THE COSTLY ADVICE

Greetings!

Seeing someone that can give a piece of advice is a very good thing, but yielding to the advice is the best thing to do. Though not all advice are to be yielded to, but we must be able to sift all the pieces of advice given to us and do with the good ones that can better off our lives. Atimes, advice come with a bitter truth, but if one can go with the bitter truth, it will definitely safe one from thousands of mess. So, advice is a form of asset and it has really help me in various ways of my life. Like I said earlier not all advice are supposed to be taking hook, line and sinker. But as individuals, we must be able to apply wisdom and dissect the pieces of advice given to us.

Seeing this week prompt from hive naija, took me down memory lane , it put to my remembrance a piece of advice given to me sometimes in the year 2018, when I graduated from the university. Upon my graduation from the University in the year 2018, I was in a state of dilemma of what to do as a young graduate though preparing for my one year mandatory national youth service which was coming up later in the same year. So, after my graduation and with deep thought, I decided to venture into a business. Though, during those days a friend of mine has introduced me to a local gas retail business where I would be selling to the end users, but at the same time another friend of mine introduced me to selling of food stuffs which I really love to do and this is because of my believe of the daily consumption of food items by people most especially in my local area, where eating of rice is the choice of many household. Families and the food vendors are always patronizing the foodstuff sellers.

So, in the process of starting the business, I made inquiries on how to get the product and as that was ongoing, I was also looking for shop where I will be doing my business transaction which after long search for a shop, I got at a very expensive rate with the agency fee being paid to the agent that helped me to secure the place. After getting the space, I got everything needed to safeguard the place. Things like planks, burglaries and iron sheet were gotten. But there's one thing that is missing as I was preparing to starting the business. Maybe due to my desperation and the huge responsibility I was to shoulder then, I forgot to carry my dad along.

Hmmm, when I remembered I didnt tell my dad about my whole plan, I was disappointed in myself, reason being that, he's the only person I have at that particular time having lost my mum to the cold hand of death. How can I do this kind of a project without seeking his fatherly advice and blessing? So I quickly rushed to to his place and tabled everything to him citing various reasons why i think i should do the business. When my dad heard about my plans and preparation, he was happy , but poised series of questions to me about my intentions which I was unable to answer. So, after everything, he called me by my name and said," SAMSON, YOU'RE NOT READY FOR THIS". He said " WHY CAN'T YOU WAIT TILL AFTER YOUR ONE YEAR NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE YEAR". But I have rented shop and I av put things in place I replied and in his response, he said that does not matter, just look for someone that is in need of the all what you've gotten and dispose them all, he said, " you can now invest the proceeds to invest in landed property that would have yielded after your one year national youth service " but I thought in my mind that he hates my idea and wouldn't want me to go ahead, maybe because of coming late to discuss the issue with him. So, I rejected all what he said, and made him believe in my vision. Afterwards, I left his place and went ahead to doing the business.

But before then, I visited another woman in my area ( mummy Barakat) a trader that has vast knowledge of the business. When I approached her, I narrated everything to her about the step that I av taken so far about the business. This woman was shocked and he asked me a question that particular night. She said, " WHO GAVE YOU THE IDEA?" And I replied her that a friend introduced the business to me and that I love to do it. She now said hmmm! This business is not meant for someone as cool as you, I asked, How? She said people will always come to you to take it on credit and that if I was not careful everything will run down within months. So I left the place thinking deep within me what to do, maybe to quit or to continue and I was if I should quit like my dad and the woman has advised, I will lose part of what I av invested into starting the business. So, I decided not to mind both my dad and the woman and I embarked on doing the business.

So, after 2 months of starting the business, things were going down and I was like what is happening, I thought within myself that, but I prayed before starting the business, why is this happening to me? Hmmm! I lost a good sum of money. People came to dupe me, people spent charmed money for me where all I made that day disappear, A woman even came to my shop on a particular day and priced a bag of rice and in the process, she touched almost every bags in the shop not knowing that she came to do me evil. After the woman left, that day , and on the following monday, we discovered that seven rubber( a tool used for measurement) has been deducted from all the bags she touched. It was then I that didn't believe in dark power now believe in it. What a loss of money, time, energy and resources? It was very painful to me. So, after 6 months and when my nysc call up letter came out , I decided to close down the shop and sell everything there in with the aim of redeeming the one year remaining rent without the agency fee being paid to me. So after everything, I was able to get 80 thousand naira out of the 950 thousand naira invested in the business. Although it was very painful, but thank God i didn't lose my life. Then people were like I should not close down the shop , they were like quitters will never win and winner will never quit, but I was determined to close it down which I did.

Hmmm! May we not regret our actions ( Amen). Seriously, I regretted not following the advice of my dad and the woman. Both of their pieces of advice would have done me good, but I ignored it , maybe yielding to the fatherly advice of my father would have set me on another pedestal of life. No wonder there's a saying in my local language which says " regret always come after word or deed". Anytime, I think of how I ignored my father's fatherly advice and that of the woman just because of losing part of what I av invested then and later losing everything. I cried. Maybe I would have been a real estate mogul by now. But all is well.

This is my entry to hivenaija week73 prompt.

Thanks for reading.

All photos are mine.

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