Fast Track to Being the Boss You’ve Always Dreamed Of

She succeeded against all odds. You too can.

Undaunting Quest for Education

Today, in many parts of the world, children have no guarantee of basic education. In some cultures, tribal preferences for boys-children put girls-children at further disadvantages. These two practices are made worse where an unwritten code of “what is good for the goose is not good for the gander” persists.

These are some challenges that the author confronted in her early years. Against all these odds, she triumphed and catapulted herself through all levels of education. Presently she is the owner of two business enterprises in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja.

Drawing from her experience, the author explained how an aspiring entrepreneur’s dream of becoming a boss could be easier than you thought. In the book, Become A Boss Faster Than You Think. In the book, the author explained how she overcame the travails of her early years. Hers has been a fairy tale rise from grass to grace. It is heartwarming to know that she is still flourishing gracefully forward.

In all dispensations, education has always been a tool for liberation from, ignorance, backwardness and poverty. It was the author’s determination, precocious from an early age, that set her on the path of the liberating light of education. At a tender age, she literally sneaked her way to her first school and "forced" the school head teacher to register her in the primary school. Hear her in her book,

While she was trying to register me, she asked me what my name was. I told her “Enigbowa”. She asked me to spell it, and I could not spell it. So, she said I could not join the school because they could not register me without a name.

Just then, the name BLESSING came to me and I told her my name was Blessing. I got the inspiration instantly; even though I had never heard the name anywhere before that day. I didn’t know the meaning until I grew up. That was how I came about the name Blessing, and that was the beginning of my educational journey.

Despite her brilliant, promising performance during her elementary school years, the chance to further her academic pursuits were bleak. All alone, she sponsored herself through secondary school where she graduated well pass the average age for her class. Again, the “pull her down forces” were relentlessly stacked against her. But she overcame.

It was the timely intervention of her school principal that enabled her to finish her secondary school education. Hear her heartbreaking story that resounded in eventual triumph. Inspiring.

I was just determined. As I write today; To give up in the sights of challenges should never be an option. Just don’t you ever give up, no matter how bad things get. When my aunt that drove me out of her house discovered that I was still going to school, she visited the school, Kososfe College, to effect my dismissal from the school. It was some drama.

My Literature teacher and my English teacher were aware of my challenges, so when they sighted my aunt, they went ahead of me to the principal and explained things and said, this girl wants to go to school, why will anybody stop her. They pleaded with the principal not to allow my aunt to pull me out of the school. My aunt arrived at the office of the principal and informed her that she came to withdraw her child from school. The principal told her she had the right to withdraw the child from school. She was excited, and then the principal asked her if she was the one that came to register the child in the school and she said ‘no’ that I was the one that came and registered myself.

The principal then told her that since the child came and registered by herself that she could not withdraw her from the school and that the child was the only one that could withdraw herself from the school. That was how I was set free, that was my saving grace and I could finish my secondary school education.

It was her adventurous mindset that saw her through her secondary school. You’ve already heard it, "Fortune favors the bold." The other lesson is, without boldness, you may be unwittingly helping your less able adversaries to push you out of the path to the success that you deserve and worked for. Her enterprising spirit of early teen years carried her through into her university years, where she started a successful business even while she was still an undergraduate. Presently, she has two flourishing businesses to her name at Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Wings for your flight — to becoming a boss. Here are the lessons from the book.

1. To give up in the sights of challenges should never be an option. Just don’t you ever give up, no matter how bad things get.
2. Don’t reserve your best for tomorrow; use it now! No great team reserves their best when they have a crucial a crucial task at hand. Whatever is your God-given assignment, small or big go for it with your best.
3. Two things don’t go together: Enjoyment and money making. These things don’t work together. You must choose one. And follow that one aggressively. You must reach a point before you start that enjoyment.
4. Accepting the realities of life has to do with accepting your background and improving on it.
5. Do not undersell or short charge yourself because of negative self-judgement. The primary tool used to domesticate oneself is self- judgment. When there is an opportunity to sell oneself and take the next big step in life, if that domestication comes up and you tell yourself that; You are not smart. You are not intelligent. You are not good enough. Life can never get any better for me. Then you are finished.
6. Life owes you nothing. It is your responsibility to take charge of whatever life throws at you and make the best out of it.
7. Social media is a harbinger of self-judgment and subsequently self-destruction. With a login, we are welcomed to a perfect world - with heroes and heroines, a princess in distress, and many examples of ugliness and what not to be.
8. Every choice you make makes you. You can make the choice to detach yourself from every unrealistic image that standards have placed for you. You have the power to say ‘NO’, to every negativity affecting your life.
9. Life will always give you another chance to prove your self-worth.
10. The world is changing every day. Therefore, you must be ready to learn as you go. If you are waiting to be perfect in your act before you step out, then you may have to wait forever.
11. Integrity and focus are key ingredients for business success. You can’t be a Jack of all trades and expect success soon.
12. Sometimes we worry about making the wrong choice. What if we regret the direction that we take and it’s too late to go back? The bigger danger is that we make no decision at all and end up not doing anything or getting anywhere.
13. Be wary of over-information, as they don’t necessarily lead to better decisions. Trust your gut-instincts and stop always playing it safe.
14. If you are a member of a group or committee, never assume that the group knows best and if you find everyone agreeing, play the contrarian.
15. On reading for advancement and leadership: “Luck is what happens to you when your preparation meets with an opportunity.”
16. Take responsibility for your life, your actions and results. George Washington Carver noted, “Ninety-five percentages of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.”
17. It is a universal principle that people who cannot take responsibility for their failures cannot take responsibility for their successes. Only when we own up to our mistakes, do we find the strength to correct them and move forward in life.
18. The irony of life is that that the same factors people attribute to their failures are the same others attribute to their successes? The same storm others complain about is what makes the eagle soar. The economy, location or industry people blame for their hardships is the same that others are grateful for.
19. Train yourself to envision your success story day in the nearest future. This will help you endure the certain collateral hardships, unfavourable situations, and or the disappointing experiences that decorate the route to success land.
20. You must be resolutely determined to do away with the non- essentials, time-killers, name damaging conducts, integrity smearing attitudes, and other affairs that beset you but leave you empty and lacking in fulfilment and true joy after using up your precious moments.

Final takeaways

Here are some vital life truisms I will have you takeaway from the book.

• Speed up your preparations, one day the right opportunity will meet with you and you will be pronounced lucky.
• Acting courageously and decisively at opportune moments can transform your life forever.
• Later on in life, we regret the decisions not taken more than the ones we took. Do not fall for this trap.
• Focus, perseverance and persistence against all odds, are the only guarantee for ultimate success.
• Let gratitude be your default setting and be generous with compassion and mercy.

NOTE:

Mrs Blessing Otagbo is the owner of two companies, Onward Surgical Limited and Harvid Cleaning. Services. She holds a Political Science degree from the University of Abuja in Nigeria. She is the Founder and National Coordinator of Grassroots Development and Education Initiative in Africa.

Source

Copyright by © Blessing Otagbo, Become A Boss Faster Than You Think, Jaraph Books, 2020