The Business Man

[Video] How to convert currencies at NaijaCurrencyConverter.com.ng using our FREE Calculator

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 10:25:00 +0000

How to convert currencies at NaijaCurrencyConverter.com.ng

Watch me use the free Calculator at https://www.NaijaCurrencyConverter.co... to convert different currencies, like the dollar (USD), AED to Naira.

The exchange rates are live and you can see the rate today. The website displays the amounts, the rate of exchange used, historical rates for the past 6 months and some quick converters as follows:

Quick Calculators

Convert naira to dollar: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

convert 100 dollars to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

1000 dollars to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

Convert 500 dollars to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

50 dollars to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

5000 dollars to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

Convert 2000 dollars to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

3000 dollars to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

canadian dollar to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

Convert 200 dollars to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

1 euro to naira: https://www.naijacurrencyconverter.co...

10000 dollars to naira.

Convert btc to usd

20000 dollars to naira

The exchange rates are based on international foreign exchange rates (forex) rates provided by our partner, rates provided by the Central bank of Nigeria and Live NGN / USDT actual rates at Binance.com

Why are you exchanging currencies?

- do you want to travel out for schooling, business, pleasure or JAPA?

- are you expecting foreign currencies?

- do you want to receive foreign currencies from Nigeria?

- do you want to arrange proof of funds?

- are you trying to calculate your foreign currency earnings from forex, binary, crypto etc?

Let us know in the comments and we will come up with easy solutions

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Guide to Registering a Business at the CAC in Nigeria (2024)

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 09:30:00 +0000

I wrote this guide in 2021 but the process is still the same today

In this guide, we will go through the following:

Introduction

Public search CAC

CAC business name registration

CAC portal login

CAC document upload portal

CAC registration fees

CAC online registration

FAQ about CAC and Company registration

Fell free to click on any of the topics above to jump to it

Introduction

Why register a business? To operate a business in Nigeria, it is required that you register the business to give it a legal backing and give confidence to the public that your business is legitimate. You can also go to jail for operating a business without registration. The Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) provides that you can register your business as a Non profit, Limited Liability, Partnership or Sole proprietorship business. You can downloada copy of CAMA here.

About the CAC

The Corporate Affairs commission (CAC) is the Nigerian government agency responsible for registering businesses. From the CAC website, it states that the CAC was established by the CAMA in 1990 to regulate the formation and management of companies in Nigeria

Main functions of the CAC

- They administer and regulate company formation and winding down.

- They maintain records of all registered companies

- They investigate companies in the interest of shareholders and many more things

In summary, you must talk to the CAC if you need to register a business, buy a company, add new shareholders and so on

Website: https://www.cac.gov.ng

CAC Abuja address (HQ): Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria

CAC office in Lagos: 18/20 Catholic Mission St, Lagos Island 102273, Lagos

Emails: cservice@cac.gov.ng and protocol@cac.gov.ng

Public search CAC

Public Search is when you search for a business on the CAC database through the website to confirm the existence of the business. The searich can be done at any of their offices or through their website. To search through the website, follow these easy steps

1. Visit https://search.cac.gov.ng/home

2. In the search box, enter the name of the company and hit enter

3. My search for XYZ Nigeria limited just returned some results!

4. As you can see, the data gives us the registration code (RC) of the company, the official name of the company that most likely fits our search, the registered address, the date of registration and status.

This company is inactive. This is usually because the company has not been filing annual returns to CAC. The annual returns inform CAC that your company is active and still in good standing. See this guide on how to prepare and file the annual returns here

If you would like more information about this company, CAC requires you to apply and pay. See screenshot below that displays when you click on “view paid service”

CAC business name registration

To register a business name with CAC, you have to first search for a name you wish to register to confirm that it is not on the CAC database. You do this by conducting a public search or you go to their office for this search. Afterwards, you can then fill out the forms, attach your identity information (IDs, proof of address, age etc) and then submit after paying the required fees.

It is recommended to do this with the assistance of a competent Lawyer to avoid costly mistakes.

The process is now fully online on the CAC website and will require you to also pay online using Remita. To register your business online, start here:

1. Visit CAC website

2. From the home page click on “Online Registration”

3. On the next page, you will see the 4 steps you need to take to register your business.

a. Step One: Public Search – search to see if the name you want already exists. We have already covered in the public search above

b. Reserve a Name – As soon as you find a name that is not on the CAC database, you will submit this name to be reserved for you. It is advised to submit more than one name because a lot of companies are registered every day and someone might use your name even before you register it. To reserve a name, you must login into the portal. Registration on CAC is free.

c. Pre-Incorporation – This is where you complete all the forms and submit all the required documents to register your business. The forms will basically ask for your personal information (similar to what you fill in when you are trying to open a bank account), then you upload your IDs, Tax registration, address verification etc.

You also need to fill in the information about the business you are trying to register including the address, shareholders, paid-up capital etc. You must also login to CAC to see your dashboard. Please note that you must be the person that registered the business or an authorized representative of the business to access this portal

d. Post-Incorporation – this is where you file documents for annual returns, update shareholders, close your business etc. Just like the above, you must login to access your company information on the CAC portal

The CAC portal is at https://pre.cac.gov.ng/dashboard. Make sure you are an authorized representative of a business before you access company information on CAC

CAC document upload portal

The cac portal is at https://pre.cac.gov.ng/dashboard. It is also at this portal that you upload any required document during your company registration filing

CAC registration fees

CAC registration fees are broken down into two categories,

A. Filing and form fees

These fees are used for form processing and are usually paid online or offline through remita. The form fees are not so expensive. There different fees for accessing sets of incorporation forms, correction forms, name reservation forms etc. See details of form fees on CAC website

B. Service Registration fees

These are fees paid for the type of business you want to register. The fees and forms to access depend on how much share capital you want to register your business with. See details at https://www.cac.gov.ng/faq_category/list-of-fees/ then choose service for Companies, Incorporated trustees or business names

To summarize with an example, to register a limited liability company of N1,000,000 share capital, you will pay for name search, then reservation of name, then a set of incorporation documents/forms, pay registration fees. This may cost up to N50,000.00.

CAC document upload

You can log into the cac at the following url: https://pre.cac.gov.ng/dashboard and upload any documents and completed forms as required. Make sure you are the authorized representative of the company

CAC login from home

You can log into the cac from home at the following url: https://pre.cac.gov.ng/dashboard

CAC forms

During the course of any dealings at the CAC, you will be required to fill out forms whether online or offline at their office. The forms to be filled will depend on the type of business you are trying to register or the service you are trying to access at the CAC.

Click here to see all forms (and fees) for application.

Click here to see all forms (and fees) for Business names.

Click here to see all forms (and fees) for Companies.

Click here to see all forms (and fees) for Incorporated trustees

CAC - Remita

CAC and Remita entered into an agreement a few years ago to improve the online payment services at the CAC. Remita is a payment service company that enable online and offline payment at the CAC. Remita services have grown over the years from a payments collection company to offering a bouquet of retail services. Anyone can register at remita and begin accepting payments online within minutes for FREE. http://www.remita.net

CAC company search

cac company search can be done by a Public Search at the CACwebsite. This is when you search for a business on CAC database through the website to confirm the existence of the business. See detailed screenshotshere

CAC online registration

To access the CAC database and complete registration, you are required to have an account in the CAC website. Registration is free. Register with these steps

Step 1: visit https://pre.cac.gov.ng/register/new

Step 2: Complete the Information

Choose if you want to continue a previous application or a new one, then select if you are an accredited agent of CAC.

Fill in your details as the authorized representative and account details

Fill in address details and means of identification

Then you click on Register.

You will receive further information on how to login in your email inbox

FAQ about CAC and Company registration

How do I search a name in CAC?

You can search for a name on cac by doing a public search. This will check the CAC database for any name related to your search. Seemore details on how to do a CAC public search here

How do I check if a company is registered with CAC?

You can check if your company is registered with CAC by doing a public search. This will check the CAC database for any name related to your search. See more details on how to do a CAC public search here

How do I find a company name in Nigeria?

To find a company name, you might want to use a name that relates to the product or service you want to render. You might also want to use your name or an acronym of if the business you want to go into is not specific to one line of business. To make it easy you can try a business namegenerator for free here

How do I print my CAC certificate online?

The CAC now provides electronic certificate of registration(e-certificate) which you can access from the CAC portal dashboard once your business has been registered. The certificate, once downloaded to your computer can be printed with your printer at home or in your office. Read more about the CAC e-certificate here

How long does it take to obtain my CAC certificate after completion of filing?

According to Lawpadi.com, the process takes up to two weeks to complete depending on the workload at the CAC however, we have seen processes taking up to 3 months.

In summary, register a limited company in the following easy steps:

Check for availability of proposed company name (click here) Read more about name reservation and Reserve a new Name (click here)
Complete pre-registration form and upload relevant documents (Online using Company Registration Portal)
Pay filing and Stamp duty fees Check the fees for our Services here
- Now registration is end-to-end on the COMPANY REGISTRATION PORTAL (CRP)
- with electronic Certificate of Registration

Free Guide Reveals How a Business Structure can
Help you Save a lot of money and grow your Business
[See this before your register your business]

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How to make money with Luno

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 07:31:00 +0000

Introduction

With rise of crypto currencies, it is great to join the game and make some money too.

If you do not know what crypto currencies are, start from reading this article

I looked critically at trading on exchanges like Binance and i realized that you CAN loose money if the market goes in the opposite direction to your trade.

I started looking for a way to earn and not loose at all. I stumbled on Luno App. It lets you buy a few crypto currencies ( Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ripple, Litecoin, Ethererum and USC).

After playing with it for a while i figure out a way to always gain.

I successfully made N12,000 pure profit after two weeks just from one increase in the price of Ripple.

The concept

These currencies go up and down and some of them can be very erratic in their price movement. The idea is to choose a crypto that is erratic, which means that prices goes up and down sharply within a week or a month. For this, i have chosen Ripple (XRP).

You buy and hold. When the price goes up, you sell and wait again for the price to come down. Ideally, you can do this for any cryptocurrency but this guide is mostly for Ripple mainly because it is the cheapest on Luno so small price changes will make you more money since you will have more ripples.

Here are the steps

Step 1: Install the app and register.

Search for Luno on any of the app stores. Registration is pretty simple.

Step 2: Fund your Luno account.

There two ways of doing that, the 1st one is to buy some cryptocurrency. The process is very simple - you decide how much you want to buy and then you complete the transaction with your debit card. If you are in Nigeria, this is no longer possible. If you can buy, then skip to step 3.

2nd Method is to buy your crypto from other sources and then transfer to your Luno receiving address.

How to Buy Cryptocurrencies if You are in Nigeria

How to Create a receiving Address on Luno

Create a receiving BTC (or any other crypto on Luno) wallet inside Luno and copy code.

To create a Receiving wallet for Ripple(XRP), from the home screen, tap on "wallets".

Then tap on "Receive"

Then tap "Create a new receiving address"

Then it will ask you to indicate the crypto wallet you want to create the address on. If you don't have a crypto wallet, read on to see how to create one

For this example, I will choose Bitcoin cash (BCH).

On the next view, you give your new receiving address a name

Click create

Your new receiving address is created. You can then copy the address and share to receive money

How to Create a Wallet

From, home screen of Luno, tap on "wallets", then tap on "Add a Wallet". You can only have one wallet for one cryptocurrency.

I chose the 1st one, USDC. I already have wallets for the other currencies. If you look closely, Luno has other wallets where you can save your cryptos and get some interest annually

once you select, Luno will give you a little explanation about that crypto currency and then you continue

Then it will ask for a confirmation, before your wallet is created.

Step 3: Setup Luno

Once you receive your crypto using your Luno receiving address, look for Ripple and look at the chart for the day and the week

How to read the chart

Look for the lowest point for the week and set an alert and wait for the price to get to this lowest point.

From the home screen, look at the picture below

Under the price at the top, tap on the small arrow pointing down and select "week"

Look for low points in the past week from 14th to 20th,

Tap on the low point in the chart to see the price at that point

This

this

and this

You can see that the lowest price was N315. So we will set an alert for luno to tell us when next the price gets there.

How to set the alert

From home screen, tap on "Profile"

Then tap on "Price alerts"

On the next view, you will notice all the crypto currencies on Luno at the top. The 1st one highlighted is the one you can create an alert on. You can see BTC is highlighted

If I want to create for USDC, I will tap on USDC. Then tap the red bell icon below

On the alert setup view, there are 4 settings that you will see

1. Create alert once- this is the one we need to always select.

2. Create alert always

3. price increase - select this if you are waiting for price increase

4. price decrease - select this if you are waiting for price deduction

Next you enter the target price you want Luno to alert you.

Luno charges a 2% percentage for transfer, Calculate when you will make profit and set an alert

Aim for at least 20% profit and set another alert.

Click here to use our free calculator

In this case I want Luno to alert only once, when the price of USDC gets to N750. By the way, you can see the current price below that box.

my alert is created!

Step 4: Take action based on your alerts

Once ripple price comes that low, transfer all your BTC to ripple and wait.

How to move your Money from One Wallet to another

From Luno home screen, tap on wallets

As you can see, all my money is in my Naira wallet.

Tap on "Buy" at top

Choose the crypto currency you want to buy

It will ask you how you want to pay. There are two options, get from any of your wallets or add money with your debit card. The 2nd option is no longer working because of the recent CBN restrictions.

Choose the wallet you want to move money from. In this case, my naira wallet

next, you enter exactly how much you want to move to the new wallet

Pay attention to the red arrows. In the box, you can enter the amount of money you want to move to this wallet. If you want to move all the money, you tap on "max", and all the money in that wallet will be selected.

If you look below the box, the amount of money available will be displayed.

Next you tap "next"

The next screen will ask you to review and confirm

Pay attention to the numbers

1. This is how much Ripple i will get

2. This is how much commission Luno will charge

3. This is how much you will spend from your naira wallet. If you are fine with it, you can tap on "confirm"

Next you will enter your pin to confirm the transaction

Ripple goes up and down alot during the day and week. Once you get your second alert, move all your ripple to your naira wallet and wait again for the price to go down.

IMPORTANT: Don't be greedy. Once you get to your profit % or objective, withdraw your coins. Even if the price "looks like" its still going up. This because, when the price starts going down, it may fall even lower than you bought it and you might have to wait for more than 2 weeks for it to go back up.

Look at the chart again and look for the lowest point within the week. If it takes more than 2 weeks for the price to go down, then look at the lowest point in 2 weeks.

You can repeat this process over and over again.

So if you start with 5000, you will make 5400 usual within a few days.

If you do this everyday, you could change your 10k or 100k to 20k or 200k in a week or two. If you get lucky and the market moves up very well, you will smile. (I withdrew my ripple one night at N293 only to wake up and the crazy thing has gone to N 312)

Advantages of this method

You don't really suffer losses since you are not trading because, ripple will always go up after it goes down.

You loose when you withdraw impatiently

Disadvantage

Sometimes it takes more than a week or two, for the price to go down. That can be frustrating.

Also, there is nothing like a "stop loss" like its done in trading. So when the price starts going down, you can only withdraw on time or just wait.

Understanding and making money from Cryptocurrencies

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 15:32:00 +0000

I first heard about Bitcoin in 2013 and as at that time, the exchange rate to the dollar was more than USD20,000 to 1BTC. Now it just USD662 to 1 BTC. This is just one of the Cryptocurrencies

What are Cryptocurrencies?

A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange like normal currencies such as USD, but designed for the purpose of exchanging digital information through a process made possible by certain principles of cryptography. Cryptography is used to secure the transactions and to control the creation of new coins. See more here https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/cryptocurrency/.According to google it is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

"decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation"
Why I love them the most is that they are not controlled by any Government or Agency.

Welcome to Freedom!

Visit coinmarketcap.com for detail of all available currencies, their exchange rates to the dollar and if they are minable.

What do I mean by Minable?
Some cryptocurrencies can be mined (like you are mining for Gold or precious Stones). Yes but their method and level of difficulty of mining defers from one currency to another.
This is a computationally intensive task, and it requires a lot of processing power. Essentially, the computer is rewarded for solving difficult math problems. See more

There are a number of Mining platforms where ordinary people like me and you can invest our money in and get paid from a portion of the mining proceeds.

This Website gives a good description of the mining process
One Website I have currently invested in is Harshflare. See a screenshot of my earnings.

This was just to test run their system. I will invest about USD200 soon and see how it goes.

How it works

1.    Make sure you have some Bitcoins or Perfect money
2.    Visit the website here: and sign up
3.    Login and then invest

Another Currency I would like to invest in is Revcoin.

I watched the Currency grow from July when it was lunched to it being listed on Coinmarketcap.com.
To fund the mining of that currency, the owners have an investment scheme of 58days ongoing where you invest a sum of money (minimum of USD10) and get 2.5% - 3.5% daily for 58 days.
For example, if you invest USD100, you will get USD145, USD1,000 gives you USD1,7401740.00
The good thing about it is your profits are available for you to withdraw daily.

That a whopping 145% returns
If you are interested, signup and invest.

Comment below if you have any question

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Vote Jummai Abbah as the New Face of Democracy 2016 - Find out Why

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 14:17:00 +0000

Gorgeuos

Jummai Gorgeous Abbah is one of the beautiful and promising young Nigerian models contesting in the Face of Democracy Pageant.

Early years
With parents from Kogi State, She was born 25yrs ago in Adamawa state, schooled at Air force primary school, Yola; Air force comprehensive secondary school Agbani Enugu and she just completed her Vetinary medicine program as the best Female graduating Student from the University of Maiduguri.

In our exclusive interview, she said she has always wanted to be someone that people can look up to. In her own words "I believe that you can do anything as long as you put your mind to it. I am a good fighter and a goal achiever; when I set my mind on something, I do it".

Major supporters
God almighty, My family and friends like Edith Anne Obi, Love Dibal, Annie, Mark, Sunny, Daphne and Ike have been my major support.

How did you know about the Pageant?
I stumbled on this pageant on Linda Ikeja's blog and quickly jumped on the opportunity and my experience so far has been really good though very challenging.

What will you do when you win?
I plan to start my small animal farm when I win and hope It expands so that I can be an employer of labour. Through that I hope to create awareness on the value of animal farming. In addition, my pet project would be visiting IDP camps and mobilising support to provide some of their basic needs.

How to Vote
To vote Jummai Abbah, pls click on the following link to view the voting platform on Instagram and like

or copy this link to your browser: https://www.instagram.com/p/BKgGI09Dr6Q/?r=598904577

Please like and tag your other friends to like, so she can win the Face of Democracy Nigeria. Your vote counts. She is representing Kogi state.

About the Pageant

Face of democracy Nigeria beauty pageant show is designed to encourage and promote the Nigerian girl child and women participation in the growing democratic dispensation of Federal Republic of Nigeria, using entertainment, culture and tourism as a tool.

The beauty pageant is one in a million. It stands for not just beauty but brains. It is genuine and aims at developing young ladies and opening up their eyes to see needs in the society and do their best to meet them. Also it intends to empower young women to develop interest in the matters of the nation a whole. See more details at http://www.fdn.com

Get Rich as the Dollar Goes down!

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 13:03:00 +0000

Sometime early last week, I had the opportunity to read the 2015 GTB Economic analysis which was sound I must say and it got me a bit worried, Do you know the real reason(s) why the dollar is going up and may continue going up for a while? ( see the REAL current exchange are here http://abokifx.com/ ) , are people really aware of what is going on?

Click to download and read for yourself here

Yes the picture looks bad, fuel scarcity may be re-occurring at intervals till most of this year, the oil price may not recover for a while since most of the oil producing nations are not showing any sign of reducing production, government is very broke, 2016 Budget may take a while before it is approved, so alot of government payments will not come on time and most importantly, exports from Nigeria are too low compared to our preference for imported goods....but not to worry, out of great stress comes the best of jewels i.e. the Diamond.

One thing I have realized is that history repeats herself. Do you know that every time there were recessions and depressions globally, a new crop of Wealthy men emerge? We all witnessed the crop of rich men that were created with the emergence of the Fuel Subisdy in Nigeria or the Nigerian Stock Exchange boom and a number of other examples: it is a time of creation of a new type of wealth. Wealth will change Hands!

Have you taken your own position to benefit from all this?

What will you do to benefit from this round of Wealth Creation?

1st you need to know where the money is flowing and who will be in control. And then you need to know when and why.

As the Dollar remains high, Nigerians will reduce the quantity of imported stuff which they consume at 1st and if the situation continues, they will begin to find local cheaper alternatives.

Can you provide these alternatives?

I can tell you that the areas that will require immediate attention will be in things that people use daily, food we consume and how we relax.

I traveled by road over the weekend to the eastern part of Nigeria from Lagos and we stopped at Agbor in Delta state to buy some food stuff by the road side. I saw some very interesting prices e.g. 17 Oranges were going for N200 while about 10 - 12 Oranges sell for N200 in Lagos (Some people were even arguing that it should be 20). I wondered how much it would cost if we went into the village to buy instead of the road side.

We can all go back to the farm, it only takes one ear of corn to make a plot of land full of corn farm

Knowing "when and why" has to do with understanding why the Naira is falling and reading the signs to know when it may recover.

If you know that fuel scarcity will persist, why don't we start investing in alternative power supply solutions?

I enjoy the common sense advocacy by Senator Ben Bruce which encourages buying made in Nigeria products. You can read more here http://benbruce.org/2016/02/22/buy-naija-to-grow-the-naira/

However, as we begin to buy more made in Nigeria products, growing the Naira will take a while and in that short space of time (which may be up to 5yrs), we are looking for the new crop of millionaires in Nigeria who will make money from supporting and growing Nigerian products to export quality.

As for me, I have taken my own position.

#buyNaijaGrowTheNaira

Make Money from Network Marketing Without Convincing Anyone

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 10:38:00 +0000

I have seen so many methods of making money, some good, some bad and some "in the middle" but I came at across this brilliant Club that helps members make money without convincing anyone or selling products.

Main Problem With Network Marketing

I run away from network marketing, and everyone I know runs away from it because their methods have been very selfish and I must say wicked. Someone comes up to you and convinces you to join a network and usually at costly entrance fees and once you pay, you get a ton of products that you probably may not use or even know how to sell and then, he literally shakes hands with you and walks away. Then it dawns on you that you are stuck. You have products which you probably don't know how to sell and you don't know how to go about convincing people to join you.

This is a Great Strategy

After I studied this particular network, its something anyone can do - you buy only products you need and products you could give out. You can sell if you like but the focus is to buy only what you need. Its not like you will not do anything at all but you don't have to convince anybody to join. Its that simple

What about the Products?

The era of selling health products that "they say" helps you to cure high blood pressure, stomach upset, cancer, eye problem etc is over. They have everyday use products like your bathing soap, shampoo, makeup kit, dish washing liquid etc and etc. Things you have to use everyday. So even without the network, these products will always be needed and so they will generate income for the company and anyone promoting them.

Is it Working?

I wont go into details here "for security reasons" but I will tell you that it is really good. I have seen people going from N15,000 a week to N750,000 a month within 4 months.

If you ask me, its a great business opportunity, why don't you book your seat at the next FREE business meeting where you will hear the full details happening in different locations in Nigeria?

To attend, please send your full name, location and phone number to info@tbmng.com or by sms to 08099816394

PART TIME PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS CAN TAKE YOU TO ANOTHER LEVEL FINANCIALLY.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 19:17:00 +0000

Part-time Photography Business is another business with not much capital and reasonable profit.

It can provide significant income. With a bit of talent and a reliable camera, you can start a photography business to augment your regular monthly income.
You can decide to make it mobile, which is where I will concentrate in my suggestions.

What you need
With mobile part time photography you may not need a studio because you will be going out to meet your clients in occasions and events like, birthdays, weddings, picnics etc
Practice your skills on family members and friends and you will soon be on your way to earning a second income from part-time photography. The capital required can rage from N138,000 to N150,000 and up to N20,000 income estimated weekly.

What to start with;

1. Digital camera(canoe 700D or nikon) N93,000

2. Desktop \ Laptop(HP) N85,000

3. Card reader N3,000

4. Memory card 4 or 8gig- N3,000

5 printer Hifi, - 28,000

6. Soc phoshop, picasa, corel draw, DG photo art- N3,000

7. Flash soft box and soft box- N3,000

· These are all price estimates.

Step 1

Choose a Specialization

Determine the type of photography you plan to pursue, for instance, if wedding photography interests you, research the wedding venues in your area such as churches, Gardens, historic buildings, schools and the local government office halls. Talk to the clergymen or managers of the event centers to understand how many functions are held each week, month or quarter. Based on the level of activity, you should be able to get an idea of how many possible clients are available in a given month. Keep in mind that weddings are most commonly held on Saturdays, so your weekends need to be free. This may work well for part-time work, especially if you work full-time during the week. Calculate the amount of income needed monthly to determine whether a single specialty is going to be suitable or whether you need to concentrate on more than one field. Other specialty photography areas you may want to consider includes birthday parties, holiday, family portraits and senior or graduation photos. Many of these types of photos are taken only at certain time of year, so you may need to offer photography services in several areas to sufficiently support your income needs.

Step 2

Invest in the right equipment

When you are starting out, it may be worth taking out a loan or seeking third party investment, that is if you don’t have enough capital. Think about which camera and lenses will be most appropriate for your chosen area of specialization and then select a computer and photo editing software. You have to note that a good camera will determine how far you will go in the business; good quality equipment will make a huge difference to your result.
Talk to other camera men at events to get advice.

Step 3
Get some training
It may not be easy to get another photographer to show you the ropes but you definitely have to learn how to edit and work with images.
You can search google for some good ones or you could visit some training centers close to you.

Step 4

Insurance and other incidentals

Register your photography business to ensure you are free to operate. There is always this peace that comes with doing the right thing in a right way. Get a favorable insurance policy for your equipment and your business in general, insurance is really cheap, its just 5% of the cost of the equipment.
(i know a friend who can get you good insurance). This is crucial, as simple accidents such as tripping over a tripod or lighting stand could put you seriously out of pocket if a client decides sue or even damage as u will be mobile most of the time.

If you will operate in Nigeria for example, register with Corporate Affairs Commission Nigeria and a photographers Association in your area.
Even though you will be operating from home, registering your business will help create a good image and hence, a good impression especially when you hand out business cards so do it with all seriousness.

Step 5

Building a portfolio builds credibility

To charge a professional fee for your photography, you will need to convince potential clients that you have the skill and experience to deliver the job and this starts with good packaging-your business name, your business card, etc.

Try all sorts of different types of photo sessions like children, couples, maternity, newborns, this will help you find your niche.
Remember to do some free photo shoots for ur friends and potential clients, it pays off with time. With some patience, creativity, and a lot of hard work, chances are you will surpass even your wildest dreams!

Step 6

Online marketing

1 Advertise your business online through, facebook, whatssap, 2go, , linkdin, myspace, advertise.com.ng, olx.com etc. don’t only use the social media for for just fun or waste of time , make it useful as it ought to be. Apart from online promotion, try and hand out your business cards and flyers, just make sure everyone you know, know about it. If you would like more information or you need help on any issue, please contact us. Find us on facebook at www.facebook.com/DaBusMan. good luck!

NTB – An Investment your bank may not want you to know about?

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:30:00 +0000

2021 Update on Nigerian Treasury bills(NTB)

The strategies mentioned below no longer work for individuals unless you are an institutional investor and the yield has not been impressive in recent times. However some banks and mutual funds still operate it for individuals by putting the money together and investing as a single entity.

Introduction

I once had a long talk with an old friend, trying to catch up on what he has been up to and we started talking about the stock market, the economy and other related matters. He told me how he was able to grow some cash deposits made by his uncle in his bank over the years in spite of all the economic downturn. At the time when he received the cash deposits, he was just a newly employed bank staff and needed the deposits to keep his job. With his position at the bank and his burning passion to add value to the funds entrusted to him he was able to find ways of growing the funds considerably.

He went on to explain that his principle was simple, keep the funds only in safe investments, fixed deposit, NTB – I asked what he meant by NTB and he explained that NTB stands for “Nigerian Treasury Bill”. It is one of the monetary measures employed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to reduce the cash in circulation thereby controlling inflation. They idea is that the CBN decides to pay an attractive interest to banks if they bring some of the cash they have with them.

Shocker: 90% of the Bank marketing staff don’t really understand what this NTB is about. I spoke to a couple of bankers in a few banks to verify my friend’s story and most of them promised to get back to me with details. I never heard from any of them. I keep wondering why this information is not publicized by the banks

How it works

Commercial banks bid monthly for the NTB and at the close of bids, the rate becomes fixed for the period. NTB can be 91days, 182days of 364days. The details are usually published on the CBN website. Http://www.cenbank.org/rates/GovtSecurities.asp . The interest rate was as high as 14% last year.

Why it is interesting

The investment is so secure – you are guaranteed payment by the Central bank of Nigeria. Your interest is even paid upfront once the biding has closed. The current interest rate for a 91day NTB is 10.3%. Let me illustrate, one of my friends kept N1,300,000.00 in a fixed deposit account at 7% for 2 months and the return was NGN13,000. An NTB investment of N300,000 for 91days (3 months) at 10.3% returned about N7,600. Supposing it was N1,300,000 for 3 months, the returns would be N33,383.00.

How it is calculated

The Principal amount (amount you want to invest) multiplied by the interest rate (already divided by 100). The figure you get is divided by 365 (number of days in a year - since the rate is an annual rate) to get the return per day. This return per day is now multiplied by the number of days i.e. 91 days, 182 days etc. The bank charges are about 0.001%.

How you can be part of it

This investment is available to individuals starting with a minimum of NGN100,000.00. To be a part of it, make sure you have at least NGN100,000.00 in your account, write a letter to the bank manager of your bank requesting that your funds be used for the NTB you want. Don’t forget to include your account details. Since bidding is done towards the end of the month or beginning of a new month, submit your letter within that period.

A word of Caution

Don’t just submit your letter and wait, followup with the branch to ensure they don’t miss the due date. Also, you may want to use a savings account for it. Using a current account will incure Charge on Transaction (COT). Also this investment is really for cash that you don’t want lying around in your account and at the same time, you don’t want to touch or invest it in riskier ventures. The returns are much better than a fixed deposit account except that if you decide to call back your money before your due date, the charges are will knock off any or most of the gains you may have made.

Lets Speculate a little

I believe Banks, Insurance companies, pension fund administrators, microfinance banks, mobile money agents etc use this investment regularly. Now I understand why they just want your money no matter the amount. Just imagine 10.3% of 25billion ….. I think I have to operate my own bank in the near future.

Conclusion

I know there are a lot of people with cash just lying there in their bank accounts that are looking for safe and guaranteed investments. NTB will answer your prayers in the short run. For more information, contact the bank closest to you – insist on talking to people in their investment arm if the customer service people don’t get it.
Keep in touch with us, join The Business Man on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DaBusMan

UNISEX Saloon - How to Retain your Customers

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 11:14:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION:

This is a good business only if you know how to go about it in a unique way. Being unique involves dealing with your existing customers, how good your services are and how to attract new customers. How can you be better than the salon next to you? In this brief article you will be enlightened on things to do.

THINGS TO DO :

What to do to make your customers feel special and always want to come back. Create and deliver new, added value to your existing customers—making it more difficult for competitors to woo them away.
Surprise them when they least expect. Imagine a customer comes for a new hairstyle, surprise them with any of your services for free e.g pedicure or manicure e.t.c.
Work hard to earn the trust of your current customers. Keep a close relationship with them and send them messages on their Birthdays and festive periods.

· Look for little products that are cheap and affordable to give them as gifts such as shampoo/conditioner, hair treatment or any hair accessories.

Educate them and give them tips on how to take care of their hair and materials.

· Help them sterilize their Equipments whenever they are done with making their hair

Regularly dialogue with your customers. Find out if there are ways you can improve your deliverables, and then do it. This will help solidify their loyalties down the road.

Find ways to build and earn more trust in the initial phase of your sales cycle with prospects.

Realize that new competitors are likely entering your marketplace in search of business, due to declining sales in their own niche. Ramp up your efforts to retain current customers.
Aggressively manage your sales and marketing efforts. Difficult times call for new, creative problem solving if you expect to remain competitive in the future. into a gatherer of market-driven information that can aid your strategy development. Marketplace advantages enjoy shorter lifecycles and must be replaced with new, more effective ones.

Conclusion

Retaining customers effectively ensures your cash flow is positive and the more your services satisfy them, they will come back with their friends, friend's friends and family. It is a win- win for everyone.

The Business Man Consulting helps business start and grow. Visit us now at link below for other ways we can assist you. The Business Man Online

Video Rentals Business

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 07:35:00 +0000

Introduction

This type of business used to be very popular in the nineties. I used to think they had gone under until recently I saw one on my street. Well I didn’t take it serious until I started noticing a couple of them around my area. I counted about 5 in my area alone. That was when I decided to take a closer look. On looking into one of the places, I realized they had mostly Yoruba movies and the number of people that were at that shop that day indicated that there was indeed a need here.

What you need

A shop (or actually a store front) where you can display your videos and your sign post. You can share a shop with a friend. You just need a staff to register all videos available, register all your members, register videos that people borrow etc.

Type of Videos: This is a tricky one. From looking at those shops in my area, I see that they have more of Yoruba Videos. I live in Lagos Nigeria, if you live in any other locality, find movies in the local language. Also have a couple of foreign movies. They will do very well. For a while I though the African magic channel on DSTV would kill this type of business but I have now seen that they have very unique market segments. You also have to ask your customers questions once in a while to find out what they would like and also try to be on top of the all the latest movies.

Costs

Cost of renting a video

The cost should be reasonable and comparable to that of your competitors. The price for local videos should be higher for local videos.

Cost of registration

There should be a cost of registration. You need to know your customers (especially where they live) in case you have to go recover a video yourself. Your customers must fill a form identifying them. The cost should not be higher than your competitors but low enough to encourage more customers.

Other Things

You can include certain management processes like different prices for different classes of customers, text messaging to your customers when there are new videos, competitions and awards to the best customer etc. The list is endless. Your success will depend mostly on how unique and relevant your business is to its environment. Also you should train your staff on how to effectively handle customers.

Risks

The main risk associated with this business is people not returning your videos at all. If people don’t return your videos on time, they get to pay for each day they hold on to it. Its different when it’s not returned at all. There are a lot you can do but the ultimate is to go visit them to recover your video. Also videos maybe returned damaged. A lot of people do not handle Video CDs and DVDs properly. A training here for your customers may be very important here. Since these two risks are inevitable, you must set aside some money each month to replace damaged and unreturned videos.

Conclusion

This business may not make money for you overnight but if you can increase your shops to at least 3 in different neighborhoods, with an efficient management system, it can really contribute significantly to you income. From here you can even start selling videos etc.

Disclaimer

This is presented here to provide an insight into a possible business opportunity. You are advised to do a proper analysis before you go into it. The Business Man is available to help you in all you need from business ideas analysis, business planning to setup and financing your business.

Convenience Store Business – A hidden money maker

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Sun, 29 May 2011 20:19:00 +0000

Introduction

This is really an interesting business if you look closely. I didn’t quite realize it until one day the man that runs the small kiosk near my house gave me my bill. Well I had been taking stuff from him on credit for over a month and he then billed me. The bill didn’t come as a surprise to me but what did was the amount on the bill – N5,500! How did only me consume that much in a month on just little things? I couldn’t believe it until he showed me his record and then I realized something, this guy was making money! How many other people staying around me consume that much?

What you need

Starting this type of business is very easy. You only need to find a space in your neighborhood that you can use as a shop. In choosing your shop or kiosk, make sure there not more than two shops on the street.

Getting Customers

You don’t need even to do any type of advertising, just open your shop and display your products!

Product Selection

You need to be very careful here. Take a walk around your area and sample other shops – see the range of products they are selling. Don’t focus on selling the best products, focus on selling convenient products even if other people are selling it. Your selling point is your location; the people who live closest to you will buy from you since your products are as good as the next seller’s.

Another thing here, keep to the cheap products and keep your total cost to under N5,000.

Staff

Actually, if you’ve got a lot of free time, you could do it yourself but it takes a lot of time and attention to keep up with the supplies for each product and attending to customers – it’s a fulltime job!. I suggest you find someone who would do it for you. A relative would be ideal but whoever it is, just make sure you put in certain controls to check his activities. For example, you could have a written price list and a record of the quantities of all your products. Then you could count your products regularly like weekly or monthly – the official word for it is “stock taking”.

Conclusion

It’s true that the profit from this could be slow but with dedication and discipline, you can actually grow this business into something big in a matter of months. This is another great business you can do with little start-up, just find a little space or construct and place a small lock-up kiosk or even one on wheels; then stock it up and you are in business!

Dump Truck Haulage Business

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Introduction
If you are in Nigeria, this is a business that can easily make you NGN350,000 (USD2,334) per month although it requires a considerable amount of capital.

What you need
The Dump Truck

A good Dump truck (faily used) starts from NGN7Million (USD47,000) but its usually cheaper if you buy from outside Nigeria. My friend Mr Mike Edo who is into the business has a business partner in Spain who buys these trucks and sends them down to Nigeria. He is available if you are interested in getting a good truck.

If you decide to buy it in parts that is, buy the Head first and then the bucket later, the head alone costs about NGN4Million (USD27,000). You can also import them at cheaper rates. The Tipper Bucket (the back portion) costs about NGN2.5Million (USD17,000) to construct and install but NGN36,000 (USD240) to rent for a day in the eastern part of Nigeria.

Business Structure

According to my friend, the business is simple, get your truck, lease it to a construction company (currently handling construction works) for use in conveying dirt or gravel, get a Truck Manager to handle your relationship with your driver and the construction company, then you smile to the bank every month - the construction companies pay as much as NGN150,000 per day plus NGN20,000 for your driver per day.

How you make money

Making any money in this business is guaranteed if you take care of the following;

The Company

You need a company currently carrying out a big construction project - preferably road construction. My friend currently has a trucking lease agreement with Setraco, the Construction company handling the expansion of East-West Road in PortHarcourt, Rivers State Nigeria.

Legal Entity
Such Construction companies would always deal with corporate entities and not individuals. So you have to register your trucking company as a limited liability company to be able to do business with them.

Agreement Structure
The agreement between your company & the construction company is basically for you to lease your truck to the company for a period ranging from 1 to 6 months. You will provide a driver, do your maintenance and fuel your truck while the construction company pays you monthly according to number of trips per day and your driver is paid per trip.

Truck Manager
This is the main core of your business. You need a truck manager is you are new to the business or if you have another job one if you don't have time to monitor your trucks. The truck manager usually takes care of your truck and makes sure it meets up with all the contractual agreements. This also means that he will be in-charge of cash flow and will remit to you the agreed amount every month. This is the person you have to trust and treat very well if you want to succeed in this business.
My friend, Mr Mike Edo is a truck manager and currently has 4 trucks under his oversight. According to him, "the more trucks I manage, the more money i get". He is also available to Handle more trucks or questions on this business. You can request for his contact address and I will send it to you.
You just hand your dump ruck over to him with some money to cover expenses for the first month and you sit down and watch the money pour in month after month!

Conclusion
This business is really very lucrative and you can recover your initial capital in less than two years if you have a truck manager and even much sooner if you manage your trucks yourself.

Disclaimer
While The Business Man strives to always present accurate business analysis summary, this does not replace doing your own due diligence before you go into any business.

For more information, please feel free to comment below or contact me.

Popup Iframe Example

Stencil Design Business

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 09:30:00 +0000

Introduction

I was visiting a friend who makes cakes the other day and I saw a very beautiful Cake she made with the Arsenal Football Logo as a big design on the cake. I was really impressed with how it looked and I asked her how she got the design so well. She showed her design stencil and guess what, she bought it for NGN1,500 ($10)!. Can you imagine that? I mean I cut that design myself!

Description

Finished Design Stencil

Manchester United Logo on Cake

The business part of this is simple. I made some enquiries and I found out that you could find more Popular logos and designs, cut them really well on stencil material and sell them to people who make cakes,make banners, screen printers etc

Profiting Estimate
Seriously, you the profits here can be insane!, you use a stencil or two (less than $1), about 1hr of your time for very delicate designs, and you go home with about $10!. Multiply that by 10 in a month and you don’t even work every day.

What you need

The Design
You have to first do a little market survey. What designs are popular? Talk to people you will meet to buy your designs. Ask them for designs you can make for them. Football designs are popular, Current Cartoon characters will sell with kids, but you need to be sure they are not popular in your area.

The Materials
You need to have your knife cutter. You could get this from a hardware shop for under NGN500 ($4). You also need the material to use as your stencil. I recommend you use transparent Plastic Material used for document binding. A pack of 100 goes for about NGN1300 ($9) and you are set. The best thing about this is you get better at cutting after each job you complete.

Marketing your Designs
Start talking to people who make cakes-cake shops, banner producers, people who do screen printing, Monogramming ( printing on T-shirts, Cups, Suveniers etc.). You can find these people in the markets like where you buy plain T-shirts, plastics in bulk etc.

For designs that are not popular, you need to have a picture of what it would look like on anything. For example, for the Arsenal Logo, I would get a picture of it on a cake. Just get creative, make a picture album of designs compared to possible finished products. This could come later but if you start with one design, the people you talk to may ask for specific designs.

From Here
You could go ahead to get a website-put you designs online so people can see them and place orders, make a Business card, make posters etc. Make sure you take advantage of every person you meet by making sure they have your business card.

To make it easy, you may need to talk to someone who does this business, why read more here http://www.workabusiness.com/index.php?link=business_mentor.
Please comment on this if you need help here.

Website design business can make money for you

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:26:00 +0000

Introduction

Website design is simply the process of creating websites for people and getting the websites live, online. As a business, it costs very little to learn and start. You can learn on your own free of charge. Free tutorials are available here

In the business, you could get paid from NGN10k to NGN100M depending on the extent the website required and your clientele.

There are generally two approaches to the business. You could
(A) Design websites for cash and or
(B) Design websites to address needs or solve problems

Lets look closely at both approaches

(A) Designing websites for Cash

This is the most popular form of this business. You find your clients, design sites for them and then you get paid.

What you need

- Get a Computer
A laptop preferably. This is because you will have to make presentations. A fairly used one here in Lagos Nigeria goes for about NGN60k.

- A Business Profile
Prepare a company profile. This just a document introducing you to anybody. It should say who you are, what you do, your mission, vision, contact address and more. Yes this very necessary because big businesses need to see that you are organized before they do anything with you. This also means that you should register your business. You could start an enterprise now and or Limited Liability ( LLC) later depending on what you can afford.

- A Business Proposal
This is also a document in addition to what is in your profile, it also shows a formal proposal or request to carry out a particular service or work. It is more detailed than your profile as it shows jobs you have done and a timed schedule/plan of carrying out the particular service.

As an extension of the above, you should build a couple of websites and put them on different free hosting plans. This is to show what you can do. You also need to create your own business website, it will also be part of your experience.

- Create and Print Collateral Materials
The most important ones are you business card and letter headed paper. Believe me,the first month will involve alot of writing and meeting people.

- Go find clients for your business
I won't go into the basics of tidying your appearance-believe it or not, you are now a CEO, you should look like one

(i) Tell everyone you know what you now do. You can never tell if your neighbor needs your services. Apart from word of mouth, try sending an email to all your contacts introducing your business.

(ii) Send / Drop your proposal in as many companies as possible. This step will require you to meet with Advertising executives, brand executives, CEOs, etc of companies. You should try to research the company you are going to, it maybe that what they need is a website manager, not a brand new website.

Try as much as possible to get contact details of decision makers in the companies you go to so you can keep intouch with them as often as once in two weeks. If you get more than 20 contacts, it could become economical for you to use bulk sms at NGN2.00. Click here for some bulk sms providers.

(iii)Get creative, there are so many ways to market a business. I once read one interesting book on this subject matter. Get it from your local bookshop or click here to get a copy of 101 ways to market your business.

From here
You can go then go a step further to offer further services like website hosting services. You could buy a reseller plan for a start. The sky is your limit if you keep to all this.

(B)Design Websites to fill a need
This is the second aspect of webdesign business. You build a website to solve a problem, answer a question, fill a need, give information then get paid from adverts on the website.

Examples of such websites are job search sites (jobberman.com worth $32,107), gossip/forum sites (nairaland.com worth $461,042 ), social networking sites (facebook.com worth $500,000,013). Source mywebsiteworth.com

These sites were setup to address certain needs and they became successful. The fundamental principle common to these websites is they tried to find what a lot of people are searching for on the search engines and then they give it to them in a way that is better than their competitors. Let's look at this principle in greater detail.

Find out what a lot of people are searching for
Use online keyword tools like wordtracker.com, google adwords keywords tool etc for free or Brad Callen's Keyword Elite Software for a token. You choose keywords with very high demand or searches/month

Find your competitors
For those high demand keywords, search google and go through the first and second pages of your search result. Those websites are your competitors. You need to visit these websites one by one and see how you can complement them i.e. offer related services to what they are offering.

From experience I'l advise, do not compete with these guys by offering the same things they are offering. Now if you decide on complementing them, you can then request them to link to you. This is important because people searching for things on the internet usually go to the search engines.
Now these search engines produce results for the searcher and then your site is found and ranked high if it is listed on websites on the first two pages.

Build your website
Take time to build your website. Take into account all the data gathered in the earlier steps and do proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO).Find more SEO tools here The life of your website depends on this.

Marketing your website
Apart from aproaching the websites in the first two pages of search results for your chosen keywords, you need to also get links alot of other places.

Write five articles related to your website, including a link back to your website and submiting to the top 5 Article directories.

Submit your website address to link directories. Get a free copy of Directory submitter software here

Use social networking, facebook, twitter etc to create more awarenes and write a blog to keep intouch with your website visitors. There is no hard and fast rule to getting more visitors to your website. I just takes you choosing some of these webmarketing strategies and doing them often.

Analyze Your marketing
Install google analytics on your website to monitor web visitors. It would enable track how many visitors you get, which countries they come from, which websites are sending visitors to you so you can decide on which websites you need to concentrate your marketing on

Make money
Since you have people coming to your website for your keyword, you could sell advert space on your website. To make it easy, just signup for Google Adsense. Its an adverting program where google will send you adverts related to the content on your page and you get paid if a visitor clicks on the advert. This can really be a sizable sum if you get up to 100 visitors / day to your website.

From here
You could go ahead and research another topic/keyword and build another website around it repeating the steps above.

Conclution
Every business takes time and effort to start and even more dedication for i to grow. Be consistent and work diligently, you will succeed.

If you know someone who is into this business, you could go ask him, it could be your shortcut to success. Read more on finding a Business Mentor

GSM Recharge Printing Business now Online!

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:54:00 +0000

I just came across a website today where you can get all the information required to start printing GSM Recharge Cards here in Nigeria for the first time, free of charge!

Business Prospects
Recharge Cards will continue to be bought and sold in Nigeria as long as the mobile phone technology is here. It will always be profitable depending on your market share.

Visit the website today for all information to go into that business. www.bizruns.biz

The Business Man, her agents and websites are not sponsors, partners or agents of that website. We just love it.

Don't forget to be grounded in your business basics before you go into any business. Get all your basic training here

You can make extra cash from flyers/posters

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:58:00 +0000

This is another business you can start with very little capital. The business is as simple as getting the materials & distributing / Posting them then collecting your cash.

What you need
Get a business name. It will help with branding / distinguishing you from others
How to get Customers
Get your customers by

1) Post Posters of your business.
Your advert should say it in a very simple way. For example

“We Post Posters / Distribute Flyers. Call 080…… email …..website…. “.

Design something that will be quite cheap to produce. No fancy colours- black and white will do just fine. The most important thing in your advert is the size. Make sure the “Poster” part is in very large characters. The idea here is that if your own posters are visible enough for your clients to find you, then you have posted in the right places.

2) Newspapers
Do the small/smallest size of advert. It shouldn’t cost you more than 7k. One good thing about adverts is that YOU WILL SURELY GET RESPONSES. You need to be careful here, your advert is only for one day, make good use of it.

Where to Post Posters
You need to be careful here. I don’t advocate posting on newly painted walls, if you are the owner of that property, you will know how it feels. Find other places. Start with your immediate environment; take a walk around to identify places you could post. You could post on existing old signs, Electric power poles, un-painted walls etc. The visibility of your advert depends on “leg traffic”-how many people walk by that area. Bus stops are good candidates. Big office complexes usually have public notice boards.

How long your posters stay on the walls (before someone tears them down or another poster goes on top of them) will depend on how appropriate the place you posted them.
Also you should mind where you post; you could be arrested and charged for littering etc. Keep your posts a bit higher so it would be a bit difficult for someone to get their hands on them and then most importantly, post at night so you will have less disturbance from area boys, security men etc.

Where to Distribute Flyers
This one can be a little tricky but one good thing about it is that you can select the type of people you give them to – i.e. you get to choose your audience.
The same locations for the Posters apply here too but in addition, you can go a step further here, you can share flyers at occasions, parties, after your church services etc.

Another thing about this is that people will choose to accept your flyers depending on how you are dressed. So if you are promoting a kids party, wear a funny hat or mickey mouse!.

Conclusions
It is fairly an easy business. If you are shy to stand and distribute flyers, you could stick to posters or get somebody to do them for you. Posting can be as lucrative as between NGN100 & NGN500/poster. Flyers can go as low as NGN5000 for 3000 flyers.

One more thing
Some companies usually ask their customers how they found their company. They use this to measure the impact of adverts. So don’t just collect their flyers / Posters, collect their money and use their flyers/posters for rough sheets, smart companies will know.

Do you have an Open space & not making money from it?

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Introduction

Over the weekend, I was searching for an open space with a friend where we could do some driving practise. After driving around for some hours, I realized something. Lagos does not have open spaces! We went as far as Ikoyi from the mainland, and then we headed towards Mile 2 through Oshodi.

It was so striking that the only place we saw was along Oshodi - Apapa expressway, close to Mile 2.
It was a space of about 8 plots joined together. We got there only to find out(from some rough looking boys) that we had to pay about NGN500 to practice there. Can you imagine that?

They even offered to teach us if we didn’t have a car and then they gave us a little driving manual.
This is a good idea if you have such a plot of land lying somewhere.

What you need
of course you need a manager (who knows how to drive)and an assistant who should also know how to drive.
If you have an old car (Manual transmission preferably), it would be great but if not don't worry. People will still come with their cars.

Get a sign post/board for you business. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. You need to consider Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), they will come for registration of you sign board. You can always do without it for now.

Get you staff name tags/badges or uniforms - it makes your business look professional.

Clear your land and make it fit for driving a car. You don't want flat tyres and muddy soil on your business premises.

How to get people to come
Your customers are probably people who own cars, drive cars or about to buy cars. The Where do you meet them?
You can design a one page flyer for your business which should include
-you location
-how many cars can drive comfortably there
-how cheap it is for a whole day etc

These flyers can be distributed at
-bank lobbies
-your church, after church service
-public notice boards
-Car sellers and also help you give fliers to their customers and so many others. Just be creative

From here
You could easily go ahead and upgrade the center to a driving school complete with cars and attractive female instructors, just let your imagination go.

One more thing
You could go into a partnership with someone to build a temporary bar/relaxation spot where your guests can relax after driving sessions (of course they have to sign an agreement that they won’t mind being run down by one of your trainee drivers lol!)

Cheap Business Training

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:25:00 +0000

As a business person, it is very important to attend trainings and conferences on business and business related issues to help you keep abreast with current trends, technologies and most importantly identify new business opportunities.It also prepares you to start a business and get better at it.

Fate foundation is organizing a Training on "Developing and Applying Negotiation Skills in Your Everyday Business: How to Win People and Businesses” .

Fee: N3000,
Date: 19th May 2010,
Venue: Fate Foundation, 1st Floor, Water House, Ijora Lagos.,
Time:1pm – 5pm

For more information on registration and other upcoming trainings, visit their website here:
http://www.fatefoundation.com/onlineSchedule.htm.

Make Money While you are on Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Tue, 04 May 2010 07:46:00 +0000

Introduction
Isn’t it a good idea to just go on vacation and still have money going into your bank account? This is the dream of all aspiring business men and exactly what most of the successful business people have in common. The good news is that it can be achieved in almost any business. Most people start a business so as to take control of their life so they can have more time and more money. 80% achieve the second goal but the rest end up making their own business another job. Exactly what they were running a way from!

What you stand to gain
The advantages of a system like this are countless.
• You get to spend more time with people you love,
• You share tasks in your business making it easier for all
• Other people do the hard work for you
• You can then channel your time to other things
• You can successfully run up to 5 businesses this way

Requirements
To successfully implement this concept in your business, you need to be very careful. Doing this incorrectly has ruined a lot of businesses. Some people have also lost their businesses to their subordinates. You need to have put some systems in place to tell your workers what to do and to check them to make sure the job is being done properly.

This will require a system of teaching people how the job is done (Training), Showing the business what to do in different situations (Policy), Directing the business to its ultimate goal (Strategic Plan), make sure the different tasks are being done correctly (Quality control) etc. There are two books I have read and dwell on this subject. The first one is Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
. This book lays the foundation of what components or systems a business needs to be successful. The Second book is The E-Myth Revisited by Micheal Greber. This one goes into details with a very vivid example on how to structure a business for success. This two books are recommended if you want to start and grow your business successfully.

Has it been done before?
Yes it has been done successfully in a lot of businesses around you. Take a look at the big businesses, the banks, the telecoms companies etc, do you think the owners of the business need to come to work? That is exactly what they do.

They start a business, train other people to run the business and then go home and maybe start another business tomorrow. It could be you.

If you decide to take that step today, there are some ready-made businesses that can start you off very fast on this route and make sure that in a few years or less, you could retire. The challenge is in the first 1-3years. Once you get it right, you may not need to work again.

Affiliate Programs
In this program where a business pays you for referring someone else to them and the person makes a purchase. All you have to do is just to promote that business. The internet has made it very easy for a lot of companies. There are several internet affiliate programs like Commission Junction (Various Products), Amazon (Books) etc. A search on google for affiliate programs will show you many more. Most affiliate programs are free to join.

Network Marketing (MLM)
This is where products are promoted through a network. The beauty of Network marketing is that you only concentrate on recruiting (introducing) a certain number of people you know to the network and then teach them to do the same thereby creating a network. You get a percentage paid for all your referrals and your referral’s referral. Some go deeper than that. So basically, you work for a certain period then you stop.

You can get more information on Network marketing here

Most Network Marketing businesses are not free to join.
These two types of programs are very attractive to start a business with because
• The business structure has been created for you, just bring customers and the company handles the rest from follow-up to closing the sale
• Its cheap or free to start and
• Your work hours are flexible, you work at your own time.

Well a lot of businesses now combine both types of systems in their marketing strategy. The idea is that a lot of people buy from a business if someone they know refers them there. Also why not pay people for not only referring people to your business but for also telling their friends to refer more people?. It works!

Conclusion
You don’t have to struggle with getting time for yourself from your business. There is a better way. You don’t also have to quit your current job to build your business. You can build a business in which you don’t have to be there for the business to run. This is the foundation of businesses that outlive their owners and create great wealth.

If you have can’t get the books, let know, I’ll get them for you. If you have any question or need help structuring your business, feel free to comment on this post, mail me (cagbakwuru@workabusiness.com) or drop a comment on The Business Man on facebook page.

Selling information as a Business

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:14:00 +0000

Introduction
This just as the name suggests, selling information!. This can really be a very profitable business. Well it costs a little money to start but the rewards are very encouraging.

What its all about
Lets dream a little(Literarily) , what if you find a way of solving a problem for a lot of people? then you put it in a book and advertise it. How many responses do you think you would get?

That is the foundation of this type of business - you give people information of exactly what they want. That was the easy part.

How do you know what people want?
This is the hard part. This part actually accounts for 80% of your success in this business. I have written an article on this subject. It will help you brainstorm. Click here to read it.

Similarly, people also search for what they want on the internet. There are a few tools available to help you. Try the Google Adwords keyword tool or Wordtracker for free or Keyword Elite for a little fee. The Paid tool makes it extremely easy for you to accurately amass a large number or hot keywords.

Generally, there must be something you know very well that most people don't(Invent or learn one if their is none).

Gather the Information
Now that you know what people want, get the information about it. You could research on the subject, attend seminars and trainings or even learn about it. Keep you eyes and ears open, buy related magazines etc. The information you want may just be as easy as talking to your neighbor!

Package the Information
There are many ways of delivering your information. You could put them in CDs, DVDs, electronic books, hard copy paper books, Magazines, Membership Websites, Workshops etc.

Now from experience, do yourself a favor, go with the ebook for now. The hassles are far less when compared to the others.

How do you write and ebook?
There are different formats but the easiest is the Portable Document Format(PDF). This is as simple as writing and typing out your information in form of a book and converting it to PDF. There are different software available for this. Download this one free. Now your ebook must not be as long as 200 pages (of course that would be appreciated) but the focus of an ebook is to go straight to the point on any issue. Don't forget that. So it could be as short as 5 pages!.

Selling your ebook
This is where you make money. If you are in Nigeria, the most effective form of advertising for your ebook is on the Newspapers. The logic is simple, people who buy Newspapers, are the type of people who would buy and read your ebook. Facebook is really catching on but the challenge with that is you need to create a webpage where people who clicked on your advert would be sent to.

You now pray that your page would be convincing enough for people to take action, like buying your ebook etc. This is risky if you are not good at writing webpage sales letters.

After deciding how you want to go about that, you now have to write your advert. Don't start writing- wait!, its not that easy. Please go to http://www.adcopywriting.com and spend at least 1hr on that site to learn how to write sales letters and adverts. The site is very straight to the point and interesting. My first advert got me more than 600 responses in one day!.

The most popular Newspapers in Nigeria are This Day, The Punch and The Guardian. Don't mind my advertising them, its true.

Also, the bigger the advert, the more effective it is but to get things started , keep your budget to NGN20,000.

Lets go with the Punch. Visit them, design and get your advert running.

One more thing, for people to check out your advert and respond effectively, you have to sound too good to be true. Yes, ridiculously interesting but NOT MISLEADING or PLAIN LIES at the same time. You need to practice a lot to get this right. You don't want to get 100 people paying for a "bigger bank account" while you end up giving them "a list of banks in Nigeria". This will land you in Jail.

Setting up your Selling System
What to Put in your Advert
Because of space, you may not be able to write much in your advert so I suggest you use an autoresponder. Use only the most important words in your advert. There are various autoresponders available. Please see my 5 day Tutorial on How to Setup and Use an Autoresponder Effectively.

The Autoresponder is simply a service that responds by an email automatically to customer request for information. In your autoresponder, you have to create a letter, describing your product and how it will solve your customer's problems and most importantly, it must describe how your customer can order(your bank details and how to notify you of payment) and get the ebook(by email or by download).

How to Receive your payment
Get a bank account. If you can't get a corporate account, use your personal account. People like to trust people with "faces" - they like to associate your face to your product. If you are outside Nigeria and your product is international, you could use a Paypal account

How to Deliver your Product
Since we are selling an ebook, the easiest way to deliver your ebook, is by attaching it to an email and saving it in your draft messages. Once you receive a payment notification, you just go to your email and send the email to the customer.

Conclusion
This is a business you can start with ease. In Nigeria today and all over the world, so many people are looking for the way out of the financial crisis, so many people that lost their jobs and business need answers that work. why don't you provide this information?
If you are not in Nigeria, you can modify this to what what works in your country but the concept is still the same whether you sell cars or information about cars.

If you've got any questions, just comment on this or contact me.

Make extra cash Doing Laundry for people at home

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:34:00 +0000

Introduction
This is another business that doesn’t require much to start. It’s like this, get a customer (maybe your neighbor), go to his house at the weekend and wash his clothes using his own water, clothes rail and soap!

I must say t requires a lot of strength- it is manual labour. The other down side of it is that you can’t charge as much as the drycleaner-you are using the man’s materials!.

Getting Customers
The process required to get customers in this business is similar to that in the Private Home tutor Business. Please review it here

What you need.
Just fill up your stomach and try to very humble. I’m guessing you know how to wash clothes. Just like in all business, always make sure you have the right personality. Click here

Well that’s about it.

From here, you need to decide where you want to go. You may not make a lot of money doing this but if you employ more people, you could make more. From here, you could then go for a full scale drycleaning business.

This business may not appeal to a lot of people but if you have ever been broke and frustrated, this could put food on your table and keep you from robbery.

Re: How Lucrative is Bulk SMS business

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 02:33:00 +0000

Bulk SMS business is all about sending large number sms messages at very reduced prices.

Making money from it depends on which part of the business you want to enter into. If you decide to go for the reseller option(cheaper option), your success will depend on ur market.

My brief survey of the providers show a trend; its cheaper to buy my sms units.
Check out the pages of some of the dealers
http://www.aratext.com/pricing
http://www.signonsms.com/price_list.asp
http://www.smslive247.com/
http://www.50kobo.com/
http://www.etextmail.com/
http://www.bbnsms.com/
http://www.signonsms.com/price_list.asp

The setup is simple, get a website and integrate your site with the sms services from some of the websites or just create an account on any of the sites above and send your sms from their website, this way you don't have to get a website. You then concentrate on getting customers.

What is your strategy? how do you get customers to use ur service?...this is the crux of the matter.

With the pricing(I'v not seen any one cheaper than N2 per sms), you need to really get a lot of people to use your service for you to make any money.

The good news is that setting up the website is something you pay for once. The maintenance costs are very minimal(below N10,000 per annum).

The bottom line is this, all businesses can either be lucrative or not, its up to the business person. You need to upgrade your marketing skills both online and offline.

Make Money from Private Home Tutorials

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:53:00 +0000

This is one of the small businesses you can start with very little or no cash capital. In Nigeria today, one of the most pressing issues is that of securing admission into higher institution. Nigerian publics schools are not doing greatly in this area and the private schools are so costly that they are not for the majority of the population. This means that there will always be a demand for private tutorials.

Requirements

A Sharp Brain
Well, to tell you the truth, you need to be good academically, for this. This will show in the quality of Results your students turn out and ensure people trust you and your business with more students. You don’t even need to know every topic, you could teach just one subject.

Business Card / Flyer
This shouldn’t be too fanciful or costly-you could do the flyers for now. You could just type your information on your computer and print on A4 sheets of paper. Your aim is to make sure the information circulates as widely as possible not on the quality of the flyer.

Materials
You need books and resources like Secondary School Syllabus especially for UTME, WAEC , GCE etc. As for textbook, you could ask the parents of the students to provide that but you will still need to get yours at home to prepare you lessons.

Perseverance
The “will to go on” especially when things are not working out. Believe me, you need this 100% even if you haven’t got the rest 100%.

Getting Customers
To get customers or parents to allow you into their house to teach their kids, they’ve got to see you as someone of credibility. The big problem is how to get them to trust you that much.
Now this is where your church comes in. This might be a good time to start going to church and participating in church activities. Now the strategy is for you to introduce yourself and business after the Church service. Don’t forget to distribute your flyer / business card)

Look Good
Your success in this business will depend largely on your personality. People will decide to give you their kids based on their impression of your personality and appearance plays a significant part. You need to always look good to enhance your personality. I don’t mean you should always wear costly clothes but aim to always be smartly and appropriately dressed.

Deliver the Goods
This is by far the most important part. Make sure you put in your best and teach. This is the deciding factor for your business. If it’s a topic that you are not so sure of, get help. The result will always show.

Don’ts
I don’t need to tell you to behave yourself. Keep away from the usual temptations like indulging the kids when the parents are not available, dating your female students etc.

Conclusion
This business is a very interesting and challenging one but it could really pay off. I remember turning down and offer to teach mathematics for a 2 hours for N2,500 on each day I show up. N2500 in two hours?! Think about it.

From here
The business doesn’t have to stop there, you could go ahead to rent a place and open for business, expand your number of courses/subjects, teach just computer appreciation(that’s another hot business), Creating and Selling tutorial CDs and DVDs, books etc.

Am I crazy to start a business?

noreply@blogger.com (Social Animal) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:53:00 +0000

Hi

I briefly looked at this topic over the weekend. Read more on the personal challenges a Business man needs to go through in starting a business. Read more here http://hubpages.com/t/12f366