Timi* spent three years working for employers and had bad experiences, including being treated like a child. Today, she is a content strategist and social media manager who runs a digital marketing agency.
Ever been a full-time employee?
Yes, but mostly in startups with two to five employees. I have many good and bad stories with startups. I haven’t worked in a very big organisation before.
Those must have been very early-stage startups. They can be very high-stress environments.
Oh, yes.
For one of the brands I worked with, I took the job from a place of love for the brand because I had been following it for years. They were trying to transition from remote work to having physical staff members.
At the start, it was just me, so I played a lot of roles. In summary, I was basically “mirroring the CEO.” I was employed as a content creator, but my job description went beyond that.
It even started to get personal because I would be at her house as late as 9 p.m. helping her with personal things.
The pay was ₦50k and I was managing four of the brand pages, which wasn’t what I was told during the interview.
I was never given an employment letter or contract; I started by word of mouth. At some point, I got my guard up because I would post some of the content I wrote for them on my status to showcase my work, and she would tell me to take them down because I was not meant to reveal what I did for the brand.
That was when I asked for a contract. When I finally got it, it stated that the company had full rights to my ideas, content, whatever work done, and that I was not meant to work with anyone else while working with them.
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What!? For just 50k?
The salary was only increased by ₦10k. She was offering ₦60k for all this work and all the clauses on the contract. I ran 😅
That was terrible.
So many others. I worked with a man who used to seize my salary; he'd say, “I’m punishing you.”
Now, I'm curious about this😂
I got hired for the job immediately after my interview. I was okay with the job because it required that I work only three days and resumption was at 11 a.m.
After the interview, he was insistent that we have a drink, and I told him I had the rest of my day planned; this man followed me to the places I planned to go and dropped me at my junction. I should have run o, but I had rent to pay.
The father figure type?
Yes!
So I started the following week and found out his friend owned the company.
The owner saw me and asked what I did; when I told him, he said that he had been searching for a social media manager.
I was working for both of them in my first month and had to deal with statements like, "You did X for him; you didn’t do it for me."
That must have been quite awkward.
I’d take permission from one to be absent, and the other would call to ask why I did not show up. These guys also didn’t give me an employment letter or contract.
So I had a meeting with both of them and asked for clarity on who my boss was. I also demanded an employment letter before continuing to work.
They made false promises, and till I left, I never got the contract.
Eventually, I stopped working for the one who ran errands with me because he clearly did not know what he wanted.
So it was more like working for someone, and you had to create the vision for the company because he didn’t know his vision.
I also did not do much work for the other mane because he never liked anything I did! I wasn’t allowed to post on the main page, just the stories.
When I tried to ask the audience how they were or do something interactive, he'd ask me to take it down. He also never told me what he wanted for the company.
Sometimes, he would make comments like, “I’m just dashing you free money” or, “I can tell you to resign and just be sending you allowance.”
Interesting!
I resigned after he withheld my December salary for two weeks He paid everyone else, and even after I talked to HR, he didn’t send my payment until I reached out to him directly.
He paid me on the 12th, then I sent in my resignation, which he rejected and made false promises again. I left them in April and didn’t go back.
You still spent four months after that? That's a lot. Was that your reason for the agency?
Yes, that's a major reason why. Because that way, I could streamline the people I actually work for.
My first client as an agency was with my partner's mutual friend, and that ended in chaos too.
Tell me about it
She was so rude! She couldn’t attack me because I was very professional from the outset, so she would always attack my partner who was her friend.
She never let us do our job, always making input or rather, commands. I tried not to get in, then one night I saw her attacking my partner. She went further to say “Whatever it is you’re typing should better be an apology,” and I laughed.
The next morning, I drafted a very detailed message and sent it to her. She started calling me, and I didn’t pick because it was on Saturday; then she called my partner and told my partner I disrespected her.
She didn’t know we were in constant communication with each other. She was trying to get out of the situation by using emotional blackmail.
When she saw it wasn’t working, she logged us off her page, then told me to call her when she was available. I insisted that the call had to be with me, her, and my partner; she agreed.
We set up a meeting; she didn’t show up. We texted her, she ignored. The next morning, we sent a termination email for the sake of professionalism.
So, how long have you been running this agency?
Five months. We deliberated a lot from March, then started officially in May. It’s registered as a company, but we still have some paperwork to do.
Nice! I know this is kind of obvious, but which do you prefer: being an employee or business owner?
Being a business owner, definitely! I like that I can choose the terms of my work with each client. I like onboarding new people, managing them, but the downside is you actually get to do more underground work.
Also, if you have employees, you’re basically responsible for them, so you have to turn in revenue and be on your toes a lot.
I enjoyed being an employee for a few people, especially having money coming in at the end of the month, but even that wasn’t constant. Sadly, the bad experiences with employers outweigh the good.
How many clients do you have now?
At the moment, just two people! Because I have worked more with startups, I’ve always been underpaid, so I’ve had to combine jobs a lot.
The highest was seven jobs, but it burnt me out very quickly, so I keep it to a minimum of three, then delegate where I can.
Well done! How many years of experience do you have?
A little more than four years. I started social media management in 2019, but began working as early as 16. I’ve held secretarial roles, teaching, minding, cleaning, and sales but I found that what gives me real joy is creating written, audio, and video content.
Why did you start working that early?
I grew up around a lot of toxicity and around women who were extremely dependent on the men in their lives.
I told myself early that I wanted more. I had to have better and give my future children better. The first sign of independence I saw was working to earn a living, so I started quite early — from copying notes for seniors to selling snacks to my classmates. Money gives you choices, and I know I want to be able to choose.
Amazing! Such resolve! What do the next two years look like for your agency?
Expansion should be the word! And increased reach and awareness.
Everyone is a social media manager right now because of how easy it is with AI. I want to change that with my agency. I would love for business owners to see the true impact that social media and organic, raw content can have on their businesses.
I want to employ more hands and have a team of people with a centralised culture of excellence and efficiency.
Also, better opportunities locally and internationally. I still want to work with startups; I enjoy building brand stories. So hopefully, I can meet brands that my vision aligns with.
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