Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Random Thoughts with Takura. I'm really excited to be writing this blog. A lot has happened in the last week. I hope you guys are good and everything is going well in your lives.
The temperatures in Zimbabwe are not healthy for anyone. This country is extremely cold. You can’t even drink hot tea anymore because, by the time you finish preparing it, it will be warm. Word on the street says the temperatures are only going to get colder for the next week. Send prayers. I genuinely hope wherever you are, you are keeping warm.
I had a lot of responses from last week's blog. I love how interactive this community is. Thank you so much for the feedback on the text-to-speech thing. According to the majority of you, there is no noticeable difference between speaking and writing. There were a few comments that said the writing has more depth than the speaking. So, for this blog, I will not tell you which method I used. Let's see if you can guess whether I was speaking or writing.
Anyway, this week has been probably the most exciting week ever. Everything I bought from China has arrived. I bought some jewelry for Paired, just a few test items. So, I will be wearing one of them for the next two weeks, testing its quality to see if it changes color or does anything funny. I also received close to 300 pairs of socks, meaning Happy Toes stock is here. So, the store is most likely going live today, and maybe by the weekend, we will have made a few sales. Speaking of sales, we sold 14 pairs of Crocs last week, which is so good. I was impressed, high key. The only problem right now with Crocs is that suppliers cannot match our demand, so we are literally having supply chain issues. If it continues like this, we will be forced to buy from China. But I am just hoping I find a local solution.
I know I had said the plan now is to try to solve the issues we are having with the current stores. However, on Monday, as we were discussing with our tailors (for the private label tracksuits we are launching soon), we found two new products. Firstly, we found these handmade handbags. I am not all for hype, but my sister is excited, so I guess I should be as well. The handbag comes with beads made from bamboo, adding some African authenticity. We are calling it the Bambead Bag from Bam and Bead (that's the name of the store). The second product we found technically came to me; it's a power bank for your house. It's a machine that charges on electricity but has the capacity to power your whole house. This product is so cool, it's even pitchable. I had to try this, and it’s sold for three digits, unlocking revenue marks that we have not unlocked before. These two products really stood out, so we are just giving them a try for this week. If they don’t hit, we can drop them.
I won't lie; I am spreading myself too thin. As I was trying to fit things into my calendar, they were not fitting. On a daily basis, there is something I have to do that will have to be sacrificed. My goal now is to automate everything so that it reaches a stage where it does itself without my involvement. I can feel the consequences; I am sleep-deprived and end up sleeping randomly unplanned. I have a huge backlog of tasks in all aspects of my life. I genuinely hope I find easier ways to do things faster. This once happened to me during my O-level exams. Weirdly; I like the pressure. However, I can see the stress manifesting on my body, so that’s why I am trying so hard to automate everything.
During the weekend, I went to a comedy show with Emmanuel, aka Waro. Waro is the person behind my education now. We do the same program, and he always reminds me when we have assignments and what we need to study. He urged me to start a course on Figma, and I am glad I listened to that advice. I never saw myself doing coding after graduation, but this Figma thing might be my thing. It's basically designing. It’s like Canva for websites; you won’t get a functional website, just a prototype and a bunch of screens, but I now know how to do it. So that’s okay. I just have to get good at it, then my LinkedIn bio changes to UI/UX designer 😂😂😂.
A few other things happened. I went to church, my friends won Hult, we bought a hydroponic farm for Smartel, and I got into a competition - Steamolympics season 3 ( a thousand dollars on the line ). Most of these things you will hear about as they start becoming important. The plan this week is to revive Happy Toes, solve the supply chain for Crocs, test the necklaces from Paired, launch the ads for the Canvas Hub, and start socials for the bags and the power bank.
That’s all for this week. Wishing you a very warm week and lots of fun.
Sayonara,
Takura✨
❤️Highlights of the Week:
- I watched this year's WWDC. It's probably the best one so far since Apple started doing these software updates. The IOS calculator is crazy.
- I also watched the Masterclass by Vusi Thembekwayo on selling value. It was not just some good insights; it brought back the Vusi that I know.
- Power Book II: Season 4, Episode 1 is out. I won’t say anything else.
- There is this cartoon called "Inside Out," which is good for dates, family time, etc. Just watch it. I think its the best thing I watched this week
-there is this Amapiano song by Mid9t called Bayana. I have been vibing to this song the whole week.