Every week,聽91大神 seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it鈥檒l be revealing.
Luno is a great way to get into cryptocurrency .
This week鈥檚 subject on #NairaLife is a 25-year-old social media influencer. He talks about growing up poor and how seeing his mum鈥檚 efforts pushed him to start earning at 16. Today, he doesn’t need to leave his house to make his millions.
What鈥檚 your earliest memory of money?
Hustling for 鈧3k at 16. I helped nurses carry polio immunisation kits from house to house. I remember being irritated at how the children ran away and cried because of the injections. I thought, 鈥淥ga, just stay and collect this thing. You鈥檙e wasting my time.鈥
How long did you do this?
I did it just once. The 鈧3k was for three days of work. The crowd I saw on the day I went to get paid was so much that I couldn鈥檛 get my money. I had to come back another day.
When I was told I couldn鈥檛 get my money that day, I felt especially terrible I didn鈥檛 have a dad. I wouldn鈥檛 have to hustle for 鈧3k like that if my dad was around. I swore that I鈥檇 never be poor in life. The experience was that bad.
Where was your dad?
No idea. He just wasn鈥檛 around. I started working at 16 because, as the firstborn, I felt like I had to. It was just my mum, my younger sister and me, and at that point, I was old enough to realise how much my mum was doing for us.
My mum is a trader, but she made sure we wore good clothes, never skipped meals, and were never sent out for school fees. She put us through private primary school, but when it was time for secondary school, she sat us down and told us she couldn鈥檛 afford a private secondary school.
What was the switch like?
Omo, first it was embarrassing. All my friends from primary school went to private secondary schools.
I won鈥檛 lie; going into secondary school, I believed public school students weren鈥檛 as intelligent as private school students. It was a stereotype that flew around in my primary school. I soon realised it was a lie. People are smart everywhere. I鈥檓 hardworking today because of how hard I had to compete academically in senior secondary school.
Tell me about it
My set was a bit too serious. The principal had to call an assembly to tell us to loosen up and come out to play sometimes because we were reading too much. We represented the school in competitions, some against private schools, and won. I don鈥檛 know what motivated the others, but I knew how hard my mum was working to take care of my sister and me, and I just didn鈥檛 want to disappoint her.
As serious as I was though, maths was a problem. I got an F when I wrote GCE in SS 2, and a D when I wrote WAEC in SS 3. I couldn鈥檛 get into university with those grades, so it was that year I stayed at home and did menial jobs like the immunisation one.
What other jobs did you do?
I worked at a factory that produced hangers for 鈧14k a month. I quit after a few months and got another job at a factory that printed past questions. That one paid 鈧19k a month, but it was the most hazardous job ever. I inhaled so much smoke because I worked near a generator. There was a time I fell while carrying a load of heavy papers My boss saw me on the ground and said that if I destroyed the papers, the money would be deducted from my salary. My 鈧19k salary!
After another few months there, I left and did WAEC and JAMB lessons. I used my money to pay. By 2015, when I was 18, I entered university to study mass communication.
Was that what you wanted?
Yes. I liked listening to the OAPs on Beat FM, so I thought I could do something in entertainment. In fact, because of how much they talked about Twitter, I opened a Twitter account and started being funny and steadily gaining followers in their hundreds and thousands.
Was it your mum who supported you through university?
For about two years. In 2017, I started making my own money.
What were you doing?
Freelance writing on Fiverr. I had roommates who made money designing for clients on Fiverr, so when my mum got me a laptop, I signed up and offered writing as a service.
How did you learn to write?
I wrote essays all the time in secondary school, so writing didn鈥檛 feel like a skill I had to learn.
When I started using Fiverr, I had to use a VPN to make it seem like I wasn鈥檛 in Nigeria because, for some reason, it was hard for Nigerians to get jobs. Within 24 hours of opening an account, I got an essay-writing job that paid $5.
In less than two months, I made $100 鈥 the threshold for a first withdrawal. It was about 鈧50k when I withdrew it. If you see my mum鈥檚 joy when I called her to tell her I made that much from writing online. She even called our pastor and told him.
That year, I made about $500.
Was it just through essay writing?
My brother, when poverty holds you, your creativity will come up. I wrote marketing articles, essays, assignments, and even poems for people鈥檚 partners. There was also a lady that paid me just to rant to me.
You were also doing therapist work? God when?
But I wasn鈥檛 saving sha. I was spending the money anyhow. Even the next year, when I made almost $4k by levelling up, I didn鈥檛 save. I sent my mum some money, but I wasted the rest in school.
How did you level up?
When your account shows that you鈥檝e completed a lot of work and received encouraging comments, you level up on the platform and get jobs easier. At this point, I wasn鈥檛 using a VPN account anymore. I鈥檇 created another account and patiently waited to get jobs, but it was worth it in the end.
But in my 400 level, I lost my account because the PayPal account linked with it was connected to another Fiverr account.
How?
Nigerian PayPal accounts can鈥檛 receive money, so I had to use the services of a guy who had foreign PayPal accounts to receive my payments. He mistakenly used the account he was using for me for another person.
Damn. Did you lose money?
I got the money in the Fiverr account after 90 days of suspension, but I couldn鈥檛 get the account back. I鈥檇 have to start from scratch again. I was in my final year doing projects, so I decided not to bother. It would be too much work.
Also, I realise, in retrospect, that I did a terrible job at networking. When I google the names and companies I worked with as a freelancer, I scream. If I鈥檇 kept those relationships, I wouldn鈥檛 have been stranded and broke like I was after that account loss.
It was bad?
I met sapa. I couldn鈥檛 ask my mum for money because I鈥檇 stopped for a while, so I was just suffering. I even started selling the middle pages of my foolscap notes for 鈧20 whenever we had class tests. Right before I graduated, I got my first social media campaign job. A brand reached out because they saw I had engaged followers. The job paid 鈧10k. This happened a couple more times in 2019.
After I graduated in 2019, I helped my classmates write CVs for 鈧2k per CV. Then on one of those days when I had nothing to do, I had a bright idea. Since I鈥檇 already studied mass communication, it鈥檇 be smart for me to learn a foreign language too. I went and made inquiries, and the language I wanted to learn cost 鈧63k for six weeks.
Did you do it?
I didn鈥檛 have the money, so I tweeted about my situation, and a Twitter friend reached out, asked me how much the classes cost, sent the money and asked me to return it whenever I could. I鈥檇 never met this person physically.
A few months later, I found out she died. I was heartbroken.
Sorry about that. Did you learn the language?
Yes. But I鈥檝e not used it for anything.
How did you get back on your feet?
In 2020, more brands started reaching out to me to push their products and services. I was getting 鈧100k and 鈧200k gigs. That鈥檚 when I also started getting writing gigs. I started doing CVs, website articles, assignments, and statements of purpose. But I was charging much higher than my freelance days. It was just knowing my worth and not being afraid to charge people.
I also had my only 9-5 in 2020. It was a digital marketing job that I quit after two months.
Why?
My boss told me to shut up over the phone. On top 鈧66k salary. Ah.
LMAO
2021 was the beginning of proper financial stability. I was making at least 鈧300k a month from writing and influencing, but more from influencing. That鈥檚 when I bought an iPhone and MacBook and put my mum on a 鈧40k monthly allowance.
Omo mummy
She didn鈥檛 care much about the amount I was giving her. As long as I gave her money, she called and prayed for me like I鈥檇 just blessed her with millions. At some point, I realised giving her money was an investment in my mental health. The fact that she was happy with me was proof that I was doing something right.
I even did my first investment in 2021.
What kind?
I put 鈧1.5m in a friend鈥檚 business and got 鈧300k every month for four months, then I got my 鈧1.5m back.
Mad. How鈥檚 2022 been?
I do the same things I鈥檝e been doing for money, but I make more money because my brand is bigger. I run multiple campaigns concurrently. On an average month this year, I鈥檝e made at least 鈧700k, all from the comfort of my apartment. Oh yeah, I finally moved out this year too. I paid 鈧500k for rent and have spent about 鈧400k buying home appliances.
Do you save now?
Haha, I save almost all my money now.
Break down how much money you spend in a month
How much do you have invested?
I put 鈧2m in a crypto company, and they give me 鈧100k a month.
And how much do you have in savings?
Maybe about 鈧4m.
Can I see your rates?
What鈥檚 the hardest part about being an influencer?
The fact that I have to put my life out there. It鈥檚 a bit tough. I don’t like it, but I have to do it.
At 25, do you think you鈥檝e done well for yourself?
Yeah. I live alone in my flat. I鈥檝e placed my mum on salary, and I sponsor my sister鈥檚 education. I have two people I pay salaries; one who manages one of my accounts (鈧50k) and my assistant (鈧80k). There are others I pay for writing for me. In my own capacity, I鈥檝e also helped followers who DM with genuine stories. So yeah, I feel like I鈥檓 in a good place.
Is there any levelling up to do?
Of course. I want to reach a point where 鈧20m is nothing to me. Do I have any specific plans? No. I just know it鈥檒l be through business and maybe getting a high-paying job.
What鈥檚 a high-paying job?
鈧2m a month.
Is there something you want now but can鈥檛 afford?
A house. I don鈥檛 need a house, but it鈥檚 the only thing I want but can鈥檛 afford.
On a scale of 1 to 10, what鈥檚 the level of your financial happiness?
I would say 7. Because everything I need now, I can afford. Until I get to the point where 鈧20m is nothing, it cannot be a 10.聽
Luno is a great way to get into cryptocurrency .
