Every month, I come back to the same question.
What actually moved?
October was a quiet month on the surface. There was no product launch and no big announcement. But a few important things moved underneath. Some of them were in the businesses. Most of them were in me.
So this month, I want to start with the person before I get to the numbers.
Growing as an Individual: From Teaching It to Doing It
Since I started the Journey to Profitability, I have been training corporate clients on the side. I have written about some of those trainings here from time to time.
In those sessions, I took on topics like governance, risk and compliance (GRC), ISO 27001:2022, and AI risk and governance. I did not expect to enjoy them as much as I did. But the more I taught them, the more interesting they became.
Here is the part I did not see coming.
In my current role, I now get to execute them.
For a long time, these were frameworks I explained to other people. I walked teams through controls, risk registers, and policies. I helped them figure out how to apply all of it in their own organisations. Now I am the one applying it, day to day, in a live environment.
And because I have trained and helped people do this elsewhere, I am not learning it from scratch. I already know where the hard parts are. That makes the process genuinely enjoyable.
There is something special about closing that loop. Teaching a thing makes you understand it. Doing it makes you own it.
This is what growth looks like for me right now. It is not always visible in a dashboard. But it is real.
A Trip That Recharged Me
In October, I got to visit my son and daughter.
I will keep this part short, because some things are better lived than written. But I will say this: they got me energised to keep going. When the work gets quiet and progress feels slow, there is nothing like spending time with your children to remind you why you started.
The journey itself was an adventure. I took the bus from Mombasa to Nairobi and back. Long road trips have a way of slowing you down. You watch towns go by, you notice places you have never stopped at, and your mind wanders.
By the time I got back, I had a list of places I need to visit and check off. Building businesses is important. So is actually living.
TSL: Real Users, Real Gigs
Last month, I shared how To Somewhere Logistics jumped to 300 users, only for almost 250 of them to turn out to be bots. Keeping the bots out was the first item on the to-do list for October.
That box is ticked. The bots have been locked out.
And that changes everything about how we read our numbers. Every new sign-up now means something. Growth is no longer something to double-check. It is valuable.
TSL now stands at 140 total users, up from 117 real users at the end of September.
But the bigger news is this.
Drum rolls, please.
Real gigs were posted on the platform.
That is the moment a marketplace starts to come alive. Sign-ups tell you people are curious. A posted gig tells you someone has a real job that needs doing and trusts the platform to help them get it done. For TSL, that is people who are moving looking for drivers to move them.
This is the kind of signal I have been waiting for. Not a big number on a dashboard, but real people using the product for the reason it exists.
Just like last month, I want to say it again: kudos to the team. Samuel and Nanj, you are doing an amazing job. This progress is yours.
ESL and the Rest of the Pack: A Go-Slow Month
Eliday Solutions Ltd was on a go-slow in October. So was the rest of the pack under incubation: Mtejaly, NenoPress, and JazaStock.
I am not going to dress that up. Some months are for pushing, and some months are quiet. October was quiet.
As I have said before, I will not force activity just to make an update look impressive. A slow month is not a failed month. It is part of the honest record this journey is meant to be.
What October Taught Me
Like every other month, October was packed with lessons. Here are six I am carrying forward:
- If it is possible, do not worry about how difficult it is. Difficulty is a cost, not a wall. As long as something can be done, the only real question is whether you are willing to do the work.
- Enjoy life in the moment as you experience it. A bus ride, a few days with my children, a new place spotted through a window. These moments do not come back.
- Be strategic, and never let pride take the driver’s seat. Pride makes you defend bad decisions and ignore good advice. Strategy asks what actually works.
- Aim for perfection, and you will settle at excellence. Set the bar high. Even when you fall short, you land somewhere worth being.
- Living without fear is underrated. Speak your mind. Be expressive. Take risks. Whatever happens, happens, and you can always figure it out.
- This too shall pass. The quiet months, the slow months, the hard days. None of them are permanent.
Looking Ahead to November
October was a silent month. Not empty, just silent.
I grew in my role. I recharged with my family. TSL saw its first real gigs. And the rest of the pack rested.
I hope November brings some more exciting news to share. If it does, you will read it here first. If it does not, you will read that here too.
Till we meet again for the November update, stay safe.
