This morning, she ran a tweet session on the Ten Lies that entrepreneurs Tell Themselves. And she told it as it is.

Miss Ndongmo does not blog, so here I am doing the honours on her behalf. What I have done here is copy and paste her tweets word for word, so as to keep the purity of her thoughts.

Having everything on one page like this should help digest those nuggets better.

Lie No 1: “We Have a Great Idea”: It’s hard for #entrepreneurs to look at their business concepts objectively.

Lie No 2: “We Don’t Have Any Competition” I haven’t yet run across a company without a competitor.

…Yet I’ve met plenty of #entrepreneurs who will state with a straight face “We don’t really have any competition”.

Bottom line: if you don’t think you have any competition, 99.9999% of the time you haven’t looked hard enough.

Lie No 3: “The Competition Sucks”: “We don’t have any competition” is d 1st stage of competition denial. The 2nd: that ur competition sucks.

That may be so but more often than not, this is simply an easy way of dismissing the risk posed by your competitors.

#Entrepreneurs don’t like to grapple with d notion that capable competitors with inferior offerings could still potentially eat their lunch.

Lie No 4: “If We Build It, They Will Come”: Marketing a new #business is hard. Getting customers is something entrepreneurs struggle with.

Instead of focusing on how to realistically acquire customers, many #entrepreneurs lie to themselves that marketing will take care of itself

Lie No 5: “Time Isn’t of the Essence”: #Entrepreneurs often think that their window of opportunity is far greater than it really is.

In reality, new businesses usually have a relatively short period of time to establish themselves.

Because the ‘business cycle’ will eventually catch up, every #entrepreneur needs to wake up every morning with a sense of urgency.

Lie No 6: “We’re in Control”: There are a lot of things #entrepreneurs can’t control. Such as timing.

When starting a business, things beyond ur control shouldn’t deter you but pretending that everything is within ur control can be damaging.

Lie No 7: “It’s Not the Product”: Most #entrepreneurs don’t like to consider d possibility of a flaw in product because it’s hardest to fix.

If u’re not doing as well as expected, ignoring d possibility that there’s a problem wit ur product could be the beginning of the end.

Lie No 8: “We Project That”: It’s impt to project but many #entrepreneurs look at projections as fact when in reality they’re usually way off.

As a rule, you’ll almost always underestimate the amount of money you need and the time it will take to break even.

You’ll also almost always overestimate how quickly you’ll get your product built and acquire your first customer.

Lie No 9: “Somebody Will Want to Buy Us”: Hehehe… This is not always a “win-win” situation.

It’s easy for #entrepreneurs to convince themselves that they’re working on something revolutionary that everyone will want to acquire.

Lie No 10: “We Only Need More Money”: If ur company is not doing as well as expected, it’s easy to convince urself that money is the cure.

Millions in funding usually doesn’t save some startups from the harsh truth: most businesses fail & it isn’t because they lacked funding.

Most good #entrepreneurs are realistic people. They need to be.

But if ur optimism leads u to look in d mirror & lie to urself about d state of ur business, it’s time for a reality check.

End of tweet session.

Don’t forget to follow Kathleen Ndongmo on Twitter.

I am sharing a few thoughts of mine here on some of the key points raised at the event. Hopefully, everyone can benefit.

Income In View

I have repeated this ad nausea for years – if you don’t start with generating income in view, you will go burst. Like Seyi Taylor said at the event, this is Nigeria. This is not Silicon Valley where ideas are funded.

You are on your own from the word Go, so you either have a viable business model from day one, cook one up as fast as you can, or your startup will soon be history.

I can give you a list of many startups that have gone with the wind for lack of a viable business model.

SetUp Processes And Systems

It is easy for founders of small businesses to get caught in the rung of doing everything. set up processes and systems as fast as you can, such that roles are clearly defined and followed.

Also, this means that the business can function as smooth as possible in your absence.

Differentiate

If you are doing what everybody else is doing, well….

If you are solving the same simple problem that everyone else is solving, well….

You see, the bigger your differentiating factor, the more difficult it is to be copied by anyone else, and the greater the value of what you offer.

An example: there are lots of blogs out there today, and the majority are publishing news. Well… anyone can publish news. There you go! need I say more?

Don’t Compete With Facebook; Use Facebook

Chances that you will replicate Facebook’s success are slim. Why would you want to compete with Facebook? Instead, use Facebook, Twitter and other such services to your advantage.

Don’t try to build a “Nigerian Facebook” or “Nigerian Twitter”. Turn those existing services into channels to achieve your goals. That’s thinking and acting smart.

Don’t fight the storm; ride the storm!

Yet; I can assure you that you are making a mistake in ignoring these tools.

Talk to us at SMEpal today to start enjoying the benefits of press releases and press conferences for your business. Let’s show you why and how – and also help you execute them at budget costs.

Talk to us today!

Everyday, scores of startups and small/medium enterprises shut down. Every blessed day.

I have said a lot on this and related issues in recent times. It is hard enough for businesses with well thought out revenue streams to survive in today’s world. Imagine how much harder it must be to survive running a free service or one whose income generation is primarilly from ads.

Extremely difficult.

Apologies to the ad networks, but the Gospel truth is that a full-blown business is not likely sustainable on revenue from ads only. I have said it before. There; I said it again.

What To Do
Sit down and do the hard work now – figure out a plan to generate sustainable income from whatever you do. This is easy for most business ventures. The online world is a different kettle though, as there are lots of people starting ventures without any source of income.

Sooner or later, your pet project will be dead if you can’t pay your bills. That’s the way the world works.

Pay The Price Now
If you need help developing a sustainable business model, SMEpal can help, so do contact us. Beyond that, we also help you generate new business.

The token fee that you pay today to enjoy our services may very well mean the difference between life and death for your business.

Complus are looking to leverage on their range of software for churches and other fields, and turned to us to help achieve their lofty goals.

Starting from this week, SMEpal will be rolling out different PR and targeted marketing blitzes on behalf of Complus.

Peter Ihesie, Chief Software Architect Complus, expressed confidence in the experience and skills of the SMEpal team to deliver.

You know – print and distribute fliers (which often produce no returns), put up a banner, or a small newspaper ad.

I’ve been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt. If you have been too, you have probably been disappointed as well.

Marketing your products and services as a small business is a delicate affair. You have limited funds, but need miraculous returns.

This is where you require some level of skilled input. We know that you don’t have the funds to retain the services of big brand/marketing agencies. That’s why SMEpal is here.

With a small annual subscription, you get access to our basket of benefits immediately. We are an answer to your prayers. Do get in touch and let’s help you reach your target market.

By that, I mean that while passion, interest and vision may drive someone to start pursue an idea, develop a website, or develop a software, that is insufficient to put food on that individual’s table.

At the end of the day, business is about the bottom line. If the bottom falls out due to lack of sales, the startup or business is dead.

So, don’t neglect the business side of things. It isn’t true that if you build it, people will come. You have to market it and create a presence in the market. No-one buys a product he is unaware of.

If you are running a business, you must answer this question as fast as possible or go bust. Define it. Then test it.

Test? Yes; you must test it. You see, your target5 market may not respond to your model as you thought they would. Test it.

Finetune it, if it needs that, and once you are sure it works, run with it.