CHRONICLE OF A MARRIED MAN

If you are an artisan, especially a man, please try and get a side business.

I have seen first hand where artisans go broke when jobs don't come in, sometimes it takes months or years for a tangible job to come in. Most times, the man takes up jobs like paid driving, security/gateman job, menial jobs, etc to survive.During this period, the family lives in from hand to mouth or fairly well if the wife is working. We all know what becomes of most men when the wife is the major breadwinner.

This issue is happening to a relative right now. He is a building contractor. His main job is tiling but he later delved into building construction, he would assign the different components to different artisans and supervise the project well to arrive at a quality and beautiful house.

A few years ago, he was swimming in millions, he got a contract to build some houses for a wealthy man. From the proceeds, he started building his own house, a four bedroom duplex.

I advised him to get a side business and let his wife manage it as she was a graduate but was not working. She was a full housewife..
I even gave him business ideas.
This brother kept procrastinating, at a point, he said the business he was interested in was capital intensive, that he needed a couple of millions to set it up. Instead, he kept impregnating his wife and having more babies.
Then suddenly, the wealthy man was murdered. All his projects stopped and this my man became jobless. I advised him to use his savings and start selling cement, tiles or any other building material. I even suggested that he set up a restaurant or provision store for his wife (side eyes at SDK) Lol.
He kept lamenting about funds, said he didn't want to start a small something, he wanted something big.
In the midst of this, he got his wife pregnant for their fourth child (great mistake). All business plans for his wife halted.

He later sold his car and started a POS business for himself but they were spending more than the profit as this happened towards end of last year(2023) through middle of this year (2024) when prices of foodstuff and other things had skyrocketed. it was a new business, nothing much yet. To feed three kids and a pregnant wife who is not working is not easy now. His personal house was yet to be completed too. So house rent was part of his burdens. If only he built a smaller house like a three bedroom bungalow but he didn't listen when I advised him back then.
Tangible jobs did not come in throughout this period, just little jobs once in a while

Before long, POS business crumbled

Then his wife gave birth.
This man was calling friends and relatives, to borrow hospital delivery bill. I had to even gift him half of my salary for that month as I know what having a new born in the house entails.
Marriage is shaking as I type due to anger, hunger and frustration that leads to fight every other day. I pray that God opens doors for him soon to restore his life as he is depressed at the moment.
I hope you learned something!