Ways To Earn Money During Pakistan's Inflationary Crisis

In the eyes of a common man, Pakistan‘s future is nowhere near basic improvement, let alone thriving. The political environment is highly unstable. Inflation rates are over the roof, and we have become the darling of IMF, of China, Saudi Arabia, and probably of every institution our government has approached for loans.

I am seeing people bashing their leaders with a plethora of inappropriate expletives whenever they appear on the news or on social media. I have seen them in a state as if they are finally confessing on the fact that there seems to be no future left in Pakistan, and that immigration is the only option left.

Parents for the past two decades have been trying all too hard to sum up some money for their children, just so that they could leave Pakistan for UK, Australia, and Germany on a study visa. Families are adamant on selling their generational homes just to land and start from scratch somewhere in Canada.

This doesn’t stops here. I see young people from every corporate field discussing and planning to immigrate somehow, in some way. Some have tried and are awaiting responses. Others have tried and failed, and are looking for another way out.

Hope simply seems to be vanishing gradually in the hearts of people as they struggle to leave this country in pursuit for better financial conditions and opportunities.

I have been witnessing this all too often and have been contemplating a lot. Is this really the end for a financially stabilized living here? Is it this much becoming hard to earn a decent income in Pakistan?

I had been asking this question to myself a lot until I myself did research tried my own skills in generating income instead of hopping on the “leave Pakistan” bandwagon.

After spending 2 years in generating high income, I came to these five points of amassing wealth for oneself if you happen to reside in Pakistan. These points are based from my own personal experience as a professionally skilled person.

Offering Your Service to Western Countries.

You have heard this form hundreds of people on YouTube, that friend of yours who’s working for some American company. That friend or cousin who is working on Amazon. And you see, the thing is- they are all spot on.
Offering your services either as a freelancer or a proper remote employee is highly likely to give you $1,000 with ease.

A lot of people have no idea how lucrative this is. The demand for foreign remote workers has boosted in developed countries like USA and Canada. They want people who are skilled and can do the job with lower pay as compared to their home countries average salaries.
Most Pakistanis are lazy or nervous to embark on this search for an international employer.

And they are missing heaps of growth potential.

If you are interested in offering your services to North Americans and Europeans, I would firstly suggest you ditch the freelancing platforms like UpWork and Fiver etc.
The reason I am mentioning this is that these platforms have become too saturated and competitive for new players.
I would recommend:

• Creating your professional Facebook and Instagram page.

• Tuning up your LinkedIn profile. See other professionals. The Ronaldos and Messis and the Beckhams of your field and see how they define themselves on their profiles.

• Creating a free Website for your portfolio, but no need to optimize it with SEO right off the bat as it will drain your budget.

• Creating a portfolio on your social profiles as well with all the work you have done. It can be either from a software house you work at Shar-e-Faisal Karachi or your own concepts and strategies.

• Engage at least once a day with your industry related professionals.

• Run Paid media adverts for your Facebook profile (Take help from that friends who say they are social media or digital marketing experts). Makes some saving from your current salary and invest it on Ads.

• You can designs your posts and ads on Canva for literally 100% free.

• Make sure your responding is 1000% on time in case someone from USA messages you after seeing your ad.

I created my own Facebook and Instagram business pages for paid marketing. I decided not to create a website and feature my portfolio on these social platforms for now.

I ended up getting more than 20 clients in the past 8 months among which many were high paying (like $2000 + paying per month)

Make the most of your relatives and friends living or studying abroad

I knew a guy once whose elder brother went to Scotland for his Master’s. That elder brother told his Scottish friends about his little sibling back in Pakistan, that he can prepare their assignments and presentations in affordable rates.

Can you guess what happened? The guy I knew started making around $2000 a month because of this. He did a good job and his word spread like wildfire in a few months.
A considerable amount of people have cousins and who are living in the West. Many happen to have friends who are enrolled in Western universities. I would say treat them as assets.
Ask them to spread the word about your service. Whether you are a copywriter or a graphic designer, or a developer- request them to offer their colleagues, university mates, or even friends the service that you can provide.
If you really are well connected, the benefit you could gain would be immeasurable both in short and long run.

• Ask your relatives or cousins to spread the word about the services you provide with their acquaintances.

• If your relatives are running a business, ask them to hire you as a remote worker. It’s a great hack to earn income and help your family at the same time.

• If you have friends enrolled in a foreign university and those who mingle with the locals, ask them to market your service.

WARNING: I should probably warn you that when you are dealing with friends and relatives, make sure you deliver your best and stay true to your words and work since they are putting their own relation and repute on the line-for you.
In case you fail to satisfy a client, your negative feedback would reach your acquaint, the one who recommended you in the first place.

Therefore NEVER EVER ditch a client to whom you were referred to by a friend or a relative. Go the extra mile in providing them a service and they will become your staunch customer.
I had asked some of my friends in Canada to spread the word about my copywriting skills. As a result, I got two high-paying clients from Vancouver who were willing to offer me more than $1000 a month. I ended up working for them, one for a 1 year contract, and the other for 2 months.

Start a YouTube/Facebook channel and share your content in videos

I know it can take quite longer in generating some noticeable revenue in these niches, yet they are promising, not only on their own, but also in other ways. How? Let me tell you about someone I know.

One of my good friends started his YouTube channel back in 2018. He’s an English teacher and offers home tuition in his local neighborhood. He started providing helpful English lessons on YouTube and Facebook in the quest for creating an extra income stream.
Fast forward to 2022 and he’s earning almost Rs.5 lacs per month. He teaches a class of 25 students and offers home service in premium rates. How did he achieve this?

His YouTube and Facebook Videos did not create the income stream he was hoping for. However, people started noticing his videos and started emailing him for his teaching services. He started getting messages on Facebook, Instagram and on LinkedIn. He became an in-demand and a credible tutor who everyone wanted, and at any cost.

Making videos on these platforms can be quite hectic for some, but I assure you that once you put your efforts, results will start appearing gradually.

Learn how to make videos on YouTube, use your phone as a camera. Order that Rs.800 tripod stand and get filming.

Don’t worry about the fanciness. Focus on the value that you provide. Ask your little siblings for help in shooting. Observe other YouTubers and creators of the same profession. And in one year, the output would be noticeable, directly or indirectly.

I have just created my YouTube channel and a Facebook page for my video content regarding the two skills that I profess: social media marketing and content-copywriting. I am positive that I will create some momentum and some high paying clients by producing and publishing valuable content.

And the MOST IMPORTANT THING: Be persistent and patient

I can’t stress this enough. Money is not going to come knocking at your door from the first month. You’ll need to understand this and keep hustling. You might face initial failures but DO NOT let it take you down. Some of you might be into IT, some into marketing, finance, HR, and what not.

Cash on that skill of yours, but be persistent and never lose hope. Because if you do, you’ll miss out heaps of opportunity in becoming a millionaire in Pakistan (Dollar wala millionaire)
But if you keep working on what I suggested, you’ll end up leaving your corporate job and pursing this full-time because of the amount of potential you would discover and the amount of money which you would make.

I know it will take quite the sweat, but migrating to another country in terms of a better future will do so even more. Here you can live a life 10 times the one which you can in another developed country on the condition that you reap the opportunity from these digital platforms here in Pakistan.

These are some of the ways I have discovered in creating wealth despite the unstable condition and an uncertain future of the country. I will share more in my next writing if I discover any.

If you can’t immigrate to another country (Or even if you can) and are perplexed in figuring out another way of earning money in Pakistan, the above mentioned things might be the best option you currently have in becoming rich in your home country.

Hopefully if you indulge in these endeavors, you are likely to generate wealth in the next 2-3 years despite the inflation and the worsening condition. Not everyone has enough resources to immigrate, so let’s make our heaven here, with our old parents, in the country we have grown up in.

Bye for now.