Inside Story of Entrepreneurs; Navigating 9 to 5 and Side Hustle
Social and work life changed all around the world in 2020 and it has not been the same ever since. Remote jobs became a norm and the emergence of virtual stores, online sales and meetings became part of culture.
While we see these changes in all aspect of social & corporate life, we also can’t ignore the fact that in the present day Nigeria, corporate workers (9 to 5ers) tends to have a side hustle of owning a virtual business (either selling or offering services from a virtual space
Social media app (whatsapp, instagram and telegram) has become a major virtual business hub for most entrepreneurs in Nigeria and most employed individuals are not letting up, as they have taken pleasure aside and embraced the new social norm “side hustles”.
SIDE HUSTLE IS A NEW NORM
Side hustle is common in Nigeria and from investigations can be traced to Nigerians. In other countries people tend to have to two or more employments, while in Nigeria, people tend to have multiple businesses or while employed, they build a side business. STARR MAGAZINE is spotlighting on men and women with full employment and side hustles.
SPECIAL INTERVIEW WITH EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS WITH OUTSTANDING SIDE HUSTLE PERFORMANCE.
Patrick Umaru is a full time Night-Life Club Manager in Lagos, Works 5 days in a week and resumes work by 8pm till 7am in the Morning. He has been actively employed in Club Management role for over 10 years before setting up a Side Hustle, A bespoke ready to wear Fashion Outfit FIM COUTURE
Side Hustle: The FIM Couture idea came in 2019 but I didn’t start till the covid year 2020 when I had enough time to learn and master the skill. Ever since, we’ve been making quality bespoke clothing ,ready to wear two piece and good quality traditional wears.
Time Balancing: Patrick told STARR Magazine he uses 6 hours of his day to invest into his Brand. I get busy most times especially during the festive period when the club gets busy then I’ll have to hire extra hands to help handle some jobs. But I always supervise and make sure we deliver excellently.
Thoughts about Side Hustle: I love fashion and I appreciate and admire folks who look good. I decided to go into fashion to create and bring in new ideas. I get most of my clients from the club and I love seeing my brand on them. Aside that; Side hustle should be a Nigerian thing as it is a new norm and means to survive in the harsh economy we are all facing in Nigeria.
Financials: In some good months Profits from the brand triples my salary and in some slow month the profits help solve some personal needs that salary alone wouldn’t cover. It’s now hard to remember my financial life before having a side hustle, because how was I surviving alone on Salary.
Dunni Akadidi is a full-time corporate woman with over five(5) years’ experience as a seasoned Customer Relationship Manager/Marketing Analyst. She currently works with an Audit Firm in Lagos. Resuming by 8am and closes work by 5pm but on most days 6:30pm. She founded an online fashion business called JUNEONE FASHION. Within 3 months of operation (January 2024 to March 31st) JUNEONE FASHION has sold over #700,000 worth of Fashion Items.
My Side Hustle is JUNEONE FASHION a fashion brand that specialize in the sale of women fashion items and accessories (shoes, bags, clothing, and jewelries). JUNEONE FASHION caters to fashion-forward individuals with the aim of making fashion affordable and accessible to all women.
Time balancing: as a full-time remote worker, I mostly find myself glued to my laptop almost all the time. However, with the goal to make my brand global and renowned, I have been deliberate about consistency and determination in the past 3-months. Firstly, I dedicate weekends for content creation and other time-consuming task regarding my business, whilst I use weekdays for other day-to-day activities like order processing, customer engagement, and delivery bookings. Roughly, I spend about 4hours on my business every working week-days, whilst I spend 8-10hours on weekend / holidays.
Thoughts about side-hustle: I am a strong believer that a single stream of income is not sufficient to strive in the part of the world that we are. As a matter of fact, I was raised by a mother who balanced entrepreneurship with corporate life hence; running business with office work isn’t something new to me. I became more deliberate about my side hustle (JUNEONE FASHION) in January 2024, and the whole experience has been amazing and quite encouraging.
Financial: JUNEONE FASHION is still a baby, but we are taking giant strides. We began the year by setting up sales target for the year, which we broke down into monthly targets. For 2024 Q1, we met and surpass the set target and that alone was a big deal. I strongly believe we can do even better and challenge ourselves more, even though there are days we record zero sales.
FOLLOW THEIR PAGES ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
- Follow Paticks Business Page: @FIMCouture on IG
- Follow Dunni's Business Page: @Juneone_fashion on IG