Truth Be Told

If there's a question I've been asked a million times, that would be "How do you do it?". Even my mother has asked me that question and it makes me wonder how people see what I do as Mission Impossible. Brief intro of who Dedun is, for those that don't know me. I'm a final year Medical Student whoop whoop, a full time baker and hair stylist, part time cook and recently, blogger. You can follow me on IG where I shared info about the different shades of Dedun. I will be revealing how I've been able to combine almighty medical school with my businesses and it goes without saying that this is based on my experience and not something I read in a book. So please adjust and apply accordingly.

• Be time conscious: Most important point! Time is what binds everything together. If you are the president of the procrastinators club,  I don't think you will be able to handle everything successfully. You would be overwhelmed with the amount of work you have to do. Create time for books and time for business. Don't mix the two in the sense that you shouldn't be focusing on business when it's time to study for a test or exam. Needless to say, this is where balance comes in. For example, I don't ignore my business completely during exam period and it's because I know I have a short attention span for studying and if I'm truthful to myself, I won't be studying 24/7. So what I do is, the time I would have committed to catch up on series or sleep for extra hours, I divert that time to my business and yield something out of the business too. What's better? I can still catch up on my series while handling business matters. Bingo!

• Have a planner: I mentioned this point in the previous post here
  
  

Hey guys, sorry I had to take a break to focus on final year matters. Sometimes, it's not easy joggling school with a bunch of other things. Please forgive me. The last topic on the student business series was about Raising Capital, you can read it here.  I want to believe you've read the previous posts on the series and you are ready to launch your business. Let's get down to it.

• The price list should be ready: The price list is probably one of the controversial part of business planning. You are trying not to over charge because your clients will be students but don't want to undercharge because no student discounts come from buying the equipments/ingredients needed. I will advise while constructing a price list, you should put into consideration how much time and resources will go into creating an item and add a good amount percentage as profit. Also, ask yourself if you would pay that much if you were a client. Of course I'm talking about a job well done here. No mediocrity allowed. You can increase it as your skill bank develops.

• Have a planner: This is all so important. Because you have your studies to focus on, you need  to set aside special days you know you will be flexible to attend to your client's needs. Luckily because your clients will mostly be students, they will understand you won't be free every time.  

• Choose a launch date: With everything (business page with followers, tools etc) ready to kick  off, you should pick a date and build awareness towards that date. Share on all the social media pages and let the prospective clients anticipate. It builds excitement instead of just surprising them (some can argue the element of surprise can also help a brand). Be sure to include all the info on what you will offer.

A week goes by so fast it's unbelievable. I might get away with posting bi-weekly yeah? Hello beautiful people! I trust your week has been good. Finally, I'm writing on business.. and not just that but living the double life of being a student and an entrepreneur. I've said this a lot of times that before you jump into the hectic business life, get your academics on 'fleek'. I wrote a post on how to achieve that here.  Please be reminded this post is written from my experience of having a couple of businesses alongside being in medical school for the past seven years.

• Why do you want to start a business? First and foremost, you need to have a motive for starting a business. Just like any other thing in life, running a business is not an easy task. If the drive isn't there, your business will fail before it starts. Do you want to do it because you are always broke? or perhaps because you don't get enough money to flex from home? or is it because Sikira is making it with her business and you want to be like her? My advice is, make sure you have a concrete and genuine reason before you start a business. and p.s, you do not have to be business oriented to start one. Anyone can learn, it just depends on your dedication and drive hence why you need a good motive.