of family is truly an incredible gift to be blessed with. Paying the Bills Work wise, there have been very good times, dry times and challenging times. Through various projects, I have had the chance to travel across, up and down the country as well as internationally as one of the Coaches in the TMS Thrive programme. Both Harry and I value our freedom and flexibility, so at no time have we been employees in Ghana. We live off the contracts and the projects we do. If a good contract comes by, we may make in two days what it would take others to make in months. Besides, we are spared the stress that comes with traffic or even doing a job we may not enjoy. We do get good opportunities; it is just a matter of timing. However, there have been very dry seasons too. For instance, I have a client who owes me money from last year. Other times, I would get a very good contract after a very dry spell. One day, I came home thinking to myself that I needed a good contract, so, I literally Googled ‘Jobs inGhana,’ and there was a website that I never knew of called ‘Jobs in Ghana.com.’ I clicked on ‘Consulting,’ and there popped up, this project being run by a Dutch company, called BOP Inc. I read the profile of the person they were seeking and I fitted it, so I applied for the contract and got it. I got it just like that. This is literally how I have gotten work, and even till now – along with a lot of referrals and recommendations, sometimes I don’t even know who passed on my name or contact information. Having been in the personal development space since 2013, my name is out there so thankfully, often, work just comes. So in terms of strategy, I think it’s just faith and keeping a positive mindset. Maybe if I was to do it again, I would create more structure in my work, in order to be more consistent. I would make the calls, go to the companies, do more networking, actually have a one year, two-year, five-year plan, and invest in a coach to make the journey a bit smoother. I would position myself to leverage the opportunities that the various media appearances have presented to me. My simplistic approach and acts of faith have worked for me, but I don’t think everybody else would survive it this way. When it comes to paying our bills, we have learned to be grateful, to manage, to enjoy when it’s there, and to just wait for things to turn up when it’s not there. There were times when we thought we couldn’t afford an expensive school, but we wanted the children to have a brilliant education. Many times, we had to prioritise our options, for instance there was a time when we seriously considered whether to pull the children out of an expensive school in order to finish building the house, but we decided that they were more important. We just had to be constantly juggling, deciding, making the decisions, and just going along with it. I think there was one very difficult period about three or four years ago. I just thought, this is too much. Like, there was no income for months. People owed us but they didn’t want to pay. Nobody called to give us contracts. We owed rent, we owed fees, we owed, like, everywhere, but we got through it. We just prayed and hoped and waited. Surely, it couldn’t last forever and it was part of life to experience lows as well as highs. I believe some of the things I went through during the hard times have made me more empathetic. There were days in my life when I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me she did not have as little as fifty cedis on her, however this was my story sometimes. There were times when I would call my dad or my brother to send my hundred Pounds Sterling to get by and they would be surprised and frankly a little concerned. Just last week, I was in the market and there was this woman who was buying some food, and I could tell she couldn’t afford what she wanted, so I gave her some money. I have been there, I could relate. The woman was so shocked that we both burst into tears, and then I prayed for her. Building our nest We bought our land, when we came home in 2010, I think that was the last bulk of money we had left. They were two plots of land on the golf course. We didn’t start for two years, and then every year we promised ourselves that we would finish it, but it took us eight years to complete it. Then again, it has taught us all resilience, and focus, and dedication, and commitment and just keep going till you hit it, till you make the dream. Jerry-Reuben was in London when we were ready to move into our new home, but we decided to wait for him, so when we got him from the airport we came straight to our new home and spent the night here. The funniest thing is, when it was time to go to bed, the boys went into their individual rooms and locked their doors. We’re like what? Are you serious? You’ve always been happy to share, but now everyone just loves their privacy. It got to a point when the children thought that we would never finish the home project. Every time we talked about finishing it, they were like, “oh, here we go. We’ve heard that before,” and they were beginning to doubt. So when it happened, it just was like, you see? Wasn’t it worth it? When we moved in, they literally stood up and applauded us. Now that they are much older, they have started to appreciate the enormity of what we have achieved, particularly factoring in the amounts of money we paid as school fees for all three of them. 28 The Birthday Journal
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