Inflation is high in Pakistan nowadays and every other individual is searching for methods to earn an additional income. While earning money online is possible for everyone, it's not as easy as it seems to be. If you're a Pakistani, searching for passive income or active income streams without making any investments, you're at the right place.
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Additional income sources can be created in many forms. To identify effective earning sources, it is first important to understand the types of incomes that you can earn sitting at home. There are two main types of income that you can earn in Pakistan, passive income and active income.
Passive Income vs Active Income
Active income is an income type that you earn by making an effort. Like for example, doing a 9-5 job in any organization is an example of active income. Passive income, on the other hand, is a type of income that is earned without constant effort. So for example, if you write a blog post and monetize it with Google Adsense, the only effort that was needed was a blog post. Any income that you will earn through ads will be passive income.
Passive income is a great way to create income streams that can earn you money in the longer run. A passive income stream can include affiliate marketing, app development, website/blogs, etc. The goal of this post is to highlight important passive income streams that you can benefit from in Pakistan.
By the end of this article, you will have multiple passive income ideas in your mind and you'll know where to begin. So without further ado, let's jump into the main content!
Earn Money Online in Pakistan
As a Pakistani, you can earn additional income through numerous methods. To make things easier for you, I'll break down this article into important categories. The first category is "Online Earning in Pakistan". So if you're someone who wants to earn money sitting at home, this category is for you!
Freelancing at Upwork
Upwork is a platform for freelance sellers and buyers from across the globe. I've always seen Upwork as a low-hanging fruit that can be taken advantage of by every Pakistani. By making an account on Upwork, you can literally sell anything that you're good at. Here are some skills that you can sell on Upwork:
- Blog writing in any category that you want.
- SEO expertise (learn simple tools like Semrush and become an expert!).
- Graphic designing (Use Canva to make your life easy).
- Writing ad copies for companies.
- Data entry jobs (simple typing jobs).
- Voiceovers
- Video making.
- Animation making.
- Website/App development.
These are some skills that you can sell on Upwork which in my opinion is the best freelance website for Pakistani freelancers. If you want to sell your skills on multiple platforms, you can try Freelancer, Fiverr, and other freelance platforms as well but I recommend you to focus on one website at a time to maximize your earning potential.
Daraz Affiliate Marketing
Daraz is an online shopping platform in Pakistan. With thousands of buyers and sellers using Daraz every day, you have a good chance to earn affiliate income through this platform. By signing up for the Daraz affiliate program, you can sell products that are listed on the platform. The best part is, you will just act as a middleman by sharing an affiliate link with potential customers. If someone purchases the item that you shared, the seller will deliver it to the buyer and you will earn money sitting at home with minimum effort!
If you have a good following on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or any other social network that is accessible to Pakistani users, you can become a successful affiliate marketer by selling products to your audience. If you're new to it, don't worry, you can still earn money through the Daraz affiliate program.
You can use social media platforms to make promote affiliate products and you can simply advertise to reach more audience. Alternatively, you can start your own blog and add affiliate products to relevant posts. Blogging is a great way to earn affiliate income but it is a rather slow process. It might take you years before you attract a huge enough audience to make a living out of affiliate marketing through blogging.
Start Your Own Blog
As explained in the previous section, blogging is a slower method of earning a stable income. However, if you're good at writing and your goal is to create a passive income stream for the future, you can simply start a blog based on your interests. You don't have to spend thousands of rupees every month to maintain your blog. Moreover, by making your own blog, you can earn through ad networks and affiliate marketing combined!
You have two options as a beginner. If you're willing to spend some money, you can make a blog on WordPress and buy a hosting package along with a domain name. A domain roughly costs you around 10-15 dollars per year. Hosting costs begin at 1200 rupees per month and can go up to 20K per month depending on your needs.
On the other hand, you can create a free blog and just invest in a domain name which as mentioned above, costs you around 15 dollars per year. To create a free blog, I recommend you use Blogspot. Focus on building an audience and once you're reached your earning milestones, you can then think of moving to a self-hosted platform. If you're confused as to which platform you should choose, consider reading our WordPress vs Blogger Comparison which might help you in making up your mind.
Earn Money Through YouTube
You can always start your own YouTube channel to earn big in the longer run. YouTube is all about quality content. You can become an influencer or an expert sharing knowledge on the platform. If you're good at comedy, you can even start an entertainment channel on YouTube. However, earning on YouTube is nowadays not as easy as it once was.
The more strict eligibility criteria of YouTube have now made it difficult to earn easily but if you're a hardworking, consistent creator, you will eventually meet their requirements and can become the next famous YouTube creator globally.
Sell a Course
Recently, I've been noticing a lot of courses being advertised on Instagram related to Digital Marketing, Blogging, and Forex. If you're good at something, never do it for free. Turn your skills into courses and start selling today on social media platforms. If you're good a SEO, you can make a course for beginners or you can simply learn a skill, become an expert and then share your learnings in a course.
You can then sell this course on social networks or platforms like Coursera and Linkedin Learning if you qualify for their program. Selling a helpful course is a great way to earn additional passive income. All you need to do is to create a course once, invest time in it and then make money through it.
It is important to note that selling a course requires strong marketing skills. Without good marketing of your course, you might not be able to sell much online.
Sell Customized Phone Covers
Another very popular business trending in Pakistan is selling customized phone covers. You can make an Instagram page to sell customized covers for Android smartphones and iPhones. You don't need a proper printing setup at your home, you can get into a deal with a shop that offers printing services and is near your location. Whenever you get a new order, you can get it printed by the shopkeeper and sell it online for a profit.
It's a win-win situation for you and the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper will earn by selling his service and you will earn by selling the final product. Think about it!
Other Income Streams for Pakistanis
Now that I've talked about the main online earning opportunities in Pakistan, let's move towards other earning methods which are passive in nature and can be easily adopted by anyone. However, please keep in mind that the purpose of this article is to share knowledge based on experience and research, I won't recommend you make any decision based on just this article, do research of your own and only then make a decision!
Earning Money with iSave by MCB Arif Habib
iSave is a platform that allows you to invest your money in mutual funds and stocks to reach your financial goals. iSave is a product of MCB Arif Habib and it allows you to earn profits monthly, yearly, and even daily!
I've been using iSave for a long time now and my personal favorite investment fund is "Alhamra Daily Dividend Fund". This is an Islamic fund that pays out a daily dividend and you have the option to reinvest your dividend, growing your savings in perpetuity.
iSave offers both Islamic and Commercial funds. It is up to you where you invest your hard-earned money. For me, iSave has been a great experience and I've been earning high-profit rates compared to what is paid by a normal bank for a savings account.
You can set a goal on ISave and save money for that goal. For example, you can set a target to save xyz amount in 2 years and ISave will make a plan for you. Alternatively, you can make a retirement plan and start saving for it today.
Allied Investment Certificates
Another similar earning technique to ISave is the Allied Investment Certificates available in Pakistan. With Allied investment certificates you can earn a profit of up to 10% or even more. The payout rates depend on a variety of factors and can be as low as 1% or as great as 10%+ depending on these factors.
To invest in Allied investment certificates your amount must be a multiple of 25000 rupees. This means that you can invest 25K, 50K, 75K, and so on. This, of course, is a drawback for students searching for additional income streams in Pakistan but if you're someone who's earning a salary, Allied investment certificates can definitely be an option for you!
Become a Markaz Reseller
Instead of selling products for others, why not become a reseller yourself? Yes, you heard it right. Markaz is an app-based platform in Pakistan that allows you to resell products of your choice. You can establish an online shop on Instagram, Daraz, or any other platform that you like and you can begin offering products to customers.
By becoming a reseller, you can create your own brand identity and become famous yourself. No need to worry about the manufacturing costs, simply select a product that interests you and earn a small commission by reselling it to customers!
Meezan Rozana Amdani Fund
Just like iSave by Arif Habib MCB, Meezan Rozana Amdani Fund pays you daily for investing/saving in this particular fund. Daily payout funds are ideal for setting short-term or long-term milestones. You can set a target and start a savings plan accordingly to meet that target. Meezan Rozana Amdani Fund is known for its decent payout rates and it is not a very high-risk fund. You can contact a Meezan Bank official for further details and clarity regarding the marketing risks involved before making any decision.
Final Words
Earning online in Pakistan without investment is easy if done right. You cannot become rich in one night and passive income streams that require little effort won't earn you a million dollars. Sadly, many clickbait websites claim to have gotten rich without making any effort but in reality, those are mostly lies and illusions.
If you're a Pakistani tired of inflation and high costs of living, you can definitely try out the earning methods I've listed in this post for you. However, I suggest you use this article only for informational purposes and do research of your own before trying out any of the mentioned earning techniques.
These earning methods have worked for many individuals as they claim on the internet but that does not mean that they'll work for you in the same way. I hope this article helped you in answering the question that we began with, how to earn money online in Pakistan?
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