GuysNetwork 2nd Newsletter

GuysNetwork 2nd Newsletter 

Connecting People with Opportunities

Contents

·         Dedication

·         Overview

·         What Was

·         What Is

·         What We Discussed

·         What Should Be

·         Reinvention

·         Membership (1)

·         Requirements

·         Creating a New and Different Environment

·         Digital Space

·         What’s the Mission

·         Mission Statement

·         What’s the Vision

·         Vision Statement

·         Tag Line – Connecting people with opportunities

·         Next/Subsequent Conferences

·         Membership (2)

·         Positions/Roles

·         Newsletter

·         Charity

·         Final Thoughts

Dedication

For readers, thinkers, and doers, those who want to move forward.

Overview

Thanks for opening the document. You might have been expecting this newsletter for months. I believe this is the right time to share it, anyways. With GuysNetwork, it has been two wonderful years. Two years of holding events and communicating even with blur images of what lies ahead. That’s tenacity! Thanks for your belief, confidence, and hope.

However, GuysNetwork is taking an entirely new path. I’ve thought hard about this for months. We can’t just have a 13 member group of URP students and say we are a network. In two years’ time, we will only be an Alumni network, not GuysNetwork.

This newsletter will give you a glimpse into the future. Just before the future is revealed, keep reading through the information contained in this newsletter. Everything you need to know is well-outlined here. If you need more information however, you can always reach out to +2348136830824 or email timmylehyn@gmail.com.

What Was

The grand design was to bring people who were good friends or at least good mutual friends together. The focus was to bring hardworking, hard-thinking guys together to have some fun outside of their energetic routine.

We had a great event on 22^nd December, 2017. We knew we couldn’t continue that way. For these great guys to be involved, something different had to happen. At subsequent events, we tried to make GN more of a brain base where we could share ideas, have fun, and learn from each person’s experience and counsel. To me, it has been a beautiful journey with you guys – Demola, Jide, Kay, Kenny, Roland, Sammy, Samuel, Seun, Sunkanmi, Taofeeq, Tochukwu, and Tosin.

What Is

GuysNetwork is now a more matured group. We are still learning, and still doing as much as we can to conquer the world. Nonetheless, we understand ourselves and one another much more than we did when we started in 2015.

We are however, yet to exercise the abundant potentials we have. There’s a lot more we can do that we are not even trying to accomplish. That’s why I love how brainy and energetic the previous event was.

What We Discussed

Everyone was speaking one voice – let’s do more! Branding, philanthropy, publicity, conferences, motto, logo, shirts, comport, character and more concourse are what we all said we wanted. And those things, we are going to incorporate. No! We have incorporated those things. They are the fundamentals of the direction GuysNetwork is headed.

We have moved past the era of drinks and pepper soup. We are moving into the era of men because that’s who we already are. This group is taking a new challenge upon itself. We will never call anyone or beg anyone to be at any of our concourse anymore. If GuysNetwork is great, people will chime in, if it’s not, people won’t. That’s one of the challenges. It’s up to us to make it great.

What Should Be

This is the part that gets me most excited. As noted in the first newsletter, GuysNetwork transcends now. It is not a URP thing. It is beyond FUTA. So, don’t be surprised that not all URP guys are included; it’s beyond URP and aims to expand into other territories if possible. Now is the time to fulfill that.

GuysNetwork is no more a group of guys. Yes, the name will be retained. But, the function, the essence of GN, is to be a Networking Platform. The name might be misleading. Yet, we will retain it. GuysNetwork is now an open platform for everyone who wants to move forward.

To those who read the first newsletter, you surely read something like: Sincerely, I don’t know what the future holds. How do we meet after school? How do we increase the network after school? These are serious questions I don’t have answers to. Yet, I say it’s beyond a FUTA thing. Nonetheless, uncertainties make life very interesting. One of the beauties of existence is uncertainty. Uncertainties really make life interesting. I don’t want to live a life of having everything figured out. Success wouldn’t even be success. It would be a norm.

Despite this, GN has been figured out. The core of GN is very simple. We will keep innovating with people and process, but the ultimate mission of the existence of GuysNetwork is now clear.

Do you aim to think forward or move forward? Don’t settle for one. Do both. That’s the core of GuysNetwork. GN is for readers, thinkers, and doers; those who want to move forward. GuysNetwork is for people who want a better life, better opportunities, and more resourceful contacts. GN for this reason, is open to people of diverse skills. There is no age limit. No gender restriction. No image barrier. We are not looking for ready-made people. We want to refine men and women to achieve constant evolving dreams and goals.

GuysNetwork is a networking platform where people can meet like-minded individuals. Here, investors can meet start-ups, Barristers can meet law students, Architects can meet Realtors, and more. We want to connect people together with opportunities. Can you decode that? The explanation will be given as you read.

Unlike when we started, membership is now voluntary. This too, will be explicated as you read.

This newsletter is a unique edition. There are lots of information packed herein. Anyone who wants to be a part of the network will have to digest every detail contained here.

Reinvention

Everyone needs to reinvent himself. Footballers do it, companies do it, and humans do it. As you transition from childhood to adolescence, you gradually change some things. The same thing occurs when people get married and start raising kids to the period they become grandparents. Everyone reinvents themselves. Some do it consciously, some do it unconsciously. Irrespective, it is a very important attribute.

As an example, Facebook started as a platform where you could connect with friends and family. We all know it has gone beyond that scope. Facebook is now rivalling YouTube and Netflix in video content. Apple started as a computer company. It is now a consumer products company leveraging information technology.

GuysNetwork is taking similar route. The only difference is that GN is a not-for-profit organisation. We are now a networking platform reaching out to every global citizen who wants to move forward. GN is for everyone who wants to connect with people and opportunities.

Membership (1)

In the past, GN members were picked. Now, that process is over. We are starting from the ground up. While we are going to integrate every lesson we learnt, we are going to start from zero. As at the time of writing this newsletter, I am glad to inform you GN has no member. We are starting afresh.

Anyone who is interested in being part of the train will have to fill a free form which is both in a digital and physical form. The form costs no fee. No fee at all. The form will be available online. You are only required to fill it appropriately and forward inquiries to timmylehyn@gmail.com or as communicate with +2348136830824 via WhatsApp. It is important that you highlight your skills and interests so we could easily identify a match for you. This also helps curate our database.

Notwithstanding, GuysNetwork needs finance to run conferences and events. You are only obliged to give up #500 each month for the smooth operations of this network. It is great if you could give more than that. However, #500 is a good place to start and to show your commitment toward this platform.

You can click on the WhatsApp link to join us and receive constant updates https://chat.whatsapp.com/HQkWXxB7Pyv3WvAO1NF02X.

Creating a New and Different Environment

As a group, we will henceforth, be holding more conferences for the public and for us. We will also do more by giving to the society. The main goal however, is to connect you with more opportunities.

Digital Space

The cyberspace is a very exciting one, especially in the present time and the future. GuysNetwork will enter that space. We will do Facebook ads. We will push content into people’s eyes. We will have our own website where people can join the network and/or subscribe to our newsletter from any part of the Universe, as long as internet reaches that location. Even our newsletters will be online for everyone. There wouldn’t be a need for physical contact before we can have a dialogue or make a change in people’s lives. GuysNetwork, while being a physical platform, will also be massively present on the internet.

What’s the Mission?

We want to be a networking platform for everyone who wants to move forward. People have different goals and different paths they want to take to reach their goals. But, as long as you want to take at least one more step every day, GuysNetwork is built for you. The mission is to bring together, people who want to better their thinking, their stance, and their living. That is the focus – a group of people with constant drive to succeed and improve on their success.

Mission Statement

A networking platform for those who want to move forward

What’s the Vision?

I think it’s perfectly right to say GuysNetwork hasn’t had as much influence as it should or as some of us might think. I see fantastic people within this circle and every one of us is here today because of his own ability. How about a situation whereby I could attribute part of my success to someone on the GN platform? How about if I could say this is what I’ve benefited that’s beyond sitting at a restaurant? For me, I want GuysNetwork to help people achieve what’s bigger than them. I want to be bigger than life. Question my mentality, but there are people who are bigger than life itself. There are people you think of, and all you see in and around them is greatness. But, to be bigger than life means to achieve what is bigger than yourself – your present self. To achieve what is bigger than you (most dreams are bigger than the dreamer), you need people who can help lift your dreams above you, far beyond the reach of your leap.

For instance, in a company that generates $100b per annum, people see the CEO as the hero of the story. What we don’t see is the 90,000 workforce working every day to lift the company and drop it in the Fortune 500 zone. With every song you listen to, there’s a superstar singer whose voice resonates. What we don’t know is many guitarists and pianists come together to give a soothing melody to the ear. GuysNetwork aims to be that company. The grand vision is to be the group of musicians irrespective who the singer or the guitarist is. We want to help people achieve dreams or be part of dreams that are bigger than their realisations.

Vision Statement

To help people achieve dreams that are bigger than them.

Tag Line – Connecting People with Opportunities

I’d have loved to say “Connecting People Together with Opportunities,” but that seems somewhat complex. However, that is the bigger meaning of the tag. GuysNetwork is a platform that connects people together. While it brings people together, it also creates and connects them with opportunities they wouldn’t have found without connecting with people. So, GuysNetwork has the tag and purpose of “Connecting People with Opportunities.”

If we aim to do just that, I believe we have to step up our game. Each of us needs to play specified roles. This newsletter has to be more frequent, each of us needs to contribute to the newsletter, we need teams or individuals doing the publicity, some into running our digital space, others focused on searching for global opportunities that could benefit the members.

Next/Subsequent Conference

For the reason that we are reinventing GuysNetwork, there would no more be a “meet-up” like we used to have. There could be short meetings, but never the types we used to hold. We all should get embraced for the future ahead of us. We will be holding conferences. No matter how small, we will do conferences and invest our souls to expand the reach of GN.

With this comprehension, our conferences will have a different look to what we have experienced in the past two years. GN conferences will have segments and anchors. For the time being, every member will have a 5-10 minute allotted to him/her to enlighten other members. You could tell us about what we are missing that you want us to know about. You could give us your experience somewhere sometime in the past. You could focus your speech on your dreams and how we might together put you on the path of amazing growth. Just tell us something fantastic.

Additionally, for the present time, we will be inviting a guest speaker, whose grand purpose would of course, be to give us some inspiration and eye-opening speech. The speaker could be of any age; any class level; and any financial status; as long as he is successful in his own right. Note though, I didn’t say a “motivational speaker.” In fact, I’d say guest persons who are qualified success stories. The identity of the invited person may or may not be known by all.

I know some of us who started together will still be together after this reinvention process. For this sole reason, we will have a “graduation edition” of the GuysNetwork where those who started with us, but are no more part can join in the celebration. This “graduation edition” may or may not involve family members and friends, depending on what we agree on following the release of this newsletter. Our subsequent conferences will be held in proper locations that stimulate high thought levels. Except in cases of short meetings or emergency meetings when we can decide to meet at someone’s house or thereabout, we will always go with a proper location that strengthens the GN brand.

Membership (2)

When we started, members were handpicked. Not anymore will such procedure be allowed. GuysNetwork is now open to everyone. GN membership is open to all at no cost. The only requirement is a 500 naira or a 1.5 dollar monthly subscription fee. However, there are bigger responsibilities that come with being a member. These responsibilities are bigger than the subscription fee.

One, you have to be willing to fill a position or take a role within the GN setup. Two, you must be prepared to broadcast to people around you, the networking platform built for those who want to move their lives forward – GuysNetwork. Three, you have to be of good values and character wherever you are. Those are quite fundamentals of any sane group.

As members, anyone could be summoned to co-author the monthly newsletter with others. This implies that you must be ready to write at any time.

Again, GN is starting up and right now we have ZERO members. Those who want to join will be required to fill the simple and easy form. Join our WhatsApp group via https://chat.whatsapp.com/HQkWXxB7Pyv3WvAO1NF02X.

Positions/Roles

As the group expands, we will need a stronger physical and digital footprint. We will need a website where people can join GN without contacting anyone, they will just fill in the required fields and their details stay up in the cloud for easy accessibility. We will need a platform where people can subscribe to our newsletters even if they are not members. For a start, these qualities will grow from us. We will do Facebook ads, we will create a blog and publish updates, and we will create a beautiful synergy.

We will have to volunteer to do these things, and stay committed. For now, here are the roles to be filled:

·         Hunters: Hunt opportunities that are deemed vital to the various sets of people on the platform. These opportunities include scholarships such as the Gate-Cambridge scholarship; entrepreneurial contests/opportunities such as the TEFund or the Next Titan; coding opportunities such as the Facebook Hackathon; and lots more. Your job is to hunt down opportunities and stay abreast of global information.

·         Bloggers: The focus is to write and publish in your own words, the information gotten by the Hunters. Even when the Hunters seem to be getting little information, go on your way to find good content on motivation, business, finance, et cetera, and publish to the public. English Proficiency is needed.

·         Social Media Publicists: Though you should publicise everywhere, but social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp – should be the main media of publicity. You are to publicise the blog and the platform itself. You should have good eyes for what can win the public’s eyes. Just publicise GuysNetwork. To do this, we will be having social media pages to support our WhatsApp group. Your job is to run the platforms. English Proficiency is needed.

·         Record Holders: The Record Holders will keep record of the number of members and their details. Also, they will keep record of the subscription fees that have been collected, and the expenses made by GN.

·         Realists: The role of the realists is to think of ideas and ensure those ideas or the best ideas are brought to realisations. The realists will think of the new directions to go. They will focus on where and when the next conference should hold, including how. They will think together with others what is best in each situation.

Each person should fill a role that is coherent with his/her characteristics.

Irrespective of the team you choose, you are still obliged to collaborate with others to write the subsequent newsletters.

Newsletter

This is the second newsletter of the GuysNetwork, almost eighteen months apart. Following the release of this newsletter, we will be having monthly issues and they will be named third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or written as 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 128^th, etc.

As earlier emphasised, no single person will be writing a newsletter anymore. Newsletters have to resonate with individuals. As such, there will be collaborators and co-authors for the subsequent newsletters which will be coming on a monthly basis.

Every last day of every month will witness the release of a fresh newsletter. Therefore, collaborators would have been working at least 7 days prior to the release. In fact, there will be unique collaborators each month. We will communicate on this.

Charity

I wouldn’t want anyone to confuse GN as a charity organisation. We are not a for-profit organisation. But, we are neither a philanthropy group. We will do charity, yes. But, charity isn’t the core of the group. Charity is becoming a norm in the society we live in. it is now fundamental to human living. So, we will join in that train. However, the train isn’t the only train we will travel in. We will take our own direction of helping people achieve dreams that are bigger than them.

I want to give an instance here. One lad I respect so much who is part of the GN setup asked if we could offer Aminat a gift for her wedding ceremony. I thought it wasn’t a cool thing. So, I declined saying “She’s not part of the team.” I am not stating that we can’t help those who are not part of the team. I am just stating that we are not a charity organisation, even though we will do charity. It wouldn’t be good if we keep drifting away from our grand design. We will visit a remand home in the near future. We will do lots to impact people.

Final Thoughts

When I look around, I see guys who have everything I don’t have. I know the same is true for most. We’re complete in our differences.

·         We will create custom T-shirts that will have the GN logo as the crest, but you will choose your catchphrase and can leave it blank if you wish. The GN tagline of “Connecting People with Opportunities” will be placed where the designer deems fit. Each will have the freedom to choose a shirt colour.

·         The only things we need now are: email address, website and blog, and a unique bank account set up for GuysNetwork. We will create the email address and the blog (Guysnetwork@platform.com – GuysNetwork.blogspot.com) before doing others.

It’s very difficult to find people who believe in you. It’s much more difficult to find those who believe in your vision, especially when it’s still in the idea stage. It’s a privilege that you believe in the GuysNetwork vision. And for those who we started this journey together, hopefully, we will continue this journey together.

The vision is getting bigger and brighter. And you’ve been an absolute greater part of it. Why not continue the belief by filling the form?

Do you aim to think forward or move forward? Don’t settle for one. Do both. That’s the core of GuysNetwork.

Click the following link to fill the form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjg57N_9Yn_V2_ZDLyPkSox5j3rsEyuFxj4J3g_FrR2MBATQ/viewform.

Join us on WhatsApp for constant updates via https://chat.whatsapp.com/HQkWXxB7Pyv3WvAO1NF02X.

Thank you