Arise Arizechi - Practical Business Strategies for Thriving in a Recession

This book is dedicated to all Entrepreneurs who have made up their minds to thrive and win BIG even in a recession.

This one is for you.

Ruthlessness, Tenacity and a Massive Push - YES!

That is what is needed to move up,

Breakthrough and arise!

Kemi Oyesola

CEO& Founder of How2Think

T he process of publishing this book will not be complete if I fail to appreciate some key people who helped in no small measure to prepare this book.

My acknowledgements go:

To my family who allowed me pursue my publishing dreams and do what I love. I love you all.

To every member of the Breakthrough Academy amazing people from all walks of life. I say a big thank you for believing in what we do.

To all the entrepreneurs who shared with the members of the Breakthrough Academy, the practical strategies contained in this book during the first edition of the #BreakthroughConference.

To Damilola Awosusi, for her dedication and commitment to excellence while arranging this work, dutifully dotting all the Is and crossing all the Ts. God bless you hugely.

I am truly grateful and I cherish you all.

A time of Recession is not very pleasant.

When the economic indices start shaking, when the businesses start closing down, when multinational companies start leaving the country, when inflation sets in and the government of the day seems to be helpless in the face of it all, then you know there is trouble.

However, in the midst of these entire hullabaloos, there are workable strategies, insightful game-plans that forward-thinking businesses can ruthlessly execute with the sole objective of weathering the recession storm and thriving against all odds.

That is the focus of this book. Five Entrepreneurs and more came together to share their strategies and perspectives for thriving in a recession.

Irrespective of the economic climate of your country, you will find the strategies discussed here valid for your business. You can also use them to stress-test your business and make it recession-proof.

These are the reasons why I invite you to read this book. Dont just read. Quickly implement. That is the secret of thriving and highly profitable business.

To your awesome success,

Arise Arizechi

Publisher

T he first thing to bear in mind is to think in terms of the global economy.

That way, you will not be affected by the economy of the country where you reside. The only way to succeed in economic turbulence and times is when you understand how to profit from the global economy.

T he global economy entails buying and selling, exchange of value occurring online which is not restricted to geographical boundaries.

Goods, products, services and knowledge are being transferred at the speed of light across the internet. People in different time zones and different parts of the world are exchanging values, exchanging money and these things are happening every day.

T hose people that know how to profit from the global economy are not subject to recessions. They do not suffer the economic consequences of the country they live in.

For example, if you know how to provide goods and services to someone in the United States, you begin to earn in the US dollars right here in Nigeria or whichever country you reside in. Also someone in the US can conduct business easily with someone in China and earn in that country's currency and so on and so forth.

So this is about how you can exchange value with people in different countries which is exactly what the global economy is all about.

There are two major ways that you can tap in and profit from the global economy;

• By trading products and services.
• By positioning yourself as a thought leader, a trainer or a coach which does not mean that your constituency are only going to be Nigerians or people in your locality. They can be people from all over the world.

You need certain skills in order to survive and thrive in this new economy. You need special skills.

You cannot take the learnings of last year or last five years into this global economy. You will not profit in any way if you do that.

B asic Internet Marketing;

Get skilled in Social media marketing and the associated technologies. By now, you should know how to create a Facebook business page for your personal brand or any business that you will be representing. You should know how to create a brand presence on twitter.

Understand how to work Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for your business. If you cannot learn how to market yourself using internet marketing, you will not make any sales; you will not have any customers. It is not rocket science; it is a requirement right now in 2016. Dont get it twisted. Do research online and learn them.

Email marketing;

In the world of internet marketing, we have a saying 'Inbox is the best social network.' Youve got to know how to build an email list of prospects. Prospects are people who are interested in buying what you have. Build a list of people that are ready and waiting to buy what you have to offer.

Master Community Building; In 2016, the people who are going to be the most relevant thought leaders are people who already have built a community around their craft, their industry, their passion and that had better be you.

Learn how to build communities on platforms that support community building like Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups etc. Build a list of people in a community of people who are passionate about a particular industry or cause.

Website Management; Your website is the home of your marketing activities. Learn how to set up a basic website for your brand and learn how to at least manage it.

Maybe you dont have the knowhow in order to set up a website; youre not a techy or a programmer. Its fine. Get someone to design your website for you if you can but more importantly youve got to educate yourself on how to manage it unless of course you have a budget to pay an intern or an in-house staff full time to manage your web properly.

You dont need to learn how to build it but the basics of managing it. How to update your website; put up new blog post, put up marketing materials. Why is that? Your website is where people are going to land on to see what you have to offer. Your social media handles cannot deputize effectively for your website; youve got to have your website presence unlocked.

Learn Basic E-commerce; Money exchanges hands all the time all over the world. This isnt done through voodoo or black magic but through electronic commerce.

You've got to learn how shopping carts works. Learn how to setup or at least manage your own shopping cart. If youve got product or services, how are people going to buy? They can only pay you if you have a working system. And that is a shopping cart or at least any basic ecommerce platform.