← Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey
Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey
Segment:- Strategy Over Hustle: The Soft Skills That Turn Ideas Into Income.
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Transcript31 lines
- [00:00]
A
So I do that, the number of strategies and everything. But the whole thing is that on LinkedIn, I can take somebody and take you from 0 to 10, 30 days, but they can't tell you, okay, I pressed 1, 2, 3 and I got here. And so what I did was that since When I joined LinkedIn, nobody knew who I was, I came from obscurity to limelight. And so LinkedIn was my medium to come and start limelight. And so what I did was that I developed a system that I can use. And so once I had that system, I just began to teach it to other people for free as a start. And once started working for them, they started telling their friends and their friends, their other friends and the other persons and their other friends. That's how I started. And I started charging people and doing that.
- [00:38]
B
Take me through the system.
- [00:39]
A
So I call it Vava B A V, V A. So Vava starts. Number one, vision may sound, but you need to start vision. Number two, authenticity. Number four, visibility, and number five, authority. If you follow those five steps, you actually have LinkedIn visibility. Most people come on LinkedIn and don't even know whatever they're looking for, so their vision is wrong because they come there looking for a job. Meanwhile, I mean, if you want opportunities. LinkedIn is a social media platform. You can't just come and all you think about is a job. So because. Because their primary thought is that they approach everything so wrongly, you should have a real goal, a real outcome, a real connection. What exactly are you trying to get out of this platform if you don't have that? Most people have their vision wrong. And so every other thing now goes, goes away. Authenticity is, I always say, is the bedrock of personal branding. And so what you want to do is that you want to be able to find a way to not be like everybody else. You need to radiate your authenticity in terms of you have your value, you have your things, your core, your core elements. But how can I do it in my way? That is not necessarily a standard procedure for everybody within my space. So you need to be able to define your authenticity. Now, your value. Value comes from the Latin word or from an old French known as Valois. So when we're talking about values, like, what are you bringing to the table that is worthy for someone else? And so most people come on LinkedIn and they're just, they're just, oh, I got a job. Oh, I. What I do is that I spend. When I first started LinkedIn, I was posting twice a day, sharing value about Random things, leadership and marketing twice every single day. By the time I was done with my university, I had over five jobs reaching out to me. And so it was just because I was using as a platform whereby I was sharing my worth. And so when you start doing that, especially at a very, in a very consistent manner with high volume, I'm telling you like you are going to grow. Because now the thing about LinkedIn platform is this. So on LinkedIn you cannot run ads on your personal account, but on LinkedIn you can't do that for yourself. Now they're trying to include that into the platform but like you can't do that. So the only way you can run ads on LinkedIn is using a company account. Now what that means is that the company accounts, they've killed the reach for it basically. But when it's, when it's a personal account, the organic reach for a personal account is so high.
- [02:55]
C
Right?
- [02:55]
A
So they made, they've optimized the organic reach for you to be able to get a lot of views once you start actually actively using the platform. Because less than 1% of the LinkedIn population actually post on LinkedIn and LinkedIn has over a billion members. So if you think that's just a number of people, the moment you start, you start posting value, I am telling you, the platform is designed to give you a lot of visibility.
- [03:16]
B
Yes, definitely the reason I wanted to take us through because I know blessing is not effective on LinkedIn. Now blessing, take me through how you got your capital to start your business.
- [03:27]
C
I've always been entrepreneurial so I always find a way to sell something. When I was eight, I remember there's this pack of Jello toffee in class, I would say I'll buy the pack and sell it 1,1 to my classmates. JSS2 I was selling bags and belts that my father was bringing to the teachers to fellow students. So I got some traction. And then in national, when I was doing my national service, a friend suggested I buy hair from Nigeria and sell. I just bought two sets of hair, that's three bundles each. Two sets of hair. And then a friend of mine gave me a thousand Ghana cities to start. So that was two sets of hair I bought. And that's how I started my, my business. Claminages. I know a lot of people always ask how much do I need to start a business? And I find that question very amusing. Look, the thing is we put so much emphasis on the product. The product, the product. When we are trying to start a business, the product is really important. Of course, yes. But having the product without having the marketing skills, the sales skills, the product doesn't move, it sits there. Right. So once you build the skill, the sales skills, the marketing skill, you can now sell that. And then you're like, okay, so I'll bring you customers. I don't want any of your capital, I don't want any of your cost price. I just want a commission on every client I bring you. So people have used this method to generate thousands of dollars, and that is your seed money for whatever else you need to do. Another way to run a business without using capital or money is partnerships. Honestly, we don't put enough emphasis on partnerships. Just yesterday I was just chatting with somebody who sold cars and I had so many ideas because I realized that he had a flaw in his hiring system. He has a lot of employees, but none of them, none of them is educated. So he struggles with sharing his vision, making them understand what he wants. And I'm like, I know how to hire. Why don't I just tell him I can hire for you, I can create SOPs for you onboard your staff, and then you just pay me. That is how to make money without money. Right. He's has. He can build LinkedIn platforms for people. He can do so much. He can. So I just had an idea. Okay, so how do we work together to make money? So there are so many ways to make money. I think we, we need to move away from being stuck on how much do I need to start a business? That question is getting old. How much do I need to start a business? Yeah, we need to move away from that.
- [05:54]
B
And by the way, I just want.
- [05:55]
C
To chip it in there. Yeah.
- [05:56]
B
That. Looking for a product.
- [05:57]
C
Yeah.
- [05:58]
B
And adding your markup to it.
- [05:59]
C
Yeah.
- [06:00]
B
It's different from somebody asking you.
- [06:03]
C
Yeah.
- [06:03]
B
That they want a service from you or they want a product from you. And are you telling that person that the highest quality of this product that they can get is 2,000 cities or $2,000, and then you go and buy them a substandard product and then you keep the difference. What we are saying is that you identify a product right in the market, then you bring that online. Or you can do it face to face, but the person must be aware of the markup you want to put on top. Don't tell somebody that you're going to go and buy them a cup. The highest quality is going to cost 2,000. And then you go and then you get the lowest qual of 500. And then you keep 1,500.
- [06:38]
C
I mean, that is not even scalable. But how do you, how do you build a business from that, from being dishonest?
- [06:44]
B
From the beginning, I think Blessing has just spoken about two ways where you can start a business partnership and then, you know, offer your services to existing businesses, whether it's product or services. Now I do understand that you speak very much about soft skills. What sort of skills do you think people need to be able to then go sell their products?
- [06:59]
A
Number one thing, communication skills. I'm talking about communication to sell. Now, most people do not know how to sell. Most people think selling is convincing, but selling is persuasion. Convincing is when I get you to do something for my own reasons. Persuasion is when I get you to do something for your own reasons. So for the customer's reasons, not my reasons. Most people start a business and then they already define their reasons why people should buy the thing. But what you should find out is why would my customer want this thing? What are their desires, their goals? So the moment you learn about communication, because communication is this communication comes from the Latin one as communication. A communication app simply means. It simply means, it simply means a making common. What that means is that you're supposed to find a way to find a common ground with the parent. Now when I'm talking about common ground, I'm talking about two party streets. Communication is a two, is a two way street. You can't just, you can't just. If I'm talking to you and you're not responding to me, I'm just the one talking, but we're not communicating. Communication always has a listener and the person speaking. So when I'm talking about soft skills, what you need to do is that you need to have communication as your prior. The main soft skill that you are using to sell.
- [08:02]
C
Really love it. Because I want, I have, I have a perfect example for him. So their sales rep reached out to me and then she wanted me to use the platform to book clients for services, for salon services. So I merely told her that we don't offer services. She went ahead to still talk about how the platform can help me to get clients for services. So a lot of the time we train people, we train our sales reps to just go out there and talk about the product. They don't even know if the product is right for the customer because she could have told me that, okay, we are going to maybe adjust this a bit or something. But she was just talking about what she had been trained to talk about. So that's what happens a lot when we get sales calls, yes.
- [08:44]
B
What other skill do you think people need to be able to sell products without owning the products?
- [08:49]
A
Emotional intelligence is one of them because it's a soft skill. But, and I think it all boils down to the communication thing instead of emotional intention. I love to say adaptability is a soft skill. So, I mean, because you're in a marketplace with different types of customers, with different types of wants, traits, needs and everything. And so how then can you be able to adapt your services to somebody else? So, for example, somebody has a particular need that they want, can you be able to find a way to tailor that product for them? Because about most people, some people don't just want a regular service. They want you to be able to find a way to tailor what you have for them in a particular way. So that is one of the things that most people don't have. They don't have the idea or the grit to be able to be adaptable. Whatever they are selling, they are so stuck on it, so strict. They are so cemented in their opinions about their services, about their products. But are you willing to make, make a bend? Are you willing to modify your product offerings just for the person you're working with? The moment you have adaptability coupled with communication, I think you'll make a killing in business.
- [09:47]
B
The sense that they think they work hard enough and they've tried everything.
- [09:51]
C
So a lot of people think hard work just means you're going to succeed. We start businesses and we use ourselves as the goal. So we are trying to sell to ourselves instead of listening to the customer. We don't listen to the customer enough. So you bring something, clearly there's no market need for it, but you believe that in marketing it and putting it in front of people's faces, in waking up early every morning to shout about your product, you are magically going to change the customer's needs and make the customer want your product. Hard work doesn't mean anything if you're not willing to apply a bit of what he said, communication, not just convincing persuading. Right. And also in adaptability, how do I shift it a bit for it to work? Right. And also, sometimes as the founder of the business, I don't believe you need to work hard. Your, your job is not to be working hard physically, because when you work hard, you don't make room for your mind to think and come up with ideas, because that's your job as a founder. You're supposed to work on the business and find ways to grow the business. You are supposed to meet people who can give you inspiration, ideas to grow the business. But most of the time we find entrepreneurs waking up early, taking all the videos. They want to be their face. They want to do everything in the business by themselves. And that is not equal. That doesn't necessarily mean your business is going to work.
- [11:13]
A
Yeah. So I'll say when toll fails, tall feels strategy always works. When toll fails, strategy always works. So most people have been working hard. They work work hard, hard, hard, hard, but they are not being strategic. Most people don't take the time out of their busy schedules or they are just, they're so stuck with working hard and so they get stuck and consumed by the hassle, but they're not consumed by strategy. That's the difference between a lot of big companies and small companies or big brands and small brands. And so one of my godfathers told me this. When the tough gets going, the tough c Collaboration. I mean the quote is when the tough gets going, the the.
- [11:53]
C
And the going gets tough.
- [11:54]
A
When the wing was tough, the tough gets going.
- [11:56]
C
Yeah.
- [11:56]
A
And so what you need to do is that you need to be strategic and that's senior collaboration is being strategic. Because you need most people when they, when they are working so hard, like, oh my God, I'll be working so hard. I'll be applying to a lot of jobs. Have you decided to be strategic? Because I see. Because I do a lot of like, because of the LinkedIn thing, I help people also get like jobs remote in Ghana. Here. Here in Ghana, outside of Ghana and all of that. And so you see some post, oh, have you applied to jobs every day? Have you decided to be strategic for once on LinkedIn? One thing so you can do this is outside the realm of business. I just want to say this is that there's a feature called because everybody puts their school on there. So if, let's say I'm in Ashes or I'm in Cape Coast University, like it's over there, you put on your page. And so when I open the school's page, I can literally just go to the page and look at the alumni. Now I go to the list of the alumni and just go there and just look at that, look at somebody and see that, oh, this person is working over here. I'm an alumni from this. And that what happens is that because you both share a bond, it's called affinity, affinity bias in psychology and that's called strategic thinking. So I'm not just going to apply to a job, I'm just going to look for alumni, ask him for a job opening. If there's one in his company, then apply to that company. He becomes my voice in that company. I say, oh, I kind of know this person. Especially if you kind of target somebody in the HR recruiter space. Oh, you are cool to go. And to most people, whether it's in business, in career, whatever they are doing, they are just doing the work without being strategic. And the people that always win are the people that always prioritize strategy.
- [13:21]
B
You have helped several businesses.
- [13:22]
A
Yeah. Connected Minds Podcast.