It’s pretty difficult to find one person in Nigeria today that has one stream of income. Many people are juggling between their 9-5 jobs and personal businesses or side hustle. This on its own, can be a tasking thing to do. Having to deal with the pressures from your full-time job and the headaches that come with personal businesses require only the strong-hearted. Does this mean that it is impossible to do this successfully? Of course not.
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That is why the sole purpose of this article is to help you find the balance between your regular job and your business. Here, I will be sharing reasonable tips to help you perform this “magic”. Let’s begin!
As simple as this might be, it is the starting point of your success on any day. If you live in a place like Lagos, where traffic is the trademark, you can’t even afford to not wake up early. Asides from that, whether you live in a traffic-infested city or not, waking up early puts you in a better mood to go through the day successfully. Waking up, say 4 am, as against maybe your regular 6 am will be beneficial to you. you know that your 9-5 takes most of your productive time, especially if you are a morning person. So, the way out is to wake up much earlier, put in the work needed for your business for the day, and then get ready for your full-time job.
These refer to the times when you move from your house to the office or vice-versa. It could also be when you step out and need to commute somewhere within work hours.
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Maximize those periods. If you will be on a bus or be driven in a car, use that as a great opportunity to do one or two things with respect to your side hustle. Those hours or even minutes spent commuting cannot be regained, so use them. You can also consider arriving much earlier than the usual office hours, so you can get some things done before your colleagues start arriving.
In many organizations, lunch breaks between 12noon and 2 pm are usually observed. What do you do within those periods? Do you go around the office looking for who to gist with, or do you just scroll through social media? Do you even eat the whole time? Maximize those times. Remember you don’t have all day to work on your business, so depending on what you do, squeeze out a few minutes or more to do something for yourself.
Remember, while on your way home, especially if you aren’t driving, you can also be working on your side hustle. Most importantly, when you get home and get refreshed, pull out all the energy left to work on your business.
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Many people have faulted in this area by getting back to work and sitting in front of the TV the rest of the evening, or scrolling through their social media feed. It is good you keep abreast with what is happening nationally and globally, but make sure it has allotted time. Fully invest your after-work hours to build your dream business.
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Take advantage of weekends
See, it is not every owambe that you should attend. It is not every house warming party that you should be found in. Find time on Saturdays and Sundays to work on your business. These days should not just be spent resting and lying about. Use them productively.
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Have a workable to-do list
It is not enough to just have a list where you write down your plans for each day or week, there should be strategic action plans to back them up. Also, prioritize each task. It is not everything that needs your urgent attention or even your attention at all. You are a busy person trying to work a full-time job and run a business. You need to know the important things to do and when to do them
More than doing the above things, you must always find time to rest. Yes, I know I mentioned you should maximize every second, but let it be a case of work hard play hard. Put in the work, and find time to rest. Not out of sheer laziness, but the reward for work well done.
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This article was first published on 11th June 2022
chidiogo-akaelu
Chidiogo Shalom Akaelu holds a degree in English and Literary Studies, from the University of Nigeria. She is a freelance writer, editor and founder of Loana Press, a budding online publishing outlet.
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