I recently ventured into a catfish farming business and am still in the building phase. I don't have much resources to grow so fast. So I started small with the little resources at hand. It wasn’t easy. At times when you see business owners, who own a business and then after a few times they decide to sell it off or not willing to run the business anymore, you don't know what they are facing until you dive into one. There are a lot of challenges.
So at some point, I started growing gradually, not really that fast. But at this point, I had reared some set of fish from fingerlings to table-sized. They were my first set of productions. It was time I started selling so I won't be running at a loss by just feeding them when I didn't have the space to contain their growth.
My sister returned home around this time. She was happy with the progress. Then she decided to patronize me. She wanted to buy some as a gift to people she would be visiting. She asked for the price and I told her the exact market price. Dad was there at that time then he asked if I should give her some extra on what she wanted to buy. She looked at him and smiled.
I never agreed on my end. Though I was about to get convinced to do so. Then she faced me, looked me in the eye, and said;
“Bro there is NO family In BUSINESS!!”
Sell exactly what I want for me. And don’t consider any family emotions. I smiled, even her actions were enough.
One thing I have learned over time is the fact that business is ruined mostly when a lot of emotions are attached. Family wise, friends, loved ones, relatives, or even personally. Business should be business!
There was a time when I encountered a terrible experience and a big mistake from my end. I regret my actions then because I was at fault and all the blame bounced back on me. Recently we still had a conversation about it. And I felt regretful for making such mistakes.
It was sometime around the year 2022 when I was about to round up my youth service. I was appointed the Head of Muslim Corpers in the barracks where I served. As the head, you will surely have more connections with almost everyone. With the military officers, the women in the barracks, and even all of the Corp members.
We had our ventures where we sell miscellaneous to our fellow corpers, this business has been on for years and passed down to new corp members over time. I was appointed alongside a sister who was in charge of the business. But as the head she has to report to me if there is anything they need.
She did well and boosted the business during our time. Everyone loved her talent and our era became the talk of the time. But there was a time when the head of the Muslim women in the barracks came to see me, and she asked for help. Since she was also overseeing the business as a guardian and she remained in the barracks as we kept handing over to each other, she knew all about it.
With that influence she came to ask me to lend her a sum of money, I think that was about 50,000 or 20,000 I can’t remember. But as of that time, the sister in charge told me to allow her to make a written document and sign an agreement on when she would pay back. I disagreed.
I had to take it up on her for saying so to the woman leader, she later succumbed to my words she gave the woman the money without an agreement. She just said she would refund as soon as the issue gets solved.
At some point when I was about to pass out, I asked her about the money but she didn’t give me a positive response. We had to give an account of how the administration managed the business. If this woman failed to refund the money till I passed out. And once I am out, there is a lower chance of refunding.
The sister in charge blamed me for not listening to her and trusting the woman. Had been there a written agreement and signature then we would have charged her to the disciplinary committee in the barracks and gotten our money back. Recently we had a conversation and I asked if it was refunded, but she hasn’t. I learned my lesson.
This is my response to the hive learners community weekly featured content on Hive for the week 103 edition 1 and the topic to be discussed is BUSINESS AND LOVE
