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Tips for a successful business

Money
 Photo: Courtesy

I watch as the lady butcher cuts the one-kilo meat I have ordered. She is so meticulous that when it slightly exceeds the 1kg mark, she cuts off a tiny piece that sends the scale to the point desired.

This butchery, she says, is her lifeline.

“You know, to succeed in any business you must be there. Workers can make you fold up your idea. I personally go to the slaughter house, pick the juicy goat meat I want, pay and have it delivered here,” says Mary Solale.

Mary’s business is run like any other enterprise and she proudly gives me a peek into how things are done. At the slaughter house, she buys a kilo of goat meat at Sh340 but sells the same to customers at Sh450. The extra Sh110 ensures her business is stable – sustainable.

“You must also add value to whatever you do,” says Mary, who did not go beyond Form Four.

Her ‘value addition’ includes boiling soup and making mutura for tens of customers who stop at her small but popular enterprise to savour the traditional delicacies. She has improvised stones to make seats.

From the soup and mutura, she pays her three workers’ daily wages. The profit she makes go to savings, ploughing back into the business and paying rent.

“I can’t complain about this business,” she says, “it sustains me. New customers like you drop in every day and of course the older ones have been loyal.”

Her last words and the way she passionately speaks about her business give the dosage that anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur at any level should have. It is also refreshing when you meet someone with such a positive outlook in this country whose people are at their lowest point as a result of a battered economy.

There are lessons we all need to learn from Mary’s view of life and running a business:

· Always have a positive outlook:

 Do not talk negatively about what you do. “I am trying out this kabusiness” is no no. Say I am doing this business and I plan in the next few months to expand or divest to this or that. Make your listeners believe you are doing something unique and you have what it takes to deliver.

Behave like a marketer. I always tell my friends that a marketer can sell you a rock and you will buy it without second thought. Use this approach to talk about your products.

My colleague is selling duvets and when I see them and what is in the market at nearly half the price she is asking I don’t see any difference. But she insists – with great conviction – that hers are different thus special. And she is growing a huge customer base by the day!

Don't talk about what you do as if it is temporary; as you wait for something better to come in. This is what you are doing now; you are giving it your very best and you are seeing yourself flying to the next level of greatness in a short while. Get that in your system.

Believe in your business:

Do not dismiss your enterprise as ‘kadogo’. Proudly talk about how you have made some money and are able to earn something. Who cares how much you draw? The most important thing is that people will admire you for starting on your own, believing in yourself and making it.

Look the part:

 Every day you get out of your house to your business place dress well like you did when you were formerly employed. It is your place of work. I noticed that despite chopping meat, Mary had well-manicured nails! You must feel good about yourself first to have your customers trust you.

 Can you imagine how disgusting it is to be served by someone who oozes a combination of yesterday’s sweat and uncleaned mouth?

· Finally, remember the huge brands in the world today started small. The ‘super’ supermarkets were once struggling shops!

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