It's been almost a minute since I last updated you on my marketing journey, and man, it's been wholesome with a lot of learning. So, here's a rough catch-up: • I'm taking a paid course, with many more to come. • I've been studying brands and businesses. • I've been learning a lot about content creation. • I've been observing human interests and reactions as well. I've been implementing what I've learned too, and the results have been productive so far. Recently, I've been trying to find that key to unlocking the ocean of retention skills. User onboarding is heavily tied to needs and friction, while retention is the bigger picture and a core requirement for scaling. I'll round up a draft or two over the weekend and put them out.

It's been almost a minute since I last updated you on my marketing journey, and man, it's been wholesome with a lot of learning. So, here's a rough catch-up: • I'm taking a paid course, with many more to come. • I've been studying brands and businesses. • I've been learning a lot about content creation. • I've been observing human interests and reactions as well. I've been implementing what I've learned too, and the results have been productive so far. Recently, I've been trying to find that key to unlocking the ocean of retention skills. User onboarding is heavily tied to needs and friction, while retention is the bigger picture and a core requirement for scaling. I'll round up a draft or two over the weekend and put them out.

XPOW XCROW has been in the workshop for quite a while. We’re a lean team, so we’re moving at a fair pace, not as fast as we’d like, though. XCROW has been live on beta for over a week now. We’ve been testing and fixing necessary bugs, drawing closer to going live. These are the features we currently have working: • Contracts: Proposal Approval/Rejection Service Submission Approval/Completion Dispute • Payment: Funding/Deposit Upfront Disbursement Platform Fees (shared equally between the client and service provider) Instant Release/Payment after Job Completion Confirmation Dispute Settlement • Contract Creation: Talent Client New User Invite for Contracts • Last Milestone: Referral Commission The commission feature will be deployed within the next 24 hours, and we’ll be testing thoroughly across the platform. We’ll also open the gates for external testing and feedback in case the team happens to miss any bugs or errors. It’s all coming alive. I’ll keep y’all posted.

XPOW XCROW has been in the workshop for quite a while. We’re a lean team, so we’re moving at a fair pace, not as fast as we’d like, though. XCROW has been live on beta for over a week now. We’ve been testing and fixing necessary bugs, drawing closer to going live. These are the features we currently have working: • Contracts: Proposal Approval/Rejection Service Submission Approval/Completion Dispute • Payment: Funding/Deposit Upfront Disbursement Platform Fees (shared equally between the client and service provider) Instant Release/Payment after Job Completion Confirmation Dispute Settlement • Contract Creation: Talent Client New User Invite for Contracts • Last Milestone: Referral Commission The commission feature will be deployed within the next 24 hours, and we’ll be testing thoroughly across the platform. We’ll also open the gates for external testing and feedback in case the team happens to miss any bugs or errors. It’s all coming alive. I’ll keep y’all posted.

I built a school management system for a private academy in Port Harcourt. Total cost: ₦3.2 million. They paid ₦1.5 million upfront. The rest was supposed to come after the first term. The system handled everything: Student records. Report cards. Fee payments. Parent communication. Staff payroll. It was clean. Fast. Secure. The proprietress called me after launch and said, "This is the best thing that has happened to this school." I believed her. Three weeks before the balance was due, she stopped picking my calls. Not entirely. She would text back. "I'm in a meeting." "Can we talk next week?" "The school is going through a rough patch." I understood. Schools in Nigeria always have "rough patches." But then I noticed something strange. The system was still being used. Every day. Teachers logging in. Parents making payments. Report cards being generated. The school was running. But my money wasn't coming. I checked the server logs. Someone had created a new admin account. Not one I created. Not one the proprietress told me about. The username was simple: "schooladmin2." I traced the IP address. It wasn't from the school. It wasn't from my office. It was from a residential area in a different part of the city. I called the proprietress. She picked on the second ring. "Ah, my brother! I was just about to call you." I said, "Who created the new admin account?" Silence. Then, "What new admin account?" I said, "The one created three days ago. At 2:14 a.m. From an IP address in Rumuokoro." More silence. Then she said, "Maybe it's the ICT teacher. He was doing some upgrades." I said, "Your ICT teacher doesn't have access to create admin accounts. Only you do. And me." She went quiet again. I said, "What's going on?" She sighed. "Can we meet?" — We met at a restaurant in GRA. She came with her husband. The husband was a businessman. Oil and gas. Always talking about "big money" but never showing it. He sat down and said, "We don't think we should pay the balance." I said, "Why?" He said, "The system is good, but we found someone who can maintain it for less. And he's already made some improvements." I looked at the proprietress. She avoided my eyes. I said, "So you gave admin access to someone else while still owing me money?" The husband said, "Don't say owing. We're restructuring the agreement." I said, "There's no restructuring. We have a contract. You owe me ₦1.7 million." He smiled. "We'll pay what we think is fair." I said, "Fair according to who?" He said, "Fair according to the value we've received." I stood up. "I'll be in touch."