6 Tips For Building Your Business Into An Empire

Dr. Stephen Akintayo, one of Africa’s most influential investment coaches, Lead Consultant/Founder, Stephen Akintayo Consulting.

Building a business from the start has never been easy, especially when you do not have any fortune inherited to start with or an economy that supports or provides an enabling system for small businesses to grow.

I started my business with 10 dollars in Nigeria, and today, it’s worth millions of dollars with the largest stake in real estate, agriculture, human development and digital solutions.

Here’s what I’ve learned and how you can go about doing it yourself.

1. Learn from people with the results you’re looking for.

The first step in creating a successful business isn’t necessarily creating your own path. It starts with someone on a successful path, learning and getting guidance from them. My business changed when I got mentors to guide me.

“How do you get a mentor?” you might ask.

Make a list of 10 things you want to achieve in your life and career, look around for people who have such currently in their lives, send them a message and tell them what you want to achieve and how they can help you get it. Most people will be willing to help. Another way is to attend their seminars and webinars and buy their books and resources if they cannot be reached in person.

2. Spend to earn.

Sales is the bedrock of every business venture. Every business is sustained by its ability to generate income and do that sustainably. As a business owner, your primary focus should be how to provide value in exchange for the lifeline of your business: cash.

To generate sales, you’ve got to learn how to do it, spend what it will require you to get it, in training, marketing, mentorship and building a brand people can trust. This also includes spending to train those working with you and exposing them to more than they are used to.

Sales trumps all, as I learned from one of my mentors.

3. Make yourself visible.

I have this quote, “You cannot be winking in the dark and expect success.” No matter how good your products or services are, if no one knows about them, you will not sell a thing. If you’re naturally shy like me, start with writing emails, Blackberry broadcasts, Facebook live sessions and organizing events.

Eventually, you can travel everywhere in the world to widen your network, meet new people and show yourself and what you have to offer.

4. Give back to humanity.

Right from my days in college, I have always organized charity events to give to people who are less privileged. I have a foundation, the Stephen Akintayo Foundation, that specializes in providing education, food and clothing to people and financial support to small and medium businesses.

This is all in a bid to give back to humanity, and it has helped my business in several ways. It can help strengthen your brand and company. And you can connect with like-minded people. These people may, in turn, do business with you, invite you on their platform and/or recommend you to other business partners. That’s how you grow a rich network — by giving back to humanity.

5. Be consistent.

I always say, “Only a fool throws away his winning ticket.” Once you discover something that works, ensure you’re consistent with doing it.

The attention span and focus level worldwide is in decline. People rarely do things consistently. Consistency is a virtue and habit that can beat anything in business. The more consistent you are, the better your chances of breaking any barrier or obstacle before you.

6. Learn and expose yourself to new things.

The first company I started, a digital marketing firm, made a major breakthrough in 2015, being one of the companies that ran a campaign for the then-elected president of my country, Nigeria.

After this accomplishment, I took the opportunity to train myself and visit places like Silicon Valley, where major tech companies have their headquarters. That was where I saw that they all made it greatly from real estate, the cash flow being generated from owning the land on which their companies were built.

So, take the opportunities you can to learn and grow from new experiences. Because of my travel, I made the decision to build a real estate empire in Africa, and now we’ve expanded to four continents.

These are some of the strategies I have used. I know you can use them too.

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?