14 Reasons why you should take your Business online

The following are the advantages of taking your business online:

1. It is very inexpensive and would reach the new market. Once you have established your business online you can reach people far and wide and grow it.
2. Your website can be viewed from any part of the world. A person sitting at the other end of the world can view your website and thus the internet is a very powerful tool for business expansion.
3. An effective marketing and communicating tool. - It is a very good marketing tool for promoting your business.
4. The start-up cost is very low. The costs for setting up an online business are very low. There are few or no staff required.
5. Unrestricted options to automate your existing business.
6. You can run your business while you are traveling. You have the flexibility to run it even when you're traveling and at any time you choose.
7. You can sell services and products online. All your transactions can be conducted online.
8. No middlemen required. Your communication and interaction is direct with your consumer cutting out the middlemen.
9. No specific business timings. It works on the principle of 24x7. This flexibility of choosing your time enables you to devote your most productive hours to it.
10. Start-up costs are relatively cheaper. If you are setting up your own website with your own business plan you may only need to pay for a domain name and web hosting which would cost you less than $100. Even the most expensive options, they are still way cheaper than other businesses.
11. Operational and administrative expenses are also relatively lower than other businesses with few or no staff. Many internet entrepreneurs work from home which means that expenses like lighting and heating and office expenses which would normally be incurred in an office are saved.
12. An online business is very flexible in that it can be run from anywhere. One could be on holiday with family and still efficiently run one's business. This also allows the entrepreneur to spend his time as he wants. He could choose to work from 9pm till 2am if those are his most productive hours.
13. Online businesses can also avail of the benefits of free and cheap advertising through videos, article marketing and social marketing.
14. With online business the potential to grow your business is very high especially if you can effectively drive traffic to your website.

When it comes to having your online business, both the consumer and the business reap the benefits. Being online makes a business convenient, accessible, affordable and better equipped to help its customers, and when businesses are focused on benefiting their customers, everyone wins.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7538223

Show of Cleavages

Exposing the cleavage and parts of the breast this days is now a norm and a way to show what you have got; just like the saying 'if you have got it flaunt it'. Is this the case for these celebrities or do you think showing what they have got is just part of the show business. Feel free to drop your comments.

Genevieve Nnaji

Funke Akindele Oloyede

Karen Igho

Osas

Mikel boasts ahead of the replay at Stamford bridge

Mikel Obi has told MTNFootball.com Chelsea will beat Manchester United in an FA Cup quarterfinal replay after Sunday’s dramatic comeback.

United took an early 2-0 lead in front of their fans on Sunday only for Chelsea to fight back to 2-2 and force a replay in London.

"It was a great comeback, we fought like Soldiers. I am happy to be involved in this,” Mikel specially told MTNFootball.com

“We have to go back to London and make sure we complete the job by beaten them. The match will be tough as usual, but I believe we will be at our best to beat them."

The Nigeria midfielder, who was a second-half substitute at Old Trafford on Sunday, and he said of his team’s remarkable comeback: "We know that what we needed was to get a goal as quick as possible, then the second will come with more pressure from us, which we eventually did.

“We came back strongly in the second half with a lot of character and it paid off. That's what we need do all the time but we need not to be on the back foot next time.

“I have won the cup four times, winning the fifth this year will be marvellous, but we have to get closer by beating United first," he added.

Compatriot Victor Moses was also full of praise for his Chelsea team mates after the stirring fight back at United.

The former Wigan Athletic star, who again shone in this cup tie, hailed the team’s character.

"Good performance and great character from the boys especially after going 2-0 down, never-say-die attitude," Moses tweeted.
Chelsea will play Manchester City in the semi-final if they beat Manchester United.

Update on GBP/JPY & EUR/JPY

The daily chart of GBP/JPY closed  on friday with a rejection of the upper movement forming a reversal pin bar, this is an opportunity to go short with T/P @ 141.90, if the 8EMA fails to force another reversal pin bar to form then a break of that point may give room for more downward movement with T/P @ 139.20

The EUR/JPY also formed a reversal pin bar on the daily chart indicating a rejection of the upper movement and a rally down to 123.00 is most likely. If a break of the 8EMA occurs then the next target will be 119.25.



For the GBP/USD the trends still remains downward and the next resistance is around 1.4250.
Happy Pipping!!!

The 21st Century

The 21^st Century Wonder

The 21st century is indeed an era  where technology advancement knows no bound; below are just a few of the levels we now find ourselves as a result of these advancements.

Our Phones Wireless

Our Cooking Fireless

Our Cars Keyless

Our Food Fatless

Our Dress Sleeveless

Our society Cashless

Our Husbands Tireless

Our Wives Fearless

Our Children Mannerless

Our Ladies Braless

Our Attitudes Careless

Our Love aimless

Our Feelings Heartless

Our sex Tasteless

Our Education Valueless

Our Work Earnless

Our Government Directionless

Our President Clueless

Everything has become LESS but hope remains ENDLESS, infact I am SPEECHLESS

Waiting!!!

WAITING!!!

Slow and steady they say wins the race, the toughest school no one dares to attend is the school of waiting, we all seem to be in a hurry to get what we want to get and as a result of this nobody wants to be kept waiting. There are lots of different courses in this school that no one prays to take, they include; Unemployment, seeking admission, waiting for the fruit of the womb, joblessness, poverty etc. we all seem to be in a rush to arrive at where we all crave to get to and forget that waiting is the furnace that will bring out the gold in us, little wonder why our outputs have always fallen short of the expected standards. Remember the greatest prophet of all time Moses spent 40 years in this school of waiting before he was finally fit for the master’s use.

After Moses murdered the Egyptian, he had to flee when he realized he was even rejected by his Hebrew brother that he thought he was protecting. Moses knew he was chosen by God to be the deliverer of Israel. He was dead right about the task but was dead wrong about the timing because he has not gone through that school of waiting thus he was in a hurry. As a result of his miscalculation, note what happened:  And on the following day he appeared (Acts 7 VS 26 – 29).

Let me ask you a question, when was the last time you stopped when you saw the yellow traffic light? Most of us accelerate when we come to an intersection with a yellow light! Why? Yellow light are indicators that we should prepare to stop. But we don’t have time to stop for a minute or two all in the name of being in a hurry.

That is why remedial waiting is such a difficult course for us. But it is absolutely necessary for the character remodelling that God is undertaking in our lives. Are you at a point in your life where you are tired of waiting? You may be waiting for promotion, waiting for employment, waiting for your business to turn around, waiting for that depression to finally leave.

May I offer a word of encouragement here? You should know that you are right on schedule. May be not on your schedule, but on His schedule. He knows precisely what He is doing in your life. Every trial has a beginning, middle, and an end. You cannot determine where you are in a trial, but He knows exactly where you are and he is moving you along at just the right pace.

Moses was in a hurry and he went from the palace to the pasture, success to failure, wealth to poverty, significance to insignificance, privilege to persecution, freedom to felon, a purpose in life to no purpose whatsoever, a purported future to a grim future.

Abraham was once in this school of waiting, most time we don’t sign up for these courses ourselves but God himself signs us up in other to bring out the best in our lives. How patient and teachable we are will go a long way in determining our level of success in these courses, remember Moses spent 40 years in this school. You may be amazed that the forty years he spent was accounted for in the bible for just six verses i.e. Exodus 2:16-22.

Have you been convinced that God has enrolled you in this school? Then you are in a very good company my friend. Just see this period of enrollment in this school as a sojourn into the furnace that will bring out the gold in you and your life will be better for it in the end.

Remember facing the face of transformation is a stage in life nobody want to encounter, just hold on and don’t give up no matter how long the duration of your course of study may be and before you give up remember that one reason why you held on for so long. The lord is your strength.

Letter to Nigerian Parents

Friends,

Let me add the benefit of my time as a student and then resident in the UK. Living in Lagos now. The first thing that I discovered about UK-born, white, English under graduates was that all of them did holiday or weekend job to support themselves – including the children of millionaires amongst them. It is the norm over there regardless of how wealthy their parents are. And I soon discovered that virtually all other foreign students did the same – except status-conscious Nigerians.

I also watched Richard Branson (owner of Virgin Airline) speaking on the Biography channel. To my amazement, he said that his young children travel in the economy class- even when the parents (ha and his wife) are in upper class. Richard Branson is a billionaire in Pound Sterling. A quick survey would show you that only children from Nigeria fly business or upper class to commence their studies in the UK. No other foreign students do this. There is no aircraft attached to the office of the Prime Minister in the UK. He travels on BA. And the same goes for the royals. The Queen does not have an aircraft for her exclusive use.

These practices simply become the culture which the next generation carries forward. Have you seen the car that Kate Middleton (the wife of Prince William) drives? VW Golf or something close to it. But there is one core difference between them and us (generally speaking), they (even the billionaire among them) work for their money, we steal ours.

If we want our children to bring about the desired change we have been praying for on behalf of our dear country, then please, please let’s begin now and teach them to work hard so they can stand alone and most importantly be content, and not having to “steal”, which seems to be the norm these days.

“30 is the new 18”, which seem to be the new age for testing out the world in Nigeria now. That seems to be an unspoken but widely accepted mindset among the last 2 generations of parents in Nigeria.

At age 18 years, a typical young adult in the UK leaves the clutches of his/her parents for the university. Chances are, that’s the last time those parents would ever play “Landlord” to their son or daughter except of course the occasional visits during the academic year.

At 21 years and above or below, the now grown and independent minded adult graduates from university, searches for employment, gets a job and shares a flat with other young people on a journey into becoming full-fledged adults.

I can hear the echo of parents saying, well, ‘that is because the UK economy is thriving, safe, well structured and jobs are everywhere?” I beg to differ and I ask that you kindly hear me out. I am a UK-trained Recruitment Consultant and I have been practicing for the past 10 years in Nigeria. I have a broad range of experience from recruiting graduates to executive director level of large corporations. In addition, I talk from the point of view of someone with relatively privileged upbringing.

Driven to school every day; had my clothes washed for me; was barred from any part-time job during my A-levels so that I could concentrate on studying for my exams?! But, I got the opportunity to live apart from my parents from age 18 and the only time I came back home to stay was for 3 months before I got married!

Am I saying that every parent should wash their hands off their children at age 18? No, not at all, of course. I enjoyed the savings that I made from living on and off at my parent’s house in London. Indeed that is the primary reason for my being able to buy myself a 3 bedroom flat in London at age 25 with absolutely no direct financial help from my parents!

For me, pocket money stopped at age 22, not that it was ever enough for my lifestyle to compete with Paris Hilton’s or Victoria Beckham’s. Meanwhile today, we have Nigerian children who have never worked for 5 minutes in their lives insisting on flying “only” first or business class, carrying the latest Louis Vuitton ensemble, Victoria’s Secret underwear and wearing Jimmy Choo’s, fully paid for by their “loving parents”.

I often get calls from anxious parents, “my son graduated 2 years ago and is still looking for a job, can you please assist!"

“Oh really! So, where exactly is THIS CHILD?” is my usual question. “Why are you the one making the call dad/mum?”

I am yet to get a satisfactory answer, but between you and me chances are that the big boy is cruising around Lagos with a babe dressed to the nines, in his dad’s spanking new SUV with enough “pocket money” to put your salary to shame. It is not at all strange to have a 28 year old who has never worked for a day in his or life in Nigeria but “earns” a six figure “salary” from parents doing absolutely nothing.

I see them in my office once in a while, 26 years old with absolutely no skills to sell apart from a shiny CV, written by his dad’s secretary in the office. Of course, he has a driver at his beck and call and he is driven to the job interview. We have a fairly decent conversation and we get to the inevitable question – so, what salary are you looking to earn? Answer comes straight out – N250, 000.00. I ask if that is per month or per annum.

“Of course it is per month”.

“Oh why do you think you should be earning that much on your first job?”

“Well, because my current pocket money is N200, 000.00 and I feel that an employer should be able to pay me more than my parents”.

I try very hard to compose myself. Over parenting is in my opinion the greatest evil handicapping the Nigerian youth. It is at the root of our national malaise.

We have a youth population of tens of millions of who are being “breastfed and diapered” well into their 30s. Even though the examples I have given above are from parents of considerable affluence, similar patterns can be observed from Abeokuta to Adamawa! Wake up mum! You are practically loving your children to death! No wonder corruption continues to thrive. We have a society of young people who have been brought up to expect something for nothing, as if it were a birthright.

I want to encourage you to send your young men and women (anyone over 20 can hardly be called a child) out into the world, maybe even consider reducing or stopping the pocket money to encourage them to think, explore and strive. Let them know that it is possible for them to succeed without your “help”.

Take a moment to think back to your own time as a young man /woman. What if someone had kept spoon-feeding you, would you be where you are today? No tree grows well under another tree. Children that are not exposed to challenges don’t cook well. That is why you see adults complaining, “My parents didn’t buy cloth for me this Christmas”. Ask him/her how old- 30+. Because of the challenges we faced in our youth we are where and what we are today. The syndrome-“my children will not suffer what I suffered” I s destroying our tomorrow. Deliberately reduce their allowance or mum- don’t cook on Sunday till late afternoon or evening-do as occasion deserve.

I learnt the children of a former Nigerian Head of State with all the stolen (billions) monies in their custody, still go about with security escort as wrecks. They are on drugs, several times because of the drug, they collapse in public places. The escort will quickly pack them and off they go. What a life! No one wants to marry them.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. - Henry Ford. Hard work does not kill. Everything in Nigeria is going down, including family settings. It is time to cook our children, preparing them for tomorrow. We are approaching the season in Nigeria where only the RUGGED will survive. How will your ward fare?

If the present generation of Nigerians retires, will you fly a plane flown by a young Nigerian pilot, if trained in Nigeria? People now have first class, who can’t spell GRADUATE or read an article without bomb blast! Which Way Nigeria! Which Way Nigeria! Is this how we will ALL sit and watch this country SINK?

God help us in this country!

From a concerned youth.