Objective Gist

  In Mark's account of the feeding of the Five thousand, I find some great business lessons in the narrative on how to start your business without capital. But Jesus answered, “You give them something to eat.”  They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” There was only one instruction above, "give them something to eat!" But the epic response was "it would take more than half a year's wages." The responder was quick to make calculations. Many entrepreneurs are in the position of this responder today. The instruction would often be, 'Go and start that business', but the response most often would be, "Where would I get such capital funding?" Or "I would require 10million to start the business as I would like it." You know what Jesus did to resolve the situation in the opening story? He asked what they had at hand. "How many loaves do yo

Do you know that you can setup a business website with just N1,200! Yes, you read that right. I'm going to share a secret with you. There are smart ways you can build that much-needed website for your business or blog at a low cost. What you need are two things, a ucraft account, and a cheap domain name from  whogohost  . STEP ONE: CREATE A UCRAFT ACCOUNT Ucraft is an online website builder where you can easily create a website, online portfolio, or online store without any programming skills. It's a drag-and-drop (do it yourself) platform. The good news is that they allow you to have one FREE website account. You can take advantage of this FREE opportunity to own a website. Click here now to create an account.  After creating the account, take your time to design and develop your website to your taste. STEP TWO: BUY A CUSTOM DOMAIN NAME: You need a custom domain name for your website, e.g. objectivegist.com.ng. This is where whogohost comes in with their cheap services. For as

Someone once said, "blacks are Blacks' problem". I disagreed and he explained how an uncle gave him a shirt and shoe worth $4500 when he had earlier requested capital for his business from the same uncle but explained a lack of funds. I smiled and said, your uncle is not your problem, Africans' definition of "capital" is the problem. When we hear the word 'capital' what comes to mind is huge sum. He looked at me and nodded affirmatively. His uncle said he didn't have "that kind of money". I know many people have received that kind of disappointing response from people. The question is what is "that kind of money" called "capital"? Start small, grow big. Many young entrepreneurs prepare business plans with a huge capital base because they want to hit the ground running (start big). I'd rather say, break your business plans into small phases and milestones. For instance, I had a 100 million studio idea, but I broke

Each time I see that statement on twitter I ask, why not follow first. I discover it has become a norm for most Nigerians do not want to dare to be the first; first to take an action. Instead, they wait on others to take the first step for them to "follow back". This same mentality has been brought into social media. Observing events during the Biafra agitation and the Revolution Now campaign, I see many Nigerians yearn for leadership and direction. They waited in silence for years for the person to take the lead towards their agitation before coming out en-masse. But why do they die in silence and not take the lead? Fear? In classrooms, you will see children being afraid to say their minds even when they have an answer in mind. The assumption "what if I'm wrong," creates a fear that kills their confidence. What if you're wrong? There is no crime in being wrong, in fact, you learn from being corrected of a wrong. Grow your confidence by learning to take on i

I was once asked to teach a class about "Getting Rich"... I was almost tempted to ask the question, you know the question right? "Are you insane?" Yes, that was the question. "Am I rich enough to teach such a class?" I responded. But the man said, "it's all packaging, we just need your oratory prowess". Then it dawned on me, so I was rich after all. Yeah, I was rich with words! And so are you too rich in something. Being rich isn't really about money but about abundance. That is, the thing you have abundantly in you. It may be money, skills, talent, words or some desirable qualities. Getting rich is about being the best of who you are, and of what you do. Growing in the abundance of that speciality in you that makes the world seek after you. To get paid the best, you must be the best! Start being the best!

If you go through my phone contact, half of my contacts are those of current and ex-clients. I still have them as contact and keep in touch with some of them. They were and still remain my network of contacts as my rapport with most of them was a good one. If I contact them, I get their attention and if they do contact me, they get my attention too. That is the power of a sales person. However, many Nigerian sales executive do not understand this relationship network. Immediately they get laid off on a sales job, they lay off and close door to all their client contacts as well. Some do not even attempt the courtesy of informing their clients about their job status or resignation, they just go incommunicado. The customers are not your bosses, they should not be the victim of your grudges. Twice I've been shocked by the immature attitude of realtors sales reps who had cordial rapport with me on the job but Immediately they got laid off, they just thrashed me too. Well, too bad f

I witnessed a wedding party that had a budget of 1.8 million Naira, but the groom was practically underemployed or literally unemployed. Quick analysis, the groom needed help with job before the wedding and approached several people for help but only got sympathy and promissory gestures. When he went round with the wedding IV, they promised to handle the financial and logistics responsibilities. At the end of the event, assessment estimate showed that a total of 1.8 million Naira had been spent by family and friends to ensure the jobless couples wedding was a success. If only the groom had the 1.8 million Naira in support towards his ideas. He had nursed starting a networking and technical lab for years but couldn't raise the capital. "People are wicked", he concluded after the assessment. Yes, he saw it as wickedness for people to spend so much at his event when he needed help to make ends meet with a source of livelihood. Is it really not wickedness when people hav

They say resumption is by 8am and closing by 5pm. Huge scam!!! When actually the time starts to count the very moment you wake up to prepare for work, be it 4am (or 3am for some Lagosians). The management care less whether you sleep on the roadside in a gridlock after you clock out of work, you must by 8am the next morning report for duty. December 2018, I witnessed fully what Lagos workers call life. I arrived Lagos by 7pm and headed for my accommodation at ibeju...to cut the looong story short, Lagos traffic ensured I got to ibeju 12mins past 1am midnight. Yes you read that right 1:12am! That is not even the essence for the story. In the causeless gridlock that caused the delay, there was a staff bus of accelerate TV beside us. I saw the staffs already asleep in the bus. The lady closest to the window where I was seating, had her head against the window in high discomfort trying to catch some sleep, but she didn't have the space like the man beside her who was already in Dream

One motivational speaker once made a grave statement that "if money is what is delaying your business, then you're are not ready". I was very surprised, because it came from someone who's business started with and was a beneficiary of several seed fundings. Could he have forgotten? One problem I have with most motivational speakers is that some of them are not real and down to earth with the truth. Instead of greasing the platform, they raise the platform for others coming. I wonder if it's a deliberate attempt to stop others from reaching and beating them. Truth be told, money is in the wrong hands. Those with the ideas lack the capital resources and those with the capital resources lack ideas. When resource meets idea, then a business is birthed. This a vital truth for every entrepreneur. I agree money may not be everything to a business, but money is still a very thing to starting a business, in fact the integral thing to some businesses. I mean tell th

First and foremost, why in heavens name would you want to sack your CEO? But on another thought, it may at some point, become necessary to do so! What do I mean? I was at a time researching into the strategies of a big gaming brand in Nigeria and upon surfing their website for info, I came across a grave error. The web developer wrote Chief Execution Officer instead of Chief Executive Officer. You say it's typo error right? Well, maybe yes or maybe not. Out of the abundance of the mind, the hand may have written! There may have been a CEO (Chief Execution Officer) troubling workers in the office. In some workplaces, the working environment may be so toxic that it is difficult to pursue personal ambitions or dreams. The work culture may be killing (executing) the personal dreams or side businesses of the workers. Most workers have dreams of what they intend to achieve on the job or in a side business while they work. However, many companies see this personal ambition of their

Many worry a lot about starting a business of their own. They worry about how to go about it and whether it will be a success. Let me share some tips with you on how to start. Start with a dream ! Dream about what you intend to make out of business life. Fantasize about how your business will make you millions and how you will spend the millions. Dream about seeing yourself driving in posh cars, receiving accolades and awards. Daydream about going on expensive vacations with your family with your business profit. Make sure you dream big, and I mean really big. In my own dream, I see myself buying over Aliko Dangote. #funny Step two: Write down your dream . When you are satisfied with the mightiness of your dream, begin to write it down. Start with developing your dream into a business plan, that will detail your business services, target market and marketing strategies. Do your research and consult experienced people in the industry of your business if need be. Step three: Wa

How to resign and start your own business It is as easy as just taking a stroll to your HR with your resignation letter and drop it on his or her table. Yes you read that right! However, before you take that giant stride to drop the letter, kindly and carefully read the story  below. In 2016, I got a sales executive job at a Fintech company. It was a tough job to meet the sales target and the sales department leadership was headed by tough bosses who gave no room for excuses. After months of tireless work under stringent working conditions, the management took a grave decision with a repulsive demeanor that led to the resignation of all sales executive in the branch on the same day. That was my first encoun ter with resignation.  I was at home for some months trying to run my own design outfit, but brokenness soon chased me out to seek another job and It didn't take long before I got another offer and began work. Let me tell you, if you have content in you, recruiters

It was a really hot session and I was so pressed that I had to quickly rush towards the public toilet in the building to take a pee. Upon getting to the door of the toilet, I tried the locks to get it opened but it wouldn't budge so I assumed it was locked or engaged. Though I tried the lock only once, I assumed someone must have locked it from behind since it didn't open. I retreated to 'go do the do' at some other place, but just then someone else walked past me towards the door, turned the knob, and pushed it open. The door was only jammed and needed an extra push. The other fellow knew the 'formula' to get the door opened while I was retreating with a false assumption. Since it's a public toilet I assumed someone must be engaged and locked it from behind... Assumptions! Like the analogy in the story above, so many times entrepreneurs in business, especially young budding entrepreneurs/startuppers, are "pressed" with ideas so much that they has