With the current economic situation in Nigeria, everyone is looking for a side hustle. An additional income. Your salary is no longer enough to feed you and your family. Inflation is on the rise but income is stagnant or reducing.
Side hustle is no longer optional.
But wait before you jump on the latest business trend, there are a few things to consider to help you choose which one suits you and your lifestyle. What works for Mr A might not work for you, so consider the different types of side hustles out there first.
There are 3 categories for side hustles
– Quick Cash
– Part time hustle
– Full Business.
The 2 major factors that would determine which of these 3 would suit you is Time and Money.
Quick Cash
These consist of mostly online side hustles such as filling surveys, writing reviews, performing tasks on fiver, affiliate marketing etc. But it can also be offline too. For example, you may get random gigs from time to time to provide a service. A good example would be movie/Tv extras. You don’t have to have any acting skills, most of the time you are just walking past or sitting.
This type of hustle requires little or no investments and you can quit at any time with no consequence such as loss of investment. The goal is to get quick cash with little commitment.
If you have time on your hands and you don’t want to take the risk of setting up a business. These quick cash businesses are best.
Part-time Hustle
These are the most popular type of side hustle. It consists mostly of providing professional services, ecommerce (selling stuff online), writing books, creating courses, Uber, Airbnb etc. The list is long and endless.
This type of business is for anyone with limited amount of time and cash. For most of them, you are using the assets you already have such as your expertise in a subject, your car, house, store, to generate extra income. You might have to invest a bit in the initial phase to get things started but the investment is usually not very high.
Since this business is usually done part-time, there is usually no long term vision or structure to the business. It tends to be a one-man business, which can make it very temporal.
A Full Business
This type of hustle is harder to achieve as building a full fledge business requires time and commitment and good amount of money. Examples of this type of business are Physical retail shops, product manufacturing, service-based business with staff (e.g cleaning company), hotels, schools etc.
Setting up a full business is the most demanding with higher risks but can also be the most profitable in the long-run. If you can raise the capital and have the skills to multitask between your main job and overseeing the business, then this would be a good deal for you. These types of side business can easily evolve into a full-time source of income. So, if your aim is to resign from paid employment and become self employed this is the right path for you.
Another tip to ensure success is hiring the right person to oversee affairs in your absence. For example, you may appoint your spouse or close relative or friend who is available to oversee the day-to-day activities and report to you.
Considering all that has been said, before you start that side hustle ask yourself the below questions.
- How much time do I have to commit?
- How much money do I have available to invest?
- How much risk am I willing to take?
- Would I want this side business to evolve into my full-time business?
- Do I have an available support system?
Once you have been able to answer these questions then you can decide whether to start a quick cash hustle, a part-time hustle or a full business.
Check out our article on how to set up a successful business in Nigeria.
