HonSTONE:
LIMITATIONS

The Academic Staff Union of Universities just went on an indefinite strike and students were leaving the school environment. One-month strike turned into two months and at this point we concluded it was the end of our educational system. I was in year 1 and we were preparing for our second semester examination in 2012 before the strike commenced. My dad insisted I returned to Kano state because there was no need of me remaining in school.

I got home and was lazy. I needed to do something.

Prior to that day, one of my notes was stolen from me. The note contained all the formulae in secondary school physics textbook. It was an exercise given to me in O’Level. Our physics teacher told us to write down all the formulae to enable us study properly for our exams and I lent someone the notebook at the university for a few minutes and the young man didn’t return it to me. I searched for him but couldn’t recognised his face.

During my stay at home, I decided to do something similar. I got a new notebook and copied all the definitions from my physics textbook and all the formulae. I separated the project into 3 parts. Part 1 was for all the definition and formulae in SS1, and the other two parts were for topics in SS2 and SS3 respectively. I did that exercise for days and finally I was done.

Who would I give?
Who would publish it?
Who would I sell it to?


All my secondary school classmates were in higher institution.

Who would want to buy a 17-year-old boy’s work? Besides it was just definitions and formulae. Nothing special.
I wasn’t having any special goal or target. I just wanted to write something.

One faithful day I got a call from one of my junior colleagues in school. I told him about my work and he was interested. He said he would buy the work for his younger brother who was preparing for his WAEC.

There was no branding in my work. No special effect. Just hand written piece of work.

We made a copy of the work and I was paid. It took a lot of negotiation.
My first work even though it was just “copy and paste”. But it was a solution to a major problem. Instead of going to the library with your textbooks, you could have a quick revision with my work. Just scan through the definitions of terms and the formulae in each topic. It was a quick reference book for secondary school students.

Now, guess how many more copies I sold of that work.
20? 30?...

Stop guessing. That was the only cop y I sold.
Just 1.

After all the stress and effort I put into the work, I could sell just one copy. No one wanted to buy it. It was naked with no “packaging”.
All I had were excuses and excuses don’t pay bills.

The strike was called off and I return to school.

I noticed something in my university. There was no official textbook attached to a particular course and it was a compulsory course for Engineering students, Physical science students, part of Life science students and Agricultural students. It was MTH123. The course covered Vectors, Statistics and Trigonometry. An Agric. student made a material for this course. Another student from Physical sciences made a material too. But there was no material from Engineering. This period I was already an engineering student. The course lecturer taught us from his note and we bought materials from the student at physical science.

During the holidays, I had an idea. What about I write a material on that same course and sell to my junior colleagues in engineering? They would want to buy my material because they would trust me more than other students from other faculties and besides the course does not have an official textbook.

There was no computer at my possession to type the work and I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made with my previous work.

No laptop but I had a tablet.

“It is not what you don’t have that limits you. It is what you have and don’t know how to use”. - Steve Harris.

I got different materials and textbooks as reference and wrote my course material for MTH123. I used my tablet to design the cover page and typed the work. When it came to diagrams, I’d draw on a paper and snap and attached the picture to the work.

I was creative in my work. I made the work interesting. I added exercises to every chapter and added jokes to my work.
When I returned to school, I printed 50 copies. I was scared actually. My first business had failed and here I was doing another.
Remember, in the university, your customers are everywhere. That was what kept me moving.

In less than two weeks, I’d sold everything.
It was difficult convincing people to buy a material written by a year 2 student. I can remember trying to sell to a young boy and he asked who the writer was. When he found out it was me, he returned the work and said he would not buy a material written by an amateur.

I felt bad.
But just because one person rejected my work, doesn’t mean others would.
I printed 50 more copies and sold them too.

At the end of the semester, I had sold about 170 copies and each copy cost ₦200. The cost of production was ₦90 and I was making profit of ₦110 from each sales.

At the beginning of the next session, I got calls from students of how my material had helped them during the last examination and they had good results.

This was the same material written by an “amateur” and it yielded positive results.

IT IS NOT WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE THAT LIMITS YOU. IT IS WHAT YOU HAVE AND DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE. – Steve Harris.

What others feel is useless can be useful if only you apply creativity.
My first material was written with pen and paper and I sold only 1 copy.
My second material was written with a phone and I sold 170 copies.
Limitations will always come; it is our reactions that matters.

You are where you are not because of lack of opportunities but because of lack of creativity. – Livingstone Imonitie.



This is indeed a very touching story. Kudos to students of KUST. You guys are amazing. Also, I want to inform those that are interested in Kano State university that they are ready for new intakes and if you are a jambite, do yourself good and visit https://www.nigeriaschoolnews.ng/kust-post-utme-registration/ to get info about jamb cut off. Also, you can also visit https://www.nigeriaschoolnews.ng/kust-admission-list/ to know your admission status if you've applied. Good luck!

HonSTONE:
LIMITATIONS

The Academic Staff Union of Universities just went on an indefinite strike and students were leaving the school environment. One-month strike turned into two months and at this point we concluded it was the end of our educational system. I was in year 1 and we were preparing for our second semester examination in 2012 before the strike commenced. My dad insisted I returned to Kano state because there was no need of me remaining in school.

I got home and was lazy. I needed to do something.

Prior to that day, one of my notes was stolen from me. The note contained all the formulae in secondary school physics textbook. It was an exercise given to me in O’Level. Our physics teacher told us to write down all the formulae to enable us study properly for our exams and I lent someone the notebook at the university for a few minutes and the young man didn’t return it to me. I searched for him but couldn’t recognised his face.

During my stay at home, I decided to do something similar. I got a new notebook and copied all the definitions from my physics textbook and all the formulae. I separated the project into 3 parts. Part 1 was for all the definition and formulae in SS1, and the other two parts were for topics in SS2 and SS3 respectively. I did that exercise for days and finally I was done.

Who would I give?
Who would publish it?
Who would I sell it to?


All my secondary school classmates were in higher institution.

Who would want to buy a 17-year-old boy’s work? Besides it was just definitions and formulae. Nothing special.
I wasn’t having any special goal or target. I just wanted to write something.

One faithful day I got a call from one of my junior colleagues in school. I told him about my work and he was interested. He said he would buy the work for his younger brother who was preparing for his WAEC.

There was no branding in my work. No special effect. Just hand written piece of work.

We made a copy of the work and I was paid. It took a lot of negotiation.
My first work even though it was just “copy and paste”. But it was a solution to a major problem. Instead of going to the library with your textbooks, you could have a quick revision with my work. Just scan through the definitions of terms and the formulae in each topic. It was a quick reference book for secondary school students.

Now, guess how many more copies I sold of that work.
20? 30?...

Stop guessing. That was the only cop y I sold.
Just 1.

After all the stress and effort I put into the work, I could sell just one copy. No one wanted to buy it. It was naked with no “packaging”.
All I had were excuses and excuses don’t pay bills.

The strike was called off and I return to school.

I noticed something in my university. There was no official textbook attached to a particular course and it was a compulsory course for Engineering students, Physical science students, part of Life science students and Agricultural students. It was MTH123. The course covered Vectors, Statistics and Trigonometry. An Agric. student made a material for this course. Another student from Physical sciences made a material too. But there was no material from Engineering. This period I was already an engineering student. The course lecturer taught us from his note and we bought materials from the student at physical science.

During the holidays, I had an idea. What about I write a material on that same course and sell to my junior colleagues in engineering? They would want to buy my material because they would trust me more than other students from other faculties and besides the course does not have an official textbook.

There was no computer at my possession to type the work and I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made with my previous work.

No laptop but I had a tablet.

“It is not what you don’t have that limits you. It is what you have and don’t know how to use”. - Steve Harris.

I got different materials and textbooks as reference and wrote my course material for MTH123. I used my tablet to design the cover page and typed the work. When it came to diagrams, I’d draw on a paper and snap and attached the picture to the work.

I was creative in my work. I made the work interesting. I added exercises to every chapter and added jokes to my work.
When I returned to school, I printed 50 copies. I was scared actually. My first business had failed and here I was doing another.
Remember, in the university, your customers are everywhere. That was what kept me moving.

In less than two weeks, I’d sold everything.
It was difficult convincing people to buy a material written by a year 2 student. I can remember trying to sell to a young boy and he asked who the writer was. When he found out it was me, he returned the work and said he would not buy a material written by an amateur.

I felt bad.
But just because one person rejected my work, doesn’t mean others would.
I printed 50 more copies and sold them too.

At the end of the semester, I had sold about 170 copies and each copy cost ₦200. The cost of production was ₦90 and I was making profit of ₦110 from each sales.

At the beginning of the next session, I got calls from students of how my material had helped them during the last examination and they had good results.

This was the same material written by an “amateur” and it yielded positive results.

IT IS NOT WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE THAT LIMITS YOU. IT IS WHAT YOU HAVE AND DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE. – Steve Harris.

What others feel is useless can be useful if only you apply creativity.
My first material was written with pen and paper and I sold only 1 copy.
My second material was written with a phone and I sold 170 copies.
Limitations will always come; it is our reactions that matters.

You are where you are not because of lack of opportunities but because of lack of creativity. – Livingstone Imonitie.