You get job and you get project, and di project real. Orders dey, or clients dey, or at least one listing wey somebody find by demself. Den one person for dinner come ask you when you go quit and do am full time, and di answer wey you give na half plan and half shoulder shrug.
Better answer dey and na number, no be date. Before side project fit replace your income, e must first cover im own costs, and dat milestone near well well pass di one wey everybody dey ask about. Project wey dey pay for itself don stop to dey pull money comot from your house, wey mean say you fit run am for years instead of months. Years na di resource wey dis thing really need. Almost every version of di outcome wey you want dey for di far side of one long, no-shine stretch, and most people dey comot for di middle of am.
How much side project suppose earn before I take am serious?
Enough to cover im own monthly costs. Na milestone one be dat, e close well well pass replacing your salary, and to clear am dey change wetin di project be: e go stop to be expensive hobby and become thing wey dey run on im own money.
Four milestones dey and na dis order dem dey come.
- E dey cover im costs. Hosting, materials, fees, subscriptions. Di month wey e clear dis one, di project go stop to compete with your rent.
- E dey pay for im own time. Revenue divided by di hours wey you put dey reach hourly rate wey you for accept from somebody else.
- E dey pay for something wey you fit point at. Di trip, di better machine, di one month childcare wey dey buy you Saturdays.
- E dey replace income. Di one wey everybody dey ask about, and di only one wey na decision, no be result.
Dis one na ladder wey you go climb, no be place to stop. Nobody here dey tell you make you stay small. Di staging dey exist because di person wey still dey stand for year three dey win things wey year one no fit buy, and di fastest way to not dey stand for year three na to burn your savings dey prove point for year one.
How I go take add up my monthly costs for ten minutes?
Open last month bank and card statement and write down every line wey di project cause, den add monthly share of anything wey you dey pay once a year. Ten minutes, one page, and di total almost always high pass di figure wey dey your head.
Wetin people dey miss, roughly for di order of how often dem dey miss am:
- Platform, payment and marketplace fees, wey na percentage so dem dey invisible.
- Anything wey dem dey bill yearly. Divide am by twelve and put am for di monthly column.
- Materials wey you buy in bulk months ago and you don dey treat as free since.
- Shipping supplies, samples, and di item wey you replace for free.
- Di domain, di email plan, and di two tools wey you forget say you dey pay for.
- Tax on wetin di project dey earn, wey no be di same as di money wey dey sidon for account.
Add am up. Dat figure na your break even, and na di first honest number wey dis project don ever get. Write am for di same page as your price. Di Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey dey treat businesses wey no get worker apart from di owner as dem own category and dey track which of dem plan to hire, wey na useful reminder say to start as one person na normal position, no be permanent one.
Why break even dey change how slow month dey feel?
Because slow month go stop to be evidence about you and go become line for page wey you already understand. Once you sabi di number, bad week na just bad week, no be judgement on whether dis thing ever make sense.
Dat difference no be emotional bookkeeping. Na di practical reason why some people still dey ship for year three. Person wey dey quietly panic dey make di expensive moves: di price cut wey nobody ask for, di rebrand for week three, di second product line wey e start before e finish di first one, di vex reply wey e send Saturday morning. Every one of dem dey cost real money and real time, and na panic buy dem, no be information.
Look di number every month, on date wey you choose, no be every day. Daily checking dey give you noise wey dress like feedback, and e go talk you into changing things wey dey work.
How I go take carry job and project for di same time?
Treat energy as di scarce resource, no be hours, and protect am di way you dey protect di money. For practice dat mean fixed times for di project, hard stop for di end of dem, and body maintenance wey no be optional, because di failure mode here almost never na say idea finish.
KEEP CALM founder dey talk plain about how im own version work: e hustle im whole life, e find ways to stay calm through am, and training na one of di ways wey e carry di pressure of building career. Na di composure make di effort fit run for twenty years instead of eighteen months.
Di practical version dey follow dat shape. Two evenings and one weekend morning, wey you name ahead, better pass vague intention to work on am whenever you fit. Put dem hours for di same calendar as di job, so di evening go don book before anybody else fit book am. Sleep na business input. So na di one hour wey you spend dey move your body, wey no be time off from di work, na di maintenance wey dey keep you able to do di work for di level wey you truly want.
Wetin I go tell di person for dinner wey ask when I go quit?
Give dem di plan instead of defence. "E dey cover im own costs now. Next thing, I want make e pay for di hours wey I dey put, and I go look di rest when e reach there."
Dat sentence dey do three things at once. E dey talk say di project real and measured, wey dey end di question of whether you serious. E dey name di next milestone, so di person go get something new to ask about next year instead of repeating demself. And e dey protect you from taking decision for dinner table just to win argument, wey na where plenty resignation dey actually get decided.
You no owe anybody timeline. But you owe yourself number, because number na wetin dey turn ambition into something wey you fit act on next Tuesday.
Di years wey di milestones dey buy you
Di staging no be fear, na how you dey buy time, and time na di input wey almost everybody dey underrate. Among new employer businesses for United States from 1994 to 2022, average of 67.7 percent survive at least two years, 49.2 percent reach five years, and 33.9 percent reach ten. Di encouraging pattern dey under dem figures: out of di businesses wey reach five years, 69.5 percent go on reach ten. To pass di early stretch dey change di odds of everything wey come after am.
So face am hard. Collect di bigger order, learn di harder skill, raise di price, tell more people. Just make di first milestone one wey you fit truly hit, so di project go still dey alive di day wey one of di bigger swings connect. To cover your own costs no be small ambition. Na di thing wey dey buy you di years.
Sources
- U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business 2026
- Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Report on Nonemployer Firms
- U.S. Small Business Administration, Plan your business