The past few years have created a massive shift in how we work and make an income. From 9-to-5 jobs that required daily travel to the office to remote work and flexible hours, many people nowadays work much differently than they did just a few years ago.
While these new flexible hours and remote working opportunities have been incredible for many workers and allowed them a more stable work-life balance, the changes have been detrimental to others. Many have lost their employment opportunities due to shifts in the economy or had their jobs made redundant by automated systems.
Thankfully, the internet offers endless income opportunities for those seeking side hustles or full-time job replacements. While some jobs require dedication and hard work, others can easily be set up to make you a passive income in no time.
1. Virtual Assistant
Finding a virtual assistant (or VA) job can quickly be done online through a number of reputable websites. The position requires you to be a personal assistant to a person or group of people no matter where you are as long as you have a stable internet connection.
Among the tasks most commonly required of a VA are planning and managing calendars, booking flights and hotels, ensuring other travel requirements are organized, communicating via email, and doing other administrative tasks.
Being a VA generally provides a fixed monthly salary and a defined number of hours that must be worked each day. Usually, these hours will need to be business hours in the country where your boss is located, which could mean working at night in your homeland.
However, because the job only requires a few hours of work a day, it is possible to have multiple clients and, therefore, multiple income streams. Having various clients also allows you to wield your experience to find better job opportunities.
2. Freelancing
Becoming a freelancer is one of the best and most stable ways to earn money from home. Websites like Upwork and Fiver provide a platform for freelancers and those looking for freelancers to interact and find each other.
While freelance work covers a broad scope of tasks and opportunities, you will likely need to have a certain skill level in the area you are applying for to succeed as a freelancer.
Some of the most common tasks that freelancers are hired for include graphic design, data entry, transcription or translation services, customer service, web programming, video editing, or even content writing.
Depending on your skillset, freelance work may not initially pay well. However, once you have a portfolio and several satisfied clients who have rated the work you completed highly, finding more profitable gigs shouldn’t be too difficult.
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the best and most popular ways to earn an income from home. Essentially, it requires you to market a product that isn’t yours. Instead, you’ll receive a commission for every sale, link click, or app download you generate as an affiliate.
Affiliate marketing comes in three primary forms: unattached, related, and involved. Although there are similarities between the three types, as a whole, they tend to vary significantly.
In a nutshell, unattached affiliate marketing means you do not have any authority over the item or website you are marketing. You are simply advertising it and hoping that you will get a commission. Today, this type of marketing is less common, as even Google doesn’t give a high ranking to marketing that doesn’t have a level of authority behind what it is being sold.
The next type is related marketing. Here, you will have an online presence in the niche that you are trying to advertise. From recommending what places to visit in a specific location to an online casino list of the best places to play, this marketing requires personal knowledge and expertise.
The last type, affiliate marketing, is one of the most common types found on social media. Here, you have actively tested a product or used a service and are recommending it based on your testimony. Amazon affiliates are one of the best examples of this type of marketing and can quickly help generate a high passive income.
4. Print on Demand
Launching a print-on-demand business is one of the easiest ways to try and earn a passive income without having to invest any capital in starting stock or other inventory. It is also one of the best ways to try and establish a brand if you’re looking to sell physical products.
POD services like Printify allow you to create hundreds of unique creations using custom designs. These can range from t-shirts and hoodies to engraved water bottles and restroom towels.
Once you’ve created your line of products, you can easily connect them to online marketplaces such as Etsy and begin selling. The wonderful thing about this is that you don’t have to pay much, if anything, up front.
POD requires that you only pay for creating one of your custom products after it has already been ordered by somebody seeking it. Thanks to this, once the product is requested, the order will go to the manufacturer or printer, and they will handle everything, including shipping the product. The only thing you need to do is collect the profit from the sale.
5. Tutoring
Being an online tutor is a great way to earn cash at home if you’re an expert in a specific subject, such as ESL or mathematics. Many websites, like Tutor.com, allow you to sell your expertise to those looking for extra lessons online.
6. Become a YouTuber
While this is an incredibly tough market to get into, everybody has the potential to launch a successful YouTube channel. Ensure that your content is what people want to watch, high in quality, and accurately represented, and you’ll eventually be able to start cashing in on the videos you post.
7. Sell Stock Photos or Footage
Taking photos or videos of scenes or scenarios others are looking for online is a great way to earn extra cash. That’s because you can sell these images and videos to sites like Stocksy and will receive a royalty each time your content is downloaded and used by somebody else.
