MYSTORY: What I learned from my failed business

“When I walked out of my job at a bank in March last year, I was as excited as I was frightened with the prospect of running a company. I had been working in customer service at the bank in Mombasa for four years.

“Like any person who leaves a job to run a business, I was excited that I was finally going to be in charge of my own time. I was also full of positivity and hope that my business would be well received. I am only now learning, almost two years later, that passion, positivity and even the right skill are not even nearly enough of what I needed to run my business.

FINDING MY CREATIVE SELF

“I can’t remember having a particular dream of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I remember initially trying my hand at ticketing soon after high school because that is what every young person in Mombasa was doing at the time. My parents, however, insisted that I go to university to study a ‘proper’ course and so I found myself studying interpersonal communication at the Metropolitan State University in Minnesota in the US.

“After getting my degree, I had a four year long career at the bank. It was during a training programme there that I realised that I was a creative, that my love for photography was more than just an interest. So I decided to start a blog to channel my creative impulses. I called it ‘Life in Mombasa’. When I wasn’t working, I would move around Mombasa taking photos of food, places and different cultures which I would then share on my blog. I also started a poetry group.

“For about a year, I worked at the bank and ran my blog. Then a friend approached me in 2014 with the idea of starting a digital marketing company. He thought I would be the best person to partner with seeing as my photography skills were excellent and I was able to package my blog in a way that made people very receptive to it.

“I had the skills required and starting the company seemed like an excellent idea. In November 2014, we founded Muse Digital, a digital advertising company and then started an aggressive marketing campaign. Luckily, we needed just a few thousand shillings to set up.

“Online marketing wasn’t a particularly easy idea to sell as most people we approached looked at social media as an informal way of communicating, not as a marketing tool. I could feel the potential that there was in the business but we weren’t bagging any clients. Seeing as both my partner and I were still formally employed, I imagined that if one of us could dedicate all their time to it, there would be results. So in March last year, five months after starting the company, I quit my job to focus on it.

VALUABLE BUSINESS LESSONS

“I realised my first business mistake almost immediately after – I had assumed that having social media and personal communications skills was the same as having knowledge on running a business. I had gone in without having sought mentorship on how to run a business.

“The second mistake I made was with the market research. It was only when I started talking going out into the field every day that I realised just how much slower life is in Mombasa compared to other bigger towns like Nairobi. People just didn’t see social media as a business asset.

“’You are too expensive. Isn’t it just posting things on Facebook? Why should I pay you for that?’ I was asked over and over. Trying to get people to see what I did like I saw it was an uphill task. Then came in competition from freelancers who were working from their bedrooms with no overhead costs to meet. This meant that they could offer services similar to mine and the clients would choose them over me without giving much thought to quality.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

“The idea was excellent, the business looked good from the outside, but there was no money coming in. Eventually, two years since we opened our doors, my partner and I agreed to close shop and strategise. At the beginning of this month, I got a job as a business development manager in a Mombasa college.

“I may have closed my business but this isn’t to say that it was all downhill. I took with me invaluable business lessons and skills especially on dealing with clients and managing employees.

“I can’t say that I am done with entrepreneurship. If I find another business idea that is as compelling and someone to mentor me, I will give business another shot in the future. For now, I am happy at my new job and when I am not working, I am still trying to restore the image of Mombasa through my photography and my blog.”