Meet Olamide Giwa

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Olamide Giwa. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Olamide, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

To be honest, imposter syndrome is something I still struggle with. However, after meeting a lot of successful people, I realized that they also struggle with imposter syndrome even after achieving huge success and wealth. This knowledge comforts me whenever the imposter feeling starts creeping in. Because at the end of the day, everyone in the room feels like they do not belong there, and so in a weird way, we are all the same.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am the co-founder and CEO of Snooze Lane, a Luxury Vacation Rental in Houston Texas. I used to be a Chemical Engineer and now I manage the day to day running of my business. I am passionate about Interior Design and I also do it professionally on the side. I designed all 7 units at Snooze Lane.

I was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States when I was 18 years old. Like many others, we were conditioned to strive to work hard in school, graduate, get a good job and live happily ever after. But as soon as I started my presumed “happily ever after”, something didn’t feel right, I was not fulfilled.
It turned out that I had a creative bone in me and needed a way to express it. That was the moment I started to explore and took my passion for interior design and real estate seriously. I started attending real estate meetups, watching videos and experimenting on DIY projects. All of which unknowingly to me was allowing me to amass many essential skills that would eventually serve me well when I started Snooze Lane.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three most important qualities that were most impactful for me in my journey was my sense of urgency, my love for learning and my willingness to fail and look stupid.

My advice for folks who are early in their journey is to find a mentor in the field or business they want to embark on. When you find one, consume all their content, buy their books, take their courses or you can even go as far as working for them for free or take a pay cut.

A practical tip to finding a mentor is by going to many meetup events in your industry of choice.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

When I feel overwhelmed with work or life, I take a pen and paper and just write what I am thinking or feeling.

If the source of my frustration is my long to-do lists, I write down all the lists of things I need to do, then re-arrange them according to importance, then pick a day or time to get the most important thing done. I find that having my problems listed out on a paper, helps relieve my brain from holding so much in; which in turn relaxes me. Having a set time to do it, also help relieve the stress because now I know I am doing something about it.

If the source of my overwhelming feeling is personal life related, I write down how I feel.
When writing, I am very honest about my feelings. If I get angry because of something silly or embarrassing, I still write it down as is. For example, I could write “I am sad because I did not make it on time to my son’s school play” or something like that. That way, I allow myself to feel and not deny it and then it passes. Reminding myself that.. “This too shall pass”

Another thing I do is brainstorm about the worst case scenario, after realizing how trivial and non-devastating the worst case scenario is, I become calm. After all, I am not in a war-torn country with no food or shelter dying of starvation.

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