Writing My Origin Story: Where I Am Now, Where I am Trying To Get To and What I Am Doing To Get There Pt. 2

Hey! Kelechi here. Hope thanksgiving was great for you. It was nice for me to unwind for a little bit and hang out with family. In today’s post, I’ll be completing the second half of my origin story and testing out a new format for my blog posts. Keep reading till the end and I’ll reveal the ONE THING all successful students of online courses have in common and the secret 33% formula which ALL successful people use to allocate their time. Deal? Let’s get straight to it.

Intro:

The day I got accepted to college, I told my parents, My goal is to graduate with a business so I don’t have to work for anybody. Somehow, I lost sight of that goal and spent the last two years of college, struggling in engineering and learning to work for somebody else. Now I have three years to go, and i’m taking a leap of faith and spending the next three years of college, learning to start and grow my one-day million dollar business. The question is how will I as an international student navigate the dos and donts of my visa status and do it without venture capital funding, going into debt or going against the law. Completely from scratch. With no previous experience. This blog is here to give you the answer. Join me and follow along as I learn apply and share business and marketing strategies to start and grow my online business. My name is Kelechi Ochulo and welcome to my blog.

…Origin Story Continued

So Mason and I found a time that worked for the both of us and we had lunch. Over lunched he introduced me to the idea of sales funnels, kinda like websites, but cleaner and more profitable. He shared with me a little bit about his background in e-commerce and how he currently specializes in building sales funnels for companies looking to 10X their sales.

He shared some audiobooks and presentations with me, which I consumed pretty quickly. The more I read, the more resources he gave me. Until the point where he invited me to intern with his Marketing Agency so I can get started and get some more in depth experience.

It’s crazy, that one class was an answer to prayer. The last couple months before that I’ve been wishing for a mentor and just by being in class and contributing I started a conversation with a classmate whom I am now learning a lot of skills from.

Now, here is the path that I have kind of mapped out for myself.

But before that, My Big Crazy Goal, so this way you have an idea where I am trying to get to. I am obsessed with freedom and living life on my own terms. I am trying to achieve Time Freedom, Money Freedom and Location Freedom by the time I am 25! That just means the freedom to do what I want with my time, and be where I want when I want, without money getting in the way.

At the time of writing, I am 19 so basically I have 5 years and 6 months to achieve this.

Why do I want to do this??

I spent the bulk of the last blog post describing the pain of being a broke college student. That is not something I want to keep experiencing. I also don’t want that for my sisters or cousins. It was also a goal I set to graduate college with a business.

Even more importantly, My parents sacrificed a lot for me to be in the position where I am right now. In college, getting an education and learning skills that could be used to generate income in the future. It’s only right that I make the most of the opportunities I have been given.

How Am I going to Do This??

So this is the idea right now. Finish college and get my degree, while doing that Get into e-commerce, launch a couple successful funnels and start an online store. In a year to two from now, I hope to use the skills I learn from running an online store and interning with Mason’s Agency to help businesses drive traffic, generate leads and sales, and charge a fee for that. Then, I will use the next two years to grow my platform and monetize my personal brand (speaking of which follow my instagram @kelechiochulo) so I can make money doing affiliate marketing and possibly coaching and after that real estate.

Okay So Why I am I writing this??

If you know me personally, you know I can be tightlipped at times. For the longest time, my motto was don’t talk about, be about it. And while there’s times and places for that, most successful entrepreneurs are pretty open with their goals, because that way it keeps them accountable. That plus it’s an assignment from my sales funnel course. It’s kinda like how the greats in sports, Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan usually called their shots before they made it.

So I hope you all can keep me accountable.

So there you have it. A brief, kind of all over the place run down of where I am now, where I am going and what I will do to get there.

If you want, comment your own big crazy goals and we can become accountability partners to make sure we’re consistently taking massive action to get us to where we need to be.

And NOW…

The Dope Bonuses I promised to Share.

Rapid Implementation. Yeah, RAPID IMPLEMENTATION. This is the one thing all successful students of online courses or mentorship programs have in common. That simply means quickly doing what was mentioned. So for example, you’re reading a book and or watching a video recording and your teacher says to do a particular thing. You pause it. Do that thing that was mentioned. And then play the video to continue.

Rapid Implementation makes sure you’re constantly taking actions. and prevents you from being like 90% who read the books or take the courses and think, “cool story” but never do anything about it.

Now The 33% formula…

It’s simply this. 33% (or a third) of your time should be spent with people who are where you are trying to go, or have what you want, or maybe just earn more money than you.

The next 33% of your time should be spent with people on the same level as you. But not just any people, people who are actively working to get to where you want to be.

The last 33% of your time should be spent with people you’re ahead of. Who are trying to get to your level. You become a mentor or coach to them.

This is how the most successful people spend their time and this is how I am actively trying to structure the time I spend with people. You should do the same.

Thanks For reading this far!

Let me know your thoughts and what you’re excited for in the coming week.

DISCLAIMER: If it feels like this post is all over the place or the writing sucks…that’s probably because it does. I am not an expert at writing but I hope to get better at it as I post more frequently!

image credit.

So This Guy Aired Me.

I stared at my laptop screen for the umpteenth time still not believing my misfortune.

There is no way John, who’s generated more than a million dollars in revenue could have ignored me, a college sophomore emailing him on recommendation from one of my professors.( sarcasm btw)

I went over my email a couple times, I cross checked to make sure I was using proper grammar, I made sure I sounded respectful but not too groveling, I did everything right just like my professor directed.

It’d been a week so I sent out another email, even offering that the 20 minute in person interview I initially requested be replaced by a phone call interview if it would fit his schedule better.

After a couple days, still no response.

That’s when it dawned on me, John is most likely simply too busy working on his next big idea, to answer respond to my email, let alone meet.

A little backstory.

I requested a meeting with my intro to Entrepreneurship professor at the beginning of this fall semester. In that meeting, I told him my background, where I was from, and that I was interested in getting into real estate.

I told him that over the summer I had watched a lot of videos about how to get into real estate with no money or credit and I wanted to get involved. I went to him because of his experience in entrepreneurship and also because the vast majority of his wealth had been gotten from real estate.

He told me that he didn’t know of any ways to do real estate without any money. Since I do not have any cash stockpiled, he suggested I start a product company and even suggested a business model that he was confident would work. My assignment was to do some product research and come up with very good ideas.

Now, do I believe there are no ways to do real estate without any money, No.

But to me, having a mentor, who would guide me as I get started in wealth creation, is way more important than getting started in real estate right now, so I decided I would pivot, do things his way and develop this mentor/mentee relationship.

And so I did. I pivoted, changed focus and dove into product research.

A couple weeks ago, I met with my professor again. I presented my findings, told him I had done what he said, and I was ready for the next step. He was very impressed and asked that I emailed John since he’d worked on a similar product and could coach me through the process.

So I emailed John. But he didn’t respond.

And why should he?

To me this is a lesson in what the entrepreneurial life is like. All I can do is shoot my shot and try to get connected with the guys who’ve gone before me. Hoping to learn what they did and how to model what worked  But they do not owe me any favors, neither do they owe me their time.

I must learn to find my own answers and when I do, I must learn to be confident in those answers. That is what makes entrepreneurship so exciting yet so scary.

 

BEHIND MY SMILE/ THERE WOULD BE BETTER DAYS.

She just sent me a text.

“How are you?”,she said. 

It might take a while before I reply. 

But when I do, I’ll tell her, “I’ve been better.”

Because I’m all about honesty when it comes to the, “how are you?” question.

And when I ask how you are, I really want to know. 

The whole truth. 

And nothing but the truth. 

So that truly is how I can best describe the way I am right now. 

“I’ve been better.”

Knowing how she is, she’s possibly going to reply with a, “huh?” Or “what do you mean?”

But I really don’t know how better to put it, than by saying I’ve seen better days.

Today I just literally chilled and slept. 

Like chilling in the literal sense. 

There were periods where I stayed still and just stared. 

At my walls. 

My confinements.

Oh the bleakness of it all.

The book I’m reading suddenly wasn’t appealing to me.

Nothing brought solace to my situation other than food and sleep. 

Speaking of which, this morning I had to google and check to be sure I don’t have any eating disorder. 

Thankfully I don’t. 

As anorexia and bulimia don’t really describe my case. 

Where I just eat for want of anything better to do. 

I have to watch it though. So it doesn’t escalate to something more problematic. 

Maybe that’s why mum’s so worried by the way I eat bread. 

Maybe it’s not the bread itself but the eating. 

But on the bright side, 

I think I’ve seen worse days. 

Nothing comes to mind now, but I know there’ve definitely been worse days. 

And for that, I have to be grateful. For there are people going through worse.

If the phase I’m in can be described as going through anything that is. 

The other day, I asked my guy how he was. 

I haven’t spoken to him in months. 

I was surprised that he answered though. 

But when he did, he said, “how about you?”

And after a day or three passed, I responded.

“I’ve been on a roller coaster of moods.”, I said.

But the thing about roller coasters is there are times you go up and other times you go down. 

So surely there would better days.

This too shall pass.

Knowing that I’m on a roller coaster kind of removes the bleakness of the situation. 

There is hope.

That there would be better days.

And I would be genuinely content.  

As if the adversary is mocking me, the Red Devils just conceded another goal.

Maybe as far as the champions league is concerned, we are hopeless as a team. 

But not my life.

I know there would be better days. 

My roller coaster would go up again.

And I would enjoy it for as long as it lasts. 

All the while hoping, that like Augustus, I find the roller coaster that only goes up. 

Someday I’ll find it. 

And I’ll hang on forever. 

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A YOUNG MAN ON HIS PATH. CHAPTER 1. Pt2

Monday June 15 2015

Today is salami Ayobami’s birthday.

Saturday June 13 was Nurudeen’s birthday.

I was in Mr. Essien’s class today and heard David’s might men and I got an idea for the president’s mighty men.

Tuesday, June 16. Dansol boy’s hostel.

12.30 or something close am.

I was glad when Steve Oseghale woke me up to tell me they had started sharing out night snack of biscuits in the hall,which is done after every prep. I was glad because it meant I had slept for a while past 7.00pm.

I really love my afternoon sleep. I seriously believe that as I sleep well, bather regularly I would be healthy and look good too. I practice this very religiously.

Another reason I love my naps is the fact that I can wake up around 12.00 am to 1.00 and  read scriptures, have quality prayer time, and read both academic material and otherwise with very little distraction.

At school yesterday, after the physics paper, Dumebi was quite unhappy. This had nothing to do with her physics exam because she said it was quite good for her. I was finally able to cheer her up but I know this was not by my effort alone, and I know the Holy spirit put the right words in my mouth because I was praying all the while.

We both agreed that she wouldn’t let situation/stuff around her get to her and when she starts having bad thoughts she should start remembering how lucky and blessed she is and be grateful. I hope we never loose contact. I want to help her fulfill her dreams and see her live a good life.

 

Kaydee seemed quite unhappy yesterday, I really wish I could cheer him up because he’s my close friend, brother and business partner. Besides what I feel the original problem was, I believe he also wants to go home. I’ve been feeling that way lately and I don’t blame him. Not like I hate the hostel, I don’t mind, it and I love my hostel brothers but the hostel is quite limiting. Anyways, since the house is far and the space between my papers is small, I’ll just manage like that and stay in school.

 

I’ll never again underestimate the power of contact making! There’s this guy from the FSD program. I remember his face but not his name. He runs a car tracking business and would be very helpful at the moment for the project Kolade and I are working on. I’ll  ask around sha. I pray God,helps me remember his name in a dream sha.

Countdown to graduation: 24 days. Megwa’s new passcode 1350.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A YOUNG MAN ON HIS PATH. Chapter 1.

Sunday, June 14, 2015. From the Dansol high school boys’ hostel.

Today while at church, the thought came to me that I could keep a journal that’d be published someday when I’ve made it and become famous.

The journal would serve as a guide and a means to encourage young people everywhere striving to achieve set goals, make a difference in their environment and stay on the right path.

Today I witnessed my first raid since I joined the hostel in April. I was tempted to participate in sharing the spoils but I thought of it as stealing you know, and decided it wasn’t something I wanted to be a part of.

Worthy of note, is that I’m also practicing being contented with what I have.
 
I’ve moved back to my original bed space under my friend and brother Kolade Adekunle Ajayi. I moved out of there initially because of the cold. We were directly under the air conditioner. Since then, I’ve been on top of Eddy Brown and then under Lanre Pedro. I moved away from above Eddy because the young chap was in constant fear of the bed falling down on top of him due to my weight and activity while asleep.

While under the Pedro, finding light to read was a challenge and that is why I am back under Kolade. Besides, under pedro, I was having trouble with my afternoon naps. My afternoon naps are legendary! I mean it keeps me going. On a good day after the stress of managing two ss3 classes, I’d come back shower, eat, pray and sleep till sometimes after prep.

By the way, yesterday I got the idea for a “bank of Nigeria” I want to be one of the major shareholders or owners of the bank in future. The name is just fresh please and anyone who’s anyone would bank with us.

A few facts!

I do miss my phone.

I Can’t wait for secondary school to be over so I can get the new phone *wink wink.

I pray Mr. Ajayi finds my flash I need to go back home with movies.

Video downloader app is a good idea for watching series and movies. 
 

Monday, June 15 2015. From the Dansol high school boys’ hostel.

Today is salami ayobami’s birthday.