Slowly I was beginning to make profits.

I documented my daily sales. But because I was young and had no one to guide me on making sound financial decisions, I enrolled myself in an ICT training program.

Those were the days, ICT was new in our system and many were predicting that finishing school without any IT skills would render one jobless.

Certainly, getting trained in the use of Microsoft Word and Excel was a good thing. Just that, there were more pressing needs at the time to put my little money into : saving towards my fees at high school if my parents had financial challenges.

Such monies could be used to purchase books and other learning materials or for my transport to school everyday.

As a young man, I had to have money on me for haircuts, buying underwear, perfume, and other petty items.

Unfortunately, I enrolled in this ICT program that was miles away from where I lived. I ended up spending most of my money on transport and there was barely anything left for food.

In my little mind, that was determination – starving myself to achieve something worthwhile. But how many times we put ourselves through needless pain because we do not get wise people to counsel us.

The training has been very useful even years after completion. I made lots of friends. But as immature and foolish as I was, I did not make conscious efforts to maintain those relationships.

Ordinary friends grow to become important people and the relationship they have with you influences the kind of recommendations and opportunities they offer you. I didn’t know that. I changed my Sim cards as often as possible, without realizing the harm I was doing to myself.

Old contacts can one day call to describe a new step they’ve taken that has changed their lives, something they might be willing to show others how to replicate their success. But by constantly changing my number and not remaining in touch with old friends, I did not stand a chance of benefitting from such incidences.

When my friends offended me, I got angry and blocked some of them or I stopped talking to them altogether. In my mind, I was justified in doing so. I did not realize that to maintain friendships, many offences had to be overlooked.

Mistakes can be very costly. And mine have been so expensive, I haven’t finished paying for some of them.