Adebola A. Oni
One thing I love doing is sharing stories of people I have either met or read about. These are people that when you read their stories, you will be highly inspired to believe in yourself and the fact that you can achieve your dreams.
I will be sharing the story of a friend today and it is going to spur a new enthusiasm to follow your dream no matter how long you have abandoned it.
I started a discussion in a Group I belong to on blackberry one day and this discussion led to wonderful discoveries that I will NEVER forget for the rest of my life. I asked everybody involved in the group to share their childhood dreams and how they have been impacted by these dreams. It was really an exciting discussion because it got everybody animated and they started sharing their stories, from their childhood dreams, how plans changes and how they went to other things in life.
The trend went on until Brownies Adebimpe Adeyi jolted us all out of reality by telling us that she is actually doing everything she dreamt of as a child! Before she came into the discussion, we were almost concluding, just like I said in my book, that our dreams as children, were mere wishes.
Sensing something great is unveiling right before our very eyes, I decided to prod further and she revealed a lot and I have decided to share everything she said below:
“When I was young, I discovered I love fashion, I could change my outfit like four times a day, dressing in front of my mirror. Anytime there is a fashion show on TV, my dad will ask them to call me because he knows I will love to watch!
“When it was time for me to write JAMB, University Matriculation Examination, my sister wanted me to study Nursing/Medicine and my Dad wanted Law but I chose Business Administration because I wanted to know how I will manage the business empire I intended building. So I got admission to study Business Administration at the University of Ado Ekiti in 1998.
“As a Jambite, Freshers, I was already controlling the school beauty pageant. I got the name Brownies World, my Company’s name, already in my head in my 100 Level days. A year after I got into the University, I drew a business plan of my business empire (I’m still on number 7 of 20 of that business plan because I still follow it).
“So after University, I worked with a UK School (their Nigeria office). I managed it for three years. While working there, I trained around in Skin and Makeup in like two places. I close from my normal office job and drive to banks around to sell makeup products. Then I started losing interest in my office work because I travel a lot and it affected my engagement to a guy then.
“I was at the head of office in Nigeria that had over 10 branches in 10 different states. If anything goes wrong, my boss calls me immediately from the UK. When I said I was quitting my job, my mum thought I was mad!
“My friends said I was crazy and asked how many makeup products I will sell to get how much I was making at that time? But my passion kept pushing me!
“When my boss saw I was losing interest and not bringing up more challenges, he told me to move to the UK Office. I laughed within me, saying these people ain’t serious. To make them happy I applied for UK visa twice and I purposely did not include some documents. So I was refused visa and everyone was surprised and started wondering what went wrong.
“By then I had already paid for my first shop, my business name was registered. So moving to the UK then was like killing my own dream and building someone else’s.
“I resigned and opened my business afterwards. I later traveled on a vacation to Germany and did another course in Makeup.
“Now it is six years into my Business! I have trained over 120 students all over Nigeria and the UK (I love impacting knowledge in people). Over the years, we have also handled so many jobs and some of them are:
1) The Nigerian TV Fashion Show, since 2008.
2) Aso Ebi Fashion Show 2008,9
3) The Next Movie Star 2010
4) So many bridal jobs etc.
I am not rich but I’m doing what I love to do!”
Need I say more? This is indeed an inspiring story and I’m sure it will inspire someone reading it now, to stop building another person’s dream and start focusing on his/hers. No matter how long you build other people’s dream, a time will come when your service will no longer be needed.
No matter what has happened to your childhood dream, I believe the perfect time to bring it back to life is NOW. Even if it has been on the shelf gathering dust, pick it up NOW and start working on it.