Lelo “Ajikawo” Osidipe

I am not gonna bullshit people, and when I do write that book I want to write I will make it very clear. I did not pay rent or pay for food, which is what takes away the money from a lot of immigrants so I don't want to be looked at as someone who was not privileged. That being said, I did ALL sorts of jobs (as I had dropped out of school - I went back later. another story), from working in a call center, to driving a forklift to working in an agricultural processing plant, to moving furniture to working at a print shop. At a certain point in a 6 week span, I had 3 jobs. I started my week on Sunday Night at Vistaprint (general labor) at 11:00pm to 6:30am. I then drove 10 mins to my job as a materials handler (where I drove the forklift) to resume at 7:00am till 3:30pm, then back to that Vistaprint Job every day from Sunday Night till Friday afternoon. On Saturday and Sunday, I worked at an agric processing plant called Bonduelle (worst job I ever did, it was part of what motivated me to go back to school - I wasn't sure how I got here). This job was 6pm to 6am, 12 hours, in the winter. I was working close to 100 hours a week in that span, I was a zombie, and I obviously couldn't sustain it long term. I had a reputation at all my jobs, I took every overtime, every extra shift. It was made SO MUCH easier for sure as I was a single man without major bills, this is why I could chase such goals as buying my first home relatively quickly. The reason I shared that tweet and always do is that there are people who work harder than me who have more on the line but end up making decisions that make their lives harder. When you work hard, you must also work smart. I learned from my Indian tenants, they'd live like peasants, sometimes 10-12 in a house, but the whole time they were saving up to buy a home, meanwhile my fellow Nigerian colleagues couldn't wait to buy their first car, it always pained me - especially in Windsor at that time with such a low barrier to entry. Thanks for coming to my tedtalk.