In 2006 the company I was working for at the time sent me to Italy on training. stayed there for a year. 

I was 26 and young, willing to go all wild and sow my oats. Oh well, not literally. At the time, my innards hadn’t been tickled to be on the path that I am now. 

One day, while browsing the Internet, I came upon a man whose name I may not mention. I got hooked. I read and read, but in retrospect I can say I wasn’t really reading. 

I was blinded by the money – a whopping $1,500. What was the catch? 

By selling the product, my profit was $1,000. Geez, a whopping $1,000. I calculated the differential in naira (my local currency) and my eyes popped. 

I didn’t need any other motivation. I was bent on hammering before returning to Nigeria. I had Italian friends who I could sell to and who could afford to buy it. The only hitch was that I needed to use a card to pay my $50 signup fee. 

My excitement made me become ‘smart’ and didn’t want to consult with anyone. I approached my Italian friend – a very great one – and begged him to let me use his card. he let me. I went to work. I hadn’t read the details. I didn’t see the fine prints. I didn’t see some hidden policies. 

By the second month, I had made no sales. Sadly, another $50 was withdrawn from my Italian friend’s credit card. I paid him in cash. By the third month, zilch. Then without warning, $100 was withdrawn from his credit card. That was the zenith of his patience.

He called me and told me what happened. Then he had to destroy his card so that the company would no longer have access to his card. 

I was burnt. 

I knew I failed because I was blinded by the money. Buoyed by greed, I had seen a life of cars, private jets, and estates, that I didn’t bother reading the fine print. 

My friend was disappointed in me. I lost his trust. You know what made it worse? Many of the Italians had been sold the narrative that blacks are people not to be trusted. I wanted to be different, but I failed. Grossly failed. 

I lost the trust of my darling Italian friend. 

Isn’t this the way many of us handle our dreams, goals, enterprises, and life pursuits? 

Sadly, it is. 

Distracted by the flashes in the pan and shiny objects, we want to shortcircuit the path. We want to hammer fast, yea?

For many years, I’ve heard the dictum : Slow and steady wins the race. 

Oh well, in our time, that may not work, but there’s a principle embedded in that statement. 

It’s about rising daily and putting in the work. 

When it comes to your brand, it’s increasing your visibility on a daily basis.

It’s actively driving and marketing yourself in every possible way you can. 

It’s striving to be consistent daily with your offers of value. 

It’s adding a jot of betterment to everything you do each day. 

You see, this path of greatness isn’t so easy. I can’t kid you. 

It may seem slow because to build trust and inspire confidence take time. 

But what gets you through their skulls and into their hearts is your consistency. 

We trust consistent people. That’s how we are wired as humans. 

So, show up and blog.

Show up and serve with your heart. 

You stay on top by serving fresh content, not only frequently, but also consistently. 

That’s how you climb the scales.