Modupe Lanre-Akinsiun is the founder of dupeakinsiun.com, a start-up that coaches and mentors talents and businesses.
Modupe who saw her father struggle constantly as an entrepreneur with his business was scared to own a business despite being gifted and passionate in public speaking.
The fear made her very comfortable with her 9 am-5 pm job. She began using her public speaking talent for family and friends when they organise functions.
“I was afraid I was not going to succeed as a business person because I saw how my dad struggled as an entrepreneur,” she recalls.
“His business model, at that time many years ago, was built around government contracts. They almost always never paid and so we never had enough money. I did not want that for myself,’ she explains.
But after few years down the line, she attended a masterclass on entrepreneurship and read a business book that changed her perception.
Owing to this, she was inspired to establish dupeakinsiun.com.
To put what she has learnt from the book and masterclass to use, she organised a paid public speaking program and she was able to earn a six-digit profit.
“I was pleasantly surprised to earn a six-digit profit from my first paid program. I came up with a plan on how to quit my job and started building my brand by serving a lot of people with my coaching and training services online,” she says.
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“In April 2017, I got a training gig and two speaking engagements in just one weekend. That weekend, I made almost N1million. Reflecting on this experience, I realized that in six months, I had made seven digits income while doing my 9-5 without compromising my employer’s time.”
Today, she has coached hundreds of individuals and is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council as well as a Diversity Talent Manager at a top global organisation with a presence across 60 countries.
The young entrepreneur now offers coaching, speaking, and mentoring services with a focus on leadership development, diversity and inclusion.
Since starting, her coaching business has grown steadily and has continued to attract businesses locally and internationally owing to its impact.
“Being able to organically attract international organizations within the first year of being in business because of the impact they could see me making in that short time was inspiring for me especially because a year before that time,” she says.
“My other key achievements would be the transformation we have helped a lot of professionals achieve in the workplace keeps inspiring us to do much more.”
On some of the hurdles her business has to face since starting, she says organizations wrong perspective on employees’ development was a major challenge for her business during its launch.
He notes that her business model then was primarily focused on organisations and some of them see employees’ development as an expense rather than as an investment.
“Businesses often treat employees’ development more as an expense rather than an investment so when there is a little shaking, it is one of the first items to be cut off the budget,” she explains.
“This affected my business but then I had to review my model to serve more individuals than I used to. That singular decision has had a lot of positive impact on our bottom-line,” she states.
Speaking on some of the life values that have helped her succeed, she says not depending on others to invest in her than herself is a personal value that has helped her scale.
She has taken various training to broaden her coaching talent and she is now a member of the John Maxwell Team.
On her advice to other entrepreneurs, she says “Do not go your journey alone. Get mentored and where possible, get a coach.”
“You cannot be in a pit and be the same person to pull yourself out. Get help and on time,” she advises.
