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NB: This newsletter is published every Monday. Point your browser to www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets to read at least ONE new post added to my SD Nuggets blog on a different category from Tuesday till Saturday (sometimes even Sundays) in line with this publishing schedule 
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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS newsletter is published online on the “reincarnated” version of my Self-Development (SD) Nuggets blog. I continue to put finishing touches to the content. If you encounter ANY bad/dead links, and you can spare the time, email them to me via tayo at tksola dot com. Thanks in advance
No. 164: Develop the Ability to Monetize Your Ideas (True Story)
As an expert-who-speaks, potentially useful insights (i.e. IDEAS) about your field or subject may come easily to you. However, successfully implementing them in a way that equips you to earn ADDITIONAL income can prove difficult, if you lack the know-how.
This article uses a true story to explain why acquiring the know-how to monetize your ideas can make you more successful.
Below is a screenshot of my old Microsoft Excel Heaven Software development service website – as it looked 7 years ago, in 2007
[NB: The website is now located at www.excelheaven.tayosolagbade.com and currently being re-built. Learn what happened to spontaneousdevelopment.com here]
The text on the above page explains how I single-handedly created the market for my apps in Nigeria. Since then, I’ve gone on to win buyers even outside Africa.
In 2002, I became self-employed with the intention of using my IDEAS about spreadsheet automation to inform, educate and possibly inspire others in paid employment
I wanted them to achieve spectacular results like those I recorded while an employee in Guinness (click here to read details in my resume).
During that 7 year period, I basically functioned as an in-house custom spreadsheet software solutions developer. Wherever I worked, if I noticed spreadsheet automation could improve data recording, handling and report generation, I wasted no time in using my skills to make it happen.
But it was an informal role the company never asked me to play – and I never got paid for it. But I LOVED doing it.
Since I never bothered anyone to give me anything to make my ideas work, I rarely encountered any resistance from anyone.
Indeed, due to the fact that the solutions I developed very often addressed areas of pressing need in terms of report generation accuracy and speed, most times they ended up being formally adopted for use.
I succeeded in the above manner because in addition to my ideas, I had the know-how to make my ideas work.
In life, sometimes a person will have an IDEA, but s/he may not have the know-how to implement it successfully. This is why some people need to recruit others with the know-how, to whom they then explain what they believe is possible (in form of their IDEAS).
Henry Ford did that with the enginerrs he employed to build his first car engine. But not all of us will have employees we can challenge in that manner
When you are an independent consultant or solo entrepreneur, it may not be as straight forward as that …
Typically, you will have to reach out to some other person with the know-how.
Sometimes however, such a person (typically called an “expert”), may be limited by training or bias, from seeing what the person with the IDEAS (who can be called the “visionary”) is seeing.
That happened to me a lot in those early years – until I decided to become self-sufficient.
I had ideas about new and better ways spreadsheet automation can be used to solve real life problems. And I was convinced they could work.
So I invested hundreds of hours developing the ABILITY to implement my ideas e.g. building Excel-VB apps to formulate rations for livestock, to automate Payslips Generation, to Manage Poultry Farms etc.
Then I also learnt how to PROMOTE them successfully to the right target audiences for profit.
The above led to my eventual success – and that’s why I argue that to succeed more, it’s best to intelligently acquire the know-how to make your ideas work.
One of the reasons I quit my job in Guinness over a decade ago (despite the great pay and career promise), was that I kept feeling stifled with regard to using my ideas.
I often got spreadsheet automation (and other) ideas I wanted to implement. But due to the limitations imposed by roles and positions, I had to hold back or even abandon them.
It wasn’t that anyone stopped me.
Instead, going further was seldom easy to justify with regard to my job description and formal responsibilities.
Even the spreadsheet automation solutions I’d gotten adopted had initially earned me stinging criticism from colleagues and superiors who failed to see the potential.
The situation made me feel like I needed more room to apply the ideas I had – especially with regard to spreadsheet automation.
It became clearer to me that I would always be limited in terms of how far I could go, if I remained in paid employment. As time went on, a series of other events led me to the conclusion that I needed to be free of the restrictions imposed by a 9 to 5 job, to really explore the implementation of the ideas I had.
Eventually in December 2001, I quit my job and went out to offer my Spreadsheet Automation Solutions to the bigger world.
I soon found out within a few months, however, that even “experts” who taught “Advanced MS Excel” in business schools, did NOT have an inkling of what MS Excel-VB automation could do for business users!
It was a rude awakening: My initial thinking had been that I would easily find willing allies amongst such people – and even those who ran software programming schools – to implement my ideas.
In fact, I even (VERY wrongly) assumed I would meet some who could comprehend what I did with Excel-VB code.
To my astonishment, they often ended up speechless on seeing my apps!
Some were however not impressed – like one Indian faculty head of a popular ICT school in Ikeja, Lagos-Nigeria, who bluntly told me (after I proposed teaching MS Excel-VB there):
“No one will buy software you build with MS Excel – that’s not even real software! Come and register with us to learn real programming!”
I smilingly thanked him and left – knowing that he was wrong, and determined to prove it.
You see, I had the unique advantage of having ALREADY developed such solutions for serious business use in a multinational. So I knew I only had to find the right audience in the real world.
It is on record today that my custom Excel-VB driven software get purchased by buyers from both within and outside Africa (and in case you didn’t know it, Professional Excel Programming has been big business worldwide for decades).
Indeed, my MS Excel Heaven Facebook page has over 60% of its fan base from Asia – especially India!
Here’s another point worth taking note of…
Employees in client companies have approached me to teach them Excel-VB – and some revealed they attended certification courses in the same ICT School I mentioned above!
Yet they ended up working as employees in IT departments of my client companies!
Out of curiosity I asked them why they did not start their own businesses…
Their answers showed they lacked the know-how to monetize their expertise in the programming languages they learnt, by creating solutions they could sell profitably.
Their “school” did not teach them that “small” but crucially important bit!
So you see, they had the knowledge and skill – but lacked the know-how to monetize it!
As a result, the best they could do was to take up paid employment.
That was the difference between me and them.
But unlike them I did NOT have a single ICT certification or qualification.
Yet, I was able to successfully take my self-taught “programming skill” and monetize it.
I continue to do that today(e.g yesterday I published part 1 of 4 in my new Ebook series on Best Practice Farm Business Management, which is a compilation of past articles, and related MS Excel calculation workbooks. Click here for more
The best part is that (unlike when I was in paid employment) I do NOT have to wait for anyone to give me permission to do any of the above.
When I started out, I knew I had to be able to “promote” my ideas effectively. So I began searching for information and education that could help me – such as articles, reports etc.
The Internet proved very useful in this regard.
Indeed the web remains my number one self-development resource till date [Tip: By the way, before you spend ANY money learning ANYTHING, try searching to learn it free online…you’ll be surprised how much money you save!].
Now, since I knew what I was trying to do was a bit unconventional, I focused on finding write-ups that offered insights beyond the usual stuff.
With regard to MS Excel-VB Solutions Development, I actively studied experts online who offered their insights.
One man really stood out for me: Pierre LeClerk.
His easy-to-understand tutorials, and sample workbooks opened my eyes to better ways to offer my solutions in the real world. And he told lots of real life stories based on his decades of experience working with internation clients that inspired me.
His website has tended to morph in name and form over the years. Last time I checked, it was at http://www.excel-vba.com/ – but you may do well to simply Google his name.
Apart from LeClerk, the big fat book titled Professional Excel Development that I purchased online in 2007, helped me take my know-how to a whole new level
On the aspect of “finding buyers”, painful past experience had taught me that placing adverts in print newspapers about my Excel Automation Service was a total waste of time.
Even today, despite the fact that I have created a lucrative niche market for my Excel software, I would still NOT place an advert in any print medium (or indeed online) to sell them.
That’s because conventional “advertising” does NOT work well with solutions like mine!
What I have found works is contained in business promotion write-ups by experts like Michel Fortin, and especially Burt Dubin.
Both preach(ed) the importance of using your writing to set yourself apart from the crowd, in a way that makes those who need anything you want, find your offers compelling.
I quickly devoured every write-up on that theme that I could find from both men.
They were a lot, but when you are HUNGRY to learn, “a lot” will rarely be enough. For instance…
a. Michel Fortin’s “Ten Commandments of Power Positioning” remains a bible or sorts for me.
b. Burt Dubin’s “Why and How to Get Published” taught me to use my writing to profitably promote myself/my works at zero cost.
It is the wisdom from their works that has enabled me successfully grow my income by creatively monetizing my ideas and my know-how again, and again, and again – for YEARS!
I’ve written in more detail about what I learnt from those 2 gentlemen in a past tribute article.
My recommendation is that you study their works, if you want to get similar results.
To get started, click here to read that tribute article I wrote about them and 3 other gurus, 2 years ago. It contains links to some of the pages on their websites. And you can of course Google their names for more.
Have a great week :-))
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