1) INTRO

Money is important, and money is not so important -I agree with both assertions.
This thread is an attempt to conceptualise what money is all about. If you already have money, well that's good. But if you don't. will you continue to whing about how money answers everything, but not being able to do anything without it.

I will show u that u can exist to a great extent without paper cash, and that u can practically create 'money' out of thin air. IT WORKS

If ur not a strong fan of reading, U can skip all the way down, and start reading from the 7th post. However, I suggest that we eventually read up the entire piece. This is because I believe that a full understanding of money puts us in a better stead to actually making money, afterall,

-understanding the behaviuor of fishes has more profit potential than simply learning how to fish (c).

2) INTRO PART 2


To understand money, u need a lot of wisdom and understanding. To make money, u need to turn such knowledge into action.

Within the 'money concept' you find: sex, power, religion, beliefs, psychology, smiles, murder, manipulation, distrust,subtlities and so on. Ask yourself, who are those individuals or nations that can be considered to be rich?. When u've identified them, try to figure out commanalities between them.

SO, WHAT REALY IS MONEY?

I'll start with a tale that I'm sure 9ja guys would be able to relate with as they are yanked from the protective wings of their parents and made to face the harsh winds of reality

]2, STARTING THE JOURNEY

The sun was tired of the unappreciative nature of the small city dwellers, and had retreated into the small comfort of the dark, leaving only a lingering trail of its warmth as if to say "see what u wld have enjoyed if only u embraced me wholeheartedly'

Kwame, and his friends sat under the tatched bar/pub, ordering and feasting on beer and suya. Madam, abeg give me gulder he bellowed. The five young friends had just passed out from their NYSC and were discussing what their future would be like.

Kwame noticed something from the corner of his eyes and looked accross the road to see a young girl probably in her early 20's rolling her hips vigorously as she walked towards one of those cars that easilly announce their owners elitist status. Kwame sighed under his breadth. His friends were chattering away, talking about how dey go hammer, get jobs, marry, buy motor. Kwame allowed his gaze drift away from the lady slowly as he turned towards his friends.

Now fully turned, a tought hit Kwame, and he spoke it out loud. "Guys, what really is money, can it simply be those things printed on paper?

Na beer dey worry u, they screamed excitedly, gently slapping his head. However it was a topic that they all enjoyed discussing. The beer fueled ansers were however not deep enough to assuage Kwame's curiosity. He was determined to find out more.

3) THE LITTLE VILLAGE

Lets get down to the microcosmic make up of money by using an example of a village, and taking different scenarios:

Scenario 1: Now imagine that in this world, there only exist 1 person living in a small village. What role wld 'money' play here?
Scenario 2: Now imagine 2 persons in close proximity in this village, what role wld money play here?
Scenario 3: Now imagine 3 persons all the way to say 10 persons in this village: What role would money play in each circumstance?

4) WHEN MONEY DOESN'T COUNT,but sex probably does

U wld notice that in scenario 1, money is of no value, and so is in scenario 2. Money begins to count only as the number of people involved in the closed village system increases. The one man in the village wld be concerned with only the basic neccesities of life, food, clothing (from the weather, and not to look good), and shelter (to keep the environment away).

The three man village will increase the dynamics of 'value' interaction. This dynamics would be different if its all fe/males or if its a mixture of both sexes

5) MALE AND FEMALE VILLAGE INTERACTION -usefull for present day dating/mating

2 Males and 1 Female

Suddenly Adama and Adamu apart from strolling around aimlessly in the garden nak.ed and plucking fruits , suddenly realise that they need to satisfy their sex.ual urge (forget love for now).

1) With only one female -Eve- in the village, they could both corporate together and have her forcefully (a state of Hobnesian dysfunctionality
2) They could both corporate together and have her willingly
3) They could compete amongst themselves for her -this wld require them probly tearing at each other, or trying to impress her with their babarian skills that convinces her which of them is capable of protecting and providing for her.

With the limited examples I have given above, we can now see that something unique is taking place. There is some form of competition in order to satisfy their sexual urges. It would be difficult to mainatin a 50/50 balance of sexual priveledges for both guys. Eve might favour one more than the other based on many factors, and besides, females are in demand in this case

Considering that the sex.ual 'favors' cannot be satisfied equally, Adam and Adamu, would tend to want to create value that would give them the advantage over the other.

Does this ring a bell in our modern civilized society

6) FEMALE AND MALE INTERACTION -2females/1male

If the village is made up of 2 ladies and one guy, the dynamics is also different, as the 2 ladies compete to extract sex from the male, or have him solely for themselves.

Value is therefore defined here by what the man considers to be of value. So, the ladies might go out of their way to let him just lie like a log while they extract seed from him. Cook for him, sweep his hut, etc. all in a bid to ensure that they are not outwitted by the competition


from the 5) and 6) we can a have a fill of how we cld conduct modern day dating/mating successfully.

So if u be wowo gal, for one country and men dey avoid u there. U fit relocate to another place wen woman scarce wel, wel or ur type of beauty is admired. Sometimes, u fit also date up the age chain were u no go get competition.

Same applies to guys. In some universities, guys are scarece, and because of this, u can date gorgeous girls. So u see that in social science departments girls might be all over the few guys, and in engineering dept, guys wld be all over the few gals

7]CLOSED SYSTEMS AND POWER

As our village size grows, there naturally would be people who at any point in time would be in need compared to others. Maybe because they are foolish, lazy or ill, and so cannot farm and therefore feed or compete for mates. Some others would have more probably because of their size, health, wisdom , innovativeness, which they apply to their farming.

Those in need would naturally seek feeding favours from those that have excess. This is were power is birthed

Power can also be birthed when those that are physically strong (kpakos) are able to force those that are less phsyically strong (ajes) to farm the 'kpakos' fields, while the 'kpakos' go about spending their time in other pursuits such as mating with more women or siting under apple trees.

Power can also be birthed when the extremely wise or crafty (owls) are able to convince the less wise (donkeys) to tend the 'owls' farms. While the owls go about chasing other pleasures that catch their fancy such as nacking/mating, painting, singing, writing etc. -This was actually King Solomon's strategy as can be gleamed from the bible. Interestingly the 'donkeys' enjoy doing this work for the 'owls' based on the extraordinary convincing skills of the owl'

in fact ehn, me and una be 'donkeys', we they here dey 'work' happily for Seun, while the coconut headed boy dey hammer. But make we no vex, afterall, na 9ja boy and na so we dey make Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook hammer too

8 ) MONEY AS A PAPER CERTIFICATE

The examples that I have just given above are part of what makes up the true essence of money. So money is actually a paper certificate that is generally recognized by the society has indicating the power value.

Therefore, the more comparative 'money' you have, the greater the perception of the power that you can wield. It is therefore this perception and acceptance that breathes life into the paper cash that u have. So if u have thousand of pounds, and ur in a new found land with people that dont appreciate cash, the cash would be worthless. Except u are able to convince them to buy into it.


I am tempted here to launch into the precolonial trade era when the europeans traded with africans, exchanginging what some tribes perceived as valuable -combs, mirrors, suits etc, while taking from the africans what they the europeans perceived as valuable -gold, diamonds, spices etc. I wont this as it would be quite intensive.

We have now been able to isolate perception and action as value tools that are corelated to money and power

9) THE DETAILS OF THE EXCHANGE

I'm going to try coming down to earth now.

I have tried showing that paper money is appreciated only because it represents a deep value desired by people. This value could be needs or wants desired by both the giver and the reciver.

So, I want my lawn cut, and someone else wants a hair cut. We both interact and say, I'll cut your hair once, twice or more times if you cut my lawn. GBAM!! The deal is sealed with the exchange of the paper cash.

He wants to have se.x with her, and she wants a nice leather bag: I'll give you se.x twice if you craft me a leather bag. GBAM!! Deal sealed with paper cash again

Now, the big one: If unfortunately, u do not have paper cash (the recognised legal tender), how do you create value that can be exchanged for what you need or want?

10 GRASPING AT THIN AIR

So u've rushed to all the business sections of social media hoping to stumble accross money/mates/power lying lazily about. U've tried some of the business deals advertised, -investing your money, but have got your fingers burnt (it will get burnt eventually even if it hasn't happened yet).

You soon start getting frustrated, and turn to God through the pastors. You go to churh and still spend loads of money tithing and sowing all in a bid to get through to the ever elusive el'dorado.

Notice something in all these scenarios
-U've had a great 'money' demand, and have giving/spent/invested 'paper money' trying to fulfill it
-The anticipated 'suppliers' to you demand have been able to successfully cream you of your 'paper money', whether they've actually been able supply your needs or not

11) MISSING THE IMPORTANT THINGS

So while u go about in a frenzied search of money, u cld open up this thread excitedly, glance thru it and curse "WTF" this sure aint money and run off . U need the 'paper', what is this bloke preaching?.

This is not what dad taught u about money, neither is it what society taught u. Well friends, something interesting about 'comparatively greater money' and 'comparatively agreater power' is that not everybody can have it, And even if it were possible that every body has it, it can never be at the same time. The reasons, are both economical (as I have demonstrated in the village anecdote), and spiritual. Yes, scriptural. Jesus said it plainly: "The poor will always be with u".

So calm down and think. "What is everybody doing that I am doing?', and "whhat can i do that few people are doing and that I can derive value from?"

12) CREATING VALUE OUT OF THIN AIR

Back to topic 9), and based on our general analysis so far we need to start thinking of value that u can create and that are interchangeable, whether u have 'paper cash' or not.

The first step is to look inward at what u have already. The second step is to make them exchangeable or pick the ones that are easily exchangeable The third step is quite labourios (money no dey grow for tree). It involves u mapping ur talent/ability with the need that u want to satisfy. In order words, creating value out of thin air

Lets share some examples on how this can be done, and have been done

13) All HUMANS ARE GOVERNED BY 'SELF INTEREST'

The sooner we recognise this the better. We all want to gain satisfaction from seeing,thinking, doing, feeling, smelling, hearing etc. This is a principal key to unlocking wealth.

We need to think deep about this to fully grasp it. The difference between people is that some of our 'self ineterest' are dangerous, some are harmless, some are beneficial to others (this one is described by Steven Covey as win-win)etc


-Even the bible presents a clear picture of this: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son
-Some people even gain satisfaction from suffering for others, eg Mandela, Mother Theresa, Gani Fahewemi etc
- You pursue sex in order to satisfy a need
-My writing this piece is because sharing it makes me happy. If it doesn't I'll stop
-Even a girl getting physical attracted to a guy who is extremely broke is driven by 'self interesrt'-she needs someone with a certain appearance to trigger the happy juice in her etc

A value creator therefore stumbles on, or sees the potentials inherent in satisfying someone elses 'self interest'

14) THE MIND GAME

Creating value out of thin air is a tactic that rests in very grey areas. It is many times considered as manipulative. Many of us brought up with descent moral upbringing frown at it, and for some of the strategies, if anyone feels ur using them, they would get really upset and could really hate you. We generally don't enjoy people playing with our minds.

But also interestingly, some have been able to utitilize the mind maneovers so well as a second nature. And people actually love them for their 'mind bending' feats. Some might not even be 'bending minds' conciously, but the process is the same,

-minds are bent/manipulated/coerced/ attracted etc based on satisfying the receiver's 'self interest' >>> Value is conciously and systematically created by the creator >>>> value is converted into cash.


Since you and I are in NL, and the forum is a phenomenon, lets use NL as an example to explain the model shown above

15) EXAMPLES OF VALUE CREATION

Value creation is based on what u already have even if u dont have paper money. Its like God asking Moses of the Bible: "what's in ur hands?" We all know what that rod ended up doing

NL as an example
>>>>U and I look out for a platform were we can interact with/drill for info from/insult others at some of our deepest levels and remain anonymous
>>>NL with their techy background creates the avenue for us to be able to express these needs/wants of ours
>>>>NL then cashes in on this

Another Example:
(somebody actually did this) John was broke, but had a piece of vey fertile land. He was eyeing becoming a contractor in one of the states. John identified that one of the commisioners had an Akata wife who liked fresh veg's and fruits a lot. So what did John do?

>>> He recognised that the lady liked fresh farm products a lot
>>> Satisfied her wants by always bringing sunday gifts of fresh fruits and veg's. When he had properly won her over, he shared his desire to get a contract from her husband with her
>>>The commisioner husband had no choice but to give John a contract so as not to offend his wife

16) MORE ON WHAT U HAVE

So u c, u can acheive loads of stuff without much 'paper cash'. All u need is lots of practice, and an ability to identify what u have, and how u can use it to get what u want. It cld be little things like an infectious smile, the way u think, how fast u get things done, ur ability to get people laughing,ur carriage etc

The key is ur ability to map it effectively to cash. It doesn't neccesarily mean that the gift should be directly mined to get cash. For example, if ur good at making people laugh, u might not neccesarily have to hustle to become a comedian, except if that is ur goal.

U cld create value by always making some important folks with a stressful life happy. Thus making them always want to be around u. Remember David in the Bible playing his soothing harp to an 'evil spirit' afflicted King Saul, and then befriending Jonathan the Kings heir.


So friends, think out of the box to get to ur destination/.


I'll be rounding up for now and do some editting later. However, I might post some other stuff if any comes to mind.


Take care

17 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

I will now go beyond 'creating value from nothing' to how we can 'create better value from things around us'


Learn to spend other peoples money. When doing this, spend it wisely. What do I mean?

-It simply means that you put (or worm)yourself into a position where people can entrust you with their money. When such money is entrusted to you, maximixe its value further -Stretch it as much as u can to derive greater value
-When you read the auto biographies of the super rich, you'll soon notice that they used (and still use) other peoples money to build their wealth

This strategy is how banks make money. You entrust them with your money for safe keeping (many times not even expecting profit). The banks sometimes do not even charge you for keeping your money safe. They then leverage your money to rip profits.

In the next post, I'll give example of how you can leverage your money and other peoples money

The length of your post makes it irrelevent.

barikay: The length of your post makes it irrelevent.

Thanks 4 ur feedback

Irrelevant to you -YES.

The post is a relevant and tested mind tool for me
...and I hope it would be relevant to any other person who desires to understand and control causal relationships affecting their economic well being

barikay: The length of your post makes it irrelevent.

true talk

I hate Immatured mind in nairaland.the post is a very nice one.it is very relevant.i love it a lot.

Fidelcruiz: true talk

Coconut heads not allowed here. Please also refer to post 11 to know the category which you belong to. Thanks

this is the best relevent post on nairaland in business pls if u find this post irrelevent pls kindly leave and is not must that u will makes a comment pls OP keep it up dont mind shortsighted peoples

austinsmat: this is the best relevent post on nairaland in business pls if u find this post irrelevent pls kindly leave and is not must that u will makes a comment pls OP keep it up dont mind shortsighted peoples

Thanks my friend. No mind them.

I go soon write short simple book that satisfies people like them, without neccesarily dropping the important stuff. Then get them to pay hefty sums for it.

Or better still open a ministry where they will pay through their nostrils for glossy and religiously packaged information while they wait for manna to fall from heaven

18 ) Examples of leveraging your (or other peoples) money

There are some folks that their life ambition is to settle in jand. however a look at the visa conditions for UK will soon show you that it was designed to keep the poor out. At least, this is what Vera thought

As I sopke with Vera who had no money but yet had a burning passion to study and settle in Jand, her paradigm soon shifted. She soon began to see that UK only wanted to keep away people who had no access to money.

I hope that you the reader can see the difference.

To cut a long story short, with this new thinking, she got someone who had some good cash to open a joint account with her. This dealt with the trust issue of the person having to leave his money in her account. Don't ask me about the technicalities of the process. Figure it out for yourself.

The important thing in this story is that she was able to acheive this only because she had a paradigm shift.

The person that opened this joint account with her also leveraged his money because he wanted someone that would be doing some running around in the UK for his business.

19)Branding, differentiation and acceptance
I guess we know what branding is all about. In lay man's lingua, it is simply differentiating yourself to an extent that an image or sound evokes a thought.

So, if you see a yellow box in the middle of a park in Nigeria, you might immediately think MTN. If you see a jerry curled haired young boy with suit, u immediately think church. There is a science behind branding which space wil not allow me to expatiate on.

One thing is for sure, if you are able to brand/differentiate yourself, you would be conspicous. A badly managed brand/differentiation could lead to you being rejected. The challenge is actually acheiving a positive brand.

You can then leverage this brand to create value

barikay: The length of your post makes it irrelevent.

The length is not irrelevant, trust me some of us here have gained alot. infact, because of its length, i have learnt things which are missing in my day to day business activities.
@OP, please go at your pace and length, trust me you are saving a life!

Nextworldnx:

The length is not irrelevant, trust me some of us here have gained alot. infact, because of its length, i have learnt things which are missing in my day to day business activities.
@OP, please go at your pace and length, trust me you are saving a life!

Thanks dude. I have done my own share of searching for the science behind economic well being (I'm still searching). I've seen loads of short narratives that dont add up. But thankfully, I held on and kept on searching everything. Thankfully, I'm now in a better place than I was before.

Truely its because of folks like u that I write these things. They don't swarm in like vultures, but somewhere deep down in me, I feel happy knowing that someday, some seekers will search for this kind of information and find it clearly exposed.

And when they're staurated and burdened by such knowledge and many more that they pick along the way, maybe, just maybe they might also end up sharing my pain of trying to express these toughts to people in as simple a language as possible, .......trust me it's tough when u give people that are clearly in need of it milk at no cost, and you watch them spit it out.

A reminder to me the writer: continue writing about branding, then move on to web thinking (c) versus linear thinking in navigating success;
show me the money;

20) Subtle Brands that we fall for
Ever been in a situation where u meet a girl or guy, and think to yourself: "not bad"? You soon find out that he or she is maybe a Adenuga's daughter, or an international model etc., then your "not bad" quickly turns to "so cute". You may even then suddenly feel a new found strong attraction for that person.

In your years in secondary school and universitiy, there probably were some folks that lived larger than life as you knew it. Many years later, even if you've become much richer, you would notice that if you meet these guys you might still have a high regard for them. I'll give an example.

Tony's dad was a permanent secretary in one of the oil rich states. His dad spent money on his kids recklessly. Tony was therefore very popular amongst his age mates. When he went to university, he was the 2nd person to use a power bike there. He always wore his crash helmet around. Everyone wanted to know who he was, including his lecturer who once told him to take his helmet off. You can imagine the excitement, when folks knew who the guy behind the mask was. Girls all over him for free, 'big boys' wanting to be his friend etc.

Some 20 years later, Tony is still reaping from the branding/popularity he had from his younger days. He can comfortably walk into an office even now, and folks that saw him from afar back then want to get aquainted with him. Imagine the contracts that he gets from politicians, civil servants, Oil companies etc all because of his branded past