I’ve told the stories about how other people started their businesses hundreds of times – but I always shy away from telling my story too. Why? because deep down I wasn’t sure if I’d reached success yet to be able to inspire others – and like so many people, I didn’t know the true meaning of success.
So I’d like to share a few quotes on success before I proceed – If you are not sure if you are successful or how to achieve success, I think you’d like this:
- Success can mean: feeling that tingle of excitement about what you do, sticking with what matters through hard times, living a life you can feel proud of in retrospect – Sarah Lewis (click here to listen to her TED talk on what success is).
- The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand – Vince Lombardi.
- Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm – Winston Churchill.
- There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way – Christopher Morley.
- Success is achievement of an action within a specified period of time or within a specified parameter. Success can also mean completing an objective or reaching a goal – Business Dictionary.
Now I am ready to share my story to inspire a lot of people. Let’s start from the beginning, how it all began – I hope some students can also learn from my experience.
MAY – JUNE 2010
As I was coming to the end of university in the year 2010, I knew I wanted to be my own boss, I had big dreams but no capital, no experience, and no support system. Every final year student I knew wanted to join a graduate scheme, and all the careers advice and fair I attended didn’t have the resources for graduates who wanted to start their own business straight out of University.
My next option was to join the large number of IT graduates hoping to join a graduate scheme at one of the biggest technology companies in the UK – but I didn’t. I went to few assessment days and interviews, honestly, I hated the whole process, and it made me so unhappy.
Fortunately, I come from a family (a country and continent) where parents plan out their children’s life until they are old enough to make their own decisions – and when I mean old enough, I mean when they get married (female child) or get a high-paying job (male child). So my family convinced me to apply for a Masters degree – that was a perfect getaway plan for me. I loved studying and I hated assessment days, so I had no problem going back to school.
I applied to ONLY the best Business Schools in the country. I figured if I was going to get a Masters degree in Business to compliment my Computer Science Degree, then it had to be from the best university – I wanted to get the Best of Both Worlds.
If you are interested in knowing the universities I applied to and the outcome, I have listed it below – if you are not, please skip this part. I applied to a couple of universities because I couldn’t put all my eggs in one basket.
- Brunel University: I already spent 3 years here, and I just wanted to take advantage of the discounts offered to former students – but they rejected my application, said it was too late, and that there was no place left, (what a way to treat a former student!).
- Warwick: I also got a NO from them, I don’t remember the reason, but I think because my application was late.
- University College London: I got a maybe (conditional offer).
- Loughborough: Delayed application – they just kept requesting for more documents, but I later got an offer shortly after I received an offer from my first choice – so I didn’t accept it.
- Imperial College: I don’t think I really hoped for the best when I applied, but as my first choice, I tried my best and I sent in a good application. I remember the couldn’t reach my second referee – so that’s when I really lost hope.
JULY 2010
My graduation month, and I still didn’t get an offer from any university. Then a week to my graduation day, I received an invitation to a skype video interview (My last referee responded after all). The interview was scheduled a day before my graduation day – another thing to be sad about, I thought!
Wednesday came, my internet connection kept going on and off (way to go Virgin broadband) and I really couldn’t connect to Skype, my day started badly. So I switched to the Skype on my blackberry phone, again something went wrong – I couldn’t receive a video call with my phone. Then the long awaited call came in. Fortunately for me, the interviewer was kind enough to carried on via audio call.
After a long and stressful day, I was so nervous, again I lost hope (can I say MORE hope, because that would really explain how I felt).
Thursday morning before my graduation, I got another email from Imperial College, and I remember my first reaction was – ‘here comes another rejection letter,’ and to my surprise it was an Offer Letter! It’s really true that ‘Every cloud has a silver lining.’
Look! I had a big smile on my face
OCTOBER 2010 – SEPTEMBER 2011
I spent the year at Imperial College Business School. It was very challenging – but I was happy I was in the right place. I got to learn so much, gained new skills and experiences, and finally I knew what career I wanted pursue. This time I didn’t just need a paying job, I needed the right job. A job I can learn a lot, and can use the skills and experience to start and run my own business.
Now, the job application process was easier, and not so boring – I applied to only meaningful jobs, and I even had companies reaching out to me , and that gave me so much confidence.
SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2011
One year later, I went straight out of business school to working at one of the world’s largest and most reputable data storage company – a graduate’s dream come true. That was my first assessment day/interview – I guessed spending a year in a Business school gave me the confidence I needed to stand out from the hundreds of graduates.
So I started my first real job as an Associate Technical Account Manager – presales. I was very eager to learn everything and anything; and in 3 months I went from the small graduate who was desperately seeking a graduate job, to a certified professional with a busy Linkedin inbox – recruitment consultants from big IT firms wanted to have a chat with me. Life was GOOD! and I couldn’t wait to be like the senior consultants who earned too much to quit to start their own businesses; I was in a good industry and I never had to worry about unemployment.
I worked very hard, I did projects that challenged and stretched me, I gained the necessary skills and experience. Suddenly, I was very motivated to start my own business, and this time I had the courage to stop dreaming and start working on my business ideas – and trust me I had so many ideas, I still do! but overtime I learnt to filter the opportunities from the ideas.
MAY 2012
By May, I had moved from my previous role to a new role as a Technology Solutions Consultant. A lot of things changed, I had more responsibility (really challenging ones), and of course I was up for it for the experience. Though I don’t have so many years of experience (like so many professionals out there), I do have really great experience, and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my career. I got to work in a great company – I went to VEGAS, and I met really great and supportive team.
JULY – DECEMBER 2012
My first experience of starting a business was in 2012, I wanted to run a holiday camp business, I love children and it was no surprise to my family and friends, that my first business would be a business for kids pleasure. But the UK has so many popular holiday camps, and I really couldn’t compete with them; I knew a country which didn’t, so I registered the business in Nigeria and also in the UK.
I visited Nigeria on my ten days leave, I really couldn’t do much, I had to be back at work – I loved my job, and really didn’t want to lose it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the business, and I would work on the plan every evening and on weekends. I connected with relevant people in Nigeria via social media, I started building my team there, and we started working on launching the business in December – still I had no plans of quitting my job. The great thing about the business was I could work on it from the UK, and then go back to Nigeria for the camp whenever I’m on holiday. I also had my best friend as my General Manager, she was passionate about the work, the whole team was (lucky me) – It’s was all for a good cause, and they loved it.
So I had everything taken care of.
I thought so, but I didn’t. I lost my granddad, and the funeral was scheduled for December – so the two events clashed, and somebody had to sacrifice, and it had to be me (of course it was inevitable – having up to 100 relations voting against it) . I couldn’t launch the business that year.
MARCH 2013
The following year, we launched the holiday camp business with over 50 kids in camp – the first of its kind in the country – my first lifestyle business.
It wasn’t as easy as I have described, but you will get to read more about my struggles, challenges, and how I remain UNSTOPPABLE!
Habits you need to be successful as an Entrepreneur
1st Photo credit: Jrm Llvr
2nd Photo credit : Melody Campbell
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