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We've all made poor financial decisions at some point in our lives. I have a few under my belt. Being self-employed, I have had to undertake various risky endeavours, most of which never yield anything meaningful. It can be devastating considering the amount of human and capital resources spent on such efforts, nevertheless, it is also important to note that experiences help us make better decisions in the future. In this post, I will be sharing some of my financial mistakes and hopefully, you can learn a thing or two from them.
I made one of my biggest financial mistakes two years ago by venturing into the ride-share business. My goal was to move away from the gig economy and try something new. In hindsight, there was no point in fixing something that wasn’t broken. I should have continued on my path and improved the skillsets I already had.
To start my ride-sharing business, i had to make the difficult decision of investing all the money I had gathered on Hive to purchase the vehicle for the business. I took the risk because I wanted to do something outside Hive. Also, it was my dream to start a transport company and ride-sharing seemed like a good place to start. I thought wrong.
Things did not pan out as planned. I have written about this extensively, so I will not go into much detail, but I lost (almost) everything. Even my relationship was hanging on the balance of the pressures of the business. I decided to stop in February, and fortunately for me, things have been going well for me ever since.
Also, during my ride-sharing adventure, I got into a lot of debt. Most of the money I borrowed was channelled into my business. I was making so much and losing so much at the same time. I thought I was doing the right thing by investing in my business but it turned out to be the very opposite. Thinking about it now, I feel so stupid believing I could sustain a business on debt. There were times i should have stopped but I was too driven and unwilling to accept that i had failed and that cost me a lot more.
Debt ruined my finances. I am still paying for some of the money I borrowed months after quitting. This goes to show how deep in debt I was--still am. I have been fortunate to make some decent money from writing and other campaigns to help clear some of these debts. Also, my partner helped a lot. Without her, I probably would be on the run or something because I was down badly.
Despite ride-sharing being a big financial mistake, I did learn some valuable lessons on the road which are priceless. I learned a new skill, built character and learned a lot more about my city than I ever knew. Plus, the car is still functioning and it is twice the amount I purchased it (due to inflation and other economic factors). So I won't say I lost anything.
