Who is Stanley Agu?

Choosing Your Own Path

How It All Started...

I never set out to become an accountant or to be doing what I'm doing now.

I didn’t even know what an Accountant was back then or what they even did.

I think my journey to becoming one began back when I was a kid.

My dad was my role model at the time.

I admired everything about him – from the way he spoke to the way he dressed, walked, and carried himself.

And you know how as kids we were taught to recognize professions through images?

A doctor would be on a white jacket, a policeman would be in a uniform with a badge, a judge would be on a black overall garment with a gavel in hand, a businessman would be on a suit and so on.

My dad used to dress up then in a nice suit with a tie.

I admired the way he looked in that, and I wanted to dress in a similar fashion when I grew up.

I didn’t know what he was doing at the time, but I figured he was a businessman and grew up wanting to be that or be something like that.

I remember a time when we visited one of my aunts, and I noticed the way her husband dressed.

He wore a decent suit, he rode a nice car, and they lived in a nice home.

I learnt that he worked in a bank and was a Banker.

So now it felt like I finally had a name for the business I wanted to be in.

I finally had something to call what I wanted to become.

I decided to be a Banker and everyone at home labelled me one.

"Our Banker," they would usually tease.

I remember when I was transitioning from junior secondary school to senior, we had to take this aptitude test that would decide which of the 3 different classes we would go to (Science, Commercial, and Art).

Many of my friends then had set their eyes on the science class but I had mine set on the commercial class because it was the obvious class I should go to become a Banker.

So, I took the test, ticking all the boxes I thought resonated with what I wanted to be.

And eventually, the results came out and I was directly placed in the commercial class.

I continued with the idea of becoming a Banker until my last 2 years in secondary school before I changed that idea.

It was a time when one of my aunts came to live with us.

She was an Accountant, and when she found out about my interest to become a Banker, she talked me out of it.

She persuaded me to become an Accountant instead.

She told me that a Banker only gets to work in the bank but an Accountant could work anywhere – and that being an Accountant was much better than being a Banker.

So, seeing as it was still in line with my vision, and was even more appealing...

I decided to become an accountant.

Later on, I got admission into the university to study Accounting.

Everything felt like it was going according to plan until something terrible happened.

Right before I moved into the university, my dad lost his job.

And that was not even the bad part, the bad part was, because of his elderly age he couldn't get another job in the same line of work.

He just kept getting rejected over and over again.

I had to watch my dad, my role model, who had worked hard for many years, done his best, and taken care of his family – get laid off with nothing to show for it.

It felt like my whole world came crashing down.

It was like I had an epiphany or a paradigm shift of some sort after that experience.

It made me realize that you could work so hard for someone or a company and lose everything in a twinkle of an eye.

And if that is so, why spend your whole life, all your years, working for something you could easily lose and have nothing to show for?

Isn't it better you invest those years into learning and building something you have control of?

Because it doesn't matter what profession you're in...

If you're not in control of your income or time, or have something you can claim as your own, then it's not worth it.

I made a decision then that I was never going to get a 'corporate' job.

I didn’t care what would happen. Whether I was going to be dead broke or not.

I was just not going to settle for a job.

Instead, I was going to see how I could build my own business, have my own thing, something that I could be in control of and maybe, even leave behind as a legacy.

So though I continued with my university education, it was like my heart wasn’t there anymore.

I was just learning for the sake of using what I learnt to start a business and not because I wanted to go work for some company after.

And after I graduated...

I started looking for how I could make money outside a job.

How I could start a business, and what skill was needed to start one.

It was in my search that I came across Copywriting and Digital marketing which were crucial skills needed in any business of today.

And because I already had a passion for writing, I thought this was it.

I also learnt that I could offer my services to other businesses and build a business from there, and that thought went well with me.

After acquiring the necessary skills, I went ahead to offer them and was fortunate enough to work with other small business owners across different industries.

Eventually, I later decided to niche down because a lot of experts advised it at the time.

And I figured since I had a prior experience in the accounting industry and understood it pretty well enough to help them, I decided to specialize there.

I have since come to work with some incredible accounting firm owners in the process.

It has just been an amazing journey.

And what about now??

Well, I don’t think the story is over just yet.

I believe there is still a long way for me to go, and I'm more than willing to continue moving ahead.

Failure is not an option.

I don’t think it was ever an option for me.

I have never seen failure or rejection as a hindrance.

It was more like I know what I want to do and any other thing doesn’t matter.

It is either I try to do it, or I die trying.

So, I’m here to stay and figure it out no matter how long it takes.

So, do I see myself as an Accountant, a Copywriter, or a Digital marketer?

I really can't say.

All I know is that I'm going to use my skills, knowledge, and expertise to serve business owners in the best way possible, and in return build something that I can be proud of one day.