With a bit of dedication and hard work, freelance writing can be a great way to earn some extra money in your spare time. Good luck!
Whether you’re looking for a side hustle to replace your day job income, or just for a way to make a few extra bucks, I’ve got you covered.
There’s gold in this list. I’ve used several of the ideas below to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past decade.
They won’t all work for you, but I’m confident something will. And remember, reading is great but results only come from taking action.
User Interviews is a great resource for connecting with remote consumer research studies. I’ve made $105 in about an hour and a half so far — here’s my full User Interviews review.
Respondent is one of the best paying online survey companies I’ve found. Usually the surveys are one-on-one interviews either in-person or over the phone / video chat, and they pay an average of $140 an hour.
No list of money-making ideas would be complete without an old favorite: online surveys. Power users of these apps earn $30 a month or more.
Don’t expect to earn an amazing hourly rate with these options, but you can earn gift cards, cash, and other rewards by answering surveys, watching videos, playing games, and shopping online.
Remote bookkeepers can earn $20-70 an hour and up for their work. This is a great option for people with accounting experience from school or your day job.
My buddy Rob Stephenson is “the Flea Market Flipper” and makes a great living finding odd items to resell. He told me the story of finding a prosthetic leg for $40 and turning around and selling it on eBay the next day for $1000.
The pioneering auction site is still going strong and can be a good place to get your products in front of 130+ million potential buyers.
Rob and his wife Melissa consistently earn thousands of dollars a month doing this part-time. They put together a free training on how you can get started and make your first sales as fast as 2 weeks.
The well-rated iOS and Android game pits you against similarly-skilled players, where everyone receives the same virtual deck of cards. The 3 players who finish with the most points win. (Of course, I recommend practicing for free first!)
Solitaire Cash is free to download and play, but real money tournaments aren’t yet available in AZ, IN, IO, LA, ME, MT, SC, and WA.
The popular Bingo Cash game app turns classic bingo from a game of luck into a game of speed and skill. Each game only takes about 2 minutes to play, and you can earn real-world rewards and cash prizes (except in AR, IA, LA, SC, and WA).
At press time, the app has a 4.7-star rating on the iOS App Store from 97,000+ reviews, with players calling it legit, fun, and addicting.
As with all gaming apps, practice for free first. Then, never put more money at risk than you can afford to lose.
If your local market is too expensive, take a look at Arrived, a cool online marketplace built for busy investors. For as little as $100, you can buy shares of cash-flowing rental properties.
Fundrise allows you to invest in a portfolio of commercial properties all around the country. I’ve been a Fundrise investor for years and they’ve consistently paid quarterly dividends in the 5-10% yield range.
Earn Money In Spare TimeI’ve been earning 4.75% interest with my Betterment Cash Reserve account. Of course, rates are subject to change but this is a whole lot better than the pennies a year we earn on our checking account balance.
This probably isn’t the right path if you need to make extra money quickly, but can build into a full-time income stream over time.
Self-publishing is one of my favorite and longest-running side hustles. I remember my first royalty payment from Amazon of something like $42 and being thrilled, thinking “I did it! I’m a professional author!”
Since then I’ve earned over $75,000 in author royalties, and I think books are a pretty awesome way to both build authority in your niche and earn passive income along the way.
Field Agent presents a list of tasks you can do based on your location. If you happen to be running errands nearby, just accept the task and start earning money.
Most of these gigs involve evaluating product displays or checking on inventory. They typically pay $3-10 apiece, depending on complexity and the time involved.
Rover.com is “Airbnb for dogs,” and I’ve heard from several dog sitting hosts earning thousands of dollars a year through this site.
Rover.com is “Airbnb for dogs,” and I’ve heard from several dog sitting hosts earning thousands of dollars a year through this site.
Babysitting and child care was my original income stream as a teenager, and is still a viable way to make extra money.
Tutoring and test prep is more than a billion dollar a year industry. You can start your own tutoring business to earn extra cash and help students at the same time. Bonus points if you were a decent student or have some subject matter expertise!
Wyzant is a popular online and in-person tutoring platform that connects you with students in a wide variety of subjects and grade levels.
As a tutor, you set your own schedule and rates. For example, when I searched Wyzant for math tutors nearby, I found several tutors charging $40-60 an hour.
Outschool is a marketplace for online small group classes for kids. Jade Weatherington reported earning over $10,000 a month from her virtual writing classes.
Teachers Pay Teachers is a popular marketplace for lesson plans and other educational materials. One blogger I know began putting some of her content on this site and now earns $5000 a month part-time.
Saving money is making money! And it’s actually even more effective since it goes straight to your bottom line — meaning you don’t have to pay taxes on it like you would with extra income.
You can then redeem points for gift cards to retailers like Best Buy, Sephora, Staples, Gap, and more. (I’ve been cashing in for Amazon gift cards.)
Rakuten has been giving online shoppers cash back for 20 years. A recent computer purchase from Dell netted me $160 cash back! (They were running a special offer.)
