Making $12,000 From His Plugins Side Hustle
How working a 12H / Day job does not deter this guy from building a profitable side hustle
🎉🎉🎉 Want to reach 35,000 readers each month for just $66? More info here 🎯
What is the business and who’s behind it?
Jason’s Plugins for Carrd is exactly what it sounds like: a collection of custom-built plugins that enhance the functionality of Carrd websites.
Carrd is a popular, minimal website builder used by indie makers, freelancers, and hustlers who love keeping things simple. But simple can sometimes be... too simple.
Enter Jason Leow. A former Singapore government service designer turned indie creator, Jason saw an opportunity where most saw limitations.
When Carrd lacked features like advanced form controls, animations, or popups, he built them himself—then turned those fixes into products. With only himself on the team, he now earns ~$1,000/month in plugin sales, proving that niche + useful + community = winning formula.
Despite working 12 hours a day in his current day job, Jason did not let that deter him from working on this side hustle.
He didn’t build a startup in Silicon Valley. He didn’t raise VC funding or chase unicorn dreams. Instead, he tapped into a tiny niche—plugins for a one-page website builder called Carrd—and quietly built a $12,000/year side hustle that runs on passion, community, and scrappy experimentation. Not bad for a one-man show.
How was the business started?
After a decade running a consulting agency, Jason felt the pull toward indie making again. He’d already walked away from a cushy government job years ago—so quitting “safe” paths was nothing new.
This time, his new venture came from personal need: as a fan and power-user of Carrd, he found the platform great, but missing some features he craved.
He shared from an interview:
“I love using the website builder Carrd, and the tight community around it. Over time, I noticed I wanted my Carrd sites to do more, and have certain features/components which were not available on the platform.”
So he did what indie hackers do—he scratched his own itch.
At first, Jason created plugins just for his own use and shared them for free with the Carrd community. That generosity turned into trust. That trust turned into demand. And soon, Jason was getting messages like, “Hey, I’d pay for a plugin that solves X.”
That was the spark. From there, he built more plugins, tested pricing, and slowly turned this into a low-key, bootstrapped revenue stream—all from within the Carrd ecosystem he was already a part of.
How did he grow the business?
Jason’s growth wasn’t fueled by flashy launches or paid ads (at least not at first). His superpower? He was a genuine member of the Carrd community. That gave him something money can't buy: trust and insight.
He hung out in Telegram groups, Facebook communities, and Reddit threads—listening, sharing tools, solving problems.
He started with free plugins, which built goodwill and awareness. Then, when the right opportunity came—a plugin that solved a juicy, repeated problem—he introduced a paid version.
For growth, he’s tried:
Sponsorships on other Carrd maker sites (worked well!)
Posting across social media channels
SEO using Google Search Console, SEMrush, and Ahrefs
Free tools to stay visible and helpful
But not everything clicked. Sponsoring newsletters targeting general indie hacker audiences didn’t convert well. Turns out, niche tools need niche distribution.
Recently, Jason also started committing to do marketing daily, creating a Github repo to help him stay committed. You can find out more from his post here.
How does the business make money?
Jason keeps it simple. He sells paid Carrd plugins through his own site plugins.carrd.co.
Some are one-time purchases, others may have tiered options. His pricing is aimed at indie makers and freelancers—affordable, functional, and clearly solving a pain point.
All revenue is product-based—no services, no coaching, no fluff. Just plugins that work.
With $12,000 in yearly income, it’s not unicorn territory—but that’s not the point.
For Jason, this side hustle brings in money, fuels his creative drive, and best of all, gives him the freedom to build on his terms.
Where can we go to learn more about the business?
Get featured?
Let us know here what interesting business you’re running now and we will get in touch!