Darn Good Writer!

News Flash!

2009-05-29T15:43:00.001+01:00

Dear visitor,

Welcome to this blog. I am sorry that it has not been updated for a very long time. Due to technical updates I have been unable to access it until now. I will no longer be posting to this blog; it is now defunct. However I have a current one, which can be found at http://www.getcleargetknowngetclients.com/blog
It's theme is client-attraction/marketing for women small business owners.
I hope to meet you there soon.

Warm regards,

Oma Edoja

To download your free ebook:
12 Reasons Women Business Owners Struggle to Get Clients
visit my web site: http://www.getcleargetknowngetclients.com/
You will also receive a subscription to my fortnightly newsletter,
Get Clients Cafe, filled with tips and resources to help you GET CLIENTS!

Why Not Okotie? By Oma Edoja

2005-05-08T21:05:00.000+01:00

Nigeria’s political bigwigs have taken their formations and drawn their battle lines in readiness for 2007. The roll call does not hold too many surprises – old school fathers Babangida and Marwa, incumbent VP Abubakar Atiku, Abia State governor Kalu and the relentless pastor-turned-politician Rev. Chris Okotie.

Though none of these men is new to the political scene, any one familiar with the game “Spotting the Odd One” could easily tag Okotie “it.” While Babangida, Marwa, Atiku and Kalu all have service track records to boast of, the Reverend debuted in 2003, with a manifesto akin to that of Martin Luther King, and has nothing save his word for the Nigerian populace. Or does he?

His opponents argue that Rev. Okotie is “too young,” “politically inexperienced,” “unable to handle the vast resources of a nation” and “unknown beyond his South-South zone of origin”. Exactly what “too young” means is not very clear, the man in question being forty-four years old as of this writing. Neither have the parameters for assessing his ability to handle the nation’s resources been enumerated. The role of political experience is becoming a subject of debate. What do we judge experience to mean – time spent in office, or time spent in office solving the nation’s problems? Judging by the varied geo-political, ethnic and religious groups besieging his 37 Aromire Road, Ikeja office, the Reverend does seem to be gaining national attention, and indeed acceptance.

Regarding a choice of candidate, one could well argue that the devils we know are better than the reverends we don’t. However, Nigeria’s political terrain has been strewn with “known devils”, politically “experienced”, re-cycled and re-hashed, since Independence. One cannot help but wonder how all this experience has helped us in the past, or if it will help us any further in the present and future. Can we count on the “old and seasoned” to deliver this nation, or is it time for a new broom to sweep our country clean?

These are questions Nigerians need to ponder as they prepare for the polls in 2007. Our paradigms of the past have clearly not helped our nation forward. Popular opinion among the youths of this nation is that our country needs “new management,” new schools of thought, a fresh approach to governance. While revering our living ancestors who have brought us this far, it grows clearer by the day that they cannot help us much further. What with stalemates and face-offs, and open confrontations among themselves, the divided house has clearly reached its end.

Whether Reverend Okotie is a suitable presidential candidate or a solution to Nigeria’s problems is not the focus of this write-up. The point is that we desperately need a change in this country – a leadership change, a generational change, a paradigm shift and a new set of values. Are there any more reputable Nigerians who represent this change, bold enough to challenge the status quo and lead us to deliverance? If yes, it is my opinion that they be given a chance to do so. And while we wait for a new generation of leaders to emerge in this country, let us cast a glance at the man who predicted the political quagmire that we are in today. He sounded a warning in 2003. He is sounding it louder today. Would Reverend Okotie be a safe choice come 2007? Why not, if not, if I may ask?

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

Oma Edoja freelances from Ikeja, Lagos.

Reading – 10 Ways to Find the Time By Oma Edoja

2005-05-08T21:01:00.000+01:00

Why Read?

It’s been said that there are three kinds of knowledge:

• What you know
• What you know that you don’t know, and
• What you don’t know that you don’t know.

What you know is an asset.

What you know that you don’t know isn’t too difficult to handle.
You can go out and find out!

But what you don’t know that you don’t know could be dangerous -- to your life/health/career/business etc. It’s information that you don’t know exists. It could cost you your job, promotion, business, or something worse.

What you don’t know can, and often does, harm you. In fact, unknown to you it could be holding you back this very minute.

However, if you develop the habit of reading for self improvement, you set yourself up to be “found” by such knowledge. It comes to you each time you open a book, even though you never knew it was there.

Imagine this: you’re walking along innocently, “in the line of fire” of some great information, and all of a sudden you are “hit” by a new discovery! If you will just stay in the line of fire (by reading, reading and reading some more), you will keep on getting “hit”. And there’s something about this habit that causes you to attract just the information you need!

I am an avid, voracious reader. I read anything that’s written in English, whether online or offline! A while ago, I needed some info about marketing one’s services.
I set a weekly goal to read up on the subject, though I had no idea where I would find the material, or the time to read it either! Lo and behold! Being a habitual reader, all week long I was “found out and followed” by books, articles, pop-up boxes and spam mail on marketing your services. Every where I turned, it was there!

If you develop the habit of reading, you will never be at a loss for information. You will either know what you need to know, know where to find it, know some one who knows it, or it will come looking for you!

Over time you will become a resource person and a magnet for information. Now how beneficial could that be to your career or business?

I once worked with colleagues who often came to me when they were looking for information. If a problem defied solution they made sure to ask me. I didn’t always have the answers, but if I didn’t, I knew where to find them! My boss wrote in my appraisal that I was “an asset to this establishment.”
To get ahead in today’s world you must develop a reading habit; stay in the line of fire of good, wholesome information, and get “hit” each time there’s an update!

Is time a problem for you? Here are

10 tips for finding the time to read:

1. Take a book with you wherever you go, make use of time in the traffic, waiting in receptions, even time in the loo!

2. Cut back on TV viewing. What does it profit a man (or woman) to watch TV all day and suffer from a dearth of information?

3. To find time for new things you must throw out some old ones. What pastimes are no longer profitable? Or less profitable than reading? Ditch them!

4. Make friends with people who read. Their good reading habits will rub off on you.

5. Join a reading group. You’ll be kept busy with reading assignments, and will somehow have to make the time. No reading groups near you? Create one!

6. Delegate as much work as you possibly can, whether it’s office work or house work. Use the free time to “get in the line of fire” of some good information!

7. Set goals for self-improvement. Make reading part of your strategy. Then you will read to reach your goals.

8. Set up a corner of your home to be the perfect reading corner – rocking chair/reading desk and chair, good lighting, peaceful and quiet, soft colours, gentle on the eyes, out-of-bounds to kids – you know what I mean! Just looking at the place will draw you to sit there and read!

9. Block out 30 minutes to one hour of your day (or whatever suits you) for reading. Tell everyone you cannot be disturbed. Switch off all phones. Go where no one can find you. Do whatever it takes to have that time uninterrupted and just read.

10. Get organized; be a better time manager. It’s amazing how much time we throw away chatting on the phone, hanging out with friends, lingering after a meeting or waiting around for one thing or the other. You could kill two birds with one stone by reading while you’re at the hairdresser’s or the mechanic’s. Examine the way you spend your time. You’ll find plenty of it not properly utilized.

I hope you are inspired to begin reading, whether for pleasure or self-improvement. There is no such thing as spare time. If you need time you’ve got to create it. And now you have no excuse! So go on out and get some books, and get “hit” with some new information!

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

Oma Edoja is a published writer, motivational speaker and infopreneur. She writes on a variety of topics, but mainly motivational/inspirational/self-help. She is looking to work with editors and publishers who need writers. Oma may be contacted via her motivational ezine at http://up-mobile.blogspot.com

It’s All Good! By Oma Edoja

2005-05-08T20:50:00.000+01:00

Gloom! Doom! Dim forebodings! The end of the country as we know it. Gosh! You can’t pick up a newspaper or watch the news these days without “the evidence” jumping out at you, of our country’s “eminent demise.”

The other day I was at a party and all the guests could talk about was this gloom-doom stuff! Another day I was in the salon, and the gist was even “gloomier and doomier”! For a minute I was certain that one woman’s hair standing on end was as a result of the gist, and not some spray gel! (A business idea worth pursuing: “Canned Gloom” – guaranteed to straighten your hair! But let’s save that for another day!)

Anyway, the crux of the “hair-raising” matter that day was that there are “no jobs” in this country; people graduate from school and stay idle because they can’t find work. Well, I know that our unemployment statistics are rising, but I’m a firm believer in taking proactive steps to solving your own problems. We each have the power to change our situations; if you look hard enough, you’ll find a way. You don’t need to wait for some one else to come and save you, you can help yourself! But of course, if you don’t believe that, you’ll stay home waiting for a job, whining and complaining as your weeks turn to months, and years and….

I once drew up a list of tips for those seeking work, for an article I wrote, and I proceeded to share these with my fellow patrons at the salon that day.
In a nut-shell, this is what I said:

(1) Rather than stay home waiting for a job, approach a business owner and offer to work for free, for a stipulated period of time. No, I’m not crazy, and yes, I do mean it! Your skills are growing rusty at home, and you are getting older and less employable. Three things could result from this approach: (a) You could gain valuable job experience, something employers want but fresh graduates don’t usually have, (b) You could earn valuable recommendations from your bosses, colleagues and customers, (c) You could get employed by your boss! I have heard of a young man who got a job this way.

(2) What skills and qualifications do employers want that you don’t have? Do you have just the basic qualifications? A first degree is considered basic these days. How can you make yourself desirable to prospective employers? How can you stand out in the employment market? Those who get the jobs have something that you don’t have. For as long as you think it’s a godfather, you’re going to remain unemployed! This is because such self-limiting beliefs place responsibility on someone else to solve the problem. When you take responsibility, you can do something about it, be proactive. Do whatever it takes to stand out, strikingly. It could be as simple as improving your spoken English or self-presentation.

(3) Be willing to start small – at a lower salary or position than you expected, if necessary. As long as there are growth and exposure prospects it’s worth considering. Money isn’t everything when you’re first starting out. Many jobseekers are aiming too high, “in faith,” they say! But the fact that they’re still seeking makes me wonder if it isn’t a dose of humility, combined with reality that they truly need!

(4) Could self-employment be for you, or your group of friends? Consider what the fathers of Yahoo! and Google and Microsoft did. A little joint venture could become something big. Don’t underestimate yourself. And if money’s a problem, you could consider finding sponsors and give them a share in the business. That’s what Bill Gates did.

(5) Applying to newspaper adverts does work. In my employment days (I’m now freelance) I received several invitations to interviews from newspaper ads, with no godfather or mother clinching the deal! Ditch the self-limiting belief that it doesn’t work. It could be that you need polishing up in your CV-writing or interview skills. Take time out to learn the contemporary way to write CVs. I’ve received a lot of CVs in out-dated formats. And most applicants don’t know that one style doesn’t suit all situations; you need a different CV for practically every new application. You’ve got to slant them towards each fresh opening.

(6) A lot of people these days do not have job-seeking skills. It should be taught in school, but since it isn’t (in most) we have to find and learn them ourselves. You need to know how to network, and no, you don’t have to have connected parents or friends. You can connect yourself! Here’s that word “proactive” again! Connect yourself by joining the Job Club, or whatever you call the employment service in your church or community. Connect yourself by going to employment agencies. You’ll have to pay some money, but of course you don’t expect it to be free! In my working days I got two jobs that way, and I have since employed five staff through an agency. Connect yourself by joining all your alumni associations, and I mean all! I know people who got jobs through one of the “Old Boys or Girls.” People even get business contracts that way! Join yours and get networking!

In fact, my list could go on. And I’m talking from experience, not theory. It’s true that unemployment statistics are rising, but if I were unemployed, I’d decide not to be a part of those statistics! I’d get proactive and find myself a job through one of the ways I shared with those ladies. You see, your beliefs (about the economy, your ethnicity, your education, or lack of it, etc) could be standing in your way. There are jobs in this country, but “Gloom-Doom Thinking” will not let you see or hear of them. People pick up jobs here in Nigeria every day. If you can’t get one, there must be something they know that you don’t. Get proactive and find out what that is.

So, shed the gloom, or at least, turn it into a business opportunity! What was that I said earlier about Canned Gloom straightening the hair….?!

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

This article MAY NOT be reproduced, in part or in full.

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Oma Edoja is a writer, motivational speaker and infopreneur. She writes and speaks on a variety of topics but mainly motivation and self-help. She publishes a free, fortnightly, inspirational newsletter giving “Nigerian inspiration for the Nigerian situation.™” View samples of her newsletter at http://up-mobile.blogspot.com and get a bonus info pack when you subscribe, titled Four Steps to Success, plus free coaching with your top three goals.

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Where Does Your Money Go? By Oma Edoja

2005-05-08T20:40:00.000+01:00

Did you ever hear the nursery rhyme where Mary, Quite Contrary was asked, “How does your garden grow?” Well if she were around today her accountant would probably be asking her, “Where does your money go?”

Perhaps you ask yourself the same question, month after month.
And if you’re like most people, you have no definite answer. You’re not alone; there’s a world-wide club of others just like you, whose salaries are “too short” and whose months are “too long”! (I almost said, “Welcome to the club!”)

If you’re ever going to gain control of your finances, and leave that dreadful club, one thing you’ll have to do is plan the use of your hard earned cash, and stick to your plan. This is what the money people call “Budgeting.”

Now, most people cringe at the mention of the word “budget”. For some it engenders visions of bondage and restraint. I know it once did for me!
But a budget is actually a plan to help you manage your money. It could virtually stretch your money further, and shrink the month shorter!

Budgeting puts you in control of your money. Remember, you control the budget, it does not control you.
So, rather than put you in bondage, a budget gives you control of your money, and consequently your life.
Instead of having circumstances, relatives and impulsive moods determine what happens to your money, you can make the decisions by implementing your budget.

Many have the mistaken belief that budgeting is for the rich. They feel they do not “have enough money” to budget. This is all the more reason for such a plan; it enables you prioritize, spending money on your needs, before your wants, taking care of essentials, eliminating the frills.

It is the process of budgeting that allows you save, invest and multiply your money. This is the path to financial peace, and wealth-building. Wealth comes through the compounding of your savings, not a “fat salary.”
If you have no savings, there can be no investment. With no investment, there will be no compounding. No compounding means no growth. And no growth means financial troubles, as the little you have is eroded by expense and inflation.

You can start a budget today. Simply categorize all your expenses, e.g.: groceries; utilities; transport; rent; charity; personal development; savings; miscellaneous-- whatever suits you. Then allot a percentage of your income to each category.
Voila! You have a budget!

When I drew up my first budget I realized I could make room for all the things that truly mattered and throw out those that didn’t. If I needed more money in any category this became an incentive to increase my income as a whole.
And this is made possible through building multiple streams of income, where you earn money from other sources beside a salary or primary source.

Another great benefit of budgeting is that it teaches delayed gratification, thus delivering you from the demons of impulsive buying! Delayed gratification is a habit essential to saving and wealth-building. If you want something that’s not in the budget, you just have to save from the miscellaneous category.

In summary, a budget helps you see:

• How much money you really have to spend (it isn’t all yours—you owe the landlord, the doctor, the government etc)
• How you want to spend it (not how people and circumstances blackmail you into spending it)
• How to spend it in the future (savings allow you plan for the future)
• How you can live on less than you earn (savings help you do this)
• How you can stay out of financial trouble (now you can cut your coat according to your cloth!)

Would you like to start a budget today? I sure hope you said yes, or that you already have one, and use it. No matter the size of your income, a budget can help you bring order to your finances and take control of your situation. It takes discipline and patience to follow a budget. But the alternative is to remain “in the club!” And you certainly don’t want that!

So, get to work on your budget. Do some fine-tuning, if you already have one. Your discipline and patience will soon pay off. And you’ll be out of the club at last!

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

This article MAY NOT be reproduced, in part or in full.

Making a Favourable First Impression – Seven quick tips by Oma Edoja

2005-05-08T02:29:00.000+01:00

There's always a first time to meeting people. We want to do it right, and be remembered for good. Here are seven quick tips to increase your chances. Get started right away!

* Be in control of your actions. Be aware of them and their possible effects. What image would you portray if, for instance, you yawned without covering your mouth, or scratched your head (or anywhere else!) every five minutes?

* Be well prepared and look well prepared. Rehearse your speech/meeting/sales pitch etc several times. Practice using your props and equipment. Have emergency measures planned in case the unexpected happens. Write down any questions you might want to ask. Practice answering those you could be asked. Preparedness not only portrays competence, it boosts your confidence and self-esteem.

* Be punctual. This shows that you value your time and others’. It is a sign of self-discipline and order.

* Smile, confidently! A sheepish grin has a negative effect. Look people in the eye as you smile at them. And be sure that your smile reveals good oral hygiene.

* Practice good grooming and appropriate dressing. Every detail counts. Have you ever been in the company of a Very Important Person, admiring him/her from afar, only to be put off when up close, by unsightly nails, unpolished shoes or (horrors!) garlic-breath?!

* Give a firm handshake, not a weak, frightened one! A firm handshake portrays strength of character. A weak one does the opposite. Look people in the eye, smile and be confident. You're allowing them the honour of meeting you!

* Think on your strengths, those things you do well. Dwell less on your weaknesses, if at all. Think on past successes. Tell yourself you can do it again. Actively boost your self-esteem everyday. We all have positive points, talents and useful skills. We are all valuable, in different ways.

All of the above will make you feel good about yourself. When you do, you pass the good feeling on to others. They’ll feel good about you too, which is what making a favourable first impression is all about!

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

Oma Edoja is a writer, motivational speaker and infopreneur. She is also the publisher of the inspirational ezine, Up-Mobile.Click here to view a sample.

Oma's Ezine

2005-05-08T02:16:00.000+01:00

Oma publishes a fortnightly ezine (electronic magazine) "The Up-Mobile Ezine." It's focus is providing inspiration to Nigerians, for the Nigerian situation. Features include inspirational articles, quick tips and ideas, motivational quotes and success resources. Oma's blog, which hosts the ezine, also features links to other sites that readers could find useful.

Subscribers to The Up-Mobile Ezine automatically become members of the Up-Mobile Community, a community of upwardly-mobile, success-oriented people. Members have access to the community's members-only chat rooms, and are eligible for free gifts, discounts on advertised products and services, free on-line workshops (on business, motivation, personal development etc) and much more.

To view samples of The Up-Mobile Ezine please visit http://up-mobile.blogspot.com. You may subscribe by filling in the subscription box on site, or by sending an email request to Oma at proact04@yahoo.co.uk with the subject line:Subscribe Up-Mobile.
You may unsubscribe by clicking on "Unsubscribe" in the email announcements we will send you, or by sending a blank email to proact04@yahoo.co.uk with the subject line: Unsubscribe Up-Mobile.

Visit http://up-mobile.blogspot.com today!

Up-Mobile Ezine, bringing you "Nigerian Inspiration for the Nigerian situation TM"