The subject of this article, Oladimeji Ajegbile, has a degree in Architecture and is an introvert.
Interestingly, over the years, he pivoted from his architectural career and leveraged his introversion -mostly considered a weakness- to build a thriving career in Branding and Identity. This move was influenced by his inclination to design and the desire not to be boxed in the architectural niche of it. Now, with a splendid portfolio curated from his work in and out of Nigeria and a big shot at creating content and influencing, he is more than many know him to be.
We had a long chat with him, where he took us deep into this life and career, from being a bachelor to starting a family: building a brand, influencing a community, making money, and advocating for introverts.
Tell us about you and all you do
I’m a personal branding coach for founders and high-impact individuals. But people mostly know me as that Instagram guy making funny videos and those weird dances. Many people think I’m just a content creator, but I just had to show this part of me to the world.
Currently, I run a video production company where we work with companies and brands to re-imagine experiences for them, put together their marketing strategies, and have a different approach to production.
I also work with individual creators, YouTubers, Instagram, and celebrities to create short-form videos that help them convert. I also run an aesthetic reality company that focuses more on taking your ideas into the Meta web3.
I had a background in architecture and practiced as an architect for two years before taking a break to focus more on the creative and design world.
What made you pivot from Architecture, though?
I wanted to understand design beyond buildings. I wanted to explore how people live their daily lives, leading me into the world of branding and identity. Throughout this process, I got involved in a lot of design spaces. Thankfully, because architecture and its principles are very similar or the same as design, I had to take a step further to not just talk about buildings only. So, I started exploring brand and identity, UI/UX design, human setup design, and experience design; I went all out with the Design space and practiced Design and everything in between for eight years.
In 2018, there was this exciting passion for giving back to the design community. I didn’t have anybody to teach me anything. So, I took it upon myself to get into this space and transfer knowledge to the people who would want to have this knowledge. I started teaching design on my social media, talking about branding and how to leverage the available design tools. And while doing that, I began to build a community. In 2019, I launched a podcast that focused on creativity. It was called The Simple Creative.
The podcast explored how other creatives or other professionals in the tech and creative industry were able to start up what they started from nothing. So I had these people come to share their stories and how they were navigating their careers. I interviewed people like Salem King, Fisayo Fosudo, and a couple of others in the design and tech space and people I’ve learned from over the years. I get these stories in a well-packaged form for anyone trying to get started in this space to know how to navigate the space. And it became a huge success. I launched 53 episodes throughout the entire podcast, which lasted three years. In 2020, I took a pause and focused on other things.
So, what does a typical workday look like for you?
Before now, an average day would be me waking up —and I don’t have a specific waking up time because I work into the night—the first hour goes to me and my time with God, and then I do some fitness. Then, I focus on work: 3 hours are dedicated to what pays my bills, a 1-hour break to do social media stuff, follow up with the community and the audience, then I get back to work. Plus, I usually do 1-hour one-on-one consultations, which generally come in a particular time window, and once that is done, I’m pretty much my person for the rest of the day. Right now, that schedule has changed a lot because I’m married, and many things have to change. Now, I’m very flexible but still try to maintain a stable routine, which is the mornings.
For a self-employed professional, how does the money come in for you?
Okay, I need to make a disclaimer here: for people who want to build things for themselves and stand-alone: your finances would be a mess!
I hear that!
The beginning and even when you feel like you’ve figured it out will still be a mess because you’re not earning a constant every month. But one thing that started to help me was billing my clients every month. I only work based on projects and contracts, which would cause me to earn in January, for instance, and probably would not earn so much till May. So I could get this big project once, which would last me a few months. But then, that isn’t sustainable for someone who now has responsibilities. So, I started to learn how to create a retainership business model where your clients pay you monthly for a recurring service. That way, even though you’re self-employed, you still get paid monthly. Your clients are like your employers very much, and they pay monthly; that is the most sustainable system. Whatever your charge is, make sure you’re earning on a retainership basis, where it comes in as frequently as possible. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take other one-off contracts, but you should have a few clients who are recurring.
When did the big bucks start rolling in?
As far back as 2018, I got to a point where I started charging in foreign currency because most of the clients that I was able to appeal to were outside the country. Talking about this whole personal branding thing, I started creating stock photos on pixels, which went massive. In a year, I got over 5 million views on all the images I did. On one of those days, I got a mail from a lawyer in Canada. He wanted to rebrand his company’s website, and after seeing my images on Pixels, he just reached out. I got to work with him, and from there, I got more referrals.
Can you put a figure to it?
For a person starting out trying to build a personal brand, if you’re diligent and know what you are doing, you could earn between 400k to 600k or even more. But then, some months, it could be nothing. So, don’t think you’d get a million every month; that would be unrealistic.
Makes great sense
I’d also like to add that it would make more sense to break down your creative skill or business into a multiple-stream income. If you’re a designer, for instance, offering design services, which is your regular job, you can teach design classes, sell templates, be a contract staff in a company, or write or sell an ebook.
Any productivity hack?
Document all your ideas. I put out all my thoughts and ideas into Google Keep. Anytime an idea pops into my mind, I don’t let it wait; I just put it down there. When I get to a point where I need to produce anything, brainstorming won’t take long before I get working. And when I don’t have my phone, I have a notebook to scribble on. But right now, AI has made work a lot easier. I have this idea, and all I have to do is pick it, write a prompt in ChatGPT, and it gives me a framework to work with. Once I have that framework, I bring it out and then add the work, improve on it, and sort of make it into something that fits what I was thinking at conception. So, always document your ideas and leverage these AI tools to automate and systemize your approach to completing your work.
So, how do you take a break or unwind from work?
I’m not so much a fun person. I see movies occasionally, try to go out, or be forced to go out. But this is a new phase of my life. I’m gradually learning to do a few things. I like adventures, but I need to be more quick to initiate them. If someone starts it, I’m happy to jump on it. But I don’t like doing the brainwork of thinking of where to go and explore. It’s one of those things I’m working on. But to take a break, most likely would take a nap, read a book, start the Bible, or maybe see a movie.
You were on the NBC Morning Show earlier this year for National Introverts Week; how did that feel for you?
A quick back story. So, in 2022, I made a video about being an introvert but left it in my folder until one morning in September. I’d exhausted all my content for that week, and the only content I had left that I’d not posted was the video. Initially skeptical about the reception, but I went ahead to post, and it performed really well. Then, in March this year, we were going to have National Introverts Week, and a writer, Michael Pollard, reached out and told me they wanted to have me on the panel of National Introverts Week. I joined the panel and was with a team of notable speakers worldwide.
National Introverts Week started on Monday, and that very day, I got a mail from NBC inviting me to speak about the event on a section of the morning news the following Thursday. I agreed and shared it with my wife, and we started to prepare for the show. I freaked out a bit; I was even shaking before the session began. But then, we had the interview, which was so smooth. One of the things they said was that they’ve been seeing my work and how I’ve been advocating for introverts, creating barrel content about introversion. It was just a very beautiful moment for me, but what stood out for me the most with that experience was that it gave a lot of introverts in my community courage and this eagerness also to put themselves out there. So it went beyond just the interview for me; it’s about the global impact that this had on people. Until now, people still send me messages to tell me they are introverts and want to build on that to achieve something great. I’d share some of my experiences with them and see them making videos, talking about stuff, and launching blogs. It’s beautiful to see that the little thing I felt was just a weakness for me has been turned into a strength that is helping many people find their voice.
Did you enjoy this? Read Networking Tips for Introverts and the Top 10 Jobs for Introverts.