Category Archives: My DN Travel News

Career Development, Excel-VB Solutions, My DN Travel News

What’s The Future Of Spreadsheet Automation?!

December 4, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

I build custom Excel-VB driven software used by a growing number of individuals and businesses within and outside Africa.

Over the past decade in particular, I have successfully tailored the solutions I offer to SUIT the local environment we have, in my part of the world (Africa). And I did it in a way that appeals to many results-focussed business users who are enthusiastic about using Information Technology to IMPROVE the way they work.

It is therefore only natural that such existing clients – and the prospective ones I approach – should wonder about the continuing relevance of the platform I use for developing and maintaining the solutions I provide them.

This matter has become even more important since the first version of Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO)/Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA). The first version has since been improved upon – and continues to get better.

Discussions have raged among active members of the VBA community about how this new resource from Microsoft affects Visual Basic for applications (VBA) and its usefulness to end users.

Here’s my take on the whole matter…

For those who believe the "entry" of VSTO/VSTA" marked the end of VB for Excel, here’s some advice: Don’t count on it.

The debates have continued even as Microsoft continues to roll out newer/richer featured versions of the new platform.

One TRUTH that remains clear to all objective "viewers" is that except it wishes to commit financial suicide, Microsoft will continue to ensure VB for Excel functionality in newer versions of MS Excel it releases.

I can attest to this being true because the Hotel, Restaurant & Bar Manager software I built for a client was developed to run on MS Excel 2007 and higher versions. All I did was to ensure its backward compatibility with lower versions down to MS excel 2000.

The fact remains that many small businesses and departments in large corporations will continue to NEED the kinds of quick/easily developed and deployed solutions that VB for Excel allows.

Of course, with VSTA getting better, more use is likely to be made of it, but I believe it remains critical that POWER still be left in the hands of end users as has been the case with VBA if maximum user benefits are to be derived.

I say this because it is highly inconceivable that corporate IT departments will EVER have time to cater for different departments’ needs – in terms of developing rapid custom software solutions – on the scale that VB for Excel solutions allow.

I first wrote the original article on which this piece is based, back in April 2008 i.e. six years ago.

To arrive at the conclusions I stated in this piece, I tapped into my own experience based insights, and also reviewed discussion threads involving some prominent members of the VBA community.

They included professionals who have built custom Excel-VB driven software used by some of the world’s largest corporations, including Microsoft itself!

Today, in 2014, everything I said remains VERY relevant.

If you’d like to know more, I recommend you Google "Is VSTO/VSTA intended to replace VBA?"

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, My DN Travel News, Self-Development

The Secret to a Worry-FREE Life: Never Let Your Problem Give Birth to Babies

December 4, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

“Either do wrong or feel guilty but don’t do both. It’s too much work.” – Anonymous

A number of factors can cause a person to worry. Examples include financial difficulties, problems in the family or workplace etc. Sometimes we become so worried or pre-occupied by certain things that we inadvertently let them affect our behaviour or performance elsewhere.

This is not only avoidable, but also often potentially harmful if not quickly checked. Let me illustrate with the following analogy.

Let’s say Mr. A has financial problems, which have caused – among other things – a strained relationship between him and his wife at home (not an uncommon occurrence!).

Let’s assume his wife is a full time housewife, and as such does not currently contribute income towards the upkeep of the family.

When things fail to improve over time, Mr. A begins to worry about how he will cater for the family. So, he goes to work with this problem weighing so heavily on his mind that the "quality" of his workplace performance drops noticeably. His boss (Ms B) who had been proposing to senior management that Mr. A be considered for a promotion tries repeatedly to get him to improve, but to no avail.

When eventually Senior Management signals approval of Ms B’s proposal regarding Mr. A, she is no longer so sure he will be able to deliver in his present state of mind. His performance has not improved, and she is worried that it might do him more harm than good to get promoted to a higher, more demanding position at this time.

In summary, Mr. A ends up losing a long awaited opportunity for significant career advancement.

This happens because he allowed the discouraging developments in one aspect of his life to spill over, and negatively impact on another TOTALLY DIFFERENT aspect.

What makes this more tragic is the fact that Mr. A failed to realise that sustaing his good workplace performance could have led to a promotion
or salary increase etc that would possibly have helped with his financial problems!

And even if it did not help his finances, he would at least have still been rated highly by his boss and senior colleagues.

Don’t Let Your Problem Give Birth To Babies!

Please note my emphasis on the singular: Problem …NOT Problems.

"Keep EACH and EVERY problem you have in its place. Don’t let it sneak out through the back door and jump into other areas of your life. Make sure it always has to ask for your permission to do so. And like you would do with your child when trying to stop him/her doing something wrong, be ready to ALWAYS
tell it NO, when it asks. Problems can be very naughty, and without staying alert to this reality about them, just ONE of them could literally mess up your day, week or entire life!" – Tayo K. Solagbade

The way I drive home this point during my talks is this:

Why should you let the fact that you had an unpleasant experience at home turn you into a "grouch" or incompetent person at work? What is the point of starting off with ONE problem (whether gigantic, big, small, tiny or even microscopic) in your home, and letting that negatively affect your ability to do your job and relate with people you meet when you leave home?

Why let it spill over to other areas of your life that could otherwise go on normally if you made conscious effort to control yourself? Doing that does not help you in anyway. If anything, you actually worsen your predicament because your problem, eventually multiplies itself (i.e. gives birth to – what can be VERY – fast-growing "babies"!) so that you upset other people, or do other things wrong, and get yourself even more worried!

Jim Rohn once said, “Wherever you are, be there”.

Jim Rohn’s “Wherever you are, be there” to me, means leave that domestic problem at home, and face your job at work squarely or be yourself wherever else you go soon as you leave home.

Do your job and relate with others as well as you would have – or even better than – if you did not have a problem at home. (This requires a lot of mental discipline and effort, but you will find it is well worth it).

When you get back home, you can thencontinue trying to resolve the home front problem. That way, you will be able to lead a normal life in all other areas of your life and eventually, that could even help you focus better to sort out the problem on the home front – and vice versa.

Fail to do this, and your problem will assume multiple dimensions since you will allow it spill over to, and negatively affect other aspects of your life.

If someone upsets you before you leave work, quickly put aside your feelings of hurt, anger etc once you leave there, and ensure you’re FULLY yourself again by the time you get home.

What If Someone Runs Into Your Car? (Based On A True Story)

If your car gets run into on your way to work, or to give a lecture or attend a meeting etc, ensure you get a grip on yourself BEFORE you arrive at the venue. Going there with a scowl or frown on your face will not be a new or unusual achievement.

Instead, arrive there smiling and looking at ease with yourself. Only mention what happened maybe at the end – probably if someone sees the car and asks.

Or maybe someone asks why you were late. By the time you narrate whatever transpired as a result of the accident, you are likely
to gain the respect of your listeners, because they will marvel at your apparent ability to put such an experience aside and still give a good showing at the event!

And just in case you’re wondering about the "car accident" example, I’ll have you know that this happened to me during my last few weeks as an employee in Guinness Benin Brewery back in late 2001.

What follows is a narrative of the experience as I told it in my management research paper on Self-Development titled "Self-Development As A Tool For Achieving Career Advancement(A Practical Guide Based On Experience)" which you can request a copy of via http://www.tayosolagbade.com/contact.htm.

~~~~~~~~~~~
“Let me tell a short story to illustrate the point I want to make here. I bought my first car only about 4 months
ago, and yet in the last 3 months since I began driving it between Lagos and Benin City, I have had quite a number of major car problems. There was the case of a burnt alternatorcut-out (resulting in a battery rundown around Ore in Ondo state), which combined with major engine valves failure, to cause me and my wife and two sons to arrive Benin City after
midnight!

Then there was a
master clutch failure on Benin-Sapele highway which took over 7 hours to resolve (by now you must know the car is “Tokunbo”
i.e. “imported second hand”!), and a serious accident in which someone ran into me from behind and almost drove the trunk of my car into its back seat.

The last one took
us two weeks to get the car back in shape. By that time, Nkechi (my wife) had become quite familiar with panel beating
and spray painting, having developed a rapport with the workers from staying with them while I was away at work.

In each case, after coming to terms with the reality of the problem, we simply settled down and got involved with the mechanic, panel beater,
painter etc who were engaged to carry out the repair work on the car. I would help hold the spanner, wrench, torchlight etc – and keep asking them questions about why they were doing what they were doing etc.

My logic
was this:

If I was going to be stuck there from 1.00pm till 10.30 p.m. (as happened with the Ore incident) watching these guys take my engine apart and put it back again, I could as well come away from it with some new knowledge and skills that would prove useful tomorrow, to me – or someone else. After all, it’s not everyday you get to "enjoy" the luxury of having you car engine stripped down for you to see the insides!”
—-

That was the story.

Now, about 10 minutes
after seeing the bashed-in "behind" of my Toyota Carina, I was back to my usual self – cracking jokes and making fun of the guy who had run into me – telling him how I symapthised
with him (his car was a write-off)! I later overheard one of my wife’s friends (who had stopped by upon seeing us) say to her: "And your husband can still laugh?!".

Of course I could laugh. Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the late Afro beat Music legend, once sang(in his usual pidgin english):

"Why I dey laugh? I no fit cry"(translated "Why am I laughing? I cannot cry!").

Yes, why not laugh
it off? It’s happened already, so you might as well review the damage done and decide on the next line of action. There’s nothing to be gained by dwelling on time-wasting arguments or worrying about how it could have been avoided etc

Summary
: To avoid worrying, control your thoughts!

Some of us have a natural tendency to worry about what "people" say (or will say) about us. For instance someone we know (or think?) dislikes us suddenly makes friends with one of OUR own "friends". We immediately begin to worry that s/he might "poison" our friend’s mind against us. I’m sure you know what I mean.

In the corporate world for instance, there is what Robert Kiyosaki called "vicious
backstabbing" that perpetually goes on between and amongst managers, executives etc. The fact however remains that you can
NEVER know who is going to do that to you next – or when (except you’re psychic!). As such you won’t be helping yourself in
any way by worrying about it.

What you CAN do is to keep doing what you do as well as you can, and it will only be a matter of time before you’re vindicated through your work.

By then, your detractors would have been identified and known for what they are. On the other hand, sometimes things are not always as they seem and your fears may actually be unfounded. Maybe what you think is happening is not actually so! My advice is: Control your thoughts, and steer them away from the negatives that will cause you to worry.

A healthy level of self-esteem will enable
you permanently eliminate the influence of what others say or do on you – whether it be good or bad.

"Be
more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation
is merely what others think you are" – Dale Carnegie

FINAL WORDS: Your personal situation may differ from those under which these ideas have so far been applied.

As a result, it is impossible to guarantee you will get the same results I have every time. Nevertheless, I would say that EVERY SINGLE THING I have said in this article is based on what I have done VERY successfully from my days as a process manager in a challenging fast-paced manufacturing workplace (before then I was a "WCW" i.e. World Class Worrier!), right up till this moment in my own life. It works, and I continue – today 3rd December 2014 – reaping great benefits from having applied this same philosophy since becoming an entrepreneur. I repeat: IT WORKS, so USE IT!

PS: This article is based on excerpts from Tayo Solagbade’s 113 page paper back(physical) Self-Development Bible titled: "Ten Ways You Can Use Self-Development To Create The Future You Want"

It is available for purchase from http://www.lulu.com/sdaproducts (e-book and in print).

Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, General, My DN Travel News

White Paper (PDF), Blueprint for a Low Cost Automated Spreadsheet Hospital Management Information System (HMIS)™

December 2, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

In August 2007, an old client engaged me to write a research based paper on development of a low cost networkable Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) for a South Western state in Nigeria. We later traveled down from Lagos, to the state, so I could present the paper, but were unable to meet with top decision makers.

I’ ve published a revised version now on sale as an ebook White Paper titled <a href=”http://www.lulu.com/nl/nl/shop/tayo-solagbade/blueprint-for-a-low-cost-automated-spreadsheet-hospital-management-information-system/ebook/product-21932720.html” target=”blank”>Blueprint for a Low Cost Automated Spreadsheet Hospital Management Information System door Tayo Solagbade (e-boek) – Lulu NL</a>.

Below is the ebook cover, and an outline of the Table of Contents (The numbers in front of each section title are page numbers)

Subtitle: A highly participatory approach to the design & implementation- using Excel Visual Basic – of a Low Cost, but highly Effective/Efficient Integrated HMIS that makes medical care delivery easier/more rewarding for providers.

CONTENTS 5

WHAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT TAYO’S EXCEL-VB SOLUTIONS 6

INTRODUCTION 7

HMIS IN DEVELOPED SOCIETIES 8

THE DEVELOPING SOCIETIES CONTEXT 9

THE HMIS BLUEPRINT 10

1. KEY IMPERATIVES FOR A GOOD HMIS DESIGN 11

2. STANDARDISING HEALTH DATA TO BE RECORDED 12

4. HMIS DESIGN – SOURCE DOCUMENTS 14

5. THE HMIS VISION 15

7. SPEEDING UP CARE DELIVERY: THE “EMERGENCY SCREEN” CONCEPT 17

8. THREATS TO HMIS IMPLEMENTATION, & ADOPTION/USE 18

CONCLUSION 19

TAYO’S MICROSOFT EXCEL® HEAVEN™: BUILT-IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS DEVELOPMENT FOR INDIVIDUALS & BUSINESSES 21

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 22

BE A MICROSOFT EXCEL POWER USER™! 25

If you run a hospital or medical clinic/facility of ANY kind and would like to learn how this kind of solution can be developed and implemented for you, click here to contact me.

Entrepreneurship, General, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Parenting, Public Speaking, Self-Development

No. 170: Achieve Speaking Success Using Your Audience’s Local Proverbs & Stories

December 1, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Popular Yoruba proverb: “Èhinkule l’ òtá wa, ilé ni aseni ngbé” [Meaning: “The enemy lies in wait in the backyard. The traitor lives in the home”. Read story-based interpretation in photo below].To speak successfully, one must connect emotionally and intellectually with an audience. Pastor Tunde Bakare is a speaker who does that effortlessly using local proverbs, songs etc.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ FULL ISSUE

Click now to view the latest issue of Tayo Solagbade's Public Speaking IDEAS page

Publication: Weekly Public Speaking IDEAS Newsletter

Date: Monday 1st December 2014

No: 170

Title: Achieve Speaking Success Using Your Audience’s Local Proverbs & Stories

Author & Publisher: Tayo K. Solagbade [Tel: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic) ]

Blog URL: http://www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets

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

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

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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) in line with this publishing schedule

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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS newsletter is published online on the “reincarnated” version of my Self-Development (SD) Nuggets blog. I continue to put finishing touches to the content. If you encounter ANY bad/dead links, and you can spare the time, email them to me via tayo at tksola dot com. Thanks in advance

No. 170: Achieve Speaking Success Using Your Audience’s Local Proverbs & Stories

Few Nigerian adults do not know this small framed but fiery personality that is Bakare…

Over the years, his has remained a voice of reason, integrity and courage in the face of growing socio-political decay across the Nigerian landscape. Even when lacking support from peers and associates, Bakare has continued to speak out as the conscience of the nation.

Despite being an individual, as far as speaking the truth and demanding the right things be done are concerned, Bakare frequently makes himself heard, and taken seriously.

But that’s not because he speaks louder than others.

Instead, it’s because he is skilled at speaking with impact – by making smart use of the English language, in combination with local proverbs, songs, and folktales to get his points across.

A good way to appreciate Bakare is to listen to him speak at any gathering (political rallies, business conferences, religious events etc)

His prowess in use of the English as a lawyer is readily apparent. At the 2014 National Conference, he shone like a thousand stars in the way he articulated his views.

As a result he won over delegates from different sides of the divide on to his line of thinking. So much so that they adopted a set of ideals he conceived for reorientation of all citizens.

But what really sets Tunde Bakare apart, is the way he readily injects local (often Yoruba) proverbs and songs – into his delivery.

He uses them to drive home his message with massive impact. Due to the passion with which he speaks, the audience is often so moved that when he bursts into songs, for instance, they simply join in!

Now, an interesting thing to note here is that even though he tends to use mostly Yoruba sayings and songs, his base of followers has always remained very diverse – cutting across tribal and religious boundaries.

For instance, in his church you will find people from different Nigerian tribes and ethnic groups. Same applies to the social change advocacy groups and organisations he leads.

I believe this is because he makes sure to interpret whatever he says for ALL to understand – using relevant analogies and illustrations.

Having himself been born into a Muslim home as a child, and then later converting to Christianity as an adult, he is able to leverage his knowledge of the Muslim religion to connect with mixed audiences.

It is for this reason that Bakare is so well known and respected today in today’s Nigeria – even amongst leaders of thoughts in opposing groups and organisations to those he belongs in religion as well as politics.

Most people who have heard him are in agreement that when Bakare speaks, it’s likely to be fair, and of potential benefit to all concerned.

You can often tell a great speaker by his/her ability to CONVINCE his/her audience to see things from his/her perspective as stated above.

This is why Tunde Bakare is a great speaker – especially as it relates to communicating successfully with audiences in societies like Nigeria/Africa.

To succeed as an expert-who-speaks in Africa (and/or to Africans), I recommend YOU make out time to carefully study Pastor Tunde Bakare, when he speaks.

It’s all well and good to study Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and other great speakers the world has known.

However, you must keep in mind that audiences in certain societies and cultures have unique peculiarities. And those peculiarities make it imperative to speak to them using adaptations of what one learns from foreign cultures, mixed with local content to yield the right “flavour”.

My experiences and observations convince me audiences in Africa need to be approached in that manner.

Indeed, my careful studies of speakers like Bakare convince me that’s why they succeed!

In essence I’m saying that Bakare’s speaking strategy of using local proverbs, songs, and folktales/anecdotes, if intelligently adapted for use by ANY expert-who-speaks, can dramatically boost his/her chances of connecting successfully with audiences in African cultures.

Final Words: This newsletter issue is a tribute to Pastor Bakare

Pastor Tunde Bakare recently celebrated his 60th birthday anniversary on 11th November 2014, and he was saluted by many top leaders from within and outside the country. As usual, he delivered a powerful message regarding his vision for Nigeria.

Such relentless passion drives this man, and I am continually inspired to emulate him!

That was why I joined in the rallies organized back in January 2012, which he spearheaded to demand for the reduction of the hiked petrol prices.

It is also why I continue to seize every opportunity to hear him speak. My family (parents, wife and kids) know I do not attend church. Yet, whenever they see Bakare on TV preaching a sermon, they know enough to call me!

You see, I ALWAYS listen to his messages, because he rarely fails to link his message with bringing about positive social change in society – politically etc.

It is for this reason that this issue of my newsletter is dedicated to him on his 60th anniversary.

But let me clear: I have NEVER met him and have no desire to meet Bakare on his 60th birthday anniversary

Instead, I’ve written this piece to let others who do not know him discover him, and to let those who already know him discover what they can LEARN from him about speaking impact-fully to influence positive change in others.

If we have more who SPEAK and ACT like Tunde Bakare, in Nigeria/Africa, even the sky will not be the limit for our societies!

Below: Screenshot from a new book I’m writing. It is designed to facilitate contextual comprehension of proverbs by persons with limited proficiency.

Tentative Title: 25 “Storyfied” Yoruba Proverbs for Children – Vol. 1

Subtitle: A Story-Based Interpretation of 25 Popular Yoruba Proverbs for Persons with Limited Understanding of Yoruba

Note how I’ve used a story from an episode of a foreign movie series (Green Arrow) that I’ve been watching with my kids, to demonstrate an example of a real life situation in which the proverb I began this peice with, can be correctly used.

Most Nigerian adults today (myself included!) use the English language better than they do their own mother tongues. Even worse, many of us fail to teach our native languages to our kids. For our kids who do get taught, they often end up being far from proficient – use of proverbs being a crucial requirement for proficiency.

I recently decided to take action to help my kids become proficient in Yoruba. Incidentally, their mother has been coaching them in Igbo, her language, by speaking to them DAILY in that language – and they understand it better than they do Yoruba: That challenged me!

Also, I know that adding Yoruba (and later on French) to their Igbo and English speaking abilities can open doors for them. This is why I’ve been spending time with relatives, friends, even clients, gifted in the use of proverbs, to implement this project of mine.

The above screenshot shows the first of 25 proverbs to be published in volume 1 of the series.

I’ve NOT settled on a final for the book, but it will be published in my online store in both digital and physical formats before 31st December 2014. I plan to publish a new volume of 25 story based proverbs, EVERY quarter, till I get 100 proverbs.

If you’d like to be notified when the full book becomes available, click here to let me know.

Learn about Burt Dubin’s speaker mentoring products (books, audios etc) below…

If you need help purchasing ANY of Burt’s products (like “Presentation Magic”), call me on +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic, my base) or +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or email tayo@tksola.com

Have a great week :-))

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Get Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring
for Africa Based Experts(PDF…Click!)

Tayo K. Solagbade*

Self-Development/Performance Improvement Specialist

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

Mobile: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic)

http://www.tayosolagbade.com

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/web hosting,

freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners).

Tayo is the author of the Self-Development (SD) Bible™ and the popular Livestock Feed Formulation Handbook. He is also the developer of its accompanying Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator™ and the Poultry Farm Manager™ software.

He has delivered talks/papers to audiences in various groups and organisations, including the Centre for Management Development, University of Lagos, Christ Baptist Church, Volunteer Corps, Tantalisers Fast Foods

and others.

In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.

On 1st April 2013, Tayo (who reads, write and speaks the French language) relocated to Cotonou, Benin Republic to begin slowly traveling across the West African region.

His key purpose is to deliver talks, seminars

and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).

In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years 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.

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 his Weekly Public Speaking IDEAS

newsletter(which he uses to promote Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring service to experts working across the African continent).

You can connect with him on Twitter @tksola.com and Facebook.

Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your personal and work related productivity.

====
[IMPORTANT NOTE:====

On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.

Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” of it the website http://www.tayosolagbade.com.

But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts

he’s published.

If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.

Click “Tayo, What Happened to SpontaneousDevelopmentDotCom ?” to read a detailed narrative about how the above event occurred :-))

Here’s an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:

Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix (TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)

And he wrote the one below, to explain why losing a domain name, no matter how old NO LONGER determines your online success or otherwise:

A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name

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Useful Resources for Speakers

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.

Burt Dubin’s monthly Speaking Biz Strategies Letter [Signup & get a 7-Part Email Course on “How To Succeed And Get Paid As A Professional Speaker“]

Get Burt’s mentoring at any of the 3 levels below:

1. Top Shelf [Click here]

2. Mid Range [Click here]

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Publications

Burt Dubin’s latest book: “On Being a Master”

Download Chapter 1 Preview as PDF

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THEY WROTE…

“(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 start his own business).

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Click here to contact Tayo…




SD Nuggets Blog™	New posts from last week that may interest you! *
Public Speaking[Monday]:	No. 169: Achieve Superior Success by Acting Locally While Thinking International
Entrepreneurship[Tuesday]:	Adults Learn Best by Doing: Power User Experiential Coaching Learning Event
Self-Development/Parenting [Wednesday]:	Use Excel-VB to Create Limitless Possibilities BEYOND What Off-The-Shelf Software Make Possible
Career Development [Thursday]:	Boost Your Supermarket Bookshop or Factory’s Profits With a Custom Excel-VB Software [Hint: View Screenshots of an Excel-VB driven Pure Water Business Manager™ app built for a Pure Water Factory in Ogudu, Lagos-Nigeria]
Parenting [Friday]:	To Succeed, Make Your Excel-VB Software Complement Others
Writing/Blogging/Entrepreneurship [Saturday]:	Success Quotes Only Work When Diligently Acted Upon
Want me to write for you? Click here to send me a message

Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring

for Africa Based Experts(PDF…Click!)

General, My DN Travel News, Self-Development

Success Quotes Only Work When Diligently Acted Upon

November 29, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

I once heard a famous American celebrity quoted on radio by a presenter as follows:

"Success is the result of good judgement. Good judgement is the result of experience. Experience is the result of bad judgement".

The moral – according to the radio presenter – is that FAILURES we go through in life (often as a result of bad judgements we make) actually TEACH us THE useful lessons we need to learn in order to make better judgements that will ultimately enable us achieve success.

Lots of people actually use quotes like this on a daily basis. What puzzles me however is that in spite of the fact that they KNOW these quotes…

(a) Many people refuse to view failure as offering any positive benefits.

Evidence of this shows in how they look down on those they observe to be failing.

And also in how they AVOID it or HIDE all evidence of it when it happens to them.

(b) Fewer people these days are willing to put in the needed time and effort to acquire relevant EXPERIENCE which is an essential requirement for becoming MORE capable of making good judgements.

So many people seem to be in a hurry – no time to apprentice. They want to jump in and get made INSTANTLY. If necessary, they’ll cut corners.

But long term authentic success does not come that way.

Like the radio presenter pointed out, a lot of successful people we know actually started out by recording a lot of failures, till they learnt enough to succeed.

It’s so easy to quote these famous quotes. But DOING what the quotes say is a totally different proposition.

Fearlessly applying the wisdom from success quotes CAN help us achieve seeming miracles in our lives over time.

And by the way, it is very often those people who have done it the right way (i.e. those who have achieved authentic success by following the rules mentioned above), that are able to DRAW from their wealth of experience based knowledge and wisdom to utter quotable quotes about how to do what they have done.

They are always full of experience based wisdom, which they effortlessly volunteer for use by others.

By following the same proven process, EACH one of us can also over time develop to the point where the words we say get put on marble, for others to learn from.

We can start this process by forming the habit of APPLYING the wisdom of success quotes diligently in our daily lives.

PS: This article is based on an original piece first published on 15th October 2009 by Tayo K. Solagbade via www.spontaneousdevelopment.com

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, My DN Travel News

To Succeed, Make Your Excel-VB Software Complement Others

November 28, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

“Tayo, what is your honest opinion about commercial off-the-shelf accounting software, compared with the custom applications you build?”

I am sometimes asked the foregoing question in various forms, by prospective clients trying to make up their minds about what option to choose (i.e off-the-shelf apps versus my custom Excel-VB application development service).

Here’s a typical example of the answer I normally give them…

I have helped clients (in different professions/industries) develop 100% custom Excel-VB Driven Software to overcome peculiar limitations of traditional software (or manual/paper-based) systems that they use for their financial and operational data handling/analysis and report generation .

Accountants/Finance Managers of large organisations in particular have so far made made the most demands for my services. Excel-VB afford you the advantage of being able to extend the capabilities of your existing software – or manual systems – using my 100% customisable Excel-based software that empower you to get more work done with LESS effort via efficient time/cost-saving automation.

In other words, my custom Excel Software COMPLEMENT rather than REPLACE your existing software and/or systems.

You therefore LOSE NOTHING since your prior investment in the latter is protected.

All that I have already said above is effectively what I tell prospects/clients in general.

However, for those in my part of the world (i.e Africa), I emphasise that I DO NOT build Accounting software – except a clients specifically requests it.

Instead my applications are custom Entreprise Information Systems(EIS) which help their owners manage operations (e.g. materials usages) &/or accounting data for more reliable business decision making:

1. The commerical accounting software work well for anyone whose needs are fully catered for by the various useful features and functions they offer.

I have seen many organisations – including schools – that have found this to be so. They confidently told me they did not have any unmet needs from using the programs they chose.

2. However, the accounting applications are built to prepare accounts in line with standard reporting formats used mainly in developed societies.

As a result, they often cannot accomodate the business/accounts data handling/report generation needs/peculiarities extant here. This is due to our largely unregulated environment in this regard. That’s why many who use the programs still find themselves periodiocally/repeatedly turning to programs like MS Excel to cater for areas not covered by their commercial software.

It is the above type of situation that creates a need for the solutions I offer.

In other words, if you have a software system in place and STILL find need to do some of your important work OUTSIDE of it, then a custom solutions development service like mine is likely to benefit you greatly.

3. For prospects who indicate interest, I go further to refer them to a very insightful/experience-based opinion expressed by a financial consultant which shows that MS Excel-based solutions can indeed help OVERCOME limitations that accounting software may have.

Incidentally, this is why you will hardly find any off-the-shelf accounting software which do not offer the user an option to export data stored in them into MS Excel!

Final Words

Like I always tell my clients and prospects, if there is an alternative that works satisfactorily and is cost-effective, it would make NO sense to hire me.

It is when you have searched for one and found NONE, that my custom Excel-VB solutions development becomes relevant – and potentially VALUE adding. At this point, it WOULD be justifiable to invest in it.

Read this article: Use Custom Automation Of Your Spreadsheet Reports To Drive Down Costs And Increase Your Profits.

Need help?

Click here to send me a message or request

Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, General, My DN Travel News

Boost Your Supermarket Bookshop or Factory’s Profits With a Custom Excel-VB Software [Hint: View Screenshots of an Excel-VB driven Pure Water Business Manager™ app built for a Pure Water Factory in Ogudu, Lagos-Nigeria]

November 27, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

UPDATE – 29TH DECEMBER 2020: Watch video demonstration of NEW version with Auto Cashbook, KPI Charts etc.

The Typical Scenario

Some bookshop/supermarket owners (especially in my part of the world – Nigeria/Benin/Africa) focus – almost exclusively – on capturing sales and recording expenses using cash registers/POS tools (sometimes in conjunction with a PC based financial reporting software).

[NB: POS = Point Of Sale].

Customers come in and make purchases daily. At the day’s end, records reconciliation is then done. Usually, income is compared with items “sold” and resulting physical stock balance of products checked to agree with “book values”.

Sometimes a few things don’t agree with their expectations.

Genuine efforts are made to resolve the differences, but without success. Somehow, the decision is taken to let it go or write it off and “start over”. Sometimes, the problem resolves itself at a later date, with someone saying. “Hey! I found the item we were looking for the other day!”

The Problem

We all know that any business, desirous of growth and profitability NEEDS to be in firm control of records of sales income made, buying patterns, expenses incurred etc, so as understand her customers interests/preferences and better serve them by supplying relevant products/services.

Even though doing so may not harm their business, continuing that way is bound to prevent them from discovering better ways to make more profits at less cost.

This is because there’s a LOT more that owners can do with data obtained from daily transactions, which when done right, would significantly boost sales and increase profit margins.

The Viable Alternative

A simple yet extremely functional Custom Automated Spreadsheet application could be developed using Excel-VBA. The application will run in Excel, so you need not incur additional cost via purchase of new software.

Below: Screenshot of the splash screen of a Pure Water Busienss Maneger app I built for an Ogudu-Lagos based factory, as it loads in MS Excel 2003. My apps are typially built to be backward and forward compatible with different Excel versions

Anyone (attendant, accountant, or manager, etc) can be taught to post routine sales/expense records into specially designed spreadsheet table – immediately sales occur – or at specific intervals through each day.

In cases where POS machines are used, the records may be posted into the app later in the day or at the weekend. Or if the POS device used has cross-compatibility, the Excel-VB app could be setup to auto-import sales records from it, to auto-generate needed analytical reports.

Below: Screenshot of the LOGIN screen of a Pure Water Business Manager app I built for an Ogudu-Lagos based factory, in MS Excel 2003.

Once the app can access the raw sales data, the manager can then use the drop down menu provided to view the summaries of products purchased/income made.

The few (if any) variances picked out would be more easily resolved, since s/he would not need to try remembering every single detail of jobs done.

The owner would be able sit back at the end of each day and review template summaries of items purchased (even to the extent of showing “which” customer bought “what”, if you desire to offer personalised services to your regular customers).

Comparison of one period with the other could be done using charts. Areas with greatest contribution to income could be easily identified and effort put into consolidating them to ensure consistency.

Below: Screenshot of the MAIN NAVIGATION MENU interface of a Pure Water Business Manager app I built for an Ogudu-Lagos based factory, in MS Excel 2003.

Final Words

A cash register/POS device DOES NOT and CANNOT offer the range of functionalities you will get from using a low (or zero cost) custom automated spreadsheet application.

You need to be able to study the trends in products purchases by your customers so you can make better decisions about what products to buy/stock next time e.g. you can then use what you learn to have your application auto alert you to predetermined product to buy/stock next time.

Read this article: Use Custom Automation Of Your Spreadsheet Reports To Drive Down Costs And Increase Your Profits.

Need help making use of the ideas shared here (or would you like to purchase the Pure Water Business Manager app featured in the screenshots?):

Click Here to send me your Customized Spreadsheet Solutions Development Request

Below: Screenshot of daily pure water bag deliveries/sales recording interface in a Pure Water Business Manager app I built for an Ogudu-Lagos based factory

Below: MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT – Screenshot of dynamic financial report summaries auto-generation interface. Note the drop menus used to choose DAILY, WEEKLY and MONTHLY reporting options. Note the button that is clicked to generate the YEAR TILL DATE report

Below: YEAR END FINANCIAL REPORT – Screenshot of dynamic financial report summaries auto-generation interface. Note the drop menus used to choose DAILY, WEEKLY and MONTHLY reporting options. Note the button that is clicked to generate the YEAR TILL DATE report

Below: Screenshot of dynamic Vehicle Maintenance Running Expenses Schedule interface. Note the drop menus used to generate different filtered reporting options.

Below: Screenshot of data entry interface for checks/cash based expenses

Below: Screenshot of dynamic Monthly Operations Report – Note the drop menu used to auto generate the factory’s operations data summaries in a ready-to-print reporting interface

Click Here to send me your Customized Spreadsheet Solutions Development Request

Career Development, Excel-VB Solutions, General, My DN Travel News, Self-Development

Use Excel-VB to Create Limitless Possibilities BEYOND What Off-The-Shelf Software Make Possible

November 26, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Microsoft Excel is a powerful tool for recording, re-organising, analysing and presenting information.

By Excel VB, I refer to Excel VBA – where VBA means Visual Basic for Applications(VBA). VBA refers to the highly extensive and flexible macro programming language developed by Microsoft for use in their MS office applications – Word, Power Point, etc.

VBA is therefore different from the Standalone Visual Basic program used (by conventional programmers) for developing “standalone” or “executable” (.exe) software applications – though it borrows many of the latter’s features.

Think of Excel VBA as being the standalone Visual Basic software built into Excel for the benefit of Excel users/developers who are not traditional-minded programmers, but who are keen to exert more control over the application to enhance user productivity.

So, Excel VB offers any interested persons the necessary tools to make the application deliver more functionality. The final product is still an Excel document, but with extra functionalities added using VBA..

Read this article: Use Custom Automation Of Your Spreadsheet Reports To Drive Down Costs And Increase Your Profits.

The truth is that using MS Excel can ENHANCE the performance of your existing data handling/analysis and report generation software. This is why most off-the-shelf data analysis apps — especially for financial reporting – have EXPORT TO MS EXCEL features, to enable their users take advantage of Excel’s more flexible data handling capabilities to make better sense of their data.

Why Excel-VB?

Below I discuss 2 key reasons why I settled on using MS Excel-Visual Basic as my development platform for solving clients’ data handling, analysis and report generating solutions.

1. I always answer this question by asking the following question: What would be the point of “Killing A Fly With A Hammer”?

Let me elaborate. If a method is available that allows us to achieve the same desired result(s) at LOWER cost, with LESS effort and in LESS time, why should we fail to adopt it?

Certain IT persons insist that developing executable applications using the standalone Visual Basic programming language is “better” as it does not limit the user to a particular user application software environment. I concede that this might be a valid point under certain conditions.

However, I point out that there are many users who have very specialised, peculiar needs that do not necessarily require complex solutions.

A lot of people today simply want to get their data recording, (re)organisation, and analysis for decision making done quicker and with less effort.

They also want to spend as little money as possible to do this. In other words, they want a cost-effective solution that gives them independence from the solution provider in the long term – without requiring them to undertake laborious skills acquisition immediately.

This category of everyday users of technology described above are the ones I believe need Excel VB solutions of the type I describe/provide. I anticipate that some of these users will over time develop an interest in acquiring advanced skills needed to develop their own solutions – which is why I also offer coaching services.

2. Another question I ask, in answering the “Why Excel VB?” question is : “Why re-invent the wheel?”

My experiences (and those of others who favour the use of Excel VB like I do), confirm that to organise, and analyse data for (financial/management) report generation and decision making, you will save hundreds of hours using already in-built, pre-programmed Excel functions compared to a situation where you used Visual Basic proper.

All the functions needed to achieve the above purposes already exist in Excel, so that you don’t have to write them all from scratch as would be the case if you were to use Visual Basic.

Even though I had always felt this way, my encounter with a similar justification stated by a Microsoft Certified Professional, Pierre Leclerc on his website, gave me greater insight and clarity, that made me decide to stick with Excel VB even though I had attended a full training course in Visual Basic in 2002.

NB: LeClerc’s website has morphed in name, shape and form/content over the years since I first found him back in 2004, to what now exists at http://www.excel-vba.com.

Important Note: The fact that one uses Excel VB or VBA does not mean one will not have need to use VB or other languages.

Over the years, the need for faster, more sophisticated, robust, and secure Excel-based software has led Professional Excel Developers to – whenever they consider it necessary – actively utilise ANY other applications and programming languages (such as C/C++, VB6 or VB.Net) to deliver better performing applications (learn more below).

ExcelVB Is Used To Develop Commercial Quality Excel Software

Today, there is a huge army of Professional Excel Developers who develop Excel-based software solutions for a living – worldwide. Their software can be found in use alongside those developed using more traditional programming languages like C++, and VB6, in some of the largest corporations in the world – including Microsoft itself..

Professional Excel developers typically would use Excel VB in conjunction with other programming languages(e.g. C/C++, VB6 or VB.Net etc) and applications(e.g. databases like MS Access, Oracle, SAP etc) to develop flexible, fast/easy to use, high performing, robust and maintenable Excel Solutions.

The implication of the foregoing is that ExcelVB occupies it’s rightful place as the true development platform that it is. Many times, it is even able to deliver a significant performance edge over other applications due to its powerful calculation engine that the developer is able to leverage – thereby saving time while delivering more functionality to users.

Read this article: Use Custom Automation Of Your Spreadsheet Reports To Drive Down Costs And Increase Your Profits.

Summary: Excel-VB Creates Limitless Possibilities BEYOND What Off-The-Shelf Apps Make Possible

For the purposes of creating custom financial and management solutions that solve your identified problems, and give you control/ownership, without burning a hole in your pocket, Excel VB offers an amazing variety of possibilities, in the hands of an adequately skilled user.

In addition, an Excel VB – better still, a Professional Excel – Developer (who in many cases will tend to be a user turned developer, and is therefore likely to easily see things from your perspective) – unlike a programmer – is more likely to be positively disposed to working with you to ensure the application meets your practical needs.

S/he will readily understand that the final application is meant to help solve a real problem(s), and will therefore build it to match those expectations.

It’s not enough to have a professional with the technical skills to solve your problem, s/he also needs to have the right attitude and background/experience – else the relationship will not work. This is where an Excel VB resource is more likely to add value to you.

I believe the foregoing are compelling justifications for choosing Excel Visual Basic over Visual Basic.

Adults Learn Best by Doing: Power User Experiential Coaching Learning Event

November 25, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Become more productive in using Microsoft Excel through my Power User Coaching. I employ an "Experiential Coaching" technique which emphasises job-based case studies as a medium for imparting knowledge/skills to adults, so as to ensure increased retention. By "Power User" I mean a person who demonstrates:

a. superior proficiency in using an application to the extent that s/he is able to perpetually optimise its use to achieve maximum productivity.

b. the ability to quickly learn &/or master(via self-tutoring) additional features s/he has not had cause to use previously, in the same application – as the need arises.

Click here to request a sample real-life Experiential Power User Coaching workbook

Through this programme, you(or a member of your team) can become a Power User. If you desire maximum returns on your investment, choose this Power User Learning Event. Request for a FREE MS Excel Coaching Skills Matrix workbook or an Excel VB Programming Coaching Course Outline! It details all that you will learn.

Adults Learn Best By Doing

That’s why I offer a Power User Experiential Coaching/Learning Event. However, it is instructive to note here that it WILL be plenty of hard work – and ONLY YOU will determine how fast and well you learn. In other words, you must demonstrate the commitment to learn by doing the numerous exercises you will be assigned.

You will be required to manage your learning. If you do, you will end up with the ability to do everything you learn just as well as your learning facilitator, if not better. Remember it’s Experiential Learning – which implies you need to DO the exercises you will be given, in order to gain practical experience which will in turn facilitate your learning comprehension.

If you diligently apply yourself in doing the above, I can assure you that your resultant proficiency will amaze you, and those you work with.

Organisations can deliberately expose their employees to two main types of learning events on offer here. Such employees can then be challenged to develop in-house solutions that effectively address the business’ peculiar data analysis /report-generation needs as they arise.

Click here to request fully customisable on-demand coaching for yourself and/or members of your team.

Learning Event No. 1: Mastering Microsoft Excel(Power User)

This event is for those who wish to acquire advanced knowledge/skills in the use of MS Excel spreadsheet functions and formulas, such that they will be able to more quickly and efficiently organise/analyse data for report generation and decision making. Click here to Request for the FREE MS Excel Training Skills Matrix workbook. It contains full details of all that you will learn.

IMPORTANT! Please note that you cannot attend Learning Event No. 2 if you cannot demonstrate mastery equivalent to what will be taught in Event No. 1. We have practical exercises that will be administered to assess whether your proficiency in the use of MS Excel will be adequate to make your attendance of Event No. 2 a worthwhile endeavour for you – as well as for the facilitator.

Click here to request fully customisable on-demand coaching for yourself and/or members of your team.

Learning Event No. 2: Microsoft Excel VB Programming

This coaching programme is designed for Excel Users who already have considerable mastery of Excel and now wish to learn how they can combine their mastery(gained from 1 above – or from past training/ experience) of MS Excel, with sound knowledge of Excel Visual basic to automate the routine and repetitive tasks they carry out in Excel, in a way that saves them time,while making them more productive.

A person with proven competence in this area CAN become "notorious" for developing spreadsheet applications which eliminate drudgery from the process of using MS Excel to handle large amounts of data. Typically, work that takes hours or days will suddenly take minutes or seconds to finish.

The claims I make above are NOT exaggerated. They are in fact based on my personal experiences doing the foregoing:

(a). As an manager in the challenging, fast-paced manufacturing work environment of a corporate multinational

(b). As a solutions developer for individuals and businesses who use MS Excel for their work.

I am keen to encourage individuals and organisations to explore using advanced MS Excel formulas and functions, in conjunction with Excel VBA programming, to develop customised spreadsheet applications that will solve typical problems end-users encounter daily in trying to record/analyse data and generate reports.

The savings in terms of money and man-hours alone will quickly justify the investment you make – especially, when you compare what you spend with the cost of purchasing a commercial software application – or even engaging the services of an Excel VB resource like myself. Click here to request the one-page Acrobat PDF coaching outline for the Excel VB Programming learning event. It contains full details of all that you will learn.

Methodology

The two learning events described can be delivered one-on-one or to a group of up to 10 -15 people at once, so long as all the needed resources(PCs etc) are available for each attendee. If you need more information or have any queries, fill/submit this form.

Entrepreneurship, Farm Biz, General, My DN Travel News, Public Speaking, Writing/Blogging

No. 169: Achieve Superior Success by Acting Locally While Thinking International

November 24, 2014 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

“Have noble intentions. A grand plan. A mission. An objective that makes a difference. A major difference. Something transcendent everyone you know assures you cannot be done, at least not by you. Many people who know you and love you do not believe you have what it takes to reveal the greatness they do not see through the prism of their misperceptions about you.” – Burt Dubin, renowned mentor of some of the world’s highest paid experts-who-speak, and Creator of the Speaking Success System™

I first came across the above quote way back in 2001 – my last year in Guinness Nigeria.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ FULL ISSUE

Publication: Weekly Public Speaking IDEAS Newsletter

Date: Monday 24th November 2014

No:169

Title: Achieve Superior Success by Acting Locally While Thinking International

Author & Publisher: Tayo K. Solagbade [Tel: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic) ]

Blog URL: http://www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets

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

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

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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS newsletter is published online on the “reincarnated” version of my Self-Development (SD) Nuggets blog. I continue to put finishing touches to the content. If you encounter ANY bad/dead links, and you can spare the time, email them to me via tayo at tksola dot com. Thanks in advance

No. 169: Achieve Superior Success by Acting Locally While Thinking International

“Have noble intentions. A grand plan. A mission. An objective that makes a difference. A major difference. Something transcendent everyone you know assures you cannot be done, at least not by you. Many people who know you and love you do not believe you have what it takes to reveal the greatness they do not see through the prism of their misperceptions about you.” – Burt Dubin, renowned mentor of some of the world’s highest paid experts-who-speak, and Creator of the Speaking Success System™

I first came across the above quote way back in 2001 – my last year in Guinness Nigeria.

Burt Dubin, by writing the above words, in one his many articles that I’ve read, touched and inspired me to get where I am today. Every time I felt I could no longer go on, quotes like the above, by him, and others, are what I reread to keep myself going.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ll understand what I mean. If you’re aspiring, you’re bound to understand sooner or later, if you diligently apply yourself to the pursuit of authentic success.

Aiming for an international standard of achievement, will automatically boost your local success

It’s simple common sense. What I propose here will equip you to make the products/services you offer – and the way you package and promote them – much more compelling than if you did NOT deliberately cater for an international audience in putting them together.

I’ll give an example, based on what I’ve done over the past 12 years:

My noble intentions include…

a. Building low cost customizable Excel-VB apps for sale to individuals and businesses to help them do what they do better.

b. Training creative MS Excel-VB solutions developers, who will help those who need it to improve their personal and business performance, like I did while in Guinness for 7 years, and like I have been doing for clients within/outside Africa, over the past decade.

c. Using public speaking to inform and educate my target audience about how to do what I do, and also to help interested others learn to make money doing it like I do.

In several past articles, I’ve shared stories about how many laughed at me over the years, whenever I told them about my above mentioned plans…

When I began, I struggled to find clients to pay me to develop apps, or to provide training or give talks on Excel-VB solutions development. Soon, I found myself coming under criticism. Close relatives asked me to consider doing something else.

Not surprisingly, what they proposed most times was what they saw others doing. They wanted me to aim for something they considered more believable and that was familiar.

A close family friend who owned a business asked me “Who’s going to pay you to do that with MS Excel?”

I recall telling him what I’d done in Guinness and how it had earned me wide recognition and career advancement opportuntie4s. He replied that I would not find such interest in the Nigerian market.

I thanked him, but refused to accept what he said. Instead, I went back and did more deep thinking and decided to begin putting my stuff on the web. I knew Excel-VB solutions development was big business in many developed markets.

My experiences with Guinness also convinced me I only needed to SHOW proof of how Excel-VB solutions I offered could help businesses in Nigeria/Africa, to win paying clients.

It would not be easy, I knew, but I was sure it would be worthwhile in the end.

As I continued trying out all sorts of ideas, I became increasingly convinced that the best way to win high profile paying clients would be to use the web to attract their attention to me. I began reading up on how to promote my offers online – and I discovered article marketing.

Since I had lots of experiences from my time in Guinness to tap from, I began writing articles that narrated true stories about how I used Excel-VB to solve real life problems in the manufacturing workplace.

Later on, I began adding short tutorials/case studies supported with video demonstrations.

All the time I did these, I kept studying how internationally recognized experts whose work I admired, were doing their own self-promotion.

Then I adapted the ideas I got from studying them, in a way that I felt would appeal to my target market.

It did not happen overnight, but eventually, the enquiries began to come – from local as well as international visitors. Some were small business owners, others were independent consultants, and a few were decision makers in companies – even multinational manufacturers and oil service companies.

For instance, in 2009, I got a phone call from a Dutch expatriate working as a senior manager heading a department in an international oil service firm.

He asked to meet with me at Eleganza’s premises in the 7-Up area of Ikeja, Lagos-Nigeria.

There he told me how they’d been searching for the right MS Excel expert to help them with an in-house problem without success. They’d had many people come in, but after meeting with them found they lacked the needed depth of expertise to solve the problem they had.

One day he decided to do a Google search and my MS Excel Heaven website came up.

The fact that the search engine result indicated I was based in Nigeria caught his attention. When he spoke with me later he noted that the videos and demo apps on my website convinced him I was likely to be able to help them. [NB: I’ve am currently building a new version of that website, to suit the content repurposing I’m doing since replacing spontaneoudevelopment.com with tayosolagbade.com].

After our meeting, he arranged for me to visit the finance department for a meeting with the department’s head and an assistant on Lagos Island.

There was a large and important MS Excel workbook built for heavy tax computation data handling and report generation. The author had suddenly left the company, and no one else knew how to use the workbook.

They wanted me to help re-build the workbook to make it more user-friendly. I spent about 1 hour with the gentleman. By the time I left, we were discussing my fees, when I would start, how long it would take me to finish etc.

The next morning, I got a call from the PA to the Dutch expatriate saying the finance department had found my conversation with them quite useful and that they’d said they wanted me to start. I however eventually ended up not doing that job, because we were unable to agree on certain aspects regarding my payment.

Having said that, the point remains that I got found and contacted – at zero cost to me – by a top decision maker in a local office of a large, and well known international oil Service Company!

And that happened because of the approach I adopted in promoting my services and products – I chose to make myself LOOK bigger than I was, and to appeal to a global audience.

The oil service company that contacted me was one that MANY local experts I’d met had tried countless times to gain access to, without success. Those who learnt I got invited by them asked me what connections I’d used. I told them all I did was use my web marketing system to intelligently achieve what Michel Fortin calls Power Positioning™.

Doing so using my website, made me stand out from other providers in my local market – most of who ONLY had brochure websites, stating what they did and little else.

Many Experts Lack the Insights to Achieve Outcomes Like the Above…

They feel adopting “foreign” techniques and strategies like those I describe here would be over kill.

Maybe when not properly adapted to suit local situations that would be the case.

Otherwise, creative adaptation of “foreign” ideas can help you achieve superior marketing results locally. The results I get confirm this is so.

And here’s the best part: In the long run, this strategy is can actually reward you with patronage from international buyers, if you do it right. I am proof that this happens, because, when I started doing it, I initially got responses ONLY from Nigerians. But over the years, I have not only been getting enquiries from various countries/continents (including Australia), but I have won buyers from within/outside Africa.

In several cases, international enquirers (from North America/Asia especially) who contacted me expressed surprise on learning that I was African and based in Africa.

My phone conversation with a US based farm CEO enquirer just 2 days ago is a good example.

I should however add that in some cases, announcing to them that I’m a Nigerian, SCARES them off (I’m sure you know why)!

Now, if my offers can be so compelling that international prospects reach out to me, often thinking I’m based in THEIR part of the world, local ones are likely to be even more impressed.

Not surprisingly, over 80% of my buyers are Nigerians, who have NEVER met me in the flesh – and who send payment even after learning, from me, that I am based in Cotonou…outside Nigeria!

Final Words: Set Yourself Apart from the Crowd by Acting Locally, While Thinking International!

If you want to set yourself apart from your rivals or competitors, in a way that makes potential buyers choose you over them, I recommend you adopt a similar strategy of “Acting Locally While Thinking International”.

And if, while you’re at it, doubts creep into your mind, remember the quote below:

“I have never started a company that, at some point, didn’t cause me to have doubts. This must be a stupid idea because no one else is doing it. Why don’t people get it? Maybe there is nothing there” We all have self doubts, but as entrepreneurs we don’t let these thoughts stop us. It is only a sanity check and is a normal thing.” – Fran Tarkenton (Former American Football Star/Millionaire Entrepreneur)

Learn about Burt Dubin’s speaker mentoring products (books, audios etc) below…

Have a great 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 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic)

http://www.tayosolagbade.com

Farm Businesses and others.

freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners).

and others.

In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.

On 1st April 2013, Tayo (who reads, write and speaks the French language) relocated to Cotonou, Benin Republic to begin slowly traveling across the West African region.

His key purpose is to deliver talks, seminars

and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).

newsletter(which he uses to promote Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring service to experts working across the African continent).

You can connect with him on Twitter @tksola.com and Facebook.

Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your personal and work related productivity.

====
[IMPORTANT NOTE:====

On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.

Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” of it the website http://www.tayosolagbade.com.

But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts

he’s published.

If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.

Click “Tayo, What Happened to SpontaneousDevelopmentDotCom ?” to read a detailed narrative about how the above event occurred :-))

Here’s an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:

Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix (TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)

And he wrote the one below, to explain why losing a domain name, no matter how old NO LONGER determines your online success or otherwise:

A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name

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

Smart Exercising Will Keep You Fit, Healthy and Alive - Click to read

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NEW: Speaking Ideas: 25 Articles and True Stories for Experts Who Speak and Those Aspiring (Volume 1)

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New Ebook (55 pages): Best Practice Farm Management (& Performance Measurement) for Profits – No. 1 of 4

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New Ebook (57 pages): Farm Business Start-up (Information, Education & Inspiration) – No. 2 of 4

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New Ebook (55 pages): Best Practice Livestock Farm Business Feed Formulation – No. 3 of 4

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New Ebook (58 pages): Best Practice Farm Business Marketing – No. 3 of 4

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NEW: KUKURU DANGER™: 5 True Stories About the Adventures – & Misadventures! – of a School Age Child Trying to Find Purpose in Life

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NEW: Coaching Program for Farm Products Marketing Success

—————————–

*Operations Manager, Guinness Nigeria Plc Benin Brewery, December 2001 (Handwritten comments in farewell/xmas cards sent to Tayo Solagbade following his resignation to start his own business).




SD Nuggets Blog™	New posts from last week that may interest you! *
Public Speaking[Monday]:	No. 167: To Succeed Authentically, be a Model of the Possible Human
Entrepreneurship[Tuesday]:	How a Real Life Restaurant & Bar Data Handling & Report Generation Problem Was Solved Using Low Cost MS Excel-VB Automation
Self-Development/Parenting [Wednesday]:	Proven Blogging Strategy That Works for Anyone Who Works it Correctly (Hint: How I’m Succeeding With My Blog Using Lessons I Learnt About Blogging from Patrick Meninga’s Interview With Yaro Starak)
Career Development [Thursday]:	Studying Music Can Make Your Child Achieve More Success
Parenting [Friday]:	You Cannot Pass Secrets of Your Success to Your Kids Via Osmosis
Writing/Blogging/Entrepreneurship [Saturday]:	Writing Can be Great Therapy to Deal With Adversity [Hint: FREE Workshop – “25 Avoidable Mistakes No One Will Warn You About In Starting Your OWN Business”]
Want me to write for you? Click here to send me a message

Here’s my take on the whole matter…

The fact remains that many small businesses and departments in large corporations will continue to NEED the kinds of quick/easily developed and deployed solutions that VB for Excel allows.

I first wrote the original article on which this piece is based, back in April 2008 i.e. six years ago.

This is not only avoidable, but also often potentially harmful if not quickly checked. Let me illustrate with the following analogy.

In summary, Mr. A ends up losing a long awaited opportunity for significant career advancement.

Don’t Let Your Problem Give Birth To Babies!

Jim Rohn’s “Wherever you are, be there” to me, means leave that domestic problem at home, and face your job at work squarely or be yourself wherever else you go soon as you leave home.

What If Someone Runs Into Your Car? (Based On A True Story)

And just in case you’re wondering about the "car accident" example, I’ll have you know that this happened to me during my last few weeks as an employee in Guinness Benin Brewery back in late 2001.

That was the story.

Summary : To avoid worrying, control your thoughts!

FINAL WORDS: Your personal situation may differ from those under which these ideas have so far been applied.

Below is the ebook cover, and an outline of the Table of Contents (The numbers in front of each section title are page numbers)

If you run a hospital or medical clinic/facility of ANY kind and would like to learn how this kind of solution can be developed and implemented for you, click here to contact me.

No. 170: Achieve Speaking Success Using Your Audience’s Local Proverbs & Stories

Despite being an individual, as far as speaking the truth and demanding the right things be done are concerned, Bakare frequently makes himself heard, and taken seriously.

But what really sets Tunde Bakare apart, is the way he readily injects local (often Yoruba) proverbs and songs – into his delivery.

Having himself been born into a Muslim home as a child, and then later converting to Christianity as an adult, he is able to leverage his knowledge of the Muslim religion to connect with mixed audiences.

To succeed as an expert-who-speaks in Africa (and/or to Africans), I recommend YOU make out time to carefully study Pastor Tunde Bakare, when he speaks.

Final Words: This newsletter issue is a tribute to Pastor Bakare

But let me clear: I have NEVER met him and have no desire to meet Bakare on his 60th birthday anniversary

Below: Screenshot from a new book I’m writing. It is designed to facilitate contextual comprehension of proverbs by persons with limited proficiency.

I recently decided to take action to help my kids become proficient in Yoruba. Incidentally, their mother has been coaching them in Igbo, her language, by speaking to them DAILY in that language – and they understand it better than they do Yoruba: That challenged me!

Learn about Burt Dubin’s speaker mentoring products (books, audios etc) below…

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

SPECIAL PRODUCT FEATURE

“Inside Speaking Business Success Secrets”

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Get Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring for Africa Based Experts(PDF…Click!)

==== [IMPORTANT NOTE:====

Here’s an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:

And he wrote the one below, to explain why losing a domain name, no matter how old NO LONGER determines your online success or otherwise:

Useful Resources for Speakers

Get Burt’s mentoring at any of the 3 levels below:

Publications

THEY WROTE…

Lots of people actually use quotes like this on a daily basis. What puzzles me however is that in spite of the fact that they KNOW these quotes…

It’s so easy to quote these famous quotes. But DOING what the quotes say is a totally different proposition.

Here’s a typical example of the answer I normally give them…

In other words, my custom Excel Software COMPLEMENT rather than REPLACE your existing software and/or systems.

Final Words

Need help?

UPDATE – 29TH DECEMBER 2020: Watch video demonstration of NEW version with Auto Cashbook, KPI Charts etc.

The Typical Scenario

The Problem

The Viable Alternative

Below: Screenshot of the splash screen of a Pure Water Busienss Maneger app I built for an Ogudu-Lagos based factory, as it loads in MS Excel 2003. My apps are typially built to be backward and forward compatible with different Excel versions

Below: Screenshot of the LOGIN screen of a Pure Water Business Manager app I built for an Ogudu-Lagos based factory, in MS Excel 2003.

Once the app can access the raw sales data, the manager can then use the drop down menu provided to view the summaries of products purchased/income made.

Below: Screenshot of the MAIN NAVIGATION MENU interface of a Pure Water Business Manager app I built for an Ogudu-Lagos based factory, in MS Excel 2003.

Final Words

Need help making use of the ideas shared here (or would you like to purchase the Pure Water Business Manager app featured in the screenshots?):

Think of Excel VBA as being the standalone Visual Basic software built into Excel for the benefit of Excel users/developers who are not traditional-minded programmers, but who are keen to exert more control over the application to enhance user productivity.

Why Excel-VB?

1. I always answer this question by asking the following question: What would be the point of “Killing A Fly With A Hammer”?

A lot of people today simply want to get their data recording, (re)organisation, and analysis for decision making done quicker and with less effort.

2. Another question I ask, in answering the “Why Excel VB?” question is : “Why re-invent the wheel?”

Important Note: The fact that one uses Excel VB or VBA does not mean one will not have need to use VB or other languages.

ExcelVB Is Used To Develop Commercial Quality Excel Software

Summary: Excel-VB Creates Limitless Possibilities BEYOND What Off-The-Shelf Apps Make Possible

Further Reading

Adults Learn Best By Doing

Learning Event No. 1: Mastering Microsoft Excel(Power User)

Learning Event No. 2: Microsoft Excel VB Programming

Methodology

No. 169: Achieve Superior Success by Acting Locally While Thinking International

Aiming for an international standard of achievement, will automatically boost your local success

I’ll give an example, based on what I’ve done over the past 12 years:

In several past articles, I’ve shared stories about how many laughed at me over the years, whenever I told them about my above mentioned plans…

My experiences with Guinness also convinced me I only needed to SHOW proof of how Excel-VB solutions I offered could help businesses in Nigeria/Africa, to win paying clients.

All the time I did these, I kept studying how internationally recognized experts whose work I admired, were doing their own self-promotion.

For instance, in 2009, I got a phone call from a Dutch expatriate working as a senior manager heading a department in an international oil service firm.

After our meeting, he arranged for me to visit the finance department for a meeting with the department’s head and an assistant on Lagos Island.

Having said that, the point remains that I got found and contacted – at zero cost to me – by a top decision maker in a local office of a large, and well known international oil Service Company!

Many Experts Lack the Insights to Achieve Outcomes Like the Above…

In several cases, international enquirers (from North America/Asia especially) who contacted me expressed surprise on learning that I was African and based in Africa.

Final Words: Set Yourself Apart from the Crowd by Acting Locally, While Thinking International!

Learn about Burt Dubin’s speaker mentoring products (books, audios etc) below…

==== [IMPORTANT NOTE:====

Here’s an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:

Summary
: To avoid worrying, control your thoughts!

Get Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring
for Africa Based Experts(PDF…Click!)

====
[IMPORTANT NOTE:====

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[IMPORTANT NOTE:====