Thomas Edison tried thousands of different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.” Edison replied very confidently,

“Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We now that there are thousands of elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb.“

Wait… you do not have to make all the mistakes yourself. You can learn from the mistakes of others. That is why you are not the first person going that route. Some people have gone that route before you. Whatever you want to do in life, you will surely find someone who has done it before or someone who has done something related to what you set out to do. Your responsibility is to study their story to see how you can avoid their pitfalls and then apply your lessons to your situation.

Some years back, I joined 3 other guys to setup an ICT company. Each of us had different skill sets which we aimed to harness. We were bringing different values to the company. We set out to offer quality and affordable services. The start-up phase was great. We completed our company registration with the Corporate Affair Commission and got an office space which was renovated. Each new day brought us enough reasons to believe that the company was meant to be real.

Within weeks, we got some contracts to setup local area networks and internet services in some companies both within and outside Lagos. On a particular occasion, we got a contract to supply 50 computer system units to a company. It was a dream come through. Things were working as planned. The god of business was really smiling at us. Suddenly, we lost it. Within one year of existence, the company collapsed. It was like a dream but it was so evident that something was missing. Something was wrong with the company structure we had put in place.

Our technical skill sets failed us. We did virtually everything wrong. Then, it hit me that you need more than technical skills to run a successful business. You need a combination of so many skills. I learnt my lessons and I do believe the other 3 learnt theirs also. The whole experience was a very painful way to learn but I am glad I took that step at that phase of my life. You miss a lot of opportunities by not acting. The steps you did not take today because you are afraid of mistakes may be gone forever. I am glad to let you know that you are not shut out forever, and that there is a goal you still can reach. Start today…Dare your fear and take those steps.

Post from: PACE with Emmanuel Oluwatosin

Are You Afraid of Making Mistakes, Learn From Others

“All objects remain in a state of rest until a force is applied” Newton’s law of motion

This is true of many of our aspirations in life. Things will definitely not move until we move. Action orientation is a major requirement for success. The question now is “How do I start?” or “where do I start from?” Even now, I know you are still battling with that question in your mind. I have since discovered one fact in life, a job begun is a job half done. You may not have the clear picture of what you want to do but you need to start some how.

The problem with most of us is that we feel we do not have what it takes to start. You know what? As long as you hold the belief that what you need to start is what you do not have, you will not start. And off course, you can not finish what you have not started. You have the magic… You have what it takes to run a successful business.

Do you have what it takes? In my studies of what it takes to be an entrepreneur, I discover that entrepreneurship requires character. You can not just wake up today and start a business. There are some characteristics that you must possess. I have been able to identify some of these. Look through them and see if you truly possess what it takes to own and run a successful business.

Guts: Guts means you must have an entrepreneurial instinct, which is an overwhelming desire to have your own business. You must have the guts and dedication to be completely devoted to your goal. Incidentally, devotion to your goal is much more likely if you have a love for your intended business. Life is too short to start a business that doesn’t give you satisfaction and joy. And, through good times and bad times, you will stick with something you love.

As Solomon said,

“There is nothing better for men (and women!) than they should be happy in their work-so let them enjoy it now.”

Brains: While appropriate educational credentials are important, entrepreneurial “brains” means more than scholastic achievements. To become a successful entrepreneur, you must have a working knowledge about the business you plan to start before you start it. Common sense combined with appropriate experience is the necessary brainpower. Prudence, follow through and attention to detail are very important.

Capital: I should have addressed this issue first. You will need seed money of your own plus sufficient cash to maintain a positive cash flow for at least the first year. Many businesses can be started on a very small scale with a small investment. Then, as the business grows and you gain experience, cash flow from your business can be used for growth. In some cases you don’t need starting capital to hire other people because you might start by doing everything yourself.

The “do it yourself” start is a good way to learn everything about your business and also makes you better qualified to delegate work to others later on. You can control your risk by placing a limit on how much you invest in your business. If you think you have all these in place, then, start something in line the kind of business you want to start now. You do not have to start it full time. Start something now even while you are still working at your present employment. Some people started their businesses this way and some other will still do. What are you waiting for? START NOW…

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How To Start From Where You Are

Technorati Tags: success, successful business, entrepreneur, business

“The difference between the rich and the poor is what they do in their spare time .”

Time waits for no man. This is simply known by everyone, but it lacks a corresponding common practice to back it. Consider a new - born baby. Upon birth, the child has nothing to his name, except “baba” and “mama”. All this little human has is his time, and he only would one day get to discover that every other thing he would receive / have in his life only would come in exchange for this precious commodity. Many a times, man seeks more of this treasure, while all they need is a better way of employing it as a good steward. Friends, we need to be the pilot of this time, while it flies before your eyes. Believe me, before you say Jack, or the “O” in OBJECTION, the year is gone, and while you take an inventory, you find - out that you have achieved nothing!

It is quite unfortunate to see many people live with no picture of where they are going or what lies ahead. Many merely exist with nothing to show for their existence. The one thing they know how to do best is mark time. This is clearly seen in the way many manage their time. It is worth remembering that a week from now – it will be a week from now and what becomes of you after then is determined by how you make use of your God-given asset. Whether you manage it well or not, either way, you will surely achieve a certain result - it just might not be what you expected.

You have to make a conscious effort to reduce some of time’s best enemies. Probably the strongest of those has just two initials …TV! Is your TV time cutting into your productive time? Take this little test. Take a time out now and estimate how many hours of TV you watched last week. Be honest with yourself. I believe you are surprised at what the result turned out to be. On average, people spend 20 to 30 hours watching TV every week. If you reduce that even by a little, you have more time to take the actions that will lead you towards success.

What about the time spent just surfing the Internet with no clear direction what you intend to achieve? Many times we just sit down behind the computer system at the Internet cafés or at home wasting away the precious gift of time God has given us. An average person spends most of his / her time online in the chat room chatting with people they know next to nothing about. Many lives have been re-configured to exist only in the chat rooms. This makes me wonder what the life of many will turn out to be if Yahoo, Hotmail or most of the chat rooms decide to shut down their chat facility today.

Some already understand how to maximize their time on the internet but they still spend so much time arguing about what they can’t change. You will see them in groups discussing the reasons why someone must be impeached or why one football team lost her last match or another. Imagine what our world would have turned out to be if all those hours are converted to doing things that truly add values to lives or even in a meaningful way to their topics of discussion.

The problem is NOT that there isn’t enough time. Time doesn’t expand. The problem is that we burden ourselves with too many unplanned and most times irrelevant activities. We always want to take part in even activities that do not necessarily need our attention. Many a time, you hear people say that they are busy. But the question is how productive is what they are doing with their time. Don’t confuse being busy with working effectively - activities can be tension-relieving, not goal achieving. By concentrating on fewer priorities regularly on a fixed schedule, you can achieve a lot more in less time.

Time management is an interesting notion. Though it may not be possible to own or control time, we can manage ourselves in time: our awareness of what we are doing and how we are doing it within the construct of time. We can actually determine what we do with the gift of 24 hours that we get freely each day from God. God has given us freely the ability to influence our experience of time and what we do with ourselves within the time construct. What we put our attention on increases, and so it is with our perception of how we use time. It’s all about focus. Focusing your attention is one thing you need to learn if you indeed want to determine what you do with your time. Since you cannot focus on everything, you must be selective about that which you will spend your time on. This means that you must prioritize. The key to success is how you allocate your time to the important ones.

“If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.” ~ Lee Iacocca ~

You have, no doubt, heard the phrase “the time value of money“. It means that a naira in your hand today is worth more than a naira in your hand a year from now. Why? Because of what you can do with that naira over the next year. You can invest that naira in any business or even in an interest-bearing project and have N1.05 at the end of the year. If you decide to take your money in after a year, your opportunity cost (foregone investment) will be five kobo. Not to mention what inflation will have done to your purchasing power within the time frame under consideration.

Think about how many hours you are losing each time you engage in those irrelevant activities. Apply the same thought process to when you actually ARE working – maximizing your time. Decide what better use of your time each time. By having this uppermost in your mind at all times, you can always decide what the best use of your time is. Time is money and money is time. So, spend them wisely.

Post from: PACE with Emmanuel Oluwatosin

How Are You Using Time?

Technorati Tags: success, Time management, business

Are you still thinking you don’t have what you need to achieve your dream? And thinking it is not worth it holding on any longer? Wait…Why did Napoleon lose to the English at the battle of Waterloo? The English simply fought five minutes longer. Some few years back, I went to serve my fatherland (to fulfil all righteousness). I came out of NYSC Orientation Camp with no clear picture of what lied ahead. The truth is that I had been deployed to a village (to teach Physics and Mathematics). Immediately I saw the deployment letter, I knew within me that I was not going to end up at the place. How this will happen, I did not know. But I made up my mind to give it all I had at the time.

Motivations to hold on came from the pictures of future I carry within me and the desire to succeed. What will happen to all the dreams? The great plans? My aspirations for the year? My community development work with the youth – led initiatives I was working on before the start of service year? The questions were countless and it was as if I would not be able to provide the solutions. Almost everybody around me at that time did not know the solution either. Nobody, I mean, really knew what lies ahead.

Waking up the following morning, I discovered that I had joy unlimited – the joy of seeing my dreams achieved. There and there, I decided to effect the change that would lead to the fulfilment of my dreams. I made up my mind to secure a placement first within the city and then sort out things with the State Director much later. He was the only person everybody believed could do anything to the posting.

My dreams paved way for action and the actions to the result – redeployment to the city. In a matter of days, I got a new place in the city and was able to effect the desired change of location. The roads seemed too far but the passion derived from the dreams saw me through. This experience taught me two great lessons as regards life. “If you want the rainbow in life, you have to be willing to put up with the rain!” and “If you really want to live, you would better start at once to try!”

Sometimes, patience, perseverance and time are the simplest ingredients to achieving your personal success. If you really think about it, most great achievements were not born until lots of time, enormous patience (with yourself) and unwavering perseverance prevail. So, let us now consider few people whose simplified formula for success: “P.P.T.”, (Patience, Perseverance and Time) spawned great products! Every minute somewhere in the country a “Tantalizers’” fast food centre is satisfying people’s need. Can you imagine a business which opened its door (or “Arches”) some few years ago still so strong today with so many outlets across the nation? Well, its founder Bose Ayeni, sure did. Mrs. Ayeni, was no inventor. But she recognised a great idea when she saw one.

From being a mother and no job in view, she started packaging few businesses with a monthly allowance she got from her husband – Mr. Folu Ayeni. She discovered an opening in the Fast Food Business and that happened to be a meeting of interest and opportunity. Tantalizers did not take off on a easy as funding became a hard nut to crack. Finally! It took a loan from a friend to kick start the dream eventually. But the truth is that Tantalizers would have started anyway though it would be more painful. Bose Ayeni is a simple woman with a simple plan to achieve huge success. Today, Tantalizers is being listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Chances are you are reading this article in a room with the use of lighting. Well, you can thank Thomas Edison for that. Did you know that history had it that Edison failed over 9,000 (that is thousand) times before perfecting the light bulb! How many of us would have thrown in the “proverbial” towel at 20 failures, 150 failures or at the 8000th failure? In my opinion, Thomas Edison’s picture should be under the definition “perseverance” in Webster’s dictionary! I believe you are in agreement with my suggestion. After Edison had invented and produced the light bulb, a reporter asked him how it felt to fail over 9,000 times. Edison replied, “I was glad I found 9,000 ways not to invent the light bulb!” From this point forward Edison went on to receive 1,093 patents, more than any other person in U.S. history. Wow!!!

I am sure of us would say that the examples do not apply to you. What about Ubong Essien (Achievers’ manual), Austin Okere (Computer Warehouse Group), Biodun Shobanjo: Jewel of Advertising, Fola Adeola (Guaranty Bank & Fate Foundation), Jimoh Ibrahim (Global Fleet Group and NICON Group), Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State and the Sweet Sensation Stories? As you can see, the common traits between Bose Ayeni, Thomas Edison and all the people mentioned above is simple and direct: Belief, Perseverance, Patience and Time. Whatever it is you are trying to achieve in your precious and valuable life, I am convinced these traits must be present. Especially, belief! If you do not believe, you will not achieve. So, don’t give up now. Give it one more trial and you will succeed. Push the right buttons.

Post from: PACE with Emmanuel Oluwatosin

Just Before You Give Up 2

Technorati Tags: dream, success, Thomas Edison

Are you at the verge of giving up? Do you think you have done all you know you can do and things don’t work the way you want it? Are you still failing to achieve your result. Life may seem to be very unfair and you may have agreed to the lie that nothing good can happen to you again on earth. But the truth is life holds great and wonderful things for you. You only need to hold on to your dreams – passions – for some minute more.  You need to stay firm on your ground and march on.

The story has been told and retold countless times about the battle of Waterloo. Poems have been written and songs have been composed detailing every conceivable aspect about it. History and legend have it that after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte’s army and victory of the Duke of Wellington over the French, Napoleon was taken away and imprisoned. Even though Napoleon was in prison, he carried himself  with dignity.

Some years later, he was asked the great question by some reporters.  Why did the English won at Waterloo? Is it that they have a superior army or weapons? His response was revealing. Napoleon’s eyes slowly swept across the room. The silence was so deep that it was almost deafening. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. Then he replied, “The English fought five minutes longer.” From the mouth of the great general himself came the answer, “The English fought five minutes longer”. Many times, five minutes longer is all that it takes. Though times have changed from the days of the Emperor Napoleon, many things still remain the same.

Victory, sometimes, is just a few minutes away. You may be saying that you have a peculiar case. Yes, I know, we all go through terrible times. In today’s world many are faced with crisis after crisis. For most, there is never enough money, no jobs, poor relationships, ill health and the list could go on and on. Of course, there are good times too, but the hard times usually block many people’s vision of the good times. You need to keep reminding yourself that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. When things get really bad is not the time for you to give up. That is the time to pursue your dream. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask. Anything will do - a kind word from a friend, a paragraph from a good book, an inspiration from the word of God, even a stray piece of music from the radio.

Some people will always be there for you. Others will turn and run from you, fearing for their own well-being. Still others may throw you a crumb of money, or food and hope you will not ask for more. Be grateful to God. Your job is to just keep on keeping on. When you are down in the arena and the dust is in your mouth and you can hear the screaming of the crowd, remember, “The English fought five minutes longer.” Sometimes it is so bad that one day at a time is too long. So go one hour at a time. And if that is too long, then how about five minutes at a time?

Success is sometimes just yards or minutes away. There are times when the last few yards may seem like miles and the last few minutes may appear to be hours. But if you keep on keeping on, if you do not let hope die, if you have faith in the goodness of the universe and the Force that created us, you will win in the end. So, just before you give up, remember that your dreams can become your reality…

Tags: success,, persistence,, decision

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Just Before You Give Up!

Technorati Tags: Success

Are you currently at a cross-road in your personal life or business and things seem not to happening accordingly to plan? Do you feel like giving up much before you even start? Then, I have good news for you. Most successful people have gone through this phase at one stage of their life. They had enough reasons to give up their dreams but chose otherwise. Today, you and I celebrate them and wish we could be like them. They have only one thing working for them…PERSISTENCE.

Whenever you think of doing something new or different and your first reaction is “I can’t”, you automatically block yourself from getting the ideas or the resources that you need to achieve your aim. You will start to think of all the reasons why such a thing is not possible for you. Everything around you will point towards failure rather than success. And before you know it, that is what you will get. This is what many people do.

Many want to improve their lives, increase their income and accomplish much more that they do today but they constantly respond with the words “I can’t” as soon as the new goal pops into their mind. Before they even try something new, they will talk themselves out it. They will then begin to think of reasons why it is impossible for them.

Are you giving up before you even try the first time? Have you been told many reasons why you can get what you want out of life? Do you believe that the successful are just a selected few? I used to think this way and I have to unlearn the words “I can’t” and delete it from my dictionary. The most important habit you can develop for great happiness and success is the habit of repeating to yourself and believing “I can do anything I put my mind to!”. The most important words you can repeat over and over to yourself are “I can do it!”.

When you set out to do something and doubt sets in, instead of giving up, repeat the word to yourself several times. This has worked for me and it still works. You can do anything you set your mind to. You are only limited by what your belief system. So, what is it that you want to do? Starting that new business? Getting that job? Or going for that course? Take the first step today…Move beyond your doubt. Believe that you can do it and then set out a plan of how you would achieve it. You would soon be doing things that you thought are impossible if only you will make up your mind not to give up now.

What are you waiting for? Make that commitment to give everything a try no matter what people tell you or you feel. Choose today to live your dream. Remember, whether you think you can or you can’t, either way you are right.

Post from: PACE with Emmanuel Oluwatosin

Are You Giving Up Before You Start?

Technorati Tags: business