Biashara 30

January 8, 2010 by 8 Comments

Hello!

How is 2010 so far? Nice, eh? We feel that this should be the year in which you finally make it to where you have never been before. We would love it if you moved from success to success all through this year. As you well may know, Like Chapaa’s primary mission is to help as many people as we can achieve success, especially financially.

Therefore, we see it fit to announce that the 2nd edition of Biashara30 shall be starting early in the year, on February 2, 2010.

What is Biashara 30?
Well, Biashara 30 is a fun experiment, or project, in which a group of strangers come together to try and make it as online business people. If you have ever had thoughts of making money online, in whatever way, then B30 may be just what you need.

Currently, we have intentions on focusing this particular edition of B30 on the following:

  • Service businesses – where individuals or groups earn online by offering services (such as design, etc)
  • Product-based businesses – where you sell actual ‘stuff’

While the above are what we are thinking of, they are not necessarily what we shall be doing in this B30 – that is entirely up to the participants.

Who Should join?
Biashara 30 is not for everyone. It is only for those who have a burning desire to see themselves succeed in business; it is for those who can be online everyday; it is for those who are not afraid to try new things; it is for those who want to earn or learn to earn online.

Above all, B30, is for those people who much prefer learning by doing. B30 will not solve all your problems, it is not a silver bullet or a solution to anything. It is a community of people trying to learn together by actually trying to do something.

If that is you, then we invite you to apply. We’ll have lots of fun learning by doing. Oh, and it is free.

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Biashara 30 Confessions

November 4, 2009 by 32 Comments

Does anyone else like that Usher song, Confessions? Well, I love it! And, keeping with the spirit of that song, here are our Biashara 30 confessions….

Some background
Well, we accepted a total of 17 applicants into the first edition of B30. We had received a total of 117 so we, randomly, decided to slash it down by a hundred. Why? We wanted a small group in hopes of forming a close knit community and team. In hindsight, we probably should have let in more people…more on that later.

Actually, not so much later. The reason of thinking that maybe we should have let in more people is because the attrition rate was so very high. You won’t believe it, but about 10 of the 17 that we let in didn’t even sign up or respond to our invitation in any way. Makes me wonder whether they were applying just for fun. And even then, not all of the remaining seven participated fully. We did achieve one thing though: at it’s height, the B30 team felt really “connected”.

A few disappointments…
However, we are, overall, disappointed with this edition of B30. Why? Because just two of the 17 managed to make money online (that we know of). We would have liked to have 17 out of 17! Also, we are disappointed to announce that we are closing the first edition of B30 today despite the program not being fully complete. This really is hard for us to do but as things stand, it is the best thing to do. We apologise for any inconveniences caused by this action.

Smiles
Okay, we’re done with the bad parts of B30. Now, the good. We are very proud of one of the participants, Ms Maria Maina who came in as a green newbie but now has an interesting freelance business as well as an ebook for sale. This is what we want and love to see and it makes us endlessly happy. We’re proud of you, Maria.

Another nice product of Biashara 30 is Kazi360 (don’t click it yet, it is not fully ready). Kazi360 is a Job Board for young professionals in Kenya. Whether you’re looking for a job, or hunting for top-notch talent, Kazi360’s simple but powerful tools are geared towards connecting Kenya’s brightest minds with the best Kenyan companies. It is a joint venture between Like Chapaa and others. While running B30, the need for such a site was very apparent and, as usual, we jumped at the opportunity. You shall be hearing more of this project, you can be sure of that.

Was this edition of B30 successful? Well, sadly, no. We did not achieve everything that we had hoped to achieve. 🙁

What could we have done better?
We’ve thought long and hard about what we could have done better, and here are our conclusions:

  • Kenya is still an offline country, we’re afraid. We realise that we should have had more face-to-face meetings.
  • We should have gone through the material faster. Though it was a lot and sometimes we felt that the pace could hinder the learning…
  • In relation to the above, we should not have spent so much time and effort in the “getting an online job” section of the B30 program. We don’t care much for jobs and we feel we needed to have spent more time on setting up an online business.
  • We also seriously need to find more and better ways of keeping attention and focus levels of the participants up.
  • Wambere (me) should have spent more time in the program. I sadly had other pressing matters to attend to. 🙁

What next?
So there you have it, all the gory details. So what next? First off, we’d LOVE to hear from you. Yes, you. What do you think of all this?

Anyone still willing to take part in the next Biashara 30?

Please discuss in the comments below.

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How To Be Successful

October 12, 2009 by 4 Comments

About two months ago, we started a little project to try and work with some of our readers and try help them earn their very first Shilling online. Of course this program is Biashara 30. Well, B30 is now coming to a close and I want to take this opportunity to share the biggest lesson that I learn over the duration fo B30.

First, let me digress. B30 was fairly successful. We only let in 10 people and, unfortunately, some of the people we let in did not find time to participate in B30. The rest were very active, and the B30 training website bears witness to this. By far, the star of B30 was Maria Maina. She came to B30 being a big newbie on the internet but as I write she is launching an ebook shop whose first offering is an ebook that was written by Maria herself. In addition, she is a raging success at online freelancing.

How did she do it? In her own words, “Don’t flake out and everything you do will achieve some success.”

I agree with Maina. If you want to do something, and succeed at it then you have to do it, and do it well. You have to put in the energy, focus and do the work. There is no shortcut, really.

Going back to B30, Maria stood out from the rest – she actually really did everything that we talked about, and flooded our inboxes with questions. What about the rest of the B30 participants? No one put as much effort as Maria……likewise, no one is enjoying the success that Maria is enjoying.

If you want to do something, and succeed at doing it then you simply must work at it. Find time and work at it; and work at it again, and again until you accomplish your goals.

N/B: If you’re looking to get into the next B30 then be warned….everything that you achieve is absolutely up to you and to the amount of time and effort that you put into the project.

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There’s Money To be Made…

August 27, 2009 by 6 Comments

Just a short post on the ongoing Biashara 30 program. We recently had the first B30 participant make $30 online by getting a writing job. Congratulations to Maria! That concludes the first (and boring) part of Biashara 30. We had been taking a look at how to get online jobs. Now, we move to the more interesting bit on how to actually start an internet business.

Getting a business started online requires some of the same business principles that need to be adopted in a traditional business for it to be successful.

1. A niche Market of People that require a product or service.
2. A Product or service That Fills Their Need
3. An outlet Where They Can Find the Product or Service (Your Website)
4. A Way of Letting That Market Know You Have The Product
5. An Offer
6. A Way to Deliver the Product
7. A Way For Your To Get Paid.

This is where Biashara30 gets interesting! We’re going to go through each of the above steps together and, if things go to plan, launch a few new businesses!

Stay tuned. If you’d like to learn more on how you can participate in Biashara 30, please click here.

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Kenya’s got talent!

August 18, 2009 by 2 Comments

I really like the TV show “America’s got talent”. What about you? I am always amazed at all the different people who do so many different things – some crazy and some, to be honest, just plain dumb. But there’s no doubt in my mind that America really does have talent – people do amazing things on that show. What about Kenya, though, do we have talent? Some of the Topic Comic try outs make me think we have close to zero talent :p

Seriously, though, I believe that Kenya does have talent, lots of it. This was confirmed to me by a very interesting few weeks of the Biashara 30 program. As you probably know, the Like Chapaa team is currently involved in a little project to try teach people how to earn money online (without charging them). The pace of the program has been somewhat slow but it’s picked up recently and we’re taking some major positive steps.

We’ve just been going for two weeks but already have several ‘businesses’ in the making, which are 100% original ideas of the Biashara 30 students. Mind you, some of them were complete newbies (they aren’t anymore). So far, we have two online shops (that I fully believe will be successful) and a really interesting idea for an ebook to be written and sold. I admit, some of the B30 students are not interesting (or interested) but there are a few who have a lot of creative energy about them and amaze me with their motivation and creativity. Watch this space, you’re going to see interesting internet businesses come up soon.

What about you? Do you have talent? What are you doing with it? Kenya’s got talent!

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You’ll Let This Opportunity Go?

July 20, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Starting on the 27th of July 2009, Wambere and I will launch the Biashara30 learning program where we will work with 10 people and teach them what we know about making money online. The program will be 100% free and will end in a project where the group (or everyone individually) launches a structured internet business.

Are you going to sit there and let this opportunity just pass you by? Why?

Apply today!

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Introducing Biashara30

July 12, 2009 by Leave a Comment

In yesterday’s tongue-in-cheek post on jobs, Wambere hinted at our upcoming Biashara30 program. She said, “If you need help, you can join ‘Biashara30′ a 30 day program where we teach you everything we know about starting your own business and take you step by step until you start making money.”

Guess what? Biashara30 is finally here! Would you like to learn how to make money online? Would you like step-by-step practical guidance as you set up your internet business? That’s what we aim to do with Biashara30.

Biashara30 is a premium club meant for people interested in making money online. People who join Biashara30 will learn everything we know about making money online and, to complete the program, will be required to set up an internet business either as a group project or alone. A very important part of Biashara30 is ensuring that everyone who participates earns online before the end of the program. At every step, Wambere and I will be on hand to guide and advise the members of Biashara30.

Do you want to sign up for Biashara30?
At this time, signing up and registration is 100% free – we won’t ask you for a single cent!

However, there is a catch! There is a cap to the number of people that we will let into Biashara30. We’re thinking we’ll take only 10 people – but this figure could change if the applications to join us are interesting enough. We want to work only with smart, motivated, interesting and committed people. This is so as to ensure that the program is successful.

Also, note that almost all of the Biashara30 program will be done online.

Our aim in launching is to differentiate Like Chapaa – see, it was never meant to be just another website and, in line with our stated objectives, we also hope to teach and inspire our fellow Kenyans to get ahead in life by learning about making money online.

Still want to sign up? Go here.

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