Mum: "I want to get that thing, what is that thing called?"Me: "Oh that thing, it is called an iPad. What do you need it for ma?" I answered grudgingly as I continued chatting with my friend via BBM.Mum: "I said I want it and you are asking what I need it for?" "Those that are using it, do they have two heads?" (She had already started raising her voice the way our Afrikan mothers do when they ask us to do something and we'd prefer to do it at our own time).
I was perplexed. She already had an android phone which I even think she doesn't even need (she won't stop stalking me on facebook and whatsapp). The quest to get an iPad is like version 2.0 of what I don't even understand.
Or has my mother secretly learned to write programs or build websites that she desperately needs an iPad to help her work while she is on the move?
Flash forwards to 2015, my mother got an iPad. Yay! *pops champagne* and the iPad has been a "useful" tool to her.
Ever since my mother got an iPad, she hasn't stop taking pictures with it... She became a Photographer that covers weddings of families and friends (free of charge). She would even go as far as record videos (if she is excited).
But the thing is, she (my mother) is not the only one that under utilizes the ipad this way. And nothing irks me more when I see people turn useful (and expensive) gadgets like these into devices used for taking pictures.
This article is not even about my mother because there is nothing in this world I'd tell my her about her under-utilization of the iPad that will change anything.
Instead this article is for entrepreneurs that will just launch their idea without a business model. So many SMEs and Entrepreneurs think that a business model is for only Mega and big businesses. This is soooo wrong! Apart from the fact the business model tracks your revenue and the channels it comes from, it helps you maximize the potential of your business.
A business without a business model is like an iPad that is used as a camera - it will be under-utilized.
Without a business model, you won't know if you can actually get more cash flow and make more from your business.
Without a business model, you won't know the areas/department to strengthen.
Without a business model, you will find it very hard to get investors for your business.
I'd post an article (if I get up to 15 emails from people that want me to) on how to go about writing an awesome business model for your business.
In the mean time, I highly recommend this Steve Kaplan's book