Try your hands on a few things.
You will fail at most, you will struggle at some, and you will fall in love with some.
When I started, I tried photography, and I am glad I did because that formed the basics of the things I do now. I first learned photography with my phone, then after looking for someone who had an actual Camera to work with so I could learn it better. The low grade of Nikon cost about 60,000 naira, and that was a lot of money at that time.
I still have those posts I made way back here. But I deleted almost all the old pictures from my gallery here.
From there I took a course on Photography, had a diploma in photography with then Shawacademy, took a course in graphics designing, social media marketing and digital marketing. Stated managing pages for a few people, I ran ads too. I still wasn't satisfied I wanted to learn web design. I reached out to one of the best men working at Uniben ICT, we agreed on pay, and I paid him weekly to learn.
Oh, I was already editing videos and shooting weddings... Sorry, I didn't mention this.
So back to the web design, it got to a point, I told him Bros, this thing is not easy, I nor fit blow my head with these codes, this was about 10 years ago 😂. He might see this post 😃
I told him, you know what, video is giving me money, with the programming languages I have learnt so far, I want to focus on WordPress. I built my website and started running my blog, a lot of you who knew me in 2017 saw it. I organised blogging classes.
I started making a website for people. If it were something too difficult for me, I would reach out to my Uniben ICT man, who became my friend, he would do it and we would split the money.
Honestly, I had a lot of skills, I learned physical skills like barbing.
At a point, I had to focus on just 2 or 1 thing.
By this time I started getting movie gigs, and I worked with a few Nollywood producers. This one started taking up all my time that I couldn't even write again, yes I loved to write too, and I got paid for it too.
If you are still reading this, this will start making sense to you now.
I was in my 20's, started learning mid 20's. I spent my early 20's in school getting a degree in accounting.
Now, I tried all these in my 20's, I made a lot of mistakes. There where no much information about digital skills. In fact, I was in the forefront urging people to learn, told you I tried out organising classes, they were free, had a Facebook group, WhatsApp group... I even gathered a few writers whom I was trying to just see grow. That's why I can advise anyone trying to go this path.
Proper direction would have saved me from a lot of things, I would have furthered my education from there, but I didn't, I felt it wasn't necessary. I got to realise I needed that when life hit hard, I knew it was my only way out... I won't go into details.
In life, it's good to try out many things, guide your little ones to start trying very early from 14 to 23... By this age, they should have made all the mistakes that are needed to build. I didn't have this guidance, I started late, I focused my teenage years on one talent ; writing and making music. I stopped when I was in 200 level.
If you are young, try many things, when you get to a certain age you already know the things to focus on. You would have been in rooms, gone places, made mistakes, lived in different environments and know what you want to focus on
It will save you from still looking for freelancing jobs at an old age, by then you should be a founder.
If you are reading this and you are starting late, you would try a few things, but you need proper guidance, you don't want to make the mistakes a boy of 19 is making at 35.
Having the basics, I can transition into anything I want. With the knowledge I have, I have been able to build 5 Saas... I am focusing on building my agency now, not as a freelancer anymore but as a founder. And on the side of education, I want to go further, honestly with the kind of kid I was who came out first in every class, in fact it was rare to see a kid with such excellence as mine. Life took another turn, but I am grateful to God that I kept improving my mind, if you know me, you know I don't rest, I try to be better each day.
Okay, this is not just about me, I hope I was able to talk to someone with this. Try things out, don't be scared. Spend time learning. Stay curious. When you learn, take action. Stop storing books, read them! Stop saving courses, take them!
Guide your younger ones. School is not a scam. School will remain the easiest route for a poor man's child to change the cause of his life and that of his family. It is the easiest route out of poverty. Get the best out of it if you can afford it.
I was building a website for my friend, it's a blog, and I spent the whole of yesterday and night building it. I was so amazed, and I told myself, "Shev, you are a Genius!"
I tried to ask how I know so much, that's when I started replaying how I have been so curious to learn from anyone I come across.
To me, curiosity is all you need. Let's say it is the first thing you need, not all. The lack of it will make you dull.
I sent this to my email list, and I thought I should share it with you.
Try your hands on a few things.