The 9Ps you need to discover to excel

Life without a strategy is a tragedy goes a saying. And strategy is an intentional device plan of action I’d coin as an acronym of Ps in the right order for an individual to grow. They are finding the right Passion, Personality, Problems, People, Product, Platform, Package, Profit, and Posterity

So, what is my passion? How do I align my personality with my passion (there has to be a consistency)? What is the problem that my passion can solve? Who are the people with that problem; and as a business, how best can I sell it? That is, what is the product you are selling in alignment to the problem? (You’ve got to create product, it’s what you exchange for wealth in the market place).

Other salient questions you need to ask are: how do I find a platform? If no one is ready to give you one, which is likely, you have to create one. And please package yourself and the other six aforementioned Ps – ensure it is unique, consistent and easy to identify.

Because you are a business, make profit. Don’t stop at profit, go one step into posterity, either built to last or successfully transitioned or transferable.

Magic happens when we find and focus on what we can do effortlessly, and excitedly. It’s called passion. The thing you love to do, even if you were not paid to do it. Building a business around your passion is important. But these days, passion and vision and the role they play is becoming too much of a buzzword.  The truth is your disposition to life, your background, routines and culture, what you do daily with your time, your personal habits will determine your destiny more than your passion and vision can.

Individuals must discover passion first, and then vision – passion is the best fuel for vision. People are different. A personality may not fit with a certain purpose and vision It’s important to know why you act the way you do. Of the 107 billion people that have died since the existence of humans and the 7 billion people alive, there are only 16 categories of people in the world, according to The Myer Briggs Theory.  A few years ago I took the Myer Briggs personality type test, and realised that I am an extrovert, intuitive, thinking and judging type of person. Find yours!

Problem is the cause of business. That is essentially what people pay you to solve. Every time you solve a problem you create a chance to grow and succeed. Be a lover of solving problems. In a world filled with problems, the one that succeeds fastest is the one full of solutions.

In our world filled with different delusions of intelligence, a successful and intelligent mind is the one who enters with ease and completeness into the spirit of problems and then arrives at an end with a solution through the shortest possible route. Every time you are upset about a problem, remember it’s your passion crying to be let out.

People are important; whether customers, employees or partners, people are the channels of blessings. They divide your efforts and multiply your results. Everyone thinks finance is the critical factor in building a business, it’s finding and managing people.

For the lack of the right people, most CEOs whose main roles are strategy and networking to increase revenue and expand the business have been reduced to mere supervisors of their staff. In other words most CEO and top level executive now major in what is minor.  They sweat the petty things and then pet the sweaty things.

Leadership is the art of getting things done through people. In managing people in an organization, I have noticed that in every organization, there are four kinds of colleagues: dumb and lazy (loyal, uninspiring, and unambitious) and not ambitious); smart and lazy (creative); dumb and ambitious (cunning) and smart and ambitious (highflying).

They are all relevant but need to be involved most appropriately and in a good mix to succeed. Don’t be transactional but relational with people. Identify each of these people and treat a bit differently.

You’ve got to have a product. That is the container that you put the value in. I see a lot of people who come into the marketplace with value and yet unprepared because they didn’t come with a container. It’s the container that brings the multiplier effect. What is the product for your market? It may be an app, a service, merchandise, a tangible good. And for creatives is an art delivered in a payable experience through shows.

Learn to leverage or own a space. Create a podium that elevates you to the access of your market. Everyone who has ever succeeded did standing on one. For some its media, others it’s a stage, for some it’s their network or sets of influencers. Platform enhances and projects value. Where’s yours?

Brand your product. Don’t put your good product in a bad package. The only thing more important than what you are selling is what the buyer believes he is buying.

Put simply, a brand is the difference between a bottle of sugared, flavoured carbonated water and a bottle of Coca-Cola. It is the sum of the functional and intangible that a consumer attributes to product or service. It is one of the most powerful things to build in life or business. When Procter & Gamble acquired Gillette in early 2005, only $6b of the $57b purchase price was for its tangible assets, the vast majority of the value was the brand.

On average, 86 percent of the market value is intangible, which is the real measure of the worth of new ideas, the right market choices and the brands to ensure future success in them. A brand that captures your eyes gains notice. A brand that captures your mind gains attention. A brand that captures your heart gains commitment and only a few do this.

Profit refers to the point where you break even. The breakeven point is the point where revenue expense.  You can be broke making N1.5million a month or rich making N150,000.

In nutshell, when you find your passion, build a personality for solving a problem with it, then you create a product that is sellable through a platform and through and for the right people, don’t forget to package it right. It’s a matter of time for people would reward you for it as profit, beyond that, value prosperity. I look forward to helping you build that brand using these Ps.

 EIZU UWAOMA