Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

“Tayo, let your wife and kids work with you to run the place. Do not employ people who will have easy access to the inner workings of your business. Out here, people can rarely be found who are that trustworthy. Give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile!”

That kind of advice came from some of my Beninese friends and associates, regarding recruiting hands for the brew pub I want to open here in Cotonou..

To be honest, it’s about the same kind of advice I would give a foreginer if I was in Nigeria.

No offense intended, but I’m saying it as I’ve seen it over the course of many yearss!

To Succeed, One Needs a Good Team

Having said the above, individuals of exceptional character, who will deliver great performances as employees, do exist (in all societies).

I was that kind of employee, and have worked with like minded others, in paid employment.

I’ve also periodically come across them in client companies, over the years.

Such employees are however hard to find, and often need to be given worthwhile rewards (not necessarily money) for their fidelity to make them stay long.

When starting up however, that can be a bit hard to achieve, since many start-ups tend to have limited resources and means.

And that’s why the idea of bringing one’s immediate “family” members into a business project can be useful.

At least to get it off the ground. And if done right, a fully fledged family business may emerge, that will be passed down through multiple generations.

I’ve Decided to Build a Family Based Brew Pub Business for the Long Term

I’ve explained in past articles that my brew pub will offer my pineapple peels based drinks and cakes as the main products. But it will also offer creative practical language learning opportunities based on use of my Quick and Dirty Guide to French and English.

Basically, I will facilitate speech and conversation making sessions in the pub for ANY interest patrons, as a group. Contests will be held among participants, and prizes will be awarded based on voting by the audience.

This latter activity will serve to attract MORE of my target audience to the pub, since it will be free, and yet of useful interest to them.

That’s why I’ve been carefully coaching my kids to develop a variety of potentially useful competencies.

Whenever I’m home I continue from where I stopped last time I visited.

And when I’m away, I deliberately make calls to follow up with them on tasks I give them, which are often meant to help them develop a new knowledge or skill.

From writing assignments, to physical exercise regimens, cooking, drinks making, baking (without an oven), among others, the kids are being gradually trained to be creatively versatile i.e. multipreneurial…like I AM!

But I do not bother telling them, or their mother, that THAT (i.e. multidisciplinary training) is my purpose.

Doing so would only have created a psychological resistance, since I get told ever so often that not everyone can be like me. Whatever that means …since history attests to the fact that ANYONE can become whatever s/he believes!

Today, each of my three oldest kids is comfortable doing domestic chores, including cooking in the kitchen. Their peers are mostly not allowed by the parents to do such things.

In the case of my wife and I, what we’ve done makes it possible for us to ask one of them to prepare meal for everyone to eat.

Apart From Doing Chores, They Are Also Learning to Think and Act Entrepreneurially

Being told what to do around the house is one thing. Knowing how to come up with creative solutions to get things done is another. The latter is an ability that can be cultivated from an early age. Just encourage your kids to try THINKING more for themselves, and depend LESS on you for answers.

You’ll be amazed by how far – and fast – they’ll quickly make progress!

In past articles, I’ve shared stories about how they collect metals from around the neighborhood, and sell to itinerant waste collectors who salvage such items. I just challenged them to stop asking me for “sweets money” and think of what they can do to earn money.

And I pointed to examples of their peers who daily hawk items for sale, to add to income earned by their parents. Next thing I knew, they’d found out that some mallams would pay them to find certain metal types. And they were soon making money from doing that.

More relevant to my plans for the brew pub, is the need for them to develop smart sales and marketing skills.

Since they already know how to find and/or create products, being able to find buyers is imperative, otherwise no rewards will accrue to them for their efforts.

And I’ve been teaching them to do most of the things I do. Especially those they can do to make money. For instance, they make and sell my pineapple peel drinks and cakes in the school. But it’s the latter they seem to have really taken a major interest in.

I say this because each time I come home, they show me a new modification they’ve made to the process I taught them. The process involves using a charcoal stove and heavy metal pot to bake cakes. No oven needed.

Another thing: They looked at a recipe I got from a You tube video, and concluded the “1 cup” of groundnut oil added, if replaced with butter, would give a better finish.

The pictures of the resulting cakes below(though without pineapple peels added), prove they were right.

Click here to see what the cakes from MY past efforts looked like in comparison(NB: Mine had pineapple peel added)…...

This week, I wanted us to celebrate the anniversary of my one year stay in Benin Republic by making cakes for sale. So I gave them a thousand naira, to buy the needed ingredients and left for town.

When I returned, they met me with a very pleasant sight. Well baked and neatly packed cakes they’d made while I was away (see photos below).

No supervision from any adult whatsoever. That was yesterday evening.

This afternoon, I returned home to find them back from school, and they showed me the N400 they’d made from sales of 7 of the cakes, to their classmates. But they’d eaten up the remaining 12!

So I gave them yet another lecture on the need to turn around money they spend, to ensure they make a profit.

I think the message will sink in this time around, because I’ve made it clear they’ll need to present a report showing expenses and sales recorded. And they’ll have to use whatever money they make to buy a new round of materials to continue baking cakes for sale. No new funds will come from me.

As I type these words, the eldest of them is doing his turn of baking the cakes – without using an oven – outside in the open, next to where I’m seated.

His brothers are in the house, assembling the pieces of a new fan we just bought.

And that’s the other thing.

The kids – the boys especially – do virtually all the coupling and fixing in the house.

I rarely have to get involved.

And so when I bring a device home, I know I can depend on them to read the manual, and get it up and running in no time.

That’s why even when I’m away, their mother rarely has problems in that department!

All of the above convince me we are well on our way, as a family, to having a well rounded team to run the family business.

(NB: In the case of the fan, we’ll still call in the electrian to fix it to the wall, and connect to power – for safety considerations).

Final Words

You may find the above ideas useful, if you’re concerned about ensuring the survival of a business you start, and/or are struggling to find good employees you can depend on.

In that case, building your team from within your immediate family, could be a useful strategy to adopt, for the medium or indeed long term!