American writer and businessman Clement Stone once said when life hands you a lemon, squeeze it and make a lemonade.
This famous quote from the business mogul rings true to Abuga Makori Jnr who admits to facing multiple challenges in his writing career.
But despite the hurdles he encounters during his day-to-day work, he limped to emerge Hivisasa's winner of the Sh10,000 weekly cash prize after his stories recorded the highest number of page views. Details about the cash prizes and other payments can be found here.
"When I started working, hostility from news sources was a major challenge," Mr Abuga who recently graduated with a First Class honours degree in Journalism from Kisii University said in an interview.
"Sources were unwilling to share critical information. I even had my camera smashed when I took a photo at a dumping site in Kisii."
But despite all this, he carried on with his noble duty hoping one day the world would open up to him and embrace his vision.
He said journalism is what he has dreaded to practice.
"During my days in campus, I was the founding President of Kisii University Press which later on launched a full-time monthly magazine called The Campus Blaze and has been selling within Kisii town and its environs," the 25-year-old added.
"I was also honoured as the all-time best reporter and editor by the institution in 2015."
He began writing for hivisasa.com while in college in 2014 after a friend told him about the opportunity.
Since then, he has actively been writing for the local news site.
And when Hivisasa announced the Sh10,000 weekly cash prize, he was confident that he would pocket the money.
"When Hivisasa announced its new offers, my profile became the second most viewed in the first week and that resulted to winning the 5,000 cash prize before emerging the best in the second week that has also enabled me to bag another 10,000," he said.
His victory, he says, came through sharing of stories in several social media platforms especially on his Facebook account as well as several Facebook groups he is a member.
He also shares his published stories on WhatsApp groups.
"I wish to encourage my fellow online writers that this job pays and anyone can win as long as you remain focused, trustworthy, credible and proactive to establish news sources," he said.
Hivisasa recently launched a weekly competition through which writers can win cash.
The writer at the end of the every week whose stories register the highest number of page views pockets Sh10,000 while the first and second runner-up win Sh5,000 and Sh2,000 respectively.
During the week that ended on Friday June 3, Abuga was ranked best while Mike Okoyo and Fred Kennedy emerged first and second runner-up respectively.