WHY TRAVELLING MAKES YOU SMART

Traveling will make you “smarter,” doesn’t imply that you’re all of a sudden going to become a genius. But travelling will certainly make you more worldly, broaden your mind observing different cultures and languages at the same time.

On the other side of the coin, travelling tends to be dangerous sometimes. It invites many mishaps such as accidents that cause injuries. In this manner, the injured has the right to call his injuries lawyer belonged to Kent car accident lawyer firm for legal assistance.

There are a lot of things you can burn through cash on that don’t expand your IQ, yet travel is one savvy investment that pays yearly profits past the enjoyment of boasting to your companions about your latest vacation. Believe it or not, travel really makes you smarter.

Here are five different ways travel makes you broad-minded.

1. Extended Reality

Heading out to new places truly builds up your sense of reality. As you drink in new sights and sounds, you are expanding the scope of your understanding of the world around you and of new cultures that are unique in relation to yours, which can prompt a wide range of decency, incorporating uplifted achievement in your career, as indicated by one study.

2. Boosted Brain Power

Travel fuels your mind to work at a higher level. One investigation demonstrated that retired individuals who travel have 75 % higher paces of mental stimulation, and 82 % have an increased ability to “complete things,” vs. 57 % of the individuals who don’t travel. The study suggests that “business support utilization of vacation time as an approach to improve wellbeing and health in the workplace.” Take note, bosses all over the place!

3. Better Memory

Venturing out to another nation, or even another area in your nation, where various languages or various inflexions or idioms are spoken, helps to enable you to focus and use short term memory. Obviously, there are additional advantages to learning words and expressions in different dialects that are not found in your local tongue, as it outfits you with methods for portraying things that your essential language might need.

4. Increased Creativity

Taking in the tasteful significance of the Eiffel Tower or La Sagrada Familia isn’t simply charming; it really improves your very own imagination. The more time you invest in different nations, the more creative you become. Adapting to new scents, tastes, and sights make new neuropathic paths in your brain, which empower new ways of thinking and expand your flow of creativity.

5. Strength in Vulnerability

If you’ve ever touched base in an outside nation with zero learning of the language, culture, or social norms and need to battle to make sense of how to get to your goal in one piece, then you recognize what vulnerability feels like. It tends to be startling from the start, however, it’s that capacity to think and react quickly and handle a circumstance that causes you to acknowledge exactly how strong and competent you are. To cite the Buddhist instructor Pema Chödrön: “To be completely alive, completely human, and totally alert is to be consistently tossed out of the home.

Conclusion

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of observing things.

THE MONTH OF PATIENCE

People usually tend to be impatient if they do not use their mind, conscience and will. Usually, people seek to easily get what they want with little effort, solve a problem immediately, overcome a difficulty, and that the troubles would pass quickly. However, as a requirement of the trial on earth, sometimes things are not solved in such a short time. Sometimes, it may be necessary to work towards something for months, even years, and have patience for a very long period of time. For this reason, people should refrain from misconceptions like “It doesn’t work,” “I should give up making an effort.”

As we all know patience means being less strict towards time. Believers know that patience overcomes all the difficulties they will face in the worldly life, and that it will lead them to the right path. For this reason, with great patience they become self-sacrificing, with patience they forgive people, and with patience they become generous. People who love God and believe in God with all their heart will improve themselves in many ways. One of the beauties of the month of Ramadan that we are in is that it enables people to improve themselves in terms of patience, both bodily and spiritually.

Our Prophet (S.A.W) stated that the month of Ramadan is a month of patience in one of his hadiths, which is as follows:

“O People! There comes upon you now a great month, a most blessed month, in which lies a night greater in worth than one thousand months. It is a month in which God has made compulsory that the fasting should be observed by day; and He has made the worship (tarawih) by night a sunnah. This is indeed the month of patience. And the reward for true patience is paradise. Ramadan is the month of sympathy with one’s fellowmen. It is the month wherein a true believer’s sustenance is increased. (Ibn Khuzaymah, Sahih, III, 191-192,) (Thk. M. M. A’zamî)

Patience is a great virtue, as our Prophet (SAW) remarks, and the month of Ramadan is a very valuable period of time where one can direct his will for this purpose without succumbing to the things we like and take for granted every day. The patience shown until the end of Ramadan will bring the comfort of surrendering to God. Ramadan is an opportunity, a way to train ourselves in spirit and body, to show our love and commitment for God.

Just like we know when the time comes for prayer and we perform it, being patient is also a worship. For this reason, a person who does not eat or drink when he is hungry or thirsty because he is fasting is actually fulfilling another beautiful manner of worship by having beautiful patience.

Whenever someone is being patient, he becomes closer to God and his commitment to God is strengthened. When someone shows patience for God’s favor, it also becomes a reason for happiness for him. Tolerance is people doing something to get it over with as soon as possible, to earn other people’s favors, and, indeed, is not the same kind of worship as patience is. A person who is in a state of mind to just tolerate something is not at peace. That is why it is important and valuable to be patient and not just tolerant during Ramadan as well. And this means that a Muslim displays good morals, speaks beautifully and always give priority to others even when he is hungry, thirsty and tired.

THE CONFUSION

Kailani noticed a bunch of bulky figures standing in the doorway. "What the...?" Suddenly, the party music screeched to a halt. There were confused murmurs and somebody's voice rang out. "Cops!" "Everyone, freeze!" one of the figures called out at the same time. Pandemonium ensued. Students shoved toward the doors, nearly knocking Kailani to the ground. Several police officers ran into the gym and grabbed students. Sirens whooped outside, and microphones blared instructions to freeze and stay calm.

She cut through the mass of kids. Girls hobbled towards the door, unsteady in their heels. Guys took shortcuts over the bleachers, stumbling over the risers. A lacrosse player who'd had too much to drink bumped against Kailani. Students poured into a hallway that lead to the parking lot just as a police car screamed up the entrance. Wheeling around, she sprinted in the opposite direction, down an unfamiliar passage.

Then she continued down the hall, the sandals she was wearing was rubbing blisters on her feet. The hallway was dark, and she could barely see in front of her. She thought she could make out a door at the end of the hall, but what if it led to nowhere? Suddenly, there were footsteps behind her. "You!" a voice called. Kailani spun around, to see a police officer holding a club. She couldn't let him get her or find out who she was. She sprinted faster, her lungs screaming. "You there!" the police officer's voice sounded even closer. "Stop!" Kailani's hands reached out and touched something hard just seconds before she crashed into it. She pulled away, seeing a bookshelf lined with old texts. She felt around for a door, but there was none. "Oh my god," she whispered. She'd hit a dead end.

The officer's walkie-talkie squawked. "I've got one," she heard him say. Kailani looked down, then up. Her heart lifted. A small window glowed a few inches above the shelf. Even better, it was slightly ajar. Her fingers grasped a middle row of the bookshelf, and she set her feet on the bottom row and started to climb. The structure swayed back and forth as she shimmied up the shelves. "Stop!" the officer's shape was visible down the hall. He was running at a full sprint, his club raised above his head. Kailani pulled herself up to the top of the bookshelf and cranked the window as wide as she could. The space was just big enough for her to fit.

She turned onto her stomach and stuck her legs through the window. Her fingertips caught the metal grooves of the window frame as she pushed herself though and dropped to the ground. Her knees bent to absorb the impact, and her hands hit the grass hard. Then she took off running. She was free and the police officer didn't know who he almost caught.

MISFORTUNE FALLS

Andrew has always had terrible luck. From minor things such as tripping over his own two feet to even worse luck.... like that one time when he was on the yearbook committee and was taking photos of the spring play when he forgot to turn off the flash on the camera and accidentally blinding Little Suzie, causing her to stumble backwards onto the set, destroying the background and knocking over the majority of the props. Terrible luck.

One morning Andrew was walking to school when he saw an elderly man waiting for the light to change so he could cross. Andrew took a minute out of his day and helped the old man across. The man smiled graciously to Andrew and before he left he whispered something in his ear.
"Your life is shrouded in misfortune,
nevertheless you help others with a good will.
By preforming actions the superstitious would
reject you reverse your fortune."
And with that, the man walked away without another word. Andrew thought that was rather odd but he continued on his way to school.

A few hours later Andrew came home and went into his bathroom to change out of his school clothes. "I wonder what that old man meant." he thought to himself. Suddenly he had an idea.

He grabbed a compact mirror and went to the backyard so his parents and neighbors couldn't question him. Then he threw the mirror sharply on the ground, shattering it at once. While he was cleaning up the mess he made he said to himself, "I wonder if this will really change my luck. Guess I'll find out tomorrow."

The next day Andrew woke up feeling better than ever. He was sure that his day was going to be fantastic. And with that said Andrew went on with his day like never before...

LIFE GETS SOUR

She sat behind the wheel of a tinted Toyota Corolla, as she pulled away from Haille Selasia Avenue and joined Mombasa road where Pamela came face to face with heavy city traffic. She was ecstatic and on high on cloud nine at that particular moment, since she was going to meet her lover James, who was arriving from Lisbon, Portugal.

Poor her, little did she know that James was running away from snowy Europe and not coming for her. To James, Pamela and him are no longer in the same pot of circumstances. What was between them is now a lifetime away according to him.

The drive from Mombasa road to Jomo Kenyatta airport took almost two hours on account of heaviness of the traffic. No sooner had she arrived at the waiting bay did she meet James. He did not signal any negativity towards her. They showed each other all what lovers normally show each other after along absence from the other.

After all that exchange, they made for Outering road ready to make it to Pamela’s home at Karen. Along the way it was Pamela who was talkative but to James, internally there was nothing to celebrate in meeting her.
James spent the first night at the house but on the second and subsequent ones he plotted to stay in a Nairobi hotel. For the two weeks he was in town accessibility to him by Pamela became out of question. She tried everything at all cost to reach him, but the more she tried, the more the word impossibility dawned on her.

After the end of his stay, James flew back without saying “kwaheri” to Pamela. On reaching Lisbon, Portugal, he wrote an email back to her, what seemed more than a bombshell. Pamela went through the email as tears dripped down her cheeks. She was unable to come to terms with what she read. To her, that was profoundly incredible.

The email went something like this….: my dear and lovely Pamela, there is nothing between you and me. Mark you what we shared is now water under the bridge and our love is now a lifetime away.
Pamela, stood on her balcony after the uninspiring news and looked into the sky. At that very time, there was a heavy cloud hanging over the Nairobi skyline. Pamela wished James was never a chapter in her story book life, but that was just a wishful thinking.

The reveries on the balcony took almost two hours and after that, Pamela decided enough is enough. There is nothing good crying on spilled milk. She has to close that chapter of her life. In life there is time for joy and time for sorrow, but we have to move forward. And that is what she plotted or what she called a cut and dry decision.

WHY ISIOLO COUNTY NEEDS TO IMPROVE TOURISM SECTOR

Tourism is an endowment that is a serious natural gift; an ornament that can raise our county’s profile and make it worthy player in the tourism industry if efficiently and successfully managed. However, it is paramount that we first realize ourselves before we start talking of making any stride and possibly awaken our sleeping gold mine.

The talk of what we can do with the kind of potential we have would be the beginning of our road to becoming a huge player in the industry. Tourism can form a strong pillar for the attainment of vision 2030 and raise our bar higher as we seek to stamp our authority in the region. The potential is there but we need to invest more if we are to reap from the sector.

Our lodges, the wildlife, the rich and diverse culture of our NFD people have by far amazed the tourists that have visited the region. The many other products yet to be developed makes us the envied destination in the world but lack of either understanding or goodwill is denying us the privilege to make something out of nature’s gift.

It’s incumbent on us to develop ways of tapping these monumental resources to benefit our economy. There are brilliant minds out there who can be brought on the table and asked to give suggestions and ideas and the Tourism sector can be able to pick up and make a huge impact to the lives of many. We can create both direct and indirect jobs and improve the economy in ways unimaginable. What do we need to get Right???

Marketing/Research
Outreach is essence because on our own we can realize so little, we first need to get the inventory of our capacity and understand the policy framework on which we can operate to interrogate its level of success and determine how it can be enhanced and enriched with new thinking, approach and model.

Partnership
Kenya Tourism Board is the country’s premier statutory institution mandated to show case Kenya’s tourism resources and seek market for it, it’s imperative we lobby KTB to feature Isiolo in it’s marketing campaign so as to raise awareness about its existence and it’s product line on offer. We could support such initiatives by providing them with videos and documentaries that highlight Isiolo’s area of historical significance which will be the campaign’s strongest show and emphasis, the same could be posted on KTB website so that any visitor could benefit Isiolo as well.

Kenya association of tour operators
Kenya association of tour operators is a significant player in the tourism industry and its importance cannot be overemphasised, Isiolo County needs to engage this outfit so as to benefit from it given million memberships base, KATO is the umbrella body that brings together all tour companies in Kenya and partnering with them will be critical, it serves as a bridge between tourist and the market and since KATO members are responsible for managing their client itinerary it will be prudent if they have all the information about isiolo county’s tourism products so as to correctly advise their client and convince them why this destination is superb in terms of offering.

The county authority should also make every effort to package Isiolo as a tourism destination differently as an alternative to the often overstretched and monopolized Maasai Mara while at the same time highlighting the great developmental stride in logistics that could very easily help in connecting Isiolo to the world and facilitate the travelers to Isiolo take advantage of the recently opened Isiolo international airport.

Building of an Interactive Website
In the technology era Isiolo has no excuse not to market its tourism potential using the internet because information empowers and absence from the cyber sphere is not only undoing but embarrassing as it depicts us as inherently analogue.

We can easily let the world know about us and all that we offer, the rates and every other related information from comfort of their home just by visiting the web portal.

Product diversification
Other than only offering a single line of service this lodges and game reserves could think outside the box by enriching its menu by bringing on board cultural tourism where locals could be allowed to organize cultural activities around the camps so that the travelers could share in the experience, this way a client feels he has been accorded value for their money.

Creation of a flagship project
Isiolo county can think of creating a flagship project like the Maralal camel Derby or even Cultural festivals, this project could be done annually with possibly a week long activities that culminate in a major cultural show case involving all communities in Isiolo. We could of course think of a great trek along Ewaso Nyiro river course to explain our people’s migratory lifestyle informed by their nomadic way of life. This would allow the travelers a peep into this unique cultural phenomena, a trek that would culminate in a well organized cultural festival showcasing every aspects of our life.

THINGS THAT MAKE CO-WORKING GREAT

Affordability and convenience
This is one of the main reasons why co-working has grown in popularity. Most professionals especially the young, do not have the capital to rent and furnish a full stack office. Co-working gives them just what they want, the ability to walk in and out at their pleasure while having the ability to access the same privileges known to regular office holders at a small fee and then something more. This type of convenience is quite attractive to most people and even established professionals are beginning to take notice

Flexibility and job control
When you are a freelancer, an independent consultant, or another professional flexibility and job control may be a preference. Circumstances may require you to relocate to another city or you may travel to work with a client in another town for some time. Co-working arrangements give you the ability to tap in such flexible options without worrying about the consequences. Being able to control what, when and where you can work is a massive dose of freedom and control.

A sense of community
One of the key elements that make co-working what they are is the sense of community that grows out of the peer to peer interactions under such circumstances. There is a culture knit behind these divergent communities that creates a sense of synergy. Having a software developer, a lawyer, and engineer, and a marketer under the same roof and within arm’s reach is different from working at a traditional office staffed with only lawyers for example. The sense of belonging to a wider network of professionals offers no mean incentive.

Your network is your net worth
It’s all about people. That’s why the importance of networking ever more relevant with the ever increasing flow of information and connectivity between people, devices and things. Success in the modern working environment requires networks that spurn any one given profession and there is no better place to create networks than at the place where there are other people who also want to expand and share their networks.

Access to divergent talent pool
What you work on is important but more important is who you work with. Finding the right talent can be tasking and expensive, that is why most corporates actually outsource talent acquisition. For small businesses and start-ups for instance, a co-working environment gives access to a wide range of talent to choose from. Furthermore, you have the option to build relationships before hiring or just partnering on one off projects.

Convenience for meetings and events
As an independent consultant or a small business, getting space for meetings and conferences while operating from home can be an inconvenience on time and costs. The interesting thing about co-working is that it is accompanied by ample meeting and conference rooms so you can easily schedule meet ups, conferences and events. In addition, it gives you a flexible address for references. While co-working continues to grow, some savvy older professionals and businesses have begun taking notice and offer their team members opportunities for co-working to avoid being left out.

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

Many years ago, a friend of mine was diagnosed as “terminally ill”. He was given six months to live. His chance for recovery was 1 in 500. He could see the worry, depression and anger in his life contributed to, and perhaps helped cause, his disease. He wondered, “If illness can be caused by negativity, can wellness be created by positivity?”

He decided to make an experiment of himself. Laughter was one of the most positive activities he knew. He rented all the funny movies he could find – Keaton, Chaplin, Fields, the Marx Brothers. (This was before VCRs, so he had to rent the actual films.) He started to read book, magazines and funny stories. He asked his friends to call him whenever they said, heard or did something funny. His pain was so great he could not sleep. Laughing for 10 solid minutes, he found, relieved the pain for several hours so he could sleep.

He fully recovered from his illness and lived another more years happy, healthy and productive years. He credits visualization, the love of his family and friends, and laughter for his recovery. Some people think laughter is a waste of time. It is a luxury, they say, a frivolity, something to indulge in only every so often.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Laughter is essential to our equilibrium, to our well-being, to our aliveness. If we’re not well, laughter helps us get well; if we are well, laughter helps us stay that way. Since friends’ ground-breaking subjective work, scientific studies have shown that laughter has a curative effect on the body, the mind and the emotions. So, if you like laughter, consider it sound medical advice to indulge in it as often as you can. If you don’t like laughter, then take your medicine – laugh anyway.

Use whatever makes you laugh – movies, sitcoms, Monty Python, records, books, cartoons, jokes, friends. Give yourself permission to laugh – long and loud and out loud – whenever anything strikes you as funny. The people around you may think you’re strange, but sooner or later they’ll join in even if they don’t know what you’re laughing about. Some diseases may be contagious, but none is as contagious as the cure. . . laughter.

MOTIVATION

No one in this world is perfect. At time when chips is down people look up to their role models so as to be motivated. Often when we are on lows of life we seek something or someone who is going to inspire us. Like energy can neither be created nor destroyed, “MOTIVATION” cannot be created or destroyed.

MY BELIEVES ON MOTIVATION

I believe like “LIFE CYCLE” we also have “MOTIVATION CYCLE”. Let me give you an example– From the moment we breathe our first breath to our last breath we are always motivated. We are motivated by doctors at time of birth to cry as its sign of been healthy. After reaching few months we are motivated by parents to utter gibberish words, few months later we are motivated to crawl, and then walk without support. In later stages we are motivated to get educated, to get job, earn and have luxurious lifestyle. We can see here “MOTIVATION CYCLE” is running parallel to our life cycle. 

Motivation like goals can differ from person to person. For student scoring top grades is top priority hence he may channel his energy and get motivated to obtain top rank. For farmer to have good harvest can be key for motivation, similarly motivation differs from person to person and gradually changes by time. Channelizing concentration and energy towards right path and common motive is key to success. 

I believe all religious books are based on concept of motivation. If you don’t believe me, let me throw my Thesis to you (It is your choice to accept my thesis or not). The entire religious book believes in concept of afterlife. This concept is prime drive for people to do good works and it motivates monotheist to observe their respective religion peacefully. Without these motivation and perks of afterlife do you think people would follow old books religiously?

MOTIVATION TIPS

I would like to give tips to readers on how to be motivated. 
1) Be sure of your goals. Clear goals can make it easier to see the paths. Work hard towards goal and get motivated on every step taken while achieving this goal. 
2) Get inspired from role model but do not copy them, We lose our identity when we imitate them. Let these role models be our motivators. Do not mold to be exact replica of your role model.
3) Don’t copy goals, don’t think others  motivation will be your key to success.
4) Even smallest of smallest can inspire us and motivate us. Be humble enough to accept your motivator even if it embraces you.

Finally I would like to conclude that be positive and believe in yourself and give your best. I would like to twist famous comic quote and end here by saying “With great goals comes great Motivation”

ONE BILLION PER KM IS THE NEW STANDARD COST FOR HIGHWAYS IN KENYA

Kenyans are complaining that the proposed Mombasa-Nairobi expressway will cost KShs 1 billion per km. We have very short memory.

The 16.5 Kilometer Western bypass in Nairobi connecting Kikuyu and Ruaka is being constructed at a cost of KShs 17.3 Billion. We complained about this and nothing happened. The contractor is on the ground mobilising. The bypass is just four lanes with a design speed of 100km/hr.

A Chinese firm has also won tender for the dualling of the 31km Ruaka-Ruiru northern bypass at a cost estimated at between KShs 30 - 40 Billion as per Infrastructure CS James Macharia.

Interestingly the 70km Eastern and Northern Bypasses had a budget of KShs 8.5 Billion when they were first constructed less than ten years ago. Is the proposed dualling equal to construction of a new road or additional lanes?

The recently constructed first phase of the 11km Dongo Kundu Bypass in Mombasa cost KShs 11 Billion. Nobody even knows what the 13km Outering Road in Nairobi cost.

For those who talk about land compensation contributing to high costs, that is a separate cost since contractors do not compensate land owners.

If the six lane Mombasa-Nairobi Expressway is costing KShs 380 Billion for 466km then it might even be cheaper at KShs 815 million per km. Its design speed is 120 km/hr.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF OPERATING A BUSINESS

1.Loneliness
It’s a rarely mentioned problem of entrepreneurship, and many new business owners aren’t prepared for it until it happens. Being an entrepreneur is lonely . It’s a singular position, so you won’t have teammates to rely on (completely). You’ll be working lots of hours, so you won’t see your family as often. And your employees will be forced to remain at a bit of a distance.

2.Decision-making
Believe it or not, this is probably the most stressful challenge on this list. New entrepreneurs are forced to make hundreds of decisions a day, from big, company-impacting decisions, to tiny, hour-affecting ones. Decision fatigue is a real phenomenon , and most new entrepreneurs will experience it if they aren’t prepared for the new level of stress.

3.Being the Visionary
As the founder of your startup, you’ll be expected to come up with the ideas. When a competitor emerges, it will be your responsibility to come up with a response plan. When your team hits an impenetrable obstacle, your job will be to come up with an alternative plan to move forward. This demands on-the-spot creative thinking -- which should be an oxymoron, but entrepreneurs rarely have the luxury of time. The less experience you have, the more pressure you’ll feel from this, and the harder time you’ll have coming up with acceptable plans.

4.Rule-making
It’s fun to be the boss until you have to enforce something. Sooner or later, you’ll have to come up with the rules your business follows, from how many vacation days your workers get to what the proper protocol is when filing a complaint about a coworker. These details aren’t fun to create, and they aren’t fun to think about, but they are necessary for every business

5.Abandoning Another Career
If you’re going to dedicate yourself to starting and nurturing a business to success, it’s going to be nearly impossible to simultaneously manage another career. Walking away from a promising, steady long-term opportunity for something unpredictable is scary -- especially if you’ve never run a business before. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to address this. Just think through your decision logically, and don’t ignore your instincts.

6.Team Building
This is especially hard if you’ve never run or managed a team before, but even if you have management experience, picking the right team for a startup is stressful and difficult. It’s not enough to find candidates who fill certain roles -- you also need to consider their cost to the business, their culture fit and how they’ll work as part of your overall team. Such considerations are exceptionally hard when you’re under the pressure of filling those positions as soon as possible.

7.Financing
Experienced entrepreneurs don’t have it easy when it comes to funding a new business, but they do have a few advantages over newcomers. They might have a pool of capital from a business they previously sold or a steady stream of revenue they can use to fund a new business’s cash flow. Even if their first business went under, they’ve likely made investment contacts and client connections necessary to give them a leg up in a new enterprise.
As a new entrepreneur, you’ll be starting from scratch, which means you’ll need to start networking like crazy and thinking through all your possible funding options before landing on one.

WHY MANY SMALL BUSINESS ARE CURRENTLY EMBRACING OUTSOURCING

The business ecosystem is quickly changing. The need for a competitive edge, creativity and innovation and also highly talented and qualified personnel is an unavoidable part of business growth strategy. The SMEs are also feeling the need to keep up with the dynamics of their survival. SMEs owners need to understand better why they must move away from the traditional way of running a business to professional way of doing things. We are past the time when the sole owner of the company would single-handedly undertake business duties regardless of his/her expertise. Currently, productivity must be a top priority of any business regardless of size, age or nature. Small business must be handled as a serious investment with the expectation of better returns based on the strategies put in place.

Sustaining workforce that is required to deliver on business ever-changing environment and capacity is a challenge for many SMEs. Most of the business are forced to force the few existing staffs to overstretch to other duties they are disabled. Business owners find themselves strained that they can’t channel enough efforts towards business growth. It’s true that most small businesses remain stagnant over time due to many manageable factors. It’s upon a small business to examine itself based on strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities to maximise to its advantage. From this position, the firm can face competition, creativity/innovation, technological advancements, and market dynamics among other business elements in a better way. All this brings about the concept of outsourcing for small business. It hasn’t been fully considered by lots of small companies, but it’s a better option to go considering the current technological age and challenging operating environment. For the chunk of SMEs that haven’t thought outsourcing, this is what you need to know:

A chance to access the experts; it’s a dream for every business to incorporate highly qualified and talented personnel to drive business activities and agendas. Looking outside far away from geographical limitations, an SME owner has the chance to contract the best expert from multiple talents at disposal to fit in the specific business niche, i.e. digital marketing.

Reduced cost of business operation; One of the surest means to maximise profitability is to slice down costs. Through outsourcing, SMEs can curb down expenditures on rent, office space, equipment, employee benefits, and transport costs etc. which are necessary for physical employees. The savings from these costs can be easily be channelled towards the revenue-generating capital.

More time for focus; delegating some business duties to experts saves SME owner from multitasking which in most cases has been draining business productivity. Outsourcing will give the owner perfect time work on business growth strategies for the benefits business long-term survival. The move goes well in establishing business priorities that is customer-centred.

Reduced risks; Business risks are inevitable in any business environment which is always changing, from competition, technological advancement, market to government regulations. Through outsourcing, SMEs tends to avoid any of such associated risks as the contracted service providers manage the risks on your behalf and are better placed to prevent risks in their niche of expertise.

Accelerated efficiency; As a small business, being exempted from doing costly business mandates such as market research, marketing burden of which trickles down to customers is a reprieve for your business. From the economies of scale point of view, this gives a firm that little competitive advantage.

Increasing demand for remote working; the current entrepreneurial space is giving attention to the remote operation. Most experts and businesses are going the same direction. Many employees are also more comfortable with jobs that are flexible enough to allow remote working. It’s also upon the SMEs to embrace these changes get in touch with freelancers who are affordable, experienced and readily available to perform business duties without extra business burden on training as well as other overheads.

Having gotten some insights on why SMEs should consider outsourcing, some essential business functions that may feel easier to be handled by experts regardless of the stage of your business. It’s proving to be cost-effective and productive in the long run for startups or existing SMEs.

Bookkeeping; Multitasking hurts business productivity. Many SMEs struggle with this vital business element and end up with non updated financial records, no clear financial instruments making it even difficult to evaluate, analyse and control business performance. You can’t allow your business to continue committing such financial mistakes. It’s best to contract experienced team with the right technology to professionally handle your business financials at an affordable cost.

Payroll; Any mistake from bringing about tax audits which may be at the end costly to SME. The numerous regulations and tax laws for salaries require merely an expert with in-depth experience to curb the risks of making the costly mistakes, omissions and improper filing that may occur when the owner single-handedly run the show.

Virtual assistant; SME owner running the business solo may find him/herself strained by series of many smaller tasks that keep accumulating a lot of time. As the CEO of your business, the focus should be towards strategising for venture growth. It’s timely to higher an expert to help in administrative tasks to save time. The advantage here is that it’s less costly as the business have to pay only for hours duties were handled rather than spending more on full-time assistant which must be paid regardless of the job performed.

Digital marketing; Digital marketing is unavoidable for any business. Small business should seek the assistance of the experts on how better to go about this whole concept to achieve business productivity. Hiring digital marketing professional helps leverage digital medium that best fits the business needs within the budget standards. Some of the critical areas to check includes; social media management, content marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Email marketing and web analytics. Each of these areas has a unique contribution towards business growth when timely and adequately used.

Areas of business to outsource isn’t restricted to the few highlighted in this article. It’s upon every single company to outsource based on its weakness and goals. Comparing the cost of hiring full-time employee and outsourcing should as well be used as a guiding element towards any decision making.

WHICH KIND OF ANIMAL ARE YOU

Have you ever been told which kind of animal you’re ? Maybe when you broke something in your house, your angry mom compared you to some animal stating even that animal is well-behaved but not you. Or maybe when you scored less in your Math exam, your father compared your brain to that of an animals?

My father keeps telling me I am a Goat. I don’t blame him though. I keep doing such things to justify his saying. Like when I was small, there was this phone call for dad. My dad told me to inform the person that he was not at home. So like a good kid I told the person that my dad has told me to tell you that he is not at home right now. My father having heard this immediately got up and took the call. My mom and sister on the other hand could not control their laughter. My father joined in too and told me jokingly I was a goat. Now, do you blame him for saying me that?

It wasn’t until few days back that I finally came to know what actually GOAT means and that it turns out everybody wants to be a GOAT. It’s pretty awesome. Yeah! You heard me right. Supposedly there is this ongoing debate among the footballers of who the goat is and surprisingly they all want to be the goat. It all happened when Messi from Argentina claimed himself to be the Greatest Of All Time(GOAT). However, there came contradictions when Ronaldo from Portugal played a breathtaking match and sealed the title of goat for himself. Now come on, all my life I have been the goat. Do you think I should just tell them to back off?

I am very possessive with me being the Goat. That’s something I have earned with lot of hard work. I am glad my dad felt I could be the greatest of all time. Let me know if you have ever been called a goat or as a matter of fact any other animal which you take pride in.

WHEN YOU FORGET HOW WE SLEEP

Insomnia is something that I experience from time to time. I don’t know why it happens— even when I try to analyze the problem I don’t really see a clear cause or reason.

A way that I like to describe insomnia is that it is like your body forgot how to sleep. One night you go to bed and all of sudden you can’t fall asleep. It is like you are all prepared to go for a swim and suddenly you are standing in front of the pool and you have forgotten how to swim. You have prepared everything but why can’t you do it? Well, insomnia is just that irrational. A whole day’s of toil should exchange for a well-rested night, but instead all you get is restlessness.

Or sometimes, you are drifting into sleep but for some reason your body decides to twitch or feel the need to wake you up. Waves of sleepiness keep coming and going; for a while you are excited, “This is it! I think I’ll fall asleep”, but after while that wave disappears and you feel restless again. You toss and turn but you can’t seem to stay in one position for too long— no position seems to feels right. It is like the whole world is trying to stop you from falling asleep; neither your bed nor your body seems to want you to have your well-deserved rest. Well, no wonder you feel restless— I mean, this is so frustrating!

If you are lucky, you usually end up falling asleep without knowing how or when you did it. Regarding this I have an interesting story to share. One time when I had insomnia, I fell asleep and woke up a few hours later. As I am a light sleeper, I have the habit of sleeping with ear plugs on. I didn’t know when and how I fell asleep but when I woke up I realized that my ear plugs have fallen off. I searched frantically for them— under my pillow, around me, under my blankets. When I found them they were placed neatly on the side of my bed, which is where I usually have them when I don’t wear them. I don’t know what happened but I must have taken them off subconsciously. I have already fallen asleep but I can still take off my ear plugs. Sleep is weird in the sense that some part of your brain needs it but the rest can still function. I guess that is why we have dreams.

FEAR OR BRAVERY

In the modern society, bravery seems to be defined as the absence of fear. A synonym of fearlessness. That when someone is faced with the choice to run away with terror or run head on with courage, they choose courage. It’s in almost every movie and storybook that allows our minds to escape our dull daily lives.

The story is simple. The superhero starts off ordinary. Then they find out they are anything but ordinary. They have special powers that they decide to use for good. A villain comes around, someone who uses their powers for evil, and starts to wreak havoc on the citizens of the world. The superhero must then decide to run away with fear, or run head on with courage. They ultimately decide to face the villain and they win. The superhero is then considered brave and courageous.

But this definition of bravery being fearlessness is flawed. It is impossible to live through life without any fear. Fear is a constant storm that rages in our minds. It never ceases to exist so we must build a shelter to protect ourselves from its wrath. The shelter we build with our hope and strength, however, it’s only temporary. The storm of fear thrashes against it with raining bullets and thunderous punches. It shatters windows with its piercing screams and rams it with howling winds. It’s the temper tantrum of fear that desecrates the walls that we surround ourselves with. We can either let the fear take over our lives, or decide to be brave. To be brave despite the fright and keep building the shelter to protect us from the storm. The storm that is always there, but doesn’t always have to win.

Being brave is exhausting, it is the constant upkeep of our shelter. When someone is fighting a battle there is physical exhaustion of course, but the mental exhaustion is what gets them in the end. The constant battle against fear with the tireless effort to build up the walls that fear tears down. The terror will never go away, so why does society think that being brave means to be without fear?

Being brave doesn’t mean you don’t fear anything. Being brave means that even though you are entirely and absolutely filled with fear, doubt, uncertainty, and terror, you still decide to act with blind courage because there is something more important to you than those fears.

When you have a terminal illness you fear death, but life is more important. When you face depression you fear life, but happiness is more important. When you charge into battle you fear a brutal death, but protecting your people and values are more important. When you have fear, something is always more important.

I won’t be the last to say it, or the last time you think of it, but it is completely and utterly okay to be afraid. It is okay to fear because bravery is not easy. It is not as simple as one would like to believe. It may come more naturally to some than others, but that doesn’t mean that it is not possible for someone to be brave. Do not think for a second that you are not capable of being brave.

You have the ability to be a superhero, just look a little closer at the story of your life. You are led to believe that you are ordinary, but you are anything but ordinary. You have hidden special powers that you can decide to use for good. You have villains that try to destroy your world. You have the choice to run away in fear, or run head on with courage. You can defeat the villain and save your world. You can be brave and courageous.

We all have the capability to fear and conquer those fears. “It’s all in your head” is what they say about fear, but “it’s all in your heart” is what they should say instead about bravery.  Because bravery is not to be without fear, but to decide what is more important: fear or bravery.

HOW WE GET ADDICTED TO APPS

If you’ve ever owned a smartphone, these stages of becoming addicted to an app might sound a bit too familiar. If at any time while you’re reading this you find yourself relating to one at the present moment, please proceed to stage 8 for the sake of your wallet, time, and sanity.

Stages:
1. Sounds interesting, I’ll download it.
You’ve been browsing through the app store for 10 minutes now, wondering when your pizza that’s in the oven will be done yet. You stumble across a fun looking game with cute cartoons and a high user rating. You look up to the oven clock. It reads: “9:00”. You think, might as well. You download the app to make the time pass.

2. I like playing this game, every once in a while. During every break at work, as you browse through your phone, you may open it a few times and play it a bit. You will leave and come back to it periodically, trying not to ruin the app’s fun-meter by playing it too often.

3. This game is my life.
Every second you can spare is put into this game. You have become invested in how the game ends up and the competitiveness in you begins to gradually rise. You have to get to the next level. You have to beat this game. You can’t waste time eating anymore, the game is too important.

4. I’m considering the in-app purchases.
To make this game go faster and to get those cool upgrades, you will consider buying the in-app purchases. You will try to convince yourself that this purchase is worth it because “it’s only a few dollars”, but your inner conscious wins you over and you avoid purchasing anything.

5. I’m gonna get the in-app purchase.
You ignore your inner conscious and purchase a cool upgrade.

6. No sleep, just play.
Now that you have put real money into this game, you cannot lose this game or give up on it. You must put all your time and energy into it. There is no more time for you to sleep because you spend every waking hour playing this game.

7. I’m bored now, I’ve practically beat the game. You’ve finally played this game for a solid month without stopping. You have beat the game. Now you are bored with it and begin to forget that it is still on your phone because there is no sense opening up the game that you have already beat.

8. Delete it.
It’s now been five weeks since you last opened the app, you have finally decided that it’s time to delete it off of your phone to save space. You have a final moment of sentimentality before removing it forever…only to download the second version.

KENYAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD SET UP A SOVEREIGN FUND FOR FUTURE GENERATION

The rate at which the government has been borrowing amounts to defrauding future generations. The government should set up a sovereign wealth fund to protect future generations. The initial fund target amount should be KShs 500 billion. This can be raised as follows;

1. Setting aside 5% of government revenues for the next five years would yield at least KShs 350 Billion
2. Selling 20% of government's shareholding in Safaricom would yield KShs 230 Billion at the current share price.

The above would amount to KShs 580 Billion shillings.

Other ways of funding the kitty would include the following
1. Income from revenue on Unclaimed Financial Assets
2. Dividends from government investment in private firms
3. Privatization of entities such as Kenya Pipeline, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Airports Authority, National Oil Corporation etc
4. Royalties from petroleum and minerals
5. Revenue from special purpose funds such as Railway Development Levy etc

The Sovereign fund should then be invested in government securities such as T-Bills and bonds. This would ensure that part of interest paid on debts is earned by current and future generations.
It would also reduce the government's borrowing from commercial banks hence paving way for lower interest rates. Besides it would help stem the tide of predatory lending by foreign financiers.

WHO IS HAPPY

Part 1:
She completed her graduation in commerce,well, that was the easiest thing that her parents wanted from her, now they can find a suitable boy for her, for whom she can cook for her entire life, from whatever she had learned in her graduation. She had no choice earlier to chose a different field, she was in no position to chose science,  her grades ensured that fact, though, she was good in English and literature, and she might have taken arts. But, arts is for those who have very poor grades and who have no choice left.

Her parents wanted her to take commerce, as it was the typical degree for the bio-data. And they were right, she finally got married, and not because of the degree, though the degree was needed to tell the relatives that their daughter is educated, but she actually got married because she looked pretty enough for the boy, and also the boy’s family thought that she could serve their family and keep its name for years to come.
Everyone was happy when the marriage was happening, all was good.

A few years after the marriage, her husband was shouting at her badly, she was crying. She accidentally caught him talking to some girl earlier, and hence he was shouting to defend himself, actually there was nothing left to defend. She informed her parents about it and they said it is your own matter, deal with it.

Part 2:
He cleared his college, the marks were not good. Actually he was never really interested in studies. Not even a single subject gathered his interest. But he passed, as he was not so dumb. He knew how to score with the minimum resources.
His parents never really worried, they never bothered about his grades, they had enough money. After a few years, they chose a girl for him, she was nice looking, and within a few months he got married.

He was a good dancer though, but he never really thought of it as a career. After marriage he was finding trouble to open up with his wife, as he still was not sure about his own life, also, her wife also was not bothered.
He never really wanted to marry, but his parents were forcing him, and he never had the courage to go against them.

One day when he went for his dance class, he saw a girl, she was dancing beautifully. The teacher introduced them with each other. They started meeting daily, in and out of the class. And soon, they fell for each other. When he was talking to her on the phone his wife caught him.

Part 3:
They both kept fighting for days, and one day they finally shared the truth with each other. They admitted the fact that both of them never really wanted the marriage.
But then who wanted it?
Of course their parents.
But why?
For their happiness obviously.
But who was happy?
No one.

They thought about it and finally got divorced.
Their parents were not supportive. They had ego issues, because if they wanted their happiness then they would have supported them. But their ego surpassed the love by just a little margin, but that was enough for them to lose their minds.
Both of them went in different directions of their own.

What happened next?
It doesn’t matter, whatever happens, it is life, but further on whatever decision they will take will be their own, that doesn’t mean that they will not consider their parents, but by taking decisions only will they learn and grow. And they will be happy even if they don’t succeed because they will be doing what they want.
And ultimately the parents will be happy seeing their children happy….

WHY YOUTHS NEED SURETY OF SUCCESSFUL FUTURE IN AGRIBUSINESS

Youths have been targeted and identified as a critical player towards agricultural transformation. Significant efforts are bending towards attracting this section of the population due to their potentials and abilities. In many regions, the campaign has been dubbed Agribusiness, making agriculture `cool` among many other lucrative languages to change the general attitude of the youths towards agripreneurship. In developing economies, the population is rapidly growing translating to the need to live up to the demands of the many mouths to feed. Food security, proper nutrition, economic empowerment, job creation are some of the top agendas that are driven by various governments to be spearheaded by the youths.

From various research, the average age of farmers is dominated mainly by aging population who are becoming unproductive every day and lack the necessary skills and abilities to cope with the agricultural advancements. The youths, therefore, have been under significant pressure from all quarters to replace the aging generation and feed the nation and having a better way of dealing with the massive unemployment rate. Many will agree that it is a noble course but the young generation aren’t going to blindly replace their aging parents without surety of prosperous future and proper structures or policies that to empower them with knowledge or tools in agribusiness to realize their dreams. From this angle, it is becoming more evident on the direction to take to drive more youths to farm and need to address the very many bottlenecks that have continuously frustrated and thrown out many young people from farming.

In many cases, efforts are shifting towards challenging the youths to embrace agriculture, but little concern has been deployed to listen to the frustrations many young farmers have encountered in their agribusiness careers plus the challenges that keep scaring away many young and hopeful farmers from embracing agribusiness.

WHO AM I

It was 2.30 in the morning when I suddenly woke up. I went to the washroom and as I was about to close the door of the washroom I saw someone looking at me from inside the mirror.

I know it sounds silly, because mirror will show only me and there was no one else but there was someone with whom I have never met before. He looked like me but his face displayed no fear at all. It appeared like he was trying to tell me something but I didn’t know what.

It was the scariest moment of my life. And it was a big realization too. And I was not able to sleep the whole night wondering about who am I? Was I the person looking in the mirror or was I the person who was inside the mirror?

But the more important question was can i ever become that man in the mirror? Can I ever be that fearless?

And finally I was left with just one question..

Can I ever be myself?