We could all use a little extra cash, right? You may work full time, part time, or way more than you should, and yet extra money still helps. We now live in a society in which odds-and-ends jobs are becoming normal. Some of us have personal loans or student loans to repay. It’s not unusual to start up a home business, to make money selling crafts online, work-at-home opportunities for registered nurses, or to do any job as an independent contractor instead of as an employee.
If you give careful consideration to your skills and what you have to offer, you’ll find that there are several ways in which you could be earning extra money from home and in your spare time. You can hold down your 9-to-5 job and still earn money on the side. If you’re lucky, you may even be able to monetize something you already enjoy doing. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Sell Your Stuff Online
This is a broad area of extra-cash careers. There are so many different ways in which you can sell things online and a market for just about any item you think you can sell. First, you have the option to sell on established marketplace sites, like Etsy or eBay, or to create your own personal website for selling. Each has its advantages and it’s not a bad idea to use both. Sites like Etsy are a good way to get started if you don’t have an established customer base. You get a website and virtual store without having to put in the work or expense of creating it. While you get started selling on one of these sites, you could also be working on building a personal website to reach even more buyers.
What to sell? There is a buyer for just about anything, but you want to sell things that have a wider audience if you really want to make money. These are just a few ideas of what and how you can sell online to make money:
- Sell your crafts or your art. Is jewelry-making a hobby you’ve enjoyed for years? Do you create beautiful watercolor paintings that hang on your own walls only? If not, do you know that you can enroll in a Learn To Watercolor Paint Course? Do you make your own clothes and get all kinds of complements from friends? You can sell your creations on line and start making money.
- Go through your attic. If you have a ton of junk cluttering up your house, now is the time to weed through it and sell what you can. One man’s garbage is another’s treasure after all.
- Hit garage sales. Don’t keep boxes full of stuff in your attic? Go to garage sales in your neighborhood and pick up pieces on the cheap. Clean them up, photograph them, and sell them online.
Be a Virtual Freelancer
Freelancing is more popular than ever these days. As a freelancer you can be your own boss, work when you want to, and only take on the jobs you want. Another great thing about freelancing is that you have a variety of types of jobs to choose from. Look for established freelancing websites to get started. These are sites like Upwork, GetACoder, iFreelance, and a number of others. They allow freelancers to set up a profile and bid on jobs from clients.
As a freelancer you can work totally online from your home and take on only as many jobs as you can handle or that get you the extra cash you need. Freelancing opportunities include writing, editing, and translation work, programming, graphic design, administrative support and virtual assistance, art and illustration, voice work, marketing, sales, finance, and even more types of work. The options are nearly endless. Any kind of work you can do for someone from home can be done on a part-time, freelance basis.
Start an In-Home Business
If you’re feeling a little more ambitious, or you have no skills to offer in a virtual setting, you could consider starting a home-based business. There are plenty of low-tech types of jobs that need doing and opportunities to make money. For instance you could start a home bakery. You could make a variety of baked goods to sell online or at local markets, or you can specialize in wedding cakes, a very lucrative business. Other options include babysitting, dog sitting, or errand running.
All of these types of home business could benefit from a website and online advertising, but if you’re not tech savvy, you can start searching for customers among your friends and neighbors. Ask around, send out flyers, and use word of mouth to spread the news about your side business.
Earning extra money from home is a real possibility for anyone. There are so many choices and different ways to make more money, you’re bound to find one or more that work for you. When you pick something you enjoy, it won’t even be work. It will mean making money doing what you would do anyway in your spare time. Use your creativity, find a few customers, and you’ll be off and running.
