News Flash!

Dear visitor,

Welcome to this blog. I am sorry that it has not been updated for a very long time. Due to technical updates I have been unable to access it until now. I will no longer be posting to this blog; it is now defunct. However I have a current one, which can be found at http://www.getcleargetknowngetclients.com/blog
It's theme is client-attraction/marketing for women small business owners.
I hope to meet you there soon.

Warm regards,

Oma Edoja

To download your free ebook:
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Motivational Article (2), Where Does Your Money Go? By Oma Edoja

Did you ever hear the nursery rhyme where Mary, Quite Contrary was asked, “How does your garden grow?” Well if she were around today her accountant would probably be asking her, “Where does your money go?”

Perhaps you ask yourself the same question, month after month.
And if you are like most people, you have no definite answer. You are not alone; there is a world-wide club of others just like you, whose salaries are “too short” and whose months are “too long”! (I almost said, “Welcome to the club!”)

If you are ever going to gain control of your finances, and leave that dreadful club, one thing you will have to do is plan the use of your hard earned cash, and stick to your plan. This is what the money people call “Budgeting.”

Now, most people cringe at the mention of the word “budget”. For some it engenders visions of bondage and restraint. I know it once did for me!
But a budget is actually a plan to help you manage your money. It could virtually stretch your money further, and shrink the month shorter!

Budgeting puts you in control of your money. Remember, you control the budget, it does not control you. So, rather than put you in bondage, a budget gives you control of your money, and consequently your life. Instead of having circumstances, relatives and impulsive moods determine what happens to your money, you can make the decisions by implementing your budget.

Many have the mistaken belief that budgeting is for the rich. They feel they do not “have enough money” to budget. This is all the more reason for such a plan; it enables you prioritize, spending money on your needs, before your wants, taking care of essentials, eliminating the frills.

It is the process of budgeting that allows you save, invest and multiply your money. This is the path to financial peace, and wealth-building. Wealth comes through the compounding of your savings, not a “fat salary.” If you have no savings, there can be no investment. With no investment, there will be no compounding. No compounding means no growth. And no growth means financial troubles, as the little you have is eroded by expense and inflation. With this revelation, it should be clear to some of us that our own ignorance is clearly our undoing. Remember, people perish for lack of knowledge.

You can start a budget today. Simply categorize all your expenses, e.g.: groceries; utilities; transport; rent; charity; personal development; savings; miscellaneous-- whatever suits you. Then allot a percentage of your income to each category.
Voila! You have a budget!

When I drew up my first budget I realized I could make room for all the things that truly mattered and throw out those that did not. If I needed more money in any category this became an incentive to increase my income as a whole.
And this is made possible through building multiple streams of income, where you earn money from other sources beside a salary or primary source.

Another great benefit of budgeting is that it teaches delayed gratification, thus delivering you from the demons of impulsive buying! Delayed gratification is a habit essential to saving and wealth-building. If you want something that’s not in the budget, you just have to save from the miscellaneous category.

In summary, a budget helps you see:

• How much money you really have to spend (it isn’t all yours—you owe the landlord, the doctor, the government etc)
• How you want to spend it (not how people and circumstances blackmail you into spending it)
• How to spend it in the future (savings allow you plan for the future)
• How you can live on less than you earn (savings help you do this)
• How you can stay out of financial trouble (now you can cut your coat according to your cloth!)

Would you like to start a budget today? I sure hope you said yes, or that you already have one, and use it. No matter the size of your income, a budget can help you bring order to your finances and take control of your situation. It takes discipline and patience to follow a budget. But the alternative is to remain “in the club!” And you certainly do not want that!

So, get to work on your budget. Do some fine-tuning, if you already have one. Your discipline and patience will soon pay off. And you will be out of the club at last!


Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

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Quick Tips and Ideas, Three Tips for Getting More Money by Oma Edoja

• Practice good stewardship. You are not the owner of the resources in your care. You met them here on the earth, and you will leave them behind. You are merely a steward of God’s wealth. A steward is one who manages another’s property on his behalf. A good steward increases wealth and multiplies his resources on behalf of the owner. He is skilled and businesslike in handling money. Whether great or small, a good steward will handle money well, and multiply it. A bad steward on the other hand, expends whatever money comes his way, often having nothing left. He frequently goes into debt, further decreasing his net worth. What kind of steward have you been? Identify ways that you can be a better steward of what you have. Get started with good stewardship today. Till you learn to manage the resources you have, an increased income will do you no good; you will only fritter it away. This is why some people never progress financially. Money only goes where it is well managed.

• Look for creative income-generating ideas. What gifts and talents do you have? How can you employ these in the service of others? Could this become a source of income? Have a qualified professional do a feasibility study and determine the viability of your idea as a business. Some ideas require very little capital. You may be able to start with the resources you have. (Read Rev. Sam Adeyemi’s books: Start with What You Have and Ideas Rule the World).

• Give, give, and give! Sow and you will reap. Give without expecting reward or celebration. Look for someone to help, or to share what you have. Contrary to popular complaint, we all have something to give, in cash or kind. Your gesture will cause you to reap; then you will have more to give. The key is giving without expectation of reward, so do not have the TV cameras rolling as you do your good deeds! Let love be your motive. Giving also translates into adding more value to your products or services, as an employee or business owner. The more value you bring to the market place, the better you reap for it. Give more to your customers; give more to your boss. The laws of prosperity will be activated on your behalf. Money flows wherever value is added. Conversely, in the absence of value, money flees!

Simple as these three tips may seem, applying them will improve your financial situation. However, the results will not happen overnight. It takes diligence and patience. God, the Ultimate Owner of all wealth, has loaned you a portion for your time on earth. How will you give account to Him? What will be His assessment of you? If you are faithful with a little, more will abound to you. If you are unfaithful, even the little you have will be taken away, by taxes, inflation and responsibilities.

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

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Motivational Article (1), Your Attitude and your Money by Oma Edoja

With regard to money, what do you think and expect?

-To never have enough?
-To have to borrow?
-That it will never come to you?
-That you are not capable of earning enough?
-You have to do criminal things to be rich?
-Godly people cannot have money?
-There is none in this country; you have to leave for “greener pastures?”

Brian Tracy says, “When you confidently expect good things to happen, good things usually happen to you. If you expect negative things to happen to you, you are usually not disappointed.” Your situations mirror back to you what you expect. If your expectations and attitude toward money are negative, you will have an unpleasant money situation. The opposite is also the case.

To change your financial situation you will therefore need a different attitude to money. Money is a much-needed resource in this life. There is nothing evil about it. It is the love of money that engenders evil, not the money itself. You must be in control of your resources, not them in control of you. Focus on using money to bless yourself and others, not on the money itself. It is a means, not an end.

Anyone can have money if they will learn the rules to getting and keeping it. No one is destined to lack. We lack because we do not play the game by the rules. Incidentally, the rules for prosperity are laid down in God’s word, the Bible. See Dwight Nichols’ book in our listed Success Resources for Biblical principles to making and keeping money.

If you operate sound financial principles (budgeting, saving, investing your savings etc) it is because you expect this to yield positive results. Those who will not budget their expenses, learn to save money and invest it, or give charitably, do this because they do not expect any positive outcomes. And these are the very steps to managing and multiplying your money. You reap what you sow; healthy financial practices lead to healthy finances. Unhealthy practices lead to unhealthy finances.

Review the way you have handled your money in the past. Have you handled it respectfully, as a seed capable of multiplying, or with disdain – after all, it never “stays with you,” you never have enough of it, it hasn’t been “fair” to you.

The way you store your currency notes also reflects your attitude towards money. Incidentally, those who squeeze money into their pockets, write phone numbers on it, hold it with soup-stained fingers, are the same ones who complain that they never have enough! Watch men and women of means and you will find their money placed flat inside a wallet or purse, counted carefully, and handed to others, not thrown around, all crunched up.

What is your attitude to money? What money habits have you been practicing? How do you handle currency notes? Whether you believe it or not, this all works together to determine how much of it you have. And come to think of it, if you were money would you stay where you were ill-treated? I think that deserves some thought!

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

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Motivational Article (2) Get Some Attitude! By Oma Edoja

You’ve been looking for a job for as long as you can remember. Or you’ve written the JAMB exam more times than you can count. You can’t remember a time when you weren’t broke. And you are beginning to wonder if things will ever change for the better.

Listen up dear reader. If this is you, things can and will turn around, as I will show you shortly. I know from personal experience that you can change your life for the better, no matter how bad it has been. I have been homeless, hungry, unemployed and down-and-out. Today, this has all turned around; I am none of these things any more.
Why? To God be the glory,I got fed up, and got an attitude! An attitude that said:

• I’ve gone as far below as I will ever let myself go. From now on, it’s up, whatever hard work or sacrifice it will take.

• I am a valuable human being, with a lot to contribute to society. I will no longer seek to get, but to give of what I have.

• I am a winner, even if only in-the-making. My trials are to bring out the good in me, not to destroy or abase me. I will make the most of them, become the better for them.

I got an attitude that made me expect to succeed, expect doors to open, expect to hear a “Yes,” not a “No!”

And you know what? You get what you expect. Your expectations take on physical form and manifest as your reality. You attract what you get with your thoughts and expectations.

An attitude is the way you think or feel about someone or something.

• How do you feel about that job you're applying for? -- Scared? Apprehensive? That it will never be yours?
• What do you think of the exam you're taking? -- Hard? Impossible? That the examiners are partial?
• What do you think about money -- That it’s elusive? There’s none in the country? It’s not for “people like you?” Or that it’s "evil"?

You may have been thinking and feeling the wrong way, and so attracting the wrong things. You need to critically examine your thoughts and feelings concerning the things you lack, the hurdles you face, or those dreams that have eluded you so far. Change your thoughts and feelings, your attitude towards them, and see a change in your situation. I know from personal experience, I’ve had many a turn-around since my attitude-change!

Success or failure begins in the mind. The difference is in how you think or feel about the hurdles you face. You can get whatever you want, if you will pay the price. Find out what that is and pay it. And while you’re at it, GET SOME ATTITUDE!

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

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Motivational Article (1) Self-esteem: Who do you think you are? By Oma Edoja

Are you the kind of person who dwells on your strengths, or the kind obsessed by your weaknesses? It’s been said that you become what you think about most of the time. Continually pondering your strengths therefore makes you become stronger, enhancing self-esteem. Conversely, thinking constantly on your weaknesses makes you become weaker, draining whatever self-esteem you have.

Incidentally, self-esteem is all about who you think you are. Notice the word “think.” Quite often it has nothing to do with reality. What we think of ourselves could be very far from the truth. The world is full of beautiful women who think they are ugly, thin ones thinking they are fat, men who have it all but think they need more…. I believe you could add to this list of ironies!

Self-esteem is all about what you think about you. Now, who or what do you think you are? Are you happy with your answer? If yes, you have healthy self-esteem; if no, your self-esteem is poor. A poor self-esteem could weigh you down in many areas of your life. It could cheat you out of promotions, contracts, relationships and much more. If you feel inadequate and undeserving, you will never fight for more in life. Why, you think you do not deserve what you presently have! If you feel unworthy of your loving spouse and children you could unconsciously hold back on loving them, fearing they might leave you sooner or later. You consequently maintain emotional distance, protecting yourself from anticipated hurt, alienating your loved ones in the process. Do you see how poor self-esteem could do its harm?

An unrealistically high opinion of yourself could be equally damaging, resulting in conceitedness, the other end of the continuum. Conceitedness destroys relationships, and consequently businesses and careers. Whether they are feelings of superiority, or of inferiority, an unhealthy self-esteem is damaging. It is therefore important to build and maintain a healthy self-image, where you think positively of your strengths and abilities but with humility, desiring to be a blessing through them.

By all means you should celebrate your strengths and successes. It is alright to feel good about them. We all have them, so do not be too self-effacing. If you were to make a list of things you are good at, that you get complimented for, and progress you have made in the last five years you may even find that you have not been fair to yourself; you may be more accomplished than you thought! Why not make such a list right now!

On the other hand, making a list of your weaknesses is not to burst your bubble. It is to highlight areas for further improvement. If these are things you cannot change, you will simply need to find a way around them. You certainly shouldn’t work up a sweat about them! For instance, if you hate writing speeches, you could hire a speech writer. Not good with balancing the books? Get an accountant. And if you think you don’t have a pretty face, you could focus on fitness, inner beauty, good grooming and manners. You could always find a hairstyle, a combination of colours, a style of clothing that down plays some features, highlighting others. So celebrate your strengths, work on your weaknesses; and enlist help wherever you need it!

If you made the list of your strengths, and the other of your weaknesses you will often find that your strong points more than make up for your weak ones. It therefore makes sense to dwell on what you’ve got rather than what you haven’t. No one is perfect, but we are adequate for God’s purpose. You have all it takes to be you. There is no reason to envy someone else. They need what they’ve got to be themselves, something you were not created to be.

So, dear friend, who do you think you are? Reel off those strengths in answer to this question and you will not be far from the truth. Think on your strengths, celebrate them and be thankful. Remember, it’s all about who you think you are. And that is within your power.


Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

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Quick Tips and Ideas -- Self-esteem Boosters: 5 action points

• Make a list of all your accomplishments in life so far. Whatever you consider an accomplishment qualifies – your education, successful parenting, promotions, and skills you have acquired, overcoming adversity, a happy marriage, weight loss etc. Include everything; leave nothing out. Do you know people who do not have any of the successes you have listed? Someone who didn’t finish high school like you did, isn’t as qualified on the job as you are, or cannot sing like you do? Most likely you do. You have achieved something that someone else hasn’t. And you should give yourself credit for that!

• Think on each item on your list. Think on them everyday. Remember what you had to go through to achieve each one – the sacrifices, the pains, the discipline, the money it cost, the time you spent etc. Your accomplishments cost you something, and you paid it, in full. Not everyone could pay the price that you paid, when you did. Hence not everyone has achieved what you have. You stand out as an achiever. You deserve credit for that!

• Think on the benefits you now enjoy as a result of these achievements. Does everyone you know enjoy these benefits? I don’t think so! You are enjoying the rewards of your hard work and sacrifice. Life rewards achievers; you are obviously one of them. Don’t you think you deserve credit for that?

• The challenges you face are a refining furnace, not an indication of failure. If a particular challenge keeps re-occurring, it’s a sign that there’s a lesson you have not learned. Re-examine the situation; enlist help if you must; find the lesson and learn it. Then move on. Life is a school, and we must continue to learn. Rest if you must, but do not quit! View life, and challenges in this new light and be empowered by the knowledge that your contribution is vital. Why else would you keep being tested, tried and promoted? The world needs you, at your best, hence the tests! You have overcome before, and you can overcome now. You’re an achiever remember? And you deserve credit for that!

• You are a human being, the most elevated species of creation! You were crafted by God, not simply spoken into existence as other elements of creation were, and in His image and likeness. Not only did He take the time to craft you with His own hands, God gave your life a purpose, and equipped you to fulfil it. He has vested interest in your success! You may have seemed small and inconsequential in your own eyes up till now, but you are an integral part of God’s plan. You are a Very Important Person! Finding your life’s purpose will show you how valuable you are. Our purpose is usually indicated by our passion in life. What are you passionate about? What are your dreams? What talents are you naturally gifted with? What would you do happily, even if you were not paid for it? Find your purpose and start to fill it. Give meaning and direction to your life. God has done all things well, and He deserves credit for that!

You are a valued part of God’s creation, whether you know it, believe it or not. To be successful in this life you must start off with a healthy self-esteem, believing in yourself and in the God who gave you the vision. As your self-esteem grows you will come to expect more success. Consequently you will attract more of it and become what you’ve been thinking about.

Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja

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