A graduate of Estate Management. If you know estate management professionals well, you’d understand that it’s very tedious for a woman, and the pay isn’t encouraging.

After graduation, I worked for a few months before going for service. And guess what? I got pregnant and gave birth on the day of passing out.

Now, with a baby needing my attention and time, I also had to make money. I went for several interviews, but many employers preferred hiring single women over those with children.

At one interview with a well-known estate firm, they asked if I was married and had kids. When I confirmed, they told me, “Hope you know you can’t earn as much as men earn. Moreover, employing a married woman and a mother has always been a challenge for us. We’re sorry, but you might not be allowed to proceed to the second stage of the interview.”

Being depressed was an understatement, but I managed a smile and said, “I totally understand. Thank you so much.” I left the premises with a heavy heart, knowing I wouldn’t go to any more interviews and decided to start my own business.

I had already learned how to make Ankara bags and accessories as an undergraduate. With a small capital, I ventured into this business, marketed it well, and started receiving orders from outside Nigeria. However, managing orders became challenging due to my responsibilities as a mom and wife. When orders were too many, I had to outsource production, which meant lower profits and sometimes disappointed customers.

One major setback occurred with a UK client who often ordered from me. I would complete her orders with a 30% deposit, using my funds to finish the job until I received the balance. One day, she was preparing for an exhibition and relied on my products. Unfortunately, the goods weren’t ready on time because I was misled by the production team. The client couldn't display anything at the exhibition, and she didn’t pay me the remaining balance, which was crucial for my business and personal finances. I was back to square one.

I learnt my lesson the hard way, reasons why most business owners would make sure you pay atleast 70% before they get your work done. After this, I turned to network marketing, hoping to earn passively by signing up a large number of people. It went well initially, but the structure fell apart after I had my second baby, and I lost many of my downlines to attrition.

This made me conclude there is no reasonable income that would come 100% passively.

During these financial struggles, my husband faced his own dilemma. Despite having over 10 years of experience in finance and wealth management, he struggled with balancing his work and being present for our two children. This is how we were introduced to the concept of the Triangle of Wealth.

We realized that true wealth isn't just about money. It involves the trio of Health, Freedom, and Relationship or Family.

To be truly wealthy, you need to earn money in a way that allows you the freedom to spend time with your family and take care of your health. Many people refer to this as Financial Freedom, but there is a misconception about what it truly means. So let me tell you what i Learnt Financial Freedom to be.

Financial Freedom is simply when Passive Income is greater than or equal to your Active Expenses. This can be simplified with the equation:

Financial Freedom ≥ Active Expenses