BankyW Tells His Story: I Sold My CD’s At Salons To Survive

Banky W may be a household name now, but he wasn't
always. There was a time the singer was broke, struggling
and unsure of success. Read his story below.
Excerpts:
"Everybody knows me to be the Chief Executive Officer,
CEO, of EME, but what people do not know is that EME
started when I was in my third year in university in New
York.
You see, we all dream dreams, but it is important to think
very big and start where you are because God never gives
you everything but gives you enough to start.
At that time, I knew I wanted to do music, but of course I
understood nobody starts by selling a million CDs or the big
screen!
I worked in fast foods outlets, clothing stores and as a knife
salesman, selling knives from door to door. That way, I
gathered money to pay for studio recording time. I was
recording with a close friend at that time.
After making that music, we printed a thousand CDs though
we didn't have any fan. I had one battered car that broke
down virtually everywhere, so, we would print black and
white posters, stick them on the sides of the car, sell from
the car's trunk and drive to salons to do marketing.
We would walk to the owners of the salons, greet politely,
and ask them to let us entertain their customers. Sometimes,
some would kick us out and sometimes some would say yes.
If told yes, after singing for a minute or two, we would sell
our CDs to the customers! That was the beginning!
A lot of people see you on stage and see the success but do
not know what you had to go through! I never had one
really big break; it was always two steps forward and a
couple backwards.
But I just decided that I was going to make music work for
me. That was why I moved on to a new salon each time any
salon rejected me!
I just kept going because I believe failure is when you give
up. Albert Einstein said he tried a hundred times to make
the light bulb. When he was asked what kept him going
during the 99 times, he said: 'I didn't consider those 99
times as failure; rather, I considered them 99 ways that it
didn't work!'
We went about selling CDs and, on the days we couldn't
sell much, we would sit down and be broke together. I
remember my friend was a member of a church that usually
served food after service. So, on the days we didn't sell
CDs and were too broke to buy food, we would attend
service in that church so we could pack rice and store in the
fridge.
At a point, being a student of industrial engineering, I was
working for an engineering company and was recording as
well. I would go to work from 7am till about 2pm and then
go to school till about 8pm, and then drive two and a half
hours to New York City where the studio that would let us
record for less was, and record until about 2am.
I would then drive two and a half hours back home to be
back at work at 7am the following day.
One day, I was driving home from work and was so tired
that I fell asleep while on a bridge. I would have driven off
from the top of the bridge to God knows where, if not for
an on-going construction work. God really saved me!"
After a while, Banky's hard work began to pay off and,
even while in school, he began winning awards, beginning
with the 'Albany Idol' competition. Other international
awards soon followed.
In 2008 when he decided to move to Nigeria after the
completion of one of his albums, Mr Capable, Banky was
consistently told his genre of music 'would never appeal to
Nigerians and therefore wouldn't 'sell'.
As he got turned down, pressure mounted on him and his
manager to change their genre of music but Banky strongly
held on to another long-standing principle which had taught
him to stand out by being unique rather than trying to
imitate anyone's skill.
He therefore insisted on sticking to R&B, and this paid-off
as he soon became a household name in the Nigerian
entertainment industry!
Banky's advice:
"You cannot say enough about the grace of God and I
therefore do not want to claim any form of glory. Falling
down is inevitable but getting back up is optional!
Frankly, you can't appreciate sunshine if you've never been
through a heavy rain. Yes, life is tough, but what do you do
in those tough moments?
Do you learn the lesson, stand up again, consider yourself
stronger and keep going? Or do you sit down and feel sorry
for yourself?
The graveyard, they say, is the richest place in the world
because therein lies so many who died with their dreams.
So, my advice is, do not give up! If Banky can be where he
is today, you can be where you want to be if you put to
mind to it."