Image edited on Canva
Hello to everyone in this great community called Leofinance. I believe everyone is all well. My name is Solomon Israel with the username @donsolexy and I am a student, a teacher anf as well an entrepreneur, most of you might be shocked about how this is possible but here is the answer it is possible. and I will tell you how I did it.
HOW I CAME IN CONTACT WITH THE BUSINESS
I was seated one faithful down after my high school, and I was about to write my West African Examination (Waec) during that period it was a tough one for me I just turned 17 and that was the same period I lost my father so at that point, we ran out of money to register for my West African Examination so you could see how tough it was! but I never gave up instead I went to scout for a shop where I could sign up for the position of a sales rep so that I can make my life meaningful even though I just lost a father. and after scouting I did not get any then along the market street I saw my friend who was working as a sales rep in a particular shop, I spoke to him about my situation and he decided to speak with his boss and as God may have it his boss agreed and I started working at the same shop where we sell all kinds of bags and boxes one desires as an assistant sales rep so we decided to take our first photo as colleagues below is the image of the first day I started working there.
This is a photo of the shop I started working in.
As seen above is the image I took on the first day I started working, with passion and hoping that one day I will be offered admission into a university and at the same time run my own business, it sounds impossible right but it worked out now this is it, I started working in the shop and from the first month I started saving 40% of my earnings monthly, although I was just being paid with just a little token I utilized it very well, Firstly I was able to come up with my West African Examination Fee and I was so happy that finally, I could seat for the exams below is the image of the day I completed the fee with joy in my heart I took this photo at work.
As seen below I was at the shop where I was working while I took the photo, I was able to pay for my Joint admission matriculation board examination (Jamb) and lucky enough I passed both examinations with flying colors. the cut-off mark for jamb is 180 and I got 190 so I scaled through below are the images of my results.
This is the resulting proof of my waec examination written in the year 2015.
And this is the resulting proof of my jamb in the year 2019.
It was never easy but I gave it a shot, after acquiring these results I decided to apply for a degree program in the university so I chose the one closest to me which is Ahmadu Bello University located in Zaria, Kaduna state in Nigeria. and luckily I was admitted and now it was time for me to face another phase of life but I could not do it alone because I have no financial assistance from anyone, my mum couldn't help because she have no job but with the passion I have for business, I managed to gather some amount of money and then decided to invest in that same business elsewhere since already I have gotten the technical knowhow of the business.
HOW I BEGAN MY OWN BUSINESS
After I was given admission, with the money I managed to gather I paid my tuition fee and then I was left with some money then I had a thought, if I do not invest with this money there is every tendency it will get finished and I will be left with nothing, so I decided to meet my boss and have a brief talk with him about getting some goods from him and then pay him later on when I have managed to gather it so he agreed due to I was faithful doing my stay with him. I started little by little, first of all, I got a nice location and set the business there I even made a signboard of mine below is an image of it.
Then I made a breakdown list of what my customers will need as well as the amount of money I will have to invest within a tabular form using HBD as an example.
| School bags 50 pieces: | 80 HBD |
|---|---|
| Travelling bags 10 sets | 150 HBD |
| Female handbags 20 pieces | 20 HBD |
| Children lunch bags and office bags | 30 HBD |
| Conference bags and laptop bags | 50 HBD |
So using the example in the above table was how I did my finding of how much I need to invest in the business and I never had such kind of money but since he is my boss and trusts me he gave me the goods on credit which I will have to give the money for the goods after I start making sales. note he didn't just give me the goods, it was the zeal he saw and the seriousness that made him do that, and also I was still having some money which I gave me. I didn't just start with nothing I was having a reasonable amount which I saved on the account of working with him. and after all said and done he gave me the goods, I got a shop and I started making sales. below is the photo of me on my matriculation day which I took in my shop.
This is me in my shop on my matriculation day at the university
WHERE I AM NOW
Below is the outer view of the shop
Now with this business as an entrepreneur, I can pay my tuition fee, my house rent, my shop rent, and also have some upkeep money for myself. just imagine if I never invested the little money I was having I wouldn't have come this far but with the zeal and passion I am still striving for success and that is the aim, not just success alone but also to be a successful entrepreneur who satisfies both his needs and that of his customers by providing the necessary things they desire I know my shop is still growing but with time it will look not just but even more than that of my boss.
CONCLUSION
I will like to conclude this article by saying, you can see as a student or whatsoever you are doing, entrepreneurship is a nice thing to do, I just told explained how nice it is using my own story to further elaborate the point that is self-employed and you are the boss of your own as an entrepreneur. no circumstance should make you relent, keep pushing and the sky will be your limit. I hope this article will be beneficial to someone as though it is a true-life story of mine. thank you all for reading to the end.