I’m currently realizing that most people have been living hand to mouth for a long time. Others have also been living hand to landlord’s mouth, which is even more dangerous.
For hand to mouth, at least you’re working to feed yourself, but for the latter, you are working to pay rent and always have nothing to save after paying your rent for the month.
This is a very common problem within the youth. My friend called me to lament about how her landlady took all her salary right after she received it. And this wasn’t even for rent; it was for bills. So for the whole month, she went through a severe financial crisis. And the only thing that was saving her from time to time was her braiding skills.
Before I say what I want to say, I just want to suggest that if you have a job closer to your family and your relatives haven’t asked you to move out of the house, just stay home. I know that sometimes, we all want our privacy, so we are quick to leave home even when our parents haven’t asked us to move out. But if you ask me, you should just stay there till you are financially okay to leave. If not, you’ll just be spending all your earnings on rent.
So for those that have no option other than to move out, that’s where side hustling comes in. Just like how my friend was saved by her braiding skills, you could also learn a skill to earn some money aside from your regular job. It could be learning graphic design or video editing from youtube or even how to make wigs, anything at all.
Aside from learning a skill, you can also begin any of these online shops, all thanks to technology. You don’t even need capital for some of these shops. All you need to do is to make sure you have a reliable wholesale plug that will supply you with whatever you sell and then be posting the products on your social media with the prices.
So when someone buys it, you also purchase it from the wholesaler, take your profit, and deliver it. And it could be anything, but you’d have to do a feasibility study. The reason why most people fail in these businesses is because they don’t find out what will sell smoothly on the market. They just see that people are selling shoes, so they also start selling shoes, which is very wrong.
It is very important to take your time and study the buying and selling market. What is currently wanted or needed by people? What won’t leave the market soon just because it’s a trend? What’s something with a bigger target audience? And even if it has a smaller target audience, does it have potential? These are questions you need to find answers to during the feasibility studies.
Although the economy is not smiling, I strongly believe that all we need is stable income and good management of our finances. With this, even if it’s not all rosy for you, you’ll still have something for yourself in your account at the end of the day.
Images are mine
