GUEST ARTICLE - 6 TIPS FOR STARTING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS IN NIGERIA - PART 1

Hola Folks!

 

Below is a guest article I did in Poize Magazine. Please read and enjoy! thanks.

 

Business in Nigeria can be a tricky thing and even trickier when you are a woman. Apart from the regular worries like start-up capital, location and how to choose the right playing field to enter, there are other things you must tackle. Things like: how to juggle a business and a career, how to have a life without losing yourself, navigating the waters of sexual harassment, and remaining true to yourself in a country that forces definitions on you that you don’t want or care for....

 

 

Read more at

 

 

http://www.poizemagazine.com/2013/07/23/6-tips-for-business-in-nigeria/

GUEST POST: STANDING OUT AT WORK FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS

Happy Monday everyone!

Please help me give a warm welcome for our guest blogger Kunle Adebayo aka Dr. Kae a budding human capital development and brand consultant with a passion for social welfare and community development. In his spare time, Kunle volunteers at an adult teaching facility and is an advocate for developing individuals and communities in order to foster nationwide development. He tweets via @doctorkae and he works with us right here at insiteful solutions. He truly is doing great things in Abuja. Please Enjoy!

 

Be it the private sector or public sector, one of the major fears of Nigerians is getting laid off work. Many organizations run appraisals to check the relevance and productivity of their staff, and it is during these periods that individuals run around trying to get the favour of their superiors towards a positive appraisal. Some people actually believe that the only way they can remain relevant and indispensable to their organization is by keeping certain work-secrets and ensuring that no one can handle their responsibilities as well as they can. However this often backfires spectacularly because no one can hoard information indefinitely without having their colleagues come after them. Being relevant to our work or society doesn’t mean that we should only work towards achieving or completing tasks that are expected of us in our place of work or in the society, it should also include self-actualization - achieving those personal set goals, dreams, and being who we want to be. We should be able to improve on ourselves individually, because the truth be told, whatever goes on inside of us determines greatly what comes out; if we try to improve on every aspects of our lives positively, we would notice that without even placing more efforts on completion of tasks, we would be increasing productivity since all will be done wilfully with the help of the inner freedom and force.

In making ourselves relevant at work, there are certain steps/methods we can use to achieve this, some of which are but not limited to:

·        Developing yourself beyond your technical abilities

Looking out at the market these days, everyone seems to have the same set of technical skills – we are brand designers, we are advertising gurus, we are office administrators, we are sales people…blah blah blah. This is the reason why it is important that we develop our soft-skills and also let the positive side of our personality shine through at work. We are not all perfect but we all have inherent strengths and positive traits that we should develop.

 

·        Being A Team Player

It is greatly advised that we try to collaborate with other members of our team, by sharing knowledge and information which not only improves productivity for the tasks at hand but also improves our knowledge base. By sharing information we get to find out some things from others which we do not know. Being a team player also means having the ability to blend and adapt to any situation which is a very attractive traits both employers and customers appreciate.

 

·        Staying Up-To-Date

With the world that we live in today, staying up-to-date is highly essential. Something new is invented and discovered in the world every day and there are new ways to having tasks done. Through the use of our numerous devices which connect us to the internet and millions of other people of the world, we get to update ourselves on new inventions and ideas which develop us and make us more productive.

 

·        Adding Value

It is expected of every relationship - work and human- to add value. every employer expects employees to add value to the organization. If you are not adding value, then quite frankly, you become dead wood and what happens to dead wood…yep you guessed right. Setting up personal goals and organizing our work to maximize creative output will not only maximize the end-results, but also keep us focused throughout. The days of working for a mere salary is long-gone, modern employers wish to see impacting results.

Being indispensable to any organization requires hard work and diligence. The above tips are a few effective ways of achieving this. it is also important to note that, by trying to improve ourselves individually we will also be improving our productivity in our work place and God forbid the worst happens and you find yourself in a position where your job is no longer safe, you would have done enough to have employers running to come hire you

MY WEEKLY GIFT TO YOU FOLKS - GUEST ARTICLES!!!

Afternoon Everyone! Its another beautiful gorgeous Monday in the beautiful city of Abuja and I and my interns are hard at work already. Now one of the goals we had this week was publishing and marketing posts by guests writers including those written by our very own staff Kevin and Kunle (round of applause and drinks all around) we hope to have more posts coming in from Simi and the delightful Ma'Reke as well as articles, news pieces, videos, and links to blogs about relevant human resource management and business management news around the world. So do not forget to check in with us daily so you do not miss out on anything.

 

One last thing, a lot of people have asked me to start recruitment services and business support services for people that want to come into or relocate back into Nigeria because apparently, it is hard to find reputable firms to work with. What do you guys think? Please feel free to comment or send us an email at info@insitefulsolutionsconsult.com

FOR CEOS ONLY - EIGHT QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE YOU HIRE ANYONE

 
Getting employees is no joke but even worse is when you hire the wrong workers that end up eating into your own productivity time and add to rather than subtract from the stress that comes from running a business

Anyone who has ever started a business, particularly if they’ve bootstrapped the start-up, has experienced a major moment of indecision: When do you hire more people? please read more about this topic at the link below

Read more: http://business.time.com/2013/08/01/8-questions-to-ask-before-you-hire-more-employees/#ixzz2cFDDm8bU

JUST FOR CEOS - HOW TO CREATE A FUN AND UPBEAT WORK ENVIROMENT

Dealing with the loss of a job and trying to find a job recently been the center of attention. Both of those things are extremely stressful and hard to deal with, but it is important to remember the stress that comes along with maintaining a successful career. 

Here are eight suggestions on how to keep your office upbeat while maintaining a professional atmosphere...read more

http://topconsultingstlouis.blogspot.com/2012/06/create-fun-and-upbeat-work-environment.html

 

GUEST ARTICLE JJC - Series 2 - job search- How to Find Company Emails and Websites

Happy Monday everyone!

Please help me give a warm welcome for our guest blogger Ma’Reke, a budding career and management consultant with a passion for connecting people to volunteer and internship positions. Via the twitter handle @NaijaVolunteers, their amazing team have placed dozens of young Nigerians in jobs right across Naija including the fabulous Kunle who works with us right here at insiteful solutions. She truly is doing great things in Naija. Enjoy!

Whether you want to introduce yourself, send a cover letter, make a pitch or raise awareness about your new product, email addresses and websites always come in handy. I can throw caution to the ‘near’ winds and say that the website and e-mail aspect of technology would not quickly go out of fashion. The world would still be checking websites and sending e-mails for a long time. However, though everybody is quick to tell you about his website and links to his social media profiles, not many people hand you their email address just because you need it. In fact, the rule is that the needy side is the email address-giving side.(Feel free to share exceptions to this rule via comments)How do you find a website? It is quite easy! With more and more attention being paid to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), digital marketing and web statistics, every website yearns to be found. Head over to a search engine (like Google, Bing, etc) and type [company name]+[country] or just type whatever you need and look through the search results to pick the one that looks like the website not just news about what you searched for. Look for results with links in these formats (if the company is Ishall Limited): ishall.com, ishall.net, ishallltd.ng, ishall.org

Alright, it is confirmed you are on the right website but how do you find an email address? Look around for a Contact Us tab this time. Click it when you see it. You should find an email address for general correspondence and/or a contact form.

YIKES!!!! THIS COMPANY IS HIDING THEIR EMAIL ADDRESSES!!! NOW WHAT?

• Start by snooping around the website’s press releases or News/Media/Events section. For instance, if they announced an event, there would probably be contact phone number and email address included. Still can’t find any? Check for a Resources tab for downloadable documents. Download a brochure or other material and check the beginning and last pages. You may also want to scan the entire document, if you still do not find. No luck? Search the web! Has the organization been in the newspaper websites? If they have been, you may get an email address from them announcing an event or Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. Subscribe for the organization's newsletter on the website. You may get a feedback email acknowledging that you just signed up, from a valid email address you can send mails to. If you receive the acknowledgement mail from a mail you cannot reply to or an automatic mail (something like donotreply@blabla.com or automaticresponse@bloblo.net ), do not despair. As the company sends you newsletters, you are very likely to find an email address or two in some-with contact names as well.

• Apply for work! Okay, this is absolutely worst case-but it can work. Check the Careers or Join Us or Work with us or Get Involved tab of the website and apply for a position you qualify for. What next? A contact from the organization would send you an e-mail (sometimes in addition to a call or SMS) long listing or short listing you for interview or some other assessment. And there you have it! I am laughing at myself right now so feel free to laugh at me too. However, if this works for you, remember to testify to us.

1-2-3-4-5-and it is see you next time! No worries, I have not run out of ideas. God strengthen and bless your hustle. 

Watch out for the next edition in this series coming soon!!

Still rooting for you!

Ma’Reke  [linked to http://twitter.com/thetytestudent]

ChiomaTanwaOkereke (Ma’Reke) is a budding career and management consultant, research & development geek, tech enthusiast, and digital strategist. She unravels advice, cheap and free tools especially useful for career newbies at thetytestudent.wordpress.com and leads the amazing Volunteer in Nigeria network (volunteerinnigeria.wordpress.com).

TALK BACK - OFFICE HORROR STORIES

In the article "Why Your Boss May Start Sweating The Small Stuff" TIME writer Julie Rawe examined how more companies are training managers to be more sensitive to their employees' feelings. Here is a selection of what readers cited as their biggest pet peeves about their boss or workplace.

From a food sales representative:

Beyond the checking of the BlackBerry—how about my boss writing emails during my annual review! I stopped talking and he looked up at me like I was dumb for not continuing. He starts waving his hand, gesturing, while telling me urgently to "Go on." What is that about? Not to mention his phone-answering. During a meeting he was sitting in on, with one of my biggest customers, he picked up the phone and made a call!

But the last, and just most annoying, of all, he will walk into my tiny cubicle, not paying attention to what I am doing—oftentimes when I am on the phone, mid-sentence with a customer—and whack me on the arm to get my attention!

From a supervisor at a sports venue:

One of the employees that I supervise was reprimanded by me, then later again by our boss. Since I had already handled the situation, I asked our boss how she learned of his misdeed. She said not to worry about it. This happened a few more times. One day, I passed by her office to find her listening on an intercom. She had bugged our offices. Morale plummeted immediately and took another hit when our union did nothing.

From an industrial-products entrepreneur:

Your article struck a painful chord. I worked with two partners for over 30 years. They had started the company together—but with my help—before I was able to join them on a full-time basis 3 years later. Together, we built a struggling business into a $33 million success.

On the day we finally sold the company and were walking out the door, the two of them stopped, turned to one another, and hugged. These were guys I'd worked, sweated, planned, laughed and cried with for over three decades. They were good guys. And on every other occasion, they acted as if I were a full partner. But in that precise moment, I knew where I had always stood.

Lonely? Three years later, the feeling still hasn't left. The power of small signals? You'd better believe it.

From a corporate communications director:

To approach my boss with even a simple question is to be subjected to incredible rudeness, unmistakable signals that what I need to discuss just doesn't matter—at all. During such encounters, he sighs, loudly and often; gets a slack-jawed, glaze-eyed expression just 15 to 20 seconds into the conversation; makes sounds like "ughh, ughh" to seem engaged; and asks no questions, but inevitably lets you know the "meeting" is over by either picking up documents to read or turning completely around to read e-mails on his PC ... Ironic how such "micro" inequities have such a HUGE demoralizing effect on employee morale. I always trudge away from his desk totally disgusted.

From a software course developer:

When my boss is here, there's a tension that permeates everything. Your breath catches in your chest and just sticks there for the entire day—no heartburn or reflux medicine can remove the feeling! The man never recognizes anyone for a job well done, yet he never yells at anyone for screwing up. He rarely ever cracks a smile or laughs, but he doesn't yell. It's almost like he's a robot, an automaton that lives to sit in his office and go over minute details of things people will never see or read. He's not married, doesn't have any children, and he has no interest in knowing the names of anyone's spouses or children. I'm not sure if there's anything called "positive personality-in-a-can" but if there was, he would be the first person I would recommend use it!

culled from http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1174815,00.html

 

Got your own office horror story and want to share it? Please send it down to info@insitefulsolutionsconsult.com and it will be published anonymously. We’ll also share free advice and tips on how to deal with the situation.

JOB HUNTING - IS YOUR CV WORKING FOR YOU OR AGAINST YOU?

Good day Readers,

for all my Nigerian readers, happy belated democracy day!!! I know we are going thru a lot but the fact that we live in a time that encourages free speech, writing, and gatherings is enough to celebrate this holiday!!

I was thinking yesterday about a vacancy I recently posted online. I still cannot believe some of the responses I got. CVs written so badly I couldn’t get past the first sentence, rude email addresses; hostile language through out the CV, and long rambling personal statements. So many people were disqualified before I even had the opportunity to know whether I could consider them for the job because their CVs were so horrible.

You may be at home right now wandering why you are not getting called back for interviews and it could be a simple reason of your CV not making it past the secretary's desk, much less passing HR's scrutiny and here are 22 reasons why:

• A recruiter,  manager or HR manager can’t get the gist of you and your story in less than 10 seconds
• You can’t stand to look at your own résumé because you dislike it so much.
• It is loaded with buzz words and meaningless words you copied from the Internet.
• Your CV looks like a template.
• Your CV is longer than two pages and you have only worked in 2-3 places.
• It doesn’t sound authentic – like you’re a real person who solves real problems.
• Your CV contains lies of any variety – big or little.
• Your CV contains exaggerated job titles.
• Your CV doesn’t showcase your key successes, achievements and accomplishments.
• Your CV doesn’t integrate a present-future focus along with your past employment record.
• Your CV looks like 2500 other résumés in the pile.
• Your CV doesn’t sound like you.
• Your CV lacks a flow and good organization.
• Your CV reads like a job description.
• Your CV is unattractive and in some cases, downright difficult to read.
• Your CV has a boring account of your work history.
• Your CV doesn’t provide direct evidence (proof) as to why your qualifications warrant an interview.
• Your CV contains errors (One of the worst offences).
• Your CV doesn’t represent you with excellence in your absence.
• Your CV gives the reader reasons not speak with you.
• Your CV doesn’t exemplify the very best of you and your amazing brand.


• Your CV doesn’t generate any action for you.

Culled from http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/2012/05/does-your-r%C3%A9sum%C3%A9-suck-22-things-to-consider.html

So darling readers, going thru the above points, did any of them jump out at you that you may be committing one or more of these offences on YOUR CV? If your answer is yes, it's time to redraft your CV and do let me know if you need professional advice, I'm always happy to help!

FOR FEMALE MANAGERS - TOPS TIPS FOR MANAGING GENERATION Y EMPLOYEES

In the last few years, a significant portion of Generation Y  has entered into the labour market and like many of us who have worked with or managed workforces in the last 5 years, we have noticed something: this crop of employees is unique being that generationY are both high-maintenance and usually high-performance.

Gen Y employees are known to be excellent team-players, multitaskers, and innovators. However, they may also seen as tricky to managing and self serving when unmotivated in a job. That is why the manager’s role in the workplace has ever increasing importance on the Millenials’ retention and performance.... read more

http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2011/10/26/how-to-manage-young-professional-women-5-tips-for-female-supervisors/

Succeeding In A Small Business - Take Care Of The Details

I can't count how many times I've met entrepreneurs (myself included) who feel like they must make a certain amount of money before they decide to formalise their business operations. After losing out on a couple of major jobs, I respected myself and re-branded. Why? Because just like you would never go shopping without a list, you should not be in business without a plan!! If you have made even one hundred thousand naira profit from your business idea, I implore you starting this weekend to take the following actions:

 1. Register your business - Look for a lawyer and register your business. Did you know cannot access certain funding and opportunities if your not registered with CAC? Now you do so go find a good lawyer and register your business.

 2. Brand your company - You can carve a niche for yourself as a consultant in your field but today start thinking about the services you want to provide Nigeria within the next fifty years and create a business name and logo. Hint: if you're stuck, go online and check out names/logos of companies doing what you want to do so you can create generate ideas in order to create your own unique brand

 3. Create a business and marketing plan - You will not succeed if you are jack of all trades unless you are a handyman. Decide on at least one service you'd like to do. Research what is available already in the market and find a way to do your thing differently. When this is done, create a 5 year business and marketing plan. Learn more about doing this here https://www.dropbox.com/s/0r93sfygdd5yudb/BUSINESS%20PLAN%20FORMAT%20003.doc

 4. Hire at least an intern - I have learnt the hard way that I can not be in ten places at once but you don't have too. Starting today, keep your eyes open for a young woman/man that can help you achieve your goals and objectives who is waiting to serve or just finished school. Set aside a stipend each month to cater for them and build a weekly plan of action for them. Hint: don't think you must do 9am - 5pm and kill your intern in the name of saving a naira. If you need them to work 12 hours a day, stick to that and work out a plan that is right for your business and interns. If you'd like help setting up an internship programme, please feel free to write me at insitefulsolutionsconsult@gmail.com

 5. Use your smart phone smartly - you may not be ready to get a website but you can open a twitter account or group on your blackberry.

 6. Get a mentor - find someone who is not risk adverse and beg if you have to so that they will find time in their busy schedule to provide you advice and listen to your problems. Even if this happens for 2 hours a month, if you receive sound advice, it will make a big difference before the year runs out.

 Ok readers, these are my top six tips for ensuring you increase your profit and build your business within the next seven months. Follow them and I guarantee success! If you need any help, please do not hesitate to contact me at insitefulsolutionsconsult@gmail.com Have a great evening everybody!