2023 in Review: My First Year as an Entrepreneur

27 min readDec 28, 2023

If there’s anything this year (2023) has taught me, the biggest of all is that change is painful.

By this time last year, I was chilling in my apartment in Port Harcourt, surrounded by friends and quite a good amount of money.

I was still contemplating the idea of either going back to school upon resumption or dropping out entirely.

Around February, I took the latter option—I decided to drop out of Pharmacy School and Uniport in general.

(If you’re not conversant with my story, I highly recommend that you check out a podcast interview I was recently featured on.)

This year, I’m currently in my apartment in Lagos, with no friends and no money at all.

But, I’m happy. I’m happy I made that change 😊

In this piece, I’ve decided to critically examine and review my year (2023).

I’ll be sharing:

What went well in 2023?
What did not go well in 2023?
Plans for 2024

Ready? Let’s dive in!

What went well?

1. I bought myself a brand new Redmi Phone in January

December 2022 was quite fun for my friend (Favour Ndudim) and me until the 28th of December.

We woke that morning to find our back door open and our items missing.

We lived in a students’ lodge, and so many students had returned home to celebrate their Christmas holiday.

Just a few of us were in the compound, and that was why the robbers found it easy to strike.

They found a way to break into our apartment via the backdoor and made way with my phone, Favour’s phone, and her laptop.

We had plugged all three devices into an extension while we were asleep.

Surprisingly, the only thing they didn’t take was my laptop (which was on the opposite side of the room) on my work table.

Somewhere in the house too, my friend’s (Faith's) brand new laptop was in a carton. (I’m glad they didn’t see it or take it.)

We woke up that morning so devastated and not knowing what to do.

I felt pained that Favour had come all the way from ABSU to visit me, and suddenly all her stuff was gone.

I also felt very pained about my missing phone because I had just bought it in October 2022.

That was the very first time I was buying myself a phone with my own hard-earned money, so it was a very big deal to me.

I bought the phone for 70,000 NGN after working a toxic job with a UK company for a month as a social media manager.

Luckily for me, by December 2022, I had already started working with an Irish company known as Jenreel Education.

I had written a couple of articles and was expecting to be paid by January.

When I got paid, I bought myself another Redmi phone, and this one was 85,000 NGN.

It’s been one of the best and biggest investments I made this year (2023).

2. I started working as a Subcontractor for a vegan brand in the USA and doubled my earning after a month and half

Since I started working as a content writer and social media manager in late 2021, my highest-paying job was my first job.

That first job was as a content writer with a Canadian-based company called Tetranoodle Technologies.

My first pay was $150 (about 60,000 NGN at the time). The next month, I earned $175 (about 70,000 NGN). And by the third month, my boss had raised my pay to $200 (about 80,000 NGN).

After being fired from that job after the fourth month, I did everything to find a job like that (a job that was going to pay me in dollars or at least up to 80K in Naira).

I worked at 2 different Nigerian startups that paid me 30K as a sales executive and digital marketing manager for 5 months and 3 months, respectively.

The highest-paying job I got in between was with a UK company that paid 100K, but I got fired after a month.

So, when this client reached out to me concerning the subcontractor role as an influencer marketing coordinator for 50K monthly in February, I was so elated.

I did my job so passionately every day, and she could see it.

And after 6 weeks of working at the job, she doubled my responsibilities and my pay too.

My salary went up to 100K, and there was so much I knew I’d do with that money.

I kept working at the job till around June, when it started becoming very toxic.

My responsibilities were increased, but my pay wasn’t.

I was beginning to spend way too much time on this job daily, at least 12–14 hours, but I didn’t have time for anything else in life.

Many times, I was dozing off on my laptop from overworking and tiredness.

And by July, when I found out my client was earning up to $2,000 from the company but was paying me a miserly 100K, I quit.

I’ve never felt more used in my entire life.

3. I started seeing myself more as an Entrepreneur than a Freelancer

Thanks to my boring 100K job, I needed to fill up my daily monotony—I discovered podcasts.

I started by listening to Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal, but eventually discovered Diary of the CEO.

Each time I listened to Steven Bartlett (especially his solo episodes), he was speaking to my soul.

He was this young, very young, amazing entrepreneur who started out as a broke, university dropout who had been disowned by my parents and owned nothing else except a dream and a laptop.

In so many ways, I could see myself in him. I did some soul-searching, and I discovered I’ve always been an entrepreneur.

Since graduating secondary school in 2016, I’ve always loved to build my own things.

I had founded:

The Ideal Teens Forum (TITFOR)
Figure-8 Connect, and
School of Digipreneurs

As a child, I knew I wanted to have a foundation that catered to the needs of poor people and transformed them into useful members of society.

I knew my foundation was going to have schools, a university, shopping malls, fast food restaurants, and so much more.

I spent so many hours as a child sketching and drawing out plans for how I wanted each business to be situated in the foundation.

Tell me what else pointed out that I was a born entrepreneur, if not this?

Working for my last client (as a subcontractor) made me realise that even if I made all the money in the world, if I wasn’t creating or building something, I wasn’t going to find joy.

So, I had to admit to myself the bitter truth—I wasn’t looking for a job. I wanted to build businesses.

I didn’t just want to be a clog in the wheel for companies, I wanted to ideate, innovate and watch my ideas become real businesses.

This awakening came in July 2023, and it changed A LOT for me.

4. I started listening to Podcasts

Yes, since late 2022, I knew I wanted to start my own YouTube channel and podcast.

But I hadn’t really listened to any podcasts or had any favorites.

When I started working that boring job as a Subcontractor and became a podcast lover, these were my top 7 favorite podcasts:

Diary of a CEO (with Steven Bartlett)
Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal
My First Million
Founders Connect
The Freelance Friday Podcast with Latasha James
I Like Girls
The Alonement Podcast

Each podcast played a significant role in shaping my thinking and helping me stay focused and undistracted while working long hours.

They also gave me so many ideas for my own podcast when I finally launched it. (I’m really hoping that happens this year)

5. I relocated from Port Harcourt to Lagos

While setting my new year goals for 2023, moving from Port Harcourt to Lagos wasn’t one of the things on my mind.

Like everyone else who lives outside Lagos, I’ve had this “Lagos Phobia”.

I’ve dubbed it a place of stress, unending traffic and many people working jobs that they really hate just to make ends meet.

However, what I failed to realize is that Lagos still remains the “Centre for Excellence”.

Talk about the hub of entertainment, technology and even other career development opportunities, no other city in Nigeria does it like Lagos.

And, when I started being more intentional and positioning myself as an entrepreneur who offered career branding services, my top clients with earning potential were from Lagos.

Then, I thought to myself, if most of my high-paying clients were from Lagos, why don’t I move to Lagos?

I need to be where my clients are, right?

Since I’ve been trying to get these high-paying remote jobs and clients to no avail, maybe I could actually earn in Naira and still make good money.

At the beginning of the year 2023, one goal I had was to move out of ‘Regeant Courts’.

I’ve been living in that student lodge since 2018, when I first came to write my Post UTME in Uniport.

I was tired of the lack of electricity, no water (and the fact that I had to climb all the way down from the second floor), my smoking neighbors (who always blasted loud music), the church/school we shared fence with… I knew I needed to leave.

The idea of moving to Lagos just came. I didn’t premeditate it, I decided to ACT right away on it.

So, in July, I gave out most of my things, sold some and picked my clothes and books and left Regent Courts and Port Harcourt for good.

Was I scared? Hell, yes. Did it stop me? No.

I spent the whole month of July at my Mama’s place in Aba, and by the first week of August, I was in Lasgidi.

Moving from Port Harcourt to Lagos was a very scary decision, but I’m glad I did it anyway.

6. I hosted 2 lead generation webinars

When I decided to quit my job as a Subcontractor, I had a tête-á-tête with myself.

I asked myself why I wasn’t doing the things I said I wanted to do.

I decided that if I no longer had a salary at the end of each month, I needed to find an alternative for that.

Thanks to Fejiro, I was getting A LOT of request from Lagos people for:

LinkedIn Profile Optimization
CV/Resume Writing, and
Cover Letter Writing

The plan was actually to use my webinars to raise 300K for myself, to help me while moving to Lagos.

The first webinar was going to promote my LinkedIn Profile Optimization service for 10K each, and I planned on closing 10 sales.

The second webinar was going to promote my Facebook Ads Training for 20K each, and I planned on closing 10 sales.

And like you’ve probably guessed, things never worked out the way I planned.

Yes, I hosted 2 webinars:

The first was to promote my LinkedIn Profile Optimization service. Out of 100 people that attended, I closed 2 sales (25K).
The second webinar was promoting my career branding bundle. Out of 120 people that attended, I closed 0 sales.

Hosting those 2 webinars helped me learn so much about selling with webinars and the number of webinar attendees one needs to make a certain number of sales.

I might not have made direct sales from both webinars, but I created awareness about my career branding services to 220+ plus people who didn’t know about my services before now.

Many of them had gone on to pay for my services months later.

Another goal I achieved in 2023 I never planned on achieving was launching The LinkedIn Club in October.

This is another community for corporate executives, personal brands and entrepreneurs who are looking to leverage LinkedIn to find high-paying jobs or generate leads.

We went on to host 2 Townhall meetings on LinkedIn Audio Event and we plan on doing more come 2024.

7. I made most of my money working for multiple clients

After I had the awakening in July, I shifted my focus from looking for jobs to searching for clients that could pay me for my services.

The only 2 jobs I did this year was:

As a Subcontractor with the USA vegan brand, and
As a web content manager with the Irish company

I made most of my money working for multiple clients at a time, instead of tying down my energies and time to just one job.

I worked for clients in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia and even USA.

I hope to do more of that in 2024.

8. I optimized my LinkedIn Profile and attracted 3 high-paying gigs

When I had my awakening in July 2023, I took about a week to transform my LinkedIn profile.

I wanted my LinkedIn profile to serve as a landing page that attracted high-paying clients.

I positioned myself on LinkedIn as a:

Creative Digital Marketing & Social Media Consultant
Online Writer on Medium & Substack
3-times Founder & Community Lead
Bespoke Career Branding Specialist

By the end of July, the first opportunity came. It was a Facebook Ads Specialist Job with Prada (the USA Luxury brand).

Their proposed pay was around $8,000 to $13,000 monthly.

I freaked out when I saw the offer. It was as if I was dreaming.

The second opportunity came in September. It was a Facebook Ads Specialist job too with Revlon (USA beauty brand).

They didn’t mention the specific amount for the salary, but the Ad budget was around $200,000 over a 6 months period.

The third opportunity came in November. It was a digital marketing specialist role with a Canadian company called Silk and Snow.

They mentioned the salary was $1,000–2,000 monthly.

Sadly, I lost all 3 opportunities. But, I’m still very grateful they came.

I always hear about LinkedIn Creators/Influencers boasting of closing 7-figure deals and one would think it’s all a lie.

But there was something all these 3 companies saw on my profile that made them share this opportunity with me.

I felt validated.

9. I got invited as a speaker on several virtual stages and one physical stage

Thanks to my 2 lead generation webinars, people began to see me again!

I got invited to speak at:

FRIDAYYAN — A pidgin show hosted on LinkedIn Audio Event every Friday by 8:30pm. I spoke on “How to optimize your LinkedIn profile to attract high-paying opportunities.”
TECHATHON ’23 — A virtual conference convened by my former Pharmacy colleague, Tonye Taylor. I spoke on “Career Opportunities in Digital Marketing and Social Media”.
Aba Poetry Club Art Pulse — I spoke on “The Intersection between Marketing & Creativity: How creative people can make money from their Art.”

I almost got an invitation to be at a physical workshop in Aba, where I was supposed to teach a step-by-step guide on leveraging LinkedIn.

All these opportunities would never have come if I didn’t quit the subcontractor job and looked into myself.

Before quitting the contractor job, around May, I got an invitation to speak by my friend Loveth.

She and her team were hosting an Eating Competition for the boys at Amino Kano Hostel Block B (Uniport).

I did a talk that day on the career opportunities in digital marketing and social media.

10. I rented my own apartment in Lagos

This actually has to be one of the biggest wins of 2023.

I moved to Lagos in August and by November, I paid and moved into my own apartment.

It wasn’t without challenges of course.

I got a room, a spacious kitchen, a toilet & bath, a veranda, fairly regular electricity, running water and my walls painted All-white just like I’ve always dreamed.

There’s so much peace that comes from knowing I have a home to go back to despite wherever I go.

I no longer have neighbors who constitute a nuisance by playing loud music like in Regent Courts.

I no longer need to climb up and down a two-storey building to fetch water. Water runs in my kitchen and bathroom.

It’s been a beautiful month so far living here.

11. I grew SCHOOL OF DIGIPRENEURS from 160+ community members to 240

Few days ago, when I went for my End-of-Year review, I read my review for 2022.

I noticed that in December 2022, School of Digipreneurs had around 160 community members.

Since the community is hosted on a WhatsApp group, most times it’s difficult to measure growth or progress on the community.

Although for close to 10 months (December 2022 to September 2023), the group was dormant, I was glad to see that in 2023, we had 80 new more members than the previous year.

Not so much you might say, but that was a big win to me!

Although our first event of the year was in October, I’m glad we went on 5 events including fireside chats with Esther Shedrach (Video Marketing Expert & Editor), Ilaya Teejay (UX writer & Content marketer) and Fortune Ikechi (Developers Relation Engineer).

It was so much fun!

12. My LinkedIn followers grew from 2.6K to over 4K followers

After my awakening in July 2023, I didn’t need a prophet to tell me that if I needed to reach my goals, I needed to take social media a bit more seriously.

After I had taken my time to craft my LinkedIn profile, I needed to start creating content that positioned me as who I said I was.

Since joining LinkedIn in 2021, this was the only year when I truly understood the platform and how to leverage content marketing on it.

This was the year I got more eyes on my profile by engaging meaningfully with other creators on the platform.

This was the year I attended LinkedIn Audio Events and followed some LinkedIn creators so intensely.

This was the year I created content pillars for my showing up on LinkedIn, and had a particular time in the day dedicated to posting and engaging with others on LinkedIn.

This was the year when I spent some time every Sunday to come up with a posting schedule for my LinkedIn profile (for Monday through Friday).

It was quite a year in my LinkedIn journey, and my biggest goal for 2024 is to grow my followers to 10K and also become a LinkedIn Top Voice.

13. I became more confident in rejecting clients that had traits of toxicity

This year (2023), I wasn’t client-hungry.

I have discovered the true meaning of freelancing is “freedom to pick who you want to work with and who you don’t.”

Some time in May, a prospect reached out and needed me to manage her Facebook Ads to promote an online course she had created.

When we got on a 30 minute discovery call, I could tell working with this client was going to be a pain in my ass.

She couldn’t tell me what her budget for the project was and she wasn’t freaking out about me not telling her exactly how much this project was on the call.

She didn’t realize I needed time to analyze the project and create a proposal, then decide what total pricing based on the services I’ll be offering her.

In December again, I rejected another client.

I was recommended to her by a very close friend. Although I was badly in need of money, I had a strong feeling we weren’t going to work well together.

She didn’t have an estimate of the number of CVs or cover letters she wanted me to work on per month, and I found that rather weird.

I charge per CV and per cover letter, and if you want a retainer, I should be able to estimate how much work I’ll be doing over the period of time for the fee you’ll be paying me.

Eventhough I was so broke and needed the money so badly, I rejected the offer. Especially after she mentioned what her budget for me was.

This client came all the way from Germany 🥺

In 2022, I never rejected any clients. Once you had money to pay me, I jumped into working for you!

In 2023, I leant to be more confident in my craft, and work only with clients who really deserved my time and skills.

I hope to do more of that in the coming year!

14. I also refunded 2 clients their monies this year

When you start seeing yourself more as a business and not just a freelancer, you realize processing refunds are a part of business.

I mean, the reward for entrepreneurship is profit or loss.

Sometime in May/June, I had this client that needed my content writing and social media management services.

I sent her a proposal with what I’ll do for her and the pricing, and after lots of back and forths, the agreed upon fee was 40,000 NGN.

She was an Ophthalmologist who ran an Eye Center.

My job description was to come up with:

3 social posts per week (the text, graphics and even videos)
Visit her office at least once weekly and take raw video/picture footages
Manage her Instagram and Facebook pages
Write and publish one blog per week on the company’s website

Because I was quite busy with the subcontractor job at that time, I even had to hire an Assistant that’d help me out, and I’ll pay 70% of whatever the client paid.

Long story short, after working tirelessly on her content calendar for the month and her first graphic design, she complained about how this wasn’t as stunning as she expected especially after paying so much money 😂

I immediately saw the red flags glaring. There was really nothing I was going to do that’d satisfy this woman.

So, I asked her for her account details and processed a refund. (I sent back the 20K she already paid me).

I also sent my assistant 5K for all her troubles too.

Another client I refunded was one of the sales I made in my first lead gen webinar in July.

I moved from Port Harcourt to Lagos and wasn’t yet settled, I didn’t work on her profile within the first week of her making payment.

I processed her refund. (I sent back her 15K).

15. I signed on 2 one-on-one coaching clients

One of the things I agreed upon after my awakening was the 3 things I love to do most:

Writing
Talking, and
Teaching

Sadly, I discovered that these were the 3 things I did the least.

I wouldn’t be able to teach in the traditional sense because we all know how teaching only pays peanuts.

But, I want to be an online teacher like Ali Abdaal and the rest who make a ton of money by teaching what they know online.

What do I know? What can I teach?

Digital Marketing.

Social Media Marketing.

Facebook Ads.

LinkedIn Profile Optimization.

CV and Cover Letter Writing.

So, this year 2023, I got the opportunity to sign on 2 clients who wanted my one-on-one coaching.

For the first client, she was a business owner who wanted to learn how to run Facebook Ads.

Her Facebook Ads Training lasted for 5 weeks, and she paid 20,000 NGN.

She was a very serious student and totally enjoyed working with her.

She gave an awesome review and motivated me to want more jobs like hers.

My second coaching client was a lady who wanted to learn “everything about digital marketing.”

Our agreed fee was 50,000 NGN for 6 sessions. She paid 30K first, and should pay the remaining after the first 3 weeks.

We had 3 sessions after which her phone unfortunately crashed and we couldn’t continue.

16. I was consistent with posting one newsletter every month on Substack

I started writing a private newsletter on Substack in January 2022.

I don’t talk so much about it or promote it, because that’s where I share my deepest, darkest secrets.

If you want to see my most vulnerable, unfiltered stories, you’ll find it on my newsletter.

It serves as therapy to me.

I write and publish it every first day of the month.

I use it to look back on the previous month and share my struggles, challenges and lessons.

It’s the one place where I own my stories, be them good, bad or ugly.

I love that all 12 months in 2023, I shared to my newsletter once every month.

This is your sign to start that thing you want to start and be consistent with it.

Consistency doesn’t have to be everyday or every week, consistency can be once a month, once in 2 months or even once every quarter.

17. I started journaling almost everyday since April 2023

Thanks to Ali Abdaal! Having a journal since April 2023 has been the single most important thing in my life.

It has allowed me to talk to myself more often and understand myself better.

It has helped me become more productive and set even clearer goals.

If there’s any habit I’d recommend that anyone picks up this new year is having a journal.

Trust me when I say this — It will change your life!

What did not go well in 2023?

1. I wasn’t consistent on my social channels

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is thinking you can be consistent on every social media platform.

While setting my goals for 2023, I made this mistake.

I wanted to:

Post 1–2X daily on LinkedIn
Answer 2 questions daily on Quora
Post 10X daily on Twitter
Post 1–2X daily on my Facebook Business Page
Post 2–3X weekly on Instagram reels
Post 2–3X weekly on TikTok
Post 2–3X weekly on YouTube Shorts
Post 2–3X weekly on Facebook reels
Post 1 blog weekly on Medium
Post 1 article weekly on LinkedIn
Post 1–3 videos weekly on YouTube

Because I had too many goals for my social media marketing, I failed woefully!

There wasn’t a single social media platform where I found success.

Even on LinkedIn, where I tried being a bit consistent for some time, I still missed out on some days.

2. Most of my LinkedIn posts didn’t play the role of content marketing

Thanks to Oche Writes! I learnt so much about Content Marketing from his LinkedIn posts than I ever did from any online courses I’ve taken in the past.

The way he breaks it all down!

Good content marketing should focus on:

Breaking customer objections
Building connections, and
Selling

I noticed that in 2023, most of my LinkedIn posts didn’t really play that role.

For some of my posts, instead of targeting my ideal customers, I was attracting people in the same industry as me.

I need to work on all that come 2024.

3. I was unable to create my portfolio website

If you’ve worked in tech, you know one thing recruiters or potential clients look out for is your portfolio of work.

In addition to having an ATS-friendly CV, a persuasive cover letter and an attractive LinkedIn profile, having a portfolio website is really, really important.

It helps you outline past projects you worked on, the before and after, and what you did that changed things.

Having a portfolio helps clients see clearly that you know your onions.

Back in 2022, I created a portfolio using Canva website features, but it was only showing off my strengths as a social media manager.

Now, in 2023, the work I did was more than just a social media manager and I needed a place to prove it.

I had discovered Notion; thanks to Ali Abdaal! I had also watched some YouTube tutorials on how to build a portfolio website using Notion.

I started working on my portfolio website using Notion, but never finished till now.

Indeed, not having a portfolio made me lose one of the opportunities that came to my LinkedIn DM from the international companies.

This is something I intentionally need to map time out time and work on come 2024 if I don’t want to lose anymore opportunities.

4. I struggled with bad internet connectivity especially after moving to Lagos

Since December 2021, I’ve been using my Airtel 4G LTE mifi to connect the internet to my laptop and phone.

While in Port Harcourt, the network was quite stable (although some days were just crazy).

If I hadn’t been robbed in late December 2022, the plan for January 2023 was to invest in buying one terabyte of data for 100K.

I thought this was a brilliant investment, because data was what I needed to carry out all the work I needed to do.

But after I was robbed, the money I was supposed to use in buying the data was used in replacing my stolen phone.

After moving to Lagos, I noticed that the internet connectivity to my laptop became very, very bad.

I didn’t know if maybe my laptop was just acting up, or the location didn’t support Airtel.

This bad internet connectivity affected my work so much, especially live classes of webinars.

Come 2024, I hope to work on this by buying:

A brand new laptop
An MTN 5G Router, and
1 Terabyte of data

5. I didn’t set up international payments channels

While I worked with the Canadian company in 2021, although I was making money from the job, I always felt sad.

For each time I received payment, I was losing a good amount of money (at least 20,000NGN) due to the exchange rate.

My employer’s preferred channel of making payment to his African employees was through Payoneer.

At the time, $1 was equal to 550NGN at black market was Payoneer was changing it at 400NGN.

So, for each time I received $200, instead of getting 110,000NGN, I got 80,000NGN.

And despite how much we pleaded with my boss to pay us via other channels he bluntly refused.

In 2022, all the clients I worked for paid me directly into my Nigerian bank account in Naira (including my Ireland-based client).

In 2023, after I had the awakening, I had lots of clients that needed my services from far places like the UAE, Cameroon, Ghana and even Zambia.

Because I hadn’t set up any infrastructure for receiving payments from international clients, I lost 100 USD from a Dubai prospect and 25 USD from a Zambian prospect.

It was so painful 😖

To solve this problem in 2024, I intend to:

Set up my Selar storefront (which will enable me receive payment in 8 currencies)
Check out Flutterwave and Paystack. Ensure I can receive payment on them.
Set up a Crypto wallet (to enable clients who feel comfortable to pay via Crypto)
Set up a PayPal account.
Connect my Payoneer account to my USD Domiciliary account instead of Naira Bank account (so I can withdraw in USD and change at Black Market rate)
Check other Fintech solutions available to Nigerians.

6. I wasn’t consistent with engaging my 2 online communities on a daily basis

Back in 2020 when I founded Figure-8 Connect, I had fewer responsibilities than I did today.

It was very easy to wake up each and drop very interesting prompts and conversations hints on my community.

The Figure-8 Connect WhatsApp group was always alive with conversations and hot takes, and it was so exciting!

Even when I was sad and lonely and had no one to talk to, my community women kept me company.

When I founded the School of Digipreneurs, it wasn’t the same.

It was really impossible to spark all the exciting conversations like I did with Figure-8 Connect.

Maybe because this was a more niche community, unlike Figure-8 Connect that was open to women of all ages and status quo.

Come 2024, asides hosting the periodic webinars that educate community members, I need to heavily daily conversations and engagements happening in the community.

I intend to achieve this by calling for volunteers who can help with the everyday running of the community, while I still spend time on the other things that make me money.

7 I wasn’t entirely clear on my services, offers, pricing and packages

One thing I struggled greatly with in 2023 was wanting to offer all services including those I don’t have much experience in, such as:

Web Copywriting
Community Management, and
Email Marketing

Towards the end of the year (2023), I realized it was safer for me to focus more on areas of my strength and offer services I have past experiences with.

At the moment, that includes:

Social Media Management
Content Writing
Facebook Ads
LinkedIn Profile Optimization
CV & Cover Letter Writing

Come 2024, I really want to niche down even further and be very clear with my deliverables for each service and my pricing.

8. I worked with many Nigerian clients and earned mostly in Naira

After my exposure to remote work and working for international clients, it’s been my dream to find a job that’ll pay me $1,000 to 5,000 monthly.

Unfortunately, all through the year 2023, I kept working for one Nigerian client after the other.

Even the clients that weren’t based in Nigeria (like the Ireland company), was still Nigerian and paid me in Naira.

The painful thing about earning in Nigeria is the Dollar to Naira crash.

At black market, $1 is like 1,300 NGN. So, even if you find a job that pays $200, that’s a whopping 260,000 NGN.

Someone earning $200 with a remote job is better than someone who earns 200 or 250K in Naira.

Why? In a few months, the value of dollar to Naira will still go up and the cost of living follows suit.

Next year, I hope to consciously work on this by leveraging content marketing on LinkedIn and TikTok, as well as, sending out cold DMs to my ideal customers.

9. I offered A LOT of Done-For-You services and had no digital products

After watching the financial reviews of Latasha James and Ali Abdaal in 2022, I realized that a large chunk of the money they made wasn’t from the services they offered but from products.

Ali has the Part-time YouTuber Academy, while Latasha has the Social Media Manager’s Accelerator (SMMA).

I decided that in 2023, I was going to create digital products, but I failed woefully 🥺

I wanted to create:

Your Page Will Grow (an eBook)
Branding 101 Playbook (an eBook with Templates)
Rockstar LinkedIn Optimization Course
The Badass Social Media Manager Academy
Google for Small Business Owners

Unfortunately, I was so busy offering services to my clients and barely had time to create digital products.

This has to change in 2024!

It might take a day, a week or even a month to create a digital product, and it can keep selling for years.

It can make you money even while you’re asleep.

Unlike services, you only get paid when you work. And working is trading your time with money.

So, if I really want to enjoy the perks of being a digital entrepreneur to the fullest, creating digital products has to be my priority in 2024.

10. I launched my YouTube channel but posted only 2 videos the entire year

One of my goals for 2023 was launching my YouTube channel and becoming active with it.

Yes, I did launch the channel.

But I posted only two videos on it:

The reason I posted those videos were actually because I wanted to get a scholarship into Ali Abdaal’s PTYA.

And after I missed his scholarship, I didn’t post any video on my channel again.

Next year, I intend to do better 😊

11. I created the brand assets got my podcast but never launched it

The idea of owning a podcast came in late 2022.

I procrastinated and believed I’ll launch the podcast in 2023.

2023 came and is ending in a few days, I never recorded one episode of my podcast.

I kept waiting for when I’d move into a new apartment, fix the interior decor, buy a podcast mic and so on.

I didn’t know it was possible to start from where I was with what I have.

The only thing I succeeded with doing with regards to the podcast was creating the brand assets and marketing designs.

Come next year, I’m definitely launching my podcast!

12. I didn’t write consistently

When it comes to writing online, Tim Denning is my role model.

His consistency is something I admire so much and really wish I had.

He writes and publishes:

8 blog posts per week on Medium
2 posts daily on LinkedIn
7 posts daily on Twitter
1 newsletter per week on Substack
2 emails per week (via ConvertKit)

Honestly, Tim Denning’s consistency with writing online has birthed the business he now has.

He talks about how writing daily online can absolutely change one’s life.

Although I can’t write as much as Tim Denning (because of my other engagements), I still want to write.

Every week, I want to write and publish:

One personal essay on Medium; and
One well-researched, SEO-friendly article that spotlights a topic in digital marketing, social media and/or career branding on LinkedIn.

If I can do this religiously over the next one year, I’m very sure my life will change.

I already have 2 Notion pages full of topics I need to develop.

Come 2024, I’m honestly taking up the challenge and writing all of them!

13. I didn’t take any weekend offs or breaks

In 2023, the only times I took a break was when I fell sick.

I worked everyday from Mondays to Sundays, as if my body was a machine.

Come 2024, I intend to make a change.

I intend to take “Think Weeks” after every 12 weeks of focused work.

Those are times when I’ll rest, read, take a break from work and recharge for the next quarter.

I really hope I can achieve this.

Goals for 2024

Based on the lessons I’ve learnt from the past year, here are some of my goals for 2024:

To post 5 times per week on LinkedIn.
To grow my LinkedIn followers to 10K by December 2024 and be recognised as a Linkedin top voice.
To post 5 60-seconds videos per week on TikTok.
To host 24 Bi-weekly webinars for School of Digipreneurs on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month.
To host 12 monthly community Townhall meetings for members of The LinkedIn Club on the last Sunday of every month.
To host 12 monthly FREE lead generation webinars to generate leads for my services/offers.
To record and Publish 3 seasons of my podcast to be published across all podcast streaming platforms.
To film and publish one video over week on my YouTube channel.
To write and publish one blog post per week on Medium.
To write and publish one article per week on LinkedIn.
To get at least 12 paid speaking gigs/podcast invitations.
To attend an event happening in Lagos, every weekend in 2024.
To critically examine the different stages of my marketing funnel and ensure I set up systems and processes.
To host weekly accountability calls with some of my closest friends who are career people, personal brands or entrepreneurs.
To create digital products that can make me money even while I’m sleeping.
To cold message 5 international CEOs or leaders of SMEs per week to pitch my digital marketing and social media consultancy services.
To set up my work station.
To set up my podcast/YouTube studio.
To subscribe to some software that’ll make my work life easier (eg. Google Workspace Premium, flowCV, etc)
To get a gym membership and work out 3 times weekly.
To furnish my apartment to taste and record a full house tour video and post on my YouTube channel.
To enroll into a driving school by Q1 2024 and learn how to drive.
To buy my first car by the end of the year.
To move out of my current apartment (in Badagry) by July/August 2024 to a one-bedroom apartment around Ikeja or Ikoyi
To become an active member of a community that meets physically on a weekly or monthly basis.

Conclusion

2023 was quite an exciting year!

There were days of laughter and days of tears.

There were so many days when I had exhausted all I had.

There were so many days when I wondered if this path I’d chosen was the right path.

In all, I found strength from the stories of amazing entrepreneurs who had gone before me.

The likes of Ali Abdaal, Steven Bartlett, Tim Denning, Nathan Barry, Dan Koe, Jon Morrow, and the numerous others who I listened to on Founders Connect and My First Million.

In their stories, I saw myself. I cried, I laughed, I reassured myself that this path would lead me to a happy ending.

I’m happy to have witnessed 2023, and I really can’t wait to see all the awesome things 2024 comes my way with!

Cheers to a new year ahead 🥂🥂🥂