Already Making Mistakes

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This Wednesday I got some MVP souvenirs from Microsoft Nigeria and also lots of advice. Via my Toastmasters Club I had already built a fairly good relationship with some staff of Microsoft Nigeria. There was a day I was even arguing with the top managers at about 8:30pm on a Thursday night at their Ikoyi office. I annoyed everyone except my fellow Toastmaster member. It was really funny, and maybe shocking, when I suddenly showed up again but this time as an award recipient. I got the warmest welcome I've gotten at any company. You would think I am an ex-employee. 

And the coolest part was that they kept saying I'm sitting on a pot of gold. I'm the third ever MVP from Nigeria, one of the only 2 who are still MVPs (one was dropped), and the only Excel MVP in Africa. And they would like me to help build a strong Excel community in Nigeria and Africa.

But those were the sweet parts of our meeting. 

A little dive into what I'm currently doing revealed mistakes I'm already making, which they were kind enough to let me know. 


image: ibrandstudio.com

  • I'm doing this at a hobby level. If I'm going to get anything meaningful done, I need to be well branded as an industry professional and with all the required paper work and brochure.
  • Flyers don't fly. Nothing can take the place of good old face-to-face meetings and cold calls.
  • I'm going too solo. I should partner more with other organizations, professionals and MVPs in and outside Nigeria.
  • I should stop ignoring Fate Foundation. I should at least volunteer as a trainer on business productivity boosting via Excel. (If you've got some advice/experience regarding this, please help a brother)
  • I should stop thinking narrow. (I guess they don't know how hard it is to think big when you are 7 months away from starvation). Nevertheless, I need to think BIG.
I can say I'm already getting overwhelmed. I'll be taking this weekend to remake my plans. Maybe all my previous rants about building a business that fits into my lifestyle, not doing what I don't feel like doing and bla bla bla, will be just that: rants. Thank God I'm fairly experienced at swallowing my words. You can be sure I'll let you know how many I've swallowed. Too bad I've not made a kobo since quitting my job, or got one in the pipe. My sales pipeline is empty at the middle up.



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