Businesses you can run from your compound
You use your compound for a laundry business. Dissolve.com photo
January. It is a month many individuals love to term as the dry month.
Recently, one woman posted on Facebook that she was forced to start using her home compound for selling off old household items to get some money.
A number of commenters came out to encourage her with some reasoning that it was indeed a brilliant idea.
Indeed, this sounds like an excellent idea. For those bearing similar interests at heart, there are other ways of making money from home besides selling old household items.
Start up a shop
It could be any kind of shop of your preference. For instance, it could be a crafts shop, a book shop, a mini bakery, grocery or fruit shop.
“It would, however, be easier running a business that one is familiar with or passionate about,” Sharon Nankya, a baker says, adding: “For example, if you can bake, make some cookies and cakes, and afterwards, call a few people to come and buy them. I insist that you sell them from your compound rather than inside the house for security reasons.”
Besides shops, you can also put up a garage sale to get rid of items you no longer need in the house.
Nankya, however, notes that if there are security concerns in your area, only let in people you know.
Consider a snack business
You may have noticed some individuals who make snacks and quick bites in front of their homes and sell to passersby. A case in point, people who make samosas, cassava chips, mandazi and the men who make chappatis. You find them busy mostly during early morning hours. It’s an opportunity for you to make some money as well right in the comfort of your own home. Hire someone to sell these snacks or the holiday makers in your home if you do not have the time to do it.
Invest in poultry
Whenever the December holidays end, a number of people return from their respective villages with all kinds of foodstuff and domestic animals including poultry. Imagine one returning with about 10 hens. You can decide to designate a section in the backyard for breeding poultry. Having considered such a business option, a bit of money can be made in the end after selling off some birds and eggs.
Party rentals
In case you have luxurious gardens, why not rent them out for parties?
Samuel Musoke, a resident of Namugongo, a suburb located outside the Kampala city centre says he rents out his home gardens from time to time.
“It is just that in January there are hardly any parties, and, many people are broke. So, I get very few customers,” Musoke says.
Besides parties, the retired father of four also rents out the facilities for meetings.
How much does he charge?
“Usually between Shs100,000 and Shs200,000,” he says, adding,” There is already a tent provided. However, since I don’t provide drinks or meals, clients come with their own.”
On whether the arrangement does not inconvenience or infringe on his privacy, Musoke responds, “Absolutely not. I am a retired old man. All my children are adults and do not stay with me. It’s just me and my wife. The business enables us make some money.”
Musoke and his wife, who’s also retired both run a joint wholesale shop dealing in food and household items.
Do laundry
How about considering washing other people’s clothes? Yes, it is taxing but then again, it is an opportunity to make some money. Some people actually make extra money by washing other people’s clothes. While some of these people go and wash the clothes at the homes of respective owners, others bundle them up and wash them from their own homes. One woman who lives in Makerere, a Kampala suburb, says that her clients normally drop off their dirty garments at her house.
Thereafter, she washes them with the help of any willing family member and they hang them. The dry clothes are then picked up in the evening. According to this mother of one, she gets about Shs20,000 on a daily basis from the business. “I am saving up some of the money for starting a grocery business in the near future,” she says.
You too can grab the opportunity and make some extra money this January season. However, you do not have to wash the clothes yourself if you are not able to, hire people to do the washing who knows, it could grow into an actual demand business. You can also use a washing machine.
STRATEGIES TO WIN OVER CLIENTS
Mathew Kawanda, a sales man in Kampala lists them as follows:
• Put up a sign advertising your business. How will people know about the business unless you inform them?
• You may open your gate for easy accessibility. However, if you are worried about security, you can keep it closed and then have someone outside the gate to receive and usher your clients into the premises.
• If you can, offer a drink, like water. It’s one of the ways of winning over the client’s heart.
• Be warm and pleasant towards the customer. They always come back for such reasons.
