In a world where everyone is looking for extra income through numerous side hustles, it is a great idea to know how best to balance one’s regular day job so that it does not conflict with the hustle.
Just in case you’ve been wondering how to achieve this, think no further. This is because notable Nigerian entrepreneur, Tayo Oyedeji, recently took to Twitter to share his ideas on how one can successfully run a side business whilst maintaining their daily 9-5 job.
According to Mr Oyedeji, the ideas he shared helped him to successfully manage three businesses even while he was still working for his employers. Below are his ideas and experience. We hope you find them useful.
THREAD: How to build a side business while holding on to your day job.
— Prof. Tayo Oyedeji (@tayooye) January 16, 2019
2. Let me first debunk an insidious lie that has killed many careers: “Your salary is the bribe they give you to forget your dreams.”
It is just NOT true.
“Your salary is what you earn while giving value to your employers and learning to run a business at their expense”
5. Step 1. DON’T STEP TOO FAR FROM YOUR CORE COMPETENCE. If you work in banking, you probably understand finance better than most people. If you work for a FMCG, retail may be your forte. If you work in tech…
Find something that is in your natural sphere of influence.
6. My father was the CFO for a major corporation in the 80’s when he had the genius idea of building an agro-chemical business on the side.
Bad idea.
Accounting and agro-chemicals are so far apart that the business never succeeded.
Stay in your lane, bro.
There are no guarantees in business. Your business can fail despite the best laid plan and even topnotch implementation. Start small, then scale slowly until you can do it full-time.
9. I have a friend who started a restaurant in Lagos with about $250,000. He had the money and thought it would be a good idea to blow out the competition on day 1.
Bad idea, he lost everything.
It is impt for one of the business owners to work full-time in the business. If that’s not feasible, give a small equity holding to your most senior employee. That way someone in the business has ownership stake that binds him/her to the firm.
You are a star employee. That’s great. Corporations however have strategies to help you succeed. Please make sure you can deal with the uncertainties of entrepreneurship before making the jump
You’ve gradually built a business while working for the man. Is it time to resign and face your hustle full time? Maybe. But please be sure that your hustle can pay the bills before making the jump.
