How young professionals are finding new jobs to diversify their income

Now that new skill-based jobs are emerging as viable income-generating options, more and more young professionals are looking for jobs they can do in their spare time. Let’s see how some of them are pursuing their passions while generating additional income streams.

Organizing spaces

Raina Jain, a 32-year-old finance professional living in Mumbai, has been balancing a side hustle with her regular job since January 2021. While she spends her weekdays working for a media and entertainment company, she devotes her weekends to her passion as a professional organizer.

Together with his business partner, Jain has steadily expanded this venture, building a small team that now handles projects even during weekdays.

“When I first started, weekends were the only time we could do projects, and weekdays were spent brainstorming on how to create content and raise awareness,” Jain said. “We launched the project during the pandemic, so our first efforts focused on raising awareness about the organization through social media.”

Jain started her side hustle to set up a financial safety net for contingencies, as well as build an education fund for her eight-month-old daughter, and bolster her retirement savings.

Currently, the organizing business represents 20% of his monthly salary.

She invests in mutual funds through systematic investment plans (SIPs) and actively manages her own equity portfolio, leveraging her qualifications as a chartered accountant. Equities account for 80% of her portfolio.

She has a health insurance policy from her employer with a base coverage of ₹10 lakh and an additional recharge cover of ₹15 lakh. Jain also has substantial life insurance cover from his employer.

Ceramics

Jaipur-based Rachna Ghiya, 37, who works as a freelance e-learning developer, recently started exploring pottery as she was looking to constantly improve her skills and learn new activities.

“I was curious about ceramics, so I opted for a four-and-a-half-month basic course in Bengaluru, just to see if it was something I would enjoy doing,” she said.

Ghiya decided to turn her craft into a business after her pottery sold out at an exhibition in Bengaluru, which featured work by course participants.

She has always managed her finances well, knowing that freelancing can result in unpredictable income.

“Even though I have already established myself in the e-learning field and even get projects through word of mouth, I need to keep enough liquidity in my finances to be able to draw on it during the lean months. That is why I try to have at least six months of expenses in my savings account at any given time,” he added.

Currently, Ghiya earns 15% of what she earns from her learning and development work through pottery.

His investment portfolio is 75% equity, mostly in mutual funds and partly in direct equity, while 25% is in debt instruments. Ghiya has a health insurance coverage of ₹20 lakhs.

She passes at least ₹1.5-2 lakh every year on training, besides purchasing the software licenses required for their learning and development work.

Running a pottery business also involves costs. For example, a pottery wheel costs around $100. ₹50,000, while an oven comes for ₹2.5-5 lakh. Currently, Ghiya pays other kiln owners. ₹1,500-2,000 per firing. A kiln can hold between 15 and 20 pieces per firing, depending on their size.

Ghiya believes she can gradually expand her pottery business, which would diversify her income sources and help manage the income fluctuations associated with freelancing.

yoga trainer

Alisha Sharma, 29, a Bengaluru resident, works as a software engineer at a foreign bank and earned a certification as a professional yoga teacher last year.

Sharma has been interested in yoga for years and has been practicing it for the past six years. Now, she plans to expand it and make it a bigger activity.

“It was a calling for me. It wasn’t just about the physical aspects of yoga, but even the theory surrounding it interested me a lot. I thought that this is a tool that can help other people as well. That’s why I decided to get certified as a teacher last year.”

Sharma said he wants to grow his business slowly and organically, without rushing the process. “I want to enjoy it as a passion right now. The additional income stream will allow me to slowly improve my lifestyle. I also hope it will help me achieve my other financial goals.”

Sharma is also focusing on educating himself to make better financial decisions. “I am doing SIP in mutual funds, but I need to increase it.”

She has employer-provided health coverage. ₹6 lakh. However, his employer does not offer life insurance and Sharma has not yet purchased a personal life insurance policy.

Patter

Bengaluru-based Pramod Pratap, 31, works at a digital marketing agency and is also a professional drummer. He had a passion for drums from a very young age.

“With years of practice, I have developed my drumming skills, which now helps me earn extra income.” In a good year, drumming can account for 30 to 35 percent of one’s salary, Pramod added.

Since 2014, Pramod has been playing professionally in addition to his regular job. Now that he is married, he intends to channel most of his extra income into mutual fund investments.

Pramod and his wife plan to gradually build an investment fund to support themselves when they decide to start a family. “I have been running SIPs in equity mutual funds since 2018 with the help of a mutual fund distributor, but now, as a couple, we want to take our finances more seriously.”

They are also considering starting their own business. Their current asset allocation is 90% equity and 10% debt.

He has an individual health insurance policy with coverage of ₹7 lakh, which he plans to replace with a floating family plan. In addition, he has a ₹1 Crore Term Life Insurance Policy.

Embroidery

Gayathri Jinoj, a 41-year-old bank employee from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, runs a hand embroidery business called Knots&Crosses. The business offers custom embroidery services and embroidered clothing for women. She currently uses social media platforms to sell her creations.

Gayathri started the business in 2018 out of passion and since then it has grown through word of mouth. Slowly, she has built up a small team, mostly made up of friends, who help her with the business.

At the moment, the business is running on marginal profits, Gayathri said. “I also wanted to help other women, who needed a source of income to support their families. Whoever in my team takes up the job gets compensated per project.

She plans to expand her business to a physical location sometime next year, focusing on increasing profit margins to offset higher rental costs, and recently hired a friend to help with marketing.

According to Gayathri, the extra income can even help match her income as a bank employee, but for now, the embroidery business accounts for about 18% of her bank salary.

She would like to use the extra income to invest in the education of her seven- and ten-year-old daughters.

He invests in mutual funds through SIP, with an asset allocation of 60% in equity and 40% in debt. He has a life insurance cover of ₹65 lakh and health insurance cover of ₹10 lakh through his employer.

Retirement Advantage

A job that is not related to the main profession can be valuable during times of crisis in the main job. Unlike traditional employment, these jobs do not have a set retirement age, allowing people to continue activities and earn a stable income even during the years after retirement and support their future goals.