Interview: Onibalusi Bamidele

Onibalusi Bamidele is a 17 year old entrepreneur living the internet dream. He makes over $2500 online every month and has been featured as one of the top 30 young bloggers making money online. Visit his blog at YoungPrePro.com and follow him on twitter – @youngprepro to learn more from him. You should also get his guide on getting traffic to your blog via guest blogging.

Tell us a little background info about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been working in this industry?
Yeah, it’s really a pleasure to be interviewed on this blog.

I’m Onibalusi Bamidele a 17 year old Nigerian blogger who believes in the power of living the internet dream. I have been blogging for 12 months now and my experience with blogging has been awesome.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
Yeah, what I’m most proud in is being able to achieve my dreams. I’m someone who strongly believes in myself and once I give something a go there is nothing stopping me – I’m happy because I wasn’t let down and I’m able to live the dream I have always desired. Below are some of my notable achievements.
- Making $3000+ per month online
- Having over 1,500 blog subscribers
- Getting over 10,000 monthly visitors from all over the world
- Being ranked (by Alexa) as the 17,000 most visited website in the world.
- And most importantly, being able to meet a lot of awesome people from all over the world.

How did you come to learn about this industry? Why did you choose this career?
Like many other people new to the concept of making money online I started by venturing into online surveys, PTR scans, data entry jobs and many more. After trying to make money to no avail I discovered one of Steve Pavlina’s articles when trying to learn how to make money online and I learnt about blogging. Steve talked about the importance of giving value to get results and since doing that I have never had cause to look back.

When did you first realize the full potential in affiliate marketing and blogging? When did you first “hit the big time?”
Aha, that was when I started building my list. With less than 150 subscribers a single affiliate email I sent made me $50. Ever since then I have decided to give anything it takes to succeed online. I also realized the power of blogging when I was contacted by a big stock site giving me free access to the site worth over $1400, that was a notable achievement and it made me more determined to succeed.

What do you think it takes to be successful as a blogger?
Passion, Skill and Tenacity. Your passion makes sure you never quit, your skills make sure you do the right thing and tenacity makes sure you never give up till you get the desired results.

What have been your biggest failures and frustrations?
My biggest failure was investing a large percentage of my time to write a post I think will help a lot of new bloggers only to see it ending up as a waste – it didn’t go viral as I expected. My biggest frustration was not planning how I would monetize my blog from the beginning – if I were to start again, I would never make that mistake.

What is the single toughest problem you’ve had to face, and how did you get through it?
The single toughest problem I faced was getting my guest posts featured on top blogs in my niche. With serious effort to give my best and persistent determination to get what I want I was able to overcome this.

Is there anything that you don’t like to do, that you just hate working on?
Yeah, I hate reading and responding to emails. I hate it like anything and I believe my time should be spent doing what brings results. I would have stopped using email but unfortunately I will lose more than I will gain. A lot of communications, business opportunities that make me several thousands of dollars was initiated through email so I wouldn’t underestimate its power. At least, people must have a way to get in touch with me.

What is the future of marketing?
I believe the future of marketing is far more powerful than it is now. The time is coming when only the smart will survive and I believe “drama” will have a great effect on the results we get.

If it’s possible for you to share, are there any particular niches that you currently favor? Or that you aren’t necessarily in right now but that you would recommend?
Yeah! I’m presently not into niche marketing (I plan to be soon) but I would recommend going into the fishing niche and the green energy niche. Those two niches are not that competitive if you have what it takes and the ROI is very powerful.

What niche has worked best for you?
The blogging / small business / entrepreneurship / make money online niche is the niche I presently work in and it is giving me my desired result.

Which methods of promotion do you favor?
Guest Blogging. In fact I have a complete guide on it that explains how I was able to get 300+ guest posts published in 1 year. Some of which sent me over a thousand visitors in one day. The guide can be downloaded here (opt-in required). I will strongly recommend that anybody interested in taking their blog to the next level should get that report.

How have you made those promotion methods successful?
By researching and following what works, not what people say.

What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on?
I’m working on making my blog the top young entrepreneur blog in the world. I want to spread the word about it and let people see the power of living the internet dream, one way I’ve been doing that is by being more transparent by displaying my income and traffic report every month. I’m also planning to start a free product on how I get the results I get.

What problems have you had with those new projects?
I need time. I’m a huge and busy procrastinator so I’m working on getting more time to make my projects a success.

Do you think anything particular in your past prepared you for this industry? Your education? Jobs you’ve held before?
Yeah! I’m a natural believer that success is achievable and I’ve never been disappointed but with English not being my native language my education played a huge role in the results I get. I have to communicate with others and this is where my education comes in.

What are your greatest strengths?
Tenacity and stubbornness. It was what made me write over 300 guest posts in 2010 without giving up and I’m so stubborn that if I determine to achieve something, no matter how long it takes, nothing can stop me.

What are your greatest weaknesses?
Distractions and Procrastination. I am easily distracted and I procrastinate a lot and these two things end up affecting the results I get.

What motivates you?
My goals.

What is the best advice you’ve been given and try to apply to your life?
Follow your mind.

Who has impacted you most in your career, and how?
Aha, myself. All kidding aside, Steve Pavlina, his article on how to make money blogging let me know the importance of giving value without expecting results. I follow this rule till today and it has never let me down.

What kinds of people do you have difficulties working with? Any good stories?
Aha, people who don’t believe in themselves. People with low self-esteem, people who believe 99% of the things in life are impossible and people who believe it is impossible to have wealth. I just hate working with them.

What are some of your long-term goals? How much is enough? If money was no object, what would you be doing?
One of my long-term goals is to make my blog the top young entrepreneur blog in the world. And my ultimate goal is to help impact people’s lives. If money was no object I will be more than happy helping people achieve their dreams. I’m sure I will have achieved all these goals, at most, in the next 3 years.

Where do you want to be ten years from now?
Finish school (Yeah, I still plan to do that, I believe in education), start one of the biggest companies in the world and be of great influence to the world.

How do you like to spend your free time? What does work-life balance mean to you?
Wow, I love watching movies. In fact, I’m planning to create a schedule in which I spend more time watching movies than working on my business ; after all, everything isn’t about working. I know this sounds ridiculous but I believe the result you get isn’t about how hard you work but how smart.

I am just beginning to realize the importance of work-life balance. I usually spend 10+ hours online everyday without caring about any other thing but nowadays I only spend 6+ hours online. I’m not that social in the real world (I mean, I don’t love going out with friends and all those stuff) so even if I spend less time working the rest of my time will be spent reading and watching movies.

What career choices do you see yourself making in the future?
Starting a company, blogging more wisely, writing a book and signing big contracts with big companies. The most important of all is I plan to be always self-employed. I’m going to school not for the certificate but to have more knowledge to improve my life, business and that of others.

What is your greatest achievement outside of work? What are some of your unfulfilled dreams?
Well, I’m a self-proclaimed prophet. Yeah, it’s somehow complicated but I have a lot of gifts, I can prophesy things that will happen, I can sense the future before it comes (even though this doesn’t happen always) and I’m so happy God “always” answers my prayers. I’m saying these things not to exalt myself but because they all had a major impact on my career. When I wanted to start blogging I didn’t have a computer or anything and as a 13 year old boy who lost his father at the age of 7 it was difficult for my mom to cater for her 6 (yes, 6) children let alone buy me a computer. I prophesied for the money to come (that was how I bought my computer), I also prophesied to get the money to buy a major smart phone I needed to connect my computer to the internet. Also, aside these two notable financial achievements I don’t use my “gifts” to advance my business (I have never prophesied on my business) – everything is a result of God’s grace, favor and hard work.

I have a lot of unfulfilled dreams; a major one is making my blog the top young entrepreneur online and getting to 1,000 daily visitors.

What is your favorite quote?
Once it is conceivable, it is achievable.

Do you have a Twitter account or Facebook “Like” page?
Yeah, you can follow me on twitter – @youngprepro and on my Facebook Fan Page.