It takes a self disciplined person to be self employed. You need to be self motivated and have a strong desire to change your circumstances to make it work. Our Pioneer Parents had to make things work in OlKalou, no matter how tough it got, because they had no other choice. They trained us, their children to work hard and achieve the desired results. Back then, we did not understand their motivation, but looking back, I applaud their efforts and discipline. They stayed the course and in a decade or so, they paid off the astronomical loans they owed the government while raising strong willed children. They did not become wealthy, in the way we try to define wealth, but they became comfortable and they were satisfied with that.
The trouble with most people when they start a business is that they are looking to be ‘rich’ overnight and join the Elite Club of their neighborhood, with politicians coming to consult with them the few times they come to gichagi. That is the wrong motivation. Indians are successful business people because they stay the course, no matter what. There are some Indians I first saw at RiverRoad in Nairobi back in the 1980s when I was going to High School, and they are still there todate selling the same products. One particular shop I remember sells spices, you could smell them from across the street, and they are still there, selling spices. Indians do their homework before they start any business, but once they start, they stick with it for decades and pass it on to the next generations. As long as customers keep coming, they keep their doors open. Business slows down, they keep their doors open. They make tonnes of money, they keep their doors open, but use the profits to open another shop elsewhere for their children but the original business keeps running.
For us, the moment we make a little bit of money, we jump to open another business totally unrelated to what gave us money in the first place. We think there is money in mitumba, we open a stall. We hear BodaBodas are bringing in lots of money, we purchase a motorbike and get into that too. With all those businesses pulling you in so many different directions, you are unable to give any of them your full attention as is required for a business to succeed. When one of the businesses starts failing, it triggers a domino effect knocking down all the other businesses including the original business that you worked so hard to start. I can promise you that once the dominoes start falling, there is no way to stop them. You will be struggling to keep the last business standing, an impossible task under the weight of the already collapsed businesses.
Why not concentrate on one idea, explore it, nurture it, and let it sustain you and your family as a stable constant income that you can depend on for years to come.
