What the fuck has this year been? I don't know how to begin this, but here it goes…
January 1, 2023, I returned from cross-over service, and before I went to bed, I replied to some business emails. The prayers in church assured me that this year would be a blast, and from all indications, I believed it. Well, except that I had tried for a relationship in the last quarter of 2022, but in December, I was 80% sure it was going nowhere.
If you know me, you know I could be a very hard guy. Cupid could use a megaton force, and his arrows still won't make a dent. But if you are closer to me than others, you'd know I'm a soft person. I no too like stress, and I love love. I live love, and I breathe love. I was willing to give love a chance again. I was falling in love, but it wasn't going to be. I want to say it was mostly because I wouldn't be flexible with something I wanted. Still, I looked at it many times and didn't believe this girl liked me enough to date me. So I wouldn't bend on too many things to accommodate her.
Anyway, enough about 2022. That December, however, set a tone for some things to happen later this year. When I woke up on the morning of January 1, the laptop I used to respond to my emails just a few hours ago decided to have screen issues. I had started settling unexpected expenses I hadn't planned for the year. But the laptop is for work, and I must work.
My focus was on my brother's wedding in the year's first quarter. That would be the first significant event in my family since my father's passing three years prior. We were all looking forward to it. The funny thing about January was that while I lost (maybe I never had her) who I wanted, I reconnected with a very special person. Again, it was my fault I wasn't on good terms with this person, but I was glad to compensate for lost time. In the second quarter of the year, I also reconciled with another very good friend.
I had accepted the situation of things and soon, it was wedding time. I am grateful for my friends who came out to support my family. It was a great time, and thankfully, the tears weren't too much. Lol. Soon after that, I messed with something I should have looked away from, and I knew I would pay for it. But I wouldn't be Piper if I didn't indulge and face the consequences with my full chest later. Zero complaints. I'm glad for the experience but wouldn't do it again.
By this time, my biggest client had started being an asshole. He's always been an asshole, but I knew how to handle him. This time around, it seemed he was high on something (I would later come to find out, months later, that he's actually high most of the time). On the morning of my brother's wedding, he was going to frustrate my life, but I'll perish before I allow anyone to get to me that day. I ignored his ass until I got home later that night. That was the beginning of our problems.
He wanted to do something that was the best idea on paper, but it wasn't a sound decision, as we would later find out in practice. Despite explaining to him how exposed he was making our creations, he wouldn't budge, and I had to give in to his wants. And what did that get us? Over 70% of revision requests on jobs. I've never had that in all my years writing screenplays. Never. Even at this stage, he would argue that I didn't understand the process and was sabotaging his business. Eventually, he gave up the pursuit and reverted to using the traditional means that gave us excellent results.
However, because of these recent failings, we weren't getting repeat customers (which makes up 95% of the business). To cut a long story short, he didn't have anything business to outsource. I remember seeing his email sometime in July asking for a recommendation on an app for a particular business process, and I just knew that shit was about to hit the fan. I wasn't wrong. He caused another round of arguments and blamed every one of his bad business decisions on a process he forced but didn't work.
As a man, you have to suck it up. No time to complain. I could see the trajectory of how things would go, and I wasn't going to sink with the ship. In August, the famine began. The jobs from this client provided 90% of my income. Since I wasn't going to beg anyone for something that's not my fault (that's what he expects whenever he shits the bed), I knew I had to figure things out for myself. I had bills to pay every month. Imagine sorting bills of almost 500k every month (including my school fees), and I wasn't making a single dollar. I had to do this from August until December… and good enough for me, the first time I borrowed any money was this month (and it was to add to what I had to pay for my last school fee). I had to use all I'd saved.
But I needed to make money. I had plans that I paused from 2022, and I knew this was the time to resume them fully. Right from August, I began putting even more money into this business idea. It needed to work. My money was running very low. I was on my own.
I don't think I mentioned to anybody that I wasn't working or why I wasn't working until November. This lack of projects wasn't about just me. I had people I outsourced to, which was also a chunk of their earnings. So, I was worried for myself and the others. Whatever I was doing needed to work. By November, I had no more money to put into my plan. I had only enough to keep paying for subscriptions to keep the business running until December. Once December is gone, that would be the end for me.
Good for me that it is not all doom and gloom. On November 1, I made another round of pitches, and as God would have it, one of them hit it. I got a meeting set, and the discussion went very well. I had to take from another place I saved some money to get a lawyer to look through the contracts I was about to sign. After that, it was silence. I didn't hear back from this possible-client. My confidence was broken, and I just wondered what I would do. After almost four weeks of silence, I got another email. They wanted to do business, and voila! It had clicked.
At that point, I still haven't made a dime, and even to date, I have yet to collect any money from the jobs I've done (blame Nigeria for this, but I'm fixing it).
I have not shared any of these things with one single person. A few people know one part or the other, but not in detail. I would have let it all go and maybe talked about it in some years, but I feel compelled to write and share it with you guys.
At this point, I'm tired of typing, and I know the story is no longer enjoyable. So, I'll stop here.
I don't have any moral lessons or nice quotes to give you. I'll say what I always say: try to have fun no matter the situation you find yourself in. I can say that despite the situation this year, I've had great fun, and I cannot wait for 2024 to be even more fun.
Despite the challenges and setbacks, your resilience and positive outlook shine through. Your journey reflects strength, growth, and the ability to find joy despite difficult circumstances. I’m Wishing you continued success and even more fun in the upcoming year!
Really sorry you had to go through all this. I really hope 2024 is soooo much better for you