10 proven and legitimate ways to make money online
Welcome to My Money List.
In this list, I share with you all my favourite side hustles that I have tried and have made money from.
These methods have made me tens of thousands of dollars over the years and continue to do so.
For most of them, you just need a computer, an internet connection, and some sweat equity.
Disclaimer: Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I earn some revenue at no additional cost to you when you use those links.
How much money can you really expect to make?
For most of the methods, you can expect to make between $500-$2000 a year.
However, there are a few gems on this list that could be a serious money earner, anything from $500 to $5000 a month or more.
Let’s get started.
1. Paid Surveys
If you are looking for some quick cash from home then paid surveys are a great place to start.
You can make anything between $50 to $500 a month.
Since 2019, I have been able to consistently make over $2500-$3000 a year that’s over $12000, not bad for simply answering some questions.
Interesting fact – this blog has been 100% funded through doing surveys.
Here is a list of my top survey sites that I have tried and been paid.
Swagbucks – My Favourite Survey Site
Swagbucks is one of my favorite and highest earning survey sites that I am a member of.
I have earned over $3500 from surveys from this one site alone.
You can get paid with Paypal or gift cards or even donate it to charity.
Also with Swagbucks, you can make money from cashback, competitions, watching videos, playing games, and referrals. The best thing about their referral program is that you can earn 10% of all earnings for the life of your referral.
Meaning if you introduce 10 friends to Swagbucks who makes $50 a month, you will also earn $50. Now that is what I called passive income!
They pay in USD which is a bonus for me for being an Aussie.
Click here to Join Swagbucks and start making money doing surveys
Octopus – Top Australian Survey Site
Octopus is Australia’s top-paying survey site where you can earn up to $10 per survey and sometimes more.
You can also earn up to $20 for every person you refer.
In 2022 – I made just under $600 for the year from this survey site.
Click here Join Octopus – Australia’s top and highest-paying survey site.
Respondent – Highest Paying Survey Site
Out of all the different paid survey sites that I am a member of, Respondent is by far the highest-paying one.
You can make anything from $10 to $250 a survey. The highest one that I have been paid was $130.
Their referral program is also quite lucrative as well where you can earn $20 for every referral.
Click here to join Respondent.
Other Survey Sites
Some notable mentions include Pureprofile and Prolific.
2. Blogging
Starting this blog has been a passion project and a very personal journey of mine, where I share my journey of starting from scratch at 40 to building the life of my dreams.
I would have never imagined myself being a writer, let alone becoming a blogger and making money from it.
For me, I have always struggled with my writing from my high school days to university to even my corporate life. I often felt it difficult to get my ideas onto paper.
However, for something that costs less than $10 a month to start, I thought I would give it a go.
After 4 years, I have to say it has been well worth the effort. even though it did take some time to make my first dollar.
This blog consistently generates money from referrals and affiliate commissions from various companies including Siteground and Aweber.
If you are interested in learning more about blogging, check out my guide on How to Start a Blog and Make Money.
3. Freelancing
Freelancing is a great way to make some decent money on the side if you have some kind of skill.
This has been a lifesaver for me, it has helped me bootstrap my online businesses and keep me afloat.
I regularly get jobs earning me between $1000-$3000 per project. I now also make over $1000 a month with my recurring revenue streams from affiliate programs and my own service.
For me, freelancing has been a crazy journey.
It all started with a friend asking me if I could build a website. Which led to another client and another and another and so on.
And would you believe it? When I first started, I did this with nothing more than a Gmail account, Paypal, and Zoom. That’s right a web developer without a website or a business email account.
*It was only recently (2022) that I actually built a site for my freelance business.
Don’t be afraid to get out there and sell your talents.
To get your first clients, I highly recommend tapping into your own network and then grow from there. You can also try finding jobs on various online marketplaces as well, which I discuss below.
💡Tip: If you are going to blog and build a freelance website, I highly recommend getting a WordPress Hosting Plan that allows you to have more than one site, as it’s usually just a few dollars more like the Siteground – Grow Big Plan.
Click here to learn How to Start a Freelancing Business from home. I also share with you all the highs and lows that come with owning a freelancing business.
4. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is starting to become one of my favourite ways to make money online.
Affiliate Marketing is basically about recommending products, services, and courses that you love to your audience. And if they buy, you earn a commission.
It really is a win-win situation for everyone.
The best thing about affiliate marketing is you don’t have to create, support or service the end product. All you have to do is promote it.
I regularly earn commissions between $10 to $100 a sale.
There are many different ways you could promote offers, like start a blog, a Youtube channel, paid ads, and even through your social media profile.
Some of my favourite affiliate companies that I have earnt $1000s in commission are Shareasale.com and Amazon Associate Program.
As well there are a few companies out there that pay recurring commissions every month like Aweber and LeadPages.
For me, the best thing is waking up every morning and seeing an email telling me that you have just earnt another commission. (Reminds me of the movie, “You Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan!)
That is what call Making money in my sleep.
If you want to learn about How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing.
5. Gig Economy
The Gig Economy is another great way to make money from home.
It is very similar to Freelancing except instead of finding your own clients, platforms like Fiverr, Upwork and PeoplePerHour provide a marketplace for you to connect to your prospects.
You can find gigs paying you between $5-$3000 depending on what you specialize in.
Like
- Graphics Design
- Digital Marketing
- Programming
- Writing & Translation
- Video & Animation
- Audio
and many more.
My favourite Gig Economy platform has to be Fiverr, as the customers come to you versus you having to constantly bid for gigs.
6. MicroTasking / Crowd Sourcing
MicroTasking or Crowd Sourcing is my latest side hustle that I recently stumbled upon.
Basically, your job is to complete small tasks that’s pays you between $0.02-$0.50 per task.
Now that may not sound much, but each task only takes very little time to complete from 30 seconds to 120 seconds.
If you put in some decent hours, you can earn up to $10-$15 USD an hour.
Type of tasks include
- basic proof reading
- content moderation
- url searchers
- checking images
There are various companies that you can join, the one I currently sign up for is Clickworker.
I am currently making around $100-$300 a week. This is still very new to me, but so far it is turning out to be a very good side hustle.
The best thing is, it is on-demand, where I can work on tasks at any time I want.
7. Cashback
You can also make some extra money from shopping! Through cashback sites like Rakuten.
Though I don’t really earn much from this, especially being a minimalist.
But when I do make purchases online, I get between 1%-5% cashback on the order.
Some good cashback sites are Rakuten ($30 bonus) and Swagbucks ($5 bonus).
If you live in Australia Cashrewards ($10 bonus) and Shopback ($10 bonus) are great too.
8. Grocery Receipt Apps
Another way to make some extra money online is through grocery receipt apps.
Though it is not really a big earner, I probably make one or two $100 from them a year.
I currently earn money from Receipt Jar ( Use code NORMANT1 to get free $2) and Home Nielsen Scan.
8. Reselling Stuff
Another way I make money online is through reselling things online through marketplaces like Ebay, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree.
Again, this is not really big on my list, as this involves a bit more manual labour of having to find and source products.
Though I have friends who make between $500-$3000 a month through this method.
For me, occasionally I find valuable things where people have thrown out their TVs, furniture and electronics in which they have dumped them in the garbage room in my apartment. So I simply pick it up, clean them up, and list it on Gumtree. If it sells, great if not I just put it back in the trash pile.
One of my biggest win was a Dyson Vacuum cleaner in good working order, gave it a wipe, picked it up and sold it for $150 on Gumtree.
Bazinga! Who doesn’t like free money?
9. Get Paid To Sites
Get Paid to or GPT are websites that allow you to earn through doing surveys, playing games, watching videos, doing quizzes, shopping online and referrals.
GPT sites are like a combination of survey and cashback websites.
I have earnt over $2000 with Get Paid to Websites. My top earning GPT are Swagbucks, PrizeRebel and RewardsXP
10. Gaming
Lastly, did you know you can make money playing games!
I thought I include this for the people who enjoy playing games like myself.
This is what I do during my relaxation time plus I wanted to see if this was true.
Yes, I have made a few 100 dollars through playing games like Star Trek Discovery, Mafia city, and a few others.
Snack money.
The best site for this is Swagbucks.
Wrap up
As you can see there are many legitimate ways to make money online these days.
If you have not done so already, I highly recommend subscribing to my email list as I continue to find new and exciting ways to make money online.
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