2 years ago, I hosted a training tagged "GRAPHIC DESIGN 101". The aim was to reach youths and teenagers in my school community the basics of graphic design for a very little fee, less than $20 for 2 - 3 months depending on the offer they choose.
The program was born of out of the consistent demands by friends, mentees and colleagues who wanted to "be like me" in design. I mean, not to brag but I was well known in my school community as a digital skill advocate and a foremost graphic designer, so a lot of guys wanted to know what it feels like to be like me.
I mean, doing more than 50% of the biggest graphic design jobs on campus, it was a nice feeling though 😊, being the number one guy.
Well, guess what I discovered? A lot of people just want to feel among, they want to be the top tech/digital guy, they want to be highly skilled in a particular field but they do not want to put in the work required. You know, they want to "be" but they do not want to "work".
It gave me pain seeing that most of them actually wanted to but lacked the resources needed to put in the work. Resources like laptops and data were the most common challenges faced by them.
But then, a lot of them do not know my story 😊. Yes I struggled a lot to keep that name "Eddygraphix" going on Campus. I could remember vividly in 2020, my laptop broke down but thanks to God I had already learnt how to design with my phone, I gathered some money to fix the laptop but there was a setback again immediately after the lockdown.
We resumed physical classes in school and it wasn't up to a month, the laptop I had just repaired developed the same fault, it was a very devastating experience for me. Mehn, I felt like the world was against me. I determined not to get it repaired again, cuz for me, the laptop was dead.
So I used what I call "LEVERAGE" to my advantage, I went to meet with my friend who happens to be my neighbor to help me out with his laptop whenever I had a job.
Thanks to God, he allowed me the opportunity of using it when I wanted to. Now, this might look so easy but imagine the courage I had summoned to ask someone to give me his personal property, I mean, it was not easy but I did it anyways and it worked.
You see, successful people do not make excuses, they go for what they want not minding the impossibilities involved, I had to take that bold step. And guess what? All this happened during the heat of my career on campus. It was during this challenging period I was getting more gigs and popularity on campus, just imagine I gave up, well, I guess we'll never know.
Take that risk, ask for that favor, go beyond the usual and most importantly AVOID EXCUSES.
See you some other time. ❤️ & 💡
