if you are a real hustler then there are certain skills you have to know that is why i have decided to draft this post, Skills vs. Survival Jobs: and it will help you to get some knowledge on what Every Hustler Should Know in Kenya and across Africa, many youths find themselves torn between two paths between developing skills that can earn income long-term or taking up a survival job to pay today’s bills It’s often a dilemma that is faced by millions but understanding the difference between the two can shape your future in powerful ways.
🛠️ What Is a Survival Job?
A survival job is any job you do just to earn money and survive, not because it aligns with your passion or long-term goals.
Examples of this jobs are,
House-to-house hawking, Casual construction refers to the practice of moving from one home to another to sell goods or services directly to residents. It’s a traditional sales method that relies on face-to-face interaction and personal persuasion work
NIGHT SHIFT security jobs involve protecting people, property, or assets during nighttime hours. These roles are essential for maintaining safety and deterring crime when visibility is low and fewer people are around
Delivery jobs involve transporting goods from one location to another, usually from a seller (business or individual) to a customer. It’s a fast-growing industry due to e-commerce, food delivery apps, and courier services.
Delivery jobs involve transporting goods from one location to another — usually from a seller (business or individual) to a customer. It’s a fast-growing industry due to e-commerce, food delivery apps, and courier services.
Characteristics of a Survival Job:
Quick income, but often low pay, refers to jobs or side hustles that allow you to earn money fast, often daily or weekly, but typically don’t offer high wages or long-term financial growth.
Offers no long-term growth or stability, “offers no long-term growth or stability” describes work that may provide short-term income, but lacks future potential for career advancement, financial security, or job consistency.
High chance of burnout or stagnation,” high chance of burnout or stagnation” refers to jobs or hustles that can quickly wear you out physically, mentally, or emotionally, while offering little or no progress over time.
Reality: Survival jobs help cover rent, food, and daily expenses. They are not bad, but they should not be the end goal.
🎓 What Are Skills?
Skills are abilities you develop over time that solve problems, offer value, and can be monetized repeatedly even scaled into a business or career and this may include
🎨 Graphic Design: A High-Value, Creative Skill
Graphic design is the art and skill of creating visual content to communicate messages. It’s a powerful, in-demand profession that blends creativity, technology, and problem-solving, used across marketing, branding, publishing, social media, and digital platforms.
💻 Web Design: A Digital Skill with High Value and Long-Term Growth
Web design is the skill of planning, creating, and building websites that are visually appealing, user-friendly, and functional. It combines creativity, technical knowledge, and user experience making it one of the most valuable digital skills in today’s economy.
🌐 Digital Marketing & Content Creation: Powerful Skills for the Online World
Digital marketing and content creation go hand-in-hand to help businesses reach, engage, and convert audiences online. These skills are essential in the digital economy and offer huge opportunities for personal brand building and scalable income
🎥📸 Videography & Photo Editing: Creative Skills with Big Impact
Videography and photo editing are powerful visual storytelling skills that help brands, businesses, and individuals capture attention, build trust, and communicate messages effectively online and offline.
🔧⚙️ Plumbing, Wiring, and Mechanics: Essential Technical Skills with Strong Demand
These trades involve practical, hands-on skills crucial for construction, maintenance, and repair work in homes, businesses, and industries. They are highly valued for their problem-solving nature and steady demand.
🎤📚 Public Speaking, Teaching & Coaching: Impactful People Skills
These skills focus on communicating, inspiring, and guiding others. They’re crucial for leadership, education, motivation, and business growth — and they help build a strong personal brand and lasting influence.
Characteristics of a Skill:
Takes time and effort to master This trait highlights that valuable skills aren’t developed overnight. Mastery often requires: consistent practice, learning from mistakes, Deep focus, sometimes over months or years. Investments in learning through courses, mentorship, or hands-on experience. This time and effort create a competitive advantage, because many people give up before reaching high levels of proficiency. Think of skills like coding, design, carpentry, or digital marketing they require persistence but become highly rewarding.
Can lead to higher, scalable income Some skills have the potential to generate increasing income over time, especially when combined with the right tools or platforms. These skills: Can be automated or packaged (e.g., creating digital products, offering online services that will allow you to serve more people without directly trading time for money (like selling templates, courses, or eBooks often bring premium opportunities as you become an expert or specialist in your field. Examples include software development, social media marketing, content creation, or online teaching.
Portable you can offer it anywhere (online or offline) portable skill means you’re not tied to a physical location. You can:
Work from anywhere (remote work),Serve clients across the world (freelancing, e-commerce, virtual consulting).Adapt it to different industries or platforms.
This flexibility increases job security and opens up global income opportunities. Examples include graphic design, copywriting, video editing, or programming
This skill help you to brand your business identity some skills naturally help you showcase your expertise, attract attention, and build trust. These skills allows you
- to create content, teach, or influence others
- Make you recognizable in your industry.
- Help you develop a unique identity that customers or clients associate with quality or innovation.
- Skills in branding, public speaking, blogging, or personal storytelling can significantly boost your personal brand. This, in turn, makes it easier to grow a business or community around your work.
📌 Reality: A good skill pays you for years — even in tough times.
Some differences survival jobs VS skills
Feature Survival Job Skills
- Income is real quick, but limited Slow start, but scalable
- Control Employer-controlled Self-driven or client-based
- Sustainability Temporary Long-term value
- Freedom Low High (freelance, business, remote)
- Growth Potential Minimal High — leads to opportunities
- Stress Level High Varies, but fulfilling
- 💡 So, What Should You Do?
Use this tactics to smartly approach them both
✅ Use Your Survival Job to Buy Time
If you’re currently doing a survival job — don’t quit blindly. Instead:
- Use that income to support yourself while you build a skill on the side.
- Dedicate at least 1–2 hours a day to learning, practicing, or marketing your skill.
- Start small gigs, even for low pay, just to build a portfolio and confidence.
✅ Shift from Hustling to Building
The goal is to shift from hand-to-mouth hustling to skill-based income that grows over times, start by asking yourself some questions.
“What can I do that adds value and solves a problem?” after asking yourself this question now do this
- Learn it (free online or via TSM Academy)
- Practice it (for friends or local businesses)
- Monetize it (start charging fairly, package your service)
Skills Pay Better Than Hustles
A well-honed skill can pay you a fortune that you have never dreamed of Like ksh5,000 for a logo, ksh10,000 to build a website, ksh20,000+ per month managing social media, ksh2,000 daily for custom carpentry work compared to Ksh300–700 per day hawking sweets or washing cars
📌 Conclusion: A skill might take longer to develop — but it has longer rewards, think Long-term and you will come to realize that
“Survival jobs feed your stomach, Skills feed your future.”
Don’t just chase daily bread, build something that can feed your future family, employ others, and give you freedom.
🔧 Need Help Learning a Skill?
At Tech Space Masters (TSM), we train young people in:
Web & graphic design where we will train you to customize your own website to suite your own taste and also create and design stunning websites for brands business and companies at large
Blogging & digital marketing we will teach you on how to make basic blogs to professional blogs that will make you build confidence in you brand and create awareness in youths as you create jobs for the youth
Personal branding we will teach you on how to have a professional business online image and also offline in order to grow your business and build trust with your customers and audience
Social media marketing we will train you on how to use your social media platforms to connect with potential clients online and all over the globe and also get a targeted customers for the services you offer
Personal finance training not only we will give you the training you need to make money, but we will also coach you on how to save, invest and how you will get financially stable with the money you are making either from the survival jobs or the skill you are going to learn.
Do you really need to get started in this journey to learn skills that will help you turn your hustle into a real career and grow financially when you are still doing something get in touch with me by clicking here
