You Are Not Doing Anything If No One Is Criticising You
Dear Friend,
I want to tell you a story about
how one of my heroes, Ayo
Animashaun hurt me.
Ayo (I used Ayo here because
this is an article. If I see him, I will
call him brother Ayo as we do in
Yorubaland because he is older
than I am) is the publisher of Hip
Hop World Magazine and the
CEO of Headies awards.
But before I give you that gist, let
me say something sharp sharp.
I know you like gist a lot so I will
not tay with my story.
A few years ago, I wrote a book
titled 21 Reasons Why You Are
Not Yet A Millionaire. As the title
implies, the book reveals the
things you do that is stopping
you from being a millionaire and
what to do about them. In the
book I talked about those that
are afraid of success.
The point I was trying to point
out (that doesn’t sound right)
was that success comes with
some “wahalas”.
One of such “wahalas” is that
you are going to be heavily
criticized for your actions and
inactions.
Some of the criticisms will come
from credible sources and it will
hurt you. But rather than let it
weigh you down, you should see
it as a proof that you are making
strides and people are noticing
you.
Anyone can be criticized. It
doesn’t matter if you are…
The Pope, Barack Obama or
Pastor Adeboye.
You are not immune from it.
What am I getting at?
You all know that one of my
companies recently put up a
concert tagged Night With The
Masters. We brought together 6
legends of the Nigerian music
industry to come together in a
never before seen concert.
Like I said in the press release
promoting the event, everywhere
you turn to, you will see events
that target the lovers of hip hop
music in Nigeria. While this is a
positive sign that the Nigerian
music industry is growing in
leaps and bounds everyday, there
is no doubt that a lot of people,
especially the lovers and
followers of the music of the
grand masters of Nigerian music,
are being left out.
That is why we put together six
legends of Nigerian music to
come together to perform in a
special concert, at Eko Hotel and
Suites on September 13, 2013 to
satisfy the yearnings of their
fans.
We did a lot of advertising and
we had a successful night. Take a
look at these pictures on Bella
Naija.
Anyway, the day before the
event, my friend, Marcus, of My
Celebrity and I showed me a
tweet from Ayo Animashaun. I
don’t use twitter much so I didn’t
see it early. I have reproduced
the tweet below.
What brother Ayo (I don’t feel
comfortable calling him Ayo) was
trying to say in those tweets is
that our concert, Night With The
Masters is a copycat of his own
event Veterans’ Night.
I never knew about Veteran’s
Night so there was no way
anyone can call it copycat. After I
saw the tweet, I searched online
for it and eventually found out he
does something similar to that. I
know the Headies awards
(formerly called hip hop world
awards) but I did not know
about Veterans’ Night.
I was pained because bro Ayo is
someone I respect a lot in the
entertainment industry. Infact, I
sent a special invitation to his
office just before he tweeted
that. He tweeted the day to the
concert when we were making
frantic last minute arrangement.
If I wasn’t a tough nut, this
would have probably affected
our final preparations.
Rather, I took it as a compliment.
My friend Marcus was bullish
about it and he replied him
harshly. The lesson I took from
this is that if I hadn’t done
anything, bro Ayo wouldn’t have
noticed and would not have
criticized me. His criticism shows
that I am doing something right.
On a final note, I must mention
that bro Ayo sent Hip Hop World
photographers to cover the
event which was mature and
gracious of him. And yes, he
posted the pictures before
everyone else on his website.
See maturity!
Your Friend,
Akin Alabi
Aka The Guru
www.incomeng.com/you-are-not-doing-anything-if-no-one-is-criticising-you/