Lessons from my year as a hustler

One year ago, I decided to try my hand at real hustling.
I settled on rearing chicken, a decision informed by the amount of space required and the market. I got seven kienyeji birds from the countryside after building a chicken coop that cost me Sh10,000. The birds cost Sh3,500.
I quickly learnt where chicken feed is bought. Food was no longer wasted in my house. In the morning before going to work, I ensured the birds were fed and their water ready as I let them roam freely in an area enclosed by wire mesh.
By December last year, I was selling a bird for Sh1,500 and my health had improved, courtesy of the chicken from my backyard. When visitors came, the first place I’d show them was my chicken coop. One mzungu visitor was so impressed that he promised me a goat if I got visitors (would you be my visitor?).
I saw the money
The business was breaking even and every morning I was woken up, not by the alarm clock, but by the natural cry of the rooster. It was nostalgic, reminding me of the good old days of life in the countryside following nature’s rhythm.
By March this year, I had about 80 birds and the future looked bright. I had even started thinking of a name for my business – Bluegrass Poultry (ask me why the name). I was dreaming of supplying KFC with kienyeji poultry or starting a franchise where chicken would be ‘cooked at source’.
I was going to ride on the current resistance to anything GMO, including broilers. Every time I heard the cock crow, I saw money and a future multinational corporation, Bluegrass Inc; feeding a hungry nation.
But my dream soon turned into a nightmare. Some neighbours felt my chickens were stinking and diluting the status of the estate. I was also running out of space with too many birds. Last week, I decided to end my experiment.
I sold as many chickens as I could and then packed the rest in my car to take back to the countryside where the seven original birds came from. I am now an expert in chicken rearing and delivery! The coop was dismantled and I will soon be a vegetable farmer.
Here’s what I learnt from my 365 days as a real hustler:
1. Try something; it doesn’t matter what it is. As the founder of Bank of America, AP Gianini, said, you can’t take unnecessary risk because it is only by taking it that you know if it was necessary.
2. We often underestimate the market. I think we love pessimism, yet optimism is a better option.
3. Any time you become successful, problems always crop up, but once you overcome the initial problems, you get a free pass to success.
4. Starting an enterprise is much easier than the textbooks tell us. Just start!
5. This is the sixth enterprise I have started, and it has confirmed by faith in the invisible hand of the market.
6. To the young men and women complaining of joblessness – just start small and maybe dirty (I hired no one!). There are still limitless opportunities for anyone willing to start something small and give it the time to become large.