Hate her or love her, Linda Ikeji is a powerful figure, and while some of you are busy hating on her mansion, money and style of blogging, she’s making enormous power moves and giving media top dogs a run for the roses. She recently shared photos of her new, lush and definitely opulent office space and announced the birth of her media company that comprises of radio, TV and music.

We reckon all these were being put together while many of us were on Twitter calling her names when she came for Wizkid. See the work of God!

Linda may not be your favourite person, her blog may be a rolling bundle of crap, and her style may be the most irreverent on Naija’s web space but if you are a budding enterpreneur in this country, you might want to stop for a minute and take notes from Linda on how to build that empire of your dreams.

Here are 7 things you can take from Aunty Linda:

1. Do not give up on your dreams: If you follow Linda Ikeji on social media, you’ll know she has followed her dreams through till where she is right now. She’s fond of using the hashtag #dreamsdocometrue on her success captions. Many times, Linda Ikeji has reiterated that she had not always been rich, her story is the grass to grace type but through the struggles, she held on tight to her big dreams. Look how that has worked for her now. If you are an enterpreneur and you still don’t see that bright future for your business, you need to go to sleep and dream.

2. Be consistent: As cliche as this sounds, consistency is obviously something Linda Ikeji practices. For someone who started an internet blog at a time when Nigerians had not yet been admitted into the blogosphere, she must have had every reason on earth to quit. Starting out is usually pretty difficult, staying on against all the odds is even harder and this is how Linda Ikeji is at the top now. Before you beef her Banana Island mansion, remember that she flew on the wings of her never-say-die attitude to that mansion.

3. Shut out the noise: If you’re serious about taking lessons from Linda Ikeji, you must know how to shut out naysayers. Linda Ikeji is so thickskinned that it’s become sort of her trademark. But hey, it’s why she’s still here. Abuse her from now till tomorrow, call her out for posting false news, threaten her with area boys, call her clothes and bags fake, Linda stays on top. You have to accept early enough that not everyone will love you and what you do. They will hate on you publicly but you will stand in your bedroom’s walk-in closet and take photos so they can see your ceiling to floor designer bag collection. Linda has no chill!

4. Focus: Linda Ikeji may not be the most vocal person in the Nigerian media industry but her brand sure speaks for her. Over time, she has floated the Self-made Campaign empowering young ladies to be independent in business and life. Some will say she is discouraging our daughters from marriage and submission, others say she’s teaching them prostitution. You people have serious problem sha. Your daughters, Linda’s proteges are not complaining. They look up to her, daily tap into the anointing on her head and she pays attention to them as well. The lesson here is to know your audience and focus on them. Your market is not for everybody.

5. Move only when you’re ready: It’s hard to forget how an online contributor gave her a wordy tutorial on how she needs to diversify and step out of her shell, Linda did not acknowledge the advice, pretended not to notice and made no moves until she was ready. Her moves are now in Incredible Hulk style, the type that will cause a mini-quake in Nigeria’s media industry. Linda is mostly silent until she has a big step to take then she goes all out. As an upcoming enterpreneur, you will need to adopt this style. Take your world by storm when you feel you’re prepared for it, not when the world puts pressure on you to do so.

6. Be true to your voice: Most people especially in the upper class, elite group are very critical of Linda Ikeji’s style of writing. She has received a lot of backlash for being posting every information that comes her way unfiltered, for ruining lives, reputations and families with some of her stories, for the condescending tone in her apologies even after damage is done but so far, she has stuck to all of these things. Her thought process must sound like: “all of you can wound yourselves if you want, i remain Linda and no one will stop me”. Sounds a lot like something Donald Trump would say. We don’t like him but he’s on top too, no doubt.

7. Save: Do not spend all your money on dressing up until you have enough to spare. Linda’s wardrobe is fascinating, no doubt. She can buy bags worth millions but trust that she has a lot of cash stashed in the bank and only spends a small fraction of her earnings on fashion. Do not take the wrong lessons from her expensive taste, she can actually afford them and not cry afterwards. Make sure you have a spending limit. Linda sure does and we see where all the savings go.

Isime Esene