7 Creative Ways to Start Making Money on the Side

Of all the different ways to make money online or in your spare time, I always say that blogging and affiliate marketing are two of the best options out there. Sure, blogging and content creation does take a lot of time, but this blog is a perfect example of what can be accomplished over time. Affiliate marketing is also great, because once you figure out the methods of creating ad campaigns and using the right traffic sources, your earnings potential is pretty much limitless.

However, to say that blogging and affiliate marketing are the only two methods for making money on the side would be a huge mistake. Today I’m going to list eight different ways anyone can start making money online or even offline. Each of these methods are practical and definitely offer a world of potential for anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort.

Let’s get started!

1 – Being a Middle Man and Selling Stuff Online

Quite possibly one of the easiest ways to start making money both online and offline, is through the use of selling stuff you no longer need. Just look around your house or apartment right now, I’m sure there is a ton of stuff you could sell that you no longer want. I’m not just referring to throwing junk on Craigslist of even eBay, this type of offline buying and online selling is massively scalable.

A perfect example of this can be seen through a site like Alibaba. Everything they sell is in massive bulk, which means you can buy it for a fraction of what they might cost individually in a store. Buy a ton of stuff, then sell it online individually at a much higher cost.

If buying in bulk isn’t your thing, hit up local garage sales in your area. When someone has a box full of junk at super cheap prices, grab the whole thing and sell them online. You’d be surprised at how much people are making with such a simple and silly concept.

Not sure what to buy and sell for nice profits? Here’s a good list to help you get started.

2 – Trade Stock and World Currencies on the Side

Everyone always talks about making money in the stock marketing and hitting penny stocks to win big. The truth is that for most people, investing in the stock market is extremely boring and something that yields a small percentage over time (usually through a 401k).

However, to start investing in stocks, it doesn’t have to be a long and drawn out process. If you were to create a personal account with a few hundred dollars or even a few thousand, you could jump in and out of stocks for quick gains and earn 5% a week. Of course this all ties into your emotions, stock market knowledge and everything in between.

This is something Timothy Sykes has actually made millions with — both as a day trader and turning his expertise into a full online business. In short, Tim took his $12k bar mitzvah money and turned it into more than $4 million over several years.

Just like everyone has their own expertise and niche, investing in the stock market also offers many opportunities. Forex and world currency trading is another option. Depending on where you live, binary options is another area where people are finding success. Canadians for example, can learn more about this through a site like investopedia.com for US investors.

3 – Become an Uber / Lyft Driver

How many times have you hired an Uber or Lyft driver to pick you up? For most people… it’s several times a month. This has spawned a whole new world of opportunity for people looking to make money on the side, but also might be limited on what type of job they can get, investment money they have to spend, or simply working a job on the hours they want.

As many of us are already aware, Uber and Lyft have completely changed the way people can make serious money in the world today, while also disrupting the taxi business in the process. Take a look at the chart below to see some of the different hourly rates that Uber and Lyft drivers are earning throughout the country.

Best of all, nearly anyone can start getting paid to become a Uber or Lyft driver. All it takes is a simple verification process through their site (or app), and having a car and mobile device to track everything.

4 – Create an Amazon Product or Become a Middle Man

Something that we likely all have in common, is that we all use Amazon.com numerous times throughout the month. While the concept of shopping on Amazon.com is quite simple and effective, most people don’t realize that Amazon isn’t the creator or manufacturer of all products on the site. Actually, individuals and small business create and send millions of products to Amazon and they get a cut of the action.

This is often referred to as “Amazon FBA” or “Fulfillment by Amazon”. I recently discussed this topic with Scott Volker, who generates a full-time income through this exact same process. Best of all, it’s free to get setup — the only downside is that it’s a ton of work to try and find a winning product that you can either create, recreate, improve and sell on Amazon for a profit. However… once you find something golden, things continue to sell on Amazon like crazy!

If you ever wanted to create an online business with a “set it and forget it” mentality (after the main set up and work is done), Amazon FBA is one of the best ways to accomplish this.

5 – Start a Coupon or Freebie Website

One of the best ways to start making more money is to simply learn how to start spending less and saving what you have. A perfect example of this would be walking into a retail store and purchasing something with a coupon you can look up online through your phone in 2 mins, versus paying full price at the counter.

What most people don’t realize, is that these free coupon sites are making a ton of money online by offering coupons and promotions to their audience. Even more exciting is that anyone can start these types of sites on their own, while also earning a commission every time a coupon is downloaded or viewed through your site. This is mainly all done through affiliate marketing or using an advertising platform like Google Adsense to serve ads on your site.

I recently went into detail on this topic and process in my “How to Start a Coupon Blog” article. Be sure to check it out! If you have any interest in clipping coupons and saving money, you will likely love the idea of getting paid to share such opportunities with the rest of the internet!

6 – Sell Your Expertise through Fiverr

Fiverr is one of the coolest job sites on the internet. Everything starts off at $5 and can scale into bigger projects with your demands and needs. However, when Fiverr just started out, everything was a flat $5. You could also find some of the craziest things in the world on the site, such as prank calls, drawings, SEO tips, article marketing, video testimonials and much more. One of the main reasons why so many people have found success with Fiverr, is that many of the jobs listed on the site are based off individual’s natural passions and abilities.

Today Fiverr is one of the most successful micro-job sites on the internet today. Many users are also making serious money with Fiverr through their expertise and turning side-projects and jobs into full online careers.

No matter what your expertise is, someone is likely already offering it through Fiverr. Be sure to check out there site and see if there are any new angles or opportunities you could take advantage of through their site.

7 – Buy and Sell Real Estate

It seems like whenever someone comes into a lot of money, they always want to get into real estate. The reason for this is simple… in most cases, real estate always increases in value over time. With there building a limited supply of land in the world and more people being born daily, the supply and demand is definitely there.

At the same time, buying and selling real estate is no easy task… especially if you want to flip houses for quick profit. Right now we are actually seeing a lot of millennials investing by buying up cheap real estate and looking to make a long-term recurring income, versus trying to save their money in a bank and get minimal gains.

If you are already an entrepreneur or online marketer, you could even use the internet to increase your knowledge, portfolio and real estate business in that process. This is exactly what Tom Cafarella did to increase his real estate company into what it is today.

How to Start Making Some Extra Money on the Side

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to start making money both online and offline. No longer is anyone limited by their education, investments available or desire to success… at the end of the day, the opportunity is there, you just need to put in the work and effort to get there.

For another 50+ ways to make money on the side, be sure to check out The Penny Hoarder and this article on Inc.