Table of Contents
Making Money Online
– Online Surveys
– Cashback Shopping
– Watch Video
Other Ways to Get Extra Cash
– Sell Your Stuff Online
– Rent Out Your Space
– Task Work and Freelancing
– Home Jobs
– Blogging
– Stock Photography
– Create a YouTube Channel
– Webinars
– Podcasts
– Sell Stuff You Make Online
Make Money Online
Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom, retired or just looking for a side hustle, there are a number of ways to make money online from the comfort of your living room.
Even if you have a full time job, having a passive income stream to supplement your earnings is a smart move. Let’s explore some options for making extra money with just your laptop or smartphone and an internet connection:
Online Surveys
Market researchers are always looking for panelists to give their opinions on products, companies and current events. Why not share your feedback and make some extra cash?
Using any search engine to find “surveys for money” or “surveys that pay,” you can find lots of part time opportunities to earn gift cards for Amazon, eBay and other retailers or extra money to your PayPal account.
Sites like MyPoints, Swagbucks, and Inbox Dollars are favorites of bloggers writing about ways to make money online and offer numerous opportunities each day to get paid for taking surveys. If you check out Swagbucks on social media, you’ll see they have over 2 million followers who use them to get extra cash.
All three sites are free to join and offer access to dozens of online surveys. MyPoints and Swagbucks allow members to take surveys and earn Points that can be redeemed for gift cards to your favorite merchants like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Target, PayPal, and more. Inbox Dollars members can earn cash for participating in online surveys which can be redeemed for a check when $30 or more is accumulated.
As far as home jobs go, participating in market research is a great way to add to your income stream. You can choose your survey based on the amount of time or how much it pays. MyPoints, Swagbucks, and Inbox Dollars all have apps that allow members to take surveys via their smartphone so multi-tasking while you’re commuting or standing in line is a great way to earn money for surveys.
To participate in online surveys, you’ll first be put through a screening process to determine whether or not you are a good candidate for the panel. You may be disqualified if you don’t meet the qualifications or if the quota for your demographic has been filled.
When you go through the survey, make sure to read each question carefully and to answer honestly as market researchers often include questions that test to make sure the participant is paying attention to ensure the high quality feedback and date accuracy.
Cashback Shopping
With eCommerce accounting for up to 12% of all retail sales and growing, online shopping is an easy way to obtain a passive income stream. Sites like Swagbucks, MyPoints and Inbox Dollars are affiliate marketing businesses where online stores pay a commission for consumers clicking through and making a purchase. Unlike many affiliate marketers, however, Swagbucks, MyPoints and Inbox Dollars split the commission earned from the affiliate program with their members.
This means you make money by shopping online at stores like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Target, and more! Unlike taking surveys, online shopping will require you to use your credit card or PayPal–but if you need to make the purchase anyway, why not get cash back?
To ensure you make money when you shop online via MyPoints, Swagbucks or Inbox Dollars, add their browser extension so that you get alerted when you’re shopping at a retailer whose affiliate program they are partnered with or find the merchant’s page on the site and click through there. You can also find promo codes via the merchant’s page or browser extension, so no need to Google for coupons. In fact, clicking through other coupon links can override the affiliate tracking and prevent you from earning your cash-back.
Watch Videos
Hey, who wouldn’t want to get paid for watching Youtube videos?
MyPoints, Swagbucks and Inbox Dollars are sites that offer videos as a way to earn cash and gift cards. As long as you have the time, this is an easy way to earn that requires nothing more than your laptop and a connection to the internet. No questions to answer, no credit cards to charge.
The downside is that the payout per time spent is much lower than with surveys or online shopping, so it’s doubtful you’ll make a lot of money. But have these videos running in the background while you fold the laundry or do your chores to earn some change on the side.
Still, if you have the time, watch videos and put some extra cash into your bank account!
Other Ways to Get Extra Cash
Invest Your Money
It doesn’t take thousands of extra dollars to invest in the stock market. Or even hundreds. If you’ve got as little as $5, you can start investing in companies like Google, Apple, and Microsoft right from your phone.
Apps like Acorn, Stash, and Robinhood are great for both seasoned investors who like to be hands-on and for beginners too. It’s a 2-3 minute process to get started, and they walk you through the process step by step.
You can invest in stocks that align with your interests, like cryptocurrency, green energy, or technology. Or follow what the other experts are doing with their money and replicate their moves, but on a smaller scale. And with Covid-19 still with us, that creates new opportunities to invest during the Pandemic. Certain stocks from more resilient industries are booming, and many of us are lush with Covid relief funds.
Sell Your Stuff Online
Having an internet connection means you have a variety of options when it comes to making extra money. For example, instead of donating when you clean out your closet, there are a number of online businesses that will help you sell your gently worn clothing and accessories.
Poshmark is one of the most well-known of the fashion resale marketplaces. It boasts carrying over 5,000 brands in every size. The website makes it easy to create listings, ship your sale and make money.
Other sites for reselling your clothes include Tradesy, ThredUp, Swap.com and of course, eBay.
For details on how to maximize your earnings when selling fashion, check out this Business Insider post with tips from Poshmark power sellers.
Craigslist is also a great way to offload “stuff” to make extra money by selling furniture, books, electronics and anything else that might be cluttering up your garage or basement.
Rent out your space
If you have an extra room available or garage or storage space, you could post a listing in Craigslist’s Real Estate section to find someone to rent it. Or, if you’re not interested in a full-time roommate, AirBnB can provide some extra cash on a part-time basis.
If you have a vacation property, sites like HomeAway and VRBO can be a way to make money while your summer cabin is not in use.
Task Work and Freelancing
If you’re looking for side hustles for extra cash and have creative and/or technical skill sets, task work and freelancing could help increase your income stream.
Fiverr is a site that connects freelancers with clients looking for freelance writing, graphic design, translation, digital marketing, programmers and more.
The site allows freelancers to post their services and rates for clients to peruse. Once a project is completed, clients can post ratings to help future buyers in selecting a freelancer.
The site Freelancer.com also acts as a freelancer directory but also allows clients to post projects for freelancers to bid on.
Upwork is another project-oriented site for freelance work with clients posting projects and Upwork matching them with appropriate freelancers.
For technical and finance skills, Toptal offers freelance opportunities for developers, project managers, and finance experts.
Taskrabbit is similar to Fiverr in offering part-time ways to earn extra money, but most Taskrabbit services are more manual labor (installation, assembly, landscaping, etc.) that require to travel to the customer’s location while Fiverr and the other freelance platforms have jobs that can be completed online.
Home Jobs
If you’re someone who has the technical know-how and is very organized, you could find part time or full time jobs as a virtual assistant. Setting appointments, making travel arrangements, data entry, and research are just some of a variety of administrative tasks handled by virtual assistants.
Upwork, mentioned above, has listings for these remote admin positions as does Freelancer.com. Flexjobs has a rundown of 16 companies that hire virtual assistants.
Other skill sets that can be leveraged for remote work include accounting, customer service, graphic design, user testing, and data entry.
Blogging
Rather than freelance writing for someone else’s website, you can leverage your talent and interests into your own website which can be monetized into an online business through affiliate marketing and Google AdSense.
Maintaining a steady stream of high quality, original content is more time-consuming than project-based gigs, but if you learn how to write copy that is SEO-friendly so you get indexed by search engines and you have the social media skills to promote your work, you could make a fair amount of passive income through Google Ads or affiliate programs.
If you already have a blog or are thinking of starting one, it’s possible to make a full-time income according to this Forbes article.
Stock Photography
If you’re more into visual arts rather than freelance writing, you can earn money with your photography skills by uploading your photos to sites like Shutterstock. Stock photography can earn approximately 25 – 45 cents per image per month, but it takes time and effort beyond shooting the original image. For details on the ins-and-outs of turning your photography skills into an income stream, check out this PhotoWorkout post.And it’s not just editorial pics of smiling families or scenic settings. You can get paid for quirkier submissions too, like selling pics of your feet.
Create a YouTube Channel
We’ve already discussed how there’s not a lot of money to be made by WATCHING videos, but making and monetizing them is a whole different story. Did you know that YouTube influencers can make up to $12 million dollars per year? Of course, that’s the upper echelon including household names like PewDiePie and Lilly Singh.
On average, a YouTuber can make $18 per 1,000 ad views or $3 – $5 per 1,000 video views. If you create a channel is one of the more popular categories like gaming, life hacks or celebrity gossip and amass a significant subscribership, you could make enough to quit your day job. Although most YouTube channels are at best just a fun side hustle, the extra income can help with the cost of living.
Webinars
There are two ways to make money from webinars: the first to create a free webinar around a business topic like how to increase sales conversion rates and use the webinar to promote a product or service that helps solve said problem. This technique provides a captive audience of potential leads that are highly interested in the product you have to sell.
The second way is to charge a fee to share your expertise on a particular subject–whether it be social media, cooking or how to invest in the stock market. Turning webinars or making a webinar series into an online course is a good way to get paid for your know-how.
Of course, it’s not as easy as just turning the camera on and collecting the extra cash; you will need to create an audience which is why establishing a presence via blogging, social media or a YouTube channel is very important.
For more details on how to transform a webinar into revenue, check out this Entrepreneur.com post.
Podcast
If you have an interest in marketable topics like pop culture, sports or politics, then consider creating a podcast. The way podcasts make money is similar to YouTube channels: via advertising. Today advertisers spend almost a billion dollars in the podcast space.
Podcasts can also charge subscriber fees or offer premium content behind a paywall according to Forbes.com.
For tips on building your own successful podcast business, check out this article.
Sell Stuff You Make Online
If you have a talent for arts and crafts, like making jewelry, furniture, artwork, skincare or even cookies, you may be able to turn that talent into cold hard cash with an online store.
Setting up online stores for eCommerce isn’t that complicated, but if you don’t have the resources to start your own online business, you can easily sell your crafts through sites like Etsy and eBay. Even Facebook Marketplace or Facebook resale groups can be a great place to find buyers.
You can even flip thrift store finds to make money, too, with used clothing. Clothing brands that sell well second-hand include lululemon, Anthropologie, Hanna Andersson, Alice and Ames, or Lulu and Roo, can go for $20-$40 or more.
If you do want to set up your own website to sell your wares, Shopify is a cloud-based platform that can handle all aspects of eCommerce for you if you decide to open an online business.
Don’t make any stuff to sell? You can open a store-front with zero upfront inventory costs using drop shipping.
Earning extra income with a home job really only requires an internet connection, some spare time and a bit of elbow grease. Before starting a new venture making money online, you’ll want to do your homework to make sure the opportunity isn’t a scam. But whether you opt for a passive income stream from Google AdSense or turning a side hustle into a small business you could be rewarded with a lot of extra cash.