Yay.
So that pain I talked about yesterday? It is goooooone.
Yaaaaaay. Thank God.
Then I also got around to packing my hospital bag today. About 75percent sha.

That said, heyyyyy everyone.
Happy Saturday…
Every Saturday,  I complete a new week and so today completes Week 37 and we are TERM.
See our bumpie progress
Medically, any baby that comes anytime from now is totally fine.

Feels so beautiful and I already miss my bump even before i exchange it for a baby.

Anyways, I wanted to share today some disappointments I’ve faced this year. You know, sometimes you see the highlights of a person’s life and think they never have to face Goliaths but whosai!!!!

Everyone of us have several giants with our names in it. Sometimes, we lose several battles on the way to winning the WAR.

I came into 2017 with such a STRONG WORD – POWER MOVES.
This year I have taken some incredible steps but also suffered some crazy stuff too. BUT I trust Him. I believe ALL THINGS  work together for my good.

So I’m supposed to shoot a THIRD TRIMESTER video by next week and I’m just like hmmmm God we have shot FOUR this year and NONE IS OUT.

Story time

In January, I started rehearsals for a workout video. Didn’t even know I was pregnant but I did later and continued with the project. It was a 30min long video that covered Aerobics, cardio, strength and Abs complete with warm up and cool down.  That video was TOUGH. It involved I and 3 friends. Yawl, it was SOOOOO STRESSFUL. First trimester was EXHAUSTING in an ANNOYING way lol. I didnt even have a help at home.

The crew. REAL EXHAUSTION
We did the final shoot overnight. I pumped GOOD MONEY into that project. It was to be ready in under a month. Then the stories from the video guy began.
Then the silence and ignoring.
Then the excuses.
Then the frustrations.
Then the vexing.
Then the exhaustion.
To cut the story, dude sends the first job and it was CRAP. I couldn’t believe it. I’m sure I cried.
Bear in mind that I did a PROPER BRIEF of how i wanted the video literally minute by minute. Infact He was impressed by my detailing. Only for me to get that crap.
He now said he outsourced cos he had an eye infection but that he would redo.
He re-did BUT not from the original shoot but from the CRAP. WHY? He had lost the original cos his hard drive crashed.
Let’s just say that project is still pending. SINCE FEBRUARY!!!!!!!

Ok fastforward to May. My friend and I, both pregnant came together to shoot a prenatal video. I was quarter to enter 3rd TRIMESTER and she was about 34weeks.

We rehearsed for about a month. This time, we entered into partnership with BiYou spa and gym in Ikeja so we shot there. Beautiful gym and the M.D. is such a sweet soul. Ok so we got someone else to shoot. A VERY POPULAR Pastor’s son, Yankee trained and everything. Plus the deal financially was goooood. I gave this testimony of Favor to everyone and ’em mamas. Phew.

D-day came and I shot THREE videos. One with my friend which was a combo of Dance and Strength suitable for first to third trimester.  The second was a prenatal core-only workout and the third an ARM workout suitable for everyone not just preggos. The last two i shot alone.


All in a day after weeks of rehearsals.
See gadgets and paparazzi on the shoot day. It felt like an Ebony life reality TV shoot.
We did retakes till it was PERFECT.

Again, did my briefing right down to the T and project timeline was 15 working days from shoot.
Haha.
First comes the stories.
Then comes the absolute silence. I called, texted, emailed yet all went unanswered. Had explained it was to be out by my birthday which was also when I planned to launch Saved Fit and Pregnant.
Toh !!!!

He didn’t even behave like i existed and was trying to reach him. I was DESPERATE. I begged, pleaded, explained. No response. My partner was the one who brought him and he too was ignoring her. Then he would travel at the blink of an eye with his dad.

Oh did i mention that I prayed, my team prayed,  My prayer partners prayed, I woke at midnight to call dudes name and pray.
I WAS DESPERATE.
And each passing day broke my heart more. I didn’t believe someone like that would behave like so.
At some point, I gave up reaching him and so did my friend. My birthday and launch date had passed. Of course even my friend had put to bed. For this project though, we didn’t pay upfront. We was to pay on project completion so even if I say make I vex,  forget am, and redo with another, my friend had delivered and I was no longer in T2. And the video had T2 and T3 modifications.

After sometime we started trying to reach him again and this time, it required  monitoring and stalking. I involved my assistant as he was never picking my calls.

Sent my assistant to the church twice and after all the underg moves, they (my assistant and my partner in the shoot) FINALLY set eyes on him. Bear in mind that my partner had only just delivered and via Cesarean yet we were chasing the brother.

Long story short, he says the videos are over 100gig hahaha. I couldn’t believe it. My hubs and friend Aijay I gisted were flabbergasted.
Imagine.
Then comes conversion and MacPro drama. Encryption, not opening on any device, 128gig,  Then later 12gig or so but not opening.
Bla bla bla.
We are still on it. I’m emotion free UNTIL I GET MY VIDEO.
Fingers crossed.

Oh one more story, this time not with a video but my App.


So this App project began in October 2016.
Project cost?  An arm, leg and uterus.
Ran into 100s of thousands too.
Project initial duration? 6weeks or so.
Had plans to launch my books January and February 2017.
Lol.
Who was I kidding?
The back and forth no be here. I trusted the Developers but the delays were unbelievable.
The errors and mistakes? Another level. You fix one and another comes up.
Thankfully the Reader, which is the part yawl get to see was finally ready by MAY but the dashboard, the backend where the work happens was incomplete.

Hmmm.
More delays and back and forths.
You fix this and that goes bad.
And so it kept going….
Today as we speak, TWO MORE MAJOR ISSUES have cropped up on the back-end and the Chick takes a week or more to reply my mails.
Today, Aijay and I reached a conclusion on what to do about that.

Good thing is I have almost 100k to balance up TWO WEEKS after the COMPLETION of project. Couldn’t believe when at her last email,  she gently reminded me of the balance. Lol.
Didn’t even respond.

So you see why I was asking God if He was sure He wanted me to go ahead and shoot this last video? As i was even arguing about not having extra cash for it, He made a way.
God told me that these videos will last forever even if they didn’t come out in my own timing. Plus the one i am yet to shoot. Who knows if I will have another baby biologically so why not do it now?

I’m like OK.
Lol.
I think I’m crazy but I trust God.

So there you go…the not-so-glam parts of life. Something my hubs told me has guided and seen me through these seasons.
He said some things are within your sphere of influence…FOCUS ON THOSE.
Leave those outside your control and then when they come under your control, do something about it.
Until then,  keep moving forward. Don’t halt your life cos of these.
FOCUS on the good things working.
How wise?!!!
And by God, a LOT is working and they have my strength and focus.

So that’s it ooo my people.
This Entrepreneurial life will toughen you but you will grow as you obey God.

I’m growing and just today, God started to give me pictures of what next year will be like. I’m EXCITED yup but I’m also wondering what giants lay on my path before December 2018.

Oh but my God is soooo soooooo faithful and I TRUST Him with my life.
Plus thank God for my 10,000 teachers who don’t stop sharing their stories with us. I have seen them deal with disappointments and seemingly lost battles but go ahead and win the war.

I was sharing some of these with my Rev and he shared some of his with me and I was like truly, we all have the giants we are facing ooo, His was in MILLIONS!!!!
Real tears…
Like Christine Caine said in Propel Newsletter today, our walk with God is an ADVENTURE. Nary a dull moment…
So bring it on baby…
See yawl tomorrow by His grace…
E’

4 Responses

  1. Wow, now I have a better context about the video ish, behind the glory there is a story and behind the highlight reel there is reality. There’s this Igbo adage my mum always says” if you tell a poor man what it takes to be rich, He’ll prefer to be poor for life” What I learnt from this post is that success takes a price.Well done ma

  2. Oh wow 🙁 I want to go on a mini rant about how terribly unprofessional those guys were, but you seem to have handled it very gracefully yourself so I’ll just not lol. But seriously, that is so unfair. Who does business like that? UGH. But you are right, these giants we face make the eventual glory even greater.

    1. Girl, can’t fuss over what I can’t control anymore. Trust me, these things i shared kept me up at night oooo

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