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What does it mean to be proactive? It is the power to choose whether to respond to a stimulus or not. If you’re the type that respond to every stimuli, then you’re reactive. Being reactive means you’re affected by everything and anything around you.

Being proactive, on the hand, means you choose how things, situations, and events will affect you. Here’s how you can develop a proactive business mind;

1. When the exchange rate of the US Dollar against the Naira is high (like it is today), you should not just join everyone else in asking for a better government reform and complaining bitterly; you can actually take advantage of it and reposition your business towards the EXPORT market. This high exchange rate means you gain more Naira when you sell in US Dollar, and it also means you can afford more things locally with your increased spending power as a result of higher earnings. Exporting is not just tangible goods, you can export your service/talent over emails and other places online.

Alternatively, you can use the US Dollar you earned to import stuffs that are demand (if you’re into that kind of thing).

2. When the exchange rate of the US Dollar against the Naira is low (like it was in the past couple of years), you should identify things that are expensive locally and look in the international market where you can get then cheaper; that means repositioning your business towards IMPORT opportunities. Cheaper US Dollars also means you can afford to hire the best service provider for your logo design or website, or print your bulk t-shirts in China instead of locally.

So, it does not matter who is in government if you really know how to succeed; unless your business IS the government. Now that you know, how you live your life looking forward is up to you; because “between stimulus and response is the power to CHOOSE.”

Til next time.