How I cleared £20,000 worth of debt and left my full-time corporate job using a clever online marketplace

FOR Fais Chaudry, a 39-year-old from Windsor, financial freedom seemed like a distant dream.

Saddled with over £20,000 in debt from credit cards and payday loans since his university days, he felt trapped in a relentless cycle.

But today, he’s celebrating a remarkable turnaround and is now debt-free after quitting his corporate job and using the increasingly popular “sharing economy” as his new main source of income.

The father-of-one began doing odd jobs for people through an online marketplace and managed to clear his debt with the side-gig.

“I had debts of over £20,000 on credit cards and through payday loans, which I was using every month for about 10 years to make ends meet,” Fais said.

“I was in a constant, vicious cycle and felt like I had no way out, too embarrassed to admit to my family and friends the financial trouble that I was in.”

Over the years, Fais has taken on several different roles.

He worked at JD Sports at university, earning about £4.66 per hour.

He later spent five years in digital marketing at NCP car parks, followed by a marketing position at Yellow Pages and a role at a logistics software company, where he earned no more than £2,500 a month – or around £30,000 a year.

Unfortunately, his salary couldn’t cover the rising costs of his rental payments and other household bills while looking after his child, and mounting debt ballooned to £20,000.

However, a simple career change ten years later has meant that Fais cleared his outstanding debts in 12 months and is now earning up to £7,000 a month.

How did he do it?

There are a number of methods and tricks to help clear debt – whether you cut down on all your outgoings or make small monthly repayments to help bring down your balances.

But for Fais, this wasn’t an option as every penny was going on living costs and he’d already cut back.

So, the soon to be dad took to the gig economy in 2018 to boost his monthly earnings instead.

Fais initially enlisted his services in moving, painting, decorating and carpentry on a local online marketplace, called Airtasker.

Airtasker connects people with skills to those who need help. You simply complete the tasks to earn money.

Competing websites offering the same type of services include Taskrabbit and Handy.

Within just 12 months, the extra earnings Fais received from his Airtasker work helped clear all his debts.

At this point, Fais quit his full-time job to focus his efforts on generating his sole income via the sharing economy.

His earnings from these jobs, combined with word-of-mouth referrals, typically range from £4,000 to £4,500 per month before tax.

However, when he takes on larger projects or has a packed schedule, he can earn up to £7,000 a month.

And if he needs to increase his income, he simply works additional hours and days.

Now that his debts are settled, Fais’ financial worries are behind him.

He is also now in the process of getting his foot on the property ladder having recently completed on his first home with his wife.

In his first year, he made over £30K working full-time through Airtasker, but he’s now earning up to £50,000 a year as of 2024.

Fais said: “My confidence has changed dramatically, especially around finances – I give advice to my friends about finances and vice versa because I’m finally in a strong financial position and I feel proud of what I’ve achieved.

“I wish I was in this position 15 years ago, but I made a few bad decisions that got me into debt.

“Using the sharing economy and becoming my own boss has given me financial stability for the first time ever.”