CELEBRITY GUEST – OLAKUNLE OLADEHIN, BHEERHUGZ BRAND (MEDICAL DOCTOR CUM ENTREPRENEUR)

Hey guys, 

They say doctors are one of the busiest people on earth. Always on the move, never found lacking. If they aren't attending to patients or attending seminars, they are researching the next big thing. They are mostly satisfied with what they know how to do best, BEING A DOCTOR.

Well, not this Doc., young, intelligent, resilient and hardworking...and he is Nigerian.

So freaking excited! 

The first time I met him I was so intrigued that I started marketing for him without even knowing it.

He is someone I admire (believe me which is rare) and respect( which even more rare, don't blame me, take a good look around). Anyway, I am sure you guys can't wait too. So I will stop my chitchat and have you read his interview. 

Oh, his is name is Dr. Olakunle Oladehin, the brain behind the BHEERHUGZ BRAND!

If you didn't know, now you know…you can thank me later.

Real Gentlehawk: Can we meet you and what do you do?

Olakunle: I am Dr Olakunle Oladehin. I am a physician, a researcher, a family oriented man and lastly a young Nigerian entrepreneur. I live and schooled in Lagos, Nigeria, I have been in Lagos all my life. Everyone has a story, so do I. It was never easy.

Real Gentlehawk: What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture or to make significant changes in an existing business? 

Olakunle: Being the restless person that I am, I had to channel my spare time into something I had passion for. Something I was confident that passion will see me through no matter how hard things got. Change is a constant requirement in everything we do. You see, we cease to exist once we cease to change. My key driver for change has been "continuous improvement".

 

Real Gentlehawk: How did the idea for your business come about?

Olakunle: My passion for hospitality started while in medical school. As director of socials, I had the opportunity to play around with several ideas just as any teenager would. I fantasized about being an actor, owning a restaurant and still practicing my medical profession at the same time.

 

Real Gentlehawk: How do you build a successful customer base?

Olakunle: From the very onset, it was clear that having a successful restaurant would require that first timers coming back. It was also important that we understand and track our customers. So even when we do not see them, we still want to engage with them. Hence, we took full advantage of technology.

We created our loyalty Card platform (Hugz Fun Rewardz) which has really grown over the last 4 years and also improved in terms of user interface. Card holders get a lot of benefits and rewards, and more importantly, we also get to engage them even when they haven't visited in a while.

On the flip side, we also believe in giving back to the society. Supporting noble causes that elevate mankind. We recently gave out 100s of insecticide treated nets in our support to End Malaria scourge as well as support voluntary organizations as part of our corporate social responsibilities. 

 

Real Gentlehawk: Can you please describe your typical day?

Olakunle: I sleep mandatorily for 6 hours everyday. I dislike to talk on phone. Love to be the on social media and most importantly spend time with my family - which is the highlight.

 

Real Gentlehawk: What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?

Olakunle: My greatest fear is failure. I however understand that failure sometimes is part of the game. Take calculated risk and leave the rest to God.

 

Real Gentlehawk: How do you define success?

Olakunle: Empowering people and creating more entrepreneurs.

 

Real Gentlehawk: Who has been your greatest inspiration?

Olakunle: My father, Samuel Olafemiwa Oladehin. A seasoned accountant who taught me 30 years ago that no matter what profession i did in life, i must know and embrace the principles of accounting. Being a man of God, He also taught me to have the fear God and always do good. His legacy lives on as he passed away in 2007.

 

Real Gentlehawk: I am sorry, may his soul rest in peace.

Olakunle: Thanks, I wish he was still around to see what he started.

Real Gentlehawk: What book has inspired you the most? (OR What is your favorite book?)

Olakunle: I am not one to pick up books.......though, I am writing my own book. Hope you will read it. LOL

 

Real Gentlehawk: Why not, if you send me a copy. So what have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

Olakunle: I failed in almost everything at some point in life. I failed pathology in medical school, I have failed in relationships, in other business endeavors. Like I said earlier my greatest fear still is failure...... then again, failure is part of the journey. My  biggest lesson from failure is timing. Many factors contribute to failure, however, Timing is the biggest of all. 

 

Real Gentlehawk: What advice would you give to college students who want to become entrepreneurs?

Olakunle: No idea is stupid. You are better with something you have passion for. All you need is timing or let's say Perfect timing, if you understand what I'm trying to say...... Hit the rod when it is hot!!

Real Gentlehawk: Thank you so much for the interview.

Olakunle: It was a pleasure!

So you hear it from the horse’s mouth, keeping it true and real, will the the long run get you to that place. Keep pushing, loving and feeding your passion is all you need to be great. Giving up ain't an option! Try and try again. Failure is just a way of telling you, yep, I just learnt another way of not doing it that way.

Therefore, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Albert Einstein.

So peace out,

Your Gal,

Real Gentlehawk!

I REALLY NEED TO BE NAKED WITH YOU, PLEASE!

Now that I have your attention, maybe you guys can help me out here.

I have been pondering on this specific issue for a while now and i feel in my gusts that I am not alone on this.

The thing is that everywhere and everything you go or/and do in this world, perception seem to be a major factor, if not the very thing, people use in accessing who or what you are.

Ever heard of first impression last! Yep, that's it. 

So I ask is perception always right, or it is just a limiting factor, people need to get pass in order to see the real thing?

This 'Perception' thing is so major that every, if not all, organization channel a lot of energy and fund towards it. It is so huge that people have allowed this control their personal lives as well. Why, won't it? People run organization, don't they?

Anyways, the very issue i have with this 'Perception' thing is that, it has made it so difficult for people to distinguish between the 'REAL' and 'the FAKE', if you know what I mean.

Okay, let me break it down. Because people are been judged by perception, people generally work on themselves (even organizations are guilty of this) to be something or someone else as oppose to what or who they truly are. 

Please don't get me wrong, perception is a good thing - if not the Branding industry and the likes will not be doing so well but I'm not going to get into that today. Perception is really understanding who you really are than who someone else is. Don't know if you get my drift?

What I really want to understand is, why is something so good, be so wrong? 

The concept of perception is something I do not totally agree with, well for one, first impression is not always right and because it worked in one doesn't necessarily mean it will work for another. That is to say, 'What is good for the goose may not always good for the gander'. Sometimes, what we perceive may just be limited by our knowledge and understanding of that thing or that someone. 

So why based your conclusion on what you perceive only once or twice even besides, what makes you think your perception is right anyway?

I guess what I am trying to say is that the concept of perception has made us so judgemental that people are forgetting to be who they truly are. In order words, 'fake-ness' (lack of a better word) is the order of the day. Fake relationship, marriages, lives, parts of the body. Every one prefers to be a cheap replica of themselves.

So, Why can't I get naked with you? I want to reap off all the fake masks I'm wearing and be my real self. I don't want to be a stereotype, I just want to be me. Breathing the fresh air of being myself means freedom, happiness and longevity.

Conversely, Life is too short and complicated to play someone else or worse be someone else because someone says so, don't you think?

 

If you go back to one of my blogs titled 'A CRY FOR HELP' though it was about my favourite artist, Whitney Houston, you will discover that this perception thing has gone a little too far.

Pressure to be perfect in an imperfect world, how ironic is that. If truth be told people want to be free, they want to let lose and most importantly they want to be naked when it matters, which is, most of the time, if you ask me.

Perception without judgement, results in people airing their opinions without the fear of been reprimanded thus making them true to themselves and their environment at large. 

So I ask again, may I get nake with you? 

So real and so true

Real Gentlehawk.

I AM MY MOTHER’S DAUGHTER

WHAT THE DAUGHTER DOES, THE MOTHER DID - - (A JEWISH PROVERB)

How many times have you wished you were like your mum (Perfect and Beautiful) but then, when she does something to you that you dislike, you wish and say to yourself, "I will never be like her, or, I won’t be like her?

I was on the phone with a good friend of mine the other day, we were chatting about a lot of things, including his upcoming trips and wedding, but majorly why he hasn’t been keep in touch. 

“Work my dear, it takes too much of my time. I have been terribly busy”, he said.

Can you imagine that? i have been busy with work, is his excuse?
Guy, I really don’t get them when their only excuse is ‘work’. We know that already and stop making the rest of us look so unserious. 

Anyways, that was on a lighter note (hey, up me, i made a joke). 

But seriously, back to what i was saying, while scolding him on that (by the way which I enjoy doing with my guys friends – it is fun acting like their mother, most times they are kids… at heart, irrespective of their Spartan exterior), he said something very alarming and surprisingly as well.

Well for me it was, also my response shocked me even further (read on and you will see why).
I made a comment on something I really can't remember what but his response to it was that, “You sound so much like your mother right now”.

When he said that I was taken aback but really, the surprise was from what I found myself replying. I found myself saying, “Why not, I am my mother’s daughter”.

Well as a girl who partially grew up in what felt like a single parent but actually having both parents (long story…and by the way it is complicated!!!) most of my young life, my mother was my inspiration and anchor (duh! don’t we all say that!). 

As I grew from a child to a teenager/young lady, I didn’t think that anymore. I felt she was mean, not supportive and not smart enough to help me, or better still, befriend me (Do not look at me as if you don’t know what I am talking about or this thought has never crossed your mind).

Both of us are always at each other’s throat…the truth then was, it was either I kill her or she kills me, well, literally, it was simple as that. And you know mothers (a good one, is what I am referring to), they never give up on you.
But as I grew a little older, in maturity I mean, I began to understand and see that despite the fact that my mother isn't perfect, she still loves me with her life. 

Her imperfection may be a thing of confusion to me, but the truth is that her imperfection is what makes her human - loving, caring and giving. So I took a good look at myself, reassess myself and discovered that I am not perfect also. 

So whatever, she is all I have got and ever get and I love her because in her imperfection, there is a resounding and resilience perfection.

And as that Jewish proverb said, i can bet my life on it that she also had the same feelings or reservations about my grandmother as I have of her, yet the amazing thing about all this is that, with every generation, the imperfections get better. 

One way or the other, i feel deep within that It is up to us as daughters to upgrade because we have the imperfection of our mothers (No matter who or what you have achieved as a mother or how much your daughters loves or hates you), it is our obligation to upgrade the imperfection a notch.

I am not saying you should change who you are, well the fact is you can’t, no matter how much you try anyway, but what I am trying to say is this, firstly we need to understand and accept we are our mothers' daughter (love it or hate it, it is the way it is) but if there is something about yourself you know you got from your mother, don’t like, upgrade it.

Okay let me explain it this way to you, let say your grandmother is a version 6.0, then your mother will be a version 6.1, you then work on being an upgrade version of 6.1 which is 6.2 - that is what makes it beautiful. 

To all daughters, I would like to hear your opinion on this subject. Your thoughts, your comments, your stories or advice will go a long way. So why not leave a comment or two.

 

Yes, I am my mother’s daughter, I didn’t get to choose it but by God, I would make the best out of it. My mother may not be all that but she is everything to me and together we will walk out our imperfections - for I know who I am.

So I will be real and true to who I am…

MY MOTHER’S DAUGHTER!!!

CROSS ROADS

So guys,

What do they say about crossroads?
Some say that it is a point where people met and anything may/can happen.
That it is a time bomb waiting, watching and waiting for the right time to explode.
Cross roads are things from the past, where the present meets the future.
It is pain, it is stain yet so, clean, clear and rare.

Many of us have been there and most of us haven't dare.
We all wish for a point on the crossroad.
so we walk, work and play smart to see those who rule
If we would reach the very point that will either make us or break us.
Cross roads come in the T's or the X's.

Whichever way we call it, it is a meeting point for you and me.
"It's nice meeting you." - "So where are you off to?"
"How can i get there?" - "Oh, it's not too far!"
"Don't bother to go there!" - "And what'll i do next?"
A great and disjoined meeting point it is and can be.

I would hate to be cut in that webbly point but it is a great feeling 'cos it will get you there
if you find the right way
But not to worry, even if you miss it this time, retrace it and you will be surprised
that the cross roads are always there and the same.
Atleast now you know where not take... and what not to do.

We all have cross roads, we all stop or pause there - to catch a breathe or retrace a step
Cross roads are important especially if you are willing to find the WAY
whatever way you wish to go.....be sure to know....That, to be REAL and TRUE...will save you alot too.

So, it's Gentlehawk
Hold it up and be REAL