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How To Make Money Online
By Jackie Lam MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
A record 4.4 million workers quit their jobs in February, and the Great Resignation continues in full swing. One reason workers are leaving their posts in droves is a desire for a more flexible work arrangement. And as they transition between careers, many are seeking simple ways to make money from the comfort of their homes.
We’ve rounded up 10 of the best ways to make money online — in many cases, without needing to learn additional skills.
Table of Content
- Give an Online Course
- Start a Blog
- Sell Your Old Clothes
- Find Gigs on Freelance Marketplaces
- Sell Stock Photography
- Offer Online Tutoring
- Become a Lender
- Start a Streaming Empire
- Sell Your Creations
- Get Support From Your Followers
- Before You Start Hustling
Give an Online Course
If you’re an expert in a particular field or subject matter, you can monetize that know-how by creating tutorials and teaching an online course. The beauty of our digital age is that you can teach across different time zones and geographical borders — and do it in your spare time.
Whether you’re teaching graphic design skills, math basics, or a course on coding, home in on your niche and craft a course or series of courses based on your expertise. For instance, if you worked as a creative director for a marketing agency for decades, consider offering a digital course on logo design or creating graphics for brands. Or if you’ve worked in startups as a product manager, create online tutorials on how to bring your product idea to life.
Platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, and Skillshare feature thousands of courses and make it easy for instructors to set up an account, teach an online course, and upload the recorded lessons and course materials.
Start a Blog
If you’re a wordsmith, have a subject matter you’re deeply passionate about, and would like to work from home, starting a blog can be a lucrative online business. You can make money in a number of ways: through affiliate marketing, brand partnerships, Google AdSense, or selling digital products.
To start, all you need is a domain name and web hosting. Content management systems such as WordPress and Squarespace can make it easy to get a site up and running. To be a successful blogger, you’ll need to drive a lot of traffic to your site. One way to go about this is for your content to rank high on SEO keyword searches. That way, your posts will show up on Google and other search engines.
And while blogging can be a good way to make money, it won’t necessarily produce results overnight.You’ll need to produce content consistently. And regardless of the subject matter, your content should spark engagement among your audience and be highly shareable.
Sell Your Old Clothes
If you have a well-curated collection of clothes and an eye on what’s stylish, selling gently used clothes can be a decent side hustle that generates good money. To start, open an account on an online marketplace that resells clothes, such as Craigslist, eBay, Poshmark, or Depop.
Being successful at reselling clothes requires taking high-quality photos of your products, writing detailed product descriptions, and incorporating proper keywords so that you pop up in searches. You’ll also need to factor in some time to tend to customer inquiries.
If your closet is bursting with clutter and clothes and you’re not sure where to start, begin with selling what’s in great condition and is currently trending. Another approach you can take is to select what you sell around a theme, such as Western wear or clothes to wear to music festivals.
Find Gigs on Freelance Marketplaces
There’s a good reason why 57 million Americans are freelancers. The flexibility, earning potential, and growth opportunities make it appealing. According to data from ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a freelancer in 2022 is $67,169.
Landing your first gig as a freelancer requires more than an internet connection. To get started, update your LinkedIn account to reflect that you’re currently available for freelance jobs. Then create a profile on popular freelancing platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer.
If you have experience working in creative roles, such as a freelance writer, graphic designer, content marketer, or illustrator, you might have luck landing work on popular freelancer platforms such as Contently, Skyword, Dribble, or Behance. These platforms let you create a portfolio for free. You can look for opportunities across different media. These gigs often pay on a per project basis, but can sometimes lead to a full-time or part-time job.
When you’re getting started, the key to finding good-paying jobs on these platforms is to be well reviewed. Make sure the assignments you accept are a good fit for your skills and background. Only take on jobs that you feel confident you can do, and complete them before the deadline.
Sell Stock Photography
If you’re a shutterbug and have a trove of photos on your phone or camera, a simple way you can kick-start an ecommerce business is by selling stock photography on platforms such as Stocksy, Shutterstock, Depositphotos, and Twenty20.
You can typically earn an average of $0.25 to $0.45 cents an image for each month. If you have hundreds or thousands of photos available, you’ll boost your earning potential. While you might not earn a small fortune, if you have a high volume of photos and keep them up on the site for an extended period of time, then you’re likely to rake in some extra cash. And when placing stock images, you’ll want to decide if your photos are rights-managed or royalty free.
The key to generating income by selling stock photography is to have high-quality, compelling images that customers are looking for. Recently, popular subject matter for stock photos includes travel, family, and imagery that can be used for e-commerce. Interestingly, stock photos that feel authentic and custom are also in demand. To help customers find your photos when doing a search on a stock image platform, you’ll also want to add the proper keywords and meta descriptions to the photos you list.
Offer Online Tutoring
If you have a background in teaching or education, online tutoring can be a viable way to earn extra money. After all, there has been a recent rise in distance learning for students of all ages. The most popular topics for students seeking tutors are math and science.
You can either offer tutoring on your own or apply to be a virtual tutor on e-platforms such as Paper, Skooli, Chegg Tutors, or TutorMe. The beauty of having a gig as an online tutor is the convenience and flexibility in schedule. Plus, you only need to teach topics you’re well-versed in. Online tutoring companies typically pay per hour, so there’s some predictability in how much you can expect to earn.
Become a Lender
If you have some money stashed away in a savings account, consider becoming an online lender. Peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms such as Prosper, Perform, and Upstart act as intermediaries and match borrowers with investors with money to lend. While it’s not a traditional side hustle, being a P2P lender can be an easy way to generate additional income from investing.
To sign up to become an investor, you can create an account online and build a portfolio either by picking individual loans you’d like to invest in or setting up automated investments. You earn money from the interest on the loans you contribute to and depending on the platform, you can get started for as little as $25.
Start a Streaming Empire
Whether you have a podcast, a YouTube channel, a TikTok account, or a Twitch stream, building a large streaming following could generate a lot of money. Similar to raking in cash from a blog, you can earn money from brand sponsorships, partnerships, affiliate marketing, and ads.
To start, narrow in on your audience and also think of a topic you’re most passionate about creating content around. This could be anything from teaching your audience how to make money by generating passive income streams and personal finance tips to a pseudo-cooking show. It might also be something silly or simple, like a day in the life of a dog walker.
Empires aren’t built in a day, and making money by streaming original content requires consistency around a niche topic. And while you need to continue to create content, you’ll need to focus on your brand. What is it that you’d like to share with the world? And what is the main message you want to get across?
Sell Your Creations
If you have a crafty bent or artistic flair, consider selling your own products with an online store. Putting up your creations for sale on a platform with fellow creative folks who are small business owners can be a fun way to make money and build a fanbase for your original designs and creations.
While you can create your own website using a platform such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or Squarespace, you can sell through online marketplaces such as Etsy or Amazon. One way to go about it is to sell tangible products, such as t-shirts, mugs, stickers or pins. You can also generate income by creating templates for social media accounts and by offering gift cards to your store.
Get Support From Your Followers
To bolster any stream of income from an online endeavor, it helps to get support from your social media followers and subscribers. You don’t necessarily need to be a hugely popular influencer to earn money online. To start, build your subscriber and follower fanbase. Offer something consistently, whether it’s silly entertainment, sound advice, or aspirational messages.
Then, when the time is right, go for the ask. It can be a simple request, such as asking your existing social media followers to follow your new channel, giving a video a like or leaving a quick review. Over time, you can then ask them to purchase something from your online store or share a video, which could lead to earning money. But it begins by building an audience and deepening engagement on a social media platform, then offering something of value to your base of followers.
Before You Start Hustling
Before you start making money online, you’ll want to do a bit of preparation and financial housekeeping. This starts with deciding which side gig you would like to focus on. It should fall within the realm of something you’re skilled at, something that the world wants and is willing to pay for, and something you enjoy doing. Some of these methods do take time.
If you’re in a bit of a time crunch and need to start making money right away, consider side hustles that require little experience, equipment or supplies, and not a lot of know-how.
These side hustles might include:
- Online surveys
- Uber
- Taskrabbit
- Babysitting
- Doing data entry
- Being a virtual assistant
- Swagbucks
- Dropshipping
You’ll also need to set up ways to get paid. This might be by way of a direct deposit, the ability to accept payments with a credit card, or via PayPal.
When signing up for an online platform to earn money, it’s important to know when you can expect money to drop into your bank account. Be sure to check payment processing times for online marketplaces and platforms.
Last, beware of scams. As more people look for ways to make money online during the pandemic, there has been a rise in work-from-home scams.
Telltale signs of a work-from-home scam include too-good-to-be-free deals or offers, get-rich-quick schemes, or asking for you to provide money upfront. When in doubt, check the URL to make sure it’s legitimate and Google the company for red flags and negative reviews.
