Monthly Archives: June 2017
We Badly Need An Unconventional More Real World Relevant Education System [Hint: The Key to Eliminating Youth Unemployment]
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Rob Siltanen
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In my best practice parenting articles at (www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets) over the past decade, I’ve advocated a total and radical overhaul of the conventional Education System the children, especially in my part of the world (in Nigeria/Africa) are exposed to.
Understandably, not many parents and educators are happy with the ideas I propose.
But that does not matter.
This is a change that can cause youth unemployment to be drastically reduced – and we all want THAT!
I know their “majority” disagreement does not matter because I’ve been down the road of believing “alone” in an unpolpular but viable idea before – and have been proved right many times!
Indeed, reactions in some quarters, to my contrarian Ideas as a Best Practice Parenting Advocate, remind me of how my now widely accepted idea of selling custom Excel-VB Solutions (see (www.excelheaven.biz) got me roundly mocked, ridiculed and criticised everywhere I offered them less than a decade ago!
And that’s why I rarely bother about those who disagree with me on ideas my experiences already convince me about.
The quote I began with – above – captures my sentiments perfectly in this regard.
Rob Siltanen’s quoted words resonate with me in terms of the success I enjoy today selling “ordinary” Excel files and my writing skills internationally, 100% via the web – despite being told “Who’s going to pay you to do that here? This is NOT America” when I started out over 10 years ago!
I chose to think and act different from what I saw others doing. Irefused to let the crowd force me to change. Today people relate with/buy from me as if what I do and how I do it is normal and common place.
But in reality, even now, I remain more the exception than the norm!
This is why I remain resolute in my conviction about the need to give my kids real world relevant education that empowers them to be financially independent much earlier in life.
I’ve evolved a model that contradicts conventional wisdom about educating young people.
It is based on eye opening and often painful experiences I’ve had in my adult life, AFTER undergolng conventional education in my society and excelling at it – only to discover it was far from adequate to prepare me for success in tje real world of my society!
The modified approach I advocate, puts Income Earning Vocational Skills Based Training at the foundation of every child’s exposure to formal education. My kids are being taken through this system already and the positive and lasting benefits are apparent despite inevitable teething problems.
I predict that a few years from now, parents and their kids WILL be asking me and miy kids for ideas about how to achieve the results we will be putting on record. Mark my words!
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[RECOMMENDED] BBC NEWS: Could subjects soon be a thing of the past in Finland? | SD Nuggets
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You Need to Protect Record Keeping Integrity On Your Farm – Ensure Accurate & Honest Entries! [Coming Soon: Excel-VB Catfish Farm Business Manager™ – Basic version |See Preliminary Screenshots]
\This article highlights the important need for EVERY farm CEO to diligently ensure accurate and honest data recording is done by ALL operatives at ALL times, if long term success in terms of production and profitability is to be achieved!
I begin, with the excerpt below, taken from a project status update email I just sent today, to a new Catfish Farm CEO client, who (along with 2 others) took up a recent promo offer I made to build them an Excel-VB driven Catfish Farm Business Manager software.
Hi B…….,
Find attached the following:1. An MS Excel file containing a blank Functional Requirement Specifications (FRS) document.You can type and save into it ANY features/functions you want YOUR Catfish Farm Business Manager to have (that are NOT already included in the one I’m working on as per the attached screenshots and PDF details)2. Five screenshot images showing preliminary interfaces in the software I’m building for you (and 2 other Farm CEOs who took up the same offer I sent you).I offer these images to give you a peek into the real life shape and form the app you are going to get will take.3, A PDF document that outlines the 4 Best Practicre Catfish Farm Business Management records I am using as a basis for building the app.I recommend you read it, to understand the thinking behind the work being done, and also to evaluate the 2 BONUS PROMO OFFERS I’ve made to you, which are designed to get you a MORE complete solution to address the challenges you told me about your farm.Here’s an excerpt from the PDFThe FOUR (4) Catfish Farm Production Records described below are the basis for the Catfish Farm Business Manager™ – Basic version I’m Building [See Attached Screenshots]
1. Pond Management Record Sheet [PMRS] – for tracking operational details of pond production
2. Pond Feed Record Sheet [PFRS] – used for tracking feed use and the response of the fish to feeding.
3. Other Pond Management Inputs Records [OPMIR] – used for tracking all other inputs used for fish production e.g. repairs and maintenance, labour man-hours, transportation etc)
4. Pond Management Accounts Records [PMAR] – used to track income/sales and expenses.
BONUS 1: BOPMS™ PROMO OFFER
You can get customized print-ready MS Excel versions of the above four (4) record sheets that your staff can easily print on paper and fill, which you will then use to update YOUR CFBM™ apps.
Simply pay N50k to have me setup a basic BOPMS™ for your Farm business via development of
(1) Job Descriptions
(2) Work Instructions
(3) Record formats
(4) KPIs and
(5) Problem Solving Guides for you/your farm personnel to use.
QUESTION: How Will Getting 1 to 5 Help You/Your Farm Business?
ANSWER: The CFBM™ software you’re getting is only ONE component (i.e. an EIS) in a BOPMS™. The CFBM™ app, and your entire farm, will work better when others (like 1 to 5) are present. See the BOPMS™ Mind Map.
Below are details of features each record sheet should have: ###Excerpts from PDF end###
See the attached PDF for the rest – including a new article that I just published on my blog titled “You Need to Protect Record Keeping Integrity On Your Farm – Ensure Accurate & Honest Entries! [Coming Soon: Excel-VB Catfish Farm Business Manager™ – Basic version |See Preliminary Screenshots]”
This kind of app mentioned above, is what I refer to as an Entreprise Information System (EIS) in the Mind Map for my Best Operating Process Management System (BOPMS) for Profitable Farm Business Management.
It is one of the key tools for enhancing farm business production and profitability.
However, without accurate and honest data recording, such tools can end up being rendered ineffective or useless!
Which brings me to the topic for THIS articles….
How accurate/reliable are YOUR farm records? Few farmers can answer THAT question confidently!
Yet, when it comes to data analysis and trending for timely farm planning/decision making, NOTHING matters more than working with accurate and reliable data.
The popular “Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO)” saying applies fully in this regard.
Diligent – and TRUTHFUL – Farm Records Keeping using available best practice farm records keeping documents is crucial to the long term profitability of a Catfish (and any other) farm Business. Measured Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the most reliable means to accurately monitor, manage and evaluate production output and profitability of the Farm Business.
If those KPIs get computed based on WRONG or FALSE data/records, it would mean potential disaster for the farm business!
The above makes it imperative that all persons involved in record keeping on the farm do so with great diligence and truthfulness. You need to record exactly what you did, or what happened over time. Do not make entries designed to create an impression that you have measuring devices you actually lack.
Example 1: If, for instance, you do NOT have a weighing scale do NOT record weight values as if you used one. Instead, use estimates and state that THAT is what you have done. That way, your records will be seen for what they are i.e. estimates.
Example 2: Or, if you forgot to do the second eggs collections for the previous day, do NOT split the collection from the next morning into two portions to cover for the day you missed. Simply note in the comments that the higher collection in the morning was due to non-collection from the day before. That way, chances of warped trends in the farm’s data will be minimized.
Farm operatives involved in record keeping need to be made to understand that posting false or inaccurate data for production and sales will often do great harm to the business.
In particular, the farmer’s ability to narrow down to and correct mistakes, errors or deficiencies in the operation suffers.
It has been rightly noted by certain aquaculture experts that compared to other farm animal based businesses, fish farming imposes certain peculiar limitations on the farmer’s ability to easily and conveniently measure and evaluate his/her livestock’s performance.
In this regard, the inability of a fish farmer’s to easily see and touch fish has been highlighted.
In other words, since fish live in water by necessity, they cannot be readily seen or touched, in their large numbers by the farmer, except at feeding time (when s/he can use their response to feeding to gauge their performance) and during sampling or harvesting.
If the fish farmer is to ensure s/he achieves the desired long term production and profitability success, s/he cannot depend on the above limited opportunities to determine how well the animals are doing.
This is why diligent documentation and analysis of Recommended Fish Farm Production Records is important.
They are the only reliable way the fish Farm CEO can accurately and reliably monitor trends in “production, fish numbers and changes in fish condition” during the course of each production cycle.
The point being made here is therefore that you MUST ensure all your farm records are documented as accurately and truthfully as possible
It is for the above reasons that I recommend standard record sheets prescribed for best practice farm business management, be designed and produced in print copies for use by your farm operatives.
Correctly filled with truthful data, they will enable quick and easy posting of your farm data into auto-report-generation data entry interfaces in your custom Excel-VB Catfish Farm Business software
PII 072 [AUDIO PODCAST] : How to Get STRANGERS to GLADLY Pay for YOU Online [True Story – WaleIbidunni.com and www.nanaarnold.com]
In this special audio podcast version of my Performance Improvement Ideas (PII) newsletter, I narrate a VERY recent true story which PROVES that a Web Marketing System (WMS) can equip you to achieve what others consider miracles – or impossibilities!
The 2 websites mentioned in the above title (i.e. WaleIbidunni.com and www.nanaarnold.com) would NOT be online and LIVE today, if I had lacked the kind of WMS I have built over the years, that enables me get TOTAL STRANGERS, to send me money without worrying that I would NOT deliver the agreed product or service to them.
SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE FULL ISSUE
Tayo Solagbade’s
Performance Improvement IDEAS
(PI Squared) Newsletter
Monday 26th June 2017
NB: This PI Squared newsletter will be published weekly, on Mondays, in place of the Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, starting from today – 15th February 2016. I’m reinventing my Monday newsletter content and theme, to accommodate my vision of serving the growing audience of serious minded individuals and organizations reaching out to me, with information, education. news and research findings designed to help them do what they do better.
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PII 072 [AUDIO PODCAST] : How to Get STRANGERS to GLADLY Pay for YOU Online [True Story – WaleIbidunni.com and www.nanaarnold.com]
In this special audio podcast version of my Performance Improvement Ideas (PII) newsletter, I narrate a VERY recent true story which PROVES that a Web Marketing System (WMS) can equip you to achieve what others consider miracles – or impossibilities!
The 2 websites mentioned in the above title (i.e. WaleIbidunni.com and www.nanaarnold.com) would NOT be online and LIVE today, if I had lacked the kind of WMS I have built over the years, that enables me get TOTAL STRANGERS, to send me money without worrying that I would NOT deliver the agreed product or service to them.Last week, specifically on the 20th of June 2017, I achieved yet another milestone in my success achievement online when I got a UK based professional, who has NEVER met with me, to send fund my web hosting reseller account online, with $100 USD that I then used to process pending payments for domain/hosting renewals for both websites to beat a DELETION deadline for one of them.The gentleman had previously repeatedly reached out to me since 2014/5, regarding his personal plans, and how I could help him. But we had/have NOT even agreed what I should do for him, so this payment he made on my behalf was FUTURISTIC in nature.Can you BEAT THAT!????Even the owner of the website that almost got deleted did NOT expect me to get it done this way – especially after I had failed to secure alternative means to get my own payment cards BEFORE the deadline for deletion.Indeed, I would NOT blame him for being in denial about the status of his website online. Afterall, how easy is it to believe this kind of thing can happen out here?!But I NEVER gave up you see. Hence the result I got – and often get – in chasing my goals.And THAT is what MANY people do not know how to do. They not only give up easily,. but they also try to give up on behalf of the person who refuses to give up.In the 5MB (30 minute long) MP3 podcast file linked below, I narrate the FULL story of how I pulled off this feat, so as to document it for record purposes and to offer it as a source of inspiration to others.That way, if/when they find themselves in a similar hopeless looking situation, they WILL remember that they can still THINK up a way to succeed, despite adversity, by having blind faith and a refusal to recognise failure like I HABITUALLY DO!.Check out both websites – to get a feel for what they are about.1. www.waleibidunni.com – this is a new site that is work in progress2. www.nanaarnold.com – this is a website I built for a legal consultant client based in Cotonou in 2014. An update of links and contents is imminent due on the site.
Click here (Right-click) to download the MP3 podcast file and start listening:
Below: Offer email I sent to T.A, the UK based Nigerian professional who helped fund my online account
Below: Screenshot of my Resellerclub.com account interface showing the receipt generated following funding of my account by T.A
Below: Screenshot of automated email notification sent by Resellerclub.com to my email inbox showing the receipt generated following funding of my account by T.A
Below: Screenshot of automated notifications received in my inbox as I processed payments for both websites’ renewals
Final Words; Watch out for the Video based version of this message!
Like I noted in the audio podcast, I will be publishing a video based version of this message on Wednesday, with screenshots shown above and more, including verbatim transcript excerpts from the audio message.
Click here to join my mailing list, if you wish to be notified when the video version goes LIVE
Related Articles
Excel-VB Driven Ration Formulator
1. Click here to learn more about this app – watch demo videos etc
2. Click here to watch a 4 part video in which I demonstrate how to use this app to formulate rations using real life data sent to me by an Algerian PhD student.
Click here to contact me about purchasing this product.
EXCEL-VB DRIVEN POULTRY LAYER FARM MANAGER SOFTWARE
Click here to download a detailed PDF user guide and watch 15 screen shot user guide tutorials of the Monthly Poultry Farm Manager that I now offer Farm CEOs.
Click here to contact me about purchasing this product.
SDN Blog™
New posts from last week*
Monday:
N/A
[Wednesday]:
N/A
[Thursday]:
[RECOMMENDED] Meet South Africa’s youngest millionaire only at 23 CGTN Africa 1,014,527 views
[Friday]:
N/A
[Saturday]:
N/A
[Sunday]:
Protected: The FARM CEO (Issue 86): Entrepreneur – 10 Unusual Ways to Advertise, 10 Proven ways to Market Your Website, 7 Wayx to Promote Your Business Online for Free | OPEN Forum
[EXCEL-VB HEAVEN IDEAS PODCAST + Goodbye Message] Start Making Money Developing Your Own Range of Custom Excel-VB Software!
Tayo K. Solagbade*
Self-Development/Performance Improvement Specialist
*Best Practice Farm Business Support Specialist & Founder of the MS Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation Club and Competition
Mobile: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic)
Tayo K. Solagbade is a Location Independent Performance Improvement
Specialist and Multipreneur (i.e. a highly versatile/multi-skilled entrepreneur), with a bias for delivering Best Practice solutions to Farm Businesses and others.
Since 2002, he has earned multiple streams of income providing individuals and organizations with personal development training and coaching, custom MS Excel-VB solutions, web marketing systems/web hosting, freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners).
Tayo is the author of the Self-Development (SD) Bible™ and the popular Livestock Feed Formulation Handbook. He is also the developer of its accompanying Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator™ and the Poultry Farm Manager™ software.
He has delivered talks/papers to audiences in various groups and organizations, including the Centre for Management Development, University of Lagos, Christ Baptist Church, Volunteer Corps, Tantalisers Fast Foods and others.
In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.
On 1st April 2013, Tayo (who reads, write and speaks the French language) relocated to Cotonou, Benin Republic to begin slowly traveling across the West African region.
His key purpose is to deliver talks, seminars and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).
In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years (October 1994 to December 2001) as a high performing manager in Guinness Nigeria. He rose from Shift Brewer to Training & Technical Development Manager, and later acted in senior roles as Production Manager and Technical Manager.
In addition to constantly challenging the status quo and influencing positive work changes, he built a reputation for using self-taught spreadsheet programming skills (starting with Lotus 1-2-3, and later moving to Excel Visual Basic) – in his spare time – to develop Automated Spreadsheet Applications to computerize manual report generation processes in the departments he worked. Over four(4) of his applications were adopted for brewery level reporting.
Tayo holds a B.Sc degree in Agricultural Extension Services from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, having graduated top of his class – with Second Class Upper Division honors – in 1992. He is an Associate Member of the UK Institute & Guild of Brewing, a 1997 National Finalist of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s(NIM) Young Managers’ competition, a Certified Psychometric Test Administrator for Psytech UK, innovator of Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development™ (SCfS-D™), and Founder of the Self-Development Academy (SDAc).
When he’s not amazing clients with his superhuman skills (wink), Tayo works as the creative force behind his Daily Self-Development Nuggets blog – on which he also publishes The Farm CEO Weekly Newspaper (sent via email to paid subscribers) and his Weekly Performance Improvement IDEAS newsletter.
You can connect with him on Twitter @tksola.com and Facebook.
Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your personal and work related productivity.
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[IMPORTANT NOTE:====
On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.
Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” of it the website http://www.tayosolagbade.com.
But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts he’s published.
If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.
Click “Tayo, What Happened to SpontaneousDevelopmentDotCom ?” to read a detailed narrative about how the above event occurred :-))
Here’s an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:
Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix
(TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)
And he wrote the one below, to explain why losing a domain name, no matter how old, NO LONGER determines your online success or otherwise:
A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name
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Protected: The FARM CEO (Issue 86): Entrepreneur – 10 Unusual Ways to Advertise, 10 Proven ways to Market Your Website, 7 Wayx to Promote Your Business Online for Free | OPEN Forum
[RECOMMENDED] Meet South Africa’s youngest millionaire only at 23 CGTN Africa 1,014,527 views
This video is better watched by YOU, than narrated to you.
The comment reproduced below was made by a past viewer of the interview with this baby (teenage) faced 23 year old South African millionnaire – and it perfectly captures my sentiments about this young man’s achievement:
Such a great story. To take your university money and throw it into the forex market takes some guts. The truest definition of risk versus reward.
Watch the full video to learn how he achieved THAT feat!
Protected: PII 071: VIDEO Tutorial – How I built my Automated Cash Book/Bank Reconciliation Spreadsheet Software [Part 1]
The FARM CEO (Issue 85): VIDEOS – How to Start a Farm with No Money, How to build a fish pond (Backyard fish farming), How to Make Money on a Small Farm
This week’s issue of the Farm CEO newspaper features 3 videos titled (1) How to Start a Farm with No Money (2) How to build a fish pond and (3) How to Make Money on a Small Farm
(1) How to Make Money on a Small Farm
(2) How to build a fish pond
(3) How to Start a Farm with No Money
[RECOMMENDED] Lagos Opens Website To Register Undergraduates For Internship Scheme
[RECOMMENDED] Lagos Opens Website To Register Undergraduates For Internship Scheme
I continue to shake my head at the irony of the situation in which supposed graduates from Nigerian institutions keep “NEEDING” brushing up and polishing to make them more “employable” AFTER they exit tertiary institutions they spent YEARS preparing in!
My argument remains that MANY of our kids are being made to pass through these institutions learning courses in fields they are VERY unlikely to easily find jobs in, or qualify for by way of employability.
It is my considered opinion that we NEED to get real and guide our kids to acquire real world relevant education based on their identified geniuses/talents.
That way, ALL this wasteful spending of money on pseudo-tertiary-education, that ends up needing the graduates to the “retrained”(!) to be able to ADD value to the real world, would not be necessary!!!
The news report previewed/linked below is heartwarming to the extent that it announces efforts by the Lagos State government to go beyond just giving jobs and training to graduates.
I say this especially because of the extra steps being taken – as highlighted below – to develop a sustainable model that is built into the existing schooling system.
In a forthcoming article, I will publish transcript excerpts I’ve typed out from a video in which the Vocational Skills based education system of a European country with the highest Youth unemployment rate in the world, is compared with the College tuition based education system of a North American nation whose youth unemployment rates keep climbing.
The differences between results being obtained in both economies are stunning in their implications – and offer the rest of us valuable lessons on changes we need to make!
This is happening via what Lagos State Government calls the:
“Ready.Set.Work (RSW) scheme which is an entrepreneurship and employability initiative designed to equip final year students of tertiary institutions in the State with the right skills to add value to the society.”
Lagos is choosing to go a step further to (quote):
“…integrate the RSW into the education curriculum of the State, and also expand the modules as well as the benefiting institutions.”
Lagos Opens Website To Register Undergraduates For Internship Scheme
The Lagos State Government on Thursday announced the opening of its website to register intending applicants for the 2017 edition of Ready.Set.Work (RSW) scheme which is an entrepreneurship and employability initiative designed to equip final year students of tertiary institutions in the State with the right skills to add value to the society.
Special Adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh, who disclosed this at a news conference in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, said interested applicants would be able to access the website – www.readysetwork.com.ng from June 16, while the training would run from July 1 to September 16, 2017.