Computer Skills Income: My Schooling Became Easy

Throughout my final year I received minimal support from home but I was able to cope well and make my good result because my skill and my computer proved to be the difference.

During my final year (mid 2006), I bought a printer with savings form some of the jobs I had done, I bought a laser printer. This proved to be another asset to my business even till today. You know sometimes people will bring jobs in diskette or flash drive to you to print for them, you just print for them and they pay you. It is almost an effortless job. The kind of printer I have (a laser) even makes it better since it is very cheap to maintain by virtue of the kind of toner it uses. So the business was getting better and better, sweeter and sweeter.

…I already told you that I was starting to learn PowerPoint. My first job on PowerPoint was an experiment. You know after we finished in college, I mean after we were through with our exams, research and defense and every other things, everybody went home, being finally free from the hassle and torment (so we thought) of the rigorous of college. But I stayed around, most of the time, just using my system trying to improve myself. This was from September 2006. We were awaiting NYSC Call-up. At this time one of my colleagues who had a very good research work was scheduled to present it in a conference. He came to me, ‘can you put my work into PowerPoint’. I had never done a PowerPoint job for anyone but I had been experimenting the package.

‘I will do it for you’ I told him. He said ‘okay’ so I took the job. The greatest challenge on the job was how to design the very first slide, I tried and tried, it wasn’t coming out well, tried and tried again and again, it was not coming well. At a point I was about to give up and take the job to my trainer to bail me out (PowerPoint wasn’t part of the course I did with him, and he would charge me for it), I decided to make another trial and wonderfully, it came out perfect, I found the secret, once the first slide was made, the other ones become very simple to do. This was how I started using PowerPoint and before long I was a master on it…

…This period we were awaiting NYSC Call-up, our immediate junior colleagues were now in final year. Some of them started writing proposals and sourcing literature for their work. I was still around, I refused to go back home, since I was raising some jobs and maintaining myself. I thought ‘how could I be of help to those our junior colleagues’ this gave me the idea of my E-library, to help them in their search for literature. Do you know I flaunted the idea to some of them, and wonderfully, it was attractive, so my E-library started.

I know by now some of you are wondering ‘what is the E-library? It must be very expensive or bogus to start’. Well, you are wrong, do you know it is one of the cheapest things I do, it is very cheap but very profitable, you are getting very interested, aren’t you? Yes, I know. You will learn how it is done in ‘My Skill’, you just read on. This is the most exciting programme you have ever seen and will ever see. So some of them came to me, and I always got very recent literature and articles for them complete with references…

…At this time my business was more of a social services because my charges were very low so as to be help to my clients (who were almost all students), and also create a reputation for myself i.e. carve a niche for myself in the business, and I was enjoying it and seeing the bright future that can (and will) come out of it. I found that this business is cheap to run, but very profitable if well-managed.

I was about to invest more into the business and get it more established when our Call-up (NYSC) letter come in February ending. Within a week, we were to report at the orientation camp. My sweet (and getting sweeter) business had to be closed. I found myself in Cross River, right in the center of the Calabar and there I am till today making money while having my pleasures. You too can do the same, and will do the same, you will find your life very enjoyable.

This is My Story, this is my song.