Inhliziyo Yami Yopha: My Heart Bleeds

Chapter 12

NIKIWE

Hustling has never been one of my strengths. Having to go outside and convince people to buy products is something I have never been good at. Now here I am, doing the exact same thing I did not want to do. And yes, I am disliking every moment of it.

Cindy introduced me to one of her colleagues who has an extra side hustle of selling cosmetics and beauty products. She got us connected and the lady and I have been in contact ever since. Her name is Petunia, and she's a lot older than I am but her and I understand each other so well.

To say I'm grateful to have her as my mentor would be an understatement. She has been available to answer any questions I had about the products I would be selling or the profits and how anything worked. Her patience is really astounding because if it was me, I would have lost mine a few time's since we started.

I have been making amazing sales since I started and that is all thanks to the people I know. I told Mantwa about the business I just joined and she went out of her way to find customers for me. Not only did she do that, she also asked them to refer their friends to me.

The great thing about this though is that, beauty products sell like crazy. A lot of people care about keeping their appearances up to high standards so convincing them is not that hard when I put a little pressure. Of course I still need to master persuasion skills but so far so good.

In as much everything is going okay, I would prefer if I had a nine-to-five job. Because that way, I would be sure that I got a stable income and not rely on commissions or sales. This is the reason why I don't like this kind of job, because what happens when convincing people doesn't work anymore.

I am also forced to compliment people even when I don't feel like it. Even though giving compliments is one of my special qualities, nothing beats the power of making people feel great about themselves. That is the only way I can say I have been able to keep on waking up everyday to get people to buy these products.

The job hunting has not stopped though...I am still looking for a permanent job so I can still get to keep this as my side hustle.  It needs to be done and with me not earning much from it, I'm forced to search for better opportunities. And I am also considering starting some kind of food parcel business.

I saw this place in Florida, that sells all kinds of hampers and I was thinking I could purchase those in bulk. To make some kind of interest, I would then slightly  increase the price of each hamper I sell. And not wanting to scare the customers away, I am to make sure that the prices are still reasonable for every person. I am talking pensioners; single parents; orphanages; etc.

This might be too far-fetched but I believe I can make this work. For now it is all just a dream but I'm pretty sure if I create a solid  business plan I can get all my facts together and know exactly what I'm working with. This might be my only chance to stop working for the 'man' for good and have something I can call my own.

I know for sure this won't be easy and that I might never get it to where I want it to be. But one thing I will be proud of is that I gave it a shot even though it didn't work out in the end, but at least I tried. That is what counts at the end of the day and life is too short to have any regrets, I want to die having none.

Never have I ever seen Gogo proud of me as she is now. You can just see it from her face that she's happy I'm doing something I don't completely hate. She also knows how much I love sleeping so getting to wake up at whatever time I please, is such a bonus for me. Her being happy means the world to me and even if it means doing something I don't enjoy.

"Nikiwe mntanam, abazali bakho bebazozi qhenya kakhulu kabi ukubona umntwana wabo azisebenzela kanje. (Nikiwe my child, your parents would have been so proud to see their only child be this independent and work for themselves in this way.) I am also really proud of the woman you have become my child.", she'd say teary-eyed.