Everyday I'm hustlin' - 6 ways to earn side income (other than Grab)

Yikes, inflation just hit a record high of 5.1 per cent in August recently. If you're already working on cutting expenses and devising new budgets to restrict your spending, congratulations - you're halfway there.

But you do need to look at growing your income too, and that is easier said than done given that companies may think twice about giving you that raise with fears of a recession looming.  

If giving your boss the puppy eyes to ask for an increment hasn't worked, fret not - there are other ways to supplement your main income source, and they don't even require you to commit a fixed number of hours.

Here are some side hustles that you can take up to earn some moolah during your spare time.

Share your opinion and earn some pocket change

Instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media on those long train rides to the office, did you know that you can monetise your time while commuting? Put your time to better use by earning money doing surveys.

Before you dismiss this as a scam, there are many legit survey platforms in Singapore such as Milieu, Toluna, ApiaryBuzz, and Rakuten Insight. Surveys can be as short as one minute up to 30 minutes, and you are compensated based on how lengthy the survey is.

In my experience, you'll get $1 for shorter surveys and up to $2 for longer ones. I picked up this habit during the you'll-not-be-missed Circuit Breaker days and have been pocketing a minimum of $40-50 per month since.

Become a mystery shopper

Love shopping but don't want to spend your hard-earned money? Hold off on that 11.11 sale and put that talent to good use by becoming a mystery shopper.

One reputable platform for this is Ipsos. Becoming a mystery shopper means acting like a genuine customer and engaging the company staff across various channels. This helps companies to evaluate the quality of their service and issues they should address.

When you sign up for Ipsos, you'll be asked to fill up your profile in detail so that the team can assign you tasks that best fit you. You can also download the Ipsos Mystery Shopping App to get timely updates on tasks around your area.

The remuneration for each task depends on the complexity and time required to complete the task, but from my experience it can go up to $100 per project.

Testing websites and apps

Being cooped up at home during the pandemic led me to discover creative (and productive) ways to spend my time.

That is how I discovered that you can get paid by helping companies improve their apps and websites UX (User Experience) through rigorous testing and providing feedback.

The platform I tried is called Tester Work, which pays users for every unique reported bug or a fixed amount for a test case execution. The remuneration is clearly stated in the assignment so that you can decide if the task is worth your time. You'll get paid in US Dollars via PayPal.

Participate in focus groups

For those who are opinionated and have an opinion about most things, you can turn your views into money by joining focus groups. These can be in person or online.

Each focus group discussion can land you between $50 to $200, the higher side if you happen to be part of a niche group they would like to hear from.

There are probably multiple channels to find such lobangs, but the one that I've tried and successfully gotten paid is SG FocusGroup, which advertises their focus group recruitment drives on Facebook.

Tip: turn on notifications from the FB group as slots tend to fill up pretty fast, especially if the demographic they're looking for is mainstream.

Online tutoring

Singaporeans just can't seem to live without tuition. The private tuition industry was already a billion-dollar industry in 2018, according to the last Household Expenditure Survey.

Being a part-time tutor was already a known side hustle, but having apps such as Snapask has made it more accessible for wannabe tutors.

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While face-to-face tutoring takes up a significant chunk of one's leisure time and offers less flexibility, providing tutoring on apps such as Snapask requires less commitment and is time-flexible, allowing you to work at your own pace. You can choose to answer as many questions from students as you wish, as the platform works by matching the student's queries with tutors.

Tutors reportedly receive US$0.51 (S$0.73) for each question answered, and to quote Snapask founder Timothy Yu, 'tutors in Singapore can generally earn about US$1,200 per month for spending one to two hours per day answering questions'.

Run errands

I stumbled across this app called Quest - Hire a Hero randomly one day and it piqued my curiosity enough to sign up for it.

Sign up as a 'Hero' and help 'Citizens' with their errands, anything from buying food, to writing marketing proposals to apparently, killing bugs. Not kidding.

ALSO READ: How to earn passive income in Singapore: HDB rental, dividends and more

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.