How to earn a living or how to earn a side income – these questions have always been a hot topic. At the moment, it is easier than ever before to make a second income from emerging platforms like Wolt and AirBnB. Those side hustle opportunities are available to everyone who is living in bigger cities of European countries..
You’ve probably heard of these companies that offers to make a side income in your free time or even full-time – Wolt (food delivery), Bolt (formerly TAXIFY, taxi services), AirBnB, Booking.
In this article, we will examine how much money you can make with those jobs, how much work you need to do, and what the requirements are to qualify for these jobs.
How to make money working as a courier?
Many companies in Europe are offering to earn money by working as a courier. Bicycle couriers and couriers with cars have become a common sight to see in largest Europe cities. These people, who work as couriers, deliver a variety of thing such as food, documents or even orders from online stores.
Wolt food delivery courier
It is quite common in the streets of largest Europe cities to see people with big, blue or green bags on their backs, most often written “Wolt” on them. These people are making money by delivering food from restaurants and other catering establishments.
By becoming a Wolt food delivery courier, you will have the opportunity to plan your working hours and earn as much money as you work.
You will have to pick up food from restaurants and deliver it to customers’ homes, offices or other places. You can choose when to work – in the evenings, at noon or whenever you are in a working mood.
How to become a Wolt courier?
To become a Wolt courier, you must fill out an application form on the Wolt website.
You will need to indicate in the questionnaire:
- Information about yourself;
- With what vehicle will you make deliveries (bicycle, scooter or car);
- Your phone’s operating system;
- Languages you speak;
- Scheduled working hours;
- Are you ready to start working within a week;
Once you have completed the application form, you will be contacted by a Wolt representative and will complete the further processes required to start working as a Wolt courier.
How much money does a Wolt Courier Make?
Let’s be real – this is definitely not the best paid job. By working hard, it is possible to earn around 4-5 EUR per hour with Wolt. If we multiply this hourly rate by the usual 8-hour working day, then you can earn around 32-40 euros a day. They could be 650-800 euros a month if we work the usual 160 hours. Of course, you can also work on holidays and for more than 8 hours a day, then your income will increase accordingly.
Reviews of Wolt courier work
Let’s take a look at some real people’s reviews online about Wolt’s courier work:
Review from Davis:
Here are the statistics:
- 15 food delivery
- 9h 30min time spent together
- 72 kilometers traveled
- € 45.62 Income (with tips)
- € 5.94 Micro company tax
- € 10.76 Fuel (Audi TT)
- € 2.00 Depreciation
- € 26.92 Net Profit (€ 2.83 / hour)
But that’s before the bonuses
Wolt offers weekly bonuses to couriers who take out X quantities with orders. There are also bonuses on weekends. As far as I know, the bonuses average € 0.80-1.50 per order.
If I had taken out more orders, working more days a week, then 1.) € 0.80 bonus per order would increase my net profit to € 37.12 (€ 3.91 / hour). 2.) A € 1.50 bonus per order would increase my net profit to € 46.04 (€ 4.85 / hour).
In addition to the bonuses, of course, it is also possible to increase efficiency:
- by using a more efficient car than an Audi TT (or bicycle)
- to deliver only at announced hours when there are many orders, thus not spending time in the car waiting
- Obtaining VAT number and get relief on fuel costs.
More, shorter reviews from Wolt couriers:
- I would say that it is realistic to earn 500 euros a month with Wolt. Maybe a little bit more depending on how lucky (to get the orders in fast) and how hardworking you are.
- Success is also needed in this work: I make more if I get lucky. But yes, take them into account the Wolt mentioned “up to 300 EUR”. Realistically you can make 600 EUR, if you are delivering with your own car, then be aware of fuel consumption and depreciation.
How to make money working as a taxi driver for companies like Bolt?
The taxi industry in Europe has developed and become digital. Gone are the days when you could only get a taxi by calling a taxi company or catching it on the street. Today, most people use taxi services in applications on their mobile devices.
Thanks to companies such as Bolt (formerly Taxify), Uber and Yandex TAXI, any driver who owns a car (not older than 10 years) can work as a taxi driver in his spare time. If you really like driving, you can also do it as a full-time job.
Bolt (taxify) taxi driver work
Bolt is the second most popular taxi service provider in Europe. Anyone with a driver’s license and a car that meets Bolt’s requirements can become a Bolt driver.
Bolt not only offers an extremely easy way to get a taxi, but they also offer the opportunity to earn money in your free time, or even work independently.
How to become a Bolt (Taxify) driver?
To become a Bolt driver, you must fill out an application form on the Bolt website
To become a driver for the Bolt platform, you must meet the following criteria, which are different in each city:
- Valid driver’s license;
- Car registration documents;
- Car insurance copy;
- Driving experience;
- A suitable car;
- Criminal record.
How Much does a Bolt (Taxify) Driver Earn?
This is definitely the most interesting question! How much do Bolt drivers really earn and is this work worth it at all?
One of my good friends worked for Bolt as a taxi driver for nine months, and I asked him how much money he managed to earn in a month. The answer was interesting – “I never really calculated how much profit I made in a month”. But the approximate amount could be around 1000 euros, after covering all expenses – fuel, car maintenance, taxes.
Calculating the hourly rate for working 160 hours a week, it amounts to 6.25 euros, which is not that bad at all for enjoying driving your car.
Of course, this is just one review, which is about a year old, so before you get into this business yourself, it would be smart move to find out the current situation from the Bolt taxi drivers themselves.
How do you do that? Quite simply. If you are really considering the idea of becoming a Bolt driver, you should go out with five drivers and try to find out how much you can actually earn in this job. Hopefully some of them would share their experience although you would become his or her competitor.
Reviews from Bolt taxi driver job
Let’s take a look at some of the reviews on the Internet about Bolt’s taxi driver job:
Review from by Andrey in November 2016:
I must say that I am satisfied as a taxi driver working under the Taxify brand, I previously worked for another taxi company! I work alone, without a partner, and I can easily meet Taxify weekly goal of 200 euros , and also earn about 300 euros a week for myself – thats about 1200 euros per month. I must say that no one was born a taxi driver and experience and endurance develop over time, because the work of a taxi driver is both physically and psychologically difficult. I have been working as taxi driver for 5 years.
TAXI taxi driver job
Although it has only recently appeared in European countries, Yandex taxi has quickly gained attention and you can see the stickers of this company on many taxi cars. The principle of operation of Jandex taxi is the same as Bolt – through the application on your mobile phone you can call a taxi, which will arrive in a few minutes.
This company also offers every suitable candidate to become their taxi driver and make some extra money or full-time job as a taxi driver.
How to become a Yandex TAXI driver?
To become a Yandex taxi driver, you must fill in the application form on the website
How much does a Yandex TAXI driver earn?
The Yandex taxi website states that drivers can earn up to € 200 a day. Wouldn’t it be bad to earn 200 euros a day working as a taxi driver? That would be 4,000 euros a month!
However, as with all offers of this type, you will see a small “*”, which means that this is not really possible.
As much as Yandex taxi drivers actually earn, they can only answer for themselves. There is also no one in my contacts who has worked for this company as a taxi driver.
Reviews of Yandex TAXI driver work
Unfortunately, there are no reviews for Yandex taxi yet on the Internet. This could be because this company is relatively recent in Europe.
How to make money by renting out real estate for short-term?
Another very real way to earn extra money is to rent out your real estate for short-term. This will only be possible if you own a property that (or part of it) can be rented out. The most popular services that offer the opportunity to rent your real estate are Airbnb and Booking.com.
Let’s look at the requirements, potential profits and feedback from people who already do it, in both of these services.
Airbnb short term house, apartment or room rental
Airbnb is one of the most popular shared economy services, which offers everyone the opportunity to rent their own real estate to anyone around the world.
This opportunity of making extra money combines both the Internet and your property. With this service you can rent your apartment, room, bed or even a tent site for people from all over the world. If you have real estate that is not used by yourself, or you would like to welcome frequent visitors from abroad, renting them a room in property where you live, then Airbnb is a good solution to earn extra money.
To understand how big and popular Airbnb is, these numbers might seem interesting to you:
- Airbnb services have already been used by more than 160 million people in 190 different countries.
- In total, the portal offers about 3 million different types of short-term rental offers
How to rent a house, apartment or room with Airbnb?
To become a host on the Host Airbnb platform, you must visit the Airbnb website and create your account there and take the following steps:
- You will need to make a free short-term room rental advertisement
- Decide how and when you will receive guests (preferred dates, prices and conditions for guests)
- Everything is ready! You can receive the first guests. You can contact guests and clarify any kind of questions.
How much can you earn by renting a house, apartment or room in Airbnb?
The profit opportunities with Airbnb are very wide. You can make 100 euros a month or 10,000 euros a month. Your profit will depend on the following factors:
- Number of properties you offer for short-term rent;
- The real estate rental price offered by you for one day;
- Number of reservations per month.
For example, if you offer to rent an apartment in the center of Riga for 50 euros per day and receive 20 reservations per month (each for one day), your profit will be 1000 euros. An Airbnb commission of 6-12% will be deducted from this amount.
Reviews of Airbnb short term rentals
There are a lot of reviews about Airbnb’s short-term rental profits on the Internet. Let’s look at some:
Review from Reinis:
I decided to do Airbnb when I realized that my apartment was suitable for it. It was very easy to start: I registered the apartment and already in the first hour there were two reservations. I find this very interesting because this is exactly how I am looking for accommodation for travel and it is great to compare my experience with someone’s else.
Review from Nora:
I started working with Airbnb last week and the property that is being rented does not belong to me personally. The hostess decided to rent the apartment, because the apartment was empty, without long-term residents. It was not difficult to get started, guests started booking immediately after placing the ad. The Airbnb team is very responsive, they answered my questions fast.
Review from Juris:
Juris rents a room in his private house in Mārupe (Latvia). The idea to do so came because he himself is an active traveler and likes to use Airbnb services. “I used to travel alone. In the evenings, sitting in a hotel room and watching TV, I was bored until I found out that Airbnb offered the opportunity to spend the night with other people. I believe that the main advantage of Airbnb is the opportunity to get not only a cheaper bed, but a unique experience. I have spent few evenings in Ljubljana with American writer who has moved there and is looking for character ideas for her novel. Another time I played guitar together with landlord all night. It is a unique experience, an opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world. Nothing like that can be bought for money! ” By renting a room in his house, Juris has accommodated guests from China, South African surfers, Belarusian long-distance travelers and even a real Hollywood actress. So far there have been no problems. Only foreign Latvians have been taking friends home and throwing parties, but this can be prevented by indicating in the advertisement that they are not desirable. Juris introduces guests to leisure and entertainment opportunities, is happy to spend time with the guests if they want to, and still earns money. With the money that Juris earns from Airbnb he can pay gas and electricity bills. He thinks that the location of your home doesn’t matter. Experienced hunters choose the most interesting offers, not those closer to the center.
Apartment or house for short term rental Booking.com
Booking.com’s operation is slightly different from Airbnb. Basically, this site is intended for hotel and whole house reservations, but it is also possible to place apartments or flats. Unlike Airbnb, Booking.com has stricter requirements for the condition of rental property.
How to rent an apartment or house on Booking.com?
To add your accommodation to Booking.com, you need to fill in the application form on the website.
On Booking.com you can add the following types of accommodation:
- apartments;
- villas;
- mountain cottages;
- holiday homes;
- guest houses;
- camping sites;
- country houses;
- boat accommodation;
- luxury tents.
By posting your offer on Booking.com, you do the following:
- Choose prices, terms and conditions for guests;
- Receive support at any time of the day and the opportunity to report guest violations;
- Set the conditions and criteria that guests must meet.
How much can you earn by renting a house or apartment on Booking.com?
Like Airbnb, Booking.com has virtually no limits to your earning potential. You will be able to earn as much as your properties allow, their location, daily price and other criteria.
One person from my circle of friends rents an apartment in Ventspils (small tourist city in Latvia). In the summer season, it is possible to earn at least 1000 euros per apartment. During city festivals and other events for the general public, the daily price can be significantly increased. The record for a two-room apartment in Ventspils for one night is 140 euros.
Reviews of Booking.com short term rentals
David Cuksa on his blog about the short-term rental business on Booking.com:
A gentleman from Switzerland, who has bought an apartment in the center of Riga to to stay there about 2-3 times a year and spends up to 20 days a year in Riga. The apartment is not occupied for the rest of the year and during the conversation with him I suggested that the apartment could be rented for a short time on booking.com. He could go to Riga and live in his apartment when he needs it and earn income the rest of the time. We agreed to share the income 70/30. 70% to the owner, 30% to me. We agreed that everything necessary – bedding, household equipment, furniture and other things is provided by the owner, I took care of the guest management. On average, we earned about 600 – 750 eur per month, from which we deducted expenses ~ 100-150 eur. And BINGO 135-195 eur / month without investing your money. Also I gained a good experience in the short-term rental business. Probably, if such an agreement were to be repeated today, it would certainly move the income percentage distribution closer to 50/50.
