Congrats to Mrs Adefila who just launched her tear rubber Audi Q7 Jeep following the footsteps of our Mentor - the Jagaban of LCG!
HER STORY
Growing up in a small town in Ikorodu, I was raised by strict but loving parents who tried their best to give my siblings and I the best they could afford. Life wasn't very rosy at the start, I remember having to support my mum sometimes by hawking pap after school, on weekends and during the holidays.
But even as my environment and my parents were not as wealthy as I would have loved them to be, I always had dreams of succeeding massively financially, touring the world and making impact. I studied very hard and got admission into the University of Lagos, graduated with a second class upper and got a job in the Human Resources Department of a popular multinational company.
When I got the job, I was glad that finally I was on the path on the right path to achieving my dreams. I had an office, an official car and everything was going fine, I was a big girl.
But as the years passed, I noticed I didn't have any savings. My salary was always exhausted even before it came. I was always having to pay for things I had bought on credit within the month. Less than 2 weeks after getting paid, I was back to being broke again. I started seeing the need of having daily income as a married person.
The salary was never enough, I had to always rely on my husband.
Then a time came when my husband travelled on official duty and I was to handle some extra financial responsibilities at home which I couldn't. That was when it dawned on me that despite all my leaving very early to come back late at night, despite always looking nice in skirt suits, fancy shoes and a nice car, I was stranded.
After a while, my husband came back and things got back to how they used to be. I returned into hiding under the umbrella of the husband being the breadwinner of the family. But something drastic happened, my son developed asthma and it was so serious that I had to resign from work to be able to take care of him.
So I started my own business so I could be in control of my income and so I could have time to take care of my children and family. I was running my own interior decoration business "Cravings and Luxury" with my shop just opposite Abiola Gardens in Ikeja. Everything was going on well at the beginning that I even got an interview with the Punch and Sun Newspaper but over time I started to see why only 9 out of every 10 businesses survive their first 5 years.
When people leave their job to start a small scale business with the hope of having more time and income, it is like moving from frying pan to fire.
When my business kick started, I faced the exact challenges virtually every business go through. A lot of people in business can confirm that we pay hundreds of thousands of naira for rent and even more to fill the shops up with our items and merchandise and sometimes for days and even weeks, we may not sell a single item but still we have to pay staff salaries, electricity bills, LAWMA, other utility bills, government taxes and the most dreaded one of all - fuel and service the generators.
To top it all, you can't make 100% of your profit except you are there all the time because of how slim the chances of getting trustworthy staff members are. I couldn't take a break and it defeated the whole purpose of starting a business to have time for my family. Sometimes I secured contracts of over a million naira and at the end of the execution of the projects, I only made a few thousand naira profit. The whole business looked like I was working for my staff, the landlord and the government because that was where all my money was going to.
I knew life could be better than my present situation and daily I hoped and prayed for a change and a vehicle that could help me achieve my dreams. On this fateful Sunday morning, I went to Ogba Retail Market to get fresh fish for my husband, it was there I was approached by a man who also came to buy some stuff. He said "hi" and to be candid, the first thing that came to my mind was "All these Lagos men! On a Sunday morning when your mates are in church or Asalatu, you are here looking for women to toast? Well, wrong person!".
I hid my disgust and replied him with a half hearted "hello" and with style, I used my left hand to rub my eyebrow so he could see my wedding ring and know I was "OUT OF BOUNDS" but he kept being friendly. It was almost like he knew what I was doing but chose to ignore my actions.
He seemed to be a nice person, he assisted me in moving my groceries to the car, and there he did the expected, he asked for my phone number. I almost intentionally gave him a wrong number because of my "over carefulness". I was a married women with no time to accommodate some silly toasters.
There are a lot of times when God grants us answers to our prayers but at that point we are not spiritually matured enough to recognize it because we expect God to work in a particular way. His ways are not ours. Giving that man a wrong number that day would have been the biggest mistake of my life. And I thank God I didn't.
About a week later, after some courtesy calls, he began inviting me for various events put together by his organisation and I was always giving him one excuse or the other but he was very patient. One day I decided to attend so I could at least get him off my neck.
I head out to the venue with the directions he sent and when i got there, to my amazement, I saw that it was Forever Living Products' Head Office. I was furious, so furious that if I had seen that man at that moment, he would have received the verbal trashing of his life. Who does this man think I am? Do I look hungry?
Or do I look like someone who wants to hawk drugs on the streets of Lagos. Not at this stage I have gotten to. I am a big girl now, I had put anything related to hawking in my past completely. I made a U-Turn immediately and went back home.
Your progress and success in life is dependent on your attitude. A good attitude leads to a fulfilled life while a stinking attitude will only give you stinking results.
It wasn't until I got home that day that my brain started working. There I thought to myself, "Omowunmi, are you okay? Someone invited you for a function and you couldn't pay the person the simple courtesy of entering into the venue even if its just for 5 minutes or least give the person a call to say you couldn't attend for a reason or the other. You were raised better than this." I called the man immediately and as usual he was patient and yet invited me for another. I finally attended out of respect but with a closed mind to just hear whatever it is they had to say and take my leave.
And that Wednesday marked the turning point in my life. I saw a new hope. I saw the means I had been desperately praying to God to find. I saw the reasons I have been struggling for the past years and most importantly I saw today. The misconceptions I had about the business changed. It wasn't about buying and selling or hawking as I thought, it was about touching lives and impacting destinies.
Right there, I started the business before leaving the premises. I picked products for use at home and in 30 days, following the plan given to me by the man I met at the market who was now my mentor, I was paid 81,000 naira as bonus from the company. This what without selling a single item. All I did was told some of my friends to change their brand and invited some others to the presentation and they keyed in.
In that same month, I became a Recognized Manager in 3 months with a bonus of over 350,000 naira. I didn't need God to come down to tell me I needed to close my shop.
Fast forward to this day, I am a member of the Prestigious Millionaires' Club, I have been on 6 exotic international vacation all expense paid by the company. I have qualified for 2 car incentives, a Volkswagen Touareg V8 and now an Audi Q7.
And recently, my family and I were decorated as Sapphire Mangers in South Africa in the presence of thousands of people from over 170 countries around the world.
But all these achievements are insignificant compared to what God has used my saying yes to the opportunity to achieve in the lives of people. From helping wives like me become more productive so they can support their husbands in paying the bills. To reducing the statistics of unemployed youths by mentoring them to making tangible income that they never need to look for jobs. And also helping young ladies build a profitable beauty business.
Also God has used me to help a lot of women get rid of arthritis, fibroid, skin disorders and infertility issues with the help of the products this amazing company offers. And to the glory of God, these products have helped my son become free of asthma.
I want to thank my husband for his support from my day 1 of starting this business. I appreciate you for being the most wonderful man any woman could ever wish for and a loving father to the amazing kids God has blessed our union with.
I also want to say a massive Thank You to the man I met at the market, the one God sent to show me this opportunity, he is none other than Mr Tope Akinola T21, the founder and the President of The Life Changing Group. A big appreciation to you Sir for not giving up on me and your other numerous protégés even as we make one mistake after the other.
Thank you Sir for the Life Changing Group Academy, the trainings I have received there are more than just the Forever Business, they have positively affected every area of my life. Through your teachings Sir, I have become a more respectful wife to my husband, a better daughter to my parents and in laws, a more loving mother to my children, a more trusted associate to my business partner and a refined leader to my teammates.
From you Sir, we have learned and see that moving up fast in the Forever Business is not by the MARKETING PLAN, it is by MARKETING LOVE. It is love that teaches one to stretch himself/herself to achieve his/her dreams knowing that a lot of lives will be blessed in the process. Of what value is a mansion if it is surrounded by mud houses. Its this love that teaches us to sacrifice our time and resources fir the benefit and growth of others.
Its this same love that gives us the wisdom to embrace new ideas understanding well that there is no perfect way doing anything and that there is no gain in sticking to archaic methods. One only fizzles out by doing that.
And with the same love, I am imploring everyone to go for their dreams and never give up. God bless T21.God bless The Life Changing Group, God bless everyone in the Forever Business worldwide and nd God bless every Network marketer on the face of the earth. Let's keep doing the good work and Almighty God will bless all of us.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment