In 2014, I was just about rounding up my NYSC in Calabar, Cross River state when I came across Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder and China’s richest man.
At that time I wanted to purchase a Tab and I came across Ali Express and then I was curious to know who was behind the AliBaba brands, I googled and whoops a short Man came up, his name was Jack “freaking” Ma.
Later on, I found a video of him on Youtube dishing out advices. I have embedded the video below to save You the stress of going to search on Youtube…
I took the advice and it worked for me.
So NYSC finished and I entered the labour market like everybody else.
Job offers came from the Kongas and Sterlings of this word but amidst every job offer, I followed Jack Ma’s advice.
I took a job from a seemingly small business when compared to the other offers but the “small business” offered me direct access to the CEO who was/is still a baddass Capitalist.
I did not just want to be a number on the database of some multinational company, I did not want to be seeing our CEO on TV and any day he shows up at the HQ everywhere becomes barricaded like the military barracks.
It has been 5 years since I took that advice and I am happy it is kinda working.
In the last 5 years, I have been privileged to work in Software Development, Marketing, Operations, Product Management and sometimes even Security 😛 . I have also been privileged to co-found like 2 Startups but I dont like the CEO title so I prefer to be called a Managing Partner. 😎 .
These days, a Man is a mobile Company...One of these days, I should go get a RC number for myself from the Corporate Affairs Commission.
All these might not have been possible if all I had done with my life was clock in and clock out of attendance systems daily and meet targets so that I dont get sacked at the end of the year.
So what is my advice to You?
Take Jack Ma’s advice datzall!!
Well that is the end of my story!!!
I am sure You learnt a thing or two…if You did not, well, I am sorry, I will make sure You learn from the next one. 😉
Yours in this hustle!,
I am Seun Ogunmola I help People and Organizations to leverage on Technology to achieve their goals Faster, Easier and Cheaper.
I also write on diverse subject areas including Finance, Business, Productivity and Governance.