SMALL BUSINESS BIG MONEY - AKIN ALABI

Small Business Big Money is that book that will unveil to you how you could actually Start, Grow and Turn your small business into money generating machine

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT AKIN ALABI AND THE BOOK

"We Need More People Like Akin Alabi Telling
Us The Truth..."
This book wastes no time on niceties and doesn’t waste paper with meaningless platitudes about how believing in yourself is enough to succeed in business.
We need more people like Akin Alabi telling us the truths about the market and about how we approach business, and then we must listen, intently, to how he will help us through the mire. He knows, he’s been through it on countless occasions.
Jason Njoku
Founder, IROKOTV

“The Tips In This Book Will Surely Make A Big
Difference To Anyone...”
This book is filled with practical advice, written in a plain, direct language. It's very relatable, and the tips in here are surely going to make a big difference to anyone who is open to changing their business and life. It's an energy giving book - after reading this, I felt that excitement to want to do things right now! Akin Alabi is without a doubt one of the foremost inspirational entrepreneurial figures of the Nigerian technology and business scene, and this book basically describes the secrets to his success.
Mark Essien
Founder, Hotels.NG

“If You Have To Choose One Nigerian To Teach
You How To Go From Small To Big, Then It
Should Be Him, Hands Down...”
Otunba Akin Alabi birthed an industry - the multi-billion Naira online sports bookmaking industry - in Nigeria. When you can achieve such a feat, you automatically and rightfully assume god-like status in the business world, which he has. He is a master marketer, always on the cutting edge of ideas, concepts and strategies, and I am proud to be associated with him and his company.
You really should read this book, "Small Business Big Money" because if you have to choose one Nigerian to teach you how to go from small to big, then it should be him, hands down, because he has done it and he can show you how you too can.
Ronald Nzimora
Partner, Digital Nexus Interactive

Best-selling author of “Sell Your Brain”

CONTENT OF THE BOOK
Praise Report...........................................................................................i
Disclaimer.............................................................................................xii
Contents...............................................................................................xi v
Foreword...............................................................................................xv
Introduction.......................................................................................xxiii

CHAPTER ONE
Before You Quit Your Job To Start A Business....................................29

CHAPTER TWO
How To Decide On The Kind Of Business You Should
Do...........................................................................................................47

CHAPTER THREE
How To Become Number One In Your Marketplace.........................79

CHAPTER FOUR
How To Advertise For Maximum Profitability..................................97

CHAPTER FIVE
Word of Mouth Marketing: How To Get Others to Talk About
Your Business.....................................................................................141

CHAPTER SIX
How To Price Your Products And Services For Maximum
Profitability........................................................................................165

CHAPTER SEVEN
What's Next?......................................................................................191

RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................................221

INTRODUCTION
Dear Friend,
Thank you for buying this book.
Okay. Maybe you didn't buy it. Maybe a friend gave it to you as a gift. Maybe you picked it up somewhere to pass time. Whatever the situation is, I say thank you
for picking it up to read.
I guarantee you will be blown away by the business and marketing lessons you will discover in this book.
A friend of mine called it the best business and marketing book ever written by a Nigerian.
And I agree.
You see, it is hard to come across quality business and marketing books written by Nigerian entrepreneurs. The best you will see are autobiographies. A story about their lives. There is nothing bad about that because reading the stories of successful people can inspire you to success, but that is not what I'm taking

about here.

What I'm talking about are books that will hold you by the hands, show you a step by step guide you can follow that will lead you from scratch into business success. Hardly will you find such written by successful Nigerian entrepreneurs. This is the book that will fill that space. It is a book written with the little guy in mind. It is about how to turn little businesses and ideas into money spinning machines guaranteed to make you money day in day out.

I should know. I started out little, so I know what it is like to start from scratch. After trying my hands on different business opportunities and schemes, I started my first “proper” business in January 2003 with just N3,500.00 selling information manuals,
audios, videos and the likes.

From there, I started publishing a business opportunity newspaper titled INCOME. I failed after a couple of years. I kept pushing. I tried my hands at publishing again. I started publishing a weekly football newspaper titled World Soccer News. That failed as well after about two years.

I kept trying my hands on different businesses. I did well with my seminar and training company. I did well with my travel and tours business. It was a disaster when I tried my hands on importation. I did well with sports betting... and so on.
In a nutshell, I have gone through what my mentor, Dr Sunny Ojeagbase, the publisher of Complete Sports and Success Digest calls the University ofHard Knocks. I know one or two things I can share with you if you are really interested in making serious money with your small business. As the title of the book implies, it is about making big money from your small business.

I don't expect you to agree with everything you read in this book. It's fine if you disagree with some points. A lot of the ideas and tips in this book are not “normal”. Some of them will go against some of your long held beliefs about how to run a business.
You can disagree. That's fine. All I'm asking, is you to have an open mind. I guarantee you will learn a lot that can shape your business career.

Thank you once again for reading.
I wish you success.

Your friend,
Akin Alabi
Founder, Akin Alabi Foundation

CHAPTER ONE:
BEFORE YOU QUITE YOUR JOB TO START A BUSINESS

You want to become an entrepreneur? Well, I have bad news for you. Entrepreneurship is hard.

I mean very hard.

I know that it sounds exciting whenever the biography of a successful entrepreneur is being read or maybe when you listen to their interviews or when you read articles written about them in Forbes. You have heard about how they started their business
empires.
You have heard about their challenges and how they overcame them. That sounds exciting. It sounds like something you envision for yourself. It sounds nice when you hear about such stories but the fact is that in reality...

It Sucks.
Believe me pal. Nothing is exciting about not knowing how you are going to raise money to take care of your wife and kids while you have in-laws bearing down on your neck to go and find a “proper” job.

Nothing is exciting about starting a business and people not buying from you.

Nothing is exciting about putting all you have got into a business, trying to build it for years, only for it to fail.

Nothing is exciting about not knowing how you will raise money to pay the salaries of those you practically begged to work for you and accept your less-than-minimum wage offer.

No one is telling you that as an entrepreneur, the odds are stacked against you. You are more likely to fail than succeed. I don't care what your pastor or motivational speaker told you. You are more likely to fail than succeed. Researchers have come to the conclusion that 90% of businesses will fail.

You know what that means?

If you start ten businesses, there is every likelihood that nine of them will fail. Only one will succeed. It could be the first one and it could be the tenth one. I should know. I have failed in many other businesses as well.

No one is telling you that as an entrepreneur, you can end up losing everything you have. As an entrepreneur, you would probably put everything you have into your dreams. Your savings, energy, resources, usually at the expense of your health, family and maybe education. When you fail, it can be a very big problem.

I will tell you once again. Being an entrepreneur sucks. Nothing exciting about it. So if you wanted to become an entrepreneur because you want to experience the excitement entrepreneurs experience,
I have some advice for you.

Forget It. Find A Job!

You must have a very strong drive to succeed as an entrepreneur. You must have a strong reason. You must have strong WHY. If you do not have a strong drive, you will quit whenever you run into challenges.

When I talk to aspiring entrepreneurs at my seminars and ask them why they want to become entrepreneurs, they usually give me reasons I don't
think are strong enough to sustain their dreams.

Here are some of the reasons they give.

They Don't Want A Boss

Becoming one's own boss is a tantalizing prospect for a lot of employees. Many people do not like their bosses. Some do not like taking orders from people.

Some believe their bosses are only just lucky that they would do better in their position. They simply don't want to be subjective to anyone. They want to be accorded respect. They want to become entrepreneurs.

If you want to become an entrepreneur because you do not want a boss, I have bad news for you. The bad news is that...

You Will Always Have A Boss.

Except you are the President of a country, you are likely going to have a boss. There is always someone you are going to report to. There will always be someone you are answerable to. There will always be someone or some people bearing down your neck.

If you have investors, that means you have bosses. If someone invests in your business, when he calls, you pick up. If you miss the call, it will be the one you will return first, probably before that of your wife. You are answerable to your investor.

If you run a business that operates in a regulated industry, then you have a boss, or should I say bosses.

I operate in the sports betting industry which is a regulated industry. Our operations in Lagos state is regulated by the Lagos State Lotteries Board. The Board is my boss.

Even though I have a long standing relationship with the board (my company, NairaBET.com is the pioneer sports betting company in Nigeria), I still catch cold whenever they sneeze. I don't like receiving letters from them.

They require to know whatever we do in our business. They require us to send a monthly report of our activities. How much was made, how much was paid, how many shops we have, how many new staff did we hire are some of the things they want to know. Apart from that, we have to pay a hefty fee month in month out and that is not adding the Ten Million Naira annual licence renewal.

Around October 2016, I changed the software powering the NairaBET website from a Polish company called SB Betting to a Spanish company called OPTIMA. After about three weeks of migrating to this new software and while still battling with the teething problems associated with such a move, I received a letter from the Lagos State Lotteries Board. I was fined One Million Naira...

For Not Telling Them I Changed My Software.

I have a boss. The board is my boss.

The tax man is also your boss. If you have ever had tax issues, then you will know what the definition of nightmare is. Visits by the men of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is never a courtesy visit. Even when you have your books intact, they are always on the look out to take more from you. It is their job so no complaints there.

The point I'm making is that becoming your own boss does not mean you have absolute control of what you can do in your business. You will always have bosses to report to. Don't quit your job to start a business because you don't want a boss.

They Do Not Want To Work Long Hours

This is another flimsy excuse why people want to become entrepreneurs. They are tired of the alarm clock. They do not like the fact that they have to wake up every morning to go to work. A friend of mine once told me that he wishes he was like me.

According to him, I can decide not to go to work the next day and no one can complain.

I arrive at my office every morning between 10am and 11am. When people see me walk in, they imagine themselves becoming business owners so they can come in and leave whenever they want. They don't have to work for long hours.

It might interest you to know that entrepreneurs work longer hours than employees. Even though the entrepreneur might come into the office at noon, perish he thought, if you think all he does in the mornings is play golf.

The entrepreneur is always working. Before he gets to the office and after he leaves. The entrepreneur wakes up in the middle of the night to brainstorm and research on an idea that will move the business forward or solve a knotty issue.

None of my employees work as long as I do. Please note I did not say “as hard”. I have some wonderful employees that work very hard and I'm thankful to be their employer. I'm talking about long hours here.
From the time I wake up to the time I'm going to bed, I am always working.

It is either I am researching on customer satisfaction online or I am attending meetings at companies where I am a director or I am sealing new deals or I am
writing a book or whatever. Even when I'm partying, I am constantly working.

The luxury I have that most people do not have is that I can be very flexible with my schedule. For example, most times, I can work anywhere in the world as long
as I have Internet connection. I can also decide to fix meetings to fit into my preferred schedule. Not too many things can be forced on me. I'm in charge. But when it comes to working long hours, it is something you have to do as an entrepreneur.

They Want More Money... Now

This is one of the biggest motivating factors for those that want to to join the entrepreneurial train. We can all see on the Forbes list that the wealthiest people in the world are entrepreneurs. We can see some old school mates doing well in business. We admire their lifestyles. We admire their financial status. We want to be like them. We want money, and we want it now.

If you want money right now, starting a business is NOT something I will advice you to do. You need a JOB. A job that can pay you for your work at end of the day or week or month.

Don't start a business because you are looking for a way to pay your rent at the end of the month. In the words the musician, Koker, “Ko Le Werk”. It is called building a business when when you use the term build, it means it will take some time to see results.

I have friends in different industries that have succeeded and are succeeding in business. I know how all of them toiled at the beginning and how financially difficult things were. I remember around 2002 when I ran a poultry business with a friend. We put all we had in raising chicken for Christmas.

When the festive season came and it was time to sell and recoup our money, it was as if everyone in Ibadan had raised chicken for Christmas. There were so many sellers. We had to take our chickens to Iwo Road to sell ourselves. We were running after cars hawking the chickens.

It was tough but I kept at it. I kept at building businesses. It paid off years after. Today, that area where I hawked chicken stands a four storey building that houses the South West operations of NairaBET.com as well as my Non Governmental Organization (NGO), Akin Alabi Foundation.

But it did not happen overnight. It took years of toil, hardwork and consistency to arrive here. If you need cash immediately, starting a business is not what you should do.

Get a job.

They Just Discovered A New Business
Opportunity

This is another common mistake.

Guy sees different business opportunity seminars being advertised in the papers and on social media. One says he should come learn how to make soap, that he can become a millionaire doing it because there are two hundred million Nigerians and at least half of us have our baths everyday and that if he can get just 1% of such people using his soap, he will have all the money he wants.

Another seminar says he should discover how to become a website developer so he can become a billionaire. They remind him that some of the richest people in the world operate in Internet/technology related/backed industries. They tell him who Mark Zukerburg is and how he can be like him.

So guy brings out money to attend maybe a soap making or a bead making or a web design and development seminar. After the seminar is over, guy is buzzing and begins to feel like his name sounds like Aliko. So he quits his job to start a soap making business.

Now, there is really nothing wrong with learning a new skill and doing business with it. My point is learning a new skill is not enough to sustain a business. Let's use the soap making example. Yes, you were sold on the idea that because many of us have our baths, then there is a big market for you to explore. Yes, there is a big market no doubt but how are you going to dislodge those that are already dominating the market?

I bet you can can count so many big soap brands out there. How are you going to convince the public that they should abandon their favourite brands for yours?

Who is going to buy from you? Do you want to become a nuisance to your friends and families as you try to “force” them to buy from you?

Do the maths. How much do you think you can really make from that business? Do you think these big brands are big because they know how to make soap?
No. They are big for many reasons. They know how to build businesses. The question for you is do you know how to build a business?

Until you know how to build and market a business (I will be sharing some tips with you in this book), you should not rely on the fact that you learned a new skill. Yes you can practice the new skill you just learned on the side while you keep your job or while you are still in school. As you practice, keep it small and make small mistakes. You can grow into it that way.

You Need A Strong “Why”

As you already know, there are thousands, maybe millions of ways to make money. You can be a speaker or a butcher or a website designer or a phone seller or a furniture maker. There are trailer loads of “How Tos”. How to make money is not the problem. Don't focus too much on that. You need to focus on the “WHY”?

Why do you want to build a business? Hopefully, it is not one of the reasons I shared above. You need a strong reason. You are the only one that can find out your why. Until you find out a strong why, I don't think you should venture into business.

Opportunity Is Different From Business

A old school mate of mine recently offered to hand over some money to me so I can give him guaranteed returns month in, month out. Of course, I turned him down. I have discovered that this is what a lot of people want to do.

They want to put their money somewhere, relax and receive guaranteed interests. That is why Ponzi schemes will always succeed. We all remember what happened in the late different “wonder banks” made away with people's investments.

Ten years after, new Ponzi schemes sprang up. You would think the lessons of a decade earlier would discourage people from putting money into them but no. I learned that millions of people “invested” again and of course, lost a lot of money.

I'm not here trying to tell you whether you should put your money in such places or not. It is YOUR money.

All I'm saying is that you should not deceive yourselfthinking you are doing business by handing over money to someone for guaranteed returns.

This book is about starting your own small business and making a ton of money with it. We will not be talking about opportunities. Nothing wrong with taking up opportunities. My point is you should differentiate it from doing business.

I'm not sure I'm passing across this message properly but let me try more.

Let's say a friend comes to you and says he has been awarded a contract to supply a company with one million litres of diesel and he is going to earn N10 per litre in profits. That is Ten Million Naira in profits.

Cool.

Your friend then tells you he cannot finance it that he needs your help. He promises that you two will split the profits equally. Sensing a good way to make money, you “invest” and luckily for you, everything turned out nice and you cash out your share.

Five Million Naira in your bank account.

Congratulations. You have made good money.

You have done well. You have invested well.

That is not what I'm writing about. The focus of this book is not about such opportunities. That is not business. You only took advantage of an opportunity which is a good thing. The problem is that you should not rely on such opportunities to sustain you forever.
Here are some reasons why I'm saying this

You Cannot Consistently Find Such
Opportunities

There is no guarantee you will keep finding such opportunities for the rest of your life. That is why some people that depend heavily on contracts struggle when there is a change of government or change in management of where they get contracts from.

I know one massive contract can be enough for the rest of one's lives but the problem here is what are the odds that you are going to get such a contract?

You Are Susceptible To Fraud

When you are all about looking for opportunities, there is a high likelihood you will get defrauded. Fraudsters prey on opportunity seekers. They always come up with tantalizing offers that will be too good to refuse.

You Can Become Lazy

When you get addicted to looking for opportunities, you will become lazy. You will become both physically and mentally lazy. Physically you will not want to “hustle” and work hard. Mentally, you will not be able to think analytically and you will not want to stress your brain with things like marketing, customer support etc that business owners bother themselves with.

You Are Not In Control

I am in control of what happens in NairaBET. I know what to spend on advertising to get a particular result. I know when to keep spending or stop spending. I prepare the budget. I can predict what our bank balance will say at the end of the month. I am in
control.

Earlier on, I talked about changing the software that powers NairaBET.com. When I decided to change it,

I knew there would be customer resistance because most people resist change. I knew some customers would leave us for our competitors.

I had an idea of the percentage of customers that would leave. I was prepared. Our income dropped for some months and started picking up again. I was in control. If you depend on opportunities, you will not be in control, and is not good for your financial future.

Let's Proceed.

At this point, I believe you are going to think long and hard about your decision to go into business. Once you have convinced yourself with a strong why, then you are good to go. The rest of this book will arm you with the skills needed to start and grow your own small business, that will in turn bring in money for you non stop.

CHAPTER TWO:
HOW TO DECIDE ON THE KIND OF BUSINESS YOU SHOULD DO