July 2014, I got to the office and I was handed by sack letter. The truth was that I did not see it coming so it was not that I had been planning for it but since it came, I had to move on with my life. I had worked in that same bank for 8 years.

The Bank is a place where many people work and they become useless to themselves because they did not become professionals throughout their stay in the bank. People handling the following desk are at risk:

Tellers
Marketers
Risk Managers
Operations staff

My advice to such people is to go for professional exams like ACCA, chartered secretaries, IT certifications, etc.
I was a computer science major and was in ebusiness when i was asked to go and the following were the steps i took.

1. Since My back ground was IT, i went back to a place of my core competencies because it was easy for me to start a consulting firm in my area of core competence.

2. I partnered with a trusted friend in starting the consulting firm since he was a marketer and had a lot of network. the truth is that we are in Nigeria. With a good product, you might not stand a chance but with a good network, you might be able to get a good product out.

3. We started marketing using the old relationships we had especially people who trusted us and knew our capabilities. We just started spreading the word round of what we were doing now.

4. We outlined the products our company was offering and for Most of the products we are offering, we carried out research and got reseller rights for such products since there was no need reinventing the wheel.

5. Throw in freebies for your clients. Since we were working with organizations, we were offering them free websites to attract them to us and we got a couple of our clients that way.

6. Outside the product we offered, any gap a client had, we take it up and outsource the job to competent hands and make some profit off it. That we did to convince our clients of our capabilities. We never told any of our clients we did not have competency in a job.

This last point has given us over 10Million Naira in 5 months because most of the IT jobs we got, we outsourced them on freelancing platforms. monitor the freelancer and review the product as days goes by and made sure it was according to what our client wanted.

My advice, you can become a freelancer based on any skill you have.
for example,
if you are familiar with business plan, then write for small businesses
If you are familiar with customer service, write a customer service guide for small businesses.
If you are familiar with product development, consult for those that want to start small business.
If you are used to carrying our research, then become a research consultant .

Advertising is highly needed and the following platforms are platforms that you can advertise your skills and you are sure on these platforms and when you carry out a job (following the rules of the platform), your money will be paid.

http://www.dealdey.com
http://www.mikazi.com
http://www.odesk.com
http://www.freelancer.com
http://www.fiverr.com


today, i am almost grateful that i was sacked from that job. Mine was not a bad transition which I am grateful to GOD for but not everyone that was sacked had it these rosy. Prepare before you get to the point I got to in July 2014.

if you need a FREE guide on these,go to http://www.learnfreelanceconsulting.com

nairaland is also a very good source of ideas.

You can also ask questions and I will try to answer to the best of my abilities.

cheers.

Good one bro. I already started feelin dat impulse to upgrade by enrolling in professional courses in ICT but I stil don't know which area realy sells. Am presently in operations

Very educative and inspirational...
Thanks for sharing

Insightful and revealing. Thanks for sharing bro.

I think there should be a law, to give an employee two months notice before sack.


Thank God you developed.

Any advice for sacked oil service workers?

op you try...but where d straw dey to drink this bobo of yours?

But most importantly, save. No matter how small u should learn to save for d unexpected

I have vast knowledge in IT infrastructure and network architecture.
Enjoyed your thread.
If there is anyway I can be in your team on weekends I did love to learn from you.
benz3n@yahoo.com

Okays for me am in branch operations. Work like a mule saturday, sunday.....

Luckily I already finished my M.ENG course work b4 I entered banking. Oh ! I read Electrical Eng. so I managed to round up my research and since I made a Ph. D grade am planning on putting in for Ph. D in the same school.

The side effects are these though, my relationship life has suffered and still suffers.

I havent been able to follow up on my other areas of interest due to demands of work and study.

I am grateful though and I have decided once I put in for my Ph. D I will start hunting for a lecturing job with my Ph. D (in view).


Banking in Nigeria is not a job to do for long. Except ofcourse if you are someone without prior plan or goal then anything can go.

I'm inspired. I know a female banker who was fired after her team gave a loan to a client who disappeared, the collateral was fake. She told me she'll never work in any bank again, she's now into business!

Nice one op. If this topic no enter front page, I go trek from lagos to Sambisa

Nice one Op....i don learn new tin today,that is why i love Nairaland.
I hv a question...

-Buh what does it take to become a "Research Consultant" in Nigeria?

-How do u sell urself to companies nd firms wen u are a research consultant?

Nice advice... Am sure gonna tap from these.

every industries has its challenges . bottom line,saving is necessary and very important..

Check out dis James bond actors https://www.nairaland.com/2287591/name-bond-james-bond

Op, all these story just to advertise your website.

Nice one

He that has ears should hear

9c steps to greatness

Bank job got no security at all....nice steps op

prelinctus:
Op, all these story just to advertise your website.

Atleast he passed some good info... what about those that place their advert on every thread of nl? With pictures and funny write ups?


That said, nothing beats having a plan B shaa

ki02020:
Bank job got no security at all....nice steps op

which job has security? ? Asides govt jobs?

This is quite inspiring.
Wake up push.
Some people just need to fall to able to rise to their full potential.
Op nice one. More grace.
Like myself kicked off with building company profile and business proposal writing. I'm presently making moves to push it for higher demands. Thanks for the insight.

https://www.nairaland.com/2260158/building-company-profile-writing-business#32911697

prelinctus:
Op, all these story just to advertise your website.

It's called strategy(Trade by barter). He gives NL members some good pointers in exchange for traffic. Everyone wins!

Very Inspirational, Thanks a thousand time.

@op , thanks so much for this write up i think you hit the nail at the top
From your post i have been able to pick some partinent points from you.

Thanks GOD BLESS YOU!

uchebest2006:
Nice one Op....i don learn new tin today,that is why i love Nairaland.
I hv a question...
-Buh what does it take to become a "Research Consultant" in Nigeria?
-How do u sell urself to companies nd firms wen u are a research consultant?

the first step is to market by word of mouth. most times, the first people that you will get jobs from are acquaintances and relationships ypu have kept from your past jobs. also try www.freelancer.com. there are people all over the world that need research consultants.
you can also market yourself on www.dealdey.com

All the best

kennynelcon:
I think there should be a law, to give an employee two months notice before sack.


Thank God you developed.

Any advice for sacked oil service workers?

A research carried out shows that oil workers die within 5 years of living their jobs because the cannot keep up with their standard of living. The truth is, save and have a business by the side as an oil worker. I am sure there are a lot of people that need consulting in oil and gas too.

all the best

luvluvluv:
Good one bro. I already started feelin dat impulse to upgrade by enrolling in professional courses in ICT but I stil don't know which area realy sells. Am presently in operations

IT is really vast so you need to make up your mind. I am into application development but the truth is I outsource all the jobs and just manage the relationships. It is cheaper for me and the turnaround time in job delivery is short. I also get networking jobs and we still outsource that to competent hands. you dont need to have too vast knowledge about the field

adepink:
But most importantly, save. No matter how small u should learn to save for d unexpected

saving is very important in life but you also know that you cant save enough to live for 30 years so it is better to have a skill you can sell to make money.

How about being an education consultant, any tips on that?