All posts by Tayo Solagbade

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 organisations with personal development training and coaching, custom MS Excel-VB solutions, web marketing systems, freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners). Tayo is the author of the Self-Development (SD) Bible™, the popular Livestock Feed Formulation Handbook, and developer of its accompanying Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator - as well as the increasingly popular Monthly Poultry Farm Manager app. On 1st April 2013, Tayo (who reads, writes and speaks the French language) relocated to Cotonou, in the French Speaking Benin Republic on the first lap of his slow travels 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). 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 previews of paid issues of The Farm CEO™ Newspaper (www.thefarmceo.net), in addition to his FREE Weekly Public Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter - which he uses to promote Burt Dubin's Public Speaking Mentoring service to experts across the African continent. Visit Tayo's Flagship Performance Improvement website to download over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your personal and work related productivity. Join Tayo's international community of fans on his Flagship MS Excel Heaven Facebook page (click here). You can also connect with him via Twitter (@tksola).

Career Development

What If Your Boss Asks You To Do Wrong?

October 25, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Are you in paid employment, and eager to advance up the position ladder or corporate hierarchy? If yes, there’s a good chance you’ll have to confront the above challenge at least once in your career. Most people would agree that going against laid down operational guidelines (especially those affecting product or service quality/delivery) is wrong. Examples would be bypassing standard procedure in manufacturing a product (i.e. cutting corners) for personal gain; or giving or receiving bribes etc.

If you are asked to do wrong along the lines mentioned above, however, how you tackle that challenge may depend on a number of factors such as:

1. Your position in the company

New entrants or lower ranked employees tend to be at the receiving end of instructions and orders most times. If you’re still at the bottom of the pecking order, getting asked to do what you consider to be wrong, could put you in a major dilemma

Take the case of Andrew – a junior line manager. He was asked by his boss to use a procedure that had been expressly forbidden in a memo by the company’s management. Everybody knew it was an outlawed “practice”. Yet, his boss verbally instructed him to do it, so they could recover lost time to meet the week’s target volume output.

As a junior line manager, Andrew knew he could not hope to convince anyone that this really happened, if he chose to report it. But he also knew that if he went ahead and did as he had been asked, his boss could deny telling him to do it, if anything went wrong!

So, he was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea – figuratively speaking.

After thinking about it for a while, he recalled having a conversation with some of the veteran managers. They had worked with his boss many years before, and shared a valuable lesson they picked up:

If you boss asks you to do anything you’re not convinced he’ll back you up on when it comes to the crunch, get him to put it in writing. Politely request a memo from him instructing you to do it. Once you have that signed document stating explicitly his instructions to you, go ahead and do it.

Even if you’re not new (or young) in the company, you can still use the above strategy.

But in your case, an even better line of action would be to call your boss’ attention to the fact that what he’s asking you to do is against company policy.

Politely point out the implications. Depending on how far apart you are in “rank”, and the degree of seriousness of the issue, you may formally advise him that you’ll have to put in a formal report if he insists on going ahead. This would not be a selfish move on your part – especially if the company’s management is not in the know. You could be doing the organization a big favour they would appreciate on finding out about it. And THAT would be a good way to do YOUR JOB – which is what you’re being paid to do.

2. Your boss’ position in the company

This is another factor that can influence how you deal with a boss’ request for you to do wrong.

If your boss is the owner of the company (say it’s an SME), then it gets easier for you either as a new employee or a veteran staff.

Since s/he owns the company, if the issue has to do with bypassing standard procedure for instance, and you are in charge of Quality Control, voice your professional opinion.
Whether or not you decide to do what s/he asks will now depend on what implications doing it will have – on you, and others, including the larger society.

Lets say s/he asks you to arrange for dumping of contaminated byproducts from the plant or factory in a nearby lake at night, to save scarce funds. Your sense of responsibility, professional obligation, and of course your conscience should come into play here.

If you worry about losing your job if s/he fires you for saying no, consider the possibility that you could join him on a trip to jail (or some severe form of reprimand), if the authorities discover your abuse of environmental protection laws.

What’s more, the impact on other people – to the extent that their health could be damaged should concern you. Draw courage from those considerations and tactfully try to persuade your boss to pursue a different line of action. If s/he won’t budge, consider more serious lines of action e.g. saying NO, and/or reporting to the authorities.

Sometimes the request may not have such serious consequencies as the above. For instance, as the owner of the company, your boss could ask you to delay payment of salaries till the 10th of every month, instead of paying it on the 30th day as required by law.

Maybe you’re the accountant or administrative manager in the company. How far would you go in obeying orders if it means doing wrong to innocent others?

On the one hand it’s not your company. On the other hand, those being denied their pay when due, would be made to suffer needlessly after fulfilling their end of the employee-employer agreement.

Would you just go ahead and every month delaying people’s salaries till they have to borrow from relatives and friends to keep coming to work? Or would you summon the courage to gently but firmly get your boss to do the right thing?

I know someone who successfully took action to correct this kind of behavior by taking on an entire company’s management team. And he did it without starting a big fight, but instead by using the Socratic technique.

By the time he was done, it was obvious to his superiors that they could not justify continuing the practice under the guise that it would ensure people stayed committed to their jobs!

3. The part of the world you’re in

In discussing points 1. and 2. above, I deliberately did not bring up the matter of the level of “development” of the socio-economic environment in which your company operates.

The realities of life are different in some parts of the world. The opportunity to be able to leave home and say they’re off to work every morning, makes some people willing to put up with almost anything – including inhumane treatment from employers.

The employers know this, just as well as the employees do. And that creates the basis for the latter to get away with what they want – sometimes, and often. But not all the time.

Working in a company under such socio-economic conditions could influence your disposition on such a matter as deciding what to do about right or wrong.

A married man for instance, who works as accountant would probably be wary of being too diligent in pointing out his boss’ error in delaying payments, for fear that an eager replacement can be quickly found to do what is being asked!

Having said that, some individuals do not let such realities cow them.

In fact, a useful defence to adopt in such situations would be to hone your skills on the job so well, that your boss would literally dread the thought of having to replace you. You can make yourself so valuable – an asset not to be joked with – that when you express an opinion, those who matter will often listen. You would then use that to your advantage.

On the other hand, if you’re based in a developed society, so many laws and rules already exist to keep most bosses in line when it comes to doing right or wrong in their companies. But that does not stop some people from trying. Find out more about what the laid down guidelines entail, and use that knowledge to guide yourself in taking up your boss as/when the need arises to stop him/her from making you do wrong.

On a final note, it goes without saying that your conscience will never fail you if you listen to it. So, pay attention! Not doing so in the short term may seem a wise thing to do. However, in the long run, letting yourself get used to do wrong will be a decision that will come back to haunt you later on.

Entrepreneurship, Farm Biz

Six Smart Steps To Market Your (Farm) Products Online

October 23, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

The use of the word “smart” is deliberate. It’s meant to represent anything you do to boost your business’ marketing performance which does NOT make running your business more cumbersome or expensive.

In this write-up I discuss six steps you can take, to create an online presence that can attract high profile bulk buyers for your farm products.

In applying the ideas offered, I propose you explore agreeing short to medium or long term contracts with intending buyers as your products are available.

1. Build A Smart Website

It costs very little today, to get a domain name and website hosting account setup. And making your website “smart” will cost you next to nothing, if you’re willing to DIY.

Use A Content Management System (CMS): Either Joomla! or WordPress is recommended based on their relative popularity, and availability of support communities. It’s likely the hosting account you already use is CPANEL powered. That means you have INSTANT access to the aforementioned open source software – just login to your CPANEL account and click on the Fantastico De Luxe link in the panel located towards the page bottom.

WordPress is easier to learn. Joomla! has a fairly steep learning curve. Both are CMS – they allow even a non-technical user easily update her website without the help of a web designer. And the CMS come with plugins that add extra functionality.

Have your website setup to offer standard information about your farm business (About Us, Products, Services, Contact us etc).

2.     Setup Smart Social Media Marketing Channels

People on Linked In already have a mindset to do business. Unlike Twitter and Facebook enthusiasts who just congregate in a marriage of multiple unrelated interests.

Having said that people belonging to the latter group can still be your potential customers. This is because some are CEOs, and others may be event planners or hosts that could need bulk supplies of your kinds of farm products.

Build a "professional" profile for yourself on Linkedin.com. Add a page for your company. Then setup accounts on Twitter and Facebook as well.

There’s little to lose since they’re free to use. But DO NOT do so if you are not prepared to keep them updated with new and relevant content. Integrated automation tools like RSS Graffiti can help with updating multiple media simultaneously. Add social media share buttons, including Facebook comment boxes etc to your website.

On social media, your regular publishing of useful information will attract attention from people who fit your target audience profile, but do not know you. Since they belong in the network of those who do know you, they’ll get intermittently exposed to your stuff.

Over time, they’ll come over to see more. And may signup or contact you via your request form. But you will have had no conscious involvement in making it happen. These kinds of people often end up being more profitable to do business with.

3. Use Smart E-mail Newsletter Marketing

Setup a smart e-mail newsletter subscription system. Mailchimp.com offers a good one that has a free starter level account suited to the needs of most SMEs.

You’ll need to capture prospects’ email and phone details. That requires an aggressive content creation strategy that will keep your website constantly brimming with new content considered valuable/useful by those who belong to your target audience.

When people visit your web presence i.e. your website/blog and social media pages, the trail of your content should lead back to your subscriber recruitment system.

Getting them to signup when they arrive can be induced by offering incentives like contest prizes, or say free reports on eating healthy farm products or even a special educational publication on caring for/rearing farm animals.

As your list grows, nurture it. Build your brand. Make a statement by launching and sustaining at least monthly newsletter broadcasts to subscribers. People will pay attention only if they see that you take yourself seriously.

HINT: Tell stories, or describe case studies based on occurrences in your farm business. Tell them how you solved a problem. Describe how you developed a better process.
Relate it to your ability to consequently produce greater output or better product quality. Be generous with pictures that present your farm enterprise in a way that builds credibility for you, in the minds of the readers. Delight them with exceptionally useful content on a regular basis. Do it so well that they come to look forward to it.

Monitor their interests by using an automated system (e.g. Mailchimp) that lets you know how many open the emails you send; which of your links they click on etc. That insight will help you understand what interests them, and guide you in creating additional content..

As you do all these, sprinkle special offers to supply farm products in bulk to hotels, bars, restaurants and even social events. Use images and pictures showing your live or dressed farm products to demonstrate their appeal.

Over time, you’ll notice how your readers begin to make enquiries. It works, I tell you!

4. Join Smart Online Local Directory Listings

A local example is www.nigeriagalleria.com. You can greatly increase the chances of getting your farm business discovered online, by getting on as many similar high profile listings as possible. This is a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned.

Important Note: Even if you have to pay, it’s always smarter to signup for a package that allows you display you website URL and email address.

That way, interested persons can follow up with you by going to your website. And from there, your carefully orchestrated web marketing system would take over.

5. Streamline Content Updates Using Smart RSS Feeds

When you publish new content on your website, syndication tools like RSS Graffiti can immediately display it in your social media channels. That’ll save valuable time and money. You’ll free your mind up to monitor results, and also think up new strategies.

Proceed as follows: Setup RSS feed for your blog via Feed burner, so you can monitor the number of subscribers. Then use your Feed burner URL to setup your RSS Graffiti account. That way, anytime you publish a post on your farm’s blog/website, your social media channels are instantly updated.

6. Adopt 80% Smart Phone Based Content Update

I don’t care how cash strapped you think you are. As a business person in the 21st century, to implement this kind of web marketing plan, a smart phone can help you.

You should be able to manage 80% of your website content updates from your mobile. It’s the key to your web marketing success.

Over 90% of the content updates and even site changes that happen on my websites happen right from my smart phone. And that includes highly useful insertions of quick HTML code enhancements to my blog posts.

You may not need to go that far, but at least know how to add new posts and quickly post links to your social media channels using smartphone apps.

Respond promptly to web based enquiries, and requests that the systems you set up are likely to generate.

In doing my work, I’m able to make things happen wherever I am – including sending out my newsletter broadcast from my mailing list manager account. While visiting with relatives or attending an event, I can finish editing a new article and publish it on Ezinearticles.com.

Just this evening, I sent a non-print PDF version of my Feed Formulation Handbook to a farm business owner in Ogoja, Cross Rivers State. This was after he’d paid the required fee in full upfront.

He never had to meet me to make this happen. A Google search had brought my website to his attention. He’d read the sales page, submitted the request form, and subsequently followed the instructions in the auto-response.

Only after he had done all that did he need to get in touch with me. And I have since fulfilled my end of the bargain – all from my Blackberry smart phone. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve done this.

TIP: Get a smart phone with web connectivity enabled. If possible, use it as a modem on your PC, for those times you may wish to work on a larger terminal.

What If It’s Not Working?

Oh, it will work, I assure you. You just do your bit as spelt out above. If you follow those guidelines, you WILL get the results I’ve specified. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

And that’s where your business passion and conviction comes to play. Do you enjoy doing what you do i.e. running a farm business?

If yes, then nurturing what will become a self-sustaining viral marketing system will not feel like a chore. I can tell you from my experience selling farm business related information online, that it won’t take long before those potential buyers start knocking.

However, not everyone can implement this kind of plan, while running a farm. So, if you find yourself struggling, stop and make changes e.g get an employee to do it? If that does not work outsource it.

Don’t start this if you’re not prepared to do what it takes to keep it going.

Goodluck

General, Writing/Blogging

Can Competitors Trick Google Into Penalizing Your Website Wrongfully?

October 23, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Can a competitor (e.g. the “friendly” chap next door, who just launched a similar outfit to yours) harm your website or blog rankings using the rules set by Google and other engines? If you said NO, you’re in danger of getting a rude shock one of these days, because it could just happen to you.

The Internet generally provides a level playing field for competition to happen. Those who use it must however play by the rules for the benefits to be consistent.

A good example is the very important matter of achieving search engine visibility. Too many occurrences of manipulation by naughty SEO specialists have recently created the need for an overhaul of search algorithms used.

Sadly, Innocent High Quality Content Websites – Like YOURS – Can Now Get Wrongly Penalized!

With Google’s Panda (content quality) and Penguin (links quality) algorithm updates, so much has changed in terms of what works in getting a website to appear on Search Engine Results Pages(SERPs).

Websites that used to dominate top positions in first pages of search results now languish way down on other pages.

But the annoying thing – and my reason for writing this piece – is that not all of those websites are guilty of wrong doing. This implies that other innocent high quality content websites are probably getting hurt too!

This has led me to a conclusion that may be at variance with what so-called experts will say about SEO that: No one really knows what will happen next. No one is really sure what will continue to work and what will not. NOT EVEN THE EXPERTS! The only people who seem to be able to consistently make headway towards their own goals these days, seem to be those willing to break the rules as they are re-written by Google!!

And this is why (if you are not already aware) I’d like to impress upon you the importance of dedicating quality time, effort and resources to monitoring your website.

Monitor your web logs etc to see what’s being done by “visitors” who stop over. Also stay on top of what’s happening in terms of back links to your website: This is important because Google now ranks websites based on the perceived quality of websites linking back to your website.

Why It CAN Happen To Anyone – Even YOU!

Can you imagine what would happen if someone got say hundreds of porn (and similar low quality) websites to link back to different pages on YOUR website? (Keep in mind that you would NOT be aware this was happening.)

Actually, don’t bother to imagine it. It’s already happening. In other words, Google’s efforts to punish bad guys (the ones I call SEO Provider Scoundrels) has created a line of business for them called NEGATIVE SEO!

And some dirty minded business owners do not mind hiring such individuals to apply negative SEO techniques against their competitors. But these guys may not even need to get hired to implement negative SEO against a client’s competitor.

I have a hunch that they profit from doing it in other ways:

For instance, they could choose a specific website or blog to DO IT to, and let the drop in search engine visibility persist for a while. Then they would contact the owner to offer their paid services in helping to get into the top of SERPs. Sound unbelievable? I say, you never know! Anyway, it’s a theory I have. I cannot prove it. But careful reflection on my recent experiences suggests I could be right.

NB: Those I believe operate in the above manner typically send their offers via gmail and yahoo email addresses, and NEVER offer a website address you can check them out on. But better established providers who lack ethical restraint could also choose play dirty out of greed.

But you could ask, “Why would ANYONE want to do that to MY website? After all, I haven’t done anything to offend anyone!”

My response: In a recent post titled “Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance” (see item no. 2) I mentioned that my website has already been a victim of negative SEO. And I’ve been forced to embark on specific corrective measures prescribed in certain quarters. Hopefully, by the time you read the rest of this piece, you’ll have learnt why it CAN happen to you, and that if it does, it won’t be about YOU!

Preventive Steps You Can Take

Like I stated earlier, I honestly do not believe anyone knows exactly what to do to achieve consistently stable visibility under the new search engine dispensation.

I’ve done a lot of reading up on this subject. At the end of this piece there’s a list of hyperlinked articles and blog posts that you can explore for further reading.

The strategies I outline below (based on my research) have stood the test of time as valuable ways to simultaneously win share of mind, and attract search engine “favour”. You therefore have more to gain, than lose, by putting them to use – like I’m doing already

I believe it is reasonable to expect that a competitor or two may decide they need to "fight" you for search engine visibility. Some may choose to fight dirty. Others may not.

Whatever happens, be prepared to defend your turf.

1. Aggressively Create Quality Content

Aim to establish yours as an authority website/blog via aggressive content creation and multiple back links building on high profile websites in your niche or market. That will minimize any negative SEO impact.

If competitors who turn to Negative SEO lack in-house expertise, they’ll outsource to SEO Provider Scoundrels – and most of the latter can be quite cheap.

So, you must commit to a rigorous new content publishing schedule by way of new posts/articles, videos, slideshows, special reports, white paper, and even pod casts.

Believe me when I say your creativity/passion is crucial to defeating negative SEO!

Everything I say here is from personal experience. Resolve to turn your website or blog into a relentless content publishing machine that Google and other engines will be unable to resist – even if negative SEO is done by competitors. Work hard at it now, and you’ll be able to rest easy later

I now publish at least ONE new post per day on my blog – apart from my weekly newsletter on Public Speaking Ideas. My email subscription rates, website traffic have grown over time as a result. And that’s apart from sales leads for products I offer.

A minimum of one 500 to 1,500 word quality content article per week is good. But MUCH MORE (like four per week) can dramatically attract useful interest from people and friendly search engine bots!

Decide who’s going to be responsible for researching new topics or for publishing content on your website or blog. Your posts or articles, as mentioned above, must capture the attention and interest of potential clients.

Without good quality new content produced regularly, this strategy may not work for you.

Work towards achieving "critical mass” to feed the search engines with good "index-able" material. The results won’t happen overnight, so you must apply tenacity.

2. Diligent Search Engine Optimisation & Backlinks Building

Proper keyword research, and use of meta tag descriptions can get your website/blog found/visited by more of your target audience. Backlink profile building is also another. As you successfully guest post on decent ranking websites, your domain’s backlinks status will be further enhanced. Quality content will also eventually get other sites to link to your posts or pages on their own, over time.

Google’s webmaster tools offer a useful starting point to coordinate your efforts. Do a search to learn how to carry out keyword research. Then apply what you learn to publishing new content on your website and/or blog.

Make sure to read the most recent articles that come up in your searches to be sure you are up to date. I used to be lazy about this before, because I saw a trend in which it seemed not to make much difference for small players.

But with recent developments from Google and others, keyword research has become much more influential in dictating where one ends up in search results. One hint I’ve gotten is to find a niche that’s not as actively competed for, as others, and dominate it.

Search engine results are not static. The reality is that you’ll continually have to work hard to maintain your position or improve on it for keywords you choose. It’s a learning process. But like any other skill, if you keep at it long enough, you’ll get the hang of it.

If/When You Discover Negative SEO Against You

We all hope to be spared the agony of this nasty experience. But just in case it does happen (and with the due diligence advocated, you should detect it early enough), here’s one powerful step you can take where it matters most i.e. with the search engines:

Use the DISAVOW services provided by Bing.com, and more recently (due to popular demand) by Google.com.

Further Reading

1. How to Protect Your Site from Negative SEO – Kaiserthesage.com

2. To Catch a Spammer: Uncovering Negative SEO – Seomoz.org (describes a real life case study in which a Negative SEO practitioner is unmasked. Very interesting read!)

3. Were You Hit By Negative SEO? – Seomoz.org

4. How To Get Rid Of Unwanted Back Links – Searchenginewatch.com

5. Can Competitors Harm Rankings? – Google.com (According to a post on Seoroundtable Google initially said “there’s nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index”, then later updated it to read “Google works hard to prevent other webmasters from being able to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index”. And now, it offers a special DISAVOW service to help you fight such attempts. I believe that’s enough to show how REAL the danger is! Don’t you?

Public Speaking

Should You Market Something You Won’t Deliver?

October 22, 2012 Tayo Solagbade

Preview: I want to tell you a story. A real-life experience that I had very, very recently. At the end, I simply ask YOU to be the judge as to what really happened.

It was a Friday morning. I had gone out with my 3 year old daughter to make a few purchases at the computer village. On my way back to the car, I ran into a gentleman who managed a financial institution I periodically visited(let’s call him "Triks").

We exchanged pleasantries for a while, then the following conversation ensued:

Publication: Tayo Solagbade’s Weekly Public Speaking IDEAS Page (PSIP)Newsletter
Date: Monday 22nd October 2012
No: 60
Title: Should Your Market Something You Won’t Deliver?
Author & Publisher: Tayo K. Solagbade [234-803-302-1263]
Blog URL: http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com/blog
Archive (For E-mail only version started 14th May 2012): Click here to view
Archive (For Blog version started 24th September 2011): Click here

Hi,

Following last week’s hacker attack, I’ve decided to (for now) host the web version of this newsletter on the SD Nuggets blog, and link to it from the non-WordPress based Speaking IDEAS blog via a preview.

Please find below the latest issue of my weekly Public Speaking Ideas page for 2012.

SD Nuggets Blog™
New posts from last week that may interest you!

Public Speaking
[Monday]:
Wine Making…& Your Speaking Proficiency

Entrepreneurship [Tuesday]:

Should You Write With A Target Audience In Mind?

Self Development [Wednesday]:

Why Do YOU Do What You Do?

Career Development [Thursday]:

How To Turn A Major Blunder At Work Into A Career Advancement Opportunity

Parenting [Friday]:

Your Kids Need Teacher-Educators, NOT Teacher-Dictators (10 Distinguishing Traits)

Writing/Blogging [Saturday]:

Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others) – No. 3 in series on comments.

Want me to write for you? Click here…

=====

No. 60: Should Your Market Something You Won’t Deliver?

I want to tell you a story (names, location etc changed for privacy). A real-life experience that I had very, very recently. At the end, I simply ask YOU to be the judge as to what really happened.

It was a Friday morning. I had gone out with my 3 year old daughter to make a few purchases at the computer village. On my way back to the car, I ran into a gentleman who managed a financial institution I periodically visited (let’s call him "Triks").

We exchanged pleasantries, then the following conversation ensued:

Triks: You know I’ve been thinking of inviting you to an event for some time now, but it’s always skipped my mind. We have a business meeting male members of our church normally hold on Saturdays that I really want you to attend. You know we all need to network to take our businesses to the next level.

Me: You’re right about that. Where’s your meeting taking place?

Triks: Oh, it’s at the popular Ikeja guest house over on Allen Avenue. I’m sure you’ll know it.

Me: Yes, I do know it. (Then sensing the details were incomplete, I asked) Are you sure it’s just a business meeting? Or is it one of these Business Men’s Fellowship things that many church organisations out here often hold?

Triks: Well ( that was actually more like "weeellllll") yes it’s a Business Men’s Fellowship, but actually we meet for mostly business – very little religious stuff happens. It’s not a service or any kind.

Me: Are you sure about that?

Triks: Of course. You just come and you’ll see what I mean

Me: Okay. What time does it start?

Triks: It starts at 2pm prompt. We are very strict on time. And it ends 3 hours later, by 5pm

Me: Alright then, no problem. I’ll be there. (I switch my daughter who I’m carrying, to my left arm, so I can shake his hand with my right. Then I start to leave).

Triks: Just a moment. Let me give you an invitation card. He fills my name, email address and phone number on to a bottom section that he tears off for himself. Then he hands me the upper part which has the venue address, and date/time printed on it.

Business Men’s Meeting Becomes Business Men’s Religious Service

The event day arrives, and as is my usual habit, I pick on one of my sons to go out with me, just to see what my world is like. This time, it’s my second son, E. We arrive at the guest house venue at 2.05pm.

Right at the double doors, a well dressed young man is seated behind a desk. He smiles warmly at us and pushes a form across the table for me to fill. After that he hands my son a gift pen, and offers me one as well. I politely assure him the one for my son will do for us both.

We are ushered into the meeting room, which has seats that I quickly estimate would take about 30 to 40 persons. As we take our seats close to the front of the room, I note the time is 2.15 p.m.

A casual look around the room indicates that Triks, who invited me, is yet to arrive. But I soon realize there’s something to while away the time with, as a young pretty lady with an amazingly powerful voice begins singing song after song (church type), accompanied by a pianist/vocal support chap.

Time flies by quickly – thanks to the excellent singing by the duo mentioned above. When check again, it’s 3.05p.m!

I decide it may be time to leave, because no serious business meeting could be that delayed without any formal announcement. All I had seen from our arrival was some strange obsession by most of the few people present (including some officers) to take photos of us as we registered, and then as we sat down. Not just of us – but we got a decent share. And that had me wondering for a bit…

So, I whisper for E to follow me, as I get up and walk briskly towards the door. Out of the corner of my right eye, I see a figure quickly approach, and tap me on the shoulder. It’s Triks.

Me: Oh, so you’re here at last.

Triks: Yes, I’m sorry I came late. Something came up last minute. We’ve not started the meeting because we’re actually waiting for the pastor…

(As he spoke, I could not help wondering what the pastor’s absence had to do with starting a supposed "business meeting" organized for members of his church. And then again there was the issue of a total disregard for time keeping by either him or the meeting planners or both. We were over 1 hour behind schedule – judging from the start time printed on the card I was given and NOT ONE WORD had been said about it!).

Me: You told me the meeting would start at 2 pm, and now it’s after 3 pm and nothing.

Triks: Well actually, we start at 3 pm. We only print the 2pm on the card to provide time for the musical interlude etc, and allow people to get here.

(Even as he said this, the seats were far from half filled, and members were still trickling in. If anyone was concerned about keeping to time, they certainly were not showing it! "What manner of business men are these exactly?" I asked myself)

Me: Look, I came because I gave you my word, and did not want to break a promise. But I’ve actually had a long day, and really need to get back home for some rest. Your meeting looks like it’s running late, and I don’t think I can wait anymore.

Triks: No, no, no! Please wait. I’m sure we’ll start soon. Sorry about the delay.

Me: Okay, let’s wait another 30 minutes. (By this time it’s already 3.30pm – 1.5 hours lost!)

As I return to my seat with my son, I notice heads turned in our direction, with people nodding politely at us in greeting. I respond accordingly, and we finally get seated again.

Thankfully, a flurry of activities commences, ending with a plump looking middle aged man stepping up in front of the room. The first confirmation of my suspicion that the event may not be what I think it is comes when he raises a massive looking Bible in his hands and shouts "Men, praise the Lord!"

Ten minutes later, I’m wondering to myself "Where did the business meeting go?" – because I discover I’m in the middle of some kind of fellowship pre-Sunday sermon delivery. In fact the closest thing to business I noticed anyone had with them were Ipads – but even those featured electronic bibles and not business related stuff.

It’s Time To Leave

Turning to E, I ask "Does this look to you like a business meeting?"

He replies "No."

"Let’s go", I tell him, and we once again head for the door. Not surprisingly, Triks is seated right at the exit (or for my purposes, "the escape"…lol!).

Triks: Oh, you’re leaving. Well I know you’re tired as you’ve said. So you need to take a rest. Thanks for coming in all the same.

Me: Yes, I really do need to get that rest. But the main reason I have to leave is that you told me this was to be a business meeting, Triks. What I see happening is a sermon or fellowship of some sort!

Triks: Yes. Actually we always start with this kind of quick service and then towards the tail end there is a short session on business.

Me: Oh, really. Well I guess I’m going to have to miss that then. Maybe another time.

We smile, shake hands and separate.

Trickery Kills Trust!

Now, like I promised at the start of this piece, let me ask: what is YOUR impression of what happened? Do you think that Triks was sincere, candid, direct, open and honest in the way he got me to attend his event?

Did he give me an accurate picture of what the event was about? Or was he economical with some aspects of the truth, possibly to make me more willing to attend?

Whatever conclusions you draw, my main reason for sharing this story is to encourage the reader to act with honesty and integrity at all times.

This becomes even more important when you are a speaker marketing to prospective or potential clients.

Marketing and sales go together. You can have multiple products or services. But you need to focus on delivering the specific ones a potential buyer expresses interest in AFTER you’ve shown him ALL you have to offer for instance.

To me, that implies that if someone phones me for 2GB flash drives, and I only have 1 GB flash drives in my computer store available at that time, I should tell him THAT. And not tell him I have 2 GB flash drives that he needs, then when he arrives try to pressure him to buy them saying "It’s the same thing. You only need to use two instead of one to get 2GB capacity you need."

Why not let the intending buyer decide that? Why not tell him/her the truth so s/he can decide whether or not to buy what you have, or move on.

Why risk having someone resent you for using "trickery" or deception to waste his/her time???

As A Speaker, Deliver What You Promise

Which brings me to my message for this week. Let me ask you this question:When you market your products and services as a speaker, what do you PROMISE to deliver? And how does that compare to what you eventually deliver?

If you are profess to being a change management speaker, how much of your content/material delivers satisfactory change management education EXPECTED by your client’s audience. Do they leave your events wondering where all those promises went? Or do they emerge raving about how you exceeded their expectations?

I have attended an event where a speaker spent over 80% of the time quoting bible passages, instead of sharing quality experiences/insights about SPECIFIC steps he took to achieve success as an entrepreneur. And yet, the latter was what the event topic promised. Personally, I left that event feeling disappointed!

Here’s A Real Life Example Of How Not Meeting Expectations Can Cost You:

I will never forget how a former expatriate boss of mine told me to suspend a particular external training service provider. He had examined handouts the consultant gave out to the brewery engineering tradesmen on maintenance of pipes used for beer transfer, and he discovered the manual bore the name of the oil company it was originally prepared for!

Get this: Pipes used to transfer crude oil are COMPLETELY different from those used for beer (consumable beverages!) transfer.

For a consultant to promise to provide training for maintenance operatives in a food processing company, and then turn around to use training materials from a crude oil processing outfit was unpardonable. Ethically, and in any other sense. And it was a breach of trust that could not be over looked.

In an environment where merit and quality performance are valued, using trickery to market yourself will only hurt you in the long run. You will look bad, lose face, lose people’s trust – and ultimately lose relevance.

So, even when others seem to be getting away with it, don’t do it. You’ll build a rock-solid reputation of integrity that WILL eventually lead to multiple rewards later on, from those who appreciate it.

Final Words: The Need To Keep An Open Mind On Religion

Just in case anyone’s taken offence (though I doubt it), please sheath your swords. This is NOT an anti-religion piece. I simply use it to offer clarity of thought to those who may need it.

All who know me, and who read my writing, will likely know I am NOT religious. I do not attend church, mosque or any religious meetings in order to worship the creator. But despite that, I keep an open mind. I honour invitations when I can. But not to have myself "sold" on what to believe.

For decades since my third year in the university, when I stopped attending church (more on that in a future write-up), I have found keeping an open mind this way to be beneficial in many ways.

You learn so much more because you are not blinded by some baseless need to promote (or defend) your religion as being better or preferable to others. I mean, does God really need anyone to defend (or fight for) him. Really?? I doubt it.

A few years back, I attended an interesting anniversary programme organized by the Rosicrucian church (AMORC), at the Airport Hotel in Lagos. I was invited by a friend – AK – who had returned from the US with his Austrian wife. They had both told me about their interest in meditation, and other related spiritual stuff.

When AK discovered I was not a church-goer he began to refer to me as a "Seeker". And he would get books of all kinds on spirituality, astrology etc, for me to read and "discover truths". I did read them, but nothing I read swayed me enough to "join" their group in order to feel closer to the creator. I had established my own way of doing that many years ago, and only sought to improve on that method.

Proof of this is reflected in the confidence with which I readily entertain others who choose to engage me based on their beliefs. I never feel threatened or fear that they will "convince" me to go against my beliefs.

The only way that can happen to anyone is if you do NOT know or are not really convinced of what you believe. Once you have conviction, nothing that comes your way can shake you. You will handle ALL with ease.

Sometimes we’ll agree. Other times we won’t. In the latter case, we would simply agree to disagree

Leaders like the Dalai Lama understand the need to maintain this kind of mind set. It’s therefore no surprise that they enjoy the respect, and followership, of millions of people worldwide who individually nurture wide ranging religious beliefs and preferences.

I refuse to accept that the creator needs a particular religious sales and marketing campaign to sell him to others. God is NOT for sale. And God does not practice or advocate a religion. All human beings are equal and the same before the creator. Your actions or inactions are not measured based on the religion group you belong.

This is an entirely spiritual process – not subject to human biases. It all happens between each human spirit and the creator’s. More people need to understand that THAT is why they must find their own way to connect with their maker.

Going around trying to trick others to join your movement will only make those who are well grounded in their own beliefs stop trusting you.

Let me end by paraphrasing the late Gani Fawehinmi based on what he once said about a certain contemporary leader:

Certain people have such a bad reputation for being deceptive, that when they say ‘Good Morning’ to you, it’s wiser to look out the window and check FIRST that it is really morning, BEFORE you respond to their greeting!

Comments?

What do you think of the above message? Do you have any personal experience to share on this subject? Are there some other points you feel can be added, to help persons looking for answers? Please share your thoughts – click here to post a comment on the blog!

Share this issue!

Do you know anyone who might benefit from reading this newsletter issue? Why not hit the forward button now, and send it to him/her with a short recommendation. You can also use share it via your social media channels. Thanks in advance.

What fears or doubts are keeping you from (a)taking up Burt Dubin’s $177 monthly speaker mentoring or (b) buying his products ?

You can choose to purchase Burt’s mentoring at any of the three (3) levels listed below:

1. Budget Delight [Click here] | 2. Mid Range [Click here] | 3. Top Shelf [Click here]

Burt’s three mentoring packages can be likened to the seating options offered by airlines: Budget Delight (Economy); Mid Range (Business); and Top Shelf (First Class).

At least that’s how I like to think of them!

All three will get you to your desired destination of "speaking success-ville" – so long as you meet the requirements/play your part well (your fare, abide by the set guidelines etc). During the "flight", the seat you have will determine how much personal service attention and preference the provider will accord you. It’s that simple

So, make your choice: 1. Budget Delight [Click here] | 2. Mid Range [Click here] | 3. Top Shelf [Click here]

Send me an e-mail with your questions via tayo at tksola dot com. In the meantime, why not get started by subscribing here to get his 7-Part Course (How To Succeed And Get Paid As A Professional Speaker) .  . . and receive his monthly newsletter (Speaking Biz Strategies Letter) at no cost.

Have a lovely week!

Tayo K. Solagbade*

Self-Development/Performance Improvement Specialist

*Sole Agent For Burt Dubin’s Speaker Mentoring Service In Africa

Mobile: 234-803-302-1263

http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com

Platinum Quality Author at the Ezine Articles Directory:

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tayo_Solagbade

Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist – Tayo Solagbade– works as a Multipreneur, helping individuals/businesses develop and implement strategies to achieve their goals, faster and more profitably.

Visit Tayo’s Self-Development Nuggets™ blog to find out how you can get your FREE copy of his new Practical Guide to Important Feed Ingredients (with high resolution pictures, prices, nutrients, uses etc). When he’s not amazing clients with his superhuman skills (wink), Tayo works as the creative force behind his Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas website, and the Public Speaking IDEAS newsletter (which he publishes to promote Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring service to experts working across the African continent).

Depending on his availability, Tayo accepts invitations to deliver customisable talks and keynote speeches on topics relating to his areas of experience based expertise and interest. Visit http://www.tksola.com to learn how you can invite Tayo, to speak at your next meeting/event.

For over 25 years, Burt Dubin has provided a variety of speaker mentoring products and services to clients worldwide. The following links lead to pages describing products and services that can help you attain professional mastery as an expert-who-speaks (from the comfort of your home):

Presentation Skills
Tools for Extraordinary
Speaking Business Success

Burt’s Flagship Album

This is the product to own if you can own only one. Why? Because in it you discover principles of platform mastership available to you nowhere else at any price.

You hear performance strategies you can emulate. You shorten your learning curve. You see ways to engage and delight audiences with both content and stories . . . plus you experience a bit of fun.

With its Money back if not delighted Guarantee hardly any are returned.
Find out why

Presentation Magic

A live example, including a complete audio recording of a program Burt created from scratch–on a topic he knew nothing about and never, ever presented before! See how you, guided by your personal Learning Guide, (Presentation Magic), can do this too and thrill audiences as often as you want.

Presentation Magic Manual with new pages added plus 3 audio CDs.
more information

How To Create a Great Program Manual

Discover how you can produce a precious memento of you and your program. Capture over 44 model pages you can easily adapt for your use. Engage proven principles that add value to the experience of sitting at your feet and learning from you.

This is a reprise of the historic presentation that launched the Speaking Success System.

No copy of this 2 CD program and 50 page Learning Guide has ever been returned.

more information

Print or PDF Report and Manuals

177 Wow! Wow!
Showmanship Stratagems

Discover these secrets of making your programs more interesting and valuable to your clients and audiences now.

more information

Monthly Speaker Mentoring Service

What fears or doubts are keeping you from (a )taking up Burt Dubin’s monthly speaker mentoring, or (b) buying his products ?
You can choose to purchase Burt’s mentoring at any of the three (3) levels listed below:

1. Budget Delight [Click here] | 2. Mid Range [Click here] | 3. Top Shelf [Click here]

Burt’s three mentoring packages can be likened to the seating options offered by airlines: Budget Delight (Economy); Mid Range (Business); and Top Shelf (First Class).

At least that’s how I like to think of them!

All three will get you to your desired destination of "speaking success-ville" – so long as you meet the requirements/play your part well (your fare, abide by the set guidelines etc). During the "flight", the seat you have will determine how much personal service attention and preference the provider will accord you. It’s that simple

So, make your choice: 1. Budget Delight [Click here] | 2. Mid Range [Click here] | 3. Top Shelf [Click here]

Send me an e-mail with your questions via tayo at tksola dot com. In the meantime, why not get started by subscribing here to get his 7-Part Course (How To Succeed And Get Paid As A Professional Speaker) .  . . and receive his monthly newsletter (Speaking Biz Strategies Letter) at no cost.

If you need help purchasing ANY of Burt’s products and services, call me on 234-803-302-1263 or email tayo at tksola dot com with details of the assistance you require.

burt dubin marketing with integrity public speaking mentoring speaker marketing ethics speaker marketing material speaker mentoring speaking success system

Writing/Blogging

Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others) – No. 3 of 4

October 20, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 8 Comments

This is the third post in the series I began on the 6th October 2012. The first post argued that you need to determine if your blog needs comments to succeed – instead of worrying about what others say. Note that I refer specifically to blogging for business purposes, with emphasis on earning income via sales of products and services.

The second post discussed five questions you can ask yourself, to decide if your blog type needs comments to succeed (especially in financial terms). Going by my personal experiences and observations, if you avoid needless sentiment, these questions WILL help you take the right decision.

**********

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Post 1: Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments?
Post 2: Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself)
Post 3: Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others)

TO GET THE NOTIFICATION IN YOUR E-MAIL CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY MAILING LIST (You get multiple gifts – instantly!)

**********

Why this series? There’s a lot of debate surrounding the value of comments. Many blog owners are not sure what to think or do as a result. This series offers ideas to help interested blog owners decide if their kind of blog needs (or does not need) comments to succeed – and steps to take in either case.

Introduction – WordPress Third Party Plugins

After you’ve decided on whether or not comments can help your blog succeed, you need a reliable means of measuring its "success". In this third post, I review six performance indicators that you can consider.

I love WordPress because of the elaborate array of third party plugins that developers continually create (in free and paid versions), to enhance its features and functions. The six potentially useful performance indicators I will be discussing can be easily monitored using nifty plugins available online from a variety of developers.

You just choose the one that suits your needs best. Be sure to check for compatibility with your WordPress blog version. Also make sure there are reliable reviews/ratings to indicate it delivers what it promises. And that the developer offers active support to address user problems – even if for a fee.

A visit to the WordPress plugins directory will get you started in your search. Note that in using any of the plugins mentioned in this post, you will be acting on your own conviction. Nothing I say here can be taken to be an endorsement or recommendation. Your due diligence is therefore advised and encouraged!

1. Comments

This multi-post series arose from a need to determine if the presence or absence of comments on a blog was a significant indication of performance in any way.

What answers did you settle on for the questions posed in my second post? It they indicate that comments provide a reliable measure of goals attainment for your blog, then you will want to track relevant comments related statistics over time.

For instance, number of comments per post would be a useful stat to track. Measuring the "quality" of comments would also be useful, where relevant. But the question of HOW to measure it would present a bit of a challenge! However, it’s up to you to find a way to do that, or develop relevant alternatives e.g.via a sticky comments plugin.

Plugins exist to record/report total comments and ratings per post, for instance. The more comments (and say the higher the number of facebook likes e.g. via a Facebook comments for wordpress plugin) – by readers – of the posts on your blog, the better the blog would be doing – in theory anyway. However, that could depend on whether you’ve already established that blog comments have a significant impact on your blog’s ability to succeed.

Many plugins exist for managing blog comments. A plugin that reports the Most Commented Posts can be useful to have. So would a Threaded Comments Numbering plugin.

2. Blog Traffic (Incl. Number of Returning Visitors and/or Hits Per Visitor)

Traffic to your blog should also be a useful performance measure. You can track and use it as a guide to decide what content type to produce more or less of, to move faster towards your goal.

Again plugins abound to automatically generate relevant stats for this parameter. The one I use comes pre-installed as a " Statistics" widget by default in WordPress. It displays a report panel on the side banner showing daily, weekly, monthly summaries; total posts and other stats. For now, this plugin serves my purpose. So, I do not see any reason why I should go hunting for any other.

Traffic stats can give you a decent impression of the progress (or otherwise) of your blog. It can also be useful to monitor stats for number of returning visitors which is used by the statistics widget I mentioned above to compute number of hits per visitor in a day, week or month. Returning visitors are a useful measure of your blog’s ability to build a loyal readership. The higher that value is, the better your blog is performing in this regard.

When I started with this new blog back in mid-June, I recall seeing about 50 visits per day – sometimes much less. Now I get as high as 490 to 800 per day.

(This is in spite (or even because?) of distinct Negative SEO activity I recently discovered to be targetted at this domain – more on this in a future post.)

I’ve also noticed that the nmber of views per post fluctuate based on the blog post topics. Indeed, I have found that most of the posts in which I told true stories quite often attract MUCH higher views than all the others.

This trend is replicated on my Public Speaking IDEAS blog – which happens not to be WordPress based. (It was recently the victim of a hacker attack, and I’m now planning to integrate its future content into this SD Nuggets blog, under the already existing "Public Speaking" category. More on that in the near future).

3. Bounce Rate and Number of Views Per Post

It’s great to see traffic. But you need to know what happens AFTER they get to your blog.

The "bounce rate" is a good measure. Estimates I’ve come across suggest that blogs generally have about 75% bounce rate – and that you can aim for 20% reductions by making effort to setup your blog and create content in a way that draws visitors in, so they do not exit from the same page they come in.

One thing on this: I like to drill down and analyze data trends, so as to make better sense of them. The blog type comes to play here again – in a powerful way. A news service blog is likely to maintain fairly high bounce rates even after it puts in measures to increase visitor time spent. And that’s because majority of people can follow a specific news headline, and once they’ve read it may not stay around to see what else there is to offer.

Some would. But a larger majority of web users are "click-happy" and often in a hurry to move on (or back) to others things they had their minds on BEFORE the news item caught their attention.

However, for other blog types, efforts to create interesting content that’s relevant to the post being read by the visitor can produce useful results. This blog for instance has benefitted from my installation of a plugin ( wp-category-posts-list plugin) early this week. That plugin now automatically displays a list of additional posts from the same category as the one being viewed by the visitor. This increases the chances that s/he will get drawn to read MORE of the other posts from the same category.

Over time, this is likely to produce a drop in bounce rate, and an increase in time spent on the blog per visitor.

The need to introduce this feature became apparent when I used hitsniffer. There was a distinct trend in which when I added consecutive posts from the same category, they seemed to get viewed in succession by visitors. On the other hand, when I posted one post per category in succession, visitors tended to leave from the same post that they arrived on.

The value to be had from tracking views per post are obvious. I actually consider this more important as a performance measure than traffic in a way. It tells you WHAT your visitors show a preference for in terms of your post topics, titles or themes.

That makes it easier for you to instantly see where they went in terms of posts viewed. Apart from a general interest in reading "stories" (no surprises there), I have also discovered a distinct interest shown by my visitors in subjects relating to handling clients or dealing with client issues.

I’ll be tracking the bounce rate and number of views per post over the next two weeks to see if there’s a marked improvement.

4. E-mail Subscription Rates and RSS Feed Size

These two parameters have to be monitored together. Again, it depends on your blog type. But generally it helps to provide an email subscription form on your blog. Offer latest update notifications to those who signup. Entice them to give up their email addresses in exchange for some useful gift e.g. an e-book that offers them good value.

NB: I’ve found the MaxBlogPress Optin Form Adder Widget to have amazing integration capabilities on my blog. It directly links a signup form to my website contact form script, while presenting my "offers" on every post/page (based on my specifications) to the visitor. All in pretty HTML format I have control over.

People like to stay in touch with developments on a blog that offers content they find appealing. They want to get more of that content. That will make them look around on your blog for the signup form or RSS feed link. Don’t make those tools hard to find!

You will gain subscribers over time. And you will definitely lose some via attrition. It’s a natural process that will happen – no matter how awesome you are. People will get bored or have a change of preference or interest, and choose to unsubscribe. What is important is that you keep generating new content to attract more subscribers than you lose. That way, your list grows.

And that list CAN be "mined" for useful financial returns later on. As I emphasized in the first post, that is the preferred measure of success I’m looking at in this series (I discuss this along with other ideas, next week, in my fourth and final post).

You need to keep in mind, that some visitors will however prefer to receive your content through the less intrusive RSS feed. As a result they might skip subscribing to your email list. That implies you will not gain access to their email in boxes. But they will receive your blog posts.

Feedburner offers useful variations to their default feed service that allow you to capture email addresses from your feed subscribers. You may wish to check it out.

Whatever happens, your best bet here will be to track stats for both email subscription (using a reliable mailing list management system) and RSS feed size (feedburner automatically generates this value for you).

Important Note: Beware of the danger of focussing on more obvious performance indicators to the exclusion of more subtle, yet equally, if not more powerful ones. I recall reading a list ranking top blogs in which some of those featured tended to have relatively unimpressive Alexa traffic stats .

This grossly understated the huge following they enjoyed in form of hundreds of thousands of RSS feed subscribers (some up to 500k!). Without access to this less obvious but very important latter measure of performance, a casual observer would have concluded those blogs were not doing as well as others boasting more impressive traffic stats (Subscriptions rank greater in terms of potential value compared to traffic).

5. Volume/Type Of Contact Form Enquiries

This can be a useful indicator of sales leads generation by your blog – depending on the content/subject of the enquiries, and of course the sender. But it’s relevance may also depend on what kind of blog you run (see the second post in this series). Sometimes your blog might attract persons offering to sell YOU a product or service, more often than it generates queries from potential buyers! That said, you should explore ways to make more of the latter happen, as often as possible.

One good way would be to include calls to action for as many of your products or services as may be relevant to each post a visitor reads. I have had noticeable jumps in web form enquiries whenever I’ve done this. And it’s a continuous process – with constant testing and tweaking required, until you arrive at an optimal rate of return.

I use the extremely flexible Contact Form 7 and it has served me quite well. It comes with a feature that enables you create fully customized forms, with ability to indentify the page they were submitted from. This guides you to measure the leads generation capacity of the different pages on your blog that you place the form. That way, you know what works and can then work towards getting better results.

Fourth and Final Post: Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit – Coming on Saturday 27th October 2012

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Post 1: Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments?
Post 2: Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself)
Post 3: Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others)

Post 4(Final): Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit

TO GET THE NOTIFICATION IN YOUR E-MAIL CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY MAILING LIST (You get multiple gifts – instantly!)

Parenting

Your Kids Need Teacher-Educators, NOT Teacher-Dictators (10 Distinguishing Traits)

October 19, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

This write-up discusses distinguishing attributes of a "Teacher-Dictator" (aka Traditional "Old School" Style Teacher) – as compared to those of a "Teacher-Educator". I also explain why (among other things) a person involved in teaching in today’s world needs to be challenged, to exhibit more "Teacher-Educator" traits. This latter style empower learners to apply what they learn via formal schooling.to productive purposes in their personal lives and the larger society.

(Published Online: 20th July 2007)

Preamble

I am strongly convinced that every parent needs to emphasize – for their kids – acquisition of knowledge/skills, alongside academic ability. Doing so will enhance the child’s ability to succeed in the real world.

In previous years, traditional educational institutions (mainly geared towards feeding industries with employees), had teachers concentrate on "moulding" learners to meet employers’ requirements. Teaching methods were generally rigid and rote learning was emphasized – with dire consequences for learners who did not have the "stomach" for it.

One notable example which proved the inefficacy of that approach was Albert Einstein. His failure to learn competently via memorization made teachers call him "dull-witted". How ironic – in retrospect – considering that today, the same person is regarded as one of the greatest minds that ever lived!

Incidentally, Einstein himself did have a few things to say about the "Old School" teaching method. Reports have it that once, when asked the question “What is the speed of sound?” by a reporter, Einstein replied: “I don’t know. I don’t carry information in my mind that is readily available in books”.

That answer, in my opinion, effectively makes the case for exploration/use of other learning methods outside rote memorization etc.

Some Of Today’s Teachers Still Use "Old School" Methods

Thankfully, over the years educationists gradually realized that the instincts of learners needed to be allowed to play a more influential/leading role in the learning process. Schools consequently adopted new approaches (like Montessori etc), which allowed children the freedom to explore and learn by discovery, experimentation through play etc. This change in approach has generally resulted in longer lasting and qualitative learning experiences.

However, despite all the progress that has been made, some (presumably) modern day teachers continue to employ obsolete and inefficient teaching methods from the past. In the process, their learners are being short-changed on a daily basis.

The difference between old, traditional methods and the modern approaches being advocated has to do mainly with the style of teaching employed by the teacher. To put it another way, the type of teacher determines the type of teaching/learning situation that is created.

Differentiating Between A "Teacher-Educator" And A "Teacher-Dictator"

In my assessment, the foregoing make it important to identify the characteristics of the two main types of "teachers’" I have referred to. That will guide parents and even teachers to ensure the right teaching behaviour is employed at all times. It will ultimately help to create the right learning situation, thereby producing the desired learning output.

Below, I offer bullet point descriptions of what I consider distinguishing attributes of the "Teacher-Dictator" (or Traditional Old School Style Teacher). Each of those attributes is then compared to those of the modern teacher who I like to call a "Teacher-Educator".

Important: Please note that even though I have used these two broad categories/groupings of teacher "types", in real-life there will be cases of individuals who exhibit traits from both sides of the divide. What is essential is that a person involved in teaching in today’s world be encouraged, to strive to exhibit more "Teacher-Educator" traits. Doing so, has greater potential to empower learners to derive life-long benefits from their formal learning experiences.

The "Old School" Style "Teacher-Dictator" The 21st Century "Teacher-Educator"

1. Very often TELLS (but seldom SHOWS practically) the learner how to do something. 1. Frequently helps the learner to "Learn By Discovery" (guiding by example as necessary). Encourages use of natural learning instincts.

2. Is often more concerned about presenting him/herself as the final authority/source of knowledge to the learners. 2. Typically offers him/herself as a guide/coach/mentor who will point out possible directions for the learner to follow on the path to self-discovery.

3. Frequently inadvertently makes (or wants!) leaner to remain dependent on him/her. 3. Will be “popular” for empowering learners to be independent in thinking/actions from him/her.

4. Sometimes recycles teaching aids/materials used, to the point that learners sometimes correctly predict likely “content” to be delivered. 4. Continually exploring new areas of thinking/development as they occur, with a view to discovering better ways to achieve the results desired by his/her learners. There’s always something new/refreshing to learn from him/her.

5. Not inclined towards formal self-development efforts to improve his/her competence. Often feels what s/he already knows will always be more than enough for the learners. 5. Vigorously pursues Self-Development opportunities to acquire new/useful additional KAS (i.e. Knowledge, Attitudes & Skills) to deliver better value to learners.

6. Often more concerned about being part of a teacher-group, and expressing similar ideas to its members. 6. Values his/her independence in deciding what to do to help the learners – even as s/he abides by set rules/seeks input from colleagues to improve quality of learning delivered. Places emphasis on freedom to express his/her own ideas/convictions, and pursue them.

7. Often not comfortable with learners who demonstrate keen desire to explore beyond what s/he has taught or is prepared to teach. 7. Derives great satisfaction from seeing learners demonstrate improved competence based on “discovered” learning achieved via self-directed efforts in their spare time.

8. Tends to emphasis theoretical concepts and classroom based situations. Spares little thought for showing learners how the what they learn can be usefully applied in the real world. 8. Keen to make learning real-world relevant. Helps learners relate knowledge acquired to its application in the real world (E.g. What can we use an understanding of compound interest for in life? How does the nitrogen cycle sustain aquatic life?). This way, learners are better prepared to apply their knowledge PROFITABLY to productive purposes in life.

9. Generally believes that his/her job ends in the classroom and that whatever the learners do outside of it is unlikely to require his/her attention or action. 9. Demonstrates passion for “educating” others around (colleagues, parents etc) about how they can contribute to improving the learning experience for his/her pupils/students etc.

10. Products(learners) turned out often display undue penchant for “rote” learning, with seeming aversion for independent self-expression, and creative thinking. 10. Products(learners) turned out tend to be creative, and independent-minded thinkers – often expressing original ideas with passion, and pursuing self-improvement with enthusiasm.

Summary

Decision makers in educational institutions – especially those engaged in provision of early education for young children – must ensure their teachers employ the "Teacher-Educator" style as frequently as possible, if not at all times. The benefits (outlined above) accruable to the children, and the school itself (in terms of quality of learning performances the kids deliver ) strongly suggest there is wisdom in doing this.

Parents will also want to regularly discuss "school/class work" with their kids. They could even interact with their kids’ teachers to get a feel for the teaching style favoured by the latter. If necessary, they could then gently request needed modifications in the teacher’s approach. Or they could work with the kids back at home to make up for any shortcomings they identify.

Learning experiences should be made as pleasurable/rewarding as possible for our kids. When they find joy in learning, their desire to continually seek new learning as they grow into adulthood will never diminish. As a result, they will be able to develop their full potential over time to the ultimate benefit of the larger society.

FINAL WORDS: It goes without saying that all I have advocated in this write-up is my personal opinion. You would therefore be well advised to seek the counsel of competent persons in deciding what line of action to pursue. Having said that, let me add that I practise what I have preached above, with my own kids. And I have useful results to show for it.

Summary

Decision makers in educational institutions – especially those engaged in provision of early education for young children – must ensure their teachers employ the "Teacher-Educator" style as frequently as possible, if not at all times. The benefits (outlined above) accruable to the children, and the school itself (in terms of quality of learning performances the kids deliver ) strongly suggest there is wisdom in doing this.

Parents will also want to regularly discuss "school/class work" with their kids. They could even interact with their kids’ teachers to get a feel for the teaching style favoured by the latter. If necessary, they could then gently request needed modifications in the teacher’s approach. Or they could work with the kids back at home to make up for any shortcomings they identify.

Learning experiences should be made as pleasurable/rewarding as possible for our kids. When they find joy in learning, their desire to continually seek new learning as they grow into adulthood will never diminish. As a result, they will be able to develop their full potential over time to the ultimate benefit of the larger society.

FINAL WORDS: It goes without saying that all I have advocated in this write-up is my personal opinion. You would therefore be well advised to seek the counsel of competent persons in deciding what line of action to pursue. Having said that, let me add that I practise what I have preached above, with my own kids. And I have useful results to show for it.

Career Development

How To Turn A Major Blunder At Work Into A Career Advancement Opportunity

October 18, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 1 Comment

Quick Take Away

Have you ever made a mistake that cost your employer, and/or co-workers loss of valuable time, effort or even money? How did you get over it? If it has never happened to you, have you considered what could happen if it did? How you would feel? Would you be able to muster the courage to carry on? Especially if others openly blame or castigate you for costing them so much? This post describes a real-life experience of early failure I had as a 25 year old rookie brewer on my very first night shift. My mistake caused an entire workforce of men, in two large departments, to end up sitting idly with nothing to do for more than half of a night shift. This resulted in the factory’s inability to meet an important weekend volume output target. The story however ends – on a good note – with an account of how I later developed a permanent solution that benefitted the entire team – and earned me positive recognition!

Background – Obsolete Work Methods Are A Turn Off

As a Trainee Brewer, I went through that harrowing experience on my first night shift as Brewer On Duty. I made a costly calculation error in passing instructions for mixing beer to the neighbouring packaging deparment’s bottling hall. Before going solo, I had been attached to senior, more experienced brewers. They had coached me on managing the workforce, and taught me how to do the various calculations for blending beer.

During my training I had been particularly uncomfortable with the older brewers use of hand held calculators. They used them in computing weighted averages for as many as nine(9) beer parameters for each bottling tank to be blended. It was not uncommon to see a duty brewer punching furiously at a calculator while the operator waited. Within a few minutes, the brewer would announce quantities of beer and other additives to be used for filling the next bottling tank.

There were times when to correct some poor beer parameters, we had to blend mature beer from up to four different storage vessels into one bottling tank. This was done to produce beer with the right parameters for bottling. Can you just imagine what it must have been like using a calculator to compute weighted averages for parameters of four (4) different volumes of beer to get one set of nine(9) parameters for a bottling tank? Pure drudgery I tell you!

What I found most difficult to accept was the fact that the brewers’ had a desktop PC with Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet on it. And yet they kept using the calculator for this very complex task! To be fair to them however, very rarely did any of them make the kind of error I eventually did in their calculations. I guess that was because they had become very good at it over time.

For rookies like me however, the learning curve was simply too(needlessly I thought) steep. And the entire routine too prone to avoidable errors. I did not like that one bit. I also knew I could never get used to working that way especially when a spreadsheet offering better value was in the PC on my desk!

How The Mistake Happened

So, I made a mental note to explore using the spreadsheet to compute beer blending and make up volumes whenever I was on duty. But for that first night shift, since I was just starting, I settled for the calculator – a decision I would later seriously regret.

Here’s what happened. That day, after reading the handover notes, I knew it was going to be a long night. My department(Brewing) had been struggling to keep up with the bottling lines which had been enjoying smooth operations since the start of the day. We had only one full tank of beer left, which was already being blended to two bottling lines at the same time. I checked the combined speeds of the lines, and estimated that it would take them another hour and a half to empty it. If I was to avoid a beer outage, I would have to ensure I got another full tank into the bottling hall before that time.

Unfortunately, we did not have comfortable stocks of matured beer – with good parameters – ready for blending. This was mainly because the centrifuges had been acting up, failing to stop yeast from getting into the filtered beer. To cut the long story short, I managed to send two half tanks of beer to packaging. That should have bought us enough time to send another full tank in within 2 hours.

But alas, it was not to be! By the time the laboratory analysis came out, the beer color turned out excessively high for both half-tanks – way beyond what the company specifications permitted for bottling. I was devastated, but nothing could be done at this stage, other than to watch the two bottling lines run out the remaining beer from the last tank!

Trying To Make Sense Of It All

The beer outage lasted over four hours. It was painful – and embarrassing – to see the idle men and machines waiting all night for me to get a new stock of beer for them to continue the work they were paid to do! Just before my shift ended the next morning, I was able to send one full tank to packaging so bottling resumed as the morning duty brewer took over. By then however, the damage had been done. My inability to keep the lines going had meant the brewery’s chances of meeting the bottling volume target for the week had been severely jeopardized. I shuddered at the thought of what my boss would say. He had specifically told me to ensure we did not run out of beer. I felt very bad for having let him down.

Downcast but still puzzled as to what could have led to such gross miscalculation on my part, I went back to the brewers’ office and checked the paper I had used for my calculations again. That was when I noticed the error I made in computing the amount of Guinness extract to be added to the beer. In my rush to supply the needed figures to the operator, I had inadvertently punched in a wrong volume of mature beer to be added. That was what resulted in the calculator returning a much larger volume of Stout flavouring extract than required.

As soon as I realized this, I could not help wondering if I had used a spreadsheet, the mistake would have been avoided. I would have had a better chance of discovering my error earlier!

Deciding To Develop A Permanent Solution For Myself To PREVENT A Future Occurrence

There and then I made up my mind to develop a spreadsheet that would enable me accurately and reliably calculate needed make-up volumes for beer, and additives blending whenever I was on duty. Over the next two night shifts, I began building a Lotus spreadsheet for my calculations. Gradually modifying it to accommodate every possible scenario I could anticipate – including documented occurrences I had been told about by my senior colleagues.

Eventually, after about a month, my spreadsheet had become a close companion that helped me safely plan for accurate beer blending for bottling whenever I was on duty. I never bothered to tell anyone about it because as I said earlier, my senior colleagues were mostly quite comfortable using the calculator. Also, a few had scoffed at the idea. They doubted it was possible to convert the calculator dependent computations to PC spreadsheet based format as I had proposed when I first joined them. So I thought it would be easier and better to simply use it for myself.

My “Personal” Solution Is Formally Adopted By The Department

As fate would have it however, my boss one day walked into the office and saw me using the spreadsheet, which I had named “Beer Racking Projection Table”(“Racking” being a term describing beer make-up and transfer from the storage/maturation area into bottling tanks). He asked me what I was doing with the spreadsheet. I demonstrated how it worked – including how close(to +/- 2 units) the computed final results it gave often were to those the laboratory returned by their analysis of the blended tank. I had actually been carefully collating the results from the lab and comparing them with the spreadsheet’s computed parameters for each bottling tank that was filled. The high degree of positive correlation between the computer and lab results was glaring.

That benefit, in addition to over 90% reduction in time taken to do weighted average calculations for beer blended to packaging (and increased flexibility in choice and number of storage vessels used for blending) instantly appealed to my boss. Suddenly, it became obvious that brewers could safely dispense with the exclusive use of calculators for this task. All 9 parameters for blending of up to 4 mature beer tanks could be seen at once in my application’s printable on-screen (projection results table) format. Necessary adjustments in volumes of beer, additives etc could also be easily made to achieve the desired final beer parameter specifications.

At the next departmental meeting, my boss announced the existence of the spreadsheet and asked me to put all other brewers through on how to use it. From then on, the entire department formally adopted the Racking Projection Table.

If I Had NOT Made That Mistake, I May Never Have Been Driven To Develop That Solution!

But if you recall how I began this story, it was a very unpleasant first attempt at doing my job the way it had always been done by those who taught me to do it, that led me to find a better

way of doing it myself. If I had simply given up I would never have come up with that valuable solution. The moral here is:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s not what happens to you that’s important. It’s how you deal with it” – Anon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

People may say “I told you so” or laugh at you etc. Yes, you may have made a mistake. Maybe you were overconfident. The important thing is not that you have now fallen. No. What should matter to you is what you get out of the experience. Do you know more to be able to do better next time? If your answer is “Yes”, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Failure Is A Shrewd Instructor…Listen To It, And You’ll Be Better Off!

If you listen carefully to your intution, there is always a lesson to be had from every setback, disappointment, or failure you have. And that’s why, you must never let yourself lose courage when you make mistakes, or fail at anything you do at work – or indeed in any area of your personal life.

No matter how sensational your failure or mistake is, you can pick yourself back up, and try again, more intelligently of course, till you succeed. Let them laugh if they want – it would not be the first time people who eventually achieve phenomenal success get laughed at before they succeed!

There is a part of the lyrics of England’s Manchester United Football club’s marching song(“Stand Up For The Champion”) that I love so much. It goes thus: “When I fall down, I have to pick myself back up(2ce)”.

It does not say “If I fall down”. It says “When I fall down ”. Periodic setbacks are inevitable, but when a true champion falls, she picks herself up and tries again, and again – and never stops trying (making intelligent modifications to her efforts as she persists) – UNTIL she succeeds!

Final Words: A Formula You Can Use To Recover From Failure or Setbacks

Too many people are afraid of failing or making mistakes. They think it is better to play safe by not taking any risks. What they fail to realize is that they deprive themselves of the opportunity to “grow” by their unwillingness to venture beyond the realms of what they already know, or are comfortable with. They remain in their “comfort zones”, and by so doing miss out on valuable learning opportunities.

“I have made mistakes, but I have never made the mistake of claiming I never made one”

– James Gordon Bennett (1841 – 1918) Journalist

There is a saying that “you have not failed until you give up trying to succeed”. In life, there will be times when things do not happen in the way we plan for them to. Sometimes, it may be our fault, and other times, it might be difficult to even determine the cause. What is most important however, is that we carefully analyse what happened and decide on a solution that will enable us prevent a re-occurrence in the future.

In the story narrated above, I applied a simple formula I developed in developing the solution that eventually redeemed me. This formula can be applied in any situation (be it the workplace or out of paid employment).

Here it is: W x R(to the power of 3) i.e. Withdraw, Reflect, Refocus and Return. Let’s take them one at a time:

Withdraw – Step away. Take a break – maybe a stroll to a quiet place where you can free your mind from the potential worries about the problem. Alternatively, relax your mind by reading a book or doing something else that has little to do with the problem that occurred.

Reflect – Analyse what happened and try to establish what went wrong to cause your failure. You will need to be honest with yourself here. (Maybe a close associate or confidant might come in useful to help inject some objectivity into the analysis. Note that I said “Maybe”). At the end of this process you should have identified (possibly written out) specific aspects of your failed plan most likely to have caused the problem.

Re-focus – Here you will take the findings from the Reflect stage and use them to decide on modifications that will be needed to make your plan work when next you try to achieve your goal. Again, here the benefit of input from other “trusted” persons(close associates who share your vision, and sincerely empathise with you) could be explored. Just make sure that those you invite (as Napoleon Hill warned) are people who DO NOT take defeat or failure seriously. You should end this stage with a clear idea of what you need to do differently or better when next you try out your plan.

Return – You take your modified plan back to the real world and try again to use it to achieve your cherished goal!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Now, in all likelihood, as has been my personal experience, this entire process can happen within a very short period(hours, minutes or seconds even). That would depend on what the problem is, and how much experience you’ve had with it previously. Or the nature of circumstances under which it has happened. As such, I expect that if at all you decide to use the formula, you will adapt the above elements to suit your needs in planning how you may deal with setbacks that come your way when they do occur.

Self-Development

Why Do YOU Do What You Do?

October 17, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 1 Comment

(Personal Philosophy paper – originally written/e-published on 2nd March 2003 by Tayo Solagbade – Founder SDAc)

As can be seen from the above, this was written over nine years ago. I remain as committed to the ideals outlined below, as I was back in 2003. To me, that’s an indication that I’m on the right path.

The personal growth and fulfillment I have benefitted as result has been invaluable. Every person who wishes to achieve his/her full potential as a human being, will find it useful to prepare a personal philisophy statement of this kind.

And that’s why,. at the end, I ask : Why do YOU do what you do?

Those who accept the need to seek assistance from successful persons, and/or be religious in order to achieve success, in my opinion sometimes tend to assume that’s ALL they need to do. Which is why they neglect to do the most crucial thing necessary to achieve the success they so fervently desire. They fail to take personal action !

Too many people think all they need to do is DESIRE success and express that desire to anyone they believe can help them, who will then help them! Maybe it happens that way at times, but it won’t be often!

My objective is to show people how they can apply tested and proven SD principles to achieve their personal goals in life.

I hope to help them realize they can do more for themselves than they currently believe. All it takes is for them to STOP being fatalistic and LEARN to accept life’s challenges as pre-requisite for achievement of their set goals.

I have chosen this approach because I found that methods employed by many others to effect socio-cultural change in Nigeria/Africa have not really worked well.

I have chosen NOT to be a Social Critic or commentator because even after criticizing or commenting, one will suggest alternatives, which then have to be implemented by others (or with the cooperation of others).

The problem with that method is that any resultant plans could be easily frustrated via bureaucratic processes, and other extraneous influences prevalent in our developing societies etc.

I have chosen to be a Social Change Agent who advocates, and propagates, Self-Development Education (SDE). I strongly believe SDE can stimulate people to take PERSONAL ACTION to create changes that enable them achieve their personal goals consistently and repeatedly.

Spontaneous Coaching™ Makes It Possible

The technique I use (Spontaneous Coaching™) ensures that I can carry on – day and night – preaching SDE wherever I go, with or without the cooperation of decision makers or “authorities”.

How?

Through influencing others by my actions and also by sharing my thoughts, ideas, failures and successes (some people wrongly interprete this as an attempt to boast or show off).

I developed this concept myself, and have used it successfully for over 10 years. I have testimonials from many individuals confirming how I helped them greatly, using this method.

People with mental attitudes that enable them take control of what happens to them daily, are unlikely to be seriously (if at all) affected by vagaries of their country’s socio-economic circumstances.

They are more likely to make the best of them, rather than fall apart.

It is my conviction that knowing how to ADAPT to inevitable changes that could make your survival skills obsolete, is of crucial importance(SDE will equip anyone with the requisite preparation to do the foregoing).

The Solution To Unemployment

For example, graduates unemployment statistics would drop if they acquired income-generating skills while still in university! SDE if started early, will get young Nigerians/Africans thinking about ALTERNATIVES to traditional employment much earlier on in their lives.

The Self-Development Academy for instance aims to expose them to low startup capital vocations they could venture into, and even facilitate “entry” for those of them who indicate interest.

The foregoing is one of my motivations for being a Muiltpreneur. To succeed more frequently, one needs a multiple-career strategy.

Acquisition of a variety of skills to generate income and capture opportunities in today’s fast-changing marketplace will boost one’s chances of achieving prosperity and fulfillment independent of economic fluctuations.

This concept has been used in developed societies since the early 90s. My article titled “How To Be A Jack Of Many Trades™, And Why It Can Make You Succeed More Often” elaborates on how anyone with the necessary interest and motivation can successfully adopt it for use wherever s/he is.

I should add though, that it can be more difficult in some societies than others. And you’ll be tested the limits of your endurance in places where merit may not readily be recognized.

As explained in Tom Gorman’s book on “Multipreneuring”, one can develop multiple sources of income and pursue multiple careers( in paid, or self-employment).

A key suggestion made in the book, is for the individual to continually acquire new learning, and also take advantage of opportunities that appear in the market place as they become apparent.

I successfully employed this technique while in paid employment for seven(7) years, and earned significantly rapid career advancement ahead of people with higher qualifications, and years on the job.

My earlier mentioned article on Multipreneuring gives details. This is what I want to share with other young (and not so young) people in Nigeria/Africa – and beyond. They can also achieve similar successes by diligently practicing Self-Development . All that is required is adoption of the required mental attitude.

Sadly, many people are instantly biased against anyone who ventures into multiple vocations. They belong to the “traditional school”, which insists a person must specialize. Such sentiments betray a scary lack of exposure to 21st century trends in skills acquisition now crucial for successful as opposed to existential living.

Success Through Versatility

Robert Kiyosaki advocates becoming a generalist first, before specializing. Herman Holtz, the late legendary Consultant’s Consultant, acknowledged that certain individuals can find success through their versatility(learn more about his interesting revelations in my article on Multipreneuring).

I have frequently suffered discrimination because I “wear many hats”. In my former workplace, it initially earned me criticisms, but later got me recognition and career advancement opportunities because my versatility became an asset to every team I worked in! Since I became an entrepreneur, the story has been the same.

Some people erroneously think that their “schooling” will be adequate to cater for them through life. Technology has made that a thing of the past.

Today, without diligent practice of Self-Education, one stands a chance of becoming suddenly obsolete or extinct – virtually overnight!

In summary, my message is that through SDE, ANYONE can be empowered to become the best s/he can possibly be in life. Maybe I won’t change the world. But for those few people who will appreciate it, I certainly intend to try!

What about YOU? Why do you do what you do?

The Internet’s Role In My Approach To Self-Development Education

The method I employ in my work on Self-Development Education is multifaceted and continually evolving. I believe this is the only way to stay relevant in the face of rapid changes in the business of people development and empowerment. I consult old/new literature alike, modifying concepts, ideas etc (where necessary) to what I believe suits the present. I also draw heavily from my personal experiences (and those of others I know to be authentic) as it relates to the practice of self-development – and it’s teaching.

I have found the Internet to be a particularly invaluable resource, for staying on the cutting edge of developments in virtually ANY area of endeavour I have had to explore in my pursuit of Self-Development/Self-Development Education.

Video recordings/film shows etc may sometimes be limited in content/scope, and could become obsolete over time. The Internet however, by its very nature, cannot become obsolete – because it readily lends itself to TIMELY updates from every part of the world. For instance, the contents of a website can be changed within minutes to reflect the most recent developments in a particular area of interest on earth!

Therefore, in my opinion, to successfully embark on Self-Development/ Self-Development Education in the 21st century and beyond, WE must harness the immense opportunities offered by the Internet in a way that will ENABLE us (and those who learn from us), grow and develop more successfully.

T.K. SOLAGBADE
(Excerpted from text of presentation delivered – on 25th September 2002 – at Center for Management Development titled “Self-Development As A Tool for Achieving Career Advancement“)

Entrepreneurship

Should You Write With A Target Audience In Mind?

October 17, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

If you do any writing towards earning your living, this question is probably one that you’ve had to contend with. There is no one size fits all answer to it. Read this post for ideas to help you find YOUR answer.

For this discussion, I have chosen to view writers in two groups: (a). Those who sell their writing skills directly for a fee and (b). Those who write to promote their businesses i.e. they do not get hired to write for a fee. Instead they use their writing as a cost-effective strategy to promote products and services to people who need them.

Both groups write to earn a living (directly or indirectly) – and are therefore entrepreneurs.

A Writer’s Readers May Come from Widely Differing Fields

Take a quick tour of the comments section of a popular writer’s blog. Click on hyperlinked names of any number of those whose comments appear, to visit their websites.

You’ll discover these individuals come from widely differing backgrounds. And sometimes only a few would be involved in the same line of work as the blog owner.

In other words, your writing can attract readership from any conscious thinking adult, whose interests intersect with the subject or topic of your write-up.

Of What Use Is A Target Audience Profile Then?

The logical question to ask is this: In light of the above, does it make sense at all to write with a particular audience in mind as target?

I believe that to some extent it still does. Here’s why:

While developing and implementing web marketing systems, I have had to write website content and do article marketing for clients. Their different fields included real estate, interior design, hearing improvement, hospitality, training and development and others.

This experience is what makes me appreciate the difference between people who fall into group “b” (e.g. my clients), and conventional writers who mostly belong in group “a”.

It goes without saying that some writers fall into both groups (like me).

Writers in group “a” may not need target audience profiling to succeed. All they need do is show they can research and write useful material for use by those who hire them.

Conventional Business Owners Who Write, Should Use a Target Audience Profile

For writers who fall into group “b”, defining a target audience profile can improve their ability to attract those who need their business’ products and services. I would however suggest that the profile only be used to guide their writing – and not restrict it.

Like I mentioned earlier, I also help brick and mortar business owners learn to use writing as a marketing tool i.e. to work as group “b” type writers.

Looking back, I recall frequently having to “remind” clients that their potential clients will often be everyday people, with no interest in technical jargon.

Such people are likely to come looking for answers to questions they have, or solutions to problems they are faced with. (How often do you think an audiologist can get visited by another audiologist as a patient needing hearing rehabilitation? That would be the exception – not the norm!)

To me, this is what makes it important for this second group to write with a target audience in mind. If you belong here, there is a greater need to tailor the message in your write-ups to appeal to people who may be in need of solutions that you “sell”.

Summary

Regardless of what group you belong, you can write using a variety of techniques, weaving in personal stories and illustrations.

But if you belong in group “b”, add calls to action, and make “offers” at relevant points in the body of your writing, or in your byline, to generate pre-qualified sales leads. Your writing will rarely be for pure entertainment or just information.

Writers belonging to group “a” may not have to worry about doing that often – or at all. Many will get new writing jobs via referrals, through the quality of writing they display on their blogs etc. This is probably why some tend to be more laid back in their use of the byline.

And those who belong to both groups typically sell their writing skills, as well as information products created by them or by affiliates. That’s in addition to services like training, coaching, mentoring or consulting. To do this, they have to write sales copy on their blogs, mixed with calls to action and promotional offers.

So, now that you’re here, what’s YOUR answer? Do you think you need to write with a target audience in mind?

finding clients freelance writing clients freelance writing success making money as a writer target audience profile example target audience profiling target audience profiling questionnaire writing for money writing to market products and services

Public Speaking

Wine Making…& Your Speaking Proficiency

October 15, 2012 Tayo Solagbade

Is this email not displaying correctly?

View it in your browser.

Publication: Tayo Solagbade’s Weekly Public Speaking IDEAS Page (PSIP) Newsletter

Date: Monday 15th October 2012

No: 59

Title: Wine Making…& Your Speaking Proficiency

Author & Publisher: Tayo K. Solagbade [234-803-302-1263]

Blog URL: http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com/blog

Archive (For E-mail only version started 14th May 2012): Click here to view

Archive (For Blog version started 24th September 2011): Click here

Hi,

Please find below the latest issue of my weekly Public Speaking Ideas page for 2012.

SD Nuggets Blog™
New posts from last week that may interest you!

Entrepreneurship [Tuesday]:

A Permanent Solution To Africa’s Low Per Capita Protein Consumption(Feat. World Bank Grant for Your Farm Business)

Self Development [Wednesday]:

Read To Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills & Converse More Intelligently!

Career Development [Thursday]:

Secret Formula for Succeeding At Your Job

Parenting [Friday]:

Is Your Child Silently Screaming For Help?

Writing/Blogging [Saturday]:

Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself) – No. 2 in series on comments.

*Extra post on Parenting [Sunday]:

Are You Setting Up Your Child To Fail? (Read This To Find Out)

Want me to write for you? Click here…

=====

No. 59: Wine Making…& Your Speaking Proficiency

The wine making process is one that intrigues me a lot. It all began when I got my first job, 18 years ago, as a trainee sales coordinator in a wine manufacturing SME in Lagos.

This was five months after completing my compulsory one year of National Youth Service (NYSC)*: I served as a Math/Physics teacher in two secondary schools in a remote Niger state village that wasn’t connected to the national grid. In other words, I NEVER saw public power supply all through my stay there

**************************

By way of interest, I developed my passion for coaching kids (and parenting) during that period, when I found that many of the students struggled with certain basic principles. This made me employ multiple approaches to presenting information to them, to facilitate their understanding.

Recently, I was able to put that experience to use for the benefit of my own kids in tackling challenges I discovered they had with Math. If you’re a parent, read my new SD Nuggets post titled “Is Your Child Silently Screaming for Help?” It provides insights into my methods, which you may wish to adapt for your kids.

**************************

Back To Wine Making As It Relates To A Speaker’s Development Of Proficiency…

The wine making process is fairly similar to beer making – both involve brewing and fermenting at start. But in the later stages things get done differently to the processed raw materials (e.g. fermented wort) to produce beers, wines, spirits.

Now that I look back, it actually feels like I was destined to work in the brewing industry! I say this because only three months after joining the wine company, I scaled tests, and selection board interviews to win a place as one of twelve new Graduate Management Trainees in Guinness Nigeria (1994). And a few weeks later, I commenced my induction as a trainee brewer.

My exposure to world class brewing/manufacturing took what I’d learned in the wine maker to a whole new level. But one trend remained: similar preliminary processing eventually differed depending on final product type being aimed at.

For instance, the more refined the product had to be, the longer the processing tended to take: Stouts take relatively shorter time to brew, ferment, filter and mature, compared to Lagers.

And the handling requirements for the latter are more stringent because of it’s very delicate nature – clarity in glass is a cherished quality indicator for instance, which the slightest error can damage irreparably. Unlike stout which can tolerate “rougher treatment” with less severe consequences.

However, when it comes to wine making, age is one word that means a lot to the quality of the finished products.

You may have heard the saying that “wine tastes better with age”. Or that “old wine tastes better”.

Those are not unfounded assertions.

Once the initial processing has been done right, the best wine makers all over the world do not take their cold storage cellar management processes lightly.

The conditions under which young wine is left to mature, are crucial to it’s development of the taste that wine lovers appreciate. And that will determine the rating they accord it.

Your Audience Will Be Your Connoisseurs

And you can be sure some of them will be skilled at evaluating speaker performance. Such individuals will probably get asked by the meeting planner to rate you, in comparison with other speakers. That could determine whether or not you get called back, or considered for other events in future.

So, how proficient are you currently at speaking? You may know your stuff well.

But can you speak engagingly on your subject to audiences who want to hear you, without boring, alienating or intimidating them with your expertise? Or with awkward mannerisms, stiff deliver etc?

Let’s say an expert on surgery has to deliver a talk to young school athletes and their parents, on how to boost recovery following post-injury surgery. He’ll want to avoid technical medical jargon, and probably employ more stories and analogies to pass his message across effectively.

That’s not something everyone finds easy. People try. But nature can be stubborn. That’s when we get zoned out in our passion for our subject, and by the time we’re done, it’s too late: we would have lost the audience!

(This is why it sometimes helps to find a coach or mentor to provide guidance and support)

I can relate to the above in a way. Audience feedbacks on forms I give out indicate that I sometimes speak too fast for a few of my listeners to follow.

And it’s not just them: the first day I spoke with Burt Dubin on phone, he started by saying “Tayo, slow down, slow down, so I can hear you clearly…!”

I’ve therefore been practicing speaking slower without sounding stiff or unnatural. While reading, I also discovered from articles by Burt Dubin, and Communispond that PAUSES can be powerfully used to improve delivery and audience comprehension. So, I plan to incorporate that into my delivery as well.

Final Words: Baby Steps Can Be Better!

Note here that my wine analogy does not imply you need years (like some wines are aged) to “refine” your speaking proficiency!

What I’m saying instead, is that the changes you make may not produce results overnight.

However (and this is where the wine analogy is most relevant), you MUST maintain the right conditions (mental and action-wise) needed to bring about the results you want, for as long as it takes!

It was Abe Lincoln who said “I may be slow, but I never walk backwards”.

I often advocate taking baby steps as against trying to make quantum leaps – especially when reaching your goal requires sustained effort. That can usually not be hurried.

Taking baby steps can pay off better, because it slows you down enough to ensure you internalize essential lessons. Those lessons will help you manage successes that will come from becoming a better speaker, IF you do not quit.

Comments?

What do you think of the above message? Do you have any personal experience to share on this subject? Are there some other points you feel can be added, to help persons looking for answers? Please share your thoughts – click here to post a comment on the blog!

Share this issue!

Do you know anyone who might benefit from reading this newsletter issue? Why not hit the forward button now, and send it to him/her with a short recommendation. You can also use share it via your social media channels. Thanks in advance.

What fears or doubts are keeping you from (a) taking up Burt Dubin’s $177 monthly speaker mentoring here, or (b) buying his products here?

Send me an e-mail with your questions via tayo@tksola.com. In the meantime, why not get started by subscribing here to get his 7-Part Course (How To Succeed And Get Paid As A Professional Speaker) .  . . and receive his monthly newsletter (Speaking Biz Strategies Letter) at no cost.

Have a lovely week!

Tayo K. Solagbade*

Self-Development/Performance Improvement Specialist

*Sole Agent For Burt Dubin’s Speaker Mentoring Service In Africa

Mobile: 234-803-302-1263

http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com

Platinum Quality Author at the Ezine Articles Directory:

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tayo_Solagbade

Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist – Tayo Solagbade– works as a Multipreneur, helping individuals/businesses develop and implement strategies to achieve their goals, faster and more profitably.

Visit Tayo’s Self-Development Nuggets™ blog to find out how you can get your FREE copy of his new Practical Guide to Important Feed Ingredients (with high resolution pictures, prices, nutrients, uses etc). When he’s not amazing clients with his superhuman skills (wink), Tayo works as the creative force behind his Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas website, and the Public Speaking IDEAS newsletter (which he publishes to promote Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring service to experts working across the African continent).

Depending on his availability, Tayo accepts invitations to deliver customisable talks and keynote speeches on topics relating to his areas of experience based expertise and interest. Visit http://www.tksola.com to learn how you can invite Tayo, to speak at your next meeting/event.

==================

For over 25 years, Burt Dubin has provided a variety of speaker mentoring products and services to clients worldwide. The following links lead to pages describing products and services that can help you attain professional mastery as an expert-who-speaks (from the comfort of your home):

Presentation Skills

Tools for Extraordinary

Speaking Business Success

Burt’s Flagship Album

This is the product to own if you can own only one. Why? Because in it you discover principles of platform mastership available to you nowhere else at any price.

You hear performance strategies you can emulate. You shorten your learning curve. You see ways to engage and delight audiences with both content and stories . . . plus you experience a bit of fun.

With its Money back if not delighted Guarantee hardly any are returned.

Find out why

Presentation Magic

A live example, including a complete audio recording of a program Burt created from scratch–on a topic he knew nothing about and never, ever presented before! See how you, guided by your personal Learning Guide, (Presentation Magic), can do this too and thrill audiences as often as you want.

Presentation Magic Manual with new pages added plus 3 audio CDs.

more information

How To Create a Great Program Manual

Discover how you can produce a precious memento of you and your program. Capture over 44 model pages you can easily adapt for your use. Engage proven principles that add value to the experience of sitting at your feet and learning from you.

This is a reprise of the historic presentation that launched the Speaking Success System.

No copy of this 2 CD program and 50 page Learning Guide has ever been returned.

more information

Print or PDF Report and Manuals

177 Wow! Wow!

Showmanship Stratagems

Discover these secrets of making your programs more interesting and valuable to your clients and audiences now.

more information

Monthly Speaker Mentoring Service

You may also wish to explore Burt’s offer of access to his mentoring at a specially discounted rate, over an 18 month period.

http://www.burtdubin.com/tools/177monthly.html

If you need help purchasing ANY of Burt’s products and services, call me on 234-803-302-1263 or email tayo at tksola dot com with details of the assistance you require.

Posts navigation

← Previous 1 … 205 206 207 … 215 Next →

My Momma Told my Brothers: If a Woman is Man Enough to Hit You She Man Enough to Get Hit Back! – Mum

2 Life Changing Stories of Domestic Violence You Need to Hear: Relationship 360-99.3 FM Nigeria Info

…a multi-disciplinary blog for people passionate about reaching their goals!

Subscribe to Tayo Solagbade on YouTube

Buy my Ration Formulator – Over 53k Views

Click here to contact me

Buy my Poultry Farm Manager – Over 25k Views

Click here to contact me

Advanced Payslip Generator DEMO – Over 16k Views

Click here to contact me

Farm CEO Returns to Buy my Poultry Farm Manager 16 Months Later

Click here to contact me

This CSI series is a public service to give CEOs, & those aspiring, ready-to-use experience-based information & education. The purpose is to promote experience-sharing amongst CEOs, about Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are tried and tested practical techniques/methods developed by active players in a venture to get improved results, often through application of creativity and innovation.

No. 1. Guest: Roseline Imoudu

...a retired senior manager from a popular multinational, now - owner of a Recirculating Aquaculture System (aka RAS) based Seed Catfish Production Farm Business in Nigeria's Ibadan.

Click here to continue...

No. 2. Guest: Burt Dubin

...renowned US based veteran mentor of international speakers, Creator of the Speaking Success System...and author of "How to Bust Loose: and use Mental Alchemy to take command of your life."

Click here to continue...

No. 3. Guest: Efe Ohwofasa

...a UK Based Nigerian born Professional Speaker, Business Growth Coach and Marketing Consultant with an amazing rags to riches story.."

Click here to continue...

Archives

January 2025

December 2024

November 2024

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

December 2023

November 2023

October 2023

September 2023

August 2023

July 2023

August 2022

July 2022

June 2022

May 2022

April 2022

March 2022

December 2021

November 2021

October 2021

September 2021

August 2021

July 2021

June 2021

May 2021

April 2021

March 2021

February 2021

January 2021

December 2020

November 2020

October 2020

September 2020

August 2020

July 2020

June 2020

May 2020

April 2020

March 2020

February 2020

January 2020

December 2019

November 2019

October 2019

September 2019

August 2019

July 2019

June 2019

May 2019

April 2019

March 2019

February 2019

January 2019

December 2018

November 2018

October 2018

September 2018

August 2018

July 2018

June 2018

May 2018

April 2018

March 2018

February 2018

January 2018

December 2017

November 2017

October 2017

September 2017

August 2017

July 2017

June 2017

May 2017

April 2017

March 2017

February 2017

January 2017

December 2016

November 2016

October 2016

September 2016

August 2016

July 2016

June 2016

May 2016

April 2016

March 2016

February 2016

January 2016

December 2015

November 2015

October 2015

September 2015

August 2015

July 2015

June 2015

May 2015

April 2015

March 2015

February 2015

January 2015

December 2014

November 2014

October 2014

September 2014

August 2014

July 2014

June 2014

May 2014

April 2014

March 2014

February 2014

January 2014

December 2013

November 2013

October 2013

September 2013

August 2013

July 2013

June 2013

May 2013

April 2013

March 2013

February 2013

January 2013

December 2012

November 2012

October 2012

September 2012

August 2012

July 2012

June 2012

Recent Posts

6 TRUE STORIES TO INFORM, EDUCATE, ENTERTAIN & INSPIRE WOMEN CEOs | DOWNLOAD THIS VALUE PACKED PDF WHITE PAPER WITHOUT BUYING IT

This Refusal-To-Recognize-Failure Mindset Makes Achieving “IMPOSSIBLE” Things Possible – For ANYONE!

How To Make Your Haters Fail | LISTEN TO THIS VIDEO MESSAGE IF YOU WANT TO LOOK YOUNG, AND LIVE LONG

Quickly Type Superscripts, Subscripts & Other Unusual Symbols: ™, ©, ® | Time & Effort-Saving Tips

This Book Will Give YOU The MINDSET You Need to BEAT FAILURE & Achieve Authentic Success | TRUE STORY – See Over 250 Worn Pages I Read At Least 20 Times In 12 Years

Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home1/tayoswdg/public_html/sdnuggets/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399

Latests Comments
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | TayoSolagbade.com on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 2 of 3
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | TayoSolagbade.com on No. 119: How to Achieve Success in Any Field (True Story)
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 3 of 3
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on Why I Relocated from Nigeria to Benin Republic (Hint: A “Poor” Country Where Even Poor People Live Well!)
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on No. 119: How to Achieve Success in Any Field (True Story)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 2 of 3
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix (TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Why I Relocated from Nigeria to Benin Republic (Hint: A “Poor” Country Where Even Poor People Live Well!)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on How to Sell ANYTHING to ANYONE – ANYWHERE!
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Real Life Ration Formulation Demonstration Using Tayo’s Solagbade’s Excel-VB Ration Formulator (Based on data supplied by an Algerian PhD Student Enquirer)

Tweets by @tksola

1. Your position in the company

2. Your boss’ position in the company

3. The part of the world you’re in

1. Build A Smart Website

2. Setup Smart Social Media Marketing Channels

3. Use Smart E-mail Newsletter Marketing

4. Join Smart Online Local Directory Listings

5. Streamline Content Updates Using Smart RSS Feeds

6. Adopt 80% Smart Phone Based Content Update

What If It’s Not Working?

Sadly, Innocent High Quality Content Websites – Like YOURS – Can Now Get Wrongly Penalized!

Why It CAN Happen To Anyone – Even YOU!

Preventive Steps You Can Take

If/When You Discover Negative SEO Against You

Further Reading

No. 60: Should Your Market Something You Won’t Deliver?

Business Men’s Meeting Becomes Business Men’s Religious Service

It’s Time To Leave

Trickery Kills Trust!

As A Speaker, Deliver What You Promise

Here’s A Real Life Example Of How Not Meeting Expectations Can Cost You:

Final Words: The Need To Keep An Open Mind On Religion

Comments?

Share this issue!

What fears or doubts are keeping you from (a)taking up Burt Dubin’s $177 monthly speaker mentoring or (b) buying his products ?

You can choose to purchase Burt’s mentoring at any of the three (3) levels listed below:

1. Budget Delight [Click here] | 2. Mid Range [Click here] | 3. Top Shelf [Click here]

Presentation Skills Tools for Extraordinary Speaking Business Success

Print or PDF Report and Manuals

Monthly Speaker Mentoring Service

1. Budget Delight [Click here] | 2. Mid Range [Click here] | 3. Top Shelf [Click here]

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Introduction – WordPress Third Party Plugins

1. Comments

2. Blog Traffic (Incl. Number of Returning Visitors and/or Hits Per Visitor)

3. Bounce Rate and Number of Views Per Post

4. E-mail Subscription Rates and RSS Feed Size

5. Volume/Type Of Contact Form Enquiries

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Preamble

Some Of Today’s Teachers Still Use "Old School" Methods

Differentiating Between A "Teacher-Educator" And A "Teacher-Dictator"

Summary

Summary

Quick Take Away

Background – Obsolete Work Methods Are A Turn Off

How The Mistake Happened

Trying To Make Sense Of It All

Deciding To Develop A Permanent Solution For Myself To PREVENT A Future Occurrence

My “Personal” Solution Is Formally Adopted By The Department

If I Had NOT Made That Mistake, I May Never Have Been Driven To Develop That Solution!

Failure Is A Shrewd Instructor…Listen To It, And You’ll Be Better Off!

Final Words: A Formula You Can Use To Recover From Failure or Setbacks

My objective is to show people how they can apply tested and proven SD principles to achieve their personal goals in life.

Spontaneous Coaching™ Makes It Possible

The Solution To Unemployment

Success Through Versatility

The Internet’s Role In My Approach To Self-Development Education

A Writer’s Readers May Come from Widely Differing Fields

Of What Use Is A Target Audience Profile Then?

Conventional Business Owners Who Write, Should Use a Target Audience Profile

Summary

No. 59: Wine Making…& Your Speaking Proficiency

Back To Wine Making As It Relates To A Speaker’s Development Of Proficiency…

Your Audience Will Be Your Connoisseurs

Final Words: Baby Steps Can Be Better!

Comments?

Share this issue!

What fears or doubts are keeping you from (a) taking up Burt Dubin’s $177 monthly speaker mentoring here, or (b) buying his products here?

Presentation Skills Tools for Extraordinary Speaking Business Success

Print or PDF Report and Manuals

Monthly Speaker Mentoring Service

…a multi-disciplinary blog for people passionate about reaching their goals!

Presentation Skills
Tools for Extraordinary
Speaking Business Success

Presentation Skills

Tools for Extraordinary

Speaking Business Success