The headlines in recent months have been anything but inspiring for employees of major companies and corporations in Nigeria. A few of those;

– Premium Times Nigeria reports that Zenith Bank sacked over 1,200 employees.

– The Punch says Diamond Bank fires 200 workers.

– The Nation Newspaper‎ also said Ecobank Nigeria sacked 1040 workers.

These are but a few of the headlines that profile the ever increasing volatility of white collar jobs in Nigeria. These numbers are very disturbing; means of livelihood are taken away from families. And this is not only happening in the banking sector; it is almost in every sector or industry of the economy.

This is because businesses when faced with high costs of operation, apart from increasing prices and or reducing offering per unit of offering; they also look to cut jobs. In the Nigerian context, foreign exchange palaver has really affected companies; prices of imported commodities have gone through the roof, with its resultant ripple effect on the prices of other commodities. In all honesty, it’s never easy to see how these happenings affect ones job, because according to Nassim Nicholas Taleb “a monthly salary is a harmful addiction” until when its too late. If not for anything it shows no one is insulated.

This only became real to me, when the “job-cuts” wave crept into my workplace, colleagues started getting ‘letters’; people who I didn’t think were sack-able got the boot. And trust me, few if any of these people would have had it in their plans that their works would soon be taken from them. Not certainly in these times when every commodity seems to be sold net of subsidy; try tomatoes few months back.

But even when one is prepared, the effect can always be tougher than imagined. But here is one solution; starting a side hustle. Everyone needs a side hustle of some sort.

What is a side hustle?

A side hustle according to entrepreneur.com “is a way to make some extra cash that allows you the flexibility to pursue what you’re most interested in.” This is a chance to do on the side something that appeals to you with potentials of extra cash and yet keeping your day job. For you, it may be writing, while it may be dancing or making pastries for someone else. Over time these can become a stream of income.

Why you need a side hustle in Nigeria today

1. Your day job is not as safe as you think; we need to wake up to the reality that our day jobs aren’t safe anymore. There was a time when people graduated from universities and hot off the press are recruited into corporations where they get to work till they retire. Those days are beyond us. You only need to look at the Job creation reports in Nigeria to fully understand how dire things have become. A side hustle gives you a cushion against the uncertainties of the work place

2. Opportunity to make more money; for most, this is the most motivating factor of starting a side hustle. Everyone needs that extra bit of income to support the main hustle; your day job. But is that really all?

3. It may improve you at your day job; if your side hustle somehow relates to your day job. Then both hustles will rub off on each other. They somehow become symbiotic; as you improve one, you invariably improve the other. If for instance you are very good in Excel at your day job, starting an excel tutoring blog or YouTube channel would not only make you some money but also make your excel skills better, which would greatly improve you at work.

4. May turn to a main hustle; over time you may come to realise that your side hustle is starting to pay-off way more than your main hustle.

5. Develop other skills; Your side-hustle can afford you the opportunity to become a good sales person, you could also see yourself learning how to manage a business.

Final thoughts; choose side-hustles that play to your strengths and complement your day job. Also be on the look-out for ones that will leverage your basic experiences and network.

http://lightednation.com/2016/08/need-side-hustle-nigeria-today/

rev2214:

Better buy new at Ikj from cash man. The one I have is not running well again, is low

Sorry how do i get through to cash man; contact details you can message me.

Thanks appreciate

Hello please do you have battery for Compaq Presario CQ56? Need one for my laptop.

One way of gaining competitive advantage as propounded by Michael Porter is providing comparable buyer value more efficiently than competitors (low cost). Hence it is important to reach your customers faster and more efficiently but also at a cost that will enable you gain competitive advantage. Unless you are a large multi-national your budget won’t really be that big, hence it is really important to focus on how to market your business in low-cost ways.

How to market your business on a budget in Nigeria

1. Start a social media engagement for your business if aren’t already doing that
Create a business page up on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus and Twitter. Put some efforts into designing your pages, don’t just strive for a bland page; a page is only as good as the design and of the contents. So make sure your business profile includes a good description, keywords and a link to your website. Also include social media buttons on your website if you have one. This is one very potent way to market your business on a budget in Nigeria
With as little as $5 you can start to publicize your page Facebook to hundreds of people

2. Research your competition marketing efforts
Study what your competitions are doing; research the effectiveness of their campaigns. What can you learn? You would be better placed to spot holes and weaknesses in their marketing campaigns and then improving on those in your own campaigns. This way you are making sure that you are not going head to head with them in areas where they are stronger but rather hitting them on their weak points. Also, if you spend time analysing the competitive field to look for areas of weakness or gaps in the marketplace, you can discover opportunities where your business will have the best chance to grow

3. You Can’t Be Everything to Everyone (Streamline your marketing efforts); target your niche for all your marketing efforts. Pareto 80/20 rule may come in handy here. Which 20% of your customers contribute 80% of your sales? Concentrate on these 20%.

4. Attend industry and local networking events
Check out and sign up for business events on Eventbrite. Make sure that your business card stand out from the pack when you get to these events.

5. Make your existing customers your marketers. Offer them freebies, free service, tickets to movies etc. for referring new customers. Word-of-mouth is a potent way of marketing your business on a budget in Nigeria.


http://lightednation.com/2016/04/market-business-budget-nigeria/

Bluezy13:

Ok, when you find answers, do let me know

LOL, more updates coming; watch this space then!

Bluezy13:
OP did they separate

Am asking the same questions myself!

Less than 24 hours after Peter Okoye of the music group P-square who have been in the news recently for rancour within their camp came out to clear the air on issues relating to their group; they are back!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDOxmQSSsLP/

What do you make of it?

www.lightednation.com

@Mzjigga It is quite insightful but I expected more. in the 90s it would be seen as sugar for everyone but look at now, people are moving into the granulated sugar category due to the price. Now people feel St. Louis is for the rich.
fantastic write up.

True and on point! However despite the price increases they have done over the years, Nigerians are still buying St. Louis sugar. Now whats the reason for this? First, you don’t need to buy the whole pack, Kiosk owners have found a way to make it accessible even to the masses by selling piece meal wrapped in cellophane bags. Hence, with as little as 10 naira, one can still buy cube sugar. Secondly, despite the fact that granulated sugar is relatively more affordable, people still prefer cube sugar. I suspect this is because people are increasingly more health conscious these days, and so its easier and more convenient to measure usage when sugar is in cubes than when it is granulated.

Ademat7:
lalasticlala hw market? Dis one go sell na

I de tell you! hahaha

bignero:
nice write

educative,informative and entertaining

Thanks

There are just few phenomena that are truly outliers. Take the bumblebee for instance, that aerodynamically shouldn’t be able to fly because according to scientists; its wingspan is too small and its body it’s too heavy. Yet it pays no heed, going on to defy all notions about what its abilities should be.
In Nigeria one of such abstruse outlier is St. Louis sugar. You only need to look around to see its presence and look again to see that you had never seen any sort of ad or promotion anywhere for this brand. And so this begs the question; how are they doing it?

I was at a marketing workshop recently and the discussion was on why brands fail. The facilitator for this workshop was a seasoned marketing professional. One of reasons he called out for brand fails was lack of promotion and advertisement. Then one hand shot up in the audience. The woman asked the same question every marketing executive in Nigeria must have heard at one point or the other; why St. Louis sugar is still thriving without any form of promotion or advertisement?
“Hmm! this is one exception to the rule; it’s hard to explain…” the facilitator said. Picking his words carefully like a man chewing pomo on teeth severally ravaged by cavity. He would conclude that it was an outlier.

This struck a chord in me; it was the second time that month that someone had mentioned the brand and yet no one seemed to know much about what makes it that unique.
I decided to find out.
The findings will however not shock you. Thank you!

A background on St. Louis Sugar
St. Louis Sugar is produced by Saint Louis Sucre located in France. They are a member of the Suedzucker AG group the leading manufacturer of sugar in the world averaging 50000 tonnes of sugar production per day.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Nigeria produces less than two per cent of its requirement, estimated at 1.7 million tonnes. By the foregoing, it is clear Nigeria currently imports 98% of its sugar requirement.
Data obtained from the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) also indicate that sugar consumption in 2012 was 1.1m tonnes against the domestic production of 10,843 tonnes.

Ban of sugar on retail packs
The Nigeria Sugar Master Plan which took effect on January 1, 2013, led to an outright ban on the importation of refined sugar in retail packs. But alias its Nigeria, the ban has been very effective; St. Louis is still everywhere and I suspect those supposed to enforce the ban probably drank it in their coffee this morning. Okay enough said!

Direct competitions to St. Louis

TM Family Sugar – McNichols Consolidated Plc
M Dogan’s Sugar Cubes by Dogan’s Sugar Limited
Golden Penny Sugar Golden Sugar Company
Distribution
St. Louis Sugar is distributed by the MILAN group in Nigeria.

So what has aided St. Louis to its position of dominance?

1. Increasing population; this is huge. There are over 170 million Nigerians today from below a 100 million in 1991. To put this in perspective, in 2030, we would be on the right side of 300 million. Whew!

2. No strong competition. The argument is always “St. Louis sugar doesn’t do promotion and advertisement and yet still number one”. But am yet to see any significant promotion by any other cube sugar company in Nigeria. So this argument is misguided and in my opinion any retail sugar company that comes out with better value proposition and is able to communicate this effectively could push St. Louis sugar off their perch.

3. Economics of scale enjoyment; as a member of the Suedzucker AG group the largest sugar producer in the world, it enjoys massive economics of scale. Little wonder the local manufacturers still cannot compete despite the advantage granted to them by the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan. The Federal Government have made it possible for those that want to go into sugar production to import all the machineries, both for the field and the factory duty free. And when they start operation, to do business tax free for five years.

4. People will rather go for what has been tested and trusted than risk a few nairas on a product that's relatively new.

5. Monopoly and first mover advantage. Growing up it was the only cube sugar brand that people consumed. It was widely distributed and hence it was hard to believe any other sugar brand existed in the cube sugar category.


Next stop? Maybe I will be writing on the decline of Aloma bitters in Nigeria or maybe a better title would be “sex sells; the emergency of a thousand and one bitters“(babyoku, Kerewa, Ibile Sappiro Osomo Koboko, Kogbebe, Ogidiga etc) see the connotations?

Please don’t ask how many of them I have taken.

http://lightednation.com/2016/03/st-louis-sugar-stripped-bare/

From bachelors, students in tertiary institutions to children, Nigerians have been luxuriating on Indomie for close to two decades now. Many will call it a junk food with no nutritional benefit because it’s high in carbohydrates and fat, but low other essential nutrients departments. Yet it has been a staple in many Nigerian homes.

So why can’t Nigerians get enough of Indomie

1. Children just seem to love indomie. Kids of nowadays kai! They have got no chill, no fear even if the noodles look like worms.
2. It’s fast and easy to prepare; you hardly need a Ph.D. in cookery to prepare a bowl of indomie. For a bachelor living and working in Lagos, Indomie is a life saver especially when you consider the stress of cooking when you get home from work. Call me lazy.
3. It’s probably the only food prepared by Abokis that people are comfortable eating on the road side. Remember my service year, how we used to swoon to the Mai Shai joint to take tea with a bowl of indomie.
4. When supported with egg and other enrichments, indomie isn’t so bad.
5. Wide distribution network. Indomie is sold everywhere in Nigeria, from large retail outlets like ShopRite to your neighbourhood kiosks.

So wetin concern me? Learning for life and business

1. Start appealing to the Indomie generation. We want it quick, now, and not later. So make it easy for us to get your products and services and we will reward you with repeat purchases because well, we are lazy!

2. Keep making regularly updates and tell us when you do. When you give us a hungry man’s size, we are sure to get hungrier, so prepare to give us a hungrier man’s size. Even big phone companies like iPhone and Samsung are constantly releasing newer models of their flagship phones albeit slight improvements on legacy versions. And one thing is certain; we will buy!

3. Tell us different ways to use your products or services even though you know we are sure to invent ours. After all, we have found other uses for Cough syrups apart from the uses called out by the manufacturers. Indomie have ran various campaigns in the past on different ways to make indomie. So you do yours, use social media, we are waiting for you.

4. “Bam bam la la” or “mama do good2”? You choose, but know your target market segment and aggressive create campaigns to appeal to them.

So I hope that with these few points of mine, I have been able to convince and maybe confuse you on why indomie is the best thing since Agege bread.

A word of caution though, when I use the term indomie I refer to all the myriad of noodles sold and consumed in Nigeria, in the same vein Nigerians call any powder detergent ‘Omo’.

Honourable mention, Jumoke of Agege bread fame. Madam you somehow inspired this post. Please don’t ask me the correlation.

Adios.

http://lightednation.com/2016/03/indomie-best-thing-since-agege-bread/

Alphabet, in case you are wondering who the heck are they is the parent company of Google. It was created just in 2015 to be the parent company of Google and several other companies previously owned by or tied to Google. Such companies as Calico, Fiber, Nest, Google Ventures, Verily, Google capital, Google*.

On Monday February 1st 2016 after hours, there was the initial indication that Alphabet’s market capitalization would be $570 billion, $35 billion above Apple’s current market cap. Thus making it the most valuable company publicly traded in the world.

According to CNBC, Apple’s main problem is its reliance on the iPhone. iPhone currently accounts for two-thirds of her revenue. Despite the size of the iPhone business, growth has been flat in the last one year, while the iPad and Mac have seen drop in sales over the same period.

However this is not the first time Google will leapfrog Apple in the ranking of the most valuable companies in the world, though the last time was in 2010.

http://lightednation.com/2016/02/alphabet-overtakes-apple-as-the-most-valuable-company/

When my boss invited me to be part of a work-life balance study he was conducting for a module in his master’s degree program at a prestigious university, I never knew the findings would change my approach to work. This is not an account of that study but rather my outlook on the subject matter.
The line between work and personal life is not black and white; it is too often blurred. More so today that technology had become a key part of our lives. People today receive and respond to work related emails anywhere they are irrespective of the time and place. Even when on vacations, I have seen people who respond to official mails. With the economic struggles, there is so much pressure on employees to deliver on huge expectations. And so to keep their jobs, employees often work late nights, weekends and even on festive periods.
Work life imbalance doesn’t just affect only those who are gainfully employed, but even those who work for themselves can experience work-life balance issues.
Your health is equally as important as your wealth; health is wealth has become a cliché these days. However that it doesn’t make it less of a truth. I have seen a lot of people break down due to work-life imbalance.

Why you deserve work life balance. Your family needs you. Your partner needs you. When I started working in Lagos, I didn’t visit my parents in Port Harcourt for two good years, and my excuse? WORK! I lost one of them last year and it has been difficult forgiving myself for not making out time to be with them all the while.

So you need to set boundaries, seek to reduce weekend work. Let work stay back at work when you leave work. So that when you get home, you really can be at home. Your family deserves quality time with you. For God’s sake stop taking work home, with careful planning and scheduling, you can finish your task for each day without left-overs.

At the core we all work for our personal lives, to live better, to have freedom to do what we want to do. Work is a means to an end, therefore you deserve work life balance. And yet most times we let the means (work) become an end in itself. We do this when we let work that should ordinarily be giving us freedom we need take us captives.

So decide to be selfish for once and change for good! Close early from work.

Take your kids out on weekends.

Make time for your partner.

Help your kids with their home work.

Visit that friend you have been planning to visit for years now.

Go see the movies with your family.

You really deserve it!


http://lightednation.com/2016/01/you-deserve-work-life-balance/

absoluteSuccess:


I can't remembered the Robert kiyosaki book that I read, where the man argued that the key to your success is locked in your vocabularies.

My brother, wealth is locked in your vocabularies, that's why this age is called information age. The world's richest men uses the media.

To further enrich themselves, but the poor engage the media to ruin their time. Time na money o.

Totally agree with you! There is a move from mainstream media to social media these days. A good example is the use of blogs like Linda Ikeji's for reaching people during the last general election in Nigeria.

absoluteSuccess:
When you have the word that create wealth.

Am telling you

Its the power of social media. Oprah Winfrey somehow managed to make $12.5 million from a single tweet about bread. Damn!


Eat bread. Lose weight. Whaaatttt? #ComeJoinMe https:///jUgpk9ToXY https:///xtnB53EwSf

— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) January 26, 2016

Apparently she tweeted the above to her over 31 million followers in which she claims to have lost 26lbs (almost 12kg) by following a Weight Watchers (she own 6.4 million shares in the company, approximately 10 percent of the stock) healthy eating programme by eating bread every day. This single tweet has seen the diet company’s US share prices skyrocket by 20 per cent.

The recent spike in share prices equates to a $12.5 million (approximately £8,742,000) earning for Winfrey on a single tweet, or more than $3 million an hour.

Wow! thats some leverage and the power of social media at work. If you are not already an active user, you are missing out.

http://lightednation.com/2016/01/twitter-money-oprah-makes-12-5-million-from-a-single-tweet/

More and more businesses, brands and blogs are setting up Facebook pages today. They have all realized the immerse power that Facebook has in marketing their products, services or ideas. Facebook pages are great platforms to interact with potential and current customers at a minimal cost compared to mainstream advertising.

This post is for all those who have Facebook pages and are looking to increase the number of people who like their pages without spending a kobo.
In this post am going to highlight one of the methods that I used to grow my page by over 2000% in just over a period of one month and for free. No Facebook Ads! Please this graph below.


Like my Facebook page at www.lightednation.com to be first to know when I drop my next tips.

Here are some quick facts about facebook

1.5 billion users monthly
1.01 billion active daily users
Average time spent on; Facebook 20+ minutes

Steps to grow Your Page without a Kobo

1. Get Google chrome installed on your system; because the tool am about to talk about works only on Google chrome at the moment.

2. Google “Facebook invite all” or simply click here to install the plugin on your chrome browser.


3. Open your Facebook account and go to the Facebook page that you want to invite your friends into. You will notice a Good or Nike sign towards the end of the address bar


4. Click “Invite friends to like this page” button on the left of your facebook page just underneath your Facebook page Photo

5. Scroll ALL THE WAY down till you get the end

6. Take your mouse up to the address bar and click the good or Nike! sign we talked about in 3 above. You will get the prompt as shown below and that’s all you really need to do


7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 with other of your friends accounts whose friends you want to invite to like your page.

Contact us at LightedNation.com for more tips to grow your Facebook Likes with little amount of money.

Others tips you know? Share and comment so that we all can be lighted!

http://lightednation.com/2016/01/facebook-marketing-grow-your-page-without-a-kobo/

Amberon:
inconsequential list. my name ain't there

Oya include your name

Hilary Clinton is one to watch out for

Women are increasingly getting involved politically like never experienced before. In the wake of the election of Tsai Ing-wen as the first female president of Taiwan on the 17th January 2016, this is the top ten female rulers in the world as at January 2016.These women have shone in a male dominated landscape and hence written their names on the sands of time. From Germany to Liberia women are redefining the political landscape.

Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German politician and former research scientist who has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the Leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is the 24th and current President of Liberia, in office since 2006. She served as Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert from 1979 until the 1980 coup d’état, after which she left Liberia and held senior positions at various financial institutions. She placed second in the 1997 presidential election won by Charles Taylor. She won the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006, and she was a successful candidate for re-election in 2011. Sirleaf is the first elected female head of state in Africa.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed
Sheikh Hasina Wazed is the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in office since January 2009. She previously served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2001, and she has led the Bangladesh Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first President of Bangladesh, and widow of the nuclear scientist M. A. Wazed Miah.

Dalia Grybauskaite
Dalia Grybauskaitė born 1 March 1956 is the President of Lithuania, inaugurated on 12 July 2009 and re-elected in May 2014. She is the country’s first female President and the first to be elected for a second term.
She was Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance, also European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget from 2004 to 2009. She is often referred to as the “Iron Lady” or the “Steel Magnolia”.

Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician currently serving as the 36th President of Brazil. She is the first woman to hold the office. She was previously the Chief of Staff of the President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from 2005 to 2010.
The daughter of a Bulgarian entrepreneur, Rousseff was raised in an upper middle class household in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. She became a socialist during her youth, and following the 1964 coup d’état joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. Rousseff was eventually captured and was jailed between 1970 and 1972, during which time she was reportedly tortured.

Atifete Jahjaga
Atifete Jahjaga (born 20 April 1975) is a Kosovar politician and the fourth President of Kosovo. She is the first female President of the Republic of Kosovo, the first non-partisan candidate, and the youngest female head of state to be elected to the top office. She served as Deputy Director of the Kosovo Police, holding the rank of Major General, the most senior among women officers in Southeastern Europe

Portia Simpson Miller
Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller, ON, MP (born 12 December 1945), is a Jamaican politician who has been Prime Minister of Jamaica since 5 January 2012. Previously she served as Prime Minister from March 2006 to September 2007. She is the leader of the People’s National Party, and she was Leader of the Opposition between her two terms as Prime Minister.

Erna Solberg
Erna Solberg (born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician who has been Prime Minister of Norway since October 2013 and Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004.
Solberg has served as a member of the Storting since 1989 and served as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development in Bondevik’s Second Cabinet from 2001 to 2005. In her term as minister, she oversaw the tightening of immigration policy and the preparation of a proposed reform of the administrative divisions of Norway. After the 2005 election, she chaired the Conservative Party parliamentary group until 2013. Solberg has emphasized the social and ideological basis of the Conservative policies, although the party also has become visibly more pragmatic.

Laimdota Straujuma
Laimdota Straujuma (born 24 February 1951) is a Latvian economist who is the Prime Minister of Latvia since January 2014. She is currently serving in a caretaker capacity having announced her resignation in December 2015. Before her tenure as Prime Minister, she served as Minister of Agriculture from 2011 to 2014. She was the first woman to serve as the head of government of the country. After her resignation on 7 December 2015 she announced her intention to resume a seat in the Saeima.

Catherine Samba-Panza
Catherine Samba-Panza (born 26 June 1954) is the interim president of the Central African Republic and the first woman to hold the post. Prior to becoming Head of state, she was appointed Mayor of Bangui from May 2013

http://lightednation.com/2016/01/19322/

The road to riches can be trodden by anyone. But getting to the end means doing what it takes to get to the finish line. Given that some are aided by family inheritance, but it still takes thinking like the rich thinks to sustain the inheritance. It means paying the price in time and in other resources. Are you willing to do that to become rich? Here are some 10 things rich people do differently from the rest.

1. They know that not all debts are bad; there is good debt.
Good debt includes debts used in financing a business. Only last year, the commercial banks were publishing names of its highest debtors. And you guessed right, the richest man in Africa is also a debtor. But these debts are used to finance projects. Hence a good debt is a debt used to make an investment from which a future economic value is expected to accrue to the debtor.

2. Living well below their means;
Well it’s easy to think that it’s easier for rich folks to live below their means after all they have the money to meet the basic human needs and much more. True, but it’s not unheard of for rich guys to go broke. Remember he that is unfaithful in that which is least will also be unfaithful in that that is big. One way of accelerating your progress on the road to riches to live below your means and save the rest.

3. They come up with strategies and not excuses.
They take responsibility for their actions and inactions; it’s easier to blame others, the system, the weather etc. when things don’t go as planned. But despite the harsh business climate, some companies are still surviving, and a few are even thriving. So these guys look inwards and come up strategies to help them navigate the murky times.

4. Half-full way of thinking;
They look at a glass and see it half-full when others will come and say its half-empty. Both are correct, but there is a difference between them both. They spot opportunities where others see difficulties. For instance exchange may be hitting companies that depend on imports for their operations today, and while some will see is difficulties, others are legally profiteering from this situation.

5. They have high social capital;
Social capital according to Investopedia refers to the connections between individuals and entities that can be economically valuable. Social networks that include people who trust and assist each other can be a powerful asset. No one gets rich alone; you need the help and guidance of those around you. It’s totally counterintuitive to try and do it alone. That’s the way the world works, we are all meant to support each other. Rich folks know this.

6. They actively seek information;
From dailies, from their social networks. This information and investment opportunities inform their money choices and also some.

7. They measure in time;
Time is as important is their money, if not more. So they place a value on their time. Hence people respect their time. Start respecting your time, start measuring how the time you are spending is affecting your earnings power. The time you are wasting, someone out there is using the same time to improve themselves and their chances of making more money.

8. Healthy self-esteem
A belief in their abilities help spur them on to greater heights in life. Their confidence is not easily shattered by set-backs that would cripple others.

9. Understand their limitation;
They accept themselves. They don’t beat themselves up for what they don’t know.

10. Play to their strengths and outsource the rest.

http://lightednation.com/2016/01/10-things-rich-people-do-differently/

2015 has seen the good, the bad and the ugly for Nigeria and Nigerians. Here are some of the best picks of what I learned in 2015.

1. Nigerian politicians are increasingly embracing social media; it is no more a pastime of idle youths.

2. D’Tigers are tired of playing second fiddle to Angola, and so they emerged winners at the Afro basket championship in 2015
3. After the 2016 Budget presentation, it was widely believed that President Buhari need to address the nation more often.
4. Bloggers are making a shitload of money and buying up mansion.

5. Year of the unlikely downfalls, Mourinho, Blatter, Jonathan etc.
6. New oni of Ife; Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi. Kabiyesi o!
7. President Buhari is really out for corrupt officials. Anyways guess we always knew.
8. Money doesn’t win elections anymore, but rather money well spent.
9. Nigerians may not have been forced to form orderly lines at bus stops and other places under the gaze of whip-wielding soldiers, but we have been made to queue at fuel stations.
10. Nigeria cannot keep depending on Oil (according to PWC oil is 97% of Nigerian export), it’s just not sustainable
11. 2016 will be a tougher year for businesses as the dollar rates keep soaring. Large companies as well as smaller ones will be affected. A friend who runs an interior decoration business recently complained that she had an agreement with a firm in China to supply her some materials she would use in her business, but she didn’t follow through because there was no dollar to settle the invoices when due.
12. Unemployment will continue to increase in 2016, as companies struggle to survive in the harsh economic climate
13. Nigeria would do with three functional refineries.
14. America was clearly wrong when they predicted that Nigeria will break up in 2015. Source
15. OPEC’s influence over world oil market is gradually waning –Boomerang
16. Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) will be important revenue machines of Nigeria for subsequent years in the face of oil struggles.
17. Nigeria on course to be polio free by 2017, as disease is no more endemic in the country. Source
18. Boko haram is still unpredictable and did not disappear in December 2015.
19. Not all the igbos support Biafra
20. 30% of the budget for 2016 will be on infrastructure development, which is a 323% improvement on 2015 budget.

http://lightednation.com/2016/01/what-we-learnt-in-2015-part-1/

Its 2016! It’s a new year. Whether 2015 was a good year financially or not, you really can’t do anything about it. So what happens before 2016 stays before 2016? Well not really, a business or an individual can set the tone for a better 2016 by taking stock of what worked in 2015 and beyond, what didn’t and actively seeking ways of improving based on the information available to you.

Best ways of doing this includes reviewing your budget for 2015 and seeing where you went over your numbers, preparing a net worth statement that shows you a snapshot of your financial health etc. Consequently going into 2016, the first financial move you should make as a business or an individual is to prepare your statement of net worth.

Here is why? Your statement of net worth shows you where you are financially at any point in time. It’s like your personal statement of financial position or balance sheet as accountants call it. It does this by comparing what you own versus what you owe.

That’s all, the difference between what you own and what you owe.

Knowing your net worth will change your thinking about a lot of financial decisions that you are making. You would start questioning what you are doing with your money in 2016 and not necessarily how much you’re making. You now realise your choices could be affecting your net worth.

Your net worth = total Assets – total Liabilities

If your net worth is positive, this means that you have more assets than liabilities. And the reverse if you have a negative net worth.

The steps

* Get a spreadsheet or a piece of paper, list all the things you own like land, shares, cars and
* Put a value on them.
* Also do a similar list for all the things you owe.
* Add up these two listings; what you own versus what you owe.
* Subtract the latter from the former ; the difference is your net worth!

http://lightednation.com/2016/01/first-financial-move-you-should-make-this-year/

Laveda:
Helpful tips....Lemme add few more
•Concentrate√
•Always remind yourself of your goals,reinforce your motivation
•Develop an interest in the subjects/course.. Try to see its importance and relate it to your everyday life.
•Decide on the number of hours per week you intend to put in on academic work and then allocate appropriately to the different subjects/courses you are taking.

I hope this helps too.

#
Great!

For many of us who are in school or working, a time comes when we need to write one examination or the other. Finding the motivation to study is usually an issue. We are usually swamped with more interesting activities vying for the same spot as the time for studying. And so because we sometimes aren’t motivated enough, we easily forget to study. Trust me it’s easier to watch an episode of Game of thrones than sit with textbooks that are sure to make you drowsy. How then do you motivate yourself to study?

Here are some tips to help your motivation when next you are faced with an examination

1. Start with a goal
This is because “If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” Jim Rohn. Why do you need to study? Why is important that you pass this particular exam? Define these goals, write them down. Go ahead and visualize what you can achieve with this examination. Would it give you a better shot at an executive position in your company? Would it help you secure a job? Then let the lure of the executive position and the prospects of a new job be in the forefront of your mind each time you want to study.

2. Break the main goal down into small winnable goals
The examination you are studying for may have 7 modules. You can give yourself a target of learning one module every week. When you break down tasks into manageable tasks, the mountain disappears; all there is are just winnable obstacles to your goal.

3. Form questions as you read and write them down in a jotter.
When you are done with each small winnable task, try to answer these questions. In answering them try to assume you are lecturing a child on what you have just read.

4. Appraise yourself
Review the answers to these questions with the text, your motivation will increase when you have rightly answered some of the questions on the small manageable task you have just completed.

5. Revise the questions failed
Go back and revise the questions that you flunked.

6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 for each of the remaining modules

http://lightednation.com/2015/12/how-to-motivate-yourself-to-study/

Front Page?

As the curtains of 2015 gradually draw to a close. LightedNation have decided to highlight some of the quotes that dominated the media in 2015.
It was a really an eventful year for Nigerians in several ways. It was an election year. It was also a year that saw the ruling party floored in an election. Nigerians may not have been forced to form orderly lines at bus stops, and other places under the gaze of whip-wielding soldiers, but we have been made to queue at fuel stations as the year 2015 gives way to 2016.
These quotes were carefully selected since a lot of quotable quotes have been made this year. But these were arguably the 10 Nigerian Quotes of the year 2015.



http://lightednation.com/2015/12/top-10-nigerian-quotes-2015/

kilokeys:
Yea so true.. Bookmarked

But make we get that job first.. Wey pesin go fit use buy iPhone in 2 months then I'll come back to Re read


Right now.. No winsh can stop me from my suya and alomo

SUYA n ALOMO!

So you have clocked 2 years at work. Congratulations! I bet some of your course mates in school still aren’t with a job. So congratulations again for holding down one this long; ok its only 2 years. But your friend at Jumai recently lost her job; wasn’t she that first-class girl in your class?
Now here is why am writing you; Mom called the other day complaining that you are broke again and she is really worried, I told her I would speak to you.
Brother I know how sweet freedom from our parents can be; I have been there. I also know how fun life can be when you start earning money from a paid employment. I saw the IPhone you just bought on Facebook, nice acquisition; those are some of the perks of paid employment. But going back to why am writing; you shouldn’t be getting broke now. What would happen when you have a family?
From my experience you get yourself in this position when you think you have arrived and so you develop new habits. You quickly use the loan facility from work to buy a car, you change your wardrobe, and you invite friends over more frequently. And then your friends start to mount. And life is very good.
Because this is unsustainable soon enough everything comes crashing down; you are only mid-way through the month and you are already broke. You quickly borrow to make up, after-all salary drops in a forth night and you would settle the debts. This becomes a never ending cycle; you become a slave to the job that was supposed to liberate you. That said you need become financially savvy.

Where do you go from here?

1. Start paying yourself first. Every month set aside some percentage of your income for yourself before making or meeting your monthly commitments. This is the first step to becoming financially savvy.
2. Your monies are your soldiers, don’t leave them vulnerable, you are their commander, guide them, and protect them.
3. Work on delaying gratification. Resist the temptation for immediate rewards that could hinder a better reward in the future; you can’t eat your cake and have it. You do this by attaching importance to your money.
4. Your money should never be emotional. Feelings are your biggest obstacle to attracting and keeping money. When you get to this level, delaying gratification becomes pretty easy.
5. Develop a plan on how to pay your debts; your debts will have to be paid. So develop a good strategy. One way of doing this is by ranking your debts by their interest rate. And aim to pay off the high interest debts first.
6. Place value on your time. Guard it and will you see tremendous impact on your cashflows. Every time you spend unproductively is time you could have spent building your career up; learning a new skill and thereby increasing your propensity to earn more in the future.
7. Take care of your health. Though many fail to realise this, this is one of the most financially savvy decisions you should be making,
8. Cost-benefit analysis; don’t buy things without doing a cost-benefit analysis. Things whose costs are more than the benefits accruable should be avoided.
9. Also be on the lookout for competing prices for everything and before buying anything at full price.
10. Always be on the lookout for information like this. Keep learning more about how to improve your finances.

http://lightednation.com/2015/12/how-to-be-financially-savvy/

Christmas is here again, and the fun is heating up all over the world. People are on the move with their loved ones to various locations to spend the yuletide. Hampers are changing hands at every turn. And the big stores are making huge sales. But despite all this, Christmas can also be stressful.
Here are some few tips on how to enjoy right this Christmas and make the most of the season.

How to Enjoy right this Christmas
1. Breathe, relax. Its really easy to get worked up now. Why? Well for starters, you already have a long list of people you want to buy gifts for, you also have whole lists of things you want to do. But your resources seem to be failing you. Its time to relax and read this http://lightednation.com/2015/12/guide-to-gift-giving-for-the-xmas-season-in-nigeria/
2. Count your blessings. 2015 may not have been the best of year for you, but be grateful for the life you do have. So count your blessings and keep thanking God for the things you do have. Gratitude brings with it immerse benefits.
3. Beware of travel and other scams , if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. When looking for great deals online, stick to known sites.
4. Don’t drink and drive. A lot of accidents are usually recorded during the yuletide season, don’t be part of the statistics.
5. Drink what you know; experiment with caution.
6. Stay healthier, eat an apple or two every other day. Drink lots of water.
7. Put down the damn phone while driving; I almost hit a pole the other day because I was trying to reach my ringing phone. Concentrate!
8. If you are driving a long distance, consider travelling with an extra hand.
9. Have your mechanic have a second look on that car before you embark on that long distance trip to the village or wherever.
10. Lock all the doors of your car when driving during this period.
11. Finally there is January after Christmas, spend wisely.

http://lightednation.com/2015/12/enjoy-right-this-christmas/