Contest: Tell your story#3 Amaka the puff puff seller. @goody2020

In 2020, shortly after returning from my service, while applying for jobs I decided to explore other streams of income.

Below were my options:
1)Making Dresses (I enrolled in fashion school during my service year with a lady that lived in my local government of posting so I had some knowledge in dress making)

1. Hair styling:(I attended a boarding school so I could braid hair quite well(just natural hair without hair extensions 😊)
2. Selling Snacks: ( Puff-puff, fish roll, egg roll and zobo(I learnt on YouTube)

So I would accept fabrics from time to time to make simple dresses but the flow was slow.

Once I accepted to braid a child's hair( home service)and I was close to tears by the time I was done, a big thumbs to hair stylists who attend to kids, your patience game is 💯. The child was so restless and fidgety, by the time I was done with the hair, we were both visibly exhausted.

The next option was snacks making and I started making and supplying snacks and zobo drinks every Sunday in my local church. Business was okay as I was sold out almost every Sunday but selling once a week does not pay your bills.

So I got an idea from my sister who worked at the bank at the time to start supplying chops to banks.
In her words,"bankers get hungry and don't have time to go out and eat"

So armed with that information I gathered my capital and I bought foil take outs ready to package my chops for the hungry bankers.

And early Monday morning I bounced out with a bag full of packages ready to sell massively.

Long story short, I didn't sell even one plate.

That was my first real failure, I came back home, locked myself in my room and cried premium tears.
I was so disappointed.

My dear Dad tried to encourage me and said he would replace my capital. But I was inconsolable.
Nothing prepared for that kind of heart break

  *Moral lessons.

Valuable lessons from my Experience

1. Do not start a business based on an opinion, however valid it might be, do your thorough market research
2. Know your Target Audience: In her branch there were no eateries around so vendors brought the food to them, I assumed it would be the same, the branch I went to had a cafeteria and was populated by married folks who packed their own lunch.
3. Be ready to Market your Product: Until then I didn't realise that, I had an advantage in location and demand being the only snack seller in church, I never had to market.
   4)Test run: I put all my eggs in one basket, investing the bulk of my capital into mass producing without test running market.
   Valuable lessons from my Experience
4. Do not start a business based on an opinion, however valid it might be, do your thorough market research
5. Know your Target Audience: In her branch there were no eateries around so vendors brought the food to them, I assumed it would be the same, the branch I went to had a cafeteria and was populated by married folks who packed their own lunch.
6. Be ready to Market your Product: Until then I didn't realise that, I had an advantage in location and demand being the only snack seller in church, I never had to market.
   4)Test run: I put all my eggs in one basket, investing the bulk of my capital into mass producing without test running the market.

In conclusion ,do not start a business without running a market survey, don't put your eggs into one basket.

@realjay ,@jovita30,@ruthjoe I would love you to read this story.