I have keenly observed that Leveraging is everything, really! As opposed to giving some ‘Merriam-Webster’ definition, I’ll just say that Leveraging is taking maximum advantage of any resource at your disposal. A typical example of a person that has mastered this art pretty well within my space is Feyisola Balogun. I’ll start by explaining how she fits perfectly into this discourse. I knew Feyi primarily as a very good cook, from my time in Ilorin, Kwara state, shortly after my NYSC programme. Asides her background in Biochemistry, she used to own a small restaurant, just beside my place of residence, a restaurant that often played the role of ‘fuel station’ when the tank was ‘near or completely empty’ (if you know what I mean).
Following interactions with her over the last 2-3 years, I got to know that Feyi literally has and knows a reliable plug for about anything and everything (personal, corporate and/or business)! Do you need an adept Graphics Artiste? Feyi has a sure plug. Do you need to buy a rug, house or car? She knows or has someone! You need to build a website or an app? Just call Feyi! You need to access the best markets for one thing or the other, she has a vendor there! I cannot recollect the countless times I have reached out to her for contacts on solutions that I needed, even on my career path (sometimes on the spot). You can never, will never catch her clueless, caught up in a corner or without options. I can say that her contact is one of the most important ones I’ve got on my mobile! What do you think Feyi has managed to do? She has simplified her life so much by winning (maximizing) on her knowledge/expertise, relationships/networks, associations and contacts, much to her benefit, and for those around her (people like me). I essentially find this genuinely admirable, worthy of emulationand am particularly learning this, ‘wouldn’t be bad if you do same.
A lot of persons are quick to equate resources solely to money. Other times, the theme song among the youth is how that ‘Life is hard’. In as much as I will never doubt the potency of money (I crave wealth in its abundance), sadly there isn’t any excuse that would fly in contemporary times. To say that there is nothing to leverage upon is an error for a young person to make, a big error with recoil! If you say you do not have a father or mother to push you, there are over a billion orphans who are flexing in legitimate success today! If you are in debt, people have been bankrupt before and bounced back. If you say you’ve got no degree, I have seen people who struggled to get out of primary school and built a highly successful life (you never could have imagined) in business and in career for themselves. Some of them have now toured the world around bagging degrees upon degrees, just to prove that their background and lost time was never a factor to hinder them in the first place. Stop the blame game today! We live in times when no excuse will fly!
