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A
They want to scale, okay. And then the other one wants money. They just want, they want some customers in the door. Okay?
B
So, yeah, so I mean, when you're not making money, that's like a very big issue. So I, I always say that you don't need, you don't need money to start a business. You need money, you need a customer to start a business. No money. That's what most people don't do. So most people are just so I need money to start a business. You need money to scale, but you need a customer to start. And so if you're, you're running whatever type of business, you're selling building materials. There's a time ago, one of my friends is running a cement business at a yarifi. I mean we had no money to do anything. We have the product, spend everything to buy and ship our products. Now what do we need to do? You need to go into the place and then start looking for kind of a lot of customers say, oh, you're building and so we can give you cement to be, to be building your thing. And so once they agree, they pay us, we take it and go. And so you need to get the customers money fast and you to start moving. So if I'm on zero, I'm going to spend so quick.
A
1.
B
So in life there are three types of currencies or yes, three types of currencies. Or in other words, I can say capital. Okay, so most people, they think they want capital. Okay, so all capital, number one is everybody's most initial thought money. Number two, this is actually number one is time and number three is people. And so this is your most default. This is your default time. Because nobody was born with money. I don't think there was anybody who was born with like a bunch of $50,000 just in the hands of the baby. So the only thing you are now born with is time. So this is your most default currency. If you don't have money and you don't have a network, this is where you fall because this is your default currency. So, so these things are not defaults. These things you find you accumulate over time, but this is your default thing. So when you don't have anything, no revenue, you need to leverage on a currency or leverage on this capital. And so this is what you call sweat equity in business. And so you need to be able to find a way to be able to have sweat equity. What that means is that you need to go out there, do cold calling or warm calling. Call everybody that you know, kind of go onto the ground and go get some cash. You need to first of all get cash, get cash for your business. Once you get the cash, that's when you can now be able to now put it into things that will allow you to scale. But most people don't even know what to put into. And that's where the challenge now lies. So once you get the cash, that first of all your first thing should be what cash. For example, in my business, when we were. When I first quit my job, I resigned my job and all I had in my bank account was 49 Ghana cities. No kidding. I resigned and I said I was going to do whatever I was going to do. Faith. I had employees still waiting for me to pay them and everything. And so what I needed to do was that the first thing that I did was that I made a list I made on like the week after because I was burnt out. I was thinking about what to do. I was struggling. I had to find a quick therapist online. And I spoke to the person, the person said, oh, relax and all of that. But what I did next was that I made a list of people who I wanted to work with and then I started calling them, asked them, when can I come to your office? And I went to all of them and I got two clients by like two weeks after I was done. And that's how I started running. That's how I used to pay everybody that was working with me is because I knew that my first go to currency is time for equity. So that's what I would do If I had zero.
A
But you bless me. Yes. So 100% agree with time. Yes. So you don't need money to make money, which we've spoken about. Okay, so I'm going to take. The person at 100k wants to scale. Right. So now you have grown your business to 100,000 cities or dollars and now you want to make more of that. First of all, you need to understand your. Your business well, your s. The systems in your business you need to leverage on systems. How did you make that 100k in the first place? Was it by your own sweat? How did you do that? Did you document the whole process? Did you market in a certain way in order to make the 100,000? Did you write it all down? Now hire people who can execute that and then make you a hundred thousand more. So if you are able to document that and imagine you are able to hire four people to follow that pattern, that's 400,000 coming into your coming into your business. Right. And also, like I've said already, discovering your unique value proposition, looking at your competition, what are they not doing? What can you do better? What are they doing but failing at and what is missing in the market. Can you supply that? If you can supply that, you have your unique selling proposition. If you can look at your strengths. Okay, these are my strengths. How do I make them better to serve the customer? That is your unique selling proposition. And also looking at the customer's needs. Very important. You've already made a hundred thousand. It means you have customers, you have data. Go back to your customers, understand what went wrong or what went right when you were trying to serve them. Understand them better, leverage on that data and then use that data to now understand your customers need to attract the right audience that are going to pay you a lot more in order to grow your business. Scaling is about understanding the customer, understanding your unique selling proposition and hiring rights. Yes. And also leveraging systems, SOPs, documentation, inventory system, AI leverage technology. Technology will make your work so much easier. Yes. So that is how you scale and, and, and SOP is. Yes. So standard operating procedures. Right. So SOPs are just the documents that guide any aspect of your business. So right now, when we came here, you had to set up the microphones and then the cameras and stuff. So if you had a standard operating procedure pasted there, where when you come in, the first thing you need to do is to. You can even be very, very, very cryptic, like very descriptive. Take 10 steps and then turn on this first camera. Check. You turn on this. Make sure the cameras are all working now. Make sure, make sure the, the host or the guest sits here, Check. So when you're, when you're able to document everything you do, that's when you, Derek, you can decide to take a vacation and then your assistant who speaks well, can host connected minds with SOPs.
B
Yeah, just want to add something to the scaling part. So one of the ways to be able to learn about how to scale is by looking at other businesses and looking at how they're able to scale their businesses as well. So one of the easiest ways to scale a business is to upsell. I'm not just saying upsell, but I'm trying to say create a higher version of your product, like a premium offering. Now how does this work? So for example, when you look at Mercedes use this, they realized that all of their best clients were going to Rolls Royce. But even though Mercedes sells cars, it's good, the cars are quality, it's classy. But all of their best Clients who wanted more in terms of status were going to RollsRoyce because they wanted a few bigger, they wanted a few better, richer and everything. And so they realized that, oh, they're losing all of their clients. So what. What they need to do, what they do is that they introduce what you call the Maybach that was more expensive than all of their cars. And you're able to keep a percentage of the people who are actually going to other companies like Rolls Royce, just because they added something that was a more premium offer. And so when you're trying to scale, always think of, what can I offer? What can I add more to my business that will make my clients feel like this is something premium? The moment you do that.
A
Does scaling means more money or more clients scaling? For me, scaling is making the business grow beyond you.
B
Yeah.
A
Yes. So just creating something that doesn't depend on you to survive, for me, that's what scaling means. So making the business grow beyond you to grow on itself, like, so maybe like winning, like how you would win a child winning your. Your business, which is essentially your baby of you. That's what I think scaling is.
B
Yeah, that's what scaling is.
A
Yes.
B
More clients brings you more money.
A
Yes, of course.
B
Allows when you get. When you get more money, allows you to actually build the systems of skill. Most people don't have the systems of skill. There are two ways to. Like, there are two systems when you're trying to scale or skill a business. They're either delegation systems or automation systems. So it's actually you are building probably some charge chatbots or AI workflow or some AI agents or something, or you're trying to hire or create a delegation system whereby you don't need to be present, you don't need to be in your business every day. Yeah, go on.
A
Yeah, I want to just say something. You were like, more clients mean more money. Not in my experience. Because a lot of people are not pricing. Right. We always think pricing, like low pricing brings in clients, but clients don't buy based on price, they buy based on value. So a lot of people are selling, but they're not making money. They are posting thousands of bags of deliveries going out, but their business is struggling. They are not making money because their pricing is way off. People are really putting even as little.
B
As 20 cities connected minds podcast.
Konnected Minds Podcast – Host: Derrick Abaitey
Date: November 6, 2025
In this insightful episode, Derrick Abaitey and his guest dive deep into what it really takes to build and scale wealth—focusing on the “three capitals”: time, money, and people. They debunk myths about needing lots of money to start a business and offer practical strategies for using each capital effectively at different entrepreneurial stages. The conversation is candid, practical, and tailored to ambitious listeners eager to crush limiting beliefs and gain unstoppable confidence in business.
Framework for Wealth Building: The guest provides a tidy framework for understanding leverage in business.
Personal Story: The host describes quitting his job with only “49 Ghana cedis” and needing to hustle using his personal network and direct outreach—leveraging time and people before money. (02:09, B)
“All I had in my bank account was 49 Ghana cedis... so what I did was make a list of people I wanted to work with, called them, went to their offices, and got two clients within two weeks.” (02:34, B)
Beyond Solo Hustle: Once you hit about 100k (in revenue or savings), the next step is scaling. This means documenting your successful methods and delegating or automating tasks.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): Importance of documenting every step so others can replicate your work, freeing you as the owner.
Technology & Automation: Leveraging AI, automation, and inventory systems to make scaling easier.
“SOPs are just the documents that guide any aspect of your business... that's when you can decide to take a vacation and your assistant can host Konnected Minds with SOPs.” (05:54, A)
Learning from Big Brands: The guest breaks down Mercedes’ strategy of creating the Maybach line to keep premium clients from switching to Rolls Royce, illustrating the value of premium offers for scaling.
“When you're trying to scale, always think of what can I offer, what can I add more to my business that will make my clients feel like this is something premium?” (07:23, B)
On starting with nothing:
“Nobody was born with money... your most default currency is time.”
(01:11, B)
On sweat equity:
“When you don’t have anything, no revenue—leverage on this capital... This is what you call sweat equity in business.”
(01:30, B)
On SOPs and systems:
“When you’re able to document everything you do, that’s when you can take a vacation and your assistant can host Konnected Minds.”
(05:54, A)
On scaling and independence:
“Scaling is making the business grow beyond you... creating something that doesn’t depend on you to survive.”
(08:00, A)
On pricing and value:
“Clients don’t buy based on price—they buy based on value.”
(08:59, A)
The conversation is energetic, practical, and laced with real examples and actionable advice. There are elements of tough love and unvarnished truth, delivered in a motivating and empowering manner.
Success in business isn’t about starting with cash—it’s about leveraging your time, understanding your unique value, and building systems and teams that let you multiply wealth beyond yourself. Pricing right and focusing on value are the ultimate keys to sustainable profit.