It all still feels like yesterday – when in 2002 I quit a high paying job as a manager in a corporate multinational, in which I was an established high-flyer, to start offering my custom Excel-VB software development (and Freelance Writing) solutions to paying clients.
Not a few friends, relatives and co-workers thought I’d lost it. Indeed, some co-workers called me “mad” for doing so – as I noted in a past article (click to read) based on feedback reaching me years later.
I have found a reliable way to get paid what I want, the way I want, for what I do, and I am recognized internationally for it.
So what do I do exactly?
Well, I do several things, as a Location Independent Performance Improvement Specialist and Multipreneur.
However, with regard to Excel-VB software development, I USED to work on client premises, face to face or in person, building a wide range of custom automated spreadsheet applications using Excel-VB programming.
Then in 2012, I moved to providing the same service 100% remotely using the web – and over time used the pattern of client requests I was getting, to settle on key applications I could offer for sale.
As time went on, I discovered it was better to build apps and offer them for sale, instead of looking to get hired by clients to build spreadsheet software.
That decision made me focus my efforts on identifying the best markets/buyer groups to sell to, and I eventually narrowed down to farm business owners as the most serious minded of them all.
Since I did that, I have had NO cause to regret it, as Farm CEOs (from within and outside Africa) continue to respond to the sales offers of my farm business support products. Examples include the Excel-VB Ration Formulator, its accompanying Feed Formulation Handbook, my Excel-VB Poultry Farm Manager and other information products on sale at www.lulu.com/sdaproducts!
But it’s been a long – and difficult – journey, especially to succeeding in selling my Excel-VB software, starting-up from a Nigerian market legendary for software piracy and abuse of intellectual property: a VERY hostile environment indeed!
I have LOTS of true stories to share on the challenges – seen and unseen – that I’ve had to overcome to survive, and ultimately begin to flourish like I do today. It took lots of unconventional thinking and creativity based on painful experiences and deep reflection to find a solution suited to my situation!
For instance, I’ve had employees of clients inform me that their bosses hired “expert” others to try hacking my spreadsheet software. Yep: my own client so badly wanted to avoid paying me call-out fees for maintenance/update of my software, that he invited supposed “experts” from elsewhere to try making the changes he wanted!
And THAT is just one of many examples I tell you.
I have seen – and heard – all sorts. It takes being a Ninja of sorts to function as a provider of creative intellectual solutions in the Nigerian market – especially when it has to do with SOFTWARE!
Apart from worrying about your work being stolen, a more serious challenge is getting paid ENOUGH to make it profitable to practice your software development service as a business.
Now, in my case, as I’ve explained elsewhere, when I started out NO ONE was doing anything remotely resembling offering custom commercial spreadsheet software for sale to individuals or organizations.
What made it easy was the fact that I had enjoyed great success developing business solutions that worked in a world class environment, while working in a large corporate multinational.
The experiences I had while I was there, convinced me that such solutions would be needed by others. It took me time to find them, but I eventually did, and after some years, I narrowed to the most profitable niche to serve.
Several articles I’ve written in the past (see bottom of this article) feature true stories I’ve narrated, about how my self-taught ability to use spreadsheet programming to solve real life data recording, analysis and report generation for decision making problems in the different departments I worked.
The time, effort and money saving benefits delivered by the custom apps I built, in my spare time as a trainee brewer rapidly earned me a reputation as a problem solver – catching senior management attention at the corporate level.
That eventually led to rapid career advancement opportunities coming my way, so that in less than 6 years I’d earned promotions, and acting assignments at senior management positions well ahead of my peers.
But the workload, and the dreams I had of using my skills to serve a wider and more varied audience made me sure I needed to free myself from the restrictions of a 9 to 5 job.
So, I did my best to prepare for and eventually launch my entry into the world of self-employment.
Today, 15 long years later, my established name/brand recognition and accomplishments speak for me.
I enjoy positive attention from stakeholders in the various markets I serve, for the solutions I provide – especially my custom Excel-VB software development service, as well as my Custom Web Marketing Systems (WMS) Development service.
In case you wonder about the latter (i.e. WMS), it is what empowers me to market the former, in a manner that gets total strangers to send me payment for the growing library of performance improving products and services I offer via TayoSolagbade.com.
In other words, I find and win over buyers for what I sell, by using my unique WMS at low to zero cost. It took me YEARS to develop this system and make it work for me.
That’s why I offer to help clients develop their own unique/custom WMS to sell their own products/services at less cost, in less time and using less effort like I continue to do!
I settled on the WMS strategy after about 8 to 10 years of working face to face and on-site with clients, especially within the Nigerian market, and seeing that I was making less financially and emotionally rewarding progress than I believed was possible.
Indeed I found myself serving clients with my heart and soul, working round the clock like I did on my corporate job, to deliver solutions that worked and saved them money, time and effort – only to end up getting used and dumped, or manipulated one way or another.
There were exceptions i.e clients that treated me with consideration and respect. But they were few and far between.
Most times I found myself unable to reconcile my invested time and effort with the monetary compensation I got from majority of clients I served.
All of this happened despite the fact that I diligently served in line with the 10 item code of ethics I’d found online.
That code of ethics (click to read about it here) made it imperative that I ensure the client’s satisfaction at all times.
But after reflecting on my situation back then – especially after extricating myself from the “grip” of a particularly abusive client, in 2011, I realized that Pierre Le Clerc, who had conceived the original code of ethics I’d adapted for my use, had had a different experience from mine!
It struck me that the elderly Excel-VB Developer based in Canada, who I’d “borrowed” the code of ethics from, had conceived it for a market in which he was assured of a relationship of mutual respect and consideration from majority of his clients.
People tend to behave themselves MORE over there, compared to what happens in Nigeria.
Reflecting on my experiences over more than 8 years (doing business as “CB Solutions”), it was apparent that I could not boast of being in such a market, in Nigeria.
So, I resolved to CREATE for myself, a system that would protect my interests as a provider keen to do what Le Clerc did, without suffering the kind of abuse and exploitation I’d been exposed to in the past.
That decision led me to refine my marketing and solutions development techniques to what I use today, and on which my Web Marketing System is based.
This has enabled me, for over 4 years now, to work 100% remotely via the web, to repeatedly and SUCCESSFULLY deliver my growing library of solutions to a global paying audience.
In other words, I have evolved to a system that makes it possible for me to PLEASE my clients, in a manner that earns me great rewards, of the kind I cherish financially as well as emotionally.
Central to my continuing success has been the diligent use of the 10 item code of ethics I adapted from Pierre Le Clerc’s website – and which I described in yesterday’s post (click to read).
Related Articles
1. Creating Demand for Custom Automated Spreadsheet Software Solutions in Nigeria/Africa (True Story by Tayo K. Solagbade)
2. 1 Hour Talk(No. 5): Proven Strategies for Using MS Excel to Boost Employee and Company Productivity
3. How I Built a Bank Transactions Monitor (BTM) ™Excel-VB Driven App as a Gift for a Client in 2006 [Another Example of Real Life Problem Solving with Excel-VB]
4. Achieve Business Success Using Spreadsheet Data Analysis & Reporting Automation
5. What is Excel-VB?
6. Difference between Visual Basic 6.0 and VBA
7. Get Novice Proof Custom Automated Spreadsheet Software [Hint: From Tayo K. Solagbade – a Multidisciplinary Provider Guided by a Code of Ethics That Protects YOU!]
