01/05/2024
My Shoe Story !!!
So something happened to me sometime last year, before we started building our company's online marketplace website, Besaiem, as we were still talking about it then.
To give a headstart, I created a simple website, The Wealthy Place Realm, to use to start selling some of the shoes and footwear as a way to test out the idea, make money for myself, and raise money for the business and company as well.
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111 )
I also created and ran some Facebook & Instagram ad campaigns because, as a digital marketer, Facebook & Instagram ad expert, and online advertiser, I had an advantage.
This ad brought in a lot of customers and potential customers who did not end up buying because they all wanted pay-on-delivery.
Realizing that I'd be losing money if these customers were not converting and buying, I decided to offer pay-on-delivery in the next ad i ran, which required capital to do as i had to cover for the upfront and overhead expense in making and delivering the shoes and footwear.
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0815 116 3822 )
So, I used part of the money I got from another website design and marketing job I did for a client, in addition to the one I got from my sister, to pay up the house rice money I used also as a deposit by the time the seller sent it.
I did this because, from my calculations, I would have finished up the business transactions with the customers and gotten my money back by the time the rice guy said he will send the bag of rice, only for the opposite to turn out to be the case, and he started calling.
But to my utmost surprise, most of the orders went south, even after I had made deposit with my money and borrowed money to make those shoes and deliver them, and not even in one state but in four different states and towns: Abuja, Lagos, Delta and Ogun.
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111 )
One of the most tragic things was that not only did this cancelled, unfulfilled and delivered but not paid orders happen with my whole capital in it, one of my customers, who had already picked up his two pairs of shoes and footwear from DHL office in Sapelle, died.
That hit differently when I got to know after a month, because then it dawned on me that the money didn't go that way.
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111 )
What happened was that after he picked up, he told me his salary was not delayed, and later on, when it was paid, he still did not send our money because, according to him, some things came up and because he did not value us since he had already picked up his shoe, put us on the lowest priority risk, if we’ll say that.
However, i kept calling and kept in touch with him when, after some days, his number stopped going through and then became and was switched off for weeks, about a month plus
That was when I knew and started sensing that something must have gone wrong, because as much I wanted my money back, I also became uncomfortable and at unrest that I hope something had not happened to him.
After frequently trying for about a month, one day, the number rang and the phone was picked, and that was like the aha moment for me, because i said yes, finally, the number has gone through …
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111)
Only for me to hear the person that picked the phone on the other side crying 😢 and sobbing in the background.
I asked the guy why he was crying and he told me that he just lost his brother.
For me in my heart, I was like Jesus, as if I saw this coming, but I still maintained a mean tone.
I just locked up in my heart, so that it wouldn't be that they were trying to play with me or my emotions and get the better part of me, yet, still humane, as I did not lose touch with my human feelings, but only brought human reasoning and logic to play then.
I asked him which of his brothers, and he told me his name, and the name rang a bell.
It was my customer who had picked up his two pairs of shoe order but hadn’t paid.
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111)
I still maintained a mean tone and asked if it was “Mr Lucky” his brother, my customer, and he said yes still crying and sobbing, because I was still thinking that it was my customer i was speaking with the.
At that moment, I knew my money had gone - both the deposit we made, the balance and expected profit as well, because the shoes were already in his hands, and you won’t tell the dead or someone that just lost his brother to return the shoes.
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111)
Notwithstanding, i told him that i had been trying to reach his brother for more than a month and his number had been switched off, because he ordered and had picked up two pairs of footwears from our online shoe store thewealthyplace.com.ng and was owing us more than seventy thousand naira, and he said he was going to tell his elder brother when he came back.
For me at that time, i knew that that was the end and i just had to figure out how to pay back the loan, the balance for the shoes and that my own expected profit had gone, as i had no option.
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111)
This experience and the other 7 cancelled or undelivered orders just put me in a very difficult situation and left me stranded, because just after the incident of making and delivering the shoes and footwears in July, I left home for a 3-weeks Camp & orientation course and then moved to Lagos.
That was a hit for me because during that camp and orientation course, I lacked and desperately needed money, because my initial plan and target was that from the profit I would make from those almost 10 shoes sales, it would fund my journey, relocation and reinvestment back into the business, for more and bigger sales, both during the camp and after.
This made me pull back and re-evaluate a lot of things, and know the way forward, as it affected a lot of my other plans and that of my startup, but looking back now, i think i will say that though i might have made some mistakes or rather learnt from it, the whole experience made me to meet and work with new people, have new experiences, getting to move around, go and know many more places in Lagos, because of the nature of my work, and a lot of other things.
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111)
However, I’ll just say that God turned that whole experience around for my own good, because what the enemy meant for evil, God turned it around for my good, and though we have not launched our company Besaiem website and marketplace yet at https://besaiem.com , we will be doing that soon, and the whole idea of it is to create a platform and online marketplace for creative and handy people who make, can make and sell things with their hands or locally and made in Nigeria & Africa.
And to give anyone in Nigeria, Africa and the world access to goods and products made with hands, handcrafted and locally made/manufactured in Nigeria & Africa.
And I still run my shoe brand that makes and sells shoes and footwear for the rich and classy, and I still have more than 144+ and counting different designs and styles of shoes and footwear on my website www.thewealthyplace.com.ng
(NB: You can also order on our website https://thewealthyplace.com.ng
or WhatsApp 0816 512 2111)
