Many people are truly GIFTED at ANALYZING what it takes to succeed …or why failure happens. What most seem to LACK, in my experience based opinion it the WILLINGNESS (and NOT the ability) to unflinchingly persist in APPLYING the insights they possess to achieve their (supposedly) valued goals.
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If you do routine data recording, analysis and report generation, using MS Excel, I can show you how to optimize and automate your work, to achieve HUGE savings in time, effort and even money! The best part is you do can learn from me in the comfort of your home or office. Anytime of the day.
Over 2 decades of experience in developing custom Excel-VB Solutions for business users equip me to develop solutions for clients, and also to teach them to do so for themselves.
That’s because I create custom learning resources based on the work you do in form of videos, workbooks and web pages for you to study. Plus, you get email, chat and telephone coaching.
My tutorial workbooks come with videos showing me creating the workbooks I send you from scratch.
If you’re interested, I can also create for YOU, videos showing the steps I followed in building ANY of my existing apps, that you choose. You will be able to see EXACTLY what you need to do to create them yourself.
A good example is my very popular Payslip Generator which comes in 2 versions – Basic and Pro. The latter features a powerful floating, modeless data entry form that handles routine entry and editing of salary information.
The graphic user interfaces of my apps are also quite intuitive, making it easy for a complete Excel novice to learn to use them in a short time (often ONE day).
When you learn from me, I show you how to make your apps user-friendly in the same way. Your colleagues will LOVE you for it, as did mine when I was an employee!
Click here to continue reading…
In this 2 part video demonstration, summary reports and charts are auto generated by my new Excel-VB Elections Results Compiler & Reports/Charts Generator, which I built mainly to demonstrate how Excel can be used to boost productivity in everyday activities.
[I began building the app around 25th April 2015. Today, 7th May 2015, I’m putting up the 2 part demonstration video, below, of the fully functional app, ready for use]
The idea here is to show the potentially limitless ways you can use Excel to boost your routine data recording, analysis and report generation in ANY field you work.
NOT TRUE!
Imagine your organization being able to click each state (or LGA, Zone, even country) on ANY map to generate instant tables and charts of products sales totals, marketing expenses and other data across your sites nationwide, for a day, week, month, year etc?
That’s what I’m trying to show with this app!
If you’d like to own a copy of the fully functional version, click here to let me know.
One minute we were all browsing quietly in the cafe. The next minute all hell had broken loose as a hefty chap put off the generator, then came in and slapped the smallish young man who owns the cafe!
The big guy was cursing aloud all the while making threats of all kinds.Other customers in the cafe hurriedly rushed out, fearful for their own safety.
Knowing he could not match the brute strength of his bigger opponent, the young cafe operator wisely took advantage of his assailant’s clumsiness to extricate himself and run to the road.
But his attacker followed him, making even more threats, while daring him to wait. At a point we lost sight of them, one chasing the other with a heavy piece of wood picked from the ground…a truly bizarre spectacle!
At about 9p.m, he returned looking harassed but unharmed. With him were a few friends whose home he’d run to, and who had rallied round to confront the thug.
Only then had the crazy guy retreated, but not without promising to return with his own “boys”.
As he packed up to close, I asked the cafe owner what had caused the fight.
He replied that it was because he’d refused to give the hefty 10 minutes of free browsing time to use!
Unbelievable!
On my way home, I reflected on the incident and an idea I’d been toying with for a few months came to my mind again.
It was the need to become proficient enough in self defence as a means of protecting onesself in situations like this which occur often in Nigeria’s violence prone environs.
You see, I have experienced getting attacked and I know being able to fight back can buy you time for help to come. And it could even save your life!
My argument however is that one can at least learn to protect onesself against bodily harm. And the way to do that is usimg some form of martial arts in self defense.
Many times people who recklessly attack others like that crazy guy did today, do so because they know most people do not know how tight back. If they were in a country like China, where martial arts learning is compulsory from an early ageq, they would think twice before challenging someone not familiar to them to a fight!
I suggest you give some serious thought to doing the same thing too.
PS: Tonight’s incident kept me from uploading the demonstration video for my now completed MS ExcelVB driven Election Results Compiler and Results/Charts Generator app. I am so excited about it: When it goes LIVE tomorrow, yov will find out why!
How confident would you be if your plans were failing so badly that everyone around you knew it? What if you had a business setback, and someone who had warned you against going into THAT business made of point of stopping over to say: “I told you so”?
How confident would you feel subsequently, about DOING IT, compared to when everything was going smoothly and everyone admired you for your success?
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Date: Monday 4th May 2015
No:191
Title: (a) How to Keep Your Confidence Up When Your Fortunes Are (Seemingly) Down (b) To Achieve Sustainable Success, Closely Monitor News About Current Affairs and Politics! – [MP3]!
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
Last Week: Read articles published on my blog here
Newsletter Archive (E-mail version started 14th May 2012): Click here to view
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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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How confident would you be if your plans were failing so badly that everyone around you knew it? What if you had a business setback, and someone who had warned you against going into THAT business made of point of stopping over to say: “I told you so”?
How confident would you feel subsequently, about DOING IT, compared to when everything was going smoothly and everyone admired you for your success?
Most people may NEVER know the answer to that question until failure has hit them: and the unpleasantness of it’s presence has dawned on them e.g via loss of friends, lack of money etc
That reality however never hits most of us until failure happens!
Many people never recover from that shocking experience afterwards. That’s why we are told many businesses fail in their first few years. The truth is that many of those business owners, did NOT fail. They just LOST confidence in their ability to succeed.
You see, the terrifying experience of seeing all that previously worked for them, no longer working, even after they’d thought they KNEW how to make it work, can be traumatizing.
Only few people are able to climb back up to success after experiencing serious failure.
What they have in common is however NOT related to attributes most people often employ in assessing potential e.g. IQ, educational level, social status etc
It’s the simple attribute of unshakeable SELF-CONFIDENCE i.e. the belief in one’s self, regardless of how badly on falls or fails in the pursuit of authentic success.
Isn’t it funny? Just confidence?
That’s something you need not go to school to learn!
You don’t need money to acquire it either!!
And yet it’s presence or absence can determine the success or failure of ANY human being in the world – sports champions, and even world leaders!!!
Those who are able to CONTINUE being confident – no matter the severity of failure they encounter – ALWAYS defeat failure!
How do you stay confident, when it feels like you are in a storm that just won’t subside?
How do you stay confident, when setback after setback, bad news after bad news seem to come your way…as if you are a magnet for it? (Especially when you have been previously “blessed” with a run of good luck that’s made you the envy of many?!)
How do you stay confident, when despite your best efforts everything you try doing to turn the tide around simply fails to work…like it used to???
The first part is available to anyone who requests it (request it here).
The 2nd part is available ONLY to members of my Inner Circle.
I’m reinventing my Web Marketing System. So, unlike in past issues, when I simply put out my stuff for direct and immediate access on my website/this blog, I’ll be periodically changing the delivery format and terms of access in which I make them available.
Why change the format and terms of access periodically?
That’s because I’m a results focused person: I believe in performance measurement for continuous improvement. That’s why I have a habit of checking to see what’s working and what’s not, and then narrowing down to doing MORE of the latter and LESS of the former.
Now, with over a decade of hard won experience under my belt, during which time I’ve achieve reproducible and repeatable web marketing success that now affords me name recognition on an increasing scale, I’ve decided to shake things up…and like James Brown used to say: Put a spin on it!
That’s why the rest of today’s issue is available ONLY as a 2 part MP3 downloads series.
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This newsletter (which I use to promote Burt Dubin’s Speaker Mentoring Products/Services) serves experts-who-speak. Starting – Monday 13th April 2015 – it has MORPHED in name and content served, to a 2 part Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, to better serve them. You just read the “Public Speaking IDEAS” part above. What follows below is the “Web Marketing IDEAS” part.
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Burt Dubin works with people who want to be speakers, and with speakers who want to be masters. Click here to visit his website NOW and submit a contact form message telling him what challenges you’re facing, and how you’d like him to help you. Tell him I sent you, and you’ll get a pleasant surprise offer from him.
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“]
1. Top Shelf [Click here]
2. Mid Range [Click here]
3. Budget Delight [Click here]
“If you want to achieve sustainable success in business (especially in a volatile market place like Nigeria), it’s in your best interest to develop interest in current affairs and politics, because those are the two key ingredients that really keep this country from having a stable socio-political climate.
And for as long as that stable socio-political climate does not exist, every person running a business will probably have to sleep with one eye open.” – Tayo K. Solagbade
It’s FREE for all my Web Marketing/farm business clients, and ALL members of my Inner Circle as well as for ALL subscribers to THIS newsletter.
If you are not yet ANY of the above, just send me a message here to let me know.
If you want me to send you the full MP3 recording, just say so in your message.
NB: If you’re already a client or subscriber, email me via tayo at tksola dot com and let me know you want it
Alternatively, click here to request the FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD.
Did you know that as an expert in your field you can make more money by speaking professionally? Or do you already speak-for-money, but want to know how to do it better AND/OR how to make more money even when you do not speak?
If you said YES to any of the above, THIS offer is for you.
Burt Dubin can teach you to do ALL the above and more. You can learn from him via direct mentoring (regardless of distance) or using the many home study packages he offers.
1. Signup for Burt’s Speaker Mentoring Service (click here for details)…
2. Purchase Burt’s Speaker Mentoring Products up to $500 USD or more (click here to see a popular one)…
NB: Membership of my Inner Circle comes with a FREE product of your choice e.g. my custom Excel-VB software, Information Products etc. (click here for full details of what my Inner Circle members get)…PLUS you get a LIFETIME 65% discount on ALL my other existing/future products and services.
If, upon commencing or completing Burt’s mentoring you choose to launch your speaking business formally, I WILL (at no cost to you) develop and implement for YOU, in line with guidance from Burt, a Web Marketing System to cost-effectively promote your brand.
Click here to tell me which of Burt’s speaker mentoring products or services you are interested in.
Buying up to $500 USD or more from Burt will also qualifiy you to receive my personalized MS Excel VB home study tutorial workbooks/videos – over N100k value.
Learn more on my Excel Heaven solutions website at www.excelheaven.biz
Click here to tell me which of Burt’s speaker mentoring products or services you are interested in.
Burt helps those he mentors (experts-who-speak) to Position, Package, Promote, and Present* themselves successfully to clients (*He calls them the 4Ps). That’s why it’s no surprise that on Burt’s website, considerable space capital is devoted to useful business marketing articles as well as products.
It might also interest you to know that MANY years back, Burt established himself as one of the best marketing minds in the world. To really put this FACT in proper perspective, I’ll provide more specific details in form of an example.
A few years ago, Burt contributed an article to a powerful publication titled “The Most Effective Articles Ever – By The World’s Top Marketers“. That 574 page ebook features timeless marketing advice from 71 of the world’s top marketers – including Jack Trout, Joe Vitale, Yanik Silver…and Burt Dubin.
That’s ample proof that (in addition to Public Speaking), Burt would be a great resource to learn business marketing from!
But that’s NOT the main reason I represent and recommend him. I have benefited in many ways by learning from Burt. Through his writing, his audio recordings, and from directly relating with him.
Before we teamed up in 2011, I’d been studying his work and adapting it to succeed in my work from way back in 2002. It does not matter what part of the world you’re in. If you know how to adapt them to suit your peculiar local needs, Burt’s ideas and strategies WILL work for you. I am living proof of it!
That’s why I never tire of CONFIDENTLY recommending him to others.
If you need help putting the ideas shared above to use, let me know HERE.
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 :-))
In this offer, Burt Dubin promises to show you how to generate PASSIVE incomes streams WHETHER YOU SPEAK OR NOT.
Plus, you learn a proven shortcut to top level speaking business success across corporate markets.
So, with diligent persistent application of what you learn you’ll start (as Burt says)…”bringing home high speaking fees”…whether you speak or not…in a matter of weeks….
Sooner than later you’ll find you’re ready to go for Burt’s mentoring at Diamond or higher Inner Circle membership level.
The best part is: every cent of your fee to purchase this product counts toward your membership in Burt’s Inner Circle.
In other words, you effectively get to eat your cake and still have it!
CLICK HERE to get full details of what it takes to make yourself a true speaking business champion in Burt’s Boot Camp V: Inside Speaking Business Success Secrets
177 Wow! Wow!
Showmanship Stratagems
Discover these secrets of making your programs more interesting and valuable to your clients and audiences now.
Burt’s Flagship Album
This is the product to own if you can own only one. Why? Because in it you discover principles of platform mastership available to you nowhere else at any price.
You hear performance strategies you can emulate. You shorten your learning curve. You see ways to engage and delight audiences with both content and stories . . . plus you experience a bit of fun.
With its Money back if not delighted Guarantee hardly any are returned.
Presentation Magic
A live example, including a complete audio recording of a program Burt created from scratch–on a topic he knew nothing about and never, ever presented before! See how you, guided by your personal Learning Guide, (Presentation Magic), can do this too and thrill audiences as often as you want.
Presentation Magic Manual with new pages added plus 3 audio CDs.
How To Create a Great Program Manual
Discover how you can produce a precious memento of you and your program. Capture over 44 model pages you can easily adapt for your use. Engage proven principles that add value to the experience of sitting at your feet and learning from you.
This is a reprise of the historic presentation that launched the Speaking Success System.
No copy of this 2 CD program and 50 page Learning Guide has ever been returned.
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NEW: Speaking Ideas: 25 Articles and True Stories for Experts Who Speak and Those Aspiring (Volume 1)
Download above PDF
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Download above PDF
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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Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring for Africa Based Experts(PDF…Click!) Home |About | Contact | SD Nuggets™ | Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS | Web Marketing Systems | Freelance Writing | MS Excel® Heaven™ | Cost-Saving Farm Biz Ideas |
Many financial reporting apps allows users to EXPORT their data into MS Excel. That’s because it’s data handling and report generation capabilities are unrivalled. But Excel is so versatile that it is also used for many non-financial purposes as well.
Since 2004, Chartered Accountants, Quantity Surveyors, Insurance Brokers, Marketing managers and owners of SMEs have hired me to develop Excel-VB apps.
Many were good with MS Excel, but lacked my ability to “program” Excel. My mission is to coach those interested to program Excel like I do, so as to spawn a new breed of skilled professionals that will expand the market I have created for spreadsheet solutions out here.
NB: For those who may not have the time or interest to learn, I can build the app you need: ( Contact me)
Does your work require you to carry out elaborate data collection and anaysis for formal report generation purposes?
Do you wish you could do so faster, with less effort and in less time?
Do you in fact wish you could AUTOMATE most of what you routinely do with MS Excel so that you could get more work done?
Many professionals, like those I have mentioned above, do their work using MS Excel without knowing how to program it.
I discuss real life examples for EACH group, in a special podcast I’m publishing next week.
Click here to let me know if you want to be notified when it goes live.
The following DEEP Yoruba proverb came to my mind few days ago:
“Won ti ti òjé bo olosa lowo. Owa ku baba nla baba eni to o bo!”
I explain below, how it gave me interesting insights relevant to General Buhari’s impending presidency.
My time in Unibadan (1987 to 1992) exposed me to some room mates who ate Yoruba proverbs like food. They helped me develop appreciation for proverbs.
But doing accurate translations of Yoruba proverbs to English can be hard to achieve.
One needs to provide a context relevant interpretation to ensure the meaning the English speaking listener gets is that which a Yoruba speaking listener does. That’s not always easy to do.
“English is not expression. Expression is in all other languages all over Nigeria”
To illustrate, he said to the interviewer:
“Oya tell me what is ‘Eku ile’ in English?”
It’s linguistically impossible to accurately communicate what “Eku Ile” really means in Yoruba, using English language, to a non-Yoruba speaker!
There is simply no way to use English words in any combination, no matter how clever, to FULLY communicate what is understood by native speakers when they hear “Eku Ile”!
The above situation applies to the proverb I began this article with…
I’m not sure one can really fully translate it for English speaking others to understand the way one versed in Yoruba would.
So, here’s my humble attempt at a literal translation the above proverb:
“The ring of spiritual authority/power has been put on the finger of the “wizard”. Let’s now see who has the guts (or as Nigerians would say “the liver”) to try take it off him!”
Below, I use General Buhari’s current situation as a basis for providing a contextual interpretation for this proverb.
I’ve been reflecting on what’s happening in Nigeria as the date for handover to Buhari as president-elect approaches.
Certain signs strongly suggest to me that many naughty power players in the Nigerian space have come to the realization that it will NOT be business as usual under the incoming General’s government. And they are trying to make the most of the time they have left, so as to move on to other things or to other places.
In the past, with some other “Nigerian” as incoming president, who would NOT have had the squeaky clean reputation of Buhari, and his renowned aversion for all things corrupt, they would have boldly stuck around and plotted/schemed ways to remain relevant or in control.
However, with the MAN they know, who has remained the SAME despite aging over MANY decades after leaving office, they are under no illusions about his incorruptibility.
What’s more, they KNOW that his antecedents prove he cannot be pushed around or led by the nose.
Far from it. They KNOW he is a MAN of his own, who will do what NEEDS to be done, no matter whose Ox is gored. And so, they KNOW the wise thing to do is to FLEE!
That’s why this proverb came to my mind.
You see, if Buhari had not won, they would have continued all the nonsense they did – and said – up till the elections ended.
But now that he has WON legitimate access to the presidency as the C-I-C, it obvious to them the game is up (For instance, look how quickly the Army “found” his certificate that was being “demanded” right up till the elections took place!!).
In other words…
“Won ti ti òjé bo olosa lowo. Owa ku baba nla baba eni to o bo!”
Sai Buhari!!!
To ensure my kids arrive adulthood better equipped to use Yoruba proverbs than I was, I published recently, the first in my audio book series titled “10 Storyfied Yoruba Proverbs for Children – and Other Learners”. Click here to watch/listen to the audio book playback on my Youtube Channel.
It is available as a PDF from my Online Store (click here): Online store buyers are advised to get in touch with me via tayo at tksola dot com, if they want the slideshow version with autoplay audio. You can also use this web form to send a message.
You can also get it as an automated Slideshow with autoplaying MP3 Audio files (click here for details) via direct download from the web or it can be delivered on branded auto run DVD to your doorstep.
Click here to read the true story about how a lady banker called about purchasing my “Ten Storyfied Yoruba Proverbs for Children” – and later revealed 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.
What was that saying again: It’s GOOD to be GOOD! Click here to read the full story.
[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)]
Today I took my 9 year old daughter and her 3 older brothers to attend a “mentorship conference” for CEOs where they got to hear some great minds share TRUE stories about success and how failure HELPS to achieve it. I’ll share details in my Monday newsletter to help aspiring/existing CEOs.
It is based on authentic REAL world experiences. If you have doubts about the accuracy or reliability of ANYTHING you see here, ask me directly to request clarification. Jumping to uninformed conclusions can deny you MAJOR access to life changing information and education.
Be careful…
Don’t allow the charlatans out there discourage you from using the information offered here to DOUBLE check what THEY are telling you to do in the areas I cover here.
Instead I invite you to use the materials offered here to “TEST” the depth of the knowledge/competence of your “expert”.
By having information that GUIDES you in a way that you avoid making COSTLY mistakes in your pursuit of success in your chosen field, you ultimately increase your chances of succeeding.
Yet, very few successful ex-pro footballers can match the results that Mourinho has produced in his career as a coach.
We cannot ALL do the same things, the same way.
In my case for instance, I plan to launch a Farm Business and Extension Advisory Services centre. It will have a pilot scale farm on which I will test ideas and solutions I develop for farm business – my primary target audience.
I already have extensive knowledge and experiences/insight into the business from over a decade of delivering custom solutions to farm CEOs.
Unlike the Chelsea coach, I actually studied what I am engaged in – Agricultural Extension services – for five years at the University of Ibadan – graduating top of my class with a 2nd Class Upper division honors( 5.9 Cumulative Grade Point Average).
But that’s just the book part.
During the last three years of my stay on campus, I was a member of the SFRF, and in my final year served as supplies coordinator of that body. What I learnt from being in that group – comprising 98% Veterinary Medicine students – about livestock farming, many people would spend five years studying animal husbandry and still not know!
Learn more about SFRF by getting a copy of my Feed Formulation Handbook.
That I do not have my farm up and running at the moment does not mean I cannot help YOU with your own farm startup and/or management.
If you do not eliminate this kind of thinking you will LOSE a lot of major benefits you stand to gain from having direct personal access to my unique insight on this subject.
The choice is however yours to make….
A good way I recommend you get started, so you can get ALL I offer at massive discount concessions, is by joining my Inner Circle.
Note: Having said all of the above, please REMEMBER that you DO NOT have to accept my ideas – and I strongly suggest you seek the counsel of competent professionals in making up your mind.
People sometimes fail NOT because they are unqualified or incompetent, but because they are unable to manage themselves during hard times. They cave in under pressure. Our schools don’t teach us how to deal with adversity. I think they should. It’s because they don’t, that many true geniuses in poorly regulated environments like Nigeria’s, often struggle, get frustrated, and if lucky to gain access, flee abroad to succeed!
In this article, I share the kind of thinking that will enable you repeatedly overcome adversity and achieve progress in the pursuit of authentic success, with integrity – even if breaking new grounds in a very difficult environment.
1. Keep A Positive Mind Set: Many people today are so good at talking about how to be positive in spite of failure. Never to give up, no matter how difficult things get. How to carry on even if friends or loved ones stop believing in, or abandon you.
I often wonder just how many of the wonderful radio and TV presenters who “preach” while on air about going after your dreams, and never giving up, REALLY walk their talk, when confronted with challenges in their own lives.
Over eight years of personal experience convince me that very few people actually apply these principles in their lives when they are faced with difficult situations. Many people compromise. They say one thing, but do another. They fail to act with integrity.
I am not trying to make myself look good here, but my insistence on leaving a high paying job in a multinational corporation 10 years ago, to pursue my dream of being self-employed, won me little applause amongst those who knew me then.
I lost many “friends” (sometimes I wonder if I ever “had” them?). Most carefully distanced themselves, preferring to wait and see if I would sink or swim. Yet I stayed committed. Today, my work speaks for me.
To achieve similar results, you will need to maintain a Positive Mindset.
2. Visualisation: The ability to imagine what can be; to envision what is possible – regardless of what IS the current reality around you, is one that EVERY person who wishes to achieve his/her dreams MUST develop.
The picture you create in your mind and/or the images that dominate your thoughts, if kept positive, and in tune with your desires or longings, will ultimately attract to you, those things you want.
This is not some fancy theory or hypothesis. It is a concept that has been proven to work in real-life for as long as man has existed. I am able to say this because I have successfully applied the principles and philosophies advocated in a book written in the early 1900s that attested to this fact. The book is called Science of Getting Rich, and is available as a FREE PDF download on the Internet.
I recommend that, if you want your dreams to come true, start imagining in vivid terms what exactly you want to SEE or FEEL when you achieve your dreams -and then take definite steps to work towards achieving them. It is the key to your ultimate success.
3. Develop Mental Stamina: In the course of my work out here, I have studied a lot of people, and come to realise that most of them are really good people – deep down. Many do not want to be crooked in doing business. They do not really want to cheat others, if they can avoid it.
Unfortunately, they have not developed the ability to ENDURE prolonged suffering without seeking undignified outlets to escape from it. Mental stamina makes it difficult for adversity to wear you down or break your resolve or commitment to your goal. No one is born with it – you DEVELOP it.
Incidentally, one powerful way to develop your mental stamina is through visualization. In other words, keeping the vision of your desired “future” in mind, gives you needed mental strength – STAMINA – to keep going, no matter what obstacles come your way.
Summary
I often tell young people I coach that most times out here in Nigeria, many people who fail in their bid to achieve success in chosen endeavours, do NOT do so because they lack the technical competence or “know how”.
Quite frequently, they would have obtained needed training or education to competently function in their chosen endeavours. Unfortunately, they fail to equip themselves with guiding philosophies like those outlined in this article, to help them overcome inevitable setbacks.
It does not matter what you do for a living – Fashion Design, Music or Photography. Bad times will be mixed with good times as you pursue you goals. It is a FACT of life. How you react when things are not going the way you want, will determine to a great extent how successful you become in the long run. This explains why the most talented doctor, for instance, may not end up being the most successful or accomplished amongst peers.
So, study and apply the ideas offered above, and you will be better equipped to succeed.
In this article, I explain the importance of establishing and maintaining reliable farm records keeping systems as it is a crucial requirement for successful planning & profitable management of your farm business. As they say, if you do not record it you cannot measure it. And if you do not measure it, you cannot control it. Which is the same thing as saying you cannot plan for it. In essence, I am saying that keeping detailed and accurate farm records is a crucial requirement for effective and profitable farm planning.
Your Farm NEEDS Diligently Kept Records
One thing lacking in most agricultural entreprises out here is detailed and accurate records of activities that take place as operations are carried out.
For peasant farmers who are usually illiterate, it can possibly be considered pardonable if they can’t say what inputs (herbicide types, quantities etc) they used the past year. But for the growing population of literate farmers, there cannot be any excuse. Then again literate or otherwise, every farm owner who wishes to enjoy reasonably predictable profits MUST as a matter of priority keep and analyse detailed farm records.
Without detailed and accurate records, farm business planning and management effectively becomes a game of guestimations and unguided assumptions which rarely produce desired results with consistency.
To effectively manage a farm, the farmer needs to have ready access to extensive information concerning past costs and returns, input use, production levels, existing financial situation, including the physical conditions of the farm. S/he also has to know about likely future costs, future returns of production etc. This information can be acquired from farm records and accounts, as well as from all farm sources like research/experimental stations, demonstration plots, universities etc.
In essence, the farmer needs to have records of what has happened before, is happening now and what is likely to happen in future.
What Exactly Can Farmers Do With Farm Records?
The following are specific BENEFICIAL uses farmers will readily find for diligently kept farm records :
1. Farm Planning & Budgetting: The most realistic way to plan farm production and prepare accompanying budgets is to refer to estimates based on historical data available from past periods of operation. If it’s a new farm, then other sources will be referred to.
2. Farm Performance Evaluation: Without accurate physical and corresponding accounting records, it will be practically impossible to accurately establish how well a farm entreprise has performed over a defined period.With accurate physical records and corresponding records, evaluation of the farm performance is easy, simple and a matter of routine, PLUS one is sure of progress of the farm business over a time period.
Specifically, accurate records and accounts show how, within a period of time, labour costs or feed costs for example have either been increasing or decreasing, and how revenue from various entreprises has been increasing or decreasing either because of price changes or changes in physical production.
3. Daily Farm Decision Making: Farm records and accounts are essential for day to day decision making especially because they show the strong and weak points in management. A farm entreprise may not be doing well because of a particular factor of production, but such a factor may be difficult to identify/isolate in the abscence of good records and accounts.
For instance in pig farming, it is reported that good farm performance depends on large and frequent litters, economical use of feed, mortality rate, marketing the pigs at the right weight etc. Without accurate records and accounts therefore, it would be dificult to identify which of these factors is contributing to low profits for instance. The records will show which areas need improving upon.
4. Securing Credit/Loan Support: There is probably no bank which will not require a farm business to produce adequate physical records with the corresponding accounting records and the overall farm plan, before it can give credit/loan support.
Incidentally, this requirement helps both parties: the bank uses it to know the current state of the farm as well as offers advice. The farmer on the other hand will work to achieve his/her goals in order to fulfill his/her obligation to pay back the extended credit.
Banks need to be convinced that money given out will be used for what is being asked for, and that can only be done by presenting records of what one has already been doing.
5. Taxation & Insurance Purposes: To avoid over or underpaying taxes, good records and accounts are essential. Insurance on relevant farm assets can only be done properly if records are available and accurate.
Summary
a. By keeping farm records and accounts, you, the farmer will be equipped to periodically evaluate your overall farm performance using three (3) simple but powerful ratios which I describe in full detail in my customisable on-demand talks on Best Practice Farm Performance Measurement and Improvement (Call 0803-302-1263 for details).
b. You will know where to place emphasis (using the 80:20 Pareto principle), and will be able see dangerous trends earlier and take needed evasive action.
c. Diligently kept farm records and accounts will help you determine where and/or when you are under (or over) estimating your farm costs (or sales/gains).
d. Good farm records and accounts help reliably measure the impact of unexpected market changes on the farm business’ bottom line e.g. policy and price changes announced by government.
In relation to the above last part, the use of custom software automation for records keeping would enable you punch in the new input prices and quickly see how badly it affects your planned/projected production and/or sales margins – as well as other key performance indicators.
Do you own – or plan to own – a farm business? Why not consider automating your farm records keeping and accounting using a custom software application like those that I build for my clients? You will be able to cost-effectively and efficiently realise all the benefits outlined above in the body of this article. Call me on 0803-302-1263 to learn how you can get a low cost software built for YOUR farm business today!
Visit http://www.excelheaven.tayosolagbade.com to learn more about my custom software development service.
This article is an educational commercial about an aspect of the Best Operating Process Management System (BOPMS™) that SDAc’s CB Solutions can help you setup for your farm business.
In the BOPMS™, major emphasis is placed on the need to streamline operations(via best practice initiatives) in a manner that allows easy integration of PC automation to reduce time, effort and resources needed PLUS increase output and accuracy in the entire farming process,so that the business becomes MORE profitable. Click here to learn more.
NB: The ideas, concepts, tools and resources described in this article (which was first published online on 7th Feb 2008), can be successfully applied to non-farm businesses. Click here to learn more.
