My Grandparents Sold Betel Leaves. I Never Imagined I Would Too.

I never thought I'd be selling betel leaves to earn my first income.

My grandparents owned a betel leaf business, so the idea was familiar to me. But actually taking it up myself, reaching out to customers, collecting orders, and making sales was a different experience altogether.

As part of the EYFI (Earn Your First Income) Challenge, I decided to give it a try. What started as a simple way to earn money became a lesson in understanding customers, timing, and starting small.

Starting With What I Knew

I decided to sell betel leaves to people around me for pooja and festival purposes.

Instead of trying to reach a large audience from day one, I started by contacting people I already knew. My first customer was my friend Amrutha. I told her I was selling betel leaves, and she agreed to buy.

That first sale gave me the confidence to continue. I reached out to more people and found that festival periods were particularly useful because there was already a clear need for the product.

Bulk orders during festivals helped me increase my sales. I didn't have to convince people to want something they had no use for. I needed to reach them when they needed it.

Over seven days, I made ₹520 from selling betel leaves to three customers. After accounting for my ₹350 investment, I earned ₹170 in net income from this activity.

I Built a Website. But It Didn't Bring Customers.

I also wanted to see if I could sell betel leaves online, so I created a simple website using Lovable.

It was exciting to build something of my own and explore a different way of reaching customers. But the website didn't bring in sales. Most people preferred direct contact, and my orders continued to come through people I knew.

That taught me something important: building a website doesn't automatically mean people will buy from it. I still needed to figure out how to bring customers to the website and give them a reason to order online.

If I were to try this again, I'd focus more on promoting the business through WhatsApp and social media, alongside improving the website.

A Second Way to Earn

Alongside selling betel leaves, I participated in an online survey about recruiting experiences.

I completed the survey and received ₹459, with no investment required. It also gave me an opportunity to think about user experience in recruitment.

This was very different from selling a physical product. One involved sourcing and delivering something customers needed, while the other involved contributing my experience through an online platform.

Together, these two activities brought my total revenue to ₹979. After deducting my ₹350 investment, my net income was ₹629.

What It Taught Me

The biggest lesson was that people are more likely to buy when there's a clear need for what you're offering.

Festival demand made selling betel leaves easier. Starting with friends and familiar contacts helped me find my first customers without having to build an audience from scratch.

I also learned that starting small is a practical way to understand business. I didn't need a complicated plan to make my first sale. I needed to try something, speak to people, and see what worked.

My biggest challenge was finding customers beyond my personal network. I realised that if I wanted to grow, I'd have to become better at promoting what I was selling and reaching people who didn't already know me.

The EYFI Challenge gave me the opportunity to earn money independently and experience the process of selling something myself. What surprised me most was that I ended up selling a product connected to my own family's experience.

If there's one thing I'd tell another student starting the challenge, it would be this: start simple, don't overthink it, and look at the people and opportunities already around you. Your first customer might be closer than you think.

I'm Preethi B K, a Cohort 2 fellow at JSS Academy of Technical Education, Bengaluru.

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This story was adapted from Preethi B K's original EYFI Challenge report and edited by the YouStart team.