—TechRound does not recommend or endorse any financial, investment or business advice. All articles are purely informational—
The internet is full of possibilities for earning money, but it’s also full of scams and schemes that aren’t trustworthy. If you are willing to earn at least some extra cash from working online, you must learn to differentiate what is legit and what is not.
Every opportunity must be evaluated separately, and you must make your own way through mistakes you’ll certainly make. Starting out with a list of factors to consider is counterproductive. What you actually need are legit ideas to start.
Online Marketplaces
Most businesses, big and small, are about selling and buying something. So, a good place to start gathering ideas about your online ventures is online marketplaces. Most people visit them only when they need to buy something, but it’s actually a place of opportunity.
The key is to find things that have a fluctuation in value that you can use to your advantage. High-fashion clothes and accessories, for example, are a common target for strategies of making extra income. Many people don’t know what they are selling or don’t bother to look it up.
If you are well versed in fashion, you can make some good money buying cheaply and selling for a profit. This can apply to many other fields – computer equipment, furniture, cars, hobby gear, you name it. As long as you know the niche, you can make a profit by scouting online marketplaces.
It’s definitely a legitimate way to earn money online. In fact, some even evolve it into full-fledged businesses on platforms like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy. But there’s a catch, you must have considerable knowledge and some free investment money. It can’t be considered a way to bootstrap your finances from zero.
Paid Surveys
Everybody has opinions. They might often seem useless, but they do influence our purchasing and voting decisions. That’s why they are also extremely valuable to organisations that need the data to make decisions of their own. The best part is that they are willing to pay for it.
Paid survey platforms offer users the possibility to answer short surveys for a small amount of money. Usually, it’s something up to $3 dollars for a twenty-minute survey. The topics range from your retail habits to foreign affairs. Most platforms have convenient apps, so you can fill them out on the go.
Unfortunately, paid survey sites are very region-dependent. People in Western countries tend to earn much more from answering them, and the rest are left with dubious choices paying in complicated point systems and unknown cryptocurrencies. The payout thresholds for some sites are also too high to be realistically reached every month.
So, are paid surveys for money legit when trying to earn online? There are legit sites which may include Pawns.app, YouGov, or Branded Surveys, but there are many that aren’t worth the effort. You’ll need to be smart about choosing them if you want to earn. Look for low payout thresholds, many payment methods, and good reviews.
Print-On-Demand
Traditionally, Print-On-Demand (POD) was a book printing method where a publisher would not print a book until it was fully paid for. It allowed publishers to take smaller orders while minimising the risks of financial loss since no job was done without getting paid.
Nowadays, print-on-demand is a way for creative people to monetise their art with minimal risk. Many platforms, such as Printful or Redbubble, allow users to post their art and put it on everyday items.
Shirts, cups, stickers, phone cases, 3D models – anything that can printed on is printed on by POD marketplaces. With the advent of AI, you don’t even need to be extremely skilled to make drafts. The only drawback is the fierce competition and standards of marketplaces you’ll have to learn to follow.
Software Testing
If you are more tech-savvy than artsy, consider software testing. Platforms like UserTest and TestingTime pay money to check websites and apps looking for bugs.
Professional quality assurance in software development is a difficult job requiring considerable knowledge of programming. With these platforms, you can start with very simple tasks that won’t require any particular development skills.
Unfortunately, that also means you won’t get paid a lot. After some time and recommendations on testing platforms, your pay might increase, but if you really enjoy working with such things, the best route is to acquire some qualifications in software testing.
Virtual Assistant Work
Virtual assistants are people willing to do some remote, often monotonous, work for companies on a short-contract or even task basis. This can be anything from answering emails, entering data, making presentations, or even managing social media channels.
There’s plenty of virtual assistant work on popular freelancer platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, but there are also dedicated sites like Fancy Hands or Zritual. The main difference from other freelancers is that virtual assistants don’t usually have any specific qualifications.
However, if you have some skills in Excel, accounting, programming, or similar, you’ll have a much better chance of finding virtual assistant tasks. Starting as a virtual assistant may lead to a better-paid full-time role.
Monetise Your Social Media
It’s often thought that you need a large following to earn from social media. It’s true if you want to make a living from it, but you can make some extra money by promoting products in small niches. If you target good audiences, you can earn money even with little following.
The trick for monetisation is to use affiliate links and word content so that the right people are targeted by the algorithms. Of course, you’ll need to create good content, but I’m sure you do it already anyway.
The six methods covered in this article aren’t all you can do with your free time online. More opportunities will come up when we actually implement any of them. Fine-tuning existing strategies and building on what’s already working is the key to success.
—TechRound does not recommend or endorse any financial, investment or business advice. All articles are purely informational—
