Sssshhhhhhh!!! Let me share with you a little secret about a friend of mine. You may even know him. He is on Facebook. If you don't know him, perhaps you have run into him here.

Do you know what? This friend of mine is not attractive. However, he is not the sort of person that you can call ugly either.

To say the least, he is that kind of person that you cannot refer to as handsome or attractive, but he is not someone that you see and you would hold in your breath or throw out spittle from your mouth.

Anyway, my friend has been in the online business since 2007. But, was he a webmaster? No, I do not think So. By rights, though, he should be stinking rich by now - because he is not only intelligent, but he has all that it takes to succeed on the internet.

Best of all, he does not have the "Get-Rich-Quick" mentality which is so prevalent on the internet. But, quite shocking, he is still struggling to make ends meet - even after having been in the online business since 2008. To make matters worse, he is losing touch with the worldwide web very fast and he is becoming rusty as far as internet business is concerned.

His story reminds me of the parable of Jesus Christ about the wise and foolish slaves. What did Jesus say would happen to the "wicked slave"? The master said that "even what he imagines that he has will be taken away from him and given to the one who has more. Because to him whom much is given much is demanded".

That is the story of my friend in a nutshell. For some time now, he has not even touched his computer to do any work on his sites. Matter of fact, he does not even know where his laptop is as I write this line right now.

Most of his contemporaries who started out with him have become what is regarded nowadays as "bigger boys". Even my own immediate junior brother who started the online business in 2006 has retired from his 9 to 5 desk job at Cadbury Nigeria where he worked for about 12 years - and he does not wish to work for anyone else ever again.

Now, he has two buildings and 2 cars as reward for his over a decade of hard and tiresome work. He now works full-time as a webmaster in Lagos where he is based and resident. Not bad for a boy of 41yrs. Or, don't you agree?

What about my self who got into the internet business just two years ago in 2010 with my first website - http://www.true-love-and-marriage-relationship-advice.com? Now, I have three other websites, namely: http://www.komecomputers.com, http://www.komeitoje.com and http://www.thenigeriahost.net.

Though I may not be rich yet, I am definitely on course.

So, I find it difficult to understand what the problem is with this friend of mine (name withheld to protect his privacy). Will you believe it if I tell you that this my friend is even the brain (not necessarily the brain, but at least he suggested the name) behind http://www.thenigeriahost.net? Yes, he sure did.

So, the theory that he is not intelligent is strictly out of the question.

Recently, I confronted him with the matter. I told him: "You dey disappoint me, my guy." I didn't need a lot of words to convey the message. He understood immediately.

He smiled: "I dey fall your hand." He agreed and smiled at me. Then he suggested: "You nor think say na witch so?" And continued: "My guy, I don dey rusty well well." So, I reminded him that I have less than 16 years to retirement from government work - to see if that would jostle him to reality.

But, ptssshew, that didn't cut any ice with him. He simply replied "Na my farm I dey retire to ooo!" Can you imagine that? A first class university degree holder from the University of Ibadan retiring to his farm after working for government for almost 35years! Sweet Jeezuuuz!!!

I immediately disagreed with him and told him: "My guy, leave witch out of dis mata. A man is the architect of his own good fortune or misfortune."

As if he suddenly felt ashamed, he couldn't continue with the conversation any more. He left me abruptly without saying goodbye. I could tell that he was no longer comfortable discussing the issue anymore.

So, what do you you think? What could be the problem with my friend?

sir this is a touching story; personally I think Lack of zeal and Laziness is the problem. Interesting Write up sir!

Seriously i really can't fathom yr writeup,people are wired with different aims in life maybe his he has not discovered it yet,it is not by age but by vision

dejiswaggs: sir this is a touching story; personally I think Lack of zeal and Laziness is the problem. Interesting Write up sir!

I agree with you completely, Deji.

Thanks for the complement too.

But, how do you think I can help him? Or, do you think I should just leave him to his fate?

By the way, when I told him about my online business, it was him who recommended reseller web hosting to me. And that's how I started TheNigeriaHost.net.

There are other people like myself who have been introduced to reseller web hosting by this friend of mine who are doing well in the business now.

So, do you see what I mean?

I just feel I should help him somehow.

Let's put zeal and laziness out of this. If he has been working since 2007 or 2008 as the case may be, then he need serious prayers.
I know of a guy, I call him mentor cos he introduce me to anything I ever know online. If ƔU̶̲̥̅̊ should talk abt hardwork, dis guy is Ğoº°˚°ºϑ. He has passion and zeal for only work but upon all, he has nothing to show for. Maybe them follow am come from village or he wasn't working smart. Today, all I know abt him is dat he's school outside the Country

In other words, you mean that HT (Home Trouble) may be responsible for my friend's lack of progress in his online business? Well, I agree with you to some extent, Limit. However, like I always tell people and as I also told my friend, "A man is the architect of his own good fortune or misfortune".

If a person fail to give room to HT in his life, even the devil can never operate in his life. In other words, a man is the greatest wizard working against his own progress or his greatest helper working for his eternal good.

Thank you for your insight though.

in an age where time is money, i cant believe i finished reading this.

I wish I could recover my time.

hmmmm!

And I thought I've seen it all! Now, I'm sure I'm pretty much mistaken!