What if you could earn 80% of the income you need without needing to have clients? Wouldn’t that make your life as an expert so much more fulfilling?
Well I can tell you it’s a wonderful way to be in business – because that’s how I earn my income. In this article, I offer tips you can use to do what I’m doing, and make being your own boss a more pleasurable experience!
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[Tip: The quote below, credited to the Dalai Lama inspired me to write this article] No matter the individual wealth we accumulate or personal achievements we record, as long as we fail to help others struggling/suffering around us find their own places in life (NOT necessarily by giving them money), we WILL ALL be failures – ultimately.
“Each one of us is responsible for the whole of human kind. We need to think of each other really as brothers and sisters and to be concerned for each other’s welfare. Rather than working solely to acquire wealth, we need to do something meaningful, something directed seriously towards the welfare of humanity as a whole.” – Dalai Lama
How can you be spiritual, when you lack the ability to feel EMPATHY.
When you lack EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?
Too many people love to feel big and accomplished when they see others looking up to them in envy and begging for help. What they fail to realise is that what they have which they allow their egos to get bloated over, has been given to then in TRUST.
The right thing to do, is to SHARE it with others, so as to complete the circle.
We must understand that we are not here to compete, but to create, and improve the lives of one another.
Check yourself – look around your neighbourhood, and social groups.
What do you see? Is there something you can TEACH someone, to equip him/her to become self-dependent and more fulfilled TODAY?
As always, I walk my talk. I do not ask people to do what I cannot or will not do.
I’m already doing my bit. And you know what I’ve discovered?
You really won’t need a grant from the Ford Foundation or World Bank, to make a lasting poitive impact in the lives of people who need your help!
Give of yourself – unconditionally.
Open doors of opportunities.
Create a level playing field for aspirants to a position.
If you are in a position of influence or authority, give everyone a fair and impartial opportunity to get what they want, based on merit and competence.
For instance, asking a Muslim to become born again, as a pre-condition for helping him/her.
Doing this would defeat your purpose.
Let your deeds speak volumes for your religious convictions.
Those who are touched will on their own get converted.
Otherwise, you’ll end up with “phony” converts who only join you because they want what you are offering – and NOT because they truly believe.
Sooner than later, they will cause you major embarrassment!
=Starts=
“Each one of us is responsible for the whole of humankind. We need to think of each other really as brothers and sisters and to be concerned for each other’s welfare. Rather than working solely to acquire wealth, we need to do something meaningful, something directed seriously towards the welfare of humanity as a whole.” – Dalai Lama
=Ends=
If a client company’s decision maker demands gratification, as a condition for awarding YOU business, what would YOU do? In this article, I destroy the myth some – misguided – “experts” perpetuate, that, to succeed, one must give in improper demands from crooked client company representatives!
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Yesterday (Tuesday 3rd March 2015) p.m, I arrived Cotonou-Benin Republic for a meeting with the CEO (Barr. Arnold NANA) of Global Konsult Group, a multidisciplinary client company. That meeting held today (Wednesday) for approx. 5 hours, on how to use potential promotional materials from their ground breaking events, (which already have corporate sponsors eagerly teaming up with them – see www.globalkonsultgroup.com/fbk) to take their Web Marketing to the next level, so they can better create client attracting awareness.
Tomorrow, Thursday 5th March 2015 by 4p.m, I will be back in Nigeria (at Sherryvile Arcade, Berger bus stop- Lagos (opposit First Bank Plc, speaking to Small Business CEOs and Network Marketing professionals on THIS same theme.
1. How much money do you spend using the web monthly?
2. How much money do you MAKE from using the web monthly?
NB: If – for you – 2 is LESS than 1, you REALLY NEED to attend my talk, or get the DVD recording.
a. What to do to MAKE more money than you spend using the web for your business
b. What you should be selling that you are not (NO MATTER what business you do).
c. How to continue selling even during holidays, when offices and banks are closed.
d. How to make smart use of technology to cut your marketing costs by 25 to 50%.
e. How to find the right kinds of buyers for your products/services.
f. Why you need to educate your prospects and clients if you want to sell MORE profitably.
g. Why website traffic is NOT what you need to monitor, if you want web marketing success.
h. How a Web Marketing System can make ALL the above happen even while you sleep.
Over 95% of my clients have NEVER met me in the flesh, and yet some have been buyers of my products/services for over 7 years from locations across the length and breadth of Nigeria (Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Niger, Oyo, Ekiti, Plateau, Delta, Enugu, Rivers etc)… as well as within and outside Africa (Canada, Abu Dhabi [UAE), Tanzania, Benin Republic, USA, Holland etc).
Download the Speaker One Sheet at: http://tinyurl.com/sherryvillePDF
On 25th November 2014, Nelson Senatin (@fishbonedotcom) tweeted to me saying:
“@tksola may I know how you describe yourself? An agriculturist or businessman?”
“I am a MARKETER first, and an agriculturist second” (where “marketer” = “businessman”)
[NB: By way of interest, my above stated response paraphrases Burt Dubin’s wise quote reproduced which reads thus:
“You are a marketer first, and an expert second.” – Burt Dubin]
My version of Burt’s quote means I AM not just engaged in agriculture because I enjoy it (and I do!). Instead I also intend to get amply rewarded for the value I add…AND as long as I ADD value others consider worthwhile, I will ensure I get AMPLY remunerated for it.
Like I have continually said in my articles, I get lots of enquiries via multiple web marketing channels that I use, from across the world. It’s simply amazing the seemingly unlimited power that the web puts at one’s disposal, if one knows how.
Indeed, this is why I keep harping on the need for small business owners and solo entrepreneurs especially, to adopt my approach to finding buyers for their products/services.
I use what I call a custom Web Marketing System, and it helps me attract high paying buyers for the solutions I offer, at zero cost.
Yet, compared to those who use more conventional marketing methods, I spend MUCH MUCH MUCH (!) less time, effort and money promoting my offers, to get profitable results I record.
Every now and then, I get people who come asking that I give my software or book to them for FREE.
Quite often, they would claim to be students, and that they needed it for their studies. Or that they were researchers aiming to use it for their work.
In a few cases, I have had business owners (or persons claiming they were about to start their own businesses) writing in saying they simply had no money.
Most times, I would respond that such persons let me know what date/time to call and speak with them, AT MY OWN expense. Did you get that? At MY OWN EXPENSE!
Believe it or not, till this very day, NOT ONE of them has ever responded.
As the Americans would say: Figures…
My motive for writing that article was based on a trend I noticed with so many farm business owners I met in the course of my work as a Farm Business Support Specialist.
Majority of them simply did NOT understand that they had to be BUSINESS PERSONS, if they wished to be profitable.
They would spend hundreds of hours planning production details, sparing little or no thought for creating PROFITABLE/SUSTAINABLE DEMAND for products they were planning to churn out.
As a result, time and time again, when I have reached out to such farm business owners months and years later on, I have NOT been surprised to learn they were struggling or had quit.
For instance, just last month, I had phone conversations with 5 Farm CEOs who had previously contacted me about solutions I offered (especially my Feed Formulation Handbook and Software), and 3 of them let on that they had “suspended” operations or close down entirely.
Specifically, they complained that their regular buyers (the “market women”) had proved to be very exploitative, demanding unfair price reductions to make bulk purchases of products.
The women made those demands knowing the farm CEOs did not have alternative means of selling off their produce profitably.
One told me he’d stopped production and taken day job to think up a better way to sell.
Instead they failed because they did NOT know how to find the RIGHT kinds of buyers to take their products off them!
Which brings me back to Senatin’s Tweet, and my response…
You see, what I do actually falls under “Extension Services” delivery. However, my approach is VERY unconventional, and VERY unlike what universities or research bodies readily refer to.
But it is instructive to note that I am a graduate of Agricultural Extension Services from the University of Ibadan – so I do have formal training to function in this role.
That was why writing an international agribusiness research paper, that I got paid for (by a European Union funded NGO based in Holland), came easily to me. (see links at the end).
In that paper, I basically challenged other Extension Service providers across the world, to adopt my approach of going beyond conventional practice to help farmer entrench BEST PRACTICE systems.
This includes development of low cost customizable automated spreadsheet apps to facilitate prompt farm data recording, trending/analysis for timely and more accurate decision making.
You see, if we want agriculture to become more attractive to people, especially the youth, it is crucial that we take the practice of agriculture BEYOND the level of drudgery it is currently associated with.
Interestingly, this does NOT mean spending lots of money.
Indeed, as my method has shown, the exact opposite with regard to spending, is what happens using my adopted approach.
Yet at the same time, the practice of agriculture in the way I advocate will enable farm business owners operate at a much efficient level, using cost-effective technology and indigenous creativity to boost profits.
A key component of that is the use of “Enterprise Information Systems” (like my Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator and my Poultry Farm Manager, as well as my Payslip Generator).
Most importantly, I strongly recommend that they adopt the use of a custom Web Marketing System, to ensure they establish lasting relationships with BULK buyers for their products.
Indeed, this is badly needed today, in a place like Nigeria for instance, where quacks are taking advantage of newly retired persons who indicate interest in venturing into agriculture!
A person who is already running the kind of business YOU intend to start, will (often though NOT always) be better equipped to SHOW YOU how to get started successfully.
That’s my argument, and it is the perspective from which I offer my support to farm CEOs. But many do not immediately see THAT big picture, and I understand why.
Over time, this strategy has worked. For instance I have farm CEOs who have been my clients for years, who recently paid to have me develop Web Marketing Systems for them.
Some have joined my Inner Circle to gain FREE access to my Poultry Farm Manager.
Long lasting benefits will accrue to these farm businesses, if the CEOs take diligent action along the lines I recommend, adding their own creativity along the way.
Ultimately, they will become agro-entrepreneurs or “business minded” agriculturists (to paraphrase Senatin – who has since purchased my Feed Formulation Handbook)!
If that happens, they will record more reproducible financial success, with less effort/at less cost.
You will agree with me that if farm businesses can succeed with more consistency and predictability, they will become more appealing to others – especially young people.
Since the future of our economies depends on more of our people, especially youths, embracing agriculture, it becomes obvious that this approach CAN boost our ability to attract this target group INTO agribusiness!
Click the links below, to read articles I wrote in which I mentioned commencing (and progressing) work on the international research paper I referred to in the above article. I also noted how farm CEOs can function, to generate passive income streams outside sales of their farm produce.
http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/no-119-how-to-achieve-success-in-any-field-true-story/ [Written after I completed the project and just got paid]
http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/dont-just-tell-kids-to-do-be-an-exemplary-role-model/ [Written after the article above]
http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/no-111-farm-business-owners-can-speak-to-influence-research/ [Written when I was still working on the project]
[This 58 page e-book is available for purchase at www.lulu.com/sdaproducts today]
It’s a compilation of 10 of my top performing Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas articles on the Farm Business Marketing. See Table of Contents here.
As a paid owner of this eBook, in line with the offer made of the sales page in my online store, you can freely reproduce – without making alterations – ANY of the articles contained in this e-book for use on your website, or in any other medium or publication, as long as my byline and copyright information are printed along with every article.
Coming up…FREE One (1) Hour talk!
Topic: Spend Less Money & Time to Make Customers Find & Contact You, Even While You Sleep (True Stories About How)!
Speaker: Tayo K. Solagbade [Location Independent Performance Improvement Specialist & Multipreneur]
Date: Thursday 5th March 2015
Time: 4 to 5 p.m
Venue: Sherryville Arcade, Ojodu Berger Bus stop (opposite First Bank Plc), Lagos, Nigeria
Key Target Audience: Business owners, Sales/Marketing Professionals, Independent Self-Marketing Professionals
1. This event is FREE for 2 reasons…
a. It’s being held as a FREE educational service for self-marketing professionals and business owner members of my Inner Circle (e.g farm CEOs, Network Marketing Professionals and others)
b. The second reason is that I use Public Speaking for Business Marketing (PSBM) to boost my name recognition and credibility – hence this “public offer” to non-members of my Inner Circle.
2. Intended attendees have ALREADY been pre-notified and confirmed their interest. Some are members of my Inner Circle.
3. This online broadcast is for ANY other interested persons who can find their way to the venue on the stated date/time.
4. ALL attendees will be eligible to obtain duplicated copies of a FREE autorun DVD that will contain an MP3 recording of the talk, a 3 part audio presentation on the same theme, a zero cost marketing ebook and other useful information products.
For details or inquiries, email tayo at tksola dot com…or use the contact details below.
Tayo K. Solagbade*
Performance Improvement Specialist & Multipreneur
*Sole Agent For Burt Dubin’s Speaker Mentoring Service (www.speakingsuccess.com) In Africa
Mobile: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic)
What follows are a few ideas I have advocated over the past decade (based on personal successes I have achieved as a parent and mentor), regarding use of specific extracurricular activities to empower young people – especially those still undergoing schooling.
To help students learn how to work with others towards mutually agreed goals.
They learn the essence of cooperating to get things done effectively as a group. Major competence to acquire: Interpersonal Effectiveness. Students would be required to read the book “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie, and apply it in their daily activities.
Business and other partnerships are notoriously impossible to sustain in an environment where there is a lack of trust.
Someone defined TEAM as Together Everyone Achieves More. If we can teach students to adopt this philosophy in their lives, they will grow up more willing to work together for success over time.
To help student learn how to go about investigating the root cause of problems, be they process or people-related. They will be taught to understand why it is important to champion progressive change and how.
They will learn how to constructively challenge existing ways of doing things. They will be made to realise that it is important to have questioning minds – always constantly wanting to know why things are the way they are, and what can be done to improve.
I have noticed that many people readily claim that they practice SD. That may be true. But the way I have conceived of SD and its practice, I refer to something that could be called a “culture”. Something that is not only systemic, but has actually become a way of life for a person or a group of people. There are many sides to practicing SD some of which are:
a. Vocational Skills Acquisition:
A person can decide to attend a seminar to learn how to make money from soap production. That would be Self-Development. The problem is that many times, there is no continuity in such efforts. What happens is the person then launches into the business having no idea of other areas of knowledge and skill necessary to run a business successfully.
Getting the technical skills or know how is one thing. Knowing how to effectively market and manage yourself to use your skills to make PROFITABLE INCOME is another thing entirely. That’s why some people hire a manager to help them.
b. Mental Stamina:
This is the most neglected aspect of SD. Some people do not even know it exists. Yet, many times, it makes the difference between the man who wins and the one who comes second in a 1,500m race photo finish.
When a long race is coming to an end, the muscles are aching, the legs are tiring, the lungs are screaming for air and each runner desperately wants to stop so he/she can take a little rest. The runner who has enough mental stamina to ENDURE and MANAGE all the pain/discomfort well enough to keep going, instead of slowing down, often wins.
It is well known that a person’s state of mind is as crucial to his/her success as is his/her physical condition.
This rule applies across all spheres of endeavour. (Try going to the market to do elaborate shopping while worrying about the whereabouts of your 8-month old child who went missing over 2 days ago, and see how well you fare!).
People’s mental attitudes often determine, many times, how successful they become.
If you do not understand how to deal with difficulty, disappointments and adversity in your life, and how these unpleasant experiences actually offer you unparalleled opportunities to develop into a stronger person emotionally, you might be unable to achieve noteworthy success.
I say this based on my personal achievements in paid employment, and since…
This will equip them to have good self-perception/healthy self-esteem, and an ability to carry on in the face of discouragement.
If we want to turn out youths who will make a difference in society, we must help them develop to become self-confident and emotionally stable. That is not read in books or taught in schools and universities. But it can be deliberately passed on through coaching and/or mentoring by competent persons. If we neglect this aspect of their development, many of our young people are likely to fare badly when they leave school and enter the real world (of hard knocks).
Let’s all begin to think of ways we can use extracurricular activities to better prepare our young people to become competent and productive adults in the future.
Entrepreneurs – and I mean authentic, honest, integrity driven ones – remain an endangered species in Nigeria. Most of them never really do well enough to truly flourish like their counterparts in more friendly climes.
That reality is in contrast to what happens in societies that Strive Masiyawa says “attract foreign investment and advance/develop” (as in the quote below).
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2 years ago, when I first relocated to Cotonou, from Lagos, the first few months exposed me to raw cynicism from most Beninese citizens I met…and it always happened once they learned I was Nigerian.
I’ve shared several true stories about specific encounters I had, including one with a widely traveled PhD holder who was kind enough to paint the reputation Nigerians had, with his people, in vivid terms for me, using a shocking personal true story, and examples from his trips.
Only my dogged determination and persistence enabled me break down those biases that has today earned me ready friendships, and later business relations with people in that society. Many of them today tell me I’m "a very unusual kind of Nigerian".
What’s more, I know that many Nigerians like me, abound, only they may not venture far enough for such foreign cynics to encounter them.
When I visited Ghana in 2005 for 2 weeks on business, almost nothing went right for this same reason.
My host’s brother, Paul Awuku, told me: "Tayo, it’s going to take Ghanains time to trust you. So many things have happened. Just be patient."
Back then my interest was to explore opportunities. I could not stay longer as the prospects were gloomy and I had run out of resources.
Regardless of where I am, at any point in time (I’m currently in Lagos), I can, and do sell my products and services.
Over 80% of the above happens via the web.
But what I do, the major solutions I provide, are quite uncommon/unconventional.
1. 100% customizable Excel VB software for farm businesses and others
2. Web Marketing Systems development in which I get paid to write creative content for clients that I build FREE Joomla websites (and provide webhosting) for.
3. Multidisciplinary Information Products on wide ranging topics and themes I identify to be real world relevant.
4. Paid membership website access to the above existing range of solutions, and those I plan to create in future.
It’s funny yet true.
They see all I’ve built out of nothing, including rebuilding my online brand from the ashes of my snatched 9 year old domain to establish what is my highly Effective Online Presence at www.tayosolagbade.com, and they still look for excuses to cast aspersion on me.
Ever so often this happened, and I’ve accepted the need to accommodate such people with their baggage of negativity. My thinking was that they would over time discover that I’m different and acknowledge it.
They betray these hidden motives often in the things they do, and especially what they say.
Well, I believe in keeping carriers of negativity at arms length, indeed much farther away if possible. So starting today, 19th February 2015, I will respond with LOUD silence to any persons who fail to accord me the same consideration and courtesy I extend to them.
For me, such displays of interpersonal ineptitude must be discouraged. I refuse to apologize for being a Nigerian. Not to other Africans or persons from outside the continent.
If you can’t deal with the fact that I proudly flaunt my Nigerian status, from my African base, while providing solutions to a global audience, without seeking approval or recognition or any external validation, then PLEASE do not contact me, because I seriously doubt we would get along!
Last week, I had an interesting telephone/email based exchange with a lady banker who called about purchasing my “Ten Storyfied Yoruba Proverbs for Children” audio book DVD. It turned out she knew me from way back in 2002, my startup year, when we both served with an NGO as volunteer tutors. In addition to buying my DVD, she had some VERY nice things to say to me, about me, with regard to how I’d influenced her without knowing it.
===Starts===
From: “<removed>, Taiye” <Taiye.<removed>@<removed>>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2015 13:38:54 +0100
To: <tayo a tayosolagbade dot com>
Subject: Account Details & Training Calendar
Dear Sir,
Thank you for the detailed update on Yoruba Proverbs. Kindly send your account details to enable me make payment for the book: Ten Storified Yoruba Proverbs for Children.
I plan to attend some personal development courses this year (Excel Sheet, Personal Efficiency et al), kindly forward your Lagos Training Calendar for the year.
Please find below my details for Book Delivery:
Taiye <surname removed>
<company name removed> Bank
<removed>Operational Risk Manager <removed>
<removed> Victoria Island
Landmark: My office is opposite <removed> Victoria Island.
I look forward to your response.
Thank you.
Regards,
Taiye
===Ends===
===Starts====
From: Tayo K. Solagbade [tayo at tksola dot com]
Sent: 04 February 2015 14:48
To: <removed>, Taiye
Cc: M; Tayo Solagbade
Subject: Re: Account Details & Training CalendarHi Taiye,
Thanks for your phonecall. It was great speaking with you.
Find payment details below:
<removed>
It appears I mis-heard you, when we spoke earlier, as I’d assumed you wanted to pick up the DVD from the <removed> address I mentioned.
But from your Victoria Island delivery address, and your descriptive notes, it’s obvious you want it dropped off for you on the Island.
2 options:
A. Let me know if it’s possible to have it dropped off for you at your Ikeja office – I imagine you have an internal mail system that can get it to you.
B. Include extra payment to cover hand delivery to you in VI by a young man I can send over…or for dispatch via Fedex from here in Ikeja to you.
Note that I’m not sure how much either will be. For Fedex, I’ve only done inter state dispatches to buyers of my ExcelVB apps across the country.
Lastly, I’ll get back to you regarding my On-Demand learning events tomorrow.
Thanks for your interest in my work. It is gratifying to know that you find what I’m doing of useful relevance.
With kindest regards,
Tayo K. Solagbade
Location Independent Performance Improvement Specialist & Multipreneur
<deleted signature>Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
===Ends====
===Starts===
From: “<removed>, Taiye” <Taiye.<removed>@<removed>>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2015 15:02:44 +0100
To: <tayo at tksola dot com>
Subject: Thank you
Thank you for the kind gesture.
For ease, I will prefer delivery at the Victoria Island Head Office. I plan to include NGN2,000 (if this covers his cost) for the delivery by the gentleman you would send.
§ Please should I credit your account with NGN7,000 being NGN5,000 for the pack and NGN2,000 for delivery? Or credit your account with NGN5,000 and pay the gentleman cash (NGN2,000) on delivery?
§ Kindly confirm, does the package include a book & DVD? Or I need to make payment for the book separately?
I look forward to reading your content, I wish I could get it today. I must confess that you inspired me while volunteering at years back at . I was also a volunteer but your sense of responsibility, discipline and passion for what you did made a lasting impression on me, Thank you so much for ‘silently’ teaching me some of those values which has helped me to be a better me.
Regards,
Taiye
===Ends===
===Starts===
From: Tayo K. Solagbade [tayo at tksola dot com]
Sent: 04 February 2015 15:50
To: <removed>, Taiye
Subject: Re: Thank youMake the entire payment into the account.
The book comes on the DVD as a PowerPoint Slideshow with clickable links to the audio files.
You will be able to copy the audio MP3 files from the DVD to your phone or MP3 player. That’s how my kids use them(I bought each child an MP3 headset with rechargeable battery. Then they also have a box like player which uses a card reader with rechargeable battery).
Now, if you want the book in printed and spiral bound form, you will have to include an extra N3k, so I can prepare that and send it in a larger envelope along with the DVD containing the Slideshow and audio versions.
Regarding getting it today, if it was not for the erratic Lagos traffic, one could be sure of getting the hand delivery done today. Indeed, back in Cotonou, I readily commit to tight meeting and delivery deadlines. My Lagos experiences have however taught me to temper my enthusiasm with realism.
It’s 3.30p.m now.
Let’s see what can be done. If it does not reach you today, you’ll definitely have it tomorrow a.m.
Tayo
PS:A. I send every buyer of this Proverbs book a FREE PDF copy of my new Best Practice Parenting paperback book titled “Kukuru Danger”. See it on sale in my online store at www.lulu.com/sdaproducts
Buyer name is printed on the PDF book cover, with a message from me, thanking him/her for buying my Storyfied Proverbs book.
B. I must thank you for your kind compliments. I never realized I was being so closely observed! Glad to know you found my conduct worthy of emulation. May we continue to add useful value to one another.
Cheers,
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
===Ends===
===Starts===
From: “<removed>, Taiye” <Taiye.<removed>@<removed>>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2015 16:03:54 +0100
To: <tayo at tksola dot com>
Subject: RE: Thank you
Thank you very much for the detailed update.
The DVD format would suffice as I can copy it on my device to listen and read at ease.
I will credit your account with NGN7,000 shortly and anxiously wait for delivery tomorrow. In the mean time, I look forward to reading the personalized PDF copy of your new book Best Practice Parenting titled “Kukuru Danger”.
Thank you for the opportunity to learn from your wealth of knowledge.
===Ends===
===Starts===
From: Tayo Solagbade [mailto:tayo at tksola dot.com]
Sent: 04 February 2015 19:02
To: <removed>, Taiye Subject: Re: Your Storyfied Proverbs book etc…
Hi Taiye,
Find below, download links to the following:
1. A password protected PDF version of the 10 Storyfied Proverbs book
http://tayosolagbade.com/<path removed>.pdf
Note that it is locked for viewing. Password to open is: tks2019 (type exactly as it appears) 2. A complimentary copy of my new Best Practice Parenting book titled “Kukuru Danger” – personalised for you, with a thank you message…
http://tayosolagbade.com/<path removed>.pdf
3. You may also enjoy reading the sneak preview of a new book I’m writing with my sons as co-authors, on how we bake cup cakes for sale using charcoal stoves and NO oven.
It’s available for download from an article I published on my blog last year:
Tomorrow morning, I will dispatch the autorun DVD to your VI address and let you know.
In your service.
Tayo
===Ends===
As I noted in the message, it was actually the first time I was visitng the Island since 1st April 2013, when I left Lagos for Cotonou.
===Starts===
—–Original Message—–
From: Tayo K. Solagbade [mailto:tayo at tksola dot com]
Sent: 05 February 2015 15:33
To: Taiye
Cc: email removed; M; Tayo Solagbade
Subject: Delivered: Your 10 Storyfied Proverbs DVD – Guiding NotesHanded over to Aina at reception, as you requested.
A few notes…
The DVD is setup to autorun. Just insert and let it load the custom navigation menu.
The menu buttons open the documents or links indicate.
When the PowerPoint book show opens, each slide will autoplay the relevant audio narrative.
Speaker icons provided are clickable and enable you replay each audio narrative, as well as the clips of my kids reading out the proverbs.
A menu button provided opens the folder on the DVD, in which all the audio files are stored. From there you can copy them to your memory card, PC/laptop, phone or other device.
If you need any help, let me know, and it would be my pleasure to provide it.
In your service,
Tayo
PS: It was Interesting that you called me just as I arrived the “mail room”, where Aina had directed me from the reception…When eventually I got back to him, I asked him to let you know the branded label for the proverbs package DVD could not be printed to the finish quality, in colour, that I wanted. The late opening of business centres today made trying to find a better service elsewhere impractical.
I’m a stickler for adhering to challenging standards, and also for keeping promises I make.
So, I chose to NOT use a shabby label, plus when a 2nd chap (who I’m coaching on Web Marketing) that I’d hoped to have drop off you pack told me he would not be available till 3p.m, I knew I had to drop it off myself and return without getting stuck in the famous Island traffic…
It may interest you to know that this is the first time I’ve visited the Island, since relocating to Benin Republic on 1st April 201(3).
===Ends===
===Starts===
—–Original Message—–
From: “, Taiye” <Taiye removed>;
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2015 17:27:30
To: <tayo at tksola dot com>
Subject: Thank you so much.Good Afternoon sir.
I have been in a meeting. I must confess that I truly appreciate your kind gesture in going an extra mile to keep to your word.
To be honest, after speaking with you (before rushing into the meeting) and you said you were downstairs, I told myself that you are still the same Mr. Solagbade that keeps to his word. I said that because of a few encounter I have had with you in the past. Interestingly, you ‘indirectly’ taught me one core value I have upheld… Discipline.
I still teach at . Over the years, I have taught my young friends/students the importance of that Life Lesson your taught me (it is easy for me live by this because you taught me by your ACTION unknowingly) and this forms one of my 3 Core Values. Thank you.
Once again, thank you so much for your kind gesture.
Regards,
Taiwo
===Ends===
The auto run DVD she got contains a slide show version of the proverbs book, with auto playing audio narratives in my voice, and click able audio clips icons that playback the voices of some of my kids reciting the proverbs.
My kids enjoy listening to it.
The MP3 files can be copied from the DVD to phones and other media.
In fact my mother (grandma to the kids) made me copy them to her phone so she could listen, especially to the kids reciting the proverbs.
I’m having connectivity issues uploading, so the following 2 items will come LIVE in this article tomorrow morning…
For now, click here to view a copy on Facebook…
[NB: Read this article (click) in which I first announced this proverbs learning product for sale. It’s available in my online store as a PDF. Those who want the Slideshow audio book version with clickable links to MP3 files, that’s delivered on DVD have to send me a message for details of how to get it using THIS form (click)]
I had to take a last minute decision to deliver it myself, to avoid disappointing her, when the young chaps I’d planned to send down could not make it.
I visited Fedex, at 11a.m in their Allen office, but they told me next day delivery in Lagos costs N500, but same day delivery would cost N8k. I’d not known that in 2 years of using their service, since I’d never had a same day delivery client order!
At this point, only ONE other option was left.
So, after sorting out work I had to finish, I took a BRT bus at close to 3p.m down to CMS. Soon as I alighted, by some wonderful “coincidence” a commercial power bike rider called out to me (there were 2 of them, so I got to choose). I promptly agreed to his N300 fee when he said he could get me through bad traffic to the lady’s her VI office on time for me to RETURN to mainland without getting stuck in the crazy traffic jams for which that area of Lagos are famous. True to his word, he did – see email below!
There are 2 key lessons I believe one can draw from this story….
First, it’s the fact that the web marketing strategies I advocate can enable anyone with diligent perseverance, successfully monetize any useful information or knowledge s/he has.
Think about it. I now sell my DVD Yoruba Proverbs book and audio files…!
I know many who thumbed their noses at the idea when I first muted it…they are not laughing now I tell you…lol!
Taiye, the buyer, had told me during her first phone call that she knew me from back when I (like her) was a volunteer maths tutor for a project sponsored by a very well organized Nigerian NGO. The NGO’s project mainly helped secondary school students with FREE maths and english tutorials in their final year.
The problem was that I struggled to recall her face, even though the name rang a faint bell…but I did not tell her that 
When she went on to say the above (and more in her final thank you email post-receipt of the package), I realized how important her feedback was, and why it was important for me to WRITE about it, for others to read.
Seek to add value with honesty and integrity at all times.
You never know who will be watching and drawing inspiration from your selfless efforts.
Like the popular saying goes: “Be The Change You Want to See In The World!“
That was what I did back then, that she saw and chose to emulate. That’s why I continue to do today, that has NOW made her buy my latest information product…and that NOW makes her even more inspired than ever, to go and do MORE of what she learned.
If more of us did this, our societies would become much better places than they are today. It only takes EACH person making up his/her mind to begin…
Will you?
