One Best Skill a Graduate Should Master to Overcome Mediocrity



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When a political leader visited our community to talk to youths, I was called to give suggestions.

But I wasn't prepared.

A man who didn't finish secondary school--but who prepared--gave great suggestions.

He could reason faster than me.

I started learning from there.

*If you're asked to enumerate functions of government, can you enumerate 3 now? If a teacher in your class ask you to define government, can you define it well now?

It's difficult because you didn't prepare, right?

Ability to offer solutions and smart suggestions at the right time is a valuable skill.

To begin to develop this skill, create a list of challenges your people or your community is facing.

Create a list of questions people can ask.

Be used to practising to explain or enumerate a list.

Here are 3 questions of focus:

1. For graduates with interest in sport

What are the major challenges facing Nigerian Super Eagles?

Why is swimming neglected in most states of the federation?

Why are we not taking advantage of basketball for national development?

2. For graduates with interest in climate change (green house)

How can we stop people from cutting trees for fuel?

How can we make cooking gas very cheap for people in our community?

How can we recycle plastic wastes?

3. For graduates with interest in environmental health

How can we make our community and water ways clean?

In addition, if you hear of any debate club in your city or town join and become a member as it will help broaden your mind and make you sharp.

I know personal skills are important; I focus on learning and thinking.

Through communication skills and constructive criticism youths should pay attention to their communities to hold their political leaders accountable.

Angela Yvonne Davis, an American Marxist, feminist political activist and author, said:

“I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever, but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement.”

2.

He answers questions correctly in our class.

So I ask him:

"How can I easily retain more information in my memory?"

He tells me and invites me to join their reading group.

I join. We meet 5pm after school.

One member can define hundreds of English words accurately.

He says he learns one new vocabulary everyday following the advice a literature teacher, a youth corps member, gives.

One month later in the group I learn that words are sources of knowledge.

If you focus on learning new words everyday,

you'll notice that you don't have to attend classes to be intelligent.

You don't have to read many books.

If you understand words, it's easy to understand books.

But I have to ask him before he tells me the secret.

If you don't ask, it's assumed that you know.

How many times do you ask those ahead of you to tell you how they get there?

Your success sometimes depends on the quality of a question you ask yourself or someone.

You need to ask a special question that helps for you to have special knowledge that helps.

Ask people who are good at doing what you want to be good at doing.

Questions open doors of knowledge that transform the world.

Jesus says "Ask and it will be given unto you" (Matthew 7:7).

The #ForefrontWriter, Maren John Mafuyai

Okay

16. Practise public speaking.

As my tutoring business advances, I initiate programs such as quiz and spelling bee where I address my learners and their sponsors. To show I'm the best, I write a list or a topic and a short bio or intro and rehearse. Doing this aids my memory to process information so I don't struggle during presentation.

If you want to address people, commit yourself to this practice and you won't fail to perform excellently.

17. Agree that reading financial books can save your life.

Before, I couldn't invest N30,000 let alone N1million. My money went to clothing, drinks and friends. After reading financial books, however, I know how to invest money.

In the period of inflation and economic recession, business or investment is a key because money can be lost in savings. But you can never know this unless you're financially-intelligent.

Reading financial books is worth it.

18. Have a prayer lifestyle.

In mid 2022, I discovered secret of success in Mark 11:24. "Whatever you ask for in prayer", the verse said, "believe that you have received it and it will be yours."

I scheduled a personal prayer session where I commit my desires to prayer.

As I indulge in this prayer, I found business ideas, made business expansion, achieved good health, good income and so much more.

This is something I will never regret doing in my life.

19. Have low expectation.

If you serve as an employee, have low expectation of salary income and salary increment. Similarly, if you start a business, have low expectation of customers or sales. And the result? You won't give up early because you will have contentment. In the word of Warren Buffett, the oracle of Omaha: "The secret to happiness is having low expectation." When you refuse to have high expectation in what you do, you can easily become rich.

20. Tell God to remember all the good things you have done and reward you for it.

I know all the good things I've been doing since I know my left and right. But instead of leaving these deeds unannounced, I remembered what Nehemiah told God in Nehemiah 5:19.

"Remember, O my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it", he said.

I tell God to remember all the good things I've done and reward me for them.

Today, I can point at the results of telling God that: business success, good health, cashflow, career success, unlimited favor, etc.

If you tell your fellow men to remember all the good things you have done for them, some of them will feel to attend to you and favor you the best way they can. Why not God?


30.

I received an unexpected phone call from a client telling me this:

"Thank you so much Sir. My son can read well. May God bless you."

I realized God has already blessed me.

At the time, from working in a tiny shop, I had a classroom and offer more learning skills and knowledge.

The following principles help me:

Unless you're unemployed, maintain your work while maintaining your business so you can afford more risks.

Make it clear that you're a trust worthy person set to satisfy your clients.

To eliminate doubts, don't hesitate to tell people how client A or B appreciate your services.

Point at the proof that you're the best.

If you're in a kind of a business like mine where your client has to pay you first before you getting the job done, obey this principle:

Never abuse trust.

Making it in good business isn't crunching numbers unless you're a trust-abuser.

To avoid trust abuse, give your clients excellent service.

Give your clients the time that you're sure you'll be there to cater for them.

When your clients complain, tell them sorry instead of defending yourself.

Above all, don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you.

11. Learn to speak like a leader.

In my 20s, I believed only those chosen to lead an institution, organization, ministry or country are leaders.

But that wasn't true.

According to Gen. Colin Powell, a former United States Secretary of State, “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.”

Leaders are solutions givers.

Want to be a thoughtful revered leader? Speak like a thoughtful revered leader.

Be a problem solver.

Show people the right way.

Obviously, this principle seems too simple to most people in their 20s but not everyone knows it in his 20s.

In my 20s, for example, I feared contributing ideas during staff meeting. As a result, I lost recommendations and valuable life lessons in the early days of my teaching career.

If you want to start creating opportunities for youself, start speaking like a leader.

12. Seek to recognise social class.

At 20, I knew my dad wasn't among the wealthy where we lived but I didn't recognise that fact. I refused to recognise it.

When I tell people this, they often thought I was arrogant or too proud. But I was ignorant.

I didn't know the importance of recognising social class and recognising it is the first step to take in the course of wealth creation.

13. Concentrate on who not what you want to be in future.

From elementary to high school, none of my teachers, parents, friends and siblings (nobody) ever asked me "Who do you want to be in future?"

The question they asked me was "what do you want to become in future?"

When you reach 30, looking back, you'll regret many things but regretting not concentrating on WHO you want to be in future can be very annoying.

I learned that if you use WHAT you'll end up in a circle of profession whereas if you use WHO, you'll end up trying to lead and fix things up.

WHO is you while WHAT is something else.

WHO is me, my body and soul while WHAT is my teaching profession.

14. Behave like someone who is trustworthy.

When I started doing business, I discovered that lucky people are those who win people's trust. And those who win people's trust are those who keep to their words.

If people have a business with you for the first time, they may not trust you even if you haven't messed up.

As an entrepreneur, I notice that some people who have never had a business with me don't trust me.

It isn't easy to trust someone you have never known.

In January 2024, one woman told me why she doubted before paying for my tutoring program: she said the man she hired before was inconsistent.

Another reason is she has never had a transaction with me.

So to make people trust you, the secret is give them reasons to trust you. Here are two examples of what you should be telling them:

1. All my customers trust me so much because I do my work in fear of God.

2. Trust me, I will never disappoint you.

These sentences are ordinary but they're capable of bringing in more money for you.

Continue saying it until you can say it even in your dream.

Sing it.


15. Practice waiting.

In late 2023, I began my tutoring business for the first time, but it was boring because I spent many days without having a client.

Despite the borringness, I kept waiting.

In early 2024, things changed as I welcomed and registered 4 customers: my place becomes a go-to area for tutoring services and I began to receive commendations, compliments and thanks from the sponsors of my learners.

As a tutor who runs a profitable tutoring business, I saw everyone can achieve his dream if he puts in the right work.

Four things I wished I knew when I was in my early 20s

1. Work to learn.

I bought a mattress and a piece of carpet and kitchen materials and that was all when I started teaching.

I had no plan for business and investment and I wasn't looking for a better job.

I didn't realize I will regret this in future because I thought I've done the difficult part and any other thing will work on its own.

I spent three years becoming miserable instead of becoming successful.

I became stressful and sick that my savings went to medications.

So I figured out that relying on a single source of income as an employee is disastrous.

I started learning how to set up my business.

Robert Kiyosaki said don't work for money but work to learn.

2. Start small.

When my eyes opened, I wanted to start big to command honor and roam the street like a public figure. I visited the bank and solicited for N2million loan (thanks they said they temporarily stopped issuing loan).

A lot of people have similar mindset. In one year they want to become like that guy who built a mansion for his parents or like that young man who built a plaza. They don't know how he started and they're not interested to know.

Learning the business and starting small are the important things to do to start making it. The goal is to make the kind of money that will make you proud of yourself and allow you to sleep well.


3. Do the business that works.

Having stopped working full time in 2022, I ignore tutoring business and started setting an edutainment business I had never seen someone doing.

I spent more than N80,000 on gadget already, but thanks I hadn't spent more than that.

I'm not saying trying a new business is bad (if I didn't try my new business, I wouldn't have known it would never work) but I want you to know that it's too risky to try a new business if you aren't well financially established.

Studies found that more than 80% of new busineses fail. The ones that work are not new but old ones that are reinvented, reintroduced, modernized or relocated from offline to online.

If you want to start a business, start a business that works. Look for a problem many people want to solve and then create a platform that can help them solve the problem.

You can also try to modernize or reinvent an old business.

4. "Start Afraid."

I read the above quote on Facebook in late 2022. I wrote it in my personal note book immediately.

When I started teaching, I was afraid but as I continued doing it I became confident in it.

In late 2023, I applied the knowledge when I started my tutoring business and two months later, I didn't know where the fear went to.

The major price to pay in starting afraid is consistency.

5. Plan how to become a millionaire or billionaire and immediately stick to your plan.

Yogi Berra, an American professional baseball catcher, said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

I didn't know where I was going in my 20s because I was still blinded by the fact that I was still young under my parents.

I didn't know anything about investment and business plan too.

I was just going to end up where I didn't want to.

Ordinarily, you won't think about planning to be rich if you don't have a desire for more money.

But to be a millionaire or billionaire, you need to start with planning.

6. Think big.

To many people in their 20s, think big means "Think you're big."

They don't know the origin of the phrase and they don't know what it means.

They look at it in a simple direction that won't make their dream come true.

Think big means think of how to create a source or sources of millions or billions of money.

I started thinking big in 2018 but I got more serious in it in 2022 and started my big project in late 2023.

I learned that...

7. Go for something big.

Some pundits say "have a big picture", some say "have a mission and vision", others say "have an ongoing big project."

They mean the same. But I lacked the wisdom early in my life.

I was living a daily life--the kind in which the only thing I thought of was what to eat, what to wear and where to socialize. My thinking never went in the direction of creating something to leave behind.

I was very less ambitious.

And it took a lot of my time.

Good life is when you start creating lasting sources of income or generational wealth in your early 20s so that you can start enjoying financial freedom in your late 30s.

I had no one to tell me this or to put me in a condition that could enable me to know it.

Now I want people in their 20s to heed to this advice.


8. Start saving early.

Warren Buffet did this and was fortunate to be introduced to investment, and he's now a billionaire in dollars.

Saving early is one way of creating wealth but only a very few people do it.

In my 20s, I thought my salary was too small to save even a little even though I ate my parents' food and lived in a free house.

Saving means avoiding arbitrary spendings.

I didn't realize this until much later.

Then I started saving with an objective to buy a plot of land to start building my first house, knowing that real estate is a good business.

9. Read financial books.

When I became business savvy, I learned there were financial books on earth before I was born.

In the list of things I regret not doing in my 20s, reading financial books will never be absent.

In my 20s my attention didn't go to business. So in my reading list or library, I only had fiction books, website links, newspapers, textbooks, Holy Bible and magazines.

10. Attend business seminars or webinars.

Millions of good opportunities presents themselves everyday but only a tiny fraction of population, who want to become rich, pays attention to them.

I never had an opportunity to attend or hear of a business seminar or webinar in my 20s (maybe because I didn't care about business). This is the major reason I started learning business in my 30s.

Business seminars are opportunities for everyone to start learning business in the early adult age.

If you pay attention to radio programs or Facebook feeds, you may hear or read someone talking about business or advertising a seminar or webinar. Don't be afraid to attend--that may be the only chance you have to leave financial problems.

Note: If you seek for advice to attend a seminar or webinar, someone may poison your mind that there are scammers.

There are scammers, yes, but your objective of attending it is to learn. Most of the seminars or webinars are free.

11. Pray for wisdom and riches.

Prayer is key that can open many doors.

While this is true many people don't know.

Those people, instead of directly telling God what they want, they want people to hear them so their intention is to impress people not God

That's how I viewed prayer when I was in my 20s: something to show mastery of.

Now in my 30s, I noticed that God isn't a managing director of a company who wants to read a letter of complain or of application in professional language. Nor does He care about the language you use because He listens to every language: Chinese, Japanese, German, etc.

God also prefers that you pray in a place where no one can eavedrop.

My advice to you is:

Tell God what you want.

When I started my tutoring business in late 2023, I didn't know how to give people reasons to buy my services.

I believed my only marketing job was to place an ad and show up every day.

Then something happened.

I got more than 10 visitors within three months but only two visitors registered. Visitors came desperately but, at the end, most left without registering.

In January 2024, I found out that most of them don't register because I didn't give them convincing reasons to trust me.

Then I took my time to source for a solution, and I got one.

I employed a strategy that assists visitors to trust me and it helps me hit more deals and close more sales.

Here is the Strategy:

1. I tell my visitors to trust me.

Before becoming my customers, visitors stand outside and ask me how much my services are and how much I can help them.

I don't like to speak with them aloud from inside so I call them in to negotiate and during the negotiation, I tell them to trust me.

By telling them to trust me, I make them feel their money is going to where they'll never regret: I give them hope and invite them to try me.

The best way to know whether people are interested to deal with you is to ask them to deal with you.

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, said, "The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer."

2. I tell them that other customers trust me.

As people pass by my site, they see me teaching other customers and they become interested.

When we start talking, I look for opportunity and tell them other customers trust me because I'm faithful. They usually agree with me and become willing to pay me to help them or their wards.

If they don't have money, they usually look for it as I accept prepayment and disallow offering services on credit.

Telling my customers other customers trust me gives them reason to feel the money they are going to pay will work hard for them.

3. I offer quality services.

If you buy lessons from me--if you buy 12 lessons or 24 lessons or 36 lessons from me--I must offer all the quality lessons you buy come rain come shine, and I don't miss a schedule unless it's inevitable.

I use both the classroom and the office to deliver a lesson and I don't experience any stress or burn-out.

As a result, I got more clients and all of them after assessing themselves or their wards appreciate me and testified they saw significant improvement.


Want to advance faster in this kind of business?

"Invest in building trust."

Juliana Vergara, A clinical psychologist who coaches senior and emerging leaders in Latin America and the US, said:

"Trust is a currency; you can't afford not to invest in it...trust can only be built, maintained, and repaired through conversations."

P.S: Want to start an evening tutoring business that pays? You can contact me at: 0818 246 9977 or 0816 293 7155. You're going to learn how to: chose a location, what to put in place, how to cheaply create an ad, how to negotiate, more techniques on how to build trust and how to expand from tutoring business to establishing an elementary or high school.

1.

Remember I told you I stopped teaching full time.

And that means my small salary becomes very small.

But I told you that I started a business.

But that business is still in its infancy.

And that means all the profits I get is going into growing the business.

So when I told my dad I'll employ a teacher,

My dad almost froze.

"Where will you get money to pay your teacher? Do you think it's easy to become an employer? And how much do you want to pay your teacher?" he asked.

I çan't say it here because it's confidential.

But listen carefully,

Starting small is costly.

But that doesn't mean it's impossible.

I started in a very small shop but now there's one classroom and I need a teacher.

Dear friends, if you don't start walking you won't make any path.

If you don't have money to rent a shop, start in your house.

If your kind of business requires more money to start,

Start buying the tools one after the other.

If you don't have money at all,

look for employment.

Or write a business proposal to source for income from family and friends.

One must work.

If you don't start walking, you won't make any path.

One thing I learn is most people want to start walking like someone,

but it won't work that way because even if you resemble each other, you're not the same.

Most people find it hard to agree with this truth:

No matter who you're, there are many people who are better than you.

Once you agree with this truth, favour is your name.

As teachers especially those teaching in primary schools,

we see it everyday.

You'll see some children are so intelligent in primary one as if they had teachers when they were in their mothers' wombs.

Agree that we are never the same and stop trying to start walking like someone else.

Someone is born with special intelligence but you don't know.

Someone has big brothers abroad but you don't know.

Someone has sown many seeds since 2011 but you don't know.

Someone has been learning what you've not been learning but you don't know.

Someone has been focusing on the kind of a prayer point that you don't know.

Someone has ever sold human parts but you don't know....

The secret is, do your own walk only the way you can manage it.

If you can't start walking one Kilometer, don't start walking one kilometer.

If you do it beyond your strength, you'll slump.

The point is if you don't start walking, you won't make any path but start small.

The time is now.

The Weird Skin Disease

In the evening of 16th January 2024, I experienced a sudden high fever that astonished me.

The following day, I felt sore throat and painful open rashes grew on my body.

I spent about two weeks in pain while receiving treatment.

After the treatment, I have victory over it but I learned a lesson: disease can interrupt my growth in business and in many things.

The Indigestion

In the misty evening of 4th February 2024, I ate light food--food that doesn't take time to digest in the stomach.

But in the morning the next day, I experienced pains and noise in my lower abdomen.

Next, my breath released bad odour, a symptom of indigestion.

And in the evening and in the midnight I passed watery stools. The following day, I passed watery stools again in the morning and in the afternoon.

That's why I saw a doctor who prescribed me antibiotics which I started taking that day.

During the five-day antibiotics administration, I didn't suffer indigestion but I suffered sight effects of antibiotics which include partial nausea and abdominal pain that coerced me to skip some tasks.

But after the treatment the indigestion resumed.

I changed medication medium.

Instead of seeing a doctor in the hospital, I switched to traditional remedy as I took the herb my mother introduced to me, one cup in the evening the first day and another cup in the morning the next day. After that, I didn't take it again. The indigestion stopped.

I experienced recurrence.

In the night of 19th February, my breath released bad odor again eventhough I took only tea, something that digests fast.

After midnight prayer, I slept off with odorous breath and had a dream. Early in the morning the next day, I woke up with stomach pain which might be the cause of the dream, and I lost appetite.

A few minutes later, I passed watery stools and felt relief and at 9am, I felt stomach pain. I passed watery stools again.

Searching for The Cause

Anxious, I googled the cause of indigestion and found: diabetes, stomach cancer, peptic ulcer and certain antibiotics and pain relievers. Did I have diabetes? No. Stomach cancer? Hardly. Certain antibiotics and pain relievers? Maybe--because, in mid January, I took amoxicilling and ampiclox antibiotics with ibuprofen and paracetamol to cure a painful weird skin disease.

Maybe using amoxicilling with ampiclox and ibuprofen with paracetamol caused the crisis. I was uncertain.

There I was a teacher in crisis..

At 3am the next day, abdominal pain woke me up. But I didn't pass watery stools: I passed little mosels of solid stools with something like mucous.

When I was in my 20s, I believed I was enjoying my life to the fullest: most times I felt there is no better age than younger age.

But that only put me in trouble.

On the 6th of August, when it remained two days for me to reach 30, I became worried of becoming old.

I thought that it just remained a few years for me to be an old fool and I looked like someone who lost all his loved ones.

That anxiety didn't last long. Five years later, things change. I become more independent, more confident and more joyous that if I have a chance to go back in time to my younger age, I will never appreciate it.

Do not be afraid of becoming old: instead, be afraid of becoming poor.

Old age is a new experience like a new movie.

When I was in my twenties, though I've started teaching, I had understanding deficit. I didn't understand myself well.

After I reached 30, reverse is the case. I understand myself and discover how to use myself effectively. And I knew a new source of wisdom.

In my twenties, I believed that wisdom is a gift from God which is true but now I discover that experience gives wisdom too.

Old age comes with more experiences that turn to wisdom.

I'm proud and grateful that I'm now in my 30s going to 40s. I thank God Almighty for leading me to see the power and prosperty that comes with aging.

I thank my parents too and everyone who gives me hope to live. I can't also forget the writers of the important posts and books that help me.

I'm not the one who made myself.


2.
4.

2.

If you don't pass through battles and obstacles you won't value the trickle of blessings you obtain.

Walk with no intention to slow down no matter the obstacles.

Air travel was impossible before the invention of aircraft.

If you don't seek for how to fly, you'll never fly.

Do not stop playing the game, it's the only way to win.


3.

5.

I produced notice board ads after learning stencil printing.

Then I placed the ads, some on notice board while some on bare wall.

Now I'm done with the first phase of my production.

The second phase is waiting for customers and the last phase is teaching the customers.

If you check, most businesses survive on these three phases.

1. Advertisement phase
2. Waiting phase, and
3. Delivery phase

The Measure of Productivity

Everybody is a star but not every body shines.

Some stars produce weak light; some produce strong light.

Their might of display comes from the light they produce.

If you want to shine and glow, produce strong light.

Your light is the way you help the society.

How you perform well in your discipline.

How fruitful you are.


6.

The best way to achieve something is to go for something.

Success follows performance.

Harvest follows farming.

Sales follow marketing.

You can't start something and go with nothing.

2.

you never failed in business.

You just learned what doesn't work.

Learn that the best business doesn't sprout from no where: it comes from the existing best business.

Biscuits, candies, yogurt, bread.

They sprout from the age-old food business.

Uber from the age-old taxi business.

Copy writing, a form of an ad.

-Look for a business that works and try starting at a micro level.

-Seek to learn the business that works.

4.

To avoid temptation of spending his N10,000,

he gives me to keep for him.

But 24 hours later, he comes to collect N2000 out of it.

I say no and give him all.

He collects it and leaves, going back home.

Sadly, within 2 weeks he has squandered it all.

Don't laugh; it's difficult to avoid luxury life to save money.

You have to learn.

You must discipline yourself to keep money if you want to make money.

Remember, being able to keep money for 6 months alone is another high-paying skill.

Everything is uncomfortable at the start but if you keep at it and continue, it will become comfortable.

The ForefrontWriter, Maren john mafuyai

5.

I received thanks from a client.

In her words:

"Thank you so much Sir."

This is not the first and not the second result of value delivery.

Not only one and not only two clients have appreciated.

Trying, again and again, is how you get to the top in business.

It pays to be faithful and honest too.

What you sow is what you reap with extra.

Doing education business gives me opportunities to be happy and learn new things everyday.

The #ForefrontWriter, Maren John Mafuyai

6.

7.

My focus on helping the society helps me choose a profitable enterprise to run.

I tutor early literacy learners and external exams candidates and help teachers set up a profitable tutoring business offline.

I found out that trying, again and again, is how you get to the top in business.

Business masters don't learn business in school: they learn it in business.

Doing education business gives me opportunities to be happy and learn new things everyday.

My advice to those who want to start business is:

Start.

Don't be among those who will regret not starting.

My purpose of doing business is exactly what Jesuit said: Not to be better than others, but to be better for others.

The #ForefrontWriter, Maren John Mafuyai

8.

He sees my ad and says his son is in SS3 and will sit JAMB exams. He needs a JAMB tutor.

He appears he wishes the boy started now.

Our JAMB lesson starts February, I tell him and promise I'll phone him.

But I don't.

However I accept and start teaching his son with other candidates in February.

The boy nags and misses five lessons in two weeks.

I've to give him preferential treatment,

going far tutoring him at home too instead of only in our classroom.

He becomes serious only when it remains three weeks to sit his JAMB exams.

His dad still thanks me today.

Your weapon is how you always appear there to do the right job.

Repetition breeds confidence and mastery.

You must seek to do that thing you schedule.

Be careful with seeking advice from people who never tried it:

Some people want to break your weapon.

You must know when to pivot and when to virtually remain immersed.

The #ForefrontWriter, Maren John Mafuyai

6.

I'm going home when he comes out of a shop and walks with me.

After greetings he speaks worrying about last Saturday.

If you don't go to work on Saturday, what if your boss calls you on Saturday?

Well, when his boss calls him on Saturday morning after he abuses alcohol,

he says many nonsenses before he reminds him that he doesn't work on Saturday.

Why nonsenses?

Now he asks me if he's right.

He keeps on asking me, worrying he will be sacked.

The truth is he shouldn't have insulted his boss.

Alcohol abuse is capable of trashing your destiny.

You must work on your shyness if it's the reason you take alcohol.

Confidence is achieved more through preparation and repetition than through substance abuse.

You need to be in yourself to take full control of yourself.

The #ForefrontWriter, Maren John Mafuyai



6.

Our target is to establish cheap internationally standard elementary and high schools for both adults and younger ones.

And I learned that my skills are relevant and needed.

B.

C. My coaches always valued hard work and never expected perfection. If you were trying new things, failure was rewarded, too. I imagine they ran their businesses the same way.

Trying, again and again, is how you get to the top in business.

There are no shortcuts. I developed a strong reputation as someone who will hustle and try anything for my clients. My focus on effort, even if it leads to failure, has gotten me further in my pursuit of success than anything else.

Alan Corey is a podcaster and real estate entrepreneur. He co-founded House Money Media, a company dedicated to launching first-generation real estate investors, and is the author of "House FIRE: How to Be a Red- Hot Real Estate Millionaire With a Wealth of Time and Money to Burn." Follow him on Twitter.

How I wrote two offers


To help my friends, especially those who want my financial knowledge, I wrote two offers in early 2023.


But I focused only on best practices. (Want to read the two offers? DM me!).

As I didn't want to put more energy to write something which I would later regret, I follow 6 working writing steps that help me complete the projects on time.

Don't know these working writing steps that can also help you share your knowledge?

Here I list and explain them one after the other.

Contents

1. Idea fishing
2. Brain dumping
3. Outlining
4. Researching
5. Fleshing
6. Editing

1. Idea fishing

While going to the river, a fisherman may have known the kinds of fish that exist in that river, but he can't know the size of fish he will catch today and can't know whether he will have a catch today. But if he doesn't catch a fish today, he may catch it tomorrow.

It's the same case for a writer looking for an idea to write about.

Some writers say they get their ideas while bathing, some say while walking and others say while reading.

Don't know where to get ideas? Attempt to look for ideas and you'll soon know where to get them.

2. Brain dumping

With an idea, the next step is to braindump, which means writing down anything you think about the idea.

For instance, if your idea is Rabit farming in Nigeria, write everything you know about how to farm rabit in Nigeria.

While doing this must be fast, you don't have to do it once.

After doing it now, try doing it later to make sure you write everything.

If you do it today, it doesn't mean you can't do it tomorrow.

3. Outlining

Outlining means sourcing and arranging what to cover in your book or essay from the things you braindump. If you outline Rabit Farming in Nigeria correctly, it will look like this:

Introduction
Contents
What is Rabit Farming?
Why engage in rabit farming in Nigeria?
What to do to excel in Rabit Farming in Nigeria
Prepare rabits shelter
Get young male and female rabits for rearing
Get rabits feed and feed your rabits.
How to handle your rabits' babies
How to handle sick rabits
Where to sell your rabits
Conclusion
Frequently Asked Questions

4. Researching

This entails going out to ask questions or source more factual ideas about rabit farming in Nigeria. While sourcing more factual ideas, you want to also know how other writers cover the same or similar topic and how to present your idea uniquely.

With good research done, you make your readers look up to you as an expert. You leave a good legacy.

5. Fleshing

Most writers say fleshing is the fun part of writing process but that doesn't mean it's simple. Fleshing means explaining and defining what you have outlined. In essay writing it's called explanation of an idea.

If you don't focus to work hard here, you'll work harder during editing. You'll be going forward and backward and no editor can help you because the work of an editor is to edit, not to flesh.

Want to find it easier?

Work with a sample beside you. Look for a good work that you want your own to look like and be reading it and copying the style while writing your own.

But don't plagiarize!

6. Editing

This is the final stage.

If you do your fleshing well, editing is easier: it will mean hiding your work far from you for two or more weeks to come back to it with fresh eyes; it will also mean adding and subtracting points.

You won't have a need to hire an editor.

If you do your home work well, you'll have a well of appreciation.

Still not satisfied?

One of my offers can help.


2.

First, I didn't look at business as something that can make me happier.

Instead, I focused on studying hard in school and later on serving as a teacher.

Before, I was a business-naive person and there wasn't any sign of me trying to learn.

But now, doing education business gives me opportunities to be happy and learn new things everyday.

I've no excuse of having small capital following my discovery that I can start any business small.

And my focus on helping the society helps me chose a profitable business.

I tutor early literacy learners and external exams candidates and help teachers set up a profitable tutoring business offline.

I found out that trying, again and again, is how you get to the top in business.

Call: 08182469977 or... I work in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

The #ForefrontWriter, Maren John Mafuyai

I Learned These 3 Great Self-improvement Tools Online

As I became interested in self-development, even though internet existed at that time, I wasn't searched engine-literate enough to benefit it.

I focused on sourcing ideas and inspirations from school textbooks, newspapers, magazines, Holy Bible and other gospel literatures. My favorite books were collections of short stories and English textbooks that contains comprehension and summary passages.

I had limited sources of written information.

But when I started learning French, something happened. There was a shortage of French research materials in the libraries, so I had to depend on internet for information.

I learned the use of Google search engine and started sourcing textual information online.

Here are 3 great self-improvement tools I learn on internet:

1. Meditation

Meditation is the first concept I got in contact with online one day while searching for how to gain focus and be more productive. Meditation means giving attention to one thing either as a religious activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed against boredom, anger or restlessness.

Practising it has helped me achieve my goals. I was able to study hard in school. I was able to delay gratification. I was able to work hard as a teacher. And I was able to find it easier to focus on business, investment and frugal life style.

I live a life I call special that is capable of making me a dream achiever.

2. Affirmation

I first got to know about affirmation later while surfing the net for self-development. Affirmation is a short positive declarative sentence to be said every day to yourself, eg.: "I know my worth" or "I can't be poor."

When I wrote my own affirmations and practise saying them daily, they remind me of my worth, my capabilities and my positive experiences. They help me develop faith, resilience and sound mental health.

I'm equipped to be automatically productive for success.

Brian Andrea, an American writer, said:

"There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself."

3. Detachment

In late 2023, I surfed the net again looking for more self-improvement tools. I followed a stoic blog post and found detachment as a good practice that can help me.

But practising detachment in my head doesn't mean detaching myself from earthly materials as practised in other parts of the world. Instead, it means closing my eyes and seeing myself losing valuables: my love ones, my wealth, my job, etc.

The benefit?

If I open my eyes, I'll think of how to put securities in place to prevent losses. I'll think of insurance and how to be financially-free. And that means I'll prefer living for the future.

Ordinarily, I've to pass through suffering to learn the best lessons in life. However, with detachment, I don't have to.

Barbara De Angelis, an American relationship consultant, lecturer and author, said:

"We don't develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity."