Peter Leckemby (00:20)
Hello and welcome to the Business Growth Blueprint. I am here with my friend, Kayode Ajayi Smith, who goes by Kay. So welcome to the podcast, Kay. So glad to have you here.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (00:33)
Same here, same here. And you did pronounce my name pretty good, so well done.
So just for emphasis, my name is Kayode Ajayi Smith. So my Kayode is Nigerian of a Nigerian origin from the Yoruba ethnic group and it means God brings joy.
Peter Leckemby (00:52)
Well, welcome to the podcast. You know, obviously you've been doing your own thing for a while. Now you work in the insurance industry as well as business development. Tell me what drew you to, being your own boss, to, going out on your own. What was it that brought you into that?
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (01:09)
So my career started out way back in Africa. so one time, I mean, was looking, I was in between jobs and I and a friend were talking. And this was a friend, who went to school with me. were in undergrad together. And he said to me, he knew me very well. And he said to me, Kay.
Why are we looking for jobs? Why are we adding more problems to the problems already existing? You and I, with all the investments that have been pulling us from attending this conference, networking events, doing all sorts of fantastic things way back then in college, he said, why are we adding more problems? Why are we not creating jobs? And then it struck me and I said, wow, that's so true.
You know, that was how my journey as an entrepreneur started. And I started to run my own thing and been doing that for, gosh, it's gone, it's gone forever. Like almost over 15 years now. So yeah.
Peter Leckemby (02:13)
that's great. That's great. So when you started, what is something that you found maybe were some of your biggest struggles starting out?
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (02:19)
Money was one of the biggest, was the biggest piece and also convincing people to part with money. So one of the things that I did way back then is, you know, the understanding of business was one thing I was lacking. And I think that a lot of business owners don't realize that there are fundamentals of business, right?
I remember, I think I may have shared this with you at some point. I met with this billionaire Homes adventure firm and we were talking and he just brought to life what we call the Porter's Five Forces, which is essentially the forces that control competition in business. And when he brought it alive to me,
You know, we read all these concepts as theory, but when he brought it alive to me and helped me to understand that you don't start a business, you know, in a place where there is F .T. competition, right? You go to a small town, you kick off from there and allow yourself to go. And on the long run, it's easier for you to grow significantly. And and then later you can go fight with the sharks. That for me.
somebody just putting the experience out there was very valuable to me. And so those are one of the first things I learned in business. understood even without going to business school initially, I understood those bases, but it was a tough learning place to be, especially when you're just getting out. The idea that
You have to partner with other people so that you shorten your learning curve. Those things were the fundamentals that I learned, you know, starting out in business.
Peter Leckemby (04:12)
Then what brought you into, insurance? What brought you into business development? What brought you to where you are today?
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (04:18)
So business development is something that a lot of people don't like doing. Or maybe people don't understand. A lot of people understand it as sales. That's what they understand it as. But business development goes beyond just sales. It includes sales. It includes market research, lead generation, partnerships, copywriting. That's business development. It's like the activities that you engage in to help to develop a business.
from one point to the other. Particularly, I like defining or describing the business process with the, product life circle. When you introduce a product or a service, it grows, it matures, it declines, what do you do next? I just love the idea of problem solving. Problem solving is beautiful.
Peter Leckemby (04:57)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (05:10)
It helps me to crack my brains. Some nights I go to bed thinking and dreaming about the problem. And then I come back and I'm like, yes, I got it. know, the fulfillment in finding solution to a problem is always such a joy to me. And for the insurance, I can tell you, was, I'm an accidental insurance broker. I needed a contract at that point and my friend,
ran a brokerage and he said to me, okay, if you want to join us, you have to go right. I didn't like the whole idea of insurance, but eventually I loved it because insurance creates a cushioning for families, for business owners when they lose, you know, when they lose their entire livelihood or they lose their home or their auto, it's always a way to,
get a restart or a reset. If you lived in Africa like I did, insurance wasn't a big, big, big thing in Africa. think insurance is not even compulsory in the country I'm from. Most compulsory insurance in where I'm from is a third -party insurance. And a lot of people lose their auto and have to save up again to buy a new one.
And our fallback strategy is usually family and friends, which is very, very tough on families in that part of the world. And I think insurance has found a sweet spot in the community and society that we live in today. And I think it's fantastic. And then the other part of insurance that I love is the fact that when for, so,
from a risk standpoint, right? It's pretty much like planning for the inevitable, right? Sometimes people feel like it can never happen to me. My house can never burn down. I just, I had a, so we were on a call, you know, in our brokerage, we're on a call and someone came to us and was like, this family went to an Airbnb, parked their car outside on vacation in Florida.
And that Airbnb burned to the ground. And in the process of it burning to the ground, their car also got burnt. And they lost everything they had, including their passports, their ID cards, and everything else. And I was like, wow. And then they had to help them file a claim. They went through that entire process. That was such a relief for them at the end of the day.
So when I think about insurance, I think about the fact that society must, the fact that it's even compulsory, the fact that it's compulsory is the most beautiful part of it. Because a lot of people will walk away from insurance and will never, so it's a problem that is already existent, right? You don't need, as an insurance broker, you don't need to chase people to say you need this.
It's not a question of who do I place my risk with as opposed to, you really need this. You see what I'm saying? So those are the two beautiful sides of insurance. I, for the fact that I lived in Africa and I saw the sharp contrast between what exists here and what doesn't exist over there, I appreciate it even more than anybody else. So, yeah.
Peter Leckemby (08:10)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's something you said there, you know, the wisdom in is insurance. You're paying for it every month or you pay for it every six months or every year and you don't really pay much attention to it until you need it. And then you're really glad you have it. And it's one of those necessities. And it could be obviously ensuring your property, your assets, things like that. But obviously indemnification, things like that as a business owner, it's so important to have.
and not having it, again, it's a risk. You're already taking on a lot of risk as a business owner. How much additional risk do you want to take on? Something else you said that really stood out to me, you talked about before you go to bed, asking yourself these questions and posing a problem to yourself before you go to bed and you wake up in the morning and you're like, yes, I've got the solution.
so much value there, things to think about. At the end of the day, we talk about this a lot, doing an end of day process where you kind of reflect on the day. What are your wins for the day? How are you doing in each of the kind of core areas of your life? But that's a really key piece to add to that is ask yourself a question. What problem are you trying to solve? And really write that question down and think about that as you go to bed. And you never know what your creative brain might come up with in the middle of the night.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (09:49)
Absolutely, absolutely. So, you know, the way I think of problems is this. The beauty of my approach to solving problems is that I'm also a business owner. So I've been a business owner, I've run four businesses. I still have one still running, still alive and kicking back in Africa and it's in the agriculture space. And because of the fact that I have a background in
Peter Leckemby (09:58)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (10:12)
nonprofit and also, you know, management consulting. It's been easy for me to crisscross across different industries. It's helped me. So that perspective of solving problems was enshrining me from the time when I started working on consulting projects. I'll give you an example. we were asked
by a minister, a federal minister back in Nigeria to go do a feasibility study somewhere in our constituency. And when we got there, we sat down. I and my colleague, we planned our routes every day. When we show up there, we talk to stakeholder groups and all that good stuff. And on one of those occasions, we decided we were going to talk to
the young folks, the children in that school. And we started having a conversation with them. And get this, when children say, I want to become a plumber here in the US, it's not a big deal, right? doesn't, I mean, you don't feel like it's crazy. But out there, those kind of jobs are not seen as prestigious. They are seen like at
as if they are at the bottom of the job ladder over there. And the kids are only exposed, especially in the rural area, are only exposed to certain kind of professions. So we asked these kids, were like, so what do want to be when you grow up? And a lot of them were like, I want to be a farmer. I want to be a mechanic. want to be all these menial jobs. And then one of them said, I want to be a doctor. And I was like,
Huh? Where did you see a doctor? There is absolutely not a doctor in that environment. So he said, I traveled to the city. I'm like, Now, that was a light bulb moment for me. Why was it? Because I realized that the mind of every human can only go as far as what they are exposed to.
Peter Leckemby (12:18)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (12:18)
So that was a light bulb moment for me. that was, so in my recommendation, I said, if you want these children to, if you want the experience to go beyond where they live today, you need to expose their mind to somewhere greater than where they live right now. That's problem. That's the problem right there. And it's just been solved by just asking questions.
Peter Leckemby (12:43)
Wow. And for all of us, that exposure to thinking differently, to a different way. You you talk about the trades and I would say even here in this country, we have an issue promoting the trades the same way we do. Hey, go to school, get a college education and then go get a job. And so often, you know, I mean, how many unfilled trade jobs are there? And there's a tremendous amount of
business owner opportunity, business growth opportunity in the trades. But on that line of expanding based on what you're exposed to, similarly as a business owner, you go into business and you recognize there's a ceiling on your business. Maybe you get to that $100 ,000 mark and then scaling is at $350 ,000. And then from 350 ,000 to maybe 700 ,000, 700 to a million, each of those different.
layers, you there's different complexities, there's different organizational challenges, there's different, financial challenges that come with that business. The value of getting around others who are further along that journey than you, others who maybe are have been there and have built businesses, sold businesses, whatever those are. I feel like a lot of business owners maybe struggle to ask for help. Why do you think that is?
Or maybe I'm wrong on that. Have you experienced that, I guess, is the first part of that? And if so, why do you think that might be?
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (14:04)
So yes, absolutely. So in my practice, I've dealt with a lot of small businesses across different industries. And for some reason, I find it's very interesting that small business owners are very, what's the word? A lot of them are risk a verse when it comes to people asking an external person to help them with their business. There's a business based out in.
Florida, no, not Florida, actually California that I'm talking to right now. And I said, I said to him, said, you might need some funding. You might need someone to get involved in your business, you know, to help you grow the business and expand it, expand the vision. And he said, I'm not making enough money. I don't want anybody, I don't want anybody's money here. And I'm
And I'm looking at this guy, like. So I said to him, said, hey, you're partnering with somebody else, right? You're partnering with someone else. This person is bringing his money. This person is bringing his network.
So with more money, you can do more. The only difference is that the equity structure will change, right? It's better to hone 51 %
of a multimillion dollar company than to own 100 % of a $200 ,000 company. And I explained that to him, even with everything I explained, he was holding onto his gun. And sometimes I feel like, is it the fact that he no longer would have the total control that's the biggest problem?
Peter Leckemby (15:44)
Yeah, I think a lot of times it's confronting limiting beliefs. think it's, you know, we reach our own limitation of what we're aware of, of our own potential, regardless of the confidence that having a partner comes in. If I don't believe in myself, I'm to be less likely to take on that help versus having that unwavering confidence that I can do it. And I think the second part of that is what's the goal of the business owner? Are you just wanting a job that you're the boss?
And if so, you're going to have probably have a lot more resistance to that growth. But I think that that just underscores the importance of working with a coach. and there's a lot out there that say they're doing coaching where they've got a program that you enroll in and they give you curriculum. That's not coaching. That's that's mentoring. That's education. That's advising. It's a lot of things, but it's not coaching. Coaching is where you've got somebody that you're working with.
and they engaging in the coaching process, they're asking you powerful questions where you kind of dig deep, you have to come up with the answers. You got to do the hard work of thinking, but you raise your awareness. And the more you raise your awareness, the more creative you become, the more resourceful you become, the better you can solve your own problems. And the more likely you are to maybe be growth oriented and versus this kind of fixed mindset. So I think that it's really important to differentiate when, when coaching, when I'm working with somebody.
I may be coaching at times, I may be mentoring, I may be advising. When I'm coaching, we're going to be clear I'm coaching and I'm not going to step out of that role when we're consulting, whatever those other things are, then we're in that lane. And I think there's elements of both that I think every business owner could benefit from. And a lot of business owners are working with coaches and advisors to understand financials. If you're a business owner, if you're a mechanic and you run an auto shop,
You don't have a finance degree, that's fine. You don't need one. Work with somebody that can help you get in there and maximize profitability. Work with somebody that can help you think about business development differently, marketing and sales, lead generation, whatever the topic is. And I think that's where I think you see a lot of business owners maybe struggle to bring somebody in because they think it's going to cost a fortune or it's going to erode their profits if they bring somebody in to help do that. And it's surprising how affordable the right help can be.
And quite frankly, it's an investment. It's a return on investment. If you put $5 ,000 in the stock market, you can watch that thing grow anywhere five to eight to 10, 12 % consistently over a long period of time. That same investment in the right help, you can get a two, 300 % ROI on that in the first year.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (18:19)
Can I just say that the angle of coaching that you brought up is very important. I think the whole coaching segment is evolving. And I think it's a good development. And here's why I think so. So for big organizations, very big organizations, they have mentorship, coaching, all embedded in their structure.
Peter Leckemby (18:45)
Yes. Yep.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (18:45)
It's either from HR to senior management, whatever. They have all that embedded, right? And even, you know, the old concept of R &D, right, is budgeted for, right? All that. And that's because, you know, they are a big corporation. They have money to spend and all that good stuff. But from a small business standpoint, coaching serves a specific purpose. As entrepreneurs,
Being an entrepreneur is a very lonely place to be. You sometimes second guess yourself. I believe they call it, what they call it, there's a word they use for when you second guess yourself. I can't remember, I don't want to bore you. Impostor syndrome, exactly. Yeah, you sometimes get that. I get that from time to time. the good thing is that I have
Peter Leckemby (19:26)
Imposter syndrome? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (19:36)
a very good support structure where I go to folks, I tell them to remind me who I am. So I remember I was at an event last week or two weeks ago, and somebody was saying that, hey, as an entrepreneur, you need a mentor, you need a coach, you need a sponsor. And then he mentioned one more thing. I think he said something to the effect of,
staying in your lane or something like that. So you are not walking alone. I mean, if we get the impression that as entrepreneurs, we should be a know it all, it's a wrong notion. It's a wrong notion. And that's why if you notice a lot of people, a lot of entrepreneurs are dealing with mental illness.
And that's why coaching is very important. And I think that's one of the biggest problem. One of the things I've noticed over time, as much as I say, I don't know what the issue is. I do know what the issue is. Sometimes it's ego. Sometimes it's imposter syndrome. Sometimes it's, it can be inferiority complex or superiority complex. It could be any of those, right? And I've learned to be
very flexible and not rigid. Because when somebody says, I have this service, I say, OK, let's get together. Let's have a conversation about it. And then I will narrow down to, and most times when I want to start anything, one of the first things I ask myself, how do we do it? Can we do it? And why are we doing it? So if all that is all settled, then how much does it cost? Sometimes it's not as expensive as you think it is. Most of us.
Peter Leckemby (20:54)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (21:13)
We do consulting. We usually lower the barrier to entry for a lot of our initial clients. And then our repeat customers then begin to see value. We then begin to pitch to them, hey, here's the industry standard. Here's where we are. We bumping it up to this point doesn't make it super expensive because here's the industry standard. We are working with you here. Because at the end of the day, big businesses have access to
Peter Leckemby (21:34)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (21:39)
the kind of information that small businesses will never have access to. And a lot of guys who have done consulting, because they are an external party, it's easier for them to see objectively what goes on within your structure, within your organization or business. And so they have an edge. Most times, the biggest change we make, the biggest change we make is listening to folks within the same organization that you operate. And then we are saying, based off of what this guy has said,
Here's where we think you guys are, because we are an objective voice, an objective, you know, reasoning party, you know, coming in to say, hey, here's how we see your organization from the outside inside. And it's just our ability to just be a little humble to receive those feedbacks. That might just be the difference in transforming that organization from where it is right now to where it's supposed to be.
Peter Leckemby (22:34)
Yeah. Well, and having those mentors around, I think a lot of it too is there's a hesitancy to open up and share everything in the business. You said inferiority complex, this idea of I'd be embarrassed for somebody to come in and look at all my stuff. There's some challenges maybe or some problems or quite frankly, it's an aversion to change. We have our comfort zones and we like them and every one of us has to be intentional to get out of that comfort zone.
And sometimes that's hard. There is a perceived risk. And obviously there's an investment if you're hiring mentors or coaches. how do you find the ones that are gonna guarantee they're gonna help you, that are gonna stay in the trenches and building that trust, right? You've got to build that know, like, and trust factor so that they want to work with you and give value first. That's something that's really important. And when you sit down with somebody, give them some value, give them something they can go do that's gonna give them a result.
that you didn't charge them for and down the road, hey, if they want more help, let's talk about what that engagement might look like. again, yeah, having a low barrier to entry and then there's work your way up. There's some high ticket offers that you can have and more full engagements. That's going to be a higher level of investment, but definitely having somebody to help you. know, one of my mentors says, you can't see the picture when you're in the frame.
as the business owner, you're in the business and being able to pull yourself out of that frame and work on the business to see the business requires somebody to help reflect that back to you. And something else, a lot of people I've talked to have shared is just the reason they would have a coach, the reason they want that mentor is somebody there kind of as an accountability partner. You talked about entrepreneurship being lonely. And even if you have the best support network, you've got great employees, you got a great team working for you. You've got
just good friends, people that you can go to, that you can talk to, a supportive spouse or partner. All of those things are great, but they're not entrepreneurs. They don't know the mental, the emotional, the financial, the risk, all those challenges that you have to face as an entrepreneur. They can't possibly know that because they haven't walked in those shoes. And it's a unique challenge that as an entrepreneur that you have to face. And so, yeah, I love the way you called that out.
So let me ask you a question about that. You you're thinking about you as an entrepreneur, what is a current challenge that you are working to overcome in your business?
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (25:03)
So one of my biggest challenge that I'm facing now is finding new clients in a different market. So I transitioned from Pennsylvania, I moved to Colorado. Colorado is slightly different, nine months into Colorado. So it's almost like I'm gonna be.
having a baby soon. So I came in to support a client in the automotive industry. And now I'm transitioning into finding new clients also in the automotive industry. So sometimes when you get into an environment where you don't have any footprint, it's always very tough.
If I was younger, maybe might be exciting, but I'm not as young as I used to be. So I have to attend more events. I have to schedule coffee. I have to do a lot of partnerships. You know, it's...
It's a lot of work. It's a lot of driving. It's a lot of talking. It's a lot of, in some days, it's slow. Some days, it's fast. So it's a major challenge. And I'm embracing it because it's always been part of my journey. Most times when I get into a new environment, one of the things I want to do is partner with other people, serve them. I'll give you an example. There's a story about this AI tamu cool back
Peter Leckemby (25:58)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (26:20)
Back in business school, we had this case study from Harvard Business Review, A. Temoko. They were based out in China. Cost of production was lower. And they were making fantastic refrigerators, fantastic products like air conditioning systems, and so on and so forth. So what they would do is sign a partnership agreement with a US -based company or a European -based company.
and they will be manufacturing for that company and putting their labels on it and sending it to the US or sending it to you. In my opinion, it's an harrowing experience, having to build this fantastic product and then put somebody else's name on it. A lot of time, a lot of innovation, a lot of...
Peter Leckemby (27:01)
Mm -hmm.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (27:05)
experience goes into making those refrigerators or those air conditioning systems. And then at the end of the day, you are delivering it to someone. But here's the trade off. The trade off is beautiful. The trade off is you get money in your pocket, right? You also get to learn what the desires or the taste of the, of the customers are from those transactions.
That gives you an idea what the taste of that customer is, right? You are learning a lot through the process in delivering the products, right? To the, to the client, you'll be traveling. There'll be a lot of learning opportunities and so on and so forth. But guess what? In that, case study, they finally, after a while launched into the market.
and became one of the top players in the market. So it's not a bad idea. The learning that you need to learn in that new market requires that you partner with someone else. If you are starting from the beginning of the learning curve, you're wasting your time. You'll be frustrated. You'll head back to where you're coming from. So it's one of the biggest challenge right now, but it's also an opportunity for learning for me.
Peter Leckemby (28:23)
Yeah, I love that. You talked about that going into a new market, the idea. And even if you've been in a market, if you're looking to really grow or expand your business, study your customers, study their behaviors, understand, ask them, get a ton of customer feedback, especially if you've lost a customer, you know, find out what some of those thought processes were. But if you're looking to go and add products or services to your, and to get new customers, test it out.
You know, are the small little experiments you can run to have the big upside on the back end of that? I think it's important lesson to learn.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (28:59)
You also can also build trust infrastructure by partnering with someone else. Because when you partner with someone else, you do a couple projects together, they are more comfortable with, okay, handing their clients or passing on their clients to you, or even making introductions on your behalf. So, but if you choose to sit alone by yourself and say, I have all the greatest idea in the world, I don't know how far you're going to go. It's going to be a harrowing experience, but the shorter version is
Peter Leckemby (29:03)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (29:28)
to partner with someone else who's been in the market, who understands the dynamics in the market. And then it gives you some sort of soft landing, but it's not gonna be easy. But at the same time, it's better that way than to do everything by yourself. After learn, it takes you a longer time to break into the market.
Peter Leckemby (29:45)
There's just so many other opportunities to learn from the lessons from other successes and failures. Why try to go it alone? I think there's so many people that, you know, that stubborn pride or whatever that is. Leadership author, John Maxwell has a funny thing. He says, if you ever see a turtle on top of a fence post, you know he had help.
you know, the idea of the self -made person, you know, you probably haven't made a lot if you're self -made and you're not made with the help of others and the support of others.
So let me ask you a question. You talk about that partnership and having people that you can build trust with. Who do you get advice or mentorship from?
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (30:21)
I have a bunch of folks across different sectors. for instance, if I'm talking about finance, there's someone I trust so much. go to him. we talk about, you know, even business development, identifying my customers. have people I speak to supply chain. I have people I talk to, you know, I have all these people that are built relationship with over time. And like, for instance, in the nonprofit, one of my biggest.
Peter Leckemby (30:30)
Okay.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (30:48)
advisors or coach in that space or mentor is someone I've built a relationship with for over, I don't even know how many years now, it's 2007. Since 2007, we've kept in touch. We talk all the time. She's an economist. She works with the World Bank. I pick our brains from time to time, you know, and I spend a lot on all these relationships like when these people need help.
They reach out to me when I need help. I know their family members. I know their parents. I know their kids. So I built a relationship over time. And all these individuals we met in the workplace, they know me. I know them. And they understand how I think. And then they help me tweak a few things here and there. give me a very objective. And I love connecting with people who
have experience in specific field, who are growing in that field, I submit myself to them. In areas that I don't know anything about, I go to them for advice. Sometimes I invest in those relationships too. So it's not like they are free. They are not that free. I spend time talking to these individuals. They introduce other people to me and say, hey, Kay could you take care of these people? And I spend a lot of time supporting those people.
Peter Leckemby (31:45)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (32:10)
If you cannot afford to pay for a coach, build relationships that will, I mean, there are people who have those experiences and that you can easily learn from. But ultimately, I think we all need a coach. We all need a coach. I have a coach. I have a When it comes to particularly my leadership style, I have a coach that tells me, AK, you remember, you have this tendency. And so here's how I think you can handle this.
Peter Leckemby (32:23)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (32:39)
And I think my first experience with a coach was during my master's program, my MBA, that was at Lehigh University, and we were assigned coaches. Each individual were assigned a coach. And honestly, it was fantastic. It was fantastic. It was a fantastic experience. And since then, I've relied on coaches to support me in different areas of my career.
Peter Leckemby (32:50)
Yeah.
Yeah, it can be uncomfortable, right? Somebody challenging you, testing you, making you think really hard. I love that. So something that people maybe don't know about you that might surprise them.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (33:19)
Hmm. What would that be? My life is deeply rooted in my faith, which is the Christian faith. I'm a follower of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a lot of the principles that guide my life are from the Bible, from the Christian Bible. there are different principles that I
I hold on to all the time. The words that people speak are very critical to me. It sends several signals to my brain. And there's a different approach to leadership as described in scripture. My leadership for me is not getting into a room and automatically taking the higher seat.
but taking the lower seat. Scripture talks about taking the lower seat because it's more honorable when you are called up to a higher seat than for you to be told that there's someone better than you that showed up and you need to step down to the lower seat. So there's several principles that I pick from scriptures that guides the way I do business. In my initial, when I started business, I was all about go, go, go, go, go. I hurt a lot of people in the process.
And, you know, as I began to become deeply rooted in my faith, I changed that approach. And today, my approach is more of love, even while holding other people accountable. So I tell people like, the business I run back in Africa, my general manager, I talk with him sometimes, I call him and I say, hey, I just wanted to know what's going on with you. How's your wife? How's your daughter? What's going on with you guys? What's your plan?
and so on and so forth. I talk about him and his family and when he tells me some of the things that he's having challenges with, I support him from my personal capacity as a friend. So he sees me when I notice that he's beginning to think that I'm being too hard, I open up to him. I'm very transparent with him and I'm like, hey dude, here's where we are as an organization. Here's where we want to get to. I don't take this
Peter Leckemby (35:10)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (35:25)
approach, we won't get to this point. And then he's like, I appreciate you, sir. And I'm like, I appreciate you too. And then we move on. I've learned quite a lot taking that approach into business.
Peter Leckemby (35:39)
you talk about your faith and how that grounds you and those values and, you come from that place of love, that place of a servant mentality. You're there to serve first. And, and I can vouch from our interactions. You give first and you give abundantly. And that's a great approach. And, you know, anybody that has employees, just taking that genuine interest in them. think that's a great lesson you just shared with us is if you've got employees, are you expressing your interest in them? How are you caring for your employees?
How are you helping bring them along on the journey? And it is, it's, know, nobody that works for you is gonna be as invested as you in the business, cause you're the business owner. You've taken on the risk. you've got the most upside. You've got the most risk, the most upside. So how do you engage those folks that are working for you and support them and help them and bring them along the journey, help them get engaged in the vision. And there's a lot to that. And I love that you say your faith is
is a big part of how you operate. And I can say I see that in how you operate.
We're talking to business owners. We've got, you know, people that are going to be watching this, listening to this, that are running a business. They've already gotten a lot of tips from you. They've gotten a lot of gold in this. But what's your best advice for business owners out there?
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (36:47)
So I think one of the first things I learned in business is to always, always be a student. That means you must continually learn, you must reach, you must learn from other people. It's very, very important. Once people know that you are
always willing to learn and that you are flexible, it makes it easier for people to want to relate with you and do business with you. When I started out, I would always call some people. I would always call. I would always call. I would always ask questions. They would always be like, you are here again. You're here again. I'm like, please, do you want me to succeed? And learning.
Peter Leckemby (37:16)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (37:31)
is a huge part of my life. read all the time. When I have problems that I can't solve, I go to others and I ask them, I need your help. I need your help. So being in that place where you are constantly learning and constantly hoping to asking for help when you need it.
those are the two most important lessons I will always urge every entrepreneur. the other that I will, you know, my other advice would be. the basics, learn the basics of every business, right? they are business principles. one of those principles, and I always teach this is one of the first things I would teach any business owner that I meet. It's the product life circle.
Peter Leckemby (38:07)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (38:15)
And the reason I always teach that is because have you ever heard of stories of people who start businesses and are like, it was booming at the initial face. People were calling us. They were always knocking on our doors. Our phones were ringing. And all of a sudden, one day, it was all gone.
Peter Leckemby (38:33)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (38:34)
Now, my interest in small businesses is this. The United States has 65 % small businesses.
65 % and 35 % big business. Where do you think the jobs of the future, majority of the jobs of the future are gonna come from? It's from small businesses. And those small businesses have the capacity to grow from small to medium and from medium to large. We have a fantastic support system in this country. I tell you the truth, because I'm coming from somewhere that do not have that support structure, the SBA.
Peter Leckemby (38:53)
Absolutely, absolutely.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (39:11)
I remember when I was in Pennsylvania, we had this small business center where, you know, they always support small businesses with seminars. But you know the funny thing, they tell me that small businesses don't attend. They put a lot of programs together, they never attend. But.
Peter Leckemby (39:17)
Yeah.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (39:26)
You know, I've seen a lot of small businesses that started and are like, at the initial phase it was growing, it was growing. And all of a sudden we don't even understand what's going on right now. We no longer get calls. We no longer get patronage and so on and so forth. And I always laugh and I always say, it comes down to the product or service life circle. You must understand that the taste of your customers change every day.
So when you introduce a particular line of service or product, you must understand that it has a lifespan and you have to be prepared. So you have to collect data and those data need to be interpreted and those interpretation need to transition into becoming new products. And you have to constantly be on your feet creating new product every other day. That's why.
businesses that have lasted 100 years have lasted because they have continually been open to changing, know, and meeting the needs of the change, of the constantly changing tastes of their customers. So those are my, you know, advice for business owners. I hope that's helpful.
Peter Leckemby (40:44)
Yeah, that's great. I think the one at the end, just understanding that product life cycle is super important to anchor to is really continuing to understand what you're offering and the appetite for that and being able to adapt and adjust your product offering or service offering as the market dictates. And that's a great longevity tool, I would say for sure. Okay, I want to say thank you. This has been a wonderful conversation. It's great to...
hear some of your stories and understand from your perspective. think everybody watching or listening to this is gonna get great value out of that. you know, encourage everybody to reflect on some of the things you heard, go back, listen to it again. And there is some gold in that conversation for sure. So much gratitude to you, Kay.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (41:28)
Thank you so much. It was a good afternoon. I mean, having these conversations, you know, most times you can't talk about everything in just one podcast, you know, but at least hopefully, you know, everything I shared was useful and yeah.
Peter Leckemby (41:37)
Yeah.
I think so. I think so people will find great use out of it and hey, we might have to have a part two down the road. All right. Hey, well, thanks so much. So it's been wonderful.
Kayode Ajayi-Smith (41:48)
Hopefully. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you.