{"id":40754,"date":"2019-10-16T09:42:42","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T01:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/?p=40754"},"modified":"2021-08-27T18:23:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T10:23:17","slug":"unconventional-side-income","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income","title":{"rendered":"3 Malaysians Share Their Unconventional Ways Of Earning Side Income"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re reading this, there\u2019s a good chance that you\u2019ve got some sort of side gig.<\/p>\n

After all, around half<\/a> of young Malaysians reportedly engage in freelance work or side businesses. With the rising cost of living, and a \u2018hustle culture\u2019 that\u2019s alive and thriving, many of us are trying to eke out extra income in our spare time.<\/p>\n

There are all sorts of ways to make money, too. If you\u2019re interested in picking up a side gig, you don\u2019t have to be limited to run-of-the-mill jobs like writing or driving a Grab car.<\/p>\n

Need some inspiration? We asked these Malaysians to share their unconventional ways of earning side income:<\/p>\n

<\/span>1. Lee, voiceover talent<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lee does voiceovers for clients on Upwork, where he generally works on advertisements for consumer goods.<\/p>\n

Once, he was contracted to provide voiceover work for a men’s erectile dysfunction medication. \u201cThe job required me to play the part of a man who suffered much embarrassment and humiliation as a result of his situation,\u201d he said. Although this was the only job with an adult-rated slant that he\u2019s taken on, he thinks that there is a fair amount of demand for this sort of work in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

Even as a Malaysian voiceover talent, most of his clients are international. According to Lee, these clients tend to prefer a natural Malay accent, as there are plenty of app developers and retailers who are looking to tap into the Southeast Asian market.<\/p>\n

He charges a minimum of RM150 per job. However, he charges around RM800 for larger projects (i.e. scripts that are longer than a single page, or scripts that require more than 15 minutes reading time).<\/p>\n

The trick to making money from this line of work, he says, is to \u201cidentify your niche, and keep being persistent\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/span>2. Nur, subletter<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Subletting (i.e. when you rent a property from a landlord, and then rent it out again to other tenants) parts of your rented property is common enough. When you sublet, you get to minimise living costs by leasing out your unused bedrooms.<\/p>\n

But Nur takes it a step further.<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t stay at her rented property at all. Instead, she rents her property specifically to sublease each room for income. Each room is leased out at different rates. Every month, her profit for the entire property (after expenses) ranges from RM120 to RM550.<\/p>\n

To find prospective tenants, Nur advertises on different social platforms. She insists on meeting them face-to-face before receiving any payments.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s nice to make extra income, Nur admits that the drawbacks can be quite daunting. These include: checking up on the unit to make sure it’s properly taken care of, paying the bills on time, and looking into maintenance matters like plumbing issues.<\/p>\n

But for Nur, the effort is worth it. \u201cIf I stayed nearby, I probably would take up one more unit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For those looking to sublet for side income, Nur suggests researching the property\u2019s location and average rental prices before taking the plunge. It\u2019s also important to furnish the property with amenities (washing machine, fridge, microwave, etc.) before looking for tenants, and keep it in tip-top condition.<\/p>\n

Interested in subletting a property? Make sure that you\u2019re not breaching any contracts, and that you have your landlord\u2019s approval.<\/div><\/div>\n

<\/span>3. Farhan, sword fighting instructor<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

During the day, Farhan Gazi<\/a> serves as deputy editor of iMoney. But after working hours, he teaches people to swing longswords.<\/p>\n

Farhan helps run Zwaardkring Malaysia<\/a>, a club for Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). It\u2019s usually associated with swords, but also covers weapons like polearms, daggers, and wrestling \u2013 although in Malaysia, they only offer longsword classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t start this with any background in martial arts,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just so happened that my [sword fighting] instructor needed an assistant at the time. So I put in the extra work to catch up on the technical side in order to help him teach newbies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each student pays about RM120 to RM150 per module (six weeks), and Farhan gets about 25% of these fees. He didn\u2019t get into it for the money, however. \u201cI just wanted to learn how to fight with a sword. Getting paid is just a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what are the perks and hazards of teaching sword fighting? \u201cThe perks are that I get paid to swing swords at people,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hazard is that people swing swords at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Asian martial arts, the knowledge of which has been passed down throughout generations, many European martial traditions died or evolved into different forms. The HEMA community revives these traditions by studying instructions gleaned from manuscripts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe treatises we study were written between the 13th and 19th centuries, and they weren\u2019t very detailed in explaining how to move with a blade,\u201d said Farhan. \u201cWrong body mechanics can end up stressing the wrong muscles and cause long term injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teaching sword fighting also involves quite a bit of equipment. While beginners can start out with a synthetic nylon waster (a.k.a. plastic training sword; around RM350), the full sparring kit can cost RM3,000 to RM5,000.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in teaching classes for side income, Farhan says, \u201cMake sure you know what you know, and be prepared to admit when you don\u2019t know something. Your students will appreciate you more if you\u2019re honest about having to run off to do more research to answer their questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>What\u2019s your story?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

When it comes to making a bit of extra dough on the side, opportunities can present themselves in unusual ways. Got an unconventional side income story yourself? We\u2019d love to hear about it. Let us know in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forget writing or graphic design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":40761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[219],"class_list":["post-40754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-income","tag-bi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n3 Malaysians Share Unconventional Side Income Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Forget writing or graphic design. Read about how these Malaysians bring in side income through more\u2026interesting avenues.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Malaysians Share Unconventional Side Income Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Forget writing or graphic design. Read about how these Malaysians bring in side income through more\u2026interesting avenues.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"iMoney Malaysia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-16T01:42:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-27T10:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/16142149\/side-income.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jen-Li Lim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jen-Li Lim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income\",\"name\":\"3 Malaysians Share Unconventional Side Income Stories\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/15184107\/side-income.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-16T01:42:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-27T10:23:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/b161cd233681c3b0bd593dde40c951c4\"},\"description\":\"Forget writing or graphic design. Read about how these Malaysians bring in side income through more\u2026interesting avenues.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/15184107\/side-income.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/15184107\/side-income.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":627},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Income\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/category\/income\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"3 Malaysians Share Their Unconventional Ways Of Earning Side Income\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/\",\"name\":\"iMoney Malaysia\",\"description\":\"Everything you need to know about improving your personal finances.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/b161cd233681c3b0bd593dde40c951c4\",\"name\":\"Jen-Li Lim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0bc8beef067b15587ac1a38f4d83294?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0bc8beef067b15587ac1a38f4d83294?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jen-Li Lim\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/imoney.my\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/author\/jen\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3 Malaysians Share Unconventional Side Income Stories","description":"Forget writing or graphic design. Read about how these Malaysians bring in side income through more\u2026interesting avenues.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"3 Malaysians Share Unconventional Side Income Stories","og_description":"Forget writing or graphic design. Read about how these Malaysians bring in side income through more\u2026interesting avenues.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income","og_site_name":"iMoney Malaysia","article_published_time":"2019-10-16T01:42:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-27T10:23:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":629,"url":"https:\/\/static.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/16142149\/side-income.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jen-Li Lim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jen-Li Lim","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income","url":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income","name":"3 Malaysians Share Unconventional Side Income Stories","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/15184107\/side-income.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-16T01:42:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-27T10:23:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/b161cd233681c3b0bd593dde40c951c4"},"description":"Forget writing or graphic design. Read about how these Malaysians bring in side income through more\u2026interesting avenues.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/15184107\/side-income.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/15184107\/side-income.jpg","width":1200,"height":627},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/unconventional-side-income#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Income","item":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/category\/income"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"3 Malaysians Share Their Unconventional Ways Of Earning Side Income"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/","name":"iMoney Malaysia","description":"Everything you need to know about improving your personal finances.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/b161cd233681c3b0bd593dde40c951c4","name":"Jen-Li Lim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0bc8beef067b15587ac1a38f4d83294?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0bc8beef067b15587ac1a38f4d83294?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jen-Li Lim"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/imoney.my"],"url":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/author\/jen"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40754"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49347,"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40754\/revisions\/49347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}