₦airaland Forum

Droid Razr HD Maxx with a massive 3300mAh battery running Android 5.0.1 Lollipop via CM 12; and iPhone 6

In Nigeria here, there's no legislation restraining lamination of certificates
1. but if per adventure you need to tender a laminated certificate in court, it becomes a major problem;
2. if the issuer wants to verify the certificate through the security features on it it may become impossible to do that as the process of laminating may have impacted on those security features; and
3. some foreign missions in Nigeria may not accept laminated certificates.

jiggar:
Some people's comment can be very funny. So because people decide to use chinese phones, they are not I.T inclined. Last week GSMArena was hacked, inspite of its high status. Last year ,we heard of germany's chancellor phone been hacked. Whatever phone you are using, your info can still be spied on. Even iphone that seems impenetrable, now experiences attacks. Anything and everything created by man, can still be destroyed by man. If you all should know the underground spy work being carried out by the top nations, you would be amazed, and you think because you are using a premium phone, your info can't be stolen. I would advice you to think again.

What did the victims of these examples you gave actually did after they got wind of it? Take precaution right? If yes, that's what Nigerians should do. The countries of those example you gave have one of the highest standards in terms of regulation, your NCC can't even tell if it's bring watched by the Chinese govt.

Esperooke:
The questions i have always asked begging for answers about this tithe issue are: 1 If tithe is that important for we the new testament Christian why was it not categorically stated by Jesus Christ in all his teachings? 2 More so, all the apostles in their voluminous teachings never emphasised it except the allusion of Paul the Apostle to Abraham's faithfulness in the Epistle to the Hebrews. If my submission is correct, where does all these hype about tithe for today xtians emanates from? I know many will be quick to point me to the book of Malachi and Leviticus, then what about circumcision and other rites required by those books if we must stick to it as been part of the Bible and what happen to the work of redemption that Jesus Christ came for? My take is, tithe is for the jews of those days. God requires us to give generously and not to do it grudgingly, according to our power, PERIOD! As touching gambling, God forbid His children from gambling, thus he will not accept any proceed therefrom

This has always been my thoughts, but my people are so impoverished that they can't even read and comprehended. Even the Jews who brought (note, not pay, brought) their tithes gave them to the Levites, a tribe of the sons of Israel. So in our time today, who are the Levite's? Anybody who woke up and decided to call himself a man of God? Or those who have traced their lineage to one of the sons of Levi?

In Revelations, we were called kings and priests and in Philippians a royal priesthood. If we are all priests, why do we have to pay tights to our fellow priests. That contradicts the bible itself. I'm willing to be tutored on this midst crucial topic only if my tutor will rely on biblical provisions and not the usual claim that the spirit of God revealed to me.

If the churches in Nigeria are actually preaching and practicing what the bible says, why are we still morally bankrupt and having the worst kind of people you can ever imagine?

try eBay.

Why would he have lied about his state of ancestral decent? And what stops a non-Lagosian from contesting for political office in Lagos? How long do we have to change our mindset in this part of the world? There are many questions than answers.

obongproff:
Dis is so on-point.

Yeah

whitemosquito:
Hands down, Front page material.

Yeah, most people need to see this and help themselves.

itsabdul:
Thanks for the information.

welcome. I'm glad it benefits someone

According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, the short-term productivity gains from skipping sleep to work are quickly washed away by the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on your mood, ability to focus, and access to higher-level brain functions for days to come. The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep.

Why You Need Adequate Sleep to Perform

We've always known that sleep is good for your brain, but new research from the University of Rochester provides the first direct evidence for why your brain cells need you to sleep (and sleep the right way—more on that later). The study found that when you sleep your brain removes toxic proteins from its neurons that are by-products of neural activity when you're awake. Unfortunately, your brain can remove them adequately only while you're asleep. So when you don't get enough sleep, the toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc by impairing your ability to think—something no amount of caffeine can fix.

Skipping sleep impairs your brain function across the board. It slows your ability to process information and problem solve, kills your creativity, and catapults your stress levels and emotional reactivity.

What Sleep Deprivation Does to Your Health

Sleep deprivation is linked to a variety of serious health problems, including heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. It stresses you out because your body overproduces the stress hormone cortisol when it's sleep deprived. While excess cortisol has a host of negative health effects that come from the havoc it wreaks on your immune system, it also makes you look older, because cortisol breaks down skin collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth and elastic. In men specifically, not sleeping enough reduces testosterone levels and lowers sperm count.

Too many studies to list have shown that people who get enough sleep live longer, healthier lives, but I understand that sometimes this isn't motivation enough. So consider this—not sleeping enough makes you fat. Sleep deprivation compromises your body's ability to metabolize carbohydrates and control food intake. When you sleep less you eat more and have more difficulty burning the calories you consume. Sleep deprivation makes you hungrier by increasing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and makes it harder for you to get full by reducing levels of the satiety-inducing hormone leptin. People who sleep less than 6 hours a night are 30% more likely to become obese than those who sleep 7 to 9 hours a night.

How Much Sleep Is Enough?

Most people need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night to feel sufficiently rested. Few people are at their best with less than 7 hours, and few require more than 9 without an underlying health condition. And that’s a major problem, since more than half of Americans get less than the necessary 7 hours of sleep each night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

For go-getters, it's even worse.

A recent survey of Inc. 500 CEOs found that half of them are sleeping less than 6 hours a night. And the problem doesn't stop at the top. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of U.S. workers get less than 6 hours of sleep each night, and sleep deprivation costs U.S. businesses more than $63 billion annually in lost productivity.

Doing Something about It

Beyond the obvious sleep benefits of thinking clearly and staying healthy, the ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and we’ve found that 90% of top performers are high in emotional intelligence (EQ). These individuals are skilled at understanding and using emotions to their benefit, and good sleep hygiene is one of the greatest tools at their disposal.

High-EQ individuals know it's not just how much you sleep that matters, but also how you sleep. When life gets in the way of getting the amount of sleep you need, it's absolutely essential that you increase the quality of your sleep through good sleep hygiene. There are many hidden killers of quality sleep. The 10 strategies that follow will help you identify these killers and clean up your sleep hygiene. Follow them, and you'll reap the performance and health benefits that come with getting the right quantity and quality of sleep.

1. Stay Away from Sleeping Pills

When I say sleeping pills, I mean anything you take that sedates you so that you can sleep. Whether it's alcohol, Nyquil, Benadryl, Valium, Ambien, or what have you, these substances greatly disrupt your brain's natural sleep process. Have you ever noticed that sedatives can give you some really strange dreams? As you sleep and your brain removes harmful toxins, it cycles through an elaborate series of stages, at times shuffling through the day’s memories and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams). Sedation interferes with these cycles, altering the brain's natural process.

Anything that interferes with the brain's natural sleep process has dire consequences for the quality of your sleep. Many of the strategies that follow eliminate factors that disrupt this recovery process. If getting off sleeping pills proves difficult, make certain you try some of the other strategies (such as cutting down on caffeine) that will make it easier for you to fall asleep naturally and reduce your dependence upon sedatives.

2. Stop Drinking Caffeine (at Least after Lunch)

You can sleep more and vastly improve the quality of the sleep you get by reducing your caffeine intake. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant that interferes with sleep by increasing adrenaline production and blocking sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain. Caffeine has a 6-hour half-life, which means it takes a full 24 hours to work its way out of your system. Have a cup of joe at 8 a.m., and you’ll still have 25% of the caffeine in your body at 8 p.m. Anything you drink after noon will still be near 50% strength at bedtime. Any caffeine in your bloodstream—the negative effects increasing with the dose—makes it harder to fall and stay asleep.

When you do finally fall asleep, the worst is yet to come. Caffeine disrupts the quality of your sleep by reducing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the deep sleep when your body recuperates most. When caffeine disrupts your sleep, you wake up the next day with a cognitive and emotional handicap. You’ll be naturally inclined to grab a cup of coffee or an energy drink to try to make yourself feel more alert, which very quickly creates a vicious cycle.

3. Avoid Blue Light at Night

This is a big one—most people don't even realize it impacts their sleep. Short-wavelength blue light plays an important role in your mood, energy level, and sleep quality. In the morning, sunlight contains high concentrations of this "blue" light. When your eyes are exposed to it directly (not through a window or while wearing sunglasses), the blue light halts production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and makes you feel more alert. This is great, and exposure to a.m. sunlight can improve your mood and energy levels. If the sun isn't an option for you, try a blue light device.

In the afternoon, the sun's rays lose their blue light, which allows your body to produce melatonin and start making you sleepy. By the evening, your brain does not expect any blue light exposure and is very sensitive to it. The problem this creates for sleep is that most of our favorite evening devices—laptops, tablets, televisions, and mobile phones—emit short-wavelength blue light. And in the case of your laptop, tablet, and phone, they do so brightly and right in your face. This exposure impairs melatonin production and interferes with your ability to fall asleep as well as with the quality of your sleep once you do nod off. Remember, the sleep cycle is a daylong process for your brain. When you confuse your brain by exposing it in the evening to what it thinks is a.m. sunlight, this derails the entire process with effects that linger long after you power down. The best thing you can do is avoid these devices after dinner (television is okay for most people as long as they sit far enough away from the set). If you must use one of these devices in the evening, you can limit your exposure with a filter or protective eye wear.

4. Wake Up at the Same Time Every Day

Consistency is key to a good night's sleep, especially when it comes to waking up. Waking up at the same time every day improves your mood and sleep quality by regulating your circadian rhythm. When you have a consistent wake-up time, your brain acclimates to this and moves through the sleep cycle in preparation for you to feel rested and alert at your wake-up time. Roughly an hour before you wake, hormone levels increase gradually (along with your body temperature and blood pressure), causing you to become more alert. This is why you'll often find yourself waking up right before your alarm goes off.

When you don't wake up at the same time every day, your brain doesn't know when to complete the sleep process and when it should prepare you to be awake. Long ago, sunlight ensured a consistent wake-up time. These days, an alarm is the only way most people can pull this off, and doing this successfully requires resisting the temptation to sleep in when you're feeling tired because you know you'll actually feel better by keeping your wake-up time in tact.

5. No Binge Sleeping (In) on the Weekend

Sleeping in on the weekend is a counterproductive way to catch up on your sleep. It messes with your circadian rhythm by giving you an inconsistent wake-up time. When you wake up at the same time during the work week but sleep past this time on the weekend, you end up feeling groggy and tired because your brain hasn't prepared your body to be awake. This isn't a big deal on your day off, but it makes you less productive on Monday because it throws your cycle off and makes it hard to get going again on your regular schedule.

6. Learn How Much Sleep You Really Need

The amount of sleep you need is something that you can't control, and scientists are beginning to discover the genes that dictate it. The problem is, most people sleep much less than they really need and are under-performing because they think they're getting enough. Some discover this the hard way. Ariana Huffington was one of those frantic types who underslept and overworked, until she collapsed unexpectedly from exhaustion one afternoon. She credits her success and well-being since then to the changes she's made to her sleep habits. "I began getting 30 minutes more sleep a night, until gradually I got to 7 to 8 hours. The result has been transformational," Huffington says, adding that, "all the science now demonstrates unequivocally that when we get enough sleep, everything is better: our health; our mental capacity and clarity; our joy at life; and our ability to live life without reacting to every bad thing that happens."

Huffington isn't the only one. Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, and Sheryl Sandberg have all touted the virtues of getting enough sleep. Even Bill Gates, an infamous night owl, has affirmed the benefits of figuring out how much sleep you really need: “I like to get 7 hours of sleep a night because that’s what I need to stay sharp and creative and upbeat.” It's time to bite the bullet and start going to bed earlier until you find the magic number that enables you to perform at your best.

7. Stop Working

When you work in the evening, it puts you into a stimulated, alert state when you should be winding down and relaxing in preparation for sleep. Recent surveys show that roughly 60% of people monitor their smartphones for work emails until they go to sleep. Staying off blue light-emitting devices (discussed above) after a certain time each evening is also a great way to avoid working so you can relax and prepare for sleep, but any type of work before bed should be avoided if you want quality sleep.

8. Eliminate Interruptions

Unfortunately for those with small children, the quality of your sleep does suffer when it is interrupted. The key here is to eliminate all the interruptions that are under your control. If you have loud neighbors, wear earplugs to bed. If your mother likes to call at all hours of the night, make certain you silence your ringer before you go to bed. If you had to wake up extra early in the morning, make sure your alarm clock is back on its regular time when you go to bed. Don't drink too much water in the evening to avoid a bathroom trip in the middle of the night. If your partner snores . . . well, you get the idea. If you think hard enough, there are lots of little things you can do to eliminate unnecessary interruptions to your sleep.

9. Learn to Meditate

Many people who learn to meditate report that it improves the quality of their sleep and that they can get the rest they need even if they aren't able to significantly increase the number of hours they sleep. At the Stanford Medical Center, insomniacs participated in a 6-week mindfulness meditation and cognitive-behavioral therapy course. At the end of the study, participants' average time to fall asleep was cut in half (from 40 to 20 minutes), and 60% of subjects no longer qualified as insomniacs. The subjects retained these gains upon follow-up a full year later. A similar study at the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that 91% of participants either reduced the amount of medication they needed to sleep or stopped taking medication entirely after a mindfulness and sleep therapy course. Give mindfulness a try. At minimum, you'll fall asleep faster, as it will teach you how to relax and quiet your mind once you hit the pillow.

10. When All Else Fails: Take Naps

One of the biggest peaks in melatonin production happens during the 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. time frame, which explains why most people feel sleepy in the afternoon. Companies like Google and Zappos are capitalizing on this need by giving employees the opportunity to take short afternoon naps. If you aren't getting enough sleep at night, you're likely going to feel an overwhelming desire to sleep in the afternoon. When this happens, you're better off taking a short nap (even as short as 15 minutes) than resorting to caffeine to keep you awake. A short nap will give you the rest you need to get through the rest of the afternoon, and you'll sleep much better in the evening than if you drink caffeine or take a long afternoon nap.

Bringing It All Together

I know many of you reading this piece are thinking something along the lines of "but I know a guy (or gal) who is always up at all hours of the night working or socializing, and he's the number one performer at our branch." My answer for you is simple: this guy is underperforming. We all have innate abilities that we must maximize to reach our full potential. My job is to help people do that—to help the good become great by removing unseen performance barriers. Being number one in your branch is an accomplishment, but I guarantee that this guy has his sights set on bigger things that he isn't achieving because sleep deprivation has him performing at a fraction of his full potential. You should send him this article. It just might shake something loose.

After all, the only thing worth catching up on at night is your sleep.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Travis Bradberry, Ph.D.

http:///2MEoYo

The next time you tell yourself that you'll sleep when you're dead, realize that you're making a decision that can make that day come much sooner. Pushing late into the night is a health and productivity killer.

5minsmadness:
Beautiful. Thanks.

You're welcome

If you want people to like you, be 100% comfortable in your own skin. Hands down, there's no more attractive quality than a person who is utterly comfortable with who they are. This quality transcends physical appearance, intelligence, education, income or personality. It is the cornerstone of success in business and in life.

Here's the best news of all: your internal "comfort level" is not fixed; you can change it.

In the spirit of complete disclosure, if today you are insecure and self-critical, overnight you are not going to change into George Clooney. But you can certainly move in the right direction, and the more that you do, the more other people will like you.

To make progress, you need to do three things:

1.) Accept your qualities you cannot change. Don't waste any psychic energy on things such as how your parents raised you or whether your feet are too large. (If this is a sensitive point for you, I apologize and mean no offense.)

2.) Recognize your ability to change is FAR greater than you once thought. You can't change your height, but you can change how hard you work, how grateful you are for your blessings, how open you are to new ideas, how you approach difficult challenges, and how willing you are to pay the price for what you most want in life.

3.) Be persistent. It takes time to build confidence and competence. Invest the time, even on days when you feel as though you are sliding backwards.

To generalize a bit, no one likes incoherent thinking. We hate it when an attractive person complains about being unattractive. We dislike hearing someone make empty promises over and over again. Although we may not understand exactly what's happening, we are not attracted to people who have obvious internal conflicts.

Or at least I'm guessing that's what happens. All I know for sure is that people love people who accept who they are. You know what I mean: we've all seen people with obvious limitations utterly charm a room, because they focus on their blessings rather than on their curses.

There are ten million theories (a rough guess) about ways to be likable; most are hopelessly confusing and complex.

This one is pretty simple: accept yourself, and others will do the same.

http:///ClqH0Z

Interesting, how did I get to this thread Seun?

goodygirl1:
Alright, thanks for the advice

OK, hope you find it useful

Unfortunately Nigerian youths haven't realized what's going. Shale oil/gas and modern techniques in horizontal drilling is forcing the price of crude downwards and the i US is targeting $40 per barrel, yet our leaders are indifferent about these development. unfortunately, Nigerians (esp the youths who forms over 60% of the population are not reacting in any way.

In guilty of the first and third lies

yomi007k:
U sure ds stuff will work in naija.

Why not? Your board of advisors will solve the Nigerian problem. For instance, make Danjuma or Obasanjo or my humble self an advisor or partner, all contracts will go to the business. But that will defeat the purpose of this topic since it's limited to $5m.

RothmasPop:
Is Seun Osewa launching any new stuff Soon?

Seuh isn't monetizing Nairaland, he has enough money.

Building a business is no easy feat. As a two-time entrepreneur, I've experienced the ups and downs of building a company and culture. Aside from my children, however, there is nothing I'm prouder of than the two great companies we've built: Likeable Media and Likeable Local. As we celebrate Small Business Saturday, here are 10 simple steps I took to build our first company, and a blueprint you can use to build a business of your own:

1. Find a Trustworthy Partner
In my early 20s, I was working in sales at Radio Disney. I was the No. 1 sales person in the country until this woman came into my office and dropped me to No. 2 in just four months. I was shocked and stunned by her talent and I realized two things: a) I needed to marry her and b) I needed to go into business with her.

In 2007, as we planned our wedding, we realized we couldn't afford the large NYC wedding we both wanted, so we devised a marketing plan. In July 2007, Carrie and I had an entirely sponsored wedding at a baseball stadium in front of 200 friends and family and 5,000 strangers. We raised $20,000 for charity and $20M in earned media. Everyone was thrilled with the outcome and when our wedding vendors asked us what was next, we thought: "We can't get married again, so let's start a company instead."

While not everyone can start a business with their husband or wife, it really helps to have a truster partner to be #inittogether with. For my second business, for instance, I partnered with my friend of three decades to build our product. Who can you partner with?

2. Create a Strategy and Singular Focus
If you asked me what we did early on in our first business, I'd have told you, 'What do you need done?" And if you'd asked me how much we charged, I'd have said, "What's your budget?" While this may have worked early on to help generate revenue, it wasn't sustainable. Ultimately, too many businesses fail because they don't have a sound strategy and focus.

I've been using Verne Harnish's one-page strategic plan for both of our businesses. Our management teams meet quarterly to plan the strategy, and believe it or not, thanks to Verne's tool, we summarize the entire business plan and strategy on just one sheet of paper.

3. Say No to What's Off Focus

It's easier to create and plan a strategy and focus than it is to stick to it. But if you're going to be successful, it's not just important to say "Yes" to the right things, it's important to say "No" to the wrong things.

A major turning point in our first business was when we fired Charlie. Charlie was a Greek restaurant owner in Astoria, Queens. A super nice guy, Charlie had us helping promote his restaurant and their special events. But he could only afford to pay us $500 a month — and I knew we couldn't scale our business if we kept working with people like Charlie. So we fired our own client — and then focused on landing bigger clients who could better help us grow. It's really hard to say no — but essential, if you're going to really grow your small business.

4. Find Peer Support

It's lonely at the top. Seriously, running a business is one the loneliest jobs out there, even if you have a great partner. Nobody really understands what you're going though. A huge part of our going from $1 million in revenue to $5 million in revenue in three years was my joining Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) in 2010. EO is the world's largest peer-to-peer network of CEOs, and it's most important element is monthly meetings with a small group of fellow entrepreneurs called Forum. My Forum of six people has become one of the most important resources in my business and life, my closest friends, and a great support system.

EO isn't the only game in town though. Here are five great small business peer-to-peer organizations for entrepreneurs to consider, including BNI, Vistage, YPO and YEC.

5. Form a Board of Advisors

You can't possibly know it all, and even with a great partner and great peers, you can use help in growing your business. While it's great to have friends and mentors who can help you, I recommend you codify your mentors through the creation of a Board of Advisors.

In 2012, we asked longtime friends and mentors with a wide variety of experience and talent across various focus areas: finance, law, marketing, brand management, and sales. We formed the Likeable Advisory Board and instantly had a group of 11 advisors who we could call on anytime and who met with us formally four times a year to help us grow our business.

We all have friends and mentors with more experience than we have — by forming a Board you can better tap into that experience.

6. Hire Slow. Fire Fast.

"Dave," said my erstwhile employee of a sales manager I once had, "I don't care if the guy is putting up big numbers. The guy is doing cocaine in the bathroom with his team."

When I think back to the biggest mistakes I've made as an entrepreneur, they all revolve around hiring the wrong people, or worse yet, keeping the wrong people for longer than they should be around. The employee in the example above, I let go just after that conversation — but it was probably two months after the point at which I should have let him go.

What happens often is, we move too quickly to hire someone and end up hiring the wrong person for the wrong position. Then, even though our intuition tells us we've hired the wrong person, we don't want to accept that fact, so we keep trying to justify the decision, coach that person to success, and/or move him to a new position. This is often more damaging than hiring the wrong person in the first place! The solution? Hire slow, fire fast.

7. Build Great Values and Culture

You and your employees spend more awake time at work than you spend anywhere else, including at home and with your family. So the core values you have and the culture you cultivate at work is absolutely essential to your success and happiness.

We took great care with both of our companies to create core values that would resonate: Amongst them, for Likeable Media: transparency, accountability, and passion; for Likeable Local: obsession for customer success, drive, and continuous improvement. We've also worked tirelessly to build culture: retreats out of the office, social events, unique benefits like on-site manicures and massages. The results: Likeable Media has been named to the Crain's Best Place to Work in NYC for three straight years — and continues to attract the best and brightest people in New York.

8. Build Your Brand

The world of the mobile internet and social media has made it easier than ever before for a small business is "act and look big." One of our first decisions in business seven years ago was to publish a daily blog. A couple of years later, we had one the most well-read blogs in social media marketing — and that blog didn't just build our brand — it kept generating lots of leads!

Today, whether it's on your blog, on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, through online video or pictures, or articles or whitepapers, you have an ability to constantly build your brand — to make your business more credible, more trusted, and more accessible to your customers and prospects. Social media is the great equalizer when it comes to building your brand, and you have a greater opportunity than ever before to make your small business brand BIG!

9. Ask for Referrals

It was late 2011, and we'd hit a wall. New customers weren't banging down our doorstep, and for the first time ever in business, my wife and I were questioning whether we could continue rapid growth.Then, one of our advisors said, "Have you asked all of your current customers for referrals?"

It seemed so obvious, like so many good ideas after the fact. So we went ahead and asked, and the next thing we knew, we had filled up our pipeline again with strong prospects, that would lead to new closed business and continued rapid growth. The best form of marketing has been and will always be referrals from your current customers, because if you're doing a good job, they'll want to help. You won't have a chance unless you ask.

10. It's the People, Stupid

Likeable Media and Likeable Local would be absolutely nowhere without our employees, partners, and advisors. Five of the nine steps above involve people. The reality is, your job as an entrepreneur and leader is just three-fold: set the vision and strategy, make sure there's enough money in the bank to make payroll, and get the right people in the right seats on the bus. The people you hire and fire, partner with or don't partner with, take advice from or choose not to take advice from — these people will make the difference between success and failure. These people will help you go from 0 to $500K, or 0 to $5 million, or even from 0 to $500 million.

Your people ARE your business. Your people are your future success. Your people are your everything. Now go out there, get some great people together and build that #smallbusiness of your dreams.

https://www./article/20141125101351-15077789-10-simple-steps-to-build-a-5-million-business?trk=tod-home-art-list-small_1

Telling a lie is never ok. Well, except maybe the one about the fairy that’s going to flutter her way into your kids room at night and replace their tooth with some cash. Or, the one about the giant bunny that hides eggs and … you know what, sometimes a little white lie isn’t so bad, especially when it doesn’t do harm to others.

As an entrepreneur, sometimes it takes a bit of grandstanding, exaggeration and yes, even white lies to get ahead.

We asked founders on Startups Anonymous to share with us the lies they’ve told to help their business get ahead:

1. “I’ve stretched the number of clients I have to make my company sound less new. I guess I felt our credibility was at stake.I also probably stretched the amount of Accounts Receivables in order to get a bigger line of credit for my startup.Also, I have probably lied on some personal expenses to reduce my taxable income.Now that I think about it, I didn’t realize how much I have lied.”

2. “I set up an automated phone system to make it appear as though we had a large office with a secretary and numerous employees when in actuality it was a home-based business with one person. I also set up fake email accounts for “employees” and would email prospects as the secretary sending out contracts, the Account Executive, etc. The clients never found out and eventually we grew into the office I had always dreamed of having.”

3. “The biggest lie I told was that I knew what I was doing, period. And I have said it several times. When you have your reputation on the line and have to deliver, it blows away a masters degree in learning. The kicker is my new found skill set always blew away the competition because I had better motivation and it was up-to-date that very minute.”

4. “I’ve told all our customers and vendors we are doing “awesome!” even during times we were doing horribly! I figure it’s like junior high … nobody wants to sit at the unpopular kids’ table for lunch. And, nobody wants to work with a company that’s not successful!”

5. “No business would likely entrust their website to a 14-year old working out of his parent’s house. So I often lied. I said I was 30, sometimes 40. I always told them I had a large team of experienced professionals behind me. 1,000 clients and several dozen bottles of gifted booze later, no one ever knew.”

6. “When the Mayo Clinic newsletter balked at running a story about my new career as an artist, I told the editor that prints of the drawing (a conceptual rendering of the facility’s flagship hospital) were already being sold in the hospital’s gift shop. In fact, the gift shop manager refused to sell copies of the strange drawing, until I assured her that the Clinic newsletter was featuring the art in their next issue. The subsequent support of both entities constituted the first marketing effort and retail sales of a product line that has lasted nearly thirty years.”

7. “I exaggerated the type of clients I’ve worked with. In order to get new business and sell myself, I would tell the prospective client that I had worked with a certain client in order to impress them, even though I never worked with that client. While I understand the business, I just use big names to impress others.”

Are you guilty of any of these? What lies have you told to get ahead?

Please share yours to get us further ahead.

www./article/20141126160950-10787216-the-lies-entrepreneurs-told-to-get-ahead?trk=tod-home-art-list-small_3

Tbliss12:
@Oga Chinox is there no any other way to ensure those goods move ooo because its getting too long oooo. Customers are racking voices oooo

No be small thing, this our country sef.

neupert:
You laptop keyboard is bad and needs total replacement without a new one. The laptop keyboard is not repairable so you have to replace with a brand new one and it costs 6k with the fixing.
How soon do you want to fix it.

Do I have to come to Ikeja, if yes then till weekend, Saturday precisely.

My keys are malfunctioning. sometimes key 9, down arrow key keeps entering and I can't use the system during this period. as a keyboard doctor, what could be the cause virus or the keyboard? Pls I need your opinion to make an informed decision.

system is HP Envy M6, Windows 8.1

gboss4sure:
Those same clearing agents are the ones that wil be shouting APC Change, Sai Buhai, Sai Atiu tomorrow and claim that PDP is corrupt while APC is the saint but look at the way they are rejecting reforms that will end corruption in declaring of goods. Hehehe. No one can stop corruption in Nigeria except Nigerians decide to end it themselves. Not PDp, Not APC, Not GEJ, Not Buhari. Corruption has eaten into the deep fabric of our society that almost on daily basis we breath in corruption whether we like or not.

You go to your LGA for a document, they ask for bribe, you go to the police to make a report, they ask for bribe, you go to register for your inec card, the corpers they asks for bribe, you go for a job interview and passes but they ask for bribe, in the civil service they will refuse to promote you unless de roger one oga at the top, u go dey on your own, MTN go subscribe you for callertunez wey u no request and charge you for it and upon that tell you Thanks. No aspect of this society is free of corruption. No one can make this country free of corruption except US but can we do that? Nope because we are too busy fighting igbo vs youroba, hausa vs ijaw, pdp vs apc.

If we have more people who will think like you do genuinely, our problems are already half solved.

rapcy:
Bros, this your phone no fit receive official Lollipop update... what you are using is a ROM called CYANOGEN MOD... it has a lot of features that has been removed so that your phone can work with the ROM... Your phone cant take the official lollipop update, it will be extremely slow or even crash self...

Pls read a lit next time before you post and don't post if you don't know what you're saying or ask questions. CM is as good and pure as Google Android vanilla. In fact, it is the best custom ROM as of today which should be called stock Android os because its identical with the Android OS Google releases to OEM. Samsung Touchwiz, HTC Sense, etc are all heavily modified except CM which is open to everyone. There's nothing in the official lollipop that's not in CM 12 since you can also flash Google GApps after flashing the ROM. Gapps is a suite of Google apps which are not part of the open source AOSP.

op, you didn't include the Google One smartphones Kaboon, Micromax etc

7 Poisonous Beliefs That Make You Desperately Unhappy

All of us, at least once in a while, are unhappy.

But what if you’re unhappy much of the time? In most cases the cause is not external. How happy you feel is in large part something you can control.

But not if…

1. You believe professional success will bring lasting fulfillment.

You can love your company but it will never love you back. (Cliché, sure, but true.) Another cliché, just as true: No person lying on his deathbed ever said, "I sure wish I had spent more time at work..."

Professional success, no matter how grand, is still fleeting.

Fulfillment comes from achieving something and knowing it will carry on: Raising great kids, being a part of a supportive extended family, knowing you have helped others and changed their lives for the better...

Work hard on business. Work just as hard on a few other things you can someday look back on with a different sense of pride.

Then you will to feel great both now and later.

2. You believe simply joining will create a sense of belonging.

Making connections with other people is easier than ever, and not just through social media. Joining alumni groups and professional organizations, wearing golf course polo shirts or college sweatshirts, putting a sticker with initials like “HH” on your car to announce to the world you summer at Hilton Head Island… many people try hard to show -- if only to themselves -- that they belong.

Most of those connections are superficial at best.

If your spouse passes away the alumni organization may send flowers. (Well, probably not.) If you lose your job a professional organization may send you a nifty guide to networking. (Well, probably not, but they will send you the invoice when it's time to renew your membership.) Anyone can buy, say, a University of VA sweatshirt. (It was on sale.)

The easier it is to join something the less it means to you. A true sense of belonging comes from giving, self-sacrifice, and effort.

To belong you must share a common experience — the tougher the experience, the better.

Clicking a link lets you join; staying up all night with a crew loading trailers to meet an urgent ship date lets you belong. Sending a donation gets your name in a program; working in an over-crowded soup kitchen (something, to my discredit, I've never done) lets you belong to a group of people striving to make a difference.

Pick a group you want to belong to and do the work necessary to earn respect and trust.

A true sense of belonging gives you confidence, especially during tough times, and provides a sense of security and well-being even when you're by yourself -- because when you truly belong, you never feel alone.

3. You believe you can do everything.

Our parents were well intentioned but wrong: We can’t be whatever we want to be. We can all achieve amazing things, but we can’t do everything we set our minds to. Genetics, disposition, and luck play a part too.

The key is to know yourself and then work to be the best you can be based on your unique set of advantages and limitations.

Here’s a non-business example. Say you decide you want to run a marathon. Fine -- with enough training almost anyone is capable. But say you're a guy who weighs a muscular 250 pounds and you want to finish in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes. That's just not going to happen; you’re not made that way and the attempt will leave you discouraged, defeated, and unhappy.

But with the right approach you could probably bench 350 pounds, something the whippet-thin marathon runners will never do.

What you achieve isn’t nearly as important as achieving something. Pick a goal you’re suited for and go after it.

Doing something -- doing anything -- that most other people cannot or will not do will make you prouder, more fulfilled, and a lot happier.

4. You’re afraid of who you really are.

None of us really likes how we look. So we try to hide who we really are with the right makeup and the right clothes and the occasional BMW.

In the right setting and the right lighting... hey, we’re happy.

But not at the gym. Or the beach. Or when we have to run to the grocery store but feel self-conscious because we’re wearing ratty jeans and an old t-shirt and we haven’t showered and we think everyone is staring at us.

So we spend considerable time each day avoiding any situation that makes us feel uncomfortable about how we look or act. And that makes us miserable.

In reality no one really cares how we look... except us. (And maybe our significant others, but they’ve already seen us at our worst so that particular Elvis has definitely left the building.)

So do this. UnCloth and stand in front of the mirror. (And don’t do the hip-turn shoulder-twist move to make your waist look slimmer and your shoulders broader.)

Take a good look. That’s who you are. Chances are you won't like what you see, but you'll probably also be surprised you don’t look as bad as you suspected.

Then, if you don’t like how you look, decide what you’re willing to do about it and start doing it. (Just don't ever compare yourself to other people; your only goal is to be a better version of the current you.)

Or, if you aren’t willing to do anything about how you look, that’s fine too. Move on. Let it go. Stop worrying about how you look. Stop wasting energy on something you don't care enough about to fix.

Either way, remember that while the only person who really cares how you look is you, many people care about the things you do.

Looking good is fun. Doing good makes you happy.

5. You have no one to call at 3 a.m.

Years ago I lived in a house beside a river. Flooding from a hurricane put my house in the river. I had about an hour to move as much as I could and I called my friend Doug; I knew he would come, no questions asked.

Today, aside from family, I’m not sure whom I would feel comfortable calling.

I know you have lots of friends… but how many people do you feel comfortable calling in the middle of the night if you need help? How many people can you tell almost anything… and you know they won’t laugh? How many people can you feel comfortable sitting with for a long time… without either of you speaking?

Most of us wear armor that protects us from insecurity. That armor also makes us lonely, and it’s impossible to be happy when you’re lonely.

Take off your armor and make some real friends. It’s easier than it sounds, because other people long to make real friends too. Don’t worry; they’ll like the real you. And you’ll like the real them.

And all of you will be much happier.

6. You believe structure is the same as control.

Most of what we do, especially professionally, is based on trying to maintain control: processes, guidelines, strategies… everything we plan and implement is designed to control the inherently uncontrollable and create a sense of security in a world filled with seemingly random occurrences. (Did I just get philosophical on you? Sorry.)

Eventually those efforts fall short, though, because structure never equals control. No matter how many guidelines we establish for ourselves, we often step outside them. (Otherwise we’d all be slim, trim, fit, and rich.) Budgets and diets and five-year plans fall apart and we get even more frustrated because we didn't achieve what we planned or hoped. To-do lists and comprehensive daily schedules are helpful, but you only make real progress towards a goal when it means something personal.

Decide what you really want to do and go after it. You'll feel a real sense of control because you really care.

And when you truly care -- about anything – you feel a lot happier.

7. You believe you no longer need to fail.

Most of us do everything we can to avoid failure. That's a natural instinct with an unnatural by-product: we start to lose the ability to question our decisions.

And we lose the ability to see ourselves from another person's point of view. The ability to work with and lead others is compromised when we lose perspective on what it's like to not have all the answers… and what it's like to make mistakes.

So go out and fail, but not in the way you might think. Forget platitudes like, "In business, if you aren't failing you aren't trying.” Business failures cost time and money that most of us don't have. (My guess is "Failure" doesn’t appear as a line item in your operating budget.)

Instead fail at something outside of work. Pick something simple that doesn't take long and set a reach goal you know you won't reach. If you normally run two miles, try to run five. If you play a sport, play against people a lot better than you. If you must choose a business task, cold call ten prospects.

Whatever you choose to do, give it your all. Leave no room for excuses. Make sure you can only be judged on your merits – and that you will be found wanting.

Why? Failure isn't defeating. Failure is motivating.

Plus failure provides a healthy dose of perspective, helps us be more tolerant and patient, and helps us remember that we're a lot like the people around us.

When you realize you aren't so different or "special" after all, it's a lot easier to be happy with the people around you -- and happy with yourself.

https://www./article/20141113134605-20017018-7-poisonous-beliefs-that-make-you-unhappy?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

Hi peeps,

Just to share this info with y'all. You can unlock most samsung android phones with region lock with this app developed by Chainfire. See link below. I just unlocked my ATT tab which I couldn't use in Nigeria.

Like my post but don't forget to donate to Chainfire using the links below.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2470551

http://www.chainfire.eu/

I'm surprised you didnt mention Google Play Services. So your list is just a scratch. Checkin service should be the number one and every o ther app with permission to keep phone awake. They make the phone not to sleep and so continue to suck the juice out of the battery

tumababa:
Did u read his question? He asked how is this different from nfc.
Is apple pay nfc? Or using nfc technology?

if you have a horse and call it a cow, it doesn't make it a cow, it's in fact a horse.