Nothing beats meetings and hangouts at a nice café with a proper cup of coffee, maybe a little dessert on the side, perfection!
The last proper meeting we had was at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, which was for a startup we were working on back in 2018. We usually choose to have these meetings late, anything after 8/9PM would be perfect; because at that time most of cafes and restaurants would be empty, or at least quiet enough to focus on the matter at hand.
After that little very "positive" meeting, there have been many more discussions and initiatives, but non have come close that one opportunity that we lost, the one we worked so hard for. And even though we were on the right track, that little startup of ours still ended up failing; thanks to some greedy, destructive b**tards.
Yet, let's not dwell on the past, I've wasted enough time trying to reimagine and reconstruct those moments.
After that little lesson, where our very popular startup went downhill, I decided to run solo.
It was lesson learnt, one of many, but this one ended up teaching me a very important lesson about taking "business" deals, and who you take it with.
But I say that I took it quite positively, and you know what they say...
"Losing is learning, and winning is teaching" - Anonymous
Most of the work and investments I did afterwards were mostly me and myself, a very self-centered approach; nonetheless, I say it worked out pretty well.
This is where I should've started actually, with myself, and then maybe look for some partners, investors, a team that I would gel with, people who have the long-term game mindset. If I took that approach early on, then I probably would've ended up saving a ton of money and way more time, maybe would've built something that actually made a difference.
Mercifully, after working on myself and my network for about half a decade, I surely can say that I now have quite a few like-minded people around me. Some of these people I can trust with my eyes closed, and thanks to that network, a lot of opportunities and new doors are opening up every now and then.
The guy you see above is a good friend, he's a professional photographer and has been been in the game for over 7 years now. He dropped by my place just yesterday, he had to take photos for an event that was being hosted in my area, so I told him to drop by when he was done.
I know him from one of the online games that I used to play, and some the gaming communities too. It all started with a competitive fight in-game, where I destroyed him and his teammate back in 2019 haha. After that we talked and got know each other from the community groups and chats, along with a lot of other very friendly and versatile group of people.
Recently he's been thinking about creating content of his own, content related to photography and editing, which is something that is actually quite underrated in our country. So he wanted to hear what I had to say about his little decision, wanting to know where and how he should start.
I say even though it's a great idea, it's still going to take a lot of time and effort to find traction for any content related to the photography sector.
Yes, we have advanced in the freelance sector, a bit of blogging too, comedy skits and comedians are getting a lot of recognition as well. But even though the people here absolutely love and admire photography, even though a tad bit of demand is there for such work, I say this sector is still not taken as seriously as it should be. It's mostly neglected when it comes to the business side of photography, the best services and skill are still not well recognized here. It's a sector where the most skilled photographers, cinematographers and editors are compared to any newbie with a camera and a sub-par editing setup. Skill, experience and expertise is mostly overlooked predominantly, that's how it seems at least, when it comes to the clientele and their behavior.
That is why a lot of these very skilled professionals are trying to go solo, trying to create content and work for themselves, because their work is not valued as much as it should be.
I have huge respect for the people who invest and work towards their passion and hobbies; making a career out of what they love doing, it takes guts, especially in a country like ours.
My friend here decided to drop by in the evening, and since no one was home at that time, we both decided to head out and get some coffee. Tabaq was once again the winner here, since it's the closest café from my place, and also has the best coffee, we both surely agreed on that one.
After getting there we carried on with our little chat, about where our country and the world itself is headed, how times are going tough and people are having to switch to survival mode to make things work.
The signs are already showing "the recession is coming as they say" it's quite perceptible at this point, thanks to the constant streaks of load-shedding, from 2 to 4 hours a day. And the way the prices of goods and services are increasing here; if you have a family of 4 or more, and don't have close to 6 figures as steady income, then you're probably going to have to go through a rough few years or so.
That is why right now we both have to keep ourselves extra busy, to the keep the inflow of "moolah" coming in, yet sometimes even all that effort isn't not enough. That is why we were trying to figure out some more ways of increasing our income, as we sipped on some coffee. The goal being about building a passive sources of income, because at this point we don't have enough time for an extra active source of income or a side hustle.
We did come up with a few ideas, having friends who have new businesses and are looking for investors, so that seemed like a good and trustworthy place to start. Other than that there's not many options here, and the options that are available aren't for amateurs like us, because those require a huge capital.
Yet, you gotta start somewhere right?
For now, let's just keep on searching for more options, and if any of you guys have any bright ideas, then please do share them below.
Cheers ☕️
