How to Stand Out from the Crowd- Excellence! With Pastor Sam Adeyemi

Excellence is the possession of good quality in an unusual degree. As God’s ambassadors, we must represent him accurately. Excellence is doing things right. But before we consider how to do it right, lets ensure we are doing the right thing. Excellence in the wrong thing still spells failure.

DEFINE YOUR ASSIGNMENT

You cannot just be efficient for efficiency’s sake. We must also be effective. Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things. Defining your assignment is the starting point for you to achieve excellence. State clearly your vision in life or the vision of your organization. This defines the limit of the areas in which to achieve excellence as a person or organization.

DEAL WITH OLD MINDSETS

Some people say that you have to choose between quality and quantity. This is not true because the more quality you have, the more quantity you attract. The more you do things better, the more you will be patronized.

There is another myth that says you must have large amounts of money before you can achieve excellence. The truth is, you need excellence to attract a large amount of money. If you will improve on the quality of what you are doing, your customers will increase; this translates into more money for you. Do not ask,

“What will this cost us?” Rather ask, “What will it cost us if we do not do it?””

WHY EXCELLENCE IS A MUST

Things are changing around us every day. A person or organization that is outdated cannot be relevant to a contemporary world. If you are still making use of your old manual typewriter when you are supposed to be doing your work with great speed on a computer, it may mire a lot of things. We must endeavor to up-date ourselves with new technologies.

Excellence motivates, especially in an underdeveloped environment like ours. We should inspire the people around us by our actions. Our organizations should be places of inspiration. What is that unique thing you have or your organization has that can inspire other people?

Striving for excellence shows people that we are serious about our assignment i.e. what we are doing and encourages them to want to be part of it. No matter how small a thing looks, if you have invested quality thoughts in it, people tend to appreciate and identify with it. Great works are a result of deep thoughts.

Like begets like. Excellence attracts good quality; human, financial and material resources. For example if you work in a bank and that bank is known for excellent customer service, i.e. within five minutes a customer has been attended to; people tend to flock to such banks. The same goes for supermarkets, salons, and various companies.

Life is progressive and not stagnant. We have to jog to maintain our position. If we remain stagnant, we risk failure. There is no pride in failure. We must appreciate excellence wherever it is found. Excellence attracts.

We must strive for it. This is one of the keys to success in life.

If you run an organization, then make it an excellence-oriented organization. Look for ways to continually improve quality in services offered, events and your facilities.

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENTS

Communication – i.e. your advert materials must portray excellence.

Customer service – when a service is good, one person tells a maximum of 5 people. But when the services are bad, one person tells 20 people. Now only 4% come back to complain but the remaining 96% speak with their feet.

Creativity- your staff must keep churning in ideas about how to do things in a better way.

Staff trainings – staffs should be exposed to world class improvement programmes for better performance. It is vital to keep learning.

Facilities- The organization’s facilities reveal what we value and reflect our self-image. Therefore, the excellence-oriented organization must thrive for excellence in the following areas:

The painting of the facilities and landscaping of the environment. Keep the plants and grasses well trimmed and all directional signs freshly painted.

The environment should be well lit, has comfortable seating arrangements and the temperature should be well managed with a cooling system.

The rest rooms should be clean. Visitors may forget what you say but not the memory of a foul-smelling restroom.

The appearance of staffs says a lot about your organization’s priority for excellence.

The excellence-oriented organization invests money in what people can see. Human beings are generally motivated and affected by what they see.

Excellence is more of a process than a product; a journey, not a destination. We should not make excellence a one- time goal. The key is never to stop learning. When you stop learning, you stop growing. Upgrade from time to time.

You will Succeed!

Sam Adeyemi

TOP 50 RULES to INVESTING

Hello people good morning,guess you woke up on the right side of the bed this morning...lolz

Today I shall be sharing with us fifty top rules to investing every businessman and investor must know in order to get more from their investments be it on the long run or on the short run.

After a careful and thorough research I discovered these laws

1. An attempt at making a quick buck usually leads to losing much of that buck.

2. If stocks in general don't seem cheap, stand aside.

3. Buy and hold doesn't ALWAYS work.

4. Never throw good money after bad (don't buy more of a loser).

5. Cut your losers, and let your winners ride.

6. If the investment sounds too good to be true, it is.

7. Don't fight "the tape" (the trend.)

8. Don't fight the Fed (interest rates).

9. Most stocks that fall under $5 rarely see $10 again.

10. The best hot tip: there is no such thing as a hot tip.

11. Don't fall in love with your stock; it won't fall in love with you.

12. Don't have more than 3% AT RISK in any one position.

13. The trend is your friend until the end.

14. Trading options often leads to a quick trip to the poorhouse.

15. Bear-market rallies are often violent; giving the illusion the bull is back.

16. Low-priced stocks don't double any faster than high-priced ones.

17. Valuations don't matter in the short run.

18. When a stock hits a new high, it's not time to sell. Something is going right.

19. Have a rose garden portfolio (don't trim your roses while your weeds fester).

20. It takes courage to be a pig (don't settle for taking 10% profits).

21. Not selling a stock for a gain, simply because you're afraid of the taxes, is a bad idea.

22. Avoid limited upside, unlimited downside investments.

23. When all you're left with is hope, get out.

24. Don't keep losing money just to "prove you are right." Nobody cares.

25. Forecasts are useless.

26. Have patience and stick with your discipline.

27. When it's time to act, don't hesitate.

28. Expert investors care about risk, novice investors shop for returns.

29. Don't lose money.

30. You can learn more from your bad moves than your good.

31. A rising tide raises all ships, and vice versa, so assess the tide, not the ships.

32. Stocks fall more than you think and rise higher than you can possibly imagine.

33. Very few people have had great success short selling, even in bear markets.

34. You can't know everything about everything.

35. Since you can't know everything, seek out specialists who know their areas.

36. If a company's sales are shrinking, the business isn't growing anymore.

37. Real estate cycles are not the same as stock market cycles.

38. Investing in what's popular never ends up making you any money.

39. Know your investment edge, and don't stray too far from it.

40. Bear markets begin in good times. Bull markets begin in bad times.

41. Buy value - stocks that are priced less than their underlying assets are worth.

42. Neglected sectors often turn out to offer good values.

43. There's usually only one reason corporate insiders buy stock.

44. Don't miss a good one by being too concerned with the exact price you pay.

45. Avoid popular stocks, fad industries and new ventures.

46. Buy shares in businesses you understand.

47. Try to buy a stock when it has few friends.

48. Be patient: don't be rattled by fluctuations.

49. Mutual funds underperform the averages over the long run. Buy index funds instead.

50. If you don't understand the investment, don't invest.

Pheeww! That's a lot of rules...intuitive, yet millions of investors break these rules every day. I'd like to

leave you with one more rule, which I'm seeing among investors trying to get back to where they

were... 51. The people who suffer the worst losses are those who over-reach. 

Number 29 is my best---It says don't lose money...Whats your best,drop it in the comment box below!!!

Hope you enjoyed the post...Please drop your comment it will make us get better.

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Forex rule: CBN backs oil palm sector revamp

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday said it would do everything within its powers to support the revitalisation of the oil palm sector in Nigeria in order to provide jobs for Nigerians.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, made the pledge in Abuja during a meeting between the bank’s management and oil palm value chain stakeholders to agree on a road map to resolve the challenges in the oil palm value chain in Nigeria.

He expressed concern at the contrasting fortunes of Nigeria from being the largest producer of palm oil worldwide in the late 1950s and 1960s, to becoming a net importer of the commodity from the 1980s to date.

According to him, Nigeria currently lags behind in a distant fifth position in world production, behind
countries that many years ago sent emissaries to Nigeria to learn production techniques and to get their first seedlings.

A statement from the bank said Emefiele also decried the practice where huge amounts are spent to import items that could ordinarily be produced locally

He stressed the need for all stakeholders to collaborate restore the glory days to the oil palm sector in the country.

While recalling the recent policy of the CBN that excluded 41 items from being procured with foreign exchange from the Nigerian foreign exchange markets, he reiterated that the policy measure was introduced to help conserve Nigeria’s foreign reserves as well as facilitate the resuscitation of domestic industries and improve employment generation in the country.

He said the CBN decided to take the lead and play a major role in the resuscitation of the oil palm sector and decided to take a bold step and include Palm Kernel, Palm Oil Products and Vegetable Oils in the exclusion list of items not valid for foreign exchange at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange window.

Emefiele also reiterated that the decision taken by the CBN to include palm oil products in the exclusion list was taken after a thorough analysis of the sub sector.

This, he said, was taken in the overall interest of the country, for the resuscitation of the local oil palm industry and to improve employment generation in the country.

“For the country to attain self-sufficiency there has to be committed development of more estate plantations and coordinated partnerships between the small holder plantation farmers and processors,” the statement quoted him to have said

Miners association’s Microfinance Bank to commence operations in 2016

(NAN) Alhaji Sani Shehu, the National President, Miners Association of Nigeria, said on Sunday that the Miners Microfinance Bank for small-scale miners would no longer be established this year, as earlier proposed.

Shehu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, however, added that the proposed bank would begin operations before the end of 2016.

According to him, the proposed bank owned by the association, which is meant to cater for the small-scale miners, will no longer be completed this year, as scheduled.

“The bank is still in process; it will no longer start operation this year as proposed because when the idea was conceived, the association thought it could be formalised in just two months.

“At a recent meeting we had with our consultant handling the project, he indicated that there were procedures to be taken; hopefully, it will now commence operation before the end of 2016,’’ he said.

Shehu said the establishment of the bank would cover the funding gap in the nation’s mining sector, adding that small-scale miners carried out about 90 per cent of the mining activities in the country.

He said the terms and conditions of the bank’s loans would be favourable as the interest rate and loan repayment terms will be different from that of the conventional banks.

Shehu, however, added that the bank would be supported through multiple windows, saying that investors would be involved in the bank to enable it to generate some interest from its operations.

(NAN)

FCMB, states partner to boost IGRs

The Group Managing Director, First City Monument Bank, Mr. Ladi Balogun, says the bank is ready to partner with state governments to finance agriculture and improve their internally generated revenues.

He said the bank was exploring new ways to assist the Kwara State Government in improving its IGR.

He spoke recently in Ilorin during a courtesy visit by the FCMB’s management team to the Kwara State

Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, a statement by the state government said.

In his response, Ahmed said the state government was working on strategies that would encourage commercial banks to play greater role in the financing of its economic development programmes as part of efforts to re-position the state’s economy.

He added that commercial banks would be expected to expand their agriculture funding windows to agribusinesses in the state.

The governor stated that the prevailing economic challenges in the country had made it expedient to explore various strategies in financing economic development.

Ahmed said, “Agriculture is gradually being de-risked; so it is making it quite enabling for prospective investors to come in here to see how to take advantage of what we have on ground.

“We have tried to make it as private sector driven as possible. We have quite a few individuals who have invested in processing which of course creates a lot of room for backward integration that a lot of farmers now go into structured large scale farming culture.

[Punch]

UBA raises N11.5bn from rights issue

United Bank for Africa Plc has announced the completion of its rights issue, following the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The bank raised N11.5bn through an equity offering; a rights issue of one ordinary share for every existing 10 units at a price of N3.50 each. The offer was fully subscribed by its shareholders.

 With this additional equity, UBA said it had fortified its capital base ahead of the full implementation of Basel II, which requires higher capital buffer for banks, to accommodate credit, operational and market risks inherent in the business of financial intermediation.

The Group Managing Director, UBA, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, while speaking on the rights issue, said, “I am pleased with the successful completion of this rights issue, as it provides further leverage to exploit our growth potential.

“On behalf of the management of UBA, I appreciate the shareholders for their strong commitment towards the growth of our dear bank and for the unwavering confidence reposed in us in building a great Pan-African institution.”

We will remain true to our promise of delivering superior and sustainable return to all stakeholders over the near to long-term, just as we are committed to the development of the African economies where we operate.”

The bank had in December last year raised N30.5bn in tier-II capital through the issuance of seven-year fixed rate unsecured notes, maturing in 2021.
The bank has also completed a dual listing of its corporate bond on the Financial Market Dealers Quotation Over-the-Counter market and the Nigerian Stock Exchange, making it the first Nigerian company to do so.

“This additional equity provides further capital buffer for us to grow our business over the medium term, with a strong positive outlook on delivering our performance guidance for the year,” the Group Chief Financial Officer, UBA, Mr. Ugo Nwaghodoh, said.

The first quarter results of the bank for the period ended March 2015 showed that its earnings rose by 22 per cent to N83bn from N68bn in the comparative period of 2014.


[Punch]

Nigeria’s active telecoms subscribers increase to 146million

NAN) The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Sunday said the active lines in the nation’s telecommunications industry stood at 146,561,744 in the month of May.

The commission made this known in its Monthly Subscriber Data which was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

NAN reports that active lines in Nigeria were 145,476,326 for the month of April.
The figure increased by 1,085,418 in May, the NCC said.

According to the data, 144,386,841 of the 146,561,744 active numbers subscribe to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network services.

The GSM operators increased their active customers by 1,329,607 as against the 143,057,234 subscribers they recorded in April.

The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators had 1,993,278 active users in

May, indicating a decline of 241,024 from the 2,234,302 customers they had in April.
Also, the monthly subscriber data showed that the Fixed Wired/Wireless networks’ consumers reduced to 181,625 in May, after losing the 3,165 customers they recorded from the 184,790 data for April.

The chart revealed that the Tele-density of the country’s telecommunications industry increased to 104.69 per cent in May, from 103.91 per cent in the month of April.

NAN reports that the Tele-density statistics measure the percentage of a country’s population with access to telecommunications services, as determined from the subscriber base.

Nigeria’s Tele-density is currently calculated by the NCC on a population of 140 million people.

NAN also reports that there was an increase of 0.78 per cent in the Tele-density of Nigeria in May.

(NAN)

GTBank named ‘Best Bank in Nigeria’

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc has been named ‘Best Bank in Nigeria’ by Euromoney.

The lender won the award during the 2015 Euromoney Awards held at the Natural History Museum in London on Thursday, a statement by the bank said.

The Euromoney Awards for excellence covers more than 20 global product categories in over 100 countries. it recognises institutions that have demonstrated leadership, innovation, and momentum in the markets they operate.

In selecting its recipients, Euromoney combines quantitative and qualitative data to honour institutions that have brought the highest levels of service, innovation and expertise to their customers.

The statement quoted the Editor, Euromoney Magazine, Mr. Clive Horwood, as saying, “Competition for the awards this year was tough, arguably the toughest it has been since the start of the global financial crisis.

“In winning this award, GTBank stands out not only because of its stellar performance but by its ability to define what its core strengths are, abide by these strengths and build its business around them.”

According to him, banking in the future will be about what banks do, and what they
don’t do.

He said the Nigerian lender stood out for its ability to adapt to local situations while maintaining international standards of best practice.”

The Managing Director, GTBank, Mr. Segun Agbaje, who received the award on behalf of the bank, was quoted as saying, “We are humbled and proud to be recognised as the ‘Best Bank in Nigeria.’

[Punch]

E-payment transactions hit N35.1tn – Heritage Bank CEO

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Bank Limited, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, said electronic payment transactions in the country grew from N18.1tn in 2012 to N35.1tn in 2014.

He said innovation was inevitable for the banking industry, adding that the changing dynamics of banking across the globe had necessitated the need for the country to move along the direction of e-banking, among other things.

A statement by the bank quoted Sekibo as noting that the changes were driven by forces of globalisation, self-service mobile devices and regulation.

He spoke recently at the annual Cashless Card Expo of Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to him, the impact of the changes on the Nigerian banking landscape has been reflected in the sharp increase in the growth of electronic payment services between 2012 and 2014 in the country.

He said, “The volume of e-payment in Nigeria grew from N18.1tn in 2012 to N35.1tn in 2014. While transactions through Point of Sale increased from N48bn in 2013 to N312bn in 2014, Instant Pay transactions increased from N3.8tn in 2012 to N19.9tn in 2014.”

The Heritage Bank boss, however, said that the growth in e-payment did not show the huge population of mobile phone users in the country.

Sekibo said, “There are over 105 million mobile phones users in Nigeria. Also 60 million of Nigerians do not have bank accounts but have phones. Further, research has shown that 92 per cent of banking transactions can be done without human intervention.

“Convenient banking is the norm and differentiation can only come via innovation. E-payment is now a commodity, innovative e-payment is the way to go.”
The CEO said the lender was committed to introducing more innovative banking services.

[Punch]

Akwa Ibom to assemble luxury cars, others

Akwa Ibom State will on Monday begin the construction of a plant to assemble luxury cars, ambulances and fire trucks in the state.

The move, according to a statement on Friday, is part of the efforts of the new administration to harness the various resources in the state to achieve total industrialisation.

The Governor, Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, had on Thursday declared open a retreat for the newly appointed members of his cabinet which is aimed at intimating them with the vision of the new leadership in the state.

According to the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Ekerete Udoh, the retreat, which is focused on industrialisation, will appraise ways to build on the legacies of the former Governor of the State, Godswill

Akpabio and keep the state’s sound footing for economic development.
The statement added that the governor had declared his commitment to leverage on the economic potential of the state to move it to the next level.

Udoh said the retreat would also focus on how to harness the various resources in the state to achieve total industrialisation for the benefit of all citizens, adding that it would map out strategies on how all the ministries can work together for the realisation of the economic policies of the new administration.

He said to achieve this, the new governor had set up a technical committee on agriculture and food sufficiency, a technical committee on Ibom Deep Seaport,

“On Monday, July 13, a technical committee on Foreign Direct Investment will be inaugurated while a ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a plant to assemble luxury cars, ambulances and fire trucks in Itu will also hold same day,” he said.

The statement quoted the governor to have said recently while setting up the committee for the deep seaport project, “Ibom Deep Seaport is an audacious attempt to re-write the maritime story of Akwa Ibom State. It holds the promise of an industrial revolution of our state, creation of over 100,000 jobs as well as the promise of a self-sustaining commercial city with oil and gas support services.

[Punch]

Government to write CBN over high loan collaterals

The Federal Government has expressed concern over the inability of women farmers to access loans and micro-credit schemes from banks due to high collateral.

Already, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Mr. Ezekiel Oyemomi, has concluded arrangements to take up the matter with the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure a review of the process of giving out the facilities.

Oyemomi stated this in Abuja during a courtesy call on him by a coalition of women rights organisation under the aegis of “Women Lead Agriculture”, a project sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, and the Executive Director of Women Advocates’ Research and Documentation Centre, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi.

He said, “We are reviewing programmes, especially micro-credit schemes for the benefit of women. There is a particular percentage within the provision of micro-credit scheme and you will discover that people who should be beneficiaries, like in most government programmes, are not really benefiting. From our review, we discovered that even though the CBN has done so well, people are not really accessing these facilities.

“Part of the problem is that the women beneficiaries are not aware of it. The CBN may not have anticipated the collateral they are seeking for. Women are very credit-worthy and they are not the type of people that will take credit and run away, studies have shown this.

“The problem really is the financial facilitators who will really like to treat women as the conventional debtors. The women do not have the collaterals.”

The permanent secretary added, “We are putting our papers together to let the CBN know that their laudable schemes are not getting to the target audience because of high collateral from banks.

“We are going to look at what is wrong with the CBN, the banks and the women. The way forward should be to liberalise, reduce and simplify the process of the loans. We are suggesting the review based on the facts on ground.”

In her remark, Akiyode-Afolabi, had earlier said women farmers had limited access to credit facilities, farm inputs, training technology, crop insurance and just about 10 per cent on the lands on which they farm compared to their male counterparts in the country.

She said, “Women are still struggling to be heard on issues affecting them directly. There are little or no involvement of women farmers in local, states and national decision-making and policy issues in agricultural sector.

She said ‘Women in Agriculture’ was inaugurated to support women farmers in organising for leadership and voice accountability in the agricultural sector.

While urging government to work with women to reduce poverty, mitigate and adapt to the effect of climate change, Akiyode-Afolabi said there was need to holistically address the gender gap in the agricultural sector.

[Punch]

NSE loses N1.3tn in market capitalisation

As bearish sentiment in the Nigerian stock market held sway last week, the market capitalisation of equities listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange has fallen by N1.3tn from a high of N12.135tn recorded in April.

The equities market lost N273bn in market capitalisation last week as it dipped from N11.108tn, at which it opened on Monday, to close at N10.835tn on Friday.

The decline in market value followed lingering equities sell-offs by foreign and local investors, forcing stocks to fall to a three-month low last Tuesday as investors who were worried about a shortage of dollars on the foreign exchange market sold shares.

Following the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president, the stock market had rallied impressively, after weeks of sell-offs on the back of political tensions before the election. The market capitalisation of listed equities hit a peak of N12.135tn on April 2.

But since then, the country’s stock market has continued to take a hit from worries over the continued slide in the naira and the impact of persistently low oil prices on government finances.
Analysts at Vetiva Capital Management Limited in a report described last week as another red week for

Nigerian stocks as bears tightened their grip on the NSE.

“Sustained domestic macro concerns and the renewed decline in global oil prices fueled a selloff on the exchange across five consecutive days. Despite strong advances in the industrial goods sector at week open, negative sentiment in the consumer goods and financial goods sectors continued to offset gains, steering the NSE ASI to its 8th consecutive red close,” they said.

On what will shape markets this week, the analysts highlighted the potential for modest gains in select large caps given the length of recent losses, saying, “We expect bearish market sentiment to persist in the coming week even as bank earnings season kicked off this past week on a negative note.”

On their part, analysts at Meristem Securities Limited in their investment guide for the week and outlook for the second half of the year, said the Nigerian equities market, pressured by spill-over effects from falling global oil prices, fragile domestic economic fundamentals and largely unimpressive company performances, recorded relatively low market activity in the first half of 2015 evidenced by a 3.46 per cent decline in the All Share Index.

“Although we expect the prevailing challenges to persist into the second half of 2015, we anticipate intermittent upswings in market mood, driven by trickles of positive news inflow from the political space and position-taking in fundamentally justified stocks.”

The analysts said they were not optimistic about the banking sector’s prospective performance for the second half of the year, given the rising cost of funds, limits on non-interest income generation, impaired economic fundamentals and declining quality of loans, even as higher yields on assets are expected.

“Pricing of stocks might also be dragged by expected lower dividend yields from the need to conserve capital.”

They said lacklustre sentiments towards insurance stocks persisted in the first half of the year, as 24 out of the 29 listed insurance stocks currently trade at par value, adding that “Based on the uninspiring outlook for the entire economy for the rest of the year, we anticipate this bearish mood to be sustained.”

The Meristem analysts stated that the insurgency in the Northern part of the country, poor nature of supporting infrastructure, and devaluation of the currency had dragged the agricultural sector in the year.

“We are not expectant of a turnaround in the near term, as the listed agricultural sector companies are being affected by the supply glut in the global rubber industry and consequent fall in commodity prices, devaluation of the naira and the effect on imports
of some raw materials, among others.

“The consumer goods sector had a stormy half year, owing to the direct impact of economic realities on the sector and component companies. The hardest blows were however the naira devaluation and the closure of the RDAs market, coupled with production challenges in the form of gas disruptions.”

Noting that most listed consumer goods equities endured negative year-to-date returns, the analysts anticipate a better outing for these equities in the concluding half of the year, riding on relatively low market prices, as the component companies adapt to the economic realities and possibly release better scorecards.
They said, “The oil and gas sector, as gauged by the NSEOILG5 index, settled 3.04 per cent lower, with two stocks (Total (+15.79 per cent) and CONOIL (+7.19 per cent)) closing positive in H1:2015.

“Considering the challenges besieging the downstream sector with respect to accumulating subsidy payments and FX differentials, amongst other structural bottlenecks, we do not foresee a major upside heading into H2:2015. Therefore, we expect the tempered returns seen in the first half of the year to be sustained.”

[Punch]

The First Law...Also The Most Important!!!

Certainly NOTHING in life is more important than to know: what IS real success-and how to achieve It.

What, then, is the first law of success?

Before stating even the first law, let it be said that I am not considering here such general principles of character as honesty, patience, loyalty, courtesy, dependability, punctuality, etc., except as these are automatically included in the seven rules. We may assume that one cannot become a real success without these principles of right character.

But on the other hand, many are honest who .have never practiced a single one of the seven laws, specifically. Man maybe loyal, have patience, extend courtesy, be punctual, who are unsuccessful because they have not applied a single one of these seven definite, specific rules. Even so, each of these laws covers a vast territory.

Here, then, is the first law of success:

'FIX THE RIGHT GOAL!

Not just any goal. Most of the "successful" men I have mentioned had goals. They drove themselves relentlessly to accomplishment. But making money, gaining STATUS in the eyes of people, enjoying the passing pleasures of the five senses, has literally strewn the pathway of history with fears, worries, heartaches, troubled consciences, sorrows, frustrations, empty lives and death.

These things may be had and enjoyed along with true success. But they alone do not bring success. The right goal includes something more.
In other words, the very first law of success is to be able to define success! Once you have learned what success is, make that your goal in life.
Do you know that most people go on through life without any GOA.L at all? In fact, most people, as I've said before, do not know, and do not apply, a SINGLE ONE of the seven laws of success!

Most people never think of having any PURPOSE in life.

They are not going anywhere, in particular.

If you have saved up money for a trip to Paris, or Rome, or London for your vacation or holiday, you spend a lot of time in excited anticipation PLANNING your trip-but you DO have a definite DESTINATION-and all plans are laid to take you to that particular destination that GOAL. You know where you are planning to go. Otherwise, how would you ever expect you arrive there?

As I said once before, most people have no aim-they are merely the victims of CIRCUMSTANCE. They never planned, purposefully to be in the job or occupation in which they find themselves today. They do not live where they do by CH0ICE that is, because they PLANNED it that way. They have merely been buffeted around by CIRCUMSTANCE! They have allowed themselves to drift. They have made no effort to master and control circumstances.

The first law of success, I repeat, is to fix the RIGHT goal.

Not any goal. One could set a goal in which he had little or no interest, and drift into inaction. The right goal will arouse ambition. Ambition is more than mere desire. -It is desire plus incentive-determination-will to achieve the desire. The right goal will be so intensely desired it will excite vigorous and determined effort. It will fire one with incentive.

There should be an overpowering PURPOSE to life. Few have ever known such purpose. Down through centuries and millenniums thinkers and philosophers have pondered, and sought in vain to learn whether life has a real purpose.

Socrates, Plato, Augustine among others, speculated and reasoned, yet the true meaning of life eluded them. This deepest and most important question in life remained to them a mystery-an unsolvable enigma!

IF one could discover such an overall PURPOSE a definite purpose for which humans were put on earth-IF one could discover' a human potential greater than mere temporary existence, one would thin~ that PURPOSE would be the goal that should excite dynamic ambition! But-alas! Who has ever discovered such an objective as life's aim?

Was there nothing greater to look forward to, for my two prominent banker friends? Nothing greater than to enjoy fleeting status, only to be forgotten by those who succeeded them?

What is there, after all, to live for?

I repeat! The first law of real success is to have the right goal!

The men I have described, rated eminently successful in the world, all had goals. They applied diligently all of the first six of the Success Laws.
But failing the seventh, they misapplied the first. Their success was fleeting.

Acquire The Right Education
"We learn about electricity, laws of physics and chemistry. We learn to use the wheels construct highways, and roll over ground faster than any animal. We learn to fly higher; farther and faster than any bird. We learn how to take nature apart and make it work for us. We discover and utilize nuclear energy”.
- Herbert W Armstrong

A few years back) a reporter came to interview me in my office for his newspaper. And one of the questions he asked me was: "Since you're not well educated, how are you able to do all these things?"

Apparently this reporter had heard, or read, somewhere that I stopped my formal education in primary six. And he had erroneously believed that that was where I stopped my education. He was grossly mistaken!

From the time I read The Seven Laws of Success until this day, I have never stopped studying. I'm constantly Iearning something new. And most of the time, it's usually studying by myself and at home by "burning the midnight oil", as one sage calls it.

I acquired the discipline to study by myself because of my circumstances. In 1974, I had already lost both of my parents.

My mother died in 1966 while my father passed on in 1971.

And I had three children by then, aged four, three and one.

Being the eldest child of my parents, there was no one that I could saddle with the responsibility of taking care of my wife and little children while I went to formal school. I had an aunt and uncles who did their best for me within their modest means when I asked them. But I would be totally irresponsible and insensitive to their own needs if I were to look up to them to share this burden with me. So, I didn't even bother to ask them. The only option opened to me, therefore, was to embrace home-study.

And this has become a part of me. Today, I'm in love with it. I enjoy the freedom of studying at night and doing other things during the day. It's been so exciting. And highly rewarding, too.

But getting started wasn't easy. I had to first overcome the fear of feeling inadequate. How was I going to proceed from my lowly education and tackle GCE? GCE? I had heard a lot of horror stories about how people repeatedly attempted to pass the examinations and flunked them time and time again.

But because there was no alternation to my having at least a GCE 0' Level Credit in English Language; and because my mind was already fixed on sports writing as a future career, I  decided that I had to go for it. And I set a goal to have the all-important certificate by the end of 1976.

What further boosted my confidence was what happened towards the end of 1975. I had been posted as a combatant engineering instructor to the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME), New Bussa, in Borgu Local Government Area of Kwara State and I met with some new group of soldiers from other divisions of the Nigerian Army there.

Among them were Ombo Wokoma and Philip Ojugoh. This duo sat for GCE examinations in 1975 and when the result came, they did extremely well. Their good result served as an inspiration for me and others. They had at least proved that it could be done.

So around February 1976, when my friend and colleague, Oludare Onasegun, was travelling to Lagos, I gave him money to enroll for four subjects for me with Exam Success Correspondence College, Palmgrove, Yaba, Lagos. The subjects were: English Language, Government, Economics and Religious Knowledge.

With my sight firmly fixed on my goal to pass my GCE 0' Level examination in English Language before the end of that year, I brushed aside all the challenges that faced me on the way to that milestone and concentrated on my studies.

Whatever spare time I had, which wasn't much considering the kind of assignment that we undertook that year at NASME, I invested it on my studies.

In the end, it paid off. I flunked two of the papers:

Government and Religious Knowledge. But I made an 'A' in English, the only person in Borgu LGA that got that distinction that year, and got credit in Economics.

With that result, I know nothing could stop me from becoming a sports writer. It was a dream come true for me. My English result turned me to an overnight celebrity in the barracks.

As was to be expected, many more of my colleagues case aside their fears the following year to enroll for GCE. And quite a good number of them also made it.

For me, this was just the beginning of my application of the second law of success which, according to Herbert W. Armstrong, was getting the right type of education. The author had made it clear that specialized knowledge was superior to general knowledge. And I saw the wisdom in his argument.

So from that time forward, I always placed more value on specialized knowledge and what I now teach my self- development students The Know-how.
The in-depth knowledge of anything I wanted to get involved in, made me to master sports writing, to the point that I became the first Nigerian Sports writer to successfully graduate from writing sports to publishing it.

It is this same love for know-how that enabled me to go into business without any previous experience but kept learning what makes businesses work. Today, I teach others how they could run their businesses successfully.

What else, but the strict adherence to Herbert W. Armstrong's second law of success, could I attribute my mastery of how the Internet works and how anyone could use it to create wealth?

I could go on and on. Herbert W Armstrong's second law of success works. There can be no argument about it. I'm a living testimony. If anyone is truly desiring to be successful, then he must embrace this law.

This is the law that will open the door of success for you. The law is so vital because it empowers you. It helps you to take away guesswork from what you're doing. It puts you in control. People can't cheat you because they know that you know what you're doing.

Best of "all, you will gain the respect of people, especially the people paying you for the service you are rendering to them as a result of the specialized knowledge which you have mastered.

By Dr Sunny Obazu Ojeagbase

How To Make It Big In Real Estate Business

Real Estate business is one business the world over that never goes out of patronage - even with changes in tastes, culture, or technology. This is because people will always need homes to reside, offices to do business, places of worship, and places where they can relax and unwind. They will need schools, hospitals, and other services that make living pleasurable.

All the above services can only be provided conveniently in a building, and that’s where Real Estate business comes in – to make such property available to those who need them, and of course, make some profit from it.
If you are thinking of going into the Real Estate business or you have just started, or you have been in it for some time without much success, and are looking for new and proven ideas to achieve a breakthrough, this report is for you. It will help you understand the industry deeply, and properly guide you to making it big in the industry.

What is Real Estate?

If you have property in form of land or buildings, it is called Real Estate. But if you begin to sell the land or build houses on them for sale, lease or rent, then you are into Real Estate business.

Why go into Real Estate business?

High demand for property: While most Nigerians desire to live in their own houses instead of living perpetually as tenants, the reality is that there are not enough houses to go round. In fact, the nation’s statistics for housing deficit is extremely high. Mr. Olaitan Komolafe, the Managing Director of Global Trust Savings and Loans, a Primary Mortgage Institution (PMI), puts this deficit at over 16 million. Even at that, he says the combination of all the PMIs and the private estate developers in the country provide less than 2000 housing units in a year. This short supply in housing is a major reason for the high demand for property in the country.
There is also a high demand for other kinds of properties, including land and buildings suitable for schools, offices, hostels, shopping complexes, hospitals, hotels, filling stations, and event centres - all across the country.                                                                                    
Safe investment: Mr. Fisayo Akinlolu, Managing Director of Hulk Innovations (a real estate development company) looks at the Real Estate business from the angle of good and bad debt. He says, “Bad debt is the money you borrow to buy things like cars and clothes to feed your family - things that have no appreciating value. The good debt or investment debt is where you borrow to buy things like land or build a house. When you do any of these with borrowed money, it is an investment. Komolafe and Akinlolu acknowledge investments in Real Estate as one of the safest anyone can think of.

Mr. Samson Olatunde, the Chief Executive Officer, Business Impact Limited, says, “To me, Real Estate is an investment in which you can never lose - the worst that can happen is that you get your money back. It is one investment that never depreciates. Be assured that your money is safe”.

It is lucrative: Akinlolu recommends Real Estate as one business that can make someone rich, especially if one is intelligent enough to know how to finance it. He says, “Depending on one’s financial intelligence, loans obtainable from the National Housing Fund have the potential to make someone rich. You can get a loan from NHF, build or buy a house, and later discover that the house you have built from the loan has paid itself back, without you having to pay any money other than the equity contribution”.

He simplifies it further by saying, “If a property is valued at N15m, you can take a loan and make an equity contribution of N4.5m, and own it. Assuming you are aged 30, that property can give you rent income of N1.5m or N2 per annum. That money will be able to pay for your monthly contribution to service the loan for that year. For the next 20years, you will discover that the rent from the house is able to pay for the loan you took.

“At the end of 20years, after paying, the house becomes your own, and do not forget that the property would have appreciated over a period of 20years. It may now have a portfolio of over N30m or N40m; a property that you started with an equity contribution of N4.5m.

“So, when you talk about the NHS and you look at it critically, it is a medium you can use to grow rich without actually using your money. That is what we call good debt. It’s not something to run away from, in fact it is one of the secrets of getting rich quick. I say this because going into good debt is an investment and if you know how to manage the debt, you are made.

For me, it really doesn’t have a disadvantage, just make sure you know and have a means of paying back the loan, there are a lot of benefit that comes with it. If you have your own house, you don’t have to pay house rent anymore, think of how much you are to pay as rent; Moreover, the rate of inflation is on the increase by the day”.

Olatunde says, “When we started, we were selling a plot of land for N250,000, but now - within the space of one year - it is being sold for half a million naira, and those that invested have doubled their investment”.

Mr. Debo Adejana, the Managing Director of Realtypoint Limited, says, “It is as lucrative as the business of the basic needs of life - food, shelter and clothing. It is actually as lucrative as the mind handling it”.

How to begin Real Estate business:

Since the business of Real Estate involves the buying and selling of buildings and land, it is believed that a lot of money (millions of naira) is required for one to go into it, but this has been proved wrong.

Mrs. Ilaboya’s experience: This notion that millions of naira is required before one can go into Real Estate business is not necessarily correct, as the story of Mrs. Patience Ilaboya illustrates.

The lady, who hails from Uzebba in Edo State, came to Lagos in 1982 and began business selling palm oil, groundnut oil and yam tubers in retail. By 1986, she added Kerosene to the list of the things she sold. In 1998, her husband introduced her to SuccessDigest, and she read in one edition, the story of how one can do business with little or no money.

Ilaboya says, “At first, I dismissed the story as a deception. But my husband encouraged me so I read it several times. At that time, there was this site at Oke Afa – Jakande Estate – and it was during Sallah, and the local land owners (Omo Oniles) were begging people to buy the land - for them to have money to buy ram for the Sallah. I saw it as a great opportunity and I called the Omo Oniles - that I needed an acre. They sold it to me at N100,000 per plot, and it amounted to N600,000 (for 6 plots).

“But all the money I had from my kerosene business was N200,000. I gave it to them and they released the six plots to me. The following week, I started looking for buyers and a week later I sold two of the plots for N300,000. I gave another N200,000 to the Omoniles and kept N100,000 for my business. I later sold another two plots, and I balanced the Omo Oniles and I still had two plots left”

From there, she built her capital. And now, according to Ilaboya, she has acres of land at Pakuro in Mowe, and that is where she built her shopping complex of 36 shops. She also has a hostel of 60 rooms and is currently building a warehouse.

Adejana says how much one begins with depends on the area of Real Estate business one is looking at. Even at that, all the money does not have to come from ones’ pocket. He says, “Every industry and sector is divided into three - the bottom, middle and the top. So, where you want to play determines how much you will need to start with.”

“There are Real Estate transactions for a few tens of thousands of naira. Our own experience in the industry has helped to address the aspect of people thinking it involves a lot of money. Even if it requires lots of money, must all the money come from your own pocket? If you are not greedy, if you are ready to share and you have substance and you are honest, people can invest in you and believe in you to reward their efforts. Money can come from different places to help you build your business. So, does it require a lot of money? I will say yes, maybe sometimes, depending on the market sector you are going into, but all the money does not have to come from your pocket”.

Adejana goes further to say that it is even possible to start Real Estate business with no money at all. He says, “We have people who came into the industry without a kobo. How did they start? They just positioned themselves as probably retailers to some of our projects.

“Some of the people who now own plots of land didn’t have money to buy on their own when they first came. But from the commissions they got, they got their lands. Some of them have even gone on to become estate developers. There are different segments in the business - you can be an agent, a developer, an investor, or a consultant advising people. So, you can be a professional in any of these fields, and render your service.”

Adding his voice, Olatunde says misconception and ignorance prevent many people from starting Real Estate business, because they think they need millions of naira to start it. He says, “There are places you can still get a plot of land for as low as N150,000. The basic truth is that people haven’t tried looking for cheap lands or buildings they can buy and sell for profit. If you search for it, you will find it.

He adds that a person who has no money but has a lot of goodwill can go into the business too. He explains that you will have to act as an agent. What you need to do is to find a good property, agree with the owner of the property that you will find buyer for it and get a commission from the sale. Let the agreement be written out and signed by the two of you and a witness.

Then contact the people you know, including your friends, colleagues, relatives, and others, informing them of the property. You can also get the word out through Facebook and Twitter. Tell these people to also inform other people they know. Highlight the advantages of buying the property and let your message be compelling for people to want to buy it immediately.

By this, you are bound to find buyers. Get your commission and build up your business capital by repeating the above strategy.   

Do you need an office to start with?

Adejana says it is possible to start from whatever you can afford or wherever you are. He says, “If you are the type who cannot work from home, like me that needs to leave home and go somewhere called an office to be able to encourage the discipline to work; what did I do? I looked around me and got people who God used to provide a place for me free for almost a year or so. The furniture was there, and the only thing I took there was a desktop computer. After a year, we got a land phone and I employed two people with me before we left the place for our own office today.

“I have seen friends that have started from their homes, sometimes from their cars - the boot of their cars with a phone and their documents in place. Thank God for the electronic age we are in today - which makes it possible for you to do virtually everything in or out of the office”

Success Factor - How to Hit Juicy Deals That Most People Can’t See

The success factor in this business has to do with your ability to buy land or buildings at low prices and sell under a reasonably short period at a good price, making a handsome profit. This ability is what sets aside the successful big time Real Estate firms from the others.

Real Estate business is not about somebody taking you to a forest and telling you the land is available for sale at a low price, and you going ahead to buy it, build on it, and hoping that one day the place will become a town and you will be able to sell the property for millions of naira. That may never happen, and you would have wasted your money.

Real Estate business is for you to know what exactly you are looking for that you can easily prepare for sale at a reasonable time and pull out your investment. For example, you can go to a town that hosts a High Institution of learning like a university, which is facing accommodation challenges and you find a piece of land at a good price which is suitable for a hostel. You can buy that land, look for developers, organizations, or firms that may be interested in building hostels, sell it to them at higher price and go away with your profit. Or, you can build a hostel on it yourself, run it for some time and sell it off later if you wish. By so doing, you make your profit and pull out your investment at a reasonably short period.

Adejana says, “Every business, even real estate is divided into three categories – the top, middle and bottom. You need to understand the market; and if you do, there is no stage [in which] you can’t make your money in real estate. You could decide to invest in any area of your choice, be it Ikoyi, Ikorodu, Abule-Egba or other remote areas. However, what must be done in Ikoyi shouldn’t be applied in Ikorodu or any other place. Each area you are venturing into has its peculiarity. If you mix things up, you might not make any headway.

“For example, if your target is to provide residential accommodation for low income people in a densely populated area, Ikoyi is not the place for you to go. You are more likely to succeed with that kind of idea in Abule Egba or even Sango in Ogun State.

“If it is the development of petrol stations that you are interested in, you know that you have to target prime properties along busy roads. You can then build and lease them out or sell them to petroleum marketers. Also, you have to put your clients’ interest first as a developer. What are they asking? Know it and provide it. You must be knowledgeable enough, because real estate business depends on the person going into it”.

Mr. Seye Peters, Managing Director SP, Assetlink Limited says, “It depends on your vision and your passion, and where you are going to. For instance, you can go to your village and buy land with N50,000 – buying to keep. This is the speculation aspect of real estate. The land you bought for N50,000 can be sold for N150,000 in the next few months.

“So, your capital will determine where you start from. When you see that development is coming towards a particular area, you can forecast by looking into the future of the area, and take the risk; who knows, in the next 10 or 15 years, people will come to that side, and you make it big.  It depends on how, when and where you want to start from and where you are heading to”.

The idea is that you should know what kind of property you are looking for, and who you would be selling it to before you buy such property. You may have observed that a particular town is growing, with different businesses coming in, and you believe banks will want to set up branches there too. You can search for property in that town that will be suitable for banks to operate. When you find such property, buy it, put it in good shape and call the attention of banks to it. You sell and make your profit. If you want to go further, you can develop the land and build a structure suitable for banking operations and sell off the building to the bank that comes for it and make an even bigger profit.

Find a piece of land or building that is suitable for a particular use (which is needed in that area), buy and develop it and then call the attention of the would-be buyers to present their offer. Continue to increase your portfolio across the country, and soon you will become a leading Real Estate player in the country. 

 Challenges to Brace up for:

Adejana says challenges exist in all businesses, including Real Estate. The challenges are not supposed to drag you down, but to let you be more informed and knowledgeable about the business.

The basic challenges in real estate are issues that have to do with title - access to land in the first place, because it is on land that everything works in Real Estate and this is a problem. There is a problem with the Land Use Act, which has not been amended.

Finance is also a problem. Real Estate business requires lots of money, and there are ways by which this money can be sought in other parts of the world, but in this country, it has not been that way: Mortgage is not available as it should be; micro finance is not there and the pension we have trillions of naira in is not yet easily accessible, or not channeled towards housing provision - the way it should be.

Top Five Mistakes to Avoid

Olatunde lists the following as the top five mistakes to avoid in real estate business:

1.   Never invest without having a plan.

2.   Never invest without having the basic knowledge of what you are investing in.

3.   Be disciplined when it comes to investment.

4.   Believe in the company and yourself.

5.   You mustn’t invest through people, invest by yourself - you mustn’t be lured or cajoled to invest.

“These work for anybody. It is a principle, you just apply”, he says.
Buying of Land

If you want to buy into a property, first confirm how real it is. Every location or area can easily be checked for at Land and Bureau offices of every state. There is map and statistic of the land. You should also make use of a property lawyer to help you check all the information. You should have received all the needed legal documents and agreements before making payments for the land.

Advise to a Beginner

Olatunde says, “I tell anyone who wants to come into this industry to start by being an Agent and help provide buyers to other Real Estate companies for a commission. If you can pull sales, then there is a significant probability that you will be able to achieve success, when you are running your business.

I started from selling other people’s properties, and when I realized that people were telling me that they were comfortable buying land from me because they trusted me, I knew I would succeed in the business . So, that was why I moved a step further. It is your credibility that matters before people start supporting you with fund to start your own.”

Culled From Successdigest