*Two Windows

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*Two Windows

Mara dreamed of a bakery. Not a franchise. Just two windows, warm bread, a bell that jingles.

She didn’t quit her night-shift job to “chase it.” She measured it: ₦1.8M for rent, an oven, and six months of costs. That was the number.

So she built a staircase. Year 1: YouTube at 3am, selling rolls to coworkers. Year 2: A folding table outside her cousin’s salon. It rained. She adjusted. Found a ₦25k kiosk inside the bus park.

Year 3: She opened. No headlines. Just 40 loaves. She sold 31.

Today the shop pays her bills, her parents’ medicine, and her brother’s salary. People ask when she’ll “go big.”

“This _is_ big,” she says. “It’s real. I can hold it in my hands.”

*Realistic dreams aren’t small dreams. They’re dreams with measurements.* Build the staircase, then climb it.