You’ve got the business cards. The Instagram bio says CEO. You’ve taken 3 online courses this month and your Canva is fire. But when was the last time someone sent you money for what you’re selling? Do you see signs you’re not making sales? Are you spending more time perfecting than selling, or perhaps you are consuming courses instead of closing deals, looking successful online while your bank account stays quiet then this article is for you. I’m breaking down the 3 signs you’re not making sales as a Kenyan entrepreneur, and giving you a clear 7-day plan to fix it. No theory, just what’s blocking your money and how to move product this week.
Let’s be honest about what’s happening in Kenya right now. Everyone’s a hustler, everyone calls themselves an entrepreneur, but most businesses aren’t making money. The signs you’re not making sales are everywhere: beautiful Instagram feeds with zero transactions, business cards with no clients to give them to, products that never leave the planning stage. And here’s what nobody wants to admit: having a business idea doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. Having a logo doesn’t make you an entrepreneur.
What makes you an entrepreneur is someone giving you money for something you’re selling. That’s the only metric that matters. In this AI age where everyone thinks tools will do the selling for them, we’ve forgotten the basics. Selling requires actual conversations, actual offers, actual rejection, actual closed deals. So if your business isn’t making money in Kenya and you’re wondering why, these three signs will show you exactly what’s blocking your sales and how to fix it starting today.
Sign #1: You’re Perfecting Instead of Selling
This is one of the clearest signs you’re not making sales. You’ve been “preparing to launch” for months, your logo also went through 6 revisions. Meanwhile your website is still being tweaked. You’re waiting until everything is perfect before you actually sell anything. And while you’re waiting, someone else with an uglier website and a worse product is making money because they actually put their thing in front of customers.
SIGN #2 – You’re Consuming, Not Creating
The Course Addiction
Here’s another major sign you’re not making sales, you’re always learning but never implementing. You’ve watched every YouTube video on sales funnels and you’re also in three different business WhatsApp groups. You even bought that course on digital marketing while you’re still reading books about entrepreneurship. You attend every webinar and you’re always consuming content about business instead of actually doing business. And I get it, learning feels productive. It feels like you’re moving forward. But you’re not. You’re stalling.
What You’re Actually Avoiding
Let’s call it what it is: you’re using education as expensive procrastination. Because learning is safe. Courses don’t reject you. Books don’t tell you no. YouTube videos don’t hang up on you. But actual customers? They might say no. They might not want what you’re selling. They might ghost you. They might tell you your price is too high. So you keep learning, keep preparing, keep consuming, because it protects you from the one thing that actually builds a business: the uncomfortable work of selling. And here’s the truth that nobody in those courses will tell you. You already know enough to make your first sale. You don’t need another strategy. You don’t need another framework. You need to talk to people who might buy what you’re selling.
The Real Work of Selling
You know what moves product in Kenya? Conversations. Not perfect pitch decks. Not fancy presentations. Real conversations with real people about real problems you can solve. who doesn’t want their problem to be solved? I’ve seen entrepreneurs succeed in Nairobi by going door to door during COVID. By building WhatsApp groups and actually engaging with people daily. By calling potential customers even when they’re scared. By showing up at markets and talking to people face to face. That’s how businesses get built here. Not by watching videos about how other people built their businesses. By actually doing the uncomfortable work yourself.
How to Break the Cycle
Here’s your new rule, for every hour you spend learning about business, you must spend two hours actually selling or talking to potential customers. Not researching more. Not planning more. Selling. Making offers. Having sales conversations. Even awkward ones. Especially awkward ones. Because that’s where the real education happens. When someone tells you no, you learn what objections to handle. When someone asks about price, you learn how to talk about value. When someone buys, you learn what actually resonates. No course teaches you that. Only real selling does.
Today and even right now, reach out to 5 people who might buy what you’re selling. Not to pitch perfectly. Not after you take one more course. Just start the conversation. “Hey, I noticed you struggle with X. I’ve got something that might help. Can we talk about it?” That’s it. Five conversations. Today.
SIGN #3 – You Have No Revenue Proof
The Instagram vs Reality Gap
The third and most obvious sign you’re not making sales? Your bank account is empty. I don’t care how good your Instagram looks. I don’t care how many followers you have. I don’t care if your website is beautiful. If nobody’s sending you money, you don’t have a business. You have a hobby that looks professional. And this is the gap that kills most Kenyan entrepreneurs: the gap between looking successful and actually being successful. Your bio says CEO but your M-Pesa statement tells a different story.
Why Revenue Is the Only Metric That Matters
Let me be direct: revenue proof doesn’t lie. Bank deposits are facts. M-Pesa transactions are facts. Everything else is just stories we tell ourselves. Likes don’t pay rent. Followers don’t buy stock. Engagement doesn’t feed your family. Money does. And if your business isn’t making money in Kenya, where cash flow is everything, where most businesses die within the first year because they run out of cash, then you need to stop focusing on vanity metrics and start focusing on the one number that actually matters: how much money came in today. This week. This month. That’s your report card. Not your social media analytics.
What Zero Sales Actually Means
Here’s what people don’t want to hear: if you’ve been “running your business” for six months and you haven’t made a single sale, you’re not running a business. You’re running an expensive experiment. And that’s fine, but call it what it is. Because until money changes hands, until someone values what you’re doing enough to pay for it, you haven’t validated anything. You’re still in theory. The Kenyan market doesn’t care about your theory. It cares about whether you solve problems worth paying for. And the only way to know that is to ask for money and see what happens.
How to Get Your First Transaction
Stop waiting. Price your product today. Even if you’re not sure it’s the right price. Make an offer today. Even if you’re scared. Close one sale this week. Even if it’s small. Even if it’s discounted. Even if it’s imperfect. I’ve seen Kenyan entrepreneurs start with 1,500 shillings. That’s it. One small transaction. But that transaction taught them more than six months of planning ever could. It showed them what customers actually want. What they’re willing to pay for. What objections come up. What works. You need that data. And the only way to get it is to sell something.
Right now, write down your price. Then find one person, just one, who might need what you’re selling. Make them an offer before the day ends. If they say no, find out why. If they say yes, congratulations, you just became a real business. Track every shilling that comes in. Make it visible. Let revenue be your guide for what to do next, not your assumptions or your social media engagement.
Why this happens
Look, I’m not here to just call you out without understanding why these signs you’re not making sales show up in the first place. There’s a reason you’re perfecting instead of selling. There’s a reason you’re consuming instead of creating. There’s a reason you’re hiding behind the appearance of business instead of doing actual business. And the reason is fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of failure. Fear of looking stupid. Fear of being told your thing isn’t good enough.
Imposter syndrome whispering that you’re not ready yet, you need to learn more, you need to be better first. And the Kenyan context makes it worse, doesn’t it? Everyone’s watching. Your family wants to know when your business will “make it.” The economy is tough. Infrastructure is a headache. Competition is everywhere. It feels safer to stay in preparation mode than to put yourself out there and risk failing publicly.
But here’s what I need you to understand: every single business you admire, every entrepreneur making money right now, every successful brand you follow, they all started exactly where you are. Scared. Imperfect. Unsure. The only difference is they sold something anyway. They made offers before they felt ready. They had awkward sales conversations. They got rejected and kept going. That’s it. That’s the whole secret. So yes, acknowledge the fear. Feel it. Then sell anyway.
HOW TO ACTUALLY START
The 7-Day Sales Sprint
Enough diagnosis. Here’s exactly how to start making sales this week, even if you’ve been stuck for months. This isn’t theory. This is the action plan that works for Kenyan entrepreneurs who are tired of playing business and ready to move product.
Day 1-2: Define Your Offer
Pick what you’re selling. Just one thing, don’t overcomplicate it. Write one paragraph about what it does and who it’s for. Price it. Yes, right now, pick a number. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to exist. If you’re scared to price too high, start lower, you can always raise it later. If you’re scared nobody will pay, test it and find out. Write it down: “I’m selling
for [price] to help [specific people] with [specific problem].” That’s your offer. Done.
Day 3-4: Find Your People
Make a list of ten real people who might actually need what you’re selling. Not “potential target audience.” Real names. Real contacts. People you can reach today. They might be in your phone already. They might be in your WhatsApp groups. They might be people you see every day. They might be business owners in your area. Find ten. Write their names down. This is your sales list.
Day 5-6: Make Contact
Reach out. Not with a perfect pitch. Not with a rehearsed script. Just reach out like a human talking to another human about how you might be able to help them. Use WhatsApp if that’s easier. Use phone calls if you’re brave. Go see them in person if you have to. The message is simple: “Hey, I noticed you [specific problem they have]. I’ve started offering [your thing] that helps with exactly this. Would you be open to hearing more about it?” That’s it. Send that message to all ten people. Some won’t respond. That’s fine. Some will say no. That’s fine too. You’re looking for the ones who say “tell me more.”
Day 7: Close One Sale
Follow up with anyone who showed interest. Answer their questions. Handle their objections. Ask for the sale. Directly. “So, would you like to move forward with this?” If they say yes, take their money. M-Pesa, bank transfer, cash, whatever works. If they say no, ask why. That feedback is gold. It tells you what to fix. Then go back to your list, add more names, and do it again until someone says yes. Your goal is one sale by day seven. Even if it’s discounted to get your first customer. Even if it’s imperfect. One transaction. Because once you close that first sale, everything changes. You’re no longer playing entrepreneur. You’re actually one.
Your Action Plan Summary
This is how to start selling products when you’ve been stuck in planning mode: stop planning and start doing. Stop perfecting and start selling. Stop consuming and start creating. The formula is simple: Imperfect action beats perfect planning every single time. Kenyan entrepreneurs who make it aren’t smarter than you. They’re not more talented. They’re not luckier. They just sold something while you were still getting ready. They had uncomfortable conversations while you were watching YouTube. They asked for money while you were tweaking your logo. That’s the only difference.
CONCLUSION – The Line Between Playing and Doing
So here’s where you’re at. You know the three signs you’re not making sales. You know why they happen. You know exactly what to do about them starting today. The choice is yours now: keep looking like an entrepreneur or actually become one. Keep perfecting or start selling. Keep consuming or start creating revenue. The only real difference between you and the businesses making money in Kenya right now is this: they sold something. That’s it. Sales isn’t the sexy part of entrepreneurship. It’s not the part people post about on Instagram. It’s uncomfortable. It’s awkward sometimes.
You’ll get rejected. You’ll hear no more than you hear yes at first. But it’s the only part that actually matters. Because a business without sales isn’t a business. It’s just an expensive hobby with a logo. You don’t need another course. You don’t need a better website. You don’t need perfect branding. You need to make one sale in the next seven days. Just one. Prove to yourself that someone will pay you for what you’re offering. Then do it again. And again. That’s how businesses get built. Not in theory. In practice. So go. Stop reading. Start selling. Your first customer is waiting. What’s actually stopping you from making your next sale? Drop it in the comments below—let’s talk about what’s really in the way.
