15 Hard Lessons from 15 Years of Building in Nigeria

This is not a motivational book, because motivation fades by Monday morning. These are the fifteen things that cost me fifteen years to learn, written down so they’ll cost you an afternoon.

Digital edition · 45 pages · Free on Selar

15 Hard Lessons from 15 Years of Building in Nigeria by Kevin Eze, front and back cover

The Lessons You Cannot Google

Most people building in Nigeria learn the same lessons, and nearly all of them learn each one the expensive way, after the partner has gone, after the money has gone, after the year has gone.

I learnt mine building websites as a teenager, running agencies, growing communities across Africa, and marketing music that’s now past a billion streams, with no investors, no shortcuts and no blueprint.

The book is those fifteen lessons in the order I wish somebody had handed them to me, so you can read in an afternoon what took me fifteen years to live.

Kevin Eze, known as Xclusive Pikin, author of 15 Hard Lessons, photographed in black and white
These are the hard lessons. The ones nobody tells you when you are starting. The ones that only land when you have lived them.From the back cover

What The Fifteen Were Tested Against

None of it is theory, because every lesson in the book was paid for inside these numbers, and the festival side of the work has picked up two World Culinary Awards along the way.

15+
Years Building
200+
Artists Across 17 Countries
1B+
Career Streams Contributed
5,000+
Artists Trained

What Is Inside

Fifteen lessons, one per chapter
Each one names the mistake, what it cost me, and the move that fixes it, then tells you which of the 4Cs it lives in: Capital, Content, Collaboration or Code.
No.— 01
One drawing and one line per lesson
A charcoal illustration and a block quote for each, so when you need a lesson again at two in the morning you can find it in ten seconds.
No.— 02
Pages you write in, not just read
You write down what you’re building before the lessons start, what hit hardest at the halfway mark, and the one thing you’ll do differently at the end, so the book leaves with a plan in it.
No.— 03
A bonus lesson at the end
The one that decides whether the other fifteen ever pay you back, and it isn’t on this page.
No.— 04

Five Of The Fifteen

The first five, in the order they’re meant to be read, because the order is the point and the first one is the hardest.

No.— 01
The Country You Were Born In Is Already Working Against You. Here Is What To Do About It.
No.— 02
Staying Local Is Not Playing It Safe. It Is Slowly Dying.
No.— 03
The Older You Get, The More Expensive Your Mistakes Become. Move Now.
No.— 04
Forget the Perfect Team. Find the Hungry Ones and Build Together.
No.— 05
The Wrong Person in Your Corner Will Cost You More Than Any Failed Business.
No.— 06 to 15
The other ten are in the book. Lessons six to fifteen are the ones about people, money and your own mind, and they only make sense after the first five have done their work.

Who It Is For

You’ve built something real, and something still isn’t working
You’ve started to suspect the problem isn’t the product, and you’re right, because the expensive mistakes are almost never about the product.
No.— 01
You’re an artist or a creative who’s tired of hearing that talent is enough
Talent gets you ready, and this is the part about what actually gets you there, which in Nigeria is not what you were told.
No.— 02
You’ve been burned once already, by a partner, a client or a deal
The lessons on people, on money and on your own mind are the ones that only land after that, and they’re the reason the book exists.
No.— 03

The Details

Title
15 Hard Lessons from 15 Years of Building in Nigeria
Author
Kevin Eze, known as Xclusive Pikin
Format
Digital book, PDF
Length
45 pages, fifteen lessons and a bonus
Language
English
ISBN
978-978-68-8772-2
Price
Free during the launch window
Available on
Selar

Questions

Is the book really free?

Yes, for the launch window, and you get it on Selar at no cost, because when the window closes it goes on sale, so the free edition is the one to take now.

What format is it?

A 45-page digital book, delivered as a PDF you can read on a phone, a tablet or a laptop, with a few pages that are meant to be written in.

Who is it for?

Anyone building something in Nigeria, or somewhere that works the way Nigeria works, where the playbook you read about was written for another market. Founders, artists, creatives and the people who run things for them.

Is this a motivational book?

No, because motivation fades by Monday morning, and these are the lessons that cost years to learn, written down plainly so they cost you an afternoon instead.

Will it be on Amazon?

An Amazon edition is coming, and until it lands the Selar edition is the one available, and it’s free.

The Lessons Will Find You Either Way

The only question is whether you pay for them with fifteen years or with an afternoon, and while the launch window is open, the afternoon is free.