Blog Archives - Page 13 of 18

Moving on…

January 13, 2015 By Bukola Oriola

Happy New Year! It’s 2015 and a lot of things have begun to happen. I will be doing some things differently this year. At the end of 2014, I gave up hair braiding. Don’t get me wrong, I did not give up the business, but just the work of standing behind the chair. So you may wonder, “What is next, Bukola?”

In addition to nonprofit work, I have decided to focus on training. I get questions all the time about how to start a business. Sometimes, I have someone complaining about her job or someone needs some kind of guidance about how to start her business. And, since I know myself as a person in the help ministry, I thought that I would transition into training – multifaceted training – how to start a business (for profit or nonprofit), hair braiding training or hair business – and the steps to take without going around in circles or wasting money. It does not take a lot as you may think, it only takes your dedicated time to follow simple steps to realize that dream of quitting whatever you were doing but not happy with to doing what you really love to do, or do something extra on the side to bring you a residual income.

I went around in circles before I finally got it. More so, there are various resources in the community. I must however confess that some of the resources are just a waste of time, energy, and money. There are some resources that either lead to nowhere or provide you with nothing, but the big name and years that they have been in the community.

I will not be taking much of your time today. But before you go, take a look at the short video I made of Roxann below. I helped her to start her business few weeks ago. If you are interested in starting your own business or know someone who may be interested, you can sign up for my upcoming Live Event entitled Be Your Own Boss here or pass the information along.

Thanks for reading. I hope to talk to you again through my blogs. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please, send me a note – fill out the contact form. I want to hear from you. You can also get my recent posts by signing up to receive updates.

Bye for now, until next time.

Did you miss the link to the Live Event? Click on the flyer below. Register by February 1 and get the price on one for two people.

Lessons From Judge Judy

October 16, 2014 By Bukola Oriola

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I was at the local civil court recently and the first statement from the judge was a question. He had asked, “Does anybody watches Judge Judy here?” The answer was a unanimous yes. He continued, “This is kind of like a Judge Judy’s court except for the entertainment.” Judge Judy is an icon in the “judiciary” entertainment industry. She serves her judgment in a no-nonsense way as she adds a little dose of humor while doing so. If you live in the United States, you are definitely familiar with Judge Judy, even if you don’t watch her show, and if you live outside of the United States but watches the US court shows, you know who she is.

Judge Judy was on the Wendy Williams Show today promoting her new book entitled What Would Judy Say: Be The Hero of Your Own Story with her step daughter Nicole Sheindlin, Founder and Executive Director of Her Honor Mentoring, a nonprofit organization that helps girls through professional mentoring to boost their confidence. I was so elated to hear that the book was available for free download. I googled it immediately and downloaded a copy. I couldn’t keep it for later, so I started reading right away. Even though her advice was directed mainly at women, men can also share in the gains provided by the legendary judge..

The strict judge who dotted being late to a job interview as a death sentence suggested that punctuality is a “secret weapon” that a person can use to his or her advantage. Citing a personal experience, Judge Judy was fifteen minutes earlier to an appointment where she drove about an hour to meet other executives who were only two blocks away from the meeting spot. She also made sure to set the scene such that the executives will not need to wonder whether she had just arrived. While they were apologizing for lateness even though they were not late, Judge Judy said, “You’re not late. I’ve only been here fifteen minutes. Let’s get down to business. Then we can eat and relax.” She had already positioned herself in a favorable position in the room. “Being punctual and being prepared have always been at the top of my list of success strategies,” she noted.

According to her, lateness “takes power away from you” while punctuality “makes you very present in the conversation.” Judge Judy even once made her colleague come to work early when she took over his courtroom during her service at the family court in Manhattan until he was forced to stopped coming late to work.

This is just one of the many lessons from the judiciary guru who commanded her courtroom like a lady catwalks in high heels. Hopefully, I will be able to bring you more, but you don’t have to wait for me. You can learn directly from her by downloading your fee e-book here.

Bye for now, until next time.

Many Many Thanks…

September 13, 2014 By Bukola Oriola

I will like to express my sincere gratitude to you all for your support during The Enitan Story’s 1^st Annual Taste for Hope fundraiser. It was a successful event. I couldn’t ask for more. You gave your support in every way possible, spiritually, financially, morally, emotionally, and materially. I am most thankful for your hearts towards a great cause. Indeed, you stand against human trafficking. I am mostly indebted to Pastors Bill Eaves, Cullen Tanner, and members of the United Methodist Church of Anoka – offering the space for free and allowing us to cook in the kitchen under the supervision of Kim Harris, the health licensed personnel for commercial kitchen. And, I can’t thank Kim enough for sacrificing her time to be of help.

The food was excellent. I am thankful to all the vendors that graced the occasion. In addition, volunteers sacrificed their time with family members to cook for The Enitan Story. We had people preparing and cooking food two days ahead of the time. My friend from Nigeria, owner of Dunas Party Planner, Ibukun Onasanya spent two days baking a custom cake for the event. Her cake business colleague here in Minnesota, LeeAnn was a great help in time of need. She was also available to support with tools and ingredients for the cake. Joined by Trisha Perez, Comfort Akpeari, and Andrea, Angela Okafor, one of our board members, was also there to cook for two days despite the fact that she had an eighteen month-old baby. In fact, Ibukun’s nephew, Samuel Durojaiye, who came from Chicago was our emergency babysitter. And, thanks to my sister, Anu Ogunmola of House of Fancy, for designing a lovely dress for me to match my son’s outfit.

The music was superb with Pastor Lyndy Zabel and his World Beat Connection’s music band. The live music provided the much needed joy in the atmosphere. And, our MC, Dr. Sherry Jordon of St. Thomas University was just perfect for the job. We were lucky to have another professor from the University of Minnesota, Dr. Abimbola Asojo, who is also our board member, volunteer as the photographer of the day.

Annette Brandner was another board member who was a hard worker. She was selling tickets, writing articles, connecting us with local resources, decorating, and running multiple errands until the end. She even stayed behind to clean. You will not believe that she is seventy years plus old. She even had her husband helping. Emily Wise, another board member suggested the idea of food tasting. She helped us secure the date and was available to help during the event. Our summer intern, Nora Kane, whom I really miss because she is now in Jordan for Study Abroad was both helpful behind the video camera and in the kitchen.

Alexandra House Staff were very supportive. I am grateful that they were there to offer expert advice and give directions during the preparation and at the event. In fact, Heidi Kopischke, one of our presenters was one of the advocates who were there when I was a client at Alexandra house few years ago. Marie was another advocate who came with her daughter to help buy and prepare a nice fruit bouquet. Thanks to Abigail Whelan who came to represent Representative Jim Abeler and Detective Tessa Villegas who represented the Anoka County Sheriff’s office and for sharing your thoughts.

I am very grateful to all the volunteers that came to help. Joanne, one of my friends from Anoka Ramsey was there slaving away in the kitchen cleaning. Beyond that, she coordinated other students to come and help. The vendors were exceptional – Damola’s Kitchen, Jamaican Cuisine, PizzaMan Anoka, Panda Garden, Angelic Angel Delicacies, Taste of Kenya, and Fruits by Marie. The sponsors are worth thanking with their support of various items – Anoka Hennepin Credit Union, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, Coon Rapids, Klein Bank, Coon Rapids, Sterling Trophy, Anoka Sports Shack, Bukola Braiding, Lowes, Coon Rapids, Cub Foods, Anoka, Target, Coon Rapids & Northtown, Walmart, Anoka and Sams Club, Fridley.

The community support was unbelievable. Anoka city advertised the event on the electronic board. ABC Newspapers and CTN Studio promoted the event in their print and electronic media. The guests were great. We received support before, during, and after the event. In fact, after the event, we still received donation towards the fundraiser. I want to really thank you all whether you were able to make it or not, your impact was felt. Thank you very much. In case I have not mentioned your name here, please pardon me for omission. I am very grateful. We raised a total amount of $3,129.19 after expenses.

Thanks for reading. I hope to talk to you again through my blogs. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please, send me a note – fill out the contact form or simply comment below. I want to hear from you. You can also get my recent posts by signing up to receive updates.

Bye for now, until next time.

Nigeria’s Gardening Style in America?

July 17, 2014 By Bukola Oriola

As an eight year-old, I remembered gardening with my mother at the back of our house in Lagos, Nigeria. Also, we had a little farm about two miles away from home. We planted green spinach, corn, okra, water leaf, bitter leaf, cassava, and other common vegetables that we cook for food. Cultivating the ground and planting was no big deal. Once we put the seeds in the ground, we just wait to see them sprout after few days. Some take up to a week or so. We did not have to water the garden or the farm. The soil was loamy and the rain provided the water needed to grow the vegetables.

Now in Minnesota, United States of America, I found myself like a sea fish but living in the pond. Gardening in Minnesota is obviously different from Lagos. The weather condition is a factor that I worry less about than the sandy/stony soil I had to plant tropical vegetables in. It took about three weeks or more for the seeds to sprout. Also, while planting, the seeds were sprinkled on the plot rather than, line them up to form a nice line as they grow.

The garden was created to help provide fresh ethnic vegetables to victims and survivors of human trafficking and domestic abuse. As a survivor, who had been in a situation where ethnic vegetable would have helped provide additional comfort during my healing process at the shelter, I thought it would be a great idea to provide that comfort to others with the help of The Enitan Story. It sounded interesting and I had no idea what kind of challenges, we would be facing as an organization with the project.

One of our board members, Angela provided her backyard for additional gardening space. One of our church

Angela sprinkling the seeds at her backyard

members at United Methodist Church of Anoka, Jim and Ann volunteered to rototill the space. Meanwhile, an instructor at the Horticulture department of the Anoka technical College, Amy Moberg had helped us to start two of our seeds – melon and fluted pumpkin from the indoor garden of the college. Unfortunately, the fluted pumpkin did not make it, but the melon survived. She also donated some tomatoes, thyme, cilantro and mixed spices. They all survived except the cilantro.

As for our ethnic vegetables, we planted jute leaves, green and red spinach, okra, and clove basil. All except the clove basil sprouted and are doing well, just not as fast as I had anticipated. Angela has been working hard on the garden behind her house and I have been taking trips to the Harmony garden in Anoka to take care of the vegetables. Luckily, we have had a Target staff come to volunteer through Volunteer Match, an online volunteering network for both nonprofits and individuals willing to volunteer their time. Another person, Trisha came to volunteer with her daughter and son. She even brought some vegetables to plant on the spot where the clove basil did not sprout.

I have had people who wanted to volunteer but had not been able to make it, so please, come, if you can, help us at the garden. I was at the garden today using hoe to weed around the edges. The garden was already shrinking as a result to the grass around the edges. It’s been a lot of patience and persistence keeping a garden without the best soil, but when I remember why I am doing it, I feel inspired to keep working at it. I put some fertilizer in the garden today and hopefully, that will help the vegetable to do better, so that we can actually make some food from it for those we want to help with it.

It has also been a learning experience. We will definitely be having a better garden in 2015. As for the garden at Angela’s backyard, some of the vegetables sprouted while others did not. We have also learned that we would need to till the soil with some compost before the next planting season to help the garden produce better.

Bye for now, until next time.

You May Call Me a Preacher

July 16, 2014 By Bukola Oriola

Inside LeTourneau book — Inside LeTourneau’s book

I cannot underestimate the place of God in my life. I am what I am today by His special grace. Since school is not in session and I don’t have deadlines for home work, I have the time to go to personal schooling. I have been reading various books from spiritual growth to business sense. While reading The Wisdom That Works by Dr. David Oyedepo, I came across several authors and successful businessmen and some of their books. A vision was also delivered into my hands, few weeks after. I will tell you about the vision in another article that I will be sharing some time soon. I went to the library to check out books. One of them was The Mover of Mountain and Men by R.G LeTourneau. LeTourneau, a French man born in Duluth, Minnesota, chronicled his life experiences from childhood until he became a very successful businessman. As a reader, the author took me through a rebellious childhood where he left home to milk cow for a widow two miles away for food and shelter and to stay warm from the Minnesota winter cold. After going back home at the end of Thanksgiving dinner with his extended family, Bob, as he was usually called mend his differences with his father and stayed home. As a mechanic who was always designing earth moving machines, LeTourneau never forgot to mention the hands of God in his achievements. He also used the book to show his shortcomings as a human being when it came to relating to God or giving God His rightful place in his life. He travelled around the world sharing the goodness of God upon his business. He usually starts his speech by saying, “I am just a mechanic whom the Lord has blessed, but I am in active relationship with God.” LeTourneau found out that he can be a business partner with God to promote the work and kingdom of God during one of his visits to his pastor, and that understanding has made him to survive every challenge that stung him like bees in his journey to success. He was quick to seek caution whenever things were not going right. He was a man full of faith when he highlighted the fact that when many of us pray, we do not leave our burden before God rather we take it back with us. More so, he pointed out the mistake that many of us make when we are serving God. For example, the man who gave ninety percent to God and took ten, said, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” as it is written in Matthew 6:24. He did not mince words either when he said “I think a lot of people get mixed up that way too. They have just enough religion to make them miserable, and not enough to make them happy.” He concluded by adding, “They can’t enjoy serving the pleasures of sin because they know better, and they can’t enjoy serving the Lord because they are not willing to serve Him all the way.” So, my question is how are you serving the Lord? This is a question that we must answer as we go about our daily life and business. It is very important to put God first in everything we do and He will make sure that what we do will enjoy lasting success. Thanks for reading. I hope to talk to you again through my blogs. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please, send me a note – fill out the contact form. I want to hear from you. You can also get my recent posts by signing up to receive updates. Bye for now, until next time.