Steve Harris is the founder of EdgeEcution, a start-up that is into business coaching and capacity development. Harris, often referred to as ‘Mr. Ruthless,’ is your go-to person, most especially for his no-nonsense approach in helping scores of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) scale and attain success.
Speaking on his success as a life coach, Harris noted that it did not come on a platter but through hard work and diligence while sharing how it all began.
According to him, he left his paid job as a management consultant by divine instruction to kick-start his coaching and consulting business in 2011.
He noted that the decision was difficult for him to make at that time as he could barely feed his family.
“In 2010, I left my paid job as a management consultant by divine instruction. Unfortunately, when I did, it was perhaps, the worst time ever. My wife was pregnant then and our rent was going to be due in a few months and I was scared to death,” he noted.
Harris said when he started his own consulting business in 2011, he had no office, staff nor clients, but drew strength from a mantra – “It’s not what you don’t have that limits you, but what you have and don’t know how to use.”
The business coach revealed that with a lot of grit, hard work, and all of God’s grace, his business earned N17 million in revenue in about 10 months after kick-starting.
Sharing insight on what his organisation does for SMEs, the consultant said, “I’ve always been passionate about helping businesses thrive and become market leaders.”
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“As you know, SMEs are the engine room of the economy and my job is to keep that engine humming, revving, and accelerating. Our services fall under consulting, enterprise development, and coaching,” he stated.
Speaking on how his business has remained successful, Harris says he always likes measuring success by the number of businesses he has helped scale and succeed via services EdgeEcution provides.
“A lot of entrepreneurs don’t know how to communicate the value they deliver in a way that’s urgent and important to their customers, so if I can help them with that, I’m incredibly satisfied,” he said.
“I know we say that you’ve got to under-promise and over-deliver, but I’d rather say over-promise and over-deliver,” he said.
On significant achievements his business has achieved since inception, he said the business has been able to establish a coaching program called ‘Mastering the Business of your Talent (MBT)’, which has helped several entrepreneurs hit their highest sales target within six weeks.
He noted that his organisations recently held MBT has accelerated the businesses of 550 SMEs that have generated over N4.5 billion in revenue.
“I think that’s pretty awesome … especially when you can imagine the ripple effect across the economy. They can scale their businesses, hire staffs that gets to make a living, and provide for their families,” he said.
On his advice to entrepreneurs, Harris said, “Working in Nigeria is pretty daunting, but like every good workout, it helps build your entrepreneurial muscles.”
“I salute the resilience of the Nigerian, who’s a natural entrepreneur, getting up many times before sunrise, to provide value, even if it’s daunting and there’s no guarantee they’ll make a sale, but they keep showing up daily, regardless,” he said.
“Remember, it’s not what you don’t have that limits you but what you have and don’t know how to use,” he advises.
