Tolulope Fatoba

You won't believe the number of times I concluded just like most persons Especially those who may have heard of the goodness of LinkedIn and came to taste from it, to put out something like this “I’ve been on LinkedIn for years and still haven’t gotten a job opportunity like others……..” You’ve probably seen this kind of post. Maybe you’ve even thought about writing one yourself. But here’s the thing: Speaking to your audience in a complaining tone rarely works. Instead of building trust, it pushes people away. So rather than putting this out in frustration, why not try this instead: → Share your learnings • Talk about what you’ve discovered in your job search. • Share how you’re improving your skills. • Show curiosity about your industry. → Highlight your value • Post about the projects you’ve worked on. • Share ideas or insights that showcase your expertise. • Position yourself as someone ready to contribute. → Engage with your community • Comment thoughtfully on posts in your field. • Connect with people genuinely, not just for referrals. • Build visibility through conversations, not complaints. That’s when LinkedIn stops feeling like a wall you’re shouting at, and starts becoming a door people are willing to open for you. 👉 Over to you: What’s one positive way you’ve used LinkedIn to create opportunities for yourself? Good Evening Champions 💕

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Dear Nigerian startup founder, why do you expect your staff to say “thank you” because you pay their monthly salaries (sometimes, late)? Let’s get something straight: paying salaries isn’t a favor. It’s a contractual agreement. You hired people, they showed up, did the work, pushed through your last-minute ideas, client fire drills, and under-resourced chaos, and now you want a thank you because you paid them? Even late? It’s a strange dynamic that exists in the Nigerian startup culture. A quiet expectation of gratitude from employees for receiving what they’ve already earned. The thank-you isn’t always verbal. It’s expected in the tone of their Slack messages, the lack of complaints even when they paid late, and the willingness to keep “being a team player” even when the startup founder is acting like a "son/daughter of a gun". But let’s flip the script. Imagine if your investor asked you to thank them publicly every single month just because they didn’t pull out their funding. Or if your landlord wanted praise for not kicking your team out when you paid your office rent. Sounds ridiculous, right? Now here’s the annoying part: a lot of startup staff are going above and beyond for far less than what they could earn elsewhere. They’re not just “clocking in.” They’re trying to build something meaningful with you. They’re working weekends, responding to calls after hours, covering for teammates, stretching themselves thin. And while you worry about burn rate, they’re quietly calculating how many more months they can survive on delayed salaries or uncertain futures. You think your pain is unique? Try being a brilliant designer who has to ask for their paycheck multiple times a month. Or a customer support agent who’s still calming angry clients at 10 p.m. because the dev team missed the release window again. Paying salaries on time (and in full) is the bare minimum. Leading with empathy, clarity, and consistency is the real work. Of course, founders face enormous pressure. It’s not easy building from scratch. But leadership is not just about vision and product-market fit. It’s about how you treat people when things are tough, especially the people who believed in your idea when it was just a deck. So no, your staff doesn’t need to thank you for doing your job as an employer. But maybe you should thank them for sticking around even when they had every reason to walk. Because in this startup game, loyalty is earned, not demanded. And respect flows better when it’s mutual. Have a great week, guys. Best regards, Isaac, son of Adewumi.

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I remember vividly in 2014, working with a tech distribution company as the Product Manager for Toshiba , while also doubling as the Sales Executive for the same product. Sales was manual. Physical. Exhausting. We’d hit the streets of Computer Village, Ikeja, under unfriendly weather conditions, searching for projects. You could walk all day and close just one sale, if you were lucky. But the real problem didn’t start in the market. It started after the sale. Once you returned to the office, the real marathon began.. First, you struggled to raise a sales order, If the customer had paid, you printed the document and physically walked it to Finance for payment confirmation , a process that could take up to two hours. After Finance, you carried the same paper to Inventory/Warehouse to confirm product availability before release. Now, if the customer was on credit, that was a different battle entirely. You took the sales order to the MD’s office, waited outside the meeting room, standing sometimes for hours , until you were signalled in for approval. If you were unlucky 😃, that single sale you worked so hard to close would not be completed that day. One sales order. One full day. Losses. Employee burnout. Customer frustration. Operational inefficiency. That is what chaotic processes look like in real life. Where the Process Failed • No single, end-to-end sales workflow • Manual, paper-based approvals • Sequential handoffs instead of parallel checks • Bottlenecks tied to one individual • Zero visibility into status or turnaround time A structured process could have changed everything: • A centralized sales workflow system instead of paper movement • Automated payment confirmation synced with Finance • Real-time inventory visibility • Predefined credit approval rules (limits, thresholds, exceptions) • Delegated approvals instead of MD dependency • Clear SLAs for each stage of the process All of this could have been mapped, documented, and executed as one seamless flow , not six disconnected steps.And the outcome; • Faster sales cycle • Happier customers • Less employee fatigue • Better revenue capture • Leaders focused on strategy, not paperwork This experience is one of the reasons I’m now diving deep into Business Process Management, learning how to identify bottlenecks like this and redesign workflows that actually support growth. Because hard work should not be wasted on bad systems.. What’s one process you’ve seen in companies that desperately needs fixing sales, approvals, onboarding, or operations? Let’s talk. #BusinessProcessManagement #Operations #ProcessDesign #OperationalEfficiency #SalesOperations #Leadership #SystemsThinking #ClickUp #ContinuousImprovement #LearningJourney #Growth

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Happy new month, guys. One part of product design that’s often overlooked is the role of customer support. I remember working as a customer support person and dealing with customers firsthand, trying to either bring them onboard or retain them with our then offerings. Well, I didn't know at the time that I was playing a key role in product building until I transitioned into product design. It now makes more sense why they are very key when it comes to getting valuable product insights. Support teams are usually the first to hear where users are stuck, confused, or frustrated. Here are ways to get actionable insights from your support team: → Review support tickets during discovery to spot recurring pain points → Join customer success syncs when you can to hear real user feedback → Use reported issues to guide usability improvements → Include a support representative during design reviews to get practical input → Spot trends in support data that can replace or guide user research Support teams bring empathy and deep context from users. They should be part of key product decisions. If you have a product out there, work closely with them. It will improve how useful and relevant your solutions are. For this week, I also showed how you can use variables to change text content and color and use it to achieve this interaction without creating multiple screens. Here’s to a focused and productive month.

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When I spoke at ALX Nigeria, one of the most humbling moments was meeting, in person, some of the learners I’d only ever seen through a screen. For years, I’ve been part of training thousands of learners across Africa, and while I’ve seen over 80% of my team's analysis-driven recommendations prove right, what matters most to me isn’t the numbers. It’s the people, their struggles, their growth, their hope that this skill will open doors. And I understand that struggle. Because before I landed my first job in data, I faced the same painful reality many beginners face today: 👉🏾 Most companies want an “experienced” data analyst. It felt unfair. “How do I get experience if no one will give me a chance?” Here’s what I discovered, and maybe it can help someone reading this: ▪️I realized early that DATA IS EVERYWHERE. ▪️I started with personal projects, like a BMI calculator in Sheets. ▪️I helped friends and neighbors with shops make sense of their sales. ▪️I worked with small businesses to automate spreadsheets and uncover patterns. ▪️Even in my church, I tracked member engagement to help leaders follow up with care. Were these glamorous projects? Not at all. But they gave me real experience. They gave me referrals. They sharpened my thinking and communication. And slowly, they built something priceless: confidence. So, if you’re starting and feeling stuck, I understand. Don’t wait for a perfect internship or job posting. Look around you. Solve one small problem. Then another. It adds up. That’s how I started. And it’s how you can too. I’ll continue to share lessons like this because if my journey can help even one person push forward, it’s worth it!

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