A look at my entrepreneurial journey; the hustle continues

A few hours ago, I was talking to my friend Mathenge, and he reminded me of something that I just shrugged off, but can’t stop thinking about it now, that I actually have to sit down in the bank lounge, to write it. “Life is funny, two years ago we were struggling to raise KES.48,000, you remember? For the poulty feeds… now we just raised this….

Entrepreneurship is a struggle, a constant one. You are always up to new levels. The sky is not the limit. You touch it, and you want to go further. The limits we had two years ago, are not the limits we have today. Today, the league has changed, our struggle has expanded. But comfortability? No! That is not something that we can achieve.

To give you a clearer picture, let me walk you back the two years. We had just started this poultry farm, but being in campus, cash to run it, was quite a hustle. I deed almost what every entrepreneur has ever done; I sold everything I had in my house, including my bed, got my house deposit back from where I had rented a place off campus, and invested the money in the farm. That was not even enough, so loans had to be taken here and there. But wait a moment, that means I was homeless, and for the next three months, before any profit could trickle in, I was housed by a very good friend of mine, Jakhin.

Let me make it a little bit interesting for you, there was this girl who always insisted on visiting me, and I couldn’t allow her to come to “my place”, because literally, it was not my place, but Jakhin’s. One day, she came up to the gate, called me, I got out, met her at the gate and couldn’t let her in. I don’t even remember the excuse I gave her but well, it got me off the hook. Should I tell you how great of a psychologist in the making she was? Oh, and good looking too. Well, I lost her, because since that day, she just thought I was not interested

But that’s just a by the way. Looking at where I am now, the hustle continues, with the only change being the size of the hustle. It’s like a football club that has just started; you first play in a small league, then keep on upgrading, but the game you are playing remains football. Your expenses are small at the beginning, so are your earnings. As you get into bigger leagues, your earnings grow, but so are your expenses. You have to buy very expensive players and team managers. Entrepreneurship is pretty much the same.

Well, when Mathenge reminded me of this, I only said one thing; “I can’t wait for the day money will start working for me! When I don’t have to do all this!” That’s a good wish but it’s only a wish. For now, a lot of ground work has to be done. The journey ahead is still in thousand of miles. Maybe it’s not really a journey, but just a thrilling experience to be embaraced.

Quite frankly, I enjoy the struggle. I don’t know what I could be without it. I love my life. Always on the move, always reaching out for something that seems unreachable. I have come to believe that bliss is me being in sync with my waves; both the ones I create, and those that just hit me as I interact with the rest of humanity.

I’m still a very small time entrepreneur, you could call me a seed that is just protruding it’s roots and shoot. To growth, to work, to those who embrace the spirit of a hustler. Mathenge, thank you for the reminder. It’s funny how we get so possessed by the future, that the achievement of yesterday no longer impress us.