The above picture is a snap shot of the “Ice 4 Days” Seminar that held on Saturday, 10th of April and my first statement during the presentation may have led me to this article; My name is Dipo Tepede; I am a regular guy like all of you and I appreciate your taking your time and money to honor this meeting. One of the participants immediately raised the objection of using the phrase “a regular guy”. I understood what he meant on a certain level but I disagree with the participant on a general level.
I am aware some people see me as a sort of leader; some people respect my opinion; others seek for my advice; some are in awe of my discernment on some subject matters while some others appreciate my numerous efforts but the reality is that I am just a regular guy who has received the grace and mercy of God. I get tempted, I get confused, I get angry, I fail in some of my endeavors, I sometimes lie and call it diplomacy, etc. This grace and mercy is available to all who extend their hands to receive it.
The story of the man in “Acts 3” is quite instructive; a lame man from birth sat at the gate of the temple begging for alms. He observed everyday as people walked into the temple giving him money. He did not care to wonder; why do this people go to the temple? He did not care to wonder how this people get this money that they give him freely; could going to the temple have any impact on this people’s finances? His rationale was simplistic enough; “I am lame and I must position myself for people to keep feeding me with money”.
This rationale is common to most men; “I was not born with a silver spoon”; “my salary cannot take me home”; “I do not have a job”; “do not have enough money”; “I do not have a husband like this and this”. Most men look for every opportunity to stay at the gate and beg for money rather than enter the temple. They stay at the gate everyday when all they needed to do was to ask someone to take them to temple. They beg for what they can simply own.
Today, I am going to take you to the temple; I am going to reveal to you how I made my first one million Naira. It was actually serendipitous; I followed a law that I did not know would produce such results; it is commonly referred to as the golden rule; “do onto others as you want them to do to you”. This simply means you must be the initiator; you must be willing to first give; you must be willing to contribute whatever you have; it does not matter how insignificant you think it is, you must be willing to contribute it.
More than 4-years ago, I started contributing what I knew through writing. I did not know it would blow up, I was just teaching people all I knew and I was having fun doing what I enjoyed. I was neither an expert at what I was teaching nor was I good at writing but I realized that what I was teaching stuck more with me. I realized that by contributing the little I knew through blogging, I was increasing my level of influence and gaining relevant relationships. These relevant relationships produced the dividend that leveraged a million Naira.
This is a simple formula to grasp; it really does not have to be blogging; anyone who works in a particular field long enough will make some interesting distinctions that, if shared, could provide a lot of value for others. It is this value that creates the influence and if the influence is directed appropriately, you would never lack for anything. When you contribute what you know to the world around you, you are on your way to making your dream financial position. Giving is fundamental to receiving.
