Christmas is here again and it is a season of sharing and giving of gifts to loved ones. But with the recent economic situation of the country many are in a fix as to what to give in order not to break the bank. I was also going through similar trauma recently. Here are the ways I fixed these issue

1. First off giving out money during the xmas season in Nigeria is usually more expensive and some people may feel slighted by the actual amount in the envelope; buy gifts instead. That way you get to save money and also avoid potentially offending friends and family members who may feel insulted by the amount in the envelope.
2. Determine the amount you want to spend on gifts during the yuletide. Ask yourself what you can afford to spend during this period?
3. Build your own hamper; buy the baskets and fill them with gifts of your choice
4. Make a list of all the people whom you intend giving gifts to, I always prefer to use a spreadsheet to do this.
5. Rank them in the order of priority
6.If the people in your list have children consider buying gifts for their children; saw this great NuNu hamper for your kids, it’s just for a thousand naira.
7. Speak to someone else for more idea; fortunately for me, I had a great colleague of mine who is like a mother figure and I shared my challenges with her. As with any other issues, sharing them with someone gives you another perspective that may be helpful in solving the problem, in this case she was more than helpful, and her insights informed this post.
8. Don’t forget to add a Christmas card.
9….Add yours

http://lightednation.com/2015/12/guide-to-gift-giving-for-the-xmas-season-in-nigeria/

1. Dasuki is unofficially the cheerfulest giver in Nigeria today.
2. George Washington grew marijuana in his garden. Boss!
3. As of September 2015 Gmail, Google, Facebook, Youtube, Skype, Intagram and Twitter are all banned in China while Pirate bay is allowed. Speechless!
4. Still on, China has more English speakers than the United States.
5. Banging your head against a wall burns 150 calories an hour.
6. If you consistently fart for 6 years & 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb!
7. A small child could swim through the veins of a blue whale.
8. Hewlett-Packard’s name was decided in a coin toss.
9. Pirates wore earrings because they believed it improved their eyesight.
10. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
11. Dr. Kellogg introduced Kellogg Corn Flakes in hopes that it would reduce masturbation.
12. The Bible is the most shoplifted book in the world.
13. Squirrels forget where they hide about half of their nuts.
14. Birds don’t urinate but converts nitrogen to uric acid instead and all wastes leaves through the anus
15. Paraskavedekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th!
16. Upon losing battles, apes will tend to masturbate
17. Worms eat their own poo.
18. Dying is illegal in the Houses of Parliaments
19. During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools.
20. Cockroaches can live for several days after they have been decapitated
21. A 2014 study at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India found that roses grew faster when exposed to Indian classical music than western rock music or silence.
22. Over 1000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.
23. George W. Bush was once a cheerleader.
24. In 1998, Sony accidentally sold 700,000 camcorders that had the technology to see through people’s clothes.
25. The average person walks the equivalent of twice around the world in a lifetime.
26. Panphobia is the fear of everything
27. Honey is the only food that does not spoil.
28. Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.
29. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
30. Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.
31. You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath
32. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
33. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times
34. In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child
35. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
36. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.
37. Most lipstick contains fish scales.
Still More…
38. Gorillas sleep as much as fourteen hours per day.
39. Hyphephilia are people who get aroused by touching fabrics.
40. Cherophobia is the fear of fun.
41. It’s against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.
42. Human birth control pills work on gorillas.
43. If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
44. A pig’s orgasm lasts 30 minutes
45. In France, it is legal to marry a dead person
46. The average person has about 10,000 taste buds and they’re replaced every 2 weeks or so.
47. Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
48. In the UK, it is illegal to eat mince pies on Christmas Day!
49. The average woman uses her height in lipstick every 5 years.
50. Add yours to make up these 50 random funny facts..

http://lightednation.com/2015/12/19223/

The National Bureau of Statistics just published the quarterly report on jobs created in Nigeria for the third quarter.
According to the reports the economy created a total of 428,690 jobs, 333,812 more than that created in the second quarter of the year. Please see quarter two infographic here for Jobs created in Nigeria for quarter two.

Highlights

1. The informal sector accounted for 90 percent of jobs created in Nigeria for the third quarter
2. Most of the jobs created in the informal sector were created in the rural areas as the third quarter coincides with the planting season
3. Employment generation in the Formal sector dropped when compared with the previous quarter.
4. Education has continued to be the key driver of jobs in the formal sector for these and the past two quarters in Nigeria

Judging by the foregoing, there is need for the creation of more jobs in the economy. Imagine if one out of every five university graduate creates not a hundred jobs, or even ten jobs but just one job? He/she would have contributed to making the economy better and also increase the chance of others having jobs.
So what are you doing today to create job opportunities for others?
Share and inspire others.


http://lightednation.com/2015/12/18517/

Searching for jobs today both for the employed and unemployed, is fraught with frustration. Because of the proliferation of the internet many depend on job boards for information on job openings. They periodically visit these sites for new openings. But you often have to sieve out jobs and companies you are not interested in. Along the way it is possible to miss jobs that ordinarily you would have applied for, if only you knew when it was posted online and could also find them online with your traditional routes. I can’t tell you how many times, friends have told me that they weren’t aware of opening weeks after the jobs were posted online. But to search jobs like a pro, you need more than that. And this is why Google Alert is one great weapon you could have in your arsenal when you go job hunting. Because instead of always searching for jobs online, you have Google automate it for you in such a way that you no longer miss out on anything. This is a tool that many aren’t using to its full potential. Google alerts really comes in handy if you want to search jobs like a pro. Here is how it looks like.

Customizing your job search just got easier with google Alert. The service has been around for some time now. Used mostly to keep track of events and monitor trends. It can also be applied in the area of job search. In this form of its application, you tell it to monitor and report straight to your email on any company of your choice and for a specified position whenever there is an opening.
The application of Google alert is not limited to job search optimisation, you can use it for a myriad ways; to monitor competition, to monitor your favorate football team, to get news flash. Etc.

http://lightednation.com/2015/12/job-search-like-a-pro/

There is so much hype these days about making money online in Nigeria and yet for some of us it is still an illusion. Nigerian internet gurus constantly inundate us with e-books and videos on making money online in Nigeria. And of course there is always a proof of their earnings to persuade us to part with our hard earned cash in the quest for easy internet wealth. I have bought such e-books with hopes of great ROI which were at best copy and paste materials with no credibility and they never earned me a kobo. Trust me most of those internet gurus don’t know jack about making money online; they are only touts reselling other people’s content. Making money online while possible isn’t as easy as these gurus make it sound. It takes effort, passion and the right information.

What then are the essential ingredients for making money online in Nigeria
1. Patience; don’t expect to start making money right off the bat. It often takes months if your game is very tight and maybe years. Linda Ikeji didn’t become big in 2015, she been laying the foundation to her banana island mansion since November 2006 when she hit send for first post.

2. Great writing skills; if you are ever going to make money from freelancing you need to be able to write well. While not so too hard a skill to develop, but really helps if you are a natural and well versed in your area of interest. One thing about writing well is knowing a little of almost everything and knowing so much about one area; your area of expertise. That way your writing becomes more balanced

3. Understand the needs of your customers/audience. If you start out with placing making money first, you may miss it all completely. The needs of your customers should come first, before monetisation. Don’t gamble on this. Seek first the needs and wants of the customers, then every other things follows.

4. Think like your audience/customer. Putting your customers/audience first also means thinking like they think. Think where they want to go and be there first.

5. It may take money (but not money that will break your account) to make money online; money doesn’t just pulp out online, it often comes as a result of concerted efforts towards offering a product or a service on a credible platform. While you may be able to register at a platform like freelancer.com and write for people for a commission, to be able to make serious money, you need a platform; more on that later.

6. Understanding SEO; you may have the best products or services but without good SEO for them, they are as good as crap. Understanding the specific keywords your audience or customers will search for will enable them find you easily when they search? Take for instance this post’s keyword is making money online in Nigeria in 2015. This will increase my discoverability unlike if I used making money online in 2015. That would mean pitching me against thousands of other posts with similar keywords. However SEO is much more than keywords and meta-descriptions.

Ways to make money online
Disclaimer; this is in no way an exhaustive list; it is at best the few ways I have experimented with and have seen others use to success.

# Blogging; blogging isn’t dead. It is one of the most common ways of making money online in Nigeria. While it may be really difficult to make as much as Linda ikeji without making a substantial investment (she is greatly helped by first mover advantage and momentum she had built up for close to a decade now). You too can make money through blogging. However it requires a lot of effort especially when your budget isn’t that big to hire people to do your contents and also do aggressive marketing.
But like I earlier mentioned, you need to start from the stand point of filling a need instead of hoping that blogging will give you money instantly. Some of the mistakes folks make is trying to make money when their blogs have not gotten to the maturity stage where it can make real money.

Few things that could help you in making money online in Nigeria through blogging
1. Be Original; you can easily be found out if you are a fraud. I see a lot of bloggers who all they do is copy and paste stuffs. While they may succeed in making money in the short run, they are only destroying their credibility in the long term. These people don’t last long in the game.
2. Be Consistent; You can’t get no where without consistency. Consistency builds momentum.
3. Be engaging; your blog need to be engaging to your audience.
4. Blog about what you know and have an interest in; so that you it can be sustainable.

# Youtubing; $7 for every 1000 views! Ever wondered if people and how people make money from YouTube? Well there you have it. For every 1000 views, you get paid 7 dollars. So put that skill to use and start making money through Youtube

# Selling your products or services; you can sell your products or services online. If you just finished secondary school for instance and you are really into tutoring people on how to pass WAEC. You can get a site or even a facebook page to promote your skills. Trust me you can make so much money from offering your service to people who needs it. I know how much my boss spends on a monthly basis for the home tuition of two of her children. An online presence could really help you in this regard to sell your service to a wider audience. Are you very good in digital marketing; you can start a blog to promote your craft. I see guys earning hundreds of thousands running Facebook fan pages for companies.

# Freelancing; while I don’t do freelancing, I know folks who make money doing stuffs online for other people. Here are two great freelancing platforms; Freelancer, The Penny Hoarder, Listverse

# Affiliate marketing; this is as a stream of making online in Nigeria works by you earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others, and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make. The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you could do it without having a site; creating a facebook fan page may just be your platform. There lots of great networks online; you can find some here http://mthink.com/top-20-affiliate-networks-2015/.

But before jumping in here are some few more things to consider
To make serious money online you need to gather your factors of production; well more like the all things you would need. I decided to use this approach because even a secondary school student knows what the factors of production are and as such its easier to use it to describe the process.

So here are the factors of production to define in order to make real money online
a. Land; this represents your platform, you can choose to squat for free or pay rent. But don’t forget that as a squatter your rights are limited unlike someone who pays rent. Your platforms include your webhost, social media.
b. Labour; your labour is the manpower and man hours that your business requires. You can choose to outsource or pay people to handle key areas of your online business/ presence.
c. Capital; this is another key input in the process. To rent your platform you need capital, to outsource labour you need capital. Capital in this case, is the money you are required to invest in order to make money.
d. The entrepreneur; you. You give the dream life. You pull the strings; the ability to make money online depends largely on you.

These are my two cents on making money online in Nigeria, and like I said its by no means exhaustive, please share, comment so as to help folks who are seriously considering making money online in Nigeria

http://lightednation.com/2015/12/17549/

Just recently we did a post on the top 10 most watched Youtube videos ever; http://lightednation.com/2015/11/10-most-watched-youtube-videos-ever/. It got so much mentions on social media that people started asking for the 10 most watched Youtube Nigerian music videos. We came across a similar article by Techcabal published on 30th June 2015; The Most Viewed Nigerian Music Videos On YouTube. However because of the nature of this kind of article, the rankings have changed since then. There is a high chance therefore that it may likely have changed if are you are reading these few months after we published.
Youtube need no introduction; in fact it is one of the most visited sites in the world today.

So without further ado these are

The 10 most-watched Youtube Nigerian music videos ever. as pulled by www.lightednation.com as at 25th November 2015.
These numbers will most definitely change tomorrow, but the rankings may not change that much for at least some couple of months.

#10;P Square - Taste the Money With 17,566,511 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFBZkWA4dTE

#9; PSquare - Shekini With 24,024,543 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCcuzqRRTHQ

#8; P-Square ft. Rick Ross - Beautiful Onyinye 24,560,50 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY2H2ZP56K4

#7; Davido - Aye With 27,461,888 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ-_HIoEBE8

#6;P-Square Ft. Akon, May D - Chop My Money With 27,692,423 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17vC8qZILJE

#5;Parodie: Shekini, P square With 29,515,162 views
Ok, so when did Parodie become P-square? Well, we included them because they have made a parody of P-square's Shekini, which by way used to be the 8th most watched Nigerian music video on Youtube as at 30th June 2015. It is now the 9th video in this list. Isn't it remarkable that a parody is getting more hits than the orginal video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n5uhr85Zmo

#4;Yemi Alade – Johnny With 31,731,398 views
This hit has moved two places from its previous position as 6th most-watched Youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_XkTKoDI18

#3; D'Banj - Oliver Twist With 36,066,049 views
D'Banj's Oliver Twist marginally lost its position as the second most-matched Youtube Nigerian music video from June 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQP-etYU1ps

#2; Bum Bum Remix -Timaya Ft. Sean Paul with 36,340,079 views
Only recently in June 2015, this video was fourth on the list of the most watched Youtube Nigerian music videos published by Techcabal, but today it has moved up to become the most watched music video in Nigeria second only to P-sauare's personally

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4tWUJKiT1M

#1; Psquare; Personally With 55,898,354 views
And now the undisputed Kings; P-square with Personally. They have been holding down the number one stop with Personally for quite some time now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttdU19Kwce8

For more stuffs like this; visit www.lightednation.com

jaymejate:
Naija video no de there na, na xo their video bad?
Post most watched video on naijaloaded na

Heard! Working on that mate; trying to develop a query to help me filter that.

You could however check out other interesting stuffs on

www.lightednation.com

Youtube was launched in April 2005; today over 3.25 billion hours of video is watched every month on this platform. This makes it the largest and, most popular online video platform in the world.
Over 300 hours of footage are uploaded every minute. The 10 most watched Youtube videos are funnily music videos; this is no surprise as music has universal acceptance. Think back to a time you heard a song on the radio that you couldn’t even hear a word of the lyrics, yet you found yourself listening and enjoying it. Little wonder Victor Hugo was quoted to have said that “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”. But this post even though it comprises only music videos isn’t about music but the 10 most watched Youtube videos today.
So here they are;

The ten most watched Youtube videos ever and as at 24th November 2015.
These numbers will most definitely change tomorrow, but the rankings may not change that much for at least some couple of months.
http://lightednation.com/2015/11/10-most-watched-youtube-videos-ever/

1.PSY – GANGNAM STYLE With 2,457,208,283 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

2. Taylor Swift – Blank Space with 1,300,931,063 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg


3.Justin Bieber – Baby ft Ludacris with 1,241,727,484 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kffacxfA7G4


4. Katy Perry – Dark Horses ft Juicy J with 1,182,304,702 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KSOMA3QBU0


5. Wiz Khalifa - See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack With 1,181,879,391 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk

6. Taylor Swift - Shake It Off with 1,170,127,517 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM

7. Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk ft. Bruno Mars with 1,169,658,991 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0


8. Enrique Iglesias - Bailando (Español) ft. Descemer Bueno, Gente De Zona With 1,160,285,667 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUsoVlDFqZg


9. Katy Perry - Roar (Official) with 1,149,959,824 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CevxZvSJLk8


10. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass with 1,124,236,901 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk

As you go forth today, don’t fret when the unexpected happens it may just be the platform for your promotion to higher glories. You need to be aware that life may sometimes throw some unexpected gifts wrapped in unwanted packages your way. You need to grab them.

Take the case of Kevin Antoine Dodson who was interviewed by a reporter after an intruder attempted to rape his sister in her second-story bedroom, in Huntsville’s Lincoln Park housing projects. This interview became his unexpected gift as it then became an internet sensation. Kevin rode on that to become an internet celebrity appearing on even Opray’s show. His words have even been turned into a rap song, he also has a T-shirt line.
[url=
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzNhaLUT520#t=112][/url]
The next time you’re faced with something that’s unexpected, unwanted and uncertain, consider that it may just be a gift.

Remember someone else may need this; share and comment to get our nation lighted.

http://lightednation.com/2015/11/16127/

[img]http://lightednation.com/2015/11/where-have-the-customers-gone-online/[/img]

The one constant thing I grew up knowing was change. I have seen change unfold in many ways and dimensions right before my eyes. Notable is the proliferation of the internet. Growing up, the internet was a big deal, we had to pay to browse in cyber-cafes. I even paid to get my very first email address in 2003. Few years later, 83 million Nigerians (roughly one in two Nigerians) have access to the internet (source; Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) May 2015). This number is growing at a rate that I would never have imagined when I paid the café attendant 100 naira to help me open a yahoo email account.

Right from the advent of time, change has been the constant thing that has been happening to almost everything. Campaigns have been built on that word, smart businesses have excelled by it. Animals that failed to adopt to it have all gone extinct; and am not talking about dinosaurs and its likes, take for instance the West African Black Rhinoceros. Even Cyber-cafes have also been hit by the waves of change as they don’t make as much money as they used to make back in the day.

And most recently customers are migrating too; to greener pastures dished out by the internet. The internet is changing the way the customers shop and relate to brands. Customers can now use the internet to compare prices, get better deals and even make purchases. Businesses are beginning to realise that it aren’t business as usual. Just the other day Chief Dele Momodu; Ovation boss launched an online magazine, perhaps because readership of hardcopy magazine is greatly reducing. Other smart publishers have also moved online, in fact at the time of writing this post vanguard’s website is currently ranked 16th in Nigeria. NY Times is also ranked among the top 100 sites in the world by Alexa

Hence in order not to go extinct, businesses need to review the way and manner they do business. Businesses need to be fully committed to building their online presence

What are the benefits of building an online presence for your business?
It doesn’t matter if all you do is buy and sell ladies wears, or you a service oriented business owner. Taking your business online can help propel your business to greater heights; where the customers are. The benefits includes the following

1. Wider reach; you are no longer limited by a physical location, you can reach anyone in any part of the world. Your products and services are only a click away from prospective customers.
2. Your business never sleeps; when your business’s online presence is well managed, you may sleep but your business never blinks an eye.
3. Lower marketing costs; the burgeoning of social media platforms have made it really easy to drive awareness of your products and services to your target audience at a far lower cost than the traditional marketing channels. Town criers have today been replaced by live tweets. The latter is more effective and cheaper than the former
4. You are taken seriously! It’s much easier to convince someone to look up your site to see your services than have them read through your marketing leaflet. Have you noticed how impressed you were with someone you met at a wedding who during the course of your interaction points you to his/her site to learn more about what they do? Imagine meeting two event planners at an occasion, one gives you a business card with a website underneath the business name and the other gives you her card without any website. Chances are that you are more likely to take the former more seriously than the latter.
5. Other opportunities opens up; who knows you may become an expert on moving businesses online after you have moved yours. So you start helping others move there’s too.

Steps to building an online presence for your business
Now that you know the benefits of having your business online, how do you take it there when you don’t have any sort of experience in building a website or in online marketing.

1. Understand the kind of online presence that your business needs
It is really important to understand how to optimise the online experience. Before creating a website, you need to understand the kind of website that would suit your business best. Does it need an e-commerce functionality? Will be a magazine styled website? Are you looking to create a forum for your customers to connect? Or is just an informational site about your business? Do you hope to blog about your business to your prospective customers? These and many more questions will drive the discussion on the kind of website you need to be building. Well, you don’t necessarily have to build it yourself, it can always be outsourced to people who know how, but you must be actively involved in the process of its development.

2. Get a domain name for your business;
Since it’s for business, I believe you would want to invest in a domain name online and not tow the free route; where your business’s website domain name will be of this sort; yourbusinessname.yourawoofgiver.com. You don’t want this, besides awoof has not stopped running belle. Domain names are quite cheap, you can even get some for as low as three hundred naira. Enough said. So get a domain name that mirrors your business name. There are several platforms that offers you this choice

3. Get a good host for your website;
A host is a server that houses your site and keeps it running around the clock, so that while you sleep someone in another part of the world can walk into your outlet in Ojuelegba and place an order for those beautifully crafted beads on your shelf.

4. Launch with a bang!
You need to generate so much buzz so that when you eventually launch your site, you are revved up and rather to go. You cannot afford to go slow here, it’s true that you may get there eventually but creating a lot of anticipation will help propel your products when you go live faster. A lot of people wake up and just open up sites without promoting them or even knowing how to promote them. This leads me to the next point.

5. Understand and use Search Engine Optimisations (SEOs).
The internet is a sea of data. There are over 180 million domain names on the internet, so how do you make your website or blog visible to you target audience whenever they do a search? This becomes a big challenge for prospective business owners because you need to be able to persuade the search engines like Google to put point to your site, when someone looks for your products or services. Say you are an event manger that specializes in planning weddings on a budget, how do you position yourself so that when someone in anywhere in the world types ‘how to plan for a wedding with 500 thousand naira in Lagos’, the search engines point to your site/blog? SEOs is a large topic on its own. They will be discussed in further posts

6. Have a Facebook page; a lot of posts have been written on email marketing. People have also written lots of books on how to grow your email list, but I think growing your Facebook business page is equally important if not more. Why is this? You can get friends to get their friends to like your page. When they do, each time you make a post on your page, it is displayed on their timelines. Currently kaymu and GTB have over 9 million likes between them on Facebook. To get more contents like this; like our Facebook page; www.facebook.com/lightednation. It converts.

7. Don’t buy followers on Social media to look important;
It’s pointless. How do you measure the effectiveness of your brand when your brand is been followed by a lot of fake people? It kills your brand, because you would probably not be doing enough work trying to reach the right people. Don’t do it, you could also be discovered and called a fraud. If you spew out great content, make great products and service; aided by effective marketing strategies, your twitter followers will grow.

8. Don’t attempt to do everything;
Outsource things outside your expertise and which requires expertise skills! It isn’t always as expensive as you think. Besides why waste precious time that could have been put to good use in making your products or service learning Adobe illustrator so that you can design the logo of your business? Outsourcing had its pros and cons, yet to survive and thrive in the period and time it is stupid thinking you can do everything by yourself. Smart companies hire professional in areas their staff capability don’t cover.

9. Review your performance; this is when you know what worked or what didn’t.

10. Our FREE course on taking your business online will be coming out soon; visit lightednation.com to sign up to get notified or simply like our page on www.facebook/lightednation.


http://lightednation.com/2015/11/where-have-the-customers-gone-online/

Here is another reason to start using infolinks

You get paid 10% of the revenue of any blogger you refer to infolinks for a period of one year.
And here is the catch; there is no limit to the number of people you can refer.
Ok so imagine referring someone like Linda Ikeji?

What are you waiting for?

Start monetizing your blog today, click this link to get started http://www.infolinks.com/join-us?aid=2551848 today

Is there any Nairalander using Infolinks? Tell us your experience.

Ever been frustrated by adsense rejecting your application?

Adsense is one of the most popular and the best platforms that bloggers use to make money. However Adsense approval process is usually not beans. For newbie bloggers who want to monetise their sites nothing is more frustrating than being turned down by adsense. Many quit blogging completely after being rejected. You often need to have a lot of quality contents, some say up to 30 quality write-ups; Google is yet to call a number to get approved.

But this post isn’t about Google adsense. This post is about one of the best google adsense alternatives; Infolinks.
Infolinks is one of the most reputed and best In-text Ad network for Bloggers. They pay in time and revenue through them is much better than closer competitors. And the wonderful thing is that it can be easily integrated with any other monetisation platforms, even Adsense.
You can set up your infolinks account in less than 2 minutes, it’s that easy. Infolinks automatically start showing ads on your blog, and you will start making money right away. I have seen a lot of bloggers in Nigeria who could increase their earning by using infolinks. I sometimes imagine how much more people like Linda Ikeji would make if they have an infolinks account.

Infolinks minimum payout is $50, and payment methods include PayPal.

Click here to get started today. http://www.infolinks.com/join-us?aid=2551848

www.lightednation.com

1. Making the most of time value of money: 10 naira today is worth more than 10 naira tomorrow. So money not invested loses its purchasing power with the passage of time. This is one of the smartest financial moves you should be making today.
There are several options available when investing in Nigeria; Treasury bills, mutual funds and even fixed-depositing your money. Just make sure your money is working at preserving its purchasing power.

2. Keep a budget, stick to it and review the document regularly. Here is a lazy man’s guide to budgeting.

3. Using compound interest to your benefit Albert Einstein called it “the greatest mathematical discovery of all time”. Compounding will make a lot of difference to the returns on your investment over time. Compounding works by re-investing your earnings on any investment. The more time you give the interest earned on your initial investment, the more opportunity it has to earn more.

4. Set aside at least 2 months of your salary as an emergency fund. This comes in handy when an unexpected and necessary expenditure that you have not budgeted for props up. You are prepared. Your car may need some serious repair.

5. Work at reducing your debt. Make a list of your debts today, and work out systematic ways of reducing them. Start by paying off the high interest debts

6. Start investing in real estate.

7. You never go wrong with insurance. This is simply a way of managing risk by transferring the potential loss to an insurance company for a fee; premium. Insurance come in different forms and for different purposes.

8. Find ways of earning more. Develop yourself. Read books, attend seminars, surf the net. Never stop looking for some ways to make more money. You could also start a side gig with a skill that you have.

9. Saying no: am not against helping others, but I have sometimes done that without considering my own needs, only to rue that decision later on. So always make sure you are covered before doling out that cash to someone. And that’s where budgets come in handy. Update and always stick to your budget.

10. Take a course on managing your finance online; FOR FREE try cousera.org, lynda.com

http://lightednation.com/2015/11/10-smartest-financial-moves-you-should-be-making/

Babe2sure:
Nice one, OP.
You know what, mere seeing the topic, I had it in mine to type ""afterall some people are polymath" only to see it used in the "body" of the write-up.

Anyways, we should always strive to be the best we can be. No knowledge is lost.

It is not a straight line stuff, though, because there are some areas that being a specialist is required. One may not achieve that by trying to be a 'jack of all trade" it might lead to "master of none" and messing things up. But trying to learn at least a little in every area doesn't hurt.

Spot on!

The expert knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing.
― Unknown

People have been made to believe the saying ‘Jack of all trades; master of none’ to be true. So when someone decides to do many things he is confused and not focused. We are told not to dissipate our energies but rather channel them to a single pursuit. To specialize and not seek to be generalists. However being a jack-of-all-trades does not mean one cannot master at least one or more of the trades. We can achieve anything we set our minds to. We are only being duped into believing we can only excel at one thing.

There are those who seem to defer this logic that one cant be good at too many things; these people are known as Polymaths, Da Vinci, Tim Ferris, Richard Branson and Jamie Foxx are perfect examples. The idea of the polymath was expressed by Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472), in the statement that “a man can do all things if he will.


These polymaths just seem to be good at almost everything they do. I remember a friend in secondary school, he was like a legend. He excelled at almost everything. He was a jack of all trades and master of most; very fast on his feet, very good academically, very athletic, cocky, and also a greet leader.

Here are reasons why you should aspire to be a jack of all trade kind of person

1. Life is fun, and being good at several things enriches the experience. I believe people should strive for so much out of life; given that they may not be master in everything. But the more you learn about other stuffs, the more fun you get out of life and the more you want to learn. For young people it’s also important to throw a lot of mud on the wall and see what sticks.


As an individual, I want to live life to the fullest I don’t want to experience only one thing. Am a financial analyst and a personal development blogger. Am also a pencil artist (the image above is one of my pencil works) and i do it for fun, i also read a lot; fiction and non-fiction. I had also unsuccessfully tried to be a musician in the past. I don’t live for one thing alone; I live for all that life gives

2. Openness to new experiences leads to Limitless possibilities; Focusing on a single area of life will cut off opportunities for growth and also innovation. Creativity requires threading on paths that no one had trodden before or doing something that has not been done before. If you are not willing to do something new, then it’s hard to be creative. Patterns criss-cross in life as most things are related in ways you would never imagine. Take for instance the Post-it note which is a small piece of paper with a strip of low-tack adhesive on the back that allows it to be temporarily attached to documents, refrigerators, walls and just about anything else. The idea for the Post-it note was conceived in 1974 by Arthur Fry while working for 3M as a way of holding bookmarks in his hymnal while singing in the church choir. Creativity often requires drawing analogies between one body of knowledge and another.

3. You can survive anywhere. People who are specialists serve a specific purpose within their organisation, economy, ecosystem and are very adept at them. However, should those conditions change— as they always do, specialist often struggle to cope. Unlike the Jack-of-all-trades who are well-rounded. A well-known example of a specialist animal is the koala, which lives almost entirely on eucalyptus leaves, warm climates and on trees. Deny it any of the three and struggles to survive. The raccoon is a generalist because as an omnivorous it feeds on berries, insects, eggs and small animals. This gives it the ability to survive almost anywhere.
Are you a Koala or Raccoon?

4. You become a Star in your organisation. In a world bursting with knowledge, Generalists keep things interesting – they’re often whom colleagues and clients relate with best, most times than not, they are the glue that holds teams together. Breadth of perspective trumps depth of knowledge today.

5. You become a better predictor of the future. Professor Phillip Tetlock conducted a 20+ year study of 284 professional forecasters. He asked them to predict the probability of various occurrences both within and outside of their areas of expertise. Analysis of the 80,000+ forecasts found that experts are less accurate predictors than non-experts in their area of expertise.

http://lightednation.com/2015/04/why-being-a-jack-of-all-trades-isnt-as-bad-as-you-think/

amicable09:
Alright Stanodi, I just sent my application to a start up company because I'm very curious about the services being offered there. So, hopefully I will have you to thank after I've been contacted.

Great! Happy to hear that. I once worked at a start-up myself right after service in 2012 for 4 months.They were paying like 40k per month. Left after i got my big break with a multinational.

here a couple of things i learnt working there

a. how to sale; had people who patronized the business because of the way i attended to them (i wasnt employed as a sales man), some still keep in touch till today
b. how to be responsible for my actions; my actions and in-actions had an almost immediate impact on the business.
c. that business is where i want to be; working for someone can be b*t*h. Even though it is important business people always learn the ropes before venturing out.
d. you are your product most times; my bosses then always looked the part.
e. Respect for entrepreneurs; the risks are often so high.
ETC ETC.

Trust me the time is always worth it in the end

amicable09:
You have indeed made sense OP - the pros and cons well highlighted! very good, I like such stuff. Now, Off I go to make a decision....

That's the idea!!!

It is quite an unfair duel between start-ups and established companies when it comes to people making career choices. Most people are skewed towards the stability that an established organisation offers. Driven by the hype of the corporate world and big company bragging rights, they jump into the corporate bandwagon without weighing the pros and cons of the two divides. It is important to have an open mind when making career choices; things are not always as they seem.
A friend who works with a multi-national was only recently invited for an interview with a leading e-commerce start-up in Nigeria. He told me he wouldn’t go because it wasn’t a BIG company. I tried to sell him the merits of going; he simply wasn’t down for it. And that is the mentality of most of us.

Here are some things to consider when deciding if you want work in a start-up

The Pros

1. Valuable experience for wannabe business people; Trust me the guys behind start-ups are really smart people. These guys are constantly staring at the face of failure every other day, so wannabe entrepreneurs could really learn the ropes from them before they venture out.
2. Ability to work in different roles. You will get to wear different caps. For instance there is often little or no demarcation between sales and marketing here. Also the finance person may handle tax, payroll, credit control, reporting, etc; roles that are often separated in large corporate bodies.
3. Less bureaucratic; decisions are made instantaneously as there are no layers of authorizations that they would have to go through. And this is one of the reasons why large companies don’t react fast enough to changes in the market place.
4. Chance to be a part of something revolutionary; large corporations today were once start-ups. Working for a start-up may give you an opportunity to be a part of the success story of the start-up when it grows to become a corporation. When this happens you may also get a very good designation and reputation at the organization.
5. May teach you to be a better manager of your resources; start-ups are often frugal. Every kobo counts. Unlike in large organisation where managers have large budgets to spend, most start-ups operate on a shoe-string budget.

The Cons
1. Lower pay and lower employee benefits: on the average, you would earn more working for a corporate organisation than a start-up.
2. Pressure; With more responsibility also comes more pressure tight deadlines. Bosses don’t smile when you fail to deliver. You are constantly under the pressure to deliver.
3. Low Job Security; Start-ups operate in a volatile environment with far lesser job security compared to the established business: Because they move at a relentless pace, they are quick to hire and also quick to fire sometimes without any lay-off benefits. They also have a higher chance of failing compared to the large corporations.
4. Work-life imbalance; because most don’t have clear structures, you may find yourself working long hours and juggling different things at the same time.

http://lightednation.com/2015/10/5-reasons-why-should-work-for-a-start-up/

yomi007k:
Nice one bro.

I have been keeping personal budgets since 2011 and always reviewed them as time n circustances change.


I can tell u this is one of the best things that happened to me.

It showed me my strengths n weaknesses and made me understand why a lot of people get into trouble.

I have tried helping ppl to have one but dey don't just care. Well,dts dir problem.

#shalom

I agree with you that a lot of people think its a waste of time. But IMO the benefits far outweigh the cost

I hate to bore you with this budgeting thing. But come closer, haven’t we been told we need to keep a budget to keep track of our expenses and control them? Well, because what we don’t control, kinda control us. Okay, haven’t we tried in the past to formulate one and didn’t even know how or where to start or how to sustain the momentum when we finally started? True, maybe we budgeted the hard way. Huh? Seriously?

For the past three years, I have been exposed to budgets more frequently than I have had to polish my shoes; the very uninteresting part of my finance life. I have made friends and foes alike because of budgets. Yet this brother had never succeeded in preparing a personal budget for himself; it’s too boring an exercise. That was the case until only recently; when financial circumstances forced me to start rethinking the no budgetary approach.

What budget isn’t or won’t do?
1. Budgeting won’t make you a better money manager
Well, budgets won’t make you a better money manager overnight, though it can aid the process. Some prepare budgets and never follow them or even review them, what’s the point? Your budget is supposed to guide you to your financial destination, but whether you get there is entirely up to oga financial manager.
Only you, my friend can make you a better money manager.
2. Budgets wont review themselves;
You are the CFO of your life; unless you can afford a finance professional, then don’t hesitate to contact me, I will be your personal CFO. But until then, you run the shows. And that means reviewing your budgets from time to time. How do know if the budgetary process has been worth the fun? Enough said!
3. Budgets are not cast in stone
That’s the essence of any review. Circumstances change; you may start making more money or God may just bless you and your family with triplets.

What then is a budget and how is it supposed to help?
Read what budget isn’t or won’t do again.

Okay so a budget is simply an estimation of your revenue and expenses over a specified future period of time.

Further thoughts…Kinds of budgets
There are two different forms of budgets that I have used to manage Me inc in the past, which you oga CFO can use to manage yours.
a. Detailed budget
Here you list all the income sources and the various outlets the money takes to leave your pocket. Then allocating appropriately the inflows to the outflows in the ratio of your choosing. This is the way budgets are prepared really!
b. Undetailed budget or fun budget
This is an oversimplified version of the Balanced Money Formula of Elizabeth Warrenand Amelia Warren Tyagi.
With this I simply apportion my income into three segments (you can apportion yours the way you choose; just make sure you are saving something unless you have a lot of umbrellas)
1. Needs; 60%
2. Wants; 20%
3. Savings/Investment/Repaying debt: 20%
Finito!

What can help with tracking your expenses?

I use Mint. Lovely app.

www.lightednation.com

Information; they say is power. Many small business owners struggle today with the challenges of running their businesses. This post outlines some resources that could aid the small business owner.

1. Wave accounting package; this is not top of this list for nothing. It is an awesomely clean most-understandable, good-looking accounting package that costs nothing for the small business owner. It handles bills, receipts, accounting, payroll (feature is only available to US and Canada at the moment). It’s a must have for your business needs.

2. Drives in the cloud; They make the life of a business owner easier, as they allow them to access computer files and folders from virtually anywhere, on most devices and with anyone they choose to. A small business owner can also back-up large amounts of file on these drives. There are several drives online that stores data in the cloud. The most common and widely used ones are ;
a. Google drive
b. Onedrive
c. Dropbox


3. Evernote The app puts all small business owners’ notes, tasks, and to-do lists in one place. And it can accessed and edited on any platform. So it works not only on their mobile but also on their desktop. They can also share their notes easily through this app.

4. Wunderlist; Small business owners can create the perfect to-do list with this app and also manage their team’s collaboration and communication with this. “Wunderlist is one of the best productivity apps for task-management, especially as the business owner don’t need every feature under the sun and are also hoping to keep their costs to nil” (PCMag). The small business owner simply collaborate with others by simply inviting them to any list, and then assigning tasks to those people. Families who like to share chore lists or shopping lists will find that the free version of Wunderlist gets the job done, as free users can add up to 25 collaborators.

5. Skype; this well a well-known and trusted medium of communication for many virtual professionals. It allows you to instantly communicate with your team members and customers in a one-to-one capacity through videos and voice calls.

6. Quickteller; this is your go-to site for your online payment solutions for most vendors in Nigeria.

More?

lightednation.com

We are increasingly in an age of consumerism; it is the pursuit of the good and easy life. People want things, fast, quick and at the click of a finger all delivered to their doorsteps, sometimes even to their palms wherever they are. Every day innovators push the boundaries on what is doable with new and faster ways to make life easy. To almost everything we do today; there is an app that helps out; we want to get a taxi, no need to walk out of the house; log on to EasyTaxi on your phone. The point is intelligent entrepreneurs are recognizing that the consumer will always consume things that make their life easy. Consumerism isn’t going away any time soon.

So here are five reasons for the surge in Consumerism and how businesses can exploit them

1. Fast food mentality. Look around your neighbourhood, there is a common phenomenon; fast-food vendors. People are happy to be sold quickly packaged, cheap and sometimes badly cooked meals in favour of healthier options. Why? Because we want quick gratification, as against going to the market to buy food items and prepare these foods at home. And the nature of work-life in cities have only aided this process of finding easier and faster ways to get what we want especially after spending hours at the work-place.
The implicationof this for a business is to understand that people are constantly pressed for time, and would always go for options that save them some bit of time and less stressful over ones that don’t. It’s simply about making the lives of people easier.

2. Buy now, pay later; (BNPL) Never before in our history as a nation have we been inundated with so much buy now and pay later deals. Almost every business is doing it. And for the consumer, it is a very effective way to spread the cost of products and services over a period of time especially when one does not have the money to pay for them at that point in time. So the consumer gets his commodity while the business gets its sale and everyone is happy.
The implication for a business is that no longer can you wait for the consumer to cough out the total amount required to sell your product or service. Let the consumer buy now, but pay later. The risk is that they may not pay later; they may default or even abscond. So before you make this an option, make sure you have done proper due diligence. By getting their commitment, you ensure that they buy

3. Cookies; aiding subtle but aggressive marketing. No longer can you window-shop online and not be followed to every site you go by the products have checked out. This is made possible by cookies. Cookies are pieces of information that a site saves to your computer through your web browser. This helps to make the online experience easier and better. It is through cookies that your browser remembers your bio-data (email, phone numbers, and residential addresses. Etc), each time you want to fill a form on a website. Hence these data creates a profile of your online activities. And so advertising networks remember that you have checked that latest piece of Blender on Jumia when you visit a site on their network on that web browser. And will keep reminding you to buy that blender by placing ads strategically.
But don’t be scared, you can actually disable or control cookies by going to the Help tab on your web browser. Check the section on privacy and tweak the cookies settings. However, you may be making the browsing experience inefficient.
The implication for a business, is to exploit the option of online advertising, everyone seems to be online these days.

4. Keeping up with the Joneses, keeping up with the Kardashians; keeping up with lindaIkeji. Everyone is keeping up with someone these days. The proliferation of channels through which the information about the lives of the rich and famous are delivered to us makes it almost impossible ignore the Joneses. And all of a sudden they sell us their lifestyle and make us believe that ours isn’t good enough. And we start feeling we are not good enough, we don’t look good enough, and we don’t have enough. Then our goals change and we start trying to catch up with them. And like a mirage as soon as we have caught up with them they have moved again. It’s an unending cycle of consumerism fuelled by strategic product positioning by smart companies who understands that everyone is trying to keep up.
“When people have lost their authentic personal taste, they lose their personality and become instruments of other people’s wills.”
Robert Graves

5. Pursuit of happiness; some seek happiness today by indulging in consuming just about anything thrown at them by advertisers. The quest for happiness becomes an addiction. We want things not because we really need them but because some advert had sold us the dream; buy this and you will be happy. Life becomes “I can imagine it, therefore I want it. I want it, therefore I should have it. Because I should have it, I need it. Because I need it, I deserve it. Because I deserve it, I will do anything necessary to get it”
Sell people on the benefits of your product or service and how it makes them better, finer, and happier and you are more likely to convert them to customers.

What other factor is contributing to the surge of consumerism today? Comment and share

www.lightednation.com

We all love to hear and tell stories of how an underdog who seemingly against the odds topples a top dog. It’s the stories of Harry Potter versus he-who-must-not-be-named, the biblical account of David versus Goliath. It’s also the story of the Greece national football team who despite never winning a match at a major tournament going on to win the Euros in 2004. But what makes underdogs an interesting topic at any discussion? Why do we always have an emotional attachment to the idea of being an underdog? For me, it resurrects hope for the rest of us humans still finding our way through life. It means that we too can make it if we try hard enough. The odds may be against us, but we can also upstage them. And we think; If David can defeat Goliath; then I too can defeat my fears. If Apple started from a garage, I too can start my company today and take it to the top. If from a humble beginning in November 2006, Linda Ikeji has built a fortune through blogging, I too can make it here.

This is also an emerging trend in marketing today. Brands adopt the underdog brand biography to talk up their humble beginnings, in which they operated from a less- advantageous position usually from the garage with little or no resources to flourish. Again, against the odds.

So how did they do it?

Here are some advantages of being an underdog reasons why been an underdog could help you upstage a top dog.

1. Underdogs are usually inexperienced, so much so that their inexperience gives them room to try out things that top dogs may consider unachievable. Since they don’t have experience of what can and cannot be done, anything is then possible for them. Goliath came to battle the Israelites well-endowed with weapons of warfare, while David proved his ignorance of warfare by coming with a sling and stones. And yet the latter was more effective. No one has told David he couldn’t kill Goliath with his weapon; when he had used same tools to kill lions and bears.

2. People can relate your stories to their own lives. Most people have experienced some bit of struggle at some points in their lives. Because of this there is an emotional attachment to underdogs. Little wonder top companies today still want you to know about their humble beginnings. According to Neeru Paharia “Consumers react positively when they see underdog aspects of their own lives reflected in branded products”.

3. Their major skill set is their determination and perseverance; they may not be blessed with enough resources, size, capital, connection, weaponry, but their determination more often than not makes up for all that they lack.

4. Underdogs because of their structure are very susceptible to change; they are not bogged down somewhat by so much expectation. Like David in the Bible they are not clad in full Homeric armour of reputation, or weighed down by the heaviness of their success. They are flexible. It’s not uncommon to hear underdogs get into a market segment and knock the top dog off their perch. Market dynamics are always changing; companies that respond swiftly are the ones that get to survive over time.

5. Underdogs are almost always underrated by the top dogs. And so when the underdog attacks, the top dog is often taken by surprise. A rather uncommon tale that perfectly demonstrates is the biblical story of Benaiah. Here is a passage from 2 Samuel 23:20 -21.
“Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it”
People don’t chase lions; lions are the predator, but to Benaiah the reverse was the case. And so the Lion that was used to chasing others, saw itself on the other side of the divide. It turns out that it was unprepared to deal with it the situation.

Finally, Mark Batterson In his Book in a pit with a lion on a snowy day puts it; Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn’t chase. You will look back longingly on risks not taken, opportunities not seized, and dreams not pursued. Stop running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path.

Comment and share on other advantages of being an underdog to inspire someone today.

www.lightednation.com

So this guy; Charles Okpaleke, one of the Directors of Play Entertainment Network and its subsidiaries is giving out a grant of One Million Naira to any one with a small lucrative idea that addresses a real and demonstrated public need.

I applaud this initiative and urge other well meaning Nigerians to emulate this kind gesture. Many loudmouths are already talking; someone is trying to steal their idea and blah blah blah… Well, na by force? Guy wants to help someone who wants to be helped.
According to Sue Grafton “Ideas are easy. It’s the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.”
Want to be a goat or a sheep? You choose. Remember its one million naira!

How do to get in?
1. Follow @playnetworknigeria on instagram
2. Make a 15seconds instagram video summarizing your business plan
3. Post the video on your own instagram page with the hash tag #millionairebossin15seconds and tag @playnetworknigeria
4. Your video will be reposted on @playnetworknigeria instagram page and you will be tagged
5. If your video (business summary) makes the top 5 videos with the highest number of likes (not paid likes), you will be invited to Abuja to meet with the judges
6. If you’re invited to Abuja you will be given the opportunity to explain in detail your business plan, and if yours is the best you’re taking the 1,000,000 naira home

Contest ends on October 31st!

Read and share, a friend may just need one million naira to start that business and change their lives for good.

More of this? Check and follow www.lightednation.com

Imagine if you will that a young man whose name we can assume to be Peter have been given a key to a treasure chest set aside for him by Mazi Okeke, his grandfather. He is now eighteen and it is time to see what treasures awaits him. For the past one year, he had looked forward to this day; the night before he hardly slept.

It was time to open the chest, he heavies a huge sigh of relief as his dad brought out the chest. “Go on” his dad spoke. Slowly Peter turned the key in the lock as the lid flew open. What greeted him was a note from his grandfather. He opened the note and joyously read out

“If you are reading this, then you are my first grandchild. The money in this box is to help you buy your very first car.”

Mazi Okeke 1987

He keeps the letter aside, removes the soft piece of clothing shielding the treasure to find well layered bundles of 50 kobo notes. They totaled ₦7000

Now, his grandfather would have been disappointed to see the look on his face. Peter probably walks away in disappointment. Why? Because the money can’t even buy him one car tyre let alone a car even though it could have bought his grandfather one in 1987. This is what economists mean when they say that one naira today is greater than one naira in the future. Why? Because of the opportunities that the latter can provide; as it can be invested to yield an extra income. On the other hand inflation rate will reduce the purchasing power of one naira today in the future.

Many of us are like Mazi Okeke without even knowing. We may know what time value of money means, we may have been taught in our economics class in school. Yet we seem to have somehow forgotten its application in real life.

Lets get back to Mazi Okeke, what if instead of burying the cash in a save, he had decided to put it in a savings account earning an annual rate of say 10% (by the way, no banks pays you that much interest annually; however I would be happy to be proved wrong) ten years before Peter was born. And all things being equal, the bank does not liquidate before his eighteenth birthday, he would have had 7000(1+10%)^28 and this is equal to ₦100,947 ; a 1444% increase on the initial sum. Though not enough to buy him a car, but nevertheless more than what he found in the chest.

Implication of Time vale of money for the individual

In several work places, employees tend to be paid some benefits on request, or at the expiration of a certain period of time. For instance if at your place of work annual housing benefits are paid in full by the month of August, but you can apply for it any time before then. Common sense and time value of money would suggest that even though you really didn’t have need of it, you should however apply for the sum in January and invest in something that could yield you some extra income. It could be as simple as doing a fixed deposit with your bank for a period of time. Why? Because the invested money will gain some interest, take for instance that your annual housing allowance is one million naira. If fixed for six months at an interest rate of 6%, the interest element after the period will be ₦29,563, hence instead of ₦1,000,000 you would be having ₦1,029,563 in August. Secondly the purchasing power of ₦1,000,000 in January would be more than what it would have been in August.

If you are also entitled to get an interest free loan from your place of work, go for it and invest in something; after all its free money.

However don’t lock your money in a chest like Mazi Okeke and think you are saving it, you are only getting poorer by the day, because with each day that passes its purchasing power decreases through the unkind forces of inflation. And you become the third steward in the parable of the talents who buries his money in the ground and when his master returned, he was scolded for being such a poor money manager.

Here is a wonderful quote for you.

“How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.”

–Robert G. Allen

Implication of Time vale of money for the Business

Smart businesses these days ask their customers to subscribe to their services or products for periods as long as six months and even one year usually for a discount. Why do I call them smart businesses? Because they understand the concept of time value of money.

Firstly, when customers subscribe for longer periods, the cash flow situation of the business greatly improves. It can however be argued that they have lost some form of revenue in giving out discounts. True but that will be well taken care of by other factors. Like if they invested the unrealised sales (this is not yet revenue for the business as the commensurate service or products have not been provided) in an interest yielding venture. The interest element may make up for the lost revenue from discounts. On the other hand, if the business had been operating on overdrafts, this would probably stop or be greatly reduced by inflow of more cash into business. Remember cash is the lifeblood of any business.

Secondly it means that their customers’ demands have been locked down so the business can scout for other customers. Also any chance of them not subscribing for the businesses’ products and services in future months would have been taken out.

Finally Mike Okri may not have been talking about the time value of money when he sand “time na money” but nevertheless time is money, so instead of letting the effect of time value of money work against you let it work for you.

Learned something? Share your stories on how time value of money is working for you today so that others can learn and be inspired.

www.lightednation.com

The National Bureau of Statistics only recently published the Nigerian Job and also the unemployment reports.
According to the reports the Nigerian economy created a total of 141,368 jobs, a staggering 327,702 less than the number of jobs that were created in the first quarter of the year. Please see quarter one infographic (http://lightednation.com/2015/07/469070-jobs/).
Several factors may have contributed to this huge change; top of which could be that during the first quarter, a lot of business sprang up to exploit the opportunities created by the 2015 general elections; which was arguably the most expensive in Nigeria history. After the election, some of these businesses either closed shop or reduced its workforce.

The unemployment rate therefore rose from 7.5 in quarter one to 8.2 in quarter two.
Note that the unemployment rate is calculated as the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed.



Judging by the foregoing, there is need for the creation of more jobs in the economy. Imagine if one out of every five university graduate creates not a hundred jobs, or even ten jobs but just one job? The both of them not only have jobs but would have contributed to making the economy better and also increase the chance of others having jobs.
So what are you doing today to create job opportunities for others?
Share your stories and inspire others.

http://lightednation.com/2015/09/jobs-creation-report-second-quarter-2015/

Starting a business is not something for the faint-hearted. It places a lot of demand on you the individual. You are exposed! You are fighting for your life; and you may lose not only your money, you may lose friends and relationships; it’s that serious. Little wonder many seek the easy path; working 9 to 5 for most of their lives, retiring and spending their remaining days wondering what to their dreams.

However if you are going to start a business; then its important to consider the following points;

1. Starting small may be the best thing that could happen to you. When you start on a shoe-string budget you are forced to improvise and be creative at the same time. And the more costs you can cut at the beginning, the better your chances of making it. Poor costs management kill many start-ups.

2. Understand what your strengths are; think back to the time you were in school; what resonates most with you? What do you like most about what you do? Ask former bosses; colleagues, lecturers, friends and families to honestly appraise you. When you have done that self-appraisal, ask yourself how those strengths help in the business you are going into? Does your personality fit the business?

3. Have you done any apprenticeships? Starting a business you know nothing about its really dangerous. It’s important in some businesses that you do some form of apprenticeship before starting out. Especially if a lot of people are already into that line of business. This gives you the opportunity to learn salient things about the business without putting your money and capital at risk. It’s a principle that has stood the test of time. Stand on the shoulders of giants so that you can see far ahead of them.
4. You may sometimes need to roll up your sleeves. An employee may call in sick. There may be rush hour with few employees on hand to attend to the customers.

5. How much time are you willing to commit to this new venture? Is the time sufficient to make the business work? Is the business something that you can operate on a part-time basis?

6. What is the type of business ownership? Is it a sole-proprietorship, partnership, Limited Liability Company? Have you drawn out a deed of partnership if partnership is the path you have chosen? Find here (http://nigeria.smetoolkit.org/nigeria/en/content/en/934/Establishing-an-Enterprise-in-Nigeria-Legal-Framework) a detailed write-up on the legal framework of businesses in Nigeria.

7. Have you registered with Corporate Affairs commission CAC?

8. Are you a student of human psychology as opposed to human criminology? Your workers will need to be motivated for them to perform to their optimum best. Money is one major motivator but there other things that can motivate your employees like remembering their birthdays and celebrating with them. But when you act like people are out to cheat and dope you, it creates a whole lot of negative energy. Your employees cease to show initiative.

9. You need to know your numbers and be able to do proper book-keeping; how do you know when you are making money? Do you have a proper accounting system? Are you adding the effect of your asset depreciation in your cost of running the business? Are you remitting the proper amount of taxes? Can you give a snapshot of your financial position at any point in time? We at lightednation.com can help with proper financial templates built with excel for your business.

10. Add yours


http://lightednation.com/2015/09/10-things-to-know-before-starting-that-business/

A business plan is a document that describes and analyzes your business, the market it operates or hope to operate in, the strategies of attaining your business goals and gives detailed projections about its future. A lot of people think of a business plan as a tool to help a business/project secure finance; it transcends that! A business plan is more like your business course of action. Never ever start a business without a business plan; it aint over-rated, it simply enables you to see different angles to your business.
However, writing a business plan is not an easy task, it requires an investment in time and other resources.
If it’s a lot of work I hear you say; then why write it in the first place?
Well for a variety of reasons

1. It will help you in getting funds.
Before anyone can commit their money into your hand, they need to be sure that your business has a high chance of succeeding. Your business plans provides them with that information and believe me, these folks can almost always spot holes or gaps in your proposal/plan. It’s their job to be thoroughly sure you are going to repay their money.

2. Helps you ascertain your chances of succeeding
The beautiful and yet deceptive thing about ideas is that when they come upon you it seems like you have hit a jackpot; with every chance of succeeding. This conviction gives you the nudge to seek to bring this idea to reality. And that’s fantastic in itself because it takes just that level of conviction and belief to seek paths you have not sought before.
But how do you know if you are on the right path? How do you know if you are going to make it work just has you had envisioned? Most people jump right in without finding this things out.
Your business plan gives you this information

3. It clears the rough edges around your idea
During the process of developing a business plan a lot of questions will have to be answered that could redefine your idea. Business plans explore your idea from all angles possible; it is a 360 degree approach that would give you a better grasp of your business. You can tweak things to reflect current realities and you could also readjust your assumptions.

4. Improves your odd of making it
Yes it truly those if you have thoroughly covered all the angles possible; 360 degrees anyone? When you have a better grasp of something, its easier to make that thing work than when your knowledge is sketchy. Not having a business plan is like groping in the dark looking for something at night when you could have walked in with torchlight. Your business plan is your torchlight.

5. Becomes a yardstick to gauge your progress at any point in time.
Six months after the commencement of that business, you will like to know if your assumptions still hold, the business plan helps you get a feedback. You may want to know what has worked and what hasn’t; the business plan will provide you with a basis to measure that.

Need some further clarification or a business plan today? Hit us up at www.lightednation.com

We wish you success in your business adventure.

http://lightednation.com/2015/09/benefits-of-a-business-plan/