Hello WORrior! Today is #ThrowBackThursday and we are throwing back these old photos of Singer, Yemi Alade!
In today’s world, a CEO or business owner needs to scrutinise how their marketing spend is impacting on their overall business growth.
Buying signage at the Olympics can be exciting. You get to go to the games, entertain customers, but does the investment translate into more business? Being a title sponsor at a polo charity event can make you feel good, but are you able to leverage it effectively? Or how about sponsoring a music event? It’s great music and fun times, but does it help the bottom line? If you are simply putting up a sign and you don’t have the time to devote to leveraging the event, then it’s a waste of money. You may as well kiss your hard-earned cash goodbye.
Since 2008, sponsorship marketing (sports, arts, cause or event) has slowed due to the economy and as more businesses question what they get for their investment. The focus of any marketing spend, including sponsorships, should be the “Return on Investment”.
1) What is your target audience and what types of activities are most appealing to them?
Knowing this will help you determine the type of sponsorship program that makes the most sense for your firm or brand. For example, if your firm manufacturers a product that is mostly used by moms for their children, then look for activities that appeal to those moms. In some cases, although the mom is the purchaser, the person who actually uses the product is the child or the spouse. In this example, you need to focus your sponsorship spend on your end user and they will influence the purchaser (mom). Or in the case of business to business, your target may be the person who signs the contract for your firm’s services or it might be the person who place the orders.
2) What type of marketing sponsorships does your competition engage in?
Evaluating how your competitor is spending their marketing budget will help you better understand the playing field. It also provides you insight on whether key sponsorship opportunities are still available. Typically sponsorships have a “non-compete” clause when it comes to companies in the same industry.
3) What is your overall marketing communication plan for your business & where does sponsorship marketing fit into it?
You should create a strategic plan each year, which should include your brand’s communication objectives. During this process, you should be able to determine whether a sponsorship fits into your short and long term plans.
4) What are your specific sponsorship objectives?
It is critical to determine your objectives up front and ensure everyone is aligned. Your objectives might include driving awareness for your products or services, increasing your firm’s community involvement (CSR), capturing sales leads, increasing brand loyalty, driving retailer traffic, etc. Every objective should be measurable and include specifics around timing and deliverables.
5) Which sponsorship program best supports your brand or business?
Evaluating which sponsorship program to pursue should be done in conjunction with your overall business / brand and sponsorship objectives, your target audience alignment with the sponsorship audience, the sponsorship cost, how you can effectively activate the sponsorship across channels (i.e. consumer, retailer, sales force, distributor and internal teams), and how the event can be leveraged to build the business over the short and long term.
The sponsorship you select should build equity in your brand (or business). Ideally you should look to identify a space that your brand (or business) can “own” that aligns with your equity message. For example, Nike sponsors top athletes across the globe, which supports their brand message of inspiring athletes around the world.
6) What is the sponsorship’s Return on Investment?
At the end of the program, it is critical to evaluate the return on investment based on the established sponsorship objectives. This analysis can be done internally, or through an outside marketing research firm specializing in sponsorship evaluation. Some metrics to analyze include: sales activity, lead generation, lower customer acquisition cost, attitudes toward the brand or firm, response to sponsorship or event related promotions or ads, and TV logo exposure, if applicable.
The key to managing sponsorships is ensuring you get the “best bang for the buck”, while minimising risk to your brand or business. So, whether you are a title sponsor for a major event, or a smaller sponsor at a local event, setting your objectives, ensuring you have the right sponsorship partner, leveraging the association beyond just a sign, will yield better business in the long run
About Chidiadi Madumere
Freedom is an amazingly powerful part of life. Some of us have it all and some of us wish we had more, but we all have the most important freedom of all.
According to Dr. Viktor E Frank , “The last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” –
How often have you stopped to think about how free you are?
Today and everyday forward, I encourage you to embrace what we have at our fingertips. Make the below a part of your everyday life and allow yourself to live freely.
What makes us, as humans, free?
We are free to smile, laugh and play to our hearts content.
We are free to have an idea and create a career out of it.
We are free to spend time with the people we love.
We are free to read and learn and to use our knowledge to teach and help others.
We are free to be as healthy and treat our bodies with as much respect as we want.
Every person in this world is free to choose their thoughts. We are all free to choose the meaning we give to life’s occurrences. No matter our circumstances, however wonderful or terrible, no one can take our freedom to choose our reactions to what life throws our way.
Life will not always go right. In fact at times it may feel like it’s gone terribly wrong. That’s all part of the journey. It is during these crucibles that it is on each of us to choose the meaning that most serves our life situation.
Choose your thoughts wisely. They are the only thing that can’t be taken away.
What do you do to feel free on a daily basis? What empowering meanings do you give to your experiences? Share in the comments section below.
Twitter & Instagram – @estherijewere
Facebook – Esther Ijewere
Email: Esther@womenofrubies.com
Hello WORriors! Today is #WomanCrushWednesday and our Woman Crush is the fierce, talented, and extraordinary Kemi Adetiba!
Kemi Adetiba is a Filmmaker, Music videos, and television director. She was born in Lagos on January 8, 1980. While growing up, she headlined two nation TV commercials for detergent brand, OMO. She started out professionally in the media world as a radio presenter with Rhythm Fm 93.7. She switched over to producing and presenting shows on television, including Studio 53, Temptation Nigeria, Soundcity TV, and Maltina Dance All. She got interested in filmmaking and enrolled into the New York Film Academy to hone her skills.
Kemi’s short film Across a Bloodied Ocean was screened at the 2009 Pan African Film Festival and National Black Arts Festival. Her very first feature film, “The Wedding Party”, a Nigerian romantic comedy film, got premiered opening night, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), as the opening film of the City-to-City Spotlight, on September 8, 2016, and also premiered on November 26, 2016 at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos. The film is a total groundbreaking film.
She has also directed lots of award winning music videos including, Last Bustop -Niyola, My Darling -Tiwa Savage, Sitting On The Throne -Olamide, Anifowose -Olamide, Toh Bad -Niyola, Tease Me -Wizkid, If I Die -Dagrin, Aduke -Tjan, Ekundayo -TY Bello, Today Na Today -Omawumi, among others.She has also been nominated and won lots of awards.
Women Of Rubies celebrates you, Kemi Adetiba. Keep winning!
Being beautiful is undoubtedly important, but it isn’t everything. A girl who is not so good-looking still can have many guys falling for her. The secret to attracting guys is not just being beautiful, as it definitely requires more than that.
The following traits make women desirable in the eyes of men:
- Your dress sense
Boys love women who are well-groomed, so take advantage of this. Girls often are confused about what to wear on their date so that their guy won’t be able to resist praising them. Wear something that is tasteful and looks great on you whenever he is around. A girl with a good dress sense knows how to look beautiful, as well as casual.
The common belief that whoever loves you won’t judge you is not true always. Wouldn’t you feel disappointed if your guy dressed in an untidy manner?
2. A tempting fragrance
Let your fragrance work for you when you say goodbye to him with a hug. Guys love it when their girl smells great. Spray the perfume on your wrists, around the neck, behind the ears and under the collarbone to ensure your fragrance lasts.
You can wear different fragrances on different occasions. Buy a variety of perfumes and see which works best for you. Luckily, you don’t have to step outside your home to buy them. With several fragrance e-stores available, you can grab great online deals on perfumes. Purchase an invigorating perfume and make it hard for your crush to resist the attraction.
3. High emotional IQ (EQ)
Being a girl, it is often expected that you will have deep emotions. That doesn’t at all mean that you fill your eyes with tears every time you hear a sad story, though. A woman with a high emotional IQ (also known as EQ) can encourage and inspire her man whenever he needs motivation. She will say the right things at the right time, instead of creating unnecessary drama.
4. Smile a lot (of course, not unnecessarily)
Guys go crazy for a girl’s smile. Your smile should be genuine and sweet. Don’t force a smile- otherwise, your guy may think of you as a freak. Also, when you are with him, give him all your attention and laugh at his jokes. Show him that you are happy with him. He will do the rest.
5. Debate with him and don’t lose it
An attractive, vacuous girl will be interesting only for a few hours. Most men want a girl who possesses knowledge of world affairs and can debate with them logically. Genuine guys actually love it when you show them that you have a high IQ.”
6. Don’t be judgmental
If you don’t like something about your crush, you can share your honest opinion with him. At the same time, don’t insult him for it and don’t make an issue of it. Having an opinion is good but being rude or negative about it is not appreciated.
7. Don’t show him that you are all his
Even if you want him very much, let him work hard for it. Don’t try too hard to please your guy, because otherwise he will take you for granted. Spend time with him and make sure that he starts liking you too before you express your love for him. Knowing how to make a guy chase you works wonders in your favor.
8. You should be passionate about something
Having a hobby and being passionate about it impresses guys. Girls with hobbies such as surfing, golfing, and driving really make men crazy for them. The common belief that says ‘men cultivate hobbies, women cultivate relationships’ is not true anymore.
9. Be kind to others
Needless to say, this is very important. Talk politely to everyone and be warm to others. This is important not just for impressing your guy, but also for the sake of humanity.
Source: Lifehack.org
“I knew that my profession had been invented by men, (…) men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another.” – Nawal el Saadawi’s “Woman at Point Zero”.
Prostitution is “engaging in sexual activity with another person in exchange for money or other valuable goods.” Prostitution is sex trade. It is between two parties. Why do we denigrate only one party?
If there were no buyer, would there have been a seller? This goes both ways.
Society grooms girls to see romantic relationships as a source of income while teaching men to see income as a source of romantic relationships. We should not pretend an AVERAGE Nigerian girl does not go into romantic relationships for money.
Some guy once tweeted about a girl he asked on a date. It turned out the girl asked for “hair money” before the date.
“I’m broke,” a girl says.
“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” her friend asks and goes on to say, “My boyfriend does not miss it. He sends me 40k every month.”
How did having a boyfriend become an occupation? As I often say, Prostitution, like blue, has several hues.
Having sex with my boyfriend, a man that pays for my weaves and all that, does not make me different from that woman that sleeps with different men to get money to pay for her weaves and all that. Is it because she sleeps with different men? (Are humans naturally monogamous? If you are bringing in religion into this, aren’t we all fornicating? Is it not the same eternal damnation? People that claimed they went to school still believe “the vagina gets loose” after “too much sex”. Really, they should read and re-educate themselves.)
Most men believe it is their duty to cater to their ADULT girlfriends and wives. I am yet to understand why a physically fit adult has to cater to another physically fit adult. I could easily decide to get married this year – I’d call any of the men that think they are in love with me and I’d say I’m now interested in getting married and become a trophy wife. Does a boy, my age mate, have the same choice? Would he not face ridicule for being a trophy husband? I live in a society where a girl tweets, “What is your role as a boyfriend if you can’t provide everything your girl wants?” Do we hold girls to the same standard?
One of the foci of gender equality, a.k.a feminism, is getting rid of double standards in all aspects of human life. People, regardless of their sexes, should be held to the same standards in ALL aspects of life. Until we get rid of the double standards in respect to how the sexes view romantic relationships, I am afraid female sexuality would remain a currency.
Women should stop feeling entitled to men’s money – we should stop viewing romantic relationships as moneymaking ventures.
Men should stop feeling responsible for women. They should stop seeing money as a way to “find love”.
There is no point getting sanctimonious in the presence of sex workers if we believe men are obligated to cater to women while women are to be catered to. That would make us hypocrites.
P.S.
I love you… but you are a prostitute if your main aim in that romantic relationship is to make money off your “bae”.
You enable prostitution if you feel you NEED money to get love, affection, and sex from a woman in the guise of “romantic relationship”. “I need money to impress her…” Bro, swerve!
P.P.S.
The Functionalist School of Thought in sociology believes prostitution is beneficial to society. You could read that up on your own. Often, I ask myself what makes prostitution different from plumbing. They both render services. Is it because of sex? What is this thing about sex?
P.P.P. S.
Do you look down on sex workers because “it is morally and spiritually wrong”? Do you realise you have a habit that is “morally and spiritually wrong”? It could be that you’re signing into the office at the wrong time. A lie is a lie even when coated with white. So, calm down. If sex workers want to go to hell, let them go to hell in peace. Are they affecting you negatively in any way?
P.P.P.P.S.
I am in awe of women that have put a price on themselves – they have not let people put a price on them. Cheers to every woman that has understood society has made our sexuality a currency. Do you think it is easy sharing yourself with people? All that courage! At times, I wish I could bend myself in a way I would not mind trading my sexuality with a man for money. Men seem to have more money. Cher Dieu, mais pourquoi! Those of us not trading our sexuality for money should start asking ourselves if we lack business acumen.
Photo Credit: Jason Stitt | Dreamstime.com
About Cisi Eze
Source: Bellanaija
Being a female leader in the modern day comes with its own unique set of challenges. Many of the challenges come from other people, the society and female leaders themselves – how we navigate through these issues is very important in a modern world
Being ‘too’ aware of gender: Most female leaders walk into leadership positions being overly aware of their gender as a barrier. I dare say there are great leaders- period. Gender is not a pre-requisite to great leadership. Female leaders need to embrace their knowledge, skills, diversity and just lead. No apologies for being great individual.
Society Definition of Success: There is an enormous pressure to perform well while in a leadership position because of the societal pressure that suggests that everything the female leader does is representative of the female gender. The pressure also implies that the female leaders’ actions determines how much opportunity other women get.
Clare Booth Luce once said ‘If I fail, no one will say she doesn’t have what it takes. ‘They will say, ‘Women don’t have what it takes. Society needs to start accepting women as capable to accomplish anything. Success should not be dependent on what gender you are.
Reality of Other Responsibilities – Work versus Family: Female leaders wear multiple hats: the wife hat, motherly hat, the sister, the child and so on. Dealing with the pressure of raising kids and having a stable career is a real issue female leader’s face. Women arguably have greater demands outside of work competing for their attention. Generally, women tend to compete better at the junior levels. However, as they progress to middle levels with heavier work demands and higher travel frequency, they tend to leave to focus on family or pursue part-time work or other endeavors. Another challenge is the ability to get attractive career opportunities inspite of maternity breaks. The effect is that the pool of female leaders for top jobs gets smaller.
Stereotyping and Leadership Style: Female leaders are often referred to as stereotyped. They can be accused of being / called emotional when it may just be being passionate and on the other hand a risk of being perceived as being overly controlling and confrontational. As Forbes recently noted, “Studies show that assertive women are more likely to be perceived as aggressive and that women usually don’t ask for what they deserve. When they do, they risk being branded as domineering or, worse even, “ambitious.”
Being Authentic – in a different element: In a predominantly male environment, female leaders are faced with male dominated discussions that makes them feel odd and may lead to being treated differently. There is a lot of distractions to make female leaders dwell on what makes them different meanwhile everyone is judged by their results. Female leaders are however still faced with the need to stretch their experience from a functional background to a broader base.
Limited access to Female Role Models and Female Leadership Groups: Many people prefer to have mentors of the same gender because they tend to understand the challenges most commonly faced. Sometimes, the needs of women from their mentors also tend to differ from the needs of men. There is a need for more encouragement, a role model to follow, and someone who have faced similar challenges to talk. Also female strong social networks also represent a tremendous, untapped opportunity that can be leveraged on.
Globalization: Mobility is very key in a modern world. Female leaders are faced with challenges that comes with relocation as they move higher. Globalization presents many new barriers for women.
The reality is that, historically, men have been the ones to define ambition and leadership in the business world but women have come a long way into being represented in top leadership. What make a female leader strong will remain the natural abilities that is brought into leadership — a concerted/collaborative style, ability to multi-tasks, a talent for listening, and a natural ability to manage interpersonal relationships – what will keep it going on top of this skills will remain the ability to being authentic to oneself.
Supports Leadership Programs can provide:
Platform for Leadership Coaching
Bringing out the authentic side in leadership.
Navigate through adjusting into a new culture with my move to the UK from Africa.
Staying ahead despite multiples roles at home and at work.
Abimbola Siyanbola is a Director with a Global Multinational FMCG. She is very passionate about transformation initiatives that will support young leaders build confidence and leadership capabilities to succeed in a dynamic world. Abimbola likes to write, travel, watch a boxing or a football match.
Source: Mrsceonaija
No one is perfect says the world but some vices are more bothersome than the others. Many men can relate with this topic. I wonder if men talk about how much their wives love to spend on hair- whether braids, wigs or natural replenishment. Better still, if they talk about our bags, watches, lotions, spas, dresses, perfumes. What of our vacations? And our constant shopping of toys for the kids!! Oh women!
Ok, now that we have satisfied the men, let us share some of the ache of the ladies. Does your man spend a lot on TGIF! A drink here and there, designer belts, designer ties and shirts- all the same color (white and blue). God bless the women that their spouses love games too! What of the man that likes to loan everyone in the office?
Spending is part of life. Some will argue, what is the point of earning money and stashing it. What is the point of investment? If not to spend it later. There is a popular Ebenezer Obey song that says ‘olowo majeye, eyin lomo, awon to laye lana da, won ti ku won ti lo’. It means rich man/woman that doesn’t want to spend and enjoy life, na you sabi. those that were alive yesterday are dead and gone.
I agree to an extent. It sucks to be stingy. It sucks to have money and live like a pauper. However, there are limits.
A spendaholic is someone that spends arbitrarily. This means irrational, not planned, not needed spending. Spending for the sake of spending. Spending as if he/she did not work hard to earn the money. Spending on any and everything. Buying everything in sight. This is not cool.
Here are tips to handle.
1.Show the problem. First step is to show the spender that there is a problem. Most spenders have different reasons for their habits. Some will say ‘ how much is this bag sef, sebi it is just N20,000. What can I do with that money anyway. It cannot buy me land, cannot buy me a car. So let me enjoy’. Educate the person that N50,000 set aside monthly for 10 years is N6,000,000. Even without any interests. Go through the person’s bank statement and add up all the little costs here and there and it will amaze you how much it adds up to.
2.Proffer alternatives but don’t create a bondage. No one wants to feel like a child being monitored, so allow flexibility. An easy way to do this is to create 3 accounts: one for yourself, one for spouse and one for joint projects. Agree with your spouse an amount on projects and investment and focus your energy on that. Example, we try to do 30%- 40% on investments and dedicate that to the joint project account. Then, each person can manage his/her personal pocket money as they like. They secret here is to take as much as possible for projects so that spouse has just enough for life! (Wink) and a few luxuries. Also, ensure both of you are aligned to the project or dream. Do not impose your dreams on your spouse. This is a NO- NO! and NO!
3. Link loans to spouses account or set up alternative systems. A clean way to block money with a shopaholic is to link project loans to the account. Whether we like it or not, the debit alert for loans happen ‘gbagaun’ automatically monthly. So link this and you won’t have to worry about ‘lau lau’ spending. However, ensure that loans are taken for productive ventures that can pay itself and the interests on capital.
a.Alternatively, set up recurring bank instructions. You can instruct the bank to move some money out of your account into a savings account as soon as allowy/salary lands at month end.
4. Have a budget and financial goals. This is key. Every year, I set financial goals. E.g.
a.I want to build a commercial property
b.I want to build up cash up to XX amount
c.I want to pay off loans
d.I want to invest in children’s education trust fund
e.I want to set up a community CSR fund pot.
f.I want to set up children’s university savings
g.I want to establish my younger one’s business
h.I want to take a vacation.
Let us be clear. This is not about me. So replace ‘I’ in above sentences with your name. This is about you. Make a list of your financial goals for 2017 now. Draw up a budget too. What % of your income will you spend on accommodation, feeding, education, children’s school fees, beauty, tithe, giving back, transport, savings, investment, gadgets etc?
5. Keep some fun money aside. All work and no play makes Adunni a dull girl. So remember Obey’s song. Spend some money on things you love, things that make you happy so you can live long enough to spend the savings. Remember, no one was born a shopaholic. With a lot of love, support and education, your spouse will be a financial guru in no time. At the same time, don’t victimize your spouse in the name of financial training. Everyone is different and your spouse may never get to the level of discipline you have.
What do you think?
By: MrsCeo Naija
Pic Credit: shutterstock.com
Most people toy with the idea of becoming entrepreneurs at least once in their life. I mean who wouldn’t? Especially after coming across a very successful one. Yeah, I know that feeling. But frankly speaking, entrepreneurship is not as rosy as it seems. So don’t just run into it because your cousin did so, and he seems to be doing well.
Personally I took that leap of faith that made me a die-hard entrepreneur sometime in 2013, and since then I have not looked back. I have had my fair share of challenges, but rather than deter me, they propel me for greater heights. And if given the opportunity again, I will still opt for entrepreneurship over and over again.
What about you? Have you ever toyed with the idea of being your own boss? Have you ever wondered if starting and running a business is your thing?
Don’t look too far. The clues below will help you make that decision. Of course, it is not exhaustive, but don’t hesitate to raise your hands and shout Hallelujah if I make a point that kinda hits close to home.
Let’s walk…
You wanna be Independent
Earlier this month, I visited an old friend of mine in Warri. And even though we have been in touch to an extent, I was really shocked and excited to see how well he was doing for himself. We had a lot of catch-up time, and I just couldn’t resist asking him what prompted him to quit his job when he did.
I mean, I remember when he was working in Enugu. And before I knew what was happening I heard he quit and started his own business. His main reason? Independence.
You see that life where you call the shots on how you spend your day, where you go, what you do, when you work or not, and most especially, how much you earn, it cannot be quantified.
For me, my eureka moment was when I told myself that even if I was selling zobo and puff-puff, I would make much more than I was being offered in the last place I worked. And when I got to that point, there was no stopping me.
Your job doesn’t give you fulfillment
I know what it means to work at a job that doesn’t give fulfillment. I mean you wake up in the morning happy, only to get sad at the thought of going to work.
Yeah, used to happen to me a lot when I was working with an Insurance company in Lagos.
Truth is that everyone wants to be fulfilled. And if your job doesn’t offer you that, it’s time you thought seriously about creating a job that could give you just that. If working at that crazy million dollar idea of yours smells fulfillment to you…that’s a sign right there.
You don’t want to compromise on your life Goals
Sometime in 2009 I wrote down a list of things I hoped to do before I die. One of them was what drove me to go for what became my first swimming experience. Apart from that, I equally wrote a lot of things that had to do with starting and running a couple of businesses.
But I didn’t just write these goals down; I got committed to pursuing them. I knew that a goal I don’t pursue will never get actualized.
If your job is not helping you achieve your life goals and you’re no longer comfortable with that, it is time to consider moving from employee to entrepreneurship. Nothing should matter more than achieving your life goals. That should form the very essence of your daily activities. So look at your job again, is it servicing your life goals?
Recurrent ideas
Don’t quit your regular job because of one idea that just flashed your mind. Ask every successful entrepreneur, it really has to be an idea that keeps coming to you. In my own case, the thoughts kept me awake at night, and gave me daydreams during the day.
So don’t be deaf. Take note of those ideas that keeps coming to you. The more recurrent, the clearer it becomes. These recurrent ideas come with an unusual surge of energy. If that is you, then entrepreneurship is for you.
An idea is the first milestone in building a successful business. Tweet that!
Your passion
Passion fuels inspiration. If your inspiration is fueled by a passion for something outside your regular 9-5 job, then please consider following your passion.
Find something you are passionate about and do it passionately. If you love the social media a lot, Instagram for instance, then let your passion drive you to seek out how to monetize that Instagram account.
But note that passion, not money, should guide your decision to become an entrepreneur. If you are genuinely passionate about providing a solution, then you are surely going to do well as an entrepreneur.
The hallmark of entrepreneurs is their passion for providing solutions other than just the prospect of a better paycheck. (Quote me)
So, what’s your story? Has the thought of starting your own business been giving you sleepless nights? What’s been keeping you from taking that leap of faith, even if it’s a side-hustle? What are you waiting for?
Source: Bellanaija.com
Propelled by the need to be there for my boys on their special days, especially birthdays which I was deprived of by my banking work schedule. I decided to start throwing a class party And the very first one I did was for my son who turned 5 in the month of january.
The beauty and joy of finally being there for them, made me put in the very best concept together to ensure he gets a wow celebration even though the budget was slim.
Most kids in his class were wow’d too and I deliberately put my business flier inside the goodie baags so their parents can contact me to replicate saame celebration for their children.
And it worked. Because I later got to know through their class teacher that parents were calling to find out what was special about nino’s class party that made their kids insist they want his kind of party. And thank God, his party was in january, I soon had client for the whole year calender starting with 2 in the month of february.
This particular event taught me a huge lesson. And thats because I goofed at delivering. It was for 2 clients, same school but 2 days apart.
I had hired a new vendor to make the birthday cakes and gave her the different dates for the celebrants.
She wanted to exceed my expectations and so she delivered the cakes 2days earlier just to convince me that she could do so.
You should have seen the disappointment on my face when I realised the problem that would cause since I didn’t have an appropriate storage for cakes and I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to even tell how it can be preserved.
To make matters worse, she made a huge sized cake that didn’t even fit into my medium sized refrigerator and at that point I knew I was in for a lot of surprises. I gave her the feedback from my experience and what my fears were and She assured me that if I opened up the cake to natural air, it will be preserved. I did as adviced and that only caused more damage, as ants found their way straight to the iced fondant on the cake and in no time, made it their play ground.
I couldn’t wait for the days to pass so I can deliver the cakes and conduct the class party.
The first was a huge success but the second was not and that’s because the celebrants mum noticed the cake was spoilt and was so agitated that it was delivered for small kids to eat.
She feared they were going to get sick had she not noticed the slimy effect on the knife she dipped into the cake to cut it. I apologized, took the blame, assumed responsibility by replacing with a better cake few days later but the damage had been done and my client wasn’t pleased with what went down on her daughters birthday. Although she thanked me for going extra mile to replace the spoilt cake, she also adviced never to use unreliable vendors and suggested to me other bakers she has used in previous times. That meeting ended well with a new list of reliable vendors to my list.
Soon after that episode, I needed to regain some sort of confidence that I could still do well in this new venture I have chosen, I continued my daily bbm broadcast, advertising with excitement my events planning prowess. I even uploaded pictures on my social media page, telling my friends what we are capable of doing with a slim budget at esobevents, and the effect of the party on the child.
This pictures and post attracted a lot of parent who’s 9-5 schedule also deprived them of being there for their kids, or who couldn’t throw a large party because of minimal budget.
From sorting and packaging the children party packs, to the cake and their favourite carton character, i was soon becoming the “go to source” for a good quality children’s party.
From class parties, I was recommended for house parties and later large children’s party because I wouldn’t stop talking about how good we are at handling that social aspect.
At one of such parties, I would act as the Mc, dance with the kids, paint their faces and create activities just to manage the budget.
It was fun for me and I didn’t put to thoughts the energy involved . Most times,i’ll return home tired with only N5000 ($10) as my take home. Out of which I’ll have to pay some of my team members and also transportation which later leaves me with a profit of less the ($3) at the end of the day.
I landed my big break December same year when I ventured into packaging hampers for christmas and distributing it to corporate and high networth individuals, I submitted proposals through my network of friends and always drop my contact card inside the parcel.
I went for a follow up of my proposals one day and in the midst of the meeting , my proposed client mentioned that he will like to celebrate his wife and needed someone who can put things in place for him. And I said that’s what I do as an events planner.
He told me what he wanted and sooner we were already on the planning and execution phase.
My ability to deliver exactly on the brief made me become their official events planner.
From surprise parties, to official meetings, corporate seminars And lots more, i started gaining hands-on experiences and I was excited I was finally doing what I envisioned to do. I was so happy someone gave me a chance to serve and so I out did myself at every opportunity. Working over night to ensure all i’s are dotted and T’s crossed. Paying rapt attention to details and sometimes Sleeping at the venue to ensure workers don’t fail to do the work assigned to them.
Sometimes, I goofed because I didn’t understand pricing and so i’ll pay so much for the effort without a good knowledge of what payment structure was applicable to the service rendered.
By this time I was simultaneously running a course on entrepreneurial management and we were encouraged to use the services of our course mates.
This I tried and while some delivered, some start up used it as a way to reap money off me without delivering on the quality I expected.
This broke my heart and I decided i’ll never engage anyone if I’m not sure they can deliver on my expectations.
Having graduated with a certificate in entrepreneurial management, through the Goldman Sachs scholarship scheme for 10,000 women in Africa, I was paired up for mentorship with funke bucknor, who had that time was an already established events manager with several experience and top notch luxury events to her credit (including the presidents daughter’s wedding).
I was privileged to be graduating with her on the same day but she couldn’t attend due to her busy schedule and so I kept giving her updates on the phone about the happenings at the hall of graduation, just to see if she could still meet up.
This act of kindness gave me closer access to her. I remember visiting her at the office to discuss some of the problems I have encountered and asking how she feels I could handle it.
Funke was ready to walk me through it and soon after I would attend conferences put together by EDC for people in my sector and i’ll learn more.
Often times, we meet up at this meetings with other events vendors and planners, and I started networking, and meeting reliable people in the industry.
In class, we will take on practical events case studies and plan to perfection with the brief given. This phase marked the beginning of a whole new level in my events planning and management career.
Later on in the following year, I set up a training arm of my events planning company, to share the knowledge I have acquired with other budding event managers and I leveraged on relationship to get experienced and leading events practitioners on board as facilitators and they obliged. This include Funke Bucknor of Zaphire events, Olufunbi Akinyosoye of Dunamis events, to mention a few. They never charged for it and this kindness i’ll forever be grateful for because they showed up as scheduled and gave the students their very best.
It was a 3days eventful training and I used my experience in banking as well as my experience at other learning institutes to put together what I call a complete academy.
My mum had a vacant flat at her house and I pleaded to use the space for 3days before she rents it out to the final occupant, she noticed my dedication and tenacity towards ensuring this training turns out a success and accorded me all necessary support.
I was allowed to use the space for free, and I sort the support and advice of my life coach who released his projector, and gave me some hands to support with logistics. We rented tables and chairs, printed training materials, bought generators and airconditioner to ensure we had a hitch free and conducive learning centre. Having completed the first 2days successfully, my mentor adviced that we take the 3rd day which is the graduation day to a more conducive facility and we ended up renting a hall in ikeja .
We projected 50 students but we had in attendance 12 students, 8 of which registered and 4 others attended free of charge. We didn’t make profit off this training but it gave room for impact, as I was also impacted and I used the medium to learn more and also train my staff/team member.
Today esob academy has broken even,we have graduated several men and women. We now have a more structured classroom, and a detailed itinerary for field work, and practicals.
Esobevents on the other hand, now offers more than just class parties. We Plan,Style & Coordinate all types of
?corporate
?Weddings
?Social Events.
And we are willing and ready to Give you a “WoW+1” event experience. Call 
? +2348023199887 
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So if you’re considering the entrepreneurial journey just because you want quick money, think again. Or your own desire to quit the 9-5 schedule is so you can have enough time to sleep and wake up anytime you like, Think again.
Entrepreneurship isn’t about being the Boss only, noooo, it comes with Huge responsibilities , dedication and most times a 24hours discipline. You are going to fail sometimes, loose customers or even get disappointed. But in all you’ll gain experience, win some and above all you’ll be fulfiled.
Still considering Entrepreneurship? RETHINK…..
And see you at the inspiring change conference 2017 on march 4,2017 by 10am at the Wisdom Arena.
I’ll be waiting to share with you more practical insight that can help your entrepreneurial journey.
Admission is Free but registration is required. Click here https://t.co/1KIBGekvhN
