![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Piggyvest_Sept-week-3_Email_bann-1024x512.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nEveryone\u2019s financial journey is different; Piggyvest gives you the tools to plan, save, and invest, so you can create your own money story.\u00a0Start now<\/a>\u00a0with as low as \u20a61,000!<\/p>\n What\u2019s your earliest memory of money?<\/p>\n I started becoming conscious of it around the age of 10 or 11. My dad\u2019s import-export business fell into issues, and my serial entrepreneur mum took over as breadwinner. So, we rarely had enough, and my earliest memories of money were of having to manage it.\u00a0<\/p>\n How much \u201cmanaging\u201d did you have to do?<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t get sent out of school for not paying my fees, but I remember having to heavily pad my school list. That way, even when my parents cut down the number of items they could buy, I\u2019d have the basics.\u00a0<\/p>\n I carried this habit to uni as well. My pocket money stayed at \u20a610k\/month throughout my time in school. For context, I was in uni between 2014 and 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u20a610k was nothing to write home about, so I often had to lie to get extra money. Thankfully, I studied pharmacy, and we always had to buy one textbook or another. So, I could say I needed \u20a630k for a \u20a610k textbook.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t the nicest thing to do, but I had almost no choice. I couldn\u2019t do runs or other bad things to make money. Maybe it was my mother\u2019s prayers.\u00a0<\/p>\n When was the first time you worked for money?<\/p>\n I had stints renting out my storybooks in primary school for \u20a650 \u2013 \u20a6100. I also sold Parago sweets for a bit in secondary school when classmates kept begging me to give them mine. I was like, \u201cDon\u2019t beg me. Just buy it.\u201d So, people bought, and I started buying to resell in school for \u20a650 profit.<\/p>\n However, my first proper income was in 300 level. I really loved taking pictures and writing about my everyday life. My inspiration was Linda Ikeji\u2019s story \u2013 how she became rich from blogging, and I thought, \u201cMaybe I can start doing this too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n I had a hand-me-down phone. Those types of phones that your elder sibling finishes using before passing them down to you. I used the phone to take pictures and write stories about my daily activities. At first, I only posted my content on my family\u2019s group chat. However, my brother encouraged me to share it online and on my WhatsApp status as well. So, I did that.\u00a0<\/p>\n One day, a contact reached out, saying she\u2019d love for me to write for an entertainment blog she was starting. I planned to do it for free because I honestly didn\u2019t feel confident enough in my writing. But she offered a \u20a610k\/month pay plus data. I was like, \u201cAh. So I can make money from this?\u201d<\/p>\n Haha. Almost every writer\u2019s rite of passage<\/p>\n Besides writing, I handled the blog\u2019s Instagram page. I just knew Instagram was a place to post pictures, write captions and put hashtags. Social media management was a new terrain, and I really didn\u2019t know what to do. But I\u2019m quite solution-oriented; once you give me something, I must find a way to make it work.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, I did some research and learnt from online business coaches. I worked with her for six months, then she stopped the blog.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, I didn\u2019t stay unemployed for long. One of the online business coaches I followed had a thing where she allowed people to pitch their services and share opportunities in her comment section on certain days.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was from there that I met a client who was looking for someone who could write their Instagram captions. I didn\u2019t even know this was a thing. They paid \u20a62500 per caption, and sometimes I\u2019d write two captions a day. I did this for three months, and it further opened my eyes to the fact that there was money to be made in this social media thing. So, I kept pitching people.\u00a0<\/p>\n I DM\u2019ed small businesses offering to manage their social media pages. Now that I think about it, I was severely undercharging. I\u2019d tell them \u20a615k, they\u2019d price me to \u20a610k, and I\u2019d collect it. I was stuck at \u20a610k for almost two years. I didn\u2019t charge higher out of fear that people would refuse to pay more than that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then, in 2018, I made my first \u201cbig money\u201d.<\/p>\n Tell me about that<\/p>\n People were always asking me about my hair, so I started a natural hair blog. I thought it\u2019d be a way to make my Linda Ikeji blogger dreams come true.\u00a0<\/p>\n While I didn\u2019t make money directly from the blog, it helped me get in the eyesight of my next client \u2014 a diaspora-based Nigerian who wanted me to write articles for their mental health platform. The articles were SEO-focused; they provided me with keywords, and I wrote based on those. They paid \u20a675k per article, and I worked on two articles monthly.<\/p>\n The contract lasted three months, and oh my God, I felt so rich that period. Unfortunately, I mismanaged the money. Suddenly, cooking became irritating. I visited restaurants, bought food for friends, and just flexed all the money. It felt good to have my own money, but I didn\u2019t manage it well.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t get another gig in uni after this one. I was now in my final year, so I just focused on graduating.\u00a0<\/p>\n What came next after uni?<\/p>\n An internship was supposed to come next, but while I waited to land a placement, I took on a locum role at a pharmacy. My salary was \u20a640k, but I almost never received the full amount because my employer deducted money for various reasons, from punishment for lateness to the cost of expired or lost drugs. I didn\u2019t mind because I lived with my parents and had no expenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n I worked there for seven months before I got a proper one-year internship at a community pharmacy in 2020. For most people in the pharmacy space, community pharmacies are the last option, but I actually preferred them. I could actually impact people directly. Plus, I didn\u2019t want to work at a hospital because I can\u2019t stand the smell.\u00a0<\/p>\n Please don\u2019t ask why a pharmacist can\u2019t stand a hospital. I studied the course purely for materialistic reasons. My mum sold me the dream of pharmacists driving cars and having money.<\/p>\n Haha. Real. What was the pay at the internship like?<\/p>\n My salary was \u20a675k\/month. Sometimes it went up to \u20a685k because of my initiative to market drugs and drive sales. I had noticed some products weren\u2019t moving, so I put my digital skills to use.\u00a0<\/p>\n Our target audience was older people, and since this category uses WhatsApp frequently, I started a broadcast messaging campaign to our customers, highlighting the different products. I also shared health and wellness tips on specific days. It worked. Sales were consistently good while I worked at the pharmacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n I completed my internship in September 2021, and NYSC was supposed to come next. While I waited for the call-up letter, I started applying to social media management jobs on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n You weren\u2019t planning on practising pharmacy?<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t. I know most people strive for financial freedom, but location freedom was at the top of my list. I wanted the freedom of working remotely. Also, I\u2019m not sure why, but I just felt cutting off transport costs would equal more money for me.<\/p>\n One of the roles I applied for was a social media associate role at a social enterprise I really admired. They didn\u2019t get back to me for about a month, so I thought I didn\u2019t get it, only for me to receive an interview invitation as I was rounding up NYSC orientation camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the interview, they asked about my salary expectations, and I said \u20a6250k. My sister had told me to give that figure, and I followed her advice even though I thought it was a lot to ask for.\u00a0<\/p>\n The interviewer said, \u201cHmm? What did you say?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n I repeated the amount with confidence, even though I was shaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then she said, \u201cHmm. Okay.\u201d<\/p>\n Ah. Please tell me you got the job<\/p>\n I honestly thought that was the end. However, to my surprise, I received a congratulatory email to proceed to the next interview stage less than one hour after the call. To cut the long story short, I got the job in December, and they gave me the \u20a6250k. But that was the gross pay; my net salary came down to around \u20a6188k after deductions.\u00a0<\/p>\n I was still excited sha. I had a pension, HMO and all the other corporate things. It was my first big girl job and the first time I had all those benefits, so it was a big deal. On top of all that, it was fully remote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Love to see it. How did you juggle the job with NYSC?<\/p>\n I was posted to a university for NYSC, and interestingly, they were on strike for almost the entirety of my service year. So, I didn\u2019t work there. I just collected my \u20a633k allawee.\u00a0<\/p>\n I also got another \u20a6120k\/month social media management job during my NYSC year. I had updated my LinkedIn to reflect my new role and was a bit more active on the platform when the client reached out to offer me the gig. I should\u2019ve asked to be paid in dollars, since it was a US-based company, but I didn\u2019t know better. Plus, I didn\u2019t even have the facilities to collect payment in dollars, so there\u2019s that.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, I had two income sources (plus allawee) during service year, bringing my monthly income to around \u20a6340k. I was balling.<\/p>\n How long did you manage both jobs?<\/p>\n I stayed at both for a little over a year. I left my 9-5 in early 2023 because it felt like the right time to leave. I was tired of social media management and, to make it worse, I was juggling two demanding SMM jobs. I felt like I was dying inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, I left my regular 9-5 first, and left the other in mid-2023. I transitioned to a media company, where I served as a project manager. The job came with a pay cut to \u20a6150k\/month, and I think emotions played a role in my accepting the offer. My employer was a celebrity I admired and wanted to work with, so I didn\u2019t negotiate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also, I took the job to explore something outside social media, but guess what? I ended up doing social media management there, too.<\/p>\n I\u2019m screaming. How come?<\/p>\n I was employed to manage a film project, and after its completion, my employer continued to pay me as usual. I felt guilty about collecting a salary without working. So, when I noticed their social media wasn\u2019t doing so great, I took it upon myself to manage the page.<\/p>\n The page grew in a relatively short time, and my employer decided to start pitching to companies that we could also handle their brand and social media. Of course, this extra work came to my desk because they saw I was doing a good job.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s how I became the brand and marketing person managing the portfolios of different brands. At one point, we had five brands on retainer. I did that for a few months before I started to think, \u201cI can actually do this on my own.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019d essentially created a new income source for the company, but my pay was nothing compared to how much I was bringing in. So, even though I was scared, I quit my job in September 2024 to start freelancing.<\/p>\n Did you have any immediate plans?<\/p>\n I honestly didn\u2019t. I had no plan or clients, but I was tired of 9-to-5 and wanted to try freelancing.<\/p>\n Fortunately, I got my first client almost immediately. Someone I\u2019d worked with referred me to an international organisation for a four-month project. The project paid \u20a6250k\/month to lead the marketing for their film project.<\/p>\n While this was happening, I was showing up on social media. I thought it was important for people to know what I did, since referrals have been the primary means of success in my life\u2019s journey. So, I was working on my skills, getting better at LinkedIn and sharing my findings across my channels: WhatsApp status, Instagram and LinkedIn. I even did videos sometimes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n One day, a friend asked, \u201cYou do LinkedIn optimisation right? A client needs it for their MBA. What are your rates?\u201d I didn\u2019t have any rates. I was just learning LinkedIn for myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n I asked someone active on LinkedIn how much he\u2019d likely charge to optimise someone\u2019s profile. He said \u201c\u20a610k\u201d and it immediately gave me PTSD from my \u20a610k days. There was no way I was returning to charging \u20a610k for services.<\/p>\n So, what did you do?<\/p>\n Thank God for ChatGPT. I asked it to provide me with three different optimisation packages, with the least expensive package costing \u20a6100k. It helped with the big, big English, which I carried to Canva and designed into a proper rate card.\u00a0<\/p>\n The client liked it, even though she priced me too much. She wanted the \u20a6200k package for \u20a6100k. We eventually agreed that she\u2019d bring two more clients who would pay \u20a6100k, too. That\u2019s how I got \u20a6300k sharp sharp for something I could do within one or two hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n After that gig, the client referred me to more people, and those ones referred me too. In two weeks, I made \u20a61m from LinkedIn optimisation.<\/p>\n This same LinkedIn optimisation?<\/p>\n See, the English in my offerings was plenty. Besides creating profile banners, optimising their headlines and all the other updates, the most expensive package also included ready-made content for one month. They didn\u2019t even have to worry about posting. I created the content and scheduled it. So, there was a lot of value.\u00a0<\/p>\n The content idea helped me get several returning clients. They were like, \u201cThis is great. How much would it cost you to just manage my LinkedIn?\u201d So, I slapped a price on it. Again, my lowest price was \u20a6100k.<\/p>\n I started the LinkedIn hustle in September 2024, and by December, I had four steady clients. I also got a client who paid me in dollars \u2014 $500\/month to manage her Instagram and LinkedIn.\u00a0<\/p>\n In October, my former boss reached out for help managing her personal brand on LinkedIn and Instagram. I knew she had money, so I charged \u20a6350k. She haggled a bit, and we settled on \u20a6250k\/month to post twice weekly on both platforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n You were on a roll<\/p>\n I was. However, the goal was to make sure all these clients stayed long-term. They\u2019d all come towards the end of the year, and I didn\u2019t want a three-month arrangement where they\u2019d disappear again. I actually prayed on December 31st for my clients to follow me into the new year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fortunately, they did. I\u2019m proud to say I\u2019m even considering registering a company. Between December 2024 and now, I\u2019ve onboarded four more clients, whom I manage their entire personal brand. As a result, my services have expanded beyond LinkedIn. If they want to start a podcast or website, I charge separately to handle the PR, arrange interview rounds, and all that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Amazing. What\u2019s your income like these days?<\/p>\n I earn at least \u20a61.5 million per month from my naira clients and $600\/month from my dollar-paying clients. This is my main job now; I don\u2019t have a 9-to-5 anymore, so you could say I\u2019m a full-time freelancer.<\/p>\n However, I\u2019m looking at turning it into a creative business, specifically a personal branding agency. Personal branding brings me the most money, so I intend to position my agency to handle branding for C-level executives, founders and entrepreneurs with more than 10 years of experience in the industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Setting up a proper business will also allow me to hire some help to assist with the work. It\u2019s a lot now, and I need to get assistance, especially because I plan to increase my rates in the new year.<\/p>\n What kind of lifestyle does your income afford you?<\/p>\n I can afford most of the things I need. Thankfully, I still live with my parents, so I don\u2019t have rent expenses. What typically takes my money are subscriptions (all them Canva, ChatGPT, iCloud and the rest), data, gym subscriptions, cab rides and savings.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s break that down into a typical month<\/p>\n How would you describe your relationship with money?<\/p>\n It\u2019s still an ongoing thing. I grew up with a sense of scarcity, and I\u2019m just now getting used to making money. I\u2019m not proud of it, but I didn\u2019t start saving until late 2024. Because I grew up with scarcity, I thought, \u201cNow that I have money, I need to get everything I want before it goes.\u201d I felt I could always make money since I provided value. So, I spent anyhow. However, I now realise the importance of savings and investments.<\/p>\n Was there any shift that influenced this mindset change?<\/p>\n Yes o. I realised Tinubu was likely to win the 2027 election, and it struck me that I had to prepare. It\u2019s not 2027 yet, and the price of everything is increasing. What happens when he gets four more years? I decided it was time to save some money, so I could sleep better at night.\u00a0<\/p>\n Right now, I save all my dollar income in an investment app. I use their real estate investment option, and I\u2019ve been doing that for about three months. My investment portfolio is now worth $1800, and I have over \u20a64m saved.<\/p>\n You mentioned planning to register a company. Do you have a timeline in mind?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve actually registered it. It cost me \u20a647k to register a limited company. I\u2019m trying to get a tax identification number now, and I paid \u20a615k for that. I just hired two interns whom I\u2019ll be paying \u20a670k each monthly. I want to test our arrangement over the next few months, establish a structure, and pursue more international clients before formally launching my business in January 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rooting for you. Is there an ideal amount you think you should be earning?<\/p>\n When I made my first \u20a61m, I told myself that\u2019s the least amount of money I wanted to make in 2025. Now, I\u2019ve surpassed that, and I know I can double that in 2026. So, $2k\/month wouldn\u2019t be bad. That would mean my business is making at least $5k.<\/p>\n Is there anything you want right now but can\u2019t afford?<\/p>\n A car.<\/p>\n I feel like this is everyone\u2019s problem these days, and it\u2019s so crazy how unaffordable a car has become<\/p>\n It\u2019s so crazy. I spend a fortune on cabs, and it\u2019s so stressful. I might need around \u20a615m to get a regular small car.\u00a0<\/p>\n What was the last thing you bought that made you happy?<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t exactly buy this, but I contributed \u20a61m to my church building project in April, and it made me so happy. I\u2019d never given that amount before, and I loved that I could do it at once.\u00a0<\/p>\n How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?<\/p>\n 6. I now see what\u2019s possible with my finances, and I know I can double or triple what I currently earn in a year. I\u2019m still a beginner in this money thing, but I\u2019m on the right track. I want to be able to boast of a $20k investment portfolio by 2027.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.<\/p>\n Find all the past Naira Life stories\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Nairalife](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/344-bio-NL-1024x1024.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Nairalife](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Nairalife-344-exp-1024x1024.png\")
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<\/a>Subscribe to the newsletter here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every week,\u00a0Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-209877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}