How to Make a Billion Leones from Home: Homebizguy Bolo’S

By awrence Omolare Coker

My name is How To Make A Billion Leones From Home, and I am a book. Not any old book. A special book!
I am special; not because I was written to make you wealthy, which I was. Ohh no! I have the special distinction of having been written with Sierra Leone in mind. You see, relative to the total number of books written every year, not many books are written with Sierra Leone in mind. So, I am chuffed to be "alive" and in your "hands" right now. Really chuffed!!! You give me life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: May 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469193649

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Lawrence Omolare Coker.

ISBN:          Ebook                                      978-1-4691-9364-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This work contains references to real life people, names, characters, places, companies, brands and incidents and are referred to for illustration and relevance purposes only. No harm or discomfort is intended.

This book was created in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

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Contents

PREAMBLE   Disclaimer

Prologue   by Lawrence SPENCERCOKER

Chapter 1   My Global Audience

Chapter 2   Why I Say From Home In Sierra Leone

Chapter 3   Retire Happy, please

Chapter 4   Do Something You Understand

Chapter 5   Understand Demand.

Chapter 6   Rewards & Risk

Chapter 7   Not Perfect Net Profits

Chapter 8   Get out of The Boxes

Chapter 9   SoS

Chapter 10   BilLEonaires Apply Leverage

Epilogue   My Conclusions plus ‘MY PLAN’

This book is dedicated to Brother Wilh

January 18, 1944 to January 18, 2012

Rest In Peace.

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry:

but money answereth all things. Ecclesiastes 10:19

This publication is designed to provide competent and reliable information regarding the subject matter covered. However, it is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering legal, financial, or other professional advice. Laws and practices often vary from location to location and if legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a professional should be sought.

PREAMBLE

Disclaimer

How To Make A Billion Leones From Home was written with Sierra Leone in mind.

My name is How To Make A Billion Leones From Home, and I am a book. Not any old book. A special book!

I am special; not because I was written to make you wealthy, which I was. Ohh no! I have the special distinction of having been written with Sierra Leone in mind. You see, relative to the total number of books written every year, not many books are written with Sierra Leone in mind. So, I am chuffed to be ‘alive’ and in your ‘hands’ right now. Really chuffed!!! You give me life!

If you’ve just picked me up from a bookshelf (be it virtual or real) and you haven’t bought me yet, I promise you’ll fall in love so go ahead, pay for me now and you can get to know me better over the next couple of days. I’m easy to get along with!

From book research through to the production line and the ‘book shelf’, I’ve ‘seen’ quite a few characters along the way. To be honest, you look like a WINNER to me. As Hyrum Smith would say, you’re a TEN.Full-stop!

As a TEN, you know you should not loan me out; not unless you are a library of course. If you are not a library then tell ‘them’ to go buy their own copies of me. Why?

Here’s why. Anyone who reads me is going to get joy from me. Joy in so many ways, ‘they’ probably won’t return me. If that should happen, my new ‘smart owner’ will benefit and you will lose out.

So what am I going to lose out on if I lose you?, I hear you beginning to think through. Well, let me share with you, some of the reasons for me being born.

Many people are still very poor in Sierra Leone so I am a blueprint for prosperity. Even after years of the much trumpeted POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES (PRS) and the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) initiative, I challenge anyone, anywhere, to convince me that Sierra Leoneans are wealthy. To be wealthy and to be rich are two distinct states of being, so let’s slice them up and see what entails.

A rich family can afford to do what Justice Harding did at his professional 60th. My author’s wife, Nicky, was present as a representative of the Sierra Leone Bar Association. Justice Harding gave away over one Billion Leones to good causes, whereas, a wealthy family is one that generates an income that allows them to live the life they want to live, whether or not they work.

If for example your family works out that five million Leones will cover all your monthly needs and wants, owning a business that generates a monthly income for you (not revenues) of five million Leones makes you wealthy. If your family can live on one million Leones, then your business need generate just one million Leones per month income (not revenue) for your family to be wealthy.

So, being wealthy is not necessarily about huge sums of money. Being wealthy is about being able to fulfill your monthly chosen lifestyle through residual income—which is income you DO NOT have to get out of bed to work for. Interest received on bearer bonds is an example of residual income. If you invest one hundred million Leones and you receive 20% annual interest, at the end of twelve months, you will have earned twenty million Leones.

So, if your family can live life as you wish on one million five hundred thousand Leones per month, a guaranteed residual income of twenty million per annum makes you more than wealthy. It would mean you have money left over every month to invest in other things. In this regard, I hope to change the way you look at things. My author’s friend, Sundae, is a changed man who should be an inspiration to you.

He says, "I used to think I needed an inordinate amount of money to have a good life every month. It caused me to despair. But, a combination of tough times, a supportive spouse and lots of mental repositioning has cured me. Now, I am so much happier living on much less than I had envisaged. I am not wealthy yet, but I have an income from my Mercury machines and property I inherited that is more than enough for me to be comfortable every month. I even have some left over every month to invest in my retirement and my passions." Therefore, Sundae is an example of someone who is both rich and wealthy.

A rich family will have a lot of extra cash in the bank or in other assets such as gold, diamonds or even property, that can be liquidated. A rich person can inherit riches and then go on to lose it all through frivolous spending. A lottery winner may become very rich, depending on the amount they win, of course. But, if they don’t create wealth from their winnings, they may lose all of it through frivolous spending sprees. Where you keep taking and not replacing, you will eventually run out.

So, in context, Sierra Leoneans are a rich people, due to the natural resources left in the land, but not wealthy, yet. In March 2012, President Koroma put poverty at 66%. How do we know this? A speech by the President of Sierra Leone which was read on his behalf by his Minister of Finance and Economic Planning at ‘The Times’ Chief Executives and Political Leaders Summit for Africa, held in the Savoy Hotel in London, UK, on March 19th 2012, says so. That speech also indicates acknowledgement of work to be done and a commitment to see the work done. Excerpts and statistics from that speech are used in this book where appropriate and relevant.

So, His Excellency says there is work to be done. What do other credible sources have to say? Listen to what the biggest official money donor to Sierra Leone, the Department for International Development (DFID), confidently stated in their February 2011 released document titled, Operational Plan for Sierra Leone 2011 to 2015; which was widely distributed to ordinary people like my author who was on a mailing list that the general public could subscribe to. The DFID (rebranded to UKAID later) report stated:

Sierra Leone remains one of the poorest countries in the world and is unlikely to meet any of the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] before 2015; has a GDP per capita of only $254, (compared to the Sub-Saharan average of $679) and continues to languish near the bottom of the United Nation’s Human Development Index. It is a fragile state in a fragile region, still under UN Security Council supervision and has a UN peace building mission as a successor to the peace-keeping operation, which ended in 2007.

Sierra Leone: unlikely to meet ANY of the MDGs before 2015? Millennium Development Goals include: eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; create a global partnership for development.

If these folks at DFID are correct, that means poverty and all that it brings, will continue to plague Sierra Leone until sometime after 2015. But again, that is only going to happen, if we don’t do something different.

So, the first thing we are going to do is track GDP per household. More on household-tracking of GDP later, particularly as everybody seems to want good GDP. Experts mention GDP so much as some sort of miracle guide to something worth aspiring to. Presidents crave good GDP. Case in point; President Koroma in 2012 was looking forward to a GDP rise of over 50%, which will take Sierra Leone to a rate of GDP per head similar to Rwanda. That expected 50% rise is on top of an average above 5% year on year rise in GDP over the last five years. The guys at DFID used GDP as a yardstick. But wait a minute, should we take what DFID says at face value?

On the one hand, DFID say we are unlikely to meet any of these blasted MDGs. On the other, they themselves said that we have made some improvements in key MDG performance indicators. And I quote;

However, there is cause for optimism, Sierra Leone has over the last three years made a significant commitment to reduce maternal and child mortality, increase the opportunities for external investment and improve its revenue base.

So, according to DFID, we are committed but doomed to fail. I agree, Sierra Leone has reduced its maternal and child mortality rates, increased opportunities for external investment (we love our foreigners and JCs) but still had a long way to go to adequately improve its revenue base. If you doubt that we love our foreigners and JCs, ask yourself why only Sierra Leonean recording artists who are not actually based in Sierra Leone such as Heyden and Alonzo, are the first ones being used on Airtel billboards for the HELLO TUNES promotion.

Anyway, on a more serious note, you see shah, that’s why we are not meeting any of the MDGs oh! At least, the commitment is there, so says the DFID report. It’s arguable that the government of Sierra Leone is also clearly committed to improving the lives of the masses.

So DFID, have we done enough or are we going to do enough to meet some of the MDGs by 2015? Are you going to change that assessment this year? Hudson Tucker, a relative of my author, seems to think we stand a chance with the HIV/AIDS Millennium Development Goals targets. What now?

First off DFID, our President says Sierra Leone’ is no longer a ‘fragile state’. As of 2011 we ranked 30 out of 53 African nations scored in the Mo Ibrahim governance index, climbing in ranking year on year. And while still low, Sierra Leone continues to improve in the UN Human Development Index year on year.

Second offering, the Agenda for Change morphs into the Agenda for Prosperity. In the speech, the President states, and I quote, while Sierra Leone has started to change and make progress, significant challenges remain. Our incidence of poverty is still estimated at 66%. While lower than the 70% recorded in 2004, it remains too high. Jobs have been created, but, our levels of unemployment among the youth are unacceptable. In other words, while growth has been happening for several years now, it is not yet enough to have made a significant dent on poverty, (un)employment and human development. We have made changes, and seen growth, but it now needs to translate into wealth and prosperity for all Sierra Leoneans. End quote.

With £40,000,000+ allocated to wealth creation, DFID’s commitment is clear for all to see. So, what remains now is to find a solution to improve Sierra Leone’s revenue base.

Your revenue base incorporates all the places you can make money from. Everyone knows us for our mining, fishing and agriculture. Oil is on its way, as is bio-ethanol fuel through Addax Bio Energy, (a first for sub Saharan Africa) and more. People are getting rich off of iron ore with London Mining and African Minerals exporting for the first time in thirty years. Raddison Blu and Hilton are expected to complete five-star hotels.

After getting the income from all those resources, deal with the issue of distribution of wealth. You may just get to see why we need to improve our revenue base still further if we’re to end poverty.

Well here’s my question for anyone who cares to answer: What better way to improve a country’s revenue base AND redistribute wealth more equitably than to have each and every household generating sustainable revenues from a home-based business? From a spiritual standpoint, aren’t we all here to serve each other?

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

At this point, I take a breather to thank Sidi Koroma, (Founder of Positive Change and long time friend of my author), for bringing to the attention of my author, the wealth-creation commitment of DFID as emphatically stated in their Sierra Leone Operational Plan for 2011 to 2015. Thanks Sidi! She knew that my author had a passion for wealth creation for all Sierra Leoneans.

So, am I really needed in Sierra Leone? Well, I am a tool for education, and as the President of Sierra Leone said in his speech to CEOs and Political Leaders in March 2012, education uplifts a nation, it raises income, it gives people chances to seize opportunities and meet the challenges of an ever-evolving world.

If we keep it simple, and only analyze what the DFID report stated, (that Sierra Leone has a GDP per capita of only $254, compared to the Sub-Saharan average of $679); then we have to conclude that the majority of Sierra Leoneans still have a long way to go just to become average in the Sub-Sahara. I’m talking about getting to an average Sub-Saharan GDP. Is the average Sub-Saharan doing okay?

Well, let’s consider the term GDP itself. What does it really tell us? Does a $254 per capita GDP mean poverty? Does a $679 per capita GDP mean wealth? Is it a good place to be or a bad place to be? Does a $254 GDP mean people need to be lifted out of poverty? The DFID report, when taken in context, does suggest so.

Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is the total GDP divided by the population and is often considered an indicator of a country’s standard of living. When dealing with families as we are, wouldn’t you rather consider how the family live day to day?

Exam time! GDP per capita is not a measure of personal income. Discuss.

GDP per capita is a measure of what you, your best friend, your colleagues and even my author are each contributing, when our country’s total contributions have been averaged out. So, imagine if in real terms you are contributing $12,000 per annum, which some people are and then your average now goes down to $254. Doesn’t make you feel good, does it? When you look at things from this perspective, you realize that we all have plenty of reason to push up the GDP of each and every member of society. So what are you doing to make it happen?

Pushing up the productivity of each and every household; that’s what I am about—getting everyone to produce more for not only themselves but by extension, the nation.

So GDP is either an indictment of all of us or it is a pat on the back for each and everyone of us, depending on our GDP per capita, of course.