WANT TO BECOME WEALTHY?........Invest in Yourself before anything else!

Entrepreneurship - Planning to succeed!

Introduction

Enterprise is our platform for motivating industry and creativity which is pleasing to God. In this write-up, I share words of wisdom for young and relatively budding entrepreneurs as handed down by one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs of all times - Warren Buffet.

Warren Buffet knows a thing or two about becoming wealthy and successful, and the Oracle of Omaha is not averse to handing out mostly excellent advice to others who'd like to follow in his footsteps.

Fireinthebone has in this write-up pulled together 9 pieces of advice Buffet has given to graduating classes and/or young people. They're all great tips for the young--but also excellent advice that all of us should follow, no matter what age we are. Here are some of them.

1. Invest in yourself before anything else.

"Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do--anything that improves your own talents," Buffett told Good Morning America. That's excellent advice, whether it's getting more education or training, to improve a skill you already have or to learn a new one--or whether it's starting a company of your own. (In case it's the latter, here are 10 Steps to Success as an Entrepreneur.)

2. Change bad habits as soon as you can.

Habits can make or break you, Buffet says. "I see people with these self-destructive behaviour patterns," he says. "They really are entrapped by them."

The trick, he says, is to get out of the trap before it closes on you, which is why he advised graduating students at the University of Florida to form good habits as soon as possible. "You can get rid of it a lot easier at your age than at my age because most behaviours are habitual," he told them. "The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."

True enough, but if you're older than a college senior, don't despair. Though it may be tougher, habits can be changed at any time in life. Here's the secret of how to do it.

3. Know your own strengths and weaknesses.

Use that knowledge to capitalize on the things that you do well, and avoid the risks of getting in over your head in your weaker areas, Buffet advises. "You don't have to be an expert on everything, but knowing where the perimeter of that circle of what you know and what you don't know, and staying inside of it, is all-important," he's said.

4. Never risk something you need to get something you don't need.

It's not that taking risks is wrong--but do it only for the right reasons, Buffett explained to the University of Florida class. He added that he's seen both businesses and individuals take big risks out of greed when they should have held back.

"If you risk something that is important to you for something that is unimportant to you, it just doesn't make sense," he said. "I don't care if the odds you succeed are 99 to 1 or 1,000 to 1."

5. Find work you love.

"You really should take a job that, if you were independently wealthy, that would be the job you would take," Buffett said in that same commencement speech. "You will learn something, you will be excited about it, and you will jump out of bed. You can't miss." Finding work you love is a better bet than doing something because it pays well or because it would look good on your resume, he added. I couldn't agree more.

6. Surround yourself with people you admire.

Buffet has often talked about the importance of mentorship and the role his own mentor, Columbia professor Benjamin Graham, played in his life. But even beyond that, he advised a high school student to spend time with people whose qualities he aspired to. "Pick out associates whose behaviour is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction."

7. Facedown your fears.

Don't let fear stop you from doing things, especially things you know you must do to be successful, Buffett advises. In fact, he did this himself--he was once terribly afraid of public speaking, so he took a Dale Carnegie course to improve this skill. He's now one of the most sought-after and frequently quoted speakers in the world. You don't need to go that far, but if there are things you're afraid to do, or that you know are your weak points, do what you must to get better at them and become more comfortable doing them.

8. Your time is a precious resource. Use it accordingly.

Bill Gates once wrote that being jealously protective of his time was an important lesson he'd learned from Buffett. "There are only 24 hours in everyone's day. Warren has a keen sense of this. He doesn't let his calendar get filled up with useless meetings." Even though you're not a multi-billionaire, you shouldn't either.

9. Never ignore a great opportunity.

Though much of his advice is on the conservative, cautious side, Buffet is a big believer in grabbing opportunities with both hands when good ones arise. "Big opportunities in life have to be seized,"  "We don't do very many things, but when we get the chance to do something that's right and big, we've got to do it. And even to do it on a small scale is just as big a mistake almost as not doing it at all. You've really got to grab them when they come because you're not going to get 500 great opportunities."

WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS ESTABLISHED

When you are well established in business, and your business is doing well, you will need to do more things to maintain your position and profitability.  Here are some of the additional steps to manage and grow your business and turnover.

Develop the brand, grow the business

To build a brand is to develop patterns, styles and products that are unique and you call them your name. Let what services you provide be uniquely customized to be your brand, distinct from all others. There are different bread brands in the market in Abuja for instance, but people know the quality brands and the poor people know the ones their money can buy. 

What is building your brand?.  Deliberately distinguishing your products and services from that of any other person/organization.  Do your own thing in a different way.  If you will sing to entertain, sing differently from other Artists, dance differently from others.  Create your own pattern and follow it with passion.  If you are baking, create new varieties of the same cake, meat pie and doughnut.
 

Branding is doing your things differently, so it will be recognized anywhere as coming from you.  This is why soccer players use their hairstyle to brand themselves.  Whenever a football star, musician or artist wants to recognized everywhere, they wear a distinct hairstyle to keep to that style.  Remember Mike Tyson, Anita Baker and so many others.

Build your Brand on Quality

As a budding entrepreneur with adequate information and knowledge about the business , do not compromise on quality.  Whatever be the service you are providing, provide services as promised to customers.  Do not be cut in the web of people trying to economize materials and thereby reducing the quality of the service they provide.  The customers would know it, though some of them may never complain openly to you.  Be known for quality and be consistent about it.
 

Take every necessary step to reduce wastages and if possible eliminate it.  This will enhance your profitability in the short and long run.

Have an Online Presence

In advanced countries, where people do everything through the internet, use your last Dollar (Naira)  to create a web presence for the business.  It can be a few pages website or a blog to discuss the business, offer your products and services to the world in general.
Identify new markets/Locations

After you are well established in the business, seek new and better market and locations that will launch the business into a more visible entity. Take some objective business assessment of locations and the availability of the service in those areas and identify where it may be ideal to site the business.
 

Introduce Varieties to Serve more people

Introducing varieties is basically expanding the business.  If you are in Supermarket business, introducing varieties will mean stocking more and different products, branching into other service areas that have been left behind like stocking cosmetics, clothing, electronics, household furniture etc.
 

If you are into baking, you bake more varieties according to the taste of your customers. There is no benefit in baking French bread, or exotic fruit bread, malt and apple bread when your customers are not used to it.  Varieties and expansion must be market-driven.  It must be demand-driven.  

When fast food Restaurants in Lagos discovered that Nigerians would prefer local delicacies on their stable, they quickly introduce Eba, Yam, Beans with Vegetable soup etc.  Some fast-food Restaurants on Allen avenue in Lagos introduced Pepper soup etc and the patronage was wonderful.

Management Tip for Success
Here are some timeless management tips that propelled Warren Buffet's success, and trust me, if you can take them to heart, they will also propel your own success in 2019.

1.  Never lose money. 

Making money is great, but keeping money or retaining money is greater! What he is saying is that by ‘Never forget Rule no.1’ is that while making money is the key to business, keeping money is the key to owning a very successful business.

2. It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.

Always remember to think about what you’re going to say before you say something that you might regret later in life. Your reputation is everything. Don't forget that...

3. It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behaviour is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.

Spend time with people who have a positive outlook on both life and the business world and that positivity will transfer to you. Spend time with people who have a constantly negative outlook and you’re setting yourself up for some dark times ahead.

4. Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.

If you want to eliminate risk then you better know the ins and outs of your business. If you find yourself twiddling your thumbs then start reading up on your chosen sector. You never know what you might learn.

5. Admit mistakes and move on.

In the shareholder letter to Berkshire Hathaway investors back in 2010, Buffet let everyone know that he was responsible for a $44-million blunder:

FIRE...