Reminiscing My Childhood; Create The Future You want

I just thought I should tell you a little more about me today.

I grew up in what you will call a middle-class rich family. Of course, my parents will disagree that we were rich. But two bankers leaving in their own duplex in a highbrow part of Lagos reeks of wealth to everyone else. Or so I thought.

Anyway, I had told myself since when I was as little as four years old that I was not going to become a banker. Not for me!
Never! At least not in Lagos.



Wouldn't you too if, as a little boy, you are forced to wake up at 5am, and dropped off at school on the Island around 6am, you are the first to get to school. (So much for punctuality). But it would have been great if only we weren't also the last to leave school, sometimes as late as 7pm because we had to wait for either mum or dad to close from their bank work and come and pick us.

You did not need to be a soothsayer to know that this young boy disliked his parents job like a plague. And was going to do everything possible not to become like that.
 Looking back now, nostalgic feeling, I can't really blame my parents. They did what they had to do to keep body and soul together.

Today, I really pity my friends who work on the Island and live on the mainland. And I must confess that I DO NOT ENVY THEM at all.

But then the challenge is, "How do you become financially free?" Funny thing is that even when you are your own boss, you still get to work very hard, sometimes even harder than your employee friends and relatives, but does that guarantee you will be well or better off?

Entrepreneurship sure has its own challenges too. Only that the rewards far outweigh the risks, if you can become very successful at it. It was that childhood experience that started (and kept) me thinking like an entrepreneur. And my life goal is to be, live and die doing my own thing. Even when I think about the risks involved, I shudder at the thought of having to make my child go through that very same ordeal I went through simply because I want to make ends meet in a demanding job, and raise my kids alongside. 

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone (-I mean starting a business). And entrepreneurship does not mean you will be richer than those who have a job, especially a well-paying one. It only means one thing- You get to decide and do what you choose...most times.

Today, it isn't that bad anymore: there are Day-care centers in almost every neighborhood in Lagos that you can leave your child in till you return from work, and mothers have more options of making money as stay-at-home mums these days. 

But it all boils down to what future do you envision for yourself, and your kids? How comfortable do you want to be? What life do you want to truly live till your grey days?

Start to create it now!