Original by Shenrancaijing, by | Wang Min, editor | Jin Xuanfan
"I make money when others celebrate the holidays". In the Spring Festival of 2023, as the impact of the epidemic fades, some people reunite with their families and immerse themselves in the festival, while others "quietly roll in" and frantically make money.
Under the festive atmosphere, all kinds of "New Year's taste" businesses are on fire, trying to empty our wallets, but young people who are keen to make money are doing the opposite, seizing this wave of "New Year's taste" business opportunities and fancy cash.
Among them, some people have eyed the door-to-door business, door-to-door cooking orders are thousands, door-to-door manicurs are a single seven or eight hundred, door-to-door feeding cats are hundreds at a time, the price is not cheap, but people line up to make an appointment; Some people began to set up stalls offline before the Spring Festival, making a small profit by using "just needed New Year goods", such as selling Spring Couplings, Fuzi, and lanterns, and earning thousands a day; There are also people who take orders online at home and make Spring Festival atmosphere products, such as doing handmade mobile phone cases at home, and directly burst orders.
Young people's side hustle is often combined with interests and skills, but making money during the holidays is not easy and requires a lot of time and energy. However, in the face of high returns, they all said that they were tired and happy. Some people take advantage of the peak of the Spring Festival to start a side business, while others plan to turn this attempt into a small business that has been persisted in for a long time.
Door-to-door service: 1111 yuan for cooking, 20,000 yuan for 5 days of manicure
On the first day of the Spring Festival, Guangzhou's "Hazel Coool" received an order for door-to-door cooking, which was to go to Shenzhen for 1111 yuan. This is the furthest single in the past two months since Hazel has been engaged in door-to-door cooking.
In November 2022, Hazel left his position as the Director of Operations of a catering company and started a side job of door-to-door cooking during the transition period before moving into his new job.
In 2022, the business of door-to-door cooking became popular on social platforms, and after Hazellet promoted it through WeChat, Xiaohongshu and other channels, coupled with his background in the catering industry and many years of front-line chef experience, orders quickly poured in.
At present, the price of Hazel Boy's ordinary four-course dishes (excluding the cost of ingredients) has reached 158 yuan, if there are more dishes, the fee will be higher, but as long as he has time and energy, his orders can basically be filled every day, and his daily income is four or five hundred yuan.
Hazel during home cooking / Photo courtesy of interviewee
Hazel understands that home cooking provides good food, but also emotional value. If the customer needs it, he will often pass on some cooking experience when he comes to cook. And this is an experience that is difficult to have in a restaurant.
Around the Spring Festival, door-to-door cooking is especially popular. "A week or two before the Spring Festival, the demand for family banquets began to increase significantly, and the most people consulted Chinese New Year's EveChinese New Year's Eve meals." Hazel told Shen Ran that everyone wanted to eat better at home during the Spring Festival, but they didn't want to be so tired.
However, since Hazel had to have Chinese New Year's Eve with his family, he did not take orders for Chinese New Year's Eve meals, and Chinese New Year's Eve this day, he only received orders for noon and late night snacks.
From the 28th day of the lunar month to the third day of the Lunar New Year, because it is the peak of the Spring Festival, Hazellet will increase the price by 333 yuan on the basic price of each order, but all the time is still full.
The customers on the first day of the new year gave Hazel a surprise. "After seeing my sharing from social platforms, this customer was very interested in the service model of door-to-door cooking, and directly booked the dinner on the first day of the new year, the price of 1111 yuan, which is also a good omen for the New Year."
Door-to-door cooking is also a manual task, and hazelnuts, who are 196cm tall, often feel overwhelmed when they rotate in the kitchen. However, the freedom of time to do this and the sharing of food still appeal to him.
During the Spring Festival, another door-to-door service that was paid for crazy was door-to-door nail art. Tatako, a door-to-door manicure artist in Guangdong, told Deep Burn that the peak period begins 20 days before the Spring Festival, and the closer to the Spring Festival, the more orders, users want to bleach nails during the Spring Festival, and the demand for nail patches and diamonds will also increase, so the unit price is also higher than usual, and a single order can reach about 700 yuan to 800 yuan. In the first five days of the Chinese New Year's Eve, she received a total of 25 orders, earning between 18,000 and 20,000 yuan, and in the peak period of 20 days before the Spring Festival, her income was close to 30,000.
Tatako does New Year's manicure / photo courtesy of interviewee
Of course, it is also busy. In the past few days, Tatako received up to 6 customers a day, took at least 7 taxis, started work at the customer's house at 8 a.m., then rushed to the next one after completion, and finished the last customer at night until 1 a.m. She said she was so tired that she just wanted to lie down and sleep when she went home.
Some people offer more than one door-to-door service. Shi Shi, a programmer working in Beijing, arranged before and after the Spring Festival to "go to the door for manicures before the year, and feed the cats after the year."
She told Shen Ran that because she had to work years ago, she could only take orders on weekends. Because it is a new entrant and is still a part-time job, the price is not high, from tens of yuan to more than 100 yuan, calculated to receive 4 guests a day for two weekends, and a total income of more than 1,000 yuan in four days.
Approaching the New Year, Shishi put her energy on feeding cats at home, and also took the cost-effective route, 30 yuan at a time, the largest single has to feed a total of 14 times, can earn 420 yuan, and the rest also took 3 families, adding up to earn more than a thousand.
Poetry mentioned that whenever there is a holiday, the demand for door-to-door cat feeding is very strong, and this Spring Festival, many people have gone home for the New Year, and door-to-door cat feeding is in short supply. However, she tried more and did not take orders like crazy.
Also feel the "sudden explosion" of Haifan, she entered "Cat Alley" in 2021 to start door-to-door feeding, the last Spring Festival was not cared for, but this Spring Festival, the number of inquiries surged, although more than 3 kilometers of orders were rejected by her, and finally screened down, she still took 16 orders, the most orders a day to run 10 places, the price is not high, the main cost performance of her, half a month can earn about 4,000 yuan.
Lin Xi, a junior living in Shanghai, majoring in animal related, began to do door-to-door cat feeding since two years ago, the service content includes feeding water, feeding food, cleaning cat litter, cleaning, playing with cats for ten minutes, in addition to entering the platform to receive orders, but also accumulated a batch of their own customers, during the Spring Festival to feed cats once, the price can reach hundreds of yuan.
In the half month before and after the Spring Festival, she received a total of 24 orders, earning more than 8,000 yuan in two weeks, and the most she had to run 16 households a day, and she had to run from 8 am to 8 pm. She told Shen Ran that door-to-door feeding cats is a holiday business, and the money she earns during the peak period.
Offline stalls: write the Spring Festival to earn thousands a day, and sell lanterns in 3 days to earn double
Spring couplings, blessing characters, lanterns, these yearly atmosphere sense objects, are a must-have for the Spring Festival at home. Every year before the Spring Festival, offline stalls selling these New Year's flavor items have become the first choice for many people's side business.
Before the Spring Festival this year, Brother Mu, who works in Chongqing, tried to write Spring Festival couplets on the spot in his spare time, relying on his calligraphy skills to monetize.
The reason why this idea came up was that when Brother Mu was shopping, he found that there was a street in Chongqing where stalls could be set up, and although it was niche, it attracted many young people with a small bourgeoisie. There are friends who sell e-cigarettes and do tarot card divination there, and the business is not bad. "I have been practicing calligraphy for 23 years since I was 5 years old, and every year I write more than a dozen couplets to my family and relatives, and I can also come out to set up a stall," Mu Ge thought.
So, after buying Spring Union Paper and Fuzi Paper online, and making preparations, Brother Mu and his wife went to set up a stall on the first Sunday night after New Year's Day. However, the first time was more of a "stepping point" nature, from 6 pm to 10 pm, only two written couplets were hung, mainly attracting on-site customized users, plus the location they found at that time was relatively dark, and there were not many people who came forward to ask for orders.
Brother Mu summed up the lessons learned, and when he went to the stall at about 6 p.m. on January 15, he not only specially found a position with a relatively bright light, but also made a lot of optimizations from the product to the price, no longer only doing on-site customization, adjusting to a pair of couplets written in advance for 18 yuan, and on-site customization for 38 yuan, on this basis, add small things such as handwritten blessing characters, bookmarks, and stickers.
Brother Mu set up a stall to write Spring Festival / Photo provided by the interviewee
This time the stall was close to the Spring Festival, and Brother Mu's booth had never been deserted, and for four or five hours, he was either writing couplets, or writing blessing characters and bookmarks, so busy that he couldn't stop. People who are in a hurry, most of them will buy couplets written in advance, and people who have enough time and more personalized requirements will queue up on the spot to customize directly.
In one night, Brother Mu sold a total of more than 30 couplets, plus the scattered blessing characters, bookmarks and stickers sold, and his income exceeded 1,000 yuan, far exceeding expectations.
After Brother Mu shared this experience on the social account "Bian Muxin 800 Eyes", he received a lot of positive feedback, and even many people came to inquire. He thought that in the new year, even if there is no peak period for the Spring Festival, he can make some calligraphy cultural and creative products and continue to do a side business of stalling.
Before this Spring Festival, Liu Ya, who lives in Sichuan, also began to set up a stall to sell lanterns and other New Year goods.
Over the past year or so, because of the epidemic often encountered offline class closures, Liu Ya's quality education industry has suffered a great impact, she is very anxious in her career, so she wants to make some new attempts. It just so happened that the Spring Festival was coming, and Liu Ya began to plan to set up a stall after the holiday in December last year.
Compared with skill monetization, she mainly buys products from online selection, buys some finished or semi-finished products and sends them back to her hometown, and then sells them at offline stalls.
On the evening after returning to her hometown on January 16, Liu Ya and her family stayed up late to process semi-finished lanterns, discussing how to put up the stall to make it more ambient, and making booth signs together indicating products, prices and preferential activities. Relatives and friends are very supportive of her and help her forward and shout in the circle of friends.
On the evening of the 17th, Liu Ya came out of the stall, at first she was a little timid, did not dare to sell, but in less than half an hour, it opened, watching people coming, Liu Ya slowly entered the state, took the initiative to attract customers, and the first night's income reached 350 yuan. She is already very satisfied with such an income in her hometown town.
Liu Ya sells lanterns at a stall / Photo provided by interviewee
The income from the stall in the first two days was good, originally Liu Ya just hoped to earn back the cost of more than 500 yuan, and did not have too high expectations for the income of the stall on the third day, but did not expect that when the stall came out again that night, the inventory was all emptied, and the total income in three days exceeded 1,000 yuan, which was equivalent to double the net income.
If you count the time and labor costs, at least four or five hours a day, Liu Ya does not earn much, but this stall gave her a lot of encouragement. "Doing many things is the same as setting up a stall, you must not be afraid of trouble, have courage, and be able to endure hardship." Liu Ya said that this stall has calmed her anxiety about her career to a certain extent, given her the courage to start again in 2023, and made her firmly believe that "everything will be better and better in the New Year".
Online ordering: making mobile phone cases earns tens of thousands per month
There are also many young people who take orders online and make money from the "festival economy".
Wearing new clothes in the New Year, mobile phones also need "new clothes", exclusive holiday mobile phone cases will increase the sense of ritual of the festival, some young people take handmade custom mobile phone cases as a side business, ushering in the peak of orders in the Spring Festival.
Around New Year's Day, 98-year-old kindergarten teacher Lulu started from scratch, built her own e-commerce store and social account, mainly doing twisting stick mobile phone cases and jewelry customization, but did not expect to receive orders soon. A lion case of her own design, adapted to the New Year's atmosphere, is the most popular.
Twisting rod mobile phone case and pendant made by Lulu / Photo provided by interviewee
In the past month, Lulu has customized a total of 21 mobile phone cases, and the free shipping price of one mobile phone case is about 50 yuan. She also made some bags, pendants, card issuance, etc. with a sense of Spring Festival atmosphere, relying on the peak of the Spring Festival wave, earning a total of more than 1,000 yuan.
Of course, this money is not easy to earn, because it is handmade, it basically takes three hours to make a mobile phone case, and it takes longer to make a more complex mobile phone case, generally only two a day, in order to ensure that users can receive goods before the Spring Festival, Lulu also had to push off a lot of lists.
Lulu mentioned, "In the past two years, more and more mobile phone case customization categories have become popular, and there are many audiences for cream glue, clay, twisting sticks, and guka." She also tried to make cream glue and clay mobile phone cases, but she couldn't squeeze the cream glue herself, the clay still needed to be air-dried, sealed, and the construction period was longer, and the twisting stick manual she was good at was already busy, and finally had to focus on this type.
Many of the handmade people who make mobile phone case customizations focus on a single category. The owner of the walnut box handmade Qianqian focuses on clay mobile phone case customization. She entered the industry for one year and two months, charging between 100 yuan and 200 yuan per order, and at its peak, she could receive 300 orders per month. By August 2022, because many young people wanted to learn to enter the industry, Qianqian began to take students, and 70 students were accepted in 5 months, and a certain student fee was charged. Nowadays, Qianqian earns 10,000-40,000 yuan per month.
Spring Festival mobile phone case designed by Qianqian / Photo provided by interviewee
After a year in the industry, Qianqian knows the importance of festive atmosphere for customized mobile phone cases, and since two months before the Spring Festival, she has begun to design New Year-style mobile phone cases and began to accept orders. After New Year's Day, users entered the crazy order mode.
Clay mobile phone cases need to be air-dried, the production cycle is long, and the delivery cycle is also long. Therefore, since January this year, Qianqian has been rushing orders every day, although it takes a certain amount of energy to take students, Qianqian still receives nearly 200 orders a month, with an income of more than 20,000 yuan. She also mentioned that many new students seized the peak of the Spring Festival to take orders, even if they worked part-time, their income reached more than 5,000 yuan.
epilogue
Even during the Spring Festival of family reunion, young people who concentrate on making money are not willing to miss any opportunity.
Some help people save time or provide convenience, some provide emotional value, and some seize young people's pursuit of atmosphere and ritual sense, and design products in a targeted manner.
On the surface, young people are engaged in more and more money postures, but in fact, roll skills, roll experience, more roll physical strength, the above-mentioned niche track lacks unified standards, more rely on manpower, material resources, young people Spring Festival money, relying on the short-term "festival economy", earn even harder money.
Some people want to make their free time more fulfilling, but many others "still make money during the Spring Festival because 'life does not allow rest'," Hazel said.
In general, young people are keen to make money in order to gain more security and freedom, and also out of the hope of a better life in the future. They are on the way to money, non-stop.
*The title image is from Visual China. At the request of the interviewee, Hazel Boy, Tatako, Shishi, Haifan, Lin Xi, Muge, Liu Ya, and Lulu are pseudonyms in the text.
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