Tade Cash is a massive wealth creator, a business educator and an entrepreneur. He recently engaged with business startups on how to scale up their businesses even in a turbulent economy. He spoke to BusinessDay later on some of the ideas needed to stay ahead and steadfast. Daniel Obi brings the excerpts
What do you find as biggest need for startups ?
They have to have signal of interest. They have to have people that want to buy from them. They need to promote what they have so that people can move towards them .
High cost of training is inhibiting startups from scaling their business, what is the way out?
Training is important for scaling but we should not think about the cost alone but about what it would cost us if we don’t get trained.
Adaptation to technology is another problem to startups, how can they solve this challenge?
Technology is about virtual power. Many people are used to physical power but if you want to win , you must understand the best kept secret of the wealthy – Leverage. What is leverage? Ability to do more with less and less. Technology is about leverage. Embrace it and use it to scale.
Difficulty in accessing loans slows startups efforts, how can government assist them?
Financing is important. Business is not fun without financing. You must always think about how to be funded . Think boostrapping. I love thinking from customer money. You have to find a creative way of financing your idea. People would give you money for their own reason not your own. Know their reason and appeal to it.
The youth is increasingly moving into entrepreneurship, from your experience, what is informing this trend?
Entrepreneurship is an amazing way to solve problems and create legitimate wealth. I moved into entrepreneurship not to be my own boss but to express myself and attain freedom lifestyle. I want to build income producing equity that can fund my lifestyle within short period of time. I believe something similar is informing the youth.
Government appears not to have a concrete plan like tax rebate for startups and SMEs which are engine of economic growth, what do you think?
Government is not designed to build the economy but to regulate the activity so that people can do what they are designed to do. Entrepreneurship is the engine that drives the economic growth. In terms of government , I believe they would catch up with time .
Could you share your experience in empowering people through training?
Insight changes your season. Your opportunity mirrors your capacity. All these can only be gotten in a place of training. Be willing to learn from people that are ahead of you if you want to get ahead . That is place of Training. I have seen how people have moved from nothing to creating seven figures income by following the wealth creation training I carried out. I once trained someone in the line of real estate investing , today , he had built 100 units of apartment that is funding his lifestyle. That is what insight from training can give you and I am seeing it every day.
What is your advice on how startups can navigate harsh economic situations and societal challenges to move on?
There is no bad economic rather there are just different kind of economy. What we call recession is a session on reset. Your perception affects how you experience life. The biggest asset of an entrepreneur is how they see things. Be truthful to yourself . You can’t change what you deny. You have to know where you are and begin to see how to go to where you want to go from there. There is no bad economic but there is what is called “ Economic Position “ Your economic position is what you can control and that should be your obsession. You can have positive . Neutral and Negative. It is all measure by your equity , income and expenses. The moment you can keep working on these three, you can control your economy.
Do you subscribe to the idea of having entrepreneurial courses in schools?
Who will teach it ? The teachers. .school is not designed to make you an entrepreneur rather it is designed to make you an employee. Entrepreneurship is not theory but practical approach to creating wealth by solving problem. If someone that has not done entrepreneurship trying to teach it to you , it is called “ Illusion of expertise “ and we see a lot of that today in our society. But I believe entrepreneurship is like charity , it begins from Home not school. There are many ways you can learn how to be an entrepreneur today. And being an entrepreneur is like learning how to ride a bicycle , you master it in a seminar or a school. You master by doing . The surest way to be exposed to entrepreneurship is by selling. Salesmanship is the primary course in entrepreneurship and learn how to sell. That is how I help people as well.
