10 Business Ideas That I Tried After High School and Failed 

Not to sound too negative, but failure can only be avoided if you don’t try.

The big dreams, enthusiasm, and anxiety to try a couple of things were immense.

Coupled with free time and the energy to take on different challenges, I decided to start up various businesses.

That said, I only found it easy to succeed in most of the businesses I tried once I found my call.

Here are the 10 businesses I tried after high school and failed.

1. Food Restaurant

I heard people hype how lucrative the food industry was and thought I would make profits even without investing too much money.

I got into the business.

And to tell you the truth, the first few days were alright. Maybe because I started small and didn’t have lots of overhead costs. Or, perhaps, because people like sampling new places to get a feel.

As my business aged, I started realizing a drop in profit, high overhead costs, and demanding operations monitoring.

The sad reality in the food industry is that people love fresh and tasty food, and most often, they will know if you serve them overly refrigerated food.

Over time, I started losing customers, and within no time, I was unable to pay rent and sustain my workers.

A few months into the business, I was forced to close down and count my losses.

2. Boutique

I had a lot of female friends, and I knew my customer base was intact.

Since I didn’t have enough capital to rent a space, I decided to market my clothes online and deliver them to my friends.

I tried meeting the fashion tastes of my clients, but since they were my close friends, I accepted credits from them.

Getting payment was a big challenge, so I needed help to keep up with inventory management.

3. Wines and Spirits

I landed a short contract with a government agency that paid 30,000 shillings.

With this capital, I decided to venture into a wine and spirits business after researching and getting advice from friends.

High competition from other stores and returning customers was a big challenge.

Additionally, the high cost of rent and pressure from different government agencies made it worse for me.

4. Multi-level Marketing 

My friend convinced me to join a multi-level marketing (MLM) business.

I heard many success stories promising to earn millions within no time.

I invested some money, but unlike my expectations, the job was so demanding.

Further, I realized the profits were not as much as they were hype – in fact, more income went to the recruiters and managers.

5. Cyber Café

Having invested a lot of money in the business from family and friends, I had a lot of hopes in succeeding and proving my seriousness.

What I did not realize is that the market dynamics were changing, and a lot of innovation and technical expertise were required to run the business.

Plus, with the increasing number of smartphone users in Kenya, anyone can access the internet anywhere.

This means internet provision as a core business of cybercafes is no longer profitable.

6. Blogging 

When all else didn’t work, I turned to blogging.

This was my passion, but getting my footing in the blogging industry wasn’t easy.

Later, I would face the challenge of monetizing, and that’s because I didn’t know the ins and outs of the business and I was impatient with dismal payments coming from Google AdSense.

Long story short, I wrote stories but never earned anything from them.

7. Motorcycle Riding (Bodaboda)

Like most youth in Kenya, I decided to rent a motorbike and start a bodaboda business.

This business only needs driving skills, and I was good to go since I had them.

I was required to pay Ksh 300 daily to the motorbike owner.

This presented a big challenge since getting that amount was difficult some days.

8. Movie Shop

My love for movies made me jam my computer with movies.

I decided to start selling movies that I had watched, and my friends were buying them.

Expanding this was a big challenge since there were a lot of permits that were required from different government agencies.

Most of the time, I had to pay fines and bribes for operating illegally, which became unsustainable.

9. Insurance 

While insurance has a lot of benefits and many people appreciate the work insurance companies do, getting customers seems so difficult.

Since I was to get paid on a commission basis, I had to work hard and realize sales.

The field was new to me, and landing my first client seemed longer than I had imagined.

I went months without making money, and I couldn’t sustain the business.

10. Collecting Garbage

Disposing of garbage was a big challenge in my area, and I thought this was a big opportunity to get money.

I collected garbage from every plot weekly with the expectation of getting payment at the end of the month.

Getting payment was challenging, and this didn’t go well for me.

Many people also vacated without my knowledge, and considering the risks, I stopped in my second month.

While I thought these failures were the worst things that ever happened to me, I realized they were actually the best.

Many years later, I have used my past experiences to realize business success.

I can attest that learning from past mistakes, engaging in thorough research, and seeking advice from mentors increases the chances of a successful business.