episode 25
Empowering the average Zimbabwean from street vendor to online business owner
Ayo warrido folks with the juice to get things done, visions aligned and realities manifested. It's time to get the cerebral juices flowing and dive into some thought-provoking discussions. Instead of talking about the right vote, last night I had the pleasure of a fruitful conversation about the disconnects and dichotomies that plague the average Zimbabwean.
With all the news cycles - independent and state -predictably reporting about the election and its challenges that are becoming exposed by the hour. Lack of ballot boxes at polling stations, political fear mongers, bureaucratic inefficiencies, identity theft, and neighborhood boogeymen being used as scare tactic warriors as well as whatever new insults to the electoral process that will be unveiled in the coming week.
It's disheartening to see these issues unfold, but all I can do is hope and pray for safe voting and movement for all my loved ones and countrymen with a dog in this fight.
trapping productively
So last night I had a free-flowing conversation about the Zimbabwean bridges that need to be “gapped” with Graham, Happy, Diana, and Hazel. Glad to say it took us a while to get to the end of it, several perspectives got to see the other side of the point so to speak. We discussed the disconnection between personal growth and financial success, as well as the importance of tapping into our innate survival instincts to create sustainable and profitable opportunities.
In essence, the conversation was about the disconnect that exists in the displacement of the average Zimbabwean from personal growth and bag ‘wealth’. As well as harnessing that ‘fight or flight’ instinct that makes “eating to survive right now” feasible, sustainable, and profitable.
Obviously with being in the middle of the zeitgeist moment that comes from national election fever. Conversations and talking points tend to become outward in discussing responsibility, leadership, and blame. I’m sure a psychologist could better explain how devastating your mindset can be when you become overexposed to gaslighting, projecting, and ridicule. All coz of political groupthink meant to absolve its members of key aspects to their independence and self-reliance.
That being said, that’s why I'm grateful for da weekly juice chat I had with my friends last night. We brainstormed ways to reach the average Zimbabwean and provide them with the tools and knowledge they need to thrive, considering my “infrastructural challenges” LOL.
The average Zimbabwean who is the devil’s advocate against da weekly juice is the one on the corner selling ‘chibage’. Day in and night out through the winter that passed and the upcoming summer, he sells his fresh maize and roasts it for the customers passing by. He needs to know that he can scale up to $3K a month through his roasted maize hustle with smarter economics and a little marketing for his personal brand. How do I reach him?
Worse yet, he still doesn’t know that all he needs going forward is a WhatsApp Business AI chatbot built specifically for his use case. With the right prompt engineering, it would handle his customer service support, and social media marketing, and automate hundreds of other small tasks so he can sleep more and be more around his family of 3 kids and “mukadzi kuden”.
Or the kid in Rusape, Mutare who’s dreaming right now of how he’s going to be the biggest rapper. Working on figuring out how to be the best Harare rapper right now and living the double life of being the Zimbabwean in Blues who’s dangerously close to giving up their dreams to those younger than them in high school. Not knowing that “exactly 299 Spotify streams is what counts for the dollar he needs from his music”, is what widens the gap their talent already bridges.
How long does he have to keep chasing vanity numbers, until he realizes too late, that numbers don’t lie when you look precisely at them through different models and dashboards? A hundred emails that grow to 1,000 true fans is what he doesn’t know, that it’s all he needs to keep music his profitable passion that profoundly pivots his life for the better. It is a lifetime income source, for a career well spent in pursuit of artistic excellence, end of the day right?
Let's not forget the nail tech girls in the Avenues and the Instagram baddies who are twerking and working hard to establish their online empires, plus the local huns moving like a mum coz “it’s giving Zimbabwe”. Doing business in this country has long been a women’s business, especially with the vendors who were our mothers’ role models on owning your worth.
They set the pace for hard work against the odds, which embodies every Zimbabwean girl worth her salt and seat at the table. Thus it can be doubly frustrating for them, when it is the audacity of the Zimbabwean system of all systems rigged against you, with men sprinkled on top, as well of course.
Chasing your dreams from having the best hair, makeup, and nails, to being the best at everything soft life goals whilst preserving the value of yourself today for your future self isn’t a pipe dream. It never was supposed to feel that way.
Opening Canva to start your online business so you can rely on yourself, as usual, shouldn’t feel like the hardest next step in your life. Selling Avon wasn’t that hard after a couple of times, everything else made it unnecessarily harder coz…well Zimbabwe.
Planning to suffer now for your online business doesn’t need you relying on that guy who’s conditionally free to help with the website, design the logo, and show you anything else after that either.
We both agree that the girl child got finessed of access to everything after the patriarchy set y’all up as the poster kids and now it’s boys and their mental health era, and reparations are still due.
So, how can da weekly juice publication bridge this gap and help Zimbabweans achieve their dreams? I want to provide valuable content and resources that cater to the uniquely different needs of artists, aspiring entrepreneurs, dreamers in the workplace, and even family members with advanced digital aspirations. I understand that there's a long way to go in terms of digital literacy and trust-building, but I’m committed to making a difference.
I also acknowledge the deep-rooted distrust that the local population has towards the internet, thanks to past experiences with state and corporate internet gimmicks and outlandish Ponzi schemes. It's essential to bridge the gap between their skepticism and the incredible opportunities that the internet offers, from free resources on YouTube to AI and da weekly juice library.
Let's start trapping productively and pave our way to success. We want to hear from you—how can we better serve your needs and aspirations? Let's keep the conversation going until we're sure that you can achieve your dreams. And to our international fans, we appreciate your support and welcome collaborations and connections. Ibiza vibes, anyone?
A big thank you to Happy, Hazel, Diana, and Graham for their insightful contributions and for being mental sparring partners. Let's continue to inspire and uplift one another. Oh, and here's a fun stat I shared with the gang last night: “Did you know that 1,700 new millionaires are made every day?” Let that sink in and let's strive to be part of that statistic. Remember you only have 4000 weeks of social battery in you.
#FREE4PROFIT
and that’s all folks
This bit before I let the episode go to all of ya’ll who’ll be eagerly waiting for it. I would like to dedicate this segment to ‘your average Zimbabwean’. I used to be one of them, so I don’t forget them, coz da weekly juice is meant to be always one episode away from profoundly pivoting one Zimbabwean especially, to pursuing profitable passions.
