plenty stories.... back from gidi .. chillin in a peaceful home in ibadan.. u know sometimes i really question if i am cut out for this lagos life..... its really hard to explain but from the beginning of the day till the end its one hustle after the other.. its indeed original suffer head but mehnnnnn there is gold in lagos...i guess thats what keeps em going...
so how was lagos???? lagos was ait business wise.. made some sales.. built some good relationships.. expanded the ns family.. met some familiar faces.. (nodding head) lagos was ait....... :) but i had to get out of there tho..
side note .. i must have a down time cuz i realized i have 3 pages of blog material beginning now.. enjoy or skip right to the pics
So how has Lagos been so far to ns?
Hmmm very very good question.. Well I was in Lagos from Tuesday to Saturday of last wk… was able to push some sales and scout potential shop location.. this was my first trip.. nothing really worth bloggin about..
My second trip to Lagos has been sorta slow my highest point was when I thot I found an ns store my lowest point was when I realized I didn’t get the store..
So to cut the long story short. I saw a store ….ok location. The main things that drew me in were the good parking.. Adequate security … and a back up generator for the times phcn or nepa decides to take an early day which is pretty much 24/7 or so it seems…. Well in a country like Nigeria where electricity is a major issue, one has to really really consider alternate options and diesel or petrol aint cheap u feel me .. So anyway the store was in some sort of a plaza. It had banks and other stores in there.. I had already figured it out that.. I wont have to be carrying cash around after day sales... another convenient factor
To get to the story.. Apparently building managers are only red tapes in the leasing process. So I got the building managers office #... I called the man said I was interested in renting a store there. He said there were non available but I should keep on callin every wk to check back... imagine that. U know one would think he would get my info down and try to get a hold of the landlords/agents to say… hey there is a dude looking to rent ur store blah blah blah…. The funniest part was there were at least 5 stores in the complex that were empty and it was not like someone just moved out or someone is movin in… as in empty .. so that was last wk..
Went back to lagos Wednesday- Tuesday…I called the building manager again he is like a shop is available today but I must be ready to pay today because the store is in high demand and there are other ppl tryin to get the store… I told him I would stop by to discuss things and that I am interested in the store... but things have to go thru its due process that there is no way I can run to the bank to get a bank draft which I think is like a certified check and make they payment with out verifying who really owns the store?… if the store is really up for rent?.. Who is the so called agent /lawyer? that I can’t call directly and I have to go thru u….. u know the basic things we take for granted in the states is not so basic here … things are not what they seem they are…
anyway so I keep going back and forth with the building manager and it is now becoming obvious that he really wants to wedge himself btw me the agents /lawyers / landlord .. I tell him look u will be compensated for ur efforts???? What effin effort as if its not his job to connect potential tenants with landlords … but we need to cut this red tape BS.. the sooner I can speak to the person in charge the quicker the whole thing gets resolved.. this dude had no say in anything but he wanted to make himself key and who ever holds information literally holds money …in this jungle and I am sure this holds true everywhere else…..
So the guy kept posting me tellin me that he will get in touch with the agent and call me back. well each time I called he always came back with an excuse.. in speaking with other tenants who had no good thing to say about the building manager.. They gave me the lawyers’ number I eventually called and he said the shop is no longer available that it was given out already today which was the next day …. Imagine that... I was so close to the store but the BS red tape of this dude who by force wanted to make some cake didn’t let it happen... the story of Nigeria. Lesson number 1 ur time will be wasted and u better know u r dealing with a HNIC otherwise ur time will be wasted... whats a HNIC..??? lol that’s for u to find out…
The brand will sell its self…
as with any business one must really know how to position ones self in their respective market.. now this is as good as empirical law. Well if there is any such thing. so I have been back to Lagos since wed and today is now Sunday… a few good things have happened so far .. I will leave that to the end and bitch about some of the issues…. For one I don’t think the word is being patient but there is a lot of waiting going on in Nigeria and that’s wasted time... I have spent more time waiting than actually doing work. I hate waiting especially if there is nothing to distract me... and I have noticed the concept of African time... is not so much that it’s cool to not keep an appointment, but rather shit just happens and in some cases... the shit may not concern u but believe me my friend it will delay u. .. One of the other things I have noticed either fair or not is there seems to be a general underdevelopment of brain use... it is like inflating a basketball half way and expecting to run a full court game on it... the system here is like that, we have everything we need to make things work right but we are cutting corners and skipping the fundamentals…… yeah u do have a basketball but u sure cant play ball with it.
This country and I can almost generalize that most African countries run with this underdeveloped mentality and it’s really a big shame and it somehow breeds aggression and stupidity….. but hey such is life .. Education at a very early age should help cure some of the madness
So some
highlights... I met some familiar faces from the states… so that’s a plus and also contacts to help spread the ns love… thru connection we were able to send a t-shirt to
Kate Henshaw…. Well she loved it so much that I got on the phone with her a few days later and she wanted more so off to her crib it was.. so we made that move..
(thru talking I realized hmm ns has gone far oh.. and we were slowly positioning the brand in such a sweet way that the future will be bright for us). Thru our conversation...
d banj came up and I told her how he was an ns fan... I was trying to link up with him... well she pulls her phone out and calls his manager.. well Mr. kokomaster wasn’t around so it was fall back time but a very good gesture so I am like no wahala..
Ns aint a groupie anyway so we said our byes took a picture with her for my girl.. she is apparently a big fan but not gay like my fb bayo for jay lol
( in btw I see myself listenin to jay more times on the iPod than any other artist.. so jay def deserves his respect but no obsession.. so BAYO u r still gay lmao no homo ).
Anyway so I get a call the next day and I see Kate actress on caller id... I am like hmmm this should be interesting... she was like she attended a function the nite we met and she saw d’banj they spoke about the brand and he remembers NS so she was like she gave him or his manager my number that they will call.. I am like super that’s nice…. Mrs. Henshaw…. is such a laid back person… down to earth and we flowed when we spoke plus she is now going out of her way to help ns succeed u know that’s deep and she gets an A in my book and I have genuinely become a fan now.
So back to my d' banj story… Kate calls back and pretty much says how far I am like haven’t heard from them... she was like. Ok hold on... she calls them... calls me back and say here is his number 0803146314 I am like worrrrd... shiiiiiit now I am gonna call dbanj.. I say to myself u better play the shit cool and not fuck up for all those that have stood with the brand since day one... NS is not a fan of anyone. NS1463 is a brand changing attitudes and we have no room for groupiness :) .. u dig.. we got integrity… ns is the family and u and I make it one collectively..
anyway sha so I call him.. and smart dude someone else answers so I am like my name.. ok ns1463. Ok Tee shirts guy u know blah blah pretty much anything that can switch the light bulb in his head… the guy is like hold on.. so d’ banj comes on I am like ma nigga….lolol ok I didn’t say that maybe I should have.. but we yapped and then agreed to link up on the island… he is another figure I am respecting now.. u know its one thing to have heavy promo and pay every one and their mama to get in touch with ppl of his caliber.. but we have been so lucky and blessed that it was the shirts that sold the brand.. and ppl believed in it and that gave us the access we have now… super nice.init
So our meeting time comes and passes.. I eventually got thru to him… he said he was running late asked where I was I said on the island. He was like ait cool.. lets link up… we linked up outside the glo building it was rather impromptu and u can tell by the pictures we only took 2 cuz I wasn’t tryin to inconvenience the dude plus remember NS aint no groupie.. we let the brand speak for itself so that’s it…
Enjoy pics
food ..license renewal food. SP.. good living
Gidi.. flooding.. accomodation.sufferhead
when the stars come out
D1.. small steps at a time 
