101 SUPER Digital Hacks Every SME Needs to Grow Fast! 🚀 | Power Talk

All >> [music] [music] >> right, a very good evening to you. Thank you so much for joining us right here on hasht power talk. My good name is Brian S and I'm so excited to be right here. In just a bit, we'll be posting our question of the day. We want to engage you. So feel free to share your thoughts and your feedback on the hashtag which is part of TV show at V24 channel and at brand sak 101. Now in tonight's conversation we are delving into how to thrive into the ever evolving digital landscape especially as an owner a startup a business owner on real talk about money investments and adding value not only just to you profits that you make but also to your clients directly. What are some of the hacks 101 that you need especially right now in Kenya? And my guests who are joining me live in studio today are going to help us to unpack this conversation in such an amazing way. So ensure that you plug in move close to your TV. Right. I'll be speaking to Melvin Mangi. He's a sales and marketer at Mascadi Luxury Cars alongside Benson Numa. He's a business growth strategist, founder Grandes Consulting Group and also author of a book. He told me he's going to launch it very soon called Concept to Cash. Today's a boy child edition. Uh great to have you guys karabunisana and good evening. >> Right. So maybe let me start off with you uh since you're still an entrepreneur. >> Um if you look at the industry right now especially the current business ecosystem we have in our country maybe how are you let's say making stride in in terms of uh having a relationship with your clients ensuring that you have let's say a conducive business work environment. First of all, is the business working environment really conducive or you're adjusting and you're putting in measures that are helping you to thrive? Just a short story of how you're thriving. >> Um, so you know, we learn and we grow every day. Uh, and our relationships with our clients is also what make us uh improve as we go. So currently at Mascadi Luxury Vehicles, for example, the main thing that we're pushing is uh transparency with our clients and in my own endeavors, I just replicate what I do here that works and vice versa. >> Right. >> Yeah. So meaning that are there any tools that you're using so far so good in this digital landscape? >> Yeah. Uh which which specific one would you be interested? >> Uh in terms of like you reaching out to clients, marketing, positioning yourself uh as as a client. >> Uh currently we use uh social media more than anything else. >> Uh mainly focusing on Instagram, Tik Tok and Facebook. >> And there's also uh funnels and AI tools that help us with this. >> Yeah. So I can say for example with Instagram uh we do Instagram res and uh yeah we just follow trends and things that are happening around we study the market and do that. >> Uh let me jump on to you uh Ben >> son. [laughter] Right. When it comes to businesses thriving I think we live in such a world where I think social media matters and the digital landscape. So when you look at the pressure to be seen and to be heard as a business, is it hurting or it's amplifying in terms of reach out to clients and customers and maybe what are some of the biggest mistakes uh startups are making cuz I was reading an article that was saying most businesses actually don't make it to the first uh year of founding and others even die out in six months into founding. >> Yeah, >> thank you so much Bri uh Brian. Now I'm going to unpack that in two ways. First I'm going to start with uh uh with a story and I'm going to tell you a story of our startup. When we started that is five years ago we we had a really really really rough kind of a runway for the first for the first two years >> we were not making any sales. Actually I remember telling a friend of mine that the first two years we did not make any sales. Yeah. >> So I want to start from there. What you've just said that most businesses don't make it to the first year. >> And usually the reason that usually never happens is because most founders especially in this part of our of our world. >> Yeah. >> It's not like when Facebook was starting uh these guys could go for seven years without revenue or cash flow. >> Yeah. >> In this side of the world when someone goes into business they usually going into business to ensure that they have something to eat. They get money to pay their rent. They can travel. They can dress. So they going into entrepreneurship for survival. Yeah. >> And that is what makes it really hard to drive the first one year because once you go into something for survival and then there is what is required for you to build something you see there is a time for you to build momentum to build trust and for clients to start buying from you. So for you to get that buy in especially if you're offering a service to your clients becomes really uh really tough and then it's also a really long journey. You see building trust for services sometimes is quite longer not like products. You come to me, you tell me, hey, you know what, Benson, I like your watch. I want to buy your watch. Okay, you want my watch? Here's my watch. You see, someone gets it and goes with it. They just need to confirm that it's working. So, as far as as far as something is uh utilizable to them, they it's easier to buy it when it's a product. But you see, when it's a service, there is that time that takes to build that trust. So, that is the first thing that I'm going to tell you, and that is the biggest mistake that I think most founders or entrepreneurs are making when it [clears throat] comes to going into business. Uh I remember there was a time we were having a master class. We usually have round tables for founders and I was telling them the biggest mistake that we made at the early stage myself and another co-founder I had her name was Daisy. When we started the biggest mistake we did that the first thing we quit our jobs. I was a chef. >> She was Oh chef by profession. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Before I joined Jquad to pursue my bachelor's in real estate. I was a chef >> and then uh herself she was a data analyst and she quit what she was doing and we started to build Grandies. Back then it was called Grandes Business Hub. >> Okay. >> And the first like six 8 months there we really strained to a point we were almost giving up on the business. >> Why? Because we were surviving on this thing. >> Yeah. >> So the first two months was okay because you have some little savings. >> H people still kind of like you. You see there is also this concept by when you start a business your friends are not going to buy from you. Trust me. >> Yeah. I've heard so many [laughter] young entrepreneurs say start your business and you'll see that your friends are not your friends. Yeah. >> Exactly. >> Should they support you? Are they are they supposed to be part of your business? >> Of course in the beginning but they don't. Right. >> I have never understood. Maybe you could explain to us. >> What I think is this I actually actually discourage people from getting clients from their friends and family. >> Why not? They say your friends is your is it your friends are part of your network or your network is your network. >> It depends. It depends on on which level you are at because when you're starting >> Yeah. >> the most invaluable way and um for lack of a better word, it's a kind of a useless way to validate your value in a market is to get a friend to buy from you. >> Because if I'm close to you, I'm going to buy based on my emotions towards you. So you never get to validate whether your service or your product has any value to the market. >> And that is why also why most businesses fail because you're starting something or maybe you're starting something and then your father comes to you and tells you give me 10 of those pieces. and very >> you try to push your product to the market and then you realize oh I did not answer certain question on value I answer certain question on trust I did not answer certain question on quality assurance >> so you get to a market and then you realize >> you get to a place where by then you realize that actually you use the wrong way to validate >> and I I usually I usually even tell tell some of my friends um avoid selling your products on WhatsApp at the very start because those guys are not going to give you real valuation. >> But that's the nearest you could start off if you don't have like an Instagram or a Facebook. >> How how much does it cost to get an Instagram or a Facebook? >> Yeah, maybe literacy on how to operate too. >> Right. It's it's just going on your phone creating one. >> Yeah. >> Um if you have an account, create a page. If you have already an account, start posting. Start pushing it. pay a thousand or 2,000. >> That's actually the approach that I took personally. So I was a co-founder last year of a retail store that deals with high-end Apple products >> which is iPhones, Apple watches and so on and so forth. And we started off on Instagram and we're still driving >> also using WhatsApp right? >> Yeah. So actually funny enough we only used WhatsApp for the communication which was very rarely but we were still making sales on Instagram >> right. So a lot of clients are more vis are more pre like they like using social media interactive platforms like Instagram, Tik Tok, etc. >> Honestly speaking, it all depends on your target and who you're trying to >> to get to. Yeah. To buy from >> because I'm looking at Apple products and then WhatsApp. Yeah. Now I see. Now I see. But still on you maybe during your first early uh formative years of trying to uh brand yourself as a because you are a sales marketer. What were some of the skills that you had to hack before you started thriving because you transitioned from that to what you're currently doing right now? >> Yeah. Yeah. So actually uh with my story, my journey started off in liquor distribution. So you know that one is a bit straightforward. Someone comes and they know what they want to have >> and then from there now we went to the Apple retail and now to automotive industry. All of them are very unique in your approach, but they all share one thing in common >> that uh the tactic you have to use in all of them was just transparency with your product. I'm sure you're familiar now with what's going on in the country with a lot of fake alcohol. >> I'm sure you also know the situation with the snatching of phones. These phones, it's not like they leave the Kenyan market. They're resold within our own markets. >> And same thing with vehicles as well. uh if you don't have a complete record of where they're being imported from, >> yeah, >> you don't, you know, you don't have that uh transparency with the client. So, the tactics I used were just being transparent with clients >> and uh what they see is automatically what they get at the end of the the purchasing. >> Yeah. >> Right. So, you've been into three industries at the same time. >> No, no, no, no. This was uh gradually. So, this is over a span of four years. >> Yeah. Cuz being a sales marketer, you you're you're literally a customer executive. Yeah. So, how did you establish yourself in terms of being a professional and doing outreach so that you're striking a personality that's welcoming? Um, I've spoken to hundreds, if not thousands of young entrepreneurs. What they say a lot is striking a relationship with your client. It could be one client and they stick with you from when you are a startup to a big franchise. So, what were some of the skills that you had to shape into becoming one? Um some of the skills I I'd say I really used was um in order to first of all to captivate you I needed to fix your problems. So what you had is uh when I started off with the iPhones for example there was a huge problem with uh upcoming uh digital what's it called upcoming uh musicians and so on and so forth. They didn't have the right utilities to shoot music videos or record the you know their music and so on and so forth. So what I did first and in return what I'd get is them marketing my products. So what this did is that it created a sort of notoriity for black and then it brought in more clients to us. So it was just tapping into their culture and what's already happening and >> and that's how I started off. >> Right. Uh let me come on to you Ben. How do you create let's say a brand in this digital space without going the route of um I think we have a lot of influencers and celebrities who like cloud chasing but I tend to I tend to see cloud chasing as a very powerful tool too as well especially if you want to bring attention to your enterprise or your business so how do you create a positive visibility in this noisy field digital landscape that's super ever evolving you can now add AI in its new form sometimes it's not even easy to differentiate between a real ad and an AI ad. I don't know if it's an advantage or it's a disadvantage. How do you create a warm visibility with this, you know, noise in the digital space? >> The CL chasing him. >> Yeah. >> All right. It's I think it's not simple, but it's also simple. Number one, just be authentic. Be authentic with your voice, with what you can do and with what you cannot do. Know your strengths and your weaknesses. I remember the early stages when I was starting I think most of the visibility that myself I got back then that is started around 2019 there most of the visibility that I got was from Facebook >> I was never good with Instagram actually this is the the [snorts] year that I'm starting to know oh I can use Instagram to post to get clients I used to use Facebook so >> what were you posting at that time >> um just articles you see back then I I think we had not really embraced AI Mhm. >> We we are still trying to embrace AI as a country at the same time. But I used to write maybe stories telling people this is what I think I could do if I was starting a business. These are some of the tactics that you could use. You see this is the time that we are starting the startup with Daisy. So I used to post a lot on Facebook and I used to get a lot of DMs on Facebook. >> And mind you, I had connected my accounts both on Facebook and Instagram but my Instagram was not performing. So the first thing just be really authentic. Be really authentic with what you can do and what you cannot do. Yeah. >> Instagram is really gramorous. Most of the people who are trying to upcome especially into entrepreneurship these people don't have a lot of exposure and some of the platform that they quickly uh interact with is either Tik Tok or Facebook. Back then there was no Tik Tok. So they were interacting with a with a lot of content on [snorts] Facebook. >> Yeah. >> And so that is number one. Be authentic to yourself, your voice. what you can do and then >> master somewhere to start so that it gives you that visibility that perception because I I I tend to believe that followers are good as you've said >> and cloud chasing is good because it brings money I'm a sales executive I get consulted on this uh I think like two or three months uh back then I will not mention names but we also pulled a really good one for a for one of one of a really known figure and it was really good for the business you understand so also cloud can work But I I I tend to tell people who are starting out as entrepreneurs, if you're starting your business, if you're really authentic, you stick to the platform that you want to focus on. >> Yeah. >> Uh sometimes I think followers are vanity metrics for you. >> Yeah. >> Because followers, you realize followers don't pay bills. Followers don't pay your your employees >> and actually true clients are going to pay you. >> So how do you translate your followers into clients though? Because you could be having a 100K, but you know people not purchasing your business. How do you curate uh if it's an art? >> Uh because I understand tools like storytelling are also part of ways to like capture an audience. You've seen some of these kids with even celebrities and influencers. They do something crazy, spontaneous and then in the end it's an ad of a product. Yeah. So maybe how do you transform your followers on Instagram, Facebook and the rest of the platform into direct clients cuz that would be fantastic for sure for a business. So that is easy and I and this brand this this is actually the thing we in a society whereby you see we grew up receiving a lot of free things. We came some some some of the guys who are really older than us really free some of us got free education from you see when when you grow up in a culture by everything is given to you for free it becomes really hard for you to scale anything because it's not possible for you to capture a good value in a market for free. Let's first get that one right. You cannot get it for free. >> So sometimes you can get followers and have 100 followers. I have clients who who whose business pages have tens of thousands of followers and they're not making any sales. So they come to you, they tell you, you know, we have these followers, we're not making any sales. It goes down to budget for your marketing because if you don't budget for your marketing, there's nothing else that you're doing. And most of us do not have the culture of budgeting for marketing. >> Even if it's 5,000, at least have that budget and let it be consistent. >> Yeah. >> Because I feel like 5,000 can be a game changer. Can I tell you something? This is going to be this is going to be a real shocker for you. when we started our marketing social media marketing do you know we did an advert of 3,000 and that 3,000 I think brought around uh some revenue of about I think 70 80,000 you can imagine the magnitude of the result the the multiplier that we experienced just by thinking that let's just have a small budget because when it comes to and this is something people don't know our that metads can give you access to amazing clients because they've been told if you want to get clients go on Tik Tok go on Tik Tok live. It's It's working of course and it's been working but we we can all attest. You're a marketer. You've been on these platforms. We can all attest that Tik Tok is not going anywhere with marketing. Eventually it's going to slow down. Yeah. >> It's not going anywhere. >> But that's where half of Kenyans are, especially youngans when it comes to >> that the story they sold us to get into it. >> Is it true or not? Cuz have you ever checked out Kenyan Tik Tok at night at midnight? >> Tik Tok is more entertainment. >> Yes. >> Or it's more entertainment just sales and marketing. touching even up on the question that you asked as well. >> Uh what a tactic we also use currently in my position is we entertain our clients >> and then you'll also now have a catch at the end of the each video. The reason why you have to tap into entertainment is because currently we're living in a time where attention spans are very minimal. >> So if you're not captivating your audience within the first five six seconds it's gone. And uh you know as he's saying like Tik Tok in the next 4 years I don't think it's going to be used for any >> this thing is not have you checked some of the influencers that you follow have you seen their videos how they performing you go to a video with someone who for someone who has like 400,000 followers then you realize it's at 3,000 you're wondering how is it >> recently I was telling my friend I don't have a lot of followers but I was telling my friend I don't know what is happening how do you how do you tell me that you have over a thousand followers and then you get 90 views >> how is that even possible your and should be viewing. >> Yeah. >> The thing is also there's a big misconception in marketing about uh numbers. People think that oh you had 300,000 views we're doing well. It's not about the number the amount of people that are watching. It's about the right people watching. Out of 200 people watching maybe only one person can afford a GLE for example. >> Yeah. Is there a way you can uh drive them from that 3,000? >> Yes, there is. So there are things that they will tend to be more interested in. So, for example, um we do skits with my colleagues, right? >> The skits are going to get everyone entertained. >> But once you do a video, starting off with the vehicle, the first three three words are about this car, which is the GLE, the person who's interested in that cuz people always they know what they want and they're there because of what they want. >> You'll tend to find it has less views, but the person who's there for it will stick around. >> For me personally, I'm not the biggest fan of uh Subarus, for example. If you start a video saying this Subaru is I'm going to scroll away immediately. >> But if you start a skit with, you know, a pretty girl or something and then it's about a Subaru captivating and you >> too. So it's it's it's not about uh it's it's not about how many people are watching, it's about the right people watching, >> right? And we're asking our viewer right now, what do you think makes a business fail after 6 months in operation? And we've just highlighted in in the first 15 minutes of our conversation, most actually don't make it even to the first year of founding. Some even die into six months into operations. What do you think makes businesses fail after 6 months in operation? The hashtag is pound TV show. Send in your comments, send your feedback. We will sample it towards the tail end of our conversation right here on the hashtag which is once again power TV show at Y244 channel. They'll say the handles to the tail end. But let me ask you, Benson, as as a young Gen Z who's watching this conversation and they're interested to venture out there and compete and maybe they have a vision of growing into a big tech, uh what would you advise them? What would be the first uh startup strategies especially if maybe they're thinking to venture into like a distribution business? Uh he was into uh he's he's into cars in the automo industry. uh should they are their tactics and how should they position themselves to a point that if I'm starting six months then I want to receive assurance of my niche and my market so that I can make it out to the rest of of the remaining you know 6 months because I don't know if the conducive uh conditions for operations in our country are viable or you have to make the conditions viable for yourself meaning that you have to arm yourself as a startup so maybe what are the channels and the steps they should take for startup So if you're starting out a business, the first first thing first as I told you, validate value. And this is the biggest mistake that most of us do. You you heard that Mel said that they realized that there was a gap with music videos. These influencers making videos and stuff. You realized a gap that was bringing value to the market. So the first thing just validate validate what is the value that you that you're giving to the market and whether it's needed because sometimes you can pro you can produce a lot of value that is not needed. All right. For example, right now, if I came and I told you, you know what? Um, I can maybe start giving you water that smells like perfume. I don't know does what. It is not going to harm your health. It can it can sound like a good concept at first because you're thinking you're adding flavor to their water. But is there really a need for that water? Is there really a need for people to buy that water from you? So, sometimes you can produce some value that doesn't have monetary gain for your business. So, that is the first thing. Validate the value that you give into the market. to ensure that people are willing to pay for it. And how do you validate this? Go out there to the market. >> I think right now because we're in a world of social media, don't go to your friends. As I told you, these people are going to buy from you because of feelings. You go to your girlfriend, you tell your girlfriend, you want to start selling, I don't know, vehicles that that that use kerosene. She's going to be happy for you. You know, this girl loves you. You go to your mother, tell her, uh, this and this is what I want to do for farmers. She's going to be happy because you're her son and and she's like, you're doing something with your life. So, first things first, validate the value. And the best way to validate it, go there, get people who don't know you, get people who don't have any emotions with you. People are going to be really brutal with you. People are going to tell you, "We don't need, we don't think we need this." >> And then you're going to understand that. All right? You can go do meta ads. You can go uh to networking events. Go and pitch your idea. Go there and talk to people. Even you see the biggest thing that most businesses have lost in the modern market, especially in our landscape, is that we've lost the touch. You see, there is the cold response that you need from your client, and that is what we are losing eventually. You need to talk to your clients. Call your clients. Talk to them. Hey, how are you? Is our product working for you? Hey, how are you? We have this product that we want to launch. Do you think it's going to help you? This and this is what is going to do. Right? You validate value. >> Then number three, come up with a way to capture the value that you're creating for your for your clients. >> I'll give you a good example. There is there is this meme sold I don't know 50 shillings on the shop. You go to I don't know a restaurant 300. You go to an airport. This you see this that is just a a mental tattoo that we are trying to give you to tell you that it depends how you capture value. It's not even about the product. It's how you capture that value. >> Like as you're creating this value, how much are you capturing for yourself because again remember you're in business and for you to be sustainable you need to make profits and not just profits but big profits. You know why? Because not every month is good for business. Ask any entrepreneur they will tell you this month we did really good and there there are things like inflation there are things like uh government releasing money to the economy that really affect how cash flow comes into your business you understand that so >> first of all understand that there is value validate it with people then capture that value and and you know Brian most of us are creating value for clients and we are not capturing that value for oursel so you're helping >> just to explain a little more what is value for you and then what is value for the client cuz I'm seeing profit Somebody say I made profit >> or maybe my business grew and I scaled. Yeah. So what is value for for the client and then value for you as the business owner? >> You want to go in? Sure. Go ahead. >> I think I'd say if you if you have a startup value for yourself as the owner of that company, the most important thing to you is your reputation. >> Okay. >> For your client, it's, you know, as I said, when they come to you, they already have what they want in mind. Make sure it's the best condition. And why do I say this? Mhm. >> With a bad reputation, there's almost no market that you can penetrate. It's better for him to own a dealership that has two vehicles than me owning one with 30 vehicles and have a bad reputation. Everyone will go towards him. And how do you do this? Just as he said, you listen to your clients, right? If they come to you with a problem, solve that problem. It's better for you to solve this problem before going on to the next client because the word on the streets is very important. But that would be my two cents on it. >> Big time. Actually to add on what he's saying you see when you're building value for you >> if you if you want to build a business >> of course you have 5 years 10 years 20 years projections of where your business is going. Yeah. >> So we start with what he's saying the brand itself >> what are you getting you know you'll be shocked at how much you know people are bringing a lot of value to the market but you'll be shocked at how much you don't even know the person who did something to bring a solution >> like who who sat down and imagined let's let's have cameras to do this let's have a microphone that is way better that is way tinier you don't need to hold it you don't need to do this you see that is for your brand and you can tell it from the people who invented uh the likes of Thomas Edison So on the the likes of Albertson. But let me now come to that that is the part for you to build a brand a name for you as a business. But now realize this if you build a brand for you and you not now translate it to the most important thing for your business. >> The most important trust you me revenue is way more important for your business as far as you're providing the right thing to your clients. >> Okay? >> Understand that. So we we have everything kept at constant that you're not lying to your clients. You're applying everything that is right. If you tell them you're going to get a product by tomorrow, deliver by tomorrow. You're going to get this by this. This is what he's going to do. Just deliver that. So, let's keep that aside. The most important thing is your revenue >> because as I've told you, it's revenue that you're going to use to do product development. It's revenue that you're going to use to do expansion. If you're having trouble answering calls to your clients who call you and they're feeling inconvenience is the same revenue that you're going to hire a customer relationship personnel. Yeah. It's from the same revenue that you're going to hire a social media manager so that now clients can interact with your brand more on social media. Understand? >> So that is the third thing. So capture enough value for you as you're creating value for your clients but ensure that the value that you're creating for your client is way bigger than what you're getting. Let me give you a question and then I end it there. Okay? >> Right now if I come to you Brian and I and I tell you give me give me 1,000 and I'm going to give you 10,000. All right? Then I tell you give me 10,000 and I'm going to give you 100,000. Then I tell you, give me 100,000 and I give you 1 million. And I tell you, for all these three options, you only need to take one. >> You only need to take one. >> Yeah. >> Which one would you take? >> Uh please, which one will you take? [laughter] You supposed a very good question. Uh let me pivot to you, uh Melvis. Maybe what were some of the hurdles at first that you faced in your early starting days or in your formative days because you've said you've been in the industry for four four years. Yeah. What were the challenges because uh you've we've been our sales marketer uh a distribution store. You mentioned Leica and then now into cars specifically the profile of automo. What were the hurdles in the inception? >> So I think for a startup cuz that's what we're talking about right now. We did have the revenue with my co-founder but we found that uh there were times that even the revenue would be harder to come your way if you don't have the reputation as I was bringing it up. Uh so I'd say that uh some of the I faced three challenges when I was starting up. Number one, the credibility. That was a huge issue. Number two, I had the wrong wholesaler at the time. Uh so I'd say those three things are things that you should really invest in. Get a proper wholesaler who even though he's he's selling you things, he's selling you the right things. Don't cheap out. Sometimes you'll go to two wholesalers, one is way cheaper and it's the same product. Mhm. >> So you think, but eventually down the line you find that you're even spending more money than you should have. >> The second thing as well is uh I'm very persistent on this cuz it's cost me money. >> Always uh make sure that if a client is coming to you with an issue, fix it. And why do I keep on emphasizing on this? My biggest challenge is I had a client who came and bought a phone from me. >> Everything was smooth. Down the line it became a whole problem. >> Yeah. >> Because all I needed to do was just swap the phones. Once I did, >> it opened up more doors because the person my client was actually not happy. He's the one who went and praised me and said you he replaced this and he did this and he did that. That opened more doors for revenue. So me personally, I'd say just invest in your reputation and >> right. >> All right. Absolutely. We want to take a break but we are asking you what makes a business to fail after 6 months of operation especially in the early formative days from startups tomemes to even micro medium enterprises and a lot more please let us know your thoughts and your feedback on the hashtag which is part of show not part of TV show first I said TV show but it's part of show on Facebook Instagram and XR254 channel personally minds a brand what makes a business to fail after 6 months of operation or founding. Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll be delving deeper into the conversation with my guests right here who are live with me in studio. See you on the other side in a bit. >> All right, welcome back. Thank you for staying with us. You're still watching Power Talk. I'm Brian Squand. I'm still live with my guest in studio. Before we went on a break, we asked you what makes a business to fail after 6 months of operation. Let us know why 244 channel at Brown1. The hashtag is power talk show. Now back to my guest. Uh we can try to paint a panoramic picture. Maybe Elvis, you can go first. What makes businesses to fail in their early founding or early operation or formative years? >> Yeah. Uh I'd say uh the main two things in my opinion that make a business fail is uh number one not reinvesting your money into your own stock uh which is getting carried away and uh the second one as well is uh as I said with the lack of a good reputation. So what you do is u if you want to avoid this there's making money is one thing but reinvesting it and selling it and learning how the markets are working is another. You'll find situations where my competitor is trying to price match me, but we don't have the same wholesaler. So, of course, I'm going to fail. I'm trying to match your price of how you bought how much you bought your watch or how much you bought your phone, but I don't know you're making a 15,000 profit margin. And me price matching you is only making me 2,000 shillings. >> So, of course, I'm destined to fail. Another one is I lack a clear plan. And a lack of a plan leads to no consistency whatsoever. If I'm just doing this and this and this today, there needs to be a clear flow. Your social media also needs to have a flow to it. Maybe you post two skits and then you post two photos of of your items and so on and so forth. So if I don't have a plan where I said, "Okay, in my first two months whether or not I make a sale, >> yeah, >> this is what I'm going to do with my company." >> Another thing is you can't keep on doing the same strategies expecting different results [music] at the end of it. If this isn't working for 2 weeks, >> then I should pivot and change my direction, >> right? >> And uh by pivoting and changing my direction, it could also be even social media sites. Maybe for example, there was a time where the phone business was booming on Tik Tok. There were so many ladies live every day selling phones. Maybe it's not booming there because I have so many competitors. Why don't I pivot to Facebook? >> You know, always be ready to change your plan. Start from zero. Don't try to price match others because you don't know where they're getting it from. And if you really have to price match them, then you should consider changing your sources. >> Absolutely. >> So that would be my >> my advice to you. >> Yeah. And if you've not understood for thatly say wherea comment section but uh originally as I come to you Benson we are conditioned to go to school finish your academics graduate get your documents go get employment but now we are seeing more conversations and debates around entrepreneurship uh start a business don't solely depend on a 9 to5 also people are scaling even in their career profile somebody could be employed on a 9 to5 but still they're running a business they're on the journey to entrepreneurship uh for founders maybe why does branding really matter and then also you can combine it with if you told somebody to start a business they'd say I need money first you know capital is what really matters yeah so is is it possible to do away with all those factors and start small without this big capital cuz somebody would say I need like half a million for me to start a distribution business y yeah and I'm sure you can do that with 10k if you position yourself really Yeah. So you can start off with why the obsession with branding and then our journey to capital. >> Okay. So with branding I I feel like what Melves is saying about reputation sometimes we get really obsessed with how people are going to perceive us as and it's not only in business even in life you get really obsessed with how people are going to perceive you that you forget exactly what truly matters to you because sometimes even you remember previously I had mentioned that when when you want to realize whether there is value for your product you need to listen to your clients but also Let me put a balance to that that sometimes when you listen so much from what the outside market is giving you. You see that water that is coming in again and again to your sheep again and again and again. Sometimes it makes you crash for this reason. Not every time as you're starting out that the client is going to understand the vision, your founder, your co-founder is going to understand the vision nor your employees are going to understand the vision. So the best thing number one is to lay a balance. So as you're building on this one whereby you want people to you want to listen to people you want to give them that first uh first priority when it comes to developing your business also you need to get to a place whereby you you understand what is true to yourself >> and I'm a strong believer that anytime you brand yourself in a certain way and you position yourself out there number one the world will adjust number two you're going to pull the clients that are yours something that Melvin again said I'm going to go back to that >> he said that if you're not a subaru kind of a fanatic right I'm not and I'm not also a fanatic of so many other brands so if I go on something and then they start mentioning that brand I'm like this not >> it's not for me for sure understand so I'm going to scroll pass by all right >> so that is the thing so push your brand out there let the people who truly love what you're doing get to you come to buy from you and let the people who are you are not because you cannot be for everyone when you're building a business be ready to not be for everyone all right of course I'm going to I'm going to push in something that we do in sales, it's the law of odds. There is a law of odds when it comes to sales. And that is where you understand that for every 20 people that I'm going to DM, only one person is going to reply to me. All right? For for all 100 people that I'm going to talk to to buy my product, only five people will buy my product. So, you understand that law of odds. So the moment you understand those odds, you understand that by the time I'm going to the market, so if I talk to you, Brian, and I talk to my elves, >> it's okay if you two don't buy because I know I have another 98 to talk to so that I can get my five buys, >> right? >> You understand? So you kill that desperation because that desper that desperation is what kills your brand. >> And that applied to social media in terms of visibility too. >> Yes. Exactly. Because sometimes you you find yourself you're trying to pivot too much that you lose your authenticity. >> You lose the identity that you are trying to build on >> just because you saw you see we have already moved past what we used to do back then. You want to start a business because Benson started a business and it's working. >> Yeah. >> You're selling Mumba because someone else is selling Mutumba. >> But we're being encouraged to be young entrepreneurs right now. They're telling us 9 to5 be self-employed >> and because your colleagues are self-employed too. Me too. Let me go that route. Is it a bad thing? Uh, I mean, it's always a bad thing if you're not authentic to yourself and you're imitating what's happening around. But the reason why I personally would convince people to try it out is because we live in a time now where you don't even need to have stock yourself. Maybe if I was to give you an example of two boys, right, who are both 18, they just finished high school. >> One is able who has the capital to start a business and one has no money. They're both in a position that they could >> in their starting cuz we're speaking of startups make a similar amount of money. And I know you wonder how, right? Yeah. >> Whatever your markup is, keep it >> and sell me the phone. You see that? You don't have any you don't have any stock. You haven't spent any money. >> It's almost as if you could argue and say you're making 100% uh profit >> unless you're paying for transport. Very very profit. Actually to add on what Mel is saying uh there was a time 2022 I believe when we were starting we started a furniture business back then we didn't have a workshop we didn't have a carpenter what we used to do we sort we did sort for some really good carpenters who could deliver good quality we post photos then people would order this products we go to the carpenter and then we tell the carpenter how much are you going to charge us for this one they would say maybe 30,000 and then we go to our client you know what this is going to cost you 40,000 then the 10,000 is ours we don't have any risk. Again, we did the same same thing with uh with chicken that is 2022 still whereby we went to some fast food. >> We talked to them you know what we can be delivering chicken to you these broiler chickens. So they were like it's okay how many pieces can you deliver because at this time you need to commit to yourself to what is the capacity that we can deliver and then we went to Kiamu interior Kiamu we looked for these farmers with another lady from there we asked around can we find people who have this number of chicken they can supply this amount every week and then that is how we did it and we would go get them get the suppliers and then we sell them we make our own markup >> so it is very much possible it's very much possible as long as you have a lot of self-belief and you know the confidence but to touch up on it again is yeah so you could sell things on markups including vehicles you could also just go take photos of cars >> right >> once you find buyers you you're making a good amount of money so the reason why I would uh advise young people to go and try [music] these things out is because when you don't have that backup of employment and you don't have something to fall back on or a safety net it also pushes you harder we're not going to be any younger >> right absolutely And uh we have all that energy right now. >> Let me ask you absolutely sorry to cut you on your point before I forget. Maybe at at one point in your entrepreneurial journey did you feel that you're now scaling? I don't know if you've scaled already or maybe you felt like you're at the height of operations. Now clients are streaming in thick and fast. What was that hack that you injected into your business and [music] it blossomed? >> It blossomed. uh when I changed my wholesaler when I started off I had someone who he was almost selling it his products at a retail price but I didn't know any better so I was buying them and selling them even more expensive >> but when I changed my wholesalers uh I was able to price my products at such a cheap price that even clients would be like what's the catch you know and that's when I felt like I've really hacked this because I also learned that >> as much as you're retailer as well with the right wholesaler you could also position yourself as a wholesaler to retail shops And these are things that you learn as you go. But uh >> again to really cuz I know like a lot of young people are watching. So I'd definitely say >> go and try go and start and you learn as you go. >> Most of these things we didn't figure them out. A lot of money has been lost on the way. But uh one thing that has stayed constant during that journey is you always grow. >> Yeah. And you tell us as well what bad days in your industry look like. Finish up on your point. Sorry. >> Okay. Bad days. Uh, it depends. If I was to speak specifically on vehicles, I'd say bad days is any day you lose a sale to a different dealership. [music] >> All right. >> Meaning that instead of a client coming >> and buying it from us, they went somewhere else. >> But that's competition. I'd say >> it's competition, but fair enough. But here's the thing. It's one thing to lose a lead on social [music] media. That happens every day. But you walked into our dealership. we had the same vehicle as the other guy you went and sold it to and we're selling it at the same price and you bought it there. That could only mean one or two things. >> It either means we didn't give you the best service, >> right? >> Or we just bad at closing deals because how can you go and buy the exact same thing >> Yeah. >> from someone else for the exact same price. So that's a bad day. >> It means that we have to Another thing also in business is you really have to uh look deep within yourself. Mhm. >> You have challenging days where you ask yourself questions. Am I really as good as I think? >> And one thing that you learn, the best businessmen have is every time they ask themselves, am I really as good as I think I am? >> There's always room for improvement. There's always I'm actually not. So you keep learning and keep learning. >> Yeah. So is it possible people buy you and not the business? >> Most times actually. Yeah. I mean >> people go for I don't know which what brand is the loudest right now in terms of fashion. Like you can look at the Gucci, the the Louis Vuitton, the Louis Vuitton and the rest. Somebody goes for the brand and not the product itself. >> Yeah, let me not even lie to you. Uh >> the best salesman and you can agree with me are the salesmen that sells. They sell themselves first. >> That's number one. Number two, I can tell you is why don't we even use the company I work for for example. >> We don't make any cars. >> Yeah, true. >> We resell vehicles. >> We don't make Benzes. We don't make BMWs or any other vehicle. But people are buying the brand. In fact, I normally tell this uh to myself every time when I go to work, I tell myself that my goal since I'm working here is in the next one or two years, I don't want kids to go and buy a car and say I bought a Benz from Mascadi for example. I want them to go there and say I want a Mascadi no matter what it may be. And uh once you're starting to make the middleman, which is you and your brand, even bigger, >> then you're winning, >> right? Uh let me we are almost closing up uh the conversation maybe uh Benson how can you tell that you're making progress uh as a business how do you feel that you're making this progress even though it might not be visible to you and you're not feeling it but people outside could could possibly there could be tell signs this person is now finding routing and ground in their business ecosystem and also maybe if you are to inject in skills that you or strategies that you can use to uh speed up process as a theme owner, startup, business owner, etc. >> Okay. So, how how you can tell that you're making really good progress for your business? Nan is what he was saying. First of all, get to know that you've understood the ecosystem. Most of us don't understand our ecosystem. You have so many people that can get you the same product. Very many wholesalers can get you the same same product, a really amazing amazing prices, but you're going for the one that you're getting just because you don't know any better. you don't know whether that thing exists. So the first thing starts do you understand your ecosystem? Even if you're not making any sales. If you can understand your ecosystem from where am I going to get what I need from? Number two, your customers. You get to understand this is where I get my customers from. You see the moment that you realize I can get my clients from Tik Tok is where I get my clients. Even though at that time you're not making any sales, you're able to think now if from Tik Tok is where my clients are, what do I need to do on Tik Tok? Because you see business is a lot of guessing as you were saying you get to question yourself a lot you get to think a lot second guessess yourself really actually a lot of times so the first time when there are no visible signs that you're making progress is when you get to understand where are your customers coming from so that now you can think what do I need to do better when it comes to my clients number three you get to understand why am I losing business or why am I not making sales >> that is also a really amazing thing because it gives you a glimpse of what are some of the mistakes that you're what do you need to improve on and what do you need to amplify out there to your clients so that they feel this these people really listen to us these people really understand us >> because you see Brian um the major indicator of progress in your life is usually not the things that actually happen when you realize that you're making progress but actually understanding this is what I need to do to make the progress that I need to make >> so sometimes it can be even even in your own personal life sometimes progress can be understanding the right kind of friends to be around >> it can be understanding the right food to take can be understanding the right time to sleep. You see those are some of the things that tell you that you're making progress because now you're not guessing because most of the times you're going to find yourself guessing. So the moment that you find yourself you're in this season whereby you're not guessing anymore. You understand that if I need to get more clients I'm going to get them from here. If I need to do this I'm going to get them from there. >> Yeah. >> Maybe to add on something when it comes to marketing because you've said that we are closing. You've asked a question about is it possible for people to buy from you rather than your product or your brand. So true and that is why in the recent times people are really encouraging CEOs uh doing the marketing see the face of the CEO being on the marketing. Why you remember there's this time I think like a month ago last month it is when this guy from Kasoko left Kasoko and then everyone is shocked this guy you want to mean this guy never own Kasoko you want to mean Kasoko was not belonging to this guy why was that happening because people are buying from the brand of this guy and as a result they thought that this guy was the brand actually so they were they thought we are buying from this guy and you see when you've built a good brand it's going to show see this guy leaves Kasoko goes to another place and Then like one week in he sells like two Lexus right two lexas at I think 17.5 or something >> two Lexus >> and people are trusting you >> and you are on a new venture because you've built on your brand so I feel like building you as I was telling build who you are push yourself out there let the people who are for you know you let them buy from you let them accept you because that is going to give you caution even tomorrow if something happens to you and you need to do something else we've seen people who are TV personalities really great TV personalities the go of being TV personality and they decide to start their own podcast and it really booms. Why? Because people were tuning into the brand not to the show that was happening around. >> Oh, so it was the person the personality and not >> exactly >> and not the station. >> Yeah. So that's why that's why these people move out and then you realize the following is following them. So all these followers who are with them on TV, they're now following them to their private shows. You understand? It's because of the brand. And I keep on telling people even if you're employed as you're working for another brand never stop working on yourself. >> Okay. Shortly before I come to you Melvis as we close it up. What are you big on in terms of cuz you're a business growth strategist. >> What in your forums and your convergences? What do you always want your clients or the young entrepreneurs or the people you meet with what is always the message that you insist? Also picture the current uh ecosystem, business ecosystem we have in our country. I don't know if it's favorable. I'm not anme owner but I think I should head out to that direction soon. Uh what is pinching for young starters especially in our country? 30 seconds please keep it short so that I get to Mel. >> Okay simple getting the the leads that are going to translate to prospects who are going to be your customers. So marketing is the biggest problem and that is what we're trying to solve for our clients to understand where do I get my leads from? How do I get get to my leads because that is the biggest problem when it comes to startups. All right. And then number two, which is also a really big one, is you truly truly understanding how do I close my sales when I get these leads. As you were saying, if I lose a client is because I'm not good at closing deals. So become really good at marketing, become really good at sales. And that is what we've been doing with our brands. Even them that are dealing with products, we are dealing with distribution, showing them how do you get your product pushed to so much audience out there, getting them to more people out there so that they can sell to those people. Right. So basically that marketing once you market you get the attention know how to convert that attention to sales. >> Yeah. Melvis what would you advise a Gen Z who wants to get into the automo industry or the car retail industry as well or even important cuz it's a whole chain you could in fact in fact you've just said you can buy a car uh sell it but you also bought it at another showroom. I don't know if if that's a thing in your industry too. >> Yeah it is. It's actually big. >> So what would be your advice to them in terms of them pivoting from scratch to establishing themselves here? I'd say start working on yourself, whatever that means for you. Whether it's getting more knowledgeable with the game, whether it's getting in good physical shape and also your dressing, because you need to be in a position where people can take you seriously. If you want to be in certain rooms, unfortunately or fortunately, there's a way that you need to carry yourself. Once that's ready, then you can tap into any market. Go out there, >> whatever your niche may be, whether it's vehicles, even motorbikes, and just start doing it. Starting is the only way, right? >> That's it. Yeah, most of the times just start. Most of the times you'll actually find that you learn as you go along cuz your method may not be mine and mine may not be yours, but mine works >> and yours doesn't. But >> yeah, >> just start. >> All right, let me see some of the reactions on to our question of the day. What do you think makes a business fail after 6 months in operation? The hashtag is power talk show. Send in your comments and questions. We'd like to hear uh somebody Presley. Okay, Jason. Uh, I'm trying to find a response that's uh in regards to uh the question. What do you think makes a business fail after 6 months? Let me check on my on my personal too as well. Yeah, that's the question. But also asking you what are other success stories? You know the way people say I started with Chapati uh business uh uh distribution now I own uh the milling industry. Tell us what other business successful stories that you've come across. We'll definitely like to hear from you. All right. Uh sorry not a lot but yeah please continue interacting with us and let us know your thoughts and your feedback as we close this conversation. I can start off with you Melvis and then you guys will see your social media platform. If you are to picture a future where entrepreneurship is like the main main main main main tool of trade or income for each and every young person if you are to recommend maybe as a policy if you are to look at you know the authority and I'm talking about the government what would you suggest to them that they should do to ensure that they make uh the operation environment conducive >> I'd say they should start off by first educating us you know they should teach us how to file our taxes they you teach us uh how the importation process go happens and what you need to do to make sure that even things like insurance getting your products insured. So long story short I think that uh our government should just uh try and educate us more. >> Yeah. >> Right. Uh Benson what would you tell? >> First make it mandatory in our curriculum that you have to learn about entrepreneurship. mandatory understand how to do how to do business with people and then understand how to negotiate should be you see the same way we do a common a common unit like HIV >> negotiation should be a common skill that a common unit that you go there and then you learn how to negotiate but the most important thing is uh we lower we lower the I think I would say that give startups grace period maybe for like five years allow them not to pay any tax >> that is what I would because it becomes way easier. The big the biggest reason why most startups are afraid of complying is because they're afraid of taxation because they don't they don't even know how to navigate around it. >> So tax reprieve for you've said for the first year of funding >> five years or five years. Yeah. Actually somebody said a previous guest said that when we were talking about taxes too last week. Yeah. Interesting. >> Yes. >> Why is that important though? >> Because within five years you're able to learn about the important skills that you need to develop when it comes to financial management. Because most entrepreneurs don't understand. You not be shocked. I will not even be shocked if you go to a supermarket and you buy whatever you and you don't carry your receipt. You find them dumped there. I will not be shocked that you pay for your petrol at a petrol station and you ask you don't ask for a receipt. You see those are the basic things. So within 5 years you able to know how to manage finances how to record simply what we call bookkeeping >> right >> then you start filing. >> And she had a book called I think she had a system called my accurate books. So social media very fast which one where you know your clients your fans can plug you with you. Yeah, >> mine is melvis. Everywhere, >> right? Mine is Benson Numa everywhere. >> By the way, you said you had a book coming up. I I mentioned it's called >> Concept to Cash. Yeah. Right. Uh where is the launch? >> Um it will be at Hotel 360. >> Okay. >> This is the 4th of September, >> right? >> Yes. >> It's about matters money. Yeah. Pesa. Okay. So, S thank you so much Melvis and Benson for being here. I believe this was just a quart of that conversation. There's a lot to cover, but yeah, plug in with us right here on # Y254 channel talk. I almost said y morning cuz I [laughter] cuz I host the other side too as well. So, so ensure that you plug [music] in with us. But continue letting us know your thoughts and your feedback in regards to our question of the day and we'll definitely sample it off the air. Personally, mine is at Brian Sako 101. [music] We'll definitely see you next time right here on Panto. Thank you for watching.