Entrepreneur minds... PLAN!

Ndubuisi Ekekwe is one person I am glad I follow on Linked In & here's one of the reasons why... Read the following excerpt of what he shared yesterday. He mentioned Nigeria but it's practically applicable globally in my opinion.

As the wise man Solomon wrote many years ago, there is time for everything. You must know when to invest in your career and when to monetize your skills. Getting an extra degree is not a distraction. Getting a certification is not a distraction. Learning something new should never be a distraction. Always make sure you have a strategy with resilience to decouple your future from the decision of any man/woman. Fresh graduates, planning for the deep future may make you look stupid before peers who may not see beyond tomorrow. That first job is not for buying cars and expensive jewelry. It is to re-invest and INSURE your career with skills.

Image:Linked In

Accumulation of capabilities is a continuum. The nature of labour is changing; you must adjust.  If you have not noticed it, know that more than 80% of non-public workers in Nigeria see dwindling wages after 15 years. The banking sector, oil & gas and increasingly telecoms are brutal on this: they cut workers and those workers never recover to earn as much as their old wages. Nigeria is challenging - no matter how comfortable you feel about that job, do not be overconfident. To the CFO, you are likely a number (I am sorry for that but that is the reality). Have PLANS and Good Luck.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6417711663855730688

Difficult decisions...

I had to make a difficult decision on Tuesday after an expected phone conversation. Now sometimes in life, I pray for something but when that prayer finally gets answered I seem to develop cold feet because its not in the exact way I want it or maybe sometimes I am just so overwhelmed by the reality of the answered prayer and because of the way I am wired, when I have a victory in a certain area, it becomes boring and I look for something more daunting! (not a very nice way to live honestly).

Back to the conversation; Now I had to make a decision and becomes it didn't come in the way I wanted, the pros & cons kept going through my head and in the end I go "can you please give me sometime to think about this and get back to you"? And to which he responded yes "I will give you 24hrs and I respond "please can I push for 48 hrs"? And he responds "okay Elly I will give you 48hrs but not more than that because we need to know the way forward ASAP.

Now the 48 hours elapses today and I need to make that phone call with a response but up until 2AM, I was confused because I did not know the right feedback and this was a decision I had to make. By 1.00AM I was on the phone to my brother and he says "this is what you have always wanted, in April you turned down an offer and now you are about to turn down another one? No! Go for it! The sacrifice will be worth it.

When I was done with him, I was about 50% convinced of what I wanted to do but afterwards, I prayed and read the above from https://www.ucb.co.uk/word-for-today and I felt that was God directly speaking to me.

And in a few hours.... I will be making that call.
Sometimes you don't have all the details but that is where faith plays a role...

How have you dealt with difficult life decisions? Please share and lets learn a thing or two.

grief path...

Like any good novel, hardships lead to good character development. Through hardships we learn resilience, empathy & most importantly it takes us from shallow to depth...

Don't forget your purpose...

Your purpose is greater than you....... Be sensitive!


When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14

The grief path: Uncensored Speech

Because the grief path is my personal experience, I will be as personal as I can be. If you are new to the blog, grief path is a new series documenting how I am dealing with the loss of my loving dad who went to be with the Lord (7 weeks ago tomorrow). It feels like yesterday.... dad....always & forever

When friends and family hear of the loss of a loved one, some know the right words of consolation, some don't which is understandable because death is a difficult subject to address and some are just plain stupid, it shakes you up from your grieving process back into reality.....

Now the issue is not the stupid people because stupidity will never be gotten rid of but your approach to their level of stupidity is important for your sanity...





The above conversation took place 2 days ago between a lady and I..

Phone rings:

Lady: Hi Elly, I just got to know of your dad's passing yesterday and I just called to say I am so sorry. Take heart, it is really painful but that is life.

Me: Thank you so much for your call, I appreciate. I hope you and yours are good?

Lady: Yes we are fine. How are you doing? Do you work?

Me: Yes ( There was no need to give a longer response because I didn't consider that question relevant)

Lady: Are you married?

Me: Not yet

Lady: Shocked voice! Why are you not married? Or do you want to become a baby mama?

Me: At this point I was laughing really hard, it was really unbelievable that she could utter such words. I would never imagine that such a grown woman could display such a high level of stupidity at such a time and I felt genuinely sorry for the children she was raising because really she can't give what she has not got. This is someone I have not seen or spoken to in over 10 years, the truth is that she got my number from her brother and I don't even have hers. Summary is that we are not friends and it's not her place to ask me such intrusive questions but hey this is life and stupidity can't be eradicated.( I can't give you the details of the rest of our conversation but the truth is that she didn't ruin my day. She is just a highly ignorant woman and I am genuinely sorry for her)

My advice to you: If you are in a difficult situation like going through grief, it does not mean people will always be sensitive to your plight but remember you are responsible for your sanity, your happiness and your peace of mind. Stupid people should not determine your mood. Take charge!

God's Plan & Ways....

For His ways are not our ways.....Isa 58:8-9

What are you up to?

I am still under my duvet and reading Jentzen Franklin's book: Right people, Right place, Right plan.

I have been reading it for a while because it's filled with so much insight and I don't just want to rush it. This was a gift from TBN UK and I am so grateful.

I have highlighted some of the sentences that really stood out this moment and this really got me thinking:

While we are so busy grabbing lesser things, ordinary things, mediocre things, God is planning extraordinary things for our future.... now let that sink!

Who would have believed that Esther, a Jewish slave would have been made Queen? And she was made queen for a reason.... We understand life from the past.

Don't take lightly, what you are going through especially if you are a believer in Christ.
All things indeed together work out for good...