Last week Thursday, I had the priviledge and opportunity of speaking to a number of entrepreneurs and entrepreneur wannabes about ecommerce. While the talk took about 2hrs, I discovered that there was a meaty part of the entire gist that was not on the content for ecommerce.
I was amazed at how many people do not know or remain unaware about how easily they can jumpstart their business and career by becoming more visible. While in paid employment I remember that I had read and come to know that one of the best things you can do for your career is become more visible. The corporate world does not favour the timid souls, promotions are not regular callers to people who bury their head in work and only take it off to go home. Visibility is important, the people that matter must know that you do what you do, and do a good job of doing it. Visibility is key. In internal selling, which is basically getting internal alignment and management sponsorship for your ideas, visibility is key. Visibility in the corporate internal environment involves understanding the use of email, one on ones, meetings and almost every opportunity to toot your horn, without blowing it.
In the larger society, one of the quickest and best ways to jumpstart your career also by improving your visibility. The best way of doing this is by having a website. A friend of mine who happened to come for a seminar we had on May 1, yomi, informed myself and indeed a group, that after setting up his website as a fallout of the meeting we had, had gotten more calls than he ever did about job opportunities. It was strange to him as, when he actually thought he needed one, none came, but now by just having the site up and having no interest, he has been getting unsolicited calls from employers. Remember, people will do business with you for 3 social reasons, they know you, like you or trust you. Having a website grossly increases your chances of being known. I on the other hand have been getting mails from different countries about the possibility of business partnerships. My site recieves about 10,000 hits per day of people I do not know. I get calls and emails from any and everywhere praising my work, and encouraging me to continue. Nothing gives you more publicity for your business or career like owning a website.
The global market is being leveled, the collapse of the walls and the advent of windows, the internet, open source, outsourcing, insourcing, offshoring, supply chaining e.t.c has led to a world where anybody can work for anybody from anywhere. This is globalization! Unfortunately though, with so much happening around the world, many Nigerians are cutoff from the events leveling the earth. While America has a statistic that says only 1 out of 4 small businesses have websites, we around this side of the world can’t boast confidently of 1 in 50. I have been on the web, believe me, it’s close to midnight now and i’m still there. The few Nigerians I see actively developing and maintaining content online are in diaspora. Tell me, how will the world ever know that there is an original thinking people development consultant, trainer and career coach here in Nigeria except we make it known? How can the world celebrate an unknown talent?
There are many myths that surround owning a web today, from it’s expensive, it takes time, its for big companies, e.t.c. These are not true. Today, you can own and maintain a website for a year with less than your average phone credit spending per quarter. It’s cheap, it’s also easy. If you really want to jumpstart your career and can’t wait to start, for a token sum of less than the average monthly spend on recharge card per month, my staff can get you started. All you need do, is show interest, and you will be reached. There is no difference between the man that can’t read and the one that doesn’t. Get on board!
