“It’s all about the money, money, money” – Jessie J
Battleground, is a Nigerian TV series first aired in 2017 about the trappings of wealth between several families. There are several money lessons in it but one we will focus on is the story about how to make money by a young heir.
This article revolves around, Mayowa, the son* of the business Mogul, Kolade Bhadmus, who has lived a life of luxury but doesn’t know how to make or manage money, only knows how to spend it, also known as ‘lau lau spending’. Most see him as irresponsible but he does have some interesting moments that show a potential that could be harnessed for good.
In one of the episodes, Mayowa, had gone to the head office of BBP(Bhadmus-Barko Partnership), an asset management company which is a partnership between his father and his father’s good friend – Danlami Bako.
Mayowa has fears that the company might be ‘stolen’ from his family and as the ‘legitimate’ son of Kolade Bhadmus, he believes he will one day run the company and so he visits to ‘listen and learn’ from his father’s partner-Danlami.
Beyond the drama of being a legitimate son or not, the best part in this particular episode was the conversation between these two men as seen below.
Danlami Bako: All your life, you have been spending money. Now, the question is, can you make it as well as you spend it?
Mayowa Bhadmus: How hard can it be?
Danlami Bako: “How about, I give you a challenge? An exercise so to speak. And you can judge yourself on this: see how well you can create income. Make N2,000, by providing services to a total stranger, no friends, no family, no acquaintances.”
Mayowa Bhadmus Scoffs and responds: “Is that your idea of a challenge?”
Mayowa Bhadmus proceeds to withdraw a bundle of N1,000 notes from the inner pocket of his jacket and drops it on the table in front of Danlami and says: ” I’ll make 10 times more [shaking my head, ordinary #20,000 abi?!)
Danlami Bako smiles saying: “Mayowa, I said ‘make it’. You did not make that. That is pocket money given to you.”
Mayowa’s eyes dilate as he now understands what is required of him. He must create value and be paid it, to make money. He suddenly realizes he is not sure how to go about this exercise, as is common with many graduates fresh out of school and even older adults in the workforce.
Danlami Bako: “Look, you can cheat if you want and I would never know. But you will (know). And the question will always hunt you, ‘Can I create it on my own (income)?’ “
Now Danlami is grinning! He has got Mayowa in uncomfortable territory!
If you have bought our Book: 21 tips to move you from broke to more than enough, I am sure you will recall this is what we covered in the first chapter. It’s so easy to spend. We want money to spend, but how well can we really make the money we want to spend? Any wonder that nobody ever needs to teach us how to spend money? But many of us need help to make money!
Making money has only ever been about creating value in exchange for money, through products, services or both. We have discussed this in our community and it is discussed in the E-book. It is as simple as creating value profitably but many of us are taken by lofty dreams of money coming into our accounts for doing absolutely nothing or too little.
Now don’t get us wrong, you can put in place a system to make money with little or no effort on your part, or you earn a percentage on a transaction and continuously earn too. Now that is the type of money we like. But when you want someone, or people to just give you money because you are a nice person or fine person or from their ‘side’, then we need to transform your mind o!
We love the TV series -Battleground because it weaves into the realities of life, as many of us know. But our challenge to you is, if you are a salary earner, how can you too make N2,000? If you are a business owner, how can you add another service or product to make N2,000? We will make it easier than Danlami has made it for Mayowa, you can make this amount from friend, family, acquaintance of foe! We are nice like that!
P.S. Did Mayowa earned N2,000 a day later. He went to his usual drinking spot and sat thinking of how to earn money. A customer came into the bar and asked the waiter for a particular type of cocktail. The waiter did not know how to make it and the customer was not pleased.
As a avid drinker, he knew how to mix several cocktails, including the one that the customer had just asked about. Mayowa rightly identified this opportunity to earn money and offered to teach the waiter how to make the drink. As the waiter had only just started the job and was not eager to join the unemployment market, he promptly agreed to Mayowa’s offer to teach him how to make the drink one exchange for N2,000.
The final lesson here is that, one does not necessarily have to learn new skills to make money. More often than we realize, our life experiences have equipped us with some skill to offer a product or service, that someone is ready to pay for. You can always improve on same and learn additional skills, but you can start where you are. It can actually be that simple.
Share with us, how will you make N2,000?