Hafsa Azam draws with henna on a customer's hand.[Photo by Cai Muyuan/ China Daily]

Online marketing

The number of microbusiness owners in China was expected to rise from 9.14 million in 2014 to 11.37 million by the end of last year, a report by iiMedia Research said. As 76.47 percent of microbusiness owners market themselves through third-party service providers such as WeChat, many people like Azam are banking on their skills and hobbies as business modes become simpler.

June Yang, a first-year student at China Women's University in Beijing, described herself as a "henna artist" last winter on the app Helijia, which provides online-to-offline beauty services, including manicures, makeup and skincare. To her great surprise she later began receiving orders from the app's users, she says.

"Most girls don't know what it is, but it's beautiful and looks cool. So many people are curious enough to try it out."