Show Me The E-Money: 5 Legitimate Ways Nigerians Can Make Money On The Internet

 DO YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE?

That's of course, a rhetorical question. Everyone would like to make money. Whether it comes online or offline is inconsequential. Anyway, would you not like to make an extra 15000 naira a month? How about 75 000 naira? While you await that dream job, you can start making a little money which you can plow into a business in future.

Read on to find out some legitimate ways that you can make money online as a Nigerian. There is no bullshit in this article. No snake oil. You are unlikely to make a million naira a month. You can make a little money and I would be giving you the lowdown on that.

These are the five major luck-proof ways you can make money online from Nigeria:

 

1. Freelancing

  Freelancing can earn Nigeria some valuable money if Nigerians go in en masse. If Indians can do it, we can. To be honest, most of the indians who do freelancing are not as good as Nigerians. Imagine if 1000 Nigerians get into freelancing and make $5000 a year. That;s three million dollars of foreign exchange entering into the country without government intervention.

To be clear, the freelancing I am talking about here is an outsourcing/freelance marketplace. You use your skill(writing, web development, graphic design, data entry) to make money. I know Nigerians can work much cheaper than Indians so we are in a great position to get this jobs as price is an important aspect to getting freelance jobs. To learn how to get this jobs, click HERE.

The top sites for getting freelance jobs are:

1. Odesk
2. Elance
3. Demand media

2. Publishing

The next possible way for Nigerians to earn money on the internet is through publishing. Can you write well? Emphasis on WELL. If you can, then you can generate some part time income by writing books. This is expecially for those who write stories. I know there are a number of Nigerian youths who believe they can write good stories. I see them on Nairaland. If you can write well, why not publish a book.

You can use the following links to find out more:

1. Kindle Direct Publishing
2. Draft 2 Digital
3. Kobo Writing Life

If you have knowledge in a given area that you believe would be helpful to people(internationally, of course), you can also use those links to publish an ebook internationally.

Do you want more information on this income opportunity, then send an email to thenigerianjobseeker@yahoo.com

3. Blogging

Lots of people try to make money from blogging. It can be done for sure but it requires a lot of work. You have to be willing to blog regularly and provide information/entertainment on a regular basis. You can check this link and this link for information on making money from blogging.

4. Forex

If you have been in a Nigerian university, you would have heard about forex trading. You would slo notice that it is related to scams. However, there is genuine money to be made provided you have the actual education necessary to play the fx markets. I know several Nigerian graduates who abandoned the aptitude test crowd in order to trade forex and they are now making a successful living. However, getting the right education is non-negotiable. Check out these links to learn how to start forex trading:

Get Started Trading Forex
How To Trade Forex

I recommend Ava FX as a reliable forex trading partner.

 

5. Affiliate Marketing

This is another way Nigerians can make money on the internet. Imagine if you visited a restaurant. You enjoyed your meal and you tell those people on your facebook list that you had a nice meal. Subsequently, some of your friends decide to eat at that restaurant. How would you feel if the restaurant paid you for that? that's the concept of affiliate marketing.

Here are some top affiliate programs you can get started with:

1. Commission Junction
2. Amazon Associates
3   Jumia


Do you have a question on this topic? Then send an email to thenigerianjobseeker@yahoo.com or write a comment using the comment field. 

This is just an overview of the surest ways Nigerians can earn money on the internet without scamming anybody. If you want deeper information on the aforementioned subjects, then you would have to subscribe to our newsletter.

6 Things You Should Know Before Embarking On A Job Search In Nigeria

6 Things You Should Know Before Embarking On A Job Search In Nigeria

So we continue from the post on May 1. Hopefully, if you didn't know this stuff, you know now. If you did know, then you would agree with me that it is valid information. As a recap, here are the first three issues discussed:

1. Self Examination
2. CV
3. Tests

Continuing from that post, we consider other points.

4. GET THICK SKIN

Emeka holds a first class honours degree in Economics from a state university. He felt he would get a job easily(his GPA was 4.7/5.0). However, three months into his job search, he finds out that life is a bed of roses just that the roses have thorns.

Like Emeka, you are likely to be rejected. Or regretted, as some people would say. Several companies would send you mails wishing you the best in your future endeavours. Don't be disappointed. Don't develop low self esteem.

You have to get thick skin. Let every regret mail bounce off your email. Keep applying.

5. SKILLIFY* (and CERTIFY) YOURSELF

We all have degrees. from similar schools. When everybody is doing the same thing, it becomes difficult to succeed. you have to seperate yourself from the crowd.

You need skills. And maybe certifications.

I am not very enthusiastic on certifications but if you have to do it, there are several IT/Telecoms certifications that are great. Also, I can recommend ICAN/ACCA/CISA as top certifications that would put you in the high percentile of the legion of job hunters

Skills are even more important. Can you program in PHP? Can you build websites? Can you write? Can you bake? Can you sew? You get the idea. If you have a skill, you are unlikely to be frustrated.

FUN FACT: 63 % of Nigerian graduates are frustrated **

* No such word as "Skillify"
** 38% of statistics are made up on the spot.

6. CAST YOUR NET WIDE

Yes, you need more than one net.

As a wise woman once said, getting a job is a job. You have to cast your net wide. Apply to many jobs. However, remember Socrates's advice. No use applying to Delloitte or Accenture if you prefer African Magic to CNBC Africa.

7. BONUS: SELF EMPLOYMENT

The title says six but this is the seventh one. If you have been to NYSC camp, you would be inundated orientated about the importance of self employment. It becomes a mantra. GET SELF EMPLOYED. Yes, there's a lot of noise about the issue but you should seriously consider it. No need to take aptitude tests when you run your own business. There are offline and online businesses you can engage in here in Nigeria.

The above is an overview of the factors you should consider before totting your CV and heading for Victoria Island. If you like this post, you should subscribe to the NEWSLETTER. There are insider tips shared there.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A NIGERIAN BANK TELLER

OSHARE FAST NOW! WHY YOU DEY SLOW LIKE SAY BOMB DEY YOUR HEAD?

The above was said by a customer at a first generation bank in Sapele to a slow-moving teller. If you had a bomb on your head, would you be slow or fast?

That aside, I have the privelege of knowing several bank tellers and the job is stressful. I am sure you know that. This post by a teller(who shall remain nameless) would give you an insight into the job of a teller. He works at a new generation bank in Lagos.

He is also a Contract staff. It is a common job by the way.

You want a job as a bank teller? Click here.

You would like to get jobs better than the one this post describes, subscribe to our newsletter.

Read on as Frank (name has been changed to protect the innocent) takes you through a busy schedule.

4 a.m 

My phone alarm sounds. I switch it off and try to sleep.

4:10 am

My bed alarm sounds. I groan and wake up.

4:17 am

I have already taken my bath, dressed in my NEW SUIT and said my early morning prayers. I run out the door. All my flatmates have already left for their jobs. (We are all contract staff. Different firms, though.)

4:18 am

I check my wallet and I realize I have just nine hundred Naira in my wallet. I can't wait enough for 25th when I get paid my 63k monthly salary.

5:30 am

I get to Obalende in record time. I notice the conductor has given me a torn fifty naira note. Damn these polymer notes. Not to worry, I would spend it. Afterall, I would be returning at night.

6:00 am

I get to the bank. I had always thought being at the Head Office was a good thing. Three months of waking up at 4:00 am and I realize how wrong I was. I am hungry but God knows I won't eat today. The head Office canteen is damn expensive.

6:20 am

I beg a colleague so I can take a nap in his car. Well, he is not really a colleague. He is an aspiring oga at the top. An assistant manager. He looks at me like something a cat brought in, takes his bag and nods at me.

6:40 am

I am inside the car. Dozing. But I can't sleep. I hope I don't embarrass the bank in front of the customers.

7:00 am

The gates are open. I can see other colleagues trooping in. I join them.

7:05 am

The Head of Operations pulls me aside.

"This is ridiculous, Frank."

7:10 am

I still haven't understood what she means. She walks away to talk to the Executive Director, Retail banking. I nearly melt as the ED frowns at me. What is he doing on the banking floor?

7:15 am

"Frank, you need to go home and change," the HOP says.

I blink and check my suit. "My suit is NEW."

She sighed. "It may be new but it looks cheap. You know how we roll. This would affect the image of the bank. Go and put on something more befitting."

She leaves me with my jaw dropped.

7:30 am

I am staring at myself in a mirror. I spent 33% of my salary last month to purchase this suit! go home and change? Get something befitting? I get paid just 63k!

7:45 am

I am heading towards Obalende. The conductor ask for the fare. I check for my wallet. I can't find it.

Our gentleman bank teller refuses to say what happened after 7:45 am. 

What do you think about bank teller jobs in Nigeria? Can you guess the bank our guest works for? Comment on the blog.

As usual, you can sign up for our NEWSLETTER

Who Else Wants A Job In Nigeria?

JOB HUNTING

DO YOU WANT A JOB?

Who doesn't?

The problem is that in Nigeria, it is not uncommon to see people finish from the University and not get a job.

Picture this situation: An 18 year old boy writes his first JAMB Exam. He fails. He writes again and fails. Of course, he keeps trying, seeing as University education is very important. At the fourth or fifth attempt, he succeeds.

Admission letter.

However, he is studying Botany. He hates the course but he endures and graduates four years later with a second class honours degree.

A 2.2. Hmmm...

He goes on NYSC and he is sent to Adamawa State. He is unable to apply to any jobs during his service year because of his location. So he waits until after NYSC.

What are his chances of getting a job in the next one year?

1.  HIGH
2. AVERAGE
3. LOW

If you answered C, then you are very correct.

There are several people in this situation. There are many in worse situations. Still, as Don Corleone says in Mario Puzo's Godfather, every man(and woman, of course) is entitled to a living.

That's the reason for this blog. This blog would present ways to earn a living whether by paid employment or self employment or online business.

So stick with THE NIGERIAN JOB SEEKER by subscribing using the form below this post.

Fresh Graduates In Nigeria: 6 Things You Need To Know Before Embarking On A Job Search

 

 6 Things You Need To Know Before Embarking On A Job Search

 

FACT: NYSC IS A SET BACK FOR MOST NIGERIAN GRADUATES.

 

I want to start off this blog post by saying the NYSC does not prepare people for the reality of the economic situation. The truth is seventy percent* of people who finish NYSC are unlikely to get a decent** job within two years of finishing their service year.

Sorry if that sounds a bit pessimistic but if you are about to finish NYSC, a bit of realism is in order. That, of course, does not mean you can't get a job. You can. You will. You should.

However, you need to put certain things in place before embarking on that job hunt.

Here are six seven points you need to consider before joining the Aptitude Test Crowd.

* 38 % of all statistics are made up on the spot.
** Decent Job is defined as a job that pays at least 1 million a year net.

1. KNOW THYSELF

This is the most important of all the aspects we would be discussing. A wise man(Socrates, perhaps?) once said, know thyself. To a  young graduate searching for a job in the brutal Nigerian economy, that may not sound like useful advice but it is. You need to do something you are 1, fit for and 2, happy with.

When I was in the University, I noticed a lot of people applied for medicine. Needless to say, they were summarily pushed into less glamorous courses(Agriculture, Botany, Zoology, Industrial Edo language, Advanced Ibo Literature). These people usually bemoaned their fate.

The truth is: most of the people in this situation wouldn't have made good doctors in the first place. They didn't look like doctors. They just didn't fit.

So as you start your job search, ask yourself if you really want a job. Can you work in a bank? Wouldn't you be better doing some kind of independent work? You are applying to that consulting firm? Can you pass their tests? Can you work till 9pm?

So examine yourself and not just take a scatter gun approach in your job hunt.

2. POLISH THY CV

Even if you have never applied for a job, you would have heard of the CV. Curriculum Vitae. Or resume, as the Americans call it. It is not your life history. It is just a tidy way to get information about you.

Since the CV is the major tool for job hunting, then you must take care to produce a winning CV although in Nigeria, a winning CV may not be what you think. Still, you need to put your best effort into the writing of the CV.

3. TEST THYSELF

Yes, tests.

SHL Tests, GMAT, Dragnet, Workforce, etcetera etcetera. It is impossible to go to a Nairaland Job Thread without seeing requests for test materials.

Most major companies in Nigeria would ask you to take an aptitude test or a personality test. This is perhaps the most objective stage of any recruitment exercise so you have to give it your best shot.

So start getting test materials, learning test techniques and answering sample test questions. Practice, as a wise man once said, makes perfect.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get test materials and learn how to pass even the most difficult aptitude tests in Nigeria.

Do you have any comments? Please comment. Don't let the comment box go unused.

This article would be continued in a subsequent post.