With rising inflation (essential items getting expensive), having an extra income can make your life easier. Although a full-time job can provide a stable income, it may not always be sufficient to meet your bills. The pandemic has proved how important, useful, and reliable the internet is to make additional money. Many people have started earning a side income online in addition to their primary income. Here are some great ways to earn a side income from home:
1. Investing in Stocks and Real Estate
One can easily make a side income by investing in stocks and other securities. You can buy and hold stocks, bonds, commodities, mutual funds, or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for extended periods to grow your wealth. High-quality stocks that pay consistent dividends can be a source of passive income. When a company makes a profit, it may choose to distribute a portion of those profits to its shareholders in the form of dividends. As a shareholder, you will receive a portion of those dividends based on the number of shares you own.
Meanwhile, you can invest in real estate through Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). A REIT owns, operates, or finances income-generating real estate and pays out the cashflows as dividends. You can invest in stocks and REITs through any broker.
2. Creating a YouTube channel
YouTube channels that meet the eligibility criteria can monetize their videos through Google Adsense. Advertisements will be displayed before, during, or after the video, and you earn a percentage of the revenue those ads generate. Channels with huge viewerships can attract sponsors who’ll pay considerable sums of money to promote their products or services. The amount of revenue you can earn from youtube depends on various factors such as the number of views, engagement levels, and the type of content.
3. Renting Out a Property
Renting out unoccupied properties or homes can generate a decent passive income. You can either rent out properties privately or through platforms like Airbnb. The rental income depends on the type, location, size, and demand of the property. On Airbnb, you can rent out your whole property or just a few rooms. Maintaining the property periodically can generate maximum revenue. Leasing out your property is also a great way to make a side income.
4. Selling Products in Online Marketplaces
E-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart are great places to sell your products. You can list products on these platforms and sell them by paying a small commission to the e-commerce operator. This is highly economical compared to traditional commerce as the infrastructure needs are minimal.
5. Online Tutoring or Teaching
- Chegg is an education technology company that helps with homework, digital & physical textbook rentals, textbooks, online tutoring, and other student services. As a Chegg expert, you can solve various questions in Mathematics, Healthcare, Earth science, Business, Engineering, and Science. You can earn up to ₹1 lakh side income from home every month.
- Course Hero is also a platform like Chegg, but with more subjects like arts, humanities, languages, engineering and technology, Business, maths, science, and social science. You can make up to $1500+ per month.
6. Online Surveys and Microtasks
- Amazon Mechanical Turk is a crowdsourcing platform for businesses to hire remotely located workers to perform discrete on-demand tasks that computers are currently unable to do. It is owned by Amazon and operates under Amazon Web Services. Employers post jobs known as Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs) such as identifying specific content in an image or video, writing product descriptions, or answering survey questions. You can browse among existing jobs and complete them in exchange for a fee set by the employer. The payment will be in cash or Amazon gift cards.
- Swagbucks is a platform that pays you for giving your opinion in various surveys. You can select from thousands of surveys. You can choose the length and reward amount of the survey from the available surveys. The surveys can be of any type such as reviewing upcoming super bowl ads, sharing your political beliefs, testing new products, being a mystery shopper, or helping a company decide on a new slogan. The payment will be in SB points, and you can redeem these points for cash or gift cards.
7. Affiliate Marketing
Amazon Associates Program helps content creators, publishers and bloggers monetize their traffic. With millions of products and programs available on Amazon, associates use easy link-building tools to direct their audience to their recommendations and earn from qualifying purchases and programs. Advertising fees for qualifying purchases differ based on the product category.
8. Freelancing
- Upwork is a marketplace for freelancers in fields like writing, translation, graphic design, web development, finance, and accounting. The platform helps freelancers find projects, communicate with clients, and get paid. To start, create a profile, search for jobs, submit a proposal, make a contract, and complete the work. This way you can easily make a side income from the comfort of your home.
- Fiverr is also a platform aimed at freelancers. You get paid to design websites, logos, and much more. You can offer any service you wish as long as it’s legal and complies with Fiverr’s terms.
9. Creating and Selling Digital Products
If you have good subject knowledge in any topic, you can plan a curriculum and record classes that can then be sold online on platforms like Udemy from the comfort of your home. You can add assignments, quizzes, and exercises to the course for creating a more rich learning environment. The payout depends on the number of courses sold and learner engagement.
10. Renting Out Your Belongings
Renting out your personal belongings can be a great source of side income. You can rent out your car on days that you do not use it for a daily minimum charge and an additional charge per extra kilometre.
Electronic items such as cameras, projectors, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, etc, can be easily rented out.
Renting out personal belongings can be a convenient way to generate extra income, but it’s important to ensure that your belongings are protected and that you have the appropriate insurance coverage in case of damage or theft.
11. Online Transcription Services
Transcribeme is a platform that provides transcription services through machine learning technology and human transcriptionists. It involves the conversion of audio and video clips into texts. To join, you only need a computer and a stable internet connection. Headphones or earphones will enhance the transcription process.
In conclusion, earning a side income from home is always beneficial as it increases your purchasing power. Income diversification, financial security, increased savings, and debt reduction are a few benefits of having a side income. Before you commit your money and resources to such income sources, always perform a proper analysis to understand the risks involved!
