What legal ways exist for educated young people to earn dollars?

The passion, organization, versatility, and creativity of these Americans never cease to amaze me and I love them. From my days in sec. school when I read up decades old Byte magazines, to months old Inc. magazine and Entrepreneur mag I managed to get from vendors under the various bridges in Lagos, my desire has been to come up with ideas that will match and possibly beat those I read about.

I have not yet met my goals (don't worry, they aren't buy car, build house kind of goals) but I think it is time to begin to contribute to this nation. Times may be getting tougher, and a few hundred dollars here and there can make a difference to us guys when the going gets tough.

Before you read further, if you are in for a quick fix (instant noodles make money), I will advice you not to waste your time here with me, move on. I am not here for making money dreams only, but rather here to make meaningful contribution to people's futures.

I am not going to show a way of making money because ways die off. Rather I will show the thinking behind making money. Check out most of the major online earners and you will see they are not single-way people.

My today's Dollars and Nigerians post will therefore give you 5 magazines any young Nigerian interested in dollars must know.

1. Entrepreneur
2. Inc.
3. Opportunities
4. Fortune
5. PC Magazine

Why this "read a magazine" thing?
Because our mentality to business, our skills and knowledge, and our culture is a bit different. Any young Nigerian will benefit from the mind-expanding exposure these content offer.

Sorry if this post disappointed you, I will suggest you get over the net and spend your day surfing one of those magazines. You will come back raving and thanking me tomorrow. See you tomorrow by God's grace.

Best wishes*

Great topic. Following.

jamace:
Great topic. Following.

Thanks. Hope you find sometime today to check out any of those magazines online. Infact Inc. has some great videos and articles. Will be back with something more tomorrow.

nice one Cpriest. i love the way you churn out advice on that domain name business, i would love you to mentor me please.sorry for the derailing. following this with keen interest.

CPriest:


Thanks. Hope you find sometime today to check out any of those magazines online. Infact Inc. has some great videos and articles. Will be back with something more tomorrow.

Your idea(s) is your destiny.

I started these series by acknowledging the American creativity, business dexterity, and versatility. I went on to list five magazines every educated Nigerian youth must know and read.

You better follow this simple advice and get reading if you don't want to become an unemployment statistic or be made to sweep streets in the name of youth empowerment. Not that street sweeping is bad, but for young people in their bloom to spend their years streetsweeping when there are greater value they can add to their society is really painful.

Your idea(s) is your destiny. The power of ideas isn't strange to anyone who has a desire to make money for you will have heard about ideas ruling the world somepoint along your drive to self sufficiency.

But ideas are not enough

You can't survive on just an idea. The biblical story of creation reflects how ideas get actualized. The implementation of the idea is the key thing. Sometimes you even need several more ideas to get the main idea working.

Let's get practical now. Does anyone have an idea here? Am sure there are several. But then as many as those ideas are, there are equally many excuses why they haven't seen the day. Well, some of the excuses may be genuine, but then we are talking dollars here and not "why I can't make dollars". Therefore the real ideas are those that THE IDEA-OWNER CAN GET TO WORK ON.

Aside - Can you spot the business idea in this picture?

[img]Baxi.jpg[/img]
Coyright:Yourstory.com

Ok. I want to earn dollars, I need ideas that will fetch me dollars, and that idea must be workable and possible. What do I do if I don't have any idea?

In my opinion, ideas are not hard to come by. Good ideas though may be a bit harder to birth. How can you become an idea farmer? In my early days, I felt that money need not be begged for, you either steal it or make it. Shortly afterwards, I told my friends money need not be stolen, why? Because the richest thief in town isn't the richest person in town.

Life gravitated me towards books and resources such as Lee Harvey Day's Dynamic laws of success etc. Success Digest of those early years reviewed books and so I could get a precis of expensive books I otherwise wasn't able to afford. With time, as it is written that great minds think alike, I started thinking the way great minds thought. Ideas started flowing. I wasn't taking my ideas as being great ideas until I started seeing products that were based one exactly the same idea.

Let me give you an example. One day while idling about and observing a pile of my mothers shoes, it suddenly flashed in my mind that glass would be a nice material for a shoe sole. That was in primary four or so. Not too long aftwerwards, I saw heeled slippers with glass-like soles.

It seems as you give your interest and thinking to observing and considering productive enterprises, appreciating the thinking behind good products and services, your thinking is also elevated. When in situations where things could be done in a better way or when a solution is needed, your mind is then able to use prevous knowledge to come up with an alternative out - and that is what is called an idea. Now this is my own philosophy about a way to make people ideate. There are experts in that area and major thinkers too, but will you take kindly to my sending you to volumes of books to read before been able to come up with an idea? There simply is no time for that.

So the simple way to be able to generate good ideas as a young Nigerian is to soak yourself in finding out, and appreciating the great solutions others have created. Don't be one of those who want the latest smartphone and app but has never thought about what could be done to make that smartphone better; nor appreciated the thinking that went to making that particular smartphone.

Next: Always ask yourself - what is my idea today?

What is your idea today?

What is an idea? It is any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity. I have talked about the need to read magazines and listed some magazines that Nigerian youths need to know of and read. I have written about the need for ideas and how to become an idea farmer.

Needless to say that there are people who are farmers of bad ideas, ideas which damage the society and make other people live in misery. ideas that promote pain, and spread destruction, that reduces the value of human life and sometimes terminates the soul or physical body. We do not need such ideas. As you go on to the dollar trail, decide not to be a "bad idea" entrepreneur (drugs, prostitution, fraud, and other vicepreneurial activities).

As the day starts and goes by, use your mind to examine the events and situations around you. Do this as you read the stories and articles in the magazine. Is there anything that you can borrow? Is there anything that catch your interest? Is there anything you like in any of those stories?

Have an idea book. I have several. I am at a loss because I left some of mine some thousands of miles across the world. I simply hope and pray that I will be able to get them back. Write down your ideas or jot them down on your phone. Use Colornote. Use Evernote. Jot down your ideas as you sit alone, as you chat with friends, while in church ... Ideas come anywhere and anytime. Create a book for your ideas.

Those Americans rule the world because they know how to study their environment and provide what is missing or what will be loved, then they go all out and make it look like something God forgot to create, something God should have created. They are that pushful. That is what we need to do as young Nigerians.

What is my own idea today?
My idea is to help some young people make their first dollar online. I can't specifically remember where the first dollar I made online came from, pardon me. Some things just don't get space in my mind. But it was made either via Fiverr or via Godaddy domain sales. Although before that I had lost several opportunities.

Does anyone remember when there no Mastercards in Nigeria? When you could not even pay for domain names - not one single bank could help you? Those were the days of the lost opportunities. For all young people at this time, you have the greatest opportunities anyone has ever had in this nation. Quit your slumber and let's get on to work.

"Shap Shap" won't work

Earlier on I asked "What is your idea today?". I had an idea which I shared, an idea to help young people make their first legitimate dollar online. I have a rough sketch of how I might go on to run that. But in studying Nairalanders, I observe that a substantial segment are interested in an instant "grabbable" opportunity, a make money today sort of thing. That is fine, but we can not build a significant empire on such ideals.

That is why we all tend to do the same thing, and do it in the same way. We all blog often without a clear perspective of what we are set to do, and we all blog the same things. Such narrowness bars from reaping maximum benefits and values from endeavours.

Therefore I want to challenge anyone who is interested in dollars to desire NOT to follow the fold but to step up and use the same basic thing to do something different.

Best Wishes *

Watchout for R*** Hustling here on NL ...

following

Nice topic, following.

I planted yesterday ...

What you sow, you reap is one cliche almost every Nigerian know in one form or the other. But do we know that applies to business, dollar making and getting out of poverty?

Let me break it down.

You are sowing / have sowed by:

1. Coming online to research information about making things better for you
2. Choosing to read this piece
3. Taking the bits of action suggested such as reading business magazines
4. Focusing on the how of good products rather than amassing them alone
5. Opening up an ideas book
6. Conceiving an idea a day
7. Writing down your daily idea(s)
8. Following this thread


These seemingly little acts are the pillars on which your dollar making career will rest. For those who did even four of the eight things I listed am sure they will testify they are better for it, and that is on a short term. The longterm rewards are surely going to be more.

If you need any information as a result of reading this, you can ask. If it is within my means I will get it to you.

Best Wishes *

What to do when you have nothing to do (jobless) #1

In our Dollars and Nigerians series, I refrain from pushing out make money tips etc. The foundation of financial freedom is NOT in what to do (money making opportunities), but rather in what you know, your depth of knowledge, your interest (passion) in that industry, and your skills.

When you have nothing to do but have enough data in GBs, you should -

1. Be a Youtube learner. Quit visiting gossip vlogs. There is so much you can learn on Youtube than almost anywhere else in the world. You can learn anything. I learnt how to rig up solar power systems from Youtube and a few other details were picked from other sites. There are videos to learn programming, dancing, ....

2. Be a Youtube learner ....

3. Be a Youtube learner ....

That is one tip enough to spark something up in you. Think of any business or job title you love, head over to Youtube and find out all about it. You may end up having something to do after sometime.

Keenly following. Well done.

jamace:
Keenly following. Well done.

Thanks bro.
Best Wishes*

One of Nigeria's greatest shortcoming is extremely poor Human Capital. Do something to improve yourself today.

If you are following this thread I implore you to please read http://www.investopedia.com/articles/younginvestors/09/human-capital.asp

Best Wishes*

Helloflife:
Hi all,
make money online now by clicking on this link
http://getpaidpervisit.com/?rid=XXX182372

@Hellooflife, this is totally against what we are talking about here.

Instead of poor attempts like this, why not develop yourself (your Human Capital) and come up with profitable and valuable goods and services? If you want to affiliate, there are better ways of going about it than this. It doesn't cost anything to click report and have you booted, but I'll pass. Do something meaningful.

Best Wishes*

Decide.


... And God said "Let us ..."

Making money either online or offline will demand your decision. What decision? A decision to focus on entrepreneurship for instance rather than on paid employment. A decision for a particular business venture rather than the other. A choice for business or a choice to invest in the stock market, and such.

What should motivate your decision?

1. Your decision should be motivated by correct and sound information (research). Sometimes the information may come while reading casually, but I would rather have a decision that comes from a careful analysis of the facts from different angles.

2. Decision should be motivated by your dreams and your passion. I live my life in a way that I won't wake up in future with an "I wish I did that" feeling.

3. Your decision should be motivated by your personal traits and nature. Some call it personal strengths. Your decision should be along your personal strengths. If by a stroke of chance you find yourself doing something on a track that is not according to your strengths, then ensure you formally develop your abilities in that aspect.

What should NOT motivate your decision

1. Deciding to do because others have done or are doing
2. Deciding to do because it is touted as the "next big thing"
3. Deciding to do because you want more money

Best Wishes*