Today we had a chance to meet Lilian Okado, a wonderful C.E.O who has passion in what she does.
And she love writing and that is what the company is about she share with us a great number of things.. We believe you will get to learn from the great C.E.O be free to ask Lilian questions? if you feel you need her to be your mentor.. you are free to share.
YOUR BIG IDEA (YBI) INTERNATIONAL
Your Big Idea International is an online global platform for entrepreneurs like you to share there stories on success and challenges in the business world, we are currently running a blog with a team of young individual globally who will share your story to a wider audience using social media as a tool, YBI international is focused on creating an online TV and magazine.
The world is much focus in entrepreneurship and sustainable development. And there is no great power like the power of learning.
SAY CHEESE WRITERS, SELF MADE ENTREPRENEUR
• Your name: Lilian Okado
• Company name: Say Cheese Writers
• Position: CEO
• Country: Kenya
Kindly answers the questions in a first person pronounce.
1. Short introduction about yourself.
Please check out my description on my website under about the CEO: www.saycheesewriters.com and linkedin and fb and come up with something...
YOUR BIG IDEA (YBI) INTERNATIONAL
Your Big Idea International is an online global platform for entrepreneurs like you to share there stories on success and challenges in the business world, we are currently running a blog with a team of young individual globally who will share your story to a wider audience using social media as a tool, YBI international is focused on creating an online TV and magazine.
The world is much focus in entrepreneurship and sustainable development. And there is no great power like the power of learning.
SAY CHEESE WRITERS, SELF MADE ENTREPRENEUR
• Your name: Lilian Okado
• Company name: Say Cheese Writers
• Position: CEO
• Country: Kenya
Kindly answers the questions in a first person pronounce.
1. Short introduction about yourself.
Please check out my description on my website under about the CEO: www.saycheesewriters.com and linkedin and fb and come up with something...
I am single, love networking, love food, love the arts. 32 years. Love doing multiple things at once. people would be dead without social media the drive focus..
2. When did you start your business?
August 2008, but we became a limited company in December of 2010
3. What motivated you?
In 2006, I was jobless – had been for over 6 months with no prospects of getting a job – so by the time I got into network marketing with a UK training company, Action Wealth International it was as a last report, out of desperation to earn an income.
Towards the end of 2007, after a stint selling the company’s personal and business development products, I met with founder & CEO Geoffrey Semaganda, who at the time was opening up a sister company, Action Conference, in Nairobi and he was looking for a local partner to help him run and manage the Nairobi office. So I joined his local team and we went about setting up shop. Because Action Conference was a start-up and had no running budget to pay me as a permanent staff, rather than sit at home broke, I agreed to work as a volunteer.
It is during this time, working alongside the CEO that I gained most, if not all of the business knowledge and skills (communications, negotiations, sales, financial planning, pricing strategy) that I use today, I didn’t realise at the time, but these would prove to be invaluable later in my business life. Within 10 months of volunteering at action conference, I was head of the communications and training department and worked there up until I set up my company.
Before working at Action Conference, I never envisioned myself as a business woman or even an entrepreneur. By nature I am an introvert, and never been inclined to business. Having studied social sciences and passionate about International relations I had seen myself in a diplomatic or peace keeping career. Nevertheless, what led me to believe I could run my own successful business was the many hours I spent with the CEO of Action wealth who a businessman himself mentored me throughout and whose personal development training courses helped me believe in my abilities to achieve more outside of employment.
2. When did you start your business?
August 2008, but we became a limited company in December of 2010
3. What motivated you?
In 2006, I was jobless – had been for over 6 months with no prospects of getting a job – so by the time I got into network marketing with a UK training company, Action Wealth International it was as a last report, out of desperation to earn an income.
Towards the end of 2007, after a stint selling the company’s personal and business development products, I met with founder & CEO Geoffrey Semaganda, who at the time was opening up a sister company, Action Conference, in Nairobi and he was looking for a local partner to help him run and manage the Nairobi office. So I joined his local team and we went about setting up shop. Because Action Conference was a start-up and had no running budget to pay me as a permanent staff, rather than sit at home broke, I agreed to work as a volunteer.
It is during this time, working alongside the CEO that I gained most, if not all of the business knowledge and skills (communications, negotiations, sales, financial planning, pricing strategy) that I use today, I didn’t realise at the time, but these would prove to be invaluable later in my business life. Within 10 months of volunteering at action conference, I was head of the communications and training department and worked there up until I set up my company.
Before working at Action Conference, I never envisioned myself as a business woman or even an entrepreneur. By nature I am an introvert, and never been inclined to business. Having studied social sciences and passionate about International relations I had seen myself in a diplomatic or peace keeping career. Nevertheless, what led me to believe I could run my own successful business was the many hours I spent with the CEO of Action wealth who a businessman himself mentored me throughout and whose personal development training courses helped me believe in my abilities to achieve more outside of employment.
I was also seriously, broke and needed to find a long term solution that could enable me one day achieve my lifelong dream of giving back to society.
4. Why that Business and not the other?
Say Cheese Writers today is today an Internet Inbound Marketing company that helps businesses generate sales and leads for their businesses online. Initially, It was s set up as a copywriting agency developing content for marketing collateral (fliers, brochures, websites, newsletters, articles, etc). This was because I have a passion for writing and communications (i have been blogging since 2006 and as a teen used to write a lot of short stories, poetry and I’d journal a lot and always imagine myself a successful author) and I wanted to try and make an income doing what i love.
Say Cheese Writers today is today an Internet Inbound Marketing company that helps businesses generate sales and leads for their businesses online. Initially, It was s set up as a copywriting agency developing content for marketing collateral (fliers, brochures, websites, newsletters, articles, etc). This was because I have a passion for writing and communications (i have been blogging since 2006 and as a teen used to write a lot of short stories, poetry and I’d journal a lot and always imagine myself a successful author) and I wanted to try and make an income doing what i love.
I am the kind of person who is restless and can’t do one thing only... It is sometimes a strength but also a weakness. May explain why I quit the three two jobs I got after campus and each time it was because I was bored stiff, hated what I was doing and felt they were redundant and not enabling me to grow. Case in point. Out of the three jobs i worked in the one that I held the longest was 8 months. So I knew, my restlessness was not because I was a poor worker, just that I was not in the environment best suited for my skills set and strengths, which i later discovered is more creative oriented. And copywriting which I accidentally discovered one day after a conversation with my mentor and some of my own research online fit me perfectly. Thank God for the internet!
5. Did you start it alone or with friends?
I started alone working out of my 1 br apartment on a laptop
6. How long have you been in business?
Since August 2008
7. What’s the story behind your success?
Well, I can’t say I am successful, not just yet. Because there is so much I want to achieve with the business. Yes, we have grown over the last three years, so if I was to put use as one benchmark, then I could possibly speak of success in those terms. But indeed, I can confidently say that we are well on our way to success which is for me regional recognition and expansion in east Africa and West Africa. I would love to enter the Nigerian market. I think if we do that in the next three years, then we can be truly proud of our achievements.
Nevertheless just to try and answer your question; Say Cheese Writers has successfully serviced over 50 small and large companies from all across the world in the last 3 and half years. Our clientele base no doubt especially this year is growing faster than we had ever anticipated.
8. What challenges did you face?
Capital is a big issue. This business was started with just a laptop and an internet connection. And it’s been an uphill task working with no capital to plan and implement for sales and marketing or hire permanent qualified staff because we cannot afford it. As a small business banks won’t lend to us, so anything we do to grow the business is directly tied to the sales we make and monthly revenue. So we suffer cash flow problems especially when clients take long to make payments. Some we have been forced to pay our suppliers late. Sometimes I think of great ideas that would help us grow tenfold but there’s have no capital to implement, so it’s frustrating. I have learnt to be patient though and its slowly paying off as we continue to provide quality service with competitive pricing and attract bigger clients.
9. How did you overcome?
Positive attitude, hardwork and sacrificing social time. I work very hard, usually 12 -18 hours a day. Of course this has caused me to have no social life. I don’t regret this lifestyle because it has gotten the company to grow steadily and to achieve what we need to achieve we have to make huge sacrifices. Rome was not built in a day. But I try to balance this out by ensuring that I allocate time on weekends, especially Sundays, to spend time with my family. I am also a very active Rotarian, I am the club Secretary of Rotary club of Muthaiga, which means during the week or weekends I am fully engaged in club activities or community service. All that that gives me a great work-life balance and keeps me sane.
10. What is that one thing you wish you had known before you started that company?
Mmh... that three years is not a very long time. ha ha. I used to say in three years I should be doing this and that. Three years on and I’m not yet there. Sometimes we say things like I want to retire when i am 40. And many of us will reach 40 and find that we can’t retire. We may have thought 40 is so far away, and not done enough to ensure we actually can actually retire by then. So it’s not enough to just say things, but we need to act and act now.
I am a Christian but sometimes i get upset when people say, just believe, pray and you will achieve it. Belief and prayer is one thing but if you just sit and pray and wait for God to send down manna from heaven and you do nothing yourself to get closer to your dreams, then you’re wasting not just your time but God’s time. The older i get i realise just how important time is. So value your time, every second counts especially in business. Don’t waste it, you will never get it back.
11. One Adviser to start ups and upcoming entrepreneurs?
If you want to do something, go for it no matter what other people think. Also don’t listen to negative talk. If you have to give up relationships that discourage you pursuing your dreams, do so or you will only be held back. It’s a lonely road out here. And sometimes you have to say NO to your family and your friends, and it may be difficult but you have to.. you may even lose some friends who don’t understand why you can’t party or hang out as much as you used to.
Sometimes it is very difficult to relate with people who are not in business and have no idea what it takes to be an entrepreneur. It’s scary, its sometimes very tough and if you’re willing to grow a thick skin, then you get used to it and in the long run, it’s worth it.
Something else; network as much as you can and don’t be afraid to ask. If you don’t ask you don’t get. I believe the more people you know, the better your chances of becoming successful, because you just don’t know who you will meet who will impact your life and in turn your business. And you may need to meet many people before you get your business to where you want it to be.
Moreover, be willing to learn and know that learning never stops even at age 60. Make it a habit to always be reading and learning something new. I for one can’t live without the internet which I have used to hone my skills and compete on a level playing field. And lastly, give back. As you begin to make the money, never forget to give back.
12. Who inspires you, like a role model and why?
That’s a tough one. I have many role models, perhaps this time round I’d go with the Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, first she’s a woman, and she’s managed to achieve a whole lot of global respect and recognition that I would love to attain for myself. She’s a woman of steel and admire what she’s managed to do prior to her joining FB and even within FB. I also listened to her speak on TED and al i could think was what common sense and smarts. She is very smart.
13. What are some your philosophies if any?
Don’t be greedy, and always remember all clients are the same, whether they pay you 1000 bob or 1000000. So treat them with equal respect. Also honesty and transparency is key. I can’t stand dishonest people. And again give back, of your time, skills, and resources. So many people can benefit from yoru experiences both in your personal life and business life.
14. If you were to start a company what kind of unique product would you invest in?
I am not sure it’s unique, but I’d love to buy and sell luxury watches. I just love watches. I generally love beautiful things and sprucing up spaces and architecture so would love to get into that or do a reality show where i come and transform your dilapidate dhome into a mansion.
15. Most young people are in their earlier entrepreneurship life, what kind of support would you give to them. eg. Mentoring, advising, connecting, sharing your network..
I would love to mentor young people who are willing, and indeed share my connections. If i know someone who can help you, i would introduce them to you without a second thought.
I am who i am today because of the time that the CEO of Action Wealth gave me, the freedom to contact him even when he was overseas, whenever i got stuck in business and needed advice on what to do or how to do it. His own lesson from his own life, his businesses and his mistakes. So i would love to give my own time to someone else who might benefit and be inspired to g for their dreams. So if you need a mentor just walk up to me and ask.
Meet the C.E.O
website: www.saycheesewriters.com
Facebook: Lilian Okado
Twitter: @lilianokado
LinkedIn: lilianokado
Posted by;
Calvin Jodisi.
Founder of YBI. International.
yourbigideatv@gmail.com
'Your idea your future'
No comments:
Post a Comment