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developing minds, raising entrepreneurs
N50
How to Turn Your Talents into Business
T urning your talent and hobby into a business may
sound like a dream. The first stage of the reality starts
from the day you are able to discover your true talent
and realise that it goes beyond an excitement. After this, you
should take a step further to conduct brief research into the
commercial viability. Very often, discovery has been the major
problem to many people.
A lot of us have difficulty distinguishing between our ambition
and our calling. For instance, our ambition is to obtain a
degree in and particular course and probably become a CEO of
a company whereas our calling is attached to our talent, and
there is no single person who does not have a talent. Quite
often, we trade them off with some other career interests. For
instance, your talent may just be singing, and you have a great
chance of making it quickly through it, but because you have a
degree in banking and your ambition is to be a banker, you
may find it very difficult to believe that your singing talent can
earn you a better living outside the banking career. Take for
instance, if the comedian, Ali Baba had decided to take up a
salary-paying job based on his degree immediately after he
graduated from the university, then he may not have been able
to discover his talent.
From experience, talent in most cases manifests in so many
ways. Over time, it turns into a hobby, a passion, or other
activities that give us excitement and life fulfilment. Therefore,
you must engage in self-discovery by probing into those
things you love doing from your early days, which offer you
A Publication of Sourcerite
Vol.I Issue I
excitement and fun. When you do this genuinely, you are sure
that you are ascertaining your true talents. Having discovered
your talents, to confirm the commercial viability becomes
easy; what you need to do is to align it with a particular sector
of the economy where such services and products made from
the talent can be traded, taking into consideration the existing
businesses that are similar to your idea. For instance, if your
talent or hobby has to do with singing or playwriting, then your
services may fit into the entertainment industry.
After you have ascertained the commercial viability, it is wise
at this point to start broading your knowledge by learning new
things about it, particularly how it can be translated into a full-
blown business. This can be done by taking relevant short
courses and seminars that will change your orientation from
seeing the talent as just a mere gift and the hobby as a mere
enjoyment. Take for instance, just because you love writing
does not make you a good author. To be a commercial author,
you must learn the principle of making money out of writing.
Even though you know everything about it, such knowledge
may not be sufficient to make you competitive in the market
Learning more will broaden your understanding about the
commercial relevance of the talent and will also open you to a
more creative way of doing things. Once you get to this level,
look for a mentor who is already doing well in the business so
that you can be further guided and supported with more
practical experience because learning the knots and bolts of
business before starting is very important as it prevents you
from making mistakes that can result into financial if care is not taken, this might abort the idea.
loss. Whenever you are attempting to turn your hobby
After acquiring the relevant skills and knowledge into a business, be smart enough so that you will
needed to successfully run the business, we should not fall a victim of this problem.
not end the process there. There are quite a number Once you are able to set goals and put all the
of tasks to be accomplished before the business is necessary working plan in place, the next task is to
opened for service. Many aspiring entrepreneurs ascertain the required minimum resources that you
lose focus when they get to this level in business need to kick-start your service. You may need to
development. Several months and years after they consult your mentor or any of those that are already
have attended business seminars and workshops, performing well in the business to guide you in
the business idea is still like embryo waiting for estimating the minimum financial requirement and
incubation into reality, and many ideas never saw other resources that are needed for the business
the light of the day. There are thousands of people take-off.
who have invested their time and money to attend From available research, many of the hobbies-
one workshop or the other with the aim of kick- turned businesses do not
starting their business require so much money or
immediately after attending, “As far as hobbies and talents are capital to start. It may
but subsequently, the fire concerned, the only important take-off also interest you to know
and the zeal to move ahead capital is skill and ability to showcase your that most of the items
gradually stop burning inside potential, and that is why these types of needed can be leased or
them due to their loss of businesses are the easiest to set up”. rented; hence, you do not
focus. Most wonderful need to worry yourself so
business ideas die at this much about raising huge capital for take-off.
stage because some aspiring entrepreneurs often
fail to put in place an effective working plan that will As far as hobbies and talents are concerned, the
guide them in the process of incubating their ideas only important take-off capital is skill and ability to
into a full-fledged business. Oftentimes, they feel showcase your potential, and that is why these
that their business is too small to have a business types of businesses are the easiest to set up. Take
plan. They fail to set goals and direction, and these for instance, if your hobby is writing, and you want to
become common problem to most entrepreneurs; publish your work for commercial purpose, it is not
hence, you must avoid this if you really want to compulsory that you own a publishing equipment
succeed. before you can start. Also, becoming a comedian ,
for example, does not require any material other
You must set yourself a goal, a course of direction than your skill. The same requirement applies to a
as well as putting in place the working plan that will hobby like singing, which does not require
act as a guide in making your dream a reality. Not ownership of any musical or recording piece of
having this in place is like working in a shadow, and equipment.
in most cases, one cannot achieve any reasonable
result in this circumstance. Without a business The Power of Plan B The Secret of Today's
plan, you are prone to confusion and depression, Millionaires
and as such, you will lose the strength and the (By Sam Asekunlowo)
enthusiasm to move ahead. Of course, we would
always attribute this problem to many reasons, but
Why You Should Stay
Hungry & Foolish By Steve Jobs
This is yet the most celebrated speech made by Steve Jobs. It
was the 114th Commencement Address to graduating students
of Stanford University on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from
one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from
college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a
college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my
life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories!
The first story is about connecting the dots
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then
stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I
really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young,
unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up
for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by
college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted
at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute
that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a
waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have
an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of
course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had
never graduated from college and that my father had never
graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final
adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my
parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college
that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-
class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I
wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to
help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my
parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and
trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time,
but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The
minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that
didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked
interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the
floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits
to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every
Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna
temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following
my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let
me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy
instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster,
Continue on pg. 6
Ray Kroc Leadership
Who was He?
Ray Kroc is the man behind the multimillion dollar fast
food empire, MacDonald's. In his life, he has built the
fast food chain from a simple hamburger restaurant to a
multi-billion dollar franchise that has reached almost
every part of the world today.
A Quick History
Ray Kroc was born in 1902 in the city of Illinois. He
had grown up to be a brash, enthusiastic young man
who was a visionary and a salesman.
During World War I, although he was underage, he still
signed up to be trained as an ambulance driver, but he
never made to the front lines as the war ended before
his training did.
After the war, he worked in many professions as a
paper cup salesman, a pianist, a musician as well as at
the Chicago Radio Station.
His breakthrough came with his fascination with the
multi-mixers. He saw the potential in the McDonald's
brothers' hamburger restaurant in churning out burgers
after burgers like clockwork.
He suggested expansion to the brothers and
volunteered to be the person to expand the restaurant
chain. He saw great potential in the concept that the
brothers did not.
Eventually he would buy over the restaurant from the
brothers at $2.7 million. Ray Kroc would revolutionize the
dining industry by created an assembly line method of
selling his burgers that would be standardized throughout
the world.
By 1963, McDonald's would have sold its 1 billionth
burger and open its 500th restaurant. “The two most important requirements for major
At the end of his life in 1984, Ray Kroc amassed a success are: first, being in the right place at the right
personal fortune of $500 million, and in 2007, the time, and second, doing something about it.”
McDonald's Corporation that he founded had achieved “All money means to me is a pride in
a revenue of $22 billion. accomplishment.”
Awards and Honours “We take the hamburger business more seriously
These are some awards that Ray Kroc has been noted than anyone else.”
for: “When you're green, your growing. When you're ripe,
1.Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century you rot.”
2 The Ray Kroc Award, an award given to Macdonald's “While formal schooling is an important advantage,
top 1% managers, is named after him. it is not a guarantee of success nor is its absence a
fatal handicap.”
Ray Kroc Leadership Lessons
“You're only as good as the people you hire.”
1. Having a big vision
“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards
When Ray Kroc first saw the multi-mixers in the they set for themselves.”
restaurant of the McDonald's Brothers, he envisioned
8 of these restaurants churning out burgers and “It's easy to have principles when you're rich. The
making a steady stream of cash immediately. important thing is to have principles when you're
poor.”
Leaders are men of vision and when they look at a
certain situation, they see its potential. They see what “Creativity is a highfalutin word for the work I have to
things could become. You must have that as a leader do between now and Tuesday.”
as well; to think about possibilities. “If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but
2. Commitment to Excellence if you love what you're doing and you always put the
customer first, success will be yours.”
Ray Kroc has an obsession for cleanliness in his
restaurants and he is known for being extremely “If you're not a risk taker, you should get the hell out
particular about every corner of his restaurants. He of business.”
expects that every employee do his best at every “None of Us is as Good as All of Us.”
moment during his work.
I believe that this is one of the great traits of a leader as
well: to be committed to every single detail in your
plans, your events and so on. Your commitment to this
details is your commitment to excellence and it will set
you one notch above your competition.
What's more, having a commitment to excellence will
also compel your followers to live up to that same
standard as you. When you set the standard with your
Space Available
personal example, you can expect to build a great
organization.
for Sale
Best Quotes from Ray Kroc Leadership
“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the
luckier you get.”
 Entrepreneurs' Capsule With Isaac Oluyi
T his column is designed to bring out the entrepreneur in our readers. There is no doubt that Nigeria is
blessed with immense opportunities. The challenge however is that most Nigerians are not availing
themselves of the opportunities. This columnist shall attempt to give readers reasons to take
advantage of such opportunities through motivational write-ups.
In this edition, our focus is on “Self discovery”. The starting point for any entrepreneur is to know what he is
cut out for. No one can do well in business or in life, except one strives to ascertain precisely what he has
passion for. To know one's passion, it requires discernment. So I will like to take you on a journey of self-
discovery through the piece that follows.

T he greatest tragedy of life is for people to live

and die and never come out of themselves, to
never realise the possibilities hidden within
them. Each time I come across people with huge
potentials and who seem to be clueless about what to
do with their innate abilities, my heart bleeds. To give
meaning to your life you must live it on purpose. There is
nothing as dangerous as living a life that has no bearing.
Such a life will definitely be very boring!
How can you then give meaning to a clueless
life?
The way out is to discover who you are.
When you know who you are it becomes
easy to live a purpose-driven life. So I
want you to take time to ruminate over
the following and answer them as
truthfully as possible:
1. Do I love where I am today?
2. Would I like to continue to do the
kind of job or the kind of activity that I
do today when I come of age?
3. Am I using my natural talent to do what I do today?
4. Will I like to be the best of what I am doing today?
5. What one thing do I need to do to make the greatest
possible change in my life?
6. Who is doing something closest to my dream?
7. What area will I like to make a positive impact?
8. What will I like to be remembered for?
9.What mind-blowing accomplishment will I want my
name to be associated with?
10. What field will I like my name to define?
11. What do I do best with the least effort?
12. What kind of help do people frequently ask from
me?
13. What is that area people show me the greatest
respect?
14. What can I do for fun and still earn money?
15. What irritates me the most when it is poorly
done?
16.I usually lose track of time when
…………
17. Which of all the human needs
touches my heart most?
18. I am the solution, what is the
problem?
19. Who has this problem?
20.Which books, magazines or d i s c u s s i o n s
interest me the most?
I am convinced that if you can consciously and
truthfully answer the questions above, you will
discover your potentials and know exactly who you
are. With this, you will have succeeded in giving
meaning to your life, even if you had no clue before.
every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I
calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down
take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.
to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to
typefaces, about varying the amount of space between apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public
different letter combinations, about what makes great failure, and I even thought about running away from the
typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me I still
subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not
fascinating. changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in
love. And so I decided to start over.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in
my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from
Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to
designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the
beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about
course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative
typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. periods of my life.
And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no During the next five years, I started a company named
personal computer would NeXT, another company named
have them. If I had never “Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you Pixar, and fell in love with an
dropped out, I would have can only connect them looking backwards. So you have amazing woman who would
never dropped in on this become my wife. Pixar went on to
calligraphy class, and to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your create the worlds first computer
personal computers might future. You have to trust in something your gut, destiny, animated feature film, Toy Story,
not have the wonderful life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me and is now the most successful
typography that they do. Of down, and it has made all the difference in my life”. animation studio in the world. In a
course it was impossible to remarkable turn of events, Apple
connect the dots looking bought NeXT, I returned to Apple,
forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of
looking backwards ten years later. Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a
wonderful family together.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can
only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't
that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I
to trust in something your gut, destiny, life, karma, guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the
whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the
made all the difference in my life. only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.
You've got to find what you love.
My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky I found
what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your
parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way
years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If
you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with
We had just released our finest creation the Macintosh a all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And,
year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as
How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't
Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very settle.
talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or
so things went well. But then our visions of the future began My third story is about death. When I was 17, I read a
to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it
our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.” It
very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult made an impression on me, and since then, for the past
life was gone, and it was devastating. 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and
Continue on pg. 6
asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I
want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the
answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need
to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool
I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride,
all fear of embarrassment or failure these things just fall away
in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to
avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are
already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at
7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my
pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors
told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is
incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three
to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my
affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It
means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have
the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to
make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as
possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a
biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat,
through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into
my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated,
but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the
cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it
turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is
curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its
the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through
it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when
death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven
don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination
we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it
should be, because Death is very likely the single best
invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old
to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but
someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the
old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite
true.
Your time is limited. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living
someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living
with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of
others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most
important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called
The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my
generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand
not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with
his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal
computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with
typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like
Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came
along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and
great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole
Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put
out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age.
On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an
early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself
hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.
Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was
their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay
Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as
you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Thank you all very much.
Jobs, before his death resigned as CEO of Apple Computer and
of Pixar Animation Studios earlier in the year.
Business Expo
India's ancient tradition of ayurveda says the leaves of the
Moringa tree prevent 300 diseases. Modern science confirms
the basic idea. Scientific research has proven that these humble
leaves are in fact a powerhouse of nutritional value. Gram for
gram, Moringa leaves contain:
Unfortunately, even
while science sings the
praise of Moringa
leaves, this vital
information has not
reached the people who
need it most.
Moringa's Potential
Moringa has enormous
potential for benefiting humanity. It could:
·Improve human health
·Increase livestock's weight gain and milk production
·Enhance plant growth and crop yields
For training and more information on how you can benefit from
this business opportunity, please call the editor on
08060702979.
For Further enquiries contact;

Line 1 Egbedore Street, off Ondo rd. Modakeke-Ife

Tel. 08060702979