Ayo Arowolo: How I uncovered the secret to personal wealth

How can I possibly forget the 15th of December 1997? I still remember the day very vividly. It was a sweltering Monday afternoon at Yinusa Adeniji Street, Ikeja, Lagos, a street made popular by the newspaper I worked for then as the Group Business Editor.

I had taken some time out for refreshment and was just about mounting the flight of steps back to my desk to do some serious editing work when one of our security personnel handed over to me a beautifully-wrapped, medium-size parcel, brought in a short while ago by a dispatch rider.

It was easy to guess what could be inside the parcel because of the season. It was Christmas. Most journalists looked forward to this period with great excitement and lots of expectation. It was even better if you were a financial journalist.

“This must be a portable radio or a wall clock”, I thought as I raced up the staircase. I was wrong. When I opened the parcel, I found a set of four medium-sized books and four audio cassettes. There was also a small plain card with these words written in long hand: “My dear Ayo, study and digest these materials, they will change your life. I deliberately sent the materials to you and our mutual friend (he mentioned his name) to show how much I value the two of you. I read one of the books six years ago and my life has changed beyond my own expectations.”

I must confess that I was not excited at all. I only managed to flip through few pages of the first book and I did not even listen to any of the audio-cassettes. All the materials were on how to become a millionaire. As a matter of fact, I refused to contact the sender of the gift until April of the following year. The books and the cassettes, of course, quickly made their way to one corner of my study where I usually kept materials I considered sub-optimal. Don’t misunderstand me. I do not intend to suggest that I don’t read. Reading is one of my passions. I can remember one time I travelled to London. I invaded The Economist Shop on Regent Street where I bought so many books that I did not have any room in my luggage for other items. (Of course, I was chided by my wife, who had expected me to bring back some shoes and clothes for her and our daughter).

So I read, however I concentrated mostly on professional books. The idea of studying to become wealthy was very funny to me and I felt embarrassed by the sender of the “funny” gift. To be comfortable, yes, but I didn’t see how writing news stories and becoming a millionaire were related.

But something dramatic happened a few years later. It was in March 2002 to be precise. I was in Johannesburg, South Africa, to attend an investment seminar organised by a Lagos-based consulting firm. I had just retired to my hotel room after the opening cocktail when I noticed the blinking on my intercom indicating that I had a voice message. The thrust of the message was that a friend of mine, the other fellow who also received the contents of the parcel I had received, wanted me to be his guest before I traveled back to Nigeria. I consented and we fixed an appointment for the following day. He picked me up at the hotel and we drove to his house.

His home, an architectural masterpiece, was situated not far away from Sandton, Johannesburg. It was a complex set of duplexes built on approximately eight plots of land. There was a beautiful lawn, two big swimming pools, a well-laid garden, a beautiful water fountain, and a fish pond. I won’t bore you with the details of the interior, but suffice it to say that it was breath-taking.

After a few direct questions, I got these unbelievable facts: My friend owned the building; he had two other well-developed pieces of property in Cape Town, and another one in the United Kingdom. He had two thriving businesses with headquarters in Johannesburg, and some sizeable investments in stocks both on the London Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Afterwards I pulled my friend by his shirt and dragged him to the garden where I asked him to tell me the secret of his wealth.

He only dashed back to his study and returned a few minutes later with a small box, which he dropped on my lap. “This is the secret, the whole secret,” he said with some measure of seriousness.

Guess what I saw…the same set of four books and the audio-cassettes I received about five years back! The only thing I noticed was that his set of books was well worn from being over read. There were different kinds of markings inside the books. I also noticed that he made some copious notes in a small diary he put inside the small box.

He explained to me that it was our mutual friend that told him I would be in South Africa and insisted he must have a heart-to-heart talk with me. He disclosed that our friend had visited him in South Africa a couple of times, and on every occasion, they had discussed the principles in the books and how well they had applied them to build wealth for themselves. He told me of a couple of friends who have also applied the principles in the books with dramatic results.

Was I excited? I must confess, it was a morale-deflating experience. I thanked my host and asked him to take me back to my hotel. I spent the whole of that evening and, as a matter of fact, the rest of my days in South Africa, meditating on that experience.

Back in Nigeria, I quickly reached for the books, still as clean as they were four years ago when they were presented to me as a “mere Christmas gift”. I devoured the books within a period of two weeks, while I made it a duty to listen to the four cassettes every day. I called my friend who gave me the books and told him of my experience. He is, by the way, a multi-millionaire in Dollars

Surprisingly, he was not offended. He said I could still achieve success beyond my imagination if only I could apply whatever I have learnt in the books plus a few lessons he would be giving me on a monthly basis. Immediately, I started on what I called the ‘millionaire tablets’ and after few months I started noticing a dramatic turnaround in my personal finances.

I also decided to get acquainted with more books on investment while I also stretched my dragnets to include mentors and advisors. However, for a variety of reasons, I could not immediately apply all the tips I learnt from those great people and from the books I had read, even though thousands of people have sent testimonies to me as a result of applying the principles taught in this book.

But I have now made a renewed commitment to live out, for the rest of my life, every nugget I have picked from my friends as well as the tips I have picked from the dozens of books I have read on money and digested and which I have documented in this book

Catch ya next week!

Prosperously yours

Ayo Arowolo

PS: I want to challenge you never to stop until you read, digest and implement every tip you pick from each of the capsules. Don’t give up until something happens. God is in this with us as we get started together. Congratulations!

About Ayo Arowolo

He has worked in leading newspaper groups in the country, including the Concord Group, The Guardian Group, The News Group and THISDAY Group. He was the founding Managing Editor/CEO of Financial Standard Newspaper, and founding CEO of The Investment Club Network (TICN). He was the Publisher/CEO of Moneywise, and currently the CEO of Enlightened Media Limited.

Arowolo won the Reuters’ Award in 1999 which gave him the opportunity to travel to the Reuter’s office in London where he was exposed to business and financial analysis writing. He also participated in the United State’s International Visitors’ Programme which took him to seven states in US.

Arowolo will be bringing to his new assignment an array of skills that include business journalism, editorial strategy, information marketing and training. Arowolo holds a B.Sc (Political Science )  University of Ife, (M.Sc in Political Science), University of Lagos and MBA (Banking and Finance) from ESUT Business School. He also attended The Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) where he won the Director’s Prize for the Overall Best Student in his set.

The author of  key national bestsellers including  Millionaires’ Capsules, The Billionaire’s Capsules and Fire Your Share Analyst, Ayo’s works ( books and seminars) have helped  thousands of entrepreneurs and career men and women around the country to create extra ordinary results and grow qualitatively from the inside out.