2023; How My Failures can help you grow
A message of Resilience
The past year for me was one for growth. As much as it was one for big wins and even bigger failures.
However, I have learned crucial lessons which I believe would be helpful to you reading this. The central message behind this would be RESILIENCE and GRIT.
If you’re just coming across my writings for the first time do well to check my previous articles. They would help give some perspective to my lenses as you read.
2023 started on a “decisive note”. I had just returned from an annual retreat, by the way (I recommend everyone has one at the close of every year). It was clear to me that I had to improve in certain areas of my life, of which the majors were;
· Spirituals
· Mental/Career
· Financial
So, I set out to layout a sustainable plan. As a Christian, I set out to improve the hours I committed to my devotion daily. Giving more times to prayers and reading of scriptures.
I also planned to improve my design skills by mastering more design tools and adding more stacks.
For my financial targets, I had hope to land a role or gigs that consistently paid at least $500(N440,000 at the time).
How did all these pan out? Just keep reading and you’d find out.
As spiritual progress was made, I kept encountering challenges with my finances.
I have a saying I live by, “For you to earn like they earn, you must know what they know and do what they do”.
This saying guides my constant pursuit for improvement in whatever I do because I believe Growth and increase is earned and not given.
It was sometime in May that I jumped on my first Twitter tech space and even made contributions. It was surreal because I made connections and interactions with folks across 4 continents.
I began taking two design courses from YouTube and Udemy. These were basically to improve my design processes and overall delivery.
Of note was me showing up more on Twitter which by the way is my most preferred platform for creatives. I began putting out designs, connecting with other designers and even joined communities to increase my overall reach.
Of note was feedback given to me by Lawrence DCode on one twitter space to be intentional about my LinkedIn and build it to 500 connects at least. This was sometime in June/July, and since then till now, I was able to optimize my profile, grow my connect to 500 and improve my overall followership to almost 1000.
Getting in touch midyear with a colleague who eventually turned a brother Abayomi Gerard, opened my eyes to the possibility of consistently making 7 figures monthly. Oh boy! The young man had done about $500, $750 and even thousands of dollars in a month.
I knew I had to get to work.
I had already landed a $500(N450,000) per month job. It was a great time. I left the role due to differences which I discussed in an earlier article.
I was out of work for a while, about a month.
What did I do?
I went looking for my colleague in Jos, Plateau Nigeria.
In that period, my mind opened to the endless possibilities of increasing my income, particularly because I was seeing a young person doing same.
It wasn’t long afterwards I got another job with a web3 startup, for which I was being paid about $400(N400,000) per month. It was a great time being a UI UX designer.
I had a great experience working on a cross sectional team. Being able to interact with different people of diverse skillset including writers, programmers, community managers and marketers.
As one who has experience in crypto and the web3 space- I have actively traded crypto since 2016/2017.
I was able to grow my funds from about $500 to $2000.
In all of this, I was consistently turning up on LinkedIn and ensuring I was giving value.
MENTORSHIP
At some point I ran a mentorship for UI UX designers looking to get started with honing the craft.
I was able to mentor 4 designers who have gone on to make their first $100 at least from designing.
This was a proud moment for me because I have always been a believer in giving back to the cause that makes you. This was my contribution to the community. Here and now, I still receive requests for guidance and direction. Always willing to help.
SPLINE AND PROTOPIE
As part of my commitment to becoming valuable and marketable, I decided to learn industry prototyping tool Protopie and also 3D scene tool Spline. These were very helpful in improving the overall user experience for users of products I design.
Learning this put me on the spotlight and helped me land a website redesign gig.
RESILIENCE
Towards the end of the year, I was making colossal progress. The crypto market was favouring me.
Then came the turbulence. The startup I was with said they couldn’t compete anymore as the CEO couldn’t pay. We were all laid off. This was sometime in November. I had figured that it was time to use up the funds I had saved up from the year of work since I wasn’t planning on taking any job as it was the holiday season, and I had my retreat again. Remember I told you about it in the opening paragraphs.
All was ready, until a Monday morning in December, I tried accessing my wallet and saw there was a D’app attack. The funds in my wallet were drained. I had just lost $2000(N2,000,000) I was left with just $20.
This was a true test of resilience and courage. Like I told my brother “I feel like I worked the whole year only to be robbed”. We laughed it off together. But deep down I was pained, because I couldn’t do all I wanted to do.
WHY HAVE I WRITTEN THIS?
For most people like me, you may be in a tight spot or an unpleasant position. My encouragement to you is to keep going. For some people. They had a great 2023 and you might be pressured from the posts on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. You know what? Take some time off.
Reflect on the intangible positives from 2023.
· The relationships made
· The improvements; career and psychological
· And steps taken towards your goal
You’d realize this, little progress is still progress.
Like Martin Luther said
“If you can’t fly, then run,
If you can’t run, then walk,
If you can’t walk, then crawl,
But by all means, Keep moving”
That’s my message to you.
That’s my message to me.
It’s going to be a great year. Trsut God!
Go again!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
If this has inspired you, please let me know.
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Feel free to reach out to me if you want a writer or someone to properly articulate your thoughts.
Send me an email at victoralmonduzoma@gmail.com
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