Ave been in business for 8 years and it’s in 2019 that it started yielding fruits .
I get many people asking me the source of my capital , but funny thing I started with an initial capital of 15k, I 1st set up a barbershop… a very simple one .
Upon setting up the barbershop , I had some skills on shaving but would occasionally bring someone in on weekends n there I advanced more skills on how to shave .
The challenging part for the 1st 4 months I had to work as a bodaboda operator at night to raise rent to pay for my barbershop, coz at times I would only shave one person but didn’t give up …
I then had an idea … there was this guy who used to repair t.v n radios … I asked him if naweza mkatia space awe analipa kitu 1,500 /= + stima bill per month atengenezee radio zake Hapo. The dude agreed n was very happy , he had never set a business he would do it as a side hustle since he was employed in a certain technical school as an electrician … He would repair in the school at least 3 times a week , the other days he would be in the shop waiting for customers .
Surprisingly by 3rd day customers wa electrical gadgets that needed repair started flowing in …at least then singeingia usiku kubeba bodaboda since I could now afford to pay the rent …
As he repaired the t.v , radios, phones .
I was keen on watching n helping it’s then I got the know how of repairing mobile phones (seemed interesting ) … When he was not around I would repair the phones n damn it , this area had cash not like a barbershop…
By 6th month fundi wangu wa radio got a big contract in a certain college in nanyuki , he had no choice but to leave Thika n the part time electronics job … He went away with his handy tools… This meant I either had to look for another fundi or do it myself… Nikajipeleka ka mkutano … I decided wtf … Lemme start repairing phones niwachane na mambo ya ma t.v na radio , but zikiletwa I would take them to another fundi n broker kitu kidogo…
By month 9 , business had started picking up , @ least I would get kshs 500 minimum repairing phones , and 200 minimum shaving per day…so in a month nilikuwa napata kitu 20k , minus rent 5k ,bills stima na maji 1k , meaning at least I made a clean 14k… Not much though clean money…
By year 2 , there was demand for mobile accessories e.g screen protectors, chargers, cables, etc … It’s this year that nilijua river road n nyamakima … Plus it was my 1st time in Nairobi … but with time I got to know of more n more territories…
So 2nd year was just mobile repair n barbershop doing all this with a certain young boy I employed …(though he later became a drunkard , after realizing how quick cash was flowing .) I never fired him coz to date he still works on my shop na ulevi zake… Advantage ya mlevi alifika class 8 u can control him like a puppet by introducing book keeping record for every sale he makes … Hata Kama nikuiba he won’t steal much…
Come 3rd-5th year I had not advanced much …it’s while in Nairobi I got curious kujua electronics hutoka how much… E.g sockets, plugs, switches, bulbs …kumbe this things had double double profits , I took a loan of 50k something I regret coz nilipelekwa mbio kulipa but surprisingly though I managed to clear within 4 months…(moral lesson here , only take a loan to expand a business not to start a business)…
Now within a month was making a net profit of kitu 28k , landlord wangu kuona hivyo kumanina zake akaongeza rent ikawa 7k … I thought of leaving but then again I decided wat dah hell I will stick there as long as I am earning…
It’s in 2019, as I was walking in Thika town I saw this van selling cylinders (gas) @kshs 1800 wholesale price …zilikuwa za PROTO ndio ilikuwa imeanza kuingia market Thika…
I had spare 10k in my pocket I bought 5 cylinders n displayed them in my shop …Sasa I was a gas dealer …imagine by 1st day I exchanged all the cylinders …hahaha haiyaaa this looks like a nice business . Nikaulizia ulizia gas mwitu hujaziwa wapi yani gas ya mashimo… Already I had acquired a motorbike nikafunga mitungi zangu na tu ngunia Hadi kea mashimo … Kilo ya gas ilikuwa inaingia na 85/= then meaning 6kg was 510 , I would exchange at 750 n make faida ya 240 …wacha nicheke na roho tihihihihihi…hapa nikufunguka macho kumbe this is why we kikuyus are said to be good in biashara … The 5 cylinders zilikuwa zinaisha na 1 day meaning was making over 36k per month na gas pekee …hata mlevi wangu nikaanza kumulipa 800 per day …profit margin per month was then over 50k…damn damn niggas mulla was starting to flow …
By mid year nikawa na mitungi over 30 …come September shetani akatembea … The govt decided to hit this mashimo ya kurefill gas by bad luck one day nikiwa natoka kurefill the gas sinikaangukiwa na flying squad …hehehe had a long long day but nikawachiliwa na 30k … I thought of leaving that business but nikajipeleka kamukutano pekee yangu… Why not register this business it looks viable… Sahii tuko 2020 so far I have acquired over 10 certificates of various brand n waiting for approval by the ERC …if I don’t make it this year sijui nitamake it lini…most dealers yani retailers have closed down their shops … Sahii tunakula na fork though in a legit way but less competition…
Why the story
To motivate other youths you don’t need a white collar job to make it in life , been there n wasted 6yrs of my life in a teaching profession .