Helping Humanity with the Gift of Me.
On the 18th of April, 2019, I was invited to speak to a group of women on WhatsApp on the topic; The Business Minded Woman: How To Build a Successful Business as a Woman. I was invited by Famuyide Adeola.
It was really a nice time with the young ladies.
I shared the article on my business blog, goglobal.ng.
You can click here to read it now.
I wrote this article on the 3rd of April, 2018 and thought of sharing here. It’s about how you can grow your influence in African Leaders and Entrepreneurs Network (ALEN), a community I founded in 2018 that has now grown to about 3000 members and still counting. Even though this article is written for members of our community, it can work for anybody in growing her/his influence. Enjoy!
Imagine you’re to speak in the presence of 20 people in a room.
Imagine, at another time, you’re to speak to 50 people.
Imagine, you’re to speak to 100 people in a conference room.
Now, imagine 200.
Imagine 300, 400, 500, 600 and even 1 Million people.
I’m sure you would want to prepare and then speak passionately well.
Imagine yourself speaking to more than 600 African Leaders and Entrepreneurs which cut across different countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa and more.
That is what you should imagine in ALEN.
You should be able to POSITION YOURSELF FOR INFLUENCE. That’s the ONLY way you can sell yourself in this network.
I have once talked about the KLT factor.
People MUST KNOW you, LIKE you and TRUST you before they can buy anything from you; either products or services.
How do you position yourself in ALEN for influence?
GIVE VALUE!
It’s important that you start sharing value. For instance, if you’re into business of PUBLIC SPEAKING, start sharing lessons on public speaking.
You can even share videos or audios teaching people how to be great public speakers.
That way, we will KNOW you, LIKE you and TRUST you.
Let me give another instance. If you’re into the business of TAILORING and you want African Leaders and Entrepreneurs from different African countries here to patronise you, you can start by sharing tips on tailoring.
Another thing you can do is utilise the power of STORYTELLING.
This is a powerful tool that most people don’t use.
I remember how writing a story on my Facebook wall earned me more than ₦100,000 (that’s more than $250).
Your potential clients / customers would love to relate with you first before your business. This is true because people first buy into your personality before buying into your business.
When you just joined a group such as ALEN, you don’t just start sharing link-posts from your page to the group, you start by giving out VALUE. That’s how to position yourself for influence.
Some of the people that are CONSISTENTLY giving out value in this group are Temitope Ilesanmi, Oluwaseunfunmi BrainBox Fatoyinbo, Olamilekan Samuel, Benjamin Amaning Lyrics, Oluwafunmbi Purpose Adeoti, Adetayo Dada and Ademola Ridwan Adelu just to mention a few.
Another way is to CARE
Of course, if you don’t care about and for people, you might not get the influence you need. In fact, true leaders care for others.
When others post something in the group, be the FIRST TO COMMENT.
When someone asks a question, be the first to answer.
When you do these things, you set yourself as an AUTHORITY in your niche.
I challenge you to start dashing out value here and see if you’d not get results.
You don’t know who is watching you in this group.
There are ministers of state in this group and there are very influential people here who are just silently watching you.
Think about it! Take action.
SELL yourself.
Today, I’m shining the light on someone I really respect a lot. Someone who rose from photography to professorship in the same university. I’m talking of no other person but Professor Ademiluyi Benson Oluwafemi of Ekiti State University.
Prof. B. O. Ademiluyi delivered the 50th inaugural lecture in Ekiti State University on Tuesday, 19th of March, 2019.
Before then, he had faced several challenges; both academically and spiritually.
The most interesting part of the story is the fact that he rose from being a photographer to a professor in the same University campus.
How it happened?
Prof. B. O. Ademiluyi hails from Arisegba-Ekiti, Ekiti state, Nigeria.
After completing his first degree at University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University – OAU), he had to return home to farming to make ends meet.
In 1990, he left home to Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state, Nigeria to become a photographer.
His station of work was Ekiti State University (then, OSUA – Ondo State University, Ado-Ekiti).
It was at the time of being a photographer that he met his beautiful wife, Mrs Adenike Omolade Ademiluyi.
He recalled of how people used to mock his wife calling her “Iyawo Onifoto” meaning the “wife of a photographer”. Despite all these, his wife stood by him and loved him the way he was —a lesson to young women.
At that time, photographers were seen as rather unfortunate. It’s a different story today.
While still working as a photographer, he put in for his Masters at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) where he faced challenges and had to spend a whopping four years before completing his masters studies.
He would later start his PhD program in Ekiti State University with Prof. Joshua Kayode as his supervisor. I wrote about both of them in my bestselling book, I Have Been There Before.
It was in this same school that he became a Professor.
Prof. Ademiluyi attributed all his success to God, his father, wife and loved ones.
The lesson:
Don’t ever give up on your dream. You can become great in the same environment that people have or they’re mocking you if you don’t give up and put all your trust in God.
If Prof. Ademiluyi who was a nobody could rise to become somebody, you too can.
Don’t give up!
People do believe that America is a rich country and EVERYONE in America is living a rich and happy life. Is that true? Is everyone in America rich?
This tends to shift people’s gaze on those less privileged in the country.
Even though I have always wondered the same, I didn’t say that, Mr Steven told me that when he called me and discussed on phone for more than 30 mins with me today (21/03/2019).
Mr Steven is a native of New Jersey but was born in Washington DC.
He had earlier interviewed me when I was serving in 2017 under NYSC which was published in his organization’s blog that same year. He titled it “Don’t Wait to Take The First Step”. You can read the blog post here.
Since that time, we have been connected through the virtual space especially Skype.
Just last week, Mr Steven told me on Skype that he would love to call me this week.
I was taking a nap when I heard my phone rang. It was a restricted number but after picking the call, it was Mr Steven that was on the other side of the call.
We discussed at length — more than 30 minutes.
Mr Steven’s passion and mine are in synchronization. The only difference is that while I was a less privileged, he was never less privileged.
That’s exactly what how Mr Steven saw it and I agree.
I had told him my story of losing my dad and mum at the age of 6 and 14 respectively.
God used some people to help me through secondary school and university.
I told him that education is the biggest tool that God used in bringing me to where I am today. That’s the reason I founded Christiana Titilayo Foundation (CTF) to help orphans and vulnerable children get quality education among other things that we do.
I added that I’m donating 30% of the profits from my book, I Have Been There Before, to helping orphans and vulnerable children get back to school or stay in school.
It was an interesting moment with Mr Steven.
When he told me he looked forward to a day we will both have a launch together, I told him that it would be one of the joyest things that would ever happen to me.
I’ve finally become an international speaker and author. This is me speaking at New Jersey, Mama!
Yesterday, around 10PM Nigerian time, I travelled by the speed of light through Skype to speak to students (and Professors) of Warren County Community College of New Jersey, USA.
The event is sponsored by the EOF – Education Opportunity Fund.
As an effective public speaker, I knew I had to be identified with them in one way or the other especially at the start of my speech.
I told them how I am in love with New Jersey and would love to visit one day…
Why?
I told them that there is a great scientist that started his works right there in New Jersey — he invented phonograph and lightbulb among several others.
What is his name?
His name is Thomas Edison.
He’s considered one of the greatest scientists in America and all over the world.
This scientist failed many times but never gave up.
He did things differently until he could achieve his desired result.
I then shared my own story with them. Of course, you know my story.
If you have my book, you will know better.
At the end of my talk, they gave me resounding applause 👏.
Thanks to ToluBooks, my publisher, for the opportunity. If you have a book to publish, contact him ASAP.
I was surprised when he told me copies of my book were bought and distributed to the students and they want more.
I’ve submitted the book to Amazon and it’s under review. It means, you can get the book in any part of the world when it’s published there. Amazon will do the delivery.
Thank you for all your good wishes.
