“All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.” – Spike Milligan
Okay. I know. It’s a taboo topic for most. The whole make-money-online thing is scorned and shunned in most arenas. But here’s the truth. It works if you understand the mechanics of it. However, the only trouble is that most people give up too soon—well before they generate even a single dollar.
Look, it’s not easy. I won’t sit here and tell you that it is. But I will share what works and how you can tap into the online gold rush happening. But to explain this to you better, let me take you back to January 24th, 1848. That’s when a man named James W. Marshall made a discovery that created a chaotic rush to California.
You probably already know where I’m going with this, right? The California Gold Rush is the perfect example of what’s been happening on the internet. Back then, in 1848, news of the discovery in a small town near Sacramento called Coloma, California, saw a mass influx of people all hoping to stake their claim in the dream.
After all, who doesn’t want to get rich? But here’s what happened. While 300,000 people made their way to California, a very small percentage of them found gold. But do you know who actually made money? Yes, you guessed it. The people selling tools to those dreamers. Namely, pickaxes, shovels, sifters, and so on.
Obviously, there’s a reason why I tell you this. Today’s online gold rush is very similar. There’s a very small percentage of people earning a lot of money. And they’re the ones selling the tools, the software, and the systems for making money online.
Can You Really Still Make Money Online?
I’ll be honest with you. I’m one of those people who sell the tools. If I were living in 1848 back during the California Gold Rush, I’d most certainly be the one selling the pickaxes, shovels and sifters. Why? Because, that’s where the money is at.
One real estate mogul put it this way. “I’ve made millions of dollars in real estate. But I’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars teaching real estate.” So what’s my point? Well, online, to make real money, you must become the teacher.
Does that mean you have to be an expert? Well, yes and no. To make real money online, you only need to be a step or two ahead of those you teach. That’s all. But building credibility is not easy. You need an audience or a marketplace where you can sell your information, products, or services.
The truth is that most people quit before they strike gold (no pun intended). They get frustrated, waste money, and throw their hands up in the air and literally call it a day. Then, they just assume that all this online stuff is either a scam or designed to cheat them out of money.
Here’s the thing about that. No matter what method you choose to generate an income on the web, you must stay persistent. Don’t assume for a moment that it will be easy (even if they tout it such). Any strategy you find can make money if you apply enough effort to it. The question is, how soon are you giving up?
Failure Is Just A Stepping Stone
Before I cover the strategies, let me just say this. If you give up early, forget trying to make money online. It just won’t work for you. It will take you time, no matter what strategy you employ. Figuring things out is not an overnight process. But it is a process that will bear fruit over time.
I’m not promising you riches whatsoever because I have no idea what type of person you are. You could just be the type of person who gets excited about trying things when they’re new, but fails to keep goin when it becomes routine or a chore. That personality type almost always fails online.
Instead of having shiny object syndrome, find something you’re passionate about doing, look for a way to make money doing it online, then scale. I know that sounds simplistic. But I promise you that’s the route to take if you’re serious about making. it.
Remember that failure is just a part of the process. And some of the most successful people in the world have failed the most times. The question is are you going to do what it takes to push past, 10, 20, 50, or 100 or more failures? Most people don’t. And that’s the truth.
Passive Income vs. Active Income
One other thing I need to say before diving into this is that there’s a big difference here in the online money-making world. The difference is between generating an active income versus a passive income. Now, most people think that passive income online is a dream. In fact, Gary Vaynerchuck very adamantly dismisses the idea of passive income.
So what’s the difference? Well, active income means that you’re exchanging your time for money. It’s like going to work for an employer and making an hourly or salaried wage. If you’re working, you’re getting paid. If you’re not, well, you’re not.
Passive income is different. Passive income means putting in the time once and getting paid multiple times. Active income is putting in the time once and getting paid just once. Can you see the difference? The trouble is that passive income is hard. No, scratch that. It can seem downright impossible at times.
Obviously, if you’re looking to make money fast (online or offline) passive income is not quite the ticket. Unless of course you have a sizable amount set aside to invest in a franchise or buy some other high-turn-over business. But even then, it will take a bit of time.
For that reasons, i won’t be covering passive income ideas. Only active income. Meaning, if you want to make some money fast, you’re going to have to be paid for the work you do just once. Still, you are getting paid, which of course, is the goal here, am I right?
1. Deliver for PostMates or DoorDash
One of the obvious methods for generating a bit of income is to deliver for PostMates or DoorDash. Both offer easy scheduling options, letting you opt-in or opt-out from deliveries at any time of the day. Plus, in some locations, all you need is a bicycle to do deliveries.
Both services pay relatively quickly. Both PostMates and DoorDash both do weekly payments for work done throughout the week. It’s easy, flexible and the go-to option for many who are either doing it as a side-hustle or their main source of income.
2. Drive for Uber or Lyft
If you have a car, this is an obvious choice for making a bit of side hustle income. It’s easy and, just like PostMates and DoorDash, you can turn your availability on and off. Plus, the companies both pay you on a weekly basis, which makes it easy to earn an income from without having to wait long periods before your pay comes in.
Of course, you’ll need a newish car and you’ll also need a clean driving record if you want to be considered for this. Driver’s go through strict background checks before they’re able to drive for either company. If you’re in a metropolis area, or a heavily touristed destination, this might even be a great way to generate a full-time income.
3. Become a Babysitter on Care.com
Care.com offers lots of services such as pet sitting, house keeping, and babysitting, to name a few. One thing you can easily do is to babysit for children near you. Care.com will connect you with parents looking for child care nearby.
Like any other service, you have to go through a strict background check. Also, getting work at the beginning might take some effort to build up positive reviews first. Once you have some solid reviews, you can certainly make some quick cash with this method.
4. Sell Your Used Smartphones on Gazelle
I don’t know about you but I have plenty of old smartphones laying around the house. One thing I like to do is sell them on Gazelle. It’s a service that help you do this quick and painlessly. All you have to do is select some details and that’s it.
You can even flip smartphones here by buying unwanted phones at a discount and selling them here. You can make a small amount of money fast but nothing that’s going to break the bank. So if you’re looking for substantial sums, this strategy might not be sustainable.
5. Do Gigs on Fiverr
The gig economy is in full-swing and it has been for many years. And Fiverr is at the forefront of that. You can sell simple services that don’t costs much but are also easy to fulfill. While you’ll make money quickly, it will also take time to build up your reviews.
Depending on the type of service you offer and how much competition there is, your reviews will be paramount. Think about it yourself. How often do you look at anything else except for the reviews? Gigs with hundreds (or even thousands) of reviews do incredibly well here and get the lion’s share of the revenue.
6. Become a Translator on Rev.com
Rev.com is one of the largest translation services out there. These are hand transcriptions done by real freelancers. The company offers both transcriptions and captions. Caption work will pay a bit more than standard transcriptions because it requires time logging.
You can visit Rev to sign up as a freelancer here. The company pays $0.30 to $1.10 per minute for transcription work and $0.54 to $1.10 per minute for caption work. The pay is not astronomical, but depending on how efficient you are, you can make a bit of money to get you by.
7. Freelance on Upwork or Freelancer.com
Upwork and Freelancer.com are huge resources for earning money. They help you secure projects that pay more than your standard gig economy rates. However, to succeed on either platform, you’ll need to have some specialized skills like coding, SEO, graphic design, writing, or online marketing (amongst others).
If you do have specialized skills, these platforms are great places to market your services. But like with anything else, you’ll find friction in the beginning because of the amount of competition. You need to collect reviews fast. You can do this by inviting existing clients or projects you’re working on to the platform and collecting reviews that way.
8. Rent Your Spare Room on Airbnb
The travel industry has certainly been upended recently. But if you have a spare room (or even a spare home) renting it out on Airbnb has been a great mainstay for a long time. You can make a decent amount of money, but it will require some effort on your part.
Presentation here is key, along with ensuring guest satisfaction to collect those much-needed reviews that many people rely on here. You could even opt to manage rooms (or homes) on the platform and collect a commission. If you live in a vacation destination, this will be far easier to do.
9. Rent Out Your Car on Turo
Turo is a popular service that’s been called the AirBnB of cars. While travel has seen a serious drop-off thanks to the pandemic, in normalized times, these services can certainly make you a decent amount of money. This effectively requires handing your car off to someone else who gets to drive it.
Turo helps you with the pricing, availability, and in the vetting of customers so that you have a safe and pleasant experience on the platform. You’ll need to price aggressively at first to collect some positive reviews.
10. Do Handy Work on TaskRabbit
A great way to make a bit of fast cash is to do small tasks on TaskRabbit. It’s literally as simple as putting furniture together, moving a couch, or helping repair something. These tasks usually don’t require much effort, but do require time and energy.
If you’re looking for something to help you get by, I’d suggest downloading this app and signing up to search for jobs. You can find tasks that are very close by, this way you don’t have to spend much time on a long commute to a task that doesn’t pay much.
11. Do Tutoring on Tutor.com
If you have strong skills in math, reading, or another topic, you can do tutoring on Tutor.com. This is a service that’s been around for a very long time. You can apply to become a tutor here and if accepted the service finds you students and pays you a revenue share.
To view the topics the company has available for tutors, you can see them here. There’s a variety of topics, and depending on your knowledge level, you might be able to provide tutoring on a wide array of disciplines.
12. Sell Items on Etsy or CafePress
Both Etsy and CafePress are easy to use and simple. Etsy is more for handmade goods while CafePress is great for designing and branding items that you’ll never actually have to send off yourself. Both are great ways to make money online but do require some upfront effort.
If you are crafty and enjoy making handmade items, Etsy is a great resource to have. However, you can also sell digital items on Etsy. If you prefer to create your digital items on products and never have to touch them, then CafePress is a good option.
13. Sell Shirts on TeeSpring
TeeSpring has been incredibly popular for selling tee-shirt designs and other apparel. It’s simple to design and create your products. But you’ll have to build a storefront and get traffic to it. This works best when you’re dealing with a very specific niche or you already have a good traffic source (i.e. YouTube following, Instagram, etc.).
14. Sell Private Label Products on Amazon
Amazon is the world’s largest store. However, here in the United States, Amazon is literally destroying the competition. It has helped create a retail apocalypse that has literally leveled the playing field. Most shoppers are now turning online, and Amazon is at the forefront.
To tap into the hundreds of millions of customers (and 120+ million Prime members) you can sell simple, everyday products on the Amazon platform. This is called private labeling and you can do it for virtually any product line.
The beauty about this is that you never have to deal with fulfillment, customer service, packing, or shipping anything. Amazon does all the heavy lifting for you. But that doesn’t mean it’s a walk in the park. You still need a great product and you need to get a lot of reviews as fast as possible.
If you want to learn more, take the free Amazon seller quiz here >>