I see so many students these days, wanting to earn money and be financially independent right in college itself. I was like them - I never took a penny of money from my parents after I went to college. FIITJEE, my JEE coaching institute gave me Rs. 4 lakhs of scholarship and I also won another Rs. 1 lakhs of scholarship from some of my FIITJEE teachers who left FIITJEE to start a coaching institute of their own.
Here are some ways by which you can earn money while in college itself.
1. Internships: I did my internship at Rubrik's US office and they paid a stipend of $8000 per month. I spent $1400 a month on accommodation and another probably $600 a month on food and other expenses during the internship. Less the taxes, in Indian currency, I saved almost Rs. 8 - 9 lakhs. Rubrik also paid for round-trip flight tickets from India. Find ways to upskill yourself and get a good Software Internship.
2. Freelance Web and App Development: Another great way to earn money. So many startups and small companies want someone to build a Website or Mobile App for them. You can post on Social Media and find such companies. Alternatively, there are freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, etc., where you can find such work. Of course, you'd have to spend some time finding clients. But I think freelancing is an amazing way to make money.
3. Teaching Assistant. I was a teaching assistant in 5 different courses across 5 semesters. I got paid Rs. 6000 a month for taking an hour-long class every week. That's a cool Rs. 1.5k per hour for teaching others and improving my own communication skills. I earned roughly Rs. 1 lakhs by being a Teaching Assistant.
4. Solving and creating questions for competitive exams. So many Edtech startups want to hire smart people part-time to create questions and solutions for competitive exams. I worked part-time at Toppr and Slader during my college days and earned a few lakhs.
5. Coaching classes. I never did this, but some of my friends did. So many students want to learn Physics, Chemistry, and Maths from IITians who have been there and done that. Many people pay as much as Rs. 5k per hour. Yes, you read it right. You can earn that much in college.
6. Freelance Content Writing. If you are not good at Programming, you can go for Freelance Content Writing. For standard articles, the pay isn't that lucrative. But if you can write articles on specialized topics, you can earn as much as Rs. 2 per word. For a 1000-word article, you can make Rs. 1500 - Rs. 2000 which isn't bad. You can write 2 articles a week and make Rs. 15k - 20k a month extra. I made lakhs of Rupees by writing articles on specialized topics like Machine Learning, Face Recognition, Web Development, Python programming, etc.
7. Stock Trading. I have never done this, but I know of folks who made money trading in the stock market. It is risky and usually not advisable, but I am mentioning it here because these days, there are so many courses in the markets that teach Stock Trading. Again, I would like to repeat that Stock Trading is risky and I haven't done it in college and neither do I do it now. I am a long-term fundamental investor rather than a Trader.
8. Affiliate Marketing. I made lakhs of Rupees via Amazon Affiliate Marketing. I wrote a blog on JEE preparation and received tens of lakhs of page views. So many students asked me about the books I used during my JEE preparation. I shared Amazon links to those books in my blog and Amazon paid me 10% referral fees on each sale. I remember, during the peak seasons, I earned as much as Rs. 25k a month in referral fees. Of course, Affiliate Marketing requires a lot of effort in creating a credible brand for yourself.
What other ways can you earn money in college? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
I have shared a lot of my learnings about Business and Entrepreneurship on my YouTube Channel. Please check it here: https://youtube.com/@aman.goeliitb
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