WHO IS IN CHARGE?

"You are a bastard!" He yelled at his student. Shocked, disappointed and filled with pain, Joseph walked out of the classroom, and made his way to the Principal's office. He couldn't hold it for long as he burst into tears. His pace gradually took up that of a tortoise. 'I just have to report to the Principal,' he thought to himself as the tears came rolling down his cheeks.

Joseph didn't even remember to knock. He just open the door and walked in sobbing like a toddler. Surprised and worried at the same time, the principal jumped up from her seat. "Why are you crying?" She asked. "My teacher called me a bastard!" He responded in a shaky voice, being unable to control his emotions. "Your teacher?" The Principal asked in dismay. "Ye..., ye..., yes!" Joseph responded. Mr Michael called me a bastard.

"He is the fifth person calling me a bastard. I would have called my dad to report, but I haven't seen my dad before." Joseph said. The Principal broke down, but took control of her emotion. " Fetch me Mr Michael." She instructed the secretary.

Mr Michael entered the Principal's office prepared to download Joseph's misdemeanor. But before he could say anything, the Principal said, "Joseph's offence does not count anymore. I only need you to explain why you called him a bastard."

"Ma, this boy is very stupid!" Said Mr Michael. The Principal adjusted her seat and sat in a more relaxed position. He was disturbing my class while lesson was on. I cautioned him, but be asked me to leave him alone. "Is that true?" The Principal asked Joseph. "Yes ma, but it wasn't just me alone." Joseph responded. "You may go back to your class Joseph." The Principal said.

"Mr Michael, if you sell shoes in your own store, and a customer visited your store to buy shoes; in the process of bargaining, the customer gets you really upset, will you call the customer a bastard?" The Principal asked. "No, I can't insult my customer under any circumstance." Mr Michael responded. The Principal smiled, looking at him, and said, "you just insulted one of our customers." And do you know, that boy doesn't know his father? Who is in charge? You or your emotions, Mr Michael? A query will get to you within the hour, and I want a response before the end of the day!

As a student, an employee or entrepreneur, who is in charge? You or your emotions?

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The Place of Courtesy/kɜːtəsi/

“The Administrator will like to see you in her office.” She said as she walked towards me. ‘Thank you’, I responded with a smile. I will see her right away I concluded as I headed for the Administrator’s office. (Smiling is a medicine created by God to ease our tensions). And if you’re wondering how, my answer is that, ‘it was God’s design at creation.’ It’s one of the reasons why Abel’s sacrifice was accepted.

I knocked at the door to her office, waited for two seconds, opened and went in. (It’s not ideal to enter someone’s office without knocking; waiting for a response after knocking isn’t necessary as well- it’s an office).  ‘Good morning madam.’ I greeted as I walked in. “How are you, Monday?” She responded with a smile. I moved close to her desk and stood, waiting for her to offer me a seat. (It’s foolishness to enter someone’s office and sit down without being offered a seat).

“Sit down Monday.” She said as she pointed to a chair. ‘Thank you ma’ I responded as I took my seat. (‘Thank you’ is a phrase God created to help pave way for us when trying times come).

“We have been getting complaints from parents about their children not being able to read. We were hoping you’ll have an explanation as the one in-charge.” She said. ‘I have noticed it too ma. And I have also started making plans on how to help them. If we can rule out natural causes like ‘Dyslexia’ (Reading and writing blindness), then the problem is from their foundation,’ I said. She nodded with a smile in agreement. Then I added, ‘we need to prevent the problem from recurring while trying to help those who already have this problem.’ I added. (Making an excuse for failure is a greater failure in itself).

I left her office and walked towards the staircase. The sound from her fall startled me. I hurried down the stairs and found out that she had fallen after missing her steps. ‘I am so sorry Miss Kate!’ I said, lifting her up. “No, no, it’s not your fault.” She protested. ‘Oops!’ I exclaimed. Hope I didn’t offend you with that? I asked her. “No! I actually feel better hearing it, but you shouldn’t have said that since it wasn’t your fault.” She responded. (Saying, ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t mean it’s your fault. It’s a magic phrase created by God to magically ease our pains).

Courtesy costs nothing!

It’s actually priceless. “Having it is Great Gain, but a Lack of it can Cost you dearly!”

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HOW CAN TEACHERS PRESENT VERY POOR RESULTS TO PUPILS' PARENTS

This was one of the questions I was asked during a session with a school yesterday in their end of the term training in Port Harcourt.

She went further, "the class teacher brought the result to me instead of giving it to the parent directly, reason being that she didn't know how to show the parent such a poor performance."

She landed with, "the whole result paper is filled with red ink."

If you are a teacher, you will understand this better, and if you are a parent, you will know that it's heart-breaking.

But before I gave them my answer, I asked two questions:

1. How do doctors give HIV positive patients their result sheets? 
2. Apart from the classroom performance, is there any other thing you have noticed in the child that is outstanding?

Now, forget the first question, it's not the right therapy here, it was just for interlude.

let's look into the second question...

Apart from the classroom result, is there any other thing you have noticed in this child that is outstanding?

If there is, which I know there must be, sit the parents down and lavish them with praise for having such a genius in their family and in your school.

Tell them of those who have changed the world with such talent. And show a powerful picture to them of what and who their child will become if this ability is nutured properly. And let the discussion of the classroom result be the last thing.

You don't start a critical discussion from a person's point of weakness or with a bad news. The entrance of every conversation determines the level of acceptability, willingness and openness of your listener to your view.

For the poor performance in the class result, I suggested they let the parents know that they will clone a team of teachers to tackle that area which the child is not doing well in, and make sure they do it.

Let me use this medium and address parents on this issue.

The academic year has come to an end and results given out. If your child's result is like the one discussed here, be calm and read my mind as I continue.

The problem is not that your child is not doing well in the class, the problem is you thinking your child will not do well in life.

Don't worry, the classroom is for learning and not for judgement because life is too big for success to be measured in a room.

Yes, I understand there are things every child is expected to do amongst their mates. If your child is not doing them, don't  abuse him, and don't judge him with the ability of others. There are other things he can do that his mates can't even imagine.

You have to understand that it will surely take some time for monkeys to swim like fish in the ocean, likewise fish competing with monkeys on trees.

Monkeys are celebrated for their climbing skills and fish for their swimming prowess. So don't compare your child with other kids, rather, look for his strength.

"Nothing destroys the inner strength of a child like the things that make them feel inferior. One of such is child comparison."

You have to understand that we are only sharing the same planet (earth) and not the same world, meaning that every child has his or her own world to live in and to rule.

Help your child find his world and watch if he will not be crowned a king.

Appreciate the school and cheer up your child for both not involving himself in exam malpractice which could have made his weaknesses remain hidden. This is one of the reasons we have thousands of confused graduates today in the society. Their weaknesses were decorated with flying colors making them look intelligent, and now they are adults yet not knowing their purpose in life.

Very importantly, you have to understand that your role in your child's academic success is beyond paying school fees.

More than 80% of the world's best were taught by their parents at home, starting from Thomas Edison whom his teacher sent home labelling him a dummy, and the mother took it upon herself to prove to the world that she did not give birth to a dummy; she home schooled him.

Now, imagine the world without Thomas Edison's inventions and imagine Thomas Edison's inventions without his mother.

Your work is to mould your child the way you want him to be, while teachers are to assist you in achieving this, so don't leave your duty for teachers.

Create time to teach your child everyday. If you don't understand the 21st century education system, go and learn. Dr. Ben Carson's mother had to learn how to read and write at her old age in order to help her son succeed in the class. Today her son, 'Ben Carson', is the world's best Neurosurgeon. You too can help your child come tops.

Stop saying "what am I paying the school for?" It is the height of irresponsibility. You can ask your child's teacher questions, but the responsibility is mutual.

Have private time with your child's teacher and check where the challenge might be from. Your child might be fit in his field but because of  overplaying, laziness, distraction, Friends, or emotional trauma, he or she couldn't perform well.

Also have some time with your child and ask him or her things which he or she thinks contributed to the poor performance. This moment is not to criticize or condemn, but to evaluate and find solutions.

Am I saying it's a good thing for your child to fail in an exam? No. I only want you to remove your eyes from  the result paper and focus it on your child and tell yourself:

• "my child is not a failure" 
• "my child remains the best" 
• "there is none like my child and there will be none after him" 
• "my child is special"

And I add, "Your child is good enough."

Real life experience shared by;

©Chris Peter.

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The Power of Clarity

Two things can keep you awake, your dream or your disappointment, your past or your future.

The past is dead except the life you give to it...don't let the occurrence of the past suck the energy you need to pursue and capture the future.

Clarity (exactly what you should be doing next) strengthens focus. Focus determines where your energy goes.

Before you focus, labour to get clarity, because you can be radically focused on the wrong thing. The purpose of knowledge is to enhance clarity. The purpose of wisdom is to diminish your error rate, prevent tragedy and maximize time (life).

Lack of clarity creates confusion and frustration, the outcome is usually not the desirable and thus could lead to perpetual depression.

The most important thing you should pursue per time is clarity. Any book, seminar or event that would not help sharpen clarity should not get your attention.

The truth is, nobody is idle; everybody is busy, only that many are busy with wrong things. Lack of clarity increases fear of the future and the presence of it creates confidence which makes today's pain more meaningful and bearable.

You also need to know that, there's is a big difference between suffering and preparation...one is the pain of folly and the other is the necessity of the process required to get the desired results.

You must resolve not to succeed at the wrong thing...a man that lacks clarity cannot lead the family. It's the same for organizations and operations at all levels.

Lack of clarity can be very tormenting. It's so hard to discern, it can be covered under nice suit, subdued by sweet smelling perfume and perfected by a good British English delivered using a captivating accent.

A young guy attended one of my free mentorship sessions recently and I asked him how he was doing with studies generally, he said sir, I'm done with service, I was shocked cos he didn't look like it.

I asked what's next, and he goes mumbling, like, I'm still trying to figure out what I need to do. I asked, so what were you doing for five years in school with all the time, energy and resources invested?

That could be a very frustrating stage for an average youth today, where you need to transition from school (fantasy) life to reality and you suddenly realize that what you read (were given and taught) do not fit into the market (today's reality) or is a substandard of the global standard.

I had two hours session with him and we designed a startup strategy to move from where he is to the next level. Many people wasted their time (life) in schools studying the wrong course, pursuing the wrong business only to find that what they went for shouldn't have been done in the first place.

A great number of young people today don't know the exact thing to do due to lack of clarity, many don't know their purpose and who they are, and so we have a chunk of confused yet energetic and gifted people moving to and fro.

One thing I listen for when I get into conversation with people is clarity and the absence of it. Money does not give clarity, rather clarity helps create direction for money.

When clarity is missing, focus is impaired, strategy is wrong, energy is drained, productivity is low, time (life) is wasted and the outcome is unlikely to be fulfilling (heartily rewarding) and that's the beginning of self-doubt and acute frustration.

I've listened to many people who says the secret of success is consistency, patience and all sort, while these are disciplines and habits to imbibe, however, we must go back to the root which is clarity.

What do you say to the person who is consistently consistent doing the wrong thing or he that is caught up in the web of patience waiting for the wrong things or what is never going to come?

How clear is your future? How far can you see? Do you have what a mentor of mine calls mental shortsightedness? Your future is as sure as your clarity of it and by your well crafted strategy to get there. Inability to see the ultimate (the future) makes people slaves to the immediate (present).

I don't want to waste a minute of my life doing the wrong thing, that would be growing old, groaning old and wasting to the grave. Investment towards gaining clarity is crucial. A blind man cannot help the blind.

Don't start anything without clarity, don't start a relationship, don't start the ministry, don't start the business, don't relocate, don't invest...do nothing without clarity. Many people seek clarity after they've been hurt or suffered a major loss.

Your prayers and pursuit of God should be to gain clarity of exactly what you should be doing and where you should be doing it and how you should be doing it.

Stop buying clothes, stop buying sun screen, stop buying new shoes without clarity of the future, prioritize clarity...travel to find it, invest to have it and be patient enough to get it.

Your next birthday should be a celebration of clarity (direction of what to do next).
The devil is not after your genius or energy, once he gets you to focus on the wrong things the deal is done.

Through vision you picture the future, faith empowers you to attract the needed ingredients, wisdom (right strategy mixed with diligence) helps you deliver the future.

In other words, faith stirs optimism, favor moves in the direction of faith and wisdom helps protect the door favor opens.

Wisdom is principal because it helps protect what faith delivers. Folly can make you lose what faith delivers.

Faith can initiate a miracle but you need wisdom to live in and reproduce it. What now happens when you begin to use your faith to attract wrong things?

And also remember, that faith can only attract what you can see. The clearer you see, the stronger your faith. Faith is weak where clarity is missing.

Stop trying to be who you are not, the world is waiting to meet you. Boldness to advance will never surface without clarity.

Don't be afraid or ashamed to quit what's not working if you're convinced it's not for you. It's a journey of discovery and you owe it to yourself to live your full potentials.

You are not weak. You are not dull. You are not poor. You may only need some clarity coaching to find it. Clarity increases your capacity to face opposition and endure tough times gracefully.

Don't endure the pain of folly, it has no enviable reward, only pity therapy by the few who cares. stop digging for diamonds in wrong zones. You can start again and now! You're not a slave, it's time, locate your palace and reign. GO!!!


©Mike Oladipo

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Why Local Directories Should Be Part Of Your Online Business Strategies

Do you run a salon or plumber business where local customers are its lifeblood, stay tuned. 

Do you get weary getting referrals and customers to your business in your local environment?

Do you want to put your local business online and get connected to your targeted customers?

Then the information below will walk you through the basic things you need to know about getting listed on online directories.

As you establish and grow your local business, bear in me that the one of your strongest touch point for your online business presence and brand awareness is get noticed locally.

Why Local Directories?

Getting noticed implies being visible to your audience or customers in the nearby neighborhood. This should be an added business advantage in your online marketing strategies and it will surely go a long way in having your business get connected to locals on who are on mobile.

Meanwhile, your offline store can get you a limited referrals or clients to you but getting listed to a local directory will make your business become visible and promote your online brand awareness.

Basic Tools To Get Your Business Listed Online

• Google my business

• Bing local

• Yahoo local

Tips to get listed to a local directories.

Local directories are a great way for local businesses to connect with potential customers in their area. The first step is to create a listing in local directories. 

These online listings include your key information, like

• your business name, 

• your address and 

• your telephone number. 

Many local directories require that your business has four walls or a local service area in order to be listed, so virtual businesses that don’t meet with customers directly are usually ineligible.

To get started, you’ll need to pull together the name of your business as you want it to appear everywhere online, your street address, or where you receive mail in the post, and your phone number.

To sum up, you want to connect with your local customers, and that means taking advantage of the major search engines’ local business listings and creating profiles on business directory websites, review sites and more.

Being there gives you the best shot of connecting with local customers.

©John K Onyemaechi

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THE DASHBOARD OF SUCCESS STORIES

There's a story of a business man who had a textile company that was not doing well. 

People would not come from far and near to do business with him. 

At a certain time, he informed his servants of his intention to travel to a far country for an undisclosed reason. 

"Where's your boss. Is he fine?" 

"We don't know, honestly. He just traveled and we don't know when he'll be back"

 His few customers and workers would always have such typical conversations as months went by. 

 After about a year, he came back. He came back looking frail, dirty and unattractive. You could see from his eyes that he was dying from the inside. 

"This is not you, Sir!" the few workers who still decided to wait for the return of their master screamed with waves of tears flowing from their eyes. 

They couldn't believe their eyes that their master had become wretched. 

What happened to you, Sir? They all asked him from their deepest concerns. 

But he spoke nothing to any of them as the days went by. 

He soon began working again after regaining some strength. 

This man suddenly knew the best way to produce quality products and attract high paying customers. 

The textile business suddenly took a different turn. It was yielding huge profits all of a sudden! 

People started coming from far and near to do business with him. 

"How has this poor guy managed to get to this great level in business?" his critics would ask themselves with so much inquisitiveness. 

They never knew that he had gone far away into a different continent to learn the nitty-gritty of the textile industry. 

He humbled himself to learn from scratch, as a casual worker in another man's textile company. He spent days without food and months without sleep - just to know how best to elevate his own business too. 

He gathered lots of money from working so hard and used it to purchase the latest machines and tools needed to push his company's products higher up the ladder of success. 

It's easier to see his business booming now, forgetting the story behind the glory. 

Most successful people you admire have stories of pain, frustration, distress, sleepless nights and confusion behind them. 

We only admire the success they have without acknowledging all they went through. 

Always know that nothing genuinely great in this life comes easily. 

As you aspire to become great and successful in life, ask yourself this question: "I'm I ready to pay the price for growth and development?" 

©Olayemi Olumurewa Joel

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TYPES OF CUSTOMERS AND HOW TO HANDLE THEM

Angry Customer

A slight mistake from the service provider will trigger anger in such customer.
Allow the customer to finish talking;
Don’t interrupt. Just listen;
Be firm and polite, else, they may not be happy.


Demanding Customer

This type of customer wants more than you can offer. They are not easily satisfied. Such customer may not get angry easily, but needs his/her excess demand met.
You must be firm, yet polite;
Tell the customer what you can actually offer, but promise to look into the demand;
Be strictly professional, don’t be personal in handling such customer;
Avoid being docile, but don’t be rude.


Passive Customer

This customer sounds apologetic when making complaint about your services/products. Such customer is always willing to listen to you, and is quite meek and extra polite.
Listen carefully to what they have to say;
Sound professional, and don’t brush them aside;
Gain their confidence.

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THE EASIEST WAY TO DESTROY YOUR CAREER

The typist paid close attention as Martha introduced herself before the audience. "My name is Matter." She said in her Nigerian accent. "I will be speaking on behalf of my company in this official launching of its newest product in the market,"she added.

Martha was chosen by her company to give a speech in London on the launching of a new product. The product research had taken about two years, and Martha was lucky to have been chosen as the representative outside the country. It was her first international assignment and she had looked forward to this day.

As she sat waiting to be called up to the podium, her anxiety grew as she tried to understand the audience. She paid close attention to other speakers from around the world.

It was time for Martha's presentation, and her speech was already on the lectern. Martha walked to the podium and paused for a moment, sending silence throughout the hall.

Eventually, she spoke, breaking the silence. "This is not my speech," her voice echoed throughout the hall. "It is madam," the typist protested. "The name on it is not mine!" Martha insisted, raising her voice furiously.

A short drama ensued. Martha had lost it. "How can you spell my name this way?" She yelled. I am so disappointed, she continued in her yelling.

The typist came forward and asked Martha to reintroduce herself. "I told you my name was Matter!" "Can you write that on a piece of paper, so I can correct the mistake?" The typist asked. Martha's name was corrected in another 15 minutes before she was able to give a speech.

Martha had all the education she needed for her job, but one thing was missing, and it stood against her when it mattered most. Her Spoken English was poor, and she never did anything about it all along. That presentation would have given her a career boost.

Think on this! Are you speaking right? You have to pay close attention to your Spoken English.

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How To Hypnotize People To Start Bringing Business For You

I thought I was the only one who knew how to make this happen until I became a victim myself.  I don’t know Courage Ngele personally.

I've never met him before save for a good number of his write-ups I had read on SmartBcamp.  And from those posts, I got to know he has a business, a wine business.

That's normal. That's one of the things content marketing does for you. It makes you and your business visible. Isn't that what we call visibility?

So if you are not yet using content to drive your marketing, permit me to ask you one question- what exactly are you doing?

What this means is that Courage Ngele, who runs a wine business, by consistently providing some value through the content he shares online, made me become aware and conscious of his business. I call it visibility.

Through his contents too, he also made me understand clearly the nature of the services his business delivers. I call it clarity.
And further, through his contents, he also proved to me that he is an expert in what he does. I call it authority (Expertise)

So with his contents, he was able to establish three things- visibility, clarity and authority. I call them the Trinity.

But you see, Courage Ngele may have thought that achieving visibility, clarity and authority over his wine business would have done the magic for him. But I’m afraid, it didn't.

Those three may have done some job for him and his business, but they were not enough to have ignited a magical effect on his prospects.

But I never knew this. I had honestly thought the trinity of visibility; clarity and authority were enough until I read a post he wrote on 28th January earlier this year.

That was when the scale fell off my eyes and I discovered the fourth man in the fire that had been missing all the while.

That particular post had an effect on me that till date I’m yet to totally recover from it. It was as if he cast a spell on me using that post.

Because of the effect that 28TH January post had on me, I have been studying it word for word, line for line, for the past 6 months.

I wanted to find out why it had such an effect on me. And don’t be fooled, I was not the only one who fell victim to it. Over a thousand people did as can be observed from the number of engagement that post generated.

In the course of studying this same post, I also studied all the posts he had written prior to that one, and I discovered that this particular post beat the rest in terms of the number of engagement it generated.

There was obviously something about it, and I made up my mind that I was going to find out what it was. And guess what? I did. I found it out.

Maybe you are wondering what effect the post had on me. Here it is...

The post did not just establish visibility, clarity and authority in my mind as it relates to Courage’s wine business, but against my wish, it made him and his wine business become indelible in my mind.

How did I know this happened?

Ever since I read that post, anytime I hear the word wine, the first name that comes to my mind will be Courage Ngele and Wine House Nigeria (The name of his company)

You see, what a good number of his posts could not achieve, this one post made it possible. And how was this post able to achieve this? I will tell you.

The post introduced the fourth element in the mix, and that’s what I call-stickability. There is no English word like that, but trust me; I have discovered there is a brand experience called STICKABILITY.

Stickability is that element, which if present in your content, has the power to make you and your brand 22 times more memorable than your competitors.

Stickability is the magic wand that binds visibility, clarity and authority of your brand together. It is what makes you memorable in the mind of your prospects. For what purpose is all your visibility, clarity and authority in the world if nobody remembers you when there is a need for your services and product?

Stickablity is what embeds you in the consciousness of your prospects. So how did Courage achieve stickablity with that post, and how can you also achieve the same? Here…Courage told us what I call- a Unique Brand Story (UBS).

He masterfully told us how one day he received a call from a man who wanted to buy some wine for his daughter’s marriage introduction ceremony. The man had previously made orders from another dealer.

According to the man, the seller had sold him spoilt wine. Frustrated and desperate, he called Courage for a quick fix. But instead of Courage taking advantage of the man’s desperation and frustration to make a kill, he calmed the man down and explained to him that the wines in question may not be bad after all.

And true to Courage’s advice, it was later discovered that those wines were not spoilt. The man was excited over the discovery for he could have lost about 750k if Courage had not given him that advice.

And guess what? Courage was happy too that he helped the man save his money even though it seemed like he lost an opportunity to make a kill on a platter of gold.

There are a whole lot of findings I made while studying this post of his that I don’t want to go into right now.

For instance, if you read my last post-“How to Run Your Business Like a Mafia Godfather”, you will agree with me that this post is also a perfect example of the principle of “Show and don’t tell” I talked about.

But what is important to me today is that with that post, Courage hypnotised as many of us that read it.

Come to think of it! Why do you think I spent 6 months studying the post? You think that’s normal?

Why do you think I spent weeks writing this post? And who do you think I will likely call when I need some wine?
Listen, a lot of people have joined the bandwagon of content marketing. So you are not the only one who is pushing his/her brand through content marketing. Your competitors are also doing the same thing.

For instance, if you are a makeup artist, you will agree with me that you are not the only brand out there posting beautiful images and videos of your work. There are hundreds of other brands out there too who are gaining visibility, clarity and authority in the minds of people about what they do through their own contents-images and videos.

Now this applies to other niches too.

So if everybody supposedly is now gaining visibility, clarity and authority in the minds of prospects over their business in the marketplace through content marketing, what then becomes the tipping point?

Or put in another way, what then is going to be the decider of who gets the call?

I know the answer. And I guess you also have a clue of what the answer is. It is called stickability through the use of Unique Brand Stories (UBS).

So here is my question for you-

Are you making your brand sticky by telling enough of your brand stories? Or you are like most people out there pushing out good, but nevertheless, dry contents that don’t stick?


©Eziukwu Tochukwu

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How to Run and Grow Your Business Like a Mafia Godfather

I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the America fashion. I gave her freedom, but I taught her never to dishonour her family.

She found a boyfriend. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn’t protest.

Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey, and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honour. So they beat her, like an animal.

When I went to the hospital, her nose was broken; her jaw was shattered, held together by wire. She couldn’t even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life-a beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again.

I went to the police, like a good American. Those two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison, and then suspended the sentence.

 Suspended the sentence!

They went free that very day. I stood in the courtroom like a fool. And those two bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife-

“For justice, we must go to Don Corleone.”

The next voice we heard was that of Don Corleone, who was seated behind a desk, petting a cat. And he asked the man-

“Why did you go to the police? Why didn't you come to me first?”

That was the opening scene of the movie-“The Godfather”. I guess you’ve seen it. It’s a classic. If you haven’t seen it, go see it. You will love it.

And if you've seen it, do you remember that scene?

I want to show you a secret hidden in that scene you can use to grow your business.

Writers know a lot about this secret, but I also believe that business owners like you and I can also benefit from it too. And I’m going to show you how.

From that opening scene, one thing became very clear to us. Do you know what that one thing is? I will tell you. It became clear to us that the man called Don Corleone is a very powerful man.

How did that become clear to us? First off, nobody goes to seek for justice from a man who is not powerful.

The fact that Bonasera(The man whose daughter was assaulted) went to Don Corleone to ask him for justice quickly established to all of us watching the movie that Don Corleone is a very powerful man who can shake tables and nothing will happen.

And then Don Corleone, in his Italian accent, had asked Bonasera-

“Why did you go to the police? Why didn’t you come to me first?”

In that very moment, we all passed our final verdict that the man, truly, is to be feared. I mean, what man who is lily-livered and of no consequence can ask such a question?

But here is the point. How come we all reached a conclusion that Don Corleone is a very powerful man even without him opening his mouth to make such claim?

The movie didn't start with a scene of him making boast of how powerful he is, of him being an influencer, and of how he can run down a city with his men. No we didn't see that! Or did you see such, because I didn't!

But yet, in a movie of about 2 hours, within the first 3 minutes, we had already reached a conclusion that the man Don Corleone is a very powerful personality.

I guess by now you are already getting agitated as to what a mafia movie has got to do with you and your business. Relax! I will tell you.

Now I want you for a moment to switch roles with Don Corleone. Let’s just for a second assume that your business is Don Corleone. You are very good at what you do in your business, just like Don Corleone is a very powerful man.

But you and I know that being very good at what you do is not enough, you have to let people know about it for that’s the only way they will get to patronize you, right? That’s the only way a certain Bonasera will come to you to seek for your services.

I mean, they have to know how customer-friendly you are, and how innovative your products and services are, right?

But then, how do we usually go about communicating to people how good we are at what we do? How do we go about telling people how great the solutions our businesses provide are?

This is what we do-We come up with slogans, vision statements, mission statements, mantras, logos. We get these things displayed on our websites, social media platforms, business cards etc. And some of us even go as far as ending our write-ups with statements like-

“My name is Tochi. When I write, miracles happen.”

Good stuff. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing all of that. But here is the question - How effective do you think all of these things are when it comes to truly communicating your core brand messages to your target audience?

The answer is very simple- Not as effective as it should be. I can immediately prove this to you by asking you right now how many company’s’ vision statements or even slogans you can remember? I’m sure you can’t remember any, and even if you can, it will just be a few.

Listen, people are not going to believe that you deliver quality services just because you said you do. People are not going to believe that you run a business where customers are the king just because it is your slogan, or because you ran a TV or radio advert about it.

People are not going to believe what you tell them, people are only going to believe what you show them. And that was the SECRET that was used in that opening scene to immediately establish to us that Don Corleone is a very powerful man.

The director of the movie simply SHOWED Don Corleone to be a very powerful man, and never told us that he is a powerful man.

How did he do that?

First off, he didn't get Don Corleone going all over the place saying-

“I’m a powerful man; you have to fear and respect me”. We didn’t see Don Corleone going all over the place screaming- “I am an influencer, I’m a thought leader, I’m a consultant, I’m a miracle writer, I’m this, I’m that.”

No, the director didn’t do that. He knew so much to do that. So what did he do?

He simply allowed us to reach that conclusion ourselves by presenting before us situations that established that point in our minds. What point? The point the Don Corleone is a powerful man.

And so he presented to us a man, seated behind a desk, petting his cat, while another man, crying, besought the former for justice. Now with that, we were able to reach a conclusion ourselves that Don Corleone must be a very powerful man.

We were showed Don Corleone to be a powerful man, and never told about it, and yet we believed it.

What am I saying?

You are the director of your own movie, and by that, I mean your business/brand. The best way to make your target audience believe whatever you want them to believe about your business is not by telling them about it, but by showing them about it.

It is not by saying- “We are a customer-driven, innovative company, poised to delivering cutting-edge services bla bla bla.”

I’m sure you are familiar with all those corporate jargons that don’t mean anything. I personally hate reading them.

So what should you do instead? Simple! Show them that you are all of that by presenting before them situations that will force them to reach that conclusion themselves.

So how do you go about doing this? Simple too! Tell them stories about your business that will help them form those opinions.

For instance, let’s say you want to communicate the brand message that your company is a customer-focused and customer-driven business; all you need to do is to tell us a story of an incident that happened in the course of your business where you treated a customer like a king.

With that kind of story, you are not just telling us how customer-driven you are because it is contained in your vision statement, but you are equally showing it to us through stories of things happening in your business.

And guess what? The same way we believed Don Corleone to be a very powerful man just in the 3rd minute of a movie of about 2 hours, is the same way we are going to believe you too to be a brand that doesn't take customers’ satisfaction for granted.

And that’s how we will end up believing whatever it is you want us to believe about you and your brand if you simply follow this pattern I’m showing you.

This, to me, is a far more effective way of communicating brand messages and letting people know what you and your business are about.

©Eziukwu Tochukwu

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Kingdom Secrets to Success in Business

In this article, 8 secrets for business success for a Christian are given. These secrets are built, based on Proverbs 22:29;


"Do you see a person who is efficient in his work? He will serve kings. He will not serve unknown people."

(GOD'S WORD® TRANSLATION)

1. Imagination

There's a power behind imagination. Every entrepreneur must be able to think about things that are non existent and bring them into manifestation. Proverbs 23:7

2. Planning and Timing

Planning is important in business. And while planning, an entrepreneur must be someone who plans with time- following market trends closely. Ecclesiastes 3:1-10

3. Determination

Every entrepreneur must be very determined to succeed in the face of discouragements. This is what made Elisha stand out among the sons of the prophets. IIKings 2:1-16

4. Training/ Capacity Building

In whatever niché you find yourself, you must endeavour to dig deep in the knowledge banks at your disposal to know more and become an authority. This is what makes you free. John 8:32.

5. Commitment

An entrepreneur must set goals for his business. Whatever your goals are, you must be committed to those goals. Your commitment keeps you going when the going gets tough. Luke 2:49

6. Investment Strategies

An entrepreneur must learn different types of investment strategies. As your business starts to grow, you must start looking for other investment opportunities. Matthew 25:14-30

7. Diversification

Diversification is God's structure for the earth. You must take the risk of diversifying your business, as not taking risk is riskier than taking risk itself. You can not be rich by doing a single thing. Ecclesiastes 11:1-6.

8. Sacrifice

You must be ready to make sacrifice in order to succeed. The natural order is that something must always go for something. Elisha gave a stick for the axe head to float. And so many other examples of giving something for something are there in the bible. IIKings 6:1-6.

Conclusion

As you grow in life, you'll get to a stage where your strength and might can no longer sustain you. At that point, you'll need to fall back on the power behind you- the Power of God!

©Mondayspeaks

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Make your Business Idea S.M.A.R.T.

One of the greatest challenges we have as entrepreneurs is that we get carried away with making the big bucks. Our focus at the beginning which is big money blinds us entirely from doing the needful with the ideas that are swirling up in our heads, so much so that we immediately jump into doing whatever it is that our minds have programmed us to do. At the end of the day when we encounter the earth shaking bumps on our way we begin to think that our village people have come again. Far from it! It has absolutely nothing to do with our innocent village people! The whole problem is borne out of our not doing what we were supposed to have done from the onset.

Every right thinking entrepreneur who has a business idea MUST first do a S.M.A.R.T check on that seemingly fantastic idea.

So is  your business S.M.A.R.T.?

S: Specific 

What exactly do you want to achieve,  the more specific that you are about what you want to do,  the greater the chances that you have to succeed 

The how, why, where, who, what, which and when are very important in the journey ahead. I call it narrowing down to your focus point. Don't try to be the Jack of all trade,  and eventually end up being the master of non.

M: Measurable 

       

Do you have indicators for you to know when you have reached where you want to get to like milestones that we see on our way when we embark on a long journey? These milestones help us know how close we are to our destinations. There of course will be no point continuing on a journey that keeps you going round in circles.

A: Attainable 

Are your business goals attainable? Considering the time and efforts needed to achieve your set objectives, will it be commensurate to your profits? What are the things you need to put in place to attain the heights that you want to get to?

R: Relevant 

How relevant is the business that you are trying to push to the market? Will it meet the anticipation of the market target, and at the end make you smile to the bank?

T: Timely 

Timing is everything. After having done all of the above, there of course is nothing else left to do than to launch that business or product immediately.

Let me use this example to bring home my point

Say you've seen this pretty bae,  or handsome bro,  and your heart tells you he or she is the one to spend the rest of your life with. You decide on your own to go ahead and marry yourselves simply because you feel it is the right thing to do,  and of course both of you are in love I guess? In the process of time, you find out after the hurried  marriage that your partner is indeed  your blood relation.

Wouldn't it have been better to had done proper check on the spouse to be from people around you before the union, most especially your friends, his friends and your family members?

That way the embarrassment that you find yourself in would have been avoided. So it is with our so called great business ideas.

Doing the S.M.A.R.T check will save you a lot of money, pains and frustrations!

©Emmanuel Eteta Ita (Edited).

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Effective Church Management

Effective church management is the appropriate administration of church resources. Some are resistant to labeling church management as a business function.1 However, whenever there are people and money involved, there needs to be structured business practices to ensure resources are managed appropriately.

Churches are unique in that they rely on donations from members and have a responsibility to be good stewards with those resources.  The ability to manage church resources effectively depends on the ministry’s process of overseeing church operations.

8  Keys to Effective Church Management

1.  Church Board Governance

Most churches are organized as an incorporated organization. This means they have a legal requirement to be governed by a board-of-directors.

Effective church management is the appropriate administration of church resources. The board is obligated to oversee the operations of the ministry and is responsible for the proper management of church resources.

Effective board governance lays the groundwork for efficient church management by directing and holding church leaders accountable for proper oversight of resources.

This includes oversight of ministry budget, capital expenditures, legal compliance and managing the risk of church operations.

Effective boards are diverse in membership and have representatives from business or legal backgrounds to ensure a broad perspective and proper documentation of board documents.

2.  Church Strategy

Church growth is a result of well thought out church strategy and planning.

Churches should go through the process of vision, mission and values and strategic plan development.

This structured planning process allows the organization to set performance targets and lays out the steps to fulfill its mission and purpose.

3.  Church Goal Setting

Implementation of church strategy is dependent on how well goals are set and accomplished.  Goal setting can be a time consuming process, but once SMART goals are developed, a good performance management process can help ensure focus and timely completion of church goals that support its mission.

4.  Budgeting Process

Churches have limited resources so need a structured budgeting process to identify expenditure requirements and prioritization of church spending.

A budget provides the necessary resources for day-to-day operations, church programs and the unexpected building or campus repairs. In addition, saving for the new building or land acquisition is also an important part of the budgeting process.

5.  Managing Performance 

Strategy and goal completion is only as effective as the process that manages it.  A structured process to monitor goal completion holds people accountable and supports  implementation of strategy.

Whether it is church employees, volunteers or a sub-committee of the board – completing goals, as written, on time is crucial to a church’s ability to achieve it mission.

6.  Facilities Management

Visitors and members like to gather in an atmosphere that is clean, maintained and aesthetically appealing. Consequently, whether a church rents temporary building space or has a full-blown campus, managing the upkeep and maintenance of ministry facilities is important.

Buildings need to be cleaned, maintained, and repaired. Create a scheduled maintenance plan to maintain a comfortable and appealing church environment.

7.  Volunteer Support

Churches rely heavily on volunteer labor and need a structured volunteer management process to help recruit, place, train and oversee volunteer help.

Volunteers off-set labor costs.  Provide a customer-friendly volunteer experience to ensure an efficient and effective volunteer program.

8.  Legal and Risk Management

Churches need to manage their risks and be legally compliant with governing laws. A ministry needs to understand its risks and be proactive in minimizing exposure. Campus safety and volunteer screening are examples of church related risks.

Whether a church has a congregation of 100 or 10,000, effective church management is important to ensuring good stewardship of the resources God supplies.  Setting the direction by developing strategy, goal development and strong performance can go a long way in helping a church achieve all that God has called it to.

How effective is your church management?

This Article was culled from Smartchurchmanagement.com

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Strive for Progress, not Perfection

There's the innate part of us that craves for perfection selfishly-like the super good, spotless, devoid of error kind of perfection. And somehow, this other side tends to hamper a lot of individuals from doing what they ought to do regardless-mostly great things. 

You start writing a piece and somewhere along the line, an uneasiness creeps in, and you suddenly feel it's not good enough; you toss the piece away. You start a design, almost to the finish of it, you spot something odd (or a mistake), instead of correcting, wham! You scatter and flip it across your head, feeling sullen and dejected. 

I have been there, and even as I write this piece, there's a faint nudge on my inside that this wouldn't be good enough. I'm still writing it regardless.

It's not bad to crave perfection. But in actuality, the not-so-good, must-be-perfect mentality hampers us to be better. I've had to write lots of pieces midway and then suddenly  stop; it isn't perfect I had thought then. But, going through the same pieces sometime later, I found how 'amazing' it would've been if I had completed it regardless. 

I can't imagine the lots of us who have had to delete a post, fling an idea, a creativity out of the window, just because we felt it wasn't perfect. Or for some of us who left it midway and completely abandoned it. Believe me, when you go back to such abandoned project, it's difficult to continue. It's either you've forgotten the idea, the intended message or solution, or you're just...Ah, I can't continue anymore. 

The moment you realize the idea is to get 'better' and not perfect, the better it would actually be. If we were all perfect-super good, devoid of error, utopia kind-then, nothing would matter; not even you. 

What if the founders and inventors of most things we use today had wanted them to be perfect ideas initially? Just have a mental picture of Zuckerberg pressing the delete button of his Facemash codes then because of the 'not-good-enough'  mentality. And who knows if someone may have had that same idea before him but tossed it aside because it wasn't perfect to him/her? 

Ever since I realized the subtle harm this innate thirst for perfection could cause, I have had to discipline myself to first finish any idea that comes to mind; I try as much as possible to ignore the voice of perfectionism at first. Then, I begin to rework on it to make it BETTER.  

Most of us had one time had a great idea, but then we tossed it aside because we felt it wasn't good enough; we felt it wasn't perfect, devoid of zero errors. Then, we wake up one morning to find someone else cruising on that same idea, even less better than ours. Does this look like you? 

But really, would it ever be perfect? Like really really perfect? I don't think so. I mean, on a scale of perfection, this post is nowhere near. Probably nonsense to a perfectionist. But duh, my intent is to pass a message. 

So next time when you're feeling giddy and excited with an idea and then the voice of perfectionism creeps in, making it seem it isn't good enough, just remember: it doesn't have to be perfect the first time, it just has to be done first; it will then create the trail for it to be better. 

Progress dear, not perfection!

©Joshua Osarhen Owie

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FINANCE TIPS

Building your own business or brand will always be challenging that is why you must carefully develop business model that derives result. Whatever business strategy you deploy; the following tips will be of great help to you. As a chartered accountant I have over the years helped businesses drive results through these tips;

1. Learn to manage your business without running out of cash;

2. Track and monitor all spendings;

3. Track and monitor all inventory/stocks;

4. Spend less on fixed assets/expenses i.e. try make your expenses variable than fixed;

5. Develop a financial plan/budget, projections and business plan;

6. Learn to prepare financial report of your business no matter how small your business make look (Income statement, Financial position and Cash flow statement);

7. Make every money spent count;

8. Do a proper risk analysis of your biz and learn mitigating strategies. Even though you are a prayer warrior, just know things may not go as expected. so prepare for the worse and learn from failure;

9. Learn to monitor and measure your performance;

10. Never accept a loan from a bank without proper consultation;

11. Never use your business bank acct for personal transactions;

12. Try and understand the tax implications of every business transactions.

Anonymous

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HOW YOU CAN START A DRYCLEANING BUSINESS TODAY (EVEN IF YOU DON'T OWN A PRESSING IRON)

1. Choose a name for your laundry business.

2. Walk to a good drycleaning outlet near you, preferably one that does pick up and delivery.

3. Ask them to retail their services to you. This means if they charge N200 per shirt normally, negotiate for a 50%, 40% or 30% discount since you'll be bringing jobs in bulk.

They will most likely accept your offer because most times, the laundry firms operate below capacity. This means they have lesser jobs than they would have loved to have.

4. Once you reach an agreement, start talking to people about your laundry business. Start with people closer to you: friends, colleagues, family, online friends etc.

5. Once you win a customer, call your partner laundry firm to go pick up, do the drycleaning and deliver. If your partner laundry firm doesn't offer pick up and delivery, it means you'll have to handle this.

6. Bill your customers. Your customers pay you directly, you then pay your partner laundry firm their percentage.

Everyone is happy: your customers, your partner and YOU.

This is not some motivational talk. What you have up there is how WASH AND CARRY started.

©Wash.and.Carry

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YOU ATTRACT WHAT YOU SELL

In 2013, during the course of my masters degree abroad, I didn't want to be sent pocket money for my upkeep. I was thinking of how I will be calling home every month in the name of getting pocket money.

"Most people who are abroad send money home to their siblings and not the other way round," I whispered to myself.

I made up my mind to take care of my expenses. So, I started the business of car rentals. I'd rent for a month from the original car owners and sub rent to my clients daily. Gradually, I was able to add 3 other cars to my cart and God was faithful. Within the period of 8 months, I was able to buy my car.

How did this happen?

A friend of mine had a nice car, but wanted to relocate to Nigeria. He beckoned on me to buy his car since I was in the car rental business.

I told him I didn't have all the money needed to pay for the car at that time. He told me not to worry, that I can pay in installment at a give away price.

"Anyway, the car go enter road joor and produce the money," I said to my self.  I took over the car, added my profit from all the cars I had access to and in a period of 3 months, I paid in full.

I had five cars: 4 rented and one personal.

When I was to attend a function, I'd drive the one I wanted and somehow, I was feeling like Don Jazzy.

My Thought: Nature was just playing itself.

YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE PLENTY OF WHAT YOU SELL.

It works.

A woman that sells food stuff will hardly beg for food.

Breakfast, Lunch and Supper will naturally come by default.

Now, the number 1 way to own loads of properties is to sell it.

You may not have any now, but joining the Real Estate League which I do is a guaranteed way to have loads of lands/houses.


©Godsent Adingwupu

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HOW ONE TEACHER BECAME A SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRE OFF A TEACHER SALARY!

Andrew Hallam

Andrew Hallam became a millionaire at 36 years old. By 40, his savings had grown even more, granting him financial independence.

A middle and high school teacher, Hallam didn't inherit wealth and never won the lottery. So how did he become a millionaire on a teacher's salary?

For Hallam, everything clicked when he was just 19 years old.

While working at a bus depot to save money for college, Hallam met Russ, the spot's head mechanic, who asked him, "What would you do if I gave you $10,000?"

"I was really excited because I thought, 'Oh man, he likes me, he might give me some money!'" Hallam explained to Paula Pant on her Afford Anything podcast. "But I thought about it and said I'd put it toward my schooling."

Russ didn't dole out any cash, but he deemed Hallam worthy of help based on that answer. "Later, he said that if I told him I'd buy a new car or a new stereo, or I'd go on a flashy trip, that he probably wouldn't talk to me again unless he had to," Hallam says.

Russ took the 19-year-old on a tour of his neighborhood and showed him how he built wealth through investing. Having proven to Hallam that he was the real deal, Russ taught him that becoming financially literate makes it possible to achieve financial freedom early — a principle Hallam took to heart.

When Hallam protested that he didn't have enough to begin investing himself, Russ pointed to the bus depot's vending machine. He asked if Hallam had enough to buy, say, a muffin and a chocolate bar every day. "Sure," Hallam replied.

Well, Russ reasoned, if he could spare that $3 a day for junk food, he could stand to invest $100 a month instead. "If you start investing $100 a month right now, you could retire as a millionaire," he said.

So Hallam started investing.

He held various jobs throughout college, and he continued to put every spare cent he could into the market. At one point, he chose to take out a loan to help with tuition so he could put the money he earned working into his investment accounts.

Hallam graduated with around $12,000 in student loans, which he became determined to pay off within a year.

Straight out of school, he worked as a middle school teacher in Comox, British Columbia. His take home pay amounted to around $28,000 a year.

Andrew Hallam

In order to become debt-free and get back to investing whatever he could, Hallam resorted to being as frugal as possible — a lifestyle choice he doesn't necessarily recommend.

"I probably went a little bit too far," he tells Pant. "You have frugal, and then you have crazy ambitious. I was a frugal weirdo. It's not something I would end up recommending to people, but when I look back on it, it was a fun time."

Hallam spent his first year as a teacher house-sitting to avoid paying rent. When he did end up settling into his own place during his second year on the job, the rent was cheap for a reason. His apartment was located in Campbell River, British Columbia, about 34 miles (55 kilometers) from the school where he worked. Unwilling to waste money on gas, Hallam biked, choosing to shower and shave in the teachers' room at the school each morning.

For food, Hallam subsisted on heaps of pasta and potatoes. He splurged on vegetables but decided to pick his own clams for protein.

"I was definitely a healthy eater, so I was getting vegetables, I did have salads most nights. But to keep that bill down, I was getting clams from the beach," he explains. "They were free. There was an old guy named Oscar, and he and I would go out there with a bucket, and he would turn them into delicacies, and I would just toss my clams in with a bunch of pasta or baked potatoes."

Though Hallam doesn't recommend the crazy-frugal lifestyle — "I was a fruitcake, there's no doubt about it," he says — he's living proof that it works: Despite his meager teacher's salary, Hallam was able to pay off his student loan debt within nine months of graduation.

From there, Hallam continued to invest. He started off with actively managed funds and moved to index funds and individually managed stocks. From there, he eventually condensed his entire portfolio into index funds, which give him a better chance at earning consistent returns.

By the time I was in my mid 30s, I'd read more than 400 books about personal finance and investing money, and there were a lot of common denominators there," he says. "The one thing that struck me was that you do end up getting the odd person who ends up beating the market, or the odd mutual fund that ends up beating the market, but invariably, the market typically comes back to beat them."

By 36, Hallam had become a millionaire.

And by 40, he was comfortably financially independent.

Hallam met his wife Pele, who's also a teacher, in Singapore in 2003. The pair married in 2008 and quit their jobs in 2014.

Hallam, now 46, and his wife currently spend their days traveling the world and enjoying their financial freedom. Over the past five months, they've been giving free talks at international schools and businesses, in places such as Dubai, Jordan, Egypt, Kenya and Thailand.

Andrew Hallam

Hallam also continues to invest and shares his advice for others aspiring to follow in his footsteps on his self-titled blog and in his books, "Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School" and "The Global Expatriate's Guide to Investing: From Millionaire Teacher to Millionaire Expat."

Together, Hallam and Pele have a net worth around $2.5 million.

They prefer to think that they're taking a break from work rather than that they're retired.

"[It] doesn't mean we won't go back to teaching," Hallam told CNBC. "It just gives us a lot more choices."

This article was culled from CNBC.com

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