What do you have in your hands that you can use to make your life better?

Some young people prefer to sit home all day watching TV.

What you need to know:

  • What is that you are holding, however minor, that you can use to earn a living, turn your fortune around and secure your future?
  • You might not have a father with acres of land to bequeath you, but there must be something lying around, waiting for you to chance upon it and make use of it.
  • It could be a skill you have or knowledge you have acquired, some savings in the bank, or an opportunity that has been staring you in the face.

There are two types of young people nowadays: those that spend their free time binge-watching TV series and movies and those that rarely sleep trying to figure out ways of making money and getting their various hustles off the ground.

When I say young people, I am talking about those between 18 and 24 years.

The binge watchers, I have concluded, are the ones that are waiting to graduate to start looking for a job and expect their parents to support them until they get one – pay their school fees, clothe them, feed them, give them pocket money, and pay for the series DVDs they watch night and day.

The other type, however, is amazing, and frankly puts the adults around them to shame. When I was this age, I knew the career I wanted to dedicate my life to, but I had no Plan B to turn to in case I failed to get the opportunity to practice this career.

My mind was closed, and to be sincere, I had no idea what else I could do in case my dream failed to materialise. In fact, I was sure that my future was doomed if I didn’t attain my dream.

This young person however, the modern-day hustler, sees opportunity all around him. He does not feel boxed in by the course he is studying in college or at the university. Just because he is studying actuarial science, for instance, does not close his mind to the viability of, say, using his tailoring or baking skills to make money.

On Tuesday this week, I had the privilege to read George Sadera’s story. George is a 24-year-old University of Nairobi fourth year student who comes from Narok County. When he completed his secondary education and qualified to join university, he immediately began thinking of ways in which to earn pocket money, if only to lessen his parents’ burden.

As he mulled over this, it occurred to him that his father had some idle land which he could farm and raise money. Impressed by his initiative, his parents gave him Sh10, 000, with which he used to plant Irish potatoes on half an acre of land. That was in 2012.

When he reported to university in 2013, he had with him Sh120, 000, money from his potato crop. He used this to pay part of his school fees and then enrolled for a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) course. He was just 19.

As you read this, George has since graduated from farming on half an acre, and farms on a whopping 13 acres that his father bequeathed him in his second year at university, probably after observing how much his son had achieved with the little he had lent him. Since his second year, this young man has been educating himself, and also educated his younger sister through secondary school.

He has also diversified his farming, and keeps sheep for mutton, cattle for beef and milk. He also owns a slaughter house and a butchery in his home town, and is saving to put up a mill. Amazing, isn’t it?

So, I ask you today, what do you have in your hands? What is that you are holding, however minor, that you can use to earn a living, turn your fortune around and secure your future? You might not have a father with acres of land to bequeath you, but there must be something lying around, waiting for you to chance upon it and make use of it.

It could be a skill you have or knowledge you have acquired, some savings in the bank, or an opportunity that has been staring you in the face. Sometimes all it takes, drawing from George’s story, is initiative.

[email protected]; Twitter: @cnjerius. The writer is the editor, MyNetwork, in the Daily Nation