Save the best for last.......Vanessa Williams #90smusic

I sat by my laptop with all confidence last night, about to share my #90smusic Friday post, but alas my data quota on swift had been used up! I am beginning to suspect some foul play here. Haba!! Either they have reviewed their charges without warning or they are just confused! I was so mad, I just went to bed. IPNX too was off, I got a warning for that, just didn't realise the days had gone by so fast.

It's my sister's birthday today. Fried rice and jollof rice cooking continues :-). Life is good. Happy birthday Funmi Amoo!!! By  the way, can we all pretend today is Friday so we can maintain the structure of this blog. Hehe. Let us shame Swift and not let them cramp our style. #90smusic Friday it is!!

My song for today is Vanessa Williams' "Save the best for last" . I totally love the instrumentals on this song. The lyrics also make a lot of sense. Artists in my day, spent more time composing songs, seriously!

Enjoy!!

Vanessa Williams - Save the best for last 

If the embedded video doesn't load on your smart device, you know what to do already;

Save the best for Last

Sometimes the snow comes down in June
Sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon
I see the passion in your eyes
Sometimes it's all a big surprise

Cause there was a time when all I did was wish,
You'd tell me this was love
It's not the way I hoped or how I planned
But somehow it's enough

And now we're standing face to face
Isn't this world a crazy place?
Just when I thought a chance had passed
You go and save the best for last

All of the nights you came to me
When some silly girl had set you free
You wondered how you'd make it through
I wondered what was wrong with you

Cause how could you give your love to someone else
And share your dreams with me
Sometimes of everything you're looking for
It's the one thing you can't see

But now we're standing face to face
Isn't this world a crazy place?
Just when I thought a chance had passed
You go and save the best for last

Sometimes of everything you're looking for
It's the one thing you can't see

(instrumental)

Sometimes the snow comes down in June
Sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon
Just when I thought a chance had passed
You go and save the best for last

You went and saved the best for last

My first customer and the next......#inthelineofduty

I woke up a bit depressed today, happens sometimes, but I never let it gain root. I shake it off with all I've got and choose to be happy, no matter what. One of my depression fighting tools is cooking, lol! I cook and cook till I feel like the world is a better place. If my freezer or pocket is dry (we all have those times, I think), I call up my mum and offer to help them cook, stew, vegetable soup and my favorite, fried rice! That's what I cooked today, a large pot of it. My hubby was happy, the boys were happy, sent some to my folks, they were happy and so was I. The end!

It's #inthelineofduty day and I want to share my experience with my first customer and the next. The very first time someone hands you a cheque for offering that service or product, you just want to scream! During the development stage of your idea, you are never really sure someone will pay you for that product/service - Apart from family and friends who might just want to encourage you. How sustainable is that? Unless you're from Kunta Kinte's (dunno where that thought came from, lol!) large family and they have a lot of money to spare.

The first Trezy men.....

All customers are precious, but the very first ones..... Priceless!!!

My very first job was a stumble on kind of one. A good friend wanted to propose to his girlfriend on her birthday but didn't have a clue what to do. He called me up and I was just reeling out ideas and he said, you know what, just help me organize it and send me my bill. I was super excited, not only was I doing something I absolutely enjoyed, but I was also going to get paid? Yabadabadoooooo

Here's how this one went down. We devised a way to get her ring size using an accomplice; one of her sisters. We ordered a cake and had the ring as well as the cake delivered to the restaurant where they were going to be having dinner. Next, we had little mini cards to say happy birthday, will you go to so and so spa and then join me for dinner at so and so restaurant? I had those booked and sorted. At the restaurant, I had arranged with the chief chef to turn up the music at a certain time and come out with the cake and ring with some noise and fan fare - you wouldn't believe how happy these guys are to do these things. The card and the main gifts, two wristwatches ( he said she loved wristwatches, so we got two) were packaged and delivered to her. The rest is history!

I hadn't registered a name yet at this time, so the invoice I sent was " Mofolusade consult" and I got paid in my personal account. But this experience gave me the confidence and courage I needed to push the idea. The naming of the idea, the account opening and all came after this.Then I called up a few of my friends to say, I just started this business, when's your wife's/husband's birthday or anniversary bla bla bla, just let me know. One of my old colleagues from my FCMB days, liked the idea and promised to employ trezorlandia's service for his wife's birthday. This was my very first job as Trezorlandia.

I sent him options as well as cost implications for the day and he settled for a mix of all three. For a memorable birthday experience, the cake and card are a given, especially if we are delivering to an office! Office folk love sharing birthday cakes, lol. He wanted this to be a really special experience for her and we developed a plan to do just that.

I had to resume at her office way way before she got in so I got help from my friend Maureen and got everything set at her place which wasn't too far from the island. We didn't sleep, It was fun getting everything ready and we went together to the office to set up her table;

Here's what she resumed to that morning, we put a little fruit bowl for her because he told us she wasn't really into cakes. The framed picture there is a little scribble from her daughter which her Dad got her to do.

Guess what? This was just part one. I swear, I enjoyed this job so much. It was a lot of fun to do. Next up, was a cake delivery at around noon. We agreed to deliver a cake, because really what is a birthday at the office without a cake to share?

The grand closing was the main gift package itself which we delivered at about 3p.m. It had a tiffany and co bracelet with an engraved heart shaped locket and pictures of her husband and daughter inside. There were two other items in the box. A handbag that her husband purchased and a perfume, I think;

Now tell me this was not a memorable experience! Even for me, it was.

These two; ladies and gentlemen of my blog family, were my first "trezy men". I am developing a proper description of who a "trezy man" or "trezy woman" is. I'll share it here soon. In the meantime, I just developed this form on google docs, I want you to join the "trezy family". If you would, please fill the form by following the link below.

Trezy men and women

Thank you, thank you and thank you!!!

10 lessons from Sara Blakely for Nigerians

The week has been sort of a lazy week. It used to be easier for me to get home take a brief nap and get up to work till late; once the boys had gone to bed. I haven't been very successful at this lately. The "naps" have been just it, goodnight nap! It was so bad yesterday that I didn't even know when my husband walked in to the room. I must have been talking nonsense because he claims we had a mini conversation when he came in. I have no recollection of this conversation. I woke up at 2 a.m, but couldn't function so I went back to bed.

I have mustered all the energy within me to stay up tonight. So let's get on with today's post. How many of you caught the Sara Blakely interview on CNN? It was my brother in-law, Tosin who told me it was on and asked if I was watching. He knows I like such things and this one was really captivating. Unfortunately, I was on the road, as usual. But as I got back, I searched for her on the internet, watched her interviews and read  up about her. Hers is a remarkable story and her personality makes it even more interesting. It's worth reading up on and sharing. She's the world's youngest self made female billionaire at the moment. If you missed the feature, follow the link below;

Sara Blakely - Spanx

A couple of reviewers have done their "10 lessons from the Sara Blakely story". Most of them are from the American perspective. I am going to try to bring it home!

10 lessons from the Sara Blakely story;

1. Believe in your dream

To be honest, even I would never have imagined how such an invention would be the next big thing. It just sounds so ordinary. To think that, just tweaking an existing product to make it more comfortable would make that much of a difference is simply amazing.

She mentioned that even the lawyers thought she was pulling a candid candid camera stunt on them when she came to talk to them about her idea. Lol!! She could have allowed this to discourage her, to make her feel this was stupid, but she kept on. She called up several companies to help build the prototype and none of them was interested but she kept going because she believed in the idea. Eventually she got someone to do the prototype.

Sometimes you might have an idea and hear things like, "that can't work in Nigeria", "why would anyone buy that", or "that's so stupid", if you believe enough in your idea, by all means do something about it!

*By the way, I saw a spanx at a lingerie store in Lekki yesterday. I am not into body shapers, but I just wanted to buy it because of Sara!

2.  Keep it simple

Innovation does not always have to be novel or out of this world. Look around you. There are everyday things that exist but could be better. Sara just wanted to be able to wear her white pants and feel great and comfortable without cellulite on display and she went on to create a lasting solution to that.

Perhaps there's something bugging you, it's probably bugging several others too. If you've found a fix, share it without shame.

3. Timing is important

Don’t share too soon. Sara said she kept her idea secret from her family and friends for a while. In her own words “Ideas are the most vulnerable in their infancy. Family and friends often express concern or doubts (out of love) that can stop people dead in their tracks. Share once you’ve invested enough of yourself in it, to the point when you know there is no turning back. If you share too soon, ego has to get involved and you will spend more time explaining and defending your idea rather than pursuing it. But definitely tell the people that can help move your idea forward.”

4. Convert your friends and family first

Her mother, grandmother and other friends and family were the first to test her product after she made the prototype. I have said it before on this blog, if your friends and family do not know anything about what you do, there is a problem.

You might say, oh, they don't believe in me, they think I'm a failure, they don't take me seriously, yada yada. If you can't convert them, how are you supposed to convert the world?

5. Never underestimate the power of Media

Face it, you need the media and not just social media here. TV, radio, magazine and so on. I know you must be thinking, where am I supposed to get the money for that. Let's borrow a leaf from Sara, she took a long shot and sent her product as a gift to Oprah with a hand written note to say how much she inspired her!

A lot of us feel too big for "famzing" as we have named it these days. I agree, there's a thin line between stalking and "famzing" and really, if you don't do it right, it can get annoying. But there's no harm in following strong media personalities on twitter, re-tweeting their tweets, sending them messages when the time is right (Not just on twitter!) and so on. There is no shame in this matter, you have to throw away shame!

*famzing - Derived from the word familiar, describes a person who unashamedly tries to get noticed by a person or join their circles.

6. You can figure it out, you have the ability

One of the things I learnt during my MBA is that if you don't know, you can always find out, by asking an expert or doing research yourself. These days, life has been made a lot easier with greater access to information than ever before - almighty Google is your friend.

The ability to process information and apply it to your advantage is one of the skills you need to be a successful entrepreneur. Sara knew nothing about Patents nor did she know anything about manufacturing undergarments, but she did not let this stop her.

7. Do not spend what you do not have

She had $5,000 which is an equivalent of about 1.3million naira in Nigeria. If you had that money, what would you do with it? Many of us would probably rent an office space, brand a car, hire staff maybe and then hope for a miracle. Lol!!

Money is a resource that is not unlimited. Start-ups should never compare themselves to large, established companies. To cut cost on the patent, Sara took time to read up and write most of the patent for her product. Be true to yourself, only you know your true financial position.

8. Patience is key

It took a whole year to fine-tune her idea and another year to get her first big sale. Many of us want everything now. You spend money you do not have to set up a fancy office, so you look good on the outside and then put yourself under unhealthy pressure to recoup your investment. Even worse, you go and borrow money to keep up the facade.

9. Sell like your life depends on it!

The only way to get anywhere is to come up with ideas and then sell them. STRONGLY. How many companies have you visited with your proposal? How many sales pitches have you made? You don't mean business, until you mean business.

Notice how many phone calls Sara made before she got invited by Neiman Marcus. Was she nervous? Yes she was, as nervous as hell as she tells us in her story, but she went still with her lucky red back pack (Even though her friends begged her to get a Prada)!! The rest is history.

Oh and by the way;

10. WE NEED ELECTRICITY!!! 

I put this here for our politicians and representatives. I still find it so difficult to comprehend how we are borrowing money to go to space when something as basic as electricity is still a day dream!!! Its absolutely ridiculous.

Until this becomes our countries absolute priority, I don't see how enterprise or any other thing can thrive as it should.  In the mean time as our dear Sound Sultan sang - "Go buy candle" hehe (this is an example of "famzing" by the way. I tweeted at him three times today already. Tomorrow, it'll be another celebrity)

Evolution of Music - Pentatonix #90smusic

Friday is here already! Yaaay. I am dizzy from doing account reconciliations. This whole entrepreneur business is no joke. You have to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly. For me, accounting falls under the ugly!

It's been an interesting week, I re-strategised with Oyamag to make our tweets and social media posts in general, more engaging. I think it's going well, because we are getting more interaction than ever before. I know the main question is, how does this translate to the bottom-line? After all, that's the whole point, not so? Well, seeing as I am a learner just like you, we'll see.... I'll keep you posted. I may not know the answer to the bottom-line impact question, but one thing I know is, slowly we are getting closer to the time when Trezorlandia will be synonymous to gifts in Nigeria!! So help me God.

On #projectjane, I finally managed to open an account for Jane and her mum. But I must say this, it is no wonder there are so many un-banked people in Nigeria, the headache ehn! The only acceptable IDs are company IDs, National drivers license, National ID card(They gotta be joking here!!!) or National passport. Please tell me how many poor road side rice sellers would have any of these. Come on now! There has to be an easier way to bank please.

I also bought the books on the list from the Daystar book shop. I decided to make them compulsory reading for my teens class in church. It'll be like a mini book club, only they have a chief whip! Me! hehe.

Let the reading begin!

I know I promised to do #90smusic on Fridays, but I found this awesome medley (it's medley isn't it?) and I couldn't resist. I am not totally off anyway, it has the 90s in it as well.

Click the link below if the video doesn't load on your smart device (I say this every time right! Lol, Need to find a fix for that)

Evolution of Music - Pentatonix

Notice how the 90s rocked the most. Although, they could use some help from me with that their scanty 90s list, haba! I am biased, I know, lol!!! 

But then, I loved the songs they selected for the 2000s!! Cee lo Green's Crazy and Outkast's hey ya!!! Oh boy. Their 2000s selection rocked until we got to the girl kissing song..... *no comment*

I went fishing for a comprehensive list of the songs they performed, found it here;

11th century

Salve Regina

1600s

Canon in D – Pachelbel

1800s

Symphony No. 5 – Beethoven

1910s

Danny Boy – Frederic Weatherly

1920s

Old Man River – Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II

1930s

Minnie The Moocher – Cab Calloway

1940s

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – The Andrew Sisters

1950s

I Walk The Line – Johnny Cash

La Bamba – Ritchie Valens

1960s

Stand By Me – Ben E King

Barbara Ann – Beach Boys

I Want To Hold Your Hand – The Beatles

Respect – Aretha Franklin

1970s

ABC – Jackson 5

Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

1980s

Celebration – Kool & The Gang

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey

Thriller – Michael Jackson

1990s

Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer

…Baby One More Time – Britney Spears

Say My Name – Destiny’s Child

I Want It That Way – The Backstreet Boys

2000

Hey Ya! – Outkast

Drop it Like Its Hot – Snoop Dogg

Crazy – Gnarls Barkley (Cee Lo Green)

Hips Don’t Lie – Shakira

Single Ladies – Beyoncé

I Kissed A Girl – Katy Perry

Bad Romance – Lady Gaga

I Gotta Feelin – Black Eyed Peas

2010s

Baby – Justin Bieber

We Found Love – Rihanna

Some Nights – Fun.

Somebody That I Used To Know – Gotye

Gangnam Style – Psy

Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen

Show me the money! - Thurdays #inthelineofduty

I have so many things in my head struggling for attention. It's so crazy. I am driving and something pops up as a topic for the blog, before the end of the day, another one pops up. How do bloggers manage this? I try to calm down and save the thoughts somewhere to be processed later. Some make it; others die before they make it to the top. I think though, that the solution to this would be structure, I have to give a structure to the blog. With Fridays (#90smusic) sorted, I have a thought for Thursdays.

In my walk, I have had many interesting and not so interesting experiences. I believe sharing them would help someone feel better - like, oh so this is not peculiar to me! Yea, I felt that way yesterday when talking to my friend who's a veteran entrepreneur. He mentioned that his accounting was a hot mess for a while. I was surprised and relieved in a way at the same time. For a long time, I would dread the, "what's your monthly/annual turnover" question, because honestly I did not know! *covers face in shame* Lol, I felt like the most unserious entrepreneur on the planet.

Let’s get back to the matter at hand. Thursdays will be tagged #inthelineofduty. Whoop Whoop! Methinks we are making progress. Today, I'll share a quick story about things that the desperation for income can make you do.

The Catering Experience......

Remember when I said as an entrepreneur, you could get so desperate, you want to hawk pure water? I wasn't joking! At a point in time I got really desperate. When you are desperate, your judgment is impaired and you can't think straight. You make decisions for the short term without thinking about the consequences. I needed cash badly. I have this friend, Moji who's always throwing ideas around her head but can't run with them because she has a 9-5. Anyway, on this day I went to see her and we came up with the idea of catering for office parties. My Dad had this cook then, Joe who was very good with packaging take out Chinese amongst other things. We were fired up and agreed to get orders, supervise him and deliver packed meals for people's birthdays and stuff. You know, the office folk like to "wash" everything, Promotions, a new car, birthdays etc, this was going to be great.

At first I thought, where would I get the time, Moji was not available really, but we talked back and forth and concluded that it couldn't be that hard, shebi it is to supervise Joe, what's the big deal really. Anyway, funny thing is, two major jobs practically fell on our laps. A colleague of hers had her birthday coming up and my husband's office folk wanted to do a joint promotion declaration for about 100 people! We close marked our targets, sent in free packed samples to them and got their orders. We had 20 for Moji’s colleague, 100 for my hubby’s office.

The week before, I got Joe to break down the recipe so I could document and buy the right amount of ingredients required. When I bought the Chinese rice, I cooked a few cups to measure exactly how much we needed for 120 people. It was about 3 cups to 5 for decent portions. So I sorted my measurements and passed this on to Joe. I am an engineer at heart; we work with calculations. A lot of preparation went into getting the seasoning right and grilling the chicken in my little oven the night before. At this point, I was already thinking, what have I gotten myself into? Hehe

I went to bed, but left instructions for Joe on how many cups of rice to cook and all. Then I left him to do his thing. I had to get some sleep. That grilling chicken matter was no joke, 8 at a time! Anyways, I woke up at about 5 to get work started on the main things. I had called my sister from another mother, Kike just the night before to ask if she could come round to help, she always comes through for me. By about 8, she was already at my door! I was so happy.

As everything was going on, I went to the store room, to get something and my eyes caught the bag of rice, by my calculation, it should have been almost empty, but here it was with at least 20 cups of rice left in it. Huh! Joe, I called, why’s the rice still remaining? He goes, mummy Ibukun (I so hate to be called that by the way, but hey), rice yen ma to, o ma n wu (the rice will be okay, it will rise). I tried to argue, but if you have worked with all these Togolese or French cooks, you’ll know how temperamental they can get. Already, we were almost on a war path because Joe was sacrificing time for precision. The carrots must be this way, the courgette, that way and all this was doing my head in. We had a deadline! Who cares what shape the carrots are in the sauce, abegy!

The rice was ready around almost 10ish and we started to dish…… Lo and behold, by the 65th plate, it became obvious to us that the rice would not be okay!!!! Yeepa!! Me that I can cry, I just opened tap, straight. My brothers had come around to see how things were going. Leke, the soldier was like Sade, get a grip, think of a solution, you have to stay calm. Calm ke? How? I was just thinking, kai I have disgraced my husband, his colleagues would be like, “this your wife no serious o”. Then my friend Moji, in her office with many women, they would so laugh at her! Thank God for Kike, while I was there panicking, she had gone to mobilize Joe to put the remaining rice on fire.

As soon as it was ready, we had to mix everything together again, so they would be even. By this time I was already getting calls from my friend Moji and my hubby. Here we were still trying to pack the food far away on the mainland and we still had to get to the island in time for lunch. Heo!! Kehinde went to the estate junction to negotiate with and get a cab for me and quickly, Happiness took the 20 for Moji’s colleague straight to their office while we were still packing the 100.

We survived, but it was craaaazy! I doff my hat for caterers. There’s no need to ask if we continued with this side business, heck no!! The Joe sef now is nowhere to be found so we would have been out looking for another cook if we had.

Let the caterers be doing their catering, me I will face my Gift consulting and focus on making it work.

Life Skills Learnt

• You can’t do all and be all. Find what you’re good at and enjoy, put your heart in it and with time (emphasis on time here!), things will work out. 
• Catering is not for Mofolusade! (Lol) 

Activity Vs Progress.....

I have this nasty boil on my right cheek! It's bad enough that I look like a Hyena right now, but even worse is the excruciating pain!! *Sob Sob. I think a boil on the face has like 10 times the effect of a boil anywhere else. I tried to manage it by applying shea butter for sometime, but this stubborn boil just wouldn't budge, so I have been placed on medication and I had to sit at home today. I mean, I really can't show my face outside, not in this hideous state.

I apologize for grossing you out! Look how swollen the whole cheek is. I applied almost a whole jar of Vaseline mixed with Epsom salts. Heard it works like magic. Will see.

I am almost always on the move, because I am a bit of the restless type, so staying home all day for me is huge. I end up feeling sober, because all the thoughts that I have been trying not to entertain, come in like a flood. Even the TV doesn't help much. I think about MONEY!!!! (Oh money, where art thou), the activities of the period, things I need to do and haven't done, the seminars I would like to attend, meetings and so on. Anyways, sober is good sometimes, it helps you face reality.

Last Friday, I met with my accountant, we had our first financial review since adopting Xero. I tell you, that meeting must have contributed to the boil! I need a change and I need it fast. I am almost running a charity, either my prices have to go up or my costs need to come under control. This brings me to the point I want us to ponder on. Does activity equate to progress?

Activity Vs Progress

It is so easy to believe you are making progress just because you get up and leave the house everyday. You never really know if you are making progress if you do not step aside every once in a while to review all these activities.

When we speak about progress though, is it more money in the bank, stronger brand reputation (in terms of more twitter followers or facebook fans), more staff, increased sales? What exactly? Can we have it all, or do we have to conquer one at a time. How do we really measure progress? A good place to start is to ask yourself, am I deriving or delivering value from these activities?To know if you are, here are a few steps you can take;

Define your Objectives in order of priority
Progress is relative. Everybody, deep down inside has that one thing that is so important and overrides other things they want out of life. What things are most valuable to you. Define those things and create a list in order of priority.

One of my main objectives for Trezorlandia is to build a strong brand. It overrides the desire for profits and aggressive growth for now. It's like laying a foundation. I want gifts to become synonymous with Trezorlandia in Nigeria. So any activity, that brings me closer to this is value.

To be a strong brand, Trezorlandia has to survive and be sustainable, so I must make enough money to keep going and not fold up. 

Apart from business objectives and goals, I have life goals as a wife and mother, sister etc. Based on my values which I shared earlier, these roles override any other objective or goal.

Measure each activity or set of activities against the set objectives
Now that you have defined the things that matter most, review your activities to know if you are deriving or delivering value?

I adjusted my trezorlandia tweets for instance, because looking through I realized most of them were mindless. I wasn't really engaging anybody. To build a strong brand I believe you have to interact with your target market and convert them to your brand evangelists.

I delivered a birthday package for a client last Sunday and the recipient was so happy, she sent me this text that made my day. I was set with logistics in place to deliver at a particular time after I had spoken to her earlier that morning, then she called to make a request that altered the plan. I went out of my way to fulfill the request because I want trezorlandia to be about creating memorable experiences. That's who we are, that's what we want to be remembered for. That, to me is value.

Make necessary adjustments
When you do a review, you come out with results that should tell you something. Some activities are just not delivering value! The truth is bitter. They always say, life is short and this is true. See, we are already in September (my birth month! yaay me) more or less. Don't waste your time with activities that do not lead to value. It's time to drop them.

Sometimes, there's the pressure to make money, when I hear the funny sounds coming from my car, I want to just hawk pure water if it'll get me money!! Lol. But this is not in line with my objectives just as some jobs are not. I have learnt to say no to some requests. 

While doing a little research on this topic, I found something interesting on a site called the fastgrowthblog. I want to leave you with it. Editing any part of the text would be doing great injustice, because the author is just so on point. Read and think about it;

 "The effective approach (albeit much harder – physically and mentally) is to focus on progress rather than activity.  To do this, we must – MUST – disconnect from our “problems.”  We must work with them as if they were not ours.We must deal with reality and be completely honest in all aspects of our analysis (one of my favorite quotes is, “All Progress Begins With Honesty”).  It is far better to eliminate activities and over-allocate resources to them, under the premise of “Do one thing, do it well, then do the next thing.”  It requires patience to allow change to occur.  At the risk of using a trite analogy, growth starts “below the surface” and if you don’t tend to it, you’ll never see it.  This approach requires deliberate, focused action, and effective judgment."

 Busy Bee. Source: http://tyrantwache.deviantart.com/

Entrepreneur Tips

• Develop a useful decomposition of higher level goals into measurable, achievable and valuable objectives. You should review this often, it's not a one off. - Value Focused delivery
• Each  Objective should be further decomposed into achievable tasks and the tasks stages properly. Each single-day task should produce clear and measurable impact on your known objective. - Value focused delivery
• Once you define who you are and what you want, it would be clear to you what kinds of jobs to take and what ones to ignore. Choose only activities that will take you to your desired destination. Learn to say NO!
• In anything you do, value delivery is the only thing that matters. Are you delivering value? Are you getting value? These two are important questions.

Now that's progress!

Resources: Value focused delivery , The fast growth blog

You Gotta be..... Des'ree #90smusic

Yaaay! It’s Friday. Not that this makes much of a difference for entrepreneurs though. I can't help it, screaming TGIF is one of the carryover habits from my 9-5 (more like 5:30am – 7pm) days. Besides, work or no work, there’s something exciting about the weekends.

I have decided to introduce some structure to my blog. All that serious talk about setting up structures and systems starts from outlining a plan of action, documenting it and sticking with it. I am putting this to practice in the simplest way right here; Fridays will be my throwback day for sharing music from a time when music made sense, yes! The 90s! I might throw in a few from the new school, but only if it makes sense. We've got Friday sorted; we’ll sort out the other days as we go. Poco a poco…

Before I share my throwback song for today though, I need to give a shout out to +Akpo Siekpe (I look forward to your +1s) +Nkem Eneanya (I see you!, my very first follower) and Mercy Ilevbare!! Apart from Femi Awobiyi and all the other 20 like he said, that I mentioned in my first appreciation post, these two have been consistent in liking and leaving comments on my posts while Nkem went on to click the follow button. You guys can’t imagine what this does for me.  

If you have a blog you’ll be familiar with that feeling you get when you put out a post then go back to check it only to see that oh so dreaded “no comments” at the bottom of the post! Lol. It gets me feeling like, OMG, I am starting to bore folk, oh no! The picture below gives a clue;

So every now and again, when I get an alert that says “New activity on your blog post” I smile, because this makes me feel like maybe, just maybe I am making some sense. Thanks guys!!

Mofolusade Loves ya.

The song for the day is “You gotta be” by Des’ree

If the inserted video doesn't open on your device, here's the link below;

You Gotta be

Enjoy….

Listen as your day unfolds 
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted
Don't be ashamed to cry 

You gotta be
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day

Herald what your mother said
Readin' the books your father read
Try to solve the puzzles in your own sweet time
Some may have more cash than you
Others take a different view
My oh my heh, hey

You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day

Don't ask no questions, it goes on without you
Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace
The world keeps on spinning
You can't stop it, if you try to
This time it's danger staring you in the face
Oh oh oh Remember

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
My oh my heh, hey, hey

You gotta be
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day

You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day

Source: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thatssoraven/yougottabe.htm

Don't sweat the small stuff and its all the small stuff!

I finally found a way to keep my sanity with this blogging matter. Guest blogging! How did I never think of that? Hehe. Life is good. I have a ready made post for tonight, so I am off to bed early, *Doing the azonto* 

Erin Magazine Article by Tanwa Sulaiman........

Tanwa Sulaiman is a UK trained Dental Nurse and publisher of a dental health and lifestyle magazine called Erin magazine. Erin means smile as she likes to say. She has a column tagged "Diary of a Dental Nurse....". Today's post is culled from her recent write up. I found it inspiring, I hope you do too.

Enjoy.

I sit here with a headache and at a loss for what to write…okay, yeah, something just popped into my head. Let me tell you about a tape I’m listening to titled – “Don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all about the small stuff.” By Richard Carison PH.D

One rainy Saturday morning in Lagos, I went on one of my usual dental clinic visits; I like to check on the clinics after my exercises to see how they are faring. So, I also popped into my favorite book store to buy a certain book titled – No excuses by Brain Tracy recommended by this kind dentist whose clinic I visited. I didn't get the one I specifically went there for…but I came out with 3 books I didn't plan for and 2 sets of tape, yes! You heard right – tapes! 

(Tapes?! Seriously. Who still listens to tapes? Tanwa is in a class of her own)

You see, my car – I call him Josh (This girl names cars too!); is relatively old but I totally love him. So Josh has a tape player and I’m not ready to make the switch to CDs. So I bought this tape. I do have a lot of tapes in my car and I have a Walkman too and I’m proud of them, thank you!

So basically, listening to this particular tape helps me re-affirm some of my life’s philosophies and teaches me new ones which can be helpful with living and working in a place like our great country Nigeria (I’m totally Proudly Nigerian though – stress and all)

I can’t share all the helpful nuggets of the tape because of space constraint (Tanwa, who said anything about space constraints here *sticks out tongue*), but will share some, I’m sure you can get the CD or the book at any good bookstore ( I bought the last tape in case you are still old school like me)

• Cut yourself some slack; don’t be too hard on yourself.
• Fill your heart with Love – it’s much easier really
• Look for the extraordinary in the ordinary – there’s beauty everywhere and in everything  - no matter how gloom it might seem.
• Be kind to people and don’t have to tell anyone about it. Help at least someone smile.
• Would it matter a year from now? Ask yourself that when you find yourself worrying.
• Basically, ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff because, really, it’s all small stuff’
  

So enjoy every day, treasure yourself and each other, be grateful for what you have and make the most of now…

Thank you Tanwa!! Don't mind my insets, I just couldn't resist. 

The Marketplace......

Shhhhh...... Don't wake the boys. I have some peace and quiet now, here's my chance. Its been a while since I sat at this computer to put out a meaningful post. Not even sure if today's will turn out to be meaningful. I am so tired, I just feel like I am rambling. I think I am!

Maybe I should just type Wizkid on the title again and generate as many views as the last Wizkid post. That post about Wizkid's Porsche Panamera got me so many views it was unbelievable! Don't know what worked, the mention of Wizkid or the Porsche Panamera? People can like amebo gist shaa! I refuse to bow to pressure. Focus Sade, Focus........ An Entrepreneur's Journey. 

I took some pictures in the market a few weeks back when I was trying to put together my entry for a business competition. I never got around to submitting, but I'll share my thoughts here and hope it serves as meaningful and useful information.

The marketplace

How do we define the marketplace in simple terms? It is basically a place where buyers and sellers interact. Yes, Non? Share your own definition please.

In the past it was restricted to a physical location, but now alternative mediums (battled here a bit, between media and mediums, the latter sounded better) have emerged that are not restricted to a physical space. People conclude transactions without even meeting face to face.

I attempt to describe the three main elements of a marketplace below (bear in mind, I am no professor, at least not yet J)

Buyer - There's someone out there looking for a product or service that meets their specifications and matches their budget at a particular point in time. The price he/she is willing to pay today changes over time, based on access to information, resources and level of desperation for that product/service.

I get better bargains when I am not under pressure to buy an item or try a service. When I was much younger, my dad would make us comb almost the whole market and negotiate with most of the sellers the day before we come back to buy stuff for the house. His point was, we make better buying decisions that way. Sometimes I used to fear we would get beaten up by the traders, lol!

Seller - There's another person out there who has a product or service on offer and is looking for that person who is willing to pay the right price for it at a particular point in time. Again, this "right price" changes with time as determined by the market.

There was this plantain seller on my street one time who would hike her prices so bad no one would buy from her. Now here's the crazy bit, even after the plantain got all black and was about to go rotten, she would still demand the original price for the plantain o! How now?! People like her are outliers, exceptions to the "right price" rule.

Medium of transaction - This could be a physical store or space where products are displayed. It could also be a virtual space that a buyer can access via the internet or a mobile application that allows the buyer to make a decision whether to purchase or pass.

I have never met a couple of the clients I have done business with. We conclude via email, blackberry or phone and money is exchanged via online banking and their goods are couriered to the location. Shikena.

Here's my amateur picture of a physical marketplace with captions showing what could be going on in the minds of the participants.

Enjoy...... (or not *covers face)

My amateur attempt at picture editing, hehe

Entrepreneur Tips

• As an entrepreneur, your success is determined by your ability to find that person(s) who is willing and able to pay the right price for your product or service at the right time. Before you develop any product or service, start with that person in mind.
• Times have changed, you do not need a physical space to carry out transactions. If you have limited resources (we all do, anyway), think outside the box for creative ways to give your customers access to your product or service.
• You might have more resources than others, maybe enough to get you a fancy physical location, do not ignore opportunities to create other access channels to your product or service. 

Tired like crazy!

The party is over and the picture below describes me right now! Well, replace the suit with my native attire and head gear, which I have yanked off (couldn't wait)!

Goodnight......

Back to blogging about "entrepreneuring" when I recover.

Why do you exist?

HelloJ.

My chief whip took ill and was hospitalized for some days, typhoid fever. Now he’s much better and back on my case, hence I am sitting here trying to put something down.

Nobody warned me that blogging would be this much work! Oh, had I known *places hands over head*. Lol!!  Whenever I feel like quitting though, I get some encouragement from people like Femi Awobiyi (yea, had to mention, this is my space!, hehe) and so I muster the strength to continue even when I have loads of preset excuses for myself such as;

• The boys are on holiday
• My mum’s turning 60 and retiring and I’m the one planning the party, owanbe style
• I am just tired, simple
• Lagos traffic is too much to deal with already
  
  And the winner is……..
• After all, nobody’s paying me to do this, so wharahell *covers face* true naa, I’m human, sometimes I feel that way. Like who sent me sef, are they giving out prices for blogging?

There, I have exposed my innermost thoughts to the entire “An entrepreneur’s journey” reading community! 

Back to where we left off, before Black Men United……

2012/2013 My assigned mentor and the experience…….

I was assigned to Mr. Weyinmi Egbe, an efiko of life! Lol. At first, reaching him was a task and I cried out to or chief mentor for help, but when we got down to business, I was bombarded. I became a reader by force, first Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and then the art of influence by Chris Widener. These are good books that I'll recommend any day.

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell   (found this one on Konga.com)

The Art Of Influence - Chris Widener 

My first assignment was a soul searching one and the main output from the exercise was clear values for me and for Trezorlandia. I found something online that helped me develop them called the “mountains and valleys” chart. It takes you through a process where you highlight the high points in your life and the low points over a period. You draw up a chart that helps you see the things that are important to you, measured against set criteria. They then suggest set values based on an assessment of your highs and lows. I would have shared the link, but can't seem to find it. if you are interested though, just do a search for "mountains and valleys" chart.

Here is a summary of the assignments I had to do, I think they are worth doing if you haven't done them before;

Assignment 1 – Come up with 7 points each on your personal values, and core values of your company.
Assignment 2 – Prepare your concise mission and vision statement that can fit into a twitter post.
Assignment 3 – Identify what you think are requirements for attaining expertise in your business and develop a written plan on how you can work towards it.
Assignment 4 – Prepare to discuss 5 things about you business that you believe are not commonly known
Assignment 5 – Organize and set up a system manual or automatic where you capture the information listed below;

• Relationship Information – Personal information about the customers 
• Business information – Facts you have learned about your customer and his / her business 
• Action items – To do lists and future actions 

I’ll share the seven values I defined at the end of the first assignment below,

	Personal		Company
1.	Relationships	I am committed to God first, my family and friends. I cherish relationships and believe they have a great impact on who I am today.	Respect	We will treat all our customers, suppliers, shareholders and the community in which we operate with the highest degree of dignity, equality and trust. This drives our customer service.
2.	Empowerment	I am very particular about adding value rather than being a liability to my society.	Motivation	We seek to develop a highly motivated and diverse workforce because we believe happy staff translates to happy customers.
3.	Personal Development	Continuous learning is very important to me. I loathe stagnation and constantly seek ways to re-invent myself.	Re-invention/Dynamism	We will not be static; we will continuously seek ways to improve our offerings.
4.	Work-life balance	In my pursuit for excellence, maintaining a healthy balance between work and life is a goal.	Passion	We will put our heart and mind in all that we do.
5.	Giving	Helping as many as I possibly can.	Accountability/	We will be accountable to the government of the town and country in which we operate, to our stakeholders and to our community at large.
6.	Humor	I love humor, I maintain my sanity by looking for humor in most situations	Integrity	No cutting corners, we will maintain a transparent business and we will do what we say.
7.	Sharing	I love sharing and exchanging ideas.No hoarding!	Collaboration	We will explore opportunities to partner on projects where synergies exist, either in the short run or long run. The keyword is "Co-competition"

I already had a Mission statement before the program but because I was made to revisit it, I realized how inadequate it was. With the help of a friend who runs a marketing consulting business called Mcafan (me and all these my friends ehn! Hehe, it wasn't pro bono though, trust me) we re-worked the mission and vision statements and came up with these;

Mission (Why we exist)

To nurture relationships through the creation of unforgettable memories, using gifts, unique experiences and exceptional service.

Vision (Our Aspiration)

To become the most professional and innovative gifts services and solutions company in Nigeria.

He also prepared a corporate profile;

Here - Trezorlandia Corporate Profile 2013

Source: http://conversations.marketing-partners.com/2010/09/people-buy-why-you-do-it/

Entrepreneur Tips

• “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. And what you do serves as the proof of what you believe.” - See more at: http://conversations.marketing-partners.com/2010/09/people-buy-why-you-do-it/#sthash.YUekMeLL.dpuf
  Found this quote online recently and thought it made loads of sense. It's an excerpt from Simon Sinek's "Golden Circle theory". Follow the link to read more, very insightful and interesting read.
  
• People deal with people, not just companies, so you must set very high standards for your personal conduct and cascade that to the core values you will produce for your company. I stole this from my mentor's notes to me.
  
• As a leader or visionary, the values you live buy greatly influence the direction of your company. As the company expands however, it is easy to lose sight of these values. Document them, and spread them (cascade), all of your activities should be driven by these values.
  
• Your mission and vision statements are not just words you throw around to sound intelligent. They must have meaning and be easily understood by even a toddler. As Albert Einstein said, If you cannot explain it simply, then you do not understand it well enough.
  
• Be an Expert - Simply knowing your products and service just does not cut it. What makes your personal service invincible is being an expert and being recognized as one. #stolen from my mentor's notes again, hehe.

You Will Know - Black Men United #90smusic

It's Friday! Let your hair down and relax.



Friday | Forward this Picture

This Friday, there will be no entrepreneurship tips, no story either, just a flashback to the 90s when music was music. I double dare anyone to disagree *cocks gun*. Lol. But seriously, I feel we had a great line up of artists then, with great depth and content.

In case you need a reminder, I have inserted a video from Black Men United's You Will Know. This song was one of the songs I loved so much way back then. It made me proud to be black! I wonder where all these guys are now.

Enjoy!

Click the link below if you the embedded video fails to load on your device;

Black Men United - You will know

Mmm...hmm...hmm...mmm...hmm...
Yeah, yeah

When I was a young boy
I had visions of fame
They were wild and they were free
They were blessed with my name

And then I grew older
And I saw what’s to see
That the world is full of pain
And my dreams they left me

And then I got stronger
Inside of the pain
That’s when I picked up the pieces
And I regained my name

And I fought hard, y’all
To call by my place
And right now you could ask me
And it all seems in vain

[Your dreams ain’t easy] Your dreams ain’t easy
[You just stick by your plan] You just stick by your plan
[Go from boys to men] Go from boys to men
[You must act like a man] You gotta act like a man
[When it gets hard, y’all] When it gets hard, y’all
[You just grab what you know] Got what you know
[Stand up tall and don’t you fall] And my background sing

You will know [You will know], yeah...eah...
[You will know]
[You will know] You will know, you will know
[You will know]

And I know you’re cryin’
‘Cause it’s all in his vein
And the things you want you can’t have
It just all went away

But life ain’t over
Hoo...hoo...
Just grab the winds and make demands
And the vibe will take you far

[Your dreams ain’t easy] Your dreams ain’t easy
[You just stick by your plan] Stick by your plan, boy
[Go from boys to men] Go from boys to men
[You must act like a man] I know it ain’t easy
[When it gets hard, y’all] it gets hard sometime
[You just grab what you know] Yes, it does
[Stand up tall and don’t you fall] Stand up tall, don’t you fall, and you will know, yeah

[You will know]
[You will know] Ah...ah...ah... (You will know)
[You will know] Hey, there’s no doubt about it
[You will know] Hey, you will know

[You will know] You will know
[You will know] Hey...ey...hey...
[You will know] You will know, yeah
[Oh, you will know] Hey...

[Your dreams ain’t easy] Your dreams ain’t easy
[You just stick by your plan] Stick by your plans
[Go from boys to men] Boys to men
[You must act like a man] You must act like a man
[When it gets hard, y’all] It ain’t hard, yeah
[You just grab what you know] Grab what you know
[Stand up tall and don’t you fall] Oh...oh...oh...

[Your dreams ain’t easy]
[You just stick by your plan] Hey...hey...yeah
[Go from boys to men] Boys to men
[You must act like a man] I know it ain’t easy
[When it gets hard, y’all]
[You just grab what you know] Yeah...
[Stand up tall and don’t you fall] Come on D and sing this song

[You will know] Yeah...
[You will know] You will know
[You will know]
[You will know] Hey...

[You will know]
[You will know]
[You will know]
[Oh, you will know] 

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/b/blackmenunitedlyrics/youwillknowlyrics.html