If you’re looking for a side hustle, you might think it requires a ton of effort and time on your side. However, there are many ways to make money in your spare time, as long as you know where to find these opportunities. We have saved you the trouble of looking for money-making ideas to supplement your income. This list details the best and most reliable ways to earn money online during your spare time.
1. Write online as a freelance writer
Freelance writing is easily one of the fastest ways to earn extra money online. Several websites offer this job opportunity to anyone with writing skills. The best part is that you can work remotely if you have a computer and internet access.
Websites, business owners, and digital marketers need fresh and new content for their blogs, websites, and various platforms to promote their businesses, products, and/or services. And they are willing to pay third-party freelancers to do it for them.
Freelance websites such as Upwork and Textbroker allow writers to sign-up and join their community (either as a writer or a client) and match these job openings with their available writers. The subject and writing topics vary according to the industry for which you are writing the blogs and content. You need to have good research and writing skills to excel in this kind of job opportunity or side hustle.
Clients can add new writing projects for writers to continually take and complete. Writers can get paid per project, article, or hour. The income potential is limitless, as long as they have a consistent flow of writing projects.
2. Start a Blog
Blogging is another great way to earn money in your spare time, and there are so many ways to earn through your blog. You can earn through paid posts, banners, promotions, ads (Google AdSense), affiliate marketing or selling, and promoting physical or digital products, coaching, subscriptions, etc. There are active and passive ways to generate income from a blog.
While many successful bloggers have used it as their main income source, you can also start a blog in your spare time. Success in blogging doesn’t happen overnight. You must put in the time and effort to build your blog’s authority, credibility, and following.
You must also invest in your blog, such as your domain hosting, website design, etc. There are several bloggers out there; to succeed, you must stand out. You must pick a niche for your blog so people know about your website—and so you can find an interested audience. It can be travel and/or food, sports or entertainment news, tech and gadgets, motorcycles and cars, photography, etc.
3. Try out some micro-jobs
Websites like Fiverr and GigBucks offer small tasks that can be completed for $5 or more.
These platforms provide a marketplace for employers and employees to post the job vacancy and the corresponding payment for the job. The best thing about these sites is that you can easily find job vacancies that fit your skill set and work experience. Plus, there are no long-term commitments as jobs are pretty flexible.
The jobs include freelance gigs, pet sitting, personal assistant, customer service representative, writing, web services, web design, delivery driver, household helper, etc.
Of course, the obvious downside is that there is no accountability (for both employees and employers). There is also no set income or workload.
4. Answer surveys
Companies and brands pay people to complete surveys that enable them to gather data about their business (products or services). Responding to these surveys can make money in your spare time. Websites like MySurvey, Swagbucks, Opinion Outpost, Inbox Dollar, and LifePoints pay people to take these surveys.
These survey websites partner with agencies and business brands to complete such surveys and pass over a part of their income to survey-takers. Anybody can sign up and take these surveys and earn a couple of dollars a day or shopping rewards.
5. Sell stuff
Do you have rare items, antiques, vintage, and collector’s items lying around? You can make money off them through Craigslist, eBay, Etsy, Ruby Lane, or even Amazon and Shopify. These sites are flooded with collectors of any kind. Your items will not take long to find a buyer or two.
eBay, for example, has been the go-to for dealers to sell their collections for hundreds, if not thousands of people for more than 20 years now. Etsy is a haven not just for antiques and vintage goods, but even for handicrafts and handmade items. Ruby Lane is probably the most popular marketplace today for antiques. You can also sell on Facebook’s Marketplace and promote your items through Instagram or Twitter.
Got no extra items you can sell? You can buy and sell items. You can visit flea markets, join auctions, etc., to get potentially valuable items you can re-sell for a higher price.
Bonus: Make YouTube videos!
Are you into digital media? Do you know a bit about video editing? Do you feel comfortable talking in front of the camera? Then you can be a YouTube star.
Starting a YouTube channel can be intimidating. There are thousands of YouTube channels, and you have no idea how to start. The best way to do it is to pick your niche (like you would for a blog). Focus on building quality content first and continually promote your channel. Eventually, you will attract the right audience and get more views on your content.
Be creative when developing content ideas for your YouTube channel. You can talk about your products or review your favorite products. You can feature mundane activities, such as your activities for the day. Several earning opportunities are available on YouTube, such as in-video advertising, Google ads, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, etc. The more views and followers you have on your channel, the higher the possibility of earning.
Like blogging, making a successful YouTube channel takes time. You have to build your credibility, and more importantly, you have to be authentic and interesting to watch, or at least have some interesting things to share. Also, making good YouTube videos can be time-consuming and demanding.
