Last Updated on September 7, 2021 at 8:14 am
In this episode of “how I increased my income”, we meet a person who has been working passionately on blogging and web development, his side hustle for the past decade, since he was 16years old.
About this series: We all appreciate the importance of a higher income but increasing our income is not easy. It requires time, effort, sacrifice, dedication and opportunities. In these articles, we showcase inspirational stories about people who have increased their income, their station in life via self-improvement, upskilling or side-hustles.
This idea started when I had asked members of Facebook, Asan Ideas for Wealth, to share real-life stories of how they or someone they knew increased their income by upskilling, self-growth (personal development), or side-hustles.
Many of the stories were quite extraordinary. In the first such account, we met Mrs Rajalakshmi Rangarajan as narrated by her son, Sudharshan: How my mother moved up the corporate ladder with constant self-growth.
Join 32,000+ readers and get free money management solutions delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to get posts via email! (Link takes you to our email sign-up form)
🔥Enjoy massive discounts on our robo-advisory tool & courses! 🔥
We have similar stories lined in the coming weeks. If you have increased your income and changed your station in life, please share it with our community. It will inspire and motivate many. Contact us at freefincal {AT} Gmail {DOT} com with a short outline to take it forward. It can be published anonymously (like this account) if you prefer. Now over to our young go-getter.
I am currently working as a part-time writer and web developer along with my full-time job. I started when I was 16 and had just finished my 10th board exams.
My dad promised me that he would buy me a smartphone once I finish my exams, and he did get me a Nokia Lumia, my first smartphone. After exams, I had a lot of free time because it took months before the results were announced.
I was always interested in technology but not great at it. So, after getting my phone, I went online and checked about it and learned how to use a smartphone. This was 2013, so smartphones were still new, and I realized that there was not much content around the Windows Phone ecosystem.
Because I had free time, I decided to go on blogger.com and create an elementary website, and I started writing about whatever I could learn about my smartphone, how to use it and what kind of things you could do.
As much as I liked technology, my dad, a businessman, wanted me to study commerce, so I didn’t take science in 12th. However, I still loved technology, so I taught myself programming. I learned XAML and C# through YouTube videos, talked to developers on social media, and gathered as much information as possible.
While studying 11th, I published two apps on the Microsoft Store (back then, it was Windows Phone store), one was an RSS reader for my blog, and the other was a simple reminder app. Along with this, I kept writing until I got an offer from a big news website that covered Windows Phone exclusively.
So, in 2015, two years after starting, I joined them, and I finally started earning money from my hobby. In the meantime, I completed 12th with decent grades and went to Bangalore for BBA in Finance.
I continued working with the website for 5 years and left in April of 2020. During my time with them, I did both news and hardware reviews and continued my BBA degree. A big break for me occurred in 2018 when Microsoft awarded me the title of Most Valuable Professional (MVP), a title held by 4000 odd people worldwide and given by Microsoft to those who have made contributions to the tech community.
In 2018, I was in my final year, and I had stubbornly chosen a difficult topic for my final year research thesis. My paper focused on the impact of cryptocurrencies on the Indian market, and my final presentation was on the awareness of Bitcoin among the youth of Bangalore.
It was a difficult month because Microsoft offers MVPs an opportunity to fly to the US and visit their headquarters in Redmond. So, I took the leap of faith, hoping everything will work out fine and skipped college just a month from my graduation to go to the US. I had an incredible time at Microsoft, and I wrote my thesis and the paper on my 20 hours flight from India.
I did my presentation from my hotel room at night and managed to publish a research paper in an international journal while in the USA.
In 2020, a friend offered me to work with her and start web development. I have been doing web development for around a year now, and we both together have completed more than 10 websites designed from scratch on WordPress. I never intended to work as a developer, but when she asked me to help, I enjoyed it, and we continued to collaborate on projects. Web development takes more time when compared to writing, so I had to sacrifice my weekends to complete development projects on weekends while doing my full-time job during the week.
Currently, I am working as a news reporter for another website, but this one is not focused solely on Microsoft. Unfortunately, the number of articles has reduced quite a bit because my full-time job takes around 12 hours of my day. However, I continue to write as much as I can because it is still a hobby and something I absolutely love and enjoy.
Here are some resources to get started If you would like to increase your income:
- How to earn one lakh a month passive income?
- Passive Income Template: Steps to build a lifelong income
- Passive Income Automation: An Example
- How to turn your social media comments into passive income!
- My side-hustle now makes more money than my full-time job!
🔥Enjoy massive discounts on our courses, robo-advisory tool and exclusive investor circle! 🔥& join our community of 7000+ users!
Use our Robo-advisory Tool for a start-to-finish financial plan! ⇐ More than 2,500 investors and advisors use this!
Track your mutual funds and stock investments with this Google Sheet!
We also publish monthly equity mutual funds, debt and hybrid mutual funds, index funds and ETF screeners and momentum, low-volatility stock screeners.
- Do you have a comment about the above article? Reach out to us on Twitter: @freefincal or @pattufreefincal
- Have a question? Subscribe to our newsletter using the form below.
- Hit 'reply' to any email from us! We do not offer personalized investment advice. We can write a detailed article without mentioning your name if you have a generic question.
Join 32,000+ readers and get free money management solutions delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to get posts via email! (Link takes you to our email sign-up form)
About The Author
Dr M. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the founder, managing editor and primary author of freefincal. He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He has over ten years of experience publishing news analysis, research and financial product development. Connect with him via Twitter(X), Linkedin, or YouTube. Pattabiraman has co-authored three print books: (1) You can be rich too with goal-based investing (CNBC TV18) for DIY investors. (2) Gamechanger for young earners. (3) Chinchu Gets a Superpower! for kids. He has also written seven other free e-books on various money management topics. He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India,” an organisation promoting unbiased, commission-free investment advice.Our flagship course! Learn to manage your portfolio like a pro to achieve your goals regardless of market conditions! ⇐ More than 3,000 investors and advisors are part of our exclusive community! Get clarity on how to plan for your goals and achieve the necessary corpus no matter the market condition is!! Watch the first lecture for free! One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos! Reduce fear, uncertainty and doubt while investing! Learn how to plan for your goals before and after retirement with confidence.
Our new course! Increase your income by getting people to pay for your skills! ⇐ More than 700 salaried employees, entrepreneurs and financial advisors are part of our exclusive community! Learn how to get people to pay for your skills! Whether you are a professional or small business owner who wants more clients via online visibility or a salaried person wanting a side income or passive income, we will show you how to achieve this by showcasing your skills and building a community that trusts and pays you! (watch 1st lecture for free). One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos!
Our new book for kids: “Chinchu Gets a Superpower!” is now available!
Must-read book even for adults! This is something that every parent should teach their kids right from their young age. The importance of money management and decision making based on their wants and needs. Very nicely written in simple terms. - Arun.Buy the book: Chinchu gets a superpower for your child!
How to profit from content writing: Our new ebook is for those interested in getting side income via content writing. It is available at a 50% discount for Rs. 500 only!
Do you want to check if the market is overvalued or undervalued? Use our market valuation tool (it will work with any index!), or get the Tactical Buy/Sell timing tool!
We publish monthly mutual fund screeners and momentum, low-volatility stock screeners.
About freefincal & its content policy. Freefincal is a News Media Organization dedicated to providing original analysis, reports, reviews and insights on mutual funds, stocks, investing, retirement and personal finance developments. We do so without conflict of interest and bias. Follow us on Google News. Freefincal serves more than three million readers a year (5 million page views) with articles based only on factual information and detailed analysis by its authors. All statements made will be verified with credible and knowledgeable sources before publication. Freefincal does not publish paid articles, promotions, PR, satire or opinions without data. All opinions will be inferences backed by verifiable, reproducible evidence/data. Contact information: letters {at} freefincal {dot} com (sponsored posts or paid collaborations will not be entertained)
Connect with us on social media
- Twitter @freefincal
- Subscribe to our YouTube Videos
- Posts feed via Feedburner.
Our publications
You Can Be Rich Too with Goal-Based Investing
Published by CNBC TV18, this book is meant to help you ask the right questions and seek the correct answers, and since it comes with nine online calculators, you can also create custom solutions for your lifestyle! Get it now.Gamechanger: Forget Startups, Join Corporate & Still Live the Rich Life You Want
This book is meant for young earners to get their basics right from day one! It will also help you travel to exotic places at a low cost! Get it or gift it to a young earner.Your Ultimate Guide to Travel
This is an in-depth dive into vacation planning, finding cheap flights, budget accommodation, what to do when travelling, and how travelling slowly is better financially and psychologically, with links to the web pages and hand-holding at every step. Get the pdf for Rs 300 (instant download)