As a young girl, especially from the country where I live - Nigeria, You quickly learn one thing.
That a girl has to hustle, Hustle and hustle.
There was a time it seemed like the hustling was for men alone, but right now, even children have to hustle to keep things going.
However, I'll be talking on Ladies today.
There are 5 big reasons why a lady must hustle
1. To prevent Give and Take
There is a law known as 'the law of give and take.' it's not an official law, but what it basically means is that I give something in exchange for something I really want.
Yeah I can see you get my point now.
For Ladies from middle class family downwards, hustling is our own way of avoiding this type of situation.
And when I say hustle, I mean we could work 3 jobs or combine 3 businesses to make sure we don't fall victim to taking what seems to be "the easy way out"
A lot of Ladies here have one business or another they do. If you don't believe me, then let's do an experiment
- Step into any popular University in Nigeria, go to any of the girls hostel and ask this question
How many people have a sidehustle or business here?
I'm sure a lot of hands will be up.
2. To Feed
While the cost of food products increases, a lot of us ladies have to find other options of meeting the cost of living.
In Nigeria, there's a popular statement that we make and we know is true of the country
"Whatever Goes up in Nigeria never comes down"
Few years ago, I bought a paint of cassava flakes for 500 naira
Today I bought half a paint for 800 naira
To be able to feed, we do a lot of businesses.
I think we should be one of the best at trying new things. Every and any method to make money has probably been tried by a Nigerian, because we have to survive!
3. It gives us Confidence
As a lady, when you're constantly earning your money from your sidehustles, it gives you the confidence that no matter what happens, you can still survive.
There's a Confidence that comes with making your own money, that you can provide for yourself without asking anybody for help.
You're not at the mercy of others and for those who are working jobs, it gives you this confidence that if you're having issues with your boss or the job, you could easily quit and still survive.
No unnecessary compromise.
4. To scale it up!
We can all agree that the cost of Living is currently very high and for you to meet those standards, you have to have something you're doing, that brings money - a business.
A popular advice I've heard someone say is that-
"If you work in an oil company and you're being paid millions monthly, if you have no other business you're doing, then you're not much different from a poor man."
This is because if you get fired tomorrow and you don't get a job for a while, life will beat you black and blue.
However if you have a business, then your survival chance increases
(Well if God is on your side)
But basically, we mostly start business small with the aim that one day this business will grow and will begin to pay even more than our Day Job.
We hustle so we can turn our side hustle into our main hustle when it starts paying far more than our day Jobs.
5. So our Children do not start from Nothing
While the story of zero to hero sounds interesting, for those of us who really started from nothing, we would not want to see our children start from Nothing too.
I've seen those who come from families with inheritance and foundations of wealth, so I hustle to do more. To build more. To produce more.
I do not gather only for the expenses for today, but for the children unborn and the generations unseen.
This is why I must hustle
This is why I hustle
This is why I am here