The Millionaire Housewife’s rules for every side hustler
Whether you are looking to make some extra income or start a business while working, side hustling is no small feat. You must learn to balance your commitments, stay consistent and grow while you’re at it. Temi Ajibewa, founder of The Millionaire Housewife Academy – an online platform that has helped over 5,000 women start their online businesses, shares her golden rules for side hustle success. Rule 1: Discover Your Passion Your passion could be an issue you feel strongly about or something you do effortlessly. Side hustles based on passion tend to be more sustainable because you are self-motivated to go on even when things get tough. If you are not sure what your passion is, here are 3 ways to get started: Look out for things you do well without incentives and recognition. Ask people who know you what they think you are passionate about. Consider problems people often ask you to solve because you find them easy to solve. Rule 2: Turn Your Passion into Profit Doing what you are passionate about is one thing. Knowing how to make money from your passion is a whole different ball game. Here are 5 basic steps I teach my clients to monetize their passion. 1. Find the problem your passion solves Your passion cannot bring you money unless it solves a specific human problem. For you to monetize your passion, you have to discover the hell your passion can get people out of. If you cannot find a hell, you might not have a monetizable passion. It is best as a hobby. 2. Find your money tribe The next step to monetizing your passion is finding people who are willing and able to spend money on solutions to their problems. These people are your money tribe. If you are not sure how to identify your money tribe, ask yourself this question – If I throw a concert, who will be first in line for tickets? 3. Turn your passion into a skill To have a passion valued by other people, you must be able to do it competitively well. When this happens, your passion becomes a skill. You can prune your passion by volunteering, learning through a mentor or taking online classes. 4. Create a product from your passion Your passion must become a product or service for you to make money from it. A great way to turn your passion into a product is by teaching people what you know for a fee. When I started to monetize The Millionaire Housewife Academy, I created e-books, DVDs and online classes to teach people what I knew about starting and growing an online business. I always recommend starting off with digital products because they are easier to maintain and become lifelong assets people all over the world can buy. People pay for products and services, not passions. 5. Promote your hustle You must shamelessly promote your passion if you want to make money from it. You can’t afford to be shy if you want your passion to be more than a hobby. If you are nervous, start off by promoting your hustle to people in your network. Price is only an issue where value is in dispute. Once people realize the value they’re getting from you, paying you becomes non-negotiable. It all starts with finding and monetizing your passion. Learn more about how to start a successful online side hustle at The Millionaire Housewife Academy.
“Don’t go into any business just because of money” – How Ifeyinwa Ojekwe built the brilliant AJALI skincare
[bctt tweet=”Ifeyinwa Ojekwe: If I didn’t give it my all I’d never know how big it could be” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] With businesses I admire I always wonder, how did they start? How did they figure out the right products and how the heck did they get a storefront so early? Catching up with Ifeyinwa Ojekwe, founder of AJALI answered these questions. AJALI is an all-natural, completely handmade cosmetics brand established in 2013 to promote local industry and create awareness for living a healthy life. I tried their products at She Hive London and fell in love, I’ve not looked back since. How did AJALI start? AJALI was founded in 2013. I got really sick when I moved back to Nigeria and made the decision to live a cleaner life. I went natural and started doing research into natural cosmetics. At the time, there was body shop in Nigeria, and when I did more research it wasn’t as natural as I expected, so I kept looking for an alternative but didn’t find something I liked, so I did some DIY. The first thing I tried to make was my body souffles, and my family started to ask about it. So I began making it for friends and family, and then my church had an exhibition and the rest was history. It started off really organic (no pun intended!), it started as a hobby and four years later here we are. How did you make the transition from employee to entrepreneur? I worked at Chevron and Ernst & Young when I moved back to Nigeria, and then I landed my dream job at Today’s Woman. I only quit my job in 2015 – 2 years after AJALI started. Throughout all those job changes, I found that AJALI was the only constant, the only passion throughout that time. If felt like if I didn’t give it my all I’d never know how big it could be. It got to a point where I couldn’t manage both, I couldn’t handle the business coming in. I was a one-person operation at that time, I was doing absolutely everything myself and I needed to give it 100%. Several times along the journey, I was frustrated and wanted to quit but I was surrounded by so many good people to encourage me and give me pep talks when I needed one. A major turning point for me was when I was on holiday in London and EbonyLife reached out and said they wanted to give me an award. I thought it was a scam – so I sent them to my mom’s office and a whole camera crew turned up! That was in 2014, I won the Best Nigeria Made Product of the Year and something told me to keep pushing on, to give it my best and keep on keeping on. At first, my family was sceptical, they questioned whether I really thought it through, especially with the recession in Nigeria. But I resolved that this was what I truly wanted to do, and I’d give it my best shot. What were your biggest investments in AJALI? When I decided to be full time, I decided that I needed a physical store to take me where I wanted to go. I had success with my online store and going to trade shows, but people really wanted to come and pick up our products. So I started looking for a space to make things look more professional. Luckily from my job at Today’s Woman, I had some media and press contacts so was able to get buzz around my the launch of my store on 1 November 2015. At the time, it was a 2 bedroom BQ (boy’s quarters) where I did everything – the office, production, and the selling. I hired a beautician to do treatments as I had some extra space and we were off. On the launch day, we had nearly 200 people and I sold more that night that I had sold in the two years prior. That was the first time I believe it could actually work. I hired my first sales assistant around December 2016. I’ve taken my time, it’s all privately funded by myself, family and friends along the way, so I have to be very careful with resources. Everything goes back to be being invested in the business. I also focused on improving the quality of the business, the logistics, the operations for shipping, and delivery. I’ve also expanded my product range as time went on and invested in serious marketing to legitimise the brand. Before I started, I took a year to educate myself on various ingredients and test products with real users, friends, and family. I’m always looking for new things we could do, and because my passion is living a naturally healthy life, it is second nature. [bctt tweet=”Do something that you are passionate about but make sure it makes business sense” via=”no”] What advice would you give to help someone build a successful business? 1. Do something that you are passionate about but make sure it makes business sense. You need to test whether you’re actually going to make money – is this something you’re going to live off of? If you’re going to have a sustainable business you need to have that research. 2. You don’t have to do everything yourself, though. I use freelance websites to make logos, improve my website and do other graphic design. Make sure you have mentors around you, people who can support you – someone you look up to who you can pick their brain and get their advice from. So try to build up your network, if you don’t know where to start, start in places like SLA and educate yourself 3. Be ready for the journey. Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur, be a risk taker, willing to work later, and pay less until you reach that sweet-spot in your enterprise. 4. Have a