If You Don’t Ask, You Might Never Know

Firstly, I am so sorry for my silence. I have been deliriously busy. I wake up in the morning and before I know it, it’s night. Right now, I’m typing this post at the expense of my sleep, and I’m gonna pay for it because I have an early meeting. Hopefully I don’t fall asleep in the middle. Meanwhile, I have been so busy that I have been carrying the same bag for weeks. The problem with this is that it’s one of those really big bags, and you know when you have a big bag, it may be stylish, but it encourages carrying rubbish. My bag is so heavy that when I go out with Igwe, I have him carry it. As I speak right now, there are all kinds of things in there, including two huge pairs of scissors. Don’t ask. Two days ago, I even had an underwear in there. Don’t worry, it was clean.

Anyway, so I have this company that sends me offers for sponsored posts every now and then. I have been working with them for over a year now, and they have been pretty consistent. Apart from a few posts that were significantly higher [in compensation], the rest have been paying the same amount.

Every time they send me an offer, I would begrudgingly accept it and wonder why on earth they cannot just pay more money, but I never bothered to ask. Las year, I did a whole bunch of posts for them, mostly for this same amount that has been vexing me. Technically, it’s not a bad amount, but haba, babe has been blogging for a while. Should she not receive a higher amount?

So last week, they sent me yet another campaign offer. This time, I vexed! I sent an email to the campaign manager asking her if the client was willing to negotiate because I just couldn’t do it at that price. She responded and asked how much I wanted. I decided to try my luck by doubling the price. I was using Naija sense because I was sure that there would be some negotiation. To my pleasant surprise, there was no negotiation. I was told that the new price was fine — just like that. Oh, but here’s the kicker: apparently, they have been offering me that price because that was what I listed as my minimum pay when I joined them. Aaaaahhhhh!

Without knowing it, I have been putting sand in my own garri. I thought about going back and counting all the posts I did for them last year, just to calculate how much I potentially lost, but my heart wouldn’t have been able to take it. It was just too much to deal with.

This might have been a little event, but it meant a lot to me. I was reminded once again that no matter how daunting something looks, I should go ahead and try. I’m currently trying to expand Verastic again – kind of – and what I’m asking for and looking for is big, and so far, I have gotten multiple rejections, but I’m hopeful that someone will say yes. Someone will definitely have to say yes. I don’t know who the person will be or when the person will say yes, but someone will have to say yes. Until then, I’ll keep looking. The worst that can happen is that the person will say no, and that’s okay. I’ll just have to keep looking. Wish me luck, Sweet Potatoes.

All that being said, may the memory and potential of the money I didn’t make rest in eternal peace. Amen.