At 10:47 p.m., Aisha’s phone lights up while she is getting ready to settle in for the night. Curious, she picks it up and sees an Instagram DM from a potential customer that reads, “Hi, how much for this?” Excited at getting her first customer of the day, she told herself she’d reply after completing her skincare routine, but she didn’t realise how much the day had completely drained her because she immediately fell asleep the moment she landed on her bed.
Aisha wakes up at 6:00 a.m. in a rush to prepare for the day and does not acknowledge her phone, which buzzes with yet another message from the same person. This one was a simple “Hello??” and by the time Aisha finally managed to get out of work deadlines and constant meetings to open her Instagram DMs in the afternoon, the person had disappeared. No order. No payment. No second chance.
Selling perfumes is Aisha’s side hustle. She has a gruelling 9-5 corporate job on the island that exhausts her to her very core, and she has to battle the chaos of living in an overcrowded state like Lagos every day. She barely has time for a social life, and as much as she wishes she could have it all, she can’t be online 24/7, but her customers are.
And, unfortunately, that’s where the problem lies.
The Business That Lives in Your DMs
For many Nigerian creators and small business owners, Instagram and WhatsApp have become their storefront, customer service desk, and checkout counter combined. Every sale tends to begin with the usual enquiries like “How much?”, “Do you ship to…?, “Do you still have this?”, and if responses are fast, you might close the sale. Reply late, and the customer has either moved on to another online seller who replies faster or backed off from buying altogether.
Sometimes, it’s not even about bad customer service. You could be held up in a meeting at work, in transit, sleeping or be on set creating content, but customers don’t know that. They just see silence, and silence online often means lost money.
Buying online is often emotional. A potential customer comes across your product and gets excited in the moment. But excitement has a short shelf life. If they don’t get reassurance quickly, doubt creeps in, and they start thinking, “Is this too expensive?” “Do I really need this?” “Let me check someone else.” By the time you reply, the feeling that made them reach out is gone.
In a social-media-first economy, it’s important to remember that speed is part of the product.
One Link, Fewer Missed Chances
This everyday frustration is exactly the gap Standd is trying to close.
Standd is an innovative link-in-bio platform built for people who sell, create, and earn through social media. Instead of juggling multiple DMs, voicenotes, and repeated explanations, users can replace their existing Instagram or Twitter (X) bio link with a single Standd link that displays the products they offer, prices, reviews, shop links, and the key details customers usually ask for.
It also helps answer common questions, such as “How much?” and “Do you deliver to…?”, automatically. So, when someone comes across your page at 1 a.m., they don’t have to wait for you to wake up before deciding to buy. Through Standd, they can see what you have to offer and make their decision immediately.
Your Hustle Needs Its Own Support System
Side hustling in a country like Nigeria already takes a lot of energy from you. You somehow need to be able to shuffle work or school with your business, and frankly, that’s a lot. Being online 24/7 isn’t exactly realistic.
This is why tools that organise information and handle basic enquiries can make a big difference. They are not here to take over the business or replace personal customer service. They just want to support it.
You can’t stay awake 24/7. But your business doesn’t have to sleep.
If you are curious about how it works, you can check out https://www.getstandd.com/ to learn more, or explore example profiles like https://www.getstandd.com/@bigsoso to see how creators showcase their offers in one place.
