7 soft landing tips to launch you into 2017

1. In 2017 use more of your brain power (Soft work) than might

It is widely believed that most black people are synonymous with using more of their might than the brainpower but in 2017 let the reverse be the case. In our world of today those using more of their might to solve daily challenges are less valued compared to those who uses their brain might (Soft work). It is also believed that strength is readily available to all but the proper articulation and usage of the brain might is not available.

 

2. In 2017 embrace only healthy relationships

There’s nothing that weigh a man down emotionally and psychologically than an unhealthy relationship, its either you fix it or you quit! Starting a new year with an unresolved baggage’s is not the ideal way to kick start a brand new year so once again “If you can’t resolve it quit it! And in working relationships click with people who understand your vision and plan of action and try to keep your detractors abased.

 

3. In 2017 be receptive to knowledge

In the year 2017 make yourself teachable and learn-able, no man is an island of knowledge. Learn from new things from daily experiences, books, media, and enemy, superior, minor, friends and relatives and a big bye to your ego.

 

4. In 2017 Be a Responsible person

Push the frontiers of incompetence; try hard to be competent and responsible. Accept faults and reduce the blame games. And for the young bachelors still playing games around get serious with a lady and be responsible, I’m talking to you too young spinsters playing games too. Take full ownership of whatever responsibility being given to you whether big or small.

5. In 2017 be ready for opportunities

Learn to always look beyond your nose in 2017. Opportunities comes sometimes in the most unattractive outlook, remember the brain behind the mobile toilet in Nigeria (may his soul rest in peace)? This man made a fortune from human waste and passed it to his generation, funny enough his business slogan is “Sh*t na money”.

6. In 2017 appeal to people’s needs

The quickest and the surest way to get people do something for you is when you appeal to their need, quit that beggarly lifestyle and appeal to people’s needs to get something. For example just this year Mark Angel became a hit, he only appealed to people’s needs with his visual comedy and people in turn gave him back what he needed “Money and Fame”.

7. In 2017 avoid parasites

Try to separate people who are Parasitic in nature from the Symbiotic (Those who you benefit from and they as well benefit from you) ones. Simply embrace the symbiotic folks and stay far from the parasitic ones, and try not to be a parasite to no one.

 

7 vital attributes job interviewers seeks

When going to a for a job interview there are few immediate attribute you are expected to have in order to impress the interviewers,  you should exude these 7  tips I’m about to share in the first 10 minutes you spend with them. The first 2 to 5 mins matters a lot in a job interview, you mess up within this minute, your ability of regaining momentum to impress might be slim. So kindly seat back, widen your attention as I take you on a journey ride of impressing any interviewer….

1. Appearance: It is said “never judge a book by its cover” but in this case you are first by your cover and like the popular saying goes “you dress the way you want to be addressed”. Your interview starts with your appearance, no one will take you ever serious if you are poorly dressed up. So loosen up their guards first and reduce the vile and attacks, they would throw at you with your fashionable dress sense.  If you are not the fashion oriented type surf the internet to enrich your mind on that regards.

 

2. Confidence: Confidence is the key, it is hard for people to entrust responsibility to someone without confidence. Let everything about you speak confidently, from your appearance to your facial expression, carriage, charisma and speech. Even if you are nervous or your system is naturally accommodating some atom of fret, try as much as possible to conceal it. The kind of confidence you exude would go a long way to tell them if actually you are the right person for the job. Check out Obama’s first election campaign, his opponent would have overwhelmed him by all standards, but Obama stole the crowd from him with his charming charisma and speech. Fortunately, this has once worked for me before, I applied for a job I’m not academically qualified for and to my amazement I was invited for the interview. On the day of the interview i nailed the job interviewers with confidence and ended up engaging them in (please don’t try this if you are not eloquent or a sweet talker) conversation.

 

3. Ability check: This is the major reason why they are interviewing you, they want to see if you are the right person for the job. It is now left for you to go extra mile to fortify yourself with the required and necessary information about the job and the company. Never let them catch you on aware, appeal to their needs by giving them what they need and even add “Jara”. Never look desperate or say things that would make them to want to pity you, a friend of mine once made that grievous mistake, he told his interviewers that “he had an accident few months ago” to attract pity. At the end of the day he didn’t get the job, note these people don’t condone any form of liability or inability, so the key is appealing to their needs.

 

4. Human relationship test: They want to know the level of your human relationship; they want to know how you will relate with their clients or customers. That’s why most times they engage you in conversation outside the working spare. At this point the smile you put on, language articulation and your courtesy would speak for you.

 

5. Loyalty check: The interviewer would also like to know the degree of your loyalty, that’s why they ask this question most times “why did you leave the previous company you were working” (answer: I want a bigger challenge in my career, a new working horizon after spending couple of years with them, I left them with a proper notice and on a good note), “are you presently in a contract with any organization or engaged in whatsoever thing that would limit your time. They want own majority of your time if not all, especially the banking industry. Giving them assurance of your loyalty to them would go a long way to give you higher advantage of gaining the employment.

 

6. Background check: This where job experience would speak for you, as a fresh graduate this might be difficult to acquire but it is definitely not a good idea to remain idle after school. Look for something that will get you engaged in regards to the area of your field, render free services if possible. You are after the experience and not the money yet, this point has also helped me too. Every year I voluntarily join the organizing team of a major event in Lagos without getting a dime, then one day an offer came and I was asked if I have ever organized an event before, I happily said yes. I mentioned the event I organized and wala! I got the offer! They want to know where you reside and how it may affect your working flow. Just except to be scrutinized like you are in the custody of the FBI, at this point try as much as possible to give straight and concise answers.

 

7. Belief: Unfortunately this aspect is not supposed to count but unfortunately in this part of the world we are it does count, majority of us are religious folks. I have been asked by several interviewers in the past “Which church do you worship”? You coincidentally attend the same church or have the same belief as they do; you gain closer ties with them. Tell them you are an atheist, agnostic or a traditional worshiper at your own detriment, though I’m not a religious person but I pretend to be in situations like this biko! Nobody come Lagos to come count bridges.

 

I hope this few points of mine is helpful to you my honorable readers, please always check back on www.herexg.wordpress.com for more educative and entertaining post thanks for reading.

 

Six silly mistakes business owners do

As an entrepreneur or a business person, you are called to serve only customers. Most times business owners do some silly mistakes that are very unhealthy for business; here are six silly mistakes business owners do that is dangerous in the business terrain.

1. Poor Branding scope

Branding in business covers a whole lot of areas but I will be talking about business name here, I laugh out loud most times when I hear or see most business name, I would most times ask myself did this people consulted anyone before choosing such business name. Most of them would try to sound very religious even with their business by naming their business according to their religious beliefs, just this most I finished consuming a bread and I decided to go through the bread’s wrapper and what I found was “God’s will Bread”, lol what a joke! Products that are meant for the entire public consumption should be 100% free from all religious attachments except your target consumers are of a particular religious group e.g. You want to manufacture an olive oil for only the Christian faith you name such product “By His Grace Olive oil”. Every business owner whose product is consumed by the entire public should be smart enough to remove all forms of religious content in their businesses so as to make their business appeal to all irrespective of their customer’s beliefs.

 

2. Impatient 

Most business owners want to set up a business today and start making huge profits the next month, hell no! Business is no Abracadabra; it takes time for people to start noticing your business and a longer time for consumers to trust your business. For you not to wait too long for sales to come, you then need to apply an aggressive means of marketing e.g. If your kind of business is not out rightly new in the market, you will have to give consumers a good reason to leave Product A for your own new product B, this was the technique the Nigerian telecommunication giant Glo used to break into the Nigeria market with the introduction of per second billing rate. If you have done a proper analysis of a business, started proper operations, the next thing to employ is patience.

3. Poor Customer Service

I walked into an International commercial bank recently to transact a business; I was like wow is this bank really situated in Nigeria? Though I wasn’t properly dressed from the gate the security personnel treated me like a VIP, when I entered the banking hall I asked for the banks teller from the security man standing in-between the exit and entrance of the bank and he politely showed me where to pick one. I observed that there was not a single seat in the banking hall, which simply means that they are not willing to keep their customers waiting and to be precise I transacted my business with the bank in an amazing time of less than 5mins. With that experience, I promised myself to open an account with them before the end of this year. That banks amazing customer care service has won them an additional customer, trust me I have transacted with other banks here in a Nigeria that I ended up having aches in my legs for standing too long. This is not only applicable to banks alone but all business ventures, always please yours customers like you are trying to woo Cinderella, make them feel more important than they feel they are and they will be stocked to your business like Ant and Sugar.

4. Going into Business for the wrong purpose

It is true that the purpose of every business man is to make profit but beyond making profit you must that purpose that would still make you stay in business even if the ascertained profit is not coming forth. Never go into business because you saw “Chinedu” making profit with his business and you quickly decided to go into the same business as ‘Chinedu”, you never might know “Chinedu’s” drive for the business. One thing is certain you will never beat the original business idea owner, instead of following “Chinedu’s” idea search and create your own purpose of business and become an healthy competitor like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

5. Small Business Vision

When starting up a business on of the first thing that should come into your mind is seeking for ways to enlarge and remain in business, most businesses owned by Africans die immediately the business owner dies. I could mention countless businesses that went bankrupt because of the demise of the business owner; the business owner’s family would fight and fight for the business assets till they end up squandering the business assets and bankrupting the business. Have we asked ourselves why all these foreign brands standing the test of time even when the business owner is long dead and gone? The number one reason is partnership; those foreign businesses are not 100% owned by the business initiator, the profit and loss is shared among group of business like minds with the larger share belonging to the business owner or initiator. Instead your business remaining a one man business build it to a certain appreciable level that will attract investors to come in, be smart to sell out some percent of your company shares with you having the larger share so they won’t have an absolute control over your business. This would enable your business to grow bigger, better and more efficient because other investor’s interest is attached to the business. The business will also stand a better chance to stand the test of time even after the owner’s demise.

6. Focus more on product improvement than brand improvement

If your branding is outweighs your product your business story would look like a very beautiful lady with an appalling character. A perfect example of what I’m talking about is the two giant cocoa beverages manufacturing company in Nigeria. One is more concentrated in branding and advert but giving us chocolate dust for chocolate drink while the other is more focus on the product improvement than branding and hereby giving us a more delicious chocolate drink, the truth is that the later sells better than the former. Improve more on your product quality and it would speak for itself, I didn’t ask us to ignore branding totally because it is also a vital area in business.

15 Tips To Be A Great Entrepreneur In The 21st Century

In the present economy hardship, where jobs are lost every day, families and homes are being shattered because of lack of resources, can there be way out of this hardship ?

I hear wisdom calling from afar, trying to find way into our hearts but many hearts are shot tightly leaving wisdom outside in the cold.

The way out of this economy situation is learning the principles and dynamic rules of entrepreneurship, so I present to you “15 Rules to be a great entrepreneur in the 21th century”.

Now what is expected of you as a 21st century entrepreneur?

Before going any further, you need to first discover yourself

Knowing yourself is the foundation of wisdom; know what your capabilities, strength and weakness are, this goes a long way to help discover who you really are

1. Passion: Being passionate about things you do is the desiring force that drives you to do something even when you are not rewarded for it, it is something you are most times not ordered to do, you most times do them consistently out of your own free will. Passion should be the first thing to think of when choosing a career or skill acquisition , with passion everyday will be like holiday for you even at work.

2. Audacity: Be fearless and bold when handling life issues and business affairs , I learnt something from the CEO of “Konvit Records” Akon, when his record label was about to sign Lady Gaga, most of his company executives was against him signing Lady Gaga, but he was audacious in his decision taking. He stood on his ground and he went ahead to sign her, Lady Gaga later became a hit and brought the company fortunes, this is not to say being audacious doesn’t have its own shortcomings but still yet you still need to be audacious as a 21st century Entrepreneur.

3. Problem Solving: One of the major reason why I wouldn’t like to be a resident in a developed country is because there are no much problems there for me to solve, the people who solved majority of their problems have earned a fortune and they are now spreading their tentacles to Africa e.g. The Chinese. When you discover a problem, instead of you complaining to the government like an average Nigerian do, device a means to solve the problem and smile to the bank. All the billionaires we have today worldwide are problem solvers, quote me anywhere.

4. Spend Money to Make Money: As a 21st century entrepreneur you should spend money to make money not save money, you only save to later spend on a venture that will yield more. Majority of your money should be spent on avenues where you can get the money back, this is why the banks are loyal to top CEO’S in granting loans, because the bank is sure that these ones spend money to get money back. Know this now that CEO’S don’t establish a business with their own money, they establish industries and companies with the accumulated money from peasants and workers collected by banks.

5.Sacrifice: Bear the present pains, pay the sacrifice of that thing you believe in, Bill Gates sacrificed his degree for Microsoft, even our own Seun Osewa sacrificed his degree for Nairaland, this is not to discourage anyone to obtain a degree, just want to use them as an example to open our eyes to a bigger picture. To become a successful 21st century entrepreneur you must be able to let go off something you hold in high esteem that’s a hindrance to your set out goals. In the race of becoming 21st entrepreneur is always a tussle between the stoic trait and epicurean. A stoic is one who can sacrifice present pleasure for the future, an Epicurean is one who lives like there is no tomorrow, they live for now and are consumers.

6. Invest in yourself: When we say invest in yourself we don’t mean buying yourself unnecessary luxuries, invest in things that will add value to you. Like the saying goes “garbage in and garbage out”, computer hardware is useless without an inputted software, you input into a hardware system in relating this to human practicable act, we are humans are the computer hardware and information/ knowledge is the software. You are limited to the amount of information you have, educate and illuminate working scope, and general life engagements. All these will cost you something but never mind it’s for the betterment of your well being.

7. Be Humble: Being humble is as simple as the word sounds, but it’s difficult for many to practice, people naturally despises the proud which is the opposite of humble, no two ways about it, it is either you are humble or proud, so check yourself. No matter the caliber of customers, clients or staffs and even people around you, just be humble to them, because in people lies the treasure you seek (This is why we have the human relation department in companies). Be humble to the extent you make your clients and customers feel comfortable or even above you, being humble doesn’t stop you from becoming who you are.

8. Get a Mentor: Look for someone who is already successful in the direction you are heading to and be humble enough to be mentored by him or her. Apply the law of 33%,

· The first 33% of your time should be spent with those who you above

· The second 33% of your time should be spend with those who are your equals

· And the final 33% should be spent with those above you

9. Read More: Be a voracious reader, this saying in time past was made popular “you want to hide a secret from a black man, put in a writing” but in this present 21st century that saying holds no weight, ground or validity anymore. The fitness folks would say “ you are what you eat “ but I will prefer to say “You are what you read”. In those closed books are hidden treasures of this world, it won’t be revealed to you until you open and read it. Some years back I read the book “ The Angels and the Demons” few years later I watched the movie, but I tell you, It was nothing compared to the book itself, a lot of information was left out of the movie.

10. The Team : You need to work with a smart team, folks that are your like minds, people that will make life easier for you. With the right people around and the right attitude success is a must, a piece of broom stick can sweep only but a little, but with many brooms sticks bonded together there is a greater impression. Stay away from negative people, they have a problem for every solution, while the positive people have the solution to every problem

11. Persevere: One company I will never stop admiring is a digital satellite TV company in Nigeria Sta*****s, when Mul********ce company came up with Go** an exact product like theirs, I exclaimed “ This is the end of Sta*****s” because of the strong reputation of Mul********ce ! But Sta*****s stood on their ground, persevere and restrategized to remain in business. One CEO I cease to admire is the Chairman of the defunct telecommunication company, he allowed the troubles in the business world to overwhelm him , hereby committing suicide, how I wished he has persevered. Rome wasn’t built in day, so start start small, work hard and watch that business grow

12. Consistency : Continue doing what you are doing, also seeking for better ways to do it, at the long run you will sure reap the harvest. Now lets rewind back to 2008, if someone had told Linda Ikeji that Blogging will later get her a mansion, fame and wealth she has now, she might have doubted it. Let the world know you for something, and not a jack of all trade. Being consistent and effective at your game is what qualifies you to be a professional.

13. Goal Setting: Set out your goal, write and execute them, it’s enough for you to just set out goals without execution. Write out your short term goals and your long term goals. Your short term goals ranges from 1 month to 5 years and your long term goals ranges from 5 years and above. Never make that mistake of thinking you can memorize your goals without writing them, our several life’s engagement might let those goals slip off our memory, so it’s we right them out and execute. Always write yours goals like a To-List, marking out each successfully executed goal.

14. Build your Network: In your road to success you are bound to meet with all kinds of people, these same people you came across coming up are the networks you will need to remain a success, everybody you meet are your potential network so treat them nicely. Try as much as possible not to break these networks with poor or bad relations so as not to experience severe hiccups in the business terrain, everybody is useful. Instead of cutting them off, keep them in touch, like Paul the Apostle would say “If possible, be at peace with all men”.

15. Be Optimistic : Expect the best in all possible ways, this is what the religious folks will call faith, stay positive, stay focused, the sky is just a stepping stone.

Narrated by Salisu-Thalith Ridwan

Composed and Written by Henry Nwachukwu (HerexG)