover all the loopholes the market will expose you too.
Entrepreneurs offer a basic product and if 1,2,3,4,5…..10 people get to use this product in satisfaction and pay for it, when the 11th paying customer comes along they might experience a standard which the product falls below. Would we say the entrepreneur defrauded the 11th customer? No, the entrepreneur has just discovered a way to improve on his product offering.
There’s a dangerous wave of entrepreneurship sweeping over Nigeria right now, I have read about it and experienced it. People who have no emotional compass to balance their drive for money are opening up shop and practising the most ridiculous business practices that should not be heard of. The level of professionalism and service delivery the average Nigerian is also not helping matters.
Let me conclude, even if my conclusion might be lengthy, for any business venture to start small it has to be a hustle. A small business can’t get it all right, you will be late for meetings, the print on some of the t-shirts will peel off, the website will shut down due to limited capacity, the logo you designed for that client might not work in white and black, you will under-value a property, but this should not discourage you. It does not make you a fraud, or that you do not have the proper training for that business it only means you should learn to combat these things. If the complaints of one of your clients has not given you sleepless nights then you have no business being an entrepreneur, leave it be.
TRUE AND PASSIONATE Entrepreneurs will do whatever it takes to make sure their clients never repeat the same complaint twice. TO START A BUSINESS, TO SELL THE FIRST UNIT OF YOUR PRODUCT, TO OFFER YOUR FIRST CLIENT YOUR SERVICE IS TO START HUSTLING, LEARN FROM MISTAKES AND KEEP HUSTLING.
If you don’t believe me, ask Mark Cuban.
