Ways Of Saying No To Anyone Without Feeling Guilty

Thinking you are a bad person for saying no is a symptom of "the disease to please."

But the good news are you can say "no" to anyone, even a closest friend, without being rude or feeling guilty about it.

At the end of the day, it’s about how you say “no”, rather than the fact you’re saying no, that affects the outcome.
Here's how to do it:

Reply Fast

If someone made a request to you, and you want to say "no", but do not really know how to do this and you let this person hanging with no answer for days or even weeks. That is actually a lot worse than saying "no" in the first place. A person certainly won't forget about his request, and this way you will put yourself in a bad light and might lead to negative consequences in the future. So, if you want to say "no" - do it right away.

Be Reasonable

Be firm, calm, and clear. Explain why you are saying "no". Maybe, you have a tough week, or it doesn’t meet your needs, or you are not the best person to do this. Be honest, especially with close friends, and they will understand. But remember, that you owe nothing to anyone, so you don't have to explain all the circumstances and your full life story. You can try using this phrases:

"I have budgeted this months earnings on a budget that occupies a priority on my scale of preference."

“Now’s not a good time as I’m in the middle of something. How about we reconnect at X time?”

“I’d love to do this, but …”

“This doesn’t meet my needs now but I’ll be sure to keep you in mind.”

“I’m not the best person to help on this. Why don’t you try X?”

Propose Alternative Way

Maybe you can't help this person yourself in a way he is asking for, but you can think of someone who would help or something you could do. “I just don’t have time right now. Let me recommend someone who may be able to help you.” Or set the boundaries: “Let me tell you what I can do…” Then limit the commitment to what will be comfortable for you.

It's nice to be nice, but knowing when (and how) to say "no" is crucial to your sanity. Wielding the power of those two little letters requires tact, manners, and courage, but the payoff is worth it. Whatever the case may be, focus on the positive outcome of your effort to give good no.

After all, you have your own priorities and needs, just like everyone has his/her own needs. Saying "no" is about respecting and valuing your time and space.

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HOW TO START YOUR OWN BUSINESS WITHOUT MONEY

HOW TO START YOUR OWN BUSINESS WITHOUT MONEY: Creating and sustaining your own business isn't just a way to wealth - it's a way to pursue your life's dreams and find person...

How To Persuade Yourself To Start Saving Money

Most people often feed from hand to mouth owning to their inability to save up some money for investment or other budgets.  One of the biggest challenges in handling a budget is managing to save up funds for the big-ticket items you really want.
This article is in response to some of the questions sent to our mail from our readers after going through our previous post.

Related post: How To Save Up Money Fast

 It's much easier to go for quick gratification at the expense of long-term achievements. Sometimes saving money can even feel like a lifestyle diet, where you're always hungry for more and resentful of the things you don't have.

Unfortunately, thinking like this will spell out failure for every savings plan. Tuning up your attitude and refocusing your attention can do wonders for getting yourself to really stick to that savings plan.

1.    Monitor your budget closely so you know exactly where every penny is going. Examining your budget on a regular basis will force you to acknowledge the exorbitant amount that's going toward bills or work lunches, and help you identify where you need to clamp down and cut expenses.

2.    Approach saving money as an adventure instead of a chore. Consider it an intriguing challenge you're choosing to undertake rather than a burden you've been forced to bear.

Mindset is everything and thinking of frugality as a fun exercise in creativity can leave you feeling exited instead of unhappy about each choice you make.

3.    Keep your eyes on the ultimate goal, instead of focusing on immediate desires such as the fast food burger you're craving in place of the sandwich you've packed for your lunch. Post pictures of the car you're saving for on the fridge. Draw a thermometer representing the savings you're building for a new home and colour in a little more of it every time you make another deposit into the savings account.

4.    Don't compare yourself to others. Sure, the car in front of you may be a lot newer, but the guy driving it is probably in a heap of debt. You don't need to keep up with the Joneses. You only need to keep up with your own ideals.
When you're tempted to let the green monster of jealousy run lose, recount your successes and know that those around you are probably spending thoughtlessly while you're make smart, thoughtful choices with your money.

5.    Think about the lasting value of each purchase before you make it. Is a purse that will be out of style in a month really worth as much as a week or two of groceries? Remember that things add up quickly, and a fast food dinner here and there will quickly become the new computer on your wish list.
 So even if the item in question costs far less than the one in your goal, you can't discount the comparison. You're always making a choice between one item and another, so make your choices count.

6.    Indulge in little pleasures and focus on enjoying these frugal treats. A movie marathon of films from the library won't cost a dime. A stroll through the park or picnic on the porch will brighten up the day without affecting your budget.
 Make bread or pizzas from scratch and turn it into a fun family activity. Fill your time with so many free pleasures that you don't have time to miss the ones that cost you money.

7.     Finally, you can't talk about forcing yourself to save without talking about banking. Many people can't  save money at home or even in the conventional savings account type.

 Talk to one of your bank's customer care representative about any account type that will mandate its holder to deposit a certain amount( and above) monthly, without allowing the holder to withdraw the money till stated number or months has been attained. Every banks offers such service. This will not only encourage you to save, but will also prevent you from spending from your savings.

Credit: Tochukwu M. Dillion
              @dillionworld

Ways Of Saving Money Fast

Saving money should be incorporated into the life of everyone. During a tough economy or times of trouble, many people need to know how to save money fast. If you have lost your job or have suddenly mounted some unexpected bills, you need to figure out where to cut expenses immediately to redirect money towards essential costs (housing, food) or towards debt.

With some evaluation of your budget and some quick action, you should be able save money to bridge your immediate situation but will also learn some valuable lessons in how to save money long-term.

Others Are Reading: How To Prepare Effective Business Plan That Attracts Loan

If you want to learn how to save money fast, you will need to understand the difference between essential and non-essential spending. Your mortgage or rental payment is an essential expense, your cable bill is non-essential. Make a list of all your monthly expenditures and label each expense as essential and non-essential.

Prioritise your non-essential expenditures based how important they are to you and then begin cutting the least important ones out. If you have a gym membership that you use infrequently, cancel it. If you rarely watch TV, cancel your cable bill. Get rid of as many expenditures as you can that are unnecessary.

After you have trimmed away the easy non-essential bills, it is time to look further at what is left. Can you cut costs on the expenditures you would like to keep? 

If you have chosen to keep cable, is there a cheaper package available? 

Do you pay for both a land line and a cell phone - could you get rid of the land line? 

Could you cut back on your cell phone plan and pay less per month for less minutes?

These are the types of things to look for in your budget when you are learning how to save money fast.

First, you can't talk about saving without banking. Gone are the days when people save in savings box.

There are saving bank accounts that encourage individuals to save by making it mandatory for that person to deposit a certain amount every month. And such account doesn't allow the holder to withdraw till stated number of months or years has been attained. Usually, interest are paid on such accounts. Example of such is Sterling Bank Re-occurring Deposit Account

Now that you have eliminated some bills and hopefully modified other bills to cheaper plans, start looking for areas of negotiation. Phone, cable, and internet plans are a good place to start, especially if you have a bundled package. Search online or call competitors of your current provider to see if you could get the same packages for cheaper.

Even check with your own provider to see if they offer cheaper rates for new customers. With this information in hand, call your current provider and negotiate a lower price based on competitive prices.

After cutting back on regular monthly bills, your grocery budget is the next good place to evaluate when you are looking at how to save money fast. If you eat out, stop. If you buy all name brand food items, begin to try generic brands.  

Start keeping a price book where you list the lowest prices of common items in your pantry to understand what is the lowest cost you can pay for a particular item and pay no higher.

Besides groceries, learn to shop smarter all around. Try to only buy clothing or other necessities when there is a sale. Check out thrift stores and yard sales. If you are not use to spending within a budget, learn how to save money fast by learning to dislike spending.

Related post: Preparing Effective Cover Letter For Your Business Plan

Finally, if you need to learn how to save money fast because of a very desperate time, start cutting out every extraneous expense you have. You may not think you can live without cable TV, but you can. If you cannot afford your car payment, consider selling your car and buying a cheap used car with cash.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and you will be better off making difficult adjustments to your lifestyle now than spending years trying to dig yourself out of debt.

Credit: Tochukwu M. Dillion. 

Ways Of Making Money Blogging Without Ads

The Value of Monetizing Your Blog Through Non-advertising Opportunities:

Displaying ads on your blog is certainly a simple way to try to generate an income from it. However, ads are not a guaranteed money-maker. For one reason, they are often dependent on the actions of your blog's readers. For another reason, generating a significant amount of money through advertising on your blog is unlikely (possible but unlikely) unless your blog receives a very large amount of traffic each day.

By diversifying your income-generating opportunities, you'll have a greater chance of successfully monetizing your blog.

The following are a variety of non-advertising methods to earn money from your blog.

Sell Merchandise:

Many bloggers have success selling branded and non-branded merchandise on their blogs through CafePress.

Ask for Donations:

It can't hurt to ask your readers to donate to your blog. Some of them just might do it. You can add a donation button to your blog through PayPal.

Sell Your Guest Posting Services:

Most bloggers write guest posts for other blogs for free as a way to promote their own blogs. However, you can also offer your guest posting services for a fee.

Write and Sell an Ebook:

If your blog has loyal readers then they must like what you have to say. Similarly, if you've established yourself as an expert in your blog's topic, then there is a good chance people will want to read more from you outside of your blog. Leverage that position by writing an ebook and offering it for sale on your blog.

Write a Book:

If you've established yourself as an expert in your blog's topic and developed a strong following, you could write a book and either try to have it published or self-publish.

Become a Professional Blogger:

Many blogs and blog networks look for talented and knowledgeable writers to author blogs, and many of those blogging jobs are paying. Apply to blogging jobs to boost your blogging income.

Apply for Other Writing Jobs:

Blogging can help you polish your writing skills, which can help you land other freelance writing jobs online and offline. Transitioning into freelance writing from blogging is not unusual and can be very lucrative.

Become a Public Speaker:

If you've successfully established yourself as an expert in your blog's topic and generated a decent amount of traffic to your blog, you could offer your services as a public speaker at events related to your area of expertise.

Become a Consultant:

If you've established yourself as an expert in your blog's topic, you can offer consulting services to other people or business' who could use the help of your expertise. Alternatively, you could offer consulting services related to developing and writing a successful blog.

Credit: Tochukwu M.

How To Easily Import Goods From China Into Nigeria

Our Free Ultimate Mini Importation Guide

You might be asking yourself.  “How can I import goods from China to Nigeria”.  But, before you step into this business you must ask yourself several questions like:

• How and Where to find suppliers?
• How to decide what to sell?
• What price to charge customers for the goods?
• How to avoid scams?
• What areas to focus on when researching?

The good news is that all of these questions will be answered in this blog post. Not only this, but you will also find out what items to buy, and why you should buy them.

If owning a lucrative business is your goal, you should folIow a methodical approach. This is why we have provided you with this step-by-step guide that will help you identify high quality products that will increase your chances of business success.

Before you jump in headfirst, you need to know that this lucrative business is risky in several areas. But also, if you are careful and make wise choices you can earn millions of Naira by importing goods from China to Nigeria.

Follow these steps to increase your chances of earning millions of Naira.

Step 1: Understand why you have chose to import goods from China to Nigeria

This might sound obvious. The first thing that you as a Nigerian Entrepreneur must be clear about is the reason why you are stepping into the importation business. If you plan to start a profitable business in Nigeria by importing items to sell then you must carry out detailed market research about what goods can be easily marketed and sold in your area.

To understand your market, you need to carry out market research and develop a marketing strategy. For instance, you can start by ordering small quantities for testing purposes. By doing this, you can check the quality of the products and show samples to potential customers.

Making use of mini website, social media (e.g. Twitter, Whattsapp, BBM, Facebook Instagram, Pintrest and Google+) to advertise your business and goods is essential.

Related post: How to create your own mini website in less than 60minutes

As soon as your customer orders start flowing through you can increase the quantity of your orders with your supplier. At this point I would recommend that you start negotiating prices with your supplier. If you order in bulk your supplier might be willing to offer you discounted and cheaper rates. This is because the supplier will be generating revenue from the same client in a single consignment rather than making multiple transactions with different clients. This reduces the overall cost of each unit to be sold.

Step 2: How to Decide What Goods to Import from China to Nigeria

Select your niche with careful research. Stay focused and import goods that have huge potential of being sold in Nigeria. So being focused and clear about why you want to import goods is the main understanding required at the beginning. Next you must decide on your niche, which will determine what goods you will import. As a starting point the areas I have successfully targeted are:

Accessories – you can enjoy markups of 100% to 1,000% on accessories, and customers are much less price-sensitive about them.

Goods that Satisfy a Passion or Problem – It’s amazing how much money passionate hobbyists will spend.

Hard to Find Locally – Pick products that are hard to find locally, and you’ll be able to get in front of the vast majority of your customers as you become locally renowned for supplying that product.

Low Product modification – If your product line is frequently changing, you could end up holding a lot of outdated stock. This isn’t a problem if you have a high turnover or large capital reserves.

Consumable or Disposable Products – these products have to be ordered on a regular basis, which is good news for you. It’s far easier and cheaper to market your product and to sell to existing customers who trust you than to new customers. Keep your customers happy – you’ll be on your way to building a profitable business with recurring revenue.

Step 3: What Should I import from China to Nigeria?

Hopefully at this point you have decided on your niche. You can be more specific and filter your list of potential goods even further by using the points below.

Keep them small and lightweight:

It’s always better to import small and lightweight products. Try to restrict yourself to small items. If you decide to import low value items that are heavy, you will find that your shipping costs will eat away at your profit, so be careful.

Avoid selling what you buy:

Popular and essential household items like refrigerators and TVs should be avoided. This is because we buy these items ourselves and competing in any of these markets is difficult. You will need huge amounts of capital to penetrate the market

Avoid seasonal items:

Unless you have a solid strategy or pre orders in place, you should avoid seasonal items. It is safer to go for items that have consistent demand all year in Nigeria. For example if you order Christmas related goods during Christmas season, you will sell a lot of goods, but if you haven’t ordered accurately, you will be left with a lot of useless inventory that you have to sell cheap to get rid of, or pay for it to be stored until the next Christmas season.

Free shipping to Nigeria:

If free shipping to Nigeria is available, you should research the supplier and products. Your profit margins can be considerably increased with free shipping. There are options available for this, but it is worth stating that free shipping can take almost 15 to 60 days. Another way to get free shipping is through DHL. Through this method you can have your goods delivered in just a few days. But not a large amount of products are shipped through this method.

You can always talk to your supplier about the free shipping. Some of the suppliers agree to do this while others do not. Even if your supplier does not agree to free shipping don’t be afraid to negotiate shipping cost. The price advertised doesn’t have to be the price that you pay.


Step 4: Searching for and Selecting a Good Supplier

How to spot a good supplier online:

There are plenty of suppliers operating online. Selecting a reliable and competent supplier is a crucial part of launching a business and needs to be a key part in your business planning process.

Therefore, you need to consider several things when selecting a supplier. For instance:

Check their selling history. How many goods have they already sold online. Where are their customers based? How long have they been operating for. Is their feedback generally positive or negative?
Even good suppliers receive the occasional negative feedback. The key is to understand if this is a unique incident, or is there a common theme with their negative feedback. Feedback is important because it will help you find out if there are any potential issues you might encounter with the supplier.

Supplier ratings are very important. To avoid issues, do not go for suppliers with less than 98% ratings.
Never settle for one supplier. Always search carefully for several suppliers. Compare prices, feedback and quality, and then make the final decisions.
You can often get the same products at different rates from different suppliers. Select the supplier with the best reputation and lowest price.

Last but not least, always chat with a supplier before placing an order.  Confirm if they have the required goods and their quality. Most importantly, ask him whether or not he can send your items to Nigeria. If he can’t, then you always have open room to talk to another supplier.


Where to find potential suppliers:

One of the most popular sites where you can find suppliers and easily import goods from China to Nigeria is “AliExpress”.
This site can quickly become your best friend or worst enemy. The outcome totally depends on how you use the website.

Image:  successfully imported goods from China

You can find just about anything on this site. You can find branded and none branded goods of high and low quality. For example orders can be placed for cheap androids and laptops. They are not the usual brands like Apple, Dell, HP and Toshiba but they can be of high quality.

If you become successful in creating a market for cheap gadgets then there is no doubt that you can earn huge amounts.

Related post: Top websites where you can import items cheaply into Nigeria

How to use and navigate AliExpress:

There are several categories available on Aliexpress.

First of all, select the category that matches your niche.

 After selecting the category you may browse for specific things that you want to import.

In order to locate a genuine seller on AliExpress, we recommend you go for sellers that have a rating of 98% or more.

You do not have to own a PayPal account to buy goods from AliExpress. You can also use a GTB naira master card or a UBA Naira visa Africard to make payments.

Don’ts of the online import business:

• Don’t ever pay directly to the supplier
• Don’t use sites that aren’t verified or certified for security. 
• Avoid spammers at all costs. Don’t be tempted by emails inviting you to buy something like “Discounted Rolex Watches.”
• Don’t complete or carry out transactions outside of the verified site
• Don’t pay by debit card, cash, or wire transfer. Try and use credit cards or Escrow account payments as it gives you an extra protection. Always make the payments with the help of escrow. This way your payment will be protected, and only be released when you confirm that you have received your goods at the right place, price, quality, quantity and time

In case the items are not as described and agreed, then do not worry. You can always claim and get a refund if your claim is true

• Don’t trust suppliers that refuse to ship single samples. They are just trying to bluff your, or are not being 100% open.  This is a bad sign.
• Don’t buy in bulk quantity for your first order. In the beginning order small quantities to check the quality of the items and the reliability of the supplier.  Once you are happy you can increase your order quantity and frequency depending on demand.
• Don’t forget to inspect your goods as soon as they arrive

Conclusion:

As it turns out, importing products from China to Nigeria is a profitable business indeed. But to be successful you must be clear about why you want to do it, and have a plan of how you will be successful.

There’s a lot more to the importation business than just shipping any old product. To sum it up, here is what I learned from importing goods from China to Nigeria, and what I think you should learn as well.

*Understand why you have decided to import goods from China to Nigeria
*How to select your niche.
*Identify what goods in your niche are suitable for importing from China to Nigeria
*Learn how to keep up to date on current trends in Nigeria
*How to select a reliable and consistent supplier
*Learn how to create a strategy

If you really take on this set of best practices, I think you’ll be destined for success and realise your financial and business potential. Put what you’ve learned in to practice.

We would love to hear from you on how it went. You can use the comment box or contact us for assistance

customercare.dillionworld@gmail.com
tochukwudike@gmail.com
+2348035217276.

Steps Entrepreneur Should Take To Achieve Set Goals

Highly productive entrepreneurs aren’t necessarily special, but they are usually very driven and have unlocked the secrets to achieving their goals. When you know how to attack any objective with the right approach, you too can become unstoppable.

I’ve learned over my successful entrepreneurial experiences that good goal setting is easy to hypothesise about, but challenging to execute. 

As I figured out over the years how to go from making lists of goals to actually getting them accomplished, I learned a few steps that made the process of goal setting transformation.

Here are simple steps for every entrepreneur to achieve any goal.

1. Make it smaller.

The vision of the goal has to start out big, and 

 even a little vague, but then you have to turn that into several of what I call “something smaller” goals. This transforms a big lofty ambition into tent-pole moments along the path that you can achieve in smaller steps.

For example, wanting to improve your diet and increase physical activity are among the most common goals out there. I wouldn’t recommend suddenly going cold turkey on all your usual foods and going to the gym every day, but rather setting milestones along the road. 

Break the goals down into smaller lifestyle benchmarks, such as eliminating certain foods over the course of a month, then adding in more movement over the course of the following weeks.

By making small goal benchmarks to work toward, the goal becomes achievable overall because you made it actionable in smaller steps.

2. Make it reasonable.

I always say a good goal is one that stretches you to the edge of your comfort zone, but not one that crosses over into fantasy. Everyone would love to make a million dollars this year, but if that’s not a number you can truly wrap your brain around, start with a number that stretches you but is believable.

If you are making $2,500 consistently a month, then could bumping the year-end goal to $10,000 a month actually be something you could believe? It doesn’t get you to a million this year, but it bumps your goal to something that’s believable for you and thus, feels more achievable. 

Once you get to year’s end and $10,000 a month feels comfortable and realistic, you can bump it again.

These smaller, realistic goals feed into the first step of breaking big ideas into smaller actions, too.

3. Make it known.

A great way to achieve any goal is to get the right support for your journey. You want to tell people who will be supportive and involved in your success. That has the benefit of bolstering you during times of challenge, but also when you verbalize your goals you tend to follow through better. 

You hold yourself more accountable to goals you’ve shared with others and that can help you reach them.

4. Make it traceable.

Breaking goals into smaller benchmarks helps to create action plans to smaller events that will eventually have a cumulative effect toward the big picture. This is a great tactic in terms of actions, but also a good tactic to help you put some metrics and measurement into the task.

If the goal is weight loss, then how much will you lose by each benchmark goal deadline you set?

 If it’s increasing your earnings, how can you track what you spend, what money is coming in and how you will generate more income through reducing your customer acquisition costs? 

Furthermore, how can you track your progress along the way to see how your overall goal is progressing against your small milestones?

5. Make it fun.

As you meet your benchmarks, set up ways to celebrate or enjoy your victories. Make tracking the progress fun and meaningful. The more fun you can have along the way with your goals, the more successful you’ll be at achieving them.

The purpose of any goal isn’t just to achieve it, but often it’s to integrate it into your daily lifestyle, so learn to enjoy not just the destination but also the process of getting there.

Credit: Adam T. and Mgbeahurike T. Dillion.