Corona Virus has brought the global economy to its knees. Unlike the Great Recession of 2007, the effects of the virus will be felt in the developing as well as the developed world. According to a report by CMIE more than 12.2 crores, Indians lost their jobs in April alone. An online survey conducted by Economic Times has pegged the number of employees facing salary cuts at 39%. Simply put, salary cuts and layoffs are going to become the new norms as the economy reopens after the lockdown.
People who will lose on their earnings will have to look for other alternatives to maintain cash flow to be able to sustain their present lifestyles. Jobs which do not require a long term investment and can offer a decent income quickly will come handy at this point. In this article, we are going to compile a list of the best ways to earn quick and easy money with minimal or zero investment and basic skills.
Mystery Shopping
The Indian Mystery Shopping Industry is valued at around $200-300 million and has a growth rate of roughly 25 per cent. Mystery shopping is a combination of survey, online shopping and validation. It is the feedback mechanism that retail stores, shopping complexes, hotels, hospitals, bank branches, and other such locations that involve public dealing, use to measure the quality of a visitor’s experience. These companies hire Mystery Shopping Agencies to conduct regular audits at their public outlets according to a set procedure to judge the quality of services offered on different parameters.
How can you become a Mystery Shopper?
Mystery Shopping is something that you can easily do on the side with your core job, on weekends, or after your office hours. Several Mystery-Shopping Agencies hire people who match the target customer profile of the company whose audit is to be done. These people are called Mystery-Shoppers, Test Customers, or Service Testers. Hiring agency then provides the Mystery Shopper with a questionnaire that contains a list of questions on which the services offered are evaluated. After successful submission of the report, shoppers are paid.
Skills/Resources Required:
Mystery Shopping doesn’t require any special expertise. You need to have good communication skills and command over writing in English as the job involves submitting feedback on your experience at the outlet in a detailed, structured, and lucid manner. No initial investment is needed and you just need a laptop/tablet with a high-speed internet connection. You can read in detail here.
Popular and Trusted Mystery Shopping Agencies in India:
Mystery shopping: New way to earn money for shoppers
Website/Mobile App Testing
The success of a website/Mobile App depends on how easy to navigate it is. Often, website makers want to get first-hand user reviews. This helps them make their website/app interactive and user-friendly. Some specific companies/websites offer reviews to clients wishing to refine their websites. A website tester is a person who gets paid to check out websites and provide a review for its quality. Website testers are hired as part-time workers by user testing sites.
Requirements to become a website tester:
- An up to date laptop/smartphone
- High-speed internet connection
- Webcam/Headphones
- Basic proficiency in spoken and written English: A website tester has to submit proper feedback about different nuances of the website’s operability. This requires a decent command over writing reviews.
Best User Testing platforms to find a part-time job:
Quick Online Income Through Micro Jobs
Micro jobs refer to small online tasks. These tasks can be typing given words, editing and resizing photos, creating accounts on sites like Gmail, following people on twitter, and so on. You only need some spare time and a laptop with an internet connection to earn some quick money by doing micro jobs online.
Best websites to find Micro Jobs:
Transcription Jobs
Online content streaming platforms have seen unprecedented growth in India during the Corona Virus Pandemic. This has opened new part-time job avenues for people who have a good grip over spoken languages. Transcription jobs involve writing the text for a given piece of a video or voice recording. It can also involve writing captions(subtitles) for youtube videos or movies. These jobs are usually paid on a per minute or per hour basis.
Best platforms to get online transcription jobs:
These are some of the options you can try to earn side income. There are other more conventional options like Online tutoring, Online stock trading, blogging which require a bit more expertise in a single field and relatively more patience. You can also try freelancing to boost your income.
Read here: Soft Skills and Websites to Boost your Freelancing Career.
If there is any career-related query, you want an answer to then; please drop a comment. We will either post an article to explain that or reach out to you personally with our best solution. Stay safe!
