Posts Tagged ‘small business opportunities’

Why Nigerians Suffer As Unemployed Internet Surfers

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

Why do many Nigerian internet users surf the internet endlessly without improving their economic condition. Why are there tales of woes among the Nigerian youth who desire to make money online. This is a guest post from a Nigerian blogger, Micheal Mcneri, who leaves in United States. He started his online adventure right here in Nigeria. I belief you will enjoy this piece – Naijaecash

McNeri

Why We Suffer As Unemployed Surfers

The Internet is for surfing not for suffering. The internet is for information gathering, knowledge building and application of such knowledge for making money! It is not for suffering! So why do Nigerians suffer online. There are numerous sites where you see us (Nigerians) gathered and all we do is complain of our suffering online. I feel there is no need for that. In fact, when you have pain and you gain access to the web, all your sufferings ought to go away as you receive knowledge and help from the online community. Often, such knowledge and help are given free of charge!

I am based in the United States and I have been involved with post-secondary education up to the highest levels since 1988. I have numerous interests even though I have a full time job which pays my bills. It has however fascinated me since my days at Ibadan, UCH to be precise when we first learned of Cybercafés (Internet Cafes). That was in the days of NITEL internet and calling booths. At that time in 2000/2001, I got a glimpse of what the world wide web had in stock for us. Seas of information and oceans of characters. We browsed in a very different way then.

How I discovered the World Wide Web

In those days, I had to apply for a NITEL land line so that I could use NITEL internet. To get the line cost 13,000 naira ($87) to NITEL and another 25,000naira ($167) ‘egunje’ (bribe) to the thugs (staff) of the cursed company. It was like bleeding, but we did it. This afforded me the opportunity to become a web user as I browsed the internet by dialup. I opened “FREE” email accounts and searched with this new search engine called GOOGLE! All was going fine and I was feeling cool but a few months into this new adventure, the line suddenly stopped working!

Then I received a bill of 102,000 naira ($680)! I thought I was dreaming! I contested the bill because the phone was not working and I had not made any international or local call to warrant such a monstrous bill. Well, I was simply told that that is my bill and I have to pay it if I ever want to use the line again! To me that was fraudulent and I was not willing to pay for what I did not use. Well, that was the end of browsing from home, but I had learned that there was a huge world out there and I was going to be part of it.

Journey to Cybercafés

A few cybercafés sprang up in Ibadan at that time, but many of them had lousy speeds. I was already spoiled with my home dialup (NITEL internet) which was so fast at 24kbps! Eventually I found one in Bodija, Ibadan. It cost 500 naira ($3.5) for 5 hours of moderate speed browsing. I was happy. Then I would go and buy a pack of floppy discs (do they still exist?). Each one was 1024kb. Armed with the 10 in a pack I would go to the cybercafe and pay for 5 hours. As I surfed, I downloaded materials, usually articles of interest in the medical field, or web pages. I would just be saving them to the diskettes (for the younger readers, that is what they were called). Then when I got home, in the comfort of my home, I would re-browse them, that is if Nigerian Electric Power Authority, NEPA (another sick company) permitted (the company had the monopoly of supplying electricity, but does a terrible job of servicing the masses, I learned they have been re-branded as Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. In my humble opinion, Never Expect Power Always is better than Power Holding Company of Nigeria. Well, back to our main gist. It was at the cybercafés that I stumbled on my present career.

It was during my adventure in the cybercafés that I found out about the World Bank Scholarship and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. That was how I ended up having papers in Croatia at the 7th World Congress of Pediatric Surgery. That is how I ended up here in United States, owning a website development company and helping other less advantaged organizations get their feet online.

Why all this personal story?

My story may be a bit long winded, but I want you to take from this a little lesson. It is still challenging to get online in Nigeria 10 years later, I wouldn’t have guessed. I have had some couple of youth send me letters asking me to help their helpless situations in Nigeria relating to unemployment and struggles. One of them named Tunde, does landscaping, but has no official qualification. He has worked in a cybercafe before. I encouraged him to simply put pen to paper in 5-10 short essays of what he does which is landscaping. Then I offered to help him get a website on, optimize it for search engines and even purchase some adverts for him. Then all he has to do is register his business name in Nigeria and we can hunt for business online since he was disadvantaged on the ground in Nigeria. It has been almost one year now and I have not heard from him.

I guess Tunde lacked the motivation to follow through with my proposal because he probably think it is too big a dream. It was a mistake on my part too, because I was dreaming big “for Tunde”. So I have ceased to dream for people. The message here is DREAM BIG AND YOU CAN GET THERE. It does not matter how ridiculous your dream is. What matters is whether you believe you can achieve it or not. There are many roads out here and that is why it is called the WEB. Read, Learn, Dream, Achieve.

After Tunde, I had another cold caller who contacted me through facebook. He had a similar story. Patrick is a teacher, but wants more. He complained that his meager income as a teacher wasn’t sufficient to support his poor family and there are several other financial challenges that he was struggling with. I asked Patrick what he knows and can really write about. He said poverty. I said okay, write five short essays and I will set you up as an online writer. Maybe we can get you something to supplement your poor teacher’s salary.

Two months later, I asked Patrick how far? I am still waiting. Please tell me if it takes Patrick 2 months to write 5 short essays on this first offer, how will anyone be willing to contract him? He will not deliver and in this fast-paced world, nobody has that kind of time. So the second big lesson is “STRIKE YOUR IRON WHILE IT IS HOT“. We are too lukewarm in Nigeria. We feel overwhelmed by the huge problems facing us and the lean resources available to us. However, if you want to make it to Heaven, you have to live like you are in Heaven here on Earth. Righteous, Holy and Worshipping the only true God, like the angels do in Heaven.

My Suggestion to You

I believe you should gear up and face the invisible if you want to rise out of that quagmire limiting you. Hold onto your faith, but also focus on your dreams. Yes, dear to DREAM BIG DREAMS! If you have no dreams, then you are going nowhere. Can a Man make heaven if he has not dreamed of Heaven?  Also, start NOW! People in the developed world have blogged their ways out of poverty. You too can make money online from Nigeria if you take action now. Get a blog, send a guest post to well established bloggers and become the person of your dreams. You’ve got to STRIKE YOUR IRON WHILE IT IS HOT! Stop procrastinating, start acting out your DREAM!

Micheal Mcneri is an Internet Marketer and a blogger. You can visit his website at Finance Is Personal. He also has a new one at I Be Naija.

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Posted in Blogging, Entrepreneur, Nigerian, small business | 45 Comments »

Small Business Opportunity

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Which Small Business Opportunity is right for me?

You know quite well that a small business opportunity discovered and well executed is actually the only thing you need to turn your fortune around! Afterall, several successful entrepreneurs have testified that the first one million dollar is the hardest to make. So we know that we need just the right business opportunity which if well executed has the potential to launch us into wealth. Unfortunately, even though there are several small business opportunities around, you can’t get involve in all. Yes that is the dilemma. Lack of time, money and other resources will make it impossible for you to try out all the beautiful money making ideas that you fantasize with in your imagination 😉

Due to the present global economic crash, those who were satisfied with working for salary before now are beginning to reconsider their stance on starting a small business. Several of my friend who used to make fun of me when I tell them that it is possible to run an internet based business alongside a paid job are now getting interested. Instead of browsing and spending time on social network sites chatting with strangers, they have now made the search engines their best friend. They spend hours searching online for an internet business opportunity that will be suitable for them. Unfortunately, such effort produces poor results.

The singular reason why many are yet to start their own business is because they have no clue where to start from. Some on the other hand do have a clue, because they have bought and read books on small business ideas or home business ideas. You must have come across such books. The title usually goes thus, 101 Small Business Opportunities (since this title is not yet in existence, I guess I should write an e-book and give it that title). They were all excited while reading the book, and one will naturally expect them to start a small business once they finished. Well that is not usually the result. Many actually become paralysed after reading such books. The fear of failure keeps them back from taking action. If you have been considering starting your own business for more than 3months, you can be assured that it is either you are afraid of failure or you are suffering from information overload. Information overload is the second major hindrance to starting a small business.

How  Successful Entrepreneurs select business opportunities

Since there are several businesses one could venture into that do not require much capital and investment. The best small business startup strategy is Take Action Now!

1. Make a List – Make a list of at least ten of the common small business ideas you know of. There are business ideas and opportunities all around. If you are determined a little creativity is all it takes to succeed. When writing your list, don’t discard any business opportunity as being too small, because what you consider insignificant may end up as the best business opportunity. Some folks have become extremely wealthy by starting businesses that people considered stupid or unprofitable! Also, it is okay to include the idea of purchasing a small business franchise. It is not compulsory that you must invent your own small business from scratch.

2. Use Your Passion As Criteria For Small Business Idea Selection – Study the list carefully and strike out those you are least passionate about. You cannot be successful if you choose to run with a business idea that you hate. Successful entrepreneurs become successful running businesses they are passionate about. When you are passionate about a business vision, work suddenly becomes pleasure. The joy of seeing the progress being made by the business gives you the motivation you need to succeed. It is not all about money! Remember, if you provide services passionately, profit will follow you naturally and you will become wealthy! So your list must be founded on your passion, not what you consider as being the most lucrative business ideas!

3. Select 3 Small Business Idea For Further Research – Next select the best three ideas you feel you are most passionate about. Use your imagination to look into the future, at least 12months from the present. Will you still be enthusiastic working on any of these business ideas? Are you so passionate about any of them that you will continue working to see it succeed even when nobody is there to encourage you? This is the way to sieve the ideas.

4. Get Advice From Experienced Entrepreneurs – Visit successful entrepreneurs who are already implementing those ideas. (It is wise to go out of your locality so that the entrepreneur will not be afraid of you becoming his next competitor). If possible, chat with at least two entrepreneur for each business ideas you have selected. You will be surprise at the amount of information you will gather from such interviews. This singular step will save you a lot of pain in terms of fund, time and energy that would have been wasted due to your lack of business experience.

5.Pick Your First Small Business Risky Adventure! – Life is all about risk. So  face it. Tell yourself the truth, I wan to take a risk because refusal to deliberately and wisely take a risk at succeeding is itself a bad risk! Select a business opportunity to start with based on the tips garnered from your discussion with those entrepreneurs. You are not just taking a risk by so doing, instead you are doing what every successful entrepreneur does all the time. We take intelligent business risk based on quality information and experience gained from the past.

6. Get An Initial Capital – Get an amount you know you can afford to loose without going bankrupt. Don’t go for small business loan or empty your life savings. That will be a foolish thing to do.  Taking business risk is not the same thing as gambling or playing lottery.  Invest that into the idea you have selected and kick-off.

7.Get a business mentor – It will be nice if you can ask one of the entrepreneurs you interviewed to act as your business mentor. If you can’t get one of them, then get someone online to act as your business mentor. The fellow must be a successful entrepreneur, but not necessarily one that is in the same kind of business that you have ventured into.

8. Document Your Business Adventure – In conclusion I will suggest that you keep a personal journal where you will keep details of your business adventure for the first six months. Write down your experiences during this period. Record things that helped along the way and things that brought frustrations. Take note of business and personal decisions that work and those that got you into trouble. That journal will serve as a very useful business reference material (more valuable than books written by others on business strategies) in your future business adventures.

Start Your Own Small Business Now!

Ok, enough of the theory, get up NOW and take action! That is the only way to succeed. As you make progress with your small business opportunity, kindly return here (Nigerian Entrepreneur) to share your experience with us in the comment section. You can get future updates to this post and other Small business tips by subscribing to my RSS feed. See you at the top!

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Investing | 61 Comments »