It’s not just about being competent in your vocation or business or whatever you plan to do. People going into business will need to develop “street wisdom” to competently interact with buyers or clients.
Otherwise they can be competent, and still struggle to get paid for their products and services!
Believe me when I say I’ve seen a lot of this happen first hand – like the true story I share below.
I once had a client whose manufacturing operation sold a excellent consumable item nationally. But his distributors routinely held him to ransom, by failing to remit money for sales of items he sent them on credit via hired trucks to Abuja!
Yet they still called and asked for more. He told me he could not say NO, because they made a lot of sales for him. I told him it was because he was NOT actively recruiting NEW distributors who could perform.
And that was the hard truth. These are not things we learn easily. It can be a painful process!
Do you know that he ended up taking a bank overdraft facility that nearly ruined him, just to cope with cash flow demands, when he had over N2million in receivables?!!
And with salaries to pay too!
So you see, he had the required technical competence to succeed, but he lack the required mental attitude to deal with the realities his business operations faced.
I like to use the phrase: “You need Street-Wisdom, NOT just Textbook Theory, to excel in the real world” – to capture my intended meaning in this regard.
Books/E-books and real life learning or coaching, that help learners get better prepared to handle such issues, will boost their ability to make successful use of any business idea they settle on.
Sadly, very little formal training “solutions” exist to confer “Street Wisdom” on those who need it: especially for persons going into business.
I have had considerable contact with MANY training providers who simply use the same approach to conduct learning events for retirees or start-ups, preparing to launch their own outfits.
When the attendees are told all the routine, recycled stuff, ONE major ingredient is often missed out.
Yet that’s the THING, that helps majority of entrepreneurs who breakthrough keep going till they do so!
That THING is what I call the “Mental Attitude Required for Success”
That THING has been found by MANY who have since succeeded in business, by reading books like Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, as well as James R. Cook’s Start-up Entrepreneur.
Now that’s an aspect that’s grossly neglected by most people preparing to go into business for themselves.
The truth is that quite often business failures are recorded NOT because the business idea is bad, or the entrepreneur is incompetent.
Often times it’s the mental attitude resulting from a lack of access to, or adherence to a guiding philosophy.
Your adopted mental attitude will equip you to develop the needed “Street Wisdom” to safely and profitably navigate the shark infested waters of business, and indeed life in general.
Unfortunately, this is not something that most people can fully grasp at one sitting or in one learning event.
It often needs to be drummed into their heads. And they even need to READ about it in as many varied ways as possible – till they internalise it.
This is why I believe a practical coaching element, comprising this guiding philosophy, mixed with tips of business practice relevant to the entrepreneur’s needs, MUST be combined to help him/her.
I also strongly believe that’s how we can make a real difference in the lives of these people.
Otherwise, it would just be the same old stuff.
Everything I’m saying is based on over 10 years of interacting with many people in business at various levels in Nigeria
I got a unique opportunity to analyse them up close, and I saw that THAT was often missing element.
My desire to help those who are willing to learn, is what drives me to write about it, and how to do it, on this blog. It is also why I offer learning solutions to help any interested persons. An example is my Spontaneous Coaching for Mastery of Adversity(SCfMA)™ program