Ep 107 | Nigeria to England, Fiverr to Greater Studio | with Tolu Abolarin

Hello and welcome to episode 107 of Webflail.  I"m your host, Jack, your failure connoisseur, and today I am joined by none other than Tolu Abolarin.  This guy came up to me at FlowFest in Manchester. He was a little nervous and said, "Hey Jack, I listen to the podcast, I"m a big fan." I was like, "Oh my God, someone listens to the Webflail podcast! I appreciate you, thanks so much!" We stayed in contact, and he recently reached out and said, "Hey Jack, would you mind if I came on and shared my story?" He"s got a killer story, as you"re about to find out today, so I"m very glad to have him on. Tolu moved to Birmingham from Nigeria last year. He now works at Greater Studio, based in New York, freelancing for them while also doing his own freelance projects. He"s got a killer portfolio, so definitely check that out: ToluMEN.com—that"s T-O-L-U-M-E-N.com. His portfolio is beautiful. He does both design and development, and he"s really starting to make waves. But has it always been easy? Of course not. The three failures we"ll be discussing today are: 1) Chasing money over quality and not niching down 2) Not networking enough 3) Working for a startup without a formal agreement—or not getting paid. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction to Freelancing Journey 00:27 Meet Tolu Abelaran: A Story of Growth 01:10 Tolu"s Journey from Nigeria to the UK 02:38 Embracing Failure as a Learning Tool 04:48 Discovering Webflow: A New Skillset 08:55 Breaking into the Webflow Community 13:30 Landing a Full-Time Role at Greater Studio 15:37 Balancing Freelance and Full-Time Work 20:24 Reflecting on Past Mistakes and Niching Down 27:08 The Importance of Being Known for Something 27:48 Finding Your Niche in the Webflow Community 29:58 Overcoming Networking Challenges 33:40 The Power of Connection and Networking 39:20 Learning from a Painful Startup Experience 47:43 The Value of Agency Work for Stability 51:03 Embracing New Skills and Future Challenges 53:02 Conclusion and Gratitude WEBFLAIL FREEBIES 10 Step Process To Land Your First Webflow Clients: The Ultimate Guide: https://www.webflail.com/resources/10-step-process-to-land-your-first-webflow-clients-the-ultimate-guide LINKS FOR TOLU ‍💻 See Website: https://www.greaterstudio.com/ X: https://x.com/tolumhen 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tolulopeabolarin/ TRY OUT WEBFLOW 🚀https://webflow.grsm.io/webflail‍ CONNECT WITH WEBFLAIL 📬 Subscribe to the newsletter: https://webflail.ck.page/8a5e37bca6 🐦 Connect on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackRedley1 SAY THANKS 💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 💜 Leave a rating on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5834...