Side Hustle

Dear Aspiring entrepreneur,

In the past two weeks, we have been biting our teeth into the importance of having a side hustle. We looked at what lessons to learn from your current job and how your workplace can teach you important characteristics what would help build your business. If you are not learning what to do from your work place right now, you are learning what not to do. So see your current job as a learning center.

This week let’s delve into identification of what to do. First determine what your side hustle will be. Will it be products or services? In identifying what to do, you must not be afraid to fail. The fear of failure can cripple even the greatest of minds.

In determining your side hustle experiment a lot as this is also a journey to discovering the different aspects of yourself. Making up your mind about what the side hustle is constitute 40% of the walk. Your decision should be based on your area of strength. How do you know what you are good at? Check what you complain about the most or what you receive a lot of commendation on. A teacher might love singing, so his/her side hustle might involve starting a band for wedding parties and other social events (Owambe industry is big in Nigeria). A banker that cannot be caught dead not dressing ‘bambam’ might have a side hustle within the fashion industry. An architect might make a great tailor (you will be surprised at how great the hems of the clothes he/she makes will be).

As soon as the decision is made, find someone local to learn from. You need ‘native’ intelligence in business. What do I mean by native intelligence? Find someone who most likely is not as educated as you are nor as exposed as you are but has been in the business over a period of time to learn from. In Nigeria, the best place to learn how to run a retail supermarket is not from the megastores, it’s from the woman in Ojuwoye or the Mallam at the end of your street. Have you noticed how he starts with a pack of sweet and some sugar and in a few months, he grows to become an integral part of your community? Have you seen how that Igbo man selling electronics sleeps in his shop of electronics and in a few years he has multiple shops, rides a big car and has expanded? Haven’t you noticed how the seemingly uneducated woman selling plantain chips or Amala has four university graduates for children and they all know how to run the business even in their sleep? It’s because they understand the intricacies of business within our cultural context. Learn from them! Pocket all your ivy league degrees and learn. How did Funke Akindele understand the Jennifer role? She went to the ’Iya Alamas’, spent time with them, today she is running a series on it.

Add to learning the commitment to grow over time. One hour per week is the minimum you can spend for learning. If you want to run a poultry, become a farm hand every Saturday or Sunday consistently over a period of time. Volunteer to work for the person for free. Entrepreneurship is not for the proud as pride hinders business growth. Always take your own lesson note, when do they open, how are they approaching customers? How do they add something to cost price? Learn, learn and learn again. Never be ashamed to be a student it takes nothing away from you. I am not referring to classroom knowledge, I mean personal real-life, real-time knowledge.

And finally, it's a 'side hustle' initially. Don't let it affect the main hustle. Learn to manage your time and energy properly. Don't turn your Oga at work to a 'bozzilla' when you start dropping the ball or losing concentration at work. Borrow yourself brain so that you don't give yourself self-inflicted prayer battles. Next week we will examine the next step to take after learning the intricacies of the business of the side hustle. Do have a productive February.

God bless our hustle!

#Entreprenuer
#HustleGist