The Audacity of God's Grace: 10 Strategies To Living Your Best Life Now (24 page)

Create Multiple Streams of Income

As a student during our days at Babcock University, my wife who was then my fiancée and I owned two small businesses apart from multi-level marketing. Because my wife was also an aggressive HHES representative while completing her nursing degree at Babcock University and our successes with book sales, we decided to open a book shop in Ilishan-Remo town and also had our Okada businesses while we were completing our baccalaureate degrees. I had one motorcycle for Okada business, and my wife had one too. We employed two people who used these motorcycles to do Okada business for us, while we went to school. These were the small beginnings of our entrepreneurial exploits.

Our book store and Okada businesses were successful. Apart from these, my wife was also involved with multi-level marketing and was receiving checks from Forever Living Products which she had many downlinks. She was also a distributor of Tianshi products. My wife and I have always followed the wealthy people’s practice of creating multiple streams of income, no matter how small. This is why presently; we have multiple small businesses some of which are strictly online. Many poor people and the middle class think that being employed by someone else, landing into what they describe as their dream career, working in the banks or in a corporate organization; in government jobs or in a firm and working 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until retirement will provide them with financial security or financial freedom. This may never happen for many. What I encourage people is this: If you must work in these establishments, let this employment serve as one stream of your income.

What if you are fired and you are unable to find employment in the next one year or two? How much money will you have in your savings account to help you not drag through life for those months of setback? The fact is that having an employment will help you to survive through life, but you will fail short of experiencing big financial breakthrough, and be a person of greater significance to the community or society in a very powerful and positive way, unless you are stealing from such organizations. You cannot be employed by the government or in a certain organization and become a multimillionaire or a billionaire, unless you are a thief. To be a multimillionaire, you have to own a business or businesses thereby creating multiple streams of income.

Multi-Task

Creating multiple streams of income means that you must be willing to multitask. You cannot do just one thing. You must multitask in order to have a floodgate of financial stream and float. The era of internet technology has made it easier for anybody who has a personal computer (PC), and can access the internet and is willing to creatively think, to legitimately create multiple streams of income online and pay taxes. How will you feel to make money while you sleep? This is very possible.

“I have reaped a harvest of increase and eat the fruit of the land by creating multiple streams of income.”

People must not know everything that you do or all of your streams of income to reduce jealousy. I multitask in small businesses and also, through our online businesses. It feels so good to wake up in the morning and log onto your online account and see how much money that you made while you slept. It can happen to you too. This is why Aliko Dangote, a multi-billionaire in the continent of Africa is doing many exploits with several brands of goods and commodities his organizations manufactures and sale despite his connections to the political leaders and his monopolistic business strategies that has raised serious concerns for many of his competitors. This business magnate does not focus on one thing. Dangote had stated that he had an early interest in business while in primary school and started to buy cartons of sweets (candies) and sale them to make money. In 1977, he founded the Dangote Group, originally as a small trading firm. Today, this Nigerian self-made business magnate, Who is now the world’s 23rd richest person and has an estimated net worth of $25 billion USD as of 2014. Based in Nigeria, he believes strongly that you can make big money in your own country and in your own continent. Dangote is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has interests in commodities with operations in Nigeria and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Togo, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia.

Dangote is ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 23rd richest person in the world and the richest man in the continent of Africa. How did he do all of these? He is well known to innovatively create multiple streams of income and is a master Multi-Tasker. He is a workaholic. He specializes in seeing opportunities that others don’t and taking advantages of such opportunities. Today, Dangote’s businesses include food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight. The Dangote Group dominates the sugar market in Nigeria. Dangote Group is the major sugar supplier to the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners. Dangote Group has moved from being a small trading company in 1977, to Nigeria’s largest industrial group including: Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Cement, and Dangote Flour amongst others. While ordinary people waste their evenings, an extraordinary person who wants to sustain their successes invests their evenings. As a success, I can authoritatively state that it is impossible to create wealth with an attitude of lazy thinking and laziness. Dangote is presently planning to build Nigeria’s first privately owned refinery company that is estimated to cost him $8 billion. He hopes to achieve this feat by 2016. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that: “wise men put their trust in ideas and not in circumstances.”

The path Dangote has taken is the one that every wealthy family has successfully undertaken to pass wealth to their next generations. By May 2013, while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, Dangote revealed that he has secured loans amounting to $4.25 billion from a consortium of banks to enable him achieve his dream of building the oil refinery in Nigeria. This refinery according to the Master Multi-Tasker is geared to up lift Nigeria and reduce its dependence on oil imports.

Have Connections and Pray for a Major Breakthrough

In an interview, Aliko Dangote who is respected for his strong network of business and political connections said: You can build your connections and strengthen your network in the business world by increasing your corporate social responsibility, signing joint ventures and partnership deals, forming strategic alliances, attending business events and parties, making political donations and paying courtesy visits to those at the helm of affairs.

“To succeed stupendously in the world of business, you must pray for a big breakthrough.”

Big breaks are very vital to entrepreneurial survival. In fact, I can hardly point to any successful entrepreneur that wasn’t thrust upwards by a big breakthrough. Bill Gates had his big break when he negotiated and signed a deal with IBM. Aliko Dangote had his big break when he secured a license to import cement. Oprah Winfrey had hers when she started Harpo Studios Productions and acquired the full rights to her shows; “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Li Ka Shing had his during a riot period and he began buying properties at rock bottom prices. Larry Ellison had his when he secured a deal to build database software for the CIA. The list goes on and on.

You Can Go to Places When You Build
a Brand and Don’t Destroy It

Today, Aliko Dangote has gone to places because he learnt to build brands and network of connectivity in the continent of Africa. Through my exploits and connectivity while creatively working with HHES, I was opportune to go to places like Benin Republic, Lome—Togo, and Burkina Faso. HHES connectivity also afforded me the first opportunity I ever had to travel to Europe—Norway to be precise, where I worked for HHES as a representative. Through my work as a HHES representative and my small business while in Nigeria, I became a small Nigerian millionaire before I left Nigeria. Instead of buying flashy cars, living in expensive apartments, my wife and I decided to invest our hard earned money into self-development and other opportunities that will land us into greater success. Today, Best American Healthcare University, a tertiary institution that my wife and I founded plus other small businesses are becoming a household name in Southern California. Our institution has served the needs of thousands and we are continuing to build a brand name for excellence and cost effectiveness in healthcare education as this growing institution is serving the career or training needs of the adult populations both on the traditional platform and in the online platform.

Serve and Give Back to Your Community

While I lived in Nigeria, after graduation, I took a faculty job at Babcock University Pre-degree program where I taught freshman courses in Religion. I also assisted the office of the head of Department of Religious Studies as a graduate assistant and taught causes such as God in Modern Society etc. My wife, to avoid conflict of interest which prohibited Babcock Workers from working in Babcock and owning other businesses took a nursing job at Dideolu Specialist Hospital—owned by the family of the late wealthy Nigerian Federalist politician, Obafemi Awolowo in Ikenne, Ogun State. This way, we were able to avoid any conflict of interest that would have arisen had I continued to work in Babcock University system, for we maintained our small businesses as additional streams of income, while we served and give back to our community. Other ways that my wife and I have continued to give back to our community in the U.S. is through offering scholarships to the needy and the less privileged. Apart from these, we have given a countless number of people helps that God has positioned us to give in one way or the other. We also serve actively in ministry, equipping and mentoring people to rise and reach their fullest abilities.

Don’t Burn Your Bridges

During, my days at Babcock University, my cousin—Elder Gideon Ubani-Ebere and the wife, who we fondly call Aunty Lizy or Mummy tremendously helped me to succeed. I owe so much in life to De Gideon and his wife. They have given me much love and support in life than most people. De Gideon’s empowerment and financial support helped me to successfully not quit when WAEC seized my Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) result which became an obstacle to my academic journey.

As a science student during my high school days, I did not sit for CRK during WAEC examination, because it wasn’t an entry requirement for people going to study Medicine in any Nigerian University. When I changed my mind and decided later on to study Theology, I needed to sit for CRK. When I sat for CRK, the subject was seized and not released out of every other subject that I sat for. Apart from these, De Gideon and my father will years later work steadily behind the scene when I returned to Nigeria from Norway together with the late Elder Uzoma Franklin Azuogu who also was my father’s friend to significantly help me with my dreams of immigrating to the USA. It was through the domiciliary account of De Uzoma Azuogu that I wired my first quarter school fees to La Sierra University in Riverside California, which I have saved through my hard work and labor.

Don’t Forget People Who Help You Stand Up in Life

How can I forget the encouragement of Professor Chimezie Omeonu, the then Deputy Vice Chancellor for Administration of Babcock University and now the vice chancellor of Clifford University and his wife, Aunty Precious Omeonu who were supportive from the first day I arrived at Babcock? Professor Omeonu and I worked for years. While I was a student and a HHES representative, Professor Omeonu was the Patron of HHES Student Organization on the campus of Babcock University of which I was the President for two years. I also sold most of the books he authored while I worked for HHES as a student, more especially the Devotional authored—A Life to Live.

Apart from these people, I owe more than a depth of gratitude to Professor James Makinde, my boss and mentor at Babcock, who was then the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academics at Babcock University. He was a significant person of influence—a key player in inspiring and supporting my dream of coming to the United States with my young family. He worked tireless in a number of ways to support my dreams. This was how I immigrated to the United States of America.

Industrious People Must Know What They Want Out of Life

There is something about working and accomplishing a task. It makes someone feel needed and worthy of what he or she eats, drinks and the things he enjoys and accomplishes in life. When a person for instance, eats and drinks without working for it, s/he may simply feel happy for having things at hand but will not have that joy and fulfillment others feel about what they enjoy after working hard for it. This is called accomplishment! God says to the indolent in (Proverbs 6:6 NIV), “Go to the ant, you sluggard [i.e. learn industriousness] consider its ways and be wise!” Ants always move around. They have a strong and sometime, formidable and intimidating network that is well coordinated, and they work in teams too. Ants know how to automate their minds to work for success. They are always busy and they are perhaps the most joyous animals on earth because even in times of trials, they are always able to find something to eat.

Ants are Original, You Can Be Too

Ants are able to survive the coldest winters and the stormy weathers because they are very determined and industrious too which is why they always have food in store. The reason why industriousness becomes a principle or strategy for living your best life is because in the world, people will always have needs. People without motivation and perseverance can never be industrious. This is one of the very reasons why automating our minds for success is encouraged for a person to have positive thoughts in order to mobilize one’s self even in times of adversity. Things may start small with dreaming and planning and when the dreams and plans are strongly founded in the mind, it must continue to yield positive results with actions and growth over time. This is why I believe in the power of imagination. In order to be determined to succeed and become industrious, there is the need for that inner power and strength to bring out that which has been imagined.