24/01/2026
The job that changed my life did not come from LinkedIn.
It came from a barbershop.
There was a time I had just come out of a long hospital admission.
No job.
No home.
No certainty.
My landlord had packed up my belongings, including my WAEC result, and I was moving between family and friends’ couches, unsure of my next step.
I was not taking care of myself.
I avoided people who travelled from Nigeria to the UK, because I did not want them to see how far I had fallen.
One day, while a barber was cutting my overgrown hair, I told him I was looking for work.
He said, "You are lucky. The guy before you mentioned a labouring job, but it is hard work though."
I replied, "It can't be harder than unemployment."
That conversation got me to a construction site, cleaning, carrying, and learning.
I worked alongside Eastern Europeans who were also starting from scratch.
I learnt some bits of their languages along the way.
During breaks, I sat with different trades in the canteen.
I asked questions.
I listened.
I went home and researched their paths.
I mapped a route from where I was… to where I could be.
One labouring job led to another.
One day, I was carrying engineers’ toolboxes.
Eventually, I chose civil engineering.
At 30, I returned to university as an undergraduate while juggling site work.
I became a site engineer.
Then moved into project management.
Over time, I bought a home.
Travelled the world.
And took my parents on their first ever holiday.
Opportunity does not always announce itself.
Sometimes it whispers, in ordinary places, to people humble enough to speak up.
Don’t close your mouth.
Don’t shrink in shame.
You are often one honest conversation away from a different life.
If this helped you reframe something, pass it on to someone you care about and follow for more. God bless you 🙏
