Thursday, July 28, 2016

3 LAWS FOR SUCCESS


     Improve yourself, don't stop, don't be basic


Want to be successful? everyone wishes success. The interesting fact about success is that
SUCCESS IS RELATIVE. To a soldier, coming back alive from war could be success, whereas, to another soldier, say a commander, winning the war could mean success. An employee is successful when he/she gets a good job with good salary, incentives and promotion, an entrepreneur is successful when the business is successful.

Success is a journey, not a destination.

Which means that when you achieve one level of success, its only a matter of time before you set a new goal for success,knowingly or unknowingly. For instance, You finish high school with all round distinctions, that sensation of joy that that success brings is only temporal till you begin to aim at entering college to attain that success sensation again. Same goes for marriage to children, Starting a
business to expanding the business and having branches, getting a job to getting a promotion and a pay raise.

However, there are some skills we need to acquire to keep our success gauge full as often as possible.

1- IMPROVE YOURSELF:

Similar to success, self improvement is relative depending on what success goal you're trying to achieve. It could be in the form of studying to pass an exam, taking an extra course to qualify you for a promotion, taking financial classes to become a better investor or even using more makeup and perfume to appear more attractive.

However, I would admit that in what ever field or whatever success goal you're trying to achieve, self improvement would always happen better in the process of learning and practicing.

Learning can be through reading, attending seminars, seeking advice from mentors,practical on-field learning. The major key to success is to keep learning. Learning never stops, keep your mind open, no knowledge is lost, keep learning, keep practicing what you've learnt and keep attaining success.


2- DON'T STOP LEARNING:

Prior to improving yourself through learning, Keep learning, don't stop learning.

We live in the information age characterized with free access to so much information. The advantage of the information age is that there's so much information that can be accessed for free, the disadvantage of the information age also is that there's too much information that's free to be accessed.

This means information overload and also means the wrong information can fall into the wrong hands for free. But the key to staying above the game in this new global village is to keep learning. Don't stop learning. Don't stop being successful.

More so, Learn never to be satisfied with one level of success! Learn to crave for success! Learn to achieve success through the right means. Learn success!


3- BE INNOVATIVE, BE CREATIVE:

To achieve the extra-ordinary, you have to be extra-ordinary. Don't be basic

A major function of being creative or innovative, as the case maybe involves practicing what we learn. Even Jesus in the bible gave strict instructions to his disciples not to just be readers of the word but also to be doers of the word.

Practice what you learn, don't be scared to practice, if you're scared to practice what you've learnt, how do you know you've learnt.

Until you practice what you learnt, you've not learnt. 

No wonder they say the grave is the richest place on earth with so many ideas that were never executed. Don't take your idea to the grave, utilize it while you're alive so others can benefit.
Learn, Keep learning, Don't stop improving yourself, Practice what you learn, Be innovative and Be successful!

It doesn't take money to make money, it takes knowledge to make money- The times have changed. INVEST IN YOURSELF.
I wish to see you achieve success in whatever endeavor you set your mind to.

Think WITTEE! Think intelligence

Saturday, July 23, 2016

HOW GREAT IS YOUR IDEA?

It starts with a pen and paper (black and white)

When I was much younger, I heard someone say all human beings are entitled to 5 minutes madness daily. I don't know how true that is, but I think its absurd and scary. It means someone who lives for 70 years has spent about 127,750 minutes in madness; approximately 90 days as a mad man.
Contrary to that, I believe every one is entitled to a life time of greatness.

Greatness is a choice, you too can be great.

Ever wondered how people develop multi-billion dollar ideas? You read someone's story and wish you had the idea instead, in some cases its a very simple idea and you feel you could have done better if you were in the person's shoes.

The secret to being great is execution.

Execution starts with a paper and biro or any writing material, even your notepad, thanks to technology. Every now and then, ideas popup in our heads, great ideas that we neglect.
How do you know an idea isn't great if you never executed it?

To execute that idea that came jokingly which probably has the potential of greatness, the first step is to write it down.
No matter how good your brain is, you are bound to forget some things every now and then, and if not the entire idea, some key elements.
When you write it down, you can always go back to it, re-read, develop, make it better and plan towards it.

After you must have written it down, take your time to think carefully about it, then go back and re-edit the idea.

The next step is to write down an execution/operations plan.
Your plan could be to start the execution now, next 5 years, lesser or more, but most importantly, write down a plan with a time frame and a deadline. Often times, go back to the idea and just re-read for the sake of it, new ideas will definitely come out of it.

Whatever your execution plan is, be disciplined and work according to it.
This is where you need to combine hard wok, consistency and strategy to keep you pushing.

Greatness is relevant;

No matter how great your idea is, you need to clearly define the goal and the vision of your idea. No one else can see your vision clearer than you, no one else can execute your idea better than you.

The next step will be to seek opinions from those around you, could be parents, friends, mentors etc. Since its still an idea, you can't patent or copyright just an idea, so be careful how you present it and who you present it to. Choose those you'll work with strategically and tell God about it. You might also consider expressing your idea in Power Point to look more vivid, but most importantly, start the idea, no one will take you serious if you have not started something. A business plan and financial projections are also necessary, don't skip that part.

Procrastination will kill the idea even before maturity.

Criticism is good; only if you use it to get better. So far you're sure of your goal and vision, don't let anyone discourage your greatness, they can't see what you're seeing. If you're doing it for the right reasons, with the right attitude and the right people, You can and you will be great.

Think WITTEE! Think Intelligence

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

BE A YOUNG FAILURE



Be a young failure - Fail while you're young and fail fast

Failing is a good thing, but it depends on how you fail. There are two ways to fail
1- Failing successfully
2- Failing  while failing

1- Failing successfully - This is the good way of failing. It is learning while failing and being able to pick yourself up, retrace your steps, examine and evaluate why and how you failed and understanding steps to take and not to take in order to fail or win in such an endeavor. Failing successfully, briefly explains the concept of - you can't do something the same way and expect a different result.

2- Failing while failing- Contrary to the above statement, people who fail while failing are committed to doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result- that's if they even try to redo the same thing after trying and failing once. Failing while failing is for losers who want a fast way out, neglect the process and are more focused on the goal.

The process is more important than the goal.

The process is what shapes you into what you become when the goal has been achieved. The process is what teaches you the steps to take and to avoid when trying to achieve the goal.

Thomas Edison once said it would take him just five years to rebuild everything he has achieved if he looses it. He was so confident of this because he was true to the process and he understood the process of how he achieved his goal.

Being a young failure is my way of advising you to start young.

Its easier to start business while you're young than when you're old. What are the odds of starting young?
- You practically have nothing to loose
- Time is on your side,
- You can explore so many other options while you're young
- You can afford to fail more and fail fast so you can learn quicker and retrace your steps.

Lets get practical, would you rather buy a biro from a 30 year old man or from a 10 year old boy with his cute face trying to be entrepreneurial? Most of us would prefer to support the child, at least till he gets older and enters the labour market, not because his pen is better, but because we are proud of a young entrepreneur and want to encourage him. But in reality, the old man needs it more probably to support his family, whereas, the boy can always be fed by his parents, whether or not he sells the stationery.

Get your hands into as many things as you can while you're young, be true to the process and learn, don't let people do it all for you, get your hands in the dirt and try to solve business problems yourself.
Fail fast, fail young, learn and be great.

Think WITTEE! Think Intelligence

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

WHY MANY STARTUPS FAIL

90% OF ALL STARTUPS FAIL


Many of us today have great Ideas, in my experience, 20% of youths I have met have mind blowing ideas running through their heads. The only but here is, many of these ideas don't make it through to the execution stage, and for some who do, they don't make it past the startup stage.


Here's the scenario, you have a wonderful idea, you have all the marketing and revenue generation systems in place, possibly even a business plan and a power-point presentation, you have also planned your strategy carefully. All this is just a piece of a very big complex puzzle. This doesn't always guarantee success.

         Jason Ndoku said - "Startups don't die, they commit suicide and the owners are usually
                                          the ones who do the killing"


Some of the key factors you must possess to build a successful startup, which are probably the most important, are: - Passion, the right Team, and an External Source of Income.

Passion is what will keep your fire burning till your startup becomes profitable. Passion is that voice in your head that hunts you whenever you think of giving up.

Your team will get you farther than you alone can go - If you want to walk fast, walk alone, if you want to walk far, walk with people. Your startup has to stand the test of time to be successful and it will wear you down if you're alone in it. Your team members should be positive minded professionals in their fields. The fields in question doesn't necessarily have to be an academic field, it could be a track record of success in a department relevant for the success of your startup. Carefully choose your team and make sure their purpose on the team is relevant and well defined. Likewise, if you have the wrong team, that can be a major cause of stagnancy for you and in some cases may force your passion to die.

YOU NEED AN EXTERNAL SOURCE OF INCOME - this is one truth many startup visionaries deliberately ignore with the notion that 'where there is a will, there will be a way'. Yes, you're right by being strong in your faith, but a startup is a business, 'you can't start a business without capital'.
You need something to keep your fuel refilled till your startup becomes profitable and investors start getting interested. What if your startup doesn't make any profit within the first year after launch, Do you give up? You might not get incubation support like others did. An entrepreneur who plans to be successful will plan for the worst and hope for the best.

There's no short-cut to success, neither is there any given formula. It worked for him doesn't mean it would work for her, but nevertheless, if you have this three things right, with God's backing, you are good to go. I wish you unimaginable success.

Think WITTEE! Think Intelligence

Sunday, July 10, 2016

BUILD THE BUSINESS, NOT THE IDEA

Build the business, not just the idea

Ideas are intangible forces, but are more powerful than the brains that give birth to them.

Africa is blessed with so much talents. Nigeria for example, Nigeria has over 50% of her population under the age of 40. Such a population will have so many mind blowing ideas flying around. This is truly evident as experts have gone as far as comparing Lagos-Nigeria to Silicon Valley-USA, where Apple, Microsoft and so many other multinational brands were born. Lagos also has its startups that are now big businesses such as Iroko Tv, Jumia, Jobberman, Hotels.ng etc.

Many startups envy these companies and aspire to be like them. Most have what it takes to be better than them, but many neglect some very few important details. In the end, you find yourself going about pushing A VERY GREAT BUT NOT PROFITABLE IDEA. In most cases, these ideas are actually very profitable, but the neglect of the business aspect of the idea on the part of the entrepreneur not only slows down the growth of the startup, but also pushes investors away.

The one mistake many startup entrepreneurs make is not documenting their profit/business model before they build the startup, most just concentrate on making the idea great. Many startup entrepreneurs when asked about how they intend to make money from their startup, come up with some mumbo jumbo and the conviction that when they the startup is big, money will start flowing in. Its not magic, have your own unique business/profit model that will ensure money will keep flowing in for your startup, if not, it would never be big. This is one reason startups find it difficult to convince investors; Investors need to be sure their money will return, if you can't guarantee that, no matter how great your idea is, they are not likely to give you their money.

HAVE MORE THAN ONE CASH-FLOW STREAM

Cash-flow is the revenue your idea generates. Have a plan A, B and C. The idea in some cases is first of its kind, for something that has never existed, so many things could go wrong at the beginning, including the revenue generating system. Develop comprehensive backup plans, so if your plan A doesn't bring money in, plan B and C will. You may seem not interested in the money and be more concerned about adding value, but trust me, if money doesn't come in to sustain the startup, your startup might die faster than it started.

We heard the story of Whatsapp being sold, and recently, one of the biggest social media sites also. If the business behind these ideas were strong enough and generated enough profit, the owners would have definitely not sold them out.
As a startup entrepreneur, you should form the habit of studying other startups, both those that failed and those that succeeded.

One entrepreneur I respect so much is Robert Kiyosaki. When his startup company 'Richdad' was just a startup, his first product was The Cashflow Game. He knew he needed a plan B and C to generate cash-flow so he wrote the book, 'Rich dad, Poor dad', which apparently went viral and became even more popular than the initial product, but subsequently, it sold the initial product - The Cashflow Game. An entrepreneur needs to plan and predict the future to be successful.
PLANNING IS KEY TO SUCCESS, STRATEGY IS KEY TO EFFECTIVE PLANNING.

Think WITTEE! Think intelligence
For business ideas, click here  To get capital for your business, click- Business Capital 

Thursday, July 7, 2016

BUSINESS CAPITAL


Queen's Young Leader 2017 Programme

The Queen's Young Leaders Programme discovers, celebrates and supports exceptional young people from across the commonwealth, leaving a lasting legacy for her majesty The Queen.
Last year a search was launched to find exceptional young people to receive the first ever Queen’s Young Leaders Awards. Hundreds of applications flooded in from incredible young people all dedicated to making lasting change in their community and beyond.

This Award recognizes and celebrates exceptional people aged 18-29 from across the Commonwealth, who are taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives. Winners of this prestigious Award will receive a unique package of training, mentoring and networking, including a one-week residential programme in the UK during which they will collect their Award from Her Majesty The Queen.

The deadline is: September 4, 2016

Eligibility:

Each application/nomination must meet the following criteria:

Applicants need to have proven experience of working to improve their communities locally, regionally or at a national level and be able to show evidence of their achievements.

Applicants must be aged between 18 and 29 throughout 2017

Applicants must be citizens of and working in a Commonwealth country or citizens of an Overseas Territories (of a Commonwealth Member).                                          NB- Nigerians are eligible.

Applicants need to demonstrate evidence of their leadership qualities.

All applicants need to be supported by a suitable referee (a professional in one of the following occupations; a teacher or counselor; a registered physician or nurse; a church or community leader; social worker or family services; or business leader). Referees must not be related to you.

Priority will be given to individuals who have overcome challenges to achieve their goals.

All applications/nominations will be considered based on the young person’s achievements to date as well as their potential and future ambition. Award winners will be shortlisted by an Advisory Panel made up of young people from across the Commonwealth and a Board of advisors representing the three partners. The shortlist for Award winners will then be presented to The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme Board, which contains members from all three partner organisations, for final selection and decision.

Benefits:

- As a Queen’s Young Leader you will be allocated a mentor with relevant experience and expertise who will support you over the course of the year to continue and develop your work.
- Online learning will be provided with materials relevant to your area of interest, as well as serving as a place for you to meet and share experiences and knowledge with other Queen’s Young Leaders.
- It is a one-week residential programme in the UK:
- The Award winners will have the opportunity to meet with inspiring people and visit organisations in the UK that have expertise in areas such as media and communications, social action and advocacy. 
During this week, Awards will be presented by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace.

To apply, click:Queen's Young Leaders 2017  
For business ideas, click:here 

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

BAD ECONOMY IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS

The major characteristic of a bad economy is an economy with high inflation rate.

Let’s understand a few techniques to grow your business with inflation.

Investopedia defines inflation as a sustained increase in the general level of prices for goods and services.

All over the world, inflation has become a ‘viral disease’ that is gaining momentum in its torment in many countries. Here are a few facts about inflation:
It’s a global problem
It can never stop
It could fluctuate but will always be on the increase
It can be very advantageous for a good business person and could destroy a bad business person
Inflation causes a lot of economic hazards

A bad economy can help young brands become popular easily and grow market share. Likewise, it could help known brands maintain customer loyalty and increase their market share. How?

Inflation comes with a trend and involves every player in the production/distribution chain. For instance, when price of raw materials go up, price of production goes up, manufacturers increase their price of supply, wholesalers are next, and retailers are next, then the final consumers complain the price of goods have increased. In some cases, inflation is caused when some players in the distribution chain choose to hoard products that are of necessity, thereby shortening the supply and increasing the demand.
Whatever the cause of inflation, you can use it to your advantage. Here's how;

In a bad economy, people want to spend less and get more, that is, they want more value for their money. You can leverage on this.
You, as a new brand in the market, having to compete with established brands can manipulate inflation in your favor. This strategy is adaptable if you're not profit oriented but value oriented.

When business starts going bad for most companies, they cut down their expenses beginning with advert budget, laying off some staffs etc. Often times, this isn't the best solution.
When business is going down, that’s when you should spend more. Spend more on adverts and sales promotion and not otherwise else your products become less visible in the market.

Now my question is; ‘how do you intend to revive your sales when you're no longer advertising or running promos’? Don’t cut down on advert cost.

The next step is either to maintain your price, offer more sales promotions or use coupons/price slashes. Of course, this will mean lesser profit but more market share, loyalty and patronage. This means you make your profit based on quantity and not quality of sales. Of course, this strategy cannot work for all brands, but will definitely work for most upcoming brands. The most important point here is to never reduce your quality, but rather increase advert and PR regardless of inflation. By so doing, you will later on increase your price, and by then you'd have created loyal customers.

Leverage on digital marketing, it’s cheaper and more effective

When you offer people more value for their money, they become addicted to your service.

Another strategy if you have an already established market and your product is of necessity, could be to hoard your products and when demand increases, you distribute the product with a sales promo that will pose as a threat to your competition and not only will your customers be happy to have your products back, even the marketers would be happy to sell a now available high demand product on promo.

Smart investors also like inflation because it’s usually the best time to invest. Take real estate for instance, the value never reduces but rather increases when the economy is bad, likewise, failing prominent businesses are more likely to sell shares/ownership during down-times.

Though times of hyper-inflation might be the worst time to purchase some goods from the international market, but sometimes it’s also a good time to find local merchants desperate to make some money in a bad economy.

Please note; I'm not advising you to take advantage of people, I'm only advising you to understand the times and increase your financial IQ.
I'll reference the men of Issachar in the bible who understood the times. You can rule your world, whether or not the economy is bad. A good business will strive even in the worst economy.
When value satisfies need, compensation exceeds supply.

Think WITTEE! Think Intelligence
For business Ideas, click here   To get business capital, click here




Monday, July 4, 2016

CHOOSING YOUR BUSINESS PARTNER



Choosing your partners in business
Put God first, get an exit strategy before starting, work with passion, and determine if what your partner brings to the table is what is needed the most at that moment.

Have you ever heard of any successful partnership and wished it for yourself? Definitely, we all must have heard of successful partnerships, good examples are: the Jumia friends, the Google boys etc. Its only Nigerian music partnerships I know that barely lasts; even twin brothers ended their business partnership.

A partnership can be a good thing, and a disastrous thing. Just as we all know of successful partnerships, we might have probably heard of the disastrous partnerships; even marriage partnerships turn out terribly wrong at times. A partnership would only be great if you have the fundamentals played out right.

Since we are specializing on business partnerships, I would expatiate on building a successful business partnership.
For a business partnership to be successful, certain things have to be set in place, some questions have to be answered and some consultations need to be made.
Ask yourself these questions-
                                                *   Why do I want a partner?
                                              *   What kind of partner do I want?
                                       *   What will be the terms of the partnership?
                                         *   How long would do the partnership last?
Before answering these questions, you should understand yourself, which is probably the most important thing.

Answering these questions entails, whether you need a partner for intellectual capital, financial capital or you need an assistant, if the latter is the case, you should probably get a PA, sometimes, pressure and stress make us think we need partners. You should do this to forecast the future of the business and your partnership, from your point of view as well as your partners'.
You also need to understand yourself first before you can understand your partner, you should be frank with yourself to know if you're a good team worker, if you're not, your partnership would definitely have an expiry date.

Expiry dates in partnership isn't actually a bad thing. 

Before you start a partnership in the first place, you should legally spell out the terms of the partnership which should entail an exit strategy (this could serve as the expiry date) should in case the partnership doesn't work out. That's similar to stating the terms for a divorce before marriage commitment. The terms should also contain other details such as revenue contribution and profit sharing ratios, duties of each partner and the rules and regulations binding the partnership. Many of us overlook having doing the legal work for various things we put our hands into, which is why 10years hard work and sustained partnership can become a death threat within days.
The legal backing stands as your insurance in a partnership.

Most importantly, understanding yourself first would help you determine the partner you want, who should definitely share the same passion you have for the success of the business. If one partner has passion and can commit all for the success of the business while the other can't, one party begins to feel cheated, jealousy sets in, bitterness takes over and disagreement isn't inevitable—funny enough, someone may land in the doctor's care.

You should also understand the personality type of your partner. To be accurate on this, it’s advisable to have known your supposed partner for a while before going into any business together. If you're not compatible, ‘put your slippers on your head and run’.

Lastly, a partnership isn't something you should exempt God from, after all, God is the best partner you can have in a business, He takes care of everything, demands 10% profit and allows you to keep 90%; isn't that a great partner? Involve God through prayers before you begin that partnership.
I hope to hear of more successful partnerships in Nigeria. Partnership could either accelerate your success or give your success a flat tire.

Think WITTEE! Think Intelligence
For business Ideas, click here   To get business capital, click here