2015: The Newest Bride!

The year 2014 has

...the newest bride!

come and gone! So much testimonies…new homes, new cars, new jobs, new couple…lots but to mention few.

It is no news that economies are not looking good across the globe. Nigeria is hit severely because of her dependence on oil for decades. Revenue has dropped drastically! The Nigerian government recently called on the citizens to imbibe austerity measures in the year 2015. No doubt, the world is facing unprecedented unemployment – even in the developed world. Youth are particularly hard hit. In 2014 more students in their thousands graduated from Nigerian tertiary institutions. Many moved directly into the swollen ranks of the unemployed.

According to the International Labor Organization, youth unemployment in most of the world is stuck at about 20 percent. "Young people [are] nearly three times as likely as adults to be unemployed," says the ILO. It may surprise you to know that Nigeria is not alone in this, in Spain more than 50 percent of young people are unemployed, in Italy it's 35 percent, and in France the rate is more than 25 percent. When considering under-employment, these numbers could be doubled. It therefore instructive to state that there’s no safe haven anywhere.

Traditional methods of job creation are stalled because our government has persistently pay lip service to supporting small and medium enterprises in Nigeria.

One of the keys to solving this problem is entrepreneurship. Research shows that 80 percent of new jobs come from companies 5 years old or less. So the need for entrepreneurs has never been greater, in both developing and developed countries. When given the right conditions to flourish, entrepreneurs are the foundation of growth, prosperity and even innovation. They bring fresh thinking to the marketplace and fuel the creative destruction that makes market economies prosper.

In addition to creating jobs, new companies are the foundation of the economy and the source of much innovation. They also create the new goods and services on which our standard of living is based. The Internet slashes transaction and collaboration costs for almost every institution in an economy. This is leading to a change in how societies orchestrate capability to innovate, create goods, services and public value. With such costs falling precipitously, companies can increasingly source ideas, innovations and uniquely qualified minds from a vast global pool of talent.
Waiting for governments or big companies to solve the problem is not the answer. Necessity is the mother of invention. Is it time to take the bull by the horns and make your own job?

The best thing I ever did in my professional life was to become an entrepreneur. It was tough, but it worked out well for me and I have a life of influence, prosperity and fun beyond anything I ever dreamed. Here’s my advice to you.

1. Create customer-based business. Peter Drucker said years ago: “The purpose of any business should be to create a customer.” Create some value that a customer would want to pay you for. Also, Tony Hsieh the CEO of Zappos, said: “Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.”

2. Don’t seek big or venture capital. These days virtually no venture capitalist invest in a business plans or even early-stage companies. Besides, you don’t need them. Fortunately, it is less costly than ever to create a company (business name or limited liability). The best is to have a product or service that generates initial revenue so you don’t have to borrow money or give away equity. Or get a short-term loan or small investment from your family or friends.

3. Take advantage of the Internet. The Internet enables start-ups to focus on what you do best. Thanks to the Internet and cloud computing, small companies can now have all the capabilities of big companies, without the main liabilities: stifling bureaucracy, legacy culture and processes. Talent can be outside enterprise boundaries and companies can use the new media to market and engage stakeholders in radically new, low-cost ways.

4. Persevere. Owning business requires a lot of steadfastness. “Ninety percent of everything is just showing up.” "Success is 90 percent perspiration and 10 percent inspiration.”

It’s a lot of hard work to build a business...however, it's good to start early in the year.

Disjointed <> Dysfunctional

There is wide difference between working hard and hard-working. The saying 'Jack of all trade, master of none' is a truism where and when Jack is all-in-all in a course of action.

In a disjointed system, it is extremely difficult to make positive impact. This is because such systems seldom have structures. People in paid employment are geared towards achieving set goals even when the work environment of not conducive.

Disjointed breeds dysfunctional...making easy, possible tasks look impossible.

Sow, Reap

The Law of Sowing and Reaping suggests that we'll all reap what we've sown, but it also suggests that we'll reap much more. Life is full of laws that both govern and explain behaviors, but this may well be the major law we need to understand: For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards. Discipline is synonymous with leadership.

Everything of value requires care, attention and discipline. Our thoughts require discipline. We must consistently determine our inner boundaries and our codes of conduct, or our thoughts will be confused. And if our thoughts are confused, we will become hopelessly lost in the maze of life. Confused thoughts produce confused results.

Everything in life has its price. Everything affects everything else. Neglect discipline, and there will be a price to pay.

If you're often inclined to toss your clothes onto the chair rather than hanging them in the closet, be careful. It could suggest a lack of discipline. And remember, a lack of discipline in the small areas of life can cost you heavily in the more important areas of life. You cannot clean up your company until you learn the discipline of cleaning your own garage. You cannot be impatient with your children and be patient with your distributors or your employees. You cannot inspire others to sell more when that goal is inconsistent with your own conduct.

Your life, my life, the life of each one of us is going to serve as either a warning or an example. A warning of the consequences of neglect, self-pity, lack of direction and ambition... or an example of talent put to use, of discipline self-imposed and of objectives clearly perceived and intensely pursued.

The Youth

Youth is wasted on the young, or at least that’s what they say, but it would be a travesty if it were true. Youth is not only a time of life; it’s also a state of mind. Harvey Mackay, best-selling author and business speaker, says he stopped counting after his 39th birthday. He still considers himself young and he intends to stay that way.

You can have a youthful outlook and attitude at an old age, or an old-fogey attitude at a young age. The choice is yours.

Want to stay young at heart and mind? Here are Mackay’s ideas to help you:

1. Keep only cheerful, positive friends.
You can pick your friends, and I like to choose those who are positive and those who challenge me. They make me feel good. They don’t drag me down or make me angry at the world. Negative people see the difficulty in every opportunity, while positive people see the opportunity in every difficulty.

2. Keep learning.
I think Henry Ford put it best when he said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” I’ve always advised -never stop learning.

MIND...its potentials

The phrase "garbage in, garbage out" comes to mind when I think about the way some people live their lives. It is up to you to do the work of changing your beliefs, because when you do, you will be opening up new worlds - literally. The truth is that you have an amazing mind with a capacity for learning that is beyond your comprehension. You must believe this and feed your mind with valuable information. And when you do, you will be unlocking the potential of your mind. Here are three steps to help you find your genius:

1. Get the right knowledge. Words - if they are not true - are meaningless. I have heard people say, “I read it in a book.” But is it true? Just because someone says it or writes it, doesn't mean it is true. As learners, we want to get the right knowledge, not just information or opinions. It is our job to seek out information and knowledge and then test it and run it through our minds to see if it is true and if it can be rightfully applied to our lives in order to make them better. We need to weigh and measure what we learn in order to gain the right knowledge.

2. Become passionate about learning. This will take some work, but the only way to do it is to begin learning about things that have an immediate impact in your life. When you learn about a new financial concept that helps you earn money or get out of debt, you get fired up. When you learn about a way to communicate that helps you sell more products, you’ll feel energized. When you learn about how to interact with your family in a healthy way and your relationships get better, you’ll feel inspired.

3. Discipline yourself through the hard work of study. Learning will take work. Until someone comes up with modules that can plug into your mind and give you instant access to knowledge, you are on your own, and that takes work. The process of learning is a long one. Yes, we can speed it up, but it is still a process of reading, listening, reviewing, repetition, applying the knowledge, experiencing the outcomes, readjusting, etc. Simply put, it takes time. Slowly but surely, when you discipline yourself, you will gain knowledge and begin learning.

Learning is possible, no matter what your age. You are never too young or too old. Your mind was created to learn and has a huge capacity to do so.

God's Service Par Excellence

When we choose to follow God, what we get doesn’t always match what we expected. No matter. Even if others ignore or forget you, whatever you’re doing for God is important to God. For that reason,” Elisha admonishes, “give your best wherever God puts you.”

I turn Elisha’s words over in my mind. It’s true that God’s ways are not our ways. What we want isn’t always what serves God best. Yet when we are willing to put ourselves in God’s hands and do what He asks, giving our best, God uses us. Even before I went further in the scriptures, I’m starting to understand some things about the way God works:

1. IF YOU GIVE YOUR BEST IN OBSCURITY, GOD WILL RECOGNIZE IT

2. IF YOU DO YOUR BEST IN THE SMALL THINGS, GOD WILL GIVE YOU BIGGER THINGS TO DO

In the ten years Elisha served Elijah, he was asked to do the lowliest of tasks. An officer of the king of Israel described Elisha as the one who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah. That was normally the job of a servant of low status. If Elisha did that, he undoubtedly performed other menial tasks during his decade of service.

If you are willing to do small things in the service of God, and do them with excellence, God will give you opportunities to do bigger things for Him when you are ready.

That's sincere lesson for leaders, real leaders.

Success: No Short-Cut

I am extremely leery of any quick fix solution for success or riches. In my opinion, they don't exist. With that said, the following formula is one that I have recently shared with few people around me to encourage them to break through the rut they are in and experience success. I suggested that they begin to do the following two things on a regular basis:

1. Surround yourself with positive people who believe that this life is not all that there is. Personally, I find this at my church. I know we don't share the same faith in all cases. But this message is not about my faith. It is about you finding a group of people who regularly meet together and have a belief that there is more to life than what we see. This is the first step to a positive outlook on life.

2. You must educate yourself through reading. Based on findings, the average CEO in America reads four to five books per month. The average American reads one book per year, and 60 percent of us don't get past the first chapter! As leaders, let's replicate the American CEOs. If it works for them it can work for us. Make a promise to yourself to read at least one book per month. Develop a passion for reading and learning, and you will see your attitude and outlook on life begin to change.

Any person who faithfully invests their time in these two areas may not break world records in levels of success. However, everything in me believes that they would see dramatic improvements.