Efosa Taiwo is a graduate of Mass Communication from the prestigious Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He is the author of Writing Unboxed, a book that simplified the art of writing. In this interview with Quadri Yahya, Efosa discusses his new book; Hey, Freelancer!, gives tips for aspiring freelancers, and also explains how to sustain and attain success in the writing world.
How would Efosa Taiwo describe his writing journey?
(Sighs). You’re making me want to reminisce this evening. Writing. Anytime I remember how I started writing, I always remember how I never from being a child wanted to be a writer; how I just found myself as a result of self-discovery, journeying into the path of writing.
When I was a kid I always wanted to play football. But, it got to a point in time, I knew football was not just it for me. I have to just abort that dream and focus on what I think would be best for me.
Along the line, I remember how I found this sense of purpose in writing and I used to have credits, and plaudits from people that I write well.
I, myself knew this because the way I string words together even when I was very young was quite uncanny.
I just felt like, you know what, this could be the path for me and I started discovering myself. And I came to realize that above all things I love doing, writing was just it for me.
And ever since then it has been, ‘Hey, Efosa, you know how to do nothing best than to write. And I kept on improving myself.
At a point in time, the future of writing for me was very bleak because I felt like, ‘After I finished writing and you read my piece, what’s there for me?’
Though, then, I wanted to become a journalist because, obviously, when you know how to write, you’d want to ask, ‘What field will I fit into?’. And then, they’ll start telling you, ‘You know what, you can go for journalism; law?’.
So I felt like, I was going to do Mass Communication. Although, I have always loved journalists and I decided to go for journalism and I will adopt my writing skill into making my society a better one.
Fast forward to some years later, I find purpose in doing what I love because I love impact. That is what I always hinge my writing skill on.
Whatever I am writing has an impact, and has a solution for someone out there. That has been the cornerstone of my writing.
And ever since then, as a result of bringing excellence into what I do, I have been able to focus on impact-driven writing.
I have always made sure that whatever piece I’m writing, I do it well. Remember the old saying, ‘Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well. That’s been my philosophy when it comes to writing and nobody else has had the privilege of working with various people, and various brands; to maximize my writing skill.
As I said, I don’t know how to do anything better than writing. (Laughs). It’s a pastime for me, it’s a profession and it’s a purpose for me.
That is why every day when I wake up, I just tell myself, ‘You know what Efosa, this is another day to write; another day to impact somebody with your writing skill.’
And ever since then, that has just been it. I’ll say that will be the brief on my writing journey so far and it keeps getting better.
Were the remarks for your first book encouraging?
Writing Unboxed was a huge success. Yeah. I never saw the level of success it bet. I never saw it coming because it blew me away, and it’s still blowing me away because, till tomorrow, I still get remarks about how the book has been impactful to people.
People still reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, great job you did. I love the book. I couldn’t put it down. It’s just as though you’re speaking to me.’
As I said, I never saw such a level of success coming from that book and it did reassure me of the value of sharing my knowledge with people; the significance of it; how far it can go; how far it can change a life, and how far it matters to what people do.
And I felt like, if this was a success, then, I don’t think I need to hold myself back from sharing knowledge, especially knowing that I’ve always wanted to do this with my writing skill.
That’s actually what fuelled this hunger in me to do more.
As a matter of fact, I have always wanted to release books. I have the saying, ‘As long as I live, the book will never die. It’s a personal saying, and it doesn’t matter whether it is someone’s book or mine; probably that’s why I’m an editor because I edit people’s books.
The thing is, when I was growing up, in my teenage days, I read a lot of books, and, books actually change my life. Books change my life. They were impactful to me.
There was a day I was reading a book and I told myself, ‘You know what Efosa, for the fact that who I have read has impacted me this far, the only way I could pay them back, is by producing more books.
Knowing that, and knowing how much my first book was a success, I felt like, ‘You know what, Efosa, you need to keep on releasing this knowledge to the world because, you know how books did impact you growing up, and you felt books can impact others, so, you need to keep doing more. You need to keep sharing your knowledge and actually, don’t let books die. Because you know the solution books can be to people out there.
So, after your first book, Writing Unboxed, what inspired you to write Hey, Freelancer!?
Hey, Freelancer! came with a very annoying incident. I woke up one morning in my room very angry because I got disappointed countless times; I couldn’t count the number of times that a particular freelancer had failed to deliver a job I wanted him to deliver.
He kept on putting me off. You know this Nigerian freelancer mentality. I don’t know if it’s peculiar to Nigerians or if it’s to all humans.
Maybe because most of the freelancers I’ve worked with are mostly Nigerians.
It was just annoying that I gave you (the freelancer) a job. He told me he was going to deliver on this particular day. I waited for that day, but he still couldn’t deliver.
So, he told me to give him the grace of two days, and I gave him, still, on that day, he couldn’t deliver.
I was furious that morning when I woke up. Like, this is the third time I’m giving you grace and you’ve not yet done this job. And I needed the particular items he (client) actually paid him to deliver to me but yet, he was putting me off as though we’d not yet paid for it; as though we never had any agreement.
And, what did spike the dream of writing Hey, Freelancer! This same morning that I got furious, I had a client – I am also a freelancer.
I had a client that gave me a job the previous day around 6 pm. She’s a student. She gave me a job to write a particular piece for her, telling me that she needed it the following morning.
And I was hooked, my table was full. But because she’s not a one-time client. She’s been a faithful client. I had to rearrange my schedule for her just to meet up with her job.
Meanwhile, that particular day, I have other jobs to deliver. I could not do them that night because I knew my client said she needed hers the following morning.
So, what did I do? I woke up as early as 3 am to start writing her piece. Because she said she needed it by 9 am. I woke up as early as 3 am to start writing her piece and I finished by 6 am.
After finishing her piece at 6 am, I put a call through to this guy: ‘Where is the piece I asked you to deliver?’ He gave me an excuse again.
And I asked myself, ‘Am I different? Why are freelancers lackadaisical, indifferent to jobs being given to them?’.
‘If I could sacrifice my sleep to satisfy a client who gave me a job at the “eleventh hour”, then you that I have given graces thrice, what is stopping you from delivering?’
So, I felt like, if nobody writes to address this… because before then, I have had many incidents with freelancers on how they are indifferent; they take their kicks close thinking they can do anything they like and it’s nobody’s business.
I sense this purpose to come up with a book that addresses these anomalies among freelancers and sets the record straight and tells them, ‘You know what, because you’re a freelancer doesn’t mean you have a free home to maneuver. And some things are very critical to ensure that you achieve longevity in this particular field. And not only longevity but success in it.’
So I felt that I been a freelancer, I have experience with me, so why not translate this experience I have under my belt into a book; get other freelancers to also contribute to the book to right these wrongs among freelancers we have in Nigeria and perhaps, offshore as well?
Young freelancers also motivated me.
Also, aside from the initial motivation of righting the wrongs, and correcting anomalies among freelancers, I have the intention of… I have mentees who always tell me, ‘Hey, Efosa, I want to be a freelancer like you. I want to work from home. I want to delve into freelancing. How can I freelance with my skill? And all that.’
I felt that while I will try to correct the anomalies, I decided that, for the sake of substantial freelancers, I am going to write a book as a guide for other people who wants to venture into freelancing. Teach them what I know and how they can maximize the field.
This freelancer you outsourced a job for must have inspired chapter 7 of Hey, Freelancer!
Smiles. I hope he finds it helpful.
There is also a chapter that discusses the difficulties freelancers encounter in getting clients. Tell us about it.
Freelancing is not rocket science. You go to a field, you have some people having high traffic of customers while some are having low traffic of customers, and then, you ask yourself, ‘What is it that this person A is doing that this person B is not doing?’
And having worked with different clients over the years and having to associate myself with some high-earned freelancers who get clients daily, I came to discover that there are some things these freelancers do that those freelancers are not getting good results are not doing.
The truth is, for every result you see, there is always a force behind it. People don’t just get results because you get results. There are some things they do that are making them get their results.
And when it comes to clients and how people get clients in variance, there are some things people who are getting clients on an increasing basis do that those not getting results are not doing.
I understood that and I know I have to roll it out.
Some of the tips rolled out was that you need to give out excellence. Excellence is the cornerstone of it.
Clients won’t come to you if you’re not known for excellence. The biggest brands are known for excellence.
Like, when I come to you, you give me what I want; I go back, proud of what I want to the point that I can even recommend people to you.
Now, if you’re very excellent with what you do, trust me, people are going to rush you and you’ll keep being flooded with a lot of jobs.
So, excellence is an advertiser. It’s a self-advertiser. When you give out excellence, you’re advertising yourself.
Investing in branding is also another tip. I find a lot of freelancers that are freelancing but are not appealing.
What branding does to you is that it makes you appealing. It makes somebody who is a stranger comes to you and want to associate him/herself with your brand.
Branding makes you presentable, official.
Let’s say for instance: You’re a freelancer, you’re on WhatsApp and you’re looking for a client. And I just come to your WhatsApp profile and what I’m seeing is not appealing.
I will give you an example. There was a particular point in time I needed to get a cake for someone.
Somebody recommended two caterers for me. One had her picture (with all due respect to her) on her profile section; the other had a graphic picture that depicted what she does. I was impressed by that. And guess who I went for first. I went for that lady with the graphic picture because it shows me that, this lady means business and she knows what she’s doing.
That is what branding can do to freelancers and their brands. So invest in branding. Brand yourself so that when people see you, they’ll be able to understand that you mean business. Branding sells you to prospects.
Also, I talked about selling yourself among others.
I noticed that most of the time, freelancers feel like they’re just going to stay in their zone and the job is going to come and look for them because they’re a writer, broadcaster, etc.
If you don’t let people know what you do, they may not patronize you.
I am usually fascinated by the Igbo men or any market traders calling me to come and buy from them. Don’t think those forms of advertising don’t work. Honestly, they work.
As a freelancer, we need to sell ourselves by talking about what we do; on most of our social media. Before you know it, somebody who knows somebody gets in touch with you and it clicks; you have a client!
Your books addressed related issues: writing and freelancing. Is this a kind of sequence you intentionally made or it has just happened?
Yes, I will say there is a bit of intentionality to it. Actually from my subsequent books as well, most of them will be taking this sequence.
This is it: When you write books, you’re to write books based on your expertise; the field you are in. That is when your followers will be able to take you seriously.
You can’t expect an Efosa Taiwo who has built an image around writing, freelancing, journalism, media, and perhaps, maybe mentorship and leadership. You can’t expect Efosa Taiwo who is known for all these to one day wake up and say I want to write about politics or how to have babies.
That is not my niche. That is not my field. I will rather focus on the field in which I have built an audience around. That is how to write books that will reach your target audience.
If you’re going to come into a virgin field, then you’ll have to build a brand so that you will have an audience that will buy your product and take it seriously.
Because I have built credibility and a history of excellence in this field, people can easily trust me to be an expert, and to give them tips on how to navigate this field.
That is why most books I will be writing will be based on the niches people know me for so that trust cannot be farfetched.
Yes, you’re kind of right. There is a sequence in it because it’s a niche I’ve built my brand around and I need to stick to it because people have to trust me and I know my onions.
How many months did it take you to write this book?
It took me more than a year. I have to be very patient with it. Unlike my first book which took me less than six months.
You know to get contributions from people was quite challenging and expensive.
Also, the editor took some time.
Did you have any challenges?
I hardly have challenges because I have written a lot of books, for clients and personally. So basically, writing a book is what I can easily pull off. I don’t think I have any challenge whatsoever.
What might your next book be about?
My next book. Hmm. Let me give you this little secret.
I’m thinking of writing a fiction book. (Laughs.) Yes, I’m thinking of writing fiction. I don’t know if that’d be my next book. But, Efosa Taiwo has a plan to write fiction, and it’s going to be great.
I don’t know what my next book will be about. But fingers are crossed.
What is your message to freelancers across all fields?
My message to freelancers is, that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. Freelancing is just another shot you can take to make something out of your life.
Like Sam Obafemi stated in the book everyone has a freelancing spirit. It is hard to amount to anything as an adult if you say you don’t have a freelancing spirit or you’re not into freelancing.
Apparently, the country we live in is not a country that will necessitate you to focus on one job. You need to find a way to get more income so that you can be financially stable.
In doing that, you need to ensure that whatever job you get, you need to put in diligence, excellence, and intentionality to it.
And above all, no job is worth you risking your integrity and your brand. It’s very important.
How can the book help freelancers just that are just starting?
Starting, sustaining, and maximizing; is what they can find in Hey, Freelancer! So, they have no worries when it comes to the book.
It’s a resourceful guide towards them starting and sustaining the field.
