olusola david

My name is Olusola David and I run and manage this BLOG (Torchbankz.com)

 

My success journey online is a LONG one and I hope this little piece does nothing but motivates you to pursue your heart desires. 

 

I was born and brought up in WEST Africa, Nigeria to be precise. 

 

If you’re familiar with Nigeria, then you’ll understand this is a developing country where almost nothing works and unemployment seems to be the talk of the day, coupled with low power supply and bad infrastructure.

 

So I could say I had all odds against me, but i never let that get in between my QUEST for success. 

 

I had a BSc in Political Science which happens to be nothing but JUST a certificate as the situation of the country was DEAD terrible. 

 

I’ve been broke as f** and there were days I hardly ate a full meal, lol.. That’s just to let you know how terrible thing were!

 

Starting this blog wasn’t the initial plan, it all played out as one thing led to the other before I finally got a grip at it. 

 

But before then, I’ve lost a whole lot as I’ve dabbled into so many Shiny Objects As A Business with the hope of making money overnight! 

 

But now, I know better! 

How It All Started

It all started in early 2017 when i was still a youth corp member (NYSC) of my country Nigeria. 

 

This was a compulsory one year service every higher education graduate of the country must under-go before they can be certified and eligible to work in the country.

 

It was during this one year of service that I had all the time to think about my whole life because I’ve never been broke like I was during that service year.

 

Our monthly allowance was the equivalent of $50. I mean $50 for an ENTIRE month! Lol… It was DEAD serious! 

 

This however, made me come to the full realisation that I’m responsible for how my life is going to turn out. 

 

Either good or bad! 

So I had no choice but to survive the hustle.

 

I started my journey with online business when I saw an ad on affiliate marketing that promised $500 per week..

 

Raising money for the online course was a HUGE deal for me but I was able to gather one or two bucks to enroll for the course. 

 

All through and after the course, I was really excited, hoping within a few days of starting, I’ll be making my steady passive income.

 

It was when i started that reality dawn on me! It wasn’t as easy as the online course made it seem to be… 

 

However, since I now know the potential of what could be made online, I now started digging deeper! 

 

I started consuming; 

  • Free eBooks 
  • Lots of YouTube contents 
  • I attend Webinars
  • Read lots of blog articles 
  • Subscribe to many email list 
  • And many more… 

 

It was after i started consuming information on affiliate marketing that i discovered i had to start a blog for my affiliate marketing business

 

Another early mistake I made here was starting my blog on Blogger.com

 

But after seeing many different beautiful blogs… 

 

I discovered I had to move my blog to WordPress.org to have the perfect customization those that I’m following are having. 

 

Mind you, I didn’t know JACK about WordPress as a whole! 

 

However, after TONS of videos on YouTube coupled with multiple and unnecessary plugins I was able to have my blog up and running.

I Almost Gave Up

I hope you remembered i didn’t know sh*t about blogging… 

 

All I think is once I’ve published my post and added my affiliate links people will find it, click on it and buy from it.

 

My blog was scattered with unrelated irrelevant articles of different niches. 

 

I was just going back and forth and learning all the way I could until I came across Brian Dean and Neil Patel

 

Their blog was a HUGE resource for me and helped put my blog in the right direction through SEO (Search Engine Optimization). 

 

These went on for over Three months of over 12 hours of work every day without a single dime to show for it. 

 

It was after the third month of my blog that I came across DROPSHIPPING and I fell in love completely with the business model.

 

I wanted to start immediately, but I had no funds to get started.

 

So I focused once again on my blog with the hope of making money off it to kick start my dropshipping business

 

This went on for another 4 month of rigorous work and sleepless nights with nothing to show for it. 

 

Making 7months all together! 

 

My friends were almost making fun of me around this time, because according to them, I’m alway sitting with my laptop but my financial status wasn’t improving.

 

This made me start having doubts if I can actually make money with my blog.

What Changed?

It was now the eighth month after I launched my blog and still no income, I’ve already finished my NYSC and I’m back home to my parents house. 

 

Before the end of that month, I got a Job at a telecommunication network (Airtel) which gave me the opportunity to start paying my bills. 

 

But luckily for me, that same month was when I made my first affiliate sale of $167! 

 

It was freaking amazing! 

This was the 11th hour of me giving up on the blog. But that first affiliate sale of $167 i made broke the ICE. 

 

The income was fast increasing and I had to leave my job and focus back on my blog. The decision however, was a tough one. 

income

My parents were 100% against me leaving the job, but I have no choice since working from 9-5pm isn’t really my thing. 

 

They were furious, but I quit the JOB anyway! 

 

Fast forward to NOW, everyone of them is now happy with the decision I took even though they still don’t really understand how my business model works. 

 

But they can see the results and they’re happy for me. 

 

Few months later, I started my dropshipping business, I was able to build my Dropshipping website on WordPress with the help of AliDropship plugin and everything seems to be going perfectly fine after many months of Trial & Error. 

 

I now have two blogs and two dropshipping websites (Pet Niche & Generic Store). 

 

I also run an eCommerce importation business where I kept product inventory and sell to local buyers in Nigeria (Mini Importation Business

 

What I do is, I look for cheap potential hot selling products on AliExpress, buy them in large quantities then resell them in Nigeria at a ridiculously HIGH price. 

Moving Forward

Right now, I now document my experience with selling online and making money online with my readers to avoid the kind of mistake I made while starting my first online business. 

Knowing what I know now, it won’t take  up to 4 month of starting a new online business before I start making money off it.

Since I was able to find my way online, I’ve made this blog a vast space to share tips, mistakes and ideas to start or grow an existing online business. 

If i can do this with ZERO experience i believe ANYBODY can pull it off if they are determined enough. 

Having gone through all this, I’ve come to the realisation that your success is attached to the quantity of VALUES you’re providing. 

And I believe I can reach more people through this blog and help solve their problems and I’m sure I’ll make more money from doing that.

What I would Do Differently 

If i’m to start all over again, I’ll focus on building more relationships and networks with people of like minded in my business niche. 

I’ve made a lot of silly mistakes from the beginning that I shouldn’t have if I had people I could talk to. 

It was just me and YouTubes and TONS of free articles online. 

But now i know better! 

If you’ve made it this far, I really appreciate you taking the time to go through my boring story, and I hope you were able to learn one or two things from my experience. 

Please feel free to connect with me on social media… 

Thank you for reading, I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavours.