Many people who contact me report that they’re in dire straights and need extra income from home fast. My heart always goes out to them because I know that when it comes to finding a work-at-home job or building a home business, it’s nearly impossible to do it as quickly as these people need. However, a job or home business aren’t the only ways to earn extra income, and in fact, there are other options that can generate cash more quickly.
Below you’ll find extra income ideas that won’t cost you anything to start, that can be used to earn what you need to cover immediate financial needs, pay off debt, or create the investment needed to start a home business. While some of these might not turn into regular income, a few of these options can generate regular, ongoing income.
How to Make Extra Income from Home
Sell Your Stuff
A yard sale, eBay, Amazon, and a host of other options can make extra money within a week. Everyone has items in their home they don’t want or use. This includes clothes, books, DVDs, electronic devises, art, jewelry, kitchen items, furniture and more. For a complete list of over 50 resources that pay money or offer a place to sell your stuff, plus a free printable to track your items and income, check out:
Make Money Decluttering Your Home
Sell Your Talent
One of the quickest ways to earn extra income is to sell a skill. In fact, starting a service-based business is one of the fastest and most affordable ways to start a home business.
But you don’t have to start a business to sell your skill. You can use any of the many freelance sites such as, Freelancer, Guru, and Upwork to find work. If you have a specific skill set, such as writing, you can visit freelance sites geared toward that work. For example, a good resource for freelance writing jobs is MediaBistro.com, or for graphic design and other creative work check out CreativeHotList.com
Another option is to check out the needs of businesses on microwork sites, such as, Amazon Mechanical Turk and TaskRabbit. I’ve read articles that report some people regularly earn $1,000 or more a month through microworking. For a list of over 20 crowdsource microwork sites, check out 24 Microworker Sites to Make Money.
Don’t think you have a skill? Think again. Many of these jobs don’t require a lot of skill or experience. Many want you to research something (i.e. rebate codes), create a spreadsheet, or transcribe audio or data.
Maximize Your Assets
Many people don’t realize that they can make money from stuff they already have. Obviously, we’ve covered the junk in your house and skills, but odds are you have other assets that can be put to work. For example, you can make money with your car through places like BrandYourCar, Relayrides, Uber, and Lyft.
Along with your car, you can use your home to make money through places like Airbnb. You might have other stuff people might want to rent, such as a sewing machine or lawn mower. You can do that through a site like Zilok or Snapgoods.
Do you have a smartphone? There are a ton of ways you can make and save money using your phone.
Do you enjoy surfing the net and sharing feedback? You can get paid for sharing your opinion, testing website usability through sites like User Testing, or become a search evaluator through places such as Appen and LeapForce.
Finally, there are many options for getting paid to do stuff you already do, such as shop and watch TV.
Need more ideas? How about making money with your recipes? Or maybe you have photos you can sell to stock photo sources.
Sell Your Knowledge or Interests
One of the best ways to make money from what you know or what you’re interested in, is through blogging. However, it can cost money and it takes time. A faster option is to build affiliate income through a YouTube channel. While this option can take longer than some of the others listed above, if you choose a topic that is in high demand, a product that will fix a problem, and create a video that provides value as well as belief in the resource you’re promoting, you can start generating affiliate sales quickly.
How can you do that?
- Pick a pain point people have that is popular on YouTube such as weight loss, making money, or relationships.
- Find a great affiliate product. If you have success in one of the above, look for a product you’ve used and see if they have an affiliate program. If not, go to ClickBank or one of the other popular affiliate marketplaces and find a quality product there.
- Create a 5 to 10 minute video that solves a problem. People don’t want to see an ad. Instead, do a video that gives tips or solutions in your topic, such as “5 Best Ways to Lose Weight.” Or “How I Lost 20 Pounds in a Month.” Don’t want to be on camera? You can use a variety of free and low cost tools to create a slide show video, to post on YouTube. End your video with a short blurb about the product. For example, “X product was a big help in my effort to lose weight. You can watch a free video about it. Check the link in the description to learn more.” Make sure you use keywords in your title and description.
- Include the URL to your affiliate product in the description. You can use a shortener to mask the affiliate ID information and make the link shorter. There are several including Google and Bit.ly
Another option I’m using more and more with affiliate marketing is a funnel system (which can be used with YouTube as well) with a lead capture page and email system. To built this, is isn’t necessarily free, but if you succeed in making money, it’s worth investing in, especially since it can lead to true passive income. You can check out my free Affiliate Funnel Planner for how I use a funnel system to make money online.
Affiliate marketing isn’t the only way to sell what you know. A few other options include online courses, freelancing your expertise, and teaching/tutoring.
More Resources for Quick Cash
Check out WAHS’s other articles with ideas, tips and resources for making money quickly.
8 Ways to Make Extra Money on the Side
7 Ways to Make Money In Your Spare Time
Weekly Paying Work-At-Home Jobs
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Check these great ways to earn $500 – $1000 in 30 days #workathome #extraincome” quote=”Check these great ways to earn $500 – $1000 in 30 days #workathome #extraincome”]
