Are Your Desires Really Your Desires?

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

“Nature has so built man that he has Absolute control over the material which reaches his mind through his five senses.” Whether man chooses to make use of this power or not is totally up to him.

“In the great majority of instances, he does not exercise it, which explains why so many people go through life in poverty.”

I am almost 100% sure that I will get some bashing for this but these words did not come from me. I agree with the statement to some extent but the words came from Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.

This is one of my favorite books mostly because it was among the first books that I read in this genre and it still resonates with me to date. I began reading it about 8 years ago when I joined high school.

I recently started reading it again and I was amazed by how much I gathered. I have grown so much over the last couple of months and that growth has come with the ability to view things from a whole new perspective.

In the first chapter Napoleon says that thoughts are things and powerful things at that, especially when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translations into richness or other material objects.

Quote from Think and Grow Rich

“When man desires something so deeply that he is willing to stick his entire future on a single turn of the wheel to get it, he is sure to win.”

But how do you identify what you really want/desire?

Especially when today there are so many things that influence how we live our lives and how we make decisions. People are stuck doing jobs that they do not like because they feel like they have to earn money now, others because society says that that is the right thing to do and so forth.

We pay so much attention to the world that we fail to concentrate on what we want on what our hearts desire and we in turn end up living unhappy and unfulfilling lives.

And the saddest part is that we cannot blame society nor can we blame circumstances. We can only blame ourselves because we chose to live that way.

I suggest ridding yourself of all distractions for at list a day or three. Take some time to yourself and with yourself alone and think. Evaluate where you are at the moment, how does it make you feel? Are you happy? Given a chance would you change, and if so to what/where?

I sit back at times and realize that most of the things I do or prioritize, I do so because of societal influence and because of trends but I have come to realize that you can do what you love and still be relevant.

The world might be evolving but the concepts are still the same. That is why almost all how-to guide books have similar ideas. Most of the leadership books I have read teach almost the same thing. The only difference is the writing style and the language that is used.

Once you have established what you want/desire then you can work towards getting it. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich provides valuable insight on how you can do that. Here is a few things I gathered from the book.

1. Identify your goal

What is it that you want from life? What do you want to achieve? Once you have answered those two questions, make your desire your obsession; let it consume your life. Visualize yourself already having achieved whatever it is that you want to achieve. Devote most if not all of your time to working towards fulfilling your desire. Let that be your first goal.

If you have read Think and Grow Rich then you know the story of Edwin C. Barnes. His desire was to become Thomas Edison’s associate, to work side by side with him.

This desire was neither a hope nor a wish! It was a keen pulsating desire that transcended everything else. It was definite.

Set Specific Goals

Let your goal be definite. I know you have heard it said numerous times that when you set goals they ought to be specific.

This is because being specific about what you want creates focus and direction for your efforts. It makes your goals seem more real and easier to personalize which makes them more meaningful to you.

Edwin had had this desire for a long time before he acted on it. I can only assume this was because he needed time to believe in it and make it his life’s mission.

Make achieving your goal your life’s mission, write it down and repeat it to yourself every single day if you have to.

2. Do not apologize for wanting what you want

I made this my second point because I am guilty of doing this. Whether it is out of fear or just to be polite, I do this a lot. I recently realized that there is nothing wrong in wanting what you want. We were not born to be the same.

You see the difference between successful people and those that are not successful is, successful people are not afraid to dream big and more importantly, they are not afraid to act on those dreams.

I have never heard a successful person apologize for wanting something nor have I heard one give excuses for not going for what they want.

When you apologize for wanting something, you lose confidence in getting whatever it is that you want. You make yourself believe that it is ok not to get it. If you are asking something from someone and you seem apologetic for asking they interpreted that as lack of confidence or that you do not want whatever it is that you are asking for bad enough.

You give them a lee way to say no because you have shown them that you are ok with not getting whatever it is that you want.

If you are thinking of asking your boss for a raise then this point is worth noting.  Your boss as well as you needs to believe that you want the position as much as you think you want it and saying something like “I am sorry to ask but I was wondering if I could get a raise…” and when your boss hesitates to respond you follow up with, “but if it’s not possible, it’s ok.” does not help.

In fact instead of coming off as polite you come off as being timid and you succeed in getting yourself a big fat NO!

3. Determine what exactly you intend to give in return.

Nothing and I repeat nothing in this world is for free. You must be willing to give something in return, whether it’s your time, your effort or simply money, you must be willing to give something.

Some things require more investment than others and that is why identifying a specific goal is so important and that is why it was my first point.

For you to know exactly what you are going to give then you must have a definite goal in mind. You cannot estimate the magnitude of the investment you are going to make if you do not know exactly what you are working towards.

4. Be Persistent

“Quitters are never winners” This cliché quote right here just about sums up this point.

While in pursuit of your desires, you are going to fall, in fact you are going to fall more times than you can count but if you want to achieve your goal then you are going to have to pick up yourself every single time.

Five years passed before the chance Edwin C. Barnes had been seeking made its appearance. During those five years not one ray of hope, not one promise of attainment of his desire had been held out to him.

To everyone except himself, he appeared like another cog in Thomas Edison’s business wheel but in his own mind, he was a partner of Edison every minute of the time from the very first day that he went to work there.

There so many stories of people who persisted in spite of failing numerous times and what those people have in common is that they succeeded.

5. Put it down in writing

When you write your goals down, you have a higher chance of achieving them. Write exactly what you want to achieve, give yourself a time limit and be realistic. You cannot expect to get a million dollars in one month; unless you are planning to rob a bank I do not see how that is possible.

Be realistic when setting the timing limit and write down what you intend to give in return, whether it is your time, money, services, write it down and live up to it.

You have to be willing to work for what you want.

Visualize Winning

Once you have everything written down, read your plan out loud. Napoleon Hill advices that you read it twice daily, once when you wake up in the morning and once when you retire to bed at night.

As you read, visualize having have achieved your goal, see, feel and believe that you are already where you want to be. In other words have faith that you are going to achieve your goal. Faith is a powerful tool; it is the head chemist of the mind.

I came up with this list just after reading a few chapters of the book, I would recommend that you go get the book and read it, not like a novel but like a text book. Analyze every chapter, takes notes if you want, learn from it and try to apply what you learn.

Two Things You And Your Leaders Ought To Know!

“Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”
Mahatma Gandhi.

One of Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quotes: Be the change you want to see in the world.

I felt like I should put this out there seeing as we are just about to have our elections. Now anyone who witnessed what happened in Kenya in 2007 would understand why everyone is anxious about the elections.

I just pray and hope that peace will prevail regardless of the outcome.

Speaking of Mahatma Gandhi, ever wondered how he got the people of India to stand and not fight back the British military even when they massacred more than one thousand people at Amritsar in 1919?

Gandhi challenged the people to meet oppression with peaceful disobedience and noncooperation. His vision for change in India was based on nonviolent civil disobedience. In other words he was all about peace.

And he got the people of India to adopt his way of thinking, it wasn’t easy but he did it and as a result he became one of the greatest leaders this world has ever known.

Gandhi studied law in London. After finishing his education, he traveled back to India and then to South Africa where he worked for twenty years as a barrister and political activist. He fought for the rights of Indians and other minorities who were oppressed and discriminated against by South Africa’s apartheid and as a result gained a lot of respect from his people.

When he went back home and called out people to have peaceful strikes and demonstrations they actually followed him.

This is because his people had bought into him as a leader before they even bought into his vision: The law of buy-in.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Power. Image courtesy of Mundial books.

If you have read The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Power by John C. Maxwell, then you probably saw that coming.

As a leader, your vision might be lit. Your intentions might be so noble that they’d put you in the same category as Mother Theresa or Kenya’s own Nobel peace prize winner Wangari Mathai.

Your heart might be in the right place but it takes people following you first to see that. You have heard it said that people buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.

This statement is very true, in fact it is because of this that you’ll see leaders with the exact same vision or in the case of political candidates, the same manifesto but different levels of influence.

Let’s take Osama Bin Laden or Adolf Hitler for instance. These two were horrible as human beings but they were incredible leaders and they got people to do unspeakable things simply because people bought into them as leaders.

They got people to trust in them as leaders before they could trust their visions. The law of buy-in.

To be honest, when I began reading this book, I had no intention of writing about it. In fact, at the time I was working on my previous post: What If You Wrote One Thank You Each Day?

John C. Maxwell’s Tenth Law: Always Touch A Person’s Heart Before You Ask For A Hand.

Like all the other John C. Maxwell books I’ve read, this one did not disappoint. I could not put it down and it was not until I reached the tenth law (The Law of Connection) that I realized this information had to be shared.

The tenth law hit home for me. It spoke about all the qualities that I’d wish to have as a leader and all the qualities that I’d like my leaders to have.

Real leadership is not about what title you hold or who is in charge, it is about taking care of the people that are in your charge.

“People respond to benevolent intentions to a greater degree than they do to competence when reacting to authorities.”

People Need To Know That You Care

It is just like the law of buy-in, before people buy into your vision as a leader they need to know that you care.

They need to hear it as you speak and most importantly see it in your actions. They need to know that the things that you do while in your position of power are for their own good and not laced with selfish intentions.

They need to trust you and the only way they can do that is if you establish a connection with them and I do not mean that you put on an act.

Be genuine and real, Barney Schwartz once said that it takes a lot of experience to learn how to care for people, the same can be said in regards to establishing a connection with people.

Out of all the 21 rules these two spoke to me the most because these are the things that most of us tend to forget when we take on a position of power. We tend to forget that we are in these positions because of our followers.

We forget that leadership is about servitude and that we need to give people a reason to follow us. Politicians tend to forget that it is because of the same people that they defraud that they are in power. They fail to realize that in a way the people are their employers.

Maybe this was more than a fascination with these two laws of leadership. Maybe it was a plea to my leaders to stop being selfish and think about the people, to stop lying to our faces and actually keep their promises and most importantly to practice servant leadership.

“The Servant Leader is a servant first. It begins with a natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from the one who is a leader first.” Robert K. Greenleaf.

Maybe it was a wake-up call to the people; before you even think about putting that leader into a position of power, do you trust him or her? Do you really believe that he or she cares for your well-being and that of others?

Are his/her words and actions a reflection of the type of leader that you want? Do they embody honesty and integrity, do they epitomize a leader who stands by his/her word and most importantly are they a reflection of a person who cares?

What If You Wrote One Thank You Each Day?

Thanks Giving.

Fact: It is celebrated as a national holiday in nine countries around the world.

I personally think it should be celebrated all over the world because the truth is; we all have something to be grateful for.

From waking up in the morning to having clothes on our back never mind that they are not designer the fact that we even have them in the first place should be something to be grateful for.

We often take the normal things that we have for granted. We are so used to having them that we forget that they are gifted to us.

Take life for instance. It has been said time and again that life is a gift. Most of us underestimate the truth of this statement.

Unless you somehow gave birth to yourself or engineered your existence on this earth then you will agree with me that life is indeed a gift.

Before I continue let me just say that I got the idea for this post from my pastor one Sunday when he gave a sermon on the attitude of gratitude.

I do not remember the last time I sat in church and actually paid attention from the beginning to the end of a sermon. This particular one had been the first in a while.

It was a simple sermon, short and straight to the point. He had one message and he brought it home. A child could have easily grasped what was being taught.

I remember going home that day and deciding that my whole week would be dedicated to giving thanks. I started with very basic things, from my family, to the meals I had, the clothes on my back, the roof over my head and having a bed to lie on.

These are the little things that I take for granted every single day forgetting that there are so many people out there who do not have some of these things. Heck some don’t even have any of these things.

For instance, there are so many people on this planet that cannot explain how they came to being. They neither have families nor do they have proof that they ever did. Some lost their families to accidents and such; some were disowned while others had to leave their families for one reason or the other.

I have seen so many videos of people in my country dying of hunger, I have met people, children even sleeping out in the cold because they do not have place to call home.

I know you have had a child walk up to you and tell you to give him/her money for food or just the left over fries you were eating.

How many times have you been asked to donate some of your old clothes or shoes to an orphanage simply because these children are not able to afford new clothes?

And these are just the basics.

The Attitude of Gratitude is more than being able to say thanks. That is just the beginning. The attitude of gratitude in my opinion is about having positive mindset.

It is about finding something to be grateful for even when you are at your lowest. It is about being able to see the good in even the ‘worst’ of people and appreciating that.

Like I mentioned, this was going to be a short post mostly because these are the things that were at the top of my head and also because I was not reading anything on the same at the time I wrote this.

I however sourced out a few books on the attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving. You guys might want to check them out.

1. Grateful Leadership: Using the Power of Acknowledgment to Engage All Your People and Achieve Superior Results by Judy W. Umlas

She wrote an article on the ‘Workingwoman’ Magazine entitled ‘How not To Talk To A Pregnant Businesswoman’ and it was a hit.
“I have also witnessed the power of acknowledgements- How it changes lives, moods and self-perception of both the giver and the recipient virtually every time it is practiced.” She simply talks about the importance acknowledging what others do for you never mind how small it is.

2. Choosing Gratitude: Nancy Leigh De Moss

In her book, Nancy reminds us about the verses in the Bible that talk about Gratitude. Romans chapter 1 talks about how a nation was brought down for being thankless, Ephesians and  1 Thessalonians remind us to always give thanks to God the father for everything and so many more.
You see the thing is, it is not only the Bible that talks about gratitude. I am almost 100% sure that other religious books speak of the same.
Nancy is a quadriplegic so she has to have things done for her and with that she has programmed herself to always be grateful.

If she is able to have an attitude of gratitude in her state then why can’t you?

3. The Secret Gratitude Book: Rhonda Byrne

This one is one of those books that will keep you hooked from the beginning to the end. From the way it is presented to the way it is written and don’t even get me started on the message.
The part I like most from what I’ve read so far is the part about the law of attraction. John C. Maxwell talks about it in The 21 Irrefutable laws of power and so does Rhonda Byrne.
“Gratitude attracts like energy of gratitude to it, so as you are feeling grateful you are powerfully bringing like forces of energy to you…”

4. 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life – John Kralic

Just because I found this one really touching.  Very many people go through what this man went through but very few can summon the strength and discipline to do what he did. Negativity always brews negative results but being positive does the exact opposite.

He stopped focusing on the negativity in his life and started being positive and he did this in a very simple way, just writing thank you notes to people, for 365 days!
A simple gesture goes along way.

5. Gratitude: Oliver Sacks

“My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”–Oliver Sacks
Can you honestly say the same thing? Can you stand and affirm that yours is a feeling of gratitude and that that is how you live your life?
There are so many more books written about this subject and this just goes to show how important and powerful gratitude is. I am working towards adopting an attitude of gratitude and you should too.
Whether you will write 365 thank you notes or just simply start saying thank you to anyone who does even the slightest bit of good to you, do it.
Be grateful!

5 Winning Practices For Effective Personal Leadership

#LeadThyself

“Personal leadership is not a singular experience. It doesn’t begin and end with the writing of a personal mission statement. It is, rather, the ongoing process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with those most important things.” Stephen R. Covey.

This post is solely meant to help you become your own leader, your own C.E.O if you will.

If you made the time to read my previous post, then you know that I have been reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. I however never really went into detail about the 7 habits and what they meant for me.

I also mentioned having a bad week and a bad encounter at work. If you had asked me then, I would have completely alienated myself from the blame. I would have taken the effect side and told you that my boss, the circumstances at the time, the weather or even God was to blame for me having a bad time.

Everyone who exercises personal leadership, or has risen to the C.E.O position in their lives knows that as much as every situation has a consequence and as much as there are things that happen that we have no control over, we have the power to decide how and whether/if  we are going to react to those things.

See I chose to let the circumstances at the time affect how I felt and I chose to see the negative side of things thus choosing to have a bad time. Bad things happen all the time but how we chose to react to them is what makes the difference. I have said it before and I will say it again, it is all about perception.

How we choose to see things, how we choose to react to them. I could have easily said you know what, this and this happened, I should have anticipated that there would be consequences but they should not have been the determinant of whether that smile on my face would stay there or not.

I should have been the one to determine that.

You see there are two types of people on this world, the reactors and the initiators. The former are always controlled by the outcome of things, they react based on circumstances. The latter however choose to take control and not let circumstances control them. They have a goal and a vision for their lives. That is what drives them and not the outcome of things.

Which side do you belong to?

1.Response – ability

Habit one talks about being proactive.

“It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen. “Stephen R. Covey.

Proactive People Are Not Influenced By Circumstances

My take on this is that Mr. Covey was simply trying to tell us that we are our own bosses.

How we feel, how we react to things is a function of our decisions. We are the programmers of our lives. My NLP instructor taught us about the cause and effect side and Mr. Covey touches on the same. He talks about the difference between reactive and proactive people.

Reactive people according to him are affected by their physical and social environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn’t, it affects their attitude and their performance. When people treat them well, they feel well; when people don’t, they become defensive or protective. Reactive people build their emotional lives around the behavior of others, empowering the weaknesses of other people to control them.

Proactive people can carry their own weather with them.

Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn’t a function of whether the weather is conducive to it or not.

You know when I was in high school and it rained we would become very laid back and take that as a chance to miss out on things like the morning parade. Our principle then came one day and called us out for that. She told us that the rain should not affect how we get on with our lives.

We cannot stop living because it’s raining and now I see she was talking about the same thing as Mr. Covey.

My NLP instructor would have said that proactive people are the people on the cause side where as reactive people are the people on the effect side.

Covey has put all of this into perspective and he even went further to include Eleanor Roosevelt and Gandhi’s quotes.

“No one can hurt you without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt.

“They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.” Gandhi.

Now I hope it is pretty clear which side you ought to be in.

2.Start with a clear understanding of your destination

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”

Oliver Wendell Holme.

Mr. Covey simply put the second habit as beginning with the end in mind. This means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.

When you have a clear goal in mind, a clear vision of what you want your life to be and where you want to be then everything you do every single day will be a clear reflection of that. It will be geared towards taking you there and only then will you be excited to wake up every morning because you will have found your purpose.

It is only then that your actions and feelings will stop being controlled by external circumstances. It is only then that you will be in control because no matter what happens, you have a clear goal in mind.

Habit two is therefore about being your own creator, it is about writing your program. Deciding the outcome of your life.

One way Mr. Covey mentions of doing this is identifying where you stand, identifying your centre. This can be done by looking closely at your life support factors such as security, wisdom, guidance and power.

By identifying what influences these things in your life you will be able to know whether your center is limiting your personal effectiveness and if it is, what you can do to change it to be in line with the outcome that you want for your life.

3.Prioritizing responsibilities

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least” Goeth.

Prioritizing Responsibilities

I have actually written about this before in a previous post. I will therefore not dwell on it.

Habit three simply talks about putting first things first. Personal management. In that blog post, I talked about evaluating the importance and urgency of things in your life.

You have heard it said that where there is smoke there is fire. Just as well when more than one person‘s message though written differently has the same meaning, then there has to be some truth to it.

Now I am not saying that you take the things that I write here or the things written on the books I suggest to you as the gospel truth.

No. Not at all because if you do not get the outcome that you expected or succeed you will blame me or the authors.

Simply read then decide how or if you are willing to apply the teachings to your life. You are your own boss therefore only you have that power.

If you want to know more about prioritizing responsibilities and differentiating between things that are urgent and important and so forth then check out my previous post:  ‘Leading Like A ‘Bawse’: What To Do When Everything Seems Equally Important.’

4.Think Win -Win

You wouldn’t believe how much meaning those three little words have. You wouldn’t also believe how hard it is to implement them but as leader you must.

Leaders are not selfish, leaders are not weak, and leaders are not driven by competition or the need to be better than others. Leaders simply take it upon themselves to build not only themselves but others.

Leaders have a win-win mentality, they believe in the mutual benefit in all human interactions and they most certainly do not believe that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.

I have many times been made to feel that thinking about how my actions would impact other people or an organization was wrong. That if it was beneficial to me and only me that is what I should do.

This way of thinking is called the win mentality and it is the mentality that most people are taught to have this and the win-lose mentality.

The win-lose mentality is whereby you work to be better than others but guess what you can all succeed. The only person you ought to be in completion with is yourself.

“Win-win is not a personality technique. It’s a total paradigm of human interaction. It comes from a character of integrity, maturity, and the Abundance Mentality. It grows out of high-trust relationships. It is embodied in agreements that effectively clarify and manage expectations as well as accomplishments. It thrives in supportive systems.” Stephen R. Covey

If your goal is to establish long lasting relationships and to be at peace with yourself then this is the right mentality to have.

During my social media and digital marketing training at Kuza Biashara, a certain lady came to speak to us. She is a Kenyan designer; she makes bags, hoodies and what not from Ankara and makes beaded accessories as well.

She told us that she didn’t mind teaching her craft to others or selling her items at a whole sale price to resellers because another person’s success would not make hers any less significant.

5.Listen more talk less

Habit five is all about empathic communication. “Seek first to understand then to be understood.” Really listen and pay attention to what someone is telling you without interrupting and giving solutions based on an experience you’ve had or what you would have done.

Understand what someone else is saying, then what they are going through.

The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of – Pascal

Oh how I wish I could just copy/paste everything Mr. Covey has written about this habit. He explains it so elaborately.

He made me realize that this particular habit I have a problem with.

When one of my friends or anyone really starts telling me about a problem they have, I almost immediately respond with advice or with a story on a similar experience I had thinking that I am being helpful where as in real sense I was just listening to reply, I didn’t really listen.

Empathic Listening is whereby you actually pay attention to what someone is saying because you are actually concerned and want to understand what he/she is actually going through. It is different from being sympathetic in that you are not just agreeing with what someone is saying and giving heartfelt sorries.

These are just five of the 7 habits that Mr. Covey has written about and I have written from my own perspective. Feel free to get the book and read it so that you can understand these habits from your own point of view.

How To Effectively Run Your Life: Being Your Own CEO

Covey – The 7 habits of highly effective people

“Be patient with yourself. Self growth is tender. It is holy ground. There is no greater investment” Stephen R. Covey.

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People

We all have that one thing that we keep saying that we will do when we get the time and it always seems that we become the busiest after this and in our heads we get the perfect excuse to procrastinate even further.

For me it was reading this book that I had picked out two weeks ago. I kept saying that I would get to it but I never really did.

Today morning, I got a reason to. You see I recently started a new job and it has not been easy especially since I am doing something that I have not really done before. I was scared out of my mind from the beginning.

I was scared of messing up, I was scared of not measuring up, I was scared of disappointing not only myself but also my boss. I was scared of so many things but I could not let that be an excuse or rather be the reason I quit. My end goal was more important.

Your Goals Should Outweigh Your Fears

So I decided to take on the challenge anyway and go in with a learning mindset because leaders who have a learning mindset learn significantly more, faster and as a result, perform at a higher level and create greater value for their company and for themselves.

This right here gave me some courage but all that almost went down the drain today. My immediate boss gave me a task to do today and even though I didn’t really know how to do it I took it on because I wanted to learn and I do not believe in ‘I can’t’.

I of course made some mistakes and normally my boss is very patient but today was not one of those days.. He was so mad and disappointed that I was even taken aback at first. It is not so much his anger that got to me but the things he said that really got to me.

I felt so drained and so down after all that. I honestly didn’t even have the willpower to do anything else. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse they did.

I calmly closed all the tabs on my computer, put away all the papers I was supposed to go through, took out my phone, opened ‘The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People’ and went to the break room. At this point I didn’t really care what would happen if I got caught.

Now have you ever been in a situation whereby one of those things that you had been procrastinating for so long turned out to be the one thing that you really needed?

That was me after I read the first chapter of this book. One paragraph immediately hit home and I could relate to the book right away.

“…I really want to change. I read all the new information, I set goals, I get myself all psyched up with a positive mental attitude and tell myself I can do it. But I don’t. After a few weeks, I fizzle. I just can’t seem to keep a promise I make to myself.”

And then I tell myself how much I tried BUT, there is always a BUT! I actually laughed at this statement because not so long ago I was telling myself how I have been trying to hack this new job but I just can’t because it is too hard and my boss is too mean.

Both of which are things that a leader or a person who hopes to become leader or any person who generally wants to achieve success should and can overlook.

“I’m busy — really busy. But sometimes I wonder if what I’m doing will make a difference in the long run. I’d really like to think there was meaning in my life, that somehow things were different because I was here. I see my friends or relatives achieve some degree of success or receive some recognition, and I smile and congratulate them enthusiastically. But inside, I’m eating my heart out. Why do I feel this way? “

At this point I could swear that Stephen R. Covey was talking about me. This part right here is something that I am not particularly proud of and trust me I have ‘tried’ to change but in vain.

Tried is in quotes because I had one speaker say that if you think that you have done everything that you can and you still haven’t been successful then you really haven’t done everything. This is a big world filled with endless possibilities. Nothing is impossible.

However, for you to change a certain situation then you have to change yourself. And to change yourself effectively, you have to change your perception. Because how do expect to change yourself if you are not willing to change how you look at things?

In this first chapter Covey talks about how he and his wife had a hard time trying to get their son to be ‘normal’.

“ We stopped trying to kindly, positively manipulate him into an acceptable social mold. Because we saw him as fundamentally adequate and able to cope with life, we stopped protecting him against the ridicule of others.”

Now I do not have any children nor do I have any intentions of getting any well at least not in the near future but still I could relate to this.

You see I am somewhat shy and socially awkward. I also don’t take confrontations very well and that applies to criticism and being scolded. I will try as hard as I can to do things as expected just to avoid these things. I’ll admit that this is not a good thing especially now that i’m grown and out in the world by myself.

I think the confrontation with my boss was so hard for me because I had not accepted the fact that even though making mistakes is part of my learning process not everyone will be OK with it.

In fact most people will put you down because of it and you will in turn feel defeated but it is at this moment that you really need to accept your shortcomings, own them and learn from them.

“The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct it and learn from it.” Stephen R. Covey.

Own Being Different

The first step to really being happy is to accept the person that you are right now because I believe that that is how you will be able to initiate change in a positive way, not because you want to conform to society’s perception of who should be or what a successful person looks like but because you are at peace with yourself and are willing to improve the areas that you feel are larking.

I am not good at this job, yet. Not because it is hard or because I am incapable of learning but because I am not giving myself time. I am not a genius so really I have to put a little more effort to becoming good at whatever it is that am doing.

You may not be good at something today and  the world may frown at you because of that but that does not warrant you to quit trying. Who knows, you might be the person people go to for that particular thing tomorrow.

I have said it before and I will say it again, the reason as to why I write this blog it simply to empower you and to help you believe in the awesome being that you are just a little bit more. You are a leader not because you tell people what to do or because you have a group of people waiting to take instructions from you. You are a leader because you run your life.

You are the C.E.O of your life and let no one ever make you think or believe the contrary.

I would like to tell you that it is as easy as it sounds but it is not. It is hard and you will face so many challenges and go through so many things that will want to make you think otherwise and it is at this point that you will want to quit. Quitting will seem like such a good option at the time  but trust me it will be the worst.

Just hold on a little bit longer. It gets better.

The books that I write about or draw inspiration from help me deal with the challenges that I face everyday. They not only serve as a distraction but also a motivation and a pick me up. If what I write or the books I mention end up helping even just one person then I have achieved my goal.

“To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.” Stephen R. Covey. That is what I aim to do, that and to bring out the leader within you.

 

 

 

Sun Tzu’s Secrets On War And Leadership

The Art Of War

This post has taken while. It has taken longer than any other post that I have ever written and I want to promise that this is the last post that I will take this long to post but I am almost sure that it will not. You see there is a reason as to why I have taken this long to post. I have been reading the Art of War by Sun Tzu. If you have read this book then you know how hard it is trying to decipher it unless you are looking for war secrets then you literally take the book word for word.

Now I wasn’t looking for any war secrets. I was looking for war secrets meant for a leader or for one in pursue of this thing called leadership.

At first I never found these war secrets meant for leaders, I just found war secrets. As basic as that. Secrets meant precisely for war and nothing else. Or at least I thought there was nothing else I could get from the book.

I was devastated to say the least, Simply because ‘failure’ and ‘I can’t’ are not words that are found in my dictionary. I do not believe in impossibilities.

So I did what almost  everyone my age does these days. I went to the internet for help. I literally googled “understanding the art of war by Sun Tzu.”

This has to be the most reasonable thing that I have Used the internet for. I got not one but so many comprehensive ways of looking at the mystery that is The Art of War and that in turn made me look at the book in a different way.

I not only found the art of war but the art of war and leadership. You can almost say that I found war secrets for leaders. I found out how one could win in both work management and life. In short I found insights on how to be a leader.

If you haven’t read this book then you need to go and look for it. Note the use of the word ‘need’.

“Laying Plans”

These two simple words are the title to the first chapter. They remind of me of the first Sidney Sheldon’s book I read; The Best Laid Plans but that is a story for another day.

“Are yon brave enough to choose your vision for the bigger picture and long for success over the quick get money fix right now?”

Well are you? If you are not and are just like the microwave generation that we have now then this is probably not meant for you.

You see this book requires that you take a look at the deeper meaning behind every chapter. Now in a world where every leadership/inspirational book is easy to decipher, few see the importance of reading books where every message is hidden behind a metaphor.

“The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. It is a subject of inquiry which can on one account be neglected.”

Sun Tzu mentions five elements in the beginning of his world renown book; Moral law which causes people to follow or rather be in in complete accord with the ruler. Heaven, which represents night and day, cold and heat and times and seasons. Earth represents the geographical distinctions, thus it represents distance or rather the constants in the universe. Then there is the commander. He represents virtues of wisdom and sincerity, benevolence, courage and structures.

Method and discipline are basically the ways that you chose to carry on your life.

“Do you focus on achieving your goals or not?”

All warfare is based on deception

Now this I had a hard time coming to terms with. You see I do not know how to lie. I know this sounds very cocky but I promise you that if I lied to you you would know. I am such a bad liar.

So when I read that all warfare is based on deception, my first instinct was that this statement is not meant for everyone. This was however before I decided to take a look at the deeper meaning of the book.

A friend of mine conveniently asked whether the ends justify the means and this question got me thinking. As a leader, will you really hide your moves or rather how you rose to success? Will you be prompted to lie to people as opposed to telling the truth?

I do not believe in lying about how you got to success.

So after some research I came up with this, make moves quietly. Most people talk about their success but very few talk about how they got there. Their hustles if you will. Play your cards right. Be smart.

So I’ll ask you this, does the end really justify the means?

Take a minute to learn about your opponent

Research! If he is secure in all points, be prepared for him. If he is however superior in strength, evade him.

Learn about your competitors is what Sun Tzu is trying in not so many words  to say. This is essential mostly to those embarking in business.

Focus mainly on victory and not making lengthy campaigns

Now this next point became a favorite of mine. Let your objective be victory and not lengthy campaigns is what he says. Do not spend so much time in making complicated plans that when the time come to execute these plans you either mess them up or just faith to go through with them because they are either too long or just too complicated. Focus on winning! Let your main goal be victory.

Now I am not saying do not plan or do not strategize. It is very essential that you do. However, be smart about how you go about it.

Strategize

Strategize

“He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.” This simply means that you ought to strategize. Do not make lengthy campaigns but still plan on how you are going to make your moves. Find out what moves you ought to make and how you will go about in making them. Strategize!

“He will win who prepared himself, who waits to take the enemy unprepared.”

These are just but a few pointers you get from this book. It is definitely a must read for very many reasons one being it provides war secrets for leaders.

Sun Tzu was an army commander therefore a leader. He knows not only how to manage people but also how to get them to trust him with their lives after all if you are following a leader to way isn’t this what you are doing? Even if it is not, he convinced you to gamble with your life and if leadership isn’t making people do something they ought to do willingly then please tell me what it is.

This book has been an eyeopener for me and I promise you this, you will feel like you want to quit at the first chapter, either because you do not see its significance in your life or simply because you are not willing to go the extra mile to understand it.

Either way be rest assured that you will regret not completing it. However, if you manage to read the whole of it and really analyze it then you will agree with me that it is definitely worth the headache

 

Grab yourself a copy then tell me what you think about it. If I were to rate it I’d give it five stars or a ten. It is one of those books that you just can’t blindly read, you need to pay attention!

Leading Like A ‘Bawse’: What To Do When Everything Seems Equally Important

Leading Like A ‘Bawse’

A Bawse is a human being who exudes confidence, turns heads, reaches goals, finds inner strength, gets hurt efficiently and smiles genuinely- because they’ve fought through it all and made it out the other side. The double-handed praise was created for them.

How does one become such a being? More importantly, how does one Lead like a ‘Bawse’?

This is a continuation of ‘What It Takes To Be A Great Leader’, part two if you will.

“We teach what we know; We produce what we are. Like begets like.”

A great leader focuses not only on getting followers but also turning these followers into leaders. It is not about positions or titles, it’s about making others better versions of themselves as a result of your presence.

The impact that you have on people tells a great deal about whether you are a great leader or not or if you are a leader at all.

Prioritizing Responsibilities

There are qualities that set apart great leaders from mediocre ones and one of those qualities is learning to prioritize responsibilities.

Are you able to tell important responsibilities from less important ones? John C. Maxwell in ‘Developing The Leader Within You’ mentions that he once heard a speaker say that there are two things that are most difficult to get people to do; to think and to do things in order of importance’

A great leader should be able to achieve this.

You see, practical people know how to get what they want, philosophers know what they ought to want  but leaders, leaders know how to get what they ought to want.

In other words, leaders know what they ought to want and they know how to get what they want not only by working hard but by also working smart.

It’s not about how hard one works but how smart they work.

This is where prioritizing responsibilities come in. How do you define success? John C. Maxwell defines it as the progressive realization of a predetermined goal. He goes further to say that the discipline to prioritize and the ability to work toward a stated goal are essential to a leader’s success.

But how does one prioritize responsibilities when everything seems to be important?

How do you prioritize responsibilities when everything seems important?

Organize or agonize

“A life where anything goes will ultimately be a life where nothing goes.”

I cannot stress how important it is for a leader to be able to juggle three or four high priority projects successfully.

How exactly does one do that?

Simply collect a list of your tasks and identify urgent vs important.

This becomes a bit tricky when you have tasks that are of high urgency and low importance or vice versa.

From that list you identify tasks that are of high urgency and high importance, these are the tasks that require first priority.

Tasks that are of high importance but low urgency require you to set a deadline for them and work them into your daily routine.

For tasks that are of low importance but high urgency, find a quick but efficient way to solve them, you can also delegate.

Finally we have tasks that are of low importance and equally low urgency. It doesn’t mean that you are not required to do them though. You can stack these tasks up and set a time for them or delegate as well.

While doing this, it is important to keep in mind that before putting off till tomorrow something you can do today, study it clearly.

The same principles apply to when planning your calendar. You should ask yourself “who will fill my calendar ?” rather than “will my calendar be full?”

You see every person is either an initiator or a reactor and if we are leaders of others, the question will be “who I see” as opposed to “will I see people”

Leaders initiate whereas followers react.

“A leader can give up anything except final responsibility.” A leader should be able to understand exactly what is required of them in other words what does he or she have to do that no one else can because as a leader it is important that you learn to delegate. There are usually tasks that however can not be delegated.

Learning what is of value is also very important. You should be able to tell what gives you great returns or what is more rewarding because you know what? Life is too short to get stack doing things that do not make you happy or that are of very little value to you.

As much as a leader is a servant of the people, it is important to thing about yourself. Ask yourself these questions, “Am I doing what I do best and receiving a good return for the organization?” and “am I happy doing it?”

A happy leader makes a better leader. John C. Maxwell says that success in your work will be greatly increased if the 3 R’s are similar. The 3 R’s are Requirements, Returns and Rewards.

So you see, when you are prioritizing responsibilities for your organization, business or company do not forget to do the same for your life. You might be running a successful business/company yet your life is falling apart which would be very sad. A leader should be able to balance everything and most importantly remember that you can,t have it all.

Now these are just but a few insights from John C. Maxwell’s ‘Developing The Leader Within You’. If you would like to learn more and gain a wider understanding of what leadership is then the book is definitely a must read!

Achieving Awesome: How I found My Passion

Opportunity

“When opportunity knocks,Don’t let fear hold you back.Open the door and embrace the opportunity that has come forth.”

Now this is just one of the many cliche quotes that we hear every day. We never really know how true they are until they apply to our lives.

In my Digital Marketing and Second Chances  post, I mentioned being in the Kuza Biashara Training Program. I however never really brought my experience at the training program into perspective.This post is meant precisely for that.

First of all applying to get in wasn’t easy, the application form that I had been sent had about 88 questions  and the training itself hasn’t been a walk in the park either, hence the quote.

27th  March, 2017.

That is the day the training began and truth be told I had a hard time waking up.You see, we were supposed to arrive at the Kuza Biashara Innovation Centre no later than 8:00 Am and for me to achieve that I had to be up by 5:00 Am.

I arrived on time and the class was just about full. I think it’s safe to say that I wasn’t the only one anticipating this day. I for one was excited to meet the ladies who had been interviewed on the first day.

Before the training began, we had an orientation seminar where all the ladies had a chance to talk about themselves.

These ladies had some amazing stories to tell. From the difficulties they had undergone to their achievements. It was amazing to say the least but the icing on the cake was when the facilitator said that the group of girls and I had initially not been selected, that there was another group of girls that had been interviewed before us.

Now if you had listened to these girls speak then your reaction would have probably been the same as mine; the first group of girls must be extraordinarily amazing.

Well I’ll tell you this, they definitely did not disappoint and everyday that I spend with them, they exceeded my expectations.

Some of these ladies managed to come to the training and still go to their places of work. Others are in school while others have their own businesses to run. When you are put in a room with such ladies you have no choice but to bring your A game otherwise risk being mediocre.

The facilitator didn’t make it easy either. To begin with he was always punctual and if he was late it was only by five minutes. On top of that we had assignments every single day and the exams, the exams were not a joke.

My Classmates and I during Our First Cat

So you catch my drift when I say that the training has been intense. But then again no one ever said that the road to greatness was easy.

He however put Digital Marketing into perspective for me. If you had asked me before this training what Social Media and Digital Marketing was about, I would have probably confidently told you that it is about having a large following on social media and using that following to get customers or clients for items or services that you advertise online.

This is actually an answer that I have given before. Now I look back and just laugh at myself because there is so much more to this field.

And that is one of the beauties of this program. It has driven out all the ignorance that I had regarding this field and has driven me to wanting to know more not just about this field but basically everything. This training has opened up my eyes to the fact that I had been living in a bubble where all the information that I had was the one that had just been handed to me. I had never been one for research.

I have learnt so much in such a short time that it is just mind blowing. One of my favorite topics being SEO. This is because I was actually not able to grasp the concept on the first day, I had to go research and even ended up writing about it in one of my blog posts.

This blog was actually started as an assignment and this is another thing that I got from the program. I had always wanted to start a blog in fact I had started one but after one post I gave up.

When the facilitator told us to start one, I was scared to say the least, I did not know if i’d be able to get content or if I’d be able to drive traffic to the site and remembering the fact that I had done this before and failed did not make it easy on me.

I however had no choice since it was an assignment. The first post didn’t do well at all and I felt like all my fears were justified but the facilitator pushed us to write more and write more I did and so far I think am on the right track.

Blogging has gone from an assignment to a passion and this is just another reason why I will forever be grateful that I took this opportunity. I found my passion at the Kuza Biashara Training Program.

Now earlier I mentioned that the training has been intense. There was one week where  we had to do an SEO site analysis for a local website of our choice and I’ll tell you this, sleep for me became a luxury during that week.

The analysis consisted of looking at the website content strength, search engine accessibility and website reputation. We were basically meant to look at everything that makes up the website and write a report.

It was hard work, I will not even lie but it was welcomed all the same. I was able to do my best to complete the assignment and it is achievements like these that increase our determination to become the better versions of ourselves. Knowing that we are able to complete hard tasks not only gives us the will to take on more challenges but also makes us believe in our abilities.

It is fascinating how much a small action like an assignment given at the training program could have made such a big impact. I learnt while researching for one of my blog posts that this is know as the Pareto Principle which means that most of the time 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

You see what I am trying to say in so many words is that I got more than Social Media and Digital Marketing training from the program. I got lessons that are for life.

The speakers that came pushed me to wake up. I wasn’t doing everything that I could to reach my potential.

We have also been having NLP lessons from which I learnt to get in touch with my emotions to become a better version of myself among many other things.

I learnt to put myself in other people’s shoes and see things from their point of view something that I rarely did hence falling out with so many people. An NLP expert would say that I moved from the “Cause” to the “Effect” side.

We even had a photography lesson where I learnt to take good picture a skill that will definitely come in handy especially while blogging. We learnt so much from using the right angles, rule of thirds to lighting and choosing the right backgrounds.

A picture I Took For The Photography Class Assignment

The Kuza Biashara Training Program has been a journey for me, a journey where I have learnt so much, discovered my passion, made wonderful friends on the way and have become a better version of myself. My eyes were opened to the huge world that lies within Digital Marketing and I plan to explore the whole of it.

Learning is a journey and for me that journey began with Kuza Biashara.

What It Takes To Be A Great Leader

Leadership

“Read at every wait; Read at all hours; Read within leisure; Read in times of labor; Read as one goes in; Read as one goes out; The task of the educated mind is simply put: Read to lead” Marcus Tullius Cicero

I was going through some books last weekend and just randomly picked one. It was about leadership. I wanted to put it back then I thought, “It’s been almost a year since I read such a book so why not just read this one, who knows it might be a good one” You see the thing about books is you can never really tell if a book is going to be good or a disappointment.

I’ll tell you this, this specific one has not been a disappointment, not in the least bit.

It is almost a week since I started reading it and I already have so much information, so much valuable content that makes me truly grateful that I did not disregard it.

Now a few days ago I decided to do some sort of survey. My objective was to find out how different people defined leadership and how/if they could identify a great leader.

Listening to other people’s views and just seeing their perspectives really was very interesting.

More than that, finding out that most people  had similar views on the subject was similarly fascinating.

The most reoccurring answers were that a leader is someone who is wise, confident, able to relate to people, is self driven and diplomatic.

However an answer that was common with everyone was that a leader is confident.This statement is very true and very important to note for those aspiring to be leaders but how easy is it to express confidence without expressing bits of arrogance? Do we know where to draw the line?

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong,but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully, be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. ”

I think what Jim Rohn was driving at is that a good leader should be able to establish a balance.

Developing The Leader Within You

‘Developing The Leader Within You’. This is the title of the book that I picked, it is written by John C. Maxwell.

He defines leadership in one simple word; Influence.

Now I haven’t completed the book but if you know anything about the Pareto Principle(20/80 Principle) then you would know that at times 20% of the book contains 80% of the content.

John C. Maxwell goes further and says that leadership is the ability to obtain followers.

During my Digital Marketing training, I asked the facilitator how he defines leadership and one of his statements went hand in hand with this. He said that one can not be a leader without people. You need to get people to follow you so that you can lead them.

If you look at some of the well known leaders, Hitler, Martin Luther King, heck even Jesus, all of them had followers and the craziest thing is you do not even need to be in a position of power to be a leader.

Jesus had a large group of followers, they listened to His teachings and even went to Him for advice. All these and He did not have a position, rank or title, at least not one that His followers knew about at first.

You see, what the author is trying to say or rather what I got from this is that you do not have to have a rank or a title of power to be a leader. People will identify the leadership qualities that you posses and they will follow you based on them.Influence.

You Do Not Require A Title To Be A Leader

A person who is an position of power say a CEO of a company or a president is known as a Positional Leader.

John C. Maxwell goes ahead to list some of the characteristics of a positional leader, he names four to be precise and one stuck with me.

People will not follow a positional leader beyond his stated authority.They will only do what they have to do when they are required to do it. When people feel like they have to do something as opposed to when they want to do it, morale is always low and they in turn lack commitment.

This is why it is so important to get people to follow you first, It is all about influence.

To be able to influence people how ever you have to understand them first, learn about the person you want to influence. Pace-Pace-Lead is what an NLP expert will tell you. This means listen, understand then go ahead and take charge/lead. Now this works well if you are dealing with one or a few people.

What happens when you are faced with a multitude of people? How will you be able to influence all of them and get them to follow you?

A good leader should learn to be able to appeal to everyone.He/she should understand that everyone responds differently to things,thus find a way to make everyone feel like he/she gets them.

He or she should however keep in mind that; you can not please everyone.

A Leader Cannot Make Everyone Happy

Seems hard to achieve, I know. No one ever said that the road to greatness was easy.

The good thing about leadership is that it is not something that you are required to be born with, it can be modeled and developed, it can be trained.

The author mentions four types of leaders, the leading leader, the learned leader, the latent leader and the limited leader. Out of these four only one characteristic of the leading leader is that you are born with leadership qualities, the rest can be acquired.

This being said, you have to keep in mind that although most people want leadership, very few achieve it. It requires some level of sacrifice and servitude.

“A leader is great, not because of his or her power, but because of his or her ability to empower others.” John C. Maxwell.

I feel like there should be a part two to this so stay tuned.

 

 

5 Benefits Of SEO To Your Small Business

SEO

If you are thinking about starting up a business or have already started one then you know how important it is to have a digital/social media presence today.

Digital marketing has revolutionized the way advertising and marketing is done and for relevance sake we have to change with the times.

More people have moved to looking for information online as opposed to going for printed media. It is simply easier and takes a shorter period of time and not to mention available.

For example if you have a smartphone you would be less inclined to go and get a paper just to get information, instead you will look it up online.

It is important to note that I am not demeaning the importance of written media I am simply trying to show how digital/social media marketing has grown.

I have mentioned SEO in my previous blogs and in my last one I mentioned that I would delve a little more into what SEO is all about.

I will do this by writing how SEO can help small businesses in Kenya.

What is SEO?

Am sure this is a question that most of you ask. Well SEO is simply an abbreviation for search engine optimization. It is the process of affecting or growing the visibility of a website in a web engine’s organic/free/unpaid search results.

Search engines are basically the online platforms used to search for thing online such as google, bing and yahoo.

When people are searching for information online they rarely go to the second page, most people believe that the information found on the first page is usually the most credible and thus companies/businesses try to ensure that their websites appear on the first page and at the top for that matter.

Let’s say that you are looking for restaurants in Nairobi and you type in the said term s in your search box, you are likely to get more than a thousand search results and since you cannot go through all of them you are likely to focus on the results on the first page.

These are the results that you are likely to get.

Results for restaurants in Nairobi

See the goal here is to ensure that when someone looks for information,products or services that your business or company offers, your website appears on the first page.

Websites that are usually on the first page and at the top get a higher click-through rate and have a higher chance of attracting searchers. They get better traffic and thus have a higher success rate.

Now this is where SEO come in.

Your website cannot automatically appear on the first page or at the top of search results for that matter it needs to be optimized for search engines.

Now there are numerous benefits of SEO in Kenya and this is how it can help small businesses in Kenya

Help get the targeted traffic to your website

We have talked about having your website on the first page to attract searchers but no one wants people to just visit their website and not buy anything or request for the services that the business is offering.

That is why using the right keywords is key, it helps attract the targeted traffic.

Build brand awareness

Search engine users are more likely to trust brands whose websites are highly ranked than brands whose websites are not. For small businesses that want to build bigger and better brands, they should definitely involve in SEO and get higher rankings for their websites.

Create fast, robust and user friendly websites

As much as SEO is for optimizing websites for search engines, it also helps improve user experience. SEO pushes for well structured websites which compel visitors to longer on the site thus decreasing bounce rate and decreasing page viewers and even customers.

Helps get better Conversion Rates

Websites that are SEO optimized are usually compatible with almost all types of devices, they display content properly in almost all devices. They therefore have a higher chance of grabbing and holding attention from your readers and visitors.

Overtake Competition

Take two companies for instance, they both have done everything needed for a successful business but one went further and invested in SEO. The one that has invested in SEO will obviously rank higher than the one that has not invented in SEO.

Now these are just a few of the many benefits of having optimizing your website for Search Engines. If you are thinking of starting up a business then I would recommend that you invest in SEO.