There Is No Such Thing as Luck- The Linda Ikeji Story

Do you think Linda Ikeji's success is a matter of luck? Do you think successful people are lucky? I remember being at Anambra NYSC camp back in 2007, sitting on the grass talking to a friend of mine. I said something about being a lucky person, and she looked at me funny, like- 'you actually believe in luck?' I wondered why she had that look on her face, so I asked her what she understood about life and luck. We spoke for hours, and she opened my eyes to a new way of thinking. I can say that that singular event was the birth of the new me; the philosophical individual that wrote what you are reading right now.

The truth is, there is no such thing as luck. We make our luck as we go along, through our thoughts and ACTIONS. Thomas Jefferson said, and I quote- 'I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.' What people perceive as luck is the result of planning and hard work. So, I have decided to start a new series on my blog, where i will be highlighting some parts of very successful individual's past; the ugly part that a lot of people might not know about. 





It is really the dream, hard work and dedication to a dream that brings the results. Success is not overnight, and anyone can be successful in what ever field he or she desires to be. I am starting it off with our very own, Linda Ikeji.



*In 1998, at the age of 17, she had to become a model to take care of herself and her siblings.



-According to her, she once lived on puff puff and Garri for weeks. What an odd combination, right? But that's how bad it was for her at the time. Read her words-  "I once lived on 'puff puff' and Garri for weeks in UNILAG and I was supposedly a top model but nobody knew what I was going through. Trust me, I know poverty."



*While she was getting her B.Sc at the University of Lagos between 2000-2004, she had to take up odd jobs to sustain herself...one of those jobs was being a waitress at a bar. She said, and I quote-  “I’d leave lectures, go to a hotel and sell beer from 1 pm till 10 pm. I did this for a few months. It wasn't easy but I had to survive”.











-Although she currently earns nothing less than 10 million Naira from her blog monthly, on her 30th birthday (5 years ago), she had less than 1 thousand Naira in her bank account.

*After graduating from the University in 2004, she launched a media company- Black Dove Communication. The company birthed a magazine (FM & B), which only made it to the third issue before crashing.



*She stopped modeling in 2005, as she felt she was getting too old for the profession. And in 2006, after being inspired by what was written about her in bellanaija.com, she decided to start her own blogsite. She opened lindaikeji.blogspot.com in 2006, but really started working on it in 2007. 



*She blogged consistently for 4 years before she ever made a kobo from her blog. In fact, in one of her recent blog posts, she admitted to crying uncontrollably on her 30th birthday back in 2010. She had put her heart in blogging for 3 years before that, she had tried different businesses and jobs since she was a teenager, but she had nothing to show for it at the time.



*It wasn't until 2011 (after consistently blogging for 5 years) that she started making money from her blog.




So you see, there is always a story behind every successful person. Reading all I've written above, would you still believe that her success is the work of sheer luck? I don't think so.