You already have a nine-to-five job. So I had. But in today's economy, it's not always easy to pay the bills. Or to find the extra money for a much-needed vacation, to travel, afford things you want the most, or simply support your loved ones. That's when you start thinking about the quickest ways to make money online.
When it comes to this topic, everyone seems to have a different opinion. Lots of people will tell you how they have managed to make a few extra dollars. But do their ideas really work? Probably not.
Here are some ways to get money fast that are guaranteed to pad your paycheck and help you thrive financially.
1. Start your own blog
This has to be one of the absolute oldest ways to get money quickly online. It seems as if people have been running blogs ever since the Internet became a widespread sensation. It's time you capitalized on that as well!
Here's the trick. Start your own blog by focusing on a certain niche. For example, you can choose gardening, cooking, cars, books, or whatever topic you feel you could produce the most content on. This niche will be narrow enough to give you a very loyal base of followers but also large enough so that you can have sufficient topics to write about.
Place ads and sponsored posts on your blog to make money from sponsors! And once you have a blog with visitors, you will never worry about monetization.
2. Ways to get money fast - start a YouTube channel
If so many millions of other people can make lots of money from YouTube, you can definitely do that as well. Did you know that a 7-year-old child called Ryan makes no less than $22 million every year by reviewing toys on his channel?
Just like with a personal blog, if you want to know the quickest ways to make money online, you will have to find yourself a niche on YouTube as well. Use keywords that have been specifically optimized to work on YouTube’s search.
Keep in mind that you will also need to reach the 1000 subscriber requirement to start monetizing your channel.
3. Are you ready to become an influencer?
Who isn't? If your social media game is strong, if you like to spend most of your time on Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter, and if you like to take lots of selfies, then you have what it takes to become the next big influencer.
This is one of the simplest ways to get money fast online, plus sponsorship deals, free products, gym memberships, and fully paid travels.
The key is to have a massive following. The most convenient platforms are Instagram and YouTube. You can charge as much as you want for sponsored posts, you can use affiliate links, sell products, as well as your own photos.
4. Use affiliate marketing to make money
What is the fastest way to make money online? Affiliate marketing. This is also one of the quickest ways to make money without working actively for it. The reason why affiliate marketing has grown in popularity over the years is that most brands offer affiliate programs.
This means that, if you are an influencer, if you have a YouTube channel, a blog, or a website, you can easily work with or promote any brand you want from Amazon to Apple to SquareSpace, most makeup brands, and Uber.
The commissions for each affiliate link may look small in the beginning, but you can easily affiliate with lots of different brands and make more money out of a single post. Affiliate marketing has eased loads of stress of people who have successful blogs but no products to sell.
5. Start an online course
If you are an expert on any topic, why not make money using your knowledge? Monetize what you know and create an online course!
Still, if you are a beginner and want to use this idea, you can try selling your course using Udemy. However, if you already have a strong social media presence and your audience knows you, share your online course on your own website, blog, or Instagram account.
Depending on how big your audience is, how good the online course you've created is, and how attractive the presentation is, you could easily earn as much as $5000 per month based on one single online course.
6. Write an ebook and publish it online to make money
If online courses are simply not your deal, you can always try your hand at writing an ebook. Publishing books has become one of the simplest things ever in the modern world, thanks to Amazon KDP.
However, I need to tell you that you will have to put in some work. Even though it's one of the ways to get money quickly, you will have to write, format, publish and promote your ebook.
Here's a trick. If you don't want to do all those things, you can easily hire a freelancer to do them for you. You can market your ebook and start making money!
7. Work as a TikTok consultant using your phone
Yes, this is an actual job and it's one of the quickest ways to make money online. Not only that, but it's very trendy and modern. Plus, seeing as TikTok is a new app, the market is quite uncovered for the time being.
As a result, brands are now looking for talented consultants who can help come up with ideas to aid their businesses to get more awareness as well as marketing on this app.
Before you turn to this job you will need to know how to make viral videos. So, get started on that!
8. Do you know about the secret Disney vault?
If not, let me tell you about it because it's one of the simplest ways to get money quickly. Disney has a policy of restricting the release of some of its classic movies. As a result, it locks them in its vault for approximately 10 years before releasing them for a very short time.
If you buy the movies during this window for a normal price, you can then turn a very nice profit when they will not be available for sale for the next decade.
For example, the normal retail price for a Blu Ray 3D of Beauty and the Beast is just $24.99. However, when Disney releases it out of its vault, it costs a whopping $74.99!
9. Start a job as a clickworker
If you have a few minutes or even hours to spend, you can learn some ways to get money fast using Clickworker.com. This is the concept that revolves around Internet crowd-sourcing.
In other words, businesses put out different jobs they need to be completed in a very short time or maybe even within a day, such as data entry, form filling, or web research.
The best part about this is that it involves very simple tasks which you can complete almost instantly for a few extra dollars right from the comfort of your couch.
10. Sign up for a gig on Fiverr
I personally love Fiverr. It’s one of the simplest ways to make money online because it allows you to advertise small services. Within this community, they are known as gigs, which other people pay you for.
On this website, you can offer anything you feel comfortable with, including freelancing, teaching, singing, clips, playing pranks, and everything in between. The catch here is that you will get a default price of $5. This is where the name of the website comes from.
Try to spend as little time as you can on each gig, to maximize your income!
11. Review new musicians for money
What is the fastest way to make money? If you like music and have even the slightest knowledge about musicians, you can put it to good use and make a few extra dollars out of it.
There is a website called Slicethepie.com that allows you to review unsigned artists and bands and get paid for it. Of course, you will have to build a reputation first. However, once you do you can earn as much as $40 per month. Even if it doesn't sound that much it's still good money for doing a very small and easy job!
12. Quickest ways to make money - sell your notes
I have two websites for you that you can use – Stuvia and Nexus Notes allow you to load and list your notes for the benefit of other students. Name your price and when other people download the notes you have uploaded, you will get money. It's a very easy and fast way to make some extra cash without actually doing any work.
However, you do need to know that both these websites will charge you a fee. Plus, you will be asked to upload your notes in the form of a PDF, which means they cannot be handwritten.
13. Become an online private tutor
This is another way you can generate income by using your knowledge, your education, and pretty much anything you consider yourself to be the best at. Most private online tutors earn a minimum of $10 an hour.
The best part of this easy way of making money online is that you do not have to be qualified. Especially when you are tutoring very young students or even A-level ones. Depending on your qualifications and knowledge, you can tutor students in a foreign language, computer skills, social studies, and more.
All you need is a well-performing laptop, a good Internet connection, and a well-designed course platform for your chosen topic.
14. Do you have an interesting life?
Do you remember that episode on Seinfeld where Kramer sells his most interesting life stories to Elaine's boss to be used in his fake autobiography? This is something that people are actually doing more and more in real life. For money, of course.
For example, one student had a difficult encounter with a pigeon who flew right through their car window and smashed it. They quickly sold the story to a publication called The Sun, which gave them no less than $50.
If you believe you have similar interesting stories, you can sell them to different online publications, or even to interested individuals who will put them in their books and claim them as their own. All for money!
15. Ways to get money fast - watch videos
I've already covered how to start a YouTube channel. However, if that sounds like a lot of difficult work, you can always sit back, watch a bunch of videos and make money out of that.
The most popular websites you can use if you like this concept are Survey Junkie and Swagbucks. They will pay you if you agree to watch different videos and advertisements which they hope will go viral as a result of thousands of clicks. This is a super easy way to make money online that involves minimal effort on your side!
16. Sell your photos online
If your passion or hobby is photography, you can always make some money off of that. There are plenty of stock photo companies out there who are more than glad to pay you for the photos you take either with a professional camera or with your phone.
Another way you can monetize photography is by advertising your skills using Facebook groups in your hometown. In this way, you could get gigs such as weddings, birthdays or proms. Start by learning as much about photography as you can before heading into this venture.
17. Narrate audiobooks for extra cash
One of the quickest ways to make money online is to become an audiobook narrator. If you have a soothing voice, great diction, and can bring the dialogue to life in a unique way, this is definitely a perfect gig for you.
The audiobook industry is growing every year since more and more people tend to choose to listen to most of their favorite books rather than reading them. Therefore, this is something you can easily lean into especially if you have the skills for it.
Keep in mind you will need a very good microphone for this job as well as recording software!
18. Sell handcrafted goods on Etsy
This job is perfect for people who specialize in handmade goods. Etsy is a gigantic platform that will allow you to sell the goods you make. This can include anything from handmade jewelry to smartphone cases to customized T-shirts and toys for children.
All you need to do is create an online presence that will allow your audience to get to know you and the goods you make. Once you make sure that customers actually have a demand for your handmade crafts, it's time to start making money online based on your skills.
Remember you need to stand out and create unique products that will meet your buyers’ needs!
19. Become an online travel consultant
I'm pretty sure that, just like me, you have already traveled to very beautiful places around the planet and are more than eager to share your experiences with the rest of the world. But why not make some money out of it?
One of the most beautiful ways to get money fast is to become an online travel consultant. This means you will be able to help people organize their own travel plans. You can plan flights and create itineraries for them. In time, it can turn into an actual source of full-time revenue if you become good enough at this job.
20. Start taking online surveys
This idea is one of the quickest ways to make money online, but it's not one that will make you money constantly. However, the reason I chose it for this list is the fact that it guarantees you a few extra dollars in the pocket without you having to learn an entirely new skill. Plus, you can earn not only money but also coupons, gift cards, and prizes.
21. Use your skills to manage social media accounts
If your own social media accounts are thriving, use the knowledge and skills you have learned to convince other people to allow you to manage their accounts in exchange for a fee. You will be surprised at how many people actually will request this service from you.
Most people spent all their time on social media and are extremely active, but don't exactly know how to build up their accounts in order to profit as much as possible from them. This is where you come in. Make sure you monetize off of those skills!
What are your thoughts?
We made it all the way down to the bottom of the list. As you can see, the quickest ways to make money online vary from watching a few YouTube videos or filling out a handful of forms just to make some extra cash to spend on a night out with friends to actual ideas that could turn into potential long-time careers for you.
What does this mean? That these ways to get money quickly online depend on you as well as your dedication to a concept or idea. It all depends on how much money you want to make and what your plans for the future are!