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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. 182: You Need to Persevere and Innovate In spite of Adversity
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).
“A country that does not have a healthy relationship with its own entrepreneurs (big and small), will always have difficulty mobilizing foreign direct investment, into its economy. One of the things, I always consider before investing in a country, is how it treats its own entrepreneurs, particularly the “little guys”. I have invested in more than 20 countries, in my business career. I know a thing or two, about why investors come to any country.” – Strive Masiyawa
Source: View blog post here
In it I explained how the VERY unfriendly – indeed harsh – socioeconomic environment of my country, Nigeria influenced my decision to relocate to Benin Republic in 2013.
It’s now 2015 – February 23rd to be specific – and virtually nothing has changed from what obtained in 2013.
And that’s why I’m going ahead with my plan to MOVE my family to join me in Cotonou
For those not aware, in a few weeks from now, all things being equal, and with the continued guidance and support from the Creator, my family will be moving to join me in Cotonou.
I’m in Lagos with them, making the preparations. Unless some miraculous change occurs in the current Nigerian situation, we will soon be settled as a family in Cotonou.
The fact that I am actually able to IMPLEMENT this plan proves that I succeeded in finding a strategy that equips me to DEFY the limitations of Nigeria’s “climate”.
However, I realize the key to my long term success will be to avoid prolonged stays in Nigeria.
Everytime I do so, I spend 3 times MORE than I would in Benin…and the VERY harsh conditions under which I have to work/live here often have a telling negative effect!
This is why it is crucial that my family join me in Benin. That way, we can simply visit Nigeria, at intervals, rather than having to stay in it continuously, and getting sucked into its “black hole”.
It takes a superior brand of persistence and creativity to survive, talk less flourish – especially outside paid employment – in a society like Nigeria.
That’s what I had to be like while I was still based in Nigeria. But I soon realized that if I really wanted to BUILD on the successes I was achieving, it was crucial that I operated from an environment that afforded me the means to consolidate my progress.
The key requirements were access to uninterrupted power supply, and lower expenses of money, time and effort – which were almost impossible to achieve in my country.
In contrast, since moving to Benin Republic, I have effortlessly accessed them and a lot of other performance enhancing situations, which boosted my productivity.
So much so that TODAY, I’ve built a critical mass of “solutions” that enable me attract prospects and convert clients, with minimal effort, even while I sleep.
The friendly socioeconomic environment in Benin made it easy for me to FOCUS on refining my adopted strategies and ideas, until they worked exactly as I wanted them.
As a result, I now earn an increasing proportion of my income via passive income streams generated from solutions I deploy using the system I setup mainly while in Benin.
Anytime I visit Nigeria (80% of my clients are Nigerians in Nigeria), I focus mainly on “promoting” those solutions to generate more passive income…and I NOW also share my expertise with willing others…
Unlike when I spent all my time “chasing” clients for projects while still based in Nigeria, today, when I’m in Nigeria, I do very little of face to face work with clients or buyers.
I have no need to.
Instead I simply “work” my client attracting web marketing system to make them come to me.
The way I work gets me noticed so well…and not surprisingly MORE Nigerians are reaching out to me, for help, so they can get more results with less effort and less cost, like I do.
For instance, I recently began mentoring a serious minded young man on use of my Web Marketing System – here in Lagos. This began just after he paid to join my Inner Circle.
He has a degree in chemical engineering, but after failing to get a good job, he decided to venture intop network marketing of health and wellness products.
Did you get that? It never ceases to amaze me: He studied engineering in the university, but today is a network marketer of health supplements!
Just how much of all the stuff he learned about engineering, during 4 years of study now comes in handy in his chosen vocation?
I ask this question because once again, the point I continue to make about the glaring need for overhaul of our schooling system is made apparent here…!
So, this young man in now learning from me, about how to use a Web Marketing System, to sell his health products faster, with less effort, and at less cost.
He has seen several real life examples of how my system makes buyers come to me on their own, even while we are seated together.
On several occasions I have received phone calls, text messages and emails (while with him) in which a client announced that s/he had paid money into my account, for one of my information products or software.
After witnessing it several times, he’s told me he knows the way I sell would be the best way for him to sell his own products.
To his credit, he has shown great diligence in devouring the learning resources I have provided for him, since we began. I therefore have no doubt in my mind that he will soon be a role model for colleagues in his line of business.
The ability to persevere and innovate enabled me develop this powerful system for attracting profitable buyers, which I now setup for (and teach) others…
I want you to know that ability can help YOU overcome your bouts of adversity in ANY field too.
You have the power in you to do it.
I learnt to persevere and innovate in the face of adversity, way back in my early 20s (I’ll be 45 in July 2015 – few months from now).
Specifically, my first extreme “adversity” test occurred during my National Youth Service year.
I appear in the photo below with NYSC colleagues in Gulu Vatsa village, Lapai LGA, Niger state, 1992/93 batch
[L to R: Can’t remember, Haruna Sambo (Bauchi), Idowu Ojoye (Lagos), Sunday Ogbulio (Enugu, I think), Can’t remember, and me (Ogun)]
I was 23 years old at the time that photo was taken.
We stayed in that village all through the post-June 12 presidential elections results annulment crisis, unable to return home. My parents kept calling a close family living in neighbouring Gwagwalada in the FCT to find out if I was well.
This village was unconnected to the national grid, so we NEVER saw NEPA light, and only General Vatsa’s son (Mohammed) and a teacher (Idris) had generators that I knew of.
Newspapers arrived 3 or more days late, and the last bush taxi out to the city departed at 5p.m. If you were not on it, you’d have to sleep in the village.
My experiences in that village really prepared me to deal with adversity later in life.
For instance we suffered for several months when our allowances inexplicably stopped dropping into our bank accounts at month end.
No one had any answers for us. We had no relatives to go to. And were running out of money!
It got so bad I started helping a local teacher work on his farm for N100 per day, so I could buy lafu (yam flour) to cook and eat, with palm oil, melon, onion, and salt. That was ALL I ate, daily!
All that adversity woke me up to be the self driven agent of change that I am today.
My survival instincts became finely honed during that period, giving me an edge that has kept me going through tough time till this very day!
So, if you wonder what drives me, this is one of several mental stimuli that I use to keep challenging myself, and those I coach/serve, to excel perpetually.
When things got bad for me as an entrepreneur, over a decade and a half later, the memory of that experience helped me look beyond my suffering to THINK up practical solutions to real life problems.
Today, I now help others with the solutions I develop…
My success, despite the prolonged heartbreaking struggles I had to confront, proves that we are truly “powerful beyond measure”, as Marianne Williamson so wisely observed in her writing.
That’s why I end this piece by urging you to memorize her powerful word reproduced below.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?
…We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. ” -Marianne Williamson
Another person whose words really kept me going during the darkest hours of my entrepreneurial struggles was Burt Dubin. Here’s my favourite, which I memorized:
“Never give up. Have bulldog blood. Have bulldog blood. Have bulldog
blood! One morning you awaken to find your vision of the future, rooted in
the wisdom of the past, is your present reality.” – Burt Dubin
Read Burt’s full article here. It’s titled “Your Future: Vision or Daydream“. A powerfully inspirational piece. Read it, digest it & act ON IT!
Final Words…
When tough times strike, your ability to recall the above words WILL boost your morale and help you find the courage to persevere and innovate UNTIL you breakthrough!
If you need help putting the ideas shared above to use, let me know HERE.
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Learn about Burt Dubin’s speaker mentoring products (books, audios etc) below…
If you need help purchasing ANY of Burt’s products (like “Presentation Magic”), call me on +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic, my base) or +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or email tayo@tksola.com
Have a great week :-))
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