Success Is An Average

I have failed severally in several spheres of life. And just like some people listening to me, you have also failed to do well in several spheres of life. That you lost a battle does not mean you should lose the war.

When planting the first set of cucumbers, we were not directly responsible for the planting and the maintenance. As I mentioned in a previous post, our farm manager abandoned the farm and ran away. Water flooded part of the farm and we made some losses.

One of the reasons for our losses was that we planted the wrong species.

Don’t pass blames. Determine what went wrong; don’t blame the devil. We usually blame the devil too much in Africa.

When someone dies in Africa, people usually ask, “Who killed her?” In Europe and America, they ask, “What killed him?” That’s because they want to learn from the death of that person to prevent future occurrences.

Therefore, I learnt from my mistakes. I learnt that it is not profitable to plant that species here because people don’t usually buy that species here; they buy the 999 species. Because of this, I decided to plant the right species. I took decisions from my mistakes.

So, for the next phase of planting, I bought the right species, and planted the right species. I also used the right procedures and processes.

Ask yourself the following P’s, “Have I done this thing the right product? Have I used the right procedure? Have I used the right processes? Have I used the right people?”

We made new ridges, we planted new species, and we had a bountiful harvest. Today, we broke into the market, as I wrote in one of my posts. We broke into the market and we have a demand for 10 bags of cucumbers every four days.

As at the time of selling, we sold for N4,500 a bag. That’s about N90,000 a week. If you multiply that by 52 weeks, you’ll be talking of about the potential of 4 million Naira from cucumbers. So, we’re struggling to cope with the potential in the market. We found it difficult to break into the market, but we did break into the market. When we started we sold for prices as low as N1,000 and N2,000. But today, they beg us.

We used to carry them to meet potential customers. Today, they drive to our farm to buy the cucumbers.

So, you need to make decisions after you’ve determined what went wrong.

Then you must have drive.

I could have started lamenting, or blaming the devil or other people. In fact, the man who planted the first cucumbers said a wizard or a witch walked through the farm, and he looked for anointing oil to anoint the farm. I didn’t look for anointing oil; I looked for fertilizers; I looked for insecticides; I looked for fungicides. I needed to add fertilizers. I needed to spray fungicides to prevent fungus from growing on them. I sprayed insecticides to kill the cucumber beetles. I needed to add calcium and magnesium to prevent the yellowing of the leaves. Now, I have green leaves, and I’m expecting a great harvest.

Do the right thing when you have failed, and you will get the right results; it’s called the law of cause and effect.

Know what is right, know what people do to succeed, do what they have done to succeed, and you will get good results.

Today, I’m happy. I had a previous post when I carried weeds on my head and sat in a wheelbarrow. I no longer carry weeds on my head; I pay workers. I’ve evolved from that level.

There is always a beginning.

Learn to start small; you will grow.

Improve on yourself daily, and you will see that you will get great results.

We are currently planting cassava in a part of the farm. We also cleared a different portion of the farm. I didn’t need to clear like I previously used to; I paid people to do those jobs.

Now we are making ridged, because we also found out that cassava stems planted on ridges do better.

Look for what others are doing, look for how they do it.

Steal with your eyes, and bring it to what you do. Act on it, depend on providence, and you will get great results.

I want to thank my friends from the US and the UK, and our friends here in Nigeria, who have been following our posts and broadcasts.

God bless you.