How to Be Productive at Home – A Step by Step Guide

How to spend your time wisely at home. Obviously, unemployment is growing among youths. Seeing that governments and mega private corporations are losing control of the situation due to increase in population and global economic crises. “I am not anti-population”.

On top of it, employers say graduates are not employable. It seems our school systems somehow failed to raise creative people who will qualify for the job market rather smart speakers who have solutions except on the field.

How to Use Your Time Productively

We cannot deny the fact that, many potential young people are unemployed due to lack of college degree and lack of jobs.

Whichever category you fall in, don’t let anything stop you from succeeding in life. The time you spend home awaiting college result, seeking jobs, or finding means to go to college; allocate part to develop yourself.

Here are reliable ways to be productive at home and make a living.

Pause for a while
This may not be what you want to hear but I guarantee you, it is what you need. If you are too busy confusing yourself with activities that don’t actually produce any effective result, then, you must pause or stop for a moment and calm your nerves.

You need a break from the chaos. Being it writing application letters, chasing after girls, smoking, drinking, playing football on raw park, visiting boyfriends, crying or murmuring.

It is important to stop and refresh yourself. Before you continue reading, I want you to put on hold any other thing you are doing now including reading this for a minute.

Starting afresh
Welcome back from the commercial break. Just teasing! As simple and funny as this article may be, it will change your life forever. Now that you put everything on hold including reading this article for 60 seconds, it means you are ready to begin a new life.

Joblessness can be frustrating, living cashless can be intimidating, worst of all staying home without a purpose can mess up your entire life.

Now I want you to go over everything you have ever tried before, those that worked for few months, those that failed upright, the things you planned to do, in all, the future you want to have.

It can be disturbing remembering your failure. Take your time to do it if it upsets. You can save the article and come back later when you are ready to take the exercise or done with it.

Whatever you do, remember to finish this article.

Decision making is important
The last process was to aid you embrace your reality instead of dodging it. You failed and that’s the truth. It hurts and you cannot deny it. You are eager to make it, and that’s good but may be the reason you are skipping over the most important things.

What are those? You asked! I don’t know! Only you can tell. I can only answer that for myself. You answer yours too.

Since this is a guide, I can guide you to identify it.

Decide what you want to do with your life from now forward. Don’t limit yourself but don’t allow yourself to be engaged in multiple things at a time.

If your dream is to become a soldier, the question is, all the forms you submitted; were you selected? If so, had you ever passed your tests?

Should you stop trying? Nope! But you need to become your own boss. Think of the other things you can do beside your ambition.

So, your gift is important

Many years ago, I walked the street at night going home frustrated and confused. I passed some young men who were conversing. It was dark, I could hardly see their faces, the street was still busy. One said, so, your gift is important.

I have always tried reaching my gifts to make good use of them. I failed a thousand times trying. But what this stranger said reminded me that, I was on the right path and I’m not alone.

Besides, I was doing the right thing. I repeated this till I was home. Many years ago, but I still play this clip inside my head whenever life goes haywire.

What I’m I saying? Discover your gift. When you do, start small. If you are not sure just yet, start playing with a hobby with the hope of turning it into business.

We will talk more on how to make good use of your gift or hobby.

Apprenticeship
If this home stuff is making you nervous, find a trade and become an apprentice. Fall on any of your family in case your parents are not financially capable. Go do some odd jobs, save for the fee and apply.

3 – 4 years, you will become your own boss. Its not that easy but you can do it.

The other way to do this is to become an apprentice in disguise. Years ago, after graduating junior high, I went to town to find a sound system shop (a shop where DJs are hired for spinning during special occasions). I became friends with the DJ and whenever they had a contract to play music at a program, I went with them.

I didn’t become a DJ; it wasn’t my plan. I just wanted to listen to music and be where music was played. But I did learn couple of things about DJing.

This is a good place to start from if you don’t have the money. Gradually, this voluntary service may become your official work when you are able to establish good rapport with the owner.
On the other hand, it helps you relax. Peace of mind is important for your health and decision making.

Computer class
Do short course in any of the Microsoft Office programs to be equipped with computer knowledge. For example, studying Microsoft Word will help you learn word document creation and manipulation. If you add a little typing skill to it, you can be employed in a photocopy shop.

First step to making a living at home

Back to our home plan. I mentioned earlier we will be back to talk on using our gifts to become productive at home.

Agriculture is the future

Honestly, I am not an Agric guy. But my parents are, so we farm. My mom loves gardening. And I’ve seen the benefit of growing crops. Even if you don’t sell, you will have food stuff.

My younger brother actually studied Agriculture at school just as our dad. He just finished his National Service, still awaiting his college result, but he is into vegetable farming. Before college, he has always been in vegetable farming. And it’s working for him.

In fact, he was smart enough to spend the national service allowance on a brand-new water pumping machine for dry season farming.

Today, my younger brother supplies sweet pepper to a prominent hotel in town, and other market women. It is not a big farm, but it is a starting point of a career. It is hard to do, but not harder than doing nothing but waiting on someone employing you one day.

He didn’t always have a pumping machine, and he barely used it this season. My point is, you don’t need to buy one to start. He has always depended on the season just as the entire family does and so do other famers.

Craft
If you are good at craft work, start something small in that field. Keep at it. If it didn’t occupy your entire time, you can do other things in addition. Just like the farm I spoke of.

Here is a list of crafts you can do home.

• Jewelry – this is hot cake – many people love it – finding market for it may be easy
• Graphic design – churches, business and individuals request for posters, flyers business cards – with a cheap computer, and the help of graphic designing software e.g., CorelDraw, you can start – software is expensive though
• Bead making – many people love beads – it is expensive – start and find a reliable market
• Furniture making – this is quite expensive to start – but with little help you can start small
• Candle making – candles are still used on several occasions – target local shops to sell to
• Cake making – people like cakes during festive – you can also add other snacks
• Photography – getting professional camera is expensive – you can start with your smart phone – taking wedding photos, birthday and other programs
• Video production – a cheap desktop with a free software will help start – video editing for wedding programs, graduation, anniversaries and other memorable activities – for video editing software, Wondershare Filmora is very simple, easy to use and effective
• Pedicure-manicure – get nail polish items and go door to door and shop to shop to polish nails
• Hair dressing – starting with twisting and dressing hair for friends at cheap cost

Cooking for all

Start cooking foods which you can cook on little budget and sell quickly. Make sure your environment and utensils are neatly kept.

If it’s had to have the people come to your house, find a place at the roadside or go to schools. Just communicate with the headteacher or proprietor of the school. You can also prepare homemade drinks for sale. For example, orange juice, pineapple juice, sobolo etc.

Do what works at your location.

Start music
If you are interested in music, start writing your own songs. Get a local recording studio to record a demo. Go to a radio station at your locality, find a genuine DJ and give him a soft copy to play for you.

Upload the song on social media platforms. Share song with your friends. Make sure you make the kind of music people listen to at your area.

You can also go for programs on festive days when they are playing songs to handover your tape. Also perform at local bars and events.

Write a book
Publishing a book is very expensive. It is not easy to find a publisher neither. But you can write a book on an inspiring subject, go to a photocopy shop; and print small quantity for sale. You will be surprised how people will appreciate it.

Keeping animals or poultry
Start keeping animals or start poultry home. For example, goat, sheep, duck, fowl etc. This is a day to day farming families do to keep their household going without buying meet. You can start small and sell them.

Blogging

How to Become Productive at Home with Blog

This is not a blogging tutorial but an overview.

Find a Niche – first of all, find something you are passionate about e.g., vegetable farming, poultry, cooking etc. – the reason you need something that interest you is to be able to deliver accurate information to your readers – also, blogging can be very exhausting, if you haven’t taken the subject that motivates you, you may lose interest along the way.

Buy a Domain – pick a domain name for your blog – visit Godaddy.com, a domain registrar and hosting company to find cheap domain prices and host – you may buy domain from them and host it with Awardspace.com – a very good host which can give you everything you need to start with for free – you can upgrade later for more features.

Choosing Content Management System (CMS) – CMS is used to create blogs/websites easily – since this is not a website tutorial, I will not be going into all that – but my advice is choosing WordPress – that is what I use and most bloggers.

Write Articles – create your first article – write articles on your niche and publish on your blog.

Keep Updating your Blog – don’t stop writing articles after 1 or 2 – you need at least 30 posts, each post not less than 1,500 words in 3 months to gain credibility with Google and other search engines.

Monetize Blog – to make money online, bloggers write on their niches and then register for advertisement and affiliate programs – whenever you buy through their links, then they get a commission – this is the most common way online content creators generate income on the internet.

After 30 pieces of post, you can start monetizing, you want to have traffic to start marketing on your site. It takes time to gain traffic. Nothing less than 8 months. At the sixth month your traffic begins to grow a little. You must be willing to be patient.

Fishing – if you leave by the sea, you can start fishing if you are not scared of the sea – the demand for fish is high these days – find a market woman to deal with.

Barbering – start barbering for kids and adults in your neighborhood – charge them lower than regular price – when you get more customers and they trust your work increase the charge a little then, buy equipment to expand – if you can afford a store, hire and move the business there.

Extra Classes – talk to parents about starting extra classes, weekend and vacation classes for their children – you could start with math, science and English – discuss with parents who have computer home about starting Information Communication Technology (ICT) class for their children – if you own a computer, you can organize the class home.

Selling Products – if its possible for you to raise money to sell products that are regularly used in your environment, buy them from a cheaper source and sell at reduced price so that they move faster.

How to Start A Business Home and Make A Living

1. Identify your Gift
After having a stand for what you want to do, document your ideas. Write a commencement date, working hours. Know your target market.

2. Small Business Plan
A simple business plan will do. You don’t have to if you don’t feel like having one yet. But just know you need it as your business grows. Furthermore, it helps know the structure of the business.

3. Location
Your location is either your room, a part of your compound, a school compound, backyard garden or farmland. If this is outside your home, make sure you negotiate with people in charge. Home office is not a bad choice for startups.

4. Register Business
You can put this on hold for now. Anything that complicate things is not needed now. But it is important therefore, will be come up along the way. If you can make sure you register the business. It has lots of advantages.

5. Create your Blog
If you are starting a blog, its time to follow the previous procedure you learned on creating a blog. If your business does not have anything so important to do online, stay away from owning a website now. You will do that later. Creating website now will only incur more cost.

6. Business Card and Signpost
Another important thing your business need but can be skipped at the early stage.

7. Marketing
Do word of mouth advertisement. Tell friends and family about your new business. Encourage them to come and make sure they pay for their services.

Conclusion
Each family should do well to establish their children and support them in their career. When you fight to build a career, don’t allow people’s opinion to deter you.

Keep healthy relationship, spend your money wisely.

Remember, no business is guaranteed success. You must persevere. It takes longer to get results in new business.