Konnected Minds Podcast

Segment:- From Dropout to Millionaire: The Street Hustle you accept will never upset you.

• Derrick Abaitey

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A first million earned by 28. Everything lost by 32. Not a parable—an honest account of how seasonal timing, storage arbitrage, and scrappy logistics turned maize into momentum, then how one unhedged bet on coffee and a missing insurance policy let a storm erase years of gains. We walk through each decision point: why warehouses mattered more than cars, how owning a truck doubled margin, and where “patience” slipped into speculation. The story doesn’t stop at loss; it pivots to the discipline that kept the builder steady—“Don’t use feelings”—and the leadership principle behind it: what you accept will never upset you.

We also dive into a philosophy of parenting that cuts against the grain. Comfort without context breeds fragility. Starting kids at the bottom of the ladder—security, messenger, hands-on roles—teaches the value of money, time, and service. The goal isn’t to replicate struggle; it’s to transmit standards. Poverty is a curse to escape, but entitlement can be just as corrosive. True legacy is measured by whether your children surpass you, not whether you outshine them.

To tie it all together, we lay out a simple framework for money: work hard when you’re young and fill your hours; work smart in middle age by analyzing better and leveraging your network; and build systems that protect gains so they can grow—insurance, diversification within competence, and pace control. If you’ve ever wondered how to turn hustle into durable wealth without letting one bad season undo the rest, this conversation gives you the map and the mindset. If it resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more grounded stories like this, and leave a review with the one lesson you’re taking into your next decision.

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Host: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey/

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SPEAKER_01:

This question they've asked me so many times. When you do sit in this chair, I have to ask you because we know that you were a messenger, then you worked uh in the construction site, you were a driver's mate as well, you were a people teacher at some at a point as well. Yeah, but how did you make that first million?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, let me let me let me let me let me tell you. At that point, I was working between airport and tamaport, and I started selling maize. So Fridays, I leave for Techiman to buy maize during bumper harvest. I bring it all the way to Insawam. I had some warehouses there during bumper harvest. I can store maze, core quality control to come and show me, get the whole place from it. Leave it there and go back to work. I was making some small, small money also around my packpack movement. During late season, I could sell the same maze four times the same price. Whenever it's sold, I add a profit and I'll increase my quantity. I'll add a profit, increase my quantity. Add a profit, increase my quantity. I'll make so much money. During those days and my journey of buying maize, I noticed that robusta coffee. There's a lot of coffee in the interland. So I started buying coffee, the raw coffee. So I was buying coffee and maize. So I started exporting the coffee. I have a client in Europe called Euro Commodities. At the same time, also my logistics business. So I had to buy, instead of hiring trucks, I have to buy my first truck out of the profit to be able to make more profit. Okay, so at this level, what was your education level? At that level, I was uh I struggling to go to university. I was a school dropout. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

So everything you knew was from the streets. From the streets. So you apply the principles on the streets. On the streets. With a little bit of discipline. To make your first million. To make my first million.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you see the money in cash? Oh yeah. I was collecting cash, but yeah. And how did you feel? You know, you go and lie down, you feel like God. But you step out of the room, you feel humble. At a boy coming this way, but you cannot notice what I was making. I was driving fiat ritual. You can go go fiat rhythm.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

You you bet your first million dollars, the car I was driving was fiat ritual. A diesel engine. What was your plan that time?

SPEAKER_01:

That's that if we take you back to that first million, what was your plan to grow that money?

SPEAKER_00:

It wasn't enough for me, honestly speaking. I knew I could do more because it was like an opening. I said, oh, just keep going, just keep going, just keep going. And eventually I lost all.

SPEAKER_01:

How did you lose it?

SPEAKER_00:

I lost everything. I have to sell my car to pay my three, four workers' salary. You know, greed. You know, greed. Can when you are too much hungry and uh greed setting, it's okay. But so the path and the experience that you have to. I I lost all I bought a whole uh warehouse of coffee. And the price of coffee went down, and I decided to keep it for another season for the price to rise again. Little did I know that I have to insure the whole stuff. So I didn't insure it. I left for school. I was doing my diploma course in Lehigh University. So I dashed to school. I was there when I got a heavy rain and washed away the whole warehouse. And wash away the whole warehouse in the western region. That was the end of that. But it wasn't the end of me. When the phone call came? Yeah. How did you sound after they told you? I was calm. I've never reacted to problems. Why? I don't react to problems. Why do you react? Don't use feelings. When God wants something to happen, it happens. So at times you you need to leave the space for God to let it play out. Don't use feelings. Don't use feelings. Please, you have to get deep into this one. I really want to learn. At times we react, we use feelings to deal with issues. Don't use feelings. You see, what you accept will never upset you. What you accept in your life will never frustrate you. What you accept would never depress you. So you need to be a master of your own feelings. The world is a wonderful place. If you want to be a very good leader, be in charge of yourself first.

SPEAKER_01:

You made your first million at what age? 28, yes. 28. And then you lost it at what age? 32. These times you had family, your own family? Yes, yes. And they were in good schools, I guess. From the million. You probably put them in good schools. I'm just trying to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Normally, my children, my children are like modest schools. Because I'm talking to you, one of my sons is in Saito. Yeah.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

My last but one son is in Saito. Okay, please. Why? I want him to be tough a little. I want a school that use a rod. I want a school that uh walk in and out and understand that look, you can't take a lunchbox to school. Take money and go and buy some watch it by the street and sit in the classroom and like that is my life. So I want to give him that kind of training to see. And I've not regretted doing.

SPEAKER_01:

Is this coming from a father who has worked so hard for what he has? So he's trying to install certain values in the kids. So now what is happening is do you think you can really, really see yourself in any of your children?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah. Okay. I I I I don't I cannot be more successful than my children. Immediately I become more successful than my children, I'm a fellow. As a father, how do you become more successful than your children? Your children have to be more successful than you.

SPEAKER_01:

Even though your time was different, the type of struggle you have seen to break out to this level.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, in our quest, nowadays, in our quest, trying to give the best to our children, we'll rather destroy them. That is what is going on right now in the world. In our quest to give the best to our children. We give back to them, go to America, go and have your education, do this, and all that, we'd rather destroy them. We feel we are we are giving them the best of life, but we are rather destroying them. Let them keep the simple life. Let them be normal. And to you, what is normal? I mean, my son started working with my company as a security guard, uh messenger, also. It went through the mail.

SPEAKER_01:

So you see, let's say that's that's normal, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Must we always come from poverty?

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, no, no, no, no. Poverty is really a curse. It mustn't be. Do you understand? That's why you have to fight out of it. The mindset, you see, I look at my son's face and I said, Do you understand the value for money? You understand? Be normal. Do you understand the value of money? You have to work for something, you have to understand the environment. Wow. I think this that session was for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly for the year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. So there is a stage in our lives where we make money, then we learn to keep money, yeah, then we learn to grow money. Yeah. How do we keep money?

SPEAKER_00:

You see, there's three stages of life.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

When you are young, you work hard, very hard. Relatively, somebody will ask you, what is hard? But I don't want to miss words. When you are what you are young, you work hard. The number of hours you work. I remember one time I was selling books. I was a canvaser, going from office to office to sell books. By two o'clock, I'm done. One day I sat down and said, Coming home at 2 o'clock, what do I use the rest of the time for? Though I was teaching the children around my area, and I was making some packages, something small from the parents. At the time, the parents in the area, I teach their children, they give me food, some give me money. So I used from after school hours, I gather the children and I teach them. One day I said, no, I can do more hours. So I changed the concept. I started selling the books in the Mokola market. So I was going from, that was when I was going from one shop to another shop. That's where I got to know that women are so passionate about their children. They bought every book for their child, though they can't read and write. So when you're young, you work very hard. When you read middle age, you work smart.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, what does working smart mean?

SPEAKER_00:

Working smart is you have to evaluate yourself well, you have to analyze things well, you have to work with a different level of mindset while you are using your network. Your network becomes your net worth at that level. You take a gentle giant steps, that is, you're working smart. How to turn the little you have around, you're working smart. Your investments, how you choose your investments, you have to work smart. Connected Minds Podcast.