STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS: the highlights

It was an insightful moment with Praise family on Sunday, 26th March, 2012 during her monthly seminar titled, “THE STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.” The audience was held spell-bound for an hour and thirty minutes, as they listened with rapt attention to the speaker, Mr. Peter Oyinrinaya, a professional banker and a businessman, who spoke extensively on practical steps and principles to engage in building a lasting and successful business.

 According to him, there are no new strategies for building a business, but that most people lack the will to take the initiative of starting their own business due to the fear of failure. He emphasized: “that you make mistakes in a certain business and fail does not mean that such business does not work, instead consider it an opportunity to start again in a better way.” He went further to state that, you do not need a university degree to build a successful business. Education is important though, but not a prerequisite for success in business, as most successful business people around the world are not academic scholars. 

However, the following imperatives were strongly recommended for growing a lasting and successful business: 
1. Find out what you have passion for and build your business around it. 
2. Acquire the necessary skills in your chosen line of business to avoid outright failure. 
3. Before commencement, it is necessary to have a business plan for short term, medium and long term goals. Then register a business name, at least a “Venture” or an “Enterprise” which is relatively cheap, compared to what most people think. The idea is to secure the name and the future of your business so that it doesn’t get registered by someone else, after you must have put in so much. 
4. You must be ready to take calculated risk, and the higher the risk the greater the reward. According to the speaker, those who are not ready to take risk are the ones actually taking risk because if you do not take risk in business, you may not go far. 
5. Always be prepared to take intelligent feedback – develop the capacity to handle criticism in such a manner that will translate into improved products or services. 
6. There must be an internal control system to check how money comes into the business and how much is going out. To this end, proper and accurate documentation of cash flow is key. Then remember, your business is not you; it’s a separate legal entity and should be operated as such. 
7. In your industry, determine where you have competitive advantage and carve a niche for yourself in that line. Specialize in one thing first, and then diversify to other areas. “Diversification in business is one of the secretes of creating oceanic wealth” - Sam. 
8. Develop a strong business network – in business, anybody you meet is a contact point and as such, do not take people for granted because they form the life of your business. 
9. Strategic marketing will put your business in the frontline and secure a fare market share for your products or services. Without marketing, your business will remain obscure, and a business does not thrive in obscurity. In conclusion, the speaker emphasized that learning the above principles is just a step, the result will only be achieved when they are effectively deployed in your business practice. 

The seminar came to a close with question and answer session, along with light refreshment. Yet, participants were unwilling to go as they were seen flanking around the speaker, asking questions and seeking clarifications on issues, at the same time exchanging contacts with him. 

Well, if you were not there, you missed a lot. But don’t worry another one is coming up this month. The title is “The Place of Education in Career Development”. Details will be communicated in due course. Stay blessed. 

Reported by: Sam Akhigbe.

SEVEN HEALTHY WONDERS OF WATER

By Esther Ohazuruike

Water is the best drink you can take and freely indulge in. Water they say has no enemy; it has severally been referred to as wonder drink.

Here are seven wonders water can perform in your body.

1. Stay Slimmer With Water: To cut down on calories and lose some weights, you can replace calorie-laden beverages with water, by drinking a glass of water before meal, it will help you feel full and take less food. Drinking more water also helps to increase metabolism – especially if the glass is icy cold. Then your body must work to warm the water, thereby burning a few extra calories in the process.

2. Water Boosts Your Energy: if you are feeling drained and depleted, you can get revived with water. Water helps the blood to transport oxygen and other essential nutrients to your cells. When you drink enough water, your heart does not have to work as hard to pump blood throughout your body system.

3. Lower Stress with Water: when you are dehydrated, it is likely that your body and your mind will be stressed. Whenever you are feeling testy or stressed, all you need do is just go for that wonderful glass of water. To keep stress level down, keep a glass of water at your table and sip regularly.

4. Build Your Muscles Tone With Water: Drinking more water helps to prevent muscle cramps and also lubricates the joints. When your body is well hydrated, you can exercise longer and be stronger.

5. Nourish Your Skin With Water: Dehydration accentuates the lines and wrinkles in your body. Water is nature’s own beauty cream. Drinking more Water helps to hydrates skin cells and builds them up. It also helps to flush out impurities and improves circulation and blood flow. This makes your face to look younger.

6. Water Reduces Kidney Stones: Kidney stones are solid crystals formed by salt and minerals in your urine. The rate of painful kidney stone is on the increase because people including children are not drinking enough water. Kidney stones cannot form in diluted urine, so drink plenty water to reduce your risk of forming kidney stone.

7. Water Aids Digestion: When taking with fibre, water is essential to good digestion. It helps to dissolve waste particles and passes them smoothly through your digestive system. Are you drinking enough water? Generally, nutritionists recommend that we follow the ‘8 X 8’ rules (drinking 8 250ml glass of water per day). When you exercise or sweat heavily, you will even need more than that. When you drink other beverages often, you will require less water.
However, it is advisable to go low on other beverages and high on water. You will be healthier when you practice this. Remember, water is God’s nature gift to humanity.

SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS NEGLECTED - SIN

by Daniel Ugumsinachi Awazie Every gadget, apparatus, instrument and even many little things have instructions for use. These instructions are most times adhered to, in order to avoid misuse of such instrument, gadget or apparatus. But why is it that we find it hard to follow life’s instructions? Our lives as humans have specific instructions on how to maintain it and live a healthy and wealthy life. When such instructions are neglected, things begin to fall apart. Even when things go wrong, there are instructions on how to manage and maintain them. Most times we define things in a way that they tend to be far from reality. I want to define sin in the simplest way I think it should. Sin is simply, SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS NEGLECTED that later became SATANIC IN NATURE. Many things we do in life and think do not really count actually count. King Saul was given an instruction to go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that is in it, but he neglected and spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites and took home the fattest and biggest of the animals. It was a simple instruction neglected, which makes it satanic in nature. When you neglect simple instructions, God is always there beckoning on you to come back. When you do the wrong He is always there stretching forth his arm to welcome you back in repentance. But when you harden your heart, it becomes Satanic In Natures and the presence of God departs from you, thereby, making you more vulnerable just like King Saul. What is that thing in your life that God is not happy about? Why not make a U-turn today before it is too late? Don’t say ‘it does not matter, after all, who is seeing me?’ Remember that ‘a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.’ Just like the prodigal son, have a rethink and trace your way back to God. Retrace your steps today and you will be happy you did. Correct the mistakes, ask God for forgiveness, make things right and make a resolve to live according to the dictates of the spirit of God and you will be glad you did. Don’t wait until God regrets why He had brought you to where you are today. Just like the case of Saul, the bible says, “and the Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel” (1 Samuel 15:35b). See you at the top.