At 20 years old, I purchased quite a couple of lands in my hometown discreetly.
Of course, I was liquid on cash, and had my Dad guiding me rightly.
My strategies was working very well and one of my blog was awarded by an evaluation company as one of the best education blog in Nigeria.
So when I received payments from Adsense, my dad would show me the next land to buy, and it continued like that continuously.
Considering where I came from, I was disciplined enough to stick to what he suggested while I focused on improving at what I was doing.
So, this time, I decided to develop one of the land, with full support from my Dad.
My concept was straightforward – I wanted to build eight units of simple one-bedroom flats for rentals.
The location was quite promising, so I started the development process with my Dad taking the lead.
I began saving and increasing my revenue to better numbers. I was more than happy, so we started the process.
The construction team worked assiduously; their needs were met, and the speed was impressive.
But something terrible happened that changed my approach and operational process in dealing with people.
After spending quite a few million raising this building to the lintel level, we received a call about some issues on the site.
So, there we went, my dad and I, and we saw a stranger raising alarms, claiming we had built on his land.
He stated that we didn’t have any right to do so. I was taken aback – how could this be possible?
This man proceeded to bring out some incantation stuff tied with leaves and red materials.
The situation worsened, leading us to halt work on the site.
My Dad, recognising the power of spiritual incantations quickly advised me to stay off the land while we resolved the issues in court.
We took this man to court, presenting the documents we received from the sellers and bringing along some men who could serve as evidence of our ownership of the land.
After a few months of dragging, we won the case, and he was ordered to stay off the land.
So we were ready to resume work. We didn’t hear from him again.
Strangely, few weeks later, we received a call that the site caretaker we had hired to oversee the site had died from a very strange illness.
This man was in good health, and he had been part of the team that initially suggested the land to us. He had a great spirit, which is why we chose to hire him to provide protection on the site.
I was truly saddened, and after a few attempts, we hired someone else, and work continued.
But guess what? The new person died again.
It was clear that we should avoid the land. People in the neighbourhood advised us to be cautious about that man, sharing stories of deaths related to that land and expressing concerns to my dad for my well-being.
My Dad told me to take my mind off it, assuring me that I was still young and would have better opportunities in the future.
Indeed, this was a difficult decision, especially after spending about 11 million. Crazy!
In my thoughts, I wondered why this man didn’t make these claims when we started working on the site, drilling foundations, and so on.
Well, I decided to move on and focus on other things. So, we sold the property to a traditionalist for less than 2 million, including everything, and left them to contend with their beliefs and powers themselves.
I was pained and couldn’t even reinvest the money into my business, so I chose to donate it to orphanages.
Since then, I no longer buy land or any property in poorly developed areas, or even any land without a clear history, original and verifiable certificates of occupancy, or certificates of deposit.
Life and people can indeed be unpredictable, but no amount of pain can break a hustler who never gives up!
#BrightCycle
