If you want to make it in life then you have to sacrifice some things it may be your time, money, or energy and all these are part of the risks we take to attain that height, Taking risks is part of life, especially when it comes to business. You can plan everything well, but the result may not come out the way you expected.
Early last year, my brother called me and shared an idea with me. He said we should invest in farm products. According to him, this type of business is very good in Nigeria because of the way things are now in the country. The price of food items changes every time. Most of these products are very cheap when they are in season but when they are out of season, the price will go up. The idea was to buy farm products when they were cheap, store them, and sell them when the price was high because the product would be scarce by that time and the price would be high, people would be demanding it and ready to pay any amount. It sounded simple and wise.
He gave me an example of ginger. If you are in Nigeria, you will know how expensive ginger is now. Last year, the price of ginger went up and people who stored it made good money. This was what encouraged us to try our luck too. I agreed with him. After all, business is all about taking risks. If you don’t try, you will not know if you will win or lose.
We planned everything well. We discussed what farm product to buy. At first, we thought of buying ginger or beans. But after talking to some farmers and traders, we decided to invest in corn. Corn is one of the most consumed farm products in Nigeria. People eat it fresh, dried, or as flour. It is also used to feed animals. We believed the price would surely go up later in the year.
We contributed money together and looked for someone who could help us to store the corn properly. We wanted the corn to be safe and dry so that it would not spoil before we sold it. After asking around, we found a man who had a big storehouse. He promised us that the corn would be safe with him until we were ready to sell. We trusted him and gave him the money. He helped us buy the corn in large quantities and stored it.
At that time, the price of corn was not very cheap, but we thought it would still rise later in the year. We believed that even if we bought at a high price, we would make a good profit when the price increased. This was the risk we decided to take.
But things did not go as planned. After some months, when we wanted to sell the corn, the price of corn dropped badly. We were surprised. Instead of the price going up, it went down. Many people had planted corn that year and there was too much corn in the market. Because of that, the price fell. We bought at a high price, but when it was time to sell, the price was very low. There was no profit at all.
We thought of waiting longer to see if the price would rise again, but there was another problem. If we waited too long, the corn might spoil in the storehouse. If it got spoilt, we would lose everything. So we had to sell it quickly, even at the low price. In the end, we made no profit. We lost some money because the price we sold it was lower than the price we bought it.
This experience made me feel sad. I thought of the plans we made, the time we spent discussing, and the hope we had of making a profit. But in the end, the market did not favor us. This is the truth about business. It is a risk. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. You can plan everything, but you cannot control the market.
I learned a big lesson from this. Next time, we will do more research before investing. We will not buy any product at a high price because the price may not always go up. We will also try to spread our investment. Instead of buying only one product like corn, we will buy different products. That way, if one fails, the other may bring profit.
This is my response to this episode of the hivelearners community prompt of #hl-w170e02 which the topic is tagged THE RISKS WE TAKE