Most people think there's only one way to earn a living;
you work, you get paid, you spend, you repeat. It's the way we've been taught since childhood: "Go to school, get a good job, earn a salary, and you'll be fine."
That was my life. It was also the life of almost everyone I knew.
But Michael saw things differently.
For him, there were two ways to earn a living:
1. Active Income –
Trading your time for money. You work, you get paid. If you stop working, the money stops coming.
2. Passive Income –
Building assets that generate money even when you're not working.
"It's like planting trees," Michael told me one evening after work. "Active income is like picking fruits from someone else's tree, you only eat as long as they let you pick. Passive income is planting your own orchard. At first it's slow, but eventually, the fruits feed you for life."
How Michael Started Growing His "Orchard"
Michael didn't wait to be rich before he started. He began small, the same way he'd been buying and reselling furniture accessories during our lunch breaks. But now, his side hustle was growing.
He made connections with suppliers who trusted him enough to give him small goods on credit. He learned which items sold fastest in small workshops, things like premium hinges, durable drawer slides, and imported handles that customers preferred over cheap local ones.
By reinvesting his profits instead of spending them, his inventory grew month by month. He didn't make huge money at first, maybe ₦5,000 extra a week, but he treated that side income as seed capital, not spending money.
Meanwhile, I was still relying entirely on my monthly paycheck. I saved a little, but it just sat in my account, losing value to inflation.
The Circle That Shapes You
One thing I didn't notice until much later was how Michael was changing his circle of friends.
When we first started at the workshop, most of our colleagues spent their free time with people just like them, hardworking but struggling, talking about football, weekend plans, and government complaints.
Michael began spending his evenings with small business owners. Sometimes I'd see him sitting with a man who ran a furniture store, other times with a supplier who'd been in the trade for decades.
"Why don't you hang out with the rest of the guys anymore?" I asked him once.
He smiled and said;
"James, if you want to grow, you have to be in rooms where growth is normal. The conversations you hear every day will shape your thinking. If you stay in a circle where everyone is talking about problems, you'll think in terms of problems. If you stay in a circle where people talk about opportunities, you'll start seeing them everywhere."
I didn't know it then, but Michael was living a principle billionaire Warren Buffett once said:
"It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick associates whose behavior is better than yours, and you'll drift in that direction."
Business Growth Lessons Michael Lived By;
Michael wasn't just networking; he was absorbing lessons and applying them. I still remember three of the most practical business growth tips he shared with me:
1. Start Small, But Start Now –
Waiting for perfect conditions will keep you stuck forever. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, once said:
"Only those who are asleep make no mistakes."
Michael understood that mistakes were part of the process. He'd rather start small and learn than wait for the "right time" that never comes.
2. Reinvest Profits Relentlessly-
Don't touch your business money for personal spending in the early stages. "Treat your profits like newborn chicks," Michael would say. "If you eat them too early, you'll never have a farm."
3. Measure Everything –
Whether it was tracking his costs down to the last naira or knowing exactly how long it took to sell each product, Michael measured his progress. "What gets measured gets improved," he'd tell me — echoing a principle many successful entrepreneurs live by.
My Side of the Story
While Michael's income streams slowly multiplied, I was trapped in the same cycle — work, get paid, spend, save a little. My friends were the same, so it felt normal.
The difference was invisible at first. He and I still lived in similar apartments, wore similar clothes, and even ate at the same food stand sometimes. But underneath, our financial foundations were completely different.
I had one fragile source of income. He was building multiple streams. I was waiting for "someday" to start investing. He was planting seeds every week.
One Saturday afternoon, I visited him at his small rented apartment. He showed me a corner where he kept neatly stacked boxes filled with hinges, handles, and slides ready for delivery.
"This," he said, pointing to the boxes, "is how I'll buy my freedom. Every box here is money waiting to be turned over. The more I turn over, the more my capital grows. And one day, when this grows big enough, it will fund my bigger business."
I nodded, but I still didn't feel the urgency he felt. I was earning enough to get by. I thought that was good enough.
But Michael wasn't after "good enough." He was after freedom.
Looking back now, I understand why he often repeated the words of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon:
"If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve."
Michael was stubborn about his vision and flexible about his methods. That combination made all the difference.
In the next chapter, Chapter 5: The Day I Realized Hustle Has Limits, the gap between our approaches starts to show. My long hours in the workshop no longer guaranteed me anything more than survival, while Michael's small investments begin to open doors I didn't even know existed.