For the past year, I had been wallowing with the idea of kick-starting a side hustle to supplement my day job. As a guy in my late 20’s it was about time to take risks that I could look back on with pride even if I failed – and also it wouldn’t hurt having some extra chums in my bank account.
So after consulting with friends and mentors alike, I decided to venture into doing deliveries by taking up small tenders here and there. Be it supply of books, stationery, foodstuffs; I didn’t mind as long as the money would come in.
I started by getting a loan from my Sacco and together with two of my serious pals purchased a used pick up which we named (Old Lady). It is at that point that the scouting for orders began.
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Two months into it and we hadn’t gotten a single order besides the usual we will call you shenanigans.
I learned the virtue of patience(mind you the hard way) when six months down the road we still hadn’t managed to get any sizeable order – yes we did get some orders but not in the millions we desperately yearned for.
As fate would have it, on one weekend when I had planned to sleep in after a frustrating week at work, I got a call from my business partner, the deal we had been waiting for had come through - it wasn’t in the millions but it was way close.
“I’ll do it, I’ll go get the order,” I volunteered excitedly seeing an opportunity to finally break even. A hour later, I was on the road with our fast aging pick up.
Somebody wasn’t taking good care of the Old Lady and thus there was fear that she might decide to break down midway into the trip. Unrelenting though, I drove on and three hours later I was in a remote village market in Kitui bargaining on the prices for 20 sacks of mangoes.
After the purchase, I remained with only a few hundreds in my pocket. Thank God, she had enough fuel to take me back to Nai. Embarking on my journey back, I rang my buddy to confirm where I was to deliver the mangoes –which was a church along Thika Rd that was having a medical camp on Sunday.
I had two hours to make the deliveries ‘plenty of time’ I thought to myself.
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My first thought was to call my other partner and try to find out what was the deal considering he was the last one to use her – he was mteja! Perfect!
I had to think fast to get the delivery on time and that’s when it hit me, a 100-metres back I had passed a Shell petrol station and surely I could get a mechanic there. I bolted – pun intended and got one.
He was friendly, scruffy looking but resourceful. He told me that the pick up was low on a lubricant in the engine which is roughly a 1000 bob(The one I never had).
At this point, I was almost giving up before I remembered that I had Safaricom Platinum which I could use to get a discount and afford the lubricant.
Chap chap on my phone, I opened my Safcom App, and two clicks later I had bought the oil. I even had some money to spare which I used to tip the mechanic for the much-needed help. He was cool and recommended I take the pick-up for a free minor service to ensure that she was in tip-top shape.
[caption caption="Safaricom Platinum Lifestyle benefits"]
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I bid him goodbye - grateful.
The old lady roared to life and we were back on track!
Fast forward, we made the delivery and got paid. I’m actually writing this from a beach house in Diani where I’m chilling for the weekend.
