Financial Intelligence – TREM Marks Gate

Secret Formula For Solving Problems

“Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward” – Job 5:7

Problems are natural, they are part of the package that becomes available to us as human beings from birth! Trouble is a birth package! One of the most important things you will need to learn if you want to make progress in life is how to solve problems. Problems are the exams of life, no tests, no triumphs, no examinations no promotions!

This is why you need to truly understand the content of this article. If you can master how to solve problems, you have mastered 50% of all you need to learn to get your life where you want it to be.

Let me warm you into this with a story – Once upon a time, a father tried so hard to read for his exams, but he was constantly distracted by his 5 year old son. The little boy had not had enough of his dad’s time and he was demanding for it. Asking him questions, enquiring about what he was reading, doing all it takes to be there.

The father, not wanting to destroy his son’s hope and enthusiasm decided to give him some work to do. He reached out for a magazine, found a page with the picture of the world, tore it up in pieces and gave it to the excited young boy to put together again. In his mind, if the he could get his son working on a problem that tough, he would get up to an hour to read, and the boy out of boredom would fall asleep. To his utter shock and amazement, the boy was back with the world completely and correctly re-arranged, in less than 4 minutes! How he did it, is how you will solve every problem you have as well!

The father quizzed you little boy, “How on earth did you get that done so fast?” The boy smiled at his father, and revealed the secret. He explained to this dad that he saw that at the back of the world map were fragments of the face of a man, and that by putting the man’s face back together, the world came back together. The boy by re-arranging the man, he re-arranged the world.

What are the lessons this 5 year old boy can teach us?

1. How you see the Problem is the Problem! Now that statement may sound simple to you, it’s not! I say this with all sense of emphasis that whatever problem you face is really a problem because of the way you see it! All problems are perceived as they are, based on the lens through which we analyse them. The boy saw a human face which he could arrange; the father saw a world map which the son could never arrange. You need to change how you see your problems, look through the lens of universal eternal principles, and your position will be authentic.

2. Don’t look for the world, look for the man! Your problem is not anybody else, your problem is you! Our problems with ourselves manifest in relating with others, but the root problems are with us! To fix the world, fix you! By focusing on our circle of influence, we expand our influence. Trust me, the problem is not how you see it, the problem is also not the other person, if you change, your energy will change, if your energy changes, the world and people around you will change!

By Charles Ezeh

Steps To A Successful Business

Having interacted with many business moguls and professionals, both personally and business-wise, I realised one key trend in business failure. It is due to the fact that some of us don’t know how to maintain CONSISTENCY.
As I was studying my bible, I got a solution to that error from Genesis 1:26 and that is what I’m sharing today.

1. Be Fruitful
God was not just referring to making babies here but to be productive. Develop a product that is unique, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Identify what someone has done and try to do it better. In the process of doing that, God will give you a fresh revelation on how to make the product unique.

2. Multiply
Multiply the product you produced over and over again.

3. Replenish
This means to distribute. You will become more successful in your business when you start distributing and networking with others. Days of solo runs are over, ensure you reach out to many.

4. Subdue
Control that part of the market that is yours. Am not talking about market monopoly here, rather master the market trend and offer the best competitive price.

By Charles Ezeh

Financial Lessons And Their Practical Applications

Financial Lessons And Their Practical Applications:

Make more money! This is the first law of financial intelligence. I have done this for 4 years plus.
Spend Less than you earn! This is what makes you have some reserve. You can achieve this by using daily, weekly and monthly budgeting.
Ensure what your savings are safe from you! This is done by having an Escrow account. You can take advantage of investing in a cooperative savings, fixed deposits, mutual funds, treasury bills and not a savings account. Your money should start working for you. I have done this for over 4 years.

A friend once said “I am building my business; it’s always been my dream. There are so many distractions but I am committed to it. It’s my only stream of income, but I have made up my mind to stick to this one thing!”

It is dangerous to have one stream of income! Focus, but diversify. Having a Job and letting your business having you is one and the same. The goal is to have a system that generates passive income.

First step is to be in control of your resources, are you?

By Charles Ezeh

We Forget!

Have you ever tried listening to a successful man before? I don’t know about you, but I have one observation I have made. They always make it sound so simple! Here you are racking your brain and seeing if you can get a formulae for success, you ask this old wiser man, what he did that gave him the great break, and what he tells you sounds so simple, and when you try, it doesn’t look quite as easy. Do you know why?

Now I know why! It’s because we forget! We forget about the nights of toil once the morning breaks with rejoicing, we forget about the pain once the beautiful babies are born, we forget about the struggles once we cross the line and hug our trophies, we forget!

I came to the conclusion that the best time to talk to a successful man is the night before success comes; the best time to talk to a hero is when he/she is still a wannabe. The best time my friend, to listen to me, is NOW! Because I’m still work in progress.

I remember last year, when I went all out to get the fifteen year old tape of a now successful man. Many wondered why in particular I was interested in those years. I didn’t understand it well then, but I had observed that his speeches were more forceful then than now. There was a cry in his voice then that is missing now, the pains have died, and somehow, we all forget.

Three weeks ago, I listened to an industry leader tell us about the story of his success. His opening line was, “I won’t tell you what and what made me succeed, I’ll just tell you my story and hope that you’ll find the nuggets therein”. He wasn’t trying to hoard the information, he simply had forgotten.

I’m on fire now! I’m in the midst of the heat. I hear thunder bolts, see lightening flashes, the night is dark, but the motivation is high. I’m in the nights before final arrival of dawn. Now is the time to hear me out, now is the time when the commitments are being made, now is the time when I’m bargaining hard, now is the time.

Five years down the line, except you have written them down now, you probably would also have forgotten. Let your life be instructive, write things down…start writing your own psalms, we all forget!

Share!

Charles Ezeh

The Disciplines Of The Wealthy Part 2

We have explored the fact that the wealthy make their passion their vocations. They pursue their dreams, and money follows as a consequence. We shared that when you find the work that keeps you really busy and you enjoy it, you have found a labour of love that will propel you to wealth and greatness.

This discipline I’ll like to share today may stun you a bit, but wealthy people have exceptional sales skills. Let me not kid you, it doesn’t matter how much you are not a sales person, and how introverted your temperament is, if you are not ready to learn how to sell, then don’t waste your time fantasizing about wealth. Quit the dream and settle for mediocrity. Remember, “blessed are the hopeless, they shall not be disappointed”.

If you are keen on wealth however, then you must know that it’s a discipline of the wealthy. Why? Because the origin of money is trade by barter, and except you have some value to trade you can forget about money. The world has since changed and man has invented a legal tender to equate to value, but the methods of accruing has not changed, it’s by having something of value, and being able to trade it in for what you want.

Nobody was born with skills, skills are developed. What we all have at delivery are the raw materials for different skills, by learning and practicing we perfect the art. Study the great people around you, they have the ability to influence others, and sell their philosophy, their product or their dreams. You also need to learn how to sell.

By Charles Ezeh

Stop, Reverse and Maybe, Pull Over

STOP!!!

Stop! You have travelled that road for a while now, but is it taking you to where you are going? Stop! When did you last take an audit of your life holistically? Are you really making progress? Stop! It’s insanity to increase speed, when direction is not sure. Stop! Take counsel, in the multitude of counsel, there is safety! Stop and think, thinking is work, but you need to discontinue what you are doing, and give 1 hour of serious thought to your future – on earth and eternally.

All is not lost!

Let me be brutally honest with you. There are areas in which we have slept, and there is a re-awakening in the spirit.

If in the last 1yr you have not been the reason for anyone following Christ, it simply means you are not following Christ. The proof of our follower-ship, is that we are also building followers for Christ. There is no amount of financing the gospel, ushering or cleaning chairs that frees you from that eternal responsibility. If in the last few years you have not been bearing fruit, you are still alive, all is not lost!

If your expense is equal to or greater than your income today, you will weep tomorrow if you don’t correct the current reality! It doesn’t matter what you are earning, if you have not built a discipline that ensures you have at least triple your monthly income in escrow yearly, you are playing with arms! If you haven’t gotten it right in the last few years, you can start doing something today, all is not lost!

If you call Jesus Lord, but are not actively involved in doing the Father’s Will – forget the kingdom of heaven! If you are however humble enough to realise you don’t know his will nor have been following it, all is not lost!

It’s happening already!

There is a great outpouring coming upon the land. The batons are changing hands, as God executes His will in the earth. This will be characterised by strong conviction, leading men and women to God, and would be championed and financed by people who God is preparing. We will witness the powers of the age to come! Are you in place?

Ignorance is not an excuse! Get the facts at all costs (Prov 23:23). God is recruiting the elect, do not be left out!

By Charles Ezeh

Disciplines Of The Wealthy Part 1

If you practice these disciplines, you will become wealthy.

A study of wealthy people shows these disciplines are their points of similarities, and like the wise one said, “Everybody can walk on water, If they know where the stones are”.

I’d like to start with the discipline of making their passion their vocation!

If you see anyone complaining about their job and eager to close early, then you have seen someone who will not be wealthy. Clearly, their work is not their passion! They are stuck with it to make ends meet, but they are squandering their dreams. Wealthy people make their passions their vocation! They find what they genuinely enjoy doing, and put their energies behind it.

Some people can’t seem to understand why some people don’t seem to have closing time. They seem to enjoy working and feel fulfilled making things happen. When you find that spot in life, then it’s all a matter of time and the application of the other disciplines.

Greatness is found in the intersection of passion, skill and economic value.

Stop wasting your life trying to survive; there is more to life than breathing.

By Charles Ezeh

Upgrade Yourself

It is no longer a myth that we exist in a global economy where knowledge trumps resources and where physical effort is constantly being exchanged for mental effort. We live in a world, where poverty is not a lack or presence of cash, but of clarity, skills and passion.

Sharing money equally among the citizens of a country is no cure for poverty. Every entrepreneur has once been flat out broke, so not having money doesn’t mean anything.

Wealth is not a function of what you have, it’s a function of who you are becoming by how you think and what you know. What you have can be lost, but what you know can’t be taken from you without you losing yourself. Oil is valuable, only because man created the combustion engine, sand is valuable because it’s the resource for silicon chips. It is mental effort that creates physical value.

In the next few days, I’ll be sharing the key disciplines of the wealthy. By practicing them, you give yourself a good chance of being wealthy. They are really simple, but the poor in mind won’t practice them.

By Charles Ezeh

Wisdom For Entrepreneurs Part 2

If you are in business or desire to start, then these are nuggets from the very road. I’m over 5 years on this road and there has been more learning than earning.

8. It is better to have visibility online than a visible office. None of my big clients have ever come to my office to confirm it. For most of them, my address is my email address. The cost of a decent we presence is less than 10% of brick and mortar, don’t waste your capital.

9. Start small! No matter how rich you are when you want to start, start small! Starting small positions you to be able to restart if you fail. Earthquakes also happen in business, your ability to rebuild lies in not being discouraged by how small your enterprise has become. If you start big, you are more likely to lose steam in the days of adversity.

10. Prepare to fail! Failure was a bad word in school, not in the world of business. Business is about taking risks, about venturing with the possibility of failing, about managing your failures and giving wings to your successes. The attitude of an entrepreneur must demonstrate a different view of failure. Failing is a necessary bus stop on the journey to success. Usually the seed that becomes the mighty oak tree first dies before it grows!

11. Get guidance. It’s presumptuous to make a switch into business without guidance. No matter how much of a technical person you are in your field, business is a new field of it’s own. Surround yourself with mentors, look out for people ahead of you, learn from them. Submit to higher wisdom. Safety is found where there are plenty of sound advisers.

12. Barter! If you don’t have money, don’t lack sense. If a fool and his money soon get parted, then logically a wise man should soon be reconnected to his stash of cash. The origin of money is barter, always think, “what, apart from money can I exchange for this?” A courier company batters newspaper delivery for regular adverts about their service. An events center offers free events to crowd pullers. Find a back you can scratch in exchange for yours. Money is not everything!

By Charles Ezeh.

Wisdom For Entrepreneurs Part 1

Are you considering going into business? Or are you in one already? Here are a few tips that have helped me. They are ashes from the crucibles of my experience; they will assist your journey. Some of them may sound a bit rigid and some a bit loose, they are nonetheless what I have learnt in the priceless school of hard-knocks.

Register a company, this gives your company a history and allows you to have clear documentation for your transactions.
Choose partners carefully! A business partner decision is almost as delicate as getting a life partner. Check fundamentally for alignment of values. Skill or technical ability alone won’t cut it, your basis of future disagreement won’t be technical or skill driven, it will be value based.
Don’t be in a hurry to get an office. Work from home until your visiting clients start to complain. Only then should you consider getting an office.
Relationships are critical. When you start business, you are really building a network of relationships and gaining experience. Everything you want in business will get to you through other human channels, consciously build relationships. Don’t worry about the levels, status or class of people that life throws at you, it’s not how high, it’s how well.
Keep your eyes on the numbers. Your business won’t live longer than your ability to balance 4 key elements. Your Income, Expenses, Assets and Liabilities. The size of the mouse defines the size of it’s nest. Don’t do more than your strength.
They say hire slowly and fire quickly, well I say hire very slowly and you are not likely to fire at all. Don’t create redundancy, hire only when the role is critical.
Go after knowledge! Empty bags don’t stand upright. Once you have decided to be an entrepreneur, you have really decided to prioritize your library over your wardrobe. Your wardrobe is also very important, but how you look will open the door, what you know will keep you inside. Invest in reading, in business readers are leaders.

By Charles Ezeh