{"id":967030,"date":"2026-07-29T15:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T15:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/967030\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T15:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T15:14:21","slug":"my-side-hustle-was-supposed-to-be-a-stopgap-now-i-run-it-full-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/967030\/","title":{"rendered":"My Side Hustle Was Supposed to Be a Stopgap. Now I Run It Full-Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peace Obinani didn\u2019t plan on becoming a full-time entrepreneur. After years of working her way up to a leadership role in a fintech company, severe burnout and a desire for new challenges pushed her to step away. Her plan? Take a six-month break and use her side business \u2014 an event company \u2014 as a financial stopgap. Two years later, that stopgap has morphed into a full-scale event production venture with over 50 completed projects and a 15-person team.<\/p>\n

Here, Peace shares her journey from making \u20a65k as an event runner to building her own company, navigating the harsh realities of entrepreneurship, and her straight-talking advice for 9-to-5ers planning their exit.<\/p>\n

This is Peace\u2019s story, as told to Boluwatife<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In 2024, after almost five years at Piggyvest, I suddenly decided to hand in my resignation.<\/p>\n

On paper, it was a risky move. There was nothing wrong at work; they wanted me to stay. \u00a0 A salary review was right around the corner. But I\u2019d been restless for about a year and couldn\u2019t suppress the urge to move anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Startup life is no joke. I was deeply burnt out and felt I had hit my peak in my role. I had secured my UK Global Talent Visa and wanted a fresh challenge and an international career.<\/p>\n

Leaving felt like stepping into the complete unknown. To manage the anxiety of having no income, I built a plan.<\/p>\n

First, I\u2019d take a three to six-month break to rest and recover from burnout and live off my savings. While that was happening, I\u2019d use the event company I had registered on a whim in 2023 as a financial stopgap before moving to the UK.<\/p>\n

The irony of the situation? I was never supposed to be in a 9-to-5 in the first place.<\/p>\n

The accidental 9-to-5er: How I got there<\/strong><\/p>\n

I never dreamed of corporate life. The idea of sitting in an office all day in formal outfits didn\u2019t appeal to me. My foundation had always been in events and hustle.<\/p>\n

Back in 2013, while struggling with JAMB after secondary school, I went for a runway modelling audition and failed miserably. But the casting director liked my energy and offered me a job as his personal assistant. That marked my entry into event production.<\/p>\n

I started as a runner \u2014 running errands, posting on social media and doing whatever was needed for \u20a65k \u2013 \u20a610k per event \u2014 before finding my groove in technical front-of-house production, managing sound, lights, screens, and stage cues.<\/p>\n

When I got into UNILAG in 2014 to study Microbiology, I kept doing event gigs and, for extra cash, I managed social media accounts. In my third year, I launched a ready-to-wear clothing business. I sourced fabrics in Yaba, sat with tailors, and hauled clothes back to campus at midnight to meet delivery timelines.<\/p>\n

The business paid me enough to rent an apartment after I graduated in 2018. But in 2019, the business completely tanked. It was one of the worst financial years of my life. I was living on a single \u20a640k\/month social media gig and barely surviving.<\/p>\n

Later that year, after serving my NYSC three-week orientation camp in Katsina, a friend sent me an internship opening at Piggyvest. I applied for the fun of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To my surprise, they hired me at \u20a675,000\/month.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Piggyvest wasn\u2019t the rigid corporate environment I feared. People wore sneakers to work, the energy was young, and I loved the work. I started as an intern handling fire-and-brimstone customer support on Twitter, fell in love with growth, and eventually climbed the ranks over four and a half years to become Head of Online Marketing, earning roughly 25x to 30x my starting pay.<\/p>\n

As I climbed the professional ladder, my event production background never really left me.<\/p>\n

Most events at Piggyvest naturally routed through me. End-of-year parties, brand activations, and Big Brother house integrations, I championed all of them. Even when we hired external event vendors, I managed them because I knew the ins and outs of showrunning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was the \u201cevents person\u201d at work, and I enjoyed it.<\/p>\n

The exit strategy that didn\u2019t go as planned<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I finally took the leap and resigned in 2024 to begin my rest period, the plan immediately fell apart.<\/p>\n

The rest never happened.<\/p>\n

In the same month I quit, client inquiries for event production began rolling in. While I was supposed to be on a relaxing holiday, I was answering client emails, hiring an admin assistant, managing vendors, and coordinating projects. One gig led straight into the next one.<\/p>\n

Every time I said, \u201cI think I\u2019m ready to move to the UK now,\u201d another project would land. I would tell myself, \u201cOkay, after this one, I\u2019ll go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year passed, two years now, and I still haven\u2019t moved.<\/p>\n

My temporary stopgap somehow became my primary, full-time venture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The reality of running the business<\/strong><\/p>\n

Going from employee to business owner tested muscles I didn\u2019t know I had.<\/p>\n

If fintech was intense, event production in Nigeria is a different beast. It\u2019s a ghetto inside a ghetto. My mental health during peak event seasons is practically non-existent. But unlike corporate work, this gives me a direct creative outlet. Watching an event space transform satisfies my creative side and makes the operational chaos worth it.<\/p>\n

Running a business has also come with steep lessons.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, I gave out too many discounts out of excitement. If I forgot an item in a budget, the cost came straight out of my personal pocket. I only realised how bad things had gotten when I hired an accountant, and we reviewed previous projects and saw a lot of red. It genuinely triggered me. Today, we have structured pricing and an accountant auditing everything.<\/p>\n

Also, I lived on my savings for months after starting the business. Then I started paying myself random amounts every couple of months. I eventually realised that wasn\u2019t sustainable in the long term. Now, I treat myself strictly as a company employee. Today, the business pays me a monthly salary equivalent to what I earned in my 9-to-5 job three years ago, leaving company profits intact for growth and end-of-year reserves.<\/p>\n

I started the business without a team, but now we\u2019ve grown to a 15-person team, 6 of whom are full-time employees. Over the past two years, we must have completed between 50 and 100 event projects.<\/p>\n

Advice for 9-to-5ers looking to jump ship<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re sitting at your desk right now feeling burnt out and contemplating a jump into full-time business ownership, here is my advice:<\/p>\n