The internet presents employees with a dream scenario: the ability to make money from anywhere, at any time. For many people, though, this remains an elusive concept. After all, just 30 years ago, the internet didn’t even exist! If you had a job, you went to the office. The idea you could earn a living at home in your pajamas or on a tropical beach while sipping margaritas would have been laughable to employees in the 80s, but now, it’s a reality that many people are starting to pursue.
Nevertheless, the novelty involved can make it hard to know where to start. So how do you leverage the internet to generate a full-time income? That’s the question we’re going to answer today. Read on for a comprehensive look at making money online for beginners.
1. Perform Your Current Role Remotely
One of the simplest ways to start making extra money online is to negotiate a remote role with your current employer. Of course, you may be in this position already due to COVID-19, in which case you could request to make the change permanent. Even if you’re still working in the office, you might be surprised at how amenable your boss is to the idea. Prove to them you can deliver the same results from afar, and you could be making money online in no time.
There are numerous benefits to this approach. For instance, doing your current job remotely means there’s no need to retrain. You already understand the nuances of the role, allowing you to pick up at home (or abroad) where you left off in the office. You also avoid the stress and uncertainty of changing roles or applying for new online positions, which some people face when starting online.
2. Become a Freelancer
Freelance work is another tried-and-tested option for anyone wondering how to make money online for beginners. The idea is simple: you work on a self-employed basis, lending whatever skills and expertise you have to clients who need such support. While you lack the stability of a monthly paycheck, you become your own boss in a given discipline; operating outside the constraints of a full-time contract.
There’s no end to the possible roles you can perform online as a freelancer. From writing and marketing to graphic design and administrative support, you’ll undoubtedly find a freelance position to match your talents, interests, and experience.
3. Become a Consultant
Consultancy would be a good choice for people who enjoy their current role but can’t or don’t want to perform it remotely. A prime example of freelancing is you’d start working for yourself in the industry – marketing your services to clients who wish to leverage your insights without hiring someone full-time.
The pay does vary depending on factors such as your level of experience and reputation, but there’s no denying that consulting can be a lucrative way to earn cash online. Whether you bill by the hour or project, companies are willing to pay top dollar for skilled consultants who can help them out of a bind.
4. Become a Virtual Assistant
Another possible freelance option is that virtual assistants do precisely what their title implies: working as an assistant online rather than in the office.
While the salary is unlikely to get anywhere close to a consultant’s, it’s a much more accessible way to make money online. Generally speaking, you don’t require specific skills or years of experience in a given discipline. If you’re conscientious, good on a computer, and know your way around a spreadsheet, you could start advertising your services as a virtual assistant today.
Websites like Fiverr and Upwork are good places to do exactly that. These platforms enable freelancers of any kind to promote their skills to the countless potential clients who use them. Gaining traction in the so-called “gig economy” can take time, but it remains a viable (and popular) option.
5. Tutoring Online
Online tutoring has risen to prominence in recent years to make money online. So whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned professional, budding students are looking for your support at this moment!
Websites like TutorMe and Skooli help tutors find clients and take a commission. Classes are usually via video call, and, as you’d expect, what you teach depends on your specific skillset. Language tutors are in particular demand, though, with international students hoping to improve their English. If you’re a proficient English speaker and acquire a qualification (such as TEFL) in teaching it, you could soon be making money online.
6. Create and Sell Online Courses
Selling courses online doesn’t just offer a means of earning an income online. Unlike the options we’ve discussed thus far, it provides a way to make a passive income online. In other words, you don’t have to trade your time for money.
The premise is simple. You compile all of the insights you’ve accrued on a given topic into a course that people can do on their computers. You then post it on course-sharing websites like Udemy or sell it directly through your website!
However, don’t expect the money to start rolling in overnight. Countless people are selling courses online already (or attempting to), which makes competition fierce. Success takes time, requires strong marketing skills, and usually involves developing a loyal following beforehand.
7. Write and Sell E-Books
This idea of making money online for beginners follows on from the last. Another popular source of passive income, writing and selling e-books, involves a similar set of challenges to creating and selling digital courses. But, again, competition is intense, standing out from the crowd isn’t easy, and success takes time!
But don’t let that put you off. For people with a penchant for writing, e-books present another powerful opportunity to earn a living. Thanks to platforms like Amazon, it’s never been easier to self-publish a book. Furthermore, if you have a loyal social media following or can generate enough interest via a strong marketing strategy, you can and will make money online this way.
8. Start a Blog
Blogging has long been a go-to strategy for online entrepreneurs. While establishing a lucrative blog can take years of hard work, the financial rewards justify the time and effort. Thanks to sponsored posts, digital ads, and affiliate marketing (more on this later), webmasters in any niche stand to earn a sizeable income that’s almost entirely passive.
Another advantage to starting a blog is that it entails minimal risk. Basic web hosting packages cost a few dollars each month, and the rest is good old-fashioned sweat equity. Platforms like WordPress and Squarespace make the design process straightforward too, which means you don’t have to be a graphic design grandmaster to create a modern and eye-catching blog.
9. Start a YouTube Channel
Continuing with the theme of content creation, YouTube offers another fantastic method of income generation to anyone who enjoys being in front of a camera. Upon gaining 1,000 subscribers and getting 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, the YouTube Partner Program lets creators monetize their channel with paid advertisements. As your channel grows, you can also attract sponsorship deals from brands who’ll pay you to promote their products/services.
Once again, this doesn’t happen overnight. However, for creative people who love filmmaking, opportunities to make money online don’t get much better. Likewise, YouTube’s immense popularity makes it relatively easy to attract viewers.
10. Start Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing involves promoting a brand’s products or services on a commission basis. So every time someone purchases through your referral, you get paid! The primary hurdle to overcome with affiliate marketing is two-fold:
First, you have to build a following, and second, you have to cultivate a relationship with them whereby they both trust and want to hear from you. Neither is easy- especially in a world where people have grown tired of spam, snake-oil sales, and mass marketing. Affiliate marketing’s 100% possible and can be incredibly profitable when it’s done right.
11. Flipping Items on eBay for Profit
There may be profitable items that you can flip and resell on eBay for profit right in your neighborhood. When the weather is nice, you can almost always find garage sales within a few miles of your home. Often at garage sales, people are looking to get rid of stuff and don’t consider the actual value of the items. That is a great way to turn a hobby into a side hustle.
Bring your smartphone, and as you are browsing items at garage sales, you can also look up how much they could potentially sell on eBay. Then you can purchase those items and list them for sale. You might be surprised how many things you can find at garage sales that you can flip online for a profit.
How to Make Money Online for Beginners in 2022
The World Wide Web offers employees a compelling alternative to the usual office-based environment. Suddenly, the world is your oyster. With a computer and a Wi-Fi connection, you can work from home, your favorite coffee shop, or a tropical paradise on the other side of the planet. There are so many online business ideas.
The tricky part now, particularly for someone entirely new to remote work, is recognizing the available roles.
We hope these ideas on making money online for beginners have been helpful if that’s a struggle you can relate to. But, believe it or not, this list only scratches the surface of the slew of online money-making opportunities nowadays. So, if none of these options appeals to you, don’t worry. There are dozens more waiting to be discovered.
This article originally appeared on Wealth of Geeks.