Passion Driven: The Secret to Starting and Growing Your Own Business

By Tayo Ayinla

Working for others to earn a salary may be a comforting adventure at the initial stage of ones work life; but ultimately, it could mean the worst form of slavery. As someone rightly puts it, devoting your time, skills and energy to another man to earn a fixed income is bondage of a high order. It simply means you have transferred the determination of how your life turns out yo someone else!

But how about risking everything to become your own boss where you are in the drivers seat of your destiny? Are you afraid of taking the plunge? Or peradventure, you are already on your business but struggling with making it work. There is nothing to worry about anymore.

Passion Driven, written by Tayo Ayinla, provides a practical roadmap you can use in either case. In this fascinating and highly illuminating manual, you can learn:
* How to discover a good business idea
* How to discover your God-given passion
* How to raise finance for your business
* How to survive challenges of entrepreneurship
* How to grow the business into an empire that can take care of your life style
* How to get out of paid employment successfully and become your own boss
And many more.
Passion Driven is laced with practical steps which the author used to negotiate himself successfully out of paid employment and build a thriving business. Follow the steps carefully, and with an open mind, you will be in charge of your destiny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Feb 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491887080

Tayo Ayinla

Tayo Ayinla is the CEO of three companies based in Abuja, Nigeria. Wise Trust International Limited, a real estate company, Bawoen Trust Limited, a financial Intelligence, Wealth creation and Information marketing company, and Timeless Investment Limited, a cooperative society. He is the Chairman, Board of Directors of Okatayo Foundation for orphans, widows and the vulnerable in the society. Also, he is a Pastor with Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Abuja. Tayo Ayinla is a bourgeoning writer who has authored four books( Secrets for Building Lasting Wealth, Pathway to Wealth, Wealth Capsules and Passion Driven). A civil engineer by training, a teacher and a businessman.

Book preview

© 2013 Tayo Ayinla. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/09/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-8707-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-8708-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Preface

How to Get the Best      Out of This Book

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE

   Why start a business?

CHAPTER TWO

   Your need for a business?

CHAPTER THREE

   Can you start a business?.

CHAPTER FOUR

   Discovering a business idea

CHAPTER FIVE

   Starting your own business

CHAPTER SIX

   How do you grow your business

CHAPTER SEVEN

   Locating help.

DEDICATION

To my parents,

Chief Amos O. Ayinla and

Mrs. Mary A. Ayinla.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We have made history with our books, The Secrets for Building Lasting Wealth, The Pathway to Wealth and Wealth Capsules.

I am thankful to my great team, the Mastermind Group; I rely on them often.

Above all, thanks to my beautiful bride, Roselyn Oka, for her love, encouragement and support. You have been with me along every step of our financial journey, both the good and not so good. You are, indeed, my partner and reason for success.

Special appreciation to my spiritual parents, Dr. (Pastor) Paul and Dr. (Mrs.) Becky Enenche. Your ministry has given my life a meaning, and I am privileged to be connected to you.

The members of my Mastermind Group: Barr. Anthony Ameh, Pastor Olusegun Ayodele, Minister Sunny Echeofun, Mr. Patrick Esene, Mr. Alexander Odoh and Miss Evelyn E. Nepe, our Secretary. Each of you has delivered beyond my expectations.

To my financial mentor, Mr. Ayo Arowolo, for your help in shaping this book and my thoughts; and for helping to take this book from an idea to a reality.

Thanks to my Editor, Mr. Gbenga Kayode, CEO, Wordkraft Communications Limited, Lagos.

Special thanks to Wise Trust International Limited and Bawoen Trust Limited teams, for sticking with me. You are the heartbeat of our business organisations.

Finally, I acknowledge and appreciate the God Almighty, for allowing me to be at my Father’s business.

I am eternally grateful to you, Lord.

FOREWORD

The subject of Entrepreneurial studies though yet to be developed in Nigeria has enjoyed greater exploration in other developed economies especially in the United States of America, Canada and some Asia countries.

In Africa and Nigeria in particular, though we have small businesses thriving all around us, being an entrepreneur goes beyond setting up a make shift business at the back of your house and believing this is viable and a thriving enterprise.

The Author though entered the foray of business because of challenges he encountered in the market place, he has harnessed the benefit of his pains by coming into the realization of the necessary tools an entrepreneur would need to run a viable business. He has through studies and practical involvement progressed from a small business person of yesterday into a thriving entrepreneur of today. He sees the need not only to tell his story but also to educate the unlearned in the art of being an entrepreneur.

The book Passion Driven The secret to starting and growing your own business, is a catalogue of the author’s experience on how he had to start his own business with very small capital and learn during the process the best way not to fail in business by focusing on the big picture and allowing your passion to drive you rather than the difficulties of this environment to stop his dream.

Most books on entrepreneurship just spell out the how to rather than showing you practically what you need to know when things fall apart and you have to hold on to your self-belief and passion to weather the storm.

The author shows that with very little grant, you can take the plunge and start your own business if you have enough confidence, believe in GOD and persistence to make it.

He enumerates the various reasons why most entrepreneurs go into business especially in the very precarious environment such as ours, where the level of unemployment has reached alarming proportions and there is a lot of downsizing and layoffs in most organizations, a situation where most workers live in fear of not been sure of their job security.

To the author, knowing yourself (your innate gifting) and your environment will help you to understand how best you can bring value to the market place.

According to the author there are many things militating against starts up, stopping new entrepreneurs from entering into the market place, the biggest being fear but he reaffirms that one’s belief in GOD can withstand any external force and cause success in any endeavour including starting and running a new business.

The author encourages the new entrepreneur to start without any fear and also to use their environment as the place to grow new businesses because the environment provides the ideas for starting new business because whatever is missing or needed in the environment is the very clue that an entrepreneur need to discern what new business to go into, with the bid to adding value to the environment.

The author also tries to provide guidelines for starting a new business, from the business conception to financing and enumerates ways of sourcing funds even in such terrains like ours.

Another interesting dimension to the book is the author’s understanding of the times that we are living in, and the power of the new media especially the use of the internet by new business owners in our clime.

With the help of your computer and internet access you can do business in your room without renting an office. The author clearly encourages the use of this new medium and reiterates the necessity to always be aware of technological changes that can help grow our businesses when properly engaged.

The author also beautifully enumerates the different traits an entrepreneur requires to be able to start and successfully run a new business such as love, passion, vision, adaptability, energy, resourcefulness, passion, purpose and desire.

According to the author starting a business involves some level of risks, that can be reduced based on your knowledge of the area of business you intend to go into, keep an open mind; register your business and brainstorm with existing entrepreneurs and also get a mentor, as no man is an island and most successful business owners have business advisors and mentors.

The beautiful thing about this book is that it has three major areas of strength.

1. The author brings his personal experience to bear and is not afraid to tell his own personal story to his readers and also to expose to the reader the possibility of starting small, and growing big. He completely demystified success in business particularly in this environment.

2. The second is that the author helps any one about to start a new business understand all the different areas to cover in starting a new business, and finding funding. He provided a comprehensive manual for starting, owning and running your business. He identified unequivocally, how passion is a major connecting or diving force.

3. The third element is that the author is not afraid to bring the GOD FACTOR into the book because he showcases the hand of GOD ALMIGHTY in any successful venture including starting and growing a successful business.

This I find very wholesome and refreshing because in successfully combining these three elements the author has written a very compelling book on starting a new business.

In this age of accelerated change, overwhelming complexity and tremendous competition, we need a book of this nature to help men discover, develop and deploy their entrepreneurial potential and skills. This book is coming at the right time and I pray that everyone that reads it will find answers to their entrepreneurial question.

Pst. Fred ODEKHIAN

Zonal Pastor

Redeemed Christian Church of God, Nigeria

February, 2012

PREFACE

This is the second preface I would be writing for books written by Tayo Ayinla. Accepting that assignment has never been an issue. For obvious reasons. As I hinted in my preface to his first book, Secrets for Building Lasting Wealth, I met Mr. Tayo not too long ago as one of the platinum members in the wealth mastery coaching programme I coordinate. It never ceases to amaze me how fast he has been able to integrate the wealth