Tag Archives: True Story

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

TRUE STORY: A WMS Makes You Confident That Your Marketing is NOT Missing Anything [Hint: You Avoid Free Loaders/Time Wasters & Attract High Quality Buyers]

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The best way to sell is to make potential buyers COME TO YOU (e.g see the recent email conversation reproduced below, that I had with a prospective client who read one of my articles and went on to call me – later calling back for his wife to speak with me – about the solution I offer persons interested in visiting, relocating to, or doing business in Benin Republic).

From: (Name and email addressed removed for privacy)
Date: Mon, May 28, 2018
Subject: Hello Tayo,
To: Tayo at TayoSolagbadeDotCom

Good morning,my name is (name removed for privacy) am a Nigerian, please I would love to call you and make some inquiries from you about Benin Republic I would love to relocate my business(Factory) there ,but I need a professional like you to help me in many areas,I have been reading your articles all through the night
You can see that’s why am sending the email at this time of the day 4:44am please kindly pick my calls God bless and have a nice sleep.

(name removed for privacy)

dc-sk-email

NB: He called me early that morning, before I even saw the above email and we had a long discussion in which he literally poured his heart out in terms of challenges he was facing and what he needed help with.

Below are SMSes we exchanged in between the calls:
—— SMS ——
To: 080xxxxxxxx
Sent: May 29, 2018 09:20

Ok. Seen your email. Will get back to you

—— SMS ——
From: +234xxxxxxxx
Received: May 29, 2018 09:21

Ok please Tayo my wife wants to speak to to you can I call you again pls

—— SMS ——
To: 080xxxxxxxx
Sent: May 29, 2018 09:25

Ok please let her call

======

Below: By the time I spoke on phone with his wife, the series of questions they wanted me to answer made it clear I needed to switch to formal mode and invite them to TAKE ACTION to get what they wanted via my DiscoverCotonou.com offer.

So I told them to look out for my email which would spell out the requirements for them to decide whether or not to signup.

See the email I sent them below:

From: Tayo Solagbade
Date: Tue, May 29, 2018
Subject: Re: Hello Tayo,
To: (Name and email addressed removed for privacy)

Dear (name removed for privacy),

Thanks for your email and your phone call.
It was great speaking with you and your wife this morning.
Like I told you when we spoke, I decided to launch www.DiscoverCotonou.com in December, to provide support to ANY persons from within or outside Africa interested in visiting, relocating to, or doing business in Benin Republic.
it’s a Product/Service Travel Solution designed to give those willing to take action, a LOW cost means to achieve their goals.
Below is the article I published formally announcing it. Read it to get an overview of what I offer.
To signup for this FREE Market Entry Support Service, you need to join my DiscoverCotonou.com members-only club.
How:  By paying N50k (or $150) – you can pay N40k if you pay before 6p.m today.
Terms: This is a ONE time payment and YOUR membership is for LIFE i.e You never pay any renewal fees or anything of the sort.
I make this offer to enable my club members safely and cost-effectively explore the opportunities to be had in Benin Republic. It goes without saying that I will put my knowledge, experience and network of contacts to work for you. That means you’ll have LESS to worry about in terms of finding and working with a trusted professional who will look out for your interest at all times.
Everything you’ve asked about concerning moving your factory, and your family etc is covered by this FREE support service.
Why am I willing to do this?
It;’s because I have a passion to support other experts to make the most of themselves by exploring opportunities available around them in their immediate societies as well as outside.
What I’ve seen from my travels convinces me that many will benefit from exploring business/other opportunities in neighboring countries, like I’m doing. If that happens, it would mean MORE income for them and trickle down to their families and societies. I want to be part of that process, and I’m determined to do it as a public service.
I also plan to use DiscoverCotonou.com to provide FREE learning events in Benin Republic e.g how to use Pineapple Peels to make drinks you can sell, which I’m getting more invitations to run (see THIS article from a recent outing in Sapele)
How can I afford to do it FREE?
I am a Location Independent Multipreneur i.e a multiskilled entrepreneur with a range of mainly digital solutions that earn me both passive and active income regardless of my location from target audiences online as well as off the web – as I travel.
Read THIS article to true stories get an idea of the variety of channels through which I earn income.
See a listing of some of my products/services at http://tayosolagbade.com/sdn-sell.htm
I prefer to use my time to generate sales leads for the above, so that I can provide my FREE Market Entry Support Service to those who really need it. 
Over time, I KNOW a network of those I help in this manner will yield mutually rewarding benefits for all of us.
For instance, I believe you will find some of the local drink making companies health drink products of potential interest.
 
Read the article below, that I wrote in my Farm CEO newspaper about some of them who asked me to help them with marketing support to access the Nigerian market (using my 1 Year Web Marketing Support Service)
What do you need to do to get started with DiscoverCotonou?
Make payment to join the club.
It’s N50k (or $150) – you can pay N40k if you pay before 6p.m today.
1. Once your payment is received, I will send you a PDF invoice reflecting it PLUS an MS Word based questionnaire to complete.
2. You will fill in details into the questionnaire about yourself, your business etc. It ends with a section in which you will have to itemize, with numbering, the specific tasks you would like me to help you with, regarding your interest in relocating to Cotonou.
3. You will then save and email me the filled MS Word based questionnaire.;
4. Once I get it, I will agree a date/time to call and speak with you about your responses, towards ensuring I get a full understanding of your needs.
5. After that, I will prepare and email you an action plan, with details of what will be needed to implement it.
Let me know if you have any questions or require clarification.
With kindest regards,
 
Tayo K. Solagbade*
Location Independent Performance Improvement Specialist & Multipreneur
*Best Practice Farm Business Support Specialist & Founder of the Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas Club
*Custom Excel-VB Solutions Developer & Founder of the MS Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation Club & Competition
*Creator of the Zero Cost Web Marketing System and Founder of the Web Marketing for CEOs Club
Mobile: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic)
Email:tayo at tksoladotcom or tayo at tayosolagbadedotcom
http://www.tayosolagbade.com [Flagship Performance Improvement Website]
http://www.thefarmceo.net [The Farm CEO Newspaper]
http://www.excelheaven.biz [Custom Excel Visual Basic driven Software Development]
http://www.tksola.com [Response Generating Writing and Web Marketing Solutions]
http://www.discovercotonou.com [Product/Service Travel Website]
=====

For me, smart use of my Web Marketing System (WMS) ensures I screen free loaders out of my sales funnel, and by so doing do NOT get my time wasted or have myself used and dumped.

It’s not perfect. Nothing (and no one) ever is. But I’ve found it quite effective and efficient in managing my marketing and sales efforts productively.

Any system that can help you achieve that outcome at low to zero cost is one you should embrace.

You see, too many people let fear of losing potential clients make them delay setting hurdles of this kind for prospects to scale.

What I have found out over the past years of selling all sorts of digital and physical solutions in widely varying audiences is that you get HIGHER quality buyers with LESS fretting when you have a system like this in place.

This is because you KNOW, for sure, that you are not missing ANYTHING in what you’re SAYING to them or offering, and therefore if they fail to come on board, it will most likely be because they do NOT fit your target audience profile. And THAT means you are better off without them.

Having said the above, the truth is that it is NOT easy to develop a system and keep it working the way you want.

This is why it often makes sense to seek out and learn from others who have developed such systems, so you can adapt it to suit your needs.

My customizable Web Marketing System (WMS) is one such system and I offer a service in which I help clients use it to boost their own marketing reach and impact, like I do.

READ: Response Generating Writing & Web Marketing Solutions

Preview: I employ creative writing on topics relevant to my target niches, to generate a relentless stream of smart marketing writing content to cost-effectively promote the different solutions I offer. This has boosted my name/brand recognition, earning me increased followership, mentions, as well as quality sales leads. If you’re looking for a writing professional you can engage and feel safe with, you’re in the right place. Here are specific examples of ways in which I can help you: 1. Book Writing

Ghostwriting, editing, proofreading, electronic transfer of manuscripts, cover designs, as well as

Continue…

http://www.tayosolagbade.com/index.php/others/terms-of-service/9-services/22-response-generating-writing-web-marketing-solutions

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

If You Are Well Adjusted To a Profoundly Sick Society, be Worried! [True Story]

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It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. Jiddu Krishnamurti [Source]


Watch the above video titled “Who are you?”. Watch this video to enlighten yourself, then go out and plant a seed by sharing the insights you gain with others.

The point I make in this article, is that MANY Nigerians need to do the above, to become better human beings. If you think that means I’m judging, then so be it. But I KNOW what I see, and I know who I am. What I see tells me that MANY Nigerians need to do what that video recommends – and start living as better human beings.

It is my considered opinion that too many well schooled Nigerians fail to realize that the fact that “we” all dress well and speak (what we consider) “good English to one another does NOT mean “we” are all equally sane.

Yes, I mean SANE as in sanity – opposite of insanity aka madness.

Many Nigerians, rich, not-so-rich and poor,  are in different stages of insanity, influenced by the socioeconomic environment we interact/are raised in..

[NB: Let him who the cap fits wear it. For me, I categorize people based on their actions – what they do, and not what they say about themselves!]

As a result of the state of mind of majority among us, NORMAL thinking habits that people in progressive societies employ rarely appeal to us.

This is why it is said that even Jesus Christ and Islam’s Muhammad (PBUH) would get corrupted if they spent too much time with Nigerians.

I bring the above points up because I believe we need to ask ourselves why we always demand straightforward solutions from leaders, when we KNOW we are not straightforward people, and our society is far from being a straightforward one???

When I still used to pound the pavement as an entrepreneur in Nigeria, in my early startup years, I kept doing what the Oyinbo books said one should do to market products and services

For instance, I placed ads, designed and printed flyers and made sales calls. I attended networking events and conferences. I subscribed to magazines and so on.

Yet, I got little or nothing in terms of client projects from all those efforts. And the few I got made a mockery of my skills, experience and educational qualifications!

The problem was I could not figure out why I struggled even as I saw many crooked and less competent others getting client projects I wanted.

One day I visited a higher institution based on an advert I’d seen in a daily, to speak with the owner of an engineering training firm about an idea I had for a Joint Venture.

It turned out the gentleman was also a lecturer in the engineering department.

After I introduced myself, we got talking about what he did and at a point I mentioned that I’d once been a guest speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (Shangisha Management Village) and that the feedback in the forms filled by the centre’s directors had encouraged me to develop a one-day seminar based on the theme of the talk I’d given there.

I however noted that despite hand delivering over 50 copies to organizations across the state (many of which were multinationals or large indigenous ones), I’d gotten nowhere with it.

He looked at me in amusement as I spoke, then smiled as he pulled out a one page document with names, and signatures as well as a stamp on it.

Pointing to the fee per head column, he told me that the training manager in the company he did that training for had bluntly told him to give up N4k out of the N15k for EVERY one of the 15 attendees who got nominated to attend.

He then told me what amounted to the following (i.e not his exact words):

“My friend, you will not hear from them. They expect you to know what to do. If you know what to do, and make them an offer, they will then tell you what they want. From what I see on this booklet, this program of yours is loaded, but if you refuse to do what I’m telling you, I really doubt if you’ll make headway with it.”

That conversation happened in 2004 – 2 years after I became self-employed.

No one ever had told me I needed to “know what to do” along those fraudulent lines when I started out as an entrepreneur.

What I later found out was that almost everyone around me knew and/or also did it (relatives included!)

They just assumed and expected I would find out and eventually fall in line, having LEARNT that it was impossible to fight the system.

Well, here I am today. I succeed on an international level as a multipreneur, earning income without needed to leave my home – and while traveling between countries.

But I did not continue wasting my time fighting the system. Instead, after YEARS of suffering doing that, I conceived a system that enabled me completely EVADE the system.

In other words, I found a way to do what I LOVED doing for a living, without needing to relate with people who believed in the system in a way that gave them power over me!

How does ALL this relate to the issue of Buhari and his Presidency?

Well, it’s simple really.

Nigerians, from what I’ve seen over the past 14 years as an entrepreneur, are 99% a duplicitous lot.

Forget schoolong, status, class, income level etc. Duplicity has become a way of life for most Nigerians!

So, anyone who wants to achieve meaningful progress working with NIgerians will probably have to be psychic to SEE through their double-facedness.

As a president, Local Government Chairman or head of a small parastatal, or a mere chairman of building community awarding contracts in your small church(!) you will find yourself sorrounded by conniving characters who show one face to you today, and another tomorrow. Scheming to get what they are not qualified to have!

Based on the above situation, no matter how well intentioned your words and actions are, you may find that pleasing Nigerians will be hard – because even those crying that they are being victimized today (and even those working with/for you) will often gladly let themselves be used against you, for the right fee!

Example: What does it take to get 80% of Nigerians to go out and bear false witness about something that did not happen?

We’ve seen it happen again and again – accusations and counter accusations with those in charge of deciding who is telling the truth even eventually getting fingered for also joining in!!!!

It is possible that the above is why Buhari said he wanted to search for the “root cause”….maybe the man is seeing a lot of the duplicity on all sides as I have seen in my own small corner of Nigeria(?)

Maybe that’s what makes him seem sometimes so reluctant to act I.e he’s struggling to make sense of the mixed signals he’s getting(?)

Or maybe the man is just confused….or biased as some would have us believe (NB: I do NOT agree with this school of thought).

Hopefully it will be obvious I’m making no case in support of Buhari here.

In fact, I’m making no case in support of, or against anyone here.

Instead, I’m simply saying the major problem of Nigeria is that it is a society of over 80% dishonest SOULS who never want to let truth previal and always put self-interest first!

In such an environment, even an angel will struggle to get anythjing right as leader.

That’s why I still prefer having Buhari as President, his faults notwithstanding!

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

Your Ability to Speak Another International Language Can Break Barriers For You [True Story]

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Today, I visited the embassy of a Francophone African country on Victoria Island to make certain inquiries.

Right from the gate, I made a point of speaking ONLY French and in as formal a manner as possible.

For those who have been following my writing for some time, you most likely to know the story of how I learnt to speak, read and write the French language(click here to read it in a new window) .

I did so by taking an intensive 3 month course in 1999, while working shifts as a 29 year old shift brewer in Guinness Nigeria’s Benin Brewery in Edo State’s Benin City.

Then (with the help of my Cameroonian teacher (Valentine – who has since returned to Douala), I visited and lived in/moved around Douala, Yaoundé, Oballa, Mendong and other parts of Cameroon over a 3 week period.- during that same year (1999) during my annual leave.

Most entertaining to look back on, today, for me, however remains the part of my story about how I had to return to Nigeria (and my job in Guinness), penniless by boat under heavy rainfall!

TIP: I wrote the book, shown below, based on my learning experiences

Proven 5 Step Formula For Learning ANY Language In 3 Months (or Less)!
=========================================

But back to the story about my latest visit to the embassy.

Determined to ensure I did not get turned back or given the stiff diplomatic treatment that can sometimes be meted out, I put my hard won ability to speak French to use.

And it got me the results I wanted – up to a point.

Each officer that attended to me promptly referred me onward to the next. I eventually got to a senior official, who on speaking with me, promptly stated that that the fee required to get the document I wanted was the country’s currency’s equivalent of N6, 500.0.(Nigerian Naira).

Wasting no time, he instructed his assistant to give me the application form to fill, and to collect a copy of my passport photograph.

Then he left us and went upstairs.

Motioning for me to sit down, the lady pushed the form across to the table, while speaking to two colleagues about work and their activities during the past weekend.

By the time I read through the form however, I knew I had come to a point I was not likely to be able to move beyond!

It was (of course) written in French.

But that was not the problem. 

Instead it was a question towards the end of the form that asked how long I had been in Nigeria and how much longer I planned to stay in the country.

Since I was a Nigerian, I knew that the form was NOT meant for me – and filling it would be a dishonest thing for me to do, since I would effectively be pretending.

The fact that they had offered it to me however indicated that they assumed that I was a citizen of their country.- and (since I had yet to give them my name.- which would have been an instant give-away) they most likely got that impression from the way I’d spoken the language.

At this point I looked at the lady and told her “Look, I won’t be able to fill this form – because I’m actually a Nigerian”

“Vraiment?” (Translation: Really?) She and her colleague exclaimed in surprise,

“But how come you speak French so well?” she queried.

I replied by explaining (as I did earlier in this piece) how I’d learnt the language.

She responded by noting that her boss had obviously concluded I was THEIR citizen visiting Nigeria for a period, but added that since I was actually Nigerian it was unlikely that I’d be able to get the document I wanted, issued by them.

Despite saying that, she however still encouraged me to wait for him to return, so I could ask him directly.

While we waited, she and her colleagues chatted with me about the exchange rate between both countries, and possible alternative options I could pursue in the event that I got turned away.

Not long after, their boss descended the stairs, greeted a Nigerian lady who’d just arrived on appointment, and had been referred to the upper floor, before heading to his office.

Following his assistant’s que, I followed him into his office, and announced to him that my Nigerian nationality meant I could not use the form he’d referred to me.

The usual exclamation of surprise followed in which he said “Really? You’re a Nigerian? But where did you learn to speak French so well?”

After I’d supplied the usual answers, he told me I would have to get the document I wanted issued to me from the Nigerian end, and NOT from theirs.

I’d half expected this would be the case, but felt the best way to find out would be to try.

And now I had.

But even though I’d failed to get the document, I took consolation in the knowledge that I’d come away better informed about where to go and what to do,

What’s more I’d made new friends and created a positive impression that I believe can pave the way for me to see the BIG man upstairs, in the next visit I plan to pay them!

Starting tomorrow, I’ll visit the office I’ve been told will issue the document I need to me. If all goes the way they’ve told me it currently does, I should get it in 3 working days.

My key purpose for sharing this story is to SHOW the reader how being able to speak another language can equip you to progress towards your goal beyond what you (or others) would normally have been able to achieve, without that ability.

I will add that I have successfully gotten access to people and places (in French speaking societies) that would have been otherwise impossible to reach, simply by DEMONSTRATING my proficiency in the use of French, while travelling across different West African nations.

Initially stiff – even hostile – encounters with government officials or even private individuals have often dissolved into very friendly exchanges, some of which now evolved into lasting friendships.

All because I was able to speak the language of the other person(s)!

You have everything to gain, and nothing to lose by learning to speak another language.

In my case, I have a vision to deliver solutions I offer to people fitting my target audience profile across the African continent – starting from West Africa.

And Francophone West Africa, being French speaking, makes it imperative that I develop and demonstrate my proficiency of the use of the French language, to inspire them to be more willing to connect with me.

Let your decision about what language to learn be informed by the goals you need to achieve and where you need to achieve them.

Click here to learn about a Quick and Dirty Guide to English for French Speakers Excel-VB Application I created in 2013, and sold to a Beninese professional who pestered me to help him improve his command of the English Language.

Related Articles

1. Outsmart Competitors (& Earn More) Using Foreign Language Skills

2. 3 Ways Travelling Can Prepare Your Child To Succeed (Features Pix of a Cameroonian Michael Jackson :-)

Excel-VB Solutions, Farm Biz, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Parenting, Recommended Websites & Articles, The Farm CEO

TRUE STORY: 8 Year Old Girl’s Backyard Snails Lay Eggs [Photos/Video: Snail Farming Micro-Business Startup Experience Sharing Series]

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So this morning (Tue 17th Oct 2017), few minutes after opening up her small snail pen housing her 21 snails that have been in her care since August 2017 , my 8 year old daughter rushes to excitedly inform me that she’s seen eggs laid by one of them.

Below: Photo of snails (next to partially buried snail eggs) in my 8 year old daughter’s snail pen this morning – Tuesday 17th October 2017

 snail-egg-olu

NB: In the update I published last week, I’d noted that after we introduced the high growth ration we prepared in line with a formula prescribed by the Songhai centre, the snails had become much more active and begun mating openly. On some days I’d noticed a few snails seemingly digging themselves into the soil – and suspected, from what I’d read, that they were trying to lay eggs. This discovery by my daughter confirmed my suspicions!

Later on, while recording a video of her standing next to the pen, I asked her if that was the first time she was seeing eggs laid by the snails.

She replied that it was not, and readily noted that they had laid eggs in the first 2 weeks when she first began collectiing them in plastic containers. This was before I realized how serious she was about it, and helped her setup the makeshift pen.

But at the time, we had no idea what to do with the eggs, so we simply threw them away.

However, this time around, because I’ve been doing so much reading up of PDF reports, manuals/guides and watching videos on snail rearing. I KNOE exactly what to do to create the sutiable hatching conditions for the eggs of our Achatina Marginata (Which I’ve identified – using markings and features unique to it,as indicated in a guide resource I’ve obtained0 is the type of snail we’re keeping.

I intend to follow the instructions provided to help her hatch the eggs and nurse them trhough those delicate initial days of life.

You can follow us in this journey via my website’s password protected Downloads Center.

Like I’ve said in my past posts on this topic, my purpose is experience-sharing. I’ve added other photos of her snails next to their eggs, partially buried in the soil of the pen, with some still feeding on leftover food in the trays provided.

And there are also 2 video recordings I did today.

You can get access to all the informative and educative experience sharing resources I publish as I support my daughter to scale up her snailery, towards growing the snails to approximately 0.5kg market weight by end December 2017, using the high growth ration we now use.

Signup to access my website download center – for LIFE.

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Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, Farm Biz, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Parenting, The Farm CEO

Get My Massive Compilation of Snail Farming Biz Startup Guides + Experience Sharing Support to Start YOUR Own Pilot Scale Trial [True Story; How my 8 Year Old Daughter’s Passion for Snail Rearing Opened My Eyes to The Huge Potential Of Snail Farming Business!]

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Since the start of October 2017, I’ve been calling and telling EACH of my Farm CEO clients that s/he can successfully generate USEFUL ADDITIONAL income, for the long term, by running a snail rearing entreprise based on his/her farm’s existing overheads!

And I owe my newly acquired insights to my 8 year old daughter’s passion which opened my eyes to the powerful income generating benefits that can accrue from snail rearing

olu-snails-7

Today, with what she’s achieved in about 2 months of haphazard improvisational rearing, I’ve seen results that have made me decide to help her formally launch her own snail rearing from a hobby to the real thing i.e. a money making entreprise.

We improvised to house them, and over a 2 month period, have gone from feeding them kitchen food to formulating a high growth ration that is a variant of original ration formulation recommendations (provided by the famous Songhai Centre in Benin Republic’s Porto Novo) which grows snails to 0.5kg market weight in 4 months instead of 8 months.

olu-snails-3

The results we’ve gotten so far convince me we’re well on track to recording great results by end November into December 2017 – especially now that we’re going to set things up based on best practice.

Are you interested in venturing into commercial snail farming, but would like a low cost/low risk way to find out what you need to know before you take the final plunge?

Would you like to get my experience & information sharing (NOT CONSULTING!) support to start your own snail farm on a pilot scale, like we did, using lessons learnt from the backyard snailery, started as a hobby by my 8 year old daughter?

Pay N7.5k (click here to request payment details) to get unlimited access to my Newly Updated Inner Circle Downloads Center PLUS download links to my FREE massive library of Snail Farming self-study PDF and video resources that took me weeks to compile PLUS

NB: What you get will NOT be limited to the promised Snail Farming information, but will instead include other self-help resources I continue to create on different farm businesses – as listed below:

  1. Part 2 of my Feeding Pigs Cheaply Fact Sheet on Making Cheap Nuitritious Silage from Sweet Potato Vines (as well as Part 1, and others to come)
  3. Plus you’ll get other fact sheets I’ll publish weekly on Fish, Rabbit, Snail & Poultry farming.
  4. And you’ll get over 30 top quality ebooks I’ve added to my Multidisciplinary blog/Performance Improvement Library.
You will be given a unique username and password to access the VERY same downloads Interface used by members of my Inner Circle.

But the main offer is the Snail Farm Biz Startup Compilation…

I began putting it together as part of the FREE information finding service I provide to ALL members of my Farm Business Ideas club.

A new client’s request for information resources on how to startup a small scale snail farming business in Nigeria led me to compile what is now this MASSIVE library of powerful PDF step-by-step manuals and demonstration videos (IN mobile friendly format) that cover everything from snail biology/identification to snailery construction, feeding, breeding/management, predators, parasites and diseases control, as well as processing/marketing for income generation both locally, and via export.

Fill/submit this web form (click now) to request a 2 page PDF with more details about the compiled materials on Snail Farming Business that I offer for download.

It contains details of what you need to do.

Let me know if you have questions or require clarification.

To your success!

Tayo

=============

Our Story – How it all began…

Unlike most kids her age, my 8  year old girl is a bit more driven -and I think that’s helped her a lot to get the results I’m describing here.

She diligently wakes up daily to work for 15 to 20 minutes tending to the snails. And she has done that for 2 months now – with rarely any prompting needed from older persons!

That attitude is partly the result of her early exposure from when she was about 5 years old, to vocational skills based activities like baking of cakes, pizza, bread, chin-chin as well as drinks making, hair styling (plaiting/braiding) as well as facial makeup/cosmetics.

But unlike all these other activities I’ve mentioned (which I deliberatly arranged for her and her siblings), THIS snail rearing initiative was 100% her own idea.

Here’s a short narrative of the true story about how we began…

It all began in the first week of August 2017. It was supposed to be one of those passing interests that kids develop. Looking back now, I feel a bit ashamed that i did not see the potential in this vocation for my kid to benefit. despite the fact that I provided support to Farm Business Owners.

In fact, she just began collecting snails that were emerging from the undeveloped plot next to our home, and each day she would clean them and keep them in a plastic container, then try feedign them with left over food from the kitchen -especually garri, which they ate but only sparingly.

I noticed it, but thought nothing of it, assuming she’d eventually drop it. But that did not happen. Instead she came askign what she coudl feed them, and persisted in doign so, until one day I put my work aside and Googled up information that told us they would eat almost anything – including foods we ate. So ee tried cooked rice and beans.

And both were a hit with the snails. My girls was visinly excited and diligently scooped out portions of rice/beans each time we coooked them, for use in feeding her snails. To help them eat well, I got her to use a spoon to crush the grains into a paste before serving the snails on a flat plastic cover.

olu-snails-6

She would take the snails out from the plastic container she kept them in, and place them next to small mounds of the food and watch them eat, till they stopped feeding. I woud see her do this as I came and went, but only once in a while did I get further involved.

Then one day I saw her cleaning out the plastic container in which LOTS of the snail’s excreta had built up at the bottom. That made me warn her about the health risk of bad hygiene to the snails. By this time, a Pig Farm CEO client who had long been pestering me about his desire to start a snailery, had gotten me to begin compiling most of the information resources I now offer here.

So I was familiar with the need to setup a blocked off area to serve as a pen. I told her to gather her snails into the plastic bowl and we moved them to the side of the house, which offered walls on 3 sides in a narrow corridor, with one entry/exit.

There we proceeded to introduce soil taken from close to the undeveloped plot next door, so as to get a composition and texture as close to that in the snails’ place of origin. In the house, we found an old mosquito net, and some thin slabs of wood, which we used to cover the snails. It was not perfect, but it worked. That was done about the first week of September (last month).

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By the last week of September she had been diligently feedign them usign food taken from the kitchen, but I never really nothered to LOOK inside the area we’d setup for them as an improvised pen of sorts.

Until a day or two before Independence day (1st October 2017), when I took a look and was shcked to discover that most of the snails had almost doubled in size! It was unreal. I knew about 2 months had passed, but I also reclaled that we’d not been feedign them anything special.

What I saw made me excitedly inform my Pig Farm CEO client of the results I’d seen, and I then wasted no time in going down to a feed mill in Oko-Oba area of Agege, to purchase the ingredients we’d heard mentioned in an intrnational award winning Songhai video I’d been told about during one of my visits to the Porto Novo Headquarters in Benin Republic.

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In my compilation, I’ve included the direct link to the download page for that Songhai video . But knowing how data/bandwidth can be an issue out here, I’ve also created a much smaller mobile friendly 3GP version that you can download faster and at less cost.

Indeed, I’ve done that for ALL the videos I found – and will gladly email them to anyone who requests them after gaining accesss to the Downloads Page here.

Fill/submit this web form to request more details, including 2 videos I’ve recorded to share our personal experience with the pilot scale version managed by my 8 year old daughter, that we’re NOW about to scale up

snailery-olu-videos

Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, My DN Travel News, Writing/Blogging

[TRUE STORY – MP3 AUDIO] Investing In a Flagship Website Creates Low Cost Opportunities to Test, Refine and Profit from Your Business Ideas

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2 days ago (i.e. Monday 25th September 2017) I paid approximately $10 USD for website-url-dot-com [real URL removed for privacy] – the URL for acatering business run by the spouse of a long term Farm CEO client (NB:  I’m currently developing a Web Marketing System for him on his own flagship website website-url-dot-com [real URL removed for privacy]).

To save money, her own website is to be built (by me) on a sub-domain of her husband’s website. In other words, her web hosting is free!

In addition to the introduction below, I explain in the audio accompanying this piece, using my personal true story, how using this powerful cost-saving and profit-boosting strategy helped me achieve huge marketing success when I was dead broke – which is why I ALWAYS recommend it to – and implement it for – my clients. 

My mini websites www.ExcelHeaven.biz (for my Excel Visual Basic Autiomation Service) and www.TheFarrnCEO.net (fpr my Best Practice Farm Business Support Service) are hosted on subdomains that I created on the hosting space for my flagship website – www.TayoSolagbade.com
1.  www.ExcelHeaven.biz actually points to a WordPress website I built on www.excelheaven.tayosolagbade.com
2. www.TheFarrnCEO.net actually points to a WordPress website I built on www.iff.tayosolagbade.com
When my son showed interest in writing about his favorite subject – Wild Life – we decided to purchase a domain name and build a mini site on a subdomain I created for him on www.TayoSolagbade.com. which his URL (www.felaswildlifegallery.info) I then pointed to http://tayosolagbade.com/fela/ (a subdomain I created for him).
A visit to the last mentioned website (for my son) will reveal that the last update happened 1 year ago – indicating that he has not updated it. Thankfully, we did not purchase hosting space, so the fact that he’d left it to get stale is easier to deal with!
This approach (used by individuals and organizations worldwide) affords you, as a website owner, a great way to save money, while offering potential buyers more avenues to better understand how you can help them. 
Not only does it allow you to create custom websites for different products/services you offer unique target audiences, but it also provides a cost-effective avenue to TEST new ideas you have, to gain better insights about whether or not to run with them.
I should know. I did just that between 2004 and 2008, starting out by using a client’s web hosting account (with permission) to host my first formal website – before graduating to owning my own domain and hosting space
That phase of my life an entrepreneur, was most challenging, and I had to be ruthless in assessing the progress I was making with the solutions I put up.
Eventually I narrowed down, based on responses I got to my offers, to a core menu of solutions that I knew could earn me clients – and ultimately – income.
Today, I’ve refined and evolved my strategy to a point at which I now confidently promote a flagship range of offers,  while every now and then testing news  ones for marketplace potential/
In the MP3 Audio Podcast attached to this email (click here to request it, if you’re NOT on my mailing list), I narrate the true story of how I began that journey, and what it took me to get where I am today, using this approach…PLUS, why I so strongly advocate it for adoption by ANY website owner.

Now, here’s an offer I have for you, reading THIS right now:

Get a branded website for your business at www.yourname.com with my FREE 12 Month Web Marketing Support Service.described at http://tayosolagbade.com/smclub-nonfarm.html

Option 1; Pay N50k before MNT Saturday 30th September 2017 to signup – and then pay N5k per month for 5 months [Save N75k].

Option 2: Pay N75k before MNT Saturday 30th September 2017 to signup – and then pay N5k per month for 5 months [Save N50k].

In other words, if you choose either 1 or 2, I will handle your entire Web Marketing under my FREE 1 year support service.

Fill/submit the form on the bottom of the page at http://tayosolagbade.com/smclub-nonfarm.html to let me know your preference, if ANY – and make payment within the deadline.

Entrepreneurship, Excel-VB Solutions, Farm Biz, My DN Travel News, Recommended Websites & Articles, The Farm CEO

[RECOMMENDED] PDF Report: Introduction of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) into Nigeria’s Agricultural Landscape (True Story)

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This report by Prof. Olufemi Martins Adesope (owner of www.omadesope.com and Publisher, Making Extension Services Work™ newsletter) discusses the Cassava crop, with regard to where and how it is grown. 

It also goes further to shed light on when production of High Quality Cassava Flour (today used for making bread, cakes, chin-chin, doughnuts, pies etc) from Cassava tubers began in Nigeria.

PDF Report: Introduction of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) into Nigeria’s Agricultural Landscape (True Story)

Cassava production in Nigeria keeps increasing regularly. This is because it is one of the most important crops and staple foods in Nigeria.

It is designated sometimes as Manioc Tapioca, Yucca.

In fact it has been designated again as the most popular staple crop in the African diet in places like Ghana, DRC, Nigeria, Brazil, Thailand – Cassava forms the basic staple in these various countries I’ve mentioned.

Click the image below to request the PDF version of this report.

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

Empower Your Child to Develop Market Relevant Income Generating Competencies [True Story]

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[Photo below is of my 8 year old daughter with made up eye brows on Friday, at a practical cosmetic makeup training workshop venue for youths that she and her 11 year old sister 11 have been attending since the start of the past week ending Fri 24th March 2017]

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To make this possible for them, I’ve (VERY gladly) given up my normal work-from-home routine to take them down DAILY to attend what has been the first week of a 2 week long practical training workshop in Cosmetic Makeup and Gele Tying, here in Lagos.

They bought their own makeup tool kit on their very first day, and we’ve since connected with some “vendor” outlet to replenish their “stocks”.

It’s been so fulfilling to see my girls work closely with much older females from all walks of life, as they learnt to “draw” brows, using eye liner pencil, then apply eye shadow with contouring etc.

The excitement in their eyes all through the event each day, and when they eagerly, continue practising on themselevs HOURS after we return home in the evening/night makes me feel so fulfilled.

It’s obvious that their hearts are in it – just like they have demonstrated unending passion for baking all sorts of lovely stuff (e.g Pizza, Bread, Cakes, Chin-Chin, Cookies etc) using their trademark No-OVen Charcoal Stove method! (See photos of their baking projects at https://web.facebook.com/TemiandOluomasCharcoalStoveBaking/)

Next week, they will be learning how to apply lipstick, and other remaining aspects of cosmetic makeup. Then they’ll end with the last few day learning hoe to tie some exciting styles of Gele lol!

Suggestion to Parents: I’ve said it before,and I’ll say it again – Find out what your kid’s passion(s) is (are), and WORK with him/her to develop it (them) to income generating proficiency level. It’s the best gift you can give your child!!!!!

PS: Photos and videos coming soon.

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

[True Story] Defying Adversity As a Nobody, to Create a Lucrative Niche Market for my Custom Automated Spreadsheet Software in Nigeria

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It all still feels like yesterday – when in 2002 I quit a high paying job as a manager in a corporate multinational, in which I was an established high-flyer, to start offering my custom Excel-VB software development (and Freelance Writing) solutions to paying clients.

Not a few friends, relatives and co-workers thought I’d lost it. Indeed, some co-workers called me “mad” for doing so – as I noted in a past article (click to read) based on feedback reaching me years later.

Today, my achievements speak for themselves (Read my article titled No. 119: How to Achieve Success in Any Field (True Story):

true-story-succeed-in-any-field

I have found a reliable way to get paid what I want, the way I want, for what I do, and I am recognized internationally for it.

So what do I do exactly?

Well, I do several things, as a Location Independent Performance Improvement Specialist and Multipreneur.

However, with regard to Excel-VB software development, I USED to work on client premises, face to face or in person, building a wide range of custom automated spreadsheet applications using Excel-VB programming.

Then in 2012, I moved to providing the same service 100% remotely using the web – and over time used the pattern of client requests I was getting, to settle on key applications I could offer for sale.

As time went on, I discovered it was better to build apps and offer them for sale, instead of looking to get hired by clients to build spreadsheet software.

That decision made me focus my efforts on identifying the best markets/buyer groups to sell to, and I eventually narrowed down to farm business owners as the most serious minded of them all.

Since I did that, I have had NO cause to regret it, as Farm CEOs (from within and outside Africa) continue to respond to the sales offers of my farm business support products. Examples include the Excel-VB Ration Formulator, its accompanying Feed Formulation Handbook, my Excel-VB Poultry Farm Manager and other information products on sale at www.lulu.com/sdaproducts!

But it’s been a long – and difficult – journey, especially to succeeding in selling my Excel-VB software, starting-up from a Nigerian market legendary for software piracy and abuse of intellectual property: a VERY hostile environment indeed!

I have LOTS of true stories to share on the challenges – seen and unseen – that I’ve had to overcome to survive, and ultimately begin to flourish like I do today. It took lots of unconventional thinking and creativity based on painful experiences and deep reflection to find a solution suited to my situation!

For instance, I’ve had employees of clients inform me that their bosses hired “expert” others to try hacking my spreadsheet software. Yep: my own client so badly wanted to avoid paying me call-out fees for maintenance/update of my software, that he invited supposed “experts” from elsewhere to try making the changes he wanted!

And THAT is just one of many examples I tell you.

I have seen – and heard – all sorts. It takes being a Ninja of sorts to function as a provider of creative intellectual solutions in the Nigerian market – especially when it has to do with SOFTWARE!

Apart from worrying about your work being stolen, a more serious challenge is getting paid ENOUGH to make it profitable to practice your software development service as a business.

Now, in my case, as I’ve explained elsewhere, when I started out NO ONE was doing anything remotely resembling offering custom commercial spreadsheet software for sale to individuals or organizations.

I literally created the market for myself as an Excel-Visual Basic for Applications Developer in Nigeria.

What made it easy was the fact that I had enjoyed great success developing business solutions that worked in a world class environment, while working in a large corporate multinational.

The experiences I had while I was there, convinced me that such solutions would be needed by others. It took me time to find them, but I eventually did, and after some years, I narrowed to the most profitable niche to serve.

Several articles I’ve written in the past (see bottom  of this article) feature true stories I’ve narrated, about how my self-taught ability to use spreadsheet programming to solve real life data recording, analysis and report generation for decision making problems in the different departments I worked.

The time, effort and money saving benefits delivered by the custom apps I built, in my spare time as a trainee brewer rapidly earned me a reputation as a problem solver – catching senior management attention at the corporate level.

That eventually led to rapid career advancement opportunities coming my way, so that in less than 6 years I’d earned promotions, and acting assignments at senior management positions well ahead of my peers.

But the workload, and the dreams I had of using my skills to serve a wider and more varied audience made me sure I needed to free myself from the restrictions of a 9 to 5 job.

So, I did my best to prepare for and eventually launch my entry into the world of self-employment.

Today, 15 long years later, my established name/brand recognition and accomplishments speak for me.

I enjoy positive attention from stakeholders in the various markets I serve, for the solutions I provide – especially my custom Excel-VB software development service, as well as my Custom Web Marketing Systems (WMS) Development service.

In case you wonder about the latter (i.e. WMS), it is what empowers me to market the former, in a manner that gets total strangers to send me payment for the growing library of performance improving products and services I offer via TayoSolagbade.com.

In other words, I find and win over buyers for what I sell, by using my unique WMS at low to zero cost. It took me YEARS to develop this system and make it work for me.

That’s why I offer to help clients develop their own unique/custom WMS to sell their own products/services at less cost, in less time and using less effort like I continue to do!

I settled on the WMS strategy after about 8 to 10 years of working face to face and on-site with clients, especially within the Nigerian market, and seeing that I was making less financially and emotionally rewarding progress than I believed was possible.

Indeed I found myself serving clients with my heart and soul, working round the clock like I did on my corporate job, to deliver solutions that worked and saved them money, time and effort – only to end up getting used and dumped, or manipulated one way or another.

There were exceptions i.e clients that treated me with consideration and respect. But they were few and far between.

Most times I found myself unable to reconcile my invested time and effort with the monetary compensation I got from majority of clients I served.

All of this happened despite the fact that I diligently served in line with the 10 item code of ethics I’d found online.

That code of ethics (click to read about it here) made it imperative that I ensure the client’s satisfaction at all times.

But after reflecting on my situation back then – especially after extricating myself from the “grip” of a particularly abusive client, in 2011, I realized that Pierre Le Clerc, who had conceived the original code of ethics I’d adapted for my use, had had a different experience from mine!

It struck me that the elderly Excel-VB Developer based in Canada, who I’d “borrowed” the code of ethics from, had conceived it for a market in which he was assured of a relationship of mutual respect and consideration from majority of his clients.

People tend to behave themselves MORE over there, compared to what happens in Nigeria.

Reflecting on my experiences over more than 8 years (doing business as “CB Solutions”), it was apparent that I could not boast of being in such a market, in Nigeria.

So, I resolved to CREATE for myself, a system that would protect my interests as a provider keen to do what Le Clerc did, without suffering the kind of abuse and exploitation I’d been exposed to in the past.

That decision led me to refine my marketing and solutions development techniques to what I use today, and on which my Web Marketing System is based.

This has enabled me, for over 4 years now, to work 100% remotely via the web, to repeatedly and SUCCESSFULLY deliver my growing library of solutions to a global paying audience.

In other words, I have evolved to a system that makes it possible for me to PLEASE my clients, in a manner that earns me great rewards, of the kind I cherish financially as well as emotionally.

Central to my continuing success has been the diligent use of the 10 item code of ethics I adapted from Pierre Le Clerc’s website – and which I described in yesterday’s post (click to read).

Related Articles

1. Creating Demand for Custom Automated Spreadsheet Software Solutions in Nigeria/Africa (True Story by Tayo K. Solagbade)

2. 1 Hour Talk(No. 5): Proven Strategies for Using MS Excel to Boost Employee and Company Productivity

3. How I Built a Bank Transactions Monitor (BTM) ™Excel-VB Driven App as a Gift for a Client in 2006 [Another Example of Real Life Problem Solving with Excel-VB]

4. Achieve Business Success Using Spreadsheet Data Analysis & Reporting Automation

5. What is Excel-VB?

6. Difference between Visual Basic 6.0 and VBA

7. Get Novice Proof Custom Automated Spreadsheet Software [Hint: From Tayo K. Solagbade – a Multidisciplinary Provider Guided by a Code of Ethics That Protects YOU!]