If you’re looking to become financially free, the first stage is to get your income to be more than your outgoings. If you’ve read my article “How to Achieve Financial Freedom”, hopefully you’ve now got a plan.
So here I’ll look at some ideas about how to make side income and get that balance right.
If part of that plan is to earn extra income on top of your existing job or business there are numerous ways of doing that, but the first stage is to decide what skills or resources you have that aren’t being put to good use – earning you more money.
And don’t be afraid to think outside the box here – maybe there’s something you enjoy doing that with a bit of effort and fine-tuning can be turned into a business.
But Firstly – How Not To Make More Money!
Obviously there are a lot of things I wouldn’t advise, like robbing banks or anything else illegal!
BUT If you’re going through a rough patch and feeling desperate, that can make you extremely vulnerable to the numerous scammers out there enticing you to “Get Rich Quick”.
A big part of my job is to trawl the internet and speak to other legitimate people, doing the same as me, for ways to help people achieve their goals. And it sickens me to see the number of scams out there – some very sophisticated, well established and very polished.
There are some basic things that will alert you to scams once you know the tell-tale signs.
This is the subject of another article How to Spot a Scam. But the number one is the promise of life-changing income in a very short space of time. Some are out and out cons and a lot are Multi Level Marketing (MLM) schemes.
DON’T DO IT!!
If you see something that has these markers let me know and I’ll check it and give you my honest opinion. And probably I’ll write an article on that too!
12 Ideas for How to Make a Side Income That Can Become Full-Time
If you’ve already got thoughts on how to make a side income or have already started please share them in the comments box. I love to hear new ideas!
I’m adding more to this list as I investigate and review them, but if you click the “follow” button at the bottom, you’ll get a notification by email as I publish new articles.
The list is endless, but here are some ideas to get you thinking:
1. Start a Blog/Affiliate Marketing
This is a great way to make money from home. Find a niche that you can write helpful content on and once you’ve got enough traffic to your website you can earn money by creating “affiliate links” direct to the provider of the goods or services.
People click the link, buy whatever it is and you get paid commission.
It takes time and effort to create content and generate traffic, but once you’ve achieved that you can make it as big as you want to.
I’ve chosen to go down this route, having had no experience at all in building websites or affiliate marketing, and within 12 months it’s almost my full-time business. A lot of people get there quicker, it just depends on how much time you can put in.
There’s fantastic training and support available from Wealthy Affiliate. Here’s a link to my review of Wealthy Affiliate.
2. Sell on eBay
This is a great way to make quick money. Start with stuff you don’t need – anything! Old phones, books, bikes, furniture, clothes, games, toys, CD’s, gadgets. I’m amazed at what people buy sometimes.
And a lot of people are making a full time business just by selling on eBay. If you want to scale it up you can buy anything in bulk from a large number of sources. Here in the UK I’ve made a decent income buying stuff from Simon Charles Auctioneers. Did you know that when you return goods to an online retailer they often don’t re-sell it. It’s not worth their hassle. They just send it to places like Simon Charles, who then do an on-line auction starting at £1.
Another great source is Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). They connect you with suppliers in China where you can purchase bulk quantities of just about anything.
Just do your research before you buy – check what the same or similar stuff is selling for on eBay.
Another option is to sell stuff for other people – start with people you know. Just agree a commission or profit share and offer to get rid of stuff they don’t want or need. It’s surprising how many people would sell stuff but just don’t know how.
You can often buy items on eBay and then sell them for a better price, just by taking good pictures and providing detailed and honest descriptions.
eBay’s own tutorials on how to become a seller take some beating.
3. Sell on Amazon FBA
There’s a reason Amazon has become the largest company in the world. It reaches the market like no other company and makes it easy for sellers to get products to that market.
The easiest way to get into selling on Amazon is via Amazon FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon). Under this service you simply send or have your items sent to an Amazon warehouse. As the sales happen Amazon does all the work of picking, packing and posting/delivering. After the 14-day return period they pay you less their fee.
You can use the same type of sources for goods as I mention above for eBay.
However, there are over a million sellers being added to Amazon each year, so getting the right products and the right price is vital. Rather than go into detail on how best to do that here, head over to my review of a company called Jungle Scout who can give you the best tools on the market for selling on Amazon.
4. Become a Copywriter
If you have a reasonable ability to write, then this is a great way to build either a side income or a very substantial free-lance business. The good news is there is a lot of help out there to get you going. And by far the best place is “Filthy Rich Writer”. Head over to my article on this training and mentoring platform if you feel it might be for you.
5. Learn A New Skill
Okay, not necessarily a quick way to side income, but maybe there’s a skill you can learn that can make you money on the side to start with and then grow into a business. For example, learning about cyber security. This is a massive growth area with zero unemployment and massive under supply of qualified people. It can be done on a consultancy basis in your own time once you have the qualifications. Have a look at the courses available here with Future Learn.
6. Rent through Airbnb
Why not live somewhere cheaper and rent out your house on Airbnb. Turn your under-used asset into a substantial income.
7. Manage Social Media for Small Businesses
If you’re a whizz at social media, offer to manage a small business’s on-line presence. Most small business owners don’t have the time or knowledge to manage their on-line presence and will pay you to do it for them.
8. Make YouTube Tutorials
If you know how to do anything at all there’s someone out there who wants to learn it. And you can make money by being paid by YouTube once you get to enough viewers and/or subscribers. It’s not get-rich-quick though (unless you hit the golden word “VIRAL”). YouTube have recently set a threshold of 4000 watch hours and 1000 subscribers in a year before you can monetise your YouTube channel. But it is something you can do in your own time, and with the right and regular content it can make a lot of money. YouTube have their own Creator Academy that takes you through what you need to know. YouTube Tutorials
9. Become a Virtual Assistant
If you have administration, IT, organisational, marketing or secretarial skills there is a growing demand for “virtual assistants”. These jobs are often free-lance although not always.
This role can involve a wide-range of responsibilities and be full or part time. It’s no longer just the realm of “online p.a.” and may involve creating and scheduling emails, updating websites – pretty much anything a business or entrepreneur might need to out-source. The Society of Virtual Assistants is a good place to start, but then consider what new skills you may need to learn in order to command higher pay.
10. Start A Drop-Shipping Store
If you’re on social media you’ll frequently see ads pop-up for all sorts of products. Most of these are drop-shipping businesses.
In a nutshell, you find a niche product, come to an arrangement with the supplier as to what you’ll pay for it. Sell it through your on-line store or social media and then send the orders to the supplier. They ship it for a fee and you keep the profit.
A lot of people are making good livings and even fortunes drop-shipping. But you’ve got to get it right from outset.
There are a number of great platforms that link your e-commerce store to suppliers and make the job of managing sales and orders easy. For somebody starting out in drop-shipping, these tools are a definite must have.
If you’d like to look at whether drop shipping might be for you, check out my article “7 Steps to Starting Up In Drop Shipping”
11. Dog/House/Baby Sit
You might think this is for schoolkids, but a lot of people pay good money for someone trusted to look after their most precious things. Start with people you know and build it from there.
12. Drive for Uber
If you have a suitable car this can be an easy and flexible way to earn extra money. It’s possible to make up to £40 or $ an hour, depending on where you live. You may need to get a special license to qualify you, depending on where you are in the world, but once you have it you can register to drive for Uber. It’s simply an app on your smartphone that you log into whenever you want.
The jobs are sent to you based on your GPS location. You make the journey and Uber calculates the fare and debits the customer’s account. They pay you, normally weekly, less their commission.
You won’t get rich driving a taxi, but it’s a quick and flexible way to make a decent income from day one and to buy time to start something more long-term. I did it myself – but don’t make the mistake I did and get caught up in doing endless hours just because you can. Set aside time to create a better way of making money and a target date for when you’ll make that full-time.
Food For Thought?
Clearly there are numerous ways to make some extra income, and most of these can become a full-time business in their own right. Play to your strengths if possible but more than anything be open-minded!
What other ideas can you think of? It would be great to hear them.
Feel free to email me at adrian@theonlinefreedomseeker.com
Affiliate disclosure: As the owner of this website I may receive a small commission for any purchase you make as the result of clicking a link. This is at no extra cost to you.
