How I Made My First One Million Naira at 21

This is a true story. The true identity of the person, and several sensitive details, have been withheld for various reasons. Everything else is told in his own words.

I really want this to bless people. So this is the story of my life.

When I was in year one in the university, I was making around 10,000 to 20,000 naira monthly through graphic design.

Living in Sin, Struggling to Survive

I was living in sin, yeah, in deep, deep sin. Carrying women, doing a lot of rubbish with them. Struggling to survive. Doing assignments for students and getting paid. Just struggling to survive.

The Day I Gave My Life to Christ

And then I went to a gathering, and the speaker really moved me, and that moment I gave my life to Christ.

I’ve always been a very determined person because of the motivational videos I watch, but I’ve always been determined in the wrong things. So the moment I gave my life to Christ, I now became more determined and desperate for God.

That day, I immediately cleared all the jargons (including the motivational videos) in my phone, all the music I listened to. Even though most are not bad music, just random motivational music, but because they were not spiritual music, I had to clear them off. I needed only things that would lift and elevate my spirit. So I downloaded new songs, new messages, new things that I was going to listen to on my phone.

I started listening to content, audio, podcasts, messages, sermons that would shape my thoughts, because I realised that my thoughts had been shaped in the wrong direction.

And I began to surround myself with people who were thinking like me: people who were so desperate for God and desperate for success. They have to be desperate first for God, then for success.

“Nobody Told Me”

It was then I got to realise that, wait, even at my young age, even at the age of 20 (I was 20 years old then), I can actually still increase my finances.

I never knew. Nobody told me. Nobody told me. I thought that was the highest I could earn: 10,000, 20,000 naira per month for graphic design.

Then I saw some of my mates, some of the members in the community I joined. Ah, these guys were earning in dollars. Some of them were earning a huge amount of money, and that was what challenged me.

That’s why it’s good to surround yourself with people who challenge you. Surround yourself with people who trigger you and force you to think bigger.

It challenged me so much, and that was when I decided that no, my story must change. I can’t still be living in poverty.

20 Applications a Day, for Eight Days

That was when I made up my mind that I was going to start applying for jobs. That was when I knew that you could actually apply for jobs even while you’re in school. I never knew.

The messages I’d listened to and the kind of people I surrounded myself with had triggered my hunger for success in the right direction. So I started applying for jobs, non-negotiably. I remember I started applying for at least 20 jobs per day, and I did it nonstop. I planned to continue until I get a job.

But it was on the eighth day that a company called me, and I don’t even know the time I applied to the company. They said, “You applied for a job in our company,” and I just pretended like I knew. I said, “Yes, yes.”

I actually applied for the role of a video editor. So I came in as a video producer, basically: shooting a video and editing it.

They asked me what my experience was like, and the only experience I had was the experience in school, because I’d been shooting videos for friends, for myself, for people in school. Never used a camera before. I was only using an iPhone. That was what I was busy doing in school, even while I was living in sin.

So I said, “Yes, I can do it.” The kind of messages I’d listened to and the people I’d surrounded myself with had made me so confident in myself, even though I’d not done it for any company before.

The Interview, and the ₦50K Mistake

They invited me for an interview. They tested me. At first they didn’t have a camera, so I used their phone. I shot a video for them, and then I edited it. They did a lot of testing, and they so much liked me.

Then they asked me for my salary expectation.

This is a big tech company, a company that was making a turnover of over 50 million per year. And my mindset had been so damaged that I didn’t even know that I deserved more.

The truth was that when I was preparing for the interview, I never even planned that they would ask me for my salary expectation. I didn’t even think of it. I thought they would decide what to pay me. So, in front of them, I was busy saying:

“So I would spend maybe 20K on transport, and maybe 20K on data per month. Then I can use 10K to eat for that month. So I think 50K is enough for me.”

That was what I told them.

When I left there, the Spirit of God told me (because I really feel the Holy Spirit) that they might double it. That’s what He told me.

And when I got home, my mom was really annoyed with me. I was staying with my mom then, even while I was in school, and my mom was earning way more. She said, “How can you tell them 50K? What kind of rubbish is that? Do you know how much you are going to spend on transport?”

I didn’t know, because I’d not earned that amount before. And I was like, “Oh my God, why did I tell them 50K?”

A Covenant With God

Before I got the job, I made a promise to God. I made a covenant with God. I wish I could talk a lot about this covenant.

I told Him: God, if You are going to increase my finances, I am going to give You 50% of every single thing I earn. Any money that comes to me that is for me, I remove 50% first for God before I take 50%.

So when I told them 50K and my spirit told me they might double it, it was a reason for me to give God 50K, and the 50K I was expecting, I take to myself.

Then they called me and told me that my salary is 100K.

I was shocked. Wow, I’m actually going to earn 100K per month. It was too much for me at the age of 20. A whole 100K. Even the first time I received the salary, I was shocked: “Ah, so I could earn 100,000 naira? My God.”

If My Mindset Could Do This, It Could Do Much More

What that did to me was this: if I could transform my mindset, only through the content I was consuming and the people I surrounded myself with, and move from earning less than 20K per month to earning 100K naira per month, it means I can do much more if I increase the intention. That was my mentality then.

So I kept consuming more content. It was this content that was educating me. It was this content that was structuring my mindset.

These messages, these podcasts, anything that had to do with my purpose of existence and my goals, I kept listening.

People at work were telling me, “Ah, you always like listening to all these messages, all these things.” I would just laugh. When I got to the office, I blocked my ears with a headset and listened. People would have to tap me to tell me they were calling me. That was what I was always doing at work, because I was so hungry for growth.

Don’t Let Their Mentality Rub Off on You

One thing that has really killed a lot of people when they get a job is that they get brainwashed. They get affected by the mentality of the people working there who are not going anywhere. Most of them don’t have vision. Some of them have goals, but they are not serious about them. You come to work there and you allow their attitude, their habits, to rub off on you.

I did not allow that to happen, because of the kind of messages I was listening to and the kind of community I was coming from, even before I joined the company.

I saw so many of my colleagues who were nonchalant, not caring about so many things. But me, I cared. And so they started telling me, “Ah, this guy is over-sabi. He wants to do everything. He wants to know everything.” “Guy, you have time ooh. You are doing too much. Are you the only one?”

In fact, I got so hardworking that I had to sleep in the office sometimes to finish my tasks, because I didn’t want to go home if I hadn’t finished my tasks. I didn’t want to go home if I hadn’t achieved my goal.

It did not come to me naturally. I was listening to messages. I was surrounding myself with people who were doing much more.

Always surround yourself with people who are doing much more than you: people who will force you and build that hunger in you for greater things.

That is exactly what we built Valuedity Premium to be: a community of people followed up every day, who push one another towards God and towards greater things.

Know Who You Are to Please

One of the things that really encouraged me was my boss. He did not give up on me. He kept telling me, “I believe in you. I love what you’re doing. You are doing very well. Well done. Just keep it up.” He really encouraged me, and that was what mattered to me.

Many people around me fought with me several times. There were times they did something wrong, I reported it to our boss, and they were angry with me. They took me as an enemy. But they were not the ones helping me grow. My boss was the one helping me grow.

That is why, when you’re working in an organisation, it’s very important to know who you are to please. Don’t please your colleagues to the detriment of the satisfaction of your boss.

• Who are you to please that will promote you?

• Who are you to please that will increase your salary?

• Who are you to please that can give you more opportunity?

• Who are those people you must give your all for, who can take you to the next level?

I discovered mine early and I focused on it, despite the distractions around.

Doing More, Without Asking for More

Remember, I was employed as a video producer: shooting and editing videos. Eventually, I discovered that the graphic design side of the company was poor. So I told them, “Let me handle your graphics,” without asking for a promotion or a salary increase.

I was desperate to grow. I was desperate to help people and give them value. I was desperate to see the company grow. I was desperate not to let down the God that gave me this opportunity.

So I started handling their graphic design, and they were amazed.

There are several companies where you would not do this, because they would take advantage of you. My boss did not take advantage of me, and I cannot complete this story without appreciating him. Every single thing I was doing, he appreciated. He showed gratitude. He supported me. So I was motivated to continue.

About a month or two after I started the graphics, he increased my salary. Then I told him again, “The company’s social media platform is not doing well. Let me handle it.” When I took up the social media, he increased my salary again.

That was how my salary was increased twice within a year and six months.

If I had been working in a company where they were just taking advantage of me, I would have stopped and looked for another company that encourages and appreciates me. It was the kind of person I am that attracted the kind of opportunity that matched that mentality.

My boss even started referring me to little opportunities. One of his friends would need my help, the friend would call me and pay me. He was bringing clients to me, because he saw so much value in me. So I was really, really eager not to disappoint him.

Trusted With the Big One

Because of the value I brought, I became the first person that started working with the company remotely. They bought a laptop, a headset and a camera, everything I needed to work with, worth more than 1 million naira back then in 2021. And they trusted me to take it with me to school.

Then an opportunity came. I was in year three, 21 years old, and I’d worked with the company for a year. The company was to host a programme in another state, far away from where I was staying, and we would need to take flights. They needed someone to handle the whole video coverage of the event.

My boss told me about it, listed everything they needed, and asked: can you deliver?

I had never taken a flight on my own. I had never handled the video coverage of a big event. But anytime he came to me, I never wanted to let him down. I always went all out for him.

In fact, I told him “Yes, I can do it” before I started making calls, because I believed so much in myself that nothing was impossible. And I believed that for him to call me, he knew I could do it.

Then I did my research, called people, visited different shops and did my calculations. He asked how much I would need to handle the whole coverage. I told him about 1.2 million, and he sent the first payment. I can’t remember the exact amount, but it was over a million naira.

Immediately, I booked the flight for me and one of my colleagues from school. For the first time in my life, I booked a hotel myself. We did the full video coverage of the whole event, with standard cameras, and then flew back to my school. Everything happened within three or four days.

I was so confident in myself because of the kind of content I was consuming. And after that day, I made up my mind: if I could make this kind of money, I could make much more when I increase my intensity.

Where I Am Today

This story was about how I made over a million naira in revenue. Today, just a few years later, I make more than a million naira in profit, every month. I’m now dealing with bigger clients and handling bigger projects.

And I’m still using the same principle. It’s the same principle I’m going to keep using to earn billions of naira.

The Three Desperations

1. Be desperate for God. First, always.

2. Be desperate for people, especially the people that matter to you: your boss, your parents, your clients, your customers. Go all out for them. Go all out for them, especially those that matter.

3. Be desperate to succeed. Make sure you are growing and building capacity in every opportunity you find yourself in. It should not only be about God and people. It should also be about yourself. But yourself comes last.

First think about God, then think about others that matter to you, and then yourself.

Your Story Can Change Too

This story began with a young person who didn’t know he could earn more, until he surrounded themselves with the right people and fed his mind the right content. You can start that same journey today:

• Surround yourself with people who are going somewhere. Join the free Valuedity community.

• Be followed up every single day as you discover your purpose and chase it. Join Valuedity Premium.

• Want to earn from real client projects? Join the Valuedity team, where team members earn from the projects they deliver.

• Want to carry this vision to others? Become a Valuedity Ambassador.