How to earn $300 extra every month?

[champ94]

A long time reader of MMM here. I am from India, currently working full time with a ecommerce company as a generalist (handling almost everything right from tech ops, customer service, cataloguing, reporting, etc.) I have taken up a personal challenge to earn an additional amount of $300 every month.

I have tried my luck at freelancing on platforms like Upwork but there is tremendous competition and haven't been able to land any job.

Can MMMers suggest me practical ways to make just an additional amount of $300 every month? While the amount might appear small, it is a decent side hustle income here in India.

Requesting inputs from MMMers.

[Metalcat]

Have you tried doing virtual assisting?

This is much more lucrative if you build knowledge in a particular area of business. For example, I know a lot of small clinic owners who use virtual assistants, and pay them pretty well ($50/hr), but they have to be familiar with the kind of clinic work they do: small medical/dental/therapy/physiotherapy kind of offices.

[champ94]

Tried in Upwork but becoming difficult to get my first break. Probably lots of competition OR the established ones are preferred over newbies. 

[AMandM]

If you are patient and good at listening to children or adolescents, tutoring can be very rewarding both financially and emotionally. I don't know the going rate for tutoring where you live, but in the US $40/hour is pretty normal if you have a bachelor's degree.

I'm curious why you picked $300 as your target.

[lifeandlimb]

I've found platforms like Upwork to be too varied and the supply of freelancers too great. If you go the online route, find platforms that cater to a specific job or market.

The most success I've seen with side hustles anecdotally is when people leverage skills or networks they already have. Examples:
- Offer to do tasks for your neighbors, friends, and relatives' friends that they don't want to or can't do (digitize files, carry heavy things, clean and organize, fix things, install stuff)
- Teaching, tutoring, or translating in a skill, activity, or language you already know

You may get ideas from this MMM thread:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/entrepreneurship/who-has-a-side-gigjob-that-brings-in-extra-cash-share-with-us!/

[JupiterGreen]

These don't take any specialized skills:

-pet walk/pet sit
-donate plasma
-sell on FB marketplace/ebay etc
-housework/yard work

In the meantime you could poke around online to see if you could find some websites that could use your expertise in ecommerce and offer to do some freelancing? Not sure what exactly you do, but it sounds like an area where you could learn more and eventually specialize.

[ChpBstrd]

It will be hard for the mostly-U.S. people on this board to answer your question, because we are unfamiliar with the rate of pay for various activities in India.

E.g. in the U.S. a 2-hour plasma donation pays about $70 USD which is 5800 rupee, but I suspect the pay is lower in India. Similarly, one might go to a temporary employment agency and get a weekend or evening job that could meet this need with a couple days per week of work, but I do not know what the job market is like in India. If I had electronics repair skills, I could pick up TVs off of other people's trash and either repair them or diagnose the problem and sell the good parts on eBay, and there are enough of these to earn $300/mo. Some U.S. landlords manage to make $300/mo profits from low-end rental houses that require a down payment of maybe $25k. Something tells me you are up against bigger challenges than these.

So maybe instead of a side gig you should be looking at career progression. E.g. obtain a degree, professional certification, or trade skill. Then your regular wage might rise $300/month without having to work longer hours. Rare skills yield rare levels of pay.

[shingy]

As far as Upwork or other freelancing platforms - when I first started, I had a hard time getting work, even though I had 15 years of experience doing that type of work. What I realized is that clients don't want to work with anyone with no track record on the platform, especially for jobs that have a meaningful amount of pay. So, what I did was apply to a bunch of small jobs that didn't require much work and well underbid what I would normally charge for my time. I quickly got several jobs, communicated incredibly well, and delivered a really nice output for the client. I would then leave the client a 5 star review, tell them as such (on Upwork they can't see the review content or rating unless they leave a review as well), and asked them if they'd leave you a 5 star review as well. Most, if not all, were happy to do so and after 3-5 of these, I was able to increase my conversion rate from bid to job and get better jobs at better rates. Best of luck.

[Newday]

Tutoring would be a good side hustle. Figure out what skills you have and advertise in the areas where your potential customers would be looking for tutors.