3 years and counting…
Yesterday, 17 September 2018 was exactly 3 years since www.diylaw.ng went live.
Today makes it 3 years since we got our very first customer and earned our first revenue.
Bola and Funkola and I were a mess. Yes, the website went live day before, but you don’t want to know what mess the backend was, LOL. God bless Emmanuel Olutosin for trusting 3 girls he has never met and a brand no one had ever patronised with his money. He continues to hold a special place in our history and every September 18 , I send a prayer his way.
It’s been one helluva journey, sometimes I ask myself “who sent me work?” If I’ll be honest, I am currently passing through that phase of “who sent me work” but during those “who sent me work” moments, I always come back to the reason we decided to do this in the first place — because for some crazy reason, we have a deep love for entrepreneurs and DIYlaw is our expression of that love. It is our way of saying, “let’s help you lighten this load, let’s help you carry one of the many challenges you’re bound to face, let’s bear your legal burden for you.”
I also always remember the words of Funkola, my co-founder during our founders’ retreat last year “We have started this journey, we cannot fail, we have no choice but to win”. So, winning is all we are about. What does “winning” mean to us? Winning is being that brand that comes to mind for any legal-related need when doing business in Africa. The go-to place for everything legal. We like to say, “we are building the one-stop hub for all things legal in Africa” and until that is built and accomplished, it remains a work-in-progress. Now y’all know our dreams, please root for us 😉
When people ask me about my high points on this journey, it’s always the same answer. It is when I see a brand that trusted us on their journey doing great things — a blog post here, a fundraise announcement there, a newspaper article there, an award here. The answer still hasn’t changed, and I doubt it ever will. Even a random promoted tweet or Instagram ad of a business that trusted DIYlaw gives me goose-bumps. To our customers who trust us every single day, who deem us worthy of actualizing their dreams, of being a part of their goal and hustle, I cannot thank you enough. Without you, we are absolutely nothing.
My people say “ènìyàn ni aso ìbora mi”. It literally means “people are my blanket” meaning, we are here today because so many have chosen to help us. If I start to list everyone who has been a part of our journey, I’ll do like a thousand words on just names alone. If I now decide to add how they have helped, I’d probably write a book. To all you amazing people out there, I say a big thank you. Thank you for your time, your listening ear, your shoutouts, your referrals, your advice, and for just being there. I could go on and on and thinking of every one of you as I write this just brought tears to my eyes. We can never repay you but be sure that your labour of love has never been and will never be in vain
To our amazing team, past and present. Gosh I love you guys. Very few startups can say they have a strong alumni network, I’m sure you’re thinking “common it’s been three years, how is that even possible” but I promise you, we do. These amazing people even though they have moved on “still carry DIYlaw on their head”. God bless you all for keeping the faith. To our current team, you truly are amazing. I’m proud of each and every one of you. Your sense of ownership of the business and loyalty to the brand humbles me. Thank you for loving DIYlaw, I love each and every one of you deeply. And to the The Longe Practice (TLP) team who in their minds think they are part of DIYlaw (I kid, I kid), thank you for your support and going far and beyond that which you were hired to do at TLP, my love for you runs deep.
Bola and Funkola, my girls, my sisters, my blood, kai, we’ve had a few fights but never has our sisterhood been threatened. We remain committed to actualizing this dream and I love you all so much deeply. We only just got started. They won’t know what hit them because these three girls, these three wonder women, these three Khaleesis have not even started yet. And yes, we need a holiday together — please let’s make it happen soon, LOL.
And you reading this, thank you for reading my random ramblings put together very early this morning. Thank you for being interested in DIYlaw. Watch us make magic!
