Oyemade: Your Wealth is in Your God-Ordained Path
Once in a while we ask a member of our league of Wealth Masters, those individuals who have achieved mastery over financial matters, to share their thoughts on their pathways to wealth creation. In this edition, we feature Mrs. Susan Oyemade, a trained teacher and wellness entrepreneur who together with her husband brought the Fovever Living Business to Nigeria. She says everything we need to create wealth is on the path God has ordained for everyone but it requires staying on the lane. She also shares her thoughts on how couples should handle their personal finances.
STAY ON YOUR PATH
Every single person on this planet earth has a path marked for him or her by God almighty and on that path he has put our helpers there. Everything we would ever need is on that path. This is why I suggest that we should not turn away from that path. Don’t switch the lane because you see someone else doing something you like; follow your own path. I am writing a book in Yoruba language that addresses that point. The key point in the message is that once you miss that road , you cannot get to the correct destination. Unless you turn back and locate that path, you would be running in circles. As I said, everything you would ever need to fulfil your purpose has been put on that path specially marked out for you. I was teaching in a local school and I was certain to remain there for God knows when. But one day, a lady from Ghana came to Nigeria and we got connected, while I was still on my path. She asked me a series of questions that pulled out the best in me. Through those probing questions, I discovered some few interesting things about myself. I took on her challenge not to remain a local champion and ultimately I travelled to London where I did most of my educational stuff. That was one helper God used. Without travelling to London may be I would not have encountered Forever Living which I eventually brought to Nigeria and through which I have been able to train a lot of individuals on how to build wealth and release their potential.
When I travelled to London , I still focused on my teaching career. I went to the best secretariat school in London because I knew the only thing that would make me happy was to continue to be a teacher. You know and choose what makes you happy. Don’t choose a career because of money. Some people would say the rewards for teacher are in heaven but that is for those who are not really born teachers. My own rewards are right here on the earth and I have been reaping them ever since. Let me say this very boldly: if what you are doing is what you told your creator you were going to do and you resolve to put your best into it, ultimately, you would become a multi-millionaire. Make what you are doing, what God has assigned you to do a mission and you would never get tired doing it. Be consistent . Stay on it. Don’t jump from one place to another. Your wealth is within you and it is in doing what God has assigned you to do that you locate it.
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT AND GO FOR IT
When I came back to Nigeria from England, I ended up working for Texaco as the executive secretary. But the very first day I entered that office, I asked myself a question: what do I really want and I came to two options: either to work hard and become the managing director of the company or to save money and set up a school, not just a school, but the very best in speed writing . I knew I did not want to become a managing director of an oil company, so I went all out. I started to save money. I was combining jobs which included transcribing interview manuscripts for NTA and also recruiting secretaries for those who needed them. You must know what you want right from the first day you step into doing something because nothing is permanent . I wanted to set up a school, not just a school but the best speed writing school and that was exactly what I did. If you don’t decide what you really want to do, you would be stagnant.
DON’T BE ATTACHED TO POSSESSIONS.
I have learnt a very big lesson that has revolutionised my view about wealth and
possessions. We actually do not lack anything. Everything you need to achieve your purpose is available and there is no scarcity in the Source from where that wealth comes from. So when you see an individual attaching himself or herself permanently to what God has created through him or her, that person lacks understanding. We do not own anything. As the money comes to me I look for channels for distributing the wealth and the interesting thing I have discovered is that the more I give, the more I receive. Even though my husband and I helped to establish Forever Living Business in Nigeria, we did not hold on to it; we have moved on. When we brought Forever Living to Nigeria I told my husband that we were going to spend only six years but unfortunately we spent 10 years because we decided that the organisation must have a building of its and we had to wait extra four years to ensure that everything was okay . But we left Forever Living. For every venture you step into you must have a clear exit strategy. Don’t hold to a position because you were instrumental in building that position or the organisation. We left Forever Living but it is still running long after we have left. People started to come to me to ask why would you leave after building such a big organisation and I told them that I had already mapped the next step I would take after leaving Forever Living . The wealth inside us is enormous. I often say that if they put me in the desert I will thrive there.
YOUR BODY IS YOUR BEST PHYSICIAN
I did not get to know that until I ran into a very serious health crisis. It was in the process of finding a solution to that crisis that I stumbled on this lesson I am sharing. I have since discovered that when it comes to health, the God has created us with everything in us. Given half a chance, the body will heal itself. But a lot of people are ignorant about this fact. We know about everything, our computer, our phone, our television, but this body, that we need to continue to exist on earth, we don’t know anything about it. Ignorance and disobedience are the major problems we have with our health, most of the times. The body talks, if
you listen to your body, your body will tell you what it needs and what it doesn’t need. If I put sugar in my mouth within few hours, my mouth will be bleeding, my gum will be paining me and I will be feeling terrible in my mouth. So what is my body telling me? Sugar is not good for me. If you listen carefully, your body would tell you what is not good for it and what you should put in it.
If we know about our body, we won’t treat it anyhow. Whatever you don’t know, you misuse. If you can just look at the car we drive, you can see that the car is patterned after the body. I always tell people that when you put adulterated oil in your car, what happens? You knock the engine. So the food that your body is not supposed to eat, if you put it there, your body will be breaking down. Look at the radiator, if you don’t put water into it, what happens? The car begins to overheat and the car will spoil. If you don’t drink enough water, the same thing will happen to your body. The car cannot move without petrol, the same thing if your body is deficient in nutrient, it will become weak. If the oil pump in the car is blocked, the car will not start and the same thing if the arteries in your body are blocked, the blood in your body will not flow and you are dead. Our blood carries oxygen and nutrients to all our vital organs and if this is not happening, the organs will die and we die too.
So the first thing we need to know as individuals is to know the body, to know the systems in the body. We need to know about the body, know that the body needs proper nutrition. If our body is deficient in nutrients we are going to have health problems. It is like planting on a soil that is not good, what happens to the plant? So if you look at that, if your body is not having all the nutrients it is supposed to have, the body will not function properly. The human body is chemical composition of 16 principal elements, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, iodine, iron, fluorine, manganese, and silicon. It is replenishing these elements in sufficient quantity in the body through live foods that will keep the body functioning properly, maintain the body, and rejuvenate the body. if these are not there in sufficient quantity, what happens? You are aging and you will have
a lot of health problems. Proper elimination of wastes from the body also is very important for good health. Healthy digestive system is crucial as it is well known that ‘Death begins in the Colon’.
Here is my point: your good health is in your hands. Don’t give authority to anybody to control your health. Doctors are knowledgeable, wonderful, and they are very essential, but they didn’t learn nutrition in medical schools, they learnt what is wrong with you and then this is the prescription. All over the world, people are running away from medication because of the side effect of drugs. So Integrative Nutrition Health Coaches are now helping people to make good food choices, modify their diet, and live a healthy lifestyle. A lot of people eat junk foods, drink a lot of alcohol, coffee, and soft drinks. These are damaging to our health at the end of the day. A lot of people, old and young feed on sugar; sugar is the food for cancer cells and is the reason for the increase in the cases of obesity, diabetes and hypertension. According the title of Don Colbert, MD, book, “Let Food Be Your Medicine”.
Then, you need to sleep adequately for your body to be charged. We must be sleeping by 10pm till 4am. The body is charged between 10pm and 2am, it has been proved.
HOW SHOULD COUPLES HANDLE THEIR FINANCES?
In answering this question, one must first consider the following points: One, is the marriage of the couples based on love or material things (money, properties etc.)? Two is it built on sincerity, honesty, integrity and trust . Once those elements are established , the rest of the equation is simple.
I believe very strongly that where there is genuine love, sincerity, honesty, integrity, trust, respect, fairness and contentment couples should maintain joint accounts.
JOINT PROJECTS
Again, this can be sorted out easily .Through discussion and mutual agreement, joint projects are easily financed by couples.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONLY ONE OF THE COUPLES IS WORKING?
Once the marriage is based on love coupled with the virtues stated above, one of the couples not working will not cause any problem. Where there is genuine love, there is patience, understanding, tolerance compassion, physical and spiritual support.
ADVANTAGES OF COUPLES MAINTAINING A JOINT ACCOUNTS
One of the greatest advantages is that it is easier to access the funds when the spouse passes away. If a spouse has a personal account, the account is frozen and the other spouse may not have access to funds. A joint account allow the surviving spouse to access the account easily. Joint Accounts can be a good way for couples to combine and grow their money to work toward their common goals.
It can also help couples to keep each other in check on spending carelessly and irresponsibly.
GENERAL TIPS FOR COUPLES WHO DESIRE TO TAKE CONTROL OF THEIR PERSONAL FINANCES
Apart from separate individual account, joint bank accounts is very necessary. If you do have separate accounts and one partner becomes incapacitated, the other may not be able to access his/her assets and there would be need for a financial Power of Attorney.
Couples who desire to take control of their personal finances should ensure to write their WILL to avoid complication and loss of assets in case of death.