In self development August 12, 2020 By Esther Ijewere

Tale Alimi: 5 Reasons Why Your Small Business Never Scale

This is the kind of headline you see and get a panic attack, especially if you have been working so hard and trying to keep hope alive! I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but I have seen it so much and experienced it myself after working with over 5,000 small businesses either in a training, coaching or consulting capacity. I hear the hope in their voices, see the eagerness in their eyes, maybe just maybe they are about to create a business that will change the game from their kitchen to Wall Street like Carols daughter. I don’t have the heart to tell them it is not going to happen, so I decided to write an article and tell you (now I am not talking to anyone directly, but I am talking to everyone who needs to hear!) These are the reasons:

1. The danger of a single channel: God bless Instagram! Maker of millennial millionaires and torture to generation Xers who can’t seem to get a hang of how to translate this single channel to millions. The next time I have a strategy session with a generation Xer who laments to me about their lack of business growth due to an inability to monetize Instagram, I am probably going to pull my hair out!

Instagram is an amazing social media channel to reach customers and it should be harnessed. However if you are looking to scale your business in a Country where over 70 percent of transactions are still done off line, you have to explore multiple channels to reach your customers.

Go where your customers are and believe me, they are in multiple places aside from Instagram. (I share more details about channels in my new book small to scale. Details on how you can get the e-book for free is at the end)

If that’s your only marketing channel, surely you are neglecting 70% of your market and you want to scale?

2. Your money is our money: after paying school fees from my business revenues, I am low on cash flow! Alas this was the lament of a client who was the breadwinner in her home. Can you blame her? Her Children have to go to school, after all why was she working so hard… 95% of businesses in Nigeria are micro businesses and they struggle to grow because they are really just vehicles for the business owner to take care of their family needs. I am sure you have heard several times that you should separate your business finance from your personal finance and instead pay yourself a salary. But how many of us are practicing this strictly? How do we grow or scale a business when we keep eroding the capital to meet our personal needs?
I know, I know, it’s not your fault. It’s the state of the economy and other life realities….

3. Doing it the way they do it: hey ‘Tale, have you noticed that XYZ Company seems to be making a lot of money? Really, I replied. How do you know? Well, they just bought a new bus or opened a new store. This is how “Me too” strategy is killing a lot of small businesses who are attempting to copy others without really knowing what is happening behind the scenes.

There is nothing wrong with bench marking with your industry colleagues, but making major business changes or decisions based on something you heard or think you understand is unreliable. Your business decisions should be driven by a clear strategy and not by trying to do it the way they do it without clear direction.

4. I can do “bad” all by myself: one of the greatest tests I have seen small businesses fail is the hiring test. I know the excuses…I can’t afford to hire the type or quality of staff that I need, so I will do everything by myself. Okay it might not be an excuse, it is your reality right? Some years ago, one of my clients hired a COO who earned twice the salary of the CEO. I had to ask why that decision was made. I was told that the person came with many years of experience working in a multinational and that they wanted their small business to grow and operate at that standard. Suffice to say, the business experienced exponential growth in a few short years. The next question I am usually asked is; what if I make the wrong hiring decision? My response is; like in everything in life, correct your mistake quickly, learn from it and hire right the next time. However what I see a lot of businesses doing is returning to status quo. At least I will have one less person to pay the business owners rationalizes, how about the loss of revenues from trying to do it all by yourself and dropping the ball?

5. Planting an oak tree in a flower pot: the thought of the analogy sounds ridiculous right? But that’s what I see so many small business owners trying to do! People want to build million dollar factories with a few hundred thousand naira and expect that by some miracle and pure resilience, things would translate as such. I am not saying you shouldn’t start small, I am a big advocate of starting small and scaling.

I am currently building my third business with the principle of starting small, however what is different is the approach and the structure that would ensure that it scales. When you want to build a business that will scale, you build it with that mindset from day one. This will include your vision, your business structure, your capital structure, your business model and your team.

You have to lay the right foundation for the type of building you want to construct. If you have laid the foundation for a bungalow and you attempt to build an eight story building on it, do you know what will happen? Then you know why many small businesses won’t scale….

Learn how to avoid these mistakes in my new book- “Small to scale-The blueprint for transforming your small business into a high growth company” I am giving it out for free in ebook format to the first 10,000 people who subscribe to join the waitlist of our new finance matching and business support platform-Owoafara. Join at www.owoafara.com/join

In self development June 22, 2020 By Editor

Tale Alimi: 5 Tips To Business Growth

One of the most common desires I hear from business owners is that they want to grow their business. They are tired of going round in circles or things being stagnant for a long time. For some, growth means increasing their business revenue, for others, growth means opening new branches or increasing their customer base. I have noticed that growth is harder for businesses that have achieved some amount of success and have coasted in a certain level for a while. The reason this is the case is that they do not want to change a winning formula or rock the boat.

The fast pace of technology development has rendered a lot of formerly successful products obsolete; from typewriter’s to fax machine, to the cassette player and even to the floppy disk(remember those?). Most of these companies achieved a level of success and stayed there. They were not willing to step out of their comfort zone and make the required changes that would lead to growth and other more agile players took over their market share with new products. Albert Einstein defines Insanity as ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result’.
As a business owner or if you are part of a business that needs to grow or go to the next level, you need to step out of your comfort zone. You can start with baby steps and then take bigger steps with time. Here are a few tips on stepping out:

Take risks
This is a scary concept for a lot of us because by the very meaning of the word ‘risk’ it signifies uncertainty. It connotes that the outcome is unpredictable and can either have a positive or negative impact. I am an advocate for taking calculated risk and putting your leg in the water gradually and this is a necessary step to grow in business. This could mean introducing a new service or product to a small segment of your customers and testing the response before scaling it up.

Learn new things
Knowledge always fuels growth and most successful people are committed to continuous learning and improvement. Don’t only learn about things that are happening in your industry, learn from other abstract or unrelated things and you would be surprised where inspiration would come from. One of the ways I get inspiration is by watching cartoons with my son; the amazing characters that Disney and Pixar create seem to always have a message for me about life and business.

Explore
This is an extension of learning new things. It is looking at new ways to do the things you usually do. I met a lady some time ago who has built a successful business around sugar free cakes because she decided to explore a way to bake cakes that people could enjoy without packing on the calories. So my advice is look at your current process, product and services and find new ways of doing things.

Fail forward
Failure is a word that has a negative connotation to a lot of us, but I have learnt that failure is a perspective and true success cannot be achieved without some failure. I like John Maxwell’s advice to fail forward; which means let every failure be a learning experience that would move you forward. A famous quote by Robert F. Kennedy is: ‘it is only those who dare to fail greatly that can achieve greatly’. So instead of letting the fear of failure hinder us from moving forward, the goal should be to learn from our failures and grow through them.

Find your genius
I believe everyone has an inner genius and your inner genius is unleashed at the point where you let go of inhibitions and fear and embrace your true creativity. We always refer to some people as ‘geniuses’, but the truth is that everyone is capable of being a genius at something – if they are willing to hone their skills and put in the necessary work required to create genius standard.
You need to step out if you want to grow and this can only happen when the discomfort of being stagnant overshadows the fear of stepping out. I would like to also recommend this article: 3 success habits that changed my life to provide more inspiration.

About Tale Alimi
‘Tale Alimi is the CEO of Tale Alimi Global; a premium business coaching and strategy consulting boutique focused on helping progressive and forward thinking SME’s take their business from small to scale. She is the author of Uplevel-find your niche, share your story, build your tribe and profit from your passion(www.talealimi.com/uplevelbook). She has a Masters in Business Administration from Lagos business school, a certificate in personal coaching from the coaching academy UK. Visit her website to learn more:( talealimi.com.com). Get daily business inspiration when you follow her on twitter (http://twitter.com/talealimi) and Instagram(https://www.instagram.com/talealimi).

In Interviews&profile February 5, 2019 By Esther Ijewere

TALE ALIMI: THE YEAR OF DOING

Like most years, this year is already racing with full speed as the first month comes to a close.

At the beginning of each year or towards the end of the previous year, we make plans for the new year and set goals of what we want to achieve. A couple of years ago, after setting and not achieving my goals, I quit setting goals!

I decided to just focus on the moment, visualize what I want and go with the flow. That worked well for sometime as I did not feel like I was in competition with anyone and I was able to listen to my instincts. The problem with this approach was that I spent more time visualizing and creating my vision board than actually taking action!

That’s when I knew that there had to be a balance and I made up my mind to find it.

Fast forward a few years later, working with our clients at Tale Alimi Global, we usually start the year setting our intentions for the year we want and creating corresponding goals. As we work with clients, I have observed that some people are better at articulating their goals than others. However some people are only able to articulate averagely, but once they had clarity, they did a good job executing.

Our most successful clients are ‘doers’, they massively execute on the strategy we develop and achieve great results. I am big on strategic thinking and planning, but from my experience, I have to say that an average strategy with massive execution trumps a great strategy with poor execution.

If you are a planner and visualizer like me, its time to start doing more! And I have themed this year, ‘My year of doing’ because it reminds me of Shonda Rhimes ‘Year of yes’ and because I spent the last year exploring and visualizing.

To encourage us(yes we are in this together) to do more, I came up with five reasons why we should execute more this year.

The more you do, the more you know how to do

The sickness of planners is trying to create ‘perfection’. You want to spend all the time looking at various options, doing scenario planning and projecting outcomes. However, all this is theory until you start doing! I spent almost six months agonizing over the title and content of my next book. I will go on long runs, get inspiration about titles and a few days later I would begin to doubt its relevance. After going round in circle for too long, I put my foot down in October and decided to start writing. Surprisingly, the more I wrote, the more I had a better sense of direction.

So stop agonizing and trying to get things perfect and watch the months fly by, start doing and more clarity and ideas would come to you.

Execution is a cure for self doubt.

Another curse of perfectionists is self doubt. You never feel good enough to do what you know in your heart you are meant to do. Or you tell yourself you don’t have the resources or the time to do it. I was speaking to my team member some weeks ago about leading a segment at our year end event. I noticed she was hesitating and when I asked her why, she said she did not think she was qualified to stand before the calibre of people we were expecting. I immediately debunked her self doubt and told her about my mentor in my Social impact fellowship in the US who was a decade younger than me.

I told her to just do it and she did a great job that created a positive atmosphere at the event. When you begin to doubt yourself , don’t dwell on it, get up and execute. The more you execute on something, your self doubt disappears and you become more confident in your self.

When you execute, you make your own luck.

How many times have you looked at people and thought how lucky they are? Most times the so called ‘lucky’ people are busy executing on something. If you have been waiting for a lucky break and it doesn’t seem to be coming, maybe it is time to get up and execute so you can make your own luck. Yesterday, I saw a news headline that Kim Kardashian was expecting another baby, I decide to ‘keep up with the Kardashians’ as I hardly watch Television so I am not up to date about them. As I read the news, I realized that they were always busy doing something! From having new babies to starting beauty companies. They were making their own luck by executing.

This is the year to make your own luck. If you want to create a multimillion business, start grinding.

Execution builds your focus.

You need focus to execute. When you decide to execute, you cut out distractions. When I decided to start writing my new book, I started blocking out time and cutting out things that might distract me like excessive social media watching the lives of other people who were executing!

Execution is what brings dreams to life.

My favorite past time is imagining and day dreaming. My imagination has 3D capacity! I like to see things in my mind first because I believe creativity starts internally before it manifests externally. However after you are done dreaming, you have to take some action to see the dream come to life. If you have been seeing yourself as a millionaire in your dreams, or married to the person of your dreams, then make it a reality by taking action to bring your dreams to life.

Now that I have themed this ‘Our year of doing’, I am determined to lead by example. Some of the things I will be doing includes finishing up my new book before the end of Q1 and I am co-founding a new Company to address the milestone funding challenges that a lot of small businesses face.

If you are a small business that has had funding challenges, please fill this survey to help us understand your needs better. And if you have an interest in investing in small businesses , please fill this survey, so we will also understand your requirements.

I want us to hold ourselves accountable to our year of doing, so lets connect on Instagram so that as I share my progress, you can also share yours with me. Lets start doing!

In Inspiration July 22, 2020 By Editor

Tale Alimi: 3 Ways To Stand Out In A Saturated Industry

My industry is saturated, everyone seems to be doing what I am doing!
This is a narrative I have heard several times.
In any growing economy, most industries that provide for the general needs of people will be filled with various businesses catering to those needs.
An industry being saturated is actually an indication that there is strong demand for the products and services being offered in that industry.
So, the goal is to find ways for your business to stand out, so that you can get the right visibility and market share.
Here are 3 ways you can stand out in a saturated market.

Identify a gap and fill it
Believe me no matter how many players, there is always a gap that needs to be filled. Let me use the food industry as an example. A few years ago I was in Las Vegas; my card did not work in most stores, because of the difference in technology.
I started to ration the little cash I had with me, but by my last day, I had run out of money. I couldn’t buy food so I decided to go on a forced all day fast. By 10pm, I was so hungry that I went to one of the bars in the hotel to beg for some fortune cookie. I ate two of them as my meal that day, but by 1am, I was too hungry to sleep.
I began to wonder that surely there would be some overnight food business with a website that I could order food and hopefully my card would work online. I Googled and fortunately found one and my card worked. I placed my order by 2am and my food was delivered in 30 minutes!
I was so happy and the food was so yummy. Anyway they say food is always sweet when you are hungry.
The lesson I learned from that experience is that as saturated as Las Vegas is with restaurants and dinning places, when I wanted food at 2am, the person who served me were the ones who got my money.
How about you, what gap can you fill in your industry?

Create a sub category or niche and dominate
In any industry, there is something called ‘first mover advantage’. This means that the first person to enter the market usually becomes the market leader. (I have seen a few exceptions)
So how do you stand out in your industry when you are not the 1st or even the 10th?
Create a Sub-category or niche where you can be the first! 😁
A few examples:
1. You might not be the first delivery service company in Lagos, but you can be the first to offer 1 hour delivery anywhere in Lagos (or whatever city you are) if you can pull it off, you can openly brag or promote that you are the ‘No 1 one hour delivery company in Lagos ‘ This way you will stand out!
And everyone who wants quick delivery will come to you plus more money in your account.
2. You might not be the first mobile food restaurant or service provider in your city, but you can be the first to provide same day customized meals. So, if your customer wakes up and wants to eat plantain porridge with shaki for lunch, you can deliver to them by lunch time.
People will rave about your ability to satisfy their food cravings when they want it and of course it will put more money in your account. I hope that makes you as excited as I am.

Identify a trend and ride it
In the larger society, there are always events, activities, pop culture occurrences that can lead to a trend. A few weeks ago, Davido released the song Assurance and presented a car with ‘Assurance’ as the plate number to his girlfriend on her birthday. A few weeks after, a certain lawmaker presented a car to his wife with ‘Assurance’ as the plate number also.
Now I am sure that we have not seen the last of this trend as many more men are preparing their own ‘assurance’ and their women will be happy to receive it.
So how do you ride this trend? A smart car seller can turn this to an ‘Assurance campaign’ and say that they sell cars that give assurance. An insurance company can say that they offer the real assurance, which is ‘life time insurance’. A wedding ring seller can put a slant to it and say, the real assurance is to ‘put a ring on it’.
Do you get my drift? By riding an already existing trend and promoting it, your business will stand out among the pack of people offering similar products or services.
In my podcast last week, I broke these points down and gave more examples, you can listen to it here.
I also created my own version of assurance for business owners who want to earn consistent 7 figure revenues a month, it is a play book titled ‘Generate 1 million a month’. You can download my free playbook here.

Source: Bellanaija

In Interviews&profile March 28, 2017 By Editor

#INTERVIEW | “I STARTED MY FIRST FORMAL BUSINESS SELLING MAKEUP WHILE I WAS DOING MY MBA”- TALE ALIMI, BUSINESS COACH

Tale Alimi is the CEO/Lead Coach of Tale Alimi Global. A foremost entrepreneurial thought leader, business coach and strategist, she is on a mission to raise a new generation of entrepreneurs that would bring about change and transformation. To achieve this, she has written a book titled UpLevel to guide business owners. She tells NIKE SOTADE about the upcoming book launch and more

Tell us about yourself, education, family and career-path
Family wise, I was born into a close-knit military family. My Dad was an Airforce officer. I grew up with a lot of discipline and structure, which has stayed with me till today. Education- wise, I have a first degree in Accounting, an MBA and numerous certificates in business and technology including a certificate in personal coaching from the Coaching Academy United Kingdom. Career-wise, I have worked in multiple sectors of the economy especially in consulting and Technology, which equipped me for the work I do as a business coach. I have also ran several businesses, some have become successful and some have failed!

You are so passionate about doing business and raising entrepreneurs. What experiences in life prepared you for this mission?
My academic qualification in Accounting and Business administration equipped me with the business skills. I have always been business inclined because I saw my mum start and run several businesses growing up. I started my first formal business selling makeup while I was doing my MBA and it helped me with my expenses during the MBA. My second business, which was in fashion retail, was also inspired by case studies on the MBA like Kate Spade and Tory Burch who have built successful fashion brands.

Also, my business failures and experience, combined with my career working in a consulting organization helping people start and grow successful businesses, has fuelled my passion and given me the requisite skills to work with high achieving aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs who want to succeed.

You’ve spoken to over 5000 business owners in the last five years, from your own experience with them, what have been their major challenges of doing business in Nigeria?
The major challenges I hear continually are capital and infrastructural challenges which makes it challenging especially for entrepreneurs in manufacturing. The recent rise in foreign exchange is also a major challenge because imported goods now cost three times their former price, and this is a big challenge for an import dependent country like ours with 70 per cent of the population living below a dollar a day. I believe this has encouraged a lot of inferior goods to come into the Nigerian market. The positive side to these challenges is that a lot of Made-in-Nigeria products are getting appreciated because we have begun to look inwards.

You are also on WFM for the same purpose, what’s your content for radio and what time do you go on air?
I used to host a show on WFM 91.7 called The Entrepreneurs Journey, which was focused on interviewing successful entrepreneurs and drawing lessons from them that would be applicable to aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs. Truthfully, I did the show for myself also because I wanted to demystify entrepreneurship for myself and the common man who has gone through struggles starting a business or was afraid to even start. The show was put on hold because we could not secure a sponsor despite promises from major Organizations. This was due to the tough economic climate in the country. I plan to continue educating and informing entrepreneurs using free to air mediums like Youtube.

Tell us about your new book Uplevel. What motivated you to write it? Is it only for business start-ups or for everybody in business? Do you address men, too?
Uplevel is a book for everyone who is tired of living a mediocre life and ready to Uplevel and live to their highest potential in life and business. The book is for both men and women and everyone who is on the journey to live their best lives and profit from it. I also decided to write this book because it was a long road for me to find my own niche in life and business and it came after several false starts, mistakes and failures. The book is the guide I wish was available to me when I was on that journey and I hope it will be a guide for the reader to help them find their niche, share their story, build their tribe and profit from their passion. The book launch workshop is taking place next week Saturday at Trends House, Remi Olowude Street, Lekki Phase 1.

You were also a renowned shirt-maker with the Recreation Shirts label? What happened to the label? Have you been able to take it to the next level?
Interesting question. I got into shirtmaking like I explained earlier because I was inspired by fashion retail case studies during my MBA. At the height of the business growth and expansion, I got an investor in the business. At some point, I had to walk away from it because we had a misunderstanding. I shared the story and lessons learned in choosing business partners and understanding your strengths in detail in my new book Uplevel.

If you’re not doing what you’re doing now, what else would you be doing?
I really like what I do and I think my life is still going to unfold in several dimensions. I will probably be a full-time writer and business show host because I am intricately a story teller and I like to curate people’s stories and lessons and analyse them in a way that other people can learn from them and make their life and business better.

Going by your write-ups, you’re known for your boldness, tenacity and can-do spirit. What keeps you going in the face of challenges?
My faith in God and understanding that I am here on this earth for a higher purpose. When I am discouraged, I pray and ask God to encourage me. I also listen to people who motivate me and have succeeded against all odds, which keeps me going.

How do you unwind from your busy schedule?
I love exercising! I try to work out six times a week. I jog sometimes, do aerobics and core training. I used to play lawn tennis, but I have not played in a while. I also love to spend time with my family and my eight-year-old son. I am a sort of foodie, so fine dining is something I hope to do more. I am also some sort of geek so I am constantly reading and researching.

Who are your role models?
Sincerely I have so many locally and internationally because I am constantly learning and growing. And the truth is they have changed as the seasons of my life have changed. The number one person I turn to these days is God. This is very important because I can get unbiased and Divine counsel from my Creator. I also seek counsel from Mrs Adenike Ogunlesi, Founder of Ruff& Tumble and Dr Enase Okonedo, Dean of the Lagos Business School.

Culled from : Guardian

In self development March 6, 2017 By Editor

TALE ALIMI: 5 MARKETING LESSONS FROM NOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTERS

2016 will be remembered as the year of Nollywood blockbuster movies.

As the year was rounding off, we were inundated with the promotion of various new movies, most of which had great reviews from TIFF (Toronto international film festival).

I was spoiled for choice trying to decide which ones I was going to watch, but I finally settled on a few good ones and I must say; they were worth the time and money spent.

While I was giving them kudos for putting out good production, I was not paying attention to the effect it was having on the economy until the beginning of this year.

A few days into the New Year, myself and a business partner were analysing the 2016 economic performance and expectedly, most key sectors had a decline in growth due to the recession, but the tourism and entertainment sector experienced growth mostly fuelled by the growth in activities in Nollywood.

Last week, one of those movies shattered the current Guinness book of record for highest earning film in West Africa with revenues of almost half a billion naira in a country that is supposed to be in a recession!

I immediately put my business strategist hat on to glean marketing lessons from these blockbuster movies that businesses can apply to grow their revenues.

Lesson 1: Mass appeal
These movies had an appeal that cut across social, religious or gender class. They were mostly easy to watch, relatable and connected with current cultural nuances. Even the movies that were based on historical events created enough nostalgia that made you feel like you were relieving the past.

When you position your product or service to appeal to as many people as possible in your selected market space, you are going to sell more or reach more people and in turn earn more revenue.

Lesson 2: Inclusive campaign
In this age of social media, it is very easy to carry your customers and fans along, as you create anticipation for your products or services. Some of these movies carried fans along by showing behind-the-scene pictures, videos and even involving them as the script and characters developed.

By the time the movies came out, the fans appetite have been whet consistently, that they were ready to run to the cinemas to watch them.
When you are creating your products or services, you can leverage on instant feedback from your prospective clients or fans to ensure that you are creating something they will buy.

Lesson 3: Influence marketing
Meet and greet with celebrities during movie premiers and launches have become commonplace. Most of the cast of these movies were present in various cinemas to meet with their fans, and fans were willing to go to the cinemas several times to meet with them.

The use of influence marketing has become quite popular, as you see major brands signing up celebrities as brand ambassadors.

I quite like the idea of the celebrities leveraging their influence to mobilize their fans to see their movies and take selfies with them. Small business have to also begin to find ways to leverage influence marketing to drive revenues.

Lesson 4: Community mobilization
People were encouraged to see the movies over and over again with their family member, friends, colleagues etc. I heard some stories of people who went to see a particular movie 5 times!

Using social and peer influence to mobilize people is one of the most effective ways to market products and services and it is quite popular among network marketing companies.

You can create a marketing campaign that encourages your customers to carry their friends and colleagues along and you will have a marketing team without the payroll!

Lesson 5: Sweeten the deal
Isn’t it amazing that you could watch a movie that cost you under five thousand naira (refreshments included) and stand a chance to win a phone, car or even a trip abroad? Movie promoters have become apt at sweetening the deal for movie goers.

Even though just a hand full of people will eventually win, but it gives people something to look forward to beyond just watching a movie, because you could get over 10 times or 100 times the value of your investment – if you win in the raffle draw.

These five lessons are not exhaustive, but I believe you can draw some inspiration from them as you create your future marketing campaign.

If you want to get specific strategies and tactics you can leverage to drive your marketing activities and increase your revenues, then my upcoming Marketing master class will benefit you. You can learn more about it and register here.

About Tale Alimi

‘Tale is an Entrepreneurial thought leader, foremost Business expert, coach& strategist with an expertise in guiding business owners and professionals to up-level their business and revenues. She is on a mission to help people find their niche and stop the struggle in starting and growing a business which she personally experienced in starting and struggling in several businesses before she finally began to achieve success. She has a Masters in Business Administration from Lagos business school, a certificate in personal coaching from the coaching academy UK and is currently the Lead coach/CEO at Tale Alimi Global( talealimi.com.com). Get daily business inspiration when you follow her on twitter (http://twitter.com/talealimi) and Instagram(https://www.instagram.com/talealimi).

In self development February 14, 2017 By Editor

TALE ALIMI : 6 YEARS TO BECOMING….

I grew up in a nice middle class home.

Growing up in a middle class family had its pros and cons.

The pros were:

We had just enough to eat
We had just enough clothes to wear
We had a roof over our head
We had a good enough school to attend
We lived in a secure enough environment

In a country where over 70% of people live below one dollar a day, having those five things made you privileged!

I remember being driven around in my Dad’s staff car(official car in the military) and looking out of the window at the crowd in Oshodi(a busy area in Lagos) which was not so far from our home in Airforce base Ikeja and wondering why people had to go through so much stress to make a living….

Little did I know that some years later I would join that crowd as I made my way in life…

Which leads me to the cons:

A false sense of security that made you want to stay safe and remain there forever.
A fear of dreaming big and wanting more; you were already in the top 30% so what more could you want?
Just enough became good enough!

One day I got fed up and told my sister that this was the curse of the middle class; just enough to keep you going, but never more than enough to give you the best life had to offer…

I wanted more!

My journey to searching for more led me through mountains, valleys, heart breaks and breakthroughs which mainly started to come when I developed a relationship with God and found my purpose.

6 years ago after a pseudo recovery from another heartache that life threw my way, I decided I was going to write a book!

For me, writing has always being therapeutic and the book was going to empower people to live their best lives and find their purpose.

5 years ago, I wrote a book with and about Mrs Tara Fela-Durotoye in what was supposed to be a series titled ‘The Empowering women series’. It was a great adventure, but distribution and awareness creation was a herculean task as social media had not opened up as it has now.

I shelved the series and kept on living my life and doing my work…..

I knew I was going to write again. About what, I did not know.

As my work as a business coach progressed, I thought it was logical that I wrote a book about how to grow a successful business. However, I began to remember how I felt all those years when I said to myself; there has to be more!

I started remembering the questions I was asked by several people about how to find their work that they could make into a profitable passion. It became clear to me that people were looking to find their niche.

I kept that in mind as something I would possibly write about to give people a practical guide to find their niche and turn it into a profitable passion.

However, I did not have a book title…..

Last year April, I began to feel restless, I had that same nagging feeling in my heart that there must be more, I realized once again that I was not living to my fullest potential.

I was letting fear rule again, the curse of the middle class was haunting me again…just enough was becoming good enough!

I took some time off to think, strategize and pray and one day, I woke up with a word in my heart; UPLEVEL!

I had never searched for that word before so I was curious. According to the urban dictionary, Uplevel means to grow in areas you have been previously stagnant.

I knew it was my word! I knew I had found my call to action! Most importantly, I had found my book title.

The other day, someone called me the Uplevel queen. I smiled because I realize one word has really made such a significant impact on my life and it is time for me to share it with the world.

The book is titled “Uplevel-find your niche, share your story, build your tribe and profit from your passion”.

My goal through the book is to take you on a journey to uplevel. I provide both inspiration and practical exercises that will guide you to find your niche, teach you how to craft a compelling story, show you how to build a tribe of raving fans and customers and then guide you to profit from you passion as you serve the world at your highest potential.

Uplevel is a call for you to raise your standards, to awaken that part of you that ‘life happened’ has shut down. It is also a practical guide to show you how to do this.

The book is slated to be officially available on the 6^th of March 2017, however we have opened it for pre-orders for the next two weeks (13^th to 28^th of March) for people who want to enjoy the special privilege of getting it first at a discounted price and also get some special bonuses with it.

I will be doing free and exclusive uplevel book workshops in various cities in Nigeria. Our first workshop is slated for Sunday March 26^th in Lagos and we already have some amazing brands partnering to make it an amazing experience.

If you pre-order the book, you will be on the priority sitting list.

I want to go on this journey with you to Uplevel and I want us to partner, if you are ready to start the journey, you can learn more, watch videos and pre-order your copy of the book at www.talealimi.com/uplevelbook.

It is your time to raise your standards and Uplevel!

In Interviews&profile January 12, 2017 By Esther Ijewere

TALE ALIMI : MY JOURNEY TO FINDING MY NICHE

Every time it is my birthday, I spend time reminiscing and this particular birthday I look back in gratitude on the journey to getting where I am today. For some people, they always knew what they wanted to do and become. For me, it was not straight forward. It took many years of stumbling, exploring, failing and trying again and again until it finally became clear. The journey to find my niche saw me stumbling through different careers, businesses and professions. From working in an Asset management company, to moonlighting as a makeup artist. Then I worked at a telecommunications company working in a department called financial systems that utilized my Accounting and Technology skills. What was supposed to be a dream job was actually my most boring work experience and I found succour when I escaped to do an MBA which has proven to be a good move till date. I fell in love with the retail and fashion case studies such as Kate Spade and Tory Burch during my MBA and decided I was going to start my own fashion brand. From running a fashion brand for a few years that I had to walk away from to working with a consulting firm where I got to support SME’s, I began to get a clearer picture of what I wanted to do with my life. The journey to finding my niche took me over 10 years of failing, trying, stumbling and making mistakes. I lost relationships, friendships and business partners along the way. I finally realized why people would rather stay safe than go on such an arduous journey to find their path and I made up my mind that when I found the way, I would help other people do the same. People ask me regularly ‘how do I know what business to start?’ or ‘how do I find my niche?’ Some even ask ‘how do I know what I am meant to do on the earth?’ I decided to find answers to the questions by interviewing various inspiring people from different sectors and industries who have found their way. You can watch the inspiring video trailer. https://youtu.be/K978EIMcNxI My goal is to document this process and make it easy for someone who is seeking to find their own niche or path in life. I also decided to take it a step further and create the ‘Find your niche challenge (www.talealimi.com/findyournichechallenge)’. This is a free 5 day virtual challenge which will take place in a private Facebook group. Where I will give the participants daily tasks and exercises to help them identify their niche at the end of the 5 days. If like me, you have been stumbling and trying to figure out what your niche is so you can get fulfilment doing what you love and getting paid for it, I will like to invite you to participate in this challenge. To participate, register at www.talealimi.com/findyournichechallenge and get started on the journey to find your niche in 2017.

Tale Alimi