{"id":11519,"date":"2017-02-27T23:26:30","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T23:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/?p=11519"},"modified":"2017-02-28T14:28:32","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T14:28:32","slug":"pii-055-to-succeed-even-when-things-go-wrong-you-need-mastery-of-your-craft-part-1-of-2-based-on-a-true-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/pii-055-to-succeed-even-when-things-go-wrong-you-need-mastery-of-your-craft-part-1-of-2-based-on-a-true-story\/","title":{"rendered":"PII 055: To Succeed Even When Things Go Wrong, You Need Mastery of Your Craft - Part 1 of 2 | Based on a True Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nothing beats being a master of your craft. You need to invest endless time, effort, money and any other necessary resources, to become as proficient as possible at it, so that ANYTIME those you serve demand for your problem solving attention, you will not be found wanting.<\/p>\n

It is with regard to my Excel VB Solutions Development that I have narrated the true story featured below, in this week\u2019s issue of my Performance Improvement Ideas newsletter.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Sunday 26th<\/sup> February 2017, between 10:45 a.m. and 3p.m, I spent time with a Lagos based Poultry Farm CEO named Thomas Obuseh<\/a>. It was the first time we were meeting face to face, in the flesh, since he first made contact with me on phone back in August 2016.<\/h3>\n

SCROLL DOWN TO READ FULL ISSUE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\"Tayo<\/a><\/h1>\n

Tayo Solagbade's<\/a>
\nPerformance Improvement <\/span>IDEAS
\n(PI Squared) Newsletter<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Monday 27th February 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Logo<\/a><\/p>\n


\nNB: <\/strong>This PI Squared newsletter will be published weekly, on Mondays, in place of the Speaking\/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, starting from today - 15th February 2016.<\/strong><\/em> I'm reinventing my Monday newsletter content and theme, to accommodate my vision of serving the growing audience of serious minded individuals and organizations reaching out to me, with information, education. news and research findings designed to help them do what they do better.<\/p>\n

************<\/p>\n

\"View<\/span><\/a>\"Join<\/a>\"Connect<\/a>\"Connect<\/a><\/span>\"Connect<\/a><\/p>\n

PII 055: To Succeed Even When Things Go Wrong, You Need Mastery of Your Craft - Part 1 of 2 | Based on a True Story<\/h1>\n

Nothing beats being a master of your craft. You need to invest endless time, effort, money and any other necessary resources, to become as proficient as possible at it, so that ANYTIME those you serve demand for your problem solving attention, you will not be found wanting.<\/p>\n

It is with regard to my Excel VB Solutions Development that I have narrated the true story featured below, in this week\u2019s issue of my Performance Improvement Ideas newsletter.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Sunday 26th<\/sup> February 2017, between 10:45 a.m. and 3p.m, I spent time with a Lagos based Poultry Farm CEO named Thomas Obuseh<\/a>. It was the first time we were meeting face to face, in the flesh, since he first made contact with me on phone back in August 2016.<\/h3>\n

\"tom-pre-solution-thb\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019d made him an offer then which he\u2019d not taken up. Then he\u2019d returned last Tuesday, on 20th<\/sup> February 2017 \u2013 calling in at about 8a.m in the morning. About 24 hours later, he\u2019d made payment to take up a new offer I made to him.<\/p>\n

In my usual manner, I proceeded to use details he supplied to me about himself and his farm business, to personalize the PFM and accompanying products, which I emailed to him.<\/p>\n

I could however never have predicted what happened over the next four days.<\/p>\n

The drama began with Tom writing in to say he\u2019d been unable to launch the spreadsheet app, because each time he tried to do so, it returned a \u201cCompile error\u201d.<\/h3>\n

Past experience with other users who\u2019d initially struggled, made me ask if he was using a computer running a Mac OS. He sent me \u2013 in response to my request - screenshots of his PC\u2019s specs as well as that of the error message returned by the app. I noted he was using a 64 bit HP ProBook \u2013 so the Mac issue was ruled out.<\/p>\n

Long story short, my mind went to the possibility of a 32-bit vs 64-bit conflict. But I had problems accepting that possibility because not only had I successfully run the app on 64 bit computers myself, but I had also seen others do the same \u2013 including the manager of a neighborhood caf\u00e9 I use.<\/p>\n

So, I had a dilemma. In the past, I\u2019d had to follow tips provided on the Microsoft website to adviSe a client in 2014, to step down his Excel version from 64 bit to 32 bit via custom install from the disk.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d reported getting a different error message - shown below - from that seen by Thompson:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMicrosoft Forms\u2026 Could not load an object because it is not available on this machine\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem I had in Tom\u2019s case was however that all he got was a \u201cCompile error\u201d message, so I could not make much of it. I needed more information, and I knew the best\/quickest way would likely be to interact directly with the computer on which this was happening.<\/em><\/h3>\n

At a point, Tom wrote an email saying he believed my app did not work \u2013 and he challenged me to prove that it did by getting it to work on HIS own laptop!<\/em><\/p>\n

I replied that I had told him there were other clients who used the app. I told him my suspicion was that his was a unique\/peculiar problem that was NOT general to others.<\/p>\n

After some heated debates on phone and email, I decided to invite him to meet with me, so I could address the problem he was having. Luckily, this was made easy by the fact that he lived in Lagos, and I was also in town.<\/p>\n

By the time we met at Omole Estate Phase 2, I promptly removed the password protection from the Visual Basic Editor. Then I ran the Workbook Open procedure again, with the password removed.<\/h3>\n

This resulted in more descriptive information being added to the error message that appeared.<\/p>\n

Compile error:<\/em><\/p>\n

The code in this project must be updated for use on 64-bit systems.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please review and update Declare statements and then mark them with the PtrSafe attribute.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once I saw that, I immediately knew what the problem was, and what I needed to do. It was the modules in which I\u2019d used Windows API calls that contained the \u00a0lines of code throwing the error.<\/p>\n

I promptly made modifications to the code modules in a way that enabled the app launch fully to the login screen \u2013 and beyond. When this happened, Tom\u2019s face lit up. It was the first time since he purchased the app, that he was seeing it working like I\u2019d demonstrated it in the video he\u2019d watched, in deciding to buy it.<\/p>\n

While I worked, I deliberately engaged him in conversation and learned from Tom that he worked as a Network Administrator on a 9 to 5 job, and that his laptop was always plugged into the corporate network where daily automatic updates happened to the laptop\u2019s Windows and Office installations.<\/p>\n

On hearing that, I told him that updates downloaded to a computer on a corporate network would be designed to minimize chances of unauthorized application being run without restrictions on it.<\/h3>\n

An Excel-VB app like mine, meant for private use by the owner, when run on that kind of laptop would likely encounter restrictions I may not have provided for.<\/p>\n

Note here, that Excel-VB code has been used to create harmful virus applications that cause major damage in the past<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When I made this point, Tom nodded in agreement, and went on to add that he estimated there was a 1 in 50 chance that I would encounter a user with his kind of situation \u2013 to which I exclaimed saying; \"Now, you see what I meant when I said yours was a peculiar situation!\"<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We went on to spend over 2 hours looking through the various data entry and reporting interfaces in the app, as I gave him practical tips on how to use it.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I also shared real life examples of how to make use of the app to monitor and manage farm operations to ensure timely decision making for optimal performance.<\/p>\n

We ended by agreeing to work via email, as I proceed to make the remaining needed changes in the code module declarations by adding the\u00a0PtrSafe\u00a0attribute<\/a> highlighted in the error message.<\/h3>\n

For now, he\u2019s able to commence posting of farm data from paper records prepared by his farm hands.<\/p>\n

By the time we parted, we\u2019d shared a lot of banter, and he even arranged for me to converse, in French, with his wife, who works as a French Language Instructor with a Lagos based institution.<\/p>\n

Before he drove off, I got him to take a photo with me and also recorded a testimonial video of him sharing his feelings and observations about what had been done, and the experience he\u2019d had using the app, in the few hours he\u2019d begin using it.<\/p>\n

\"me-tom-post-solution\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the risk of stating the obvious, it was my confidence in my Excel-VB coding ability that made me invite Tom to come down with his laptop, so I could fix the problem once and for all.<\/p>\n

Indeed, I actually made upfront payment to his bank account to cover to\/fro fueling of his car for that purpose. That was how determined I was to solve the problem \u2013 and prove that my app worked!<\/em><\/p>\n

I have been selling my Excel-VB Poultry Farm Manager<\/a> (PFM) since 2009. I began selling my Excel-VB Ration Formulator<\/a> software in 2004.<\/h3>\n

Over the years, I've had Farm C.E.Os. from within and outside Africa, by from me - but majority of my buyers continue to come from within Africa, and especially Nigeria, my home country.<\/p>\n

The point to note however is that I CULTIVATE and ENJOY healthy relationships with my buyers long AFTER they buy from me.<\/p>\n

Some buyers initially need my help to identify why they had issues, but I have NEVER needed to change my code to get it to work!<\/p>\n

This experience with Tom, is one that has enabled me demonstrate in a new way, that I deliver on my promises and practice what I preach.<\/h3>\n

THAT is what I do:\u00a0I SOLVE problems for those who connect with me, using the solutions I develop. And if a buyer encounters difficulties in trying to make use of my solutions, I ALWAYS adopt a POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE to SOLVE whatever challenge s\/he may be faced with.<\/em><\/p>\n

The above is what I successfully DID today, with the Lagos based Farm CEO shown with me in this above shown photo taken just before we parted AFTER our meeting.<\/p>\n

If you make mastering your craft a deeply ingrained habit, like I do, you WILL also be able to succeed in spite of setbacks or problems you encounter in your practice of it!<\/p>\n

PS: Tomorrow, in the 2nd and concluding part of this article, I will feature the video testimonial by Tom<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"tom-vid\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"sdn-pre-flyer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Excel-VB Driven Ration Formulator<\/h1>\n

\"Click<\/a><\/p>\n

1. <\/strong><\/span>Click here<\/a> to learn more about this app - watch demo videos etc<\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> Click here<\/a> to watch a 4 part video in which I demonstrate how to use this app to formulate rations using real life data sent to me by an Algerian PhD student.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to contact me about purchasing this product.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

EXCEL-VB DRIVEN <\/span><\/strong>POULTRY LAYER FARM MANAGER SOFTWARE<\/span><\/h1>\n

Click here<\/a> to download a detailed PDF user guide and watch 15 screen shot user guide tutorials of the Monthly Poultry Farm Manager that I now offer Farm CEOs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a><\/h3>\n

Click here<\/a> to contact me about purchasing this product.<\/span><\/h3>\n

SDN Blog\u2122<\/strong><\/h3>\n

New posts from last week*<\/span><\/p>\n

Monday<\/span>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

PII 054: Boost Your Success Achievement Using These 4 Services<\/a><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

[Tuesday]<\/span>:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Two Learning Resources to Educate Farm CEOs and Other Stakeholders On the Need to Adopt an Entrepreneurial Mindset<\/a><\/h2>\n

\n<\/div>\n

[Wednesday<\/span>]:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Equip Your Kids to Deal With Abuse of Any kind and Excel [Hint: TV Talk Show Relationship Expert Psychiatrist\/Author Answers Question by Male Caller Claiming to be Abused by His Wife]<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

[Thursday<\/span>]:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Download the \u201cPRACTICAL LIVESTOCK FEED FORMULATION HANDBOOK\u201d \u2013 BY TAYO SOLAGBADE, Best Practice Farm Business Support Specialist<\/a><\/h2>\n

N\/A<\/h2>\n

[Saturday<\/span>]:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The FARM CEO (Issue 75): Top 11 Articles on Best Practice Farm Business Management for Profit \u2013 by Tayo K. Solagbade, Best Practice Farm Business Support Specialist & Founder of the Farm Business Support Centre<\/a><\/h2>\n

[Sunday<\/span>]:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

[TRUE STORY] He was NOT smiling when we met, face to face, for the first time, today \u2013 because of My Excel-VB Poultry Farm Mgr!<\/a><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tayo K. Solagbade*<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Self-Development\/Performance Improvement Specialist<\/strong><\/p>\n

*Best Practice Farm Business Support Specialist & Founder of the MS Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation Club and Competition<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Mobile:<\/strong> +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria<\/strong>) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

http:\/<\/a><\/span>\/www.tayosolagbade.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Tayo K. Solagbade<\/a> is a Location Independent Performance Improvement<\/b><\/p>\n

Specialist and Multipreneur (i.e. a highly versatile\/multi-skilled entrepreneur), with a bias for delivering Best Practice solutions to Farm Businesses and others.<\/p>\n

Since 2002, he has earned multiple streams of income providing individuals and organizations with personal development training and coaching, custom MS Excel-VB solutions<\/a>, web marketing<\/a> systems\/web hosting<\/a>, freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Tayo is the author of the Self-Development (SD) Bible\u2122<\/a> and the popular Livestock Feed Formulation<\/a> Handbook. He is also the developer of its accompanying Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator\u2122<\/a> and the Poultry Farm <\/a>Manager\u2122 software.<\/p>\n

He has delivered talks\/papers to audiences in <\/a>various groups and organizations, including the Centre for Management Development, University of Lagos, Christ Baptist Church, Volunteer Corps, Tantalisers Fast Foods and others.<\/p>\n

In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development\u2019s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.<\/p>\n

On 1st April 2013, Tayo (who reads, write and speaks the French language) relocated to Cotonou, Benin Republic<\/a> to begin slowly traveling across the West African region.<\/p>\n

His key purpose is to deliver talks, seminars <\/strong>and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).<\/p>\n

In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years (October 1994 to December 2001) as a high performing manager in Guinness Nigeria. He rose from Shift Brewer to Training & Technical Development Manager, and later acted in senior roles as Production Manager and Technical Manager.<\/p>\n

In addition to constantly challenging the status quo and influencing positive work changes, he built a reputation for using self-taught spreadsheet programming skills (starting with Lotus 1-2-3, and later moving to Excel Visual Basic) - in his spare time - to develop Automated Spreadsheet Applications to computerize manual report generation processes in the departments he worked. Over four(4) of his applications were adopted for brewery level reporting.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Tayo holds a B.Sc degree in Agricultural Extension Services from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, having graduated top of his class - with Second Class Upper Division honors - in 1992. He is an Associate Member of the UK Institute & Guild of Brewing, a 1997 National Finalist of the Nigerian Institute of Management\u2019s(NIM) Young Managers\u2019 competition, a Certified Psychometric Test Administrator for Psytech UK, innovator of Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development\u2122 (SCfS-D\u2122), and Founder of the Self-Development Academy (SDAc)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When he's not amazing clients with his superhuman skills (wink), Tayo works as the creative force behind his Daily Self-Development Nuggets blog<\/a> - on which he also publishes The Farm CEO Weekly Newspaper (sent via email to paid subscribers) and his Weekly Performance Improvement IDEAS<\/a> newsletter.<\/p>\n

You can connect with him on Twitter @tksola.com<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com<\/a>, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your personal and work related productivity.<\/p>\n

====
\n[IMPORTANT NOTE:====<\/h3>\n

On 4th May 2014, Tayo's 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.<\/em><\/p>\n

Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR \"reincarnation\" of it the website http:\/\/www.tayosolagbade.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts <\/strong><\/em>he's published.<\/p>\n

If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.<\/p>\n

Click \"Tayo, What Happened to SpontaneousDevelopmentDotCom<\/a> ?\" to read a detailed narrative about how the above event occurred :-))<\/p>\n

Here's an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:<\/h4>\n
\n

Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix<\/a><\/p>\n

(TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And he wrote the one below, to explain why losing a domain name, no matter how old, NO LONGER determines your online success or otherwise:<\/h4>\n

A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name<\/a>
\n==================<\/p>\n

\"View<\/span><\/a>\"Join<\/a>\"Connect<\/a>\"Connect<\/a><\/span><\/span>\"Connect<\/a><\/p>\n

Home<\/a> |About<\/a> | Contact<\/a> | SD Nuggets\u2122<\/a> | Speaking\/Web Marketing IDEAS<\/a> | Web Marketing Systems<\/a> | Freelance Writing<\/a> | MS Excel\u00ae Heaven\u2122<\/a> | Cost-Saving Farm Biz Ideas<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nothing beats being a master of your craft. You need to invest endless time, effort, money and any other necessary resources, to become as proficient as possible at it, so that ANYTIME those you serve demand for your problem solving attention, you will not be found wanting. It is with regard to my Excel VB […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,1375,133,266,10,1753],"tags":[1178,1170,2775,2776,2777],"class_list":["post-11519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employeescareer-persons","category-entrepreneurs","category-excel-vb-solutions","category-farm-biz","category-my-dn-travel-news","category-self-development","category-the-farm-ceo","tag-based-on-a-true-story","tag-part-1-of-2","tag-pii-055","tag-to-succeed-even-when-things-go-wrong","tag-you-need-mastery-of-your-craft"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":1035,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11519"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11529,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11519\/revisions\/11529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}