1. WHAT IS BUSINESS
REALLY ABOUT?
BRIAN OJI
T H E S I M P L E S T G U I D E T O S T A R T I N G U P I N
B U S I N E S S E V E R W R I T T E N
www.gaanstart.com
2. BUSINESS IS ABOUT
VALUE.
VALUE IS ANYTHING
PEOPLE NEED, WANT,
LIKE OR DESIRE AND
ARE WILLING TO PAY
SOMETHING FOR
W W W . G A A N S T A R T . C O M
3. L E T ' S E X P L A I N . . .
Business is about you creating value for others so they in turn
can pay you something for that value you have created.
Say for example Mr James lives in Oshodi and works at Falomo,
Ikoyi and has to drive to work every day with his car.
To be happy with himself while driving, Mr James likes to have a
clean car; however he has to wake up very early to get ready for
work so he can beat the traffic and get to work before 8:00am
when the office opens for the day. Mr James obviously ‘needs’
help with washing his car because he does not have the time.
As such, he is willing to pay N200 to his neighbour’s security
man; Ali to wash his car in the wee hours of the morning every
week day. Ali therefore has a business because he is able to
provide a value for Mr James for which Mr James is willing to
pay him money.
This is simply what business is about; looking out for what
people need and supplying it for a fair price.
4. L E T ' S E X P L A I N . . . S O M E M O R E
You can think through other examples of this in other areas; For
example; you need a house, your landlord meets that need for
you so you pay him a rent. You need water to drink, the
sachet/bottled water seller meets your needs by providing you
water and so you pay for it and drink.
We are all on the other side of business because every day we
are buying things we need; from small biscuits to big buildings.
Business therefore is about being the person on the other side
of the divide; being the supplier; the one from who others can
buy what they need.
5. S O W H A T I S T H E F I R S T S T E P I N
D O I N G B U S I N E S S ?
Identify a need; something people want.
Do an exercise; write out 5 things that you buy at least once a week;
e.g: Water, recharge card, fuel etc
1. _______________________________________
2. _______________________________________
3.________________________________________
4.________________________________________
5. _______________________________________
Now based of these, think about other things people may need,
maybe not weekly now; but from time to time. Those things you
come up with are your opportunities.
You begin in business by identifying these needs and preparing
yourself to be able to provide the required value that satisfies these
needs.
6. . . . A N D W H A T D O Y O U D O N E X T ?
Dive in.
Get yourself busy. Learn what you need to learn; meet who you
need to meet; to be able to develop the capacity to supply. For
some that may want to go into supplying things like cake for
parties; you may need to first go and learn to make cakes. The
same for so many others.
There are some others though who want to do things that they are
naturally good at and does not require much training; like
cooking, washing clothes, washing cars etc, for those ones what
you need are customers.
Start telling people about what you do and before long someone
would be willing to patronise you. Just make sure your prices are
very fair and be even willing to work for free at times. Especially
at the beginning.
Before long, you would see remarkable growth.
7. J U S T P A Y A T T E N T I O N T O T H E S E
T W O T H I N G S :
1. Ensure your product/service is done well. (e.g: if you make
cakes, be sure you are making great cakes). Without this your
customers may not come back and that is a great loss for any
business.
2. Do good customer service. Make sure people feel good when
they patronise you. Be warm and sweet to your customers; show
them you value them and ensure you are always very cheerful and
thankful for the opportunity to supply them with value.
So, it is time…go start something.
Do the exercise in the next pages, it would help you organize your
thoughts in starting your business today.
All the best!
8. P L A N . R E V I E W . D O .
Your First Business Plan
Kindly Provide Answers To the Following Questions in One or Two Short
Sentences.
Fundamentals
1. What will you sell?
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2. Who will buy it?
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3. How would your business idea help people (or organizations)?
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9. P L A N . R E V I E W . D O .
Pricing and Payment
4. How much would you charge?
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5. How will you get paid?
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6. Apart from money, what else would you gain from running this business?
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Marketing
7. How would customers learn about your business?
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10. P L A N . R E V I E W . D O .
8. How would you encourage your customers to tell others about you?
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Projections
9. What are your success indicators?
Number of Customers in quarter 1
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Net income in 1 Year (Total income – Cost of production)
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Other Metrics (Please state)
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11. P L A N . R E V I E W . D O .
Requirements
10. What are the five basic things you need to start this business and how much
would they cost?
Initial Costs
Example: A Mobile Phone N5,000
1
2
3
4
5
Bonus Point
a. Why do you think you would succeed in this business?
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