There is something about a viral controversy that always makes me pause.

Not because I enjoy watching somebody else's private life become public entertainment, but because I often find myself wondering what happens when the noise finally disappears.

Today, everyone is talking about you. Tomorrow, another person is trending. The screenshots that dominated timelines disappear beneath newer posts, the videos stop circulating as aggressively, and the internet moves on to its next obsession.

That was one of the things that crossed my mind when I saw the conversations surrounding Mazi Okeke and the controversy currently making the rounds online.

I don't want to turn an allegation about somebody's private life into a fact simply because it is trending, and I certainly don't think every detail circulating on social media deserves to be repeated as truth. But there is something else I believe we can take from the conversation, and that is the bigger lesson about attention, reputation, creativity, personal branding and money in the digital age.

Because when I look beyond the controversy, I see something that aspiring entrepreneurs should pay attention to.

I see how quickly attention can find you.

I see how quickly the internet can amplify a story.

I see how a person's name can suddenly become a search term.

And I see why anyone trying to build a business online needs to understand what to do with attention when it eventually comes their way.

Mazi Okeke, also known as Prince Dstn, has built his public profile through content creation, particularly comedy and skit-making. In a 2023 interview with The Guardian, he spoke about the importance of understanding why you are creating content in the first place, warning aspiring creators against simply following what everyone else is doing. He also emphasised originality and finding your own creative direction. 

That advice feels particularly relevant to me because the internet has made it incredibly easy to confuse visibility with success.

Someone posts a video and gets a million views, and suddenly everybody assumes that person has "made it."

But has the person built a business?

Has the person built an asset?

Has the person developed a skill that can continue generating income when the video stops trending?

Those are very different questions.

And that is the first thing I would want any aspiring entrepreneur to take away from this whole conversation: your reputation is part of your business.

I don't think enough people realise this until something goes wrong.

When you are building an online brand, people are not only buying your product or service. They are also buying their confidence in you. They are deciding whether they believe what you say, whether they trust your recommendations and whether they want to associate their money with your name.

That means reputation is an asset.

You don't have to be a celebrity for this to matter.

If you are a freelance writer, your clients are trusting you with their words and their businesses.

If you are a social media manager, a business owner is trusting you with their public image.

If you are an affiliate marketer, people are trusting your recommendations.

If you sell a digital product, customers are trusting that what you have created is worth their money.

Your name therefore has value long before you become famous.

And because of that, I have come to believe that one of the biggest mistakes an aspiring entrepreneur can make is chasing attention without thinking about what that attention could do to their reputation.

The internet rewards speed, but business rewards trust.

Those two things are not always the same.

You can rush to publish something because everybody is talking about it, only to discover later that the information was incomplete.

You can make a careless comment because you want engagement.

You can deliberately provoke people because controversy appears to bring traffic.

But every decision like that leaves a digital footprint.

And once people begin to associate your name with unreliable information or unnecessary drama, rebuilding that trust can be much harder than getting the original attention.

This is why the second lesson naturally follows: attention is not income.

This sounds obvious, but I think many people building online businesses still struggle with it.

Followers are paying attention.

Views are attention.

Likes are attention.

Comments are attention.

Going viral is attention.

None of those things automatically becomes money.

The real business question is what happens after people notice you.

Can you solve a problem for them?

Can you offer them a service?

Can you create a product?

Can you build a community?

Can you develop a newsletter?

Can you recommend useful products through affiliate marketing?

Can you create something people are willing to pay for?

That is where the difference between a content creator and a digital entrepreneur begins to become clearer.

Content can attract people, but value is what gives those people a reason to stay.

And this is why I found Mazi Okeke's own evolution interesting. In 2025, Tribune Online reported on his efforts to move beyond skit-making and turn content creation into a broader business venture. For me, that illustrates an important shift that more creators need to make.

Don't just ask, "How can I create another viral post?"

Ask, "What can I build around the audience I am attracting?"

That one question can completely change your approach to social media.

Instead of treating every trend as an opportunity to repost something, you begin looking for ways to add your own perspective.

Instead of chasing somebody else's audience, you begin developing your own.

Instead of depending on a viral moment, you begin creating assets that can continue working after the moment has passed.

And that brings me to something else I consider extremely important: build something you own.

I love social media. I use it because it gives ordinary people an opportunity to reach audiences that traditional media once controlled.

But I don't think anyone building a serious digital business should depend entirely on one social-media platform.

Algorithms change.

Policies change.

Reach changes.

Platforms change.

Sometimes accounts disappear.

Sometimes the content you worked hard to create barely reaches the people who follow you.

So while I believe social media is an incredibly powerful distribution tool, I also believe entrepreneurs should gradually build assets outside it.

A website is an asset.

An email list is an asset.

A digital product is an asset.

A content library is an asset.

A customer database is an asset.

A skill is an asset.

Your own intellectual property is an asset.

That is why I don't want people to think of social media as the business itself. I would rather think of it as one of the roads leading people toward the business.

And once I started looking at the Mazi Okeke conversation through that lens, another lesson became impossible to ignore: originality matters.

The internet is crowded with people doing similar things.

Everyone wants to create content.

Everyone wants to become a creator.

Everyone wants to go viral.

Everyone is watching the same trends.

Everyone is trying to figure out the latest algorithm.

But copying what is already working will only take you so far.

Mazi Okeke's earlier comments about originality are particularly relevant here. He encouraged aspiring creators to develop their own content rather than simply copying what other people were doing. 

I think entrepreneurs should take that advice beyond comedy.

Study successful people, yes.

Study how they write.

Study how they market.

Study how they build audiences.

Study how they package their products.

But then ask yourself a more important question: What can I do differently?

Maybe you can explain something more simply.

Maybe you can serve a neglected audience.

Maybe you can combine two skills that other people normally keep separate.

Maybe you can create a digital product that solves a very specific problem.

Maybe you can tell stories in a way that feels more personal.

That is where originality becomes a competitive advantage.

And perhaps the most encouraging part of all this is that you don't necessarily need a huge amount of money to begin.

This brings me to another lesson I think we sometimes overlook: your smartphone can be the starting point of a real digital business.

I know people who believe they cannot begin because they don't have the perfect laptop, expensive software, professional camera or office.

Of course, better equipment can eventually help.

But I don't believe you should make perfect equipment for the beginning.

Your smartphone can already help you write.

It can help you research.

It can help you create videos.

It can help you manage social media.

It can help you communicate with clients.

It can help you learn new skills.

It can help you market a service.

It can help you create and sell digital products.

And it can even help you explore creative opportunities you may never have considered before.

Music is a good example.

Somebody might hear a trending song and think, "I wish I could make something like that."

For years, the next thought might have been, "But I don't have a studio."

Today, the barrier to experimentation is much lower.

With digital music-creation tools such as the Music Creation service on Auxi Sherpa. aspiring creators can begin experimenting with songwriting, beats and music creation using accessible technology. Auxi Sherpa

I'm not suggesting that somebody should use a smartphone today and expect to become the next Davido tomorrow.

That would be unrealistic.

What I am saying is that the ability to start experimenting is increasingly within reach.

You can have an idea for a song and develop it.

You can write lyrics.

You can experiment with beats.

You can create something and share it.

You can learn what people respond to.

And perhaps one day that experiment becomes content, and the content attracts an audience, and the audience creates opportunities.

That same principle applies far beyond music.

A person who enjoys writing can start creating articles.

A person who understands design can create templates.

Someone who knows how to edit videos can offer editing services.

Someone who understands social media can become a social media manager.

Someone with knowledge in a particular area can create an ebook or online course.

The phone doesn't automatically create the business for you, of course.

But it can remove one of the excuses for not starting.

And once you start, the next thing I would encourage you to think about is multiple income streams.

This is another area where I believe aspiring entrepreneurs need to change their thinking.

Don't just ask, "What online job can I do?"

Ask, "What skills can I develop that can create more than one source of income?"

Imagine becoming good at writing.

You could freelance for clients.

You could write articles.

You could ghostwrite.

You could create ebooks.

You could write scripts for YouTubers.

You could build your own website.

You could eventually teach writing.

One skill can open several doors.

The same thing applies to video editing, graphic design, digital marketing, music production, social-media management and other digital skills.

This is why I prefer the idea of building a digital income ecosystem rather than chasing one magical online income opportunity.

One service could bring you immediate income.

A digital product could provide another revenue stream.

Affiliate marketing could create another.

Your content could bring you new customers.

Your website could become an asset.

Your audience could grow into a community.

Over time, these things can support one another.

And then there is perhaps the most personal lesson I take from the whole situation: don't allow a viral moment to define who you are.

This applies whether the viral moment is positive or negative.

If you create something that suddenly gets millions of views, enjoy the opportunity, but don't become addicted to trying to recreate the same moment every day.

If you experience public criticism, learn from it without allowing the criticism to become your entire identity.

If people misunderstand you, you don't necessarily have to answer everyone.

And if everybody starts talking about you, remember that the internet moves very quickly.

The person trending today can be forgotten tomorrow.

That is why I keep coming back to the importance of building something that lasts longer than a trend.

Because attention comes and goes.

Skills remain.

Reputation compounds.

Original ideas can become assets.

And a person who learns how to convert attention into ownership will always be in a stronger position than someone who spends their entire life chasing the next viral moment.

When I look at the Mazi Okeke controversy from that perspective, I don't see only a story about a public figure and the allegations surrounding his personal life.

I see a much bigger conversation about the world we are living in.

A world where your name can become a brand.

Where your phone can become a business tool.

Where your creativity can become a product.

Where your audience can become an asset.

Where a skill learned online can become an income stream.

And where a moment of attention can either disappear completely or become the beginning of something much bigger.

The choice is often ours.

So, the next time something goes viral, I hope we learn to look beyond the headline.

Instead of asking only, "What happened?"

Perhaps we should also ask, "What can I learn from this?"

What does it teach me about reputation?

What does it teach me about privacy?

What does it teach me about building an audience?

What does it teach me about turning creativity into income?

And perhaps most importantly, what am I building with the technology already sitting in my hand?

Because your smartphone can be more than a place where you watch other people become successful.

It can be your first newsroom.

Your first office.

Your first marketing department.

Your first recording studio.

Your first classroom.

Your first marketplace.

It can be where you write your first article, contact your first client, create your first digital product, publish your first video, experiment with your first song or discover the skill that eventually changes your financial story.

I don't believe everyone who starts a digital business will become wealthy overnight. There is no honest shortcut that guarantees that.

What I do believe is that the barrier to beginning has never been lower.

And sometimes, the biggest difference between the person who eventually succeeds and the person who keeps saying, "One day I will start," is simply the willingness to begin.

For me, that is the lesson worth carrying away from the Mazi Okeke controversy.

Not the gossip.

Not the speculation.

Not the temporary excitement of another viral story.

The lesson is that attention is temporary, but what you build with it can last.

So build your reputation.

Develop your skills.

Create original work.

Own something.

Diversify your income.

And use the phone in your hand to create something that belongs to you.

If you have an article, opinion piece or news story you'd like published on Global News Arena, or you're ready to begin your own journey toward building a profitable digital business from your phone, I'd love to hear 

from you. Send me an email. 

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