The prompt for this week, took me to a time in my early secondary school years. I’d attended a school where students had so much freewill. It was a missionary school, with a high population of students, and as a result of this, the teachers didn’t bother with parading, or even ensuring that student’s complied to everything they were meant to do in a classroom. This allowed distractions among the students. Many had their notes incomplete, lockers unkempt, and other sorts of disorder you’d find in a classroom.
As much as we weren’t monitored so closely, there were still boundaries we weren’t allowed to cross. An example was choosing to miss classes. Those who didn’t like a particular teacher, and couldn’t stand the teacher, had to endure the 45 minutes of the class. They just didn’t bother with writing notes. However, everyone always had to have their notes up to date, at the end of every term, otherwise, they would face severe punishment from the teachers involved. This was where I had the opportunity to carry out my first services for individuals, and got paid.
Back then, I would write notes for my classmates who were finding it hard to write their notes. At that time, notes were usually bulky, and because my notes were always up to date, instead of me lending them my notes, I’d offer to write it for them for a fee. At the time, I charged 50 naira for each page I wrote. There were people I had to write over four pages for, and little me, gladly gave them discounts because the money at the time, was more than enough.
The economy wasn’t as bad as it is now, so simply having 50 naira would go a long way, when it came to satisfying my childish needs. I was so happy with how I earned that period, because back then, the school’s food vendor sold scoops of rice for that 50naira. So, earning that amount, and more in a day, availed me front row seats to that meal, regardless of how much food and snacks i brought from home.
Running a business, offering a service, or working for your money, is the best thing every individual can do for himself or herself. I remember how proud of myself I always was back then, because I could buy myself what I wanted, without having my parents, sibling or any elderly person around me.
This particular experience, taught me a lot actually. Through it, I got to experience what the time spending wisely. I spent so much at a certain period, that I forgot the need to save (A situation I’m glad I got an opportunity to retrace my steps). Everytime I remember how easy it was for me to make money back then, I tend to apply it to current situations.
From that experience, I coined a saying ‘what you need is around you. All you need is to see it’. To start something profitable, that will earn you immediate returns, all you need to do is to find a problem that people around you go through frequently, and try to solve it. Even if you don’t solve it completely, think of something that’ll minimize it.
I ventured into a new business the past week, using this technique, and I’m grateful for how it’s been going so far. So, I’m putting this out for anyone who is currently worrying about a business idea. Study the problems around you, and find a solution, or something close to it. Remember, the sky is never the limit.
This is my entry to the India-United prompt for the week.
Thanks for reading.
Images above is mine.