My two cents on entrepreneurship for aspiring business owners…
1. Just start:
This might seem very obvious, but if you’re anything like me, you would do everything but start the business. You’ll probably be stuck researching, finding your target market, and whatnot. Don’t get me wrong, planning is an essential part of starting a business, but at some point, you would have to start. Starting builds momentum, reveals hidden opportunities, and teaches lessons that planning alone never can. Your first step doesn’t need to be big—just deliberate.
2. Stay Consisent:
I’m big on consistency. Progress isn’t always quick, but showing up daily moves you closer to your goal. An example of consistency is in the early days of my business partner, and I’s journey, we would continuously post items we had in stock on our socials, so much so that even though people weren’t patronizing as much as we’d hoped, we were planting seeds at the back of their heads that said: “if you ever need to get a pair of socks or a phone case, you know who to go to.” Fast forward, tell me why people actually started texting us for these very same things when they either needed to complete a fit or had just changed their phone.
3. Surround Yourself with Like-minded people
Quite frankly, entrepreneurship is not an easy path, and even though I’d like to think I have it figured out/ I’m figuring it out, every once in a while, a placard saying ‘sike!’ jumps out at me. However, I’ve found that being surrounded by entrepreneurial friends makes a huge difference. When an unforeseen challenge arises, talking it through with them almost always gets me the answers I need since they would have probably already encountered the same thing or just have ideas about how to go about it.
4. Entrepreneurship Is Not Linear
Learn to adapt. Challenges are inevitable, but being flexible and open to change is key to overcoming them. About a year ago, our main marketing strategy was creating ad campaigns all over social media to gain traction and engagement. Ngl, this was a very effective method, but it definitely came at a cost, and initially, the cost wasn’t a problem. But if you’re reading this from Ghana, you’ll understand me when I say EXCHANGE RATE! Like ei! The exchange rate was rapidly going up within short periods, and to make matters worse, the government imposed tax on meta(Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), who in turn had to tax us. Marketing expenses quickly exceeded our budget. To adapt, we shifted focus to platforms like TikTok, where people naturally spend time. By creating engaging content featuring our products, we’ve reached audiences organically—proving that sometimes, a pivot leads to better results.
All this is to say that entrepreneurship is a journey filled with challenges, learning, and growth. Every step matters, from taking the leap and starting, staying consistent, surrounding yourself with the right people, and adapting to unexpected changes. Building Greysole and Casestody has taught me that progress is rarely linear, but persistence and flexibility are key to moving forward. Keep going and stay curious!