I opened my first business in fourth year. A cyber café in Nyeri, funded by my parents. I had already accepted that finding a job was going to be difficult, so I decided to try something small. Mornings I would be at the cyber. When classes started I would rush to campus. When they ended I would rush back. That was the whole rhythm. I also decided, in my wisdom, to date a daughter of Zeus who showed me proper dust. But that is a story for another day. The cyber was tiny. Rent 3k, which was sometimes hard to raise. What did I do in there? Printing. Photocopy. I had an Epson L382, a very solid machine back then. Graphic design. Poster design. And eulogies. Sana. I still do not understand why that was such a busy venture, but Nyeri had needs. Now if you know Nyeri, you know it is not a place ya kuomoka. You survive. On a bad day I made 150 bob. On a good day 400. Unfortunately my stomach did not respect these figures. I had to eat. So I would find myself at Kamumwa, and at Chicken Inn, the KFC of Nyeri. Bhajia na kaquarter chicken ilikuwa mwejeje. Then I would look at the owner of that place. She had a V8. Her life was dreams. Tutaomoka lini? Meanwhile the daughter of Jezebel was nagging me daily. But love is love. Shenzi sana. Then 2019 happened. I discovered Jiji, formerly OLX. Hii ilinitoa block, lakini si Nyeri. I posted one ad. Logo design at 500 bob. Someone from Nkubu responded. Nkubu Auto Spares. My first ever client. We made the logo, and he paid me 1000 for speed and efficiency. Jehovah. Thao in a day. I could not believe it. Then more came the next day. Logo, business card, letterhead. Templates haraka haraka from Freepik. 2500 ikaingia. Immediately I bought shati ya maua. That was legit drip in Nyeri at the time. Then Chicken Inn again. Faster faster. Sikujua Amerix exists in this world. I moved from making 8k a month to over 30k, purely by posting my gigs online. Then COVID hit. Mrembo akaenda kwao. Suddenly I had time to be serious. And the weight was weighting, I tell you. Haidhuru. That is how the freelancing journey grew. Waking up at 4am to meet clients in Nairobi. Arriving and telling them I had just come from Westlands, while carrying matope ya Skuta, Nyeri on my shoes. Bora uhai, bora kazi. I made mistakes. Plenty. But better to make them and never repeat them. Nilijituma, bro. I did it. You can too. Thank you for 124k on LinkedIn and 501k on Facebook. Tupatane kwa 5AM Challenge. darasa.my/5am