Real Estate Investment in Nigeria

I was told a tale when I was quite young in business. I had a very wise man say something that I’ve kept very close to my heart since then. He said we are in business to think; that business is for thinkers. If you don’t think, they say you would stink. That is why I would like to point you in that direction.

Business is about solving problems. If there are no problems, there won’t be businesses or business opportunities and the truth is that we are in business to solve problems. And the way problems are solved is by engaging in deep thought as to how they occurred, why they occurred, then you research into how thy can be solved. The man, who would always ask why, is the man who would always find out how. So I would like to encourage us that challenges would come in our businesses this year, no doubt; we would face challenges, up-hills; we would have difficult tasks. That is why we wake up in the morning and come to the office. When we leave our homes, we tell our folks we are going to work. Work is not play. Work is a task. It is a burdensome task and the most difficult aspect of work is actually being able to sit still and think out the how to. I would like to encourage you that no matter the challenge you are facing in your business, particularly, if you are in real estate, I know that it is capital intensive; I know that there could be challenges of documentation, there could be challenges of meeting deadlines on site, material prices, people issues and all that. So if you have such challenges, what I would encourage you to do is to engage the tool of thinking. You need to gather your thoughts together, and think through these problems. You need to ask yourself the question, why is this happening to me? How can I resolve this? And then you begin to discover ways by which you can resolve things, ways by which you can approach things and solve problems. In an economy like this; in a recession, it is people who think that would make a head way. The truth of the matter really in an economy like this is that the lazy people would fall behind and the people who think would get the bigger share of what they have always had. People who are stereotyped, who would always say, “This is the way we’ve been doing it from ages past, this is the way it will continue”, such people would run into difficulties and challenges at periods like this. But people who would always ask the question, “how can I do it better? How and why should I do it differently now to get a better result? They are the ones that would get it. Remember the saying that it is insanity to continue to do something the same way and expect a different result. So if the results you are getting now are not good enough, what you need to do is to change the way you do things. To change the way you do things I would encourage you to first review your processes, review your ways and ask yourself, within the limit of your thinking room, “how can I change these things? Put pen to paper, write your thoughts, express them; share them. Ask questions and research situations. Research difficulties and then you will be able to discover how you can solve some of these problems and make a head way.

I wish you the very best in 2010, I know that it would be challenging, but I commit you to the power of your thought because I know, therein, lies great solutions.

I would like to see you in the next edition and before I drop my pen, probably you are in real estate and you have difficulties in moving your business forward, one advice I have for you is that you should look seriously into attending our School of Estate. The Entrepreneurial Class(EC) lectures start 20^th of February 2010. The programme is designed to answer your most basic and important real estate questions. You still have a great opportunity to join the class that will be starting 20^th of February. It is most ideal for lawyers,  real estate investors, agents, enthusiast  or just a student of investment.  You want to improve on what you are getting, you want to know how to attract and seal the big deals, I would encourage you to look at the website: www.schoolofestate.com  download your form and join the class. It would be highly beneficial to you and I’m sure you would live to ever be grateful for the opportunity to hear about that program. In that school, we break real estate down for the entrepreneur. All you need to qualify is that you can read and write. Courses are taken on law, mediation, property management, property maintenance, project management, estate agency as a business, business of consulting, survey and construction and these are the vital things you need to take your real estate business to the next level. There are experts in the house; renowned lecturers like Mr. Akin Olawore who is the school’s Director of Studies. I am around to take some seminars and case study class(es) as well and there are other lecturers that are richly endowed and practicing with wealth of experience. How can you market in difficult times like this? All these things would be exposed to you and I encourage you to be a part of that session for February. If you cannot make it, maybe by way of distance, or time, pick up the home study pack instead. It is packaged just as if you are there. You would stand to lose nothing and there is a one day participatory certification exercise for those who would buy the home study packs. You can latch on to that opportunity; study it from the comfort of your home or office and benefit immensely doing that. I will see you on top.

To your success!