Who doesn’t like making money? I know I do. But the question of how to make money is harder to answer. One of the most common ways to do this is to get a job. Yes, it sounds obvious but being employed in a traditional employer-employee setup is a common and low-risk way to make money. If you have a little extra cash on you and you have a greater appetite for risk, you can start a small business in your neighborhood.
There’s just one problem, though: you’re limited by geography.
What does geography have to do with making money? For starters, long travel times can quickly consume a significant part of your earnings from a job that requires a long commute. Plus, having to do all your work in a physical space means you’re restricted to working for and doing business with people in your area. What if there are better opportunities elsewhere? Opportunities that let you leverage what you know in ways that work best for you?
That opportunity is in your hands right now and I don’t mean that in a motivational quote way. If you’re able to read this on A Little Bit Human’s website, you are already using the biggest goldmine of opportunity on the planet: the internet.
How do you leverage the internet so you can make bank or, at least, a little extra money on the side? Here’s how to make money online even if you’re an absolute beginner.
Ways to Make Money Online as a Side Gig
1. Sell Your Used Clothes
Let’s start with the easy ones. You’ve probably tried this already and if you haven’t yet, now is the time to try it.
The first thing to do is to pick a platform for selling your pre-loved clothing. You can post pictures of your used clothes on Depop or Instagram if you don’t mind putting in a little extra work to curate your catalog. If you don’t have time to spare, you can send your clothes to ThredUp who will then take care of shipping your clothes for you.
Now that you know where you want to sell, take a moment to look at what other people are selling. Are cottagecore style clothes popular on that platform or would you be better off selling 80s-90s windbreakers? Some styles will be more popular than the others and what’s more popular on a certain platform will sell better there.
You also need to make sure that you take clear, beautifully staged photos of your items. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy but make sure your photos are well-lit and show the clothes from both the front and back. Take photos of the hems as well since some shoppers will look for this to check whether they’re getting quality clothes that won’t fall apart after a few wears.
2. Participate in Paid Surveys
Readers in the U.S are in luck: most paid surveys are for American consumers so you won’t have a lot of competition for this side hustle.
Paid surveys aren’t going to make you rich nor can they be turned into a real business like selling pre-loved clothing, but what it can do is cover small expenses. The best part is that it only takes a few minutes to finish a survey.
You could literally sit down on your toilet and answer a survey while you do your, ahem, business. Do it enough times and you can pay for anything from an extra bag of chips to a week’s worth of groceries just from paid survey money.
Popular websites for making money online with paid surveys include Swagbucks, GrabPoints, Opinion Outpost, and Prolific.
3. Get Paid for Your Google Searches
Or should I say for your Bing searches? That’s right, Bing will actually pay you to use it through the Bing Rewards program. Bing Rewards let you earn money from searching using the Bing search engine and trying other Microsoft services.
Just a disclaimer though: it’s not cold hard cash. The money you make with Bing Rewards comes in the form of credits that can be used to buy gift cards.
If you’re not ready to betray your Google search bar yet, you can sign up for Qmee instead. It’s an online shopping tool that lets you easily compare prices on one shopping platform to others on the internet, helping you save money while you make money. Qmee does this by asking you your opinions on products and services as you shop.
However, Qmee is only available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. If you live anywhere else, you might be better off with this next option.
4. Write Product Reviews for Amazon
Amazon is available in most countries which means you can likely start writing Amazon reviews for money right in your living room.
To get started, you need to make an Amazon account which, let’s admit it, you probably already have. Now, I know you might be thinking you need to set up an account that has your real name and profile photo on it but you don’t have to doxx yourself on Amazon to make extra cash. Amazon does not require you to put your full name or photo.
Now, you need to figure out what products to review. You can start by reviewing products you already bought from Amazon, buy products you like and want to review, or find a review writing gig on Upwork, Fiverr, or subreddits like r/slavelabor. The third option typically has sellers offering to send you their product and pay you to write a review on top of what you will make by writing the review for Amazon.
Writing product reviews is a little different from answering questions about a product because you need to anticipate everything that a potential buyer might want to know. Include solid and clear information on how long it takes for a beauty product to work, whether product X is better than brand name item Y, or if it’s priced right for what it does. You know, the stuff you’d want to know if you were the one doing the buying.
5. Write Website Reviews
A website isn’t the first thing to come to mind when it comes to things that you can get paid for to write reviews about. But if you really think about it, websites are also designed for use by people who the owners of that site hope they can make money from either as clients or through ads. With that said, it only makes sense that site owners will want to know whether their website is easy to use and engaging for their target users.
Personally, I’ve tried writing website reviews for web designers and developers on Upwork a couple of times. It’s not a common task but if you happen to land a gig like that, you can expect to have at least a day of meals paid for. Not too shabby, if you ask me.
Of course, it depends on the complexity of the task. More detailed reviews will fetch better prices, especially ones that require answers about the site’s specific features. Jimmie Quick over at Owlcation wrote a detailed guide on writing paid website reviews that you can check out here.
6. Write App Reviews
Hundreds of apps are developed and released every day and not all of them are entirely user-friendly. This is where you come in, heroic app reviewer! If you get into writing paid app reviews, your job will be to find every possible way an app can be improved to be less confusing for average users like you. The beauty of this is that you don’t need specialized knowledge, only an awareness of what kind of design features you’ve come to expect from certain apps.
Let’s say for example that you’re looking at a money logging app. It lets you list down all of the expenses you made throughout the month and does the math for you automatically. Except there’s something missing: it doesn’t show you a pie chart (or any graph) that breaks down your expenses and savings.
Maybe there’s something obviously broken with the app like unresponsive menu options that really grind your gears because you have to look for them manually instead. Anything that you feel would improve the app, you can write in your review.
7. Do Odd Jobs for Task Rabbit
TaskRabbit is the Upwork of manual labor. To paraphrase the site’s description, TaskRabbit is a same-day service platform that instantly connects users with Taskers who can help them do everything from house chores to home repairs.
In a nutshell, the site lets you get paid for doing other people’s chores for them. It’s not a completely online side gig since you still need to do the work in person, but it’s a great way to make a few extra bucks running errands that are already part of your daily routine.
Going out to buy groceries? Check out TaskRabbit and see if anyone needs you to do their grocery shopping. You can also get paid to deliver items to offices and homes in your area or to move furniture for the disabled and elderly.
There are also options on TaskRabbit for Taskers who aren’t able to do manual labor such as data entry, research, and helping solve simple computer issues which you probably already do for older relatives.
8. Look After People’s Pets
This is an online gig that’s perfect if you already love dogs. While it’s not impossible that there are people out there going on pet-sitting apps to look for someone who can take care of their cats or parrots for the weekend, the vast majority of pet-sitting jobs are for taking care of dogs so this might not be viable for you if you’re afraid of Fido.
There are multiple ways to get paid to take care of people’s pets. If you happen to be from Canada or Mexico, you can let a pet stay over at your place through Host a Pet which provides insurance for both you and the pet owner in case an accident happens during the pet’s stay. There’s a training period where you have to read through five modules and answer a final test but as long as you’re great with dogs (and a legal adult) you should be fine.
If you’re looking for a more active way to make money by pet-sitting, you can sign up for Rover, an app that lets you connect with owners who need a dog walker. You have to pay for a background check upon signup but it only costs anywhere from $25-$35 which is not too bad since you can make that back in an hour on Rover. Rover also lets you host pets in your home like Host a Pet but has more pet care options like drop-in visits that let you go to the pet owner’s home to leave food and water for the pet.
9. Do Homework for Students
If you’re the kind of person who has moral qualms about outsourced cheating, you need to skip ahead.
This way of making money online isn’t illegal per se, but many educational institutions will consider assignment assistance as a form of cheating, plagiarism, and academic fraud. Either way, it wouldn’t be your problem since you’re not the one paying for the service. All you need to do is do a great job of doing people’s homework for them.
Homework-related tasks can include writing essays, reflection papers, and entire dissertations. Yes, dissertations. There are people out there outsourcing a crucial part of their graduate degrees.
Obviously, this isn’t a side gig you can pick up if you’ve never gone to college, but if you do have a degree and you still remember how APA, MLA, and Chicago citations work, this is the perfect task for you.
Salarship has a list of sites where you can sign up and start getting paid to do homework for once.
10. Write Letters and Wedding Invitations
There are two ways to make money online by writing. The most common one is doing what we at A Little Bit Human do and the other one is getting paid for the actual mechanical act of writing.
Though cursive writing is dying a slow (and honestly not fast enough) death, there are still people out there who like seeing their love letters and wedding invitations written in loopy handwriting.
For those who already do calligraphy as a hobby, all that’s left for you to do is to advertise your services on platforms like Etsy and Fiverr, through a personal Instagram store, or via a Facebook marketplace listing. Just make a few samples, photograph them well, and pick a reasonable price.
11. Deliver Food Through an App
You might have tried having your food delivered through a food delivery app, but have you tried being the one who does the delivery?
DoorDash Dashers can make anywhere from $8 to $15 per hour and as long as you have a driver’s license and are at least 18 years old, you can get started on the app, too. Another great option is Uber Eats which lets you earn $8 to $12 per hour if you meet their two main requirements: be at least 19 years old and have a year of driving experience if you’re making your deliveries with a car.
Of course, we can’t forget GrubHub. The payscale and requirements are similar to Uber Eats except you need to have two years of driving experience under your belt to be eligible.
12. Try Amazon Mechanical Turk
Amazon Mechanical Turk is Amazon’s very own take on the business process outsourcing industry. It’s described as “a crowdsourcing marketplace that makes it easier for individuals and businesses to outsource their processes and jobs to a distributed workforce who can perform these tasks virtually”.
There are two ways to work on Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Requesters will post HITs or Human Intelligence Tasks that Workers can then perform. This is where it gets interesting: unlike sites like Upwork and Fiverr, what’s being outsourced is teaching AI how to do stuff. Remember those captcha puzzles where you have to slide a puzzle piece or select all of the bikes in a series of photos? Those are the kinds of tasks you’ll do on Amazon Mechanical Turk.
The other way is to do more traditional work tasks like creating social media content, basic data entry, and data collection.
13. Get Paid to Exercise
That got your attention, didn’t it? If you need an extra push to finally start that workout routine you always said you’d start doing, this online side gig will let you maximize and monetize your time.
Sweatcoin is a fitness app that turns your steps into Sweatcoins, a digital currency that you can use to buy gift cards through the Sweatcoin app. It works just like any pedometer app. All you have to do is start the step counter and go about your day to start earning Sweatcoins.
14. Sell Your Notes and Test Answers on Studypool
Here’s another sideline for the academically inclined. If you’re in college right now or you still have your notes from your college days, you can make money by uploading your notes to Studypool.
Studypool is an academic services platform where users can get tutoring assistance from vetted experts who have at least a bachelor’s degree in fields like Business, Mathematics, Programming, and Humanities. But if you don’t have the qualifications or time to be a tutor, uploading study documents is a great way to earn passive income on the site.
Studypool’s Sell Documents page promises earnings for every view your documents get. You can earn up to $10 for every view which, considering the millions of users Studpool has, racks up fast as long as you make great notes.
15. Drive for a Ride Hailing App
With many people still working from home, business isn’t quite as good as it used to be for Uber and Lyft drivers. Still, it’s a viable way to make some extra cash to cover a bill or two.
Part-time Lyft and Uber drivers can make roughly $19 an hour according to Clarke Bowman, a driver who operates in the Miami area. Of course, you need to be of legal age, have a driver’s license, and have a car. You’ll need to present your license, proof of residency, proof of car insurance and registration, and a profile photo to sign up for Uber. Lyft has similar requirements.
16. Pick Up People’s Groceries
Since you’re reading this, chances are that you aren’t rich enough to have someone else doing your groceries for you. You probably do your groceries on a biweekly or weekly basis. Now, aside from the costs of the groceries you buy, you also spend money on fuel needed to get you to your nearest Walmart. Why not earn that gas money by adding other people’s grocery lists to your shopping trips?
Instacart is a platform that connects users to shoppers who provide same-day grocery deliveries. Like a lot of the delivery gigs in this list, you need a license, a smartphone, and a vehicle. You can easily take several grocery requests on the same day from the same area and deliver them on your way home.
Your Instacart earnings can vary depending on the number of requests taken, the size and number of items, and driving distance. You can sign up for Instacart here.
17. Get Paid to Watch YouTube Videos
I’ve mentioned Swagbucks earlier in this article but, if you clicked on the Swagbucks link, have you noticed that you can actually make money by watching videos for Swagbucks? Granted, it won’t be fun stuff like gaming streams or, if you’re a nerd like me, video essays. But you will get paid to watch ads and the latest news, both of which you’re likely already doing without getting paid for.
Another way to make money online as a beginner is to participate in experiments. What’s that got to do with getting paid to watch videos, you ask? Because some studies, especially in the field of psychology, will involve having participants watch videos and fill up questionnaires about them.
This one isn’t for the faint of heart as some studies will ask you to view emotionally disturbing content to measure distress responses and the like. Save The Student has a guide on how to look for those studies that you can check here.
18. Sell Fandom Merchandise
Starting an e-commerce business can be challenging. You need to compete with established sellers, name brands, and Chinese vendors selling at rock bottom prices. But if you have a creative streak, you can easily stand out from the competition by selling fandom merchandise.
For those of you who’ve been living under a rock and don’t know what a fandom is, fandoms are communities of fans who are dedicated to a specific artist, celebrity, or franchise. Examples of big fandoms are the Star Wars fandom, the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom, and the Game of Thrones fandom.
It’s easier to sell to fandoms because you know for sure that there is a group of people out there who will be interested in your product. Plus, many craft-related skills can be used for making fandom merchandise. You can crochet amegurumi dolls, print mugs with famous quotes from a show or movie, or create fandom-inspired jewelry.
Before you start selling merchandise, make sure to check the original IP owner’s policy on fandom merch as a few of them may pursue legal action against merch creators. That said, companies like miHoYo — the developers of Honkai Impact, Honkai Star Rail, and Genshin Impact— actually encourage and acknowledge third-party merchandise sellers.
19. Learn to Flip Furniture
Flipping furniture is an online side gig similar to reselling used clothes. You’ll need to put in a little more work for this one but if you enjoy looking at vintage and antique furniture, flipping furniture might not even feel like work to you.
Etsy lets users sell their DIY’d and upgraded furniture. There are also Facebook groups dedicated to home care and design, some of which are further divided into specific visual styles like Noir Bazaar, the buy and sell sister group of Gothic Home Decor Enthusiasts.
20. Sell Your Printables Online
Here’s another online money-making opportunity for creative types. Printables let you sell your designs online without taking on the costs of printing and shipping your products since what you sell is the file used for printing out anything from stickers to planner calendars.
As usual, there’s a market for printables on Etsy but you can also advertise your printables on Pinterest and journaling communities like Junk Journal Junkies Boutique.
21. Answer Questions
We all get asked stupid questions from time to time but imagine getting paid to provide sensible answers to worthwhile ones.
Just Answer is a subscription-based service that lets users pay a fee to be able to ask thousands of industry experts for their advice on everything from car repairs to business strategies. It’s basically the Netflix of consulting.
Given the nature of the job, you have to be an expert at something to be able to make money on Just Answer.
The platform favors doctors, lawyers, IT professionals, vets, mechanics, and the like. You know, the kind of people to need to get in touch with ASAP when you have an emergency on your hands. Social workers and mental health professionals can also benefit from Just Answer since the site supports guidance on substance abuse problems and psychological issues.
22. Get Paid to Read Books
Now, this is my idea of fun.
Bookworms looking to make extra money online might find that Online Book Club is exactly what they’re looking for. Online Book Club pays you to write reviews on books that have been submitted to their site by new writers.
The best part is that none of the books come with a price tag so it’s a zero capital side gig that you can do entirely for fun. In return for insightful reviews, official Online Book Club reviewers get access to gift cards and are paid anywhere from $5 to $60 per book review.
23. Go to Jury Duty
I know, it’s boring but hey, if you’re going to do jury duty you may as well get paid for it.
eJury is an online service that provides attorneys and law students an interactive way to prepare for their court trials. Joining eJuror means you get to take part in this small part of the justice system as a member of a mock jury.
Like real jury duty in the U.S, you have to be an American citizen to join eJury. Other requirements include being at least 18, literate, and having a spotless criminal record. You can still be disqualified for eJuror if you happen to be working in the legal field or are married to or related to a practicing attorney since eJuror wants real laymen to participate.
My fellow broke law students might notice that none of the restrictions include being a law student or a law graduate so if you want to earn money while keeping abreast of the law, try signing up for eJuror.
Ways to Make Money Online for a Living
1. Take Stock Photos and Sell Them Online
Hobbyists and amateur photographers can make extra money online by putting their photos up on third-party stock photo sites.
If that doesn’t make a lot of sense to you, head on to Pexels and click on one of the photos on their home page. This should take you to a pop-up window where you can download the photograph. After downloading, users are given the option to “Say thanks” to the photographer by leaving a PayPal donation.
Of course, not everyone donates so a surer way to get paid as a stock photographer is through becoming a Shutterstock contributor. Shutterstock collects a monthly subscription fee from their subscribers and then pays you when your photo gets downloaded.
It’s a good way to also build passive income while you take on more active photography gigs on the side. But be prepared to shoot hundreds if not thousands of photos.
2. Become a Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants are the superheroes of the online freelancing world. Seriously. Virtual assistants, often shortened to “V.A”, take care of administrative tasks for businesses. This can be as simple as scheduling meetings and keeping track of order shipments or be as complicated as planning online marketing strategies and preparing tax documents.
Due to the number of tasks that Virtual Assistants can find themselves doing, picking up a few of the most valued skills is a guaranteed way to put yourself ahead of the competition. Aspiring V.As should look into studying how to use Quickbooks, Asana, and Canva.
3. Start an Online Business
We’ve talked about selling fan merchandise and flipping furniture already but those online side gigs can be more than a side gig if you take the time to learn how to run your own online business.
An online business can be anything as long as there’s a market for it. Homebaked goods, jewelry, and sex toys are all on the table if you’re sure someone wants or needs your product. You aren’t just restricted to selling goods either. If you’re able to provide a service, by all means, offer to provide it for a price.
Just make sure you maintain an online presence and regularly interact with potential customers. Sure, it’s tedious answering a seemingly endless barrage of questions from buyers, but you never know when they’ll make a (hopefully big) purchase.
4. Edit Photos and Videos
There’s a saying that goes, “During a gold rush, sell shovels.”
Online businesses are booming, especially those that sell affordable products that fill a day-to-day need. Think about online cookware stores for example. These businesses set up websites where you can buy the product as well as social media accounts where you can learn more about their promos and deals. But no matter what side of the business it is, you’ll notice that these brands will always have professionally edited photos and videos of their products.
It’s not just them either. Big YouTube channels need dedicated video editors who can keep up with the pace of their content schedule. The point here is that almost everyone who makes their money online needs a person who can edit a gorgeous 10 second YouTube ad or a photo for their sponsored Instagram post.
To get started as a freelance video and photo editor, you’ll need to master popular editing software like Adobe Photoshop and Sony Vegas Pro. If you don’t have the money to buy editing software just yet, you can start with free options like Wondershare Filmora X.
5. Teach English Classes Online
Assuming you’re reading this in English and not with the help of Google Translate, you may already be qualified to teach English online.
Private English tutors make anywhere from $3 to $25 per hour, depending on the company and their level of proficiency. Most companies will require at least a TEFL/TESOL certification but you don’t have to spend money on a certificate right off the bat. Some companies will let you start without one provided that you can prove you’re a fluent English speaker.
As an online English teacher, you will be teaching English to ESL learners from countries like China, Japan, and South Korea.
Don’t feel discouraged if you’re a non-native English speaker. While it’s admittedly harder to get higher rates as a non-native speaker, a lot of online English teachers are ESL or even EFL speakers who just happen to be exceptionally fluent.
6. Try Audio and Video Transcription
Let’s assume that you aren’t deaf and you have working hands. In that case, a transcription job can be an easy way for you to make money online.
Compared to the other jobs in this section of our tips for making money online, transcription has the lowest barrier to entry since it doesn’t require a specific skill set.
7. Become a Customer Service Representative
It’s not the most glamorous job but it can pay your bills.
Platforms like Remote allow companies worldwide to post job listings for customer service roles. You can end up working in just about any industry but job posts often come from healthcare, insurance, and telecommunications companies.
Of course, the idea of being screamed and cursed at through a phone isn’t the most appealing online job out there. Not to worry, though. There are customer service jobs online that are non-voice so instead of answering calls from irate customers, you’ll be answering emails and chat messages from irate customers.
Jokes aside, remember to talk to customer service reps like they’re actual human beings because they are.
8. Accept Art Commissions
Leave your broke artist jokes at the door because artists who work online through commissions can actually make a good living while doing what they love.
There are a number of ways to make money online for beginner freelance artists. Job posts on freelancer platforms like Upwork will sometimes look for artists who can illustrate children’s books. You could also advertise your services on Fiverr or provide special services like doing custom paintings on luxury bags.
You could also venture into becoming an NSFW artist. Surprise, there are ways to make money off of sex without being a porn actor. When it comes to drawing NSFW art, the rule of thumb is that the more taboo a kink is, the better it pays. In fact, furry artists are some of the best paid Patreon creators.
9. Teach a Foreign Language
The harder or more in demand the language is, the better.
Online foreign language tutors can get their feet wet by signing up for Italki. Italki is an online language learning platform that lets you set your own rates and plan your own lesson content. Users who sign up as learners come to Italki to look for a 1-on-1 learning experience that lets them learn at their own pace so you will need to customize your sessions to each of your students.
Proficient EFL and ESL speakers might have a harder time breaking into the online English teaching niche, but if you’re teaching any language that isn’t English, being bilingual or multilingual will be an advantage since it would make it easier to teach students.
Some of the most popular non-English languages on Italki are Mandarin Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Hindi, and Japanese. So if you speak any of those languages, give it a shot.
10. Become a Translator
Just because Google developed their own translation app doesn’t mean translators have become obsolete. Though there’s no doubt that AI can become sophisticated enough to completely simulate human language, it still has a long way to go before it can put translators out of business.
If you’ve been to a country where the locals don’t speak English, you may have tried to use Google Translate’s real-time translation feature only to find that it doesn’t pick up local accents, or worse, it can’t translate properly because the language doesn’t share English’s sentence structure.
How much you make as an online translator depends on the specific niche you work in. Translating technical documents for academics and entrepreneurs will get you a better hourly rate than, say, translating love letters for long-distance couples.
11. Learn Social Media Management
Instead of scrolling through Twitter and Instagram, how about you actually make money while using them?
Okay, that’s an oversimplified way of talking about social media management but the bare minimum is knowing how to navigate social media platforms and keeping up with trends, both of which many of us already do.
The chances of you becoming a successful social media influencer is a long shot, especially if you aren’t that good-looking. As a social media manager though, you’ll develop marketable skills that you can then sell to clothing brands, SaaS services, and pretty much any business online.
That said, social media managers are one-person armies who handle community engagement, online marketing strategies, and content creation so if you decide to try it, make sure you have the energy and the skills to deliver.
12. Become a Freelance Data Analyst
Just thinking about SPSS gives me the heebie-jeebies, but if you have a knack for crunching numbers, data analysis is one of the less saturated fields that you can ty as an online freelancer.
Freelance data analysts perform statistical analyses for academic papers and businesses alike. As you can probably guess, this way of making money online requires you to master statistics and/or have a STEM-related background. You’ll also need to know how to use Excel and Tableau.
Not quite data scientist material yet? You can learn how to do the job through courses offered by sites like Springboard that let you defer tuition until you get a job in the field.
13. Try SEO Content Writing
If you’re anything like me, you’ve tried just about every way there is to make money online as a beginner. Of every online money-making technique I’ve tried, the only one that stuck was SEO content writing.
That’s what I’m doing right now.
SEO content writing is the process of writing articles, blog posts, and other text for the purpose of maximizing a website’s visibility on search engines. This is done by incorporating keywords throughout the text. These keywords then let search engines know what a text is talking about so when you Google “How to Make Money Online for Beginners,” you’ll see an article like this one.
Upwork, Fiverr, Online Writing Jobs, and r/ForHire all have a market for SEO content writing that aspiring writers can use to get started on their SEO content writing career.
14. Design Pitch Decks and Powerpoint Presentations
Would you believe it if I told you people get paid good money online just to make Powerpoint presentations?
If you don’t, you better start believing now because startup companies are paying freelance pitch deck designers as much as $465 for a 20 slide presentation. You’ll need to have solid graphic design chops that help your clients captivate and convince their investors to pour money into their business venture. An understanding of how to present data is also crucial to the job as you will need to create graphs and charts for your presentations.
15. Do Online Proofreading and Editing
Novelists get all the attention, but behind every great novelist and halfway decent SEO content writer is a great editor who makes sure a text isn’t littered with glaring grammatical errors.
What we often think of as editing is really just proofreading. Proofreading involves fixing the surface-level problems that a text might have like misspellings and run-on sentences. This makes it easier to get into than professional online editing which involves a more collaborative process between the editor and the writer as the editor tries to get the writing to a higher overall standard of quality. A popular way to make money online as a freelance proofreader or editor is to start by fixing college admissions essays and speeches.
Ways to Make Money Online if You Have a Little Extra Money and Time
1. Play an NFT Game
NFT games like Axie Infinity are giving players a chance to make a pretty penny just from playing a game. Depending on where you are in the world, playing an NFT game could do something as small as pay for this week’s groceries or let you earn a month’s living wage. Don’t believe me? Axie Infinity players in the global south are making as much as $2,000 a month. In American dollars.
You can pop over to LinkedIn to read about how to make money playing Axie Infinity with this in-depth guide written by Aaron Nason.
2. Write an E-book for Kindle
Ever dreamed of becoming a published novelist who actually makes money from their writing? Kindle Direct Publishing is here to make your dreams come true. If you have a gift for words and a manuscript ready to go right now, you can get your book on Amazon KDP and start making money within the week.
Of course, you need to have the basics down. Properly formatted pages, proofread and edited writing, and a killer cover are the main ingredients of a successful Amazon KDP book. Figure out how to make that happen with this guide by Ayodeji Awosika.
3. Start a Dropshipping Business With Next to Zero Capital
Dropshippers make anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 a month, cementing the business as a profitable way to make money. But we all know it takes money to make money, especially when it comes to businesses this big. So would you believe it if I told you dropshipping can be done without any capital whatsoever?
If you still don’t know what dropshipping is, it’s a business model that allows store owners to sell products from a supplier who ships the product directly to the customer. The result is an e-commerce business that has little to no overhead. The fact that you don’t have to buy the products yourself is how this business model is accessible to people with literally zero capital.
4. Earn Interest by Becoming a Lender
Okay, let’s assume you’ve started to amass a baby fortune from trying out all the ways to make money online that have been mentioned on this list. Congratulations, you! Now, the next question is: how do you keep your money making more money for you while you sleep.
A simple and risk-free way to grow your earnings is through peer-to-peer lending. Peer-to-peer lending platforms connect you with people looking for loans through a marketplace. You don’t even need to have a ton of money to start lending via a platform. Sites like Kiva and Prosper let you lend as little as $25.
5. Teach an Online Course
Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York revealed that only 27% of college-educated workers in the U.S are employed in jobs related to their field of study. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there’s anything shameful about that. As the popular meme goes, “It’s honest work.” But if you happen to be part of that 27%, you might be happy to know you can make money off of your college degree.
Udemy, an education site dedicated to teaching users a vast variety of topics, lets you sign up as a tutor. Once signed up and approved, you can create and teach your very own course in your area of specialization.
6. Sell Virtual Experiences on Airbnb
You might know Airbnb for their property renting services that give travelers a second home away from home. But aside from property rentals, the site has started to offer online experiences in response to lockdowns and travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Online experiences are a great way to make money online if you live in an interesting locale, have a knack for the performing arts, or are a great cook.
Some of the most popular experiences are cooking lessons, magic performances, escape rooms (yes, virtual escape rooms), and local history and culture guides hosted by an archaeologist.
7. Start Making YouTube Videos
Making money as a YouTube content creator is up there on the list of Gen Z dream jobs so it’s unsurprising that so many people have started to create their own channels in hopes of becoming the next PewDiePie. With so much competition, you might think that the market is oversaturated and you’re right, but it’s still possible to make a modest amount of money through YouTube.
To become eligible for the YouTube Partner Program, you’ll need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours within the last 12 months. While you’re waiting to get there though, you can start asking for donations via Ko-Fi and Patreon.
You won’t get rich overnight doing this but if you already have a hobby or interest you want to share online, becoming a YouTube creator is a good way to earn money on the side while doing enjoying your free time.
8. Write a Newsletter
This is something I personally want to try.
If you’ve been on the tarot side of Twitter, you’ve likely heard of Jessica Dore, a social worker and author known for interpreting tarot cards through the lens of psychology, philosophy, and sociology. Her large following, mostly gained through Twitter, means she has more than a few Substack subscribers, a good chunk of whom pay to read her weekly tarot analyses.
Substack calls itself “the home for great writing” and is host to unique voices that provide a fresh twist on otherwise tired topics. Readers can subscribe to their favorite writer’s substack for as little as $5 a month, letting you earn directly from your writing. It’s a faster, more guaranteed way for writers to get paid compared to Medium or starting their own blog alone.
9. Try Affiliate Marketing
You have a tough journey ahead of you if you want to be an affiliate marketer with zero capital but tough doesn’t mean impossible.
While affiliate marketing typically involves a media platform like a YouTube channel or a website, you can still make money as an affiliate marketer with a practice known as “direct linking.”
Direct linking lets you help an advertiser get their products and services in front of an audience by, well, linking directly to that product or service. The advertiser will then pay you for every time someone makes a purchase or signs up for a service through your link.
You can start sharing your affiliate links on interest groups online like home decor Facebook groups, journaling subreddits, and even Discord servers dedicated to a demographic that would be interested in the product or service you’re advertising.
10. Flip Domain Names
Domain flipping requires a lot more know-how than most online money-making techniques but you can easily make hundreds to millions of dollars doing it.
If you don’t know what a domain name is, it’s the unique name assigned to a website. For example, “alittlebithuman.com” is the domain name of A Little Bit Human. In a way, domain names are the houses of the internet. Just like real houses, you can make money by buying these virtual properties and selling them later for a higher price.
GoDaddy, a site hosting service where you can buy domain names, has an in-depth guide on how to flip domain names.
11. Start a Podcast
Radio who? Podcasts have quickly become the go-to for audio-only entertainment in the 2020s. While starting a YouTube channel takes a lot more work and has a steeper production cost, the costs of starting a podcast can be as cheap as $30 due to the availability of cheap condenser microphones and free audio editing software.
Once you’re armed with a good idea and a microphone, the next step is figuring out how to actually monetize your podcast. Fortunately, there are more than a few ways to do this. Podcast listeners reading may remember hearing ads on their favorite podcasts. Podcasts can have pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads that run anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds. These ads are paid for by sponsors who pay on a cost per mille basis.
You can also add Patreon, Ko-Fi, merchandise selling, and affiliate marketing to your arsenal of online money-making techniques.
12. Host Webinars
Hosting webinars is another great way to make money online using your experience and expertise.
If you’ve tried everything else on this list and had a good deal of success, it might be time to start hosting your own paid webinars. Conducting your own webinars gives you more flexibility on the rates you want to charge and direct control over what you want to talk about. Topics like “How to Make Money Online for Beginners” are sure to get some degree of traction. The fact that you’re still reading this is just proof of that.
After choosing a topic, you need to create your webinar presentation and script. All that’s left after that is to advertise your webinar, set up a payment method, and send out your Zoom or Google Meet invites.
Making Money Online for Beginners Is Never Impossible
The world is constantly changing and jobs that exist today weren’t around a couple of decades ago. The breakneck pace at which the internet changes guarantees that there will always be new ways to make money online for beginners like yourself. All you need to start making money through the internet are courage and skill.
Having said that, no amount of money made will put you in a comfortable financial situation if you don’t know how to handle your money. One thing that always messes with people’s heads once they start making money is knowing how to develop a healthy relationship with money. Take the first step towards that by finding out what your money personality is. While you’re at it, it might be worth checking whether you’re spending more than you should be.
Now, go get that bread!
The world is constantly changing and jobs that exist today weren’t around a couple of decades ago. The breakneck pace at which the internet changes guarantees that there will always be new ways to make money online for beginners like yourself. All you need to start making money through the internet are courage and skill.