It was 4 months after we first met in the workshop. By then, Michael and I had settled into a rhythm, we worked side by side, took lunch breaks together, and sometimes stayed late to finish orders.
But that afternoon, Michael decided to talk about something I didn't think mattered at the time.
We were sitting on the curb outside the workshop, each of us holding a small plate of rice from the food stand across the street. The air smelled of fried plantain and exhaust fumes from passing okadas.
"You ever thought about becoming a millionaire?" Michael asked, almost casually, as if he was asking about the weather.
I laughed. "A millionaire? We earn thirty-five thousand a month, Michael. Be serious."
He didn't laugh with me.
"I'm serious, James. I've been running some numbers. If you invest even small amounts consistently and keep reinvesting, you can get there faster than you think. But it means you have to stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like an investor."
I rolled my eyes. "Invest what? Our salaries barely stretch as it is."
"That's where you're wrong," he said. "It's not about how much you earn, it's about what you do with what you earn."
Michael told me he had been using part of his lunch lmoney and a small portion of his salary, sometimes just ₦2,000 or ₦3,000 at a time to buy surplus furniture accessories from a nearby supplier. Handles, knobs, hinges, small things that workshop owners often ran out of.
"I buy them in bulk at a discount," he explained, "then I sell them to smaller workshops at regular price. It's not a fortune yet, but I'm learning how to turn money over quickly. That's the skill that will make me rich."
I frowned. "So you're skipping meals to buy… handles?"
"Sometimes," he admitted. "But those handles are feeding my future. I can eat rice anytime. I can't always find good deals like this."
I didn't see the point. For me, salary was meant to be spent, pay rent, buy food, enjoy a little. I saved about 5% each month, mostly to feel like I was being "responsible." But my savings just sat in a bank account, shrinking against inflation.
Michael's approach felt too risky. Why sacrifice comfort now for some uncertain future?
But Michael wasn't just thinking about now. He was building habits.
One Friday evening, as we walked home, he said something I still remember word for word:
"James, the difference between me and most people is simple. Most people spend first and save what's left. I invest first and spend what's left. That's the only way to get ahead."
I nodded politely but didn't change a thing. At the time, I thought he was just being extreme. I told myself that I'd start investing "when I was earning more."
What I didn't realize was that if you can't manage money when it's small, you won't magically manage it when it's big.
From Michael's point of view, our choices during those years told him everything about our futures.
"James is smart, hardworking, and good with people," he once wrote in his notebook, "but he still believes hard work alone will make him rich. It won't. The grind doesn't pay you wealth, it pays you wages. If he doesn't change his thinking, he'll stay in the grind forever."
At the time, I had no idea he was thinking that way about me. I thought we were just two friends trying to survive the same job.
But survival was my goal. Freedom was his.
That conversation about becoming a millionaire faded into the background of my memory, just another one of Michael's ambitious talks.
It would be years before I understood how much that single conversation could have changed my life… if I'd only listened.
Michael's Lesson on Managing Money
Before we left the curb that day, Michael leaned closer, his eyes serious. "James, I want you to understand something about money. It's not just about earning. There are three rules you need to live by if you ever want financial freedom."
I raised an eyebrow. "Three rules?"
"Yes," he said. "First: never spend more than you earn. Second: save at least 20% of your income every month, no matter how small. Third: invest what you save — whether it's in stocks, furniture accessories, or a small business. Money that just sits in your account is losing value; money that works for you grows."
He paused, letting it sink in. "And one more thing — track every naira. Most people fail because they don't know where their money goes. Awareness is power. Once you understand your cash flow, you can start controlling it instead of letting it control you."
I nodded, pretending to understand, but deep down I still thought it was too complicated. At the time, I didn't realize that Michael was giving me the blueprint for financial freedom, and it was up to me to take it seriously.
That day, on that curb with fried plantain in the air and city noise all around us, I was still blind to the lessons Michael was teaching. He was already building wealth, little by little, while I clung to comfort and routine.
And that difference, the choice to invest or consume, to plan or drift, would define the paths we were about to take.