Nokia’s Quiz (Send the Answers today)

Which of the following is Nokia known for?

A. Finding people       B. Identifying people C. Connecting people

Where is Nokia’s global head office based?

A. Norway                  B. Finland                   C. Denmark

Which of these can you get FREE on your Ovi Store?

A. Games        B. Sweet & Sour sauce           C. Umbrella

Which of these can you get on the Nokia C3?

A. Instant Coffee        B. Instant Noodles      C. Instant Messaging

Everything you need for your Nokia is right here except?

A. Ovi Store   B. Ovi Chat   C. Ovi Mail   D. Ovi Street

(Please send the  all answers to the questions to deoluakinyemi@gmail.com today 2nd of Sept, 2010.)

As I write this post, I’m in a taxi in Nasarawa. We’ve been journeying together with a few colleagues from Jos, heading towards Abuja. It’s almost 8pm and I’m 2 days behind my normal plans. I’ve had two cancelled flights by two different airlines in two days. The pot seems black, but I have learnt from time, that the white corn jelly [eko funfun] usually proceeds from the black pot of life.

Wherever, however, whenever, great things come from small, hopeless or ugly beginnings. In the midst of it all, I’m getting cozy with my blackberry and, I have a message for you!

From where you are today, however low, you can make it to anywhere in life you want to be. Think about your life right now, evaluate your current dimensions – spirit, soul and body. Evaluate the metrics that are equated to life – time and money. Wherever you are today, you can rise to anywhere you desire. Anywhere.

A dollar note today can be a million in time (compound interest) . A mere impressionless lecturer today can be president in time (Goodluck). A poor village boy today can be the pacesetter of tomorrows economy. A victimized job seeker today can be on his interviewers interview panel in time. A debtor today can be a venture capitalist tomorrow. You can get to wherever you desire from where you are today.

Never let the poor weather of today, cloud the possibilities of tomorrow. Never allow the failures of the past alter your resolve for the future. Say it aloud to yourself often – I can get where I want from here.

Yes you can! All you need is a desire strong enough, a dream that’s graphic, models to follow and unstoppable perseverance.

You will get there, even from where you are.

I posted a few weeks ago, that Nokia will be launching their own reply to the Blackberry in the form of a Nokia C3. The competition is about to start, and it will be good you begin to prepare and research. Interestingly there seems to be something in the offering from Nokia for Avenues to Wealth distributors and members as well. Before it all unveils, here is how it will all run.

BACKGROUND

Nokia plans to Introduce its range of messaging devices including the C3 into the Nigerian Market

Ahead of the actual media launch event, there is the need to create a buzz about Nokia’s messaging devices with the C3 as the lead device

It is a “Pre-Event” Activity which is to lead to the launch of the phone

The idea is to engage key Nigerian bloggers to run a competition for a week where people need to answer certain questions

At the end of the week, one person wins the C3 device.

DESCRIPTION

Bloggers will engage their audience for a duration of 5 days during which, questions relating to the upcoming Nokia C-series will be asked and answers will be sent to these blog sites

The public will be intimated about the quiz a week to actual commencement in order to gear them up

Questions will be asked on a daily basis with hidden clues to the answers

The users will send in the answers to the questions ONLY after ALL the questions have been posted on the blogs – which means that they would accumulate their answers and send them in after all the questions have been posted on the blogs

At the end of the final day, the winner is announced on the blog and notified by E-mail

The prizes will presented to winners during the official Media Launch for C3

SCHEDULE

Submission of answers closes on Thursday 2^nd September at 6:00pm

The questions can be posted in any particular order

Format for the answers may be determined by the blogger but should be accompanied by E-mail addresses of senders

Winners would be notified by E-mail and given subsequent details

Nokia to unveil Revolutionary Messaging Solution in Nigerian Market …takes Social Networking to another Level. This blog, www.deoluakinyemi.com has been chosen as one of the first places from which it will hit Nigeria. And shortly some readers of this site will get the opportunity of winning their own Nokia C3.

Nokia, the world leader in mobile solutions will soon unveil a ground-breaking solution, the Nokia C3 device, which amongst other features, offers instant messaging to its users. Built with social networking in mind, the Nokia C3 offers instant access to favorite sites such as Face book and Twitter straight from the home screen, allowing people to easily view, post, comment and update their status. Managing email, chat, calendar and music is simple with dedicated widgets on the home screen. Getting messages across is quick thanks to the full QUERTY key board.

This solution meets the desire of Nigerians who are always on the lookout for a good-looking, affordable handset that allows them to stay continually connected, in a way that suits their lifestyles – whether it’s via email, social networks or IM buddies.

The Nokia C3 allows people to surf the web and access social networks where ever they are so they can be sure to keep in touch with their friends and family, whenever they like.

Nokia is number one leader when it comes to giving consumers solutions to their mobile needs. With Ovi mail and Ovi chat on board, email and chats can be set up straight from the device without any need for PC.

With a two mega-pixel camera, the Nokia C3 is great for taking pictures and videos which can be instantly shared online, straight from the device via GPRS or Wi-Fi. It is also a great choice for music lovers who want to carry their favourite tracks as the device supports memory cards up to 8 Gigabytes. The Nokia C3 is available in exciting colours of hot pink, slate grey and golden white.

With an Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat on board, email and chat accounts can be set up straight from Nokia C3, without the need of a personal computer.

MORE FUNCTIONAL THAN BLACKBERRY – YET MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE

The more I think about the way the world works, and the invisible hand that works the world, the more I am awed. It’s so interesting that the resources exist for all who care to be wealthy to truly be wealthy. It is amazing that there are enough resources on the planet to make everyone wealthy, yet less than 10% of the world control more than 90% of it’s resources. The earth is on course, it stays it’s course under the influence of forces that are backed up by explainable laws. In the same consistent way, every process on earth is backed by principles. If you know the principles and laws governing a result, you can always replicate it!

I don’t know if it excites you as it  excites me, that $1 kept at 20% per annum can become $1million in 75yrs. If it is managed at even 3% it can still become $1million in 468yrs. I’m sure you think this is too long a time, but look at it this way. It means everybody can own and build a foundation. I can give $1 to my bankers, and write a will to back it, instructing them to give away $30,000 yearly on my behalf  once  my money has become $1million. If  we are  more consistent with our savings and educated with our investments, we can all become multi millionaires in our lifetime. To build sustainable wealth has a how to, I cannot claim I am there, but I can say I’m on the path. The little advice and ideas that I share here, if put to use, will be of tremendous value to someone. Maybe you, maybe someone else you know that you can send this link to.

To build sustainable wealth, here are the key things you should do.

1. Be clear about what you want, and why you want it.

This sounds very ordinary, but it’s probably the most important step in your building sustainable wealth. Many people merely play lip service to their desires to be wealthy. Be sure about this, nothing begins to move in your favour until you have absolute clarity about where you are going. The world does not put anybody into consideration before it choses it’s weather, you are not why the wind is blowing or why the rain is falling. Nature will not inconvenience another to give you showers of rain. The world works the way the world works. Your assignment is not to seek to break the natural flow of things, your work is to make them align with your purpose.  No winds blow in favour of a ship without direction. Having direction for your life and a strong compelling reason is the minimum you can do to set the winds in your favour. Nothing needs to change in the way they have been before, but if you gain clarity, many things that didn’t make sense will begin to be very valueable and important.

Think about this true life story (I’ll probably do a full article on it later) – A young man by the name Kyle woke up one morning and decided he was going to trade his red paper clip for a house. All he had, as far as many people was a worthless red paper clip, and what he wanted was a house. In one year, this young man traded his red paper clip for a fish shaped pen, traded that for a carved door knob, traded that for a Camp stove, then traded that for a generator and traded and traded until in 1yr he had a house. Key lesson for me is, where you are today is not the big deal, the big deal is where you want to go, and how clear it is to you. What you want gives you direction, why you want it, keeps you motivated.

2. Create your Wealth Map

There are 3 key things necessary for your map to be complete. The first is a starting point, the second is a destination, and the third is a plan of action that connects your starting point to your end point.

Many people want more money, more resources and more from life, but they can’t tell you precisely where they are. What is the minimum you and your family need to survive? What is your current monthly expense? What is your current portfolio? What does your balance sheet look like? Don’t worry about the technically sounding stuff it’s simply 4 elements – your income (passive and active), your expenses (recurring) and your liabilities and assets. You need to define your starting point.

Then your destination. What is wealth to you? How much do you need to become financially free? What expense must your passive income rise above to make you truly free? Freedom is not when you can buy anything you want, it’s when you can afford to buy what you normally buy without having to exchange linear work for it.

Your plan of action, is your strategy. There are a few key strategies based on the 5 known channels of creating passive income. You can do it alone, or work with a group, but you need to know all the avenues, and chose a strategy. This area is where people always need guidance, and usually the coach to student ratio is very small. I can provide personalized support in this. You can also read here for more thoughts on passive income generation avenues.

3. Understand the 3 Key Elements that Make Wealth Possible.

a. Passive Income

There are broadly two sources of income. There is people working for money, and there is money working for money. There is linear income and there is non-linear income. Linear income is the direct exchange of time for finance – it is limiting. Non-linear income is passive or residual income, it’s income coming not from the direct exchange of time for money. Whatever it is that occupies your time today, you need to find a way to begin to not only generate extra income, but to generate passive income. Before you get involved in anything, ask yourself, does this have the potentials to give me passive income. Passive income is generated from the Business or Investor quadrants, not from the Employee or Self-employed quadrants. Make sure you are involved in business that you can automate, or investments that are good. Investing without education is gambling, get education and enlightenment.

b. Leverage

100% of one persons effort is not as sustainable as 1% of 100 people’s efforts. You can’t get it done all on your energy and all on your current resources. “The wisdom of others that enables us to call the elderly wise” – a Yoruba proverb. Leverage is using other people’s time, resources, energies, money e.t.c. in small percentages that make sense in the bigger picture. Why is Real Estate so great? It’s great mostly because of the leverage the banks give for Real Estate investments. Why is Network Marketing so great? Because of the leverage of so many people’s efforts? Why is the stock market a shadow of it’s former self? Because nobody is willing to give you leverage to buy anymore. Leverage is one sure way to build sustainable wealth. If it’s all based on your personal effort growth will be slow and the impact of failure might be difficult to bear. What are you doing today that you are using leverage?

c. Geometric Growth

Albert Einstein said that the greatest investment of man is compound interest. Compound interest creates serious possibilities for financial stability. Anything that can grow geometrically provides amazing possibilities. It defines the concept of seed, of growth and of harvest. It is better to collect $1 that doubles everyday for 30 days, than $5million without interest today – that’s the power of compounding. Does your venture have geometric growth potentials? These key indices is why I personally love well designed network marketing models. It’s also the reason why I love real estate investments.

4. Automate your Debt reduction

One of the key things that kills people is Debt. People have the wrong strategy for debt. The good people want to pay it all at once, the bad people don’t want to be reminded and dodge. Both are wrong! There is a wisdom solution to debt… then we’ll talk about creating multiple streams, managing your life, working with a team, investing in knowledge and taking charge. All these in Building Sustainable Wealth 2 as this is getting too long already.

This was the topic of my presentation to an exciting group of entrepreneurs earlier today. Think about this topic and the things I shared with them, I realize this information would be useful to a lot of people. Some of those people are reading this directly, and some others need to refer people to this link so that they can come and read as well. In the next few days, I have a few “How to’s” in my mind to share. These are really easy things that if you know and practice can make a lot of difference in your business and in your life.

The first ground rule however, if you truly want to learn, is to first empty your cup. You will not learn anything new, if you assume you already know. Knowledge or the assumption of it, is the greatest hindrance to more knowledge. As teacher students – the most excellent type of student, the one that listens to become a teacher, we must constantly humble ourselves and learn. We must not let knowledge puff  us up and make us resistant to new information. The day the seal of knowledge locks our ears, is the day we become useless and irrelevant to new possibilities around us. 20yrs experience as an employee does not equate to years of experience running a business. Sometimes the way up, is down. Never let any level of knowledge rob you of what you don’t know. There is no fool, like an old fool. Once you have laid aside your prejudices, let’s delve into how you can expand your business.

At the heart of every business is the exchange of value for revenue. Every business sells, either a product, a service, an experience or whatever. At the other side of every seller is a buyer. Business growth and expansion invariably is connected with increased profit. With these realizations clear, there is a simple formula that shows clearly how businesses function and how they can be made to grow.

No of Leads X Leads Conversion = Customers

Customers X Number of Transactions X Price Per Sale = Total Revenue

Total Revenue X Margins = Profit.

People get into business for various reasons, but the lifeblood of any business is profit. Profit is what makes a business able to continue and last. It’s like breath, we don’t live to breathe, but if we cannot breathe, we are not living for anything. Profit is the lifeblood of business, it’s the attribute that makes you able to continue to pursue all the other grandiose possibilities. It’s the bottom line.  To keep our business growing and sustainable, there are 4 key factors we must pay attention to.

1. Generating Leads

Leads are the raw materials customers are made from. You can’t have more customers than the leads you are generating. Your leads are the people who indicated some level of interest in your business. They are the people who strolled into your shop to ask for your product on display. They are the people who responded to your advert or your promotion. They are interested buyers. If your business ever grows, it’s because you were able to generate in 4 key segments of your business. The first and foundational place is generating leads.

Do you measure your leads? Do you know how many leads you generate daily, weekly, monthly? How many people’s interests or curiosities are you steering towards your product? Do you have any lead generation strategies? Why will anybody be interested in your product? Are you running any promotions? Any adverts? Don’t be giving your smiles in the dark, create awareness for your product and generate leads. There are many ways to generate leads, many really cheap ways. I can offer you personalized support.

2. Sales/Conversion

After you have ensured that the leads keep rolling in, the next real challenge is conversion. This is where the concept of law of averages matters. Every human being starts out in life with a particular average. Your average is the number of people you need to wade through to get a yes. When we start out, it’s small and worrisome, but as we understand the terrain and sharpen our skills, or averages rise. If 100 leads come in monthly and you are able to convert 10, your average is 1/10. Once your leads are coming as you plan, you need to ensure that you develop your average. Invest time in understanding the needs and requirements of a buyer and make use of it.

Sales conversion is a big topic on it’s own. It’s something you need to learn and develop more. It all starts with knowing that this is a crucial factor and measuring progress as you progress. Conversion is where the efforts in lead generation are seen to be worth it.

3. Customer Retention

After I buy from you, if I buy from you what in your business will make me come back? How do you ensure I come back? Organizations are perfectly designed for the results they achieve. If there is no advantage to coming back, it means the business owner has designed the business for people not to come back. If you want to expand your business, you need to have customer retention strategies. Offer discounts on repeat purchases, give gift vouchers when people buy certain quantities, create an environment people want to come back to.

Retained Customers are your biggest assets. Let your design show that you value repeat business. Loyalty programs e.t.c.

4. Referrals.

It is interesting how this very wonderful concept which is  critical to the success of many greats before now, can be so miss understood. The  highest level your business can go is not only if you retain customers, but for your customers to become advocates and champions of your products.

In the account of one of the greatest sales men the world has ever seen that I read, his secret of success was simply giving flowers and recognition to customers when they give him a referrals. The little things count. Find a way of ensuring that people who experience you find it exciting to tell someone else about it. This singular concept is why Network Marketing is becoming a global phenomenum with unthinkable wealthy men and systems patronizing it. Referrals are good, and you’ll be surprised by how much more your business will grow if you empower people to promote our business to others.

If you are keen on expanding your business focus on any or all of these 4 areas. I wish you an expanded business!

Based on popular demand to become a part of a cooperative, I have decided to make this public. Anyone who joins the cooperative now, gets an opportunity to be one of the most senior people in the cooperative. Together we can grow our income and compound it. To be a part of this, you need to be a distributor with Holidays and Cash. There are many benefits to being in a cooperative, I strongly recommend that you become a part of anyone or this one if you really want to build lasting wealth. We will not be investing in anything short of Real Estate, Trading or Transportation. We’ll be leveraging on the best minds in the world to take decisions, and be leveraging on experiences from failed attempts.

Are you interested in any of these benefits?

Cooperatives are one of the best ways to starting the journey to financial mastery. Cooperatives, well run ones give you the following benefits.

1. An opportunity to develop a savings culture – you’ll be amazed what N5,000 per month for 30yrs at 20% interest per annum equates to. (Over N14 million)

2. It gives you an opportunity to be a part of big deals, and to become aware and hence find it easy to become wealthy.

H&C CMS was inaugurated by the Lagos State Government
Agency responsible for cooperatives on the 31st of March, 2010. Kicks of August 1.

This is an amazing opportunity for you to be on “ground level” from the beginning and enjoy fantastic deals and ownership opportunities in many upcoming future projects.

This cooperative is open exclusively to Holidays and Cash Distributors only. Membership of the cooperative is by first being an active distributor with Holidays and Cash, and then applying online to be a member of the cooperative.

Holidays and Cash wanted to secure some mouthwatering deals for its distributors and we were informed that the only way to do this and be 100% legitimate, was to create an official cooperative.

This cooperative provides a legal framework for us to achieve a lot of exciting new things that are planned locally for H&C Nigeria and for the international business.

Now together we can achieve the following 100% legally. . .

1. We can encourage and motivate our cooperative members to SAVE
2. We can give loans to members, helping them to achieve their dreams. . .
   i.e. Expensive cars, vacations they cannot immediately afford, childrens school fees, emergencies or even build their dream home!
3. We can create a welfare pool to support our ranked distributors who are having significant events
4. We can invest together and give our members an opportunity to earn a fantastic additional income
5. We can begin to take giant strides together towards the starting of a whole group of companies. . .
   i.e. H&C Microfinance Bank, H&C Mortgage, H&C Shopping Mall, H&C Farms, H&C Transport, H&C Airlines, H&C Halls and Hotels, H&C properties and Estates, etc..

Things are starting to get very exciting here in Nigeria, with a
whole host of possibilities for us and our families to share in.

Monthly Savings Plan (5,000 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 100,000 and above.)

Each member of the cooperative has a monthly savings plan, this is set to a minimum of N5,000 per month. This savings plan gives the member a history with the cooperative as is the basis of members being entitled for loans, welfare packages and other privileges available to the cooperative. The money’s that members contribute as savings is used for loans at fair interest rates. This also means that members will get profits on their savings whenever they decided to end their savings or liquidate it.

Share Capital Investment (Multiples of N50,000)
The share capital investments are what the club will use for capital investments for short term and long term return on investment. While the Savings is for members to get loans and for a few small time easily cashable opportunities. The windows for investment into the cooperative are every 3 months. If you miss payment in July for August the next time you have is October.

Share Capital Maximum Guidelines
Paid Affiliates can invest a maximum of N100,000
Bronze Distributors can have a maximum of N200,000
Silver Distributors can have a maximum of N1,000,000
Gold Distributors can have a maximum of N5,000,000
Platinum Distributors can have a maximum of N50,000,000

To become a member of the cooperative you must meet the following criteria:

1. You must be a Distributor of H&C and have an active Privilege Pack and
2. You must invest a minimum of N50,000 in the “Share Capital Investment” scheme and or
3. You must invest a minimum of N5,000 per month in the “Monthly Savings Plan” scheme

Please Note:

• Forms should be picked up or submitted with N1,500 for registration
• Once forms have been duly filled they can be scanned and sent to cooperative@holidaysandcash.com or sent to
  The Cooperative % Holidays and Cash Ltd.
  3rd Floor Onigbagbo House
  71 Allen Avenue
  Ikeja
  Lagos
• Membership of cooperative is subject to Exco approval and will be confirmed via email.
• Savings will begin to count from the next month from payment.
• Payments are hence advised to be paid before the 30th of previous month.
• Payment for Savings or Share capital should be confirmed by filling a form showing amount, and method of payment (Bank or EGP) EGP equivalent for N5,000 will be $35. for N1,500 will be $11

It was 1 am in the morning and the TV in my room was on, I had seen the advert for the movie and had been a little curious. I had a flight for 9am the next morning, and staying awake to watch the film meant that I might not sleep until 3am, would wake up by 5-6am and pack my bags to get to the airport for 8am so I can catch the flight to Warri. It’s going to be working a tight rope, but I gave in to the temptation to watch, and guess what, it was worth it.

The key story in the movie was of a guy – a player, who did not believe in love or the institution of marriage, and had become a serial boyfriend… getting into relationships strictly for the short term value. He always ensured he didn’t get his heart or feelings involved, he had learnt from his uncle the master player, to be exceptional in the art of seduction. He had become lethal, he was great in his game, and he didn’t care much for settling down. His life seemed to go well, until one critical night. That night he was in town to attend the wedding ceremony of his only brother, there were lots of bride maids to kill time with, the wedding planner was an ex-almost-girl friend. The stage was set for one of his normal nights, but not this night. He goes into the gent, and there meets a ghost, the ghost of his player uncle, who came to show him, that this type of life he’s living does not have a good end.

The uncle promises him, that that night he’ll be introduced to some of the ghosts of his girlfriends past. He’ll see 3 major ghosts, and the moral of the entire night would be to show him how worthless the kind of life he was living is. From that point on, it gets really amusing, exciting and sometimes hilarious. Underneath all the acting and scripts however is a very carefully packaged message. A message so strong, Stephen Covey captured it as the 2nd habit of highly effective people – Begin with the End in Mind.

I would really love to give you the gist of the movie, but then I wouldn’t be doing the producers a great service . I would love to really gist you, but then again, this attempt of mine to write a short article will again have failed. Let me try however to give you the essence of the movie, the hidden message that makes it score so highly with me.

In that night, he had an opportunity to go to the past, cruise through the present and take a peep into his future. He saw the past – the lives he had wrecked, the pain he has caused, and the transient nature of other people’s experience with him. He saw the present, how he with his nasty attitude created a quarrel between brother and wife to be… by carelessly asking of of the bride maids his brother had an affair with. The view of his future took him through breaking his brothers marriage before it happened and leading him into a  miserable life, the picture of his future progressed to his own grave side, where none showed up except the priest and his only brother. He saw for real how miserable an end his life was heading towards. He saw clearly that his end was not one he had given much thought to. True to what the ghost of his player uncle had said – “guys like us don’t end well”.

When he did wake up in the morning from this show or trance, he was relieved first that he was alive, he asked loudly for the date, and woke up to make amends. If his current life was going to end lonely and miserable, he’ll need to change a lot of things to change that future. All of a sudden, he decided to re-arrange his philosophies and beliefs and started living with the end in mind. All of a sudden the things that mattered not, now mattered much. It struck me in an exciting way, the power of starting with the end in mind. It’s truly a habit that brings effectiveness.

If you get to watch the movie watch out for the contrast in lifestyle that thinking with the end brings.  Now let’s bring it back home to you. How are you living your life? Will the things important to you today be important to you if you had your end in mind? How do you want your life to be at the end? Will your burial have many people attending? Will they share the way the met you, the value you added? Will there be tears from those whose lives had partly depended on yours? Will there be celebration from those who know that you did live a great life and have gone home to rest? Or will life simply continue like no one of any value had walked through? Are you living life like a major actor, or like a “waka pass”? What is your role, what influence have you had on others, what is the measure of your impact? Have you lived for others or selfishly?

Death reveals all secrets. Nothing is concealable by one who can no longer draw clothes over his/her naked body. Once the breath ceases, the body becomes mere mass. What script is your life writing today.

Dare to begin with the end in mind!

Today makes it one year that you passed on ahead of us to eternity.  For us, it’s been one year, but for you it’s today. You are in a land where time does not count, you are with a God who is timeless, and a place where the sun neither rises no sets.  I have missed you mum, there have been many times I wanted to tell you how I’m doing, and get comfort from seeing that assuring smile on your face. Many times I’ve wanted to share a story, an encounter or a victory, but I know you are with the cloud of witnesses, so I’m sure you don’t miss a beat.  Life is full of challenges mum, as always, but you know I’m more than a conqueror. I know enough from watching you and studying my Bible, that victories don’t happen when we are not challenged.

I know I’m going to see you again,  that does mean I’m also going to die, that thought fills me with a sense of responsibility to ensure that I live my life leaving the right legacy. I know it’s you that should be proud of me, being that I came after you… but I’m so proud of you mum. Thinking of how you spent your 56yrs on earth is so inspiring for me. You lived a complete life, you were not merely successful, you were great! The lives you touched without the use of the internet is a challenge for me with the internet. Today my mind is filled with thoughts of you, I’m currently on the road on a 3hrs drive to the place where you were buried.

It’s so easy to know what you’ll like me to do, we started a number of them already, I just need to continue. Thanks for being a proverbs 31 woman, and giving me the best gifts in the world (to be discussed in -”The gifts my mother game me”). We love you and miss you, Daddy really misses you. I am only comforted by knowing, that as far as you are concerned, we are coming to where you are, the same day that you left.

For all of you out there who have people you love around you, I have a few precious thoughts.

1. Let them know you love them, the path of life does not always stretch like the stick of a gun. Show love while you can.

2. Make a phone call as often as you can, MTN – everywhere you go, does not cover heaven.

3. We will all die, it’s important we identify what we are living for.

4. Whose life are you touching with the little that you have?

5. Invest in the next generation, don’t be relevant to yours alone?

6. Do the things you really want to do, it makes it easy for those left behind to continue.

Can your life drastically improve in the next one year? Did it, in the last one year? What are you prepared to do differently?

Let’s not fool ourselves, things are not likely to suddenly progress and transform you into success or greatness without doing something you didn’t want to, or think you can do before! Don’t read this mail, don’t take action based on what you read, and I can guarantee your life will continue the way it did before you started. Act however, and you may discover that you have untapped potentials for unique achievement and greatness.

The Foolish buy today, the Wise buy tomorrow based on trends!

I can still remember the hot afternoon of June 6, 1997, under the trees in the Alumni centre of the University of Ibadan, I asked my wife to be, the big question about marriage. It took her almost a year to get back to me. Why?? There was nothing much in that guy back then, if you looked at my shoes or rated my clothes, the answer would have been negative and quicker. Thank God however that our lives don’t stay on pause, we progress, and our progress creates a trend. My wife eventually said yes, but she didn’t buy the present, she bought the future. The foolish insist on current face value, the wise think about seasons down the line. The foolish waits to buy the estate when it’s an estate, the wise buy the estate when it’s a bush and then waits. All the wise wants to see, is the trend. What do you have in your hands that is trending towards a greater future? What you are about to hear, you have heard before… but not this way and not at this level.

Would you like an opportunity to get special treatment?

Imagine that there is an ultramodern international supermarket being erected at Tejuosho. An offer is made to the public for anyone who wants to lease a shop space. Not only do you get this shop space, you also get to become a member of the “Tejuosho international market association”. This leased space and membership means three things.

1. Anytime you have anything to sell, you have an opportunity of selling via your shop and advertise to all other members of the association – FREE.

2. Anytime anybody comes to you to ask for any product, you have an insider deal with all the members of the association to buy at distributor prices and if you want, to resell.

3. The Tejuosho space owners are willing to reward you for telling your friends about the ultramodern shopping mall and getting them to lease a space.

The good thing is, even though your foundational product is the leased space, you have a unique privilege of being able to sell anything else on offer in the shopping mall. Imagine that you sell beverages, and someone approaches you to buy phones, all you need do, is ask them to wait, while your girl… fetches the mobile phone and sells to you at the price you would have gotten it upstairs… but this time, you make a margin.

All your life, you can enjoy an opportunity to buy everything at distributor’s price, and you can determine to be anybody’s distributor.

This shop… is the new face of Holidays and Cash in Nigeria… the trend is real, and today we have over 100 shop spaces filled with goods, and over 18,000 members of the association enjoying all the 3 benefits.

For Real??

Oh yes, for real! You can ask any of the distributors you know to log into the company’s website with their unique passwords, and you’ll see that the estate is beginning to evolve from the bush.

It is fast becoming a solutions city, a growing domain where whatever it is your want or need can be found. We are fast becoming an enlightened company of special elects, our motto is empowering others, our values are L.I.F.E – Love, Integrity, Future Orientation and Excellence and our vision is to have distributors in every family in Nigeria by 2020 and be strategically positioned to replenish the earth and have dominion.

Even becoming more solid…

Is the fact that as distributors of the same international organization, we are getting to for a cooperative together to strengthen the asset base of each other, give our members access to loans for their dreams and creating investment options. We are also taking giant strides of building mini estates branded in our name, and our company is setting out to acquire property and build structures that will last forever… God willing. We are investing in people development, in values entrenchment and in carrying everybody in the team to a desired future.

We are not where we want to be… but we are far from where we were almost 2yrs ago. The network is getting bigger and richer, and only your friend can bring you in. You don’t want to be left out and be in the company of those in the world buying everything at retail prices

Our name could be misleading… and is going to be changed. Only those who can see the future may buy. Let me know if this is it for you!

Kind Regards

Adeolu Akinyemi

deolu@deoluakinyemi.com

I’ve been a bit out of circulation for the past 4 days. It’s been a hectic one for me, I’ve been co-facilitating and co-learning a great deal at the Holidays and Cash Leadership Academy 100 level. It’s a really mixed class with an age range of 24-60yrs of age. We are all from different walks of life with different experiences and backgrounds. The class content, energy and opportunities to learn are rich. It’s been a great 4 days and we have 6 more intensive days to go. The training has forced me to go beyond knowing to doing, to utilize what I had kept as knowledge, and in so doing I’m becoming better. It’s funny, but I don’t think I have put myself under the kind of pressure I’m putting myself through now, in a while, it’s so demanding yet so refreshing.

My mind casts back to those days gone, years past when I was under constant pressure. Pressure to teach another the content of a course, pressure to stand in front of a fellowship and share the Word. The pressure of accountability to live right because many other lives depended on yours. The pressure of praying from 12 midnight till 3am regularly without fail, the pressure of studying the scriptures and not just reading it. The pressure of always having a fresh word. I once in a while get asked, how do you stay so sharp and current, how do you stay so knowledgeable? The answer, is quite simple.

1. Understand that life is not meant to be lived selfishly.

The moment your life is for you and about you, you are headed for a mediocre existence. Those whose lives make meaning regularly make sacrifices for others.  What makes a man successful is how many others he’s able to help become successful. Once you analyze your life and it’s progress for the sake of your progress or your family’s progress, you will not be great! If you don’t have a sensing of others depending on you, you can’t be functioning at your peak.

2. Continue to be a role model.

It’s amazing how many people others looked up to back in school that are not worth looking up to now?  The brother was a prayer secretary then, in fact he was the president of the fellowship. He seemed to do all the right things then, and almost had a patent on revelation. School becomes history, and the demand of the people that kept him studying and working at his peak ceased. His environment changed, and he can now afford first to drink malt while his colleagues drink beer, he progresses to drink beer while they smoke, and he only dances with the ladies while they sleep with them. When they take them home, he still is conservative by ensuring it only happens when he’s on field work. Gradually an absence of people who look up to him, makes his life reduce to it’s lowest common denominator. Nothing develops you more than surrounding yourself regularly with people who expect the best from you, and silently hold you accountable to great standards.

3. Regularly give out.

If you regularly share and teach what you know, you’ll stand the risk of one day sounding like a broken record if you do not pursue new knowledge. Emptying your cup regularly forces you to regularly refill it. Find an avenue to give, don’t bottle up all your knowledge find a place to share. Test your ideas, voice your perspective, share what you know! When you empty yourself, you’ll be driven to refill. To stay knowledgeable give the little you have, and make sure you always have more to give.

4. Challenge your friends to challenge you.

It’s iron that sharpens iron. If your friends and colleagues don’t step up, they’ll ultimately dull you. Push yourselves to be sharp. Drive yourselves based on acquisition of knowledge, drive yourselves based on positive values. Don’t walk with people heading in another direction, walk with people whose appetites are for achievement and greatness. Let the thought that you are surrounded by brighter people push you to know more, do more and be more!

5. Don’t stop.

Where you are today is a function of seeds you sowed 10yrs ago. 10yrs from now, you’ll be a function of the seeds you are sowing today. Don’t stop today otherwise tomorrow may be compromised. Keep sowing, keep pushing, keep giving, today is yesterday’s harvest, and the harvest ahead is the seed of today. Don’t stop!

Who is your somebody, and who’s somebody are you? Who is thinking about you as they read through the poem below and in which area are you that somebody? Let me see if I can get my somebody’s. If you are reading this I might just be your somebody… are you mine? While reading below, substitute my name for Somebody and my answers are in the next brackets. Now do it again and leave it as somebody and I hope I make your list in one

If I forget you, abeg remind me

The thought of our mortality is one of our greatest reservoirs of wisdom. When we ponder on the transient nature of life, we ask ourselves deep questions and our philosophies are formed. When the question of death is asked, our highest priorities surface. I like the thoughts of Stephen R. Covey, when he says begin with the end in mind. One can hardly understand his or her life’s priorities without extending the equation of life over the point where life ends. Those who regularly connect with their mortality live the most meaningful lives, while in contrast, those who think they would leave forever make a mess of life.

Who will cry when you die? Ask yourself this question and it might reveal to you the quality of life you are currently living. Ask why will they cry, and you’ll see the things you are living for. The days are inching close to when it would be 1yr that heaven gained my mother, the days seem fast to the observers, but the value of that time, and the many times her value was missed is priceless. My eyes have not offered it’s tears for public display, but my heart has bled over and over with tears of blood, thank God for his comfort. When life has meaning, it always leaves a clear vacuum in the lives of other people. This vacuum makes people cry, makes people hurt and makes many wish it was possible to reverse death. When you die, who will cry and why?

It is said that when you came into the world, you were crying and the world was rejoicing and celebrating. That success in life is your ability to reverse that trend. When you depart, you should be rejoicing and celebrating, while the world cries. What will make your departure exciting for you and a course for tears to the world? What? It’s the vacuum that your absence creates, the void that only you had filled. The people you have helped, the impact you had made, the hope you had given and the love you had shown.

The people that will cry from their heart, are the ones you showed love, the ones you helped to build up, the one to whom you were an encouragement, the people that benefited from your abundance, the ones that tapped into your philosophies, the lives enriched by your knowledge. The people that will cry are those that benefited from your benevolence, that were recipients of your generosity. There would be a few odd ones who will only begin to appreciate what they thought was wickedness to them while you were alive, and yet a few who will get to realize you had nothing for them but love. People don’t cry because of the dead person, they cry because of the difference the demise makes to their lives. Those that have enjoyed the privilege of your time, will miss you. Those you gave hope and inspiration will want you, the ones who benefited from your talent will reminisce about you, those you taught to fish will cherish you and those you hurt sincerely will forgive you.

It’s vain to be the richest man in the graveyard. Don’t die with your gifts and talents. Don’t die with your love and care. Take the big risks, live life to the fullest, don’t postpone your life, today is what you have. Don’t stick with a job you have been complaining about for 3yrs, move on, dare big things, fail forward, gather experience. If you like that girl, let her know. If you love that guy, let it show. Live life daily deeply, connect with  your mortality. Love like there is no tomorrow, care like life is about to end, value the moments that you have. Craft your own mission statement, and start with what you will want others to say when you are done and gone.

There is nothing that makes your life as exciting as if you are living in the consciousness of the fact that every minute counts and that there is an end.

It’s been a while I have written as consistently as I normally would. I have been on the move, adding value to what might seem a minority, but what is surely becoming a mighty army of people. Ever so often, I meet someone however, who reminds me of what a blessing my site has been to him or her, and I’m reminded never to ever underestimate the power of this blog and who may be reading. With due respect to that reality, I have yet again decided not to completely close this channel, but to strive to every motivate and inspire my online friends and audience.

The journey of personal development is not an easy journey, but if the needed prices are paid, it can be pleasurable. Trust me, travelling around the world on vacations with different teams of people can be so much fun. Learning their cultures, reading their history,  meeting the locals, sight seeing and all sounds like play, but if you where the cap of a student and a teacher, there is so much that is revealed. I long to share the lessons from the Maldives, to share insights from The Gambia and touch a bit on my breath-taking tour of Cotonou, Ivory Coast and Senegal – remind me I said breath taking . But today, I’ll want to share something that almost brought tears to my eyes, and the reason, why I will for the next few decades passionately recommend that you become a part of this global opportunity.

Below is the Letter from a 2 Generations Down-line.

Good day sir,

The purpose of this mail is to express my gratitude to you for being a coach, mentor and role model.

The events of the past few weeks have turned a lot of things around in my life. Starting from the Ilorin Summit, the earnings, the trip and the other little things here and there. I am finally winning a lot of my hitherto skeptical folks to my side. The summit in Ilorin (though not exactly big) lent a lot of credence to me and my “controversial” vision. The rise in my income in the past few weeks has also contributed to removing doubts and fears. The trip to the Maldives has also lent credibility to my business (I still really don’t know how to thank you for that). Even beyond this, I cannot fail to recognize the fact that I started this journey with absolutely no knowledge as to the methods to go about it. But your guidance and patience saw me through this and I couldn’t have achieved all these without you.

I only pray that God will bless you and your family abundantly. You believed in us when there was nothing to believe in. I know I am not there yet. I still have a long way to go but I believe I shouldn’t go without expressing this. There are still so many lessons to learn from you but I believe there is really no way  to repay you for all these. Maybe I will just have to commit myself to helping others too (then I will know that I am passing down your legacy).  This is just a short note to express my gratitude Sir.

God bless you Sir.

Best Regards,

Name Withheld

Fear is the passion of slaves

IF the only reward I get from passionately driving holidays and cash is this type of mail once in a while, it’s worth it. One mail like this for me, balances out on many criticisms. If all of us, could have 12 people, just 12, that we can point out and say that our lives, activities and words made a remarkable difference in these lives, it would be well worth it.

I remember the comment made about the disciples of Jesus, they were unlearned men, but the word took notice of something -”these men had been with Jesus”. The most exciting testimony a man or institution can share, is the testimony of another persons life changing by close association. This, is one of many mails that I have been privileged to receive since my putting my heart, passion and mind behind this global opportunity. Now that we are gradually taking position in the world of real estate, and venturing into strengthening the capacity of the distributors by life changing education and empowering the network to communicate through and through at virtually free – it’s getting exciting!

Are you young and looking for an opportunity to change the world? Holidays and Cash has an opportunity for you. Are you old and retiring and looking for legitimate options to drive? Holidays and Cash has within it businesses you can fall back on, and you can rely on this company. Are you looking for fun and excitement and understand the boredom of going it alone? We have the social dynamics that makes “going together” so much fun. Do you know the meaning of leverage? Holidays and Cash is totally leverage!

They say if you want to get there fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, let’s go together. Today, the Nigerian team has crossed the 17,ooo mark. Our eyes are towards the hundreds of thousands, towards the millions and tens of millions. We are looking for future oriented people like you, people that have integrity like you, people that can train and develop others like you. Whatever the problems we have today, it’s because we do not yet have you. Don’t go it alone, let’s do this together.

The journey has been exciting, rewarding and fulfilling, this is why I passionately recommend!

Many times you will hear people say that their big breaks happened when they responded to an inner voice. They felt the urge to do something that was not natural or had no empirical data to back. They moved, and somehow their move in retrospect seemed perfect. Take it or leave it, God does speak to man, most times he may not be in the fire or in the wind, he may be in a still small voice. A voice so still, if you are not watchful you may not catch it, a voice so small, it’s easy to hear and ignore. God does speak, and let me tell you very firmly – your success and prosperity is connected to the instruction that he gives. His instructions are the inspirations behind innovations, his revelations are worth searching for and finding out. All that his seen will pass away, but that which takes root from his instruction and word will last them all!

What about people who don’t know God, who don’t like God or claim no allegiance to God, do they still need to hear His instruction to succeed? Does God speak to them? God speaks to all men, even in his creations his words are loud and clear, the basic reality of God is made manifest in a long and thoughtful look at creation. Sometimes when those He calls his own miss the signals long enough, any mere man – popularly referred to as stones will rise to the occasion. God does speak, but most times man cannot hear him. Not because he cannot hear him actually, but because he cannot understand his words. I’m going to show you one way, just one way today on how you can get yourself into God’s channel!

One of the biggest mitigating factors against our hearing God is understanding! His ways are not our ways, and his thoughts not our thoughts. God’s spiritual vocabulary requires learning, else he would speak ever so often above our heads. Let me break this down to you, it’s important that the reader understands this.

My Son is 3 yrs old, there are many things I want to tell him, there is so much I can tell him. If I tell him many things however, I will contend with the reality that he will not understand. I need to compromise my vocabulary to speak with him, as a matter of fact, I need to postpone some of our discussions. If the house he is in is burning I can’t tell him run, I must tell him come, in fact, I must shout “come”. Come is a compromise of vocabulary to reflect what I’m sure he’ll understand. I cannot afford for my intent to be lost in my use of vocabulary. I want him away from the fire, desperately, but if I tell him, “Escape with anxious velocity, a magnanimous conflagration is consuming that magnificent domicile ”, he’ll probably still be in there when the house falls. I need to shave the vocabulary and preserve my intent. Most times however, we fail to understand the intent in the commanders instructions, sometimes we take the words at face value. We hear Him, but we do not understand, and our lives never change, our stories remain the same. All around us testimonies are happening, revelation is birthing increase, but the words our hears hear, or those our eyes see make no meaning to our limited spiritual or inspirational vocabulary. Here is how to hear and understand – Increase your insight vocabulary.

How do you achieve this?

1. Expand your Territory

The reason why you can’t understand some instructions is because you have never stretched yourself into certain territories. The elders say that anyone who has never seen another persons father’s farm, says that his father’s is the biggest. You may not understand if you have never seen. Don’t be confined to only one perspective, expand your horizons. Stretch into new territories. One of the key things you can do to achieve this is to travel. Leave your town of birth, leave your state of birth, leave your country. Stretch out to see other countries and continents. You cannot stay in your country and say you know what standards mean, what beauty means, or what excellence is. Strive to see how another nation or city sees those words. I was once surprised when in a country of the world I visited with a woman of God, that she suddenly started cursing our political leaders. She couldn’t believe how a country not as rich as us, could be so good and have so many things to their advantage. Expand your territory.

2. Expand your Experience

How do you explain to an employee the trills and turns in an entrepreneurs life?  How do you assign someone to a job he or she is not skilled for? How do you tell someone to do something so far from their paradigm? In my experience, sometimes God leads you to do some things, not because that is where the final destination is, but because going that route equips you with some skills and tools you’ll need for your next assignment. Don’t stay where you are, move, try new things, venture. Even when you fail in one, it equips you for many others. Many experiences make life rich, and give you an authoritative view on key issues. It equips you with the insight to know what the instruction you are getting means.

3. Expand your Relationships

Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other Gold. When God wants to change a man’s life, he either encounters new people or new knowledge. How will you get an instruction to meet a person you do not know? If indeed the world has 4 layers of separation for the average man, then expanding your relationships increases your access to what you desire. Take an inventory of the people whose lives you matter, to the people you have impacted, to the people who would do almost anything for you. How extended is this list? Are you living for yourself by yourself, or is life better now that you came? You want to understand the next instructions? Expand you relationships.

4. Expand your Mind!

Read! Again I say read! The greatest thing that can happen to you is for your capacity to increase. Knowledge is one ingredient I know that transforms paupers into princes, rogues into vogue, and laggards into leaders. Knowledge is crucial, it’s critical. The capacity to understand the deep things of God requires quality time unraveling his mysteries. Your mind is a foundation, if it’s deep, you can build tall, if it’s shallow, even if it’s tall, it’s for a while. Even spiritual insight needs to be interpreted to the mind, for you cannot act on what you cannot interpret. Investing in mind expansion is a worthwhile investment. The broader the scope of what you know, the easier to relate with different dimensions of God. Readers are leaders, have you asked why? Because readers get insights that the average person does not have, and hence make them people to follow.

God is speaking frequently, his broadcast channel never stops. Are you tuned in? Do you have the capacity to hear and comprehend? Increase your vocabulary.

Death is a very sensitive topic. I am usually amazed at how death makes celebrities out of people who’s CDs we never would have bought. I get amused at how it’s difficult to speak ill of the dead or wish the person anything other than heaven or a good place. I have attended a few burials in my life, and when the person was outrightly wicked and bound for nowhere else, we all still believe the best and hope that in his or her last moments, a mini dialog with God had made all things good. In the light of this, I do not wish to talk about the hear after, but the here and now! May his gentle soul rest in peace.

Isaiah 6:1a says, in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord…

It is my sincere prayer tonight that in this hour that our president departs from the world as we know it, God will speak to His prophets! My hearty prayer tonight is that the blueprint of God for this nation will be proclaimed and he will set in power those who will execute his will! I prophesy this night and as we progress into morning, that God will destroy the Pharaoh spirit holding this nation captive! I declare you evil genius’, you antichrists, let my people Go! I decree plagues in the camp of the cabal, I decree that one event after the other will commence until the proverbial Pharaoh lets Nigeria Go!  I pray that ears will be opened and the eyes of the Isaiah’s of this nation will see!

We have turned the tables of leadership of our nation as an 8yr right between the North and the West. The north was meant to do 8yrs after the Southwest did 8yrs. Today however Jonathan takes over! Our eyes are being shifted from the normal calculations prepared for this nation. The Lord is in action, Isaiah can see the Lord!

May the calculations of those who impose themselves over this nation fail!  May their diviners turn mad! May they fall out of orbit with everything that holds them relevant, may truth pierce darkness through and may the future of Nigeria be different from it’s past. May our trends change, may our fall be halted, may Nigeria blossom again!

I have nothing against the gentle President Yar’Adua, he’s merely a victim of circumstance, a trapped pawn in the game of bigger players. I pray that his soul will rest in peace, and his family will receive comfort from God! I pray too though, that his death will not end as death, but will usher in a dispensation where God is seen visibly in the affairs of Nigeria. I pray that God will garnish the memory of him with the time that Nigeria took a new turn under the visible leadership of God.

Meetings will begin to happen from today, good and bad meetings. Where those whose counsel is not the Lord’s gather, may they scatter! Where they plot, may the evil of their plot be theirs to harvest. I decree 2011 is a turning point in the political history of our country. As God marks the year, 2010 our year of Jubilee… may Nigeria be FREE!

Adieu President Yaradua Adieu.

Verifiable Links Below…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/05/05/international/i160504D25.DTL&type=business

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_NIGERIA_OBIT_YARADUA?SITE=NCAGW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingworldnews/ci_15024890

http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-United-Kingdom/247-NIGERIA-NEWS-UPDATE/124165628253

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Nigeria-President-Umaru-YarAdua-Has-Died-At-The-Age-Of-58/Article/201005115626233?f=rss

One day, the man I am, will be measured against the man that I could have been! All my actions, and inactions will be placed on a balance, and my possibilities on the other side of the balance. On that day, the Judge of all, will have an expression on His face, will it be a smile or a frown? Will the words I’ll hear be ” well done, good and faithful servant”, or will I be cast into utter darkness with the words “get rid of this play-it-safe who won’t go out on a limb”? I don’t know if you are living today aware that that day exists. A day we will all be scored for how we have fared in the examination called life. A day when our intentions and motives will become plain and the reality of our actions and particularly our inactions will be crystal clear. Are you living with that consciousness? Or is your life mantra “Que será, será”.

The thought of this day, is the reason why I have decided to live my life fully with a good conscience towards the things of God and the issues of men. The thought of this day, is why I am a student of the Bible, and run my life based on it’s principles. The thought of this day is why I judge myself daily, that I might be fairly judged. Interestingly there is a chapter of the book of Matthew that renders 3 Judgement day scenarios, this is the 25th Chapter. These are scenarios that anybody desirous of a great end, should read and meditate on from time to time. Ahead of my sharing the lessons from these 3 scenarios for you, I’ll like you to ponder about the questions asked, and the ones I’m about to ask? Are you living your life fully? Are you preparing for an unseen future? If you have to stop doing what you are doing today, do you have a fall back position? Are you playing it safe or taking the risks? The way you are living now, is it based on faith or fear? Are your skills and talents fully invested? Do you have skills that will shock the world if you manifested? Is your life touching any other persons life? Are you a blessing to anyone else, does your life make meaning to any other mortal? Are you meeting people’s needs?

These are questions we should all ask ourselves, or wait to be asked one day. You were deliberately created and made to live a life that answers these questions positively. That great and terrible day will come, it’s the day our actions and inactions will be judged. Let’s study a quick template that clearly defines to us all the dimensions we must not be found wanting in. Judge yourself daily, monthly and yearly based on these things, because they’ll be the priorities in the end.

1. The Story of the Virgins

The summary of the Story of the Virgins is simple. There were 10 Virgins,  5 were labelled wise, and five were labelled foolish. What qualified them for these label was just one word – “Preparation”.  The presence or lack of it.  In this evaluation, what mattered was not their character or purity, they all had that. Character is a foundation, if it’s missing it’s going to be another judgement entirely! Even among the upright, God measures preparation and calls it wisdom. The wise virgins had prepared for the worst and for the future, the foolish ones were unprepared for the worst. In this amazing story, both classes of virgins slept and were woken up to see what they had all been waiting for, the smart ones were prepared and the silly ones were not. This act of foolishness ultimately destroyed the masters memory of them, his final words were – “I don’t think I know you”. Anyone who does not work with the wisdom of preparing for the unknown tomorrow, has obliterated him/herself from God’s view.

The questions you need to judge yourself by are simple. Is there anything I have done today that is preparation for the future? Will I judge myself wise or foolish today by the standards of what I have prepared for? If I were unable to continue doing the work I am doing today, how long can I stay before I run out of oil? What is the worst that can happen? Am I prepared for it? Do I have more oil than I need today? Can my resources last and support my cause for the next 52 weeks? Am I preparing something for my children’s children? The wise man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, am I wise?

2. The Story about Invesment

The is also an easy to summarize story. A master left on an extended trip and left his servants with resources. To the first he gave the equivalent of $5000, to the second the equivalent of $2000 and to third the equivalent of $1000. The first 2 engaged their resources in risky business, and ultimately made profit at the time of judgement. The 3rd servant was afraid, decided to play it safe by hiding the masters money, unwilling to fail, he failed! Unwilling to lose, he lost! He didn’t lose any money but he lost his place. In the day of Judgement, the risk takers were commended and made partners, the cautious one was dispossessed of what he had, and was thrown into utter darkness. Every man, woman, boy or girl, has resources. We are given resources to manage based on our abilities, and we are given more based on how we handle what we are trusted with. Everyone has something! Judgement is not a function of how much you had or how much you were able to make, it’s about the activity and effort you put into making yourself productive. God is not happy with play-it-safe’s who won’t go out on a limb.

The questions you need to ask yourself are quite simple as well. Am I using it? The skills, the gifts, the talents, the money, the relationships, the access, the platforms that I have am I burying them or using them? Am I being criminally cautious? Am I living my life to the fullest of my potentials or am I being numbed by the fear of failure? Will I look back 10yrs from now and have regrets on the path I have followed vs the one I could have? Are you productive? Are you living life fully, or half heartedly? Are the investments of God in your life yielding good ROI?

3. The Sheep and the Goats

This story touches yet another dimension. The result of Judgment was either being a sheep or a goat. The goat were people who had little or no impact on their society or fellow men. They had no impact on the hungry, no witness among the thirsty, they were unknown to the homeless, strangers to the shivering, invisible to the sick and unheard of by the prisoners. Their lives were about them and their families… and perhaps a few of their rich friends. The were summarized as Goats. And oh, they were religious, at least they confirmed that if they knew it was for Jesus, they would have done all they were blamed of not doing. The sheep were the opposite, their impact was grand scale. They fed the poor, quenched thirsts, offered their rooms to the homeless, gave the shivering clothes and visited the prisoners. They were there for others. Many people testified to their being a part of their success stories.  They even did it without knowing it was counting before God in their favor. Judgement on this dimension, is the judgement of impact!

Ask yourself -Who is excited about their lives because of you? To whom have you had impact? If you were rushed off to the hospital today and informed that tonight was your night, what would you regret? Are you living for impact or living for salary? Is your salary truly your living or are you making lives? Are you a goat or a sheep? When was the last time you led someone to God? When was the last time you shared hope with another? When was the last time you heard thank you? When? If you are goat everyday, you cannot but be a goat in eternity. It’s not the ultimate judgement day that counts, it’s the daily judgment we must put ourselves through, so that Judgment Day will be sweet.

So, judge  yourself so that  you will not be judged. The wisdom of preparing for the future, The Productive use of resources and Impact! Are you living on point? Please do!

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over in my life. And that’s why I succeed!” – Michael Jordan

One of the sharpest contrasts of paradigms between the super successful and the near do wells or outright failures is their perspective about failing. The contrast is so alarming, yet many don’t know. In my little sojourn and study, I have discovered quite amazingly that the rich and the poor, the great and the average, the skilled and he amateur,  have different philosophies about failing. If your philosophy can change, then you have indeed begun your journey into the school of success. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. You are not more than your way of thinking. Read these words, and let them transform your thinking, changing the way you see failing and rejection has the capacity to transform your life in 3 months.

Failing is one of the best things that can happen to a human being! Rejection is be most powerful motivation tool on earth! Getting a “No!” from your prospects or friends is the best self development training in the world! Failing is golden! The act of falling short, or missing expectations, of not meeting up with the desired results or getting woeful results is precious. You need to motivate yourself to fail, get yourself the opportunity of being rejected, go into places you’ll hear no’s more often, for success is elusive to those who have no history of failing! Failure must never be a place that defines you, but you must be conversant with failing. Like Thomas Watson one time MD of IBM said, “I have discovered, that in order to double my success rate, I simply double my failure rate!”.  You are not ready to succeed, until you are prepared to fail

Listen to me, it’s not your potential that counts. It’s not how skilled you are that counts, it’s not even who you know. The greatest change that can happen to you will only happen, when your paradigm shifts about failing. Once that shifts, all the other elements begin to fall into place.  In the football match of failing vs succeeding, the person that wins is not the person with the most goals, one goal from succeeding is enough to wipe away all the memories of failing. It is not who scores most that wins, it’s who scores last!  Do you really want to be success? Do you really want to be great? Do you want to be wealthy and loved? Then you must ready to fail, but not be characterized a failure, you must be ready to fall, and get up again and again and again. You must be ready to try, and in case you don’t succeed, try again.

It’s strange how we quote many great men and yet refuse to subscribe to their principles. It’s amazing how we listen to their stories with inspired awe, and yet refuse to leave our comfort zones. What these people did, you can do as well, you only need to change your perception of failing. You need to learn to fail and fail forward. Don’t be deceived by reading peoples current lives, and thinking they were successful from the word “Go”. They weren’t, it’s just interesting that life covers the tracks left behind by successful men and women and makes it difficult to follow. All the struggle and down times is till you succeed. So keep at it!

Abraham Lincoln became one of the greatest presidents America ever had after a string of failed attempts at different things. Even though his documented catalog of never quitting from failed attempts is being thrown out as not totally true, it is inspiring that a man would go through all that and end successful. He lost his mother, lost his job, lost his girl friend, lost money, lost elections and ended up becoming the president of the United States of America. Doesn’t it sound exciting that it doesn’t matter how much you lost, what you lost, and how badly you lost, if it ends up putting you on the sit of honor and power? We all share with excitement the story of Thomas Edison whose failures with the light bulb was his education of how it ought not to be done? That are rooms are well lit today, and we can watch televisions today, listen to radio today, and can plug anything to electricity today, because someone somewhere did not consider himself to delicate to have the temporary experience of failure!

I have failed before, that is why I am succeeding today. It has been bad before, that’s why it’s better than good today. Light is of no value if  there is no darkness to dispel. Failure can damage you, if you allow it, but it can shape you if you take charge. My failures have been instrumental to my successes. My dissatisfaction with my past, has allowed me to restrategize for my future. The exams I didn’t do well in, made me feel rejected and sad, but they strengthened my resolve to say “Never again!” The “No’s” that I have heard have helped me to redevelop my message. There is nothing that powers up a human being more than the feeling of rejection, of not being part of the group of being second class. If you allow the failure to become your tool, it can propel you to greater heights.

Stop allowing the fear of failure to intimidate you, embrace failure as an experience development tool, embrace rejection as a motivator, embrace “No” as a self help self development tool, and watch if your life will not transform. Watch if you will not have new stories, watch if the quality of your life will not improve. Stop sitting on your butt and hoping for the day things will change, make a move, and let God direct you. It’s totally stressful trying to steer a parked car… start the ignition, change the gears, throttle, and steer left or right as you go. The car light rarely sees more than 200 meters into the night, you won’t see it all when you start to move, but you’ll figure it out as you go. He that moves and asks for direction seldom gets lost. May you fail forward, may you fail successfully!

Selah!

Pride comes before a fall! The statement you have just read is a really rich many sided statement, it’s also a statement of fact. A quick glance at the history of falls, and you’ll see the manifestations of pride. Pride is a dangerous virtue to have, it quietly creeps on us, it’s so subtle that once you have it, you are not likely to notice it. It is a terrible disease that first blinds you from it’s existence – pride is one of such diseases. This is why from time to time, we must take an internal look, measure ourselves by the manifestations of pride and abase or humble ourselves as the opportunity presents itself. Great people don’t fall without hint, pride always shows up a few weeks before the fall.

Are you bracing yourself for a fall? Or is pride confronted and conquered. Being proud is not being loud, it has nothing to do with the more extroverted temperaments, it’s a sin that besets all. It’s a chemistry of the flesh that needs to be deactivated and uninstall-ed. Pride is a dangerous virus, once it’s loaded on your system, it sets up the major powers of the universe against you. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. There is nothing quite devastating like setting yourself up as God’s opposition. It’s a serious question to ask, “Am I proud?” How do I know, and what do I do, to take away this harbinger of destruction.

I’m going to share a few thoughts here on what I call, the Manifestations of Pride. Measure yourself by these manifestations, and adjust your life. Where you are, is smaller than what lies on your inside. Don’t let pride, no matter how little, truncate your journey.

1. The Turning Point Concept

If you remember a typical sine graph or the representation of a wave, you’ll realize that at the turning point or peak, the rate of change reduces till it gets to zero before it begins to turn. For the not so scientific minds, imagine throwing a ball up, the ball will gradually come to a stop at a particular height, then it begins to fall freely under the force created by gravity. Things stop before they begin to fall, and that reduction in pace or process is a clear sign of the presence of pride.

Let me break it down for you. Today you drive a good car, you have a good job, things are easy for you and you are not as driven as you were 10yrs ago, when all that connected you to where you are now was a dream and a desire. Back in the days, you were a hunter for opportunity, you slept late, and woke up early and made many friends. You were a digger for knowledge, your pocket was regularly emptied to fill your head, knowing that your head will fill your pockets. You didn’t have much, but it didn’t matter, you had a vision and that was more than any television. You spent quality time in prayer, invested in building a relationship with your maker. You were hungry for change, desperate for a new level. You worked real hard and propelled yourself fast into relevance, but somewhere along the line, the music you were dancing to changed. The pace slowed down, and the lights were dimmed. You hear about new ventures, the type that kept you alive back in the days, but you have become a lazy cat.  You stopped doing the things that took you up, and expect to stay up by auto-cruise. Mark my words, you are a few days away from the fall.

Just as pride comes ahead of the fall, slowing down comes ahead of the free fall. The rate of change approaches zero as you approach a turning point!

2. The Solo Code

I’m sure you have heard of the term isolate and conquer. The moment the counsel of your friends and mentors don’t matter much anymore you are beginning to step into dangerous territory. My people say that the dog that will get lost will not hear the hunters whistle and if it does, it will refuse to hearken. One of the vital organ pride first damages is the ear. Once people don’t count for much, there is a problem.

I’m sure you have heard this carefully disguised statements, “I don’t like talking to people”, “I prefer something I can do on my own”, “I hate to have to depend on someone else”. Or a few of the more direct ones, “I don’t do those type of things”, “I’m very choosy who I hang out with”, I can’t come there? e.t.c. Inflamed Self sufficiency has many manifestation, but the ultimate is a fall.

If you were proud today, who do you have, that knows you enough to tell you to your face that you are missing it?

3. Godless-ness

One of the key areas where pride is manifested is one’s concept and perception of God. Pride is assuming that without God we are valuable. It’s existing in a frame of mind where God doesn’t matter. God however resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Don’t join the company of those that celebrate their lives without God.

Refusing to acknowledge God and offering him preeminence is a sign of pride.

One of the strongest revelations I walk with is understanding that the fear of extremes makes us mediocre. People regularly live less than their potentials, because of a dread of the worst. What if I fail? What if I die? What if my good name is dragged in the mud? What if I make a fool of myself? Unwilling to think deeply about the worst, men and women condemn themselves to an average low impact existence.  No books are written about them, no quotes to their name, their fear of failure got them eventually the same fate with all, death, but meaningless lives.

I have learnt to always confront my worst possibilities? I resigned from paid employment 4yrs ago with clarity about the question, what if I fail? My answer was that should I fail, I would send my family to my parents or theirs, I will stay around in Lagos for a little longer and work my butts off, if all still fails, I will go back to the village and get involved in farming!  I grew up learning to farm, and I know that on the farm you are not likely to die of hunger, and once there is life, there is hope . I have a colleague that told me his own worst case scenario was that he’ll become a driver – since he loves to drive. What I have learnt is that except you are willing to ask yourself mind boggling questions, you will not make mind boggling progress.  Those who go very high in life, are those who have dealt with the fear of falling. What if you fail?

Freedom stems from confronted fears. Your bounce and stride changes when you know the implications of the worst and you have come to live with it. If the answer is devastating, then you must change your circumstances. No human being is choiceless, we can change our current circumstances and ensure that the worst is not so bad. Here are a few questions you need to have answers to.

What if you lose your job?

Do you have clear answers? Will you be in deep trouble? Do you have a back up plan? Is there anything else you have been doing by the side, that just needs more time commitment? Will you be stranded? Will your employer take your car and empty your living room? Will there be a kobo left in your bank account? Will your family suffer? What will you do if you lose your job today? Face that question squarely and give yourself options. Don’t waste today, answer that question now!

What if you are without a job for a while?

Can you survive without a salary for 12 weeks? Can you survive for 24? 52 weeks? How long can you survive without salary income? What options do you have? What skill do you have? What can you do to support your family? What is the worst that can happen?

What if you take a risk and lose?

How much will you really have lost? If you lose in a business venture, is it really a total loss? How much really would you have lost, and what lessons would you have gained? What will you do if you lose? What options do you truly have? If your investments get squashed are you likely to die? Will you be damaged irreparably? What truly is the worst that can happen?

What if your name is dragged in the mud?

What will happen if your reputation is at stake? If the people that know you today no longer see you as all that? What will happen if people around you think that you did something for different reasons from why you did it? What if you are perceived differently from who you really are? What is the worst that can happen? How badly does someone else’s comments or views about you matter?  What will you do, if you are wrongly labelled by your friends and family? What is the worst that can happen?

What if you build you life around an opportunity and it collapses?

What will you do? Will you shake yourself up and start again? Will the journey have been worth it? Will the relationships built make it have meaning? Will you be crippled automatically? Will it be a collapse you can recover from? What is the worst that can happen?

What if you fail in your exams? Fail in your attempt to win the lady’s heart? Or fail in your relationship? What is the worst that can happen? Haven’t people in similar conditions gotten their lives back on track? The fears that prevail are the fears whose questions we never ask? Ask, and set yourself free. Being optimistic is good, it means expecting the best, it is however equally good to ask yourself the questions that prepare you for the worst. More often than not, F.E.A.R is just False Evidence Appearing Real.

Summary Of Live Rewards for Week Ending on 28/03/2010

In the last article I analyzed a few key elements to watch out for before participating in any “opportunity”. Interestingly, I know that many who are analytical will not venture, and many who venture don’t analyze. Isn’t that strange? However I have decided to analyse the opportunities one by one, starting from the one I have the most authority to talk about, Holidays and Cash.

The table above is the statement of my earning on Monday morning. I have been earning constantly every Monday morning for the last 52 weeks plus now. It started small,  it has grown gradually and it’s still growing. The figure in the table above is certainly not the highest I have earned in a week, and it’s not the lowest as well. It’s just the most recent, and from the look of this week, it will exceed that figure as well. I also have had people who have earned more than me per week for many weeks and I have people who earn less. I am sharing this with you now, so that you can evaluate the opportunity for yourself and determine your goals before you start, if or when you start. I have been involved in some opportunities that made me enemies, this has made me great friends, good income and beamed the path into possibilities that are mind boggling for me. Let’s analyze together why this is not an opportunity that will make you enemies. You might want to refer to the previous article, since I’m going to be using the metrics defined there. Let’s go!

1. Corporate Governance

On Monday morning, I flew into Lagos from Port Harcourt as early as 9am to make a 10am board meeting before heading to Benin. The board meeting was an Holidays and Cash Ltd (Nig) board meeting. Chaired by Professor Pat Utomi, facilitated by my humble self, with a Legal Counsel and a Financial Consultant in sitting. It was an exciting board meeting as we shared the key issues, great  ideas, the milestones achieved and the future projects we are embarking on.   Corporate governance is key, and Holidays and Cash Nig is not paying lip service to it.

On the global scene, the founding partners have in less than 2yrs turned over a sizable part of the international company to Platinum leaders. Today there are more stakeholders involved than the team of 3 that founded the company, the structure is becoming so solid that it’s taking a life of it’s own, this means it is no longer seriously dependent on any of the founders.

On Corporate Governance I score Holidays and Cash a 9/10.

2. Product Value

In many meetings I have facilitated in the last 4 weeks, I have described the privilege pack to people and asked them to place a value on it. People have mentioned values ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 to simply priceless. I think the privilege pack is truly priceless. Is it the e-books worth $3,000 that you also have reseller rights to? Is it the mind blowing savings you can make off hotels around the world, and the discounts you can enjoy on flights – international and local? Is it the short stay offers that give you amazing less than have priced deals in exotic locations – can you beat a deal that offers you 3 exciting nights in Dubai – covering breakfast, 2 Buffet Dinners,  a Boat Cruise,  Desert Safari, City Tour and Airport transfers for N30,750? Can you beat the complimentary (FREE) vacation packages to Thailand or Las Vegas? Or is it the investment opportunities? Or you want to quantify the value of advertising your product for you for one year without an extra charge? Or the fact that the company adds new products to the privilege pack without warning you ahead about them? Or is it the local Nigerian deals or the deal with the biggest hospital in Asia?

I have  been a part of many opportunities, none beats the product value of Holidays and Cash, and it’s exciting that it’s a never ending growing list. I score Holidays and Cash 9/10 on product value.

3. Reward Plan

Holidays and Cash uses a binary plan. This is reputed to be the fairest model in the world! With less than 10 active direct referrals from me in 1yr and a modest earning of about $200,000, I do not know of any model that is so rewarding. I have been on boards, done 6 times in work in half the time, and none comes close. I have been involved in Unilevel and multilevel, these are good, but have some limitations.

Unlike board models where you qualify to earn what the board may not have produced, in this binary plan you actually only share profit. The model is good, and it’s a model that supports you to help your people without having to worry about yourself. Whatever you do for people no matter how far from you or how many countries away, ultimately helps you as well.

On Reward Plan I score Holidays and Cash 8/10.

4.  Renewals or Multiple Purchase

The perfect companies are ones that ensure you buy products regularly that contributes to unit volume sales, the near perfect require you to not make a one time purchase but at least renew yearly. Renewals and multiple purchases are sustainability indices. It means the company plans to be around on the long haul. It also forces the company to constantly seek means to improve their product to ensure people continue to find it attractive to renew.

Holidays and Cash has made it easy for people to renew by adding unbelievable value to the privilege pack. Many of the members do renew after 1yr, and many are qualifying to pay for their renewals with their earnings.

On Renewals or Multiple Purchase I score Holidays and Cash 6/10.

5. Product Cost

In the era where people easily compare Holidays and Cash with RVI, VIPexpress and so many high capital opportunities. Holidays and Cash is positioned as valuable without being cheap. At $250/yr Holidays and Cash retains it’s class and value proposition and helps people who don’t have millions to be a part of an opportunity that can create millions.

On Product Cost I score Holidays and Cash 8/10.

6. Mode of Engagement

Just this morning I received a call from all old friend about Holidays and Cash, he wanted to know if there was anyone who could take him through the presentation. I asked him who told him about it, and he mentioned he had been hearing about it since last year. In Holidays and Cash, we don’t force people, we don’t pressure people. We allow people an opportunity to go think about it. We even give people books and DVDs ahead to go and study and understand the possibilities. We even allow people to wait for 2-5yrs if that’s how long they need it to exist before they are sure it will be sustainable.

In mode of Engagement, I’ll score Holidays and Cash 8/10.

In the last one year that I have been actively involved in this company, I have enjoyed a number of privileges. I  have dined with Kings (literally), spoken to Politicians, been hosted by Bishops, rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty, and enjoyed the company of total strangers. I’ve seen nobodies become somebodies, I’ve seen people at their zeros turn to heroes.  In places where I was once welcomed at the airport with old cars, I’ve seen them transform into brand new exotic cars and Jeeps. I’ve been to the trenches, the low hotels in the backside of some communities, and I’ve seen the bests around. I have been overwhelmed with gratitude from different quarters, and challenged with solving customer service issues by people who once agree have remained forever friends. I have been involved in inspiring the aged, and motivating the young, the last one year has been most exciting and colorful leveraging on the use of this vehicle – Holidays and Cash. I have made new friends, added new families and my horizon has been broadened. Those are the good parts.

Nothing good is without it’s ugly sides,  oh yes! I have received the rejection of friends and allies who I thought would walk with me, an abundance of No’s have helped to refine my message. I have been developed by the quest to know more, to present better and to answer all questions. I have traveled more than most years, been in Studios more than ever in my life, been in the air for more than ever and stretched to new limits. I made a resolve, that nobody will stop me – friend or enemy. I will impact my generation and influence lives positively. I have resolved that I will not be involved with any opportunity that creates losers, even if distributors do not refer others, there must be value they personally can use and enjoy in the pack.

I have done a lot in the last one year, without many of my readers and friends. I have committed to do this for 10yrs and keep my eyes on what can be after I have ceased to work. There are so many exciting things in view – The new offices for the company in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt about to be launched. The Holidays and Cash Cooperative Multipurpose Society about to be launched and a variety of exciting possibilities all around the nation. Anybody can achieve a lot with this, if only they can see it. If this is not the first time you are hearing about this, please contact your friend who told you, if it’s your first time, then use my link to know more and be a part of this opportunity. My link is here!

I have been involved in a lot of opportunities in my life, I’ve always been entrepreneurial (mum’s blood), and people are usually puzzled when I talk about the things I have been involved with. I have sold bread and egg (when I was in secondary school), barbed hair, made greeting/love cards and bookmarks, co-owned and managed a dry-cleaning (wash, starch, iron and packaging) company. I have done transport business, bought and resold far produce and written certificates for a University. I have been involved in Mining, done network marketing ( and a few companies masquerading as such) and have even been involved in a few investment related businesses.

If there is anything that I have learnt, I have learnt that even though it’s good to pursue opportunities, there are opportunities that have the capacity to mess you up and destroy your integrity. These businesses are things one must do due diligence on, and get involved with clarity about what their future holds. I have held myself back from publicly sharing my thoughts on a number of companies, but please spare me today, as I share them with you from my perspective! I’m going to be like an economist in my analysis, offering you the facts and not necessarily taking sides. I confess that I am biased, I am heavily biased by experience, I am biased based on the people I have seen and the woes that they share. Please get my verdict here once and for all on TVI,  Travel Access Club, Holidays and Cash, High Street Market.Forever Living Products, Tianshi, VIPexpress, RVI, Questnet, 5linx, e.t.c.

If I attempt to write about each of them in detail, the way I know and understand them, I’ll end up writing an awfully long article. That will be counter productive as many do not like to read lengthy posts. I’ll rather however give you a few watch outs, and trust that before you get involved in an opportunity that will create enemies for you, you at least ask those ahead of you who can offer you sincere truth.

Here are a few things to watch out before you become a part of any “opportunity”

1. Corporate Governance: A la, who owns the company? Are the owners willing to be known? Is it just one owner? Is the company registered locally in your country? Has it grown big enough to be? Who are the credible backers of the company? Is there anybody worthwhile willing to attach his/her name to the opportunity?

If the owners are not known, it’s a serious danger sign, they are hiding because they’ll need to hide soon. If it’s just one owner, there is no governance, on the day they get greedy, the money goes with them. If the company has become sizable in your country and it’s not registered it’s a red flag. If there are no notable backers, only be a part if all the other questions are answered. Companies die most of the time not because of the ideas, but because of the people behind the ideas. It’s not the idea that counts, it’s the manage of the idea that counts. Getting involved in any company where these questions cannot be answered is gambling, and getting involved in an opportunity that will ultimately make you enemies. You can score the above opportunities based on this matrix.

2. Product Value : Will you pay for this product even if there was no reward? Is the product worth more than what I’m asked to pay? The people I’m getting involved who may not market, are they getting real value for their money? Or are we playing a money game where we all use money to buy slots in a board and take advantage of being the first to know?

If the product is not valuable enough for people to buy without reward, then it’s a money game. RUN far from it. If I’m paying more for the product than my estimate of it’s worth, then it’s a scam. The product makes the business legitimate and makes it such that nobody can loose. Everybody enjoys value from what he/she bought.

3. Reward Model: Is it a board? Is it binary or is it unilevel?

If it’s a board, it will work well for months, some years, if the owners are not greedy many years, but it will make you enemies on the long run. I’ve been there, trust me, I even bought the T-Shirt. Boards, for many reasons are ultimately going to leave many losers, create an opportunity for people to cheat the system, and ultimately make you enemies.  I can give you details if you really need to know.

4. Renewals or Multiple Purchase: Does the company ask you to make a one time purchase and that’s it? Or are you allowed to either renew or purchase different PVs?

Illegitimate schemes have one thing in common, all you need do is buy once, and that’s all. Meaning the only source of income is new recruits. These schemes usually do not stand the test of time. Look rather for an opportunity that involves some form of renewals, this means they plan to give you enough reasons to say you want to continue. If there is no renewal, there is not likely to be any business after a while.

5. Product Cost: How much is the product worth? Are you required to pay for many years ahead at once? Are the numbers in millions?

Good things cost, but not comparing $250 to $10,000. If you have a lot of money, you may need to look at investing into real estate and other vehicles that require that type of input. If you however want to start from wherever you are, you should be willing to start small. The cost of participation has a direct impact on who can join you in the business.

6. Mode of Engagement: Is there too much pressure for you to join, and now? Is there unnecessary pressure mounted on you to make a commitment? Is it now or never?

If there is too much pressure to join now, Run for dear life! All who have followed through on many of these paths rarely have good stories to share on the long run.

These are a few indices that if you measure any opportunity by, will show you the future of the opportunity. I have been a part of  one for the last one year, and more than anytime of my life, I’m receiving thank you mails, sms and calls. People are grateful, the good thing is, I am too. I am grateful that even though I had missed it before, I’m glad to get it and to be the one telling all the people I led astray about the way. It’s a privilege, a rare one! It’s been long I’ve been absent online, I’m currently in PH, and I’m glad to write again.

It’s 3am in the city of Dubai, my flight leaves here today, and I need to be awake early as 6am to be able to wish the South Africans and the English a hearty good bye. I gave them the hugs already, but who says one hug is enough when you may not see until last week in March in SA or April in the UK . There is no use reserving the best time of your life for the time when you can’t do most things. Now is life, the older you grow the fewer your options.  Enjoy your youth and prepare for your future.

I have a lot on my mind tonight, and a short time to say it. So I’m going to say it all in pictures, since pictures are a thousand words. I’ll capture a few of the events of the past few weeks, and basically summarize my lessons. Being in Dubai has been fun and exciting. It’s been a lot of great news, great progress and meeting of wonderful people. Remember, people matter a lot, time with them are your greatest investments.

Nokia Bloggers Forum

Was invited for a Nokia Bloggers Brunch by the lovely looking, heavily dimpled Sede (myleft), had an exciting time and an opportunity to meet other bloggers. Also had a great opportunity to meet with Nokia communications manager. Discovered that Nokia actually was more than just the phone, they had a few apps… one in particular you must lay your hands on is the GPRS mapping for Lagos, which is FREE. Got to hear about ovi.com, their email service and a few of their apps. Guess I might be getting a heads up ahead of many as Nokia makes progress… watchout.

One key lesson I took from the event though, was not to base my consistency in writing on feedback. That many people are watching from the sidelines and being blessed. We must continue to do that which we find expression in, whether it feels like or not. If you noticed I have been writing a bit more frequently, I got that fire from the Nokia Bloggers Brunch. Thanks Nokia!

Interestingly I’m thinking we can have our next bloggers conference in April, my blog is clocking 5yrs this March, and I need to come up with a solution to celebrate it. I need things to give away.. laptops, flight tickets e.t.c.

People Lessons from the Platinum meeting in Dubai

Bishop and Pastor (Mrs) Katung were at the Platinum meeting, and of course as platinums. This is a quite comfortable man, he came with one of his pastors who is doing very well as a business man. What amazes me and endears me to these people is their humility. Their abilities to interact well with all of us and have fun as well. I didn’t know Bishop and Pastor (Mrs) before H&C, but knowing them is adding loads of value to my life. Never get to that place where you take yourself too seriously to enjoy your life.

These two ladies inspire me. The first lady is 65yrs old, she just turned platinum a few weeks ago! At 65yrs of age, this is the first holiday she has ever had in her life. She had never ever left South Africa all her live. She was a teacher before retirement, and in her words her dreams are coming true. How old are you and how far is your dream? You can still travel the world, you can still make it happen. She fell quite badly at the ski Dubai, but I’m proud of her, there is something about her spirit that wants to ensure that age is never her barrier in achieving success. The second lady is Mrs Motivated! I have not met many women who are so driven, when she speaks you can feel her energy. She is a lesson in getting to the top, stopping and starting afresh with new zeal.

I like this man, not too old to dream, and certainly not too old to have fun. He looks like Mandela and he has a big heart. He joined the business just to show some people that the business was legitimate.

I always saw the Ski Dubai, but never tried it. We got no choice however this time because it had been organized for us. Guess even though some of us are not doing badly, but doing new things and going after adventure is something we are lacking in. Skiing was fun, and watching other people fall and rise up was just so much fun.

Beware what you use to describe heaven for your kids… if you say it’s a place with loads of sweets and candy, they can confuse this place for heaven

I remember that when we married I couldn’t afford to give my wife vacation outside the town we did the wedding in… I promised then that I would make it up to her in the future. Thank you God, for giving me the grace to fulfill the promises.

]]> http://www.deoluakinyemi.com/pictures-say-1000-words/feed/ 18 http://www.deoluakinyemi.com/nigeria-a-time-to-pray/ http://www.deoluakinyemi.com/nigeria-a-time-to-pray/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:43:16 +0000 Adeolu Akinyemi http://www.deoluakinyemi.com/?p=1254

Those who contend for the soul of this nation, are not not resting on their oars. Underneath the obvious is an evil spiritual force fighting for the right to steal, kill and destroy the soul of this Nation. The Masters command to his disciples is not to disciple individuals, but to make disciples of Nations. God is interested in National influence and discipleship, the alignment of people groups is more important to him than the alignment of individuals. The shameless events being perpetrated by those who will stop at nothing to exert influence over this nation is disturbing, and even though we are in the season of ACTION, we are in that time as well, when we must pray. Trust me, prayer ranks high on our to do list, cause there is nobody there today to engage, nobody to walk against or publish anything about.

It’s not as if we haven’t been praying though, I only doubt if we have all been praying about the right things, I also doubt if we have the full picture about prayer. True prayer must be backed up by receiving action. Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain and for three and a half years it did not rain. It took another fervent prayer to release the clouds, before the clouds made sense he ran, he was sure that God doesn’t store prayers. When Jesus decreed about the fig tree, it wasn’t go and come back, it dried up!  The true measure of prayer power is not length, it’s function. Today is not the day of diplomacy or standing in the middle, today is the day to take a prayer stand, backed up with the willingness to surrender ourselves to the process of answered prayers. Please circulate this far and wide, this is prayer with ultimatum, this is the time where we back up our prayers with oaths and a fast until our eyes see that which our soul desires. Here are the prayer points.

1. Pray that the powers contrary to God’s, holding Nigeria to ransom will be displaced, and their ministers put to public shame.

2. Pray that the military forces that are about to be employed to sabotage this nations destiny will collide with themselves and make a mess of themselves, that in the places where they gather to collaborate they shall be thrown into confusion.

3. Pray for Harvest, that all who have perpetrated evil in Nigeria should enter into their season of harvest. Pray that God brings this to past hastily!

4. Pray that God will reverse the coup plot that has already happened, that the military leaders will self destruct.

5. Pray for Jonathan Goodluck, that God will grant him courage to execute all the power brokers that heaven has already executed. The he will be able to execute the already declared judgement and bring the axe to bear on the root of all the appropriate people.

6. Pray, that everyone who slacks in executing the desires of heaven over Nigeria will suddenly lose their throne and relevance, while it becomes available to one who will steer Nigeria into its destiny. Declare in the realm of the Spirit, Jonathan, you have less than 3 days to act! Are you the one, or do we await another??

7. Pray that like the Children of Israel, God will deliver the soul of the New Nigeria from this old and decaying debris. That God will kill all the firstborn of the people occupying the spiritual positioning of Egypt, that they will lose all their resources to the New Nigeria, and will be afflicted by many plagues.

8. Pray that Nigerian acting leaders will not miss this small window of opportunity that has been created to finally put Nigeria on the right track. Pray that God will deliver us from the spirit of sluggishness and inaction.

There is so much more I desire that you pray, but this is enough for now. This is not the time to complain or lament. It’s not the time to analyze and paralyze. It’s not the time to wish and hope. It’s true that the military is deploying and acting as if there is already a coup, it’s true that the nation seems at the mercies of an unelected presidents wife. This is time however to pray. Not prayers of God let their be peace – at this time that’s totally praying in error (read Jeremiah 29). Those who pray prayers of peace at this time are false prophets. The soul of Nigeria must be delivered by violent action.

{Ojo nlo, Jonathan!, ma na gere, soji, jasi asiko re ni yi oh}

You who are destined to take position, do not slack. These are no mere prayer points, this is a declaration that those for whom it’s been created need only step into the scene! Selah.

On Sunday morning, I had the privilege of spending some time with the Harvesters Church in Ibadan, and ministering in 2 of their services. It was an unexpected opportunity, but it felt very right in my spirit and mind, it was a great way to have spent my Sunday morning as I shared Gods revelation to me about relationships. I felt really blessed by the thoughts myself, and I’m positive that many people received wisdom and instruction to better position themselves.

Relationships are important, they are like Relation- Ships, they are ships that aid you towards a desired destination. Ships like most modes of transportation are useless without clear direction. Those who don’t know where they are going need no road maps, a relationship is a ship that via the opportunity to relate with another mortal, steers you towards your dreams. Friendship for friendships sake is a waste of time. If you don’t know where you are going, every company you keep is a wrong company. The first step in navigating into the right relationship is investing in the clarity of one’s vision. The first question that precedes great relationships is clarity of purpose! Before you begin to join yourself to any chariot, where you are going must first be sure!

Once your destination is clear and your sails are set, things will begin to work in your favor. It doesn’t matter where the wind is coming from or where it is going, the winds will ultimately serve your purpose once your sails are set. The picture of your future triggers a desire in your heart, this desire takes you to the place of prayer, and the moment your desire is expressed to the divine, your responsibility shifts from a mere seeker to someone who operates with ownership. As this becomes your reality, the universe begins to rearrange itself. Information and People begin to seek you to link you up with that which has been made available to you by your request. Relationships are answers to prayers, when your life is on the border of change, two things happen, you come into contact with amazing information, and you encounter new people. The comfort that you need, is with someone who required the same comfort in their own seasons. The clarity of your vision is directly proportional to the accuracy of  your relationships.

With a clear vision as a fulfilled prerequisite, it is important to understand the types of relationships that are important to have as one navigates towards ones dreams.

1. Forerunner

The role of a forerunner is critical, this might be a biological father, mother or relative, or anyone that plays the role of going ahead of you to show you your future. Taking a case study from the life of Joseph, his father gives him a colourful robe representative of royalty and being special. Shortly after receiving this robe, Joseph begins to have dreams. The role of the forerunner is to inspire you and alert you of the greatness that resides in you. Josephs father continued to take note of the small things that Joseph was doing and keeping the records so that in the times when clarity blurs, Joseph has a rich history to lean on. The same type of thing happened with Jesus, this time it was Mary keeping the records. It  was this same Mary that got his first miracle out of him. The forerunner is someone placed above you, who loves you deeply and is sensitive enough to sense that your life is not ordinary. These people inspire us.

2. Foes

Yes you read that correctly. Foes or Enemies are required roles in the life of anyone who will be successful. In a story I’m fond of telling, where the king decides to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to the person who demonstrates courage, the guy who finally jumps into the pool filled with crocodiles and successfully swam to the other side and married the daughter claimed one thing. He claimed that he was pushed! No normal person will jump into a pool of fasting crocodiles. The question I like to ask is, who pushed him? Was it his friend or his foe?  The foe for sure, friends don’t push you, they hug you . You want to be successful? You need enemies, you need critics, you need adversaries. Opposing views and criticisms are extremely helpful, even when we shut them down, they affect us. They force us to regularly raise our standards, they motivate us to up our game, they inspire us to look for ways to block the holes that they so shamelessly expose. In the case study of Joseph. He was sold into slavery by his brothers who had become his foes, the Bible says they hated him. They sold him in their eyes into slavery, but God sent him ahead to save the nation of Israel. Would he ever have gotten to Egypt if all his brothers loved him and wanted him around them? No! Where your life is going is far, you need foes to push you along the right path. In the words of Jesus – “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you”. Foes are ultimately push you to purpose. Even in the story of Jesus, Jesus was driven to fulfill his purpose by the devil (his foe), while Peter (his friend) was trying to drag him back. Love those who hate you, and pray for those who despisefully use you!

3. Forgers

To forge is to form (metal, for example) by heating in a forge and beating or hammering into shape. Forgers are those people in your life who are neither your friends nor your foes, but have a role to play in your life that involves hammering you into shape. In the period of their reign over your life, if you are not perceptive, you do not like them very much. They are like superiors at work, seniors in school or someone whose authority you are under by not much of your direct choice. They are very demanding and very stressful, but they are forging you into shape and increasing your future market value. They are the family you stay with inbetween transition that force you to be neat, force you to come home early, force you to not be in the wrong relationship. You have a healthy fear for them, and you comply. In the life of Joseph, this was Potiphar.  Joseph could dream and interprete dreams, but in Potiphar’s house, Joseph learnt administration. Without Potiphar, Joseph could have gotten to Pharoah’s palace and interpreted the dreams alone. There is a long shot from knowing what to do to knowing how to do it. The skill sets required for being a government critic is different from the skill sets of being an executive governor. Forgers heat and beat you to shape. They are essential in any life heading for greatness.

There are still a few more F’s and a few more relationship watch outs. When use is unknown, abuse is inevitable. I’ll be talking more about this soon, till then. Get clarity about your future, write it down and paint it out. Define your relationships, and let them serve their purpose in your life, and to all my foes out there, may you live long May you live long for the scriptures to be fulfilled that say – “you prepared a table before me (a six course meal -msg), in the presence of my enemies”

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all – Helen Keller

Extra income, financial freedom, Own your own Business,
Personal Development, More Spare time, Retirement, Build
New Relationships, Help Other People, Leave a Legacy.

If any of these appeal to you, then this is going to be very exciting for you.

(vision board for my wife and I)

What you are about to read is a result of a mixture of common sense and a lot of experience at failing and learning. What is on ground today, is undeniably the best value proposition on the planet. When I share this opportunity face to face, people smile, most often laugh, and sometimes go hysterical. It’s good, but it’s true. Please read slowly and digest the concept and your possibilities.

In Summary, there is a company that offers it’s customers lifestyle enhancement products and opportunities. It also offers them a growing list of everyday items, and packages it all in a product bundle called a Privilege Pack. This privilege pack is a must have, considering how with so small money, you can get so much value. The privilege pack costs $250/yr or N40,000/yr.

What’s in the Privilege Pack?

The privilege pack is a bundle of Privileges that are valuable to people who are interested in a better life. These privileges are simply amazing, even though we are in the early stages. These privileges in the broad sense consist of international and local products. Once you purchase, the company gives you a password, this password is your ticket to economic Freedom!

International

1. You get about 160+ e-books worth $3,000 on different personal development issues. You have books that are for attitude development, financial intelligence, internet mastery, parenting, dating, weightloss, e.t.c. These are tremendous value for someone interested in personal development. On these books you have rights to download, print, keep, give away and even resell.

2. You get access to over 4 search portals that make your life easy, in helping you locate the best deals around the world in hotels and flights. Using the search portal for example you can get to save up to 60% at times on hotel booking around the world, and you can make some savings on flight travel as well. On hotels the deals are mouthwatering. I stayed in a hotel in Dubai last week for example with a shelf price of about $200, using my search portal however I was able to find the same hotel for $71. With flights the portals help you locate who is offering the best deal, and there is an agent in your privilege pack as well, who helps you discount the best deals further.

3. Short Stay Offers (Vacation offers), for just being a customer with this company, you get some mouthwatering heavily discounted vacation. For example, you and your partner can go and enjoy an exciting 3 days in Dubai consisting of the following:

   

   PACKAGE INCLUSIONS
   Three Nights Accommodation in Dubai
   Daily Breakfast
   Return Airport Transfers from Dubai Airport
   Desert Safari with Barbeque dinner and belly dancing
   Half day Dubai city tour
   Dhow Cruise with dinner and transfers

   This offer is available to members for just $255 per person for a luxurious 3 star hotel. There are up to 8 options in Dubai alone. There are also such deals for Australia, Singapore , Malaysia, Bali, Beijing, Mauritius, Thailand e.t.c. covering varying things. This kind of deal for Dubai will naturally cost about $500-700 per person. Singapore for example has a deal that covers hotels, airport transfer, meet and greet at the hotel and a city tour for about $177 per person.

4. Complimentary offers, this is the point where people start laughing with uncontrollable excitement. The company offers without any extra qualification to it’s members, complimentary vacation offers. Complimentary means you are entitled to what is offered without paying an extra dime! An example of this is Thailand below. . .

   “5 Nights in Phuket for 2 (Free Gift)”

   
   

   Unlike the bigger, busier, and noisier Patong Beach 10 minutes north, Karon offers visitors a nice long quiet stretch of sand, with plenty of beach umbrellas available for rent. Facing west, it gives a beautiful view of the sunset.

   All hotel rooms are well-appointed with modern amenities for guest’s comfort and convenience such as fully stocked mini bar, air-conditioning, IDD Telephone, Satellite TV, Separate Bath tub, Coffee/tea making facilities.

   The hotel offers room service for in-room dining. Alternatively, guests can enjoy fresh Thai food at the 240 seat waterfront open-air restaurant, open daily from 12:00-24:00 hrs.

   Voucher Inclusions
   6 Days / 5 nights accommodation for 2 adults based on twin share
   Breakfast for 5 days
   Free Internet usage for stay

   These types of offers are also in development for Bangkok, Dubai, Mauritius and Las Vegas.

5. In Development
   Opportunities to participate in fractional ownership of properties around the world, and make cool return on investment from sales and rentals. With as low as $100, cutomers of this company can participate in amazing deals.

   There is also a vacation package to India that gives you an opportunity to have a full medical checkup in Asia’s biggest hospital for less than $150. This is what normal

I could stop here, but this is just a fraction of what is available. On the local scene, the company has struck partnerships with an increasing number of organizations to offer it’s members amazing discounts! Some of the partner companies have great brands, that makes you know that there must be something exciting about this company.

Local Discounts

For example, the company has a deal with GTA Assurance, one of Nigeria’s premier financial services brands. With this deal, you can actually get the privilege pack for FREE If you are already a customer though, you get to pay N40,000 less than what others are required to pay, you enjoy a great cover, and you get your money back with some amazing interest after 6yrs.

We also have discounts with a number of hotels, discounts with Cinemas, discounts with laptops and cameras, discounts with Landed property, discounts with taxi services (itaxi), discounts with Sleek products, Discounts with training providers, Discounts with prepackaged travel for Worldcup, to Moumbasa, to Kenya. Just recently we also got a mouthwatering deal with a fast moving consumer goods company to get distributorship rights that require up to N2,000,000 FREE! The target is to have 1000 local products in by Dec 31st, the good news is if you have products you want to be on the site, as a customer, you are welcome!

I’m sure you agree with me that this is a good place to put a final stop. The company is offering over $4000 worth of value in exchange for a petance $250 per year. That’s good enough for anybody, and it’s sure good enough to spread the word to your friends. However, this company does not want you to share it with your friends anyhow. Let me share with you why.

Aside of these tremendous value that the company is adding. The company is doing something even more exciting, Let me lay it on you.

Profit Sharing!

The company is giving every customer that joins the company (from now till x) the rights of a distributor. This means once you have bought the privilege pack, you are automatically qualified to become a distributor. The company develops for you a personalized website, loads it with  developmental materials to support your business, and helps you with support all the way! The value of this support is invaluable! The company sets these up at no extra costs to you, and makes you share profit with the company.

Profit sharing is an exciting thing that happens in many companies once in a year, but not with this company. This company offers you profit sharing opportunities weekly. Every monday morning the company puts it’s profits in 4 pools, and defines minimum qualification for sharing in each of the pools.

For deeper insight, the company makes a profit of $160 per privilege pack sale. This is based on estimated volume of sales and operations as a lean organization without heavy staff costs or advertising costs. This $160 is shared into 4 pools. $20 goes into a Fast start pool, $100 goes into a cylce or team referrals pool, $20 goes into a matching bonus pool, and $20 goes into a leadership holiday incentive pool.

• You qualify to share in the Fast start pool on the week you make your third referral.

• You qualify to share in the Cycle pool, on the day 3 or multiples of 3 sales are made in your team. These team referrals can come from generations above you without limit, or generations below you without limit – This is where you can earn as much as $70,000/week from, it’s the definition of leverage.

• To share in the Matching bonus pool, you must qualify as a ranked leader. (Details of these are in the H&C brochure offline and online).

• You also get to qualify 3 times in a year for an all expense leadership holiday incentive that is funded by money in the leadership incentive pool.

So you share profit weekly, almost without limit. For perspective, I have not missed one week of profit sharing in the last 12 months. Sometimes it’s small and sometimes it’s Big, but it grows from month to month and in 12 months of being active it’s been exciting!

Don’t Waste time!

This opportunity is simple and exciting, only someone who is being followed from the village won’t see this. If you don’t have time, it means you need this to free up your time. If you have never been on vacation, this is your chance. If you dedicate 1hr to this everyday, learning and following the training guide (the getting started guide), you will increase your current income by at least 50% in 6 months. If you want to go ahead and do this fulltime eventually, it’s possible.

There is nothing that gives you the balance of being a blessing, empowering people, hearing thank you and still earning legitimate income like this one. The company is less than 2yrs globally, it has customers already in over 100 countries. I have over 10 countries under my belt Professor Pat Utomi is the Country Chairman of the company, a lot of credible Nigerians are on board, your questions have been asked before and answered. The loser is the person who wastes time, because everything that could have been done by the person introducing you after you, would have counted for you. . . think. . .

This is like landed property. . . it’s cheaper when it’s a bush, costlier when it’s cleared, dearer when there is survey, expensive when there is certificate of occupancy, the price goes into the roof with perimeter fencing, becomes almost uncreacheable with roads and drainage, unreconcilable when there is light and people start building. Don’t be left behind in this train, we have just cleared the bush, there is a lot more development to come.

How do you join? Not so fast, make sure you progress knowledgeably, it would also help if you decide to be mentored and held accountable by a leader. There are books you need to read and DVDs you need to listen to. I can link you to them. Please feel free to contact me, my details are below.

Name: Adeolu Akinyemi
Email: deoluakinyemi@gmail.com

Once you say you are ready to be a part of this, you can go to www.holidaysandcash.com/(who told you about it) and click “Buy Now”, register your details, pay as soon as possible, and your story begins.

Get a journal and a getting started guide and begin to chronicle your first systemic experience at building a worldclass business! You can literally have branches all over the world.