Category Archives: My DN Travel News

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Parenting, Self-Development

Is your Child Learning for School or for Life?

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[I first published this article online 8 years ago, initially on my website (spontaneousdevelopment.com at the time) and later via Ezinearticles.com (On June 11, 2008) – from where it has since been widely syndicated on other websites.

The ideas I advocate for adoption in this piece are today even more relevant and compelling than ever before. If you’re a smart parent, you WILL read this article with an open mind and take intelligent action to make use of what you learn.

I practice what I preach: My kids have been getting massive doses of this stuff from me, since I wrote it all. Believe me when I say it WORKS!]

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Preamble

Many people today, who have undergone formal schooling, do not have life survival skills, having only acquired learning for school (i.e. academic education), which they do not KNOW how to apply usefully in the real world.

We already know from years of recent history that it is no longer necessarily those who do well in school that go on to achieve success in life. It used to be so, when paid employment was the primary destination for people who finished school/learning.

In today’s technology enhanced world, anyone with the ability to quickly acquire new skills and create/add tangible VALUE can become successful in virtually any area of endeavor s/he ventures. The skills required for survival and success have LONG changed. All around us today for instance, we see school dropouts employing university graduates.

Read the full article on my Ezinarticles.com profile at http://EzineArticles.com/1240561 [Click now]

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, Farm Biz, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better

To Succeed, Expose Bad Employees: Don’t Abuse Them!

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About 4 years ago, I resolved to begin selling my custom Excel-VB Software products and Web Marketing Systems Development services remotely – 100% online.

I did this because in working offline, I periodically witnessed the unpleasant situation in which some clients chose NOT to pay their employees what was due and just – and I DID NOT LIKE it one bit.

When I casually inquired to know why these CEOs did that, many indicated they perpetually suspected their employees of stealing from/cheating them in one or more ways they had yet to uncover.

So they used that “feeling” to justify delaying or denying them payment as often as was possible to explain away.

One particular client once traveled for holidays with his family and let over 100 employees without salaries paid from end November till mid-January of the New Year.

I was there, working all through that period as a consultant, developing a custom Excel-VB app for the company.

The conversations my ears overheard during that time there made me weep and at the same time rage.

You see, I found that some of the workers were indeed cutting corners in the workplace, and actually stealing from the company.

But I also saw that MANY more were honest, hardworking easy going persons just trying to support their families.

This latter group ended up being made to needlessly suffer for the sins of a naughty few, not because it was unavoidable, but because the CEO was too intellectually lazy to develop a system to “catch” the bad eggs and also close loop holes they could exploit.

That laziness ultimately costs such CEOs for the long term by way of a prolonged LACK OF PEACE OF MIND/FULFILLMENT.

Personally, I would rather not live life that way. No matter how much money you make, you are most likely to feel miserable most of the time.

The articles below offer ready-to-use ideas CEOs can use to eliminate worries they have about employees, so they can feel happy paying them what is due and just.

Read my articles:

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Parenting, Recommended Websites & Articles, Self-Development

We Need Schooling Systems That Transform Learners Into Real World PROBLEM SOLVERS!

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I’ve written severally on this theme in the past, and the current predicament of the millions of products from our so called “schools” (as seen in the news report linked below) further underscores the urgent need for people to WAKE UP and stop seeing “schooling” as an end in itself.

The truth is that if it is to work, schooling MUST always be dynamically provided as a MEANS to the ultimate end EACH learner that undergoes it, NEEDS to achieve authentic success and self-actualization.

Below is an excerpt (quoting alarming statistics) from an article titled “Millions of Nigerians are falling for a 27-year old Russian Ponzi scheme”?:

“A recent recruitment drive by a government agency helps put Nigeria’s unemployment problem in context. Advertising for only 500 positions, Nigeria’s federal tax agency received 700,000 applications—2,000 of which were by graduates with first class honors degrees. Similarly, in February, the Nigerian Police Force received almost a million applications for 10,000 listed positions.” – Click here to read the full piece.

The scenario painted in the above report says it all. Something is wrong with the schooling being provided.

Otherwise, why would products from our schools be acting so desperate???

In case you still don’t get my point, I’ve added links – at the bottom of this page – to some of my past articles in which I explain in more detail what I mean.

For now however, I pose the following questions as potential food for thought…to be considered by those willing to keep an open mind on this issue:

  1. If our current schooling system is so useful, how come the supposedly best products from our institutions (e.g. those “with first class honors degrees”) seem to be at a loss for ideas of how to find their place in society?

Hint: If that was not the case, how come such high numbers of our schooled people keep falling over themselves to fight over such a disproportionately SMALL number of employment opportunities – as shown in the above mentioned news report?

  1. Why do the wonderful products of our schools seem so averse to trying to pursue self-employment opportunities as compared to seeking paid employment? Shouldn’t what we teach them in our schools prepare them to pursue any or both avenues to success?

I could go on, but I think you get my drift here.

We need our schooling systems to turn out learners empowered to function in society in or out of paid employment primarily as PROBLEM SOLVERS.

In other words, our schools need to equip them with real world relevant, practical knowledge and skills, in addition to helping them develop the right mental attitude to pursue success with persistence, when they enter the real world.

The students must arrive society with the understanding that their natural talents, abilities and geniuses are the foundation on which they are to learn in school.

So, our schooling systems should support each child to pick and choose subjects to learn based on what s/he needs to know and be able to do i.e to make the most of his/her God-given abilities to succeed in or out of paid employment.

Right now, our schools do VERY little of that.

Instead too much abstract and theoretical stuff (often too far removed from the reality that the learners are to meet outside the school walls) is what dominates the MENU served to students in our schooling systems.

This is why we continue to see clueless graduates scrambling to be underemployed in poor paying jobs, when countless self-employment opportunities, based on viable vocations abound that they can tap into.

What is the point of spending YEARS in a higher institution if you emerge without the competence to take firm control of your income earning circumstances – when paid employment is scarce?

Our kids are told to go to school because they need “schooling” to prepare them to succeed in life: BUT the real world teaches them otherwise!

But then they graduate and find themselves stranded, and often – especially today – worse off than those who lack their level of education, who settled YEARS earlier on developing hands-on proficiency in vocations relevant to society’s needs.

Even those who have jobs in hand are under pressure, because what they earn is not enough.

And that’s what we’re seeing in the MMM schemes, scramble for low paying jobs, corrupt enrichment by highly schooled job holders who should know better etc.

Many are getting paid much less than their qualifications would have commanded 2 decades ago. As a result, they now readily lean towards opportunities like the MMM scheme to try and grow the money they earn.

Most of them are not bad or dishonest. They just want to make more money to meet their needs, but they lack the know-how/money making competence to do it. That’s why such zero effort schemes appeal to them. They lack the financial education about how to print their own money.

Hint: I do NOT refer to “financial education” as taught in business schools. Instead it is the kind of education preached for years by Robert Kiyosaki about the difference between an asset and a liability. The former being anything that puts money in your pockets and the latter, that which takes money out of your pockets.

I recommend you give your child the kind of schooling that will help him/her emerge with a sound understanding of all I have said above.

Otherwise, s/he will be unable to separate him/herself from the crowd of clueless and confused graduates often living what someone described as “lives of quiet desperation”.

1. [Workshop for Kids – by a Kid] Build Your Own Battery Powered Toy Bike!

2. [See Temi & Oluoma’s No-Oven Charcoal Stove Cookies]

10ways
Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, My DN Travel News, Self-Development

Ten Ways You Can Use Self-Development To Create The Future You Want

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Product Details:

Copyright By Tayo Solagbade and Self-Development Academy Limited (Standard Copyright License)

Edition: First 
Publisher: Tayo Solagbade
Published: July 19, 2005
Language: English
Pages: 113
Binding: Coil
Interior Ink: Black & white
Weight: 0.86 lbs.
Dimensions (inches): 8.5 wide x 11 tall

“..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, Dec. 2001(Handwritten comments in farewell/xmas cards sent to Tayo Solagbade – author of the Ten Ways book – following his resignation to start his own business). 

10ways

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25articles
Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, My DN Travel News, Self-Development, Short Stories

25 Articles/True Stories On Self-Development, Entrepreneuring & Web Marketing To Help You Succeed More Often

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Product Details

Copyright: Standard Copyright License
Edition: First
Publisher: Self-Development Academy Limited
Published: October 21, 2009
Language: English
Pages: 143
File Format: PDF
File Size: 1.06 MB

E-book containing twenty-five(25) new articles. Buyers who take advantage of this offer, will gain access to the full e-book complete with all 25 articles. They will also have my permission to freely reproduce ANY(and as many) of the articles on the ebook, as they want on their own websites or any other medium(so long as my copyright and contact information is included).

25articles

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

[Excel-Heaven Tutorial 05] Anatomy of the Index/Match Formula

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Finally, my Excel Visual Basic Automation Tutorial Videos are back with audible audio!

For 2 weeks I battled audio recording problems in creating video tutorials. First it was that NO audio was recorded at all. Later, VERY low audio was picked up by the headset mic I was using.

My usual relentless approach to dealing with problems kept me going at it, until I found a way. So here’s Tutorial 05…!

The screenshot below shows the user interface I created to explain how I constructed the INDEX/MATCH formula used in the ExcelVB Automation Tutorial 04.

The screenshot below shows the user interface I created to explain how I constructed the INDEX/MATCH formula used in the ExcelVB Automation Tutorial 04.

All my Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation club members got a compressed zipped folder containing the video tutorial along with the MS Excel Tutorial Workbook in their emails.

Excerpts:

1. In-cell drop down menu for choosing “Item Name” from the table. I use it here to enable easy comparison of the behaviour of the functions in 2, 3, and 4.

2. The syntax for the INDEX function shown below the result it gives

3. The syntax for the MATCH function shown below the result it gives

4. The syntax for the INDEX/MATCH formula shown below the result it gives via combination of the INDEX and MATCH functions.

****Full explanation in the screenshot step-by-step video tutorial emailed to you, along with this workbook (click here to request a copy).****

Quick Tip: In Windows 7 and above, you can watch the video using the VLC player simply by double clicking on the FLV video file (the largest of 3 filed) that you will find AFTER you unzip the compressed zipped folder emailed to you.

Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, General, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Recommended Websites & Articles, Self-Development

PII 041: Avoid Intellectual Laziness, Learn How Things Work…to Achieve Success [Hint: A Culture of Making Your Own Things is Key to Individual/National Development – See Photos of Home Made Ankara Slippers and Shoes Inside]

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All over the world people who excel in life ahead of their peers in any area of endeavour, most times succeed because they devote unrelenting time, energy and effort to MASTERING one or more vocations.

Without mastery, you are unlikely to be anything more than average or mediocre.

Yet, mastery itself cannot be achieved unless one develops sound understanding of how to do whatever it is one wishes to excel at.

 

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Tayo Solagbade's Performance Improvement IDEAS(PI Squared) Newsletter

Tayo Solagbade’s
Performance Improvement IDEAS
(PI Squared) Newsletter

Monday 21st November 2016

Logo - Tayo Solagbade's Self-Development Academy


NB: This PI Squared newsletter will be published weekly, on Mondays, in place of the Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, starting from today – 15th February 2016. I’m reinventing my Monday newsletter content and theme, to accommodate my vision of serving the growing audience of serious minded individuals and organizations reaching out to me, with information, education. news and research findings designed to help them do what they do better.

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View Tayo Solagbade's video tutorials and demonstrations on Facebook Productivity Tips, Web Marketing, and for his Custom MS Excel-VB driven software applicationsJoin the SD Nuggets community on Facebook.comConnect with Tayo on Twitter.comConnect with Tayo on Google PlusConnect with Tayo on LinkedIn.com

PII 041: Avoid Intellectual Laziness, Learn How Things Work…to Achieve Success [Hint: A Culture of Making Your Own Things is Key to Individual/National Development – See Photos of Home Made Ankara Slippers and Shoes Inside]

All over the world people who excel in life ahead of their peers in any area of endeavour, most times succeed because they devote unrelenting time, energy and effort to MASTERING one or more vocations.

Without mastery, you are unlikely to be anything more than average or mediocre.

Yet, mastery itself cannot be achieved unless one develops sound understanding of how to do whatever it is one wishes to excel at.

Societies in which the leaders and people agree on the above are often those that end up developing ahead of others.

Over the past 3 decades of my life, I have remained deeply intrigued by the subject of success and how it is achieved across various groups of people, societies and cultures.

We have witnessed many countries start out on the same or even lower rankings with others in terms of being underdeveloped, and rise to become leading nations.

The so called Asian Tigers are a good example.

In contrast to the above nations, some countries in certain geographical regions, like Africa, especially Black Africa, seem to be jinxed where achieving sustainable development is concerned.

I use that word (jinx) for lack of a better adjective.

For some strange reason, many (but of course NOT all) Black African peoples seem lacking in the ability to look inwards and gain the required understanding of how things work (to paraphrase a preacher in a video I watched – see below).

It goes without saying that they excel in certain fields, like sports and entertainment – but even in those areas, they often do NOT do it without technical “input” from non-Africans.

However this seems to be more relevant with regard to them within their own societies, as a GROUP.

By this I mean that many individual Black Africans have proven themselves to be exceptionally capable of not only achieving sound understanding of how things work, but also applying that understanding to achieving groundbreaking success in various fields.

Most times however one notices they tend to self-actualize when they leave their own societies and go to more stable and well organized environments in developed societies.

Returning home to their countries of origin to reproduce and replicate the same results generally tends not to come easily for them.

Like a friend recently noted, over half a century after independence, Nigeria with all its wealth and size, in human and financial terms, continues to import experts to build roads, and other infrastructure for her people. Yet she graduates engineers annually from universities it runs!

Now, I have done a lot of thinking and reading about this and come to the conclusion that the main problem stopping the clued up Black Africans from impacting their larger societies with their genius is the MENTALITY of the popular majority.

Too many Black Africans are intellectually lazy. Note that I said “too many” and NOT all. By the way, I’m black but I don’t know if I qualify to be called an “intellectual”.  I will say that my observations and insights have driven me to work hard on myself, to avoid intellectual laziness and LEARN how things work, so I can make my own stuff.

The results I’ve gotten over the past 2 decades attest to my success. For instance, I built custom spreadsheet software while in paid employment, that were formally adopted for use in my workplace, and since leaving paid employment I have established my brand providing custom Excel-VB apps for buyers in/out of Africa. I believe we need more of my kind of people to be this way, if we are to achieve our full God-given potentials as a race.

Read: Food for Thought for Nigeria @56: “You Lazy African Intellectuals – by Field Ruwe” [Hint: How Lazy “Nigerian” Intellectuals Underdevelop “Nigeria”?]

The effort required to achieve the understanding of how things work therefore tends to be something they are not prepared to exert for any reasonable length of time.

For instance CREATIVE THINKING which is the foundation required for building a virile industry of micro to small scale production done by home based businesses, is NOT embraced.

The average Black African is averse to thinking of LEARNING how to make his own clothes, shoes, software, food etc. Instead, most of them grow up learning to live high consumption lifestyles in which virtually everything they spend money on is imported or made by foreigners operating local production operations.

The indigenes prefer working as employees to engaging in creative production based pursuits that reduce demand form and dependence on imported products.

All of the above stems from a lack of self-confidence.

They generally believe they do not know enough to make anything on their own, that will be as good as what they already see is available.

So they settle down to a life of using without thinking.

The business of agriculture alone, for a country like Nigeria for example, offers massive potential benefits from the production to the processing as well as the marketing perspectives.

 

However, if Nigeria as a nation and Nigerians as a people fail to CHANGE their mentality from giving leadership in the THINKING about how they will DO agribusiness to outsiders and foreigners, lasting development and self-sufficiency in Agro based development (which is so badly needed now) is unlikely to happen.

Nigerians/Black Africans need to take ownership of their development efforts. They must do what the Indians, Singaporeans, Chinese, Indonesians and other Asians did to leave them behind.

They must look inwards and TEACH themselves to develop an understanding of how things work. And then they must put that understanding to use in implementing their development plans.

This process, if it is to succeed must begin from every home, with parents and children alike embracing this proposed philosophy as a way of life.

If the leadership of the country or group will not do it. Individuals can adopt it for use in their private lives.

China is a good example: Countless micro to small home based businesses churn out all sorts of products daily. Quite a good number are family based.

The same trend obtains even in Europe and America. Some people start small and choose to stay that way – producing essential goods to high standards, which are shipped far beyond their borders, in addition to being used on the home front.

If Black African nations evolve a similar culture, their rapid rise to join the ranks of developed nations will be inevitable.

[Photos] I practice what I preach – along with my kids. Apart from our trademark no-oven charcoal stove baked products range, I encourage them to LEARN how to make things (like battery powered toy bikes – and more recently shoes/pam slippers of all kinds)

Kids that grow up in an atmosphere where they are constantly challenged to learn how to make their own versions of things they usually buy, will develop the self-confidence and mental attitude to take ownership of their consumption.

That will make them reduces dependence on buying stuff, in favour of making theirs. And they will influence/inspire others in their social circles to emulate them.

Below: This pair of ankara slippers were made from scratch by me and my 7 year old daughter for her to wear casually to visit relatives, neighbours etc

ankara2

Below: This pair of ankara shoes were made by me and my 10 year old daughter using an old pair of worn out shoes she was planning to dump. We basically resurrected those shoes with Ankara material using ideas we got from a Youtube video by a creative Nigerian custom shoe making expert

ankara3

ankara4

ankar5

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Below are some links to more information about what we do, with photos of stuff we make

1. Temi & Oluoma’s No-Oven Charcoal Stove Baking | Facebook

2. PII 007: Parenting Is NOT A Democracy [Hint: The Need to Assert Yourself to Get Results That Matter – Lesson from True Story of a Girl Who Made Pizza Without An Oven]
3. SNEAK PREVIEW: How We Cheaply Make Cup Cakes without an Oven or Cooker (PDF) – By Tayo, Fela, Emeka,and Chika SOLAGBADE

4. Teach Kids to Develop (& Monetize!) Market Relevant Abilities EARLY In Life [VIDEO DEMONSTRATION: After Watching Short DIY Video, 12 Year Old Builds Battery Powered Toy Power bike Using Sticks from Sweets as Frames, a Rotor from Damaged DVD as Engine, Plastic Coke Bottle Covers as Tyres & a Microphone Battery from his Mother’s Church As Power Source]

5. [Workshop for Kids – by a Kid] Build Your Own Battery Powered Toy Bike!

 

Pay N5,000.0 (Five Thousand Naira) and Get These 3 Publications – Over N10,000 value!

Take up my promo offer of these 3 PDFs – click here to fill/submit the request form.

1. Why You Keep Failing to Achieve Your Writing Goals (Click here to see it on sale in my online store at $6.50 USD)

writeany3

2. Proven Techniques (& Strategies) You Can Use to Start and Finish Writing Anything

writeany1

3. Tested, Proven and Ready-To-Use Ideas for Marketing Your Book at Zero Cost

writeany2

Take up my promo offer of these 3 PDFs – click here to fill/submit the request form.

 

Excel-VB Driven Ration Formulator

Click to view larger screenshot

1. Click here to learn more about this app – watch demo videos etc

2. Click here to watch a 4 part video in which I demonstrate how to use this app to formulate rations using real life data sent to me by an Algerian PhD student.

Click here to contact me about purchasing this product.

EXCEL-VB DRIVEN POULTRY LAYER FARM MANAGER SOFTWARE

Click here to download a detailed PDF user guide and watch 15 screen shot user guide tutorials of the Monthly Poultry Farm Manager that I now offer Farm CEOs.

Click here to watch a screenshot demonstration of the Excel-VB Driven Poultry Farm Manager I built for a client farm business in Ekiti state, South West Nigeria.

Click here to contact me about purchasing this product.

 

SDN Blog™

New posts from last week*

Monday:

PII 040: 2 PDF Guides on Writing to Attract Potential Buyers & One PDF Report on Zero Cost Book Marketing [Get Yours Here]

[Tuesday]:

You Need to Reap the Best Possible Wisdom From Every Bout of Adversitywn and help the nation. But are prayers what we need?) – Men’s Roundtable, pulseng.com

[Wednesday]:

That the Grass Appears Greener On the Other Side Is No Assurance That Things Are Rosier Over There [Stop Thinking Others Are Better Off Than You!

[Thursday]:

N/A

[Friday]:

N/A

[Saturday]:

N/A

[Sunday]:

THE FARM CEO (Issue 65): Grow your business at Agra Innovate [1 DAY 8 HOURS to go]

Tayo K. Solagbade*

Self-Development/Performance Improvement Specialist

*Best Practice Farm Business Support Specialist & Founder of the MS Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation Club and Competition

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

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 organizations with personal development training and coaching, custom MS Excel-VB solutions, web marketing systems/web hosting, freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners).

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

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

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

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

His key purpose is to deliver talks, seminars and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).

In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years (October 1994 to December 2001) as a high performing manager in Guinness Nigeria. He rose from Shift Brewer to Training & Technical Development Manager, and later acted in senior roles as Production Manager and Technical Manager.

In addition to constantly challenging the status quo and influencing positive work changes, he built a reputation for using self-taught spreadsheet programming skills (starting with Lotus 1-2-3, and later moving to Excel Visual Basic) – in his spare time – to develop Automated Spreadsheet Applications to computerize manual report generation processes in the departments he worked. Over four(4) of his applications were adopted for brewery level reporting.

Tayo holds a B.Sc degree in Agricultural Extension Services from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, having graduated top of his class – with Second Class Upper Division honors – in 1992. He is an Associate Member of the UK Institute & Guild of Brewing, a 1997 National Finalist of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s(NIM) Young Managers’ competition, a Certified Psychometric Test Administrator for Psytech UK, innovator of Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development™ (SCfS-D™), and Founder of the Self-Development Academy (SDAc).

When he’s not amazing clients with his superhuman skills (wink), Tayo works as the creative force behind his Daily Self-Development Nuggets blog – on which he also publishes The Farm CEO Weekly Newspaper (sent via email to paid subscribers) and his Weekly Performance Improvement IDEAS newsletter.

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

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

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[IMPORTANT NOTE:====

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

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

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

he’s published.

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

Click “Tayo, What Happened to

SpontaneousDevelopmentDotCom ?” to read a detailed narrative about how the above event occurred :-))

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

Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix

(TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)

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

A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name
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View Tayo Solagbade's video tutorials and demonstrations on Facebook Productivity Tips, Web Marketing, and for his Custom MS Excel-VB driven software applicationsJoin the SD Nuggets community on Facebook.comConnect with Tayo on Twitter.comConnect with Tayo on Google PlusConnect with Tayo on LinkedIn.com

Home |About | Contact | SD Nuggets™ | Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS | Web Marketing Systems | Freelance Writing | MS Excel® Heaven™ | Cost-Saving Farm Biz Ideas
Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, Farm Biz, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Recommended Websites & Articles, The Farm CEO

THE FARM CEO (Issue 65): Grow your business at Agra Innovate [1 DAY 8 HOURS to go]

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This week’s issue of the Farm CEO newspaper announces a tradeshow you may find useful to attend, as it offers multiple benefits.

Preview: Now in its third successful year, Agra Innovate West Africa is widely recognised as the region’s leading crop production, processing and manufacturing tradeshow, connecting suppliers from some twenty different countries across four different continents to serious local buyers and business partners.

Date: Wednesday 23rd to Friday 25th November 2016

Continue reading…click here

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, General, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Self-Development

That the Grass Appears Greener On the Other Side Is No Assurance That Things Are Rosier Over There [Stop Thinking Others Are Better Off Than You!

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It’s funny how we take things for granted so often in life. People across the world have an interesting habit of always seeing what happens in other places based on preconceived notions that many times have little or no bearing on what obtains in real life.

One example. I almost fell of my seat in laughter when while speaking to a group of young men here in Benin Republic, they told me power supply in my country, Nigeria, was better than what they had in theirs – Benin Republic.

Instantly curious as to what could have led them to such a massively erroneous conclusion, I casually asked “Really, why do you say that?”

One of them promptly explained that their country purchased power supply from Nigeria. In addition, he said, they were aware that Nigeria supplied electricity to Niger, another neighbour.

To do this, he surmised, that had to mean Nigeria had an abundance of power generation capacity that it did not have enough demand for internally.

After hearing him out, I proceeded to provide him and his friends a more accurate picture of the situation of power supply in Nigeria by asking a key question.

Does any of you – or your friends – own a generator at home?

Answer (from all 3): No.

That, I said, would be a very unhealthy way to exist in Nigeria, because the average adult over there considers owning at least a small generator,the size of 25 litre keg, crucial to his ability to access electricity as often as possible.

Why? they asked me.

I answered: Because in Nigeria, you really cannot be sure when you’ll have electricity, and for how long. Therefore, those who have important things to do, simply do not want to wait on the power company. Note that sometimes people go for months on end without getting any power supply. And that includes businesses.

Are you serious? One of them asked.

And I replied that I could not have been more serious.

”Indeed”, I added, “Since I arrived here, I’ve noticed you seem to have some kind of load shedding that’s done by your power company every now and then so that for one to two hours on some days you have a power cut. For me, despite that interruption, working on my laptop here as a writer and developer has been like HEAVEN, compared to what I’ve had to endure working in Nigeria. For one thing, it costs me less to do so – since I do not have to buy fuel to power my generator everyday.

Secondly, I do not have to work with the noise of the generator in the background giving me headaches and making concentration difficult.

Do you now see why I say you’re in heaven?

After hearing that they were subdued…at least they stopped telling me Nigeria was better than Benin with regard to power supply!

The point I’m making here is that people in different parts of the world face different kinds of challenges.

However, it appears human nature makes most of us feel what we’re going through is worse than what any other person has to.

That is a wrong mindset to adopt – and I’ve seen and experienced a lot to confirm that I am right.

The grass may appear greener on the other side (where that person is) from where you stand, but the truth is you will rarely be able to accurately determine the true reality of his/her situation except you get a MUCH closer view, or better still s/he chooses to open up to you!

Here’s an analogy I love to use to drive this point home:

The guy promising you N2m in future business in exchange for hefty/risky discount on the fee for your maiden project with his company may, in reality, be in debt to the tune of N10m to 3rd parties you’re not aware of, that he is obligated to pay to stay in business. That could mean he would probably be unable to keep his word even if he wanted to!

So while you’re admiring him as a hot prospect you’d gladly sacrifice 3 existing small clients to please, don’t forget to apply due diligence in your dealings so as to avoid losing both ways – or worse: getting used and dumped!

What was that saying again about the grass looking greener from the side?

Aha!

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

You Need to Reap the Best Possible Wisdom From Every Bout of Adversity

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As much as I’d love to NOT notice it, the negative discrimination directed at people in my part of the world, by those from other parts of the world continues to periodically show up.

This is especially as it relates to using 3rd party platforms – including web hosting, which is paid, as well as email, which is sometimes free.

Since 2005, when I began making formal use of the web as a Nigerian based in Nigeria/Africa, I have experienced all sorts of discrimination ranging from the subtle, to the direct or in-your-face kind.

Quite often when it has happened, I have lacked reliable access to any channel where I could get fair hearing, if anything at all.

And I’m not the only one.

Many people from my part of the world continue to face this challenge of having to endure one-sided relationships with providers they use, even when they are paying.

Only few muster the courage to say anything about it though. I belong to that minority – and I have quite a few stories to tell :-)

I recall reading and hearing several stories about a popular online payment processing platform used globally, periodically locking up funds in the accounts of people from Nigeria with little or no explanation.

This was often not unlinked to suspicion, rightly or not, of naughty activity based on our people’s Yahoo reputation.

In several cases, I have been made to understand that owners of such funds, even when supposedly innocent of any wrong doing, had to forfeit the money.

Now getting wrongly sanctioned by online companies due to my Nigerian identity is something I’ve experienced.

I’ve now returned to using LinkedIn.com, but a few years ago I boycotted that platform from March 2013 (a month before I relocated to Cotonou) in protest of unfair treatment.

What happened to make me take such drastic action?

I wrote 3 articles about the entire saga – which included one in which I complained that they continued to send me notifications after I opted out.

  1. If You Can’t Find Me On LinkedIn.com, Here’s Why… | SD Nuggets™

If You Can’t Find Me On LinkedIn.com, Here’s Why…

  1. Why I’ve Told LinkedIn to Delete My Profile (Talk About Trying to Give a Dog a Bad Name to Hang It) | SD Nuggets™

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/why-ive-told-linkedin-to-delete-my-profile-talk-about-trying-to-give-a-dog-a-bad-name-to-hang-it/

I only returned to that platform late last year because I believed I’d built enough name/brand recognition online to minimize the chances of such a mix-up happening again.

My nasty 2012 LinkedIn.com experience in which my account was suddenly locked with no explanation other than a “suspicious activity” note from the Support Staff taught me to tread with caution in dealing with the other providers.

Let me make it clear here that I seriously doubt that LinkedIn.com as an organization intended to treat me unfairly.

No.

Instead, I honestly believe the particular individual(s) who took those actions were the ones acting based in bias, taking advantage of their position in the company to do what they did.

Not long after the above incident, a website on which my published articles were being sold for $25 USD and above (they kept 60%) kicked me off their platform on a flimsy excuse.

What was my offence?

The editor claimed I’d submitted a low quality article that necessitated my being asked to leave.

I wrote a reply stating that I had several write-ups that had been selling on their platform, and if there was any new submission I made that did not meet any set standard, THAT would be a first.

I ended by asking what article he had in mind.

I got no response from him, so I went on my (i.e this blog) and posted about it.

Some days later I discovered my account had been reinstated, and the articles promotion plug-in from their site was once again displaying my published pieces on my blog.

But the next time I submitted a new piece (which you can imagine I’d taken extra care to write) the same editor promptly informed me that I’d been expelled from the site etc.

I felt so used and dumped.

See the article I wrote about it:

How to Unmask & Defeat Blood-Sucking Vampires! | SD Nuggets™

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/how-to-unmask-defeat-blood-sucking-vampires/

Would you believe that less than a year later this same website that had stopped sending me updates, having kicked me out, suddenly began sending me email updates again?

I simply wasn’t having that. So, I wrote a polite email reminding them that they had expelled me, and stopped sending me member updates months before. It was therefore surprising to see that they were once again sending me emails containing messages meant for current members. I ended by making it clear I had no further interest in using their website.

So why am I bringing this up now?

Well it’s because those experiences have taught me to ALWAYS have a backup alternative action plan to deal with the possibility of a sudden and unexpected withdrawal of a 3rd party resource I may be using.

For as long as it is NOT in your control (i.e. someone else has the final say on who can use it and how), you would be wise to think up a viable alternative line of action to achieve your goal, in the event of an unexpected loss of access to the normal service you use.

This mental attitude has helped me remain unstoppable in every area of endeavour I have ever ventured in life. Indeed, I have found it quite useful to maintain a slight paranoid state of mind in this regard, wherein no matter how well things are going, I am constantly thinking that something is likely to go wrong, and therefore proactively planning to overcome whatever unexpected visitations of adversity that may incur.

Looking back, even as recently as 40 days ago, when the mailing list management service I have used for years suddenly disabled my sending access, this strategy has proven to be a REAL life saver for me!

When I clicked SEND to broadcast my Monday newsletter for that week, and the automated message popped up, my mind simply kicked into survival mode.

I instantly knew it was unlikely that I would be able to resolve it that night (or ever: they never replied my queries).

But since I’d always had a plan B in place, I simply put that in motion and less than 45 minutes later, I’d exported my subscriber emails to a new platform, configured the HTML message and clicked send to dispatch.

And guess what?

Since then I’ve actually found that what happened was a blessing of sorts in disguise, because as I type these words, I now have access to what is a superior mix of benefits on this new platform, compared the one I used before.

Not only does it offer more features, but it is also more usable on mobile platforms, so that I am able to do ALL I want to right from my Smartphone with no hassle at all.

Little wonder that I have had NO problem signing up for a paid quarterly version of the service!

Long story short: It pays to be prepared with an alternative action plan (or plans!) in case something goes wrong with your routine process/operation.

But – as my experiences have revealed – it pays even better to keep an open mind, in order to reap the best possible wisdom from every bout of adversity one goes through.

So, in a way, it becomes obvious that those who seek to cause you pain in the long run help you by forcing you to LEARN to be strong and deal with hardship in order to excel!

In my language, Yoruba, we have a saying that accurately captures the above:

Adani loro nfi agbara ko ni (Translation: Those who cause you pain teach you to be strong)