I am living Murphy’s law right now.
If it can go wrong, it will!
The past month has been the most challenging for me since I started working for myself.
Nimetokwa na doh kama nonsense owing mostly to unforeseen breakdowns on my two trucks.
There is nothing cheap about repairing these monsters and as much as you try to stay ahead by diagnosing and fixing foreseeable mechanical faults, Nothing prepares you for minus 8 degrees temperatures that always bring out all the weaknesses in your fleet.
In the last month I have spent on new brakes, new suspension … you name it I have been through it and one of the trucks is actually off the road for the last three days!
And if things couldn’t get worse, my most reliable truck is now fucked owing to a potentially serious mechanical fault that I have yet to diagnose!
Christmas is coming and my kids and their baby-mommas are all looking up to me and I am honestly at loss to explain to them why the kids will not get the presents they were promised.
I had promised myself a 7 day break in Kenya from boxing day and that is now definitely off the plans so I just lost my booking fee,flight etc…
I am not getting paid for not delivering and instead, i get charged for every missed delivery Never mind facing the possibility of loosing all my contracts that I have worked so hard to get.
Funny thing is that I always used to watch that programme called Mkulima young and all day today the word " changamoto" has been playing on my mind!
How did you self employed Talkers get through this kind of situation?
Moral support needed please,
I can’t seem to see the tunnel Never mind the light at this stage!..
Fuck man…Its just brakes and suspension. You still getting business. As long as you are getting business, doesnt matter whether you are driving without brakes or not. Ile siku customer watapotea utaitana. Utasemanga vile tu unakuwanga dereva mkali.
Ile Mercedes mzee ulibuy ndio watoto wanakula Christmas na itengeneze huto tulorry. Kama sio ivo utaanza kuosha tushosh January, sio mbaya juu ukinyandua kuna tips.
I wish I could come home to a woman like you with such encouraging words.
I totally agree with you because I have through worse but it’s just that when all this crap is unfolding, it’s difficult to see positives.
Unreliability is the least of your problems because most people who contract you know that you are good. The problem is that for every good contract,there is always hyenas waiting for you to slip up so that they can replace you!
And at the end of the day , the big dons just want the job done and they could care less who did it as long as it got done in time and in budget!
From what I see, you have two trucks that are costing you a lot of cash in maintenance due to mechanical failure. My advise is simple, you have to stop repairing both trucks simultaneously. Instead, get a good mechanic, he will check the extent of the problems in both trucks and give you an approximate budget. After that, use any cash you have on repairing the truck with the least damage (the one that needs the least cash to be operational). That will get 50% of the job done. With one truck running smoothly, you can then figure out how to repair the second truck pole pole. The trick is that business should never stop, and when you have cashflow problems, you have to prioritize how you allocate the cash to business expenses. You would rather have one truck that is operating at 100% than 2 trucks at 50% each.
Very good advise.
I am considering replacing them both for brand new ones but it just happens to be the worst time to do that because most contracts get renewed at the end of the year!
Yaani hii ni nuks!..
The last thing I need is to be left with loans on trucks that have no contracts!
This shitness couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Sub lease your delivery contracts. You would rather make the delivery than disappoint your customers. I know you have a few truckers you can rely on.
Once you get your trucks fixed you should be good. The cold weather has nothing to do with it…and next time buy vehicles with warranty. Seems you buy 2nd hand na vile unapenda kuturingia uko dealership
Repair one truck to 100%…subcontract the rest of the business. Use the profit to repair the second truck to 100%. I think you have the answer to your problems already. Get to work. You can agree to pocket 10%-20% of any business you subcontract to your friends. This way, no customer will be left complaining, and one of your trucks will be in business. You can decide that any cash from subcontracting will be used to repair the second truck. During this period, you might have to go slow on wasting money.
Your solution does not entail repairing one of his trucks…you don’t realize that if you subcontract all the work, you make less cash. Ka-buda does not have enough cash to repair both trucks to 100%. His first move should be to repair one to 100%…before even thinking of subcontracting. When he has one truck running, one grounded, and extra work, he can then subcontract. The extra work to his friends.