Hey darlings, happy Sunday to you all πππ hope we all had a lovely Sunday service at our various churches πππͺ.My name is ALIBALOYE MOJOYINOLA OLUWASEUN, popularly known as MJ π―π. I'm new here on HIVE. I'm so excited to be here and I look forward to making friends and building good relationships here with people. I'm sure you would be wondering who this lovely lady is π€π€not to worry, let's move on as you get to know more about me, myself and I ππ€ͺππ.
I'm a student of the Federal University of Agriculture currently in 400l studying Crop Protection.I live at Akure with my parents and siblings (two brothers)in which I happen to be the last born ππ. I'm an entrepreneur β£οΈβ£οΈβ£οΈ I sell fruit salad to make money and survive in this terrible economy we are facing in Nigeria.
I joined Hive because it was introduced to me by a wonderful friend of mine by the name GIFTED AKA @starstrings01, he made me understand that Hive is a platform where you can actually socialize and make new friends, know about people and what they do, build good friendships and relationships which I love and enjoy doing the most ππ and lastly make money from it with ease which was the last straw that broke the camel's back ππ MONEY MAKING,yes you heard me right π.
MY HOBBIES AND PASSION
Like I said earlier in my introductory post, I'm a fruit salad seller.Do you know what that means, different types of diced fruits already iced to make it more yummy and enjoyable πππ I know your mouths are salivating alreadyπππ€ͺ.Guess what π€ I even add milk to make it more creamy and delicious, chaii who no like better thingππππ.
HOW MY FRUIT SALAD BUSINESS STARTED
What actually motivated me to start this business is the fact that I hate laziness and I don't want to be dependent on guys. Moreover,my friend that came over to my place because she wanted to write Post-Utme at my school π«.She spoke to me that she didn't like the way I wasn't doing anything, just sitting idle, eating and drinking. I told her its not like I didn't want to work but because my phone was stolen and I had no ends meet to get another phone.
Then I asked her about what I can do to make money and she gave suggestions like teaching in primary schools, doing handiwork and so on. We went to check for the schools I can apply for but they told me I can't work because I'm still schooling. As for the handiwork, I need capital to start but because of my phone was stolen the capital can't be possible. Discouraged about this πππmy friend suggested selling fruit salad and I saw that it was a really good idea.
My challenges started when I needed funds to start this fruit salad business. We were two actually that wanted to do this business because we didn't have anything doing. I asked my friend that introduced the business to me to help me gather funds from her friends in which she was able to do to the glory of God. With that we bought the little things we needed to start the business but it wasn't easy at all
Another challenge we faced is getting to relate with people. We felt shy and kind of intimidated since it was our first time hawking. Something that we had never planned to do in our lives. We had to overcome that with time.
The next challenge is the problem of ice. We couldn't get iceblock to ice our fruits because of lack of funds. And because of that it really affected the business a lot,the fruits were fermenting because of heat and it led to less sales and we losed customers at some point. The first attempt was really discouraging and sincerely I and my friend felt like stopping almost immediately.
Another challenge we faced in this business is the fact that we had issues balancing it with our academics to the point that it affected my friend's result. This made both of us unhappy and we got to a conclusion that she should quit the business in order for her to concentrate more on her studies. Luckily for me, my result wasn't affected which was God.
The last but not the least challenge is the problem of not selling all the fruit salad which is rare most times because of classes. Another one is the stress of carrying it around,its very very stressful and it affects my health sometimes.
HOW THIS BUSINESS HAS ACTUALLY BEEN A BLESSING TO ME
God has really been faithful to me and I'm grateful to him concerning my business because God has really made it grown. This business has really been a great source of income for me as it has helped me to take care of so many bills in school. Now, I am able to easily get ice to make my fruits cold and made lots of customers in the process.
I upgraded to adding evaporated milk to my fruits and it really made it more nice and creamy. I get a lot of orders and I don't go home without selling everything.
HOW I PLAN TO ADD VALUE TO HIVE
My plan is to build my account and build relationships with people in the community. Make motivational contents and share my life experiences.
I just want to use this opportunity to appreciate @starstrings01 for giving me the opportunity to join Hive and for guiding me on how to do my introductory post and also for his patience with me to join Hive because it actually took a while before I could join Hive. God bless you.