Seniorman OA Shares His Content Creation Journey, Favourite Country & Childhood in Today’s “Doing Life With…”

Doing Life With… is a BellaNaija Features series that aims to showcase how people are living, working, travelling, journalling, taking care of their families and… everything in between. We aim to document the lives of all people and ensure everyone is well-represented at BN through storytelling.

Last week, we had a conversation with Kezia Agyeman-Boafo. Did you miss it? Read it here.

This week, we are doing life with Seniorman OA, a Nigerian vibrant content creator. OA has thousands of followers across different platforms and his content is one of the most relatable content around. In this conversation, he shares how he started his content creation from Twitter (X) before transitioning into making videos.

Hey OA, how are you feeling right now?

I’m feeling pretty good. It’s been a really busy day but I’m doing okay generally. 

That’s great. Give us a glimpse into your background, where you are from and your educational background 

I am from Ibadan, Oyo State. I grew up there with my parents and spent the majority of my life there. I graduated from the University of Ghana with a first class in Computer Science and Business Management. 

Hehe, first class. We can just add genius to your name

Haha.

Is there any part of your childhood that influenced who you are today

There are lots of experiences that I can’t rightly point out to a particular one and say, this is exactly what made me who I am. I mean, right from time, I don’t recall ever wanting to be a doctor or a lawyer or anything of the sort. Oh, I did want to be an astronaut at some point but, I just knew that everyone is doing whatever they are doing for money. Whatever profession, at the end of the day, money is what’s important, as long as you are getting it legally.

We agree. So you’re popularly known as a content creator. Please tell us how this journey began 

The journey is not one I intentionally embarked on. I was working at a firm in Abuja during my service year in 2019. And I was just tweeting random things from my thoughts on Twitter and people seemed to enjoy it. I gained a reasonable amount of following. Someone then reached out to me and they were like, they’d like to pay me N10,000 for a tweet. I was like, are you serious right now? And you know at that time, NYSC was paying N19,800 if I’m not mistaken. So you can imagine that. I was like, “Oh yeah, sure, no problem.” So I thought this could be something serious or interesting. So I put more effort into putting out what I considered good content. I later transitioned into making video content for Instagram and YouTube.

And that has been really going well, we believe. Content creation has become a huge market now. Do you think content creation is enough to meet all your finances? 

Yeah, depending on your status or where you are in your journey, it may or may not meet all your finances. You know, as you earn more, you tend to spend more and, keeping that in mind, I’d advise that you always have something else to do. In fact, the majority of content creators, no matter how big they’ve become, always have something else to do apart from making money from brand sponsorships and AdSense. For instance, Mr. Beast makes a lot of money from brand sponsorships, but at the same time, he has a chocolate brand or something. Take any of them, they always have something else. It could be selling a course or just having something outside content creation. 

What about you?

Currently, I run a startup with my friend. It’s a digital marketing startup. We help brands meet the right influencers that they can work with and also help strategise for the brands to achieve their goals. Also, I sometimes shoot videos for other people but I don’t really do that anymore because of time. I also do consulting brands apart from the startup. There are just a lot of things.

Hehe, sinzu OA

Haha, abeg o.

So any advice to anyone looking into content creation?

If I’d advise anyone looking into content creation, I’d say that at first, it might not be easy. You might not be making any money. But just be consistent and make good content. If your content is good, it’ll take you far.

That’s right and you’re an example of that. What’s a typical day in your life like?

Typically, when I wake up in the morning, I pray. I have a shake and then go to the gym. When I’m back from the gym, I sit at my workstation to respond to emails, monitor campaigns I’m running for clients if any, and send out invoices. Then I try to take a nap afterwards because I might be tired coming from the gym. When I wake up, I just find something to do, such as reading or watching a movie or YouTube videos. I find it easier to watch videos to learn rather than read. I used to love reading but not as much as I used to anymore. So I just watch random educational videos which makes me know a little bit about everything. That’s how my day goes during the week. But weekend? I go out with friends to go bowling, I like it a lot, or to eat at a restaurant.

Hehe, soft living. You mentioned the gym. How’s that going? When did you start?

I started working out seriously about a year ago. I first registered for the gym in 2021 but I wasn’t consistent. But about a year ago, I met my friend, Sam, and he really put me through and it’s been really good. I think one of the most exciting things about building your body is the fact that you get to see what your body is capable of. You just compare your past look to the present and be like, wow. And also, you become very fit and healthy.

Hmm, that’s nice. Share an unconventional thought about the world that you think people might find uncomfortable or not agree with

I feel like to be truly happy in life, you have to rebel a lot. 

Ha! 

Yes na. You have to rebel towards society and the norms. I’m not saying you should be rude to people or always try to oppose the crowd. What I mean by rebelling is that you have to make choices that do not conform to the norms. To feel happy, you have to do things that feel right to you. At the same time, you have to make sure these things do not hurt anyone in the process and do not break any rules. Just do things that make you happy. For example, say, getting married. Most people would agree that you should get married anytime from your mid to late 20s. But I’d say that you should get married whenever you feel right. If you’re not ready, don’t do it.

What are the little things in your everyday life that bring you joy, get you excited or make you feel alive?

My friends say my inner child is still alive because random things get me excited and I’m really grateful for that. I can see a butterfly and be so happy. I can’t point at one thing because it could be anything. It could be talking to a friend or anything really. But what makes me really feel alive, really alive, is when I travel but that’s not something I’ve been doing a lot.

But you’ve travelled to a handful of countries nonetheless. Which country do you find most exciting and why?

I just wish we could go anywhere in the world without obstructions. But yeah, I’d say Cape Town and Lebanon. Lebanon is so so beautiful. Everywhere you turn towards is picturesque. It is very beautiful. Cape Town, on the other hand, has wonderful weather.

Describe Seniorman OA in three words

Intelligent. Childish. Amazing.

What is one thing you can do when no one is watching?

Dance. I’m not a good dancer but I think I don’t dance so well because people are watching. But when I’m alone, I dance, and my body feels like it moves so well when I’m dancing.

Hehe, we’d love to see you dance in your videos

Ha, I don’t know about that one o.

Thank you for being on Doing Life With…, OA

Thank you for having me.

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Many thanks to Seniorman OA for having this conversation with us. Do you love this content, have any feedback for us, or want to be a BellaNaija Features contributor or want to be featured on Doing Life With…? We’d love to hear from you. Shoot us an email: [email protected]

Join us on Saturday for the next episode!