How One Student Used Digital Marketing Skills to Land a ₹35,000/Month Remote Job While Still in College
Arjun was in his 6th semester of BBA when ₹35,000 hit his account.
Not an internship stipend. A proper payment for managing Google Ads and Instagram for an e-commerce brand. He was sitting in his hostel in Nagpur when it happened.
No degree. No "2-3 years experience." Just 4 months of focused skill-building.
Where he started
Arjun had a 7.4 CGPA and was doing what most students do applying for ₹5,000 internships and watching LinkedIn wondering how people his age were already earning real money.
He'd heard about digital marketing but assumed it was too saturated. "Everyone says do it so how does that help me stand out?"
The answer is in how you learn it. Not just that you learn it.
The mistake he made first
He spent two weeks watching YouTube videos. SEO one day, Google Ads the next, social media the day after. He felt productive.
But he had nothing to show anyone.
The shift happened when he took on a real project a local clothing brand in Nagpur. He offered to manage their Instagram for free for 30 days in exchange for being able to document the results.
They said yes. Most small businesses will.
What he actually built in 4 months
He focused on just three things:
Meta Ads ran real campaigns for the clothing brand. Grew their page from 1,200 to 3,800 followers. Generated 4 direct sales through DMs.
Google Ads completed the free Google Skillshop certification, then built a mock campaign for a fictional brand and documented it as a case study.
Content writing wrote 30 Instagram captions, learned what actually drove enquiries vs what just looked good.
Three skills. Real work. Real numbers.
His portfolio was 8 pages in Canva
- Who he is (one paragraph)
- Clothing brand case study before/after stats, Ads Manager screenshots
- Mock Google Ads campaign he built himself
- Two certificates
- What he's looking for
One weekend to make. No fancy website needed.
How he found the job not on Naukri
He searched LinkedIn for founders and marketing heads at small Indian e-commerce brands companies with 10–50 employees that were growing but had no marketing team.
He sent 22 messages. Not "Hi, I'm looking for a job." He'd look at each brand's page, find one specific problem, and open with that.
One message went roughly:
"Hi [Name], I noticed your Google Ads are running without ad extensions adding sitelinks could improve CTR by 10–15% without extra spend. I've been working on hands-on campaigns and would love to contribute. Portfolio attached."
6 replied. 3 calls. 1 job offer.
₹35,000/month, 4–5 hours a day, fully remote. He was still in college.
The actual timeline
| Month | What he did |
|---|---|
| January | Chose Meta Ads + Google Ads. Stopped random YouTube watching. |
| Feb | Managed local brand's Instagram for free. Did Google Skillshop cert. |
| March | Built mock campaign, made PDF portfolio, started posting on LinkedIn. |
| April | Sent 22 cold messages. Got the job offer. |
Four months. One focused effort.
What you can do this week
- Pick one channel Meta Ads, Google Ads, or SEO. Not all three.
- Find a local business and offer 30 days free in exchange for documenting results.
- Build a PDF portfolio one real case study beats ten certificates.
- Message founders with a specific observation, not a job request.
Want to build these skills with real projects built into the curriculum? AJ Academy's Digital Marketing Course is exactly that.
[Explore the course →]