Hello everyone, thank God it’s Friday. I love weekends because that’s when I can pursue my side hustles. I have a full time day job and at the same time, I have other personal stuffs I do. However, I ensure my side hustles do not interfere with my day Job. I give my 100% to it.

I initially wanted to write on how to grow your money, then I realized that you cannot grow your money without first growing your income. I am not a guru in this topic, but I will share from my own personal experience. There may be people out there reading this that may have been in my position and will benefit from this.

I am sure everyone wants more money, life is good and so sweet when you have money at your disposal. You can buy the fine things of life and also invest thereby securing your future. I cannot call myself an entrepreneur, I believe not everyone is called to be one. Don’t get me wrong, I will definitely love to work for myself because of the freedom it gives, but to be honest I love having a day job because it gives me some sort of assurance. I really admire people that are full time entrepreneurs, thumps up to you all. But I am risk adverse, and I know there are people out there like me. I hope to kill my fear one day and take the plunge.

This is quite a long post, so I am going to split it into 2/3 posts. To grow your income, you start with what you have. What do you have in your hands?

1. Identify what you like doing: I was at a loss many years ago, year in year out, I will promise myself that I will have other streams of income apart from my job. Sadly, I just could not bring myself to start a business. Everyone around me seemed to have one business or the other. I tried selling Children’s cloth one time, but I got tired of pursuing people to pay up and that business wasn’t just me. I felt I didn’t have any talent, I can’t make hair, I can’t sew, I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I can’t even make up, I can cook but I lack presentation skills, I can’t buy and sell. I have tried learning all these in the past, but It just seemed I lacked the ability to become a professional in them.

So one day I decided to have a quiet time because I wanted to discover myself. In less than 5 mins it hit me. I love working with figures, it comes natural to me, I like talking and advising people, I give lots of financial advice to my friends, I even help them prepare their accounts for free. I decided to start making extra money from my professional skill. In less than 2 weeks I got my first Job, and this brings me to the next point.

2. Be humble: My first client wanted me to set up the account unit for his organization, he offered to pay me N15,000. I was to work with their in house clerk for 4 Saturdays so to achieve this. I was disappointed at the amount he was offering, but I didn’t reject the job. I was more than excited to even have a client. He was very pleased with my work and dedication that he introduced me to 4 other Clients. Of course my charge is different, but I am still very affordable.

Few years ago, I met a lady that just finished a month’s course in makeup, she pleaded with me that she wanted to make me up for my first daughter’s naming ceremony. I didn’t need a make up artist for that small parlor event, but because I wanted to assist her I agreed. She charged me N10,000 and I tried to negotiate to N5,000. She refused, she said she was trying to create a certain class for herself and can’t go below. I was shocked for various reasons: 1. Her work was not that fantastic and I was going to be her first client. 2. She needed the money. 3. Her house was few blocks away from ours, so no transport cost. 4. I had my own foundation and powder, so she wasn’t using her products on me. I was so glad that she declined my offer because I didn’t even want her services in the first place.

I met her few months ago, and she was complaining that business was so slow for her… bla bla bla. Please learn to humble and grow your brand first.

In my next post (series 2 of this topic), I will be talking about Improving yourself and asking for a pay rise.
http://akaglue.com/how-to-grow-your-income-series-2/

Good one there. Different strokes for different folks tho.

thank you.