The post Easy Ways to Clean your Stained Iron appeared first on T-hub.
]]>As your dress shirts or gowns appear crusty, your iron might even appear the worse for wears over time. Therefore it is important to always ensure that ones iron is as clean the clothes themselves. We have at some point in our lives been embarrassed and humiliated by a stained iron ruining clothes we have prepared to wear to important events, which in most cases resulting into making emergency decisions on what else to wear or having to cancel attendance to such events. Below are simple techniques on how to get rid of mineral spots on the iron plate and cleans out caked steam vents.
First, there are few things you need to consider to get started in addition to guidelines and tips suggested below.
Here is a list of items required to get started:
Iron, flat surface, cotton, clean cloth, baking soda, water, damp cloth, spatula, distilled water.
While the above items have been provided, the following steps should be use to remove stains from your iron:
1. Mix baking soda with water
Mix 1 tablespoon of water with 2 tablespoons baking soda to make a paste.
2. Apply the paste to the iron
Using a spatula to apply the paste on the iron’s plate to effectively coat the areas that have mineral stain.
3. Wipe iron clean
Wipe off the paste with a damp cloth.
Pour out any stagnant water left in the iron.
5. Re-fill the reservoir
Pour distilled water into the reservoir until the its one third full.
Tip: For a more effective solution, mix 1/4 cup white vinegar with 3/4 cup of water.
6. Turn on the steam
Switch on the iron to its highest heat level and steam-iron a clean cloth for few minutes to let clean water possibly flush out any vent deposits.
7. Pour out the liquid
Turn off the iron and discard any remaining water. Place the iron on a surface that is not too fragile, in case any sediment drips out of it.
Tip: Ensure you empty the iron’s reservoir after every use to prevent mineral deposits from building up.
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]]>The post How to stop kitchen fires appeared first on T-hub.
]]>When fire starts in the kitchen or any part of you house, there is always need to act really fast to get the fire from going wild or spreading. But how you act depends on the kind of fire you have and its location. The first step to addressing fire outbreak is to identify the source of fire and kill it off. For example, a fire whose source is from a electrical appliance or wiring can be best fought by immediately putting off the power source to such appliance before trying to salvage the fire. Otherwise, the fire will not abate and the risk of harm could be high.
The following list of instructions could be use to stop fire outbreak in your kitchen:
It is our hope that these safety tips will be useful to you and do well by following T-hub for more informative tips and updates or subscribe to our newsletter.
Should you need any help with home appliances fixes or repairs, cleaning assistance and other artisans and/or professionals to handle some quick fixes for you, do not hesitate to contact us or send us an email at info@t-hub.com
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]]>The post What does T-hub do to your business? appeared first on T-hub.
]]>Obvious she came to the right place where she will get the best solutions!
Right away, we contacted three of our registered artisans (in line with the woman’s specifications) who stay close to her location and linked them up with this lady. This was on a Thursday. The information, which reached us eventually was that this lady wanted them to come early on a Saturday morning to start and finish the job for her. The following Saturday, our artisans followed her instructions and the work was done and dusted in good time. This lady (name withheld) called us later to thank us for the quality of the services she received. She was very grateful.
T-hub stands for Transaction Hub. We are an online service company that connects customers to top artisans and professionals around them who can provide the service they need. Primarily, we do business listings on our website. Artisans and professionals pay to have their businesses listed on our website. But we are not just a business directory website. The business model goes beyond that. T-hub lists your business and also advertises your business across several social media and advertising platforms.
Apart from that, we also contact our clients when we have customers who need their services at stated locations. This means that we also act as a bridge between a business and a prospective customer. We do our best to ensure compliance with agreement entered into by both parties and beyond complying with service level agreements, we ultimately ensure that the expectations of our customers are meet and even surpassed.
With t-hub, your business reach is expanded, your customer base grows and your online presence are felt. As stated earlier, it is not just a business directory but a platform that connect business owner, professionals and artisans with consumers of their services.
T-tub works with all kinds of businesses but we are particularly focused on Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs). We have a database of over two million services, which we are capable of rendering along with hundreds of artisans and professionals for each service across thousands of specific locations.
Watch those numbers carefully. It’s no joke!
At T-hub we aim at satisfying our clients who provide the service directly and the customers who request for services. It’s a bi-directional customer satisfaction that ensures that all parties are happy at the end!
-If all our services were in a book it would have a million pages #businessdayCEOFORUM2017 #BusinessNews #SME #Trendinghttps://t.co/c7qdr4mSJS – Your One Stop Service Portal pic.twitter.com/Qrb3SNJzyp
— t-hub.com.ng (@TransactionHub) December 7, 2017
Food delivery, catering services, house chefs
Visit https://t.co/c7qdr4mSJS now or call us 07037778518, 08148533331 pic.twitter.com/PyEMplFPvG— t-hub.com.ng (@TransactionHub) December 4, 2017
Get a little bit of everything with https://t.co/c7qdr4mSJS
Your one stop shop for services at your location#ShopriteBlackFriday #LagosDigitalSummit #ShieldNaija #BestBuyBlackFriday #Trending #ThursdayThoughts #BusinessNews pic.twitter.com/vcbU1ofwU9— t-hub.com.ng (@TransactionHub) November 23, 2017
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]]>The post Organic Digital Marketing (Part II) appeared first on T-hub.
]]>Most people make a lot of noise about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Don’t get me wrong, it’s very relevant. But the truth is that sponsored content always have an advantage in search engine results. There is a point a lot of people never stress in Organic Digital Marketing. It’s called Networking.
Building a strong network is central to your SEO strategy. In addition to your SEO tactics, it is very important to build a network of people to whom you advertise directly. Putting out content on the web and using the right keywords is only the first step. There is also the need to get those content to the right audience who need them. Besides, when you write on your blog or advertise your product on your website, what are the chances that people will search keywords that will bring them to your website if there is no previous awareness or engagement on your brand? What are also the chances that the trending searches/topics on social media or trending keywords on search engines (which you may have observed from your analytics) are going to correspond with your own content? These are the kind of questions that put SEO in doubt sometimes.
It is therefore important to identify your audience and build the a network of the right people to engage with. The network could includes your clients, potential customers and even competitors. With this kind of strategy, you create a niche within which your business has a stronghold. Creating this network properly would depend on how well you approach the first point in part 1; targeting. After identifying the right people for your network, you have to reach out and connect with them. You could tag them in your posts or tweets and even send some of your ads to them directly in a DM (Direct Message). You don’t have to create a group on social media specifically for the people in this network (although that could be helpful). What’s important is that you identify them and form a bond. You could engage them using email newsletters where you could notify them of new content on your website, product launch, special offers, changes and other information that would be required to adequately engage them and possibly drive sale, brand awareness/acceptance. This kind of mentality makes organic digital marketing a psychological process because to some extent, it involves studying human behaviour.
It’s good to also have a filter in mind to spot the right people. Your filter could involve things like this:
Using a filter similar to the above stated is helpful in targeting specific categories of people who can develop your online presence by their reactions to your content and others who can become your customers.
Growing your network is a painstaking process. You have to be patient and selective in order to grow slowly right from the bottom up to the very top.
This need for quality content cannot be overemphasized. Writing content, design and concepts are the framework for your organic digital marketing. Images and videos first of all, are very powerful in digital marketing but your concept and message are even more potent. These things are the life wire of your digital marketing work.
Your content must be designed to suit the ‘way of things’ in that particular social media platform. It is always good if it keeps up with trends as well since that always comes with a huge wave. Whether it is an article, tweet, facebook post or instagram picture, your content needs to be simple, precise and it could always do with a touch of humour. If you don’t have some, do something about it.
Good content on social media always have a harmony between image and text or image and audio as the case may be. Your images need to be striking. Most times that’s what brings people to read your text in the first place. People need to get the concept behind your advertising or else it is useless.
Also, in order to build a strong social media presence it is good to comment and post other things that might not be exactly related to your work. For example, trending events. It’s good to put out positive opinion on other social matters in order to endear people more towards your brand. Spot other industries and interests that people in your network have in common and post things along those lines. It helps to expand your network and strengthen the bond/engagement.
Your content on your website and social media platforms needs to be regular and engaging. Sometimes brands do things like a quiz or an opinion poll. Many businesses also have a blog column on their website where they post articles. Some companies like Ueno, a digital design company also have a gallery for displaying images on their website; images that are not even theirs. There is no limit to what can be a part of your content. All these things keep the audience engaged in various ways and increase your traffic rate. With proper and regular content, organic digital marketing has no boundaries.
People think organic digital marketing is different from paid digital marketing because one is free and the other isn’t. That’s not only wrong, it shows a lack of understand. This very point is one of the defining lines between organic and paid marketing.
For a successful organic digital marketing campaign, you have to maintain consistent correspondence with customers and people in your network. This encompasses direct emails, direct messaging on social media, phone calls, SMS, feedback and instant messaging systems for websites. Now, while paid marketing strategies all use these things, it is more natural in organic marketing. The approach to keeping consistent correspondence in organic digital marketing is ‘customer-centric’. This means that the correspondence is geared towards forging a strong business-to-customer relationship and not just gaining sales leads.
A good organic marketing campaign should always make room for suggestions by customers on social media. E-mails sent to clients have to be personal and not just bulk mails which people would generally consider as spam. The idea is to respond to the customer directly with phone calls and messages in a style that is engaging for the client. Sometimes for organic digital marketing to be efficient, it is necessary to be more casual and less professional in keeping correspondence with clients.
Customer service here goes beyond waiting to attend to enquiries and resolve issues. It involves going forward to keep the customer informed and ensuring positive customer experience in using your online services.
So far, one important thing you can note is that organic digital marketing is not so far from the marketing a regular trader a marketplace does. It’s as natural but more digital.
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]]>The post Organic Digital Marketing (Part I) appeared first on T-hub.
]]>I found what Amstel Malta did to be a big organic digital marketing tactic. That thread converted impressions into instant engagement and it created a lot of buzz around the Amstel Malta brand.
With this, I’ll go into defining what organic digital marketing is. Some people call it inbound marketing and some others hold on to an older name, Customer-to-business marketing. But I prefer to call it organic digital marketing because it captures the essence perfectly. Organic digital marketing is the opposite of paid marketing or advertising. It therefore involves all other measures which exclude paid marketing.
You must be familiar with or at least you must have seen Google Adwords , Facebook Ads, Bing Ads and similar things. These are paid marketing tools. Social media platforms and Search Engines are paid to bring your business or whatever adverts you want in front of a larger audience. Sometimes this is known as promoted content (like on Twitter) or sponsored content. Some experts call this an artificial way of marketing because it is majorly commercial and non-personal. Paid marketing however works for big businesses and services which are bound to have a customer base as large as possible. For smaller businesses however it is not always the way to go.
Organic digital marketing is a natural, personal and interactive approach to digital marketing. It’s not like paid marketing where companies want to run massive campaigns and keep throwing out colourful images and videos on people’s faces. A good organic digital marketing campaign aims at not just gaining leads or clicks on the website but building a strong network. In organic digital marketing your customers are not fans, they are partners. Organically marketing your business online keeps customers engaged and informed and it ensures that your followers are real, in every sense of the word.
“In organic digital marketing your customers are not fans, they are partners”
I wouldn’t like to exalt any particular strategy as the best way of going about your organic digital marketing but there are certain procedures which must be present. We’ll be considering them below. And by the way, ODM stands for Organic Digital Marketing just in case you’re still trying to figure it out.
Now, like I said before, paid marketing works for big businesses. Businesses such as online shopping platforms have their ads on every nook and cranny of the internet because it is important for their kind of business. They need to make sure that their ads can pop up in front of every possible internet user so that a customer anywhere can easily decide to buy something. In organic digital marketing the opposite is the case. Organic digital marketing uses something called ‘targeting’ to get to a desired audience. Depending on your kind of business it is sometimes better to target and reach out to a specific audience.
A lady for instance who runs a small business as a baker shouldn’t just jump into paying Facebook and Google for sponsored ads. At the end of the day she might have some returns and she might get more customers but it may not really match up to all the money she has spent on advertising. But by targeting a specific audience of pastry lovers through organic marketing, she can slowly grow and maintain a clientele base of people who really like her kind of service and would more readily patronise her business especially if indeed she is a good baker. By targeting, she will tailor her images, videos and her entire advertising content towards this audience, she will speak with customers a lot on the phone, she will maintain correspondence with her customers in a friendly manner and will keep reshaping her business to her customer’s tastes. Big companies can’t afford to reshape their services because of a few customers but small businesses can. The lady in our case study for example can decide to start baking coconut cakes because of the requests of as little as five customers.
In order to target a certain audience you must look out for a certain kind of people on social media. You can send them friend requests or follow them and have them follow you back depending on the social platform. The important thing to search specifically for your potential customers. You have to identify them. Either by their own posts or tweets or their likes or engagements or feeds and so on. You have to spot them and reach out to them. Another good way of targeting is by using the right hashtags. With the right hashtags (especially the trending ones) you can spot other people on social media who are talking about things related to your marketing content. With this you can easily spot your potential customers and you can even identify competitors, but that’s not our concern for now.
Targeting is the first step to growing a business organically. Targeting takes you to the next step which is Networking…………
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]]>The post Startups and the Nigerian Business Revolution appeared first on T-hub.
]]>One funny thing however is that when we speak about revenue in this country, a lot of people’s minds spontaneously drift to crude oil completely oblivious of the fact that Nigeria is currently experiencing its all-time low in the oil market. Reports from Bloomberg show that Asian investors are becoming more interested in American crude oil in recent times. The Economy Alert GDP report from PwC in March this year showed that the oil sector contributed to only 8.4% of the GDP. The massive fall of oil prices in 2015 along with other internal problems of poor regulation, vandalism and logistic irregularities have blighted the oil sector seriously. It is true however that crude oil remains Nigeria’s major source of fiscal and export revenue but from a broader perspective, startups are taking up the reins of the Nigerian economy.
I was reading an article last week by the business.com editorial staff on how the period between 1977 and 1995 proved to be a turning point for the US economy and ultimately shaped the world we have today. This was a period which witnessed the ‘big bang’ of several technological ideas from academia; the likes of Stanford and MIT and also the rise of tech giants from the creeks of Utah, New Mexico and Silicon Valley. We are talking about Apple (Silicon Valley), Microsoft (New Mexico), Oracle (Silicon Valley) and Novell (Utah). The article even went on to mention that 300 people became millionaires as soon as Apple went public; something I found really incredible. For those who know, what I’m about to say is very obvious. We are indeed witnessing the signs of a revolutionary economic shift in the Nigeria economy.
As of now, the focus is moving away rapidly from the government and the already established and long standing businesses. This is happening for several reasons. The government and the big companies we see published in stock market charts in the newspapers cannot handle the ever-growing yearn for employment. Thousands of young people graduate each year from the countless number of universities in the country and the rate of unemployment is on a constant upsurge. A vast majority of the population -millennials- are becoming increasingly disinterested in government positions or as we say here in Nigeria ‘the national cake’. With the high number of businesses going online and the pace of digital payment facilities, more and more Nigerian citizens are becoming entrepreneurial-minded.
I will go over now to citing examples of individuals who are facilitating this change as further proof of the already very obvious. I’m a big fan of Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, co-founder of Andela and founder and Managing Director of Flutterwave. Iyinoluwa who co-founded Andela with Jeremy Johnson left the talent accelerator to found Flutterwave along with a team of ex-bankers and entrepreneurs. With their APIs (Application Programming Interface) Flutterwave is changing the payment structure in Africa and empowering the digital economy across the continent. Iyinoluwa who is only 26 years of age was nominated for the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30. Along with him on the list of nominees are other Nigerians Edikan Udiong, Founder of Oleander House, an online health shop and Shakeela Tolasade Williams, Founder of Sade Hair who both left their jobs in banks to become entrepreneurs. We can also talk about the likes of Chris Kwekowe, Founder of Slatecube who was all over the media for turning down an offer from Microsoft, Shola Akinlade, Co-Founder and CEO of Paystack and Jason Njoku, Founder and CEO of Iroko TV; our very own Netflix.
The list could still grow longer if you mention the likes of Ezra Oviosu, founder of Paga, Sim Shagaya, founder of Konga. Also, you can’t forget Uche Eze, founder Bellanaija and another blogging mogul Noble Igwe, founder of 360nobs. Right now there are hundreds of companies providing services in digital products design and there are several digital marketing agencies; a sector which is breaking new grounds. Lots of Nigerian youth have become popular online influencers and are helping startups get to their target audience and increasing their social media presence day by day. On the internet we see so many online shopping platforms, business directories, online service companies and even online rental agencies. Within these categories we can mention the likes of vconnect.com, tolet.com.ng, t-hub.com.ng and oxleyconsults.com.ng
You must have also come across many online tutorials and web hosting companies by Nigerian entrepreneurs. There are thousands of blogs owned privately by Nigerians who are making some ‘extra change’ off blogging and advertising platforms. It’s almost like a whole new business utopia is opening up. Ideas and new business concepts are springing up everywhere and there has never been a better illustration of the expression, ‘money changing hands’. The streets of Lagos are clogged with traffic but buzzing with ideas.
The streets of Lagos are clogged with traffic but buzzing with ideas
Of course Amy Jadesimi predicted this in her article for Forbes in 2015 titled ‘The Changing Face of Business In Nigeria’ but she was speaking plainly based on analytics of the innovation in the telecommunication and entertainment sector and the diversification in the economy. The change we are talking about now is much more individualistic, rampant and rapid. It is a change involving a new crop of young and tech-driven entrepreneurs. We are not speaking about the Dangotes, the Adenugas, Otedolas and Elumelus.
No doubt there is a ‘new wave’ in Nigeria. A lot of eyes across the world were opened to this when Mark Zuckerberg visited some tech hubs in ‘Yabacon Valley’ and on the Lagos Island last year. There is a frenzy in the Nigerian world of startups and that could be a good thing. The benefits of an economy driven by many startups are numerous; massive employment, wealth creation and foreign investment being some of the major ones. We could liken this revolution in the Nigerian economy to the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. If startups truly take up the reins, the horse is about to go much faster. We will certainly witness a huge empowerment of the middle class in society and a general increase in the standard of living but we will also witness an economic system so fast that those who can’t step on the accelerator will be sidelined.
Let’s watch where this wave will take us. Hopefully we will not hit the rocks. But one thing is certain; a revolution has indeed begun.
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]]>The post The Business Model For All Your Services! appeared first on T-hub.
]]>Yesterday my boss and I were talking about the Yellow Pages and how they were very helpful back then when he travelled to the United States. For those of you who go in and out of the US the same way some of us jump in and out of Lagos buses, you would be very familiar with the Yellow Pages as well. It’s a telephone directory for businesses across the area which although started in the US has been adopted by many other countries like the UK and Canada. The idea was a brilliant one, the Walking Fingers, as it is also called, helped link people to businesses close to them especially if they were new to the area.
But think about a business model that can go a step further. Several other internet platforms even in Nigeria adopted the ‘Yellow Pages’ concept. That’s nice but what happens if the services are not properly rendered after the client has contacted the business? What happens if the client wants to be assured of the quality of services he is going to get? Isn’t it rather a ‘long-distance relationship’ between the directory and the potential client if it all ends at just providing the contacts to the business?
NOT JUST ANY PLATFORM
Here is a business model that answers those questions; t-hub.com.ng. T-hub goes beyond a platform that connects people to businesses. It’s not a bunch of yellow pages. It’s not just a stack of service providers waiting to be connected to people so that they can simply offer services, and even worse, poor services. T-hub is a community; a service ecosystem that brings services to your door step with a characteristic quickness and efficiency. The Transaction Hub, which is the full name by the way, is an online hub for getting any kind of service. I know what you’re thinking – any kind of service? – Yes! Any kind of service so long as it is not illegal of course.
T-hub goes beyond a platform that connects people to businesses. It’s not a bunch of yellow pages.
THE FRONTIER OF SERVICE PROVIDING
With the growth of startups in Nigeria on the rise, T-hub is the umbrella covering them all. Do you need a mechanic to fix your car which just broke down on a long trip? Call T-hub. Do you want to get connected to services from the best beauty product companies in the country? Visit t-hub.com.ng. Do you need a plumber, carpenter, electrician, shipping agent, dry cleaner, graphic designer and even a programmer to run some algorithms for your digital products? Just visit t-hub.com.ng now and get it all in no time.
Service Providers Near You – that’s the motto!
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]]>The post How To Get Rid Of Rats In Your Home appeared first on T-hub.
]]>Rats finding your home as their dwelling place is no laughing matter. They are small rodents that can be found everywhere in the world. They can be dangerous because they carry diseases and parasites. Their strong teeth allow them chew through almost anything. Rats are scavengers. They have good sense of taste and can identify certain substances including rat poisons after just a tiny taste of it.
Signs of Rat in your home
Sounds Noise produced by scurrying rat
Gnaw Marks Rats needs to gnaw and chew on wood, plastic and other hard surfaces in order to keep their teeth chiseled down.
Droppings Rats produce a lot of feces and that’s a surefire way to spot them.
Four Odor Rats have a reputation as dirty with unpleasant odor.
4 Ways to get rid of Rats
Glue board
2. Get a cat: Cats are great hunters and natural rat predators. Remember a cat will not be able to catch rat that is in holes, ceiling or tightly hidden places.
3. Rat Poison: This option should be used only in areas where domestic animals and children can’t access to prevent accidental poisoning. Most rat poison contain warfarin, which causes internal bleeding and other drugs that kills rats, but can also be harmful to pets and humans.
Be aware that rat poison does not kill rat instantly, it can take up to a week to kill the rat.
4. Cover All Holes and Openings Around Your House: Rats easily gain entry to your home through uncovered holes and openings leading to outside of your home. As such, the most effective way of getting your home free from rats is to plug those holes and openings.
5. Professional Exterminator: Click here to find professionals or call t-hub hotline +2347037778518 for professional help.
PREVENTION
Call a Professional exterminator now on (0)7037778518, or check Now
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]]>The post Networking Your Skills appeared first on T-hub.
]]>Why should you develop a skill only to keep it bottled up in you. Networking your skills allows more and more opportunities come your way. There are several people in need of what you possess and find it quite difficult to come by but exposing yourself makes them prospective clients. And if you are good at what you do, imagine the endless opportunity you will create through their own network.
Network your skills as the most effective ways to build relationships. Relationships are essential for the success of any business. Imagine building a base of faithful customers who will always think of you first because they know in their finger tips what you capable of doing. But if you don’t bring yourself out, how will they become a customer in the first place or even build a relationship with you. Look back at successful stories of individuals and understand how they used relationships to their advantage. Don’t be part of those that think that hooding information/knowledge will make them more competitive or successful than others. Knowledge/information not shared is as useless as the information/knowledge itself. More so, how would one know that you can do something if you cannot demonstrate that you can do such.
You should understand that every organization you work for expects you to network even if it is not stated in your work contract.
Networking allows you to understand things in the market that you may not necessarily know by mere sitting behind the desk. It also allows you to know the competition outside and know the tools to win your potential clients over.
DO YOU KNOW that many jobs are not advertised. Yes, even by top organizations.
You may begin to wonder how Mr. A got a job in a top organization without any advertisement in the paper or online. That goes to show you the power of networking.
So, advertising yourself to the right individuals can actually take you places you wouldn’t be able to go ordinarily… Put yourself out there and let your skills be known and you may be on your way up and get into that next position that your desire.
Opportunities don’t come knocking at your door if you aren’t known and ready for it. Opportunities comes to those who network. Meet the right people and more doors will be opened to boundless opportunities. Be in the right network and circle of people that can propel your career to the next level. It all comes through networking and letting people that matter know about your skills and capabilities.
Do it right this time and note that opportunity lost may never be regained
To learn more about networking your skills, visit- http://t-hub.com.ng
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