Let me tell you a story.
I hit the 40 clients mark in my coaching business last month. Now at 43 and counting, that accounts for sales of multiple 6 figures (in $) in slightly over a year. And that’s a HUGE achievement for having spent the first 3 years of my online business just mark timing, making a couple of hundred here and a couple of hundred there.
And it struck me just how many people are just like me. They are from Africa. Maybe live in Africa or abroad. They’ve always been entrepreneurial – selling whatever they found to sell in primary school, in high school, in university. Maybe they joined an organisation but quickly outgrew it. Or perhaps they’ve always had a burning sense of purpose. That they are meant for something more and they couldn’t quite put their finger on what.
I don’t know what’s been more transformational. Finally realising that I CAN do it, or that I can HELP other people do it, and get them amazing results.
First I struggled with what I should actually sell. Business coaching? Real Estate Investment coaching? Health and wellness coaching? I had NO clue.
With the help of MY coaches, they are awesome – hit me up and I’ll intro you – I figured out my first offer, that got me my first $40,000 in sales in only 2 months.
Second, I struggled with contextualizing my offer to my market. See my market is different from the traditional Western market. Yes, they have the pain, but they also have an aversion to using credit and prefer to spend only what they have in pocket (no putting 4 or 5-figure charges on their credit card). What they do share is that they also mostly have a desire to eventually transition from what they are doing 8 to 5 pm to really making an impact in the area of their passion. That makes what I offer them a path to their freedom. When I hit on the perfect offer and pricing plan that got those that were committed in the door, I’ve had up to 4 out every 5 people I speak to say yes to what I offer them.
Third, I struggled with how to scale. Because I also spend what I earn, so running $30,000 facebook ads a month was never really an option. So I’ve had to learn organic ways to market my business and to use Facebook ads as the icing on the cake. And who doesn’t love a good cake with icing!
Fourth, I struggled with putting together a team that could take us where I see my organisation going. I had some great luck with some early hires, and I’m grateful to God for that. But some of the good ones left for greener pastures. After kicking myself for not being able to retain them, I purposed that no one would ever leave again unless I asked them to leave because they were not a team fit. That we would be such a great organisation to work for that we would be turning away offers. And one mentor I started to follow recently says it well, ‘Hire people before you need them’. It could be months before, it could be years before even. He speaks of recruiting COO’s and CFO’s of large multi-million dollar companies through having conversations with them over years, even before their company could actually pay these people what they deserved, because he knew these were the type of people that his company needed to get to where he saw it going. He calls them “your $500,000 hire”. That would mean that these are the type of people that should be earning $41,666 a month. Yup! That’s what the big’ uns pay.
Then I got to thinking, I either pay my team generously, or I pay the taxman generously, either way, someone gets paid generously. Of course, since both need to be paid anyway, I’ll choose to pay my team generously thank you!
So that’s where I am at. And it makes a lot of sense to me. Even Google, Apple, Microsoft were once startups. I believe every leader of an organisation has to make a journey through each of these stages to profitability.
The crux of the matter is in the vision we have as a company and where we see ourselves going. I see us becoming a multi-million dollar enterprise that brings freedom to people in Africa. Along the whole spectrum of life, from investments and property for financial freedom, to career and personal development, to entrepreneurship and business growth through using digital tools, to organisation development and management, to health and wellness, fashion and image, to family – bringing up kids and growing marriage relationships, to mentoring a generation of young people that will impact their world and not spend their whole holiday on the couch in front of the TV.
Why? Because I (and my loved ones) are passionate about EVERY single one of these areas.
You see I discovered a long time ago that passion is the secret sauce to success.
Pair that with expert skills (no theoretical knowledge, only run a business in an area you have dominated) and marketing, and you have a winning formula. Whether you sell t-shirts, or bake cakes, or take photographs, or make clothes, or train corporations, or run a restaurant.
The only problem is, I have found very FEW people that bring the same passion that I have to what they do. And if I found you, that elusive unicorn, I’ve probably already reached out to you and asked you if you’d like to join our team. I’ve found even FEWER people that can match what I bring in ideas to what they can do in execution. Because ideas without execution are dead.
Not to mention that my heart breaks when I see people overlook the power of the digital era that we are in. Maybe it’s more emotional for me because the country that I live in, and that has been home for the past 7 years, seems to be in a spiral of economic doom that I humbly think only external markets can resolve. Our global digital village literally empowers us all to have a market that is geographically removed from where we are. You no longer need to target clients in your country anymore, you can now target clients worldwide. I heard it said by a local entrepreneur that I follow that his mentor, a multi-millionaire based here, attributes his business success to this one key thing: targeting eternal markets.
So here’s what my heart yearns for now and where I need your help.
Do you have a vision as big as ours for yourself? Do you have skills at what you do along this spectrum and have done what you do for at least 3 to 10 years? Do you do what you do because you enjoy it, and look at the money as a side benefit? I mean, you go to bed dreaming of what you will create or solve tomorrow and you jump out of bed ready to conquer the day? Are your family always telling you that you need to slow down and not work so hard? Or tone down and not dream so big? Do you leave your ego at the door and are willing to let the team take credit for your work when needed? Do other people commend you HIGHLY for what you do on a regular basis (your mum doesn’t count)? Are you honest to a fault and highly value truth and integrity? Do you want to partner to get your skills out there through sharing these skills with others? Maybe you are a practitioner who builds websites, does tax returns, sells houses or manages organisations. Maybe you already teach or coach in your area and you want to simply share your skills with more people than you’ve reached before and for more than you’ve made before. Or maybe you’ve got technical skills in multimedia or digital marketing and had great results. Do you want to be a part of this wave? It’s important that you are not only looking at the bottom line, but at the impact you want to have in society, and know that as that impact goes up, so does the bottom line. It’s also important that you are ready to commit an initial 5 to 10 hours a week for your first month to see if we are fit. And don’t worry, we are totally okay with you doing this on the side as you continue in your current role, because we know that the good people are usually already taken, that’s why we know that you’re good. Plus we all work remotely from anywhere in the world and so can you. Personally, I’d love to retire my spouse, home school my kids and travel the world’s islands as a missionary, if we’re being specific. And I also commit to personally teach you everything that I know, that has cost me multiple 5-figures in $s to learn from the best in the world. AND I’m also about building you to be free to leave when the time comes that you outgrow us, and help you work on your passion while you are with us, that’s what will help us spread this vision to the continent and the world. See, I may not be able to pay you what you are worth right now, but I for certain will break my back to get there, and treat you as the valued partner that you will be as we walk this journey together. I may not have all the answers, but I look forward to taking the journey to finding them with you by my side. Because if you said yes to any of the above, you are already who we need and want.
If that’s you, or if you know someone like that, please message me and let’s get to talking. I’m super excited to take this journey with you. Let’s be the Uber of the African market, or the Airbnb of skills and talent, but in some of the most rapidly expanding business areas of our times. And sure, there’s a business idea you are free to go and implement, no dibbs here. Or come and let’s make our version of it happen together. Disclaimer: We have ridiculously high standards, and are constantly learning, in fact, I personally spend half of my day learning and the other half of it teaching and implementing. So only reach out if you intend to be stretched and pulled way out of your comfort zone and don’t ever intend to be mediocre at anything you do.
Jacqueline Tsuma is Founder and Director of Upani Homes and JT Consulting, lifestyle companies that provide coaching, consulting and done-for-you services in the area of real estate and home ownership for both diaspora and local home buyers, as well work with brick and mortar businesses based in Africa for their digital marketing. She is also a motivational speaker and is Co-Host of the AfricaX Show.
She works with professionals and businesses in Africa and in the Diaspora to help them maximize their retail and service-based business returns or real estate investments, by providing the best strategies for getting financing, managing and monetizing them.
Watch her free masterclass to learn the the 5 Steps Our Clients Use to Earn Six-Figure Rents From Their Homes in Africa (while living abroad and doing it 100% virtually.) More here -> http://jacquelinetsuma.com/5steps .
Recent Comments