 You're welcome back. It's good to know that you're still there and watching the breakfast on plus TV Africa Well, like we said at the beginning experts say small businesses drive the economy But as much as people want to go into business there is this question this issue of Deciding what type of company to set up and the likely challenges and so today we want to look at What are these challenges? What kind of company do we need to have? What are the things that need to go into that business and we're lucky to have a business consultant here? Joining us on the show to Lanny Thomas Allison is a business consultant. She's talking to us from the UK. Good morning and welcome to the program to Lanny Good morning. Thank you for having me. Okay. Well, I thought for a moment that you have jack-barred and left today Okay Okay, so the economy is very biting and everybody wants a side hustle and all that But setting up a business is a challenge. We do not even know how What you need to put into? That business to make it stand and you being a consultant. We're we're just curious What type of decisions do you need to make when you're setting up a company or any business? from your experience with yourself and Others who have come to you for consultations Thank you so much for that. So so I always advise people that look at to start new businesses To start businesses that they already have experience in so if you're starting a business as a side Also to your night to five it's always best to start a business that you have some experience in maybe for example You're working at a large Commercial company like an online commercial company. It's best for you to start a business Maybe like a fashion business or an accessory sale business things like that's something that is adjacent to the skills That you already have so it won't be a hard transition for you to move into business So it can be something that you can start on the side with your night to five and gradually transition into Running the business full-time. That's what I would advise. All right So should you start also by registering the company or you just go ahead and start anyway? Okay, so sometimes we have Ideas that sound great On paper or that sound great. So when you first have the idea But in reality it might not be something that will work out So I would advise like for the first three months of the business try it out and see if you're gonna get clients If you run a business for five months or for three months And you get five clients That's something that means that the business is viable if you have people that willing to pay for what you're doing whether it's a retail business Or it's a service business You have the validation that there's customers available for you Then you can go ahead to register the business name and do all the setup But first test and ensure that there's a market for you that your customers willing to pay for what? Your business idea is do the research first I use like at least three months three to six months to test the market to see if that customers are very before you Before going ahead to register the business name. All right now. Do I we're talking about registering the business name? Let's also bring in the issue of trademarking That's something I have come to realize that many people are really not so aware of They're not so aware of how important it is to trademark a name Talk to us about trademarking vis-a-vis registering your business company Okay, thank you for that question I actually had this conversation with an entrepreneur yesterday who owns a food business that For other people are using the same business name as him and he was the first person to start the business so trademarking is something that You typically would do if you were in the first world country like the US or the UK because you need to trademark your name So that nobody else can use that name to trade, right? but with businesses in Nigeria, we We operate in an economy of people people don't regard such You know concepts like they feel like trademark is okay. You're trying to stop my shine. You've built your own business I'm trying to run a similar business to you And you believe that okay because you started the name or you started a business first with that name Somebody else can trade in that name trademark is absurd to most average Nigerian business owners But something that we're sticking to consideration because you find that most of the time people can use the fact that Trade mark is not taken seriously in Nigeria to set up businesses that will run parallel to your business and be making money based on the Goodwill that you've built with your own business name. So for trademarking I would advise you know if you're serious about your business and you're really looking to grow in the next five ten Years you should go and trademark the name in Nigeria We thank God that you know, there's still some laws that apply in Nigeria to trade marking so trade marking the name in Nigeria would keep you safe from anyone in fridging on You know your business name or using your a similar business name to trade In a similar industry and make money and profit from the marketing efforts that you've done in your business So our advice businesses that that have you know that have the intention to Grow in the next five to ten years to trademark their business name to avoid Fridgements or issues of people using the business name to scam other customers. So yes, I would advise that okay Earlier on you talked about Testing your business before you get it registered so that you know that there's validation You will have customers and all those are the words you used I'm interested in what your checklist will be like what are the parameters that you use to check to test That business to see that it's going to be a viable business. What are some of the things that will be? Okay, so What I would test first of all is when I have a when there's a new business idea what I would do personally is I Would tell at least three people that I know every day for the next 30 days that I have this new business idea And this is what I want to do. So I'll write out what the business idea is. Okay, this is what I want to do I want to start selling fish for example, and I'll tell three people for the next 30 days That's 90 something people you should don't like people right so tell them about it You know get their opinions and what they think about it and if they will patronize you if they say oh They're interested in seeing what you do with the business Get their names get your you have their names already opposite get their numbers and emails and Document it, you know, write it down so that you know, okay I have these 90 people that are interested in my business So that's you doing market research first of all to understand that there's a demand for your products If you don't do the market research, I wouldn't advise that you start the business Start business open a store and wonder why people are not coming because you didn't do the research first And then you're gonna have to start struggling to get customers into the store, you know to your website, etc so do the research first and build a minimal customer base from your existing contact contact list and then your five first your first five customers Give them some form of discounts that you know can get them in the door to patronize you and then when those Customers patronize you make sure that you wow them that you know, you deliver exceptional services to them you sell products You give you know added customer value Make sure that they are wowed and then get their reviews when you get those people's reviews and they send in their reviews It might be a video review or a text review. I say oh this person I used your services or I bought product from them and it was great Screen shots it's what I say what's up message or ask them to fill a Google with review form Whatever it is. Just make sure you obtain that review They're not use that review from those customers to start your marketing So those are the first few steps. I would take if I'm starting a new business today So Lani talk to someone who has shy personality, you know an introverted personality Because what you just said sounds really good, but someone who is introverted or who is shy I don't like to talk to people. I wouldn't want to disturb people and tell them Talk to someone who has that personality yet is interested in building a business So I do get this with clients that it comes to me I say, you know They can't go for networking events because it might be awkward for them or they are shy to talk to strangers The first thing I would say is if you're starting business as a CEO, you are the chief sales officer You are the number one person that would lead the sales team to sell your services and your products So you have to step out of your comfort zone Introverted the trapeeners always find ways to sell their products regardless But I would advise if you're shy and you're introverted and you're not, you know, go-go rara like I am I would advise that you try Networking online. So when you when you're networking online, there's you know, the internet to hide behind Essentially and you can you know, let's work on LinkedIn Let's work on Instagram, you know, go to Pages of people that have a similar target audience to you the type of customers you're looking for follow these people You know comment on their posts We share their posts, you know, let's work with them send them DMs as they were like what you're doing And you know, I would like to you know, support you in whatever way I can so I'll be sharing your post Or I'll be commenting on your post from now henceforth So that ways you can let's work without leaving your house. Thank God for the internet today So you can go on LinkedIn try to meet people send them DMs. So I'm looking to connect This is what I do and this is how I do it. You can go on Instagram as well on Twitter Now you can network with the entire world from comfort of your home So people that are shy introverted don't have to leave their houses to build a business You can build a business on the comfort of your house By using the power of the internet that's working on Instagram or LinkedIn Facebook Twitter, etc you would be able to build a customer base that is interested in your products and your services by Leveraging what you have at your disposal the internet. Okay? Our time is limited to learning but I'm I'm interested also in the fact that you are you run a consulting business Consultancy is that how you call it your people come to you for advice Tell us what companies like yours? Do to help people who are trying to go into business or who are in business and struggling what kind of services? Will someone who is trying to do business well get from a consulting firm like yours? Because some people may be interested they have the plan they have everything in their head that is looking so good But they need someone to translate that into an actionable plan So what is obtainable in consult chances like yours? Okay, thank you for that. I am go So what we do and our consulting company highlights consults is that we can help you develop a business plan a road map for you To get started in business so we develop a business plan based on a business idea that you have and Develop actual points that you can take so we develop a business plan with an actionable plan that You would help you execute your business idea in a way that you know Would be easy for you to execute based on kind of pressing that you are or kind of structure that you are you have already and We'll give you the steps that you need to take to build a viable business in the next one to three months So how we can help with you having a business idea looking to set up is by giving you a business plan It actionable business plan as a business road map for you to get started in your business today Do you help people or are you capable of helping people who do not actually have business plans? They are no focused about any kind of business. They're not sure what field or Line to tow. Can you help such persons find focus? Yes, we can so we can have you know a consulting session just to understand what their interests are and What's you know, they're passionate about or what's the experiences? The skills that they have already would be good to leverage on those skills and experience to be able to develop a business idea for them So yes, we can definitely help people that don't have Business ideas of their own to craft what they will be interested in and what they can you know focus on Building for the next one to five years So we would you know listen to their ideas their passion their skills listen to what their experiences Etc. And then help them develop a business plan so we develop the business plan for the company and then Assist them in executing that business plan now when we feel like okay They are capable of running the business on their own we hands off and then we wish them all the best So yeah, what we can help with people that don't have business ideas of their own to learn it just yes or no Do you also do you also have the capability of pointing people to where they can get money to start a business? You know, this is my favorite topic. Yes Well to learn Thomas Allison business consultant. Thank you so much for talking with us this morning. It's always a pleasure to have you Thank you for your time. Okay. All right, we've been talking with Tolani Thomas Allison business consultant talking to us from UK But she's in Lagos and like her there are so many other consulting firms that are in Lagos So if you have an idea do well to meet them We'll take a break and when we return will be joined by Mudashiru shitu to take us around the world of sports. Thank you