‘My first business fetched N4000, and I moved on’ – motivator

‘My first business fetched N4000, and I moved on’ – motivator By Simon Echewofun Sunday @SimonEchewofun Philip Gerald Okoli is an author, motivational speaker and a business strategy consultant. Okoli who is in his early thirties and has a Bachelor in Accountancy alongside a Master of Business Administration (MBA) said his business is about providing consultancy services on strategies for small businesses. In a recent encounter, Okoli shared his experience with WEEKEND on how his early rising driven by the passion to share knowledge that brings transformation and sustained development of individuals and businesses in the effort to realize more. Drawing inspiration for business My quest for knowledge was really what inspired me to write, speak and hold my seminar. The more I learnt something and mastered it, I realized that I must teach it. I started from the university during my final year where I held my first seminar and only two people paid for participation fee which amounted to only N4,000. But I wasn’t deterred, I moved on even when it was difficult. The sustainability of my inspirational project was due to my understanding that individuals and organization need to know more and this has affected my level of inquisition and the series of talk events that I host and that includes the free Peak Performance platform monthly conference which has three focus areas workplace productivity, potential maximization and business development.

Though my start-up capital was small, I was resourceful It was not sufficient, but I started only by been resourceful and not with any huge money. I remembered how difficult it was for me to pay for a hall and how my initial fund was not sufficient to get my first set of books out. My first book was then printed in Jos and I did not have the complete money to pay for them, but my printer believed in my credibility and accepted to publish while I paid in bits. The bulk money I got to pay to get my books out was through an idea of business branding that I sold to a client and she paid me an excess of N50,000 which I used to sustain my book publishing process. As a challenge, I got so many ‘Nos’ selling my business I have had many failures, doubts and fears. But I kept pushing; raising efficient followers who could be more resourceful was my huge challenge in this business. I was told so many NO’s and I was bitter, but I had to master it and learn to take things easy, one step at a time, one pace at a time and I was more peaceful. The more peaceful I was in my daily engagements and pursuits, the more strategic I was and the more opportunities came knocking. I believe in myself and in God, so I hire with very high precaution. I did a book titled, ‘41 Laws of Significance’. One of those laws is the law of process; ‘process’ is as important as the end. I have a vision and that is what I want to go beyond so I learn to be patient, I plan and I know which action to take now and which action to take for tomorrow’s glory. Satisfying the customers’ taste One of the challenging things about my business is satisfying varieties of clients ranging from professors, doctors, experienced individuals, desperate learners and uninterested people. I really have to work really creatively to satisfying each of these groups while I speak and write. I always pray for a hungry audience to make my work easier. How youths can become self reliant A youth must know what he or she wants and also know what he can do, then stay at working it out without doubts. There must be singleness of purpose. Remember there is a law of process, it holds true for everyone. As you proceed you must also develop your mind through trainings and re-training. Remember we live in the knowledge edge and our values are as important as to whom we become.

I have over five titles in the market Outside the more than five peak performance books, I have these other titles, ‘25 necessities for effective Leadership’, ‘Quotes for success’, ‘Leadership - a self mastery skill’ and ‘Mastery of your destiny’. Prospects of my motivation and authoring business I hope to host the Peak Performance platform around 30 countries in the world. More so I aspire to be a best-selling author, internationally acclaimed motivational speaker from Nigeria and a renowned business consultant. These are what I am working on especially as we working to counsel and coach students on how to increase their performance based on Behaviour-Emotions-Academics- Talents- Spirituality (BEATS) concept. Through this project, we have reached five States, trained about 19,000 students across 60 schools, and we would be reaching more schools shortly. DAILY TRUST WEEKEND (Last Week Edition)