Entrepreneurial Appetite
Entrepreneurial Appetite is a series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism, and supporting Black businesses. This podcast will feature edited versions of Entrepreneurial Appetite’s Black book discussions, including live conversations between a virtual audience, authors, and Black entrepreneurs. In this community, we do not limit what it means to be an intellectual or entrepreneur. We recognize that the sisters and brothers who own and work in beauty salons or barbershops are intellectuals just as much as sisters and brothers who teach and research at universities. This podcast is unique because, as part of this community, you have the opportunity to participate in our monthly book discussion, suggest the book to be discussed, or even lead the conversation between the author and our community of intellectuals and entrepreneurs. For more information about participating in our monthly discussions, please follow Entrepreneurial_ Appetite on Instagram and Twitter. Please consider supporting the show as one of our Founding 55 patrons. For five dollars a month, you can access our live monthly conversations. See the link below:https://www.patreon.com/EA_BookClub
Entrepreneurial Appetite
From Immigration to Employment to Entrepreneurship with Eno Eka
Join us on a captivating odyssey with Eno Eka, an inspiring trailblazer and founder of the Business Analyst School. Eno's serendipitous shift from the world of accounting to the innovative realms of business analysis and entrepreneurship is a narrative that resonates with the undulating waves of career transition. Our conversation unveils the essence of Eno's transformative journey—from harboring medical aspirations to flourishing in technology and education, her story is a beacon for self-improvement enthusiasts and tech career aspirants alike.
Venture into the heart of an idea that blossomed into a global educational phenomenon, as we explore how Eno's informal online gatherings grew into a professional online school. The metamorphosis of a simple WhatsApp group into a beacon of global education for in-demand tech skills is not just about the expansion of a platform, but the crafting of a community. Eno articulates the meticulous steps that paved the way for this growth, sharing the lessons of community building, the embrace of technology, and the spirit of education that fueled her entrepreneurial success.
As we traverse the landscape of Eno's entrepreneurial odyssey, we uncover the crucial role of team building and the transformative power of coaching. Eno provides a candid glimpse into hiring her first virtual assistant and the liberating shift towards coaching, shedding light on the synthesis of personal and professional growth. The episode culminates with the profound influence of market research and the significance of tailoring a business to the needs of underrepresented communities, all while weaving in the threads of spirituality and personal narratives that define success on one's own terms.
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Speaker 1:Once again, this is Langston Clark, the founder and organizer of Entrepreneur Appetite, a series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism and supporting Black businesses. And today we have Eno Eka, who is a business analyst and change manager based in Calgary, alberta, canada, and she is the founder of the Business Analyst School. She's also the author of the Six-Figure Business Analyst 12 Steps to Kickstart your Career Without a Tech Degree or Experience. And she's also a fellow podcaster and she's the host of Fireside Chat with Eno. And so, before we get into how you got into business, how you got into authorship, how you got into podcasting, I was just wondering if you could share a little bit about your story and telling us how you became who you are as a businesswoman. What has been your journey?
Speaker 2:Well, I definitely can't share my journey without sharing how I got into this career. But I would definitely say that I had always been that kid who was curious, who had big ambitions and goals, and I was never the kid who never knew what he wanted to do. I always kind of knew oh, I'm going to graduate from school at this time, I'm going to get a degree. I've always been that kind of person. I've always loved reading. I've loved books. I've always also loved the media. I loved seeing newscasters and journalists. Those things excited me when I saw people with a microphone on a stage or behind the camera. And so I've always been that person who loves to improve myself and loves to also share with others. I've always loved to read books, learn new things, and so, right from when I was a teenager, I was inspired by my dad, who is in the medical profession, and I thought I was going to be a doctor. So I always say I'm going to be a doctor. And when I got into high school I realized I didn't enjoy the science subject so much. I loved math. I had a very weird obsession with math, like I'll just solve math problems for fun, and so I decided to go into the accounting career because I just love to solve accounting problems and it was interesting to me and so I moved into accounting and I got a bachelor's in accounting and so I was excited about that career path and I got started as an accountant. Once I graduated I started working at a firm and then I just kind of got bored with doing the same thing over and over again, so it wasn't as much fun as it was studying then that becoming my reality, and so that kind of sparked a curiosity in me again, where I started looking for new career paths. So what else can I do? At that time, tech was kind of like becoming the E thing and every company was talking about like the new technologies and data and AI coming up and all of those things, and so I started to get more involved in technology and those kinds of projects and that inspired me to get into project management and business analysis and that's how I got into that career.
Speaker 2:And as I started to learn more about myself and I started to evolve as a human, I decided to do something which was very different, which was really just documenting my journey and my process. So I started with writing, so I used to write a lot on LinkedIn. I'll write articles and posts on Twitter as well. At some point I started a podcast, started doing live streams and really just documenting my journey, sharing with people, and really that's kind of how the entrepreneur journey came, when people started asking me can I pay to help me with this, can I pay to teach me and all of that? Can I pay for my resume? Can I pay to do an interview prep session with me? And that's really how the school came about.
Speaker 2:It was a very accidental journey, but it was me just documenting my process and sharing it with the world that came about. They knew me who now had a business, and I started doing more live streams and podcasts and being invited to be guests on podcasts and live streams and sort of how speaking came about. I started getting asked to speak and asked what my fee was, and so I started getting paid to speak to as well. And so life has just evolved from the things I find passion in and I do it because I enjoy doing it and at the end of the day, that now becomes a source of income for me, becomes a business for me, and so it's just been interesting seeing how my life has evolved from someone who thought she had her life all figured out and then became an adult and realized that's really not how adulthood works, and so just figuring it out along the way, finding something that I'm passionate about and, at the end of the day, that becoming a revenue stream for me, becoming a business and something I'm being known for. So, in a nutshell, that's kind of like how my life has evolved.
Speaker 2:And then moving to Canada was a whole different ballgame Moving from Nigeria and I had never visited this part I've never been to North America before and so it was my first time. Coming into North America, was coming to Canada, and that whole process and journey was also very eye-opening for me because I had a lot of skills back home that I wasn't exactly leveraging all of those skills and experiences, but coming here with all of the opportunities available, it felt like I was in the biggest ocean ever and I like swimming in this ocean and that's really what, you know, this career path did for me, and that's why I'm very passionate about the school, the work that we do, and, with my podcast, we're just sharing with people how they can integrate into new countries, how they can leverage experiences and giving them the confidence that they need to get started with their journeys.
Speaker 1:So, in your shift from career to entrepreneur, where did that happen? Did that happen in Nigeria, or did it happen once you? It happened in Canada, oh, in Canada. So talk a little bit more about what that transition was like.
Speaker 2:So talk a little bit more about what that transition was like. So one are you still, do you still? I was building, like you know, community and followership. So I was always documenting my journey of like from when I started my career transition, like I would write about it. You know I would post. You know what I'm doing new achievements, share my challenges, my struggles, all of that.
Speaker 2:And so when I got into Canada as a new immigrant, you get all the stories about how you know it's tough to get a new job. You know you have to start like from the bottom, like you know you got to be working at the store associated at Walmart or Home Depot, or people even go work in the warehouses, like Amazon warehouse, like that's where people start, and so you know there was a lot of all these scary stories. And back home I had a very professional job, like I worked in the banking sector and I was growing in my career. So, coming in here, I had those fears, like you know, am I going to have to go do that? I work in the warehouse and you know, coming from Nigeria, which is a tropical climate, it's Canada coming in and it's snowing, it's cold, like there's just so many changes and I moved here by myself, so with no family at all, coming to a new country, new continent, fresh off the plane and just hoping to make it. And so I just had this mindset that you know what I can write my own destiny the. The fact that this is what people are facing doesn't mean that has to be my case, and so I was just actively connecting with people. I was applying to jobs, I found people to mentor me and within two weeks of being here in Canada, I landed my first job, which was like crazy to everyone around me. Like how did you do it? Like, how did you get you know, you worked in the financial services space. You came in here. You got another job in the same industry financial services within two weeks. Like, how'd you do it? Like you have your own office, you're being flown out, right, how did that happen? And so that's where I started sharing my journey, my process, connecting people with the recruiters that I worked with and all of those strategies that I had used to get those jobs. So I kept documenting that journey and that process, and then, in six months of being in Canada, I got my first six-figure job, and in over 100K as a new immigrant and that was like, oh, mind blowing. And so that was kind of like the major and most viral post ever.
Speaker 2:I'm really just documenting and sharing with people. This is what I did. This is how it happened for me, and so you can just imagine like the swarm of messages and questions I got, and so I created a community, like, okay, everyone join this group and then I'll answer questions. Questions were so much I'm like, okay, let's just do like a webinar, like a session, and so we did something like I think Google made or like Zoom, and it became a regular thing and so started building a community without even knowing what I was doing. But I was really just helping people, giving back to the community, and so people would share. Oh know, anna helped me with my resume. I got an interview. Anna helped me with the interview that I had last week and I just landed the job like straight off the interview. I got the interview.
Speaker 2:The next thing was an offer was in my email. She's amazing, she's this, she's that, and so you know all of those praises. And then people would come to me like, can you coach me? And I got so busy with my new job. I was like traveling around the US and Canada and I couldn't dedicate that much time again to the community. So I would tell people okay, try out this person, work with this person.
Speaker 2:Then people started coming back to me after months saying, no, like you know it's not working for us. Like we know you're busy, but can we pay you instead Because we're actually paying this, training, bootcamps and all of these places Can we pay you instead to teach us and coach us, because we know your methods work? We know you have a framework for doing this. You are the evidence of this. And I'm like, well, okay, like I don't have anything, but let me get back to you. And so in a couple of months I decided to you know, try to put together something. And so I'm like, okay, I don't know, I don't have it all figured out, I'll just do something. And so just set up a Zoom account and a Google Drive. And I'm like, okay, I'll put together resources for you in a Google Drive. Every Saturday, I'm just going to come on and teach you a topic, answer your questions and I'll upload the recordings to Google Drive. And that was it. That's really how it started. So I accidentally became an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1:So it's really interesting that part of the reason why I started this podcast which really didn't start as a podcast, it was just gatherings at Black-owned businesses here in San Antonio, texas, where I live and a large part of that was because, you know, I was looking for community. You know there's a lot about what people are mentioning, like if you want to start a business or a brand, that you have to invest in building a community of people before you launch, and so it's just interesting that I hear that echoed in your story.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So prevalently.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And so now I want to dive a little bit more into the details of the Business Analyst School. So you talked about sort of like your transition from being a recent immigrant to Canada an employee, being a recent immigrant to Canada an employee. Then you have created this following of people who want to learn from you, sort of really organically, right yeah. So how did you like what's the transition from? Okay, I have this following. We're paying you to building out this whole business analyst school. I really want to emphasize that your focus is folks who have immigrated to Canada, and so talk a little bit about how that manifests as like an official business, like what was that transition like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was still the Zoom link and the Google Drive and you know, we were just, like, you know, kicking it out like every week, and then we had like a WhatsApp group and they could ask me questions, you know, throughout the week and we meet every Saturday. And you know, that was it until at a certain point, like everybody was just like landing jobs, like it was going so well, and so I was so excited that I just like put up a post and shared like, hey, everyone, like this is what I've been doing and you know, see all the amazing testimonials Like this was happening in our community. It's wild that you know, see all the amazing testimonials Like this is what's happening in our community is wild that you know this is something that we're just doing and it's still very informal, but the results were astronomical and I'm like, okay, if anyone's interested, we're going to start a new pool award soon. If you're interested, you know, just send me a message, right, and I put up that post and then I go to bed and then I wake up to about 600 and something messages from people who were interested. Now, these were from people all over the world, like from Asia, from Africa, you know, canada, the US, everywhere and so it was at that point I realized that, you know, if we have this much demand, then I needed to put like a better structure around it. So I kind of, like you know, had them fill out an application form and all of that.
Speaker 2:And then at that point I decided to formally create a great better learning experience, and so I invested in hiring an assistant, getting an LMS. I already had a registered business, so that was good, I already had my registration, and so I had to also find someone who had done what I was about to do, because I didn't want to mess it up, and so I joined a coaching program. I was scared to do it. I asked questions and I got all the help I needed, from the technical setup to the structure. I put everything in place and I'm like, okay, we're going to be launching this new, fresh learning experience. It was not called business school at that time, it was called my BA career, so that's what it was called at that time. So it was called my BA career and we just started.
Speaker 2:I coded the first website, put it all just, you know, crappy as crappy as it was, and we started, and so we kicked off that cohort and then we started getting more and more and more requests, and it was at that point I started to hire other coaches. I started to hire people in different teams someone to help me with the tech setup, someone to help me with the admin and the customer support and the social media. And all of that, and with the help of my business coach, I was able to, you know, create a better structure around the program, because the initial goal was to support immigrants in Canada. But at the end of the day, I would wake up and I would see a student joined us from Singapore, someone joined us from Singapore, someone joined us from Malaysia, someone joined us from Cameroon, someone joined us from Jamaica, and so what happened was I woke up one day and we were a global school.
Speaker 2:We had representation all over the world, and then, when 2020 came, I decided to quit my job and go full time.
Speaker 2:I'm like, okay, there is definitely a need here, we have an audience that wants what we have, and if I'm doing this only on Saturdays and we've been able to make this much impact, so how about if I do this full time?
Speaker 2:And I started, quit my job in March 2020, and I went full time and it blew up Like, at a certain point, we had, you know, gotten students from over 90 countries joined, so I was doing free webinars, live streams. It was just like insane at that point. And we got to a point where we were I had over 20 staff working with me just to help with, you know, everything from the admin to the tech to the coaching, all aspects of the business, and so that's really how the business kind of evolved from being that and so by 2021, to create a better brand for us to kind of stand out in the market, and so that's how we evolved. To business analysis school we got our trademark. We evolved to business analysis school we got our trademark, we got a better website for sure, everything. And so that's really how, you know, we now started to stand out in the market as a leader in business analysis training, product management training, agile and data analysis.
Speaker 1:So and I'm really interested in how you built your team. Yeah, so you mentioned you hired an assistant.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm being selfish here. I don't know if anybody in my audience wants to hear this, but somebody might Talk about the importance of hiring your assistant, because I just hired my first VA. But then also, how did you get to the point where you built your team out to get the help that you needed to scale? Yeah, and talk about how you were able to just jump into. Did you just jump into that? Was there, were there mental blocks that you had? Because you know, you can't really scale a business the way you needed to scale without other people, and that's really what I'm getting. Yeah, how did you get to the point where you were hiring and getting other people to help you build your business, as your business was growing?
Speaker 2:Right? That's a great question because, like he said, there was definitely some mental blocks. It took a lot of mindset, coaching and with the help of my business coach, and that's the reason why coaching definitely helps learning from someone who's already done it, because I just feel like you know, no one can do it like I do, like no one understands like I understand their problems, I understand their challenges, I know my customers' pain points, and so I should be the one to respond to every email. I should be the one to do this. I should be the one. And it got to a point where I was so burnt out that I was just like exhausted, flat out exhausted. And so my coach was like I've been telling you, hire a VA, create an Upwork profile and just post the job. And so I did it, and I found a fantastic assistant who already had experience in, you know, everything from customer support to using the platform that I chose, which was Kajabi, and so we were able to set everything up and she was amazing. She's worked with me for years and I would just tell her this is what I need to do and it's done, and I never had that much freedom in my life and that helped me to focus on so many other things, like creating a fantastic curriculum for our students.
Speaker 2:And so for a lot of people who you know, that you know some areas are not your zone of genius. I'm like, what is my zone of genius? I love to create a curriculum and I love to teach. Anything else outside of that, you know, not fun for me, and so I needed to find someone that could help me do that. And, as a business owner, we need to realize that, as much as we love our customers so much we want to have eyes in everything. We need to focus on our zone of genius. And for you, as the brand, you should focus on what activities are revenue generating, what generates the most revenue for you? And so I want to do my podcast, I want to do my live streams, I want to record the content. Those things are revenue generating for me. I want to do my masterclasses.
Speaker 2:I need time to build out my content, and so those were the most important things for me until date still are, and so finding new people to join the team still are, and so finding new people to join the team whenever I saw a need within my company, for example, with the tech as well with the social media, hiring people. I would say, like the first three or four staff I got, I literally just asked my community and I just said, hey, I'm looking for someone with these skills, you know, created a Google form, have them apply here, review it and interview people. I just use something very simple. Now we have a whole HR system that we use, but at that time was just talking to my community and so you know, if you're in Facebook groups, whatsapp groups, your church group, wherever you are, you can ask hey, I'm hiring, this is the skill set that I need. If you know anyone, please have them fill out this Google form.
Speaker 2:That's literally what I did. So whenever I identified a need in my business and I knew that that was taking time from me, out of the revenue generating activity that I love to do, I would find someone to do it, and that's how I started building the team. And then, as our students base grew, I knew I couldn't teach all of those people at once. We started to have more cohorts and so I was hiring coaches, and even our students are now coaches in our program, yes, which is amazing because they know the framework, they've gotten the results, and so they're just a blessing to our business.
Speaker 1:Talk about coaching our business. Talk about coaching because there's, I think, a lot of people who start businesses start from inspiration and they just go and we forego the need of coaching. And so, before we started recording, we talked about how I'm doing a fundraiser. That's associated with the podcast, and I actually hired a coach to help me with my process for developing my fundraising strategy. Well, talk about what it was like for you to get a coach, but also, as someone who has a business that provides coaching, why do people interested in entrepreneurship need to get a coach? What's the value in coaching?
Speaker 2:Oh, lantana, I must tell you that if I didn't get a coach, I would have made so many mistakes Like by the time I got a coach, I'd already made mistakes, and so I can only imagine how much more I would have lost financially, and you know just how much heartbreak I would have knowing that I really messed up. And the thing is, as someone coming from a corporate career, who's always been in corporate, and just having that passion for people and loving people and supporting people, like he said, we just call those inspirations and so we don't really know how to set up our businesses, how to structure them, and having someone to guide you using their framework, it gives you that 10X result because you're using a proven framework. And that's what I tell people that come to our school too is like, hey, you're using my framework and that's why people get results in. Like, you know, land a job in 20 days, land a job in 11 days. You know, because they're using a framework, they follow a step-by-step process, module one, module two, module three, and so that's what a coach gives you, or they have an access to ask questions. Hey, this is my challenge, what do I do, what do I say? And that's how your coach is going to help you, too, in your process. So it is so important for you to find someone who has already done it, and when you're looking for a coach, find someone in your industry.
Speaker 2:So the initial coaches I had were people who already had successful course and coaching businesses, and so I was learning from them to the kind of platform, the setup, to how to onboard, to how to deliver all of the how to onboard everything you know. They gave me that structure that I needed and as I started to evolve as a business owner, I started to do a lot of speaking engagement. I got a speaking coach to help me with that. You know, as I started to get a lot of press interviews TV, radio, magazines and podcasts I got someone as well to help me with my PR strategy, because these are the different things that you know.
Speaker 2:As you evolve as a CEO, these things start to come for you right, you know, if you want to get into grants and you know, or VC, vc funding you need solid to help you, because that's a whole different ball game. And so find people who have done the things that you want to do. Learn from them. Your process just goes, you know, it's just faster. So within less than three years of starting the school, we hit seven figures. And there's no way we would have done that if I didn't just have a framework, that it was like plug and play, and that's what coaching does for you.
Speaker 1:Right, I think about how difficult it must be or you and other folks like you who are immigrating from a tropical climate like Nigeria to a cold, cloudy environment like Alberta, canada, and oftentimes when, as someone who lives in the United States, I hear about folks who immigrated over, they have a sponsor, so there's someone who's already there who can help, guide you and coach you, right, how you integrate into whatever new country or culture that you're going to. As it relates to coaching and as it relates to your business, talk a little bit about what it means for people who immigrate using business and entrepreneurship as a means of integrating into whatever new country that they're going into, and why that's important.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So for a lot of immigrants, especially, you know, people coming to the US and Canada, they're mostly for professionals. It's like typical three ways that they, you know, immigrate. First is maybe they come in as students. They want to get like a master's degree or a PhD or a diploma, and so that's one way they can come in. Another way is, you know, coming in as a skilled professional, and so you're saying, oh, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm an accountant and you know I can bring my skill sets to work in this country. And so the typical pathway is that, okay, when you come in, you apply for a job, you get a job, you continue in that career path, which is how I came into Canada under the skilled worker program. But there's also people who come in as professionals, who just want to go into entrepreneurship or they're already entrepreneurs and they come in through that pathway. Now, you know, that's really great. But I definitely recommend, you know, getting someone to kind of walk you through and show you, like, how you can succeed in those areas.
Speaker 2:Not every business that you see is actually a profitable business. Some businesses are high risk. Some businesses, you know, there's a lot of recognition around those businesses, and so getting someone to guide you through that process is really important. There's a lot of mentorship programs that the government has now put in place for entrepreneurs. So find out about the mentorship programs that the government has now put in place for entrepreneurs. So find out about the mentorship programs for your state, your province. You know there's also the federal ones and what they can do is they can pair you with someone who can mentor you and you know, that way you have someone you can ask questions.
Speaker 2:Don't go into business blindly. Find someone you can ask questions. There's always what they call trade secrets. Right, every industry has what they call their trade secrets, and these are not things you would find on Google, these are not things you would find on YouTube. These are things you find and learn mentorship and so it's really important that you find someone that can help you and guide you, and a platform I love to really use is LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:I love to use LinkedIn because you can really find people in your industry, you can find the commonality you have with them, you can build relationships with them, and so when I was getting started in my career here as a business analyst, and even with my entrepreneurial journey, I would go on LinkedIn, search for people, connect with them and build a rapport with them and ask for, you know, coffee, chat right, and just want to learn about their process, how they got there, interview them, and what that did was they were giving me all the gems, they were introducing me to other people, they were giving me resources, and these are not things that you would find online.
Speaker 2:It comes from building those relationships, and so I highly recommend that you do that. Find those people within your industry, build a rapport with them and find ways that they can mentor you and, of course, find ways you can also support their own businesses or their own causes. But those are strategies I would give anyone who's looking to get started in business, even if you're an immigrant. There's more opportunities now than when I came in, for sure, especially if your business is a business that's kind of focused on the things that are of importance to the government, like education, women, children all of these entrepreneurs, the underrepresented communities these are areas that every government is interested in right now, and so find ways you can probably apply to a fund or a grant within the country that's open, and those are a lot of opportunities that having those mentors you know helped me to find me those directions that I could go, and that has been a blessing for my business.
Speaker 1:Right. So we talked about getting over the mental hump, hiring people, hiring a VA, building your team, we talked about getting a coach and we talked about how you built community before you launched the business officially. One of the things that I wish I had done before I started this podcast was to do market research and to really ask an audience, or the ideal audience, what they want. In a podcast that I would produce, talk a little bit about the importance of doing your research before you start your business.
Speaker 2:Ooh, market research is so important and I'm glad you brought that up, because when I told you that people were reaching out to me to say we wanna pay you instead, like we paid this person X dollars and, honestly, they don't get it, like they don't really understand how, as an immigrant, they don't understand my struggles, they can't really provide the kind of coaching that you do, and I told them okay, let me think about it, I'll figure something out. And during the time that I was figuring it out, one of the things I did was doing the market research. So I put together questions on a Google form and I shared it in, like all the groups, I shared it on my LinkedIn, all of my social media, and I was really asking people are you interested in studying? You know Korean business analysis? Why is it of interest to you? What challenges do you have? You know, have you tried to take any other course? You know, what struggles do you have? Do you like the learning style? So I asked all of those questions and the market research really helped me. I even talked about like pricing and all of those things and that really, really helped me to understand the audience that I was going to serve and the market, and that really helped me to focus first on the immigrants, because I realized that there was a lot of high demand from immigrants.
Speaker 2:I realized a lot of people who wanted to work with us were, you know, people of color, black people, underrepresented communities, you know, all termed as minorities. My ghost realized a lot of them had tried something, but they were doing a lot of DIY course, trying to figure it out themselves on YouTube. A lot of them felt they needed to have computer engineering or software development skills to actually work in tech. A lot of them, you know, had been told they needed to learn how to code to get a job as a business analyst. So there was a lot of misinformation as well. So that really helped me with the messaging.
Speaker 2:When I started to put out the post or any marketing information, I was really talking to all of those different challenges and pain points they had. So I wasn't just speaking to anyone, I was speaking to a particular customer avatar, and that's really what the market research helped me with. And so our first launch. It was amazing because I had all of this data that I could use, and so market research is so, so important. Don't start a business without actually asking those questions. You can't even interview people, right? Ask for 10 minutes and just ask them questions and that really helps. If you can't do surveys, you can actually interview a few people if you can. That really helps you to understand. You know your target market.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have all this experience. You have documented your journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Turn your journey into a business, and you've also gone from like just documenting it to actually like writing a book, right, yeah? So talk about your book, the Six Figure Business Analyst, give us an overview and then maybe tell us, if there was an additional chapter, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Yes, I love that All right. So last year, I always like in 2020, I knew that I needed to write my book. Whenever I go to, like a podcast, or I did a speaking engagement or anything, and or there was a Q&A I realized that a lot of the time, aside from all of the tactical things that I could teach, a lot of the times the turning point, the things that really help people when people give me, you know, share testimonials with me is really about my story. Like, your story inspired me. You gave me the confidence listening to you and, you know, hearing what you passed through and the challenges you faced, because when I got into Canada, I lost all my bads. Getting into Canada, you know, having no family, but again being able to build a successful career, six-figure career and seven-figure business in less than five years, and so that is so inspiring to people and it just gives them that belief that I, too, can do this. And so when I get people give me feedback, they're like your story.
Speaker 2:The success stories of your students kept me going and, as I knew, I needed to put it into a book, and so last year I wrote a book and this book is the Six-Figure Business Analyst and it's the 12 simple steps to starting a business analysis career without technical skills or technical degrees. And so that book is 12 chapters and the 12 chapters gives you, step by step by step, everything you need to do to get started and to build yourself towards that six-figure career that you want. And in that book I document my story, how I started, and then I also tell stories of a lot of our students in the school, what they did, people that came from healthcare, from banking, from sales, from entrepreneurship to building amazing careers. And then I gave them a workbook and, step-by-step, every chapter. You have actual steps to do. You have homework to do, so it's truly a career guide for anyone who wants to get started in business analysis.
Speaker 2:I love that book. It's amazing. I wish I had a book like who wants to get started in business analysis? I love that book. It's amazing. I wish I had a book like that when I got started in this career, if I was to add another chapter. So with the book, I was trying to make the book just focused on, you know, the topic, which is the business analysis career. But if I was to add another chapter, it would be talking about my walk with God and the God factor in my journey and how I'm staying true to you know the word of God, and how that helped me in my career journey, because I did talk about it but it wasn't like a full-blown chapter. But if I think about it, if I was going to add a chapter, it would definitely be emphasizing in how that walk with God is helpful in your career journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and last but not least, because we're a book club, what are some books that have inspired your journey as an entrepreneur? Or maybe something that you're reading just for entertainment?
Speaker 2:For sure. Books that inspired my journey, I'll say the Bible For sure, the best book in the world. Think and Grow it, by Napoleon Hill.
Speaker 1:Great book.
Speaker 2:Yes, great book Reach that, pour that, of course, by Robert Kiyosaki. And then Miracle Morning, by L Howard as well, is a great book. Atomic Habit is also a great book as well, and another book is the Big Leap. The Big Leap is a really great book for entrepreneurs. For those of you who are probably moving from corporate to entrepreneurship, I highly recommend the Big Leap for you. So those are books that I have read so far, and the book I'm reading right now is the Lynchpin Effect by Russell Brunson.
Speaker 1:All right, yes, all right. Thank you for that list. I'm going to have to ask some of those. Some of those I've read, yeah, some of them I haven't. Some of them I've heard of, some of them I haven't. So I'm glad that you shared with us. Real quick, before we sign off, just give the audience a little bit about where they can find more information about E&Y Consulting, about you. How can they follow you? How can they support your business? How can they learn more about what you do?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, I'd love to do that. So my name is Eno E-N-O. First name, last name, E-K-A, and so if you search and go, you would find me. Find me very active on LinkedIn as well. If you search with my first and last name, you will find me on LinkedIn, and then Instagram, Instagram and Facebook too as well. I have a Facebook page in my name, Same with the Business Analysis School. If you search, you would find as well, and then on Instagram too as well. My Instagram handle is Miss Pragmatic, N-I-S-S-E-R-A-G-M-A-T-I-C, and Business School is Business School on Instagram.
Speaker 2:And if you're an entrepreneur, you will find me dropping entrepreneurship tips on how to study consulting business, how to build your thought leadership, on Thought Leadership Business School. So that's also on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram Thought Leadership Business School. You'll find that there. I also have a YouTube channel. So if you search EnoEka on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram Thought Leadership Business School You'll find that there I also have a YouTube channel. So if you search Eno Eka on YouTube, you would find that I also have a podcast. So if you search Fireside Chat with Eno, you will find it on anywhere you listen to your podcast. So those are ways you can find me. Website is enoekacom or businessanalysisschoolcom.
Speaker 1:Thank you All. Right, Eno. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, langston. Bye everyone.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining this edition of Entrepreneurial Appetite. If you liked the episode, you can support the show by becoming one of our founding 55 patrons, which gives you access to our live discussions and bonus materials, or you can subscribe to the show. Give us five stars and leave a comment.