What advice would you give a sacked banker?

Let’s have a discussion on the current issue in our labour market.

What would you advise a friend who just lost his job to the current wave of massive job loss? 5,000 bank jobs were lost last December alone, that’s over 15,000 Nigerians deprived of their daily bread as a result of organisational restructuring and global recession, or what do you feel?

I have a few thoughts…and I guess you’ve got yours too.

 Develop latent talents- I’d advise my friend to look inwards. Inside every individual are resources that have the potential of creating wealth. He needs to list his talents and develop 1 or 2 into marketable skills. Creativity for fashion, humour for stand-up comedy, organising for events management… talents abound that can be developed into money-making ventures.

 Make network work- he should leverage on his wealth of contacts garnered through years of experience in the banking industry. Goodwill is the intangible currency money can’t buy.

 Above all, I’d tell him to see his job loss as an opportunity in disguise. People never know how high they can jump until a lion chases them. Creativity is birthed when one’s mental faculties are effectively engaged. This crisis should create an avenue for new ideas/opportunities.

Okay now, have I given some sound advice? Oh, you feel he should scout for another job? That’s if you’d give him one. If you still have your job, this is also for you.

MIND YOUR BUSINESS 4

What is a weed? It is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. -Ralph Waldo Emerson.

One of the greatest problems people face is ignorance. It is even more deadly when one is oblivious of the strengths that one possesses. Myles Monroe comments that the graveyard, and not the oilfields of Iraq or Kuwait, is the richest deposit on earth because there lays potentials that were never discovered, books never written, songs never sung and hopes never realised. It is sad that many people wake up daily, fulfilling assignments they were never born to fulfil, burn out in stress and endure miserable lives.

Many people meander through life’s maze, tossing aside what were their big dreams while in school. They become mere playthings of fate and victims of social circumstances. Never conform to the prevailing social rot through drugs, sex, alcohol, corruption, bitterness, desperation or cybercrime. Fulfilment in life is more than meets the eye. You need to continually discover your potential and what to do with it in order not to contribute to the “riches” of the graveyard. Constantly ask yourself these questions:

• Who am I?
• Why am I living?
• What is my potential?
• How can I maximise my potential and live a fulfilled life?
• What are my values and standards?
• How can I overcome my limitations?
• When do I want to start achieving my life’s goals?

Stay in your area of core competency. Stop overlapping into someone else’s lane because the fellow’s activity is the fad. Stick to what you are great at. Imagine how laughable it would be for Ali Baba to release a music album or to become a footballer. Would it be interesting to learn that Kanu Nwankwo is now a goalie or an assistant referee?

Stop postponing the actualisation of your dreams. “He who observes the wind will not sow” (King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 11:4). There is no better time than today.
There’s hope for you if you would be true to yourself. The 1st key to finding true fulfilment in life is being honest with yourself, regardless of whether or not you are currently walking towards your dreams. Look up to God for change and be the change that you have for long desired.

GREAT QUOTES
• Quitting is not running from our problems, it is running from the opportunity to solve our problems. -Dr Ubah Maxwell

• Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustration, but about your unfulfilled potential. -Pope John XXIII

• Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ´press on’ has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race. -John Coolidge

MIND YOUR BUSINESS 3

Let us begin this blog post with a testimony from an architect reader of this blog:

“Exactly three and a half tears ago, my (former) boss gave me a deadline, asking me to submit a design within a tight time-constrain. While getting the job done, he sent me an sms, threatening to sack me if I missed the deadline! From that moment, I resigned and started my business, VIRTUREAL NIGERIA LTD. It was not easy starting up but I have experienced tremendous growth, designing and building over 40 houses for my clients ever since.” -Taiwo Okunjolu, Lagos.

Do not go from job to job for satisfaction’s sake. Things may look brighter on the other side but you may soon discover it is an illusion. What is your life purpose? Plan yourself out of employment into your own business. Have a 2, 3 or 10 year out-of employment plan. True satisfaction and fulfilment come from doing what you were created by God to do effortlessly. A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. You lose nothing by being true to your life’s calling.

D’banj is a superstar because he found his passion. Now, he dines with kings and world-famous superstars. Ali Baba is the father of stand-up comedy in Nigeria because he drew from his own talent. A decade or two ago, if anyone knew that music, comedy, fashion, make-up artistry or dance would become money-spinning industries today, one could have built a vocation around any of them. Seasons change and reigning industries change but passion outlives seasons. Create a business out of your own passion.

Stop over-analysing yourself out of success. Stop criticising and gossiping about other people’s weaknesses and scandals. Leave that to the gossip magazines. Plan your own success strategy. What is your plan? When would you leave paid employment to do your own thing? What is your own thing? What’s your calling, your purpose, what do you do naturally?

There are some things which give you strength when you think or talk about them. What are they?

I want you to write 10 strength statements that draw on your passion and your interests. Begin each statement with, “I feel strong when I….” Kindly mail me the top 3 and we would discuss a few here (you may choose to be anonymous). It would clear someone’s fog of confusion and help such a person’s passion to be discovered and harnessed. Remember, your candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.


GREAT QUOTES

• Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. –Harriet Tubman

• Being stubborn is part of being a winner. -Donald Trump

• The mission is the most important part of the business. It is the spirit of the business. Without spirit and heart, most entrepreneurs will not make it, simply because the road ahead is a hard one. - Robert Kiyosaki

MIND YOUR BUSINESS

The world economy is changing; and it is as a result of technological advancement and innovative ideas. As people are losing jobs due to the invention of new softwares and machines, new jobs are being created, opportunities are increasing and so is wealth.

When computers were introduced to business in the 1990s, many typists thought they would lose their jobs but it only enhanced their performance and created more jobs. The introduction of the internet has reduced postage volume and created jobs and opportunities for cybercafé owners, computer engineers, technicians, hardware & software merchants. What would be your first reaction if new marketplace demands require an absolutely paperless workplace, where pen and paper are old fashioned? People must learn to change with marketplace innovations and explore the opportunities available. If your job disappears, explore fresh opportunities. The jobs of the past, such as farming and hunting are no longer being practiced by the majority of the population, like we had in the hunting and in the agrarian societies of the Stone Age. Most farmers’ and hunters’ great grandchildren are now in air-conditioned offices in the oil & gas, banking and telecoms industries. This may soon change too. Be ready to change with change. Move with the tides of time.

Technological revolution, which began in Britain in the 18th century, moved the world from agrarian economy to industrial economy. Goods that were traditionally made in homes and small workshops were now manufactured in large factories. It led to massive economic, social, infrastructural growth and development. This empowered Europe and America to become the most powerful in the world in the century ahead, as Africa (Egypt), which had depended on agrarian economy, was unable to keep in step with the change. So, it had to be left behind.

Again, technology was responsible for the advancement from industrial economy to information economy, with the development of computer softwares and the increase of information. So, the world has transited from Stone Age to agrarian society, from agrarian society to industrial revolution, and from industrial revolution to information society.

The next wave is gradually upon us by this economic meltdown. Wealth is changing hands. Global paradigms are shifting. I see entrepreneurship, planted on the rich soil of sound vision- becoming the next move. Many new but small companies will be formed by young, inexperienced executives while some old, large organisations will be submerged in the economic hurricane. Inexperience will be one of the strengths that will help these new companies to grow because these new CEOs will not govern their companies like the CEOs of the past. In critical times that demand change, experience may become a hindrance as it may stifle the desired evolution. Myles Monroe defines experience as “being an expert in the past.” Not in all cases, but sometimes, the past could be an enemy of the future.

These new companies, most of which will initially operate from the homes of their CEOs, will drive the future and they will become the Fortune 500 corporations of the decades ahead. In fact, I see a new workplace scenario where employees will work remotely from the comfort of their homes nationwide and via the internet. They will conduct their business meetings online and still achieve their corporate goals. With doses of sound vision, strong leadership, steady cash flow, growing sales figures, a great product/service and determination, these cottage industries would evolve into multinationals.

We are standing at the threshold of history. We are in a transition period in the history of the world economy. The world is changing, things are changing and people need to re-configure their mental framework to embrace these changes. During transitions such as this, money changes hands, jobs change, social status change, paradigms change, leadership changes…change just happens everywhere. Do you see the evolution?


How To Embrace The Change

1. Register your dream company- get a lawyer to register it with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC. Because it is centrally done in Abuja, it may take between 2-3 weeks before the process is completed. You may wish to 1st register it as an enterprises or go ahead to register it as a limited liability company (Ltd.). Either of them can be owned by one or more persons. The former is for small businesses (supplies, printing jobs etc) and has no share capital while the latter is for big businesses and has a share capital. Ensure that the “objects” of the company stated in the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) cover as many areas of trade you wish to practice. It costs up to N20, 000 to register an enterprise, while an Ltd is about N70, 000 (all negotiable). Suggest many names to the lawyer as the name may already be in use by another company.

2. Open a bank account, design a logo/business card for the company- opportunities can come knocking anytime. Owning a business while in paid employment helps to trap opportunities and prepare for unforeseen circumstances.

3. Watch out for opportunities- opportunities for supplies or logistics may come knocking in your workplace or that of your contacts.

Plant today the company of the future. Work each day closer to your dreams. Mind your business.