Solving money challenges (2)

(Biz tool Kids)
BY BRIDGET OLOTU
THE result of my research indicates that financial intelligence is much more important than formal education. Examples of very successful and wealthy men who had little education and those who dropped out of the university abound in history. Henry Ford, Benjamin Franklin, Henry George, Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Paul Allen, Larry Ellison, Cosmas Maduka, Prince Samuel Adedoyin, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and a host of others are a testimony to what the human spirit can do when it possesses vision, drive, commitment and financial intelligence.
I am not downplaying the importance of education; only emphasising the importance of financial education for wealth creation and as an escape from poverty!
Moses’ Experience: Moses started business at the age of 13, several years ago. His entrepreneurial energy was really put into the business as he worked hard to grow the business. His business grew to such a level that he was making close to what his mother made as a trader. At a point, he could afford to buy a big TV at the age of 14. He could afford to add some money and buy a big stereo system. Business was really booming for him. However, just few years after then, his business crashed. Why? He lacked financial intelligence. He could only make money; he couldn’t budget, manage, protect or leverage it. He had no bank account. He didn’t invest excess cash. He kept the entire bulk of his money at home, which sometimes was stolen. He lacked financial literacy. He just kept spending his capital on things that didn’t and couldn’t help the business grow. His business eventually fell. If that business was sustained, by now it would have been worth over N4,000,000 or more.
Dave’s Story: Dave belonged to a middle-class family. His father was already a top management staff in the late seventies in one of the blue-chip manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Dave’s father started early in teaching his children financial intelligence. He taught them to imbibe a savings culture whereby they saved their monies in kolo, i.e. wooden bank or piggy bank, and at the end of the year, he added money to it and bought stocks for them. Later, his father was retired from his company unexpectedly and things became pretty difficult for them. Meanwhile, Dave’s entrepreneurial instinct was already honed. He started raising livestock like rabbits, guinea pigs, pigeons, and poultry in his father’s big compound and sold them to make some money. Dave was an entrepreneur as well as an investor. Financial intelligence saw him through his secondary school in style and financial buoyancy. With the dividends and returns generated from his numerous stock investments, Dave and his younger ones didn’t have any cause to fear due to their Dad’s sudden change of financial position. Dave later joined the Nigerian Army as a non-commissioned officer but shortly after proceeded to the university on a self-financed basis, employing to the fullest his entrepreneurial potentials to make money. At one time, he was even selling clothes to his fellow schoolmates, and from there was able to buy a car. After his degree, he was later commissioned as an officer. He still engages heavily in income generating assets today. He is currently a Major in the Nigerian Army.

THESE two stories teach us the importance of financial literacy for wealth creation and for a quality lifestyle. Your financial destiny is dependent on your financial intelligence.
When you combine entrepreneurship with investing, you become a possessor of great wealth.
Financial intelligence is very important; in fact, it is unavoidable if you want to make, manage and multiply your money for wealth creation.
You can do better than Major Dave did and avoid Moses’ past financial blunders if you sharpen your financial intelligence today!

Olotu is the CEO/Lead Consultant, DEAIM Innovative Resources Ltd.
bridgetolotu@gmail.com






Digital health print
(PANORAMA)
BY REBECCA AKINMOLAYAN
THE first cell phone was used by the Swedish Police way back in 1946. The past decade saw the upsurge of mobile phones with almost everyone having a cell phone. Even now, cell phones are more than people are!
These phones have become part of our dressing; it is nearly impossible to leave them behind while going out. With the considerable time spent with them, it is wise to ask if they pose a problem to our health. There are conflicting conclusions on this. The industries say that they are relatively safe while the medical field maintains that they are dangerous.
There are speculations that because phones transmit radiowaves, they increase the susceptibility of developing brain damage in the future. These phones were not really pre-tested before being released into the market, as they are not drugs.
For now the jury is yet to decide finally whether they are completely dangerous or not, so research continues.
But for now, except you decide not to use phones at all, you have to take measures to protect ourselves of the potential hazards that arise while using phones.
We all know the convenience our cell phones gives us: the ease of communication, the fun, the music, the videos, the browsing and the freebies. We virtually cannot do without them. We only need to learn how to protect ourselves form the risks by:
• Not using them for too long (warning to the awuf midnight call customers). If you are making long calls, use a landline instead.
• Putting them away from the body as the waves emitted are said to destroy the white blood cells. It is better on the table or stuffed in the bag.
• Picking calls using the hands-free while driving. In the absence of that, park and receive your call, for safety reasons.
For those working at base stations or living around the masts, reduce level of exposure to such areas.

On the other hand, cell phones are very invaluable especially in times of grave danger. You may be unaware but your phone could save your life. Check this out:
• In times of emergency, dial 112. It does not matter if your phone is locked or there is no network.
• For those with cars that use remote keyless entry, cell phones come handy when you lock your keys mistakenly in the car. Just call someone at home. All you have to do is to hold the phone about a foot away from the car door. Have the person at home put the other remote close to their mobile phone. Once they press the unlock button at their end, the car door will automatically open. It even works for the trunk too!
• If you are ever forced to withdraw money from ATM at gunpoint, just type your PIN in the reverse. The money will be disbursed, but not without alerting the police.
As it is, all good things are half-bad and all bad things are half-good, it all depends on how you see it. Your cell phone could be a curse or blessing to you.





Do it now habit
(LIFE COACH)
BY AGBOLADE OMOWOLE
AY Stainless is a client of mine who has told me about her dreams. She wants to be a musician. She was stunned when I asked her, ‘Why do you procrastinate?’
Procrastination is a major complain I get from clients who are not determined enough to achieve their dreams against all odds. Often times, they complain of time, money, resources, or enough contacts, what they don’t know is that excuses don’t change the outcome.
In some cases, clients blame others for their woes and failures. The government has not provided an enabling environment where businesses can thrive. Banks do not give loans to start-up entrepreneurs.
These I confess, are some of the reasons some people don’t succeed. But some succeed in this same condition. The difference between the successful and the failures in this scenario is based on their thoughts and actions.
Think positively. At times, the reason people procrastinate is negative self-talk.
In karate, you need to defeat your opponent in your mind before you lift your fist, otherwise, you may be defeated. For a moment, see yourself accomplishing that task that you have been postponing. You can do it, if you think you can.
Make the law of inertia work for you. A body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will continues to move. Learn to take the first step. A Chinese proverb says that “A journey of 10 000 miles begins with a step.”
Move that move. Stand on the cliff and jump. If your dream is to be a musician, go to the studio and do some recording. In most cases, producers will like to see your ‘demo.’ Make that call, send that text message. Just take the first step and you will be forced to keep moving.
Have a red-hot desire. One of the basics of becoming successful is thedesire to become successful. How ‘bad’ do you want to be a comedian,
or a make up artiste? How ‘bad’ do you want to be a celebrity or a superstar? If you don’t really desire to achieve that dream, then look for something else that fascinates you. Dr. Myles Munroe advises, “The proof of desire is pursuit.”
Ditch your fears. We all have faith and fears. Feed your faith and your fears will be starved. It is normal to fear failure. You may be wondering, “What if my music does not sell?” or “What if I loose the lump sum of money I will invest in that business?” Remember that most of your fears never happen.
Fail forward. When one fails at a project, it shapes his/her perspective. You can begin to fear that anything you do might probably fail. When you stretch yourself, you become a different person. It is not the goal that you achieve that counts, who you become while pursing that goal also matters. Christopher Columbus discovered America when he was looking for red Indians.
Feed your faith. Surprisingly, some people dread success. If you become successful, you will have more influence on the people around you. You could come up with an orphanage, or something worthwhile. You will be able to, in the words of Michael Jackson, “heal the world and make it a better place, for me and for you and the entire human race.”
Follow your heart. Don’t pursue a dream that doesn’t inspire you. At imes, you might be tempted to do what others are doing. Something like “My friend is a presenter, so I have to be a presenter. Some people do not really know what they want. Don’t live the life of another person. Live your own life.
Focus on one thing only. You cannot do 10 things in a day, but you can do one thing everyday for 10 days. When you procrastinate, activities may pile up, and become difficult to handle. Don’t be overwhelmed by all the things you want to do. Take a step at a time.
Divide and conquer. How do you eat an elephant? You cut into pieces. When you are faced with a complex task, you might get confused, because of the complexity. Break that task into small, manageable tasks. Make it easy for yourself to achieve your dreams. Life is too short to overlabour yourself.
These are tips I shared with my client. In conclusion, I advised her to strike when the iron is hot. Take two steps today that will take you closer to your dreams.







Criticism
(GOOD MANNERS)
BY MIKE EKUNNO
CRITICISM is cheap. So goes the popular saying. As an etiquette issue, criticism is an interesting subject. The matter recently came to the national front burner following the new CBN governor’s comments at his Senate viva voce.
At that forum, Malam Lamido Sanusi advised the President to rationalise the Seven-Point Agenda into something more manageable.
The media went to town on that note. The President was teased and goaded to move against his own candidate. Malam Sanusi Lamido (which one exactly is his surname?) had delivered without knowing it, a missile that the media had been lunching without hitting target.
How far his criticism riled the presidency we may never know. It only issued a tame explanation. The rest would have been sorted out between Kano and Katsina.
What is it about criticism that makes most people recoil from it? Why is criticism often taken in bad faith even when everyone says it is needed to keep leaders on their toes?
Once a man assumes responsibility for more than himself, criticism should be expected as occupational hazard. It only begins to get rude when it is personalised. This is where manners come in.
Criticism should focus on some action by saying what is wrong with it and proffering a solution or alternative.
Personalising criticism means going beyond the person’s action to extrapolate on his personality.
For example, you may have been served bad food in a restaurant and you complain. Fair enough. But if you now start talking about the chef as coming from a people known for bad cooking, you are going personal.

THE other mannerism issue with criticism relates to criticising a team mate or your boss in situations of collective responsibility.
If you are a member of an executive council or team where decisions have been reached democratically, you have no choice in the matter except to “shape up or ship out.”
It is in bad taste to single out yourself for good conduct and condemn others. Parents, judges, bosses and umpires occupy special positions in the affairs of men.
Some people believe they should not be criticised. I was reared on the Protestant Ethic and I’d rather go with subjecting every human action to critical evaluation.
How you go about doing this is up to you. You may choose the Didier Drogba approach if you can take the rap or you whine in the privacy of your closet.
Most times, our leaders pretend they can take constructive criticism. By this they imply they only quarrel with the destructive genre. In reality they are often not ready for any critical appraisal.
This is a pity. Criticizing badly is not as bad as not receiving critical attention in good faith. The range of comments that are deemed critical continues to expand with the times and the climes.
Now in Western societies, if in describing somebody you mention that she is fat, it is taken for rudeness. But if you describe someone as slim, it’s cool. What baffles me is why merely describing reality should be deemed rude.
The attitude of not taking criticism in good faith has made people not to criticize openly.
Even somebody as rich and powerful as Donald Trump believes “it’s best to avoid criticising anyone.”
In his book, Think Like A Billionaire, he posits: “Most people are one way streets, and it’s better not to spend your time dodging head-on traffic. If you stay silent, people will eventually make fools of themselves without your help at all. It’s revenge the easy way.”
chudiekunno@yahoo.com