From the day I was born, money has never been enough. I’m always in need for more, and I constantly look for legitimate ways to make extra money.
I don’t understand other personal financial bloggers looking for ways to SPEND less (frugality) instead to focus on make MORE money. Sure, managing our finances is important but not to the point of “not living”.
Teaching you to live a rich life means funnel your resources on things you LOVE – whether is to buy the latest fashion bag or to have a romantic dinner with your partner.
Five years ago I was working as a chef and stressing out about my modest salary. I felt frustrated and hopeless till I decided to learn how to make extra money online. I needed only US$1.000 extra every month to reach my goal, and I did it.
It took longer than expected; 18 months instead of one year.
Better late than never
Once I reached the US$1.000 monthly mark, I felt confident about my life and my future. It’s a priceless feeling.
I admit, this journey wasn’t a straight path; I faced challenges and felt insecure every day. Several times I felt like giving up, but now I’m glad that I didn’t.
Your life will change for the better once you earn some extra money with a side job, such as:
- it may help you stop living check by check
- it may help you be a more confident about your future
- it may help you be more independent from your job
- it may help you for a 20% down payment on your dream house
- it may help you retire earlier
- it may help you feel free
The below ways to make extra money take some time to develop. When you need money ASAP, you can sell 10 items around your home to make extra money right now.
Around here, we are all about the result. Right Pal?
Are you ready to make some extra MONEY? Let’s go…
MAKE MORE MONEY AT YOUR JOB
Looking for extra money at your current job, it’s your first option.
In most cases, you don’t need to acquire new skills or risk any capital, and you already have a relationship of trust with your company.
#1. Work Overtime; The easiest way to make extra money is to work more hours. When the company is in needs, you are more than welcome.
Overtime is paid more than regular hours, plus you will be seen by the company as a hard working person which is an excellent reference for a promotion.
#2. Get Bonuses; Companies have all the sort of bonuses that usually are related to performance. When I used to work for IHG, besides the yearly bonus, I had the opportunity to set targets within my department and get extra money every three months upon completing specific tasks.
In my case were revenue, guest satisfaction, and development of my team.
Not only I was happy to make extra money, but having bonus targets help me to push the boundaries and rank faster in my career.
#3. Ask for a Raise; This is a hard way to get more money out from your employer. You need to have a solid ground to demand a raise, and I found hard to convince my boss that I deserve an increase of salary when working for big companies.
Most companies have salary standards and hardly deviate away. Also, when you get a raise, your coworkers would want the same creating “noise” within the department. Most bosses avoid these headaches.
This work best when you work for a small business with a single owner which needs your skills, then he might b e willing to raise your salary especially when you decide to leave.
#4. Earn a Promotion; If you can’t get a raise, ask your boss what you should do to move up the career ladder. With a promotion comes more benefits and a pay bump.
#5. Change Job; Your current employer isn’t flexible? Move on. You have got the most leverage at the moment that a company wants you but isn’t sure whether it can get you. Negotiate hard, ask for a higher salary which will compound with future raises.
Whenever I used to move job, I used to get a 15-25% higher salary. Worth the hassle to move in a new kitchen.
START A SIDE BUSINESS
This how I started to make extra money while working my day job as a chef in 2012, which end up as a full-time career.
#6. Start a Blog/website; Do you have a passion and the solution to someone else problem? You can create products, seminars, video training or use affiliate links to earn money online.
There are people out there who makes a seven figure monthly income:
- Timothy Sykes – US$150.000 per month; He teaches people hot to trade penny stocks.
- Perez Hilton – US$200.000 per month; He sell “gossip”.
- Matthew Woodward – US$20.000 (come down to earth, Pal); He teaches SEO stuff.
Starting a blog is cheap, around US$4 per month in hosting, might be your next career. You just never know!
#7. Coach; You are an expert in your field, consider to coach in weekends or after work. The common professions are; English teacher, yoga master, accountant, chef, programmer.
#8. Babysitter; This work well for people with unusual working shifts. Are you working nights? In the morning you can babysit for few hours. Not a demanding job, it’s only a baby.
#9. Fix things; If you are a handy person, fixing things can make you some good money.
#10. Be a Mover; People move house all the time and don’t like to do themselves. If you have a small truck, you can make some US$40 per hours.
#11. Uber; The sharing economy is bringing opportunities, and they pay awesomely. You can work whenever you have time. It’s the most flexible job that I know about.
#12. Pet Business; A friend of mine love dogs, and she does great with her side business. She teaches owners how to teach their pets how to behave and prepare them for beauty competitions. She is the major distributor of animal food.
#13. Clean homes; Often this job is looked down. It’s hard to find people that can clean a house properly, and thanks to high demand, the money offered is good.
#14. Clean cars; When I was working in Dubai, all the hotel stuff used to live in a private compound. There was a guy used to clean all the manager’s car weekly for a fixed amount.
#15. Wedding Photographer; Advertise your photography skills for weddings which usually take place on weekends. It’s common to get paid US$600-1.500 per wedding. FREE cake’s slice too.
#16. Painter; Advertise on Facebook or in the local newspaper, there is always someone needs to paint their home. In my area, a home’s painter earn US$20 per hour.
#17. Mystery Shopper; Get paid to survey local business. This is a lot of fun.
RENT THINGS FOR EXTRA MONEY
#18. Rent your spare room; If you didn’t live under a rock in the last five years, you must have heard of airbnb.com. Register and put up your room for rent, it’s easy money.
#19. Rent your garage; You’ll be surprised how many people are willing to pay a few hundred dollars for your garage. In a crowded city, garage space is expensive.
#20. Rent your car; You can rent your car to friends. There are also online sites specialized on this; Try GetAround and RelayRides.
#21. Parking Spot; You’ve got a coveted parking spot, you can make a buck or two from it. Just google “parking spots your country“, there are sites let you list your parking spot to rent them out, whether it’s curbside, your driveway, a garage, or a dedicated lot.
#22. Rent your Clothing; Might seem awkward, and it is but when your wardrobe is in excess of stuff, rent it out and make some extra money.
And here are a few services that let you do it:
- DateMyWardrobe: You can rent out clothing, shoes, and accessories.
- StyleLend: They have specific brands they accept.
- RentezVous: Currently in beta, mostly available in London and Paris.
Borrowers are responsible for cleaning and returning the items. When they don’t, each service offers some type of reimbursement policy.
MAKE MONEY ONLINE
Making money online is my bread and butter. You can work from the comfort of your own home, whenever you want to, be location independent so you can travel the world while making money.
How cool is that?
#23. Freelancer; The fastest way to get started is by working online as a freelancer. People and business need your professional help. Are you a good writer? Maybe a designer? Or you are good in accounting. Whatever is your skill, there is a job waiting for you.
In the beginning to get paid peanuts until you get a reputation. Once your work is known, the sky is the limit; US$30-200 is the usual hourly rate.
The best website out there for freelancing:
- Freelancer; One of the biggest portal online. You can offer any type of service at any price.
- Fiverr; This site is specialized in small tasks which pay US$5. Photoshop a picture, or make up a logo, write an article of 300 words. I know, the earnings are minimal but the point to get on Fiverr is to find customers for bigger projects.For example, this guy on Fiverr customizes things for my website. His package starts at US$5 but goes up to US$170.
- UpWork; Another popular freelancing site which has a wide base of services from copy-writing to SEO services.
- 99Designs.com; The designer’s mecca.
These are my favorite freelancing site where I hang out, but there is a whole new world out there.
#24. Manage Social Media Accounts; Website owners and brick and mortar business needs creative marketers to manage their social media. I run in partnership a social media marketing company for physical business.
We manage their website, social media accounts, create ads on Facebook and PR with bloggers. Our financial arrangement is a fix monthly payment which starts at US$700 up to US$2.300.
This business is well profitable because it isn’t a one-time purchase but a recurring service.
#25. Write for Others; Is your passion writing? There is a sea of opportunity to make money online for you. There three ways to get your first customers:
- Cold Emails; Target a niche of websites which suit your writing style. Prepare a small sample article and email your service to the blog’s owner.
- Use Iwriter; This website allows you to publish your article and sell it on the marketplace. Alternatively, you can get requests to create a piece of content for a fixed price. Price range from US$1.25 up to US$260.
- Create your own blog; This way future employers can see firsthand when your writing style will work for them or not.
#26. Virtual Assistant (VA); A virtual assistant helps a business doing simple tasks. Not only you can make money, but learning how to run a business at the expenses of some else.
This is the best opportunity when your favorite blogger opens a virtual assistant position. Imagine to work alongside with him while learning all the business tricks.
#27. Teach Online Courses; The most profitable way to make money on your blog is to sell courses. Don’t you have a blog? Instruct a course through a site like Udemy or Skillshare.
#28. Survey Sites; Answer questions and test real products to get paid in cash or with vouchers. I recommend 20 survey sites to make extra money, they’re free to join and free to use!
#29. Website’s Tester; You don’t need to be a top guru to this type of job online. I do time to time because I learn new things about website problems and how to improve them. This is important when you want to run your own online business.
I use UserTesting.com, I get paid US$10 for each website I review.
You can start to make money right away with one or a combination of the options above. Don’t rush in, think which of the above ways to make money is most suitable to your skill set.
Now, tell me in the comment below — What is ONE thing you are going to do to make extra money today? How much would you like to make extra?
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