The Journey (Series 6)

You can't spell Challenge without Change.

The break or so I thought.

I started getting the attention of potential buyers, started taking orders and ordering from this online store. Hmmmn, the suffer wey I suffer no be small. I ordered for so many items at once because my customers just kept placing orders. My first set of orders were accessories. It took forever to get to Nigeria. 

Eventually, after about 7 weeks, they eventually arrived but to my surprise, they looked totally different from what the online picture displayed. I was devastated. 

How do I explain to the customer who had waited for almost two months that her goods were not the same thing and there must have been a mix up somewhere. Eventually, I had to return the money. (first loss)

That did not stop me, I forged ahead and ordered for more things, including bridal wears for some brides, I had calculated at most two months maximum for the goods to arrive, but to my disappointment, the goods never arrived. I had disappointed a bride, I was crushed. I apologised profusely but it all fell on deaf ears (Who could blame her). I had to yet again return money to another customer.

I was always tensed and these customers won't stop calling to ask when their items would be delivered. It was always one issue or the other. If it was not the size, then the material will be inferior or not the same design as what was ordered for. I still have items in my closet that arrived late or wasn't the actual size ordered for, that I had to return money for.

Then I decided to try Dubai, I thought to myself, if one door closes, another will open. It opened alright but... I don't know which was worse. I was introduced to someone in the business and he lived in Dubai, what he did for me was to go to their market, send pictures of what they had in stock and send to me. 

I would advertise and get customers to make payments and then would send the money to him to purchase these goods and send to me in Nigeria. The first few times went smoothly but subsequently, his clientele base grew and he started mixing orders. I once had about 20 handbags mixed with my orders and I had to pay customs for clearing these items. 

I was angry, unhappy and grumpy. I was not fulfilled and I was spending money that I did not have.

During this trying period, one thing that remained constant was the fact that I still wanted to continue the ushering business. It always kept rearing its beautiful head to tell me that she was still waiting for me to return to my first love. *big grin*

It was on one of these disappointing encounters with another customer that I decided that enough was enough and I was going to face La' Heiress squarely. 

By this time, I was in debt. I had no money. I had spent all I had on the Personal shopping business and I still needed to pay off debts incurred from my disappointed clients.

I thought it was the end, where was I going to get money to pay off my debts, I was the definition of "temi ba mi". 

It was a verying period for me, over 200k debt. 200k may look small but it was a lot of money to me then. I contemplated committing suicide but I guess I loved life too much to take my own life. Lol

To be continued...

The Journey (Series 5)

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

The journey was indeed slow. Slower than I thought, I started appreciating all the business owners that I knew. That was when I knew that life was not all roses and one had to be prepared for the thorns as well.

I had a friend Bola (now my closest friend), who was into the same ushering business. Whenever she had a job, she will ask me to provide some hostesses, so I got to advertise her jobs on my social media platforms. 

Nobody needed to know who brought in the jobs as long as they kept coming and people continued believing in the brand. That was all that mattered at the time.

After our first job, there were about 5 other jobs in the period of a year. One of which was in Osogbo. I charged less, ran into huge debts, transported the hostesses all the way to Osogbo in my aunt's bus and back to Ibadan. ( the bus consumed so much fuel that I had silently wished we used the public transportation system instead). I was sad but happy because I was able to get another set of outfits, which also meant a new set of pictures.

In Osogbo

With six Jobs in a year! I knew I had to do something and fast! I couldn't continue like this. I decided to take on a couple of jobs for free the following year (2015) and it wasn't easy. I had to explain to my hostesses my plans and why I had to do it. Some understood while some simply made up excuses not to come on the days they were needed. 

A big shout out to our La' Heiress hostesses who stayed with us when the going was tough! Perpectua, Anastacia, Oyinkan, Busayo, Rose... My love for you girls is priceless!

Three free jobs and I now had pictures that I could show potential clients. I felt I had arrived, that the jobs will be flying in now that I had some pictures but little did I know that I was still VERY wrong! This was in 2015.

1st Free Job (January)

2nd Free Job (January)

3rd Free Job (April)

I waited and waited, continued my vigorous advertisement but all to no avail. I was frustrated, devasted, angry with myself for making yet another mistake (or so I thought). Then I got tired, I gave up and decided to venture into other things and this was when I decided to go into Personal Shopping fully. 

I had ventured into personal shopping sometimes in 2014 but it was supposed to be a side business. I had saved up some cash from my advertising job with a Media Agency (WOW! Media Concepts) and also from my youth service, so I felt ready to launch my new business. 

I got to know about a popular online store that sold anything and everything you could think of and without much enquiries, I went in blindly and started taking pictures from this online store and posting it on my social media platforms. It wasn't long before people started patronising me. Little did I know that this period was going to be one of the most difficult and challenging times in my entrepreneurial journey. 

To be continued...

The Journey (Series 3)

I am learning to trust the journey even when I do not understand it~ Mila Bron

I started with the planning, I still wasn't sure about it but I decided to start. I had this friend, Barrister Akatu AKA Mister Fantastic, as the name implied, he was fantastic, he was my go to person. I don't think anyone believed in me then as much as he did. He was never tired of telling me how much he believed in me and he was just the right person to be with at the time. 

From the moment I told him about my plans, he went from gear 1 to gear 5 in no time. We were able to fix a date for an audition, he went all out for me. He coined the name La' Heiress, so I owe it to God and him. He will always be the number one fan of La' Heiress. He would call me from work if an idea popped into his head, he would send pictures of outfits he thought the hostesses could wear for events. He was EVERYTHING. 

This simply goes to show that with the right person by your side, the right counsel and encouragement, you can pretty much achieve anything. 

During this period, I remember asking friends and family members to help advertise on their different social media platforms but no one was willing to, except a few and I could not force them. So I vigorously advertised on my social media platforms, I wasn't ready to give up, I had spent too much money already to give up now.

We had our first audition on the 27th of July, 2013. We had over 50 ladies which was more than I had thought we would have. It was a huge success.

To be continued...

The Journey (Series 2)

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

THE STRUGGLE 

I was all over the place, I was worried. My mother was worried. My siblings were worried but being the first of three siblings, they could not really come out to ask questions about my "all over the place" skills. 

I was sad, depressed and discouraged. It seemed like I was on the wrong path, like nothing was going to work out. I felt like a failure. I was broke and everything was hard. 

I went from one place to another, advertising what I did. I did not give up. I was shy at first but I knew I had to shake it off. I got lots of discouraging advises. I remember a particular friend that publicly used my picture on her dp and wrote, " my friend, gbogbo owo" with a laughing hysterically emoticon. Translation- my friend of all businesses.

And the men, yes the Men! You know them, the ones that won't give you anything unless they are getting something in return... I encountered a couple of them. 

Some patronized me while some told me I was too pretty to be selling Garri and some said that I didn't need to do anything, yet whenever I asked them for money, which was always very hard for me to ask, it was always one story or the other. It wasn't pleasant but my journey will be incomplete without mentioning them, because in some way, they had encouraged me without even knowing it.

I still wonder why many men are that way though. I mean, you have the means to help, help if you want to. You don't need to demand for something in return but I guess such is life.

Thinking about it now, I am glad they wanted something in return because it made me realise that I wanted more with my life and that I needed to act and fast too. I did not want to be at the mercy of others to survive. Like my sister always ask after an experience, be it bad or good, "What have you learnt from this?"

I learnt to give when I have because I have experienced what it is like to have nothing.

I also learnt to encourage people, especially new business owners because a negative comment can totally crush you and end a dream. 

Another thing I learnt is that many of your so called friends and family will not encourage your start up business. It is just the way it is. At first, you will feel hurt but after a while, you will adjust and later realise that you are the best marketer for your business. 

Even though, I was discouraged from every angle, I didn't give up because a wise man once told me to prepare my mind and be my own author, he also told me that people will discourage you at first then grow to respect your brand but only if you decide not to give in to their negativity. Thank you Eniola Oyeyode.

It was during this period that I realised that I had a passion, a passion that I had not known was there until I started ushering with different agencies. 

I saw a different me whenever I was ushering at an event. Many people saw and still see ushers/hostesses at events as trashy. But I saw us as heroes, it is not easy to coordinate a wedding or help assist people or stand in heels for more than 8 hours or try explaining to stubborn guests why they cannot sit on a seat that has been assigned to another or help with serving of food and generally making sure that the event runs smoothly. If that is trashy then I would love to be trashy over and over again.

My boss will sometimes put me in charge of some jobs whenever she had more than one event or just felt I was capable of handling the job, coupled with the fact that I was a Corper which also meant that I was older than many of the girls that were ushering at the time but I had the stature of a 15 year old. (still do) *big grin*

During this period, I saw ladies who were just as hardworking and many of them sending themselves to school and helping in their various homes financially. 

I also saw some loopholes and that was when it dawned on me that I wanted to be a leader with a difference. I wanted to help ladies and people generally. I had worked with a couple of ushering agencies, done a couple of jobs without getting paid and with no training whatsoever!

It was then I decided that I wanted to be a different kind of leader. I wanted to make an impact in my society.

To be continued...

Life The Way I See It

Life The Way I See It

Contrary to the popular belief that life begins at 40, I have always believed that life begins at 30. For me, 30 is significant. It means my early youth is over and my more mature youth is taking over. 

When I was younger, I used to lie about my age, for some reason, I just felt the need to lie about my real age. I still do not understand the reason behind this till date. I even put a fake date of birth on some of my certificates back then. I always dreaded the question, " how old are you?". It made me feel insecure in some funny way. Thinking about it now, it was probably one of the silliest things to worry about.

I will be 30 soon and many times, I have asked myself if I had utilized my 'twenties' years well. If I am an achiever, If I am where I want to be, so many "if's".  I secretly compare myself with others, measuring their successes with mine but the truth is I will never know and here is why...

Depending on what 'achievement' means to you, it could be wealth, it could be success in whatever you find yourself doing, it could be getting married and starting a family... Whatever it is, someone somewhere started earlier, someone somewhere is wealthier or more popular or more successful in whatever it is that they are doing and you will always wonder if you started early enough or if you are where you are supposed to be. 

So I decided that instead of worrying myself sick and wondering if I am where I am supposed to be, I would rather start something because I am a strong believer of "it is never too late".

It was never too late for some great achievers and It won't be late for me. The first step is to start, so I started and gradually kept moving forward.

Do I feel I could have started earlier, yes, I do. Have I made some stupid choices in my life, yes, I have. I am human, I have made very silly decisions that I wish I could take back but hey, that's life and this is MY LIFE, I am the hero of my own story. I dictate what happens in it. 

Take your story in your hands today, it is never too late to start over! Be proud of your age, it is a blessing to still be alive. People will try to discourage you but listen to yourself because in the end, only you matter.

Love,

Olamide