Proverbs 31 Babe: Why You Should Have a Side Hustle

A side hustle is a service or product that you offer or sell on the side of your current full time job or business, to earn extra income.

There are many inspiring things about the Proverbs 31 woman. She has encouraged me to embrace the virtue of early rising, taught me the value of earning my own income as a woman, and helped me understand the importance of having help at home.

She has also taught me the value of having a side hustle, which is something that has changed my life in more ways than I can count. Here are just a few reasons why you should get a good side hustle in 2018.

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Proverbs 31 Babe: 7 Reasons You Must Have Help at Home

If you’re a wife and mother who goes to work, works from home, or runs a business, then you must have help at home. That’s it; it just had to be put out there like that. If you don’t have help, then you need to ask yourself some hard questions. If you have chosen to not have a business or career, that’s a different matter. However, if you want to make money, contribute meaningfully to the economy, and raise your kids properly, you need help at home whether it’s someone who resumes and closes or someone who lives with you. Here are a few things every working mother without an assistant should know.

Proverbs 31 Babe: Why You Must Have Your Own Money

1. You Are a Person.

Yes, you are a human being. Ecclesiastes 3:13 says “And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labour, for these are gifts from God.” Being a woman doesn’t exclude you or mean that the gift of God doesn’t apply to you. The “virtuous and capable wife” in Proverbs 31 knew this. She went about her various businesses with zest and vigour, and applying her God given aptitude she invested her earnings, creating multiple streams of income and multiplying her revenue! Have a look:

-“She finds wool and flax and busily spins it.”

-“She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard.”

– She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night.

– She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants

Man or woman, there is dignity in labour. God has made it so, and is well pleased to see it. Get with the programme.

Proverbs 31 Babe: The Virtue of Waking Up Early

“She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work…” Proverbs 31:15

I’m an owl. Naturally I do my best work when I’m at my desk late into the night, and in the mornings I prefer to sleep in. There is nothing wrong with this, per se; after all we can’t all be larks. Unfortunately, time is a precious commodity, and the world starts counting time in the morning. Accordingly, wise people wake up with the world- early birds who are rewarded with the proverbial worm.

A few years ago I paid attention for the first time to the fact that the Virtuous Woman of Proverbs 31 was also an early bird, and I thought, “If her results are anything to go by, joining this tribe is a move definitely worth considering.”

Now, I’m a self-made Morning Person, and I’ll share with you why and how.

Real Estate Investment Secrets Every Young Nigerian Should Know

I’m not wealthy yet, not by a long shot. Editors don’t earn much, and writers are paid even less, so when a client I have great respect for invited me to a real estate investment seminar last week, I wondered why.

Perhaps she has seen into my future and I’m about to come into money! After all, investing in real estate is for rich, financially free people, isn’t it?

Since she was inviting me on her own account, I gladly went, eager to learn something I could use in the not-so-near future.

It turns out I was wrong. Real estate isn’t just for the rich and established! Real estate is for me, a young woman in her 30s trying to build a career and raise a family. Real estate is for you, too. And we can start now. Continue reading…

A Morning in the Life of an Owl in a Lark’s World

I loved Osemhen’s post, The 3 Types of Morning, and when I said so, she asked me to write a similar one. I’m an owl and I had to train myself to wake up early: the battle is ongoing. Here are my 3 types of mornings:

 

The Perfect Morning

1. Wake at 5:00 a.m.
2. Tiptoe out of bedroom leaving in bed husband and sometimes toddler who toddled in an hour ago.
3. Praise and worship. God’fessions. Prayer. Read Bible using LA Family devotional.
4. At 5:45 a.m. Sit at dining table, turn on laptop and start proofreading Connect Nigeria articles in Drafts. Schedule for publishing.
5. At 6:45 a.m., change into tank top and yoga pants
6. Go for one-hour power-walk listening to a sermon or music.
7. 7:50, shower, pamper skin, dress, all the while playing loud music
8. 8:10 a.m., cuddle freshly bathed toddler (God bless my assistant!), fix breakfast for everyone, eat, kiss hubby bye.
9. 8:45 a.m., dodge toddler, lock guest room door* and start writing articles or editing client’s book.

 

The Imperfect Morning.

1. Snooze alarm till 6:00 a.m.
2. Tiptoe out of bedroom leaving in bed husband and sometimes toddler who toddled in two hours ago.
3. Sing just one song, skip Bible reading and do only God’fessions and quick prayers.
4. 6: 30 a.m., sit at dining table, turn on laptop and start proofreading Connect Nigeria articles in Drafts and publishing immediately.
5. 7:30 a.m., change into tank top and yoga pants
6. Go for one-hour power-walk listening to a sermon or music.
7. 8:35 a.m., back home, find hubby has fixed breakfast for himself. Feel bad (he does his own everything, it’s one of the few things I do for him 😦 ). Head to shower, pamper skin, dress.
8. 8:55 a.m., quick cuddle for toddler. “Where is daddy?” “He has gone”. Pick phone to harass hubby along the lines of “you’re owing me my hug and my kiss!”
9. 9:00 a.m., dodge toddler, lock guest room door and start writing articles or editing client’s book.

 

The OMG-what-have-I-done Morning.

1. Wake at 8:00 a.m.! Why oh why did I stay up late reading that novel? When did I turn off the alarm? Can’t remember.
2. Fly out of bed without noticing who is where.
3. Skip praise and worship, God’fessions, prayer and devotional completely. Mutter arrow prayers while putting on laptop. “Thank you Jesus.” “Bless my day, Father.”
4. Find that Connect Nigeria did not wait for me and some urgent articles have been published with errors. Feel horrible and unprofessional. Start revise editing.
5. Skip power-walk. Sit at dining table proofreading.
6. 9:00 a.m., find hubby has eaten breakfast he fixed for himself. Want to die. Guiltily collect kiss still sitting at dining.
7. 10 a.m, still at dining table in night gown, writing articles or editing client’s book until “professional conscience” is assuaged an hour and half later.
8. 11:30 a.m., shower, rush skincare, dress and resume editing at dining table, lamenting forfeited prayer time, Bible reading and power-walk, generally feeling crappy and unable to redeem the day.

 

*I work from home. The guest room is my “office”.