I saw this thread late, but decided to share mine.

In 2006/2007, I registered on Facebook and was chatting with a Ghanaian girl on Yahoo messenger.

She used a certain word which I didn't know the meaning, so I Googled it and Nairaland was among the sites that showed up.

I opened it, but wasn't impressed with the design of the site. I immediately closed it.

In 2011, I was looking for a forum to ask a question on an app I was developing, so Nairaland reappeared again on my search. I created an account with the moniker iLegend.

I created a thread and asked my question, but guess what? No reply. I posted the same question on Yahoo Answer and got 2 replies.

Months later, I checked Nairaland again to see if there will be lots of answers to my question now, but guess what again? Only 1 reply. I felt ignored, hissed, and abandoned the account because I felt the forum was dry and not useful.

In 2015, Buhari took over and in 2016, recession took over. Sadly, I became broke. I couldn't believe it. I started Googling how to become a billionaire and that was how I landed on Nairaland again.

After reading the thread, it made sense to me, especially some funny comments, so I clicked on Romance.

This was when I saw lots of posts by men crying and asking questions about women, sex, how to get a girlfriend, how to develop confidence, etc.

I said to myself, "Instead of dwelling on Buhari's hardship, why not create an account and help these men asking relationship questions?"

Then, I remembered I already created an account in 2011 called iLegend. I clicked on Login and boom, here I was.

I started helping and sharing my relationship and naughty stories as I explained to men how to navigate the dating world like a pro alpha male.

Within a month, I was already known in Romance section and lots of people dropped amazing compliments like:

Mehn, you're good.
You be baddo.
I like your writing style.
Your stories are fun to read — please post more.
You really have a great skill.
I wish I can be like you, boss.
And so on...

Now, this is the scariest part. On the 3rd month, I already had more than 100 posts and this was when the haters finally arrived.

Some will say, "Only you, 5 posts in a day? You are a jobless animal — Ewu. Go and look for a job and be useful to your family."

Two minutes later, you'll see, "This idìot again."

Five minutes later, you'll see, "This attention seeker again. Wàsted sperm."

Mehn, they were so mean. No sympathy to humans' emotions. Though, I ignored most of them and focused on helping my fans, but the haters were already addicted to my threads.

The moment I create a thread, all it will take is 20 — 30 minutes to garner 1000+ views. They'll abuse me from morning till night, then continue the next day.

Before the 4th month, I already had 200+ threads of great relationship secrets for men.

Sadly, I couldn't hold the abuse anymore, so I copied all my posts on Nairaland, turned them to different books, built a website, created a WhatsApp group, etc.

Finally, I deleted all my posts after backup and deactivated in 2017.

"No, don't be afraid," a spirit said to me, "Words can't bring you down — if you run away from ordinary verbal abuse, you run away from success."

On the same day, I created a new moniker with double d at the end, iLegendd to start afresh.

This time around, my mission was to sell these books and not to teach for free again. I have tried for free, so it's time to charge.

As I was selling and still being attacked, I recalled I stumbled on something called Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing — a platform for authors to publish their books. I switched on YouTube to learn more about it.

The rest is history.

Today, I can confidently tell you the fun/drama has been turned to a multi-million Naira business that will never crash even in recession.

My email and WhatsApp is buzzing with clients and with praises on how amazing our books are.

If I had given up, would this have happened? All the people who called me jobless are probably the ones who are jobless now. Though, I'll be employing some then soon.

I'm glad the attackers didn't make me give up, but they made me stronger and more determined to succeed in this book business.

Writing books, be it outsourced or written yourself, is the new oil and gas. This the the BEST way on earth to make passive income while you sleep or do other things.

So, that's 50% of my Nairaland story. The other 50% are sacred. Don't ask me why. #Smiles.

Now, I can confidently tell you some of these books are bestsellers on Amazon and other book stores around the world. I have written under different pen names and different niches.

You can find these books I wrote with Buhari's hunger and with my broken screen phone in libraries around the world — USA, UK, Canada, etc.

"Greatness is not hid'den, it's in a den filled with lions — walk in with faith and take it or stay in fear the for the rest of your life. — Joe Clef.

We remain poor because we allow words of mere mortals to affect us. To succeed, words shouldn't bring you down, but motivate you.

If negativity from people doesn't motivate you, then forget about success.

So, I have built the biggest men's dating book library, not just in Nigeria or Africa, but the entire world.

My books are being read by people from different countries, races, religion, etc.

So, I can say, my 3 years and some months spent on Nairaland isn't a waste.

I found Nairaland through Google, but now, I find Google through Nairaland and Wetclef.

What did you learn from this story?

Oh, we are doing a book bonanza on the 1st of June. Don't miss it if you're a man.

Click the image to see the details.

I learnt that: 1. Don't listen to what people say, as long as what you are doing is right. 2. If you have skill, develop it and sell it out to people.

iLegendd:

What did you learn from this story?

Never give up on your dreams, people go talk but guess what? Na for their pocket

iLegendd:

What did you learn from this story?

I learnt dat to make it, u have to do more of what people are complaining about, as long as what u are doing is right

iLegendd:

What did you learn from this story?

to be determined

Develop your skills, think and make money. Don't allow yourself to be caged by either criticism or praise - I learnt that from one of your threads. It has been part of me ever since and will always be.

ilegendd come employ me tho not as a marketer oo
i need to get small online job doing ATM to keep body and soul together while in school