Moving out to a new city can be difficult for a fresh college grad. I moved to Bangalore last month after living with my parents all my life. As any twenty one year old I had high hopes with my new found freedom.

There are few times in one life when we can actually relate to the memes we see on Facebook feeds; this was one of them. I had expected to enjoy my life with no restrictions and stuff but living alone comes with its own headaches; one which we never even consider in our parents house.

Problems were from milk for my breakfast getting rancid leaving nothing to eat (stocked only with 5 variety of cornflakes) to buying vegetables without having the remotest idea about how to select them. And the icing on the cake was obviously managing money. And boy, i realized i sucked at it!

While living with my parents I had no qualms in asking for extra when I spent all my allowance but the new found freedom had also brought a sense of pride to manage on my own . Fifteen days into my stay in Bangalore, I found myself cash crunched. My stipend wasn’t coming for the next fifteen days. I spent a couple of nights thinking of ways i could make some quick bucks to support myself for the coming month but no luck!

But the problem wasn’t money per-se; I had taken care of the fixed expenses with some sanity. It was more of my expense.I needed to find ways to fund my lunch and grocery items.

The next day somebody at my workplace refered me to of Grofers and then it struck me. This is what is going to be a lifesaver. They were paying ₹300 when a referred client orders with them. (Their referral program has changed now)

This was more for solving the chips and milk part of the problem.

Left was food. A quick google search about on demand food delivery startups gave me a list on yourstory. Scanning for Bangalore i arrived to SpoonJoy that gave a ₹100 discount every time you refer someone. The upside was that the meal prices were in the same range hence the food was practically free. So time for work: first was to set “achievable targets”

Groceries → Rs 3000/- (10 referrals)

Food → 28 meals ( 28 referrals)

Selecting the target audience from my Facebook friends took me around an hour and a half and the list came down to 120 people for Grofers to and 70 for Spoonjoy.

Work in Progress

Next was the harassment part!! I started messaging them up one by one and started having normal conversations with them, sometimes for a day or two before i pitched the app to them.

Sometime in between the conversation i casually brought up the apps and asked them to try it out and then shamelessly mentioned my referral code. The survival mode needed the shameless side! Also, i started bringing up the apps in conversations with people at my workplace, at times purposely flaunting my grofers delivery bag or sharing my Spoonjoy lunch.

The Result

Grofers → 14 Referrals X Rs 300 = Rs 4200/-

Spoonjoy → 36 Referals X Rs 100= Rs 3600/- (36 Free Meals!)

I probably got more people to Grofers but they don’t have a built in referral system (which they say they are working on). But who cares, i got to spend the remaining month almost at no cost.

Grofers and Spoonjoy unintentionally ended up sponsoring my stay in Bangalore until my stipend came through. A big shout out to them. Thanks!

Also, in case you liked what you read, use my referral code (RFMJIZ) if you happen to try out Spoonjoy after reading the article. You will get free credits too. :D