I realized the importance of side hustle at a very young age. The harsh economy in Nigeria didn't start today. Rather than improving, it is disheartening that the economy has been moving from bad to worse over the years.
I was born and brought up in Ekiti State. At the age of 15, I left my parents and went to Ondo state before moving to my hometown in Kogi State to finish my secondary school education. While in Kogi State, I decided to try out some side hustle.
From the pocket money sent to me by my parents, I started trading bread.
Our extended family is a big one. I had many cousins and other relations in the big house. I would visit the bakery to purchase the bread in the evening. At dusk, I would arrange them on a tray and display outside the house for passersby to patronize. I would light up my kerosene lantern to illuminate my immediate surroundings and for the potential customers to see the bread. Whatever number of loaf that I bought on a particular evening, I would finish selling it before the following evening. The profit on each loaf wasn't much but I was making reasonable profits because of the volume of turnover.
I ran the business for about two months before everything came down crumbling.
The problem started when I began to identify with friends and family at the course of the business. My cousins were buying on credit, likewise some friends.
Most of the adults around me then were state civil servants. Around that period, the government failed to pay salaries for some months. This affected the purchasing power of many people. They were buying foodstuffs and groceries on credit.
That was how my business suffered from the economic downturn. Many people bought bread from me without paying me till I finished my education and left the town.
Another side hustle that I did with a lot of success is farming. I spent my early years with my parents as mentioned earlier. My father was a farmer and every weekend, as a kid, I followed him to the farm. When I grew up to the stage of working on the farm, I would join my father. That was how I developed interest in agriculture from my tender age.
Ever since then, I make use of any opportunity that I have to practice crop production. During my national youth service year in Bauchi state, I invested in farming. I grew corn, beans and soya beans. The yield was great. After rounding up my service, I went back home with a lot of beans from my farm.
About three years ago, I relocated to Kaduna. I didn't waste time to grab the opportunity of farming land in my organization. I invested in the production of beans and Bambara nuts (Vigna subterranea). The yield from the beans wasn't much. However, the bambara nuts made me smile.
I did the analysis of the investment and I concluded that it is worth expanding.
My plan is to farm what I eat. Food is the first need of man. Any side hustle that could relieve one of the burdens of providing food on the table is worth doing. I hope to move closer to self sufficiency in food production this year.
From the two experiences explained above, I learned valuable lessons.
The first lesson that I learned is to keep a business away from special consideration for family and friends. Business should remain a business while charity can be carried out through other means. Both shouldn't be mixed up.
Another lesson that I learned is that whatever you try out that gives you good results, expand it and maximize the benefits.
In all of these, I feel good investing my time and money in side hustle. The reality now in Nigeria is that salary alone can keep on afloat especially as a family man who has dependents.
The images are mine unless otherwise stated