Nicke Kabamba was working at a car rental company, not so long ago.

Nowadays, the Colchester United loanee is driven on by the prospect of scoring goals as a professional footballer.

Having made his way up the non-league echelons, Kabamba is clearly proud to say he is now playing in the Football League.

But that is not to say the on-loan Portsmouth forward is resting on his laurels and thinking he has made it, now he has successfully made it into the professional game – far from it.

Kabamba said: “Being a professional footballer is everything that I’d hoped it would be.

“Waking up and going into training trying to better yourself is great – I’m literally living the dream.

“I was working at a car rental company and I don’t really want to be going back to my nine to five job.

“I’m just trying to focus on scoring goals and getting my name out there and being a force in the league.

“This is what millions of people want to do, so I’m happy and privileged to be in this position.

“The goal for all professional players is to go as high as possible – if you keep playing well then good things happen.

“I’ll just keep playing well and be consistent and see where that takes me.

“But it is inspirational to see players come out of the non-league and do well.

“Academy players are so used to being a pro but when you’ve been working out of football, you can’t go back to that lifestyle and you push a bit harder and you’re hungrier.”

Kabamba, who was snapped up by Portsmouth in January this year after hitting the goal trail for Hampton and Richmond Borough and helping them secure promotion to National League South, in 2016.

But even while he was a part-time player, the former sprinter still boosted his chances of turning professional by putting in the hard graft in his own time.

“Before I turned pro, I was doing my own fitness work,” said the 24-year-old, who has also played for the likes of Uxbridge and Hayes and Yeading in the non-league game.

“I took time off work doing Monday sessions with a couple of friends, Tuesday training with the team, Wednesday myself, Thursday training with the team and then Friday off.

“I was already in that mindset before I actually signed the contract.

“At Portsmouth, they trained six days a week and that was really intense.

“For me, it was about learning off more experienced players.”

Kabamba is hoping to make his Colchester debut when they host Crawley Town tomorrow, at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

"I’m really excited for this opportunity,” added Kabamba, who made two appearances for Portsmouth this season before his loan move and was an unused substitute for the U’s in their 1-0 loss at Cambridge United last weekend.

“The move here definitely came out of the blue.

“It was spoken about a little bit but then it seemed like I might get into the first team at Portsmouth.

“But then I had a good chat with the manager there and he said it was probably best if I went out and got some minutes and some experience and hopefully some goals.

“That’s the aim when I’m here.When I heard about the offer from Colchester it was a no-brainer. Now I want to get some league games under my belt.

“Watching the game at Cambridge, I could see that the team has so much potential.

“Like the manager said, we just need that final touch and getting those goals and hopefully I can do that when I’m in the team.

“Hearing some of the stats about the number of crosses we’re getting into the box, it’ll be good to come into the team and hopefully score some goals.

“As a forward, if you score goals and get a bit of confidence you can be unstoppable.”