Meg, a married woman with two children, presently earns N60,000 as monthly salary. In order for her to earn this amount she left her husband behind and relocated to a cosmopolitan city with her children. Her reason? She wanted to make enough money to supplement her husband’s income to support the children’s education.
A quick analysis of the monthly salary, in relation to the costs of living in the city, means a big chunk of the salary doesn’t belong to her. She will give a portion to transport owners, a part she will give for clothing to enable her dress well to fit into where she works, she will pay market women for food items and other basic needs. Also, she may have to buy lunch for herself while at work and if she is a religious gal, she will pay her dues of offering and ten per cent. At the end of all payments, she will be left with less than N20, 000 as real income.
Now let’s do a very brief opportunities and costs analysis of her situation. What are the costs that Meg is unconsciously paying or will have to pay for less than N20, 000 real income? One, she is not having the company of her husband; also the children are not growing under the watchful eyes of both parents, especially the father. She doesn’t really know what is happening to her husband in Lagos – whether he is able to keep himself or he has embraced some social vices due to the absence of the physical proximity of the woman. Even in Abuja, high costs of everything may not allow Meg to live well. She will be trying to cut so much costs; and inability to live well may put her under some financial pressures that may lead to unexpected behaviours – all these costs are paid because of less than N20, 000 real income. Let me be frank with Meg and everyone who may be faced with this situation – the future of the family is dotted with uncertainties because you can hardly predict what may happen to any member of the family as a result of too much gap.
What are the opportunities before Meg? Besides a good check on issues we identified as costs above, I believe a daily income of about N2, 500 would be sufficient to cover what she earns as real income per month. She has identified some skills she has that can be turned to good business. I know women spend so much money on weave and braids. If she packages this ability very well, she may earn more than N3, 000 every day. Also she had identified other gifts in the food area that she can conveniently deploy to earn money.
So, Meg has no excuse to warrant the splitting of her family and expose the future of everybody in the family to unexpected blow. The next question to be asked is, can Meg’s ability be sharpened and packaged in such a way that it can attract good income every day? This is very possible. Helping people package their ideas, gifts or abilities to become good income generation business is what someone like me and few others do.
But is Meg ready to live the comfort zone of less than N20, 000 monthly guaranteed income to make use of what she has to earn much more and be happier? This decision will be hers with the support of her husband. Why do I mention her husband? I know some men never want their wives to be so financially buoyant. The belief of some men is that if their wives are financially stable – or richer – than them, the women may no longer be submissive. What this sort of men do is to deliberately talk their wives into underutilisation of their capacities. Anyway, I shouldn’t digress.
Now come to think of it, let me ask Meg about the money-worth of every minute she spends on earth. On a real income of N20, 000 per thirty days, an hour spent by Meg is presently worth not more than N28. But many people do not even know the worth of their time, and that is why they can afford to spend it anyhow. When you do not know the value of your time or what you are worth, you will fall for anything that comes your way. A lot of people are living their lives like someone who is walking on the street without a definite destination.
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