Have you ever heard of overnight success?
Common, you’ve heard it several times. I can even bet you’ve seen it. There are lots of it in business, politics and in most things all around us.
In part 1 in these series of posts, I told you about the One thing that can help you make millions if not billions.
Today, I’m about to share with you another great idea from the Nigerian political scene, specifically, the story of President Muhammadu Buhari and Formal President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
If there are secrets to overnight success, what I’m about to share with you today is one of the most powerful ones to achieving it.
But before I tell you this, let me tell you another story.
Before 2007 general election, nobody ever thought or knew late Umaru Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would be contesting for the office of the presidency let alone becoming the President and Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria respectively.
They jointly contested and won the election. Umaru Yar’adua died and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan took over. He then presented himself in 2011 election and won.
If you think all these winnings happened just by mere happenings, think again.
But, that’s just one side of the story.
What of President Muhammad Buhari?
If I’m right by my counting, he contested three times. He lost every time before he won the fourth time in 2015 and his winning was never devoid of this factor.
For you to really understand this one factor, let me help you bring up more stories from the memory lane.
In the 2007 general election, the incumbent president then, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo used his influence to present the duo of Yar’adua and Jonathan. This simple act was what brought them to the limelight and eventually became the president and vice-president respectfully.
In 2013 or so, the leaders of opposition parties in Nigeria; majorly the ACN and CPC decided to merge and form a new and larger political party. This led to the formation of a new party, now called All Progressive Congress, APC, under which President Muhammad Buhari was presented as the presidential candidate and then won the 2015 presidential election.
Now you may ask what is the one factor that worked for them all in all these winnings?
This factor is just another one word which is so powerful that when properly used can turn things around for just anybody.
Can you guess it?
It’s called LEVERAGE.
And here are the big LEVERAGES that work for them in all these victory stories.
We wouldn’t have known anybody called Umaru Musa Yar’adua or Goodluck Ebele Jonathan if not through the influence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who made them become the flag bearer of the largest political party then, PDP, which later made them won the presidential election. The influence of Obasanjo was the LEVERAGE that brought them in.
Also, it would have been very hard and tough if it was even possible at all for President Muhammadu Buhari to win the 2015 presidential election if not for the formation of APC, a larger political party with better influence and political power in more geopolitical zones of the country instead of a party that is only supported by one or two zones before the merger. That was the LEVERAGE and how it worked for PMB.
Although, there are other factors as discussed in the previous post but this is another major factor that accounts for their successes. And mind you, the one word discussed in the previous post can also be said to be a form of LEVERAGE.
There are several ways you can use leverage to your advantage in life and business to get what you want. Here are just a few ideas:
- Find products that people want and sell to them or Sell a product with an existing market
- Use other peoples’ money (OPM) to start and grow your business. For instance, the reason most big businesses go public is to raise other peoples’ money in the market. As a small business you can use other peoples’ money by borrowing or partnering.
- You can use other peoples’ network or customer database to get exposure for your products and services through joint ventures and partnering.
- Use other peoples’ influence to get attention for your product or service. Have you seen big brands using celebrities or stars in adverts of their product or make them serve as ambassadors for their products? It’s all about leverage. The main reason they pay them big is because these celebrities have lots of attentions on them and the brands want to leverage on this so as to channel that attention to their products or services.
There are endless ways and forms to use leverage but here are two powerful ones I want you to take note of:
- Use technology
- Network with influential people.
Use Technology
We all know technology speeds up and makes tasks easier. Here I will only be referring to WEB technology. One of the greatest Leverage tools that man has ever invented is the Internet or WEB technology.
Take note, when I say WEB I always use it to refer to a connected world in this digital-age, not just websites. Think of platforms like phones/GSM networks, SMS, Social Media like BBM, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc and other portals like email, websites, Online portals and all like that.
These platforms give you opportunities to connect and share or communicate your ideas to billions of people on planet earth from anywhere you can access the internet even from the comfort of your room in a remote village.
Connecting, sharing and communicating your ideas or wants with others is what can give you breakthrough.
Gone are those days when you will have to beg a publisher or producer to help you get words out about your work. With clicks of buttons, you can now even achieve better results.
You can network with people all over the world, share ideas and create million dollar business just with your smartphone or Ipad from anywhere in the world.
Some decades back, there was nothing like this kind of opportunity. The only way was, you have to pass through the establishments but now you have access to the same tools used by the most successful people in any industry.
This is a huge leverage, take advantage of it.
Network with influential people
Influential people give you great leverage to success. Think of the influence of Formal President Olusegun Obasanjo on the success of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. What of the influence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the merging of ACN, CPC and others to form APC and the influence on the candidacy of President Muhammadu Buhari.
You can learn from the experiences of influential people to avoid possible mistakes and make the best possible decision. You can also use their influences to easily open uneasy to open doors and thereby get what you want.
Influential people are not necessary popular people depending on your situation. Your own influential people might be the people with experience in your field or endeavour, people with connections to certain people you need, people who have lots of followers, customer base etc it all depends on your goal or mission.
The idea is to build your network as a Leverage to getting to where you want to be.
The only shortcut to massive success if there’s any is leverage. You’ve got to start creating your own leverage. Creating leverage is an act of taking control of your destiny. Start doing it now.
I once wrote a report about leverage and how you can use it to achieve massive success in anything. It’s titled ONE FACTOR. Unfortunately, I’m no more giving it out away for FREE. But if you join my newsletter here, you will always get access to other articles and materials I have published about Leverage.
Watch out for another part in these series coming your way soon.
Thanks for reading and….
Take Control, it’s the only thing that pays.
Olusola
PS: If you love to learn about Sales and Marketing and how to effectively use Leverage to do it on the WEB to make more sales, build your business or career. Click Here to get access to the WEB Players RoadMap series. It’s Free for now.
PPS: And if you’ve found this post useful, please click your favorite social button to share and watch for part 3 in the series.