6 Tips On How To Be A Successful Serial Hustler in Nigeria

At some point in time as a Nigerian, you must have heard the ‘hustle’ anthem either via social media platforms or from friends and family. No doubt, the Nigerian ‘hustling spirit’ is misconstrued to be one of crime or illegal activities all in a bid to make quick money. This is wrong. The hustling spirit in Nigeria entails running multiple job types alongside a major one so as to have multiple streams of income.

Yoruba’s have a saying, which goes thus: “ona kan o wo oja”€. Literally, it means there is never one designated route to entering a market; that is, every man can carve his own path, in so far as it gets him to the market when he needs to get there. Maybe this is the reason why it is fast becoming a trend for Nigerians to keep a side-hustle alongside their regular 9-5’s. While it’s an interesting trend, it can be tedious allocating time to different unrelated jobs, juggling between deadlines and making sure to deliver quality to our respective customers.

But each job has its own needs that must be met, regardless of what your other commitments are, so no one cares that you woke up late for work because you got in late yesterday night and had to quickly sew the dress that your side-customer had paid for two months ago, or that you spent the whole weekend writing a side-article whose deadline was drawing near and for that reason your Monday presentation is not ready. Then comes the question: how do we maintain side-hustles without making our main jobs suffer?

Because we understand your struggle, and key into your smart money-making goals, we have compiled a few tips on how to be a successful serial hustler:

How To Be A Successful Serial Hustler in Nigeria

• What is your “why?”€:

I know that everyone is doing it, but why are YOU doing it? When you decide why you really want to keep a side job, it informs your choice and decisions and guides you towards making choices that will harness your flow on your main job. Maybe it’s to make more money, maybe you just have too much free time on your hands, maybe it is to inspire you on your main job, decide! What is your reason?

• Don’t eat more than what you can chew:

I know you need to make a lot of money and you need to get your stuff together to make those big dreams of yours come true, but don’t take on assignments or jobs you know you don’t have the time, passion, or determination to deliver through completion, and successfully too. Don’t work four to five different jobs because they pay the bills unless you are sure you can deliver on all fronts as the need arises!

• Make money while doing what you love:

Maybe you are good at baking or you have amazing delicacies that your girlfriends always want to steal from you, or maybe you have a great flair for speaking or writing or singing; consider searching for opportunities where you can exploit your talents and natural habits for monetary benefits. Trust me when I say it is so much better when you pick a side hustle that comes to you naturally.

• Find a middle ground between both jobs:

If you can find a way to align both jobs, you have struck gold! Imagine providing your catering services to your colleagues at work, or helping colleagues prepare their presentation slides and speeches? Or using your knowledge of the Accounting subjects you teach professional students to improve your quality of services as an auditor at your main job? Priceless!

• Know what you are getting into:

If you are working a 9-5, you want to pick a side hustle you can run at any time from anywhere. Each job will come with its own set of baggage, begging your full attention, so know what your jobs demand and be certain that you can deliver successfully before making that decision to take that side-job!

• Treat each job like it’s your only one:

Your side hustle should not suffer at the expense of your main hustle; neither should your main hustle suffer at the expense of your side-hustle, and I guess that’s the main point of this entire article. Give each job the drive it deserves. Show up and give each job your everything. Do what you love, or love what you do or both. Don’t use one job as an excuse for the other. Earn your pay!

An Aside

No hustling is neither too easy nor too much to handle. The best way to surviving the hustling spirit is enjoying what you do. Should you not, you just might have started a hustle bound to fail. No one said it would be easy in the beginning but know that passion makes even the most difficult situation fun and interesting. So while you are sweating and earning your pay, be sure to catch your fun while at it!