Why aspiring entrepreneurs should know valuable lessons, Femi Aguda

Serial entrepreneur and founder of Chicago-based Block 22 Realty, Femi Aguda has offered valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Speaking recently, Aguda born
Aguda Olufemi Micheal debunked the myths of entrepreneurship, by sharing some of the big lessons he learned in his evolution as an entrepreneur.

“Most people go into entrepreneurship in order to have more time and more money. But from my experiences and others that I know or read about, this is far from the truth as the early years can be rough, being time-consuming and money-gulping. Most entrepreneurs end up working-in-the-business instead of working-on-the-business. Eventually, it will pay off if you remain consistent and put systems in place,” he said.

On the perennial debate over whether or not everyone will be better off by embracing entrepreneurship, Femi Aguda offered a perspective, saying: “I’ll say everyone is wired to be creative and enterprising. I am of the school of thought that you can be an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur. That is, you can either set up your own business with a new idea or concept (entrepreneur) or work in an organization as an employee tasked with developing innovative ideas/projects (intrapreneur).”

Femi Aguda, who had a measure of business success in Nigeria as co-founder of cokodeals.com and founder of leapbud.com, before relocating to America where he is thriving as a licensed real estate professional and investor, shared a few lessons on doing business in America.

According to him: “You must be licensed to operate most businesses here, for example, as Licensed Real Estate Agent, Licensed Barber, Licensed Nail Technicians and so on. Hence, you must follow the rules of engagement (un-learn and re-learn), especially in real estate. And in the USA, business registration is done on a State basis. So ensure you understand the way each state operates and the governing laws of the industry.”

Indeed every business has its ups and down, Femi Aguda also listed out the peculiar challenges of his business and how he copes with it, he said, “As a real estate broker, major challenges in this business are:

• LOW Inventory: Without inventory there is no sales/income and that result in no business.

• No is the most frequent response: You need to grow a tough skin to withstand the volumes of Nos in the pipelines as they are more than enough to demoralize you. You will need to develop staying power to get to the YES!

• The timing: It will take a minimum of 3 years to see desired results. I mean 3 years of hard work, dedication (giving it all it takes) and getting out of your comfort zone (be out there to attract your target). Real estate is sure a long-term game.

• Growing online competition from listing portals and homebuyer apps. Examples are Zillow, redfin and the likes. This is a game changer as there a more cash sales than loan funded.

• Rising Interest rates which affect the cost of getting a loan to buy real estate.”