HOW I STARTED A PROFITABLE SIDE HUSTLE
Starting a side hustle is very easy nowadays and unfortunately a lot of businesses do not make it to year 5. Welcome to my blog, this has been long overdue and was inspired by the year 2020. Not a lot of people talk about the ugly side of being an entrepreneur. In this blog I will be sharing various tips on how to grow your business. I will also share a lot of my personal experiences as I embark on this journey. 2020 took a toll on my mental health as an entrepreneur and 2021 didn’t make it any easier. I have made so many mistakes along the way and I have also learnt so many lessons too. In this blog I will be sharing with you how I started my profitable side hustle.
WRITING AS A FORM OF THERAPY
This blog will document my experiences as an entrepreneur and how I handle various challenges and hopefully take you through how I am overcoming them. The entrepreneurship journey can be sometimes lonely, very lonely as a matter of fact. Some days are great and other days it feels like I am going crazy lol. Some days, I want to scream and pull my hair out and some other days I feel thankful. All this mixed feelings needs to be contained, lol and I think writing about this is a form of therapy for me.
WHAT MOTIVATED ME TO START MY FIRST SIDE HUSTLE
I was working as an insurance sales agent and became the first woman in my company to sell over 1 million dollars in insurance sales in 2015. I will never forget this day, I walked into the office, and happened to stumble upon the CEO & COO of the company. They were so excited to me and congratulated me on my success, but the CEO made a comment that made me re think my entire existence in the company. He said and I quote ” Not that this means anything but congratulations”. The COO who is a woman looked at him and said No this is a big deal Jummie, congratulations. I felt appreciated and under appreciated at the same time. That was when I made a choice to start building my own legacy.
MY FIRST SIDE HUSTLE
MY SECOND SIDE HUSTLE
Before then, I was mixing various organic oils for my family and friends to promote a healthier hair growth. 5 Months into my second pregnancy, my sister in law called me and encouraged me to offer my oils to more women outside my circle. She explained how the oils I shared with her has transformed her daughter’s hair growth. I truly didn’t make much of the phone call. In fact, I ignored it but not for long. Those words became a seed in my heart, which eventually germinated into something I couldn’t stop thinking about. I prayed about it, without any knowledge or skills, took a leap of faith and went to google. I didn’t let imperfection stop me and you shouldn’t too.
GOOGLE HAD MOST OF MY ANSWERS
I researched how to get bottles and organic oils wholesale and with $500 I created my first Glammed naturally oil products. I was so excited and went on WhatsApp and sent a message to every woman I knew on my contact list about my new creation. Within 1 month I sold all 50 bottles. I couldn’t wait for the end of that month to start asking for reviews. I knew the products were amazing, I knew there was a need for it and wanted to tell the world about it. After the reviews rolled in from my family and friends, I took it to Instagram. I would get few sales a week, I knew there had to more ways of making sales beyond my circle and very low Instagram following. In 2016 I had less than 1000 followers on Glammed naturally oil Instagram page.
THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP
I wanted more and reached out to a YouTube braider who had a great reputation online and on Instagram. I had just released the hair and braid oil from Glammed Naturally Oil, I reached out to her to try out my braid oil and she did. She posted a video on YouTube that went viral and was reposted on all hair platforms. The braid oil was seen and shared to more and more people all over the world. Talk about God’s favor! This was the beginning of my business success. Do not be afraid to start building those relationships especially in your business. There is power in partnership. Check out my last blog – I will be sharing more about my journey in my next blog.
Have you recently launched a new business?