I want to talk about my father, many people talk about their father and how he loved them and what and what he did for them and all of these might be true. We all want to make our father a hero, we should, I will as I talk about him but from a light of being a great investor.
Firstly my father as a Beginner, he started as a court Clark and in he service from pictures he liked and enjoyed his job, happy and showing it off with his cooperate dress code amazing how I took his sense of dressing. He did not really tell me about how work was as a court Clark but there was an urge from later results of his hard work that he did not want to end his life in the small league. He had a very big family and a brother he loved with all his heart, luckily for him his brother was well to do. My father had business ideas and need capital to execute his ideas, as a result he met his brother who gave him the capital he need and he started his whole sale drink selling business.
MY FATHER AS A BUSINESSMAN, his business grew and he diversified, he bought trucks and also ventured into properties (good planning), it was a success story of his time, he became one of the biggest names of the time in Warri. This did not come easy, my father as a leader developed a good relationship with all his staff and made their problems his own. He built houses at the time specifically to accommodate his staff who suffered from accommodation problem or had too many responsibilities in his family. He also took his time to ensure staff development, he thought them were necessary and promoted them when it was deserved, he did not leave out firing them when input was not felt. He practised the law of leadership in his own capacity and this made his workers believe in him and it resulted in explosive growth
MY FATHER AS A GIVER, he at that time understood the essence of giving and how it affects his environment, it’s said if you train followers you’ll get nothing but followers but if you train leaders you’ll get more followers through your trained leaders who will ensure continuous expansion of your business. He knew how to reach out to his staff through giving and they all put in their best, according to John Maxell ‘People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care’. My father gave to people money and at times properties for them to start their own business. He also knew how to show his appreciation, he ensured that his brother got his return to his investment and also secured properties for his brothers wives. In his giving some people show appreciation by giving him information on cheap properties to buy which he followed up and acquired a lot of land in the process. He never turned deaf ears to any one that had a need. As a child we were many living in our house but I knew a lot of people staying with us then were not my father’s children but we were treated equally and believe me it was a lot of fun. He gave education to all his children and people staying with us at that time they included cousins, house helps and even family friends. Education as we all know when given rips a lot of dividends at the end of the day, people never forget the source of their success, at the moment, my father has added to his name Bankers, Lawyers, Architects, Economists, Doctors and so on. Some his children and most of them people he helped. When you give, it’s in the bible you will never lack and my father is enjoying the principle which guides a giver.
MY FATHER AN INVESTOR
My Father during the Storm, My father as I earlier pointed out was a business man and businessmen most of all are ready to take risk, he believed in his country ‘Nigeria’, so he ventured into politics in the era of Social Democratic Party (SDP), He became in no time because of his contribution his Local Government Party chairman. He believed at that time that joining the Government was the way forward and wanted to use this medium most of all to help his people and develop his community. He decided as he savored his position to slow down in other areas of his life, so he sold most of his trucks and also handed over his affairs of his whole sale drink business to his manager (bad idea). Then, all of a sudden by 1993, the presidential election was annulled and things began to change. It all happened too fast from cases of armed robbery, to accidents and lost due to negligence of staff, friends and family members. I recall a case when my elder brother went to pick another brother from school, my brother on getting there left the key in the car and went inside to get my other brother unfortunately the one he came to pick got to the car before him and I think you can figure out what happened next. It was a stormy period for my dad as his investment in politics failed and his manager had ruined the drink business in a very short time. To some my dad was down and almost out but as a result of his diverse investment he had something to learn on.
MY FATHER THE COMEBACK, He mad investments that came in handy in time, when my dad acquired lands he at that time because he grew up in the house of a farmer planted palms on the mass plots of land he acquired, he did this at that time to ensure his land had an identification of neatness and style and also he also envisioned venturing into the sale of palm. Going through the stormy period was not easy but he sat back thought it through and decided to go into the production of palm oil in marketable quantity. His palm tree at this time had come to maturity as a result of his planting early, and as a farmer’s son I know it takes four years for a palm to mature. He bought the necessary equipment and employed a new set of labour, which he used to harvest, produce and re-plant the palm seed. The business grew faster than we could imagin, with proper training, supervision and sale strategy it was success once again all the way. We as his children at that time did not really feel the stormy or come back time as he had already set out any thing that had to do with our education before then. So school fees were paid in time and food was always there when we needed it. In 1998, the new democratic era started, with my fathers political experience he would have said ‘never, I will never be a part of this’, as he lost a lot of money during the SDP era. But instead he was invited to join the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, and he accepted. Once again he became the party chairman for his Local Government Area. This time around it was a good investment he remained the party chairman for three consecutive times and remains in the political scene up till date, but this time around he also followed up his business by the side.
Conclusively, like my father any one who takes his time to invest in opportunities that comes his way will rip the benefits in due course. We must understand that you are never too small to begin, you must start from were you are, opportunities will come up and if you pass them repeatedly it will lead to poverty and in times of storms you’ll crash and might never rise again. Money in the bank is waste of money, we should not be afraid to invest, there will be stormy times but if you diversify in your investment, you will always have something to learn back on. ‘Pay now and play later’, a guide, I hope that will help any one who comes across this write up. There are a lot of angles that I didn’t touch that might deter you from achieving positive results in your investment like for example when your investment starts flourishing do not forget to discipline yourself. Discipline is the key to continuous growth, it should not be taken for granted and most be passed down to subordinates. Our greatest obstacle is ourselves; we always think about the negative part of things and always doubt all opportunities that come our way. Some one once told me instead of you to save every 5% of your income you should invest every 5% of your income and your future will be bright.
emorevoke