Life minus love equals zero

Roger James Hamilton with 3 gold medals this week, Michael Phelps is now equaling the 2,168 year old record set by Leonidas of Rhodes (in 152 BC) for the most individual Olympic gold medals and has a chance to beat it with his two final races this Thursday (200m IM) and Friday (100m fly).
This is all the more incredible, given the story of his 2 year climb from the verge of suicide, which I wrote in July. Here is Michael’s story from rock-bottom:
One night in September 2014, less than 2 years ago, Michael’s world came crashing down when he got arrested for drink driving. He says "I thought the world would just be better off without me. I figured that was the best thing to do - just end my life."
Struggling to come out of retirement for one more Olympics, Michael's training wasn’t going well. So he had headed out to the Horseshoe Casino to binge on alcohol and poker. At 1am his Range Rover was pulled over by police and he was arrested.
It was the second arrest for DUI in 10 years. After the first time he was publicly shamed and promised he would never do it again. Now it looked like his chances of making a comeback were over.
Out the next day on bail, he locked himself in his house for the next 72 hours, texting to his agent “I don’t want to be alive anymore.”
What caused the breakdown? After his 4th Olympics in London, Michael was crowned “the most successful Olympian in history” with 18 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze Olympic medals. He said “It’s like we dreamed the biggest dream we could possibly dream and we got there. What do we do now?”
In the two years after the Olympics, he went from the highest high to the lowest low, losing all purpose and meaning in life. Then, in 2012 he told his coach, Bob Bowman, that he wanted to try for the Rio Olympics, despite being older than any other competitor.
They started training, but Bob said “It was very difficult for him to get back in shape. I think he got discouraged. I got discouraged.”
That discouragement led to the night of his arrest and Michael wanting to kill himself.
What flipped the switch from self destruction to his record-breaking success today?
One of the first people that Michael called when he was arrested was his friend, retired Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Ray said “I basically told him, ‘Okay, everything has a purpose, and now, guess what? It’s time to wake up.’ ” and he gave Michael a copy of Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life”.

Despite facing 18 months probation with a one year suspended sentence, and suspension from the US swimming team, Michael was moved enough by what Ray said that he stepped away from the pool, took the book and checked into a rehab centre.
At the centre, he soon became known as “Preacher Mike” as he would begin each day by reading a chapter of “The Purpose Driven Life”.
That then led to him reading more books like Viktor E Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” and Joseph Murphy’s “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”. Instead of focusing on his body, he focused on his mind and spirit.
Michael left the clinic a changed man. Within months, he had asked his girlfriend, Nichole Johnson, to marry him. A year later, this May, they had a baby boy, Boomer.
As for the training, Michael got back in the pool with a new energy.
Realising that what he did out of the water affected him enormously in the water, he said of his previous life: “I tried to fake it, pretty much. That’s what I was doing." and of his life today, "I’m just living a freer, happier life now. I don’t feel like I’m carrying weights around anymore.”
Michael was the youngest competitor to ever swim in the Olympics, and now he is also be the oldest to ever swim in the Olympics (At 31 he is 2 years older than the 2nd oldest at the Rio Games). Asked how he feels, he says “I’m thankful, I’m sitting here alive today.”
Maybe you haven’t risen as high as Michael, or fallen as low.
But what new purpose could transform your own success and fulfilment in life today?
What could you do differently out of the water, which would change what you do in the water?
It's never too later, and you're never too old.
“Life minus love equals zero.”

~ Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Original July 1st post here: http://bit.ly/
2aNjvHG )

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PRESIDENT KUF FOUR AT YOUTHERFEST 2016

His Excellency John Kofi AgyekumKufour will be speaking to hundreds of youth across the country on the focus ’The Influence of Leadership for Generation Building’ at the sixth edition of the biggest national gathering of youth in Augustat Aburi to raise generational builders.

The youth festival gathering christened as Youtherfest is an annual national nondenominational youth festival aimed at gathering all youth across the country to promote a new Leadership mellowness, Entrepreneurship, focus on Youth socialization to contribute to the attributes of the knowledge economy, future advancement and promote soul winning. Youtherfest has been the house hold name of this youth festival for the past 6 years which simply means, “You are Feasting in Christ.”

Youtherfest2016 is also honored with other top list speakers including Obafem iBanigbe, Technology and Business Leader, Naa Ashorkor, Presenter and Broadcast Journalist, Nana Kyei-Amponsah, Patron of Ghana Youth Ministry, Apostle B.B. Fredrick, Feyi Daniels, a Relationship expert from Nigeria and other giant supporting speakers.

This annual national nondenominational youth gathering according to the organisers has been fruitful and rewarding seeing young people develop business ideas, sharpen their visions, build network to inspire their life and ultimately accept Jesus as their Lord and saviour.

Speaking on why the former head of state is the headline speaker of the national youth event, Mr. Daniel Nana Kwame Appiah Asare, Director of Ghana Youth Ministry stressed that, “we appreciate and recognize him being the best Professional and Industrious Personality to speak this year to make a radical impact in the life of the over 700 expected attendees.  With his outstanding expert in Communication, Teaching, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, as well as ability to influence the audience with genuine words of life to break them through barriers in education, success, career and life ambitions. Not only him, but with the other speakers too’.

This year, the Youtherfest train will be in Aburi on the theme‘You Are A Generational Builder - Judges 7’ from Tuesday 2^nd– Saturday 6^th August 2016.

The five day event provides fair atmosphere for diverse groups to demonstrate in dance, music, fashion, spoken word ,poetry, entrepreneurial class, games, drama and public speaking with great speakers to educate, train, enlighten and surge participants to a renewed believe, hope to make impact and transform society. Over the past five editions, the event has been held in different parts of the country; from Methodist University campus-Accra, Ghana Secondary Technical School, Takoradi, Ada Training College and University of Cape Coast campuses respectively.

Interested participants receive an outstanding package of Food, Accommodation, Transport, Free Camp T-Shirt, Note book and Pen throughout the period of this camp meeting in Aburi. Buses will be made ready across all regional capitals to privileged registered participants.Ticket outlets are Peace FM, Koala Osu, Batsonna Total, Spintex and all Shop-N-Save shops across the country. Mobile money registration is also permissible through 0553015896.

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8 Ways to Protect Yourself Online

8 Ways to Protect Yourself Online

Identity theft:  When one’s personal information is stolen and used by an imposter to gain an advantage.

1.       Don't share your passwords and change your password often

2.       Avoid visiting fake sites, pornographic sites and be warned about Phishing sites.

3.       Don't share any private information that you wouldn’t want remembered later.

4.       Always verify and buy from trusted and secure sites.

5.       Monitor your  brand name online, Use tools like Google Alerts

6.       Don't share your credit card details, SSN with anyone.

7.       Browse safely, clear your browser history/cache. Consider browsing using VPN or OpenDNS

8.       Check your privacy settings on all your social media pages to enable maximum security.

Bernard Kelvin Clive is a Personal Branding Coach/Brand Strategist at BKC Consulting, Lifestyle Entrepreneur, Amazon bestselling author with twenty published books. Ghana's foremost authority on Personal branding and Digital Publishing who hosts the #1 ranked Business & Career Podcast in Ghana/Botswana.  www.BKC.name 

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Richard Bekyi Receives High Performance Recognition

We have said time and time over that outstanding is not the same as normal—in fact they are opposites. This is actually a tautology of a sort. But often even those who think they understand end up confusing the idea. They have managed to convince themselves that different means getting out of line or perhaps start heading in the very opposite direction. You are different of course when you do that but different is not always useful. In a situation where everyone wants to live those commit suicide can also claim to be different. Those who rip off their clothes in public too are different of course but only because most of us want to keep our clothes on.

To address this conundrum we must first postulate a direction or perhaps a destination that will define progress for the larger society. When this is done, being outstanding will then mean you lead the pack in the set direction towards the destination. When you lead, you are different because the majority of people tend to hover around the middle bracket doing what it called normal, average or good enough. When they cook, you can eat it because it is ok. It has just about enough salt and pepper to give a fair taste. Those who are outstanding cook something that you can eat too, except you are left with a strong urge to indulge in infantile art of finger licking. It is just too damn good. Such persons are rare and we have found they are driven by a performance conscious mindset. Ripping off your clothes and heading in the regressive direction is the easy way out to different—way of the miscreant. Real performance takes more.

Mr. Richard Bekyi, a recipient of the SPID-UP® Performance Recognition Awards is one of such personalities who give you that strong urge to lick your fingers. He does this through graphic designing and printing. Richard’s customers are not ordinary folks either. They have a consuming appetite for outstanding. If you are normal you will have a tough time understanding this man. As one customer told us;

“I thought this guy was weird… I was sure he did not understand what we wanted and he won’t even compromise. He is very stubborn about quality and you cannot persuade him to do simple things. In the end I realized I really did not understand where he was coming from. You really have to stop thinking and let him lead the way because he wants to take you to new level”

Mr. Bekyi and his team at Iseeworks Limited craft some life-transforming designs and they are not going to sit around and let some printer make a mess of it. He controls the process from start to finish making sure their customer get exactly what he promised them if not more. It is easy to confuse his work with something that was crafted a Hollywood design studio. But that is not all there is to this man and his team. Anyone who knows anything about the printing business will tell you that it’s major plague in not only quality of work. There is also a severe case of untimely delivery and Richard Bekyi seems to have developed an antidote for this blight.

For us at SPiD-UP® that is hope. We are capable as a people to produce high quality only if we decide to and one of our many examples is Mr. Richard Bekyi. We hope he is inspires you to be performance conscious enough to give your best. Regardless of what you do, you ought to activate the urge to indulge in the art of finger licking in your patrons. Mr. Beckyi will be speaking at the Upcoming SPiD-UP® workshop on performance where he will share some thoughts on the importance of performance. We look forward to seeing you there. #spidup 

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“HALF A SONG TO SING” at RODE REEL

The issue of woman abuse is not just a community problem. Neither is it a country problem; it is a worldwide problem. Day in and day out, women are abused by men who by the unwritten rubrics of marriage are supposed to protect, love and encourage them. On KNUST campus one night in my hostel, there was an uproar which forced students out of their beds to find out what was going on. A gentleman who happened to be from another hostel had come to our hostel to beat up his girlfriend. Last year, the news of a taxi driver who stabbed his girlfriend to death shocked the country. A pregnant woman was also assaulted with an electric iron by her husband and was left to rot in a locked room after she had died. There are many more untold stories as many women continue suffer abuse in secrecy.

These women have been beaten by men who had once loved them. Some argue that perhaps women of today provoke such treatment from men because of their own behaviors. The modern woman is far from the submissive, near-timid woman prescribed by culture. But do two wrongs make a right? Is violence the best way out? In making the film; half a song to sing, our aim was to give voice to women who are victims of abusive relationships and propose a simple solution-Run!  Run from the situation ad seek help, run to seek counsel and shelter, run to save their very lives. No body deserves to be mistreated. The woman is the man's reflection and as he is, so she is. She is an embodiment of his love. If she is treated well, she blossoms.

Half a song is poetry and a fine work of art in one. It is a short metaphorical story of a woman in an abusive relationship. The true status of her relationship is left to silence. In the end however she says: “he is my husband". She is a representative of the many living with abusive men. Most women believe that men automatically become their husbands once they move in with them. This fallacy of a marriage can become an obstacle to wanting to break free. Many think it could be a “waste of time” trying to come out of such a relationship and hence, continue to suffer in silence.

Half a song to sing is a blend of poetry and moving pictures.  While a joyful challenge for the team, the idea is certainly not new to film making. Telling such an important story in only three minutes forced the team to think outside the proverbial box. We had to come up with a concept which will not only entertain but also inform and stimulate public interest. In the end we believe the film has become the voice of the many who suffer in silence.

We can all be a voice for the voiceless no matter the platform available to us, even if it is a short film. Vote for “Half a Song to Sing” (http://www.rode.com/myrodereel/watch/entry/2607)

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Uncle Ebo pens an unusual blockbuster

I will tell you that uncle Ebo just crafted another blockbuster but you will think I am exaggerating again. After all, the whole world knows by now how I feel about Roverman products. I will however, attempt to discourage you from allowing that thought to get in the way of an unbiased critical analysis and sound judgement. In which case I am certain you will come to the same conclusion as I have.

First of all; no syllables, words, phrases or paragraphs can describe the experience enough. So before you read on, stop for a second and make a firm promise to yourself that you will go and see Dear God Comma—the latest play from the Roverman stables. What you will get is a potpourri comprising of vivid imagery of the age old thoughts on matters around atheism, theism and agnosticism. You might think this complex but those sentiments will disappear when you actually see the play.  Dear God Comma is a demonstration of sheer courage and bravery as it treads in waters that invoke nothing short of discomfort in today’s modernist/postmodernist atmosphere. It will take one who is firmly rooted not only in his craft, but also in his world-view and its attendant beliefs and values.

When an angel shows up in the life of a family that has an unbeliever on one end and one who is not sure on the other, there is no telling what will happen. But if you throw in a couple of ampe-playing and somersaulting witches and set it all in an American city, you have a recipe for eternal intrigue—the mark of a masterpiece made possible only through high risk. Where everyone avoids risk, a masterpiece awaits to be born.

Ghana might be deemed a Christian country by some, but we are also conscious of the growing parcels of agnosticism/atheism within the population. Political correctness has also found a place making certain conversations on the universal platform of art a difficulty. We do not all believe the same things and we are all to be considerate of others and their beliefs.

So where did the author find the courage to pen such a controversial piece of art and how did he come by good enough a razor to shear it off its baggage of controversy? The answer came during the press conference after the performance. I attempt a paraphrase;

He has no problems with others and what they believe. He however, is clear about his experiences and what he believes. No one else could have written a play like this because only he has experienced all the things that have made writing a play like this possible. He not just a playwright, he is a Christian playwright.

I stood there is sheer admiration and intrigue. What will he write next… I wondered? Suddenly it came to me; when Real Madrid is four goals up in a match, Christiano Ronaldo can do literally anything he wants with the ball and the crowd will cheer. This new found freedom will allow for the high risks that makes masterpieces like this a possibility.  Here endeth my thoughts as formulated at the premier of the latest uncle Ebo play: Dear God Comma. It is showing at the national theater from the 4th of June 2016 to the end of July.

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Energetic Alison is Afia

There is no doubt that uncle Ebo and his Roverman team has changed the game as far as stage plays go. They have set the standards and they are not going back. While everyone agrees that Mr. James Ebo Whyte is a great writer and certainly on his way to the tittle: the greatest playwright in the history of Ghana, not much is known about the people who bring it all to life—the actors. My focus in this article is one of such unsung heroines who played a pivotal character in the ever popular and award winning play; Women on Fire.

I bumped into Alison on our visit to the Roverman offices in Osu here in Accra. I walked past her without noticing her—there were quite a few people around and she sat at a desk doing some paperwork. Nothing about her told me she could act at all let alone play such a pivotal character such as Afia (a very present and loud character who’s role appeared to hold the whole plot together). She was arguable the single most active ingredient in the whole Women on Fire mix. When I learnt she played the character, I was curious to find out what kind of a person she was and what qualified her for such a challenging role. Interesting thing came out:

Alison is actually a trained and practicing architect from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. She is also married to an architect and have had no formal training in acting. She had however, acted in a few campus and Church productions: nothing too serious as she put it. She explained;

“this is something I love to do on the side. I am passionate about acting and would probably not have been able to choose if I had pursued a career in acting. In the meantime I go with the flow. If I get invited and the timing is right, why not”.

She is a natural. The mother of two boys and a girl is not too keen on movies she said but had played roles in one short film and a full feature film. Most of her acting has been in stage plays like Women on Fire. She has been acting from when she was a child so the stage is not a new place for her. I was curious to find out what kind of people she looks up to. On the Hollywood front Denzel Washington was top of her list but she said she loves RMD too. She also looks up to Uncle Ebo and Prophet and Mrs. Annor as role models in another sense. Her husband also inspires her with his encouragement borne out of his belief in her.

On the Afia character Alison told me;

“At the inception, there was a read through of the script. I read through while chewing on gum. I guess that’s where we started building the character. Some said Afia just happened. I had to think of a typical market woman, not too educated loud type who is in everybody’s business. She was not afraid of anyone. Some say Afia was crazy from day one”.

“I honestly do not know why I was offered the role but I love every opportunity I get to do what I love to do. So naturally I was excited. There is a bit of the character in my personality too. I felt like I was in charge in a way…playing that role. At home I am in charge as I literally run the house telling everyone what should be where”.

The extremely energetic mother of three has also featured in Apartment N1, What’s My Name, Unforgiven and Puppeteers—all Roverman productions. She says she is open to all opportunities in the future and would ultimately like to feature in a Tyler Perry production. At home, she is a mom and a wife; naturally her goal is to raise her children the best way possible and see them grow into model citizens. She is not going to stop practicing architecture either and hopes to set up her own firm.

I have met some actresses in my eventful life. I may have even dated a couple. I am yet to meet anyone with Alison’s level of energy. I could barely keep up with her. That just left me wondering about her husband. But I dared not ask. We have been spending some time at the Roverman offices and we have a few stories to share with you besides our Alison discovery. We are out there looking for ordinary people like Alison doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways. If you know any such person, tell us where they are and what they do, we will make sure they are recognized. Nominate them now into the SPiD-UP® recognition program #Spidup

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James Ebo Whyte's Fellowship

I recently wrote an article about the symbolism of the mighty tree. The expression; a mighty tree has fallen is used often when a great person is deceased. This was the very essence of that article intended to honour the late Dr. Clement Hammond-Aryee who passed away recently. For reasons I now cannot recollect, I never managed to publish that article. I am now of the view that mighty trees must be recognized before they fall. This is not often the case as many of our standing mighty trees are not being recognized.  The great thing about might trees is that they are still extremely useful, serving countless purposes even when they have fallen. If you understand the word legacy, then you know what I mean.

I had an encounter with a standing might tree recently. Our search for high performing personalities led me to the Roverman production offices for a life-changing encounter with Mr. Ebo Whyte the playwright, entrepreneur extraordinaire and motivational speaker of a special class. One can always tell when he is in the presence of a mighty tree. The canopy of it’s leaves is a place of rest and comfort. You experience that phenomenon instantly when you are near uncle Ebo. Perhaps that is why he is called Uncle by everyone—he has the father to all kind of presence.

The roots of a mighty  tree go deeper than most of its neighbors— Uncle Ebo is a trained statistician, self-taught chartered accountant and marketing professional, whose career in management cuts across the Publishing, Financial, Pharmaceutical and Automobile industries. His wealth of knowledge and depth of experience is of great benefit to anyone who encounters him. When the roots are deep enough, they find sources for abundant minerals which manifest in the quantity and quality of the fruits. If you have seen an uncle Ebo play then you have an idea of what I am talking about.

The branches provide a place for the nesting of all kinds of creatures. Mighty trees are not made overnight. Og Mandino puts it in an interesting way in the book; The world’s greatest sales man;

 “To create the Olive, king of all tress, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks”,

Uncle Ebo is not an overnight mighty tree and his depth and wealth of experience is demonstrated even in the simplest conversations. The impact of a mighty tree on its environment is very far-reaching beyond its majestic presence and this can easily be said of Uncle Ebo. He writes award-winning plays, produces and stages them. He writes for the monthly Roverman report. He writes and presents his daily food for thought on Joy FM’s super morning show and runs the whole Roverman operation all to the highest standard.  He has helped in the team building efforts and rebranding processes for many companies and is known to have helped and mentored numerous people in all walks of life through his hard hitting, inspirational and realistic presentations. He has successfully written and directed over 20 plays which have become reference points in many lives. I will not even begin to attempt a measure of the impact of the very personality and work of Uncle Ebo as it is not possible.

In the hour or so I spent with him, I got to meet some of his team members— very exciting people with high work ethics. I learnt about his abhorrence for corner-cutting while still managing to maintain a fun filled exciting climate. The whole atmosphere radiates with high performance. I asked questions about the production process and was baffled at how much work is injected into it. Uncle Ebo is uncompromising when it comes to quality and it reflects even on his choice of people. He wants to give the best possible and going the extra mile does not appear to cost him much in emotional labor. This will explains why his plays have revived what was almost a dead genre of our arts. He does not strike me as the type who is trying to be different—he is just doing his best and you are different when you are the best because everyone else is in the average bracket.

In the short while I was a there, I learnt a lot that will influence the way I do things. Sometimes you think you know what you are about until you meet some who actually knows. Uncle Ebo has a keen interest in what people think about his work; that’s the mark of a good entrepreneur who has a burning need to make sure that his patrons are happy. Personally my expectation was literally shattered when I went to see his play; Women on fire. If I could summarize his driving philosophy in one sentence, it will be;

“think more about the world you live in and the contribution you make to it”.

He clearly does this and as the saying goes, as a man thinketh, so he is. We presented him with the SPiD-UP Performance Recognition Fellowship Status (The highest category in the program) for his work. All around you there are people doing ordinary things in an ordinary way. Writing and producing a play was ordinary until Uncle Ebo wrote his first. 

 

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10 Branding Tips for CEOs

To begin with note that where the CEOs personal vision doesn't align with the company's vision the brand will eventually fail.

1. You are the first brand ambassador of your firm

2. Your personal brand is as important as your corporate brand

3. Communicate your brand's value in simple English. (Simplify) succinctly

4. Wear your brand daily

5. Find out how consumers perceive your brand

6. Know what people like most and dislike about your brand

7. Invest in Employer Branding

8. Never neglect Social Media as part of your brand LinkedIn is a MUST for CEOs)

9. Your private and public life are interrelated as long as you are the head.

10. Stay transparent, stay trusted!

Bernard Kelvin Clive is Personal Branding Coach/ Amazon bestselling author of “How to Repair Your Broken Brand & Manage Your Reputation” plus over twenty-five published books.

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How Startup Brands Can Survive in the Digital Disruptive Age

The four C’s that SMSs and Startup Brands must utilize to make it in this age;

1.      Content: you must have content, as it’s said “content is king”, however not just any content, you must have relevant content which your audience will crave for, that meets their needs.

Your content must be timely; there is nothing worse than dead news, so ensure that you deliver your content when it’s needed. You need content that has been tested and trusted; the fact that content is required doesn’t imply throwing unverified, untrusted information out there.

2.      Connection: the first stage is to have relevant, trusted, timely content. The next step is to build meaningful connection with your audience; that is your market, fans and followers. Businesses thrive on relationships. Take time to build key relationships. Having great content that doesn’t resonate with your audience is futile, so by constantly engaging with your audience you will better understand their needs and wants which will enable you provide tailored made solutions for them.

3.      Contacts: from your connection you step up your game by establishing key contacts; connecting with influential people who can help push your business/brand to the next level. Some of them are the gatekeepers in the industry which you seek to penetrate, without them it will be difficult to breakthrough such barriers. Your contacts are the people who have the ability and capacity to help you in various ways. They are influential in their various fields. Take time to make such contacts.

4.      Contracts: your contacts should enable you get other clients, repeat business, and contracts. This is the last stage of the process of sustaining your business/brand in this age. Businesses exist to make profit (whatever that means to your business). Most often than not, it’s your contacts that will lead you to your contracts. That is to say your key relationships/influencers are the ones who will bring business to you. If you build this properly, your business will thrive, if not you will be firing arrows without hitting your target.

In conclusion, take note that big brands can readily afford mass media promotion to compete with price but as a small business owner and startup, focus on delivering outstanding offer with excellent customer experience to win. To survive in business today requires that you keep this cycle running constantly; to have something of value to offer – content, to build a bridge with your content – connection, to connect with key influencers – contacts, to get income coming through them – contracts.

Bernard Kelvin Clive is an Amazon bestselling author of REBRAND: The Ultimate Guide to Personal & Corporate Branding & Rebranding, and over twenty-five published books. A Personal Branding Coach, Brand Strategist at BKC Consulting. He has consulted for and helped hundreds of authors locally and internationally to self-publish books and build author brands. Ghana's foremost authority on Personal branding and Digital Publishing who hosts the #1 iTunes ranked Business & Career Podcast in Ghana. www.BKC.name 

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