Arrived from Cotonou yesterday p.m and managed to visit Landmark Centre, venue of the Agra Innovate exhibition on Victoria Island here in Lagos.
The event certainly proved to be great for networking. Almost got myself dragged to do a full lecture on Farm Biz marketing with a group. Before then I’d run out of flyers I could give out!
I’ll write in more detail by weekend. But here’s an appetizer of talking points I’ll be focusing on, based on my discussions and interactions with various stakeholders.
1. Farm CEOs Lack of Sales and Marketing Savvy REMAINS a major problem.
It’s a serious challenge limiting what I estimate to be over 90% of farm business owners and agro allied entreprises.
In less than 3 hours at the exhibition venue, the conversation I had with various stakeholders there proved most still do NOT understand that they have to THINK as entrepreneurs, with smart marketing drive, if they want to succeed with their agro based businesses.
I’ll be sharing highlights from my interaction with a VERY animated group of farm business owners who found my ideas in this regard so compelling that they arranged themselves into a semi circle, to listen to me explain further.
2. Products made from Cassava – Going beyond fufu, gari and other basic food items.
I came across a German Not-for-Profit which has established itself in Nigeria as a force to be reckoned with in supporting small and micro scale farmers to develop sustainable strategies to process their farm produce into high profile products e.g chips.
I was given a package I will make digital copies of and put on my website for viewing. They also gave me a sample of one of their cassava chips. There was also a booklet on making Potato cakes.
The key here is taking basic farm produce and using processing to create new products that command superior pricing and yield better profit margins for the farmer.
3. AgroNigeria – a 100% indigenous magazine on Agriculture
It’s amazing that MORE people are not talking about this magazine. On my part, I’ve been buying magazines on Agriculture from local newstands, which I found are actually published abroad – even though they have “Africa” in their titles!
With AgroNigeria, what we have is a magazine whose content is devoted to our market, and designed to add useful value to help various sectors of our indistry grow.
I spoke with the MD, and we found several areas in which we shared similar sentiments about what is needed to move the industry forward. I intend to highlight a few when I write my full report on this outing.
There’s more, but these are the main ones I felt most impacted me. If you were there, maybe you could say a word or two in the comments, now, or when I post my full report on this. I intend it to be a downloadble PDF so as to send it to other stakeholders who may find the information useful.
[Tagline: If it can help your farm business, you’ll find it in THE FARM CEO™ Newspaper ]
This week I start by featuring yet another piece on a topic that holds unending interest for farm business owners:: reduction of costs of livestock feed bill. In the rest of this issue, articles on bird flu, best practice breeder house management, poultry recipes, and a story about rising input prices.
PREVIEW:
With the aim to reduce feed price volatility for broilers and breeders, Aviagen’s Global Nutrition Team offers a useful review covering corn (maize), sorghum, oats, DDGS, corn gluten meal, corn gluten feed, rice bran, cassava, sweet potato, glycerin, rapeseed meal, cottonseed meal, sunflower meal, palm kernel meal, copra meal and phosphates.
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Here are the headlines, reviews – and links – for this week’s featured news items:
[URL] Feed Ingredients: Consideration of Alternatives When Facing Increased Price Volatility P.1
[URL] More Bird Flu Found in Nigeria’s Rivers Area P.2
[URL] Best Practice in the Breeder House: Preventing Floor Eggs P.2
[URL] ThePoultrySite Recipe Section P.3
[URL] Poultry farmers in a soup over higher input costs P.3
Below: Screenshot of the cover for Issue No. 25 of THE FARM CEO (Monday 23rd November 2015)
Subscribe to THE FARM CEO, and get this new issue, as well as ALL back issues, in addition to your full subscription of 48 weekly issues.
1) Useful feed formulation/other findings from trusted sources
2) Cost-saving ideas from farm visits as I travel across West Africa.
3) Ads by farm providers/suppliers of all genres.
4). Special promo price offers of my Software and Book products
They will be printed and shipped into Lagos or Cotonou (not sure which one yet) using the same Print On Demand technology I use to get books published – for myself and my clients in physical form at zero costs (see examples here).
In the above mentioned newsletter issue, I shared the photos – shown below – of a Derbyshire calendar/meeting planner gift left for me by our family friends who recently visited Nigeria, from Sheffield.
Well, that’s about how the ones I’m making now will look in terms of layout, when they arrive in physical form. I know this because the platform on which I’m creating them is used by millions of people to create such branded promotional items using customization tools.
If you would like me to help you create a branded calendar/meeting planner of this kind, to be printed on glossy paper, to international quality standards, click here to send me a message now, with details of what you need.
NB: This newsletter is published every Monday. Point your browser to www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets to read at least ONE new post added to my SD Nuggets blog on a different category from Tuesday till Saturday (sometimes even Sundays)
WHEN YOU BUY BURT DUBIN’S SPEAKER MENTORING PRODUCTS/SERVICES – LEARN MORE HERE!
1 of 2: PUBLIC SPEAKING –Successful Speakers are Voracious Readers
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” ― Harry S. Truman
Here’s my adaptation, of the above quote, based on what I see in the socio-cultural environments I operate in:
“Not all speakers can be successful leaders, because NOT all speakers have a healthy reading habit!” – Tayo K. Solagbade
Aspiring Leaders Who Have NO TIME to Read Cannot Succeed as Leaders (3 Real Life Examples)
An expert-speaker once told me he did not read much because he was too busy. But after watching him for 6 months as we interacted on a project, I discovered he did not read because he was too lazy, restless and distracted by trivial issues. Not because he had no time or was too busy as he claimed!
A few years ago I was at an event in a Victoria Island-Lagos restaurant, hosted by Chimamanda Adichie, in which a young man asked her how he could improve his writing.
When she asked him how often he read, he replied that he did not have time to read!
You can guess how that exchange ended…
One more anecdote to drive my point home…
There’s a certain popular Beninese personality I’ve been quietly working with, here in Cotonou, to develop and implement a marketing strategy for a new range of solutions we plan to offer, using various audio visual resources he’s created over the years.
Last week, I asked him what he thought of the idea of my ghost-wring a book in his name, to be offered for sale to his fans and followers.
His reply, after a short pause, was that he’d learnt from years of serving local audiences his content, that majority of them had an aversion for reading and preferred watching videos and listening to audios.
That made us settle on using videos and audios to be put online and on DVDs off the web!
The above examples point to the fact that we have a society in which people are largely uninterested in reading – especially Self-Help literature!
Yet MANY of these same people with poor reading habits often aspire – and daily go out of their way – to become “speakers”!
That’s why we have so many “motivational speakers” who sound like duplicate versions of one another. Or worse, who simply ramble senselessly in delivering messages that make little sense to equally clueless audience members, with similar poor reading and thinking habits like the speaker’s!
They want to lead others, but are not prepared to equip themselves with the information and education to lead effectively!
How can you can make any lasting impact on those you address in your talks or lectures, when your fail to read to improve yourself?.
I often see such “speakers” (many having NO personal achievements of any sort to boast about) with bestsellers on success and achievement by established expert-authors, like Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Anthony Robbins, Bill Gates, Robert Kiyosaki and Napoleon Hill.
But on conversing with them, it often becomes painfully obvious they’ve not gone beyond the first chapter i.e. if at all they actually ever sat down long enough to read even that!
Yet, the truth is that even Albert Einstein, genius that he was, READ to improve himself – and voraciously too
So did/do the authors mentioned above, as well as many other successful people in various fields – including fashion design, and sports (Ask Michael Jordan)!
Now, let me point out here that when I say “successful” people in this article, I mean those who achieved expert competence in their chosen fields, and got recognized for it, BUT rather than stop there, went further to INFLUENCE others to excel, by becoming leaders of thought.
Einstein, Edison, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Robert Kiyosaki, and many others are examples of leaders of this kind.
So is Burt Dubin, veteran mentor to international speakers, and an author of his own books (e.g. Bust Loose) – who incidentally began reading powerful self-help books before he was in his teens.
In no time, the impact of the ideas he got exposed to became apparent in the exceptional performances he began demonstrating from an early age in and out of paid employment.
Burt is now 91 years old, but continues to read and write with the same passion that he’s always had.
One example: Last Thursday, I sent Burt a 12 item questionnaire for my CEO Interview Series, and by Saturday afternoon, he’d sent me the FULLY answered questionnaire neatly typed in MS Word with over 1,500 words!
That says a lot doesn’t it – and it’s the reason why he’s excelled in various fields for over half a century.
Burt remains as mentally agile as ever, and his wisdom from a well developed reading habit spanning over a half century, constantly comes to the fore as we correspond: a most enriching experience, for me!
[NB: If you ever read where I wrote that he was 83, forgive me – Burt has since corrected me in an email he sent last week]
Regular and diligent reading of useful written material (not gossip news etc) will over time build up your store of knowledge and information, including your reserve
There is a saying that you cannot give what you don’t have.
If you go around trying to share with others without maintaining a healthy reading habit, you’ll get to a point that you DRY UP, begin to sound stale, and your audiences will feel you have nothing new to offer, anytime they listen to you after the first time.
Think about the great speakers you know for a minute. Do you ever get the impression that they have no new ideas to share? Or that they’re boring to listen to? Very unlikely!
In as much as they may not be perfect, most of them nurse the smart habit of constantly replenishing what they know about their areas of expertise, by reading as much and as wide as possible. And they say so!
Today’s technology enables us access useful reading resources of the best and highest quality much more easily. It therefore makes one wonder why fewer and fewer people pick interest in reading.
I believe this has happened because of the failure of the conventional schooling systems in our societies.
Due to its emphasis on right and wrong answers, as well as rote learning/memorization, most people leave school without a LOVE for reading/studying – with the possible exception of sports, politics, romance, gossip etc.
The irony is that they also go into the world assuming that the little they see and hear as they move around, and also via TV and Radio, as well as on DVDs and other media, will be enough to learn what they need to know.
What they fail to realize is that doing those things cannot replace the need for reading.
My experience based tips on “What to Read”, as well as “How and When to Read”…
Now that I’ve established the important need for an expert-who-speaks to read in order to replenish him/herself, what follows below are some tips you can use to get into the habit as a way of life (which is what it should be).
What to Read:
Read anything and everything that can help you become better at what you do, and that will boost your ability to deliver memorable value adding speeches to your target audience.
How and When to Read:
Read online as well as offline.
Seize every opportunity to read anything you identify to be relevant to your needs.
Ideally seek your ideal time and place to do your reading.
However, my experience has taught me that expedience should be my operative word.
In other words sometimes it can be hard to find the perfect time to read, and yet something worth reading may come my way.
What I do is to do it right there and then or if that not possible, and I cannot take what is to be read with me to read later, I use whatever means possible to make a copy.
This has seen me writing out a page or 2 from a magazine.
When there was no time for that I’ve often taken high resolution photos of newspaper and magazine pages.
While reading online for instance I typically download pages to read offline later, or I copy and paste text from the web pages into a notepad file I then save to my smart phone’s memory card, so I can later read it on the device when I find a window of free time.
In truth there is no ceremony for me about when and where I read.
I read in snatches (e.g. quotes, self help tips etc) posted on any media, like walls, on TV, on people’s shirts.
And I also read lengthy texts as contained in both digital and print books anywhere and anytime I am able.
Basically, once I set my mind on reading something, no matter how voluminous, or complex, I routinely seize any opportunities I get to progress it, until it’s done. That’s how I get though work-related reading for my client projects, to ensure I deliver as promised.
What Mental Attitude Should Guide Your Reading? (OR What Should be Your Reason for Reading?)
No matter how much work or life experiences you have, you need to read what competent others have written, to gain better insights needed to improve yourself towards impacting others as a speaker.
My reading is never an ego trip. I recommend you ensure that yours never is as well.
For instance, I don’t buy a bestseller so people can see me carrying it around and “think” I am familiar with the “popular” book and author (e.g. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki).
Instead I internalize everything I read, subjecting it to Critical Thinking Analysis, so as to come up with my own insights, even if that means I end up not agreeing with the author in some areas.
Then I take the outcome of my reading and begin to apply it in my personal and work life – including when speaking to individual or group audiences – to influence them in my capacity as an competent expert in my field(s) of specialization.
If you do your reading diligently along the lines described above, your audiences are likely to find listening to your speeches repeatedly informative, educative, entertaining, and most importantly empowering!
Final Words: Speakers who excel are those who devote quality time to Self-Improvement via reading, and who engage in critical thinking based on what they read, to extract insights they can use.
To excel as an expert in your field, and especially as one who speaks as a thought-leader, you MUST adopt reading and critical thinking as described here as a regular habit!
experts-who-speak. Starting – Monday 13th April 2015 – it MORPHED in name and content served, to a 2 part Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, to better serve them.
You just read the “Public Speaking IDEAS” part above. What follows below is the “Web Marketing IDEAS” part.
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Burt Dubin works with people who want to be speakers, and with speakers who want to be masters. Click here to visit his website NOW and submit a contact form message telling him what challenges you’re facing, and how
you’d like him to help you. Tell him I sent you, and you’ll get a pleasant surprise offer from him.
“If you want to achieve sustainable success in business (especially in a volatile market place like Nigeria), it’s in your best interest to develop interest in
current affairs and politics, because those are the two key ingredients that really keep this country from having a stable sociopolitical climate.
And for as long as that stable sociopolitical climate does not exist, every person running a business will probably have to sleep with one eye open.” – Tayo K.
Solagbade
It’s FREE for all my Web Marketing/farm business clients, and ALL members of my Inner Circle as well as for ALL subscribers to THIS newsletter.
SPECIAL OFFER TO READERS OF THIS SPEAKING/WEB MARKETING IDEAS NEWSLETTER
Did you know that as an expert in your field you can make more money by speaking professionally? Or do you already speak-for-money, but want to know
how to do it better AND/OR how to make more money even when you do not speak?
If you said YES to any of the above, THIS offer is for you.
Burt Dubin can teach you to do ALL the above and more. You can learn from him via direct mentoring (regardless of distance) or using the many home study
HERE’S AN ADDED BONUS YOU GET FROM ME, IF YOU BUY FROM BURT…
If you purchase $1,500 USD or more of Burt’s Speaker Mentoring Products/Service, and choose to promote your speaking business online, I WILL develop and implement for YOU, a Web Marketing System at 50% of my standard fee, and manage it for 3 months – at NO COST to you – as per my Promotional Retainership Offer (See http://tayosolagbade.com/uploads/wms-offer-retainership.pdf).
Burt helps those he mentors (experts-who-speak) to Position, Package, Promote, and Present* themselves successfully to clients (*He calls
them the 4Ps). That’s why it’s no surprise that on Burt’s website, considerable space capital is devoted to useful business marketing articles as well as products.
It might also interest you to know that MANY years back, Burt established himself as one of the best marketing minds in the world. To really put this FACT in
proper perspective, I’ll provide more specific details in form of an example.
A few years ago, Burt contributed an article to a powerful publication titled “The Most Effective Articles Ever – By The World’s Top Marketers“. That 574 page ebook features timeless marketing advice from 71 of the world’s top marketers – including Jack
Trout, Joe Vitale, Yanik Silver…and Burt Dubin.
That’s ample proof that (in addition to Public Speaking), Burt would be a great resource to learn business marketing from!
Full Disclosure: I represent Burt as Sole Agent for his products/services, which means if YOU buy from him, I get paid.
But that’s NOT the main reason I represent and recommend him. I have benefited in many ways by learning from Burt. Through his writing, his audio recordings,
and from directly relating with him.
Before we teamed up in 2011, I’d been studying his work and adapting it to succeed in my work from way back in 2002. It does not matter what part of the world
you’re in. If you know how to adapt them to suit your peculiar local needs, Burt’s ideas and strategies WILL work for you. I am living proof of it!
That’s why I never tire of CONFIDENTLY recommending him to others.
If you need help putting the ideas shared above to use, let me know HERE.
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.
“(Tayo Solagbade) is amazing and I think he is going to produce some impressive results online…” – click here to read full comment by Patrick Meninga (US based 6 figure income blogger who gained fame for building a $2,000 per month adsense website and selling it for $200,000).
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“Tayo, I honestly believe you are one of those who will succeed at anything he does. Your commitment and effort has been outstanding….Thanks for all your hard
work since I’ve been here – you will be sorely missed. I don’t need to wish you good luck, you have the ability to make your own luck. – Andy”(R. Jones)*
*Operations Manager, Guinness Nigeria Plc Benin Brewery, December 2001 (Handwritten comments in farewell/xmas cards sent to Tayo Solagbade following his resignation to
various groups and organizations, including the Centre for Management Development, University of Lagos, Christ Baptist Church, Volunteer Corps, Tantalisers Fast Foods
and others.
In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.
and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).
In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years as a high performing manager in Guinness Nigeria. He rose from Shift Brewer, to Training
& Technical Development Manager, and then later acted in senior management roles as Production Manager and Technical Manager.
He is an Associate Member of the UK Institute & Guild of Brewing, a 1997 National Finalist of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s(NIM) Young Managers’
competition, a Certified Psychometric Test Administrator for Psytech UK, innovator of Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development™ (SCfS-D™), and Founder of the Self-Development Academy Limited.
Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your
personal and work related productivity.
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[IMPORTANT NOTE:====
On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.
Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” of it the website http://www.tayosolagbade.com.
But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts
he’s published.
If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.
2 days ago, on the night of Thursday 19th Nov 2015, after I (once again) exited my favorite Cyber Cafe here in Cotonou, as the last customer few minutes past 11p.m, I visited the ATM at Ecobank Gbejromede
(Hint: For those who wonder why I REFUSE to use a private Internet connection – the experience based analysis I offer at the bottom of this article can open your eyes to ways to save a few thousands from what you spend on Internet access).
The first thing I did was to check the balance to confirm the funds were there* (see left slip in photo below: The 2 ATM slips shown were from the ATM on Thursday night some time after 11p.m)
[*NB: Due to a scary 2013 experience in which the account linked to my card was accessed remotely by fraudsters I only move funds into it when I want to use it, and I leave it close to zero, when I’m done.]
Gbejromede was the branch I’d gotten used to since discovering it accepted my Master card back in April 2015.
But that night it failed me inexplicably – by repeatedly printing out the slip pictured below on the right saying “An invalid transaction was selected” – instead of printing a slip with a revised balance and giving me the cash amount I’d punched in!
So, I did a check for the balance, and it printed what I expected to be there, based on what was left before, and the transfer I knew you did.
But when I tried to take funds again, the same error message came out on yet another slip!
At that point I told the guard there what I was experiencing.
Thinking the problem was machine specific, he called another branch’s colleague at “Maromilitaire” branch, telling him I was on my way. Then he called a “Zim” (bike-taxi) to take me there.
When I got there, I tried again, but to my stupefaction, the same thing happened: I got a slip with the same message.
But that was just the beginning…
The drama that ensued would eventually see me leaving the bank after midnight WITHOUT my card…or money from the ATM!
I snatched the printout and called the guard to ask why I could not get cash. We were still talking when I heard the machine asking me to remove my card, in French.
Not knowing there was a potential implication, I ignored as I continue talking to the guard, thinking I would simply go back and get it when done.
How wrong I was!
By the time his colleague came around, he asked to see my card. I turned to pull it out from the ATM and show him, but it was gone! We searched all over the little room, without success.
Then they told me I must have taken it – asking me to check my pockets. I almost flipped, but calmly told them I was sure I had not, all the same tapping all my pockets.
Long story short, their supervisor eventually came around and on hearing my narration, he told me that when I failed to respond the machine had automatically taken in the card as a security measure to prevent someone else from taking it.
Looking at me, he said he was sorry but I would have to go away and return in the morning.
It turned out that both guards themselves did NOT know about this security feature, as it had never happened while they were on duty. We all joked about the fact that it had been a useful learning experience. Then we shook hands, exchanged phone numbers and I left.
At 8:30a.m the next morning of Friday 20th Nov. 2015, I returned as I’d been advised, and in the banking hall, explained what had happened to a female customer service officer who attended to me.
She shook her head in understanding, as I spoke, and eventually explained to me that what happened that night was due to a general network problem that affected ATM’s across all their branches.
About 15 minutes later, she’d given me my card, along with my International passport, which had been used to find it (after I’d signed to collect the card).
Then I returned to the ATM Monster (sorry “Machine”) to try my luck again.
First I checked the balance, and it was still as then night before. Then I punched in what I needed. This time around, it worked: see left slip below!
As you can see from the left slip’s balance, I had about10k FCFA left post withdrawal.
This was due to the fact that the ATM’s here seem to have only options that allow withdrawals of 20k FCFA and 50k FCFA upwards.
So I could not take out the 10k FCFA. But I was taking no chances.
On my return to the cafe, I devoted time to battle with the online interface (which has been erratic since I got here, till I moved it out).
Photo: Cooling off with Natural “Coconut” Milk!
It’s hard to tell from the photos below, taken with my good friend Moumouni, in front of his mobile phone shop, at Friday 4:40p.m, about 7 hours after I recovered my card from the bank ATM’s “tummy”, that the unsettling experience that occurred at close to 12 midnight on Thursday 19/11/2015 even took place…LOL!!!
Final Words: 2 Lessons I’ve learned…
1. Tayo, never ignore an ATM machine when it asks you to take your card out – even if you’re angry it has not coughed out the money you want. Before you start looking to see who to complain to, TAKE OUT YOUR CARD!
Imagine if I’d been traveling on Saturday evening, and this happened? I’d have been stranded till Monday!
2. Tayo, stop assuming it’s safe to go around with limited cash on you because you have an ATM card..or that it’s okay to wait till late at night or the weekend to cash what you need from ATM’s
This is not (yet) like Oyinbo land O. Sometimes the ATM “things” can – and do! – fail to work as expected!!!
PS: Looks like I’m just talking to myself with the above, huh?
I hope I’ve ministered to you as well with my message …otherwise, you may find yourself stranded in a BAAAD place if you fail to make changes to any of the above habits, if you have them!
That’s why, concerning this ATM palaver, I’ve learnt my lesson well O!!!
PS: Why I DO NOT Use a Private Internet Connect, and Prefer to Work From Cafes!
Now, following the question thrown at me about this by a client recently, let me shed light on why I nurse a seeming passion for working from cafes.
You see, I am a VERY heavy duty Internet bandwidth user, sometimes uploading tens of megabytes weekly. As a result, I typically exhaust silly bundles offered by local providers in countries I visit our here within days.
Yet they charge MUCH MORE than I pay for UNLIMITED bandwidth in Cafes I use. Indeed, I purchase 30 hours for approximately N60 per hour here (i.e. N1,800.00) in Cotonou, and it NEVER expires too. That often takes me over 3 weeks to exhaust. As a result, even when I travel, I return to continue using what’s left. You cannot do that with the pricey private connections sold by our local providers!
In contrast, a monthly bundle from a local provider I used back in 2014 cost 15k FCFA (approx N5k) for ONE month access after which it would expire regardless of what was left in it.
But apart from erratic connectivity, the bandwidth got exhausted less than 2 weeks after I started work on the client’s web marketing project I was doing. Incidentally, it was paid for by the client, but I told him to forget the idea of buying another bundle and simply returned to using the cafe.
Those bundles they sell are only useful to people who do simple non-bandwidth-intensive tasks like checking/sending mails, using facebook etc. Not for private users like me, who work alone, use no office, share no connections and who have to travel and work at the same time, doing “heavy lifting” of data via uploads/downloads etc.
Now, you may wonder how I cope when I do NOT have access to a cafe e.g. after they’ve closed or at weekends?
Well, my Blackberry keeps me connected round the clock. I get ALL my mails, and am able to browse, send emails, with file attachments etc when necessary if/when I’m away from the cafe (On the average, I pay about N500 to 700 for my Blackberry Internet Access EVERY MONTH, by taking advantage of certain subscriptions options).
The best part is that ALL of the above happens for me, at a fraction of the cost of using the fancy private Internet connections the local providers use to fleece most of the uninitiated.
I’m a business user with a focus on lowering my overhead costs of marketing. So, I pay attention to such details, because they can do major damage where it hurts most: the pockets
I’ll end by noting what I always ask people when we discuss decision making relating to spending:
Why spend more to get the same outcome, when you can spend LESS, and save money to do other things. Does the fact that you have the money mean you have to spend it without using your God-given intelligence to analyze HOW you do it?
My Spontaneous Coaching™ for Career Success Achievement program helps career persons “EXCEL” at the highest levels in the workplace….
Testimonial email excerpts:
From: “oseyi emmanul”
To: “Tayo Solagbade”
Subject: update
Great Mentor,
You are really a great mentor. your principles are real and they work. Since the beginning of this year alot of things have happened.
Top among them is the writing of assessment tests for our new line–Line 7. Out of 256 candidates, 75 were selected and out of the 75, 8 technicians were selected to go abroad for training of which I was among. We’ve been to Germany, stayed for 3weeks and now we are back.
Each step I’ve taken ever since you left has been with at least one word from you. It is as if you knew before time the steps and so you left at least a word for each.
Watch this 9 minute VIDEO Presentation based of Tayo Solagbade’s Mind Map based version of AWAI’s Steve Roller’s “Reap What You Sow: 12 Ideas to Increase Your Harvest of New Clients In 3 to 6 Months”.
Visit http://tayosolagbade.com/sow-reap to download the mind map and read the full explanation in Issue 219 of Tayo Solagbade’s Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter.
[Tagline: If it can help your farm business, you’ll find it in THE FARM CEO™ Newspaper ]
Preview:
On this page I announce my special offer of a Sales and Marketing Support Service for my Farm CEO clients to deal with the problem of greedy buyer groups (e.g market women & middlemen) who deny them decent profits from sales of their produce.
In the rest of this issue, I feature write-ups on the digestive system of different livestock.
You need a sound understanding of your livestock’s digestive system to feed it most effectively, and get the best results possible.
PREVIEW: If you’ve ever been held to ransom by buyers, this is for YOU! If the offer on this page interests you, copy and paste the questionnaire below into MS Word, then type your answers below each one.
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Here are the headlines, reviews – and links – for this week’s featured news items:
[URL] Get Serious Potential Buyers of Your Farm Products Sent to You at ZERO COST [Join my Sales and Marketing Club] P.1
[URL] Digestion: Know Your Birds Inside & Out P.2
[URL] How To Start Eggs Supply To Shops In Nigeria P.2
[URL] Anatomy of the Digestive System of Fish P.3
[PowerPoint Presentation] Digestion and Nutrient Metabolism P.3
Below: Screenshot of the cover for Issue No. 24 of THE FARM CEO (Monday 16th November 2015)
Subscribe to THE FARM CEO, and get this new issue, as well as ALL back issues, in addition to your full subscription of 48 weekly issues.
1) Useful feed formulation/other findings from trusted sources
2) Cost-saving ideas from farm visits as I travel across West Africa.
3) Ads by farm providers/suppliers of all genres.
4). Special promo price offers of my Software and Book products
Things are getting interesting here in Cotonou. This morning (Tuesday 17th Nov 2015), I had a meeting with 2 joint-owners/partners of a Commercial Export company.
[NB: I just walked in and up the stairs to their office – after reading signs they put up that told me my offer might interest them) and asked to see the CEO]
What started with guarded responses, quickly evolved into a lively discussion in which I fielded questions they threw at me (in French).
30 minutes later, both men were nodding and smiling in contentment, as we shook hands, having agreed to meet tomorrow morning to discuss what it will take to sponsor my FREE flagship micro-business start-up coaching clinic titled “How to Make Drinks You Can Sell, from Peels of Pineapples and 9 Other Fruits.”
Now I have 2 events in view!
[*This past weekend, two young men representing what appears to be a group or association followed up an initial meeting, with a phone call, to get more details towards creating awareness about my offer]
I’m doing the training FREE, but the partners will sponsor relevant aspects e.g. by doing the announcements/creating promotional materials to notify potential attendees, purchasing all materials to be used, or getting attendees to pay for them, and also providing suitable venue for the practical event.
I intend to invite the Nigerian Embassy, and the Benin Ministry of Agric.
My goal: is to build name/brand recognition LOCALLY (i.e. off the web) in Benin, regarding the Farm Biz Support Center I am looking to acquire land to setup.
At the centre, I intend to continue offering FREE training on drinks/cakes making, as well as Rabbit Rearing and making of crafts with rabbit pelts, and my English for French Speakers DVD based training …among other services.
To watch a video presentation which I’ve been sending out to potential partner organizations click here to send me a message.
A FREE – ON DEMAND – TALK titled…One VERY LOW COST Way to Make Drinks You Can Sell, Using Fruit Peels – Right from Your Home…In Less Than 2 Hours.
****Note that this is about using the PEELS that people throw away, to make drinks you can sell i.e. after the fruit has been eaten!*****
Duration: 3 to 4 hours.
Attendees: Any interested persons e.g. young school leavers, job seekers, housewives and others looking for additional income earning opportunities.
They will also be taught how I use the peels from making the drinks in baking cakes, without using an oven, and go home with products made by them during the practical session.
A well known Beninese journalist will cover the event, and a video recording will be done.
ATTENDANCE IS FREE: You only need at least thirty (30) willing learners, a venue, and the readiness to meet my terms/get me to and fro the venue..
DO YOU HAVE A GROUP OF PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO INVITE ME TO CONDUCT THIS EVENT FOR?
If YES, call me on +234-803-302-1263 or +229-66-122-136
Don’t email me. Don’t send me a Facebook inbox message. Don’t send phone SMS.
You have to call me on the numbers provided FIRST.
Remember: It is 100% FREE.
***ABOUT MY PINEAPPLE PEEL BASED DRINKS AND CAKES***
In 2013, I developed a technique for making ready-to-sell low cost drinks at home, using Pineapple PEELS while living in Calavi, outside Cotonou. One of the students on the university campus named the drink “Boisson Tayo” (i.e. French for “Tayo’s Drink).
It got me noticed at the Nigerian embassy, and led to the head of the English department in Benin’s CEBELAE (a Professor who met me at the embassy) insisting on driving me to his house hours away in Kasato (another town AFTER Calavi).
There I was treated to a sumptuous meal, and then asked to show his wife and kids (undergraduates) what I was doing with the peels they routinely threw away.
I’ve since taught my kids to make the drinks and cakes, and they have successfully sold them.
Indeed they are able to make and sell the products with no supervision, confirming my claim that this is a good formula for a micro business that anyone can start with very little money: Waste fruit peels as a zero cost key ingredient for easily reproducible low cost drinks and cake making!.
Invite my kids to show how to do it!
If you’d like my kids to conduct a practical demonstration (to your group) of how to make our flagship pineapple peels based drinks and cakes (baked without using an oven), click here to let me know.
Details of the book’s contents are supplied at the end of the PDF, which – for now – offers some background about why we do what we do, the way we do it.
PLUS, a little peek into an impromptu real life production session we had on Wednesday 8th October 2014!
Learn more about my Pineapple peel based drinks and cakes at:
In this issue I share insights I gained from using a self-marketing method based on implementation of 12 ideas for generating a reliable stream of new client enquiries, as discussed in an article written by AWAI’s Steve Roller (Read Steve’s awesome article at www.awaionline.com/2011/09/how-to-increase-your-harvest-of-new-clients).
In it, he recommended implementing ONE idea per month, over a year, then “Calculate the return on each and adjust accordingly.” I end my experience based analysis by suggesting you adopt Steve’s 12 ideas for use in your marketing in the incoming year…”and beyond”.
Title: [RECOMMENDED] Reap What You Sow: 12 Ideas to Increase Your Harvest of New Clients In 3 to 6 Months – by AWAI’s Steve Roller [MINDMAP Based 4 Year Implementation Analysis by Tayo K. Solagbade]
Author & Publisher: Tayo K. Solagbade [Tel: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic) ]
NB: This newsletter is published every Monday. Point your browser to www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets to read at least ONE new post added to my SD Nuggets blog on a different category from Tuesday till Saturday (sometimes even Sundays)
WHEN YOU BUY BURT DUBIN’S SPEAKER MENTORING PRODUCTS/SERVICES – LEARN MORE HERE!
1 of 2: PUBLIC SPEAKING –[RECOMMENDED] Reap What You Sow: 12 Ideas to Increase Your Harvest of New Clients In 3 to 6 Months – by AWAI’s Steve Roller [MINDMAP Based 4 Year Implementation Analysis by Tayo K. Solagbade]
In this issue I share insights I gained from using a self-marketing method based on implementation of 12 ideas for generating a reliable stream of new client enquiries, as discussed in an article written by AWAI’s Steve Roller (Read Steve’s awesome article at www.awaionline.com/2011/09/how-to-increase-your-harvest-of-new-clients).
In it, he recommended implementing ONE idea per month, over a year, then “Calculate the return on each and adjust accordingly.” I end my experience based analysis by suggesting you adopt Steve’s 12 ideas for use in your marketing in the incoming year…”and beyond”.
This analysis is based on a downloadable mind map I’ve created, that distills the wisdom from Steve Roller’s article into a diagrammatic one-page format (see below) for easy reference.
Watch my Youtube video explanation below
I’ll start by saying that I was already doing some of the things Steve recommended. But his article woke me up to the need to be more results-focused/creative and less mechanical in using them. A few months after reading it in September 2011, I’d reinvented my online presence, to reflect my new focus – and a year later, I was fully engaged in “doing it”.
In April 2013, I relocated to Benin Republic and put even more effort into “doing it”, to achieve my goal of generating more income via passive channels from sales of my products and services.
Those who have followed my writing since that time will know that I’ve shared many stories about how I now earn over 80% of my income online based on the steady generation of sales leads by what I call my Web Marketing System (WMS).
Steve’s article was one of the key resources I studied, to gain the practical insights I used to improve my WMS to get the great results I enjoy today.
In his article, Steve said he would suggest “NO particular order” for implementation of the 12 ideas…
However, the results I’ve gotten from making practical use of them to find new clients for myself over the years convince me that one WILL reap optimal returns by:
1. implementing Steve’s 12 ideas in close to the order I’ve numbered them in my mind map.
2. implementing MORE THAN ONE of Steve’s 12 ideas simultaneously.
I will now explain what I mean for EACH of the 12 ideas…
Note that I’ve grouped them into 2 categories
Group A is what I call “The Foundation” and includes those ideas from Steve’s list that I numbered from 1 to 6:
If you want to generate sales leads with less effort, using less money and time, ensure you start doing ALL 6 as quickly as possible in the order they appear and/or simultaneously.
1. Write articles to establish your credibility
I’ve been doing this since 2005
2. Write a free report for your website.
I’ve been writing FREE downloadable reports for my target audiences since 2006
I published my Self-Development Bible as a paperback in 2005. Since then I’ve written other print as well as digital books which sell from my online store at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/sdaproducts
6. Guest blog
Steve is right. Getting published on high profile blogs can help you build name/brand recognition, and attract potential clients.
But to get taken seriously by a blog owner, you need to have some writing you’ve done, to SHOW him/her.
When you have a website/blog brimming with quality original content penned by you, plus free downloadable reports on your specialty, a newsletter, and a FREE chapter to a book you published, it will be much easier for blog owners to BELIEVE that having a Guest Blog by you can add value to their brands!
By the time you send you offer in, and they check you out, YOU will have less “work” to do convincing them. That’s what happened when I reached out to editor at Africabusinesscommunities.com, and I got 5 of my Farm Business articles published there.
Some clients who purchased my Farm Support software told me they found me through my Guest Posts on that website.
Group B includes those ideas from Steve’s list that I numbered from 7 to 12 in my mind map:
One or more of the above Group A ideas plays a role(s) in making the prospect take notice of you and/or get him/her into “buy-mode”. Take it from me when I say they can ALL be started up within ONE month. You can either do it yourself, or engage someone to do it for you.
Without putting the Group A based foundation in place, trying to implement the ideas in Group B (discussed below) will not go as well as it can.
Let me now give examples to explain my thinking with regard to each of the ideas in Group B in relation to those in Group A.
7. Send out a very narrowly targeted direct mail piece.
When you send out a direct mail piece, you want to give yourself the opportunity to achieve optimal impact with your offer. That will however be a function of the believability of the message you send.
Having Group A in place is a powerful way to achieve that. Without that foundation, or with a haphazard version of it, your target audience may find it hard to buy-in to your direct mail offer.
Put yourself in their shoes, and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.
9. Join some type of business networking group, or start your own.
When you meet someone at a networking event, and chat for a while, you’ll probably exchange call cards, other contact details. Chances are good that at some point later, s/he’ll get around to Googling your name, to see what s/he can learn about you – possibly with regard to the service you offer.
What s/he sees in the Google results page, especially what turns up when the web links are clicked can make or mar your chances.
Group A’s 6 components, diligently implemented, can make you look as credible, and competent as you want him/her to know you are.
The result would be that s/he would end up giving you a call to take the relationship further. When you don’t have that kind of foundation, and you go networking, you’ll have MORE work to do to convince prospects to hire you.
10. Partner with professionals who have complementary services
I’ve not had much success doing this, but I continue to explore viable opportunities to do it. Having said that, teaming up with Burt Dubin to promote his speaker-mentoring products to experts across Africa has exposed me to persons who nursed interest in his solutions as well as some of mine. Some have gone on to become clients.
It goes without saying that having Group A components in place played a very important role in making that happen.
11. Join a trade association related to your niche.
What I’ve said in 9 above, applies here.
You will be joining with a purpose in mind. The question is what have you put in place to enable you maximize the opportunities that present themselves during your interactions with others in that association.
Having Group A in place gives you potential talking points you can subtly use to open sales conversations.
You could say the following to a prospect:
“I notice you have lots of knowledge and experience that can help others in your field. Have you ever considered writing a book based on your expertise, to use in your business marketing? My book on <xyz> has opened doors to new clients/speaking opportunities for me. If you lack the time or training, I offer a ghost-writing service for busy experts that you can use. “
Since my Group A elements include FREE chapter preview downloads, and generic offer PDFs on my website, if the prospect indicates interest in learning more, I simply offer to email him links to them.
Putting Group A in place implies doing a lot of the thinking up front and creating content that will lead your prospect to the end of the sale process.
12. Give a speech monthly related to your specialty.
Even if you’re offering to speak for FREE, potential attendees and meeting planners will want to be sure that coming together to listen to you will be a worthwhile experience.
So, don’t just go giving out flyers offering to speak. Others may be doing the same thing. Ensure that what you give out leads to other stuff you’ve setup that can help the decision maker pick you over others.
If you have the Group A foundation in place, including a video of yourself speaking, and a Speaker One Sheet(s) they can view, whatever you say in your interactions, will carry enough weight to get you invited to speak.
When you meet a potential client, it is not often that you get to walk away with cash in your hands or a signed cheque you can cash the very same day…
Quite often it tends to take a while before you both agree on what you can do that would be worth paying for.
What I’ve learned working from a socioeconomic environment, in which trust is not easy to establish is that having Group A in place can dramatically diminish the work you have to do to gain trust, and close sales!
Think about it and you’ll see what I mean.
Most clients/buyers I’ve won over in and out Africa basically came to me 80% convinced about hiring me, or buying from me – after getting exposed to my Group A foundation. In the course of interacting with them, I then did enough to get them to 100% – and close the sale.
When some were not so sure (maybe at 50%), the Group A foundation I had in place was what I intelligently deployed (in conjunction where applicable, with Group B ideas) at various stages of interaction, over time, till they bought..
Summary: My numbering of Steve’s ideas does not mean EACH idea has to be implement strictly in the order it appears.
There is plenty of room for overlap. But my point is some need to happen, or be in place, before others are implemented, to ensure optimal returns.
In particular, ideas 1 to 6 in Group A need to be implemented before any major effort is put into implementing 7 to 12.
Steve said: Write articles to establish your credibility – and he is SO right!
I read somewhere that article marketing is a timeless marketing strategy. My experiences since I began doing it in 2005 confirm it’s true.
Article marketing continues to be a truly rewarding endeavour for me. I actually consider it to be the most important of ALL the 12 ideas Steve listed.
WARNING: In writing for marketing, avoid fretting about content thieves. Focus instead on adding useful value to what exists!
Some experts are not keen on using their writing for marketing because they fear exposing their good quality and original content to possible theft
I can confirm that I’ve had to call out some website owners for using my articles from Ezinearticles.com without including my byline, or even my name.
There will always be content thieves lurking around.
But not doing it at all is like to hurt you more – because then few potential clients will ever get to KNOW just how awesome your writing content can be.
So, forget the negatives and focus on the countless positives that can accrue to you.
On the flip side, YOU must also watch yourself. Never be guilty of abusing the work of others.
Give due credit. Always.
PS: Note that I have never met with Steve Roller, or even interacted with him in any way.
In other words, he probably does not even know I exist.
But his ideas have helped me take my business forward. That’s why I created my mind map to share Steve’s wisdom – visually – with others who may need it, as we approach yet another new year of business.
experts-who-speak. Starting – Monday 13th April 2015 – it MORPHED in name and content served, to a 2 part Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, to better serve them.
You just read the “Public Speaking IDEAS” part above. What follows below is the “Web Marketing IDEAS” part.
*******
Burt Dubin works with people who want to be speakers, and with speakers who want to be masters. Click here to visit his website NOW and submit a contact form message telling him what challenges you’re facing, and how
you’d like him to help you. Tell him I sent you, and you’ll get a pleasant surprise offer from him.
“If you want to achieve sustainable success in business (especially in a volatile market place like Nigeria), it’s in your best interest to develop interest in
current affairs and politics, because those are the two key ingredients that really keep this country from having a stable sociopolitical climate.
And for as long as that stable sociopolitical climate does not exist, every person running a business will probably have to sleep with one eye open.” – Tayo K.
Solagbade
It’s FREE for all my Web Marketing/farm business clients, and ALL members of my Inner Circle as well as for ALL subscribers to THIS newsletter.
SPECIAL OFFER TO READERS OF THIS SPEAKING/WEB MARKETING IDEAS NEWSLETTER
Did you know that as an expert in your field you can make more money by speaking professionally? Or do you already speak-for-money, but want to know
how to do it better AND/OR how to make more money even when you do not speak?
If you said YES to any of the above, THIS offer is for you.
Burt Dubin can teach you to do ALL the above and more. You can learn from him via direct mentoring (regardless of distance) or using the many home study
HERE’S AN ADDED BONUS YOU GET FROM ME, IF YOU BUY FROM BURT…
If you purchase $1,500 USD or more of Burt’s Speaker Mentoring Products/Service, and choose to promote your speaking business online, I WILL develop and implement for YOU, a Web Marketing System at 50% of my standard fee, and manage it for 3 months – at NO COST to you – as per my Promotional Retainership Offer (See http://tayosolagbade.com/uploads/wms-offer-retainership.pdf).
Burt helps those he mentors (experts-who-speak) to Position, Package, Promote, and Present* themselves successfully to clients (*He calls
them the 4Ps). That’s why it’s no surprise that on Burt’s website, considerable space capital is devoted to useful business marketing articles as well as products.
It might also interest you to know that MANY years back, Burt established himself as one of the best marketing minds in the world. To really put this FACT in
proper perspective, I’ll provide more specific details in form of an example.
A few years ago, Burt contributed an article to a powerful publication titled “The Most Effective Articles Ever – By The World’s Top Marketers“. That 574 page ebook features timeless marketing advice from 71 of the world’s top marketers – including Jack
Trout, Joe Vitale, Yanik Silver…and Burt Dubin.
That’s ample proof that (in addition to Public Speaking), Burt would be a great resource to learn business marketing from!
Full Disclosure: I represent Burt as Sole Agent for his products/services, which means if YOU buy from him, I get paid.
But that’s NOT the main reason I represent and recommend him. I have benefited in many ways by learning from Burt. Through his writing, his audio recordings,
and from directly relating with him.
Before we teamed up in 2011, I’d been studying his work and adapting it to succeed in my work from way back in 2002. It does not matter what part of the world
you’re in. If you know how to adapt them to suit your peculiar local needs, Burt’s ideas and strategies WILL work for you. I am living proof of it!
That’s why I never tire of CONFIDENTLY recommending him to others.
If you need help putting the ideas shared above to use, let me know HERE.
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.
“(Tayo Solagbade) is amazing and I think he is going to produce some impressive results online…” – click here to read full comment by Patrick Meninga (US based 6 figure income blogger who gained fame for building a $2,000 per month adsense website and selling it for $200,000).
—————————–
“Tayo, I honestly believe you are one of those who will succeed at anything he does. Your commitment and effort has been outstanding….Thanks for all your hard
work since I’ve been here – you will be sorely missed. I don’t need to wish you good luck, you have the ability to make your own luck. – Andy”(R. Jones)*
*Operations Manager, Guinness Nigeria Plc Benin Brewery, December 2001 (Handwritten comments in farewell/xmas cards sent to Tayo Solagbade following his resignation to
various groups and organizations, including the Centre for Management Development, University of Lagos, Christ Baptist Church, Volunteer Corps, Tantalisers Fast Foods
and others.
In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.
and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).
In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years as a high performing manager in Guinness Nigeria. He rose from Shift Brewer, to Training
& Technical Development Manager, and then later acted in senior management roles as Production Manager and Technical Manager.
He is an Associate Member of the UK Institute & Guild of Brewing, a 1997 National Finalist of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s(NIM) Young Managers’
competition, a Certified Psychometric Test Administrator for Psytech UK, innovator of Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development™ (SCfS-D™), and Founder of the Self-Development Academy Limited.
Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your
personal and work related productivity.
====
[IMPORTANT NOTE:====
On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.
Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” of it the website http://www.tayosolagbade.com.
But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts
he’s published.
If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.
…a multi-disciplinary blog for people passionate about reaching their goals!
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