By Agbonkhese Oboh

Where sorrow from being kicked out of medical school would make many break down, Waju Abraham,  a guru in information marketing, made a vow: “I would be richer than all my classmates by the time they were graduating.”

Years later, he made good his vow and that timid dude who stammered badly growing up, and was invisible in school, now teaches others how to make money with less complications.

However, between the medical school dropout and today’s finished product, there have been wins and losses.

As he says: “My breakthroughs and mistakes have made me an invaluable advisor to businesses looking to tackle internet marketing.”

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Learning curve

His simple fundamental principle, and what he teaches, is the secret to starting any business on earth without capital.

But the learning process was harsh. Waju: “I made my first millions at the age of 27, trading stocks and Forex. 24 months later, however, I was back to living in my parent’s boys’ quarters.

“I was so broke my wife deserted me and fled with our son. Fighting depression, I sold my Honda Accord in a bid to revive business, only to end up blowing it all on binge drinking and pity parties. I was a shadow of myself.”

The shadow was not meant to last for someone bursting with ideas. But it took a while.

The former CEO and employer of labour was so miserable he took up a job as a civil servant, just to get by.

It was then he uncovered his copywriting potential and got into the information marketing world, launching several successful products— and a few stillbirths.

By January 1, 2012: “I was ready to do anything to keep busy so as to stop thinking. That’s when I accepted the opportunity to work in Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

“I worked there for almost five years.”

Every year after resuming from leave, a certain lady colleague would taunt him: “Ah! Waju, you’re back? I thought you said you were not coming back?”

She was right. He kept saying he wanted out, but wasn’t serious enough. He had friends who lived to drink after work. Same friends took him in when he was new at work, so loyalty made him refuse to desert them.

In retrospect, Waju says: “That is called self-sabotage. Success will alienate you from the status quo. If you can’t bear it, you will constantly abdicate responsibility.

“It all has to do with the fear of success. People fear success more than death. But only few admit it. This is the number one reason for stupid decisions, and especially procrastination.

“In August of 2016, I had had enough and I walked away from paid employment for the last time—without even dropping a resignation letter.

“Today, I’ve several wins to my name including two bestselling books on marketing— The Money Whisperer and Email Sorcery Handbook.

“I love teaching people how to make way more money with way less complications.”

‘You are where you want to be’

A step back: While in paid employment, Waju Abraham was happy at first. But after one month, and seeing the way employment required you to shut up and obey rules, he wanted out.

“I kept trying to build a business and I talked about my past life a lot. I learned a hard lesson there: the past is the past. God is not there. Rather, accept where you are because that’s where God will reach you.”

He called it discovering purpose and waxes philosophical, but backed with firsthand experience: “I have always had a sense of purpose. But that made my situation harder.

“Ignorance is bliss. When you know where you should be but you aren’t, that’s some grievous torture.

“One day, while preparing for work, I heard a voice speak to me ‘You’re where you want to be’. I instantly rejected the voice. It was so painful given my situation. But the voice kept coming back.

“It took me six months to come to terms with it and accept it even though it didn’t make sense. I began to declare it every time I looked in the mirror. Gradually, it began to fill me with a sense of responsibility, power and control.

“If I am where I want to be right now, then I can choose another better place to be and be there.”

That statement was his reawakening and he took a walk away from paid employment in August 2016.

These days, a lot of people despise him because of his bluntness. He tells them: “Hey, I’m blunt with myself too. And it’s helping me. I’m just trying to help you.

“The blunt truth is better than a million comforting lies, such as blaming the devil, village people or unhelpful relatives.

“My current car has a customised license plate that says “NOYS”— Nobody Owes You Sh!t. This is my personal mantra. And it is the first thing I like to pass across to people, who come to me to be mentored.”

So Waju Abraham is in a better position to give lessons for start-ups

“Burn your business cards, close down your office, throw away your shiny suits, stop attending social media gatherings; stop doing all those things that give you a false sense of arrival.”

Waju Abraham gives harsher nuggets: “A lot of the known gurus are closet beggars. I say this in full humility. But it is the truth.

“Drop anything your personality relies on as a crutch and get busy getting clients. Start-ups have become lazy. They define success by how much they can raise in venture capital.

“That is not business success. That is the success with fundraising. Business is primarily customer acquisition. If start-ups focus on that, they will get results and still own all of their business.

“One of my students has made over N200 million this COVID year. He didn’t do any venture capital nonsense. He didn’t have connections. He took the advice and took action.

“That’s how to win in business. Everything else is an overrated bullshit vanity metric.”

VANGUARD