With the struggles and hardship many people are going through, it is good to always have a backup plan.

This is the belief of a local businessman, Malouamaua Eti, 58, from the village of Nu’u-Fou.

Mr. Eti met the Village Voice team while working with his son on his peanut plantation yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Eti said life in Samoa nowadays was all about working hard.

“Life in Samoa is hard, and if you don’t have land to work on or a regular job, you will be in trouble.

“It is all about working hard knowing that you are working and investing in your family.

“Now is not the time to sit around and wait for miracles to come knocking on your door, no there is no more of that now.”

Mr. Eti owns a small shop in Nu’u and also a peanut plantation not far from his house.

“My small shop there does not earn me that much, but it is enough to support my children’s education.

“I only have one more child still in school here in Samoa while the other two are in New Zealand.

“My peanut plantation is my back up plan for my shop because I know I don’t earn much from my shop.

“But I am also doing peanut deliveries to some shops around the area and that’s another source of income for me and the family.”

Mr. Eti also said that everyone in Samoa is struggling, including the business people.

“Some of the struggles we face are the increasing price of wholesale goods we are buying.

“Another struggle we are facing is that we have so much competition around and we don’t know if people will come buy from us or not.

“For us we are also struggling to find people who will not only come and buy stuff from us but we need to make sure that people don’t owe us that much.

“So that’s why it is good to have a second option or back up plan to support the family.”

Mr. Eti says we need to work hard in order to cope with the struggles we have in Samoa.

“There is no other way to tackle struggles rather than just work and make sure to support our families.

“One thing to make sure you are all right n in case your primary plan don’t last you in the long run,” he added.