Are you looking for actionable ideas to help you earn $100, $1000, or even more on the side?
I have complied this list of ideas that you can use to start building extra income today.
Just spend an hour or two each day and work on items that are practical for you and you will be on your way to build alternative income sources that could help you earn more.
It is worth noting that not all of these are passive income ideas, so you will actually have to actively work for these income streams to grow.
Passive Income Ideas
Passive income involves ideas or methods that once you set up in motion, they require minimal maintenance work for your part to keep the money flowing in. Here are some money making ideas that are mostly passive:
- Shift your money into higher yield investment classes:
- Build a CD Ladder using high yield certificates of deposit.
- Switch to a higher interest savings account.
- Lend money on social lending networks.
- Earn money for things that you are already doing:
- Use cash back reward credit cards strategically.
- Get cash rebates when shopping online using Ebates (and you can even refer your friends to get $5 for each referral).
- Perform your web searches with Swagbucks.com and earn prizes.
- Borrow money to make money, for example, credit card arbitrage.
Extra Income Ideas
In addition to the passive income ideas above and other broad income generation ideas such as starting a business, getting a second job, and learning how to invest here are specific money making ideas you can try. Note that these do require ongoing work to maintain the income.
- For college students, sell your used books and textbooks as soon as your classes are over for the semester.
- Sign up for Cash Crate, complete surveys, and refer your friends.
- Freelancing (you can check out GoFreelance.com, Elance, Guru, RentACoder, Amazon Mechanical Turk, etc. for leads).
- Make money blogging. For example, this blog provides me with daily income since 2007. You can learn more about bloggingand start one. Here are some more good articles to learn more about this:
- How to Start a Blog for Fun or Profit – Introduction to a Series at Cash Money Life
- 28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website at Daily Blog Tips
- Write for money — e.g., Squidoo, Associated Content, Triond, etc. – or you can write for various websites that work with freelance writers.
- Ghostwriting. This is very similar to the idea above, but you write anonymously and the assignments are usually longer.
- Becomes a landlord or a real estate investor — e.g., rent out parking spaces, rooms, investment properties, etc. This is another one of the ideas that provide me with a regular monthly income.
- Offer basic services — e.g., babysitting, housekeeping, gardening, dog walking, painting, snow removal, etc. These basic services are good for motivated teenagers and most of these can be done right around your neighborhood.
- Offer skilled services — e.g., tutoring, resume writing, business consulting, blog development, logo design, etc.
- Turn your hobbies into income streams — e.g., photography, videography, quilting, etc.
- Manage virtual portfolios and earn real money with UpDown.com and Wall Street Survivor.
- Sell handmade products on Etsy
- Write and sell eBooks. This is easier than ever with the help of Amazon and the Kindle.
- Enter contests and giveaways (use Google Alerts) and sell the prizes
- Search for freebies and sign up bonus.
- Turn your everyday spending into college savings with Upromise
- Becomes an Amazon Associate, and ask your friends to use your affiliate link to buy things
- Sell unused items on eBay or Craigslist; or buy bulk items and resell them individually
- Sell your collectibles
- Start a bulk candy vending machine business
- Mystery shopping
- Find missing money — MissingMoney, Where’s My Refund, TreasuryHunt, PBGC database, and GovBenefits.gov
- Create and sell CafePress T-shirts, and check out this creative idea from I Wear Your Shirt.
- Set up niche online store — i.e., Amazon.com aStore or eBay Niche Store.
- Participate in paid focus group studies.
- Sell your body parts and fluids.
- Collect cans and bottles for recycling.
