A sewing machine specialist from Nigeria

[Abrahamadesanya]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here. My name is Abraham Adesanya. And I'm a sewing machine engineer and seller in Nigeria.

I have read the book "millionaire fastlane" and I gained a lot of insight.

I am 22 years old and would love to start walking in the fastlane.

I've been kinda confused on what to go into or how to scale my sewing machine business.

I'll appreciate your welcome advice please.

 

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[Mikkel]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here. My name is Abraham Adesanya. And I'm a sewing machine engineer and seller in Nigeria.

I have read the book "millionaire fastlane" and I gained a lot of insight.

I am 22 years old and would love to start walking in the fastlane.

I've been kinda confused on what to go into or how to scale my sewing machine business.

I'll appreciate your welcome advice please.

Are you manufacturing sewing machines, selling sewing machines, or using sewing machines to make clothing?

There are tons of options, you are only limited by ypur imagination and how you act on those ideas.

Most textiles are producedbin countries like India and Bangladesh. Why not also in Nigeria?

 

[Roli]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here. My name is Abraham Adesanya. And I'm a sewing machine engineer and seller in Nigeria.

I have read the book "millionaire fastlane" and I gained a lot of insight.

I am 22 years old and would love to start walking in the fastlane.

I've been kinda confused on what to go into or how to scale my sewing machine business.

I'll appreciate your welcome advice please.

Welcome Abraham! Nàìjíríà ni mí náà, ṣùgbọ́n a bí ní UK.

a bi don't ask me to speak too much more Yoruba!

Scale can happen in many ways, however it is not always possible to scale. Give us more details about how your business works and then we can give you more help my brother.

Are you in Lagos? North?

 

[Abrahamadesanya]

Welcome Abraham! Nàìjíríà ni mí náà, ṣùgbọ́n a bí ní UK.

a bi don't ask me to speak too much more Yoruba!

Scale can happen in many ways, however it is not always possible to scale. Give us more details about how your business works and then we can give you more help my brother.

Are you in Lagos? North?

 

[Abrahamadesanya]

I always feel more at home when I meet a fellow countryman. Nice to meet you sir.

I run my business in Lagos.
But I'm still a student of OAU. I'm currently in my finals.

I sell sewing machines mainly and I have people who supply for me on demand. So, whenever someone makes an order for a sewing machine, I communicate with the seller and arrange for the engineer that will go to install the machine.

It looks more like drop shipping but I'm seen as the main seller, because I take responsibility of all of customer communication and also lecture them about sewing machines.

Another way I earn is when I created a course on sewing maintenance.

About hundred people have bought, although it is low priced and I know that this can't get me to my goal faster.

I am currently planning to start a YouTube channel but when I did my calculations. Growing on my YouTube channel might still not give me my desired goal in 5 years time...based on my mapped out plan.

I hope this details are clear sir?

 

[Abrahamadesanya]

Are you manufacturing sewing machines, selling sewing machines, or using sewing machines to make clothing?

There are tons of options, you are only limited by ypur imagination and how you act on those ideas.

Most textiles are producedbin countries like India and Bangladesh. Why not also in Nigeria?

I only sell sewing machines.

I used to repair sewing machines as well, but I had to stop due to unavailability because I'm schooling. And I also realised that doing repair services around is a slowlane...

 

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[Roli]

I always feel more at home when I meet a fellow countryman. Nice to meet you sir.

I run my business in Lagos.
But I'm still a student of OAU. I'm currently in my finals.

I sell sewing machines mainly and I have people who supply for me on demand. So, whenever someone makes an order for a sewing machine, I communicate with the seller and arrange for the engineer that will go to install the machine.

It looks more like drop shipping but I'm seen as the main seller, because I take responsibility of all of customer communication and also lecture them about sewing machines.

Another way I earn is when I created a course on sewing maintenance.

About hundred people have bought, although it is low priced and I know that this can't get me to my goal faster.

I am currently planning to start a YouTube channel but when I did my calculations. Growing on my YouTube channel might still not give me my desired goal in 5 years time...based on my mapped out plan.

I hope this details are clear sir?

Okay, it sounds like you are starting to scale already, but I would say one of the main ways you can scale is by increasing your territory and getting others to work for/with you.

How do people make orders at the moment? Do they come directly to you, how did they hear about you? You need to get sales people who can get more orders for you over a wider geographical area and then you can start negotiating better prices.

Ultimately these are other people's products so there is only so far you can go. In order to up profits you need to get to either the manufacturer or the people bringing them into the country.

As far as Youtube is concerned, only make a channel if you believe you can post every single day for a few months. This will blow the channel up and you can get an audience whom you can sell to. There are many ways people make money on Youtube and ad revenue is just one of them. Many smaller channels make money through Patreon and selling merchandise/courses.

What other products do you come across in your daily business? Is there something else you can add to the sewing machines?

 

[Abrahamadesanya]

Okay, it sounds like you are starting to scale already, but I would say one of the main ways you can scale is by increasing your territory and getting others to work for/with you.

How do people make orders at the moment? Do they come directly to you, how did they hear about you? You need to get sales people who can get more orders for you over a wider geographical area and then you can start negotiating better prices.

Ultimately these are other people's products so there is only so far you can go. In order to up profits you need to get to either the manufacturer or the people bringing them into the country.

As far as Youtube is concerned, only make a channel if you believe you can post every single day for a few months. This will blow the channel up and you can get an audience whom you can sell to. There are many ways people make money on Youtube and ad revenue is just one of them. Many smaller channels make money through Patreon and selling merchandise/courses.

What other products do you come across in your daily business? Is there something else you can add to the sewing machines?

The primary way people get to know me is via my Facebook profile.

I share a lot of useful sewing machine tips on Facebook and on fashion groups.

That enabled me to build an audience of sewing machine users on my Facebook profile.

So, whenever some of them need sewing machines, they contact me, I give them prices, then delivery is made after payment.

I also get referrals from the audiences I have on Facebook.

 

[Abrahamadesanya]

Okay, it sounds like you are starting to scale already, but I would say one of the main ways you can scale is by increasing your territory and getting others to work for/with you.

How do people make orders at the moment? Do they come directly to you, how did they hear about you? You need to get sales people who can get more orders for you over a wider geographical area and then you can start negotiating better prices.

Ultimately these are other people's products so there is only so far you can go. In order to up profits you need to get to either the manufacturer or the people bringing them into the country.

As far as Youtube is concerned, only make a channel if you believe you can post every single day for a few months. This will blow the channel up and you can get an audience whom you can sell to. There are many ways people make money on Youtube and ad revenue is just one of them. Many smaller channels make money through Patreon and selling merchandise/courses.

What other products do you come across in your daily business? Is there something else you can add to the sewing machines?

I've tried reaching out to some people who get sewing machines directly from outside the country.

The major challenge is that the profit margin on the sewing machines are very low.

Based on the general prices on sewing machines round the country, the best margin one can really get is like 10% and it's not even very easy.

If I sell a machine of price 180 thousand naira, it's very difficult to make a net profit of 18k. The best I make is 10k.

And that's because I make my prices a little higher than others, then add some freebies like sewing machine maintenance ebook so as to attract customers.

If the profit margin is like 30 to 50%, it'd have been a very good deal.

 

[Abrahamadesanya]

The primary way people get to know me is via my Facebook profile.

I share a lot of useful sewing machine tips on Facebook and on fashion groups.

That enabled me to build an audience of sewing machine users on my Facebook profile.

So, whenever some of them need sewing machines, they contact me, I give them prices, then delivery is made after payment.

I also get referrals from the audiences I have on Facebook.

I recently found out something else I can add.

I can start importing sewing machine accessories from outside the country at cheap prices. And I can conveniently sell for double the prices here.

Though the prices of the sewing machine accessories are relatively low (mostly within 5k to 10k) but it is easier to get a profit margin of 100% if I'm able to get high demand accessories.

I've tried this once but my present challenge is finding good agents that can link me with those in China.

The last guy I used is currently owing me 50k naira over an order that I'm yet to receive since July.

 

[Stargazer]

Can you not import the machines yourself and supply the engineer? ie Do what the companies you are reselling for do?

And if you really get known for sewing machines you can expand into industrial sewing machines too.

I think you could have a great business considering your population forecasts.

Dan

 

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[Spenny]

Welcome Abraham, firstly want to say well done on the business, looks like you have something promising here!

What other products do you come across in your daily business? Is there something else you can add to the sewing machines?

I really like this idea, perhaps you could ask people where they get their thread, maybe needles & other tailoring accessories from. You maybe able to add on a product range on the side of your sewing machines.

The primary way people get to know me is via my Facebook profile.

I share a lot of useful sewing machine tips on Facebook and on fashion groups.

That enabled me to build an audience of sewing machine users on my Facebook profile.

So, whenever some of them need sewing machines, they contact me, I give them prices, then delivery is made after payment.

I also get referrals from the audiences I have on Facebook.

Perhaps you could do a mailing list of some sort? People love being apart of a "special club" where they can hear from you. Once you build up your audience, you could then endorse your products you offer or offer a flash sale of accessories & machines. The easiest person to sell to is the person you've already sold to.

 

[Robdavis]

I only sell sewing machines.

I used to repair sewing machines as well, but I had to stop due to unavailability because I'm schooling. And I also realised that doing repair services around is a slowlane...

Maybe I have the wrong idea, but could you not do repairs and maintenance, and then grow that business through franchising, in order to get scale?
I'm imagining that the margins on repairs and maintenance might be better than on sales, which you have implied elsewhere are around 5%...

 

[Mikkel]

I imagine your profits are being eaten up by a middleman who is importing these sewing machines into Nigeria. Could you go directly to a manufacturer and buy sewing machines directly from them? Do your customers want a very specific brand? If not, could you brand your own sewing machines? This way, you could sell directly to the consumer and also sell to other sellers.

I like the idea of selling thread. You can be like a sewing store, selling thread, cloth, sewing machines, needles, pins, cushions, etc. Make it easy for your customer to get all their supplies from one person/company which would be you.

Someone mentioned selling commercial sewing machines. That sounds like a great idea. Go direct to a manufacturer, and ask to be a verified distributor of their commercial sewing machines. If you are ambitious enough, when you grow a large enough customer base, you can decide if you will make your own brand or not.