We all need some extra cash, whether it’s for a few beers with friends, new shoes, or to ease that mortgage payment. While everyone needs additional income, few are eager to start a new activity in their free time. Profitable hobbies are usually perceived as tiresome or require a high level of specific skill.
Below, I have collected some great methods that are proven to help people monetize their free time and have fun doing it. Some of them are exclusively online, while others will require you to venture out into the world.
Fill Out Online Surveys
We share our opinions daily with friends, family, and coworkers. It’s so common that we do not even notice that we have them about particular topics, from politics to consumer goods. This makes the fact that you can find paid surveys for money online all the more impressive.
Companies and government organizations are paying money for people to simply share their opinions on products and services. One survey can be priced from half a dollar to a couple of bucks and take around 20-30 minutes to complete. The exact payout conditions and pricing depend on the survey site.
However, in general, you want a survey platform that uses PayPal for payouts and doesn’t have a high threshold for receiving a payment. Pawns, ySense, and Freecash are the best platforms at the moment. They all have low payouts and highly valuable surveys, but not all of them work in every country.
Become an Affiliate Marketer
Blogs, YouTube channels, social media accounts, and almost anything else can be monetized with affiliate marketing methods. Affiliate marketing is a form of sales where one who refers a customer to the end seller receives a commission. In the online space, this usually involves including a link to the seller’s website.
Each time a visitor clicks on such a link and purchases something, the affiliate marketer gets a commission. One visitor can bring only a modest income, but if you are able to build an effective channel that attracts thousands of clicks, your affiliate income may become your main one.
The easiest start is selling goods from Amazon. If you have a hobby about any topic, you can start making content about it and include Amazon links.
Each time someone purchases by following your link, you get a commission. Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to grow your channel enough to attract some large names and promote them for even larger income.
Online Tutoring
Hiring private tutors is really expensive. Good teachers with valid qualifications can cost hundreds per hour. That’s why there’s a secondary market of people who are not professionals but can still teach a thing or two.
You can become such a teacher as well and earn some income on the side. For example, Preply provides a way for anyone to become a language tutor. You don’t need to be a certified teacher. Sometimes, people will pay money just to converse with a native speaker.
If you have any other skills, like Math, programming, video editing, or anything else, you can use platforms like Varsity Tutors to sell your skills. The greatest demand is for school-taught subjects and test prep, but if you are willing to try teaching, you can make a side hustle from almost anything.
Become a City Guide
All methods I provided previously will require you to sit at home in front of a screen for quite some time. Understandably, this isn’t everyone’s ideal way to spend free time. One of the best methods to earn some extra money and spend time outside is to become a city guide.
Your possibilities depend on the city you live in, but you’d be surprised that there is a demand for a tour even in the least tourist-friendly cities. You can contact your city’s tourism information center if you want to take a more professional approach. They can provide you with a certification to become a city guide and even promote your tours.
A more casual approach is to register on platforms like TripAdvisor or Airbnb as a tour. Most tourists want a guide on the weekend, so it’s a perfect hobby for free time. More importantly, you don’t need to provide professional history lessons or fancy guides. Some tours are just a bar crawl with a local.
Sell Photographs
Websites like Getty Images, Shutterstock, or Alamy allow people to upload their original photos and sell them as stock images. These are images or photos that are licensed for a specific use case. You have likely seen such photos already. Companies and individuals use them to build websites, make social media ads, brand products, and many other uses.
You must know how to produce such photographs or images, but by no means must one be a professional to earn money from them. If your hobby is strolling around your city and taking good-quality pictures, then this is a great option to earn some extra money.
Resell Used Goods
While selling your old stuff is more about eco-friendliness and saving, money can be made on platforms like eBay, Vinted, or Etsy. I found some success there reselling things that other people don’t need. You can find clothes, shoes, various accessories, and even electronics that people are selling for very low prices.
If you win an auction or purchase them quickly, you can then resell them on a different platform and make a profit. However, you will need some free time to scroll through platforms, and, more importantly, you need to know what to look for.
Conclusion
Which of these methods to monetize your free time is best depends on how much effort you are willing to put in and how much you want to earn. Online methods are the easiest, but building your reputation as a photographer or a city guide might be more profitable in the long run. Whatever your preferences are, there are choices to consider.
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