The best money making opportunities can be found mostly on the internet. This is because of the advantages of convenience, cost effectiveness and speed. There are so many of them available online but they must be confirmed to be legitimate and reliable before they should be used.

The only requirements are your skills and time then you can go ahead to earn cash. That is why this article will reveal some of the best money making opportunities today. Go through them to see the ones that better fit your personality and skill-set.

• What Are Some of the Best Money Making Opportunities?
• What is The Best Way to Earn Money Fast?
• How Can I Make Money Online From Home?
• What Are The Most Profitable Ways to Make Money?
• What Are The 10 Best Ways to Make Money?
• What Can I do Right Now to Make Money?
• How Can I Become a Millionaire?
• How Can I Double my Money?
• Why is Making Money so Hard?
• How Can Land Pay For Itself?
• What Side Hustles Make The Most Money?
• How Can I Make a Living Online?
• How Much Should You Have Saved by 30?
• How do I Invest Money?
• How Can I Make Money While I Sleep?

What Are Some of the Best Money Making Opportunities?

What are the best ways to make money right away? While a search online when you’re in need of some fast cash will produce millions of results, not all will be legitimate. It’s up to you to filter through the so-called noise.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular means of generating income online. The scope of the products available to be sold is very wide and covers just about anything.

Read Also: Ways To Make Money Online With kindle eBooks

You only need to search the range of products such as food, equipment, home business products and so on to find the one that you can easily sell on your blog or website. You will be monetizing your sites by selling products even as you update them with relevant content.

Using Auction Sites

A lot of people are using auction sites like eBay to sell and buy various products. You need to think about making use of this opportunity to earn money. The simplest way to start is to look around your house for items that you can easily dispose of. Some of the stuff just lying unused in your home might fetch you some good cash.

Do not undervalue any item because people’s taste and preferences differ.  Go to thrift stores and yard sales to procure more items that you can sell on AUction sites. It is really a great way to make money because it saves you the cost of owning your own store.

Get a computer, an internet connection and a camera and begin your business. The most important thing is to ensure that you continuously have products to sell.

Using Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are very popular social websites that are used by many businesses to reach their audience and drive traffic to their sites. Companies who do this usually look for people to hire to carry out a variety of tasks that will increase their market reach.

Such tasks include posting new information on Facebook and Twitter, linking them to the company’s website and fostering relationship with the company’s audience.

MLM

When you start Multi Level Marketing, a specific amount of products will be purchased every month and marketed to potential customers. It also entails attending phone call meetings every week and team building sessions.

It is very good for individuals who prefer team work to working on their own. An advantage of this kind of business is that you pick a product you like and would have bought anyway and still make money helping others to do the same at a discounted rate.

Surveys

This is one of the best money making opportunities that can be started quickly with very little investment. There is no limit to the amount of money that can be generated because you are paid according to the number of surveys that you do. The beauty of this is that you get to set your own income every day since you do not need to wait for a ready market.

What is The Best Way to Earn Money Fast?

There are plenty of ways to quickly earn cash, whether you’re looking to make money in just a single day, online at home, or via a side hustle. Below are some ideas.

1. Sell Your Gently Used Items on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace

Do you have gently used items that you no longer want? If so, there probably is someone — or several someones — who gladly will pay you for them. Take a few photos, write a brief description and post your items for sale on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. You also can make a tidy profit by selling high-quality clothing and accessories on platforms such as Poshmark or Tradesy.

2. Trade In Old Gadgets and Electronics for Cash

To make quick cash with minimal effort, try trading in your old, unwanted electronics for cash. Here are some items to consider:

• Phones
• iPods
• Fitness trackers
• Tablets
• Game consoles
• Laptops

Buyback services will purchase old gadgets and electronics like these online. Some electronics buyback services include ItsWorthMore, Decluttr, Gazelle and Trademore. You can also use eBay and other third-party marketplaces to price your items appropriately and sell them independently.

3. Sell Unused Gift Cards

If you have unwanted gift cards gathering dust in a drawer, sell them. Sure, you might not get full face value for the cards, but it’s not like you’ll take a loss. Remember, you didn’t buy them. So, it’s essentially free money in your pocket.

Sell unused gift cards on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or eBay. Or, visit sites such as CardCash to see how much you can sell your gift card for and make the sale in just a few clicks. You also can offer gift cards on your social media accounts to see if there are any takers.

4. Money-making strategy: Sell, or resell, used tech on Craigslist

The market for used electronics is vast. You can use Craigslist to part ways with your old iPhone or your MacBook. You can grab a premium for these types of electronics. Some people even flip items by buying them and reselling them.

You could also use a website like Gazelle to sell your used phones, no matter what kind you have. Companies like that have made an entire business model out of buying used phones and refurbishing them. Either way, you can expect to get a fair bit of money relatively quickly if you have these items laying around your house.

5. Do tasks with TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit lets you tap into an existing marketplace of people looking for help locally with chores. The tasks aren’t always small. This platform (along with others) offers bigger tasks, such as home renovations, as well.

Amazon is getting into the task business with Amazon Home Services. The services listed range from very small repairs to larger and more involved tasks that would take considerably more effort.

6. Deliver for PostMates

You can earn some cash when you’re in dire straits by using PostMates, and you don’t even need a car, just a bike for deliveries in busier cities and downtown centers. Some have used it often to get food from specialty places that don’t deliver themselves, but it can be used for many things. 

PostMates states on their website that you could earn up to $25/hour doing deliveries. You could also earn some tips in the process so it’s a great option for people that are looking to do something in their spare time, similar to the big ride-sharing apps that are hogging up app stores everywhere.

7. Money-making strategy: Flip real estate contracts

Ir you’re thinking this is cost prohibitive, it’s not. You can flip real estate contracts without ever taking possession of the property. This isn’t a fixer-upper endeavor, just securing a contract and selling it to an interested party. That’s it.

You can do this with just a few hundred dollars in most cases to open up escrow. There are companies dedicated to teaching how to do this like REWW. It’s good for making a little bit of money, but is also potentially something more long term as well. 

8. Sell on CafePress or Etsy

If you can design digital items, you can sell them for a share of the profits on a site like CafePress. You can do this with nothing more than some design software. They can include custom logos, inspirational sayings and other topical or trending designs appealing to the masses.

You could hire a designer to assist you with this, but you still need to come up with the ideas. This works best if you understand design yourself but requires no overhead. Items are printed and delivered on-demand. You simply receive a share of the proceeds. Similarly, you could sell items on Etsy as well.

9. Answer questions on JustAnswer

People looking for expertise online. JustAnswer (and several sites like it) allow doctors, lawyers, engineers and others with enhanced knowledge to earn a small income merely answering questions from people who would otherwise have to pay a hefty sum for those answers.

This platform is a great resource for people. It’s also lucrative (for the time spent) if you’re looking to earn a bit of cash in a hurry. Don’t expect to get rich answering questions, but you can generate a few bucks here or there if you’re in a bind. 

10. Grab gigs on Fivver

No matter what type of service you offer, you can likely offer it Fivver. This is terrific for digital services such as graphic design, web design, short audio or video clip creation, editing services, writing and so on.

Fivver has expanded beyond just the $5-per-gig model. Fiverr Pro pools the best talent on its platform. Depending on your skills, you could do considerably well on here.

How Can I Make Money Online From Home?

If you want to make decent money without the 9-to-5 grind, there are easy ways to score cash online. You won’t get rich quickly, but you could make as much as you would with a regular job. Here are some ways to earn money fast online.

1. Work as a Freelancer

• $5 or more per project

Fiverr is a great place for first-time freelancers looking to build experience and their portfolios. From logo design and animation to editing and voice-over work, you can find tasks suited to your skills. Prices start at $5 per project.

Once you accumulate feedback, referrals and experience, you can start charging much more. Some people have taken their Fiverr gigs full time, with jobs paying as much as $10,000 per project, according to the company’s website.

2. Be an Affiliate Marketer

• Up to $300 a day or more

Affiliate marketing involves sharing products online and earning a commission by joining one or more affiliate programs, such as Amazon Associates, ClickBank or ShareASale. You’ll earn by promoting and selling those products through your blog or social media channels.

According to Affise, a performance marketing platform for advertisers, low-level affiliates can earn up to $300 a day, while high-level affiliates can earn up to $3,000 a day.

Affiliate marketing can be an entire career — not just a side hustle — based on passive income, which is as close as most people are ever going to get to free money.

3. Sell Digital Products

• Depends on the pricing of products and units sold

Digital products can be sold through a number of marketplaces, many of which also handle physical sales: WordPress blogs, eBay and Etsy are a few popular options to sell courses, artwork, printables and more.

According to Oberlo, it’s estimated that there will be 2.14 billion global digital buyers in 2021. The more digital products you have to sell, the more passive income you’ll potentially make.

4. Become an Online Survey Taker

• Up to $16 an hour

It’s not the most exciting side hustle, but there is money to be made filling out online surveys. Many sites such as Survey Junkie and Swagbucks allow users to earn cash and gift cards.

You also can visit the website for the Columbia Business School Center for Decision Sciences to sign up for online research studies that pay about $16 an hour.

5. Become a User Tester

• $10 per 20-minute assignment

If you have 20 minutes to spare, you can make fast cash at home on UserTesting, which pays $10 per test. The company pays people to visit websites and apps, complete sets of tasks and give opinions on the experience.

6. Tutor Students Online

• Up to $25 per hour before commission

If you have a computer, an internet connection and expertise in just one subject area, you can tutor students online. TutorMe hires tutors in more than 300 subjects and pays $16 an hour. Preply uses tutors in more than 100 subjects, and the tutors set their own rate. English tutors on the site typically charge $15 to $25 per hour, before Preply’s commission.

7. Work as a Virtual Assistant

• Average income of $15.84 per hour

A virtual assistant can work for an individual or a big business, performing tasks that include responding to customer phone calls, setting appointments, assisting with travel or event planning, or posting to social media.

Since we do these things daily as part of our personal agendas, many people are well suited to virtual assistant jobs. Indeed reported that virtual assistants earn an average of $15.84 an hour.

What Are The Most Profitable Ways to Make Money?

Working from home has created the perfect environment for anyone to earn extra money with a side hustle. Depending on your unique needs and your skills , there are thousands of ways to earn a respectable amount of cash during your downtime.

Whatever you are looking for, check the list below and select a method that fits within your skill set and time availability.

1. Sell items on eBay, Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.

One of the surest ways you can make extra money if you’re in a bind is to sell items on sites like eBay, Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Any used items like furniture, household appliances, collectibles or anything else that you’re just not using or is collecting dust, can be sold online to make extra cash.

If you’re serious about this, you can even do it professionally for others and collect a small commission for each sale. Take quality photos and write a good description and you’ll be in great shape.

2. Recycle used smartphones on Gazelle.

Many persons have sold a few used smartphones on Gazelle and it’s a no-hassle way of making some extra cash if you have an old iPhone, Samsung smartphone or another device sitting around. While it’s not the most lucrative side hustle, you will be able to get a little bit of extra money that might just help you out depending on your financial situation.

3. Drive for Uber or Lyft.

One of the most widely available side hustles is to drive for Uber or Lyft . The sharing economy has quite literally exploded, and both Uber and Lyft are at the forefront. The best part? You can turn on and off your availability through these networks with the simple click of a button, effectively allowing you to make extra bucks on your spare time.

4. Deliver for PostMates.

Another great option for earning extra income is to deliver for PostMates . Similar to working for Uber and Lyft, you can work whenever you want. While the pay might not be enormous, you do have the ability to earn tips. If you’re in a highly trafficked area such as Los Angeles or New York City, this is a great way to earn some cash without quitting your day job–and you don’t even need a car.

5. Rent your spare room on Airbnb.

AirBnB offers a great resource for people that are willing to rent out a spare room or even their entire home. If you’re in a bind for some fast cash, AirBnB offers you an avenue for creating a profitable side hustle.

You’ll get paid 24 hours after a guest checks in, which is to avoid any problems or potential scams that might arise. Some people earn their primary income just by renting out rooms or homes on AirBnB.

6. Manage social media for small businesses.

Many small businesses need a social media manager and simply don’t have the time nor the expertise to be constantly posting on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter. Take it upon yourself to contact local businesses and offer up your services for a contracted monthly fee. This is an easy way to make extra money no matter where you live.

7. Sell services on Fiverr.

Fiverr helped give birth to the Gig Economy. Although services start out at $5, some Fiverr sellers are earning six-figure-plus revenues annually. You can sell just about anything on this platform, but to succeed and become a Super Seller, you need to deliver massive amounts of value, even at those lower price-points.

8. Tutor over Skype.

Another creative side hustle idea: You can tutor people over Skype, no matter where you might live. This is great, especially if you’re a digital nomad and you’re looking to earn more money than the local job market can potentially provide. Tutor people from the United States or United Kingdom if you’re traveling through Asia or another low-cost-of-living country around the world.

9. Start a blog.

Okay, so you won’t make money that fast with a blog. But, if you start a blog and deliver enormous amounts of value, you could set yourself up with a platform for ending a tremendous amount of passive income . This hustle idea is something you can easily build on the side with just a few hours of work per week, but you need to stay consistent and post great content regularly.

10. Create an online course.

Create an online course with a platform like Udemy or Teachable and leverage some of your skills to create a healthy extra income. Depending upon how much time you invest in your course, you could make a substantial side revenue stream by creating courses that deliver tremendous amounts of value.

What Are The 10 Best Ways to Make Money?

Here is our selection of 10 best ways to make money fast that are completely legitimate and diverse enough that you’ll likely find something that can work for you.

1. Sell something on eBay or Etsy

This isn’t as nebulous as it sounds at first. Every day, people list and sell their new or used items on eBay for nearly immediate cash, and so can you. From gently used scrubs to puzzles, and everything in between, eBay is a great way to generate quick cash.

You may not land a sale for a single cornflake in the shape of Illinois (that already sold for $1,350 a few years back), but chances are good that you’ll be able to generate quick cash just from things you have around your house. 

2. Temp jobs 

In just about every community in the nation, there are temp agencies that are always scrambling for people willing to take short-term or temporary work assignments. This is a great way to generate legit cash quick without spending days and weeks in a job hunt.

3. Check out job boards on social media

Social media is about more than just making social connections. It can also be a great way to find quick employment. Check out Facebook jobs groups in your city, where you can get hired almost immediately for things like yard work and child care. If you’re wise and ask for references, so you can check out the person hiring, this is a great way to earn money fast. 

4. Make something

Just about everyone has a talent for making something that can be turned into cash. From simple soap making to furniture making, with just a little work you can have a steady supply of homemade items to sell on sites such as eBay, Craigslist, or at a community sale.

5. Smart yard sales 

No list of ways to earn quick cash would be complete without mention of yard sales. But there are smarter ways to use yard sales to help reduce frustration and increase the cash in your pocket. Whether you want to turn old fishing poles into cash or need to clean out the kids’ closets, joining together with other families to make a larger, well advertised sale event will help attract more potential buyers. 

6. Freelancing 

Everyone got started somewhere, right? If you have skills and an itch to test the freelance waters, check out sites such as Upwork.com or Guru. The key to keeping it legit is to only use freelancing sites that offer integrated payment collection, so you’re not left having to chase down customers who owe you money.

7. Rent out your stuff

From camping equipment to prom dresses, renting out what you have to others willing to pay for it is a great way to generate quick cash. Use free sites like Craigslist or subscription sites like Loanables to get the word out.

8. Rent out your space

This is an often overlooked, smart way you can earn legitimate money. From renting out a room to renting out storage space in your garage or even a parking space, this is a fabulous way to put cash in your pocket.

9. Get your name out there

You can use sites like Zaarly to let people know you’re available for work. From dog walking to housecleaning, construction work to yard work, by getting your name out there, you’ll stand a good chance of finding quick cash.

10. Be proactive

Take a look at your neighborhood and the businesses close to you. Let everyone know you’re looking for smart ways to generate money and be persistent. By being proactive and making connections, you’ll find legitimate money-making opportunities that you might otherwise miss.

What Can I do Right Now to Make Money?

Whether you’re looking to make money quickly or you’re okay with having it take a bit of time, stay persistent. You can’t snap your fingers and expect money to materialize. But, then again, if you focus on the right thoughts, you’ll eventually get where you need to go.

1. Sell products online

There are a variety of ways you can sell your products online. Use Facebook’s marketplace for instance. You can also leverage eBay and sell things at auctions. Plus, there’s always Craigslist. The trick? Use quality photography and great lighting. Build sensory-rich descriptions that entice people to purchase whatever it is that you’re selling.

2. Sell used books on Amazon

Amazon is a great way to unload used books. But, you can also sell a variety of other items on Amazon as well. You could opt to start an Amazon FBA. You could source products on Aliexpress and drop-ship them from Amazon. That gives you a near-hands-free method of running an e-commerce business without much of the hassles of personally dealing with returns and customer service.

3. Start a Shopify e-commerce store.

Why not build a full-blown Shopify e-commerce store? Create a niche and sell a variety of products directly in your store. Advertise it using Facebook ads. There is an endless supply of blue-ocean niches that are far less competitive than some of the more crowded red-ocean ones that have spawned an endless sea of merchants vying for the consumer’s attention.

4. Build a free-plus-shipping e-commerce sales funnel.

Use ClickFunnels to build a free-plus-shipping offer. Create a low-ticket front-end offer that will draw in the customers. On the next step of the funnel, hit them with your core offer. After that? An upsell. Maybe a down-sell if they don’t take that. Maybe even a high-ticket up-sell at the very end. Once you get the hang of sales funnels, the sky really is the limit.

5. Do gigs on Fiverr

If you’re looking for a quick fix, sell gigs on Fiverr. Everyone knows about the gig economy. It’s evolved over the years. And today, they’re not just five-dollar gigs that you’re selling. But, you need to build credibility first. Deliver real value. Go out of your way. Get stellar reviews. Then. And only then. Can you really kick things into high gear.

6. Sell services on Upwork or 99Designs

Upwork and 99Designs are great ways to sell higher-ticket services. If you’re a seasoned web developer, designer or have skills in other areas such as the law or accounting or elsewhere, try your hand here to make a bit of money quickly. You will need some sort of track record. But, if you have existing clients, ask them to retain you here so that you can build up your online credibility quicker.

7. Build a high-ticket coaching or consulting funnel.

Another way to make money now would be to sell high-ticket coaching or consulting services. If you’re an expert in a particular arena, sell your services. If you understand business, coach entrepreneurs. If you understand finances, help people navigate their debt and expenses, maybe even their investments.

How Can I Become a Millionaire?

You can become a millionaire—and it has nothing to do with your family’s money—or lack of it—or where you got your degree. It has everything to do with you. Some of the actions you can take are listed below.

For The National Study of Millionaires, the largest survey of millionaires ever done, we talked to more than 10,000 millionaires from all across the country to learn more about who they are and what they did to reach millionaire status.

It turns out that most millionaires share similar habits and principles. And that means you can start building those same habits and following those same principles starting today so you can become a millionaire yourself someday! Here’s the list of million-dollar habits:  

1. Stay Away From Debt 
2. Invest Early and Consistently
3. Make Savings a Priority
4. Increase Your Income to Reach Your Goal Faster
5. Cut Unnecessary Expenses
6. Keep Your Millionaire Goal Front and Center
7. Work With an Investing Professional
8. Put Your Plan on Repeat  

How Can I Double my Money?

Whether you’re saving for retirement or simply trying to build wealth for the future, being strategic with your money can help maximize your earnings. It’s easier than you might think to double your money, and these three strategies can help you increase your savings with little-to-no effort on your part.

1. Take advantage of matching contributions

If you have access to a 401(k) and your employer offers matching contributions, this is essentially free money. By contributing enough to earn the full match, you can instantly double your retirement savings.

Over time, the employer match can add up substantially. Say, for example, you’re earning $50,000 per year, and your employer will match your 401(k) contributions up to 3% of your salary — or $1,500 per year. Let’s also say you’re earning an 8% average annual return on your investments.

At that rate, that $1,500 per year will amount to around $170,000 after 30 years. After 40 years, it would amount to roughly $389,000 — and that’s not including your own contributions.

2. Let compound interest do the work for you

Compound interest is essentially when you earn interest on your interest. It can help your money grow exponentially over time. When you take advantage of compound interest, you can effortlessly double your money.

For example, say you invest $1,000 right now and you’re earning an 8% average annual return on your investments. Even if you don’t make any additional contributions, you’ll double your initial investment in around nine years.

If you want your money to grow faster, you can invest a small amount each month. Say that in addition to your initial $1,000 investment, you also invest $100 per month. Assuming you’re still earning an 8% average annual return, here’s approximately how much you’d have over time:

• $2,000 in less than one year
• $8,500 in five years
• $19,500 in 10 years
• $60,000 in 20 years

The more time you give your money to grow, the more you’ll earn. After a few decades, you’ll be doubling your money over and over again.

3. Buy during market downturns

While it may sound counterintuitive, market downturns are one of the best opportunities to buy. This is because stock prices are lower, not only giving you the chance to buy quality stocks at a discount, but also creating more opportunities for growth when the market eventually rebounds.

If you only invest when the market is thriving, you’re buying when stocks are their most expensive. You can still earn a significant amount over time, but you’re limiting your earnings, compared to if you’d bought during downturns, as well.

Exactly how long it will take to double your money will depend on the individual stocks you buy, as well as the market as a whole. But the lower stock prices are, the more you can potentially earn when the market recovers.

It’s possible to double your money in the stock market, even if you’re not an experienced investor. By taking advantage of your 401(k) employer match, investing during downturns, and keeping your money invested for as long as possible, you can earn more than you might think.

Why is Making Money so Hard?

Many people struggle to make enough money to meet their financial obligations. Many people also find it incredibly difficult to stick to a budget. Why is this? It is just simple math, right? Is it really that hard to add and subtract?

If successful money management were as simple as being able to add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers, everyone who could perform these basic calculations would be financially secure. Unfortunately, financial problems stem from much more complex issues than math problems.

They are rooted in psychological and behavioral deficiencies, such as lack of work ethic, lack of faith, lack of discipline, over-spending, excessive risk-taking in investments, greed, pride, and an insatiable desire to impress others.

These issues are common to the human race and are much more difficult to master than math problems. My hope is that as we address these issues, you will recognize which ones you suffer from so you can be more fully empowered to overcome them.

How Can Land Pay For Itself?

If you’re looking for ways to make an income from raw land, we’ve put together 7 money-making opportunities for you to explore. From harnessing wind energy to growing specialty crops, with raw land, your options are nearly endless.

Keep reading for a list of creative ways to make money from your property.

1. Forest Timber on the Land

Timber is a valuable commodity. Your raw land’s timber value is determined by the species, size, and quality of the trees growing on it. If you want to find out what your timber is worth, refer to the United States Department of Agriculture.

2. Raise Livestock

Raising livestock is a little more labor-intensive, but the financial reward can be lucrative. If you have pastures on your land, consider raising cows or goats for dairy produce.

3. Create a Campground

According to the annual North American Camping Report, the number of campers who camp at least three times a year has increased by 72%, since 2014. Since camping numbers have been increasing exponentially, a campsite on your raw land can be a profitable enterprise.

4. Plant Crops

If you have fertile soil, put it to work by planting crops. Grow traditional crops like corn or wheat, or specialty crops like bamboo or ginseng.

5. Rent Land as RV Storage

According to an RV Industry Association spokesperson, RV sales across the U.S. skyrocketed by as much as 170% since last year alone. This recent upsurge in sales has driven demand for RV storage — which could be the perfect use for your raw land.

6. Invest in Solar Energy

In 2018, the solar energy industry generated $17 billion in investments for the U.S. economy. If you live in a state blessed with long sunny days, harness those rays and turn that solar energy into a passive income.

7. Build Horse Stables

Equine enthusiasts pay an average of $400 per month to board their horses. If you have enough space and capital, consider building horse stables and tapping into this lucrative market.

What Side Hustles Make The Most Money?

A good side hustle is about building a business for yourself. And today, the best side hustle ideas are those that have potential to earn endless income—something beyond just $1,000 a month.

In its most broadly used sense, “side hustle” means any activity outside of your day job that helps you make more money. Technically, this is a part-time job or work done for side hustle apps like Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Rover, DoorDash, or TaskRabbit.

Here is our list of the 10 most profitable side hustles to make money.

1. Create and sell your own handmade goods
2. Create your own designs for a print-on-demand business
3. Start a dropshipping business
4. Start a zine and sell digital subscriptions
5. Join the gig economy
6. Teach an online course
7. Start a blog
8. Start a YouTube channel
9. Become an influencer
10. Start a podcast

Making money is a distinct skill, and since most of us rely on traditional careers to pay the bills, it doesn’t always feel intuitive. Side hustles offer you a way to test business ideas and practice in public.

And side hustles aren’t just a tool for making side income. Starting a side hustle is a way to teach yourself valuable skills and help yourself grow as a professional and as an entrepreneur. For writers, actors, painters, musicians, and artists of all types, a side hustle can provide artistic independence, professional growth and, eventually, a profitable way to turn your passion into your career. 

How Can I Make a Living Online?

When you’re thinking about how to make a living online, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the endless options, and be intimidated by all of the scams and pitfalls out there. The first thing you have to do is set aside your feelings of intimidation.

Realistically, becoming location independent is not easy, but it’s also not as hard as most people think. Once you’ve got your mindset right, you can tackle the first and biggest question involved in making a living online:  what services will you offer?

Below are some option you should explore.

1. Sell Courses Online

If you have a background in education or are an expert in a particular field, you can use your knowledge to create and sell courses online. You can sell courses directly on your own website, or if you are intimidated by creating your own platform you can use something like Teachable, which does the hard work for you.

Teachable is an online platform of more than 22,000 instructors where they can offer courses on everything from graphic design to finance and investing. You can also sell digital products such as e-books or study guides to earn extra money.

2. Become a Freelance Designer

With the Internet increasingly taking over every aspect of our lives, there is a huge demand for design services. As businesses move online, there is the need to create visually stunning websites and graphics such as logos and business cards to market to larger audiences.

If you are skilled using web design tools such Webflow and design tools such as PhotoShop, you can start an online business creating beautiful imagery and websites for your clients.

3. Sell Products Online

Back in the day, you used to have to sell products directly to consumers in your local area, pay for television advertising to reach new markets or spend a ton of money to create a distribution network large enough to reach customers.

Today, you can sell products right out of your own home thanks to websites like Craigslist, eBay and Etsy. As you build up clientele and a good reputation, you can turn your favorite hobby into a full-time job.

By setting up your online store, you can offer both used and new products to earn a living online. eBay allows you to sell old clothing and tools to make some extra cash or scour your local store for flash deals and resell the items for a profit.

There is a large market for unique, vintage and handmade goods and Etsy is arguably the top site for buying and selling these kinds of goods. If you know how to sew, make phone cases or are an expert in woodwork, you can set up an Etsy store to sell your products to an international audience.

4. Be a Freelance Writer

Freelance writing is one of the easiest industries to make money online if you have excellent writing and communication skills. As a freelance writer, you can create everything from short content such as product descriptions to in-depth research studies and lively blog posts.

As a writer, you can work on your own time as long as you hit deadlines and consistently provide quality content. This job is easy to transition from part-time to full-time as you gain more clients, and the only tool you need is a laptop.

5. Brand Ambassador/Influencer

Brand ambassadors use social media to earn money by promoting products from their favorite companies. If you want to be a brand ambassador, you’ll need to have followers on social media that are interested in the products offered by the company you will represent. You’ll be expected to post products on your social media and include links to the site where they can purchase them.

Typically, only the most successful people or those with huge amounts of followers will be able to make this their main job. However, if you have great engagement and a decent amount of followers on social media, this is a great way to make extra money.

To become a brand ambassador, you can start by reaching out to some of your favorite companies and pitch a potential partnership by letting them know why you would be a good fit to represent them. If it’s your first time, start by approaching smaller, local companies that are more likely to respond to a brand ambassador just starting out.

6. Virtual Assistant

As a virtual assistant, you’ll support clients with everything from data entry to customer support. If you are already an assistant or secretary, you can approach your current boss and propose turning your existing position into a location independent one.

If not, there are online such as Zirtual that connect virtual assistants with entrepreneurs and professionals. You can also offer your services on Upwork to find your own clients.

7. Host a Podcast

Podcasts aren’t profitable by themselves; you actually make money through ads that are heard by your listeners. So to make money as a podcaster, you’ll need to grow an audience in order to be attractive to advertisers.

First, though, you’ll have to start broadcasting. Besides having expertise in a certain field, you’ll need to purchase sound equipment (and, potentially, computer programs) to create and edit your podcasts.

Once you have the hang of the technical aspects, you can focus on growing your listenership. One of the quickest ways to grow your podcast is to feature prominent guests on your show. Their audience will tune in and if they like what they hear, they will return week after week to hear what you have to say.

8. Sell Website Domains

Are you good at picking out the next trend long before everybody else does? If yes, you can make good money flipping domain names. The idea here is that you buy a website domain in the hopes that someone will want to buy it from you in the future.

While riskier than most of the other ways to make money online that we’ve gone through, there is potential to make big bucks if you’re good at it.

You can buy domain names you think will be popular in the future, or try to snag a few that are already popular now. When it comes time to sell, some buyers will approach you directly, or you can reach out to people you think may be interested in your domain names.

9. YouTube

This money maker has skyrocketed to fame since launching the careers of huge stars such as Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes and Kate Upton, who got their starts after being discovered on their YouTube channels. It’s not just for singers; the beauty of the YouTube platform is that it is versatile enough for hundreds of industries.

If you’re a musician, you can post videos of yourself playing an instrument or singing a song, but you can also use the platform to post instructional videos, funny skits, or daily travel vlogs depending on your target audience.

10. Affiliate Marketing

If you have a website or are a social media influencer, you can make money as an affiliate marketer. As an affiliate marketer, you promote products you love and earn a commission every time someone buys those products through your links. While it’s difficult to earn a full-time income as an affiliate marketer, you can still make a nice chunk of change if you have a large following.

These days, many major companies – including Amazon, Target, and Walmart -offer their own affiliate programs where you can make money. All you have to do is set up an account and include affiliate links in your blog posts or on your promotional videos. Make sure to read the fine print of your affiliate contracts as some offer payment in the form of gift cards while other pay through PayPal.

How Much Should You Have Saved by 30?

According to retirement-plan provider Fidelity Investments, the rule of thumb is to save 10 times your income if you want to retire by age 67. Adjust this amount if you want to retire any earlier or later. Those retiring at 62 (the earliest you can claim Social Security) will need to save more to compensate for an additional five years without income.

Those retiring at 70 probably won’t need the full amount of 10 times their income, as they will have worked an additional three years and presumably have fewer years left to spend their savings.

Here’s how much cash they say you should have stashed away at every age:

• By age 30: the equivalent of your annual salary saved; if you earn $55,000 per year, by your 30th birthday you should have $55,000 saved
• By age 40: three times your income
• By age 50: six times your income
• By age 60: eight times your income
• By age 67: ten times your income

The above savings guidelines include anything you have in a retirement account, like a 401(k) or Roth IRA, company matches, as well as your investments in things like index funds or through robo-advisers. While personal savings goals can differ between individuals, these milestones can help you stay on track or kick it into gear if you’re no where close.

How do I Invest Money?

Everyone has a unique financial situation. The best way to invest depends on your personal preferences along with your current and future financial circumstances. It’s important to have a detailed understanding of your income and expenses, assets and liabilities, responsibilities and goals when building a sound investing plan.

Here’s a five-step process that can help you figure out how to invest your money right now:

1. Identify your financial goals, timeframe and feelings about risk.
2. Decide whether you want to take a “do-it-yourself” or “manage it for me” approach.
3. Pick the type of investment account you’ll use (401(k), IRA, taxable brokerage account, education investment account).
4. Open an account.
5. Choose what investments match your risk tolerance (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate).

How Can I Make Money While I Sleep?

While there are likely hundreds of ways you can make money while you sleep, there are five core strategies that will get you where you want to be.

1. Webinars

Webinars are a great way to make money while you sleep. Not live ones of course. But, automated webinars. Automated webinars run day and night. To create one, you need something to offer. Webinars are great for high-ticket digital product sales.

They also work well for selling things like coaching and consulting services. But, to fully automate your income, it’s best to sell a digital product.

How much can you sell items for on a webinar? Benny says that the sweet spot is the $997 price point, but that $1997 works as well. Jason Fladlien says that this depends on how “warmed up” the audience is. If they know you already and they’ve been warmed up to you or your offer, then you’ll have an easier time selling at $1997 and even higher, all the way up to $10,000 and beyond.

2. Ebooks

Find a niche market and write a great ebook. The sweetspot here is 60 to 80 pages long of gold-nugget-filled content. While you could easily sell this on a platform like Amazon’s Kindle, you’ll fare better by selling it through your own channels like on a blog or as an offer after a lead magnet. Ultimately, you’ll make more money that way.

However, if you’re not a seasoned online marketer, going the Kindle route is a far simpler approach to selling your ebook. The threshold is low and you won’t have to do all the marketing of the book on your own. Amazon will simply pay you out monthly for the sales.

3. Drop-shipping

Ecommerce is exploding. It’s not just Amazon that’s taking the entire pie here. People are snatching up product offers all over the place. The best part? Most of this is being done as a drop-shipping arrangement.

That means that as the store owner you never actually have to touch the products. It’s warehoused, labeled and shipped in your name. You incur none of the overhead. You simply push the order through when it arrives, pay the fee and it’s shipped.

Drop-shipping, when automated the right way, gives you the freedoms that you wouldn’t normally experience while running a physical product store or having a brick-and-mortar location. You can build your own ecommerce store with Shopify or you can buy products from AliExpress and sell them as an Amazon FBA store. Or, find another drop-shipping company willing to handle the work.

4. Online courses

Online courses are a great way to earn income, day or night, and require little to no maintenance once they’re launched aside from updating content that might get stale or become no longer relevant. There are tons of places you can build online courses such as Kajabi, Udemy or Teachable. You could also build your own membership based courses on sites like ClickFunnels.

Read Also: How To Earn Money Online With Amazon Music Reviews

What type of course can you launch? You can teach just about anything. But, you should stick to what you know. If you know photography, teach it. Coding? Teach it. SEO? Teach it. Social media marketing, like Benny? Then dive right in. If you absolutely don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s going to come across and your sales will suffer because of it.

5. Blogging

Why not start a blog? It’s probably one of the most reliable sources for making money on autopilot. While creating a popular blog is arduous work, the benefits are long-lasting, along with the potential for passive income. When you run a popular blog, you can make money in a variety of ways, most of which are passive. You could sell virtually anything in your niche on autopilot.

Find something that fits your blog’s audience and sell it. Or, if you’re really looking to reap the benefits, build content or digital products that fits the same audience and sell it directly through your own systems or sales funnels. Grow the blog over time by consistently creating valuable content that really helps your audience with a problem or fills a need.

Conclusion

The internet is full of opportunities to make money online or from home, but many are questionable, if not outright scams. Be wary of any “opportunity” that asks for an upfront fee, wants you to pay for certification, or requests your Social Security number or any financial information, such as your credit card number.