Hello Africa,
It’s another Konnect Africa Interview and it is a great day to be alive. How are you where you are?
Today, we have on our Hot Seat, an amazing gentleman named Victor Bassey. He is on a mission to create high-profile, highly-paid persons of influence in any and every field. Yes, you read it right…in every field. It doesn’t matter whether you are tall or short, fat or slim, male or female, village kid or city chap.
Are you an Entrepreneur or business owner? or are you planning to be one? Are you seeking to become an Expert in your field? This interview is loaded with tips, steps, nuggets and pieces of info that will help you to be continually relevant and hugely successful in the marketplace. Brace yourself, friends and enjoy this interview.
Tell us about Victor Bassey – Family, Ethnicity, Education…
I’m Efik and from Cross River State, (South-South of Nigeria). I graduated from the University of Calabar with a third class degree in Management in 1999. I was so ashamed it took me two years before I could tell my Dad. Fortunately, I met a man called Holumiday Lawrence, CEO and Proprietor of Paragon International Schools.
I served with Big Uncle (That was what he was fondly called by his staff) during my NYSC Year and working with him helped me get a larger vision of myself and what was actually possible for me.
You run a Facebook Group named the “Highly Paid Expert’s Network”. What is it about and what informed your decision to start along this line.
The Highly Paid Expert’s Network is actually an offline/online membership based program designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become high profile, highly paid persons of influence in their field.
I started The Highly Paid Expert’s Network for two major reasons…
First, I believe that in today’s market place, if you want to be consistently relevant in your market place, your number one job is to become a high profile, highly paid person of influence in your field.
But becoming a high profile, highly paid person of influence in your field is never a matter of luck if you want to sustain that position.
You must have a clear and definite P.L.A.N.
You need a plan for doing the following:
- Positioning yourself as an Authority and Trusted Advisor: In today’s rapidly changing world, it’s important to understand the real value that you bring to the table. People must be able to immediately know what problems you solve and who you solve it for. Positioning helps you achieve this. If you don’t have good positioning, you will always struggle.
- Launching lucrative products and services: Every entrepreneur needs two kinds of products. Products that get you known, and products that get you paid. Knowing which is which and when to introduce them is key to your success.
- Attracting and Keeping Ideal Clients: Once you have products and services, the next step is to attract the clients who will buy them.
- Nurture rapid growth and high performance: Every high profile, highly paid person of influence in the world today has what I call the multiplier mindset. This mindset enables them to achieve extraordinary results in their business in a remarkably short period of time. You will learn how to develop this mindset and cultivate it for personal and market place success. You’ll also learn the systems you need to have in place in order to improve your personal and business performance.
At The Highly Paid Expert’s Network, we provide people with a structured process for developing and implementing a plan that does just that.
Second, my goal is to build a network of a thousand (1,000) Highly Paid Experts who earn between 18 million naira (US $82,000) and 300 million naira (US $1.36 mln) or more…
I believe that if I got a thousand (1,000) multi-millionaires in a room to talk about investing in the provision of world class basic education to our youths, we could do a lot to create a better future for our children.
That’s what drives everything I do.
In your own words, who is an Expert? Is there an Expert in everyone?
An Expert is simply anyone who based on their knowledge and experience, can give credible and good advice… and yes, I believe that everyone has an expert inside them.
How can someone draw out what they could be an Expert in?
Starts with understanding what your core message is – that one thing that you are sent here to teach and be a role model for. People generally talk about purpose as something you were born to teach or be a role model for. It’s the one thing that has been consistent your entire life.
A quick way to get a sense of what that is is to ask yourself the following question:
- If my life from the age seven (7) to this very moment was made into a movie, what would the movie be called?
Your answer would point you in the direction of your core message.
Once you get your core message, It becomes very easy to relate that to a definite problem in the market place that you can solve based on your core message and thereby be recognized by the market as an Expert or Authority.
What is the most important ingredient to fantastic success as an Expert?
That would be FOCUS. Far too many people try to be everything and anything to everyone and anyone. You’ve got to be known for solving a very specific problem or helping people achieve a specific goal…especially when you are just starting out.
If an individual has little or no budget for this endeavor, is it still viable? What resources, other than money, are most critical to success?
It all boils down to the four (4) key things we teach at The Highly Paid Expert’s Network. If you focused on getting these four things right, you’ll do just fine. Any problems you will have will come from not effectively focusing on one or more of these four things:
- Positioning yourself as an Authority and Trusted Advisor
- Launching lucrative products and services
- Attracting and Keeping Ideal Clients
- Nurturing rapid growth and high performance
Can you give us a peep into what your typical day looks like?
Typically, I’m up by 4.00 am. I take out sometime to pray and meditate. At about 6.00am, I’m in the kitchen fixing breakfast for my two youngest girls and getting them ready for school.
At about 9.00am, after they’ve left for school, I move to my home office where I catch up on the reports coming in from my Distributors, check my accounts to know how much was made the previous day. It’s also around that time that I get online and share my first post for the day on The Highly Paid Expert’s Network.
At about 10.00am, I usually have my first coaching appointment for the day. I keep it to a max of 3 coaching appointments per day, unless of course I’m doing a group program.
At about 6.00pm, I’m hanging out with my family and getting my girls ready for bed. At 9.00pm, I’m on the phone doing a Teleseminar or following up on a Platinum Member of The Highly Paid Expert’s Network who just might not be in Nigeria.
Typically, I go to bed at about one or two in the morning. The only reason I can keep that pace is because I typically take out time to rest.
How have you effectively leveraged the power of social media to push your message?
I have basically focused on Facebook, though I have a presence on LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Plus.
But starting and building a community around my brand using facebook groups has been a real game changer for me.
What are some of the major challenges you have encountered in the business of coaching Experts?
When I was just starting out and no body knew me, the biggest challenge was getting people to believe that I could deliver on the promises I was making. Given that nobody else at the time was promising to help them build businesses that will generate 18 million naira (US $82,000) and 300 million naira (US $1.36 mln) in revenue per year, It was understandable.
But once I delivered on those results, the rest was easy.
What do you enjoy most about being an Expert?
I enjoy the fact that I get to meet new and interesting people who are doing awesome things with their lives. For me, the relationships I’ve developed are worth far more than money.
What would you say is your biggest achievement since you started out?
Being a husband and father which my wife and three daughters love and are proud of.
What is your inspiration? What keeps you going?
It’s the thought and knowledge that I’m making a difference not just in the lives of people but in an industry.
Any mentors?
Just one…Janet Switzer
For you, Life is….
Life is like a buffet line. Get in line and stay in line, eventually you’ll get everything you want and then some.
Africa will rise when…..
Africa will rise when more young people take 100% responsibility for their lives and the results they produce in the market place.
What words of wisdom or advice would you like to leave with the youths of Africa? Inspire a young African in a sentence
Every experience you have ever had, whether good or bad, has commercial value. You just have to learn how to position, package, promote and profit from it.
Many thanks Victor. So great speaking with you
You are welcome.
You can connect with Victor Bassey via the following social media channels: –
Instagram: @victorekpobassey
Twitter: @mrvictorbassey
Facebook: https://facebook.com/groups/highlypaidexpert
Now it is your turn. Do you have any question(s) you would like to ask Victor Bassey? You can do so cheerfully in the Comments section below. Many thanks for reading.
