80 Easy Online Business Ideas You Can Start Now

To help you begin the process of starting your own online business and gaining the flexibility and freedom that comes with it, we've compiled this list of the best online small business ideas.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more information.

Wondering how to make extra money online? Check out our list of online business ideas for beginners to make money fast and earn a living online.

Let 2024 be the year that you finally create an online business. According to SmallBizTrends, 69% of U.S. entrepreneurs start their businesses at home and work from home.

It’s no wonder why Millennials seem to love online businesses. In fact, 44% of workers aged 25-34 and 39% aged 18-24 also have side gigs, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey of 3,244 people. Almost half of Millennials work on top of their full-time jobs!

You've probably considered starting one every year. But what online business idea should you pursue? To help you get the ball rolling, I’m going to lay out some easy online business ideas.

Read through the business ideas, see which you connect with, and start doing your research. Then get started with one to earn money online, it’s that simple!

Online Easy Business Ideas for Beginners

Check out the list below of ways to earn a living online or be able to work for yourself with a 9-5 online job. Many of them you can do from home in order to make money online fast.

You won't find any better options than this list of 80 unique online business ideas for beginners. Ready to get started?

Catering Business

This is one of the easiest best work from home business to get into since a majority of the event managers are understaffed.

You can also easily accommodate a catering gig into your schedule, as parties are generally held during the weekends and during the holiday season.

Baby-Sitting Business

According to UrbanSitter, babysitters are known to make $15.71 per hour.

It is a good idea to babysit for family and friends as a beginning. You will be able to gauge if you have the required patience and aptitude to deal with kids.

Also, trust is an extremely important factors for parents while hiring for babysitters. By starting off with your friends-family circle, you will be able to earn reference & experience letters which will give a huge credibility boost for your profile.

Related: Best Business Ideas for Women

Handyman Service Business

A handyman is someone who is skilled in tackling “fix-up tasks” like repairs and maintenance work.

Handyman work includes gardening, plumbing ,electric and mechanical repairs, etc.

Apart from making a few extra bucks, you also save on taxes.

Fun fact: The Penny Hoarder recently covered a story on a self employed handyman who earns $30,000 a week!

Related: Best Business Ideas for Men

Medical Studies Gig

Being a human guinea pig is not a bad idea after all, especially if you can earn upto $15,000 per project (Some clinical trials do shell out that kind of cash!)

Research and clinical trials test the effect of drugs and medicines to determine their efficiency.

While the money may look lucrative, one must do a thorough research before nominating himself/herself for a study regarding the safety measures and side effects.

Event Anchor Job

This is one of the ways to make money on the side with a full time job. If you were a regular participant in anchoring/hosting events it can serve as an opportunity to put your speaking skills to use.

To start off, you can register yourself with your local event management agencies and put the word out on social media.

Brand Ambassador Gigs

This is suited to students with people, sales and marketing skills.

Brand ambassador is an incentive based program, where students are paid to promote a particular brand on campus.

Tasks can range from wearing company merchandise, getting registrations or social media promotions.

  • Campus ambassador opportunities are posted on job and internship sites like LinkedIn and Indeed.com

Hosting a Meetup

Organizing meetups are a great of meeting new people and earning money on the side.

The task is simple: Create a community of like-minded people on Meetup and charge them a membership fee for each community event. You can also start workshops, share expert knowledge, give others value, and charge for tickets.

Another way to make money by hosting meetups is by promoting your business on the platform. You can sell your services, like catering or ice-breaking activities to other meetup groups.

Meetup makes starting, running, and organizing groups and events easy. The Meetup platform provides “Organizers” with the tools they need and access to millions of people actively looking for events and activities for a 1-month or 6-month organizer subscription fee.

Investing in Websites

We had an interview with a man who makes his money by investing in websites using Flippa. Here's a snippet from the interview when we asked him “How can you make money investing in websites rather than build your own?”

“Why not save the initial capital investment, and just build your own from scratch? One word: Time. Our most valuable resource, which many of us seemingly don’t show it the respect it deserves.

Skip the dull process of waiting months to earn your first dollar building up a website from scratch. Throw yourself in the deep end, lay down an initial investment, show your commitment to the journey, and watch the learning curve reduce exponentially.”

Our Pick
Flippa

Flippa is a global online marketplace where individuals and business owners buy and sell websites, online businesses and other digital real estate.

Visit Flippa

Moving Service Business

How to make money you're wondering? Well starting a moving service in a college town is really cheap and really easy. All you have to do is find a couple buddies that want to start a moving service with you. Then make some fliers and hand them out. Post on a few local social media pages. Go knock on your neighbor’s door.

All college students must move at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. Most of the time it is from dorm to dorm, dorm to apartment or apartment to apartment. Due to this, you only have to move things a short distance. I.e. fewer costs and fewer chances of damaging items.

Start-up costs are very low. You can go to Walmart and get moving boxes for about $1 a piece. Most colleges allow you to print a few hundred pages a semester for free. Design your own fliers and print them at the computer lab.

For less than $20 you can land your first client! Trust me, parents don’t like to move their kids. It is a lot of work and regular moving companies can be quite expensive. Don’t over charge and you can move A LOT of people each fall and spring.

Event Organizer/Promoter Business

Do you love the social scene at your school? Why not take advantage of it? You can work with local groups and organizations to schedule and promote events. There are always going to be local bands, groups, bars, etc that want to get their name out there. If you enjoy being part of the social scene then this can be a great option for you. It will also help you build skills, like marketing, for future jobs and/or side hustles.

Earn Money as an Airbnb Host

Like Uber did for Taxis before it, Airbnb is fast revolutionizing the holiday and travel accommodation industry, and you’re set to profit from it!

It is an online marketplace for people with space, rooms, or even entire houses to spare, Airbnb lets you list your place for rent just like a hotel or motel.

Maybe you’re traveling overseas yourself and want to make the most of your empty place while you’re away? Perhaps you have a spare room that currently houses nothing more than empty boxes? With Airbnb, you can turn to fill that empty space in your home, and fill that empty spot in your wallet with more than a little spare change.

Freelancing Gigs

Freelancing is how I first started making money on the side. It was my go to side hustle. Freelancing can be a wide array of things:

  • You can build websites.
  • Manage social media accounts.
  • Design logos.
  • Write articles.
  • Create videos for business.
  • Translating and much more!

There are a ton of great websites that making freelancing extremely easy. They help you get your services out there and help you find clients.My personal favorite site is Fiverr. I have built many websites for clients using Fiverr. You are able to list a ton of different services, such as the ones listed above. You can offer your services for as little as $5 and up to thousands of dollars. The more you sell and the more reviews you get the higher the level seller you become. The higher your level the more options you have when listing your services.

Other great sites are Freelancer and Upwork. Both of these sites are great for both Freelancers and people looking for freelancers. Check out one of these sites and start making money on the internet!

Write an e-Book

The digital revolution has arrived, and with it the ability to self-publish your own book.

Sure, we all lament the loss of the physical book, but Amazon’s Kindle book store makes it easy for just about anyone to publish their very own e-Book. Whether it’s a work of fiction, nonfiction, or science fiction. Maybe even just a helpful guide on a topic you’re familiar with?

With Amazon’s Direct Publishing platform, you no longer need a publisher. Simply get yourself up to speed on the process, write something unique on an interesting topic, throw an enticing cover on the front and hit Publish.

With the power of one of the world’s largest online retailers behind you, there’s no reason why you can’t succeed!

Search The Web

You already browse the web, right? So why not get paid to do so! In fact, this is one of the easiest ways to make a dime online.

Simply install the Qmee browser add-on, and you’re set!

When you search online, you’ll notice the odd sponsored result featured alongside regular search results. Each of these will offer a cash reward that you simply have to click to collect.

Told you it was easy to make money from home without any investment!

MTurk Worker

Sites like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and Clickworker take mindless clicking and incentivize it with, you guessed it, cold hard cash. It's a great way to earn cash by working from home.

These sites work like any other crowd-sourcing site, only instead of raising funds they ask you to take up jobs from businesses in need of a whole lot of people to complete a task, and quick!

Sure, the tasks aren’t all that glamorous. But if you’re happy to enter some data, fill in a few forms, or carry out web searches, there’s good money to be made for the work you do.

Rate Music for Money

Money, money, money…must be funny…or sad, or serious, or just plain bad.

ABBA puns aside, if you enjoy talking about music as you do listening to it, then there’s a place out there that’s willing to pay you for them.

SliceThePie is the name and paying you to review unsigned bands or live acts is their game. The more reviews you leave, the higher your reputation will grow, and the more money you’ll stand to make. You’ll have more than $20 in your pocket in no time.

Search Engines Gigs

When you google make money from home, you probably won't find this option. The self-proclaimed king of the internet, Google, can now be found on almost every device whether it’s a PC or a phone. This is why Microsoft is now offering you the big bucks – relatively speaking – to use their own search engine: Bing.

How does it work? Simply ditch Google, sign up to BingRewards, and earn as much as $5-$10 every month as you search which can then be cashed in for gift cards for big sites like Amazon.

Tech Services Business

Are you the tech expert in the family? People always bugging you to help them ‘Fix their computer’ or ‘Check their emails’? With Experts Exchange, you can finally get paid for all that unpaid labor you’ve been providing over the years!

Covering anything from software to hardware, you simply help resolve users’ technical issues and get paid in the process.

Stay at Home Salesperson

Like a door-to-door salesperson only with far less leg-work, hosting sales “parties” at your home on behalf of the likes of Avon and Pampered Chef is a great way to meet new people and make some money.

Rent Your Parking Space

Many houses, rentals, or other accommodation include a garage, driveway, or some form of a parking space. If you’re not making use of it at the moment, chances are there’s someone who could.

Better still, they’ll pay you for the privilege.

Just Park lets you ‘let’ your parking space to busy people who are tired of paying through the nose for daily parking. The busier your area, the more you’re likely to make.

Become a YouTube sensation

Print is far from dead, but to say video is on the rise would be an understatement!

While becoming an overnight sensation may be a *little* out of your reach, YouTube’s Partner Program now lets you make a profit from videos you make and upload depending on the number of views they receive.

So get that camera out and start shooting. Be original, find a unique angle, and make videos that people want to watch and the views – and funds – will follow.

Claim Bank Bonuses

One quick to earn money fast is through bank bonuses. Bank bonuses are a lump sum of cash that banks offer to entice new customers into joining or signing up for accounts.

To earn a cash bonus, you may have to:

  • Make a minimum initial deposit
  • Keep the account open for a minimum period of time
  • Complete a minimum amount of direct deposits each month
  • Maintain a minimum balance
  • Make a certain number of purchases with the debit card tied to the account

Here are some of our favorite bank account bonuses:

Best for checking
Best for savings
Best for business
Chase Total Checking® (Nationwide)
SoFi Checking & Savings (Nationwide)
Chase Business Complete Checking® (Nationwide)
  • Bonus Offer: $300
  • Minimum Deposit: $500
  • Direct Deposit: Yes
  • Expiration Date: 1/22/25
  • Bonus Offer: $325
  • Minimum Deposit: $1,000-$5,000
  • Direct Deposit: Yes
  • Expiration Date: 12/31/24
  • Bank Bonus: $300
  • Minimum Deposit: $2,000
  • Direct Deposit: No
  • Expiration Date: 1/16/25
Best for checking
Chase Total Checking® (Nationwide)
  • Bonus Offer: $300
  • Minimum Deposit: $500
  • Direct Deposit: Yes
  • Expiration Date: 1/22/25
Best for savings
SoFi Checking & Savings (Nationwide)
  • Bonus Offer: $325
  • Minimum Deposit: $1,000-$5,000
  • Direct Deposit: Yes
  • Expiration Date: 12/31/24
Best for business
Chase Business Complete Checking® (Nationwide)
  • Bank Bonus: $300
  • Minimum Deposit: $2,000
  • Direct Deposit: No
  • Expiration Date: 1/16/25

Become an At-Home Customer Service Rep

We know outsourcing is all the rage these days, which is why businesses are eager to get you involved in their customer service operation.

Outsourcing companies like Alpine Access and Working Solutions both specialize in this field, offering work to part-time or, better still, home-based workers.

Oh hey, that’s you!

Review Software in your Spare Time

If you get the ins and outs of software and software development, then this opportunity may interest you.

The guys over at SoftwareJudge need you!

In exchange for your diligent, well-written review of their software, they’ll reward you with cold hard cash. The more reviews you write, and the more trusted you are? The more reviews you’ll land, and the more money you’ll make.

Mock Juror Gigs

Lawyers and legal representatives often use online mock trials to test out their case, work through the process, and gauge the reaction of an actual jury before they do it for real. Think of it like a wedding rehearsal dinner, only the people in suits here are far less likely to end up drunk by the end of the night…

Anyways, these mock trials need mock jurors, which is where you come in. If you’re interested in sitting in virtual court and earning a bit as you do, simply sign up at eJury.com.

Getting Paid to Shop

Ibotta pays you for going shopping.

No, really, it does!

The app presents you with a list of offers currently available on a wide range of products, from food to drinks all the way through to cleaning products. Here’s how it works:

  1. Look for a product you were planning on buying, and click on it.
  2. Earn extra money back by completing the extra tasks attached to the item, like taking a poll or sharing the item on Facebook.
  3. Select a participating store that you’re buying the item from.
  4. Upload a picture of your receipt.
  5. That’s it! Simply sit back and wait for the cash to show up in your PayPal.

Affiliate Marketing Business

Affiliate marketing isn’t unlike drop shipping. But where the latter has customers buying items through your storefront or through click funnels, the former simply redirects people to online stores like Amazon via your own link.

If they buy something by following your personal link? Then you earn a cut of the sale.

That’s how affiliate marketing works.

You don’t need a website from the likes of WordPress or SquareSpace, either. You can sign up as an affiliate and share that link via social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, too.

The more people that see your link, the more likely you are to land a sale.

Interested? Sign up to the MaxBounty network, or join some of your favourite online retailers like Amazon or Green Man Gaming as an affiliate. In fact, check most every site you usually buy from online: chances are they’ll have an affiliate program that you could become a part of.

Etsy Business

Some of us couldn’t draw a stick figure to save their lives (guilty as charged!), but if you can wield a pen, paintbrush, or knitting needle like a weapon then chances are you could turn your hobbies into a real moneymaker.

This is nothing new. Arts and crafts have always found a place at local markets. Only now you have access to not just your local community, but the entire world!

This process couldn’t be easier. Just sign up to sites like EtsyRedBubble, or DeviantArt, create your own online storefront, and start listing your creations.

From here? Get the word out there via Twitter, Facebook, and other niche communities that might be interested in what you make, and start getting paid for the time you probably already put into a hobby that you love.

Open an E-commerce Store

Over the past few years some of my friends have quit their full-time jobs – one as a software developer and the other as a marketing manager – to focus on building eCommerce stores. Both started their stores while still working, and only made the leap after scaling the store to a full-time income.

It doesn’t take a full-time commitment to start an online store, though. You can start a 14-day free trial with Shopify to get started. Shopify is the titan in the eCommerce growth, Shopify is the best eCommerce growth platform that has everything you need to sell online, on social media, or in person.

Claim Money with Nielsen

This is an easy way to make money from home. By using the internet as you do every day, Nielsen invites you to make a difference – and you can make money too. You don’t even have to do anything other than registering your computer or phone.

Nielsen will pay you $50 a year to keep their app on your favorite internet browsing device and they also give away $10,000 each month. So you can possibly make more than $50 for no effort at all.

Get $60 for installing app
Nielsen Mobile Panel
5.0

This company will pay you $60 a year to keep their app on your favorite internet browsing device and they also give away $10,000 each month. You don’t have to do anything other than initially registering your computer or phone.

Join Nielsen Panel Nielsen Review

Get Paid to Lose Weight

HealthyWage offers people the opportunity to earn cash for losing weight. Earn cash for losing weight? Sounds too good to be true, but Healthywage's mission is to help people lose weight by offering cash prizes to make weight loss more fun and effective.

You start by using the free calculator to find out how much you can win for hitting your weight loss goals. Once you determine your goal, you can sign up and start your HealthyWager.

If you hit your goal, you win the cash prize! Weight verification is done simply (from your own home!) through the HealthyWage app and payouts are handled quickly and efficiently through check or free Paypal money.

Ready to get started? Enter your information in the HealthyWage Prize Calculator to find out how much you can win!

HealthyWage

HealthyWage is a program for people who want to start dieting in a way that is fun, competitive, and potentially rewarding. As a member, you and your friends, family, and coworkers can bet against yourselves and potentially walk away with hundreds or even thousands of dollars in your pocket.

See Prize Calculator →

Start a Website or Blog and Make Money

If you are looking for ways to make extra money online then you probably already know about blogging. But do you have one yet? And do you really know how much potential there is to make money with blogging?

The best part? Starting a blog is easy. You can get the initial setup done in under 20 minutes.

If you don't have time right now to set up your blog, you can sign up for my how to start a blog email course. It'll teach you how to start your own profitable blog and generate passive income within the first 30 days.

Sign up here for the free email online course:

Get Paid for Market Research Panels

Taking online surveys to make extra money is a no-brainer!

You definitely won’t get rich or make hundreds of dollars per day with survey alone, but you won’t waste much time, and you can make some money the easy way. Here is my favorite (and highest paying) survey site:

Survey Junkie: This is a free survey app for your phone that pays you to take online surveys, participate in focus groups, and try new products. And, I really mean free all around – free to join and they don’t charge anything to be a member (they will actually pay you in cash via PayPal). You can get a free registration bonus for free when you join through this link.

$1.6M+ monthly payout to its members
Survey Junkie
4.5
Over $55,000 Paid to Survey Junkie members daily

Survey Junkie is one of the highest-paying survey sites available. Complete three or more surveys a day, and you can earn as much as $100 monthly. With $76 Million paid out to date, Survey Junkie is one of the best survey sites available.

Start Earning Survey Junkie Review

Join Rewards Sites Like Swagbucks

Swagbucks is another great survey site to make some extra money in your free time. As a new member, you can earn up to $35 per survey! They are known for giving out fun, top-paying surveys. And you can also get paid to play games and watch TV!

It’s similar to Survey Junkie, but there are also a few other ways you can earn money as a member (including a $10 bonus just for signing up).

Earn around $50 to $1,000 per year
Swagbucks
5.0
$10 welcome bonus

Swagbucks offers a variety of ways to earn money online. You can take surveys, play games, surf the web, watch videos and more to earn points towards gift cards or cash.

Start Earning Swagbucks Review

Stay At Home Mom/Work From Home

Have you considered being a stay at home mom? Then you can join the Moms Business Network that matches stay-at-home moms with the best home based businesses. This is a great job opportunity for mothers or those looking to work from home.

They get it. Why work hourly and generate income for someone else when you can start your own business and build your own team? It's super simple to sign up with just your name and email address and watch the job offers pile in!

This one of the best unique online business ideas we've found since they do all the hard work for you (finding gigs that pay).

Watch Videos Online

All you need to do is watch videos. Given how easy it is to lose yourself in a never-ending cycle of YouTube videos, this one couldn’t be easier. The catch here? The videos include ads. While they may annoy you while browsing YouTube, you also don’t get paid to watch them. At InboxDollars, you do. Who wouldn’t watch an ad or two if they were getting paid?

Make Money Investing in Real Estate

Fundrise allows individuals to invest in commercial real estate online through an eREIT (Real Estate Investment Trust). Their crowdfunding model sets them apart from a traditional REIT allowing the average investor to participate in deals for as little as $10.

The interesting thing about Fundrise is that it lets investors buy into private commercial and residential properties by pooling their assets through an investment platform. Since the eREIT is sold directly to investors cutting out middle-men, they can have fees lower than 90% of the competition.

Fundrise
5.0

Make your money work for you with Fundrise! Start real estate investing with just $10—no need for big bucks to get in. Fundrise gives you access to funds built to grow your money steadily. It’s easy, affordable, and designed for your goals. Want to let your cash hustle for you? Fundrise has you covered.

Learn More
We earn a commission for this endorsement of Fundrise.

Download ‘Real Money' Apps

Ready to win some cash? This next idea is super easy…

Whether you're a glued-to-your-phone owner who is looking for a way to make extra cash, or just looking for a fun side hustle, I've got you covered.

I have personally done a ton of research on these types of game apps.

Here are some legitimate game apps that pay real money:

  • Bingo Cash: A free, skill-based game with classic bingo elements that offer opportunities to compete against other players for real money in cash tournaments
  • Solitaire Cash: A game that pays you real money for winning at Solitaire when you play in cash tournaments against other players
  • Mistplay: Pays you to play mobile games and discover new games (for Android devices only)

Other legitimate game apps that pay real money include: Blackout Bingo, Bubble Cash, Solitaire Cube, and Money Well. You can see the full list of these sorts of apps here.

Collect $10 from Rakuten

If you wanted to make extra money from home legitimately then you gotta download this free app. You get cash-back for items you would have bought anyway. You can do this by shopping online with Rakuten.

Rakuten is my favorite way to make money when I shop online and right now they are offering $10 sign up bonus through this link. Every time I shop online, I start at Rakuten and then I get cash back deposited into my PayPal account. Hello, free money!

Teach English Online

Still wondering, how to make extra money from home? Well, have you considered teaching English online (pick your own hours too)? All that is required is that you are fluent in English, have a bachelor's degree, and have some tutoring experience. This a great way to earn money from home and already 30,000+ use VIPKID to teach English from home.

You'll make $12-$22 an hour, and Forbes ranked this company #1 on it's 2017 “Top 100 Places Work From Home Companies” Since this is a legitimate way to make extra money, the application process pretty detailed.

With an opportunity to make $650 a month, just from one hour out of your day, may be worth looking it. You can learn more about teaching English online on VIPKID's website.

Rent Out Your Car

Did you know that you can rent out your car when you're not using it? And that you can bring in a lot of extra cash in your wallet by doing so?

Do you plan on heading on a vacation soon while your car sits unused at your home? Do you sometimes not use your car on the weekends?  If so, renting out your car while you're not using it could be an easy way to make passive income. A well-known company, Turo, which has signed up nearly 5 million users to its website, according to Bloomberg, lets you do just that.

It's also really simple to do (and free). Listing your car is quick and easy and takes less than 10 minutes to set up. According to a recent Turo review, somebody listed their car for 5 days every month and made $3,496 in a year. Sounds pretty good to me. Oh, and they also protect your car against physical damage, so you're fully covered.

Teaching Online Courses

If you can market or identify yourself as a developer, designer, or online marketer, then chances are you can teach a course to others and get paid. You can test this side hustle by heading on to Udemy or Skillshare, where you can market your skills. As you build your brand and become more successful, I would recommend teaching for higher-visibility online platforms like CreativeLive.

AppAt a glancedownload
udemyUdemy
★★★★★
Join over 24 Million students from around the world already learning on Udemy! Get lifetime access with a few clicks because your goals are worth it.
VISIT UDEMY
creativeliveCreativeLive
★★★★
Master your craft, your passion, or something new with creative classes taught by the world’s best.
START FOR FREE
skillshareSkillshare
★★★★★
Explore your creativity with classes in illustration, photography, design, and more.
START FOR FREE

You can also create an online course that you host yourself on an online course building platform and fully control.

Podcasting

If you can build an audience for your podcast, then you can make some money through sponsorships, affiliate advertising, and other offerings. Companies regularly pay $250 to $500 for a 30-second advertisement on podcasts. Pssst.. We also have a guide for that: A Guide to Starting Your Podcast: How to Make it, How to Launch it, and How to Profit. There is money to be made with this side hustle. Alternatively, you can also use our guide to start your own blog (in 30 min or less).

Start a Drop Shipping Business

Oberlo allows you to easily import products from AliExpress directly into your Shopify store and ship directly to your customers – in only a few clicks. It's very simple to open a shop on Shopify and drop ship items in order to create a business without too much risk.

You can literally start and set up a drop shipping business without any type of product in one afternoon with minimal risk as Shopify has a 14-day free trial and Oberlo is completely free through this link.

Selling on Fiverr

Fiverr is one of the best sites in the world. The basic premise is “what would you do for $5?” You’ll find everything from hilariously weird and useless gags to legitimate and genuinely helpful micro-business tasks.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting as a seller on Fiverr, and have found it a pretty successful avenue for selling website optimization services, article writing, and proofreading services.

Fiverr can work for you as both a seller and a buyer. It is a great way to make money and also you can find millions of services. Best $5 I've ever spent was using a Resume Revision service and now I receive way more employer call backs now after the revisions. If you want to know which service I used, leave a comment below. If you want to try Fiverr, sign up through here for 20% off your first order at Fiverr.

eBook Publishing

Are you a good writer? You could write an eBook on your topic of choice and sell it on Amazon, Payhip, Lulu, Smashwords, Kobo Writing Life, PubIt! and many other websites that start you out in your side hustle as a published eBook author.

Make Extra Money Driving

If you’re free nights and weekends, you can earn extra cash driving your fellow citizens around. You can earn money by driving with Uber – if you have a car, it’s a perfect way to make a good amount of extra cash whenever it’s convenient for you. A lot of people do this full time, so you can imagine that’s it definitely possible to do this on the side and make extra money and be able to save it.

Once you’re a driver you can choose to turn the app on or off and drive whenever you have some time to spare. They also have a feature that allows you to select your destination, so if you are leaving work (or any other long commute), you could pick up a ride that was going in the same direction. You can do this 2-4 times a week on your commute and can easily make extra money.

Another ride-sharing option that’s available to you is Lyft. Uber seems to be more globally known, however, if you’re in the United States you probably have heard about Lyft. It’s basically the same as Uber, but some argue that you make more as a Lyft driver.

Online Freelancing

Odds are that you have some sort of talent, from programming, writing, designing, or great customer service skills. Websites like UpWork allow you to find rewarding projects that pay! You have the freedom to work on idea projects from a wide variety and pay highly. The more projects you work on, the more money you will gain and it is a great side hustle.

Sell Your Junk On Amazon.com

Do you have old textbooks from college lying around? You should consider selling them on Amazon. In addition to textbooks, you can probably sell old DVDs, books, cell phones, or other electronics you may have lying around. You would be surprised how much you can get for your unwanted items. I also recommend checking out our recent post on how to earn free Amazon gift cards. 

Check Open Class Action Lawsuits

If you use a product that’s involved in a class-action lawsuit, a little online legwork could get you a cash payout. The rules of each settlement are different, but in most cases, you’ll have to provide proof of purchase or product use, like a serial number or a receipt. Once you fill out your online claim form, you may have to wait a few weeks or months before receiving your payment.

Sell on eBay

Sell your unwanted items around your household on eBay is a good way to declutter and earn side income. I've been using eBay for about 7 years now and it is very easy to sell things around your home that you no longer use or find items that you can purchase for cheap and then flip them on eBay for a profit. I personally made $1,1379.79 one month by flipping iPhones. Just make sure that you keep the fees in consideration.

Delivery and Errand Service

With all of the on-demand apps out there today this one is an easy one. All you need to have is a car or bike, in most cases. Apps like Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, Postmates, DoorDash, and Instacart are easy gig jobs sign up for and start making money. There are always people that are looking for a ride or looking to get something delivered.

Another great part about doing this is that you can pick your hours. If you have 30 minutes between classes you can do a ride or two. If you are only available 8-11 at night then you can work then. It is extremely flexible and you can make good money doing it.

Coaching/Consulting

Becoming an online coach or consultant for others is becoming more valuable as are in the information age. If you are a very savvy at social media or are a fitness expert then selling your time and hopping on a Skype call or Google hangouts is a great hustle. You don't even have to start your own website at first, you can list your services on Fiverr.

Resume Writing Service

What is one thing that every college student will need towards the end of their college career? A kick-ass resume. Resumes are difficult for many people to write. They are, however, very easy once you know how to write a great one.

Spend some time learning how to write a great resume.

There are a ton of great resources online from very reputable sites. I went from having NO CLUE how to write a resume to be awesome at it. How do I know I was awesome at it? Every human resource or hiring manager that saw my resume commented on it. They asked how a college student with no experience could have such a great resume.

Learning to write a resume is not difficult, it just takes a little bit of time to learn. Once you learn it then you can repeat the same process for each individual resume your write. Then you can start charging for your Resume & Cover Letter writing services on Fiverr.

Deliver Pizzas

You can in deliver pizzas in order to bring extra cash into your wallet. Not only do delivery drivers get an hourly wage, but you can also earn some serious tips.

You can earn around $15.00 per hour doing this on the side on top of your full-time gig.

This is some seriously passive income. Companies such as Carvertise will pay to put a wrap on your car, and then pay you to simply drive your regular routes with the advertisements on your car. You can get the right to say “no” to a particular ad you're uncomfortable with the content of the ad. Most companies pay you between $100-$400 a month to advertise on your car. Not too bad.

Sell Slogans to Companies

Want to get paid for writing slogans? You can now get paid for coming up with catchy slogans and selling slogans to companies. Believe it or not, you can get paid to come up with slogans. It’s true, and people are really selling slogans to companies for some serious cash.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Come up with a catchy slogan.
  2. Upload your slogan online, many people use this site.
  3. If a company decides to use your slogan, you’ll get paid (you’ve got nothing to lose, but a lot to gain).

Become a Stay-at-Home Salesperson

Like a door-to-door salesperson only with far less leg-work, hosting sales “parties” at your home on behalf of the likes of Avon and Pampered Chef is a great way to meet new people and make some money.

Walk Dogs on Rover

This one is for all the animal-lovers out there! Dog-walking has 3 lucrative benefits – You get to spend time with your four-legged friends and you yourself get some exercise. You can find dog-walking gigs on Rover, Job monkey and We love pets (exclusive to UK). The most popular one currently is Rover. 

They are one of the nation’s largest networks of pet sitters and dog walkers. Users can easily search for the services they need, connect with a sitter or dog walker, and even book and pay securely without the need for cash, checks, or tips.

Virtual Assistant

Becoming a virtual assistant is a great way to make money on the side. As a virtual assistant, you'll be a self-employed professional who is hired to provide administrative, technical or creative help to clients through online mediums.

Eg: Apple’s Siri, Online customer help desk

Companies generally outsource virtual assistants, so this is a sector where the demand for freelancers is extremely high. It's also not hard how to learn how to become a virtual assistant.

You can pick up projects from sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.

User Testing

User-testing is a research conducted by firms to improve their customer experience.

Businesses are willing to shell out quite a few bucks to understand if their product/service effectively satisfies the customer demand before officially introducing it in the market.

Online Tutoring

If you were the go-to person in college for doubt-clearing, you might have an excellent side-career as a tutor.

Due to the competition level, tutors are high in demand for STEM subjects.

Subject knowledge, a desire to teach and working internet connection is all you need to establish yourself as a tutor.

Get Paid for Watching Videos

Many of you have come here by searching “how to make extra money fast.” Well, here you go. This has got to be one of the fastest and most legitimate ways to make money online. You can actually get paid to watch movie previews, celebrity videos, news and all sorts of other videos. You can sign up for sites like Swagbucks and Survey Junkie that will pay you to watch certain videos.

They will tell you how many minutes you need to watch the video for and you might also be asked to like the video. While you not going to make a career out of it, it’s very easy money for pressing a few buttons on your phone in your free time. There really is no limit when it comes to the question of how to make money online. You can make around $500 a month by spending 15 minutes a day on surveys.

Translation

The current market size of the global languages industry is around $40 billion and it is expected to keep growing cumulatively every year.

The best part is, although there are various translation-related applications, automated translation is not considered to be completely reliable by publishers. There is a continued demand for translators especially in the areas of website translation, transcripts and foreign language education.

Referral Programs

According to a research by the research company Neilson Holdings, people are 4 times more likely to buy a product/service when it is referred by a friend.

Now, that is a statistic that companies like and this is precisely why companies across all sectors and sizes have been implementing referral programs.

From an organization’s perspective, the ROI of referral programs is lucrative and hence they are willing to invest into a decent incentive plan for the referring sources.

Stock Photography

The growth of E-commerce and E-learning industries has been a catalyst in the transition of photography from a hobby occupation to an off-beat profession.

Almost every company has an account on stock photography sites like shutter-stock, getty images, etc. to fulfill their imaging needs. There is a high demand for HD images to support E-commerce products, blog posts, articles and E-learning modules.

If you have always pursued photography as a hobby, maybe it is time to start thinking about it commercially.

Editor

Believe it or not, companies and people are willing to pay huge bucks for proof-reading and editing reports, proposals, advertising copies and other such documents.

In fact, certain freelance proof-reading is known to pay $17 per hour!

If you happen to have a background in human resources, you have an added leverage.

You can take up resume and cover-letter editing projects as there is a huge job-seekers’ market out there.

Here is a definitive guide on tips on how to create the ideal resume that you can refer to in case you want to freelance in the recruitment field.

Proofread Documents from Home

You can make some extra money this weekend by becoming a proofreader. The need for proofreading is growing exponentially. And how much does a proofreader make? A proofreader named, Caitlin Pyle, does it on the side and made $43,000 last year. She’s great and started her own proofreading online course for beginners.

The only requirement is that you’re pretty skilled with grammar. If you are, then you can really make some big bucks. All you need are your grammar skills, a computer, and an Internet connection.

Download Apps That Make You Passive Income

You’re not going to get rich by downloading mobile apps that pay you, but you can use these to earn a passive income every month. Money making apps can be a simple way to pad your bank account in your free time.

You probably know these apps aren’t my favorite way to make extra money, but I make an exception for it when you’re just hanging out — e.g. watching T.V., riding the metro, during your break at work, or in the back of an Uber. Might as well click a few buttons and make some money while you’re at it.

Here is our list of the best money making apps if you wanted to give them a shot.

Make Extra Money Taking Paid Surveys

Taking online surveys with SurveyJunkie is a no-brainer. If you want to take surveys on your smartphone, I recommend taking surveys with Survey Junkie. Survey Junkie’s interface is super smooth and intuitive (unlike the majority of other survey companies), and members are paid in cash via Paypal.

Oh, and Survey Junkie also has an 8.8/10 rating on Trustpilot — the highest of any online survey company. This is one is the more reputable survey companies out there and one of the best on the net. If you wanted to give paid surveys a shot, they are conveniently offering a registration bonus right now, so act fast.

$1.6M+ monthly payout to its members
Survey Junkie
4.5
Over $55,000 Paid to Survey Junkie members daily

Survey Junkie is one of the highest-paying survey sites available. Complete three or more surveys a day, and you can earn as much as $100 monthly. With $76 Million paid out to date, Survey Junkie is one of the best survey sites available.

Start Earning Survey Junkie Review

User Tester

According to research, users judge a website in just 50 milliseconds!

This means there’s a lot of pressure on business owners and web designers to get it right, the first time.

And that’s where you come in!

You're bound to have passed a judgemental eye over a website or two in your time online. Who hasn’t? “Eeww, why did they pick that color?’ or a ‘Huh, this menu doesn’t work at all’. Now sites like UserTesting want to pay you for it.

The process is simple. You just sign up, complete a test review, and when you receive a new website in your inbox you pass over it with that same critical eye and then eye up your PayPal account for your payment.

Write Articles

Writing is one of the easiest ways to make money online from the comfort of your own home.

You won’t even need to change out of your PJ’s for this one!

Heck, you don’t even need to be a published author or experienced journalist. As long as you can write clearly and concisely, then there’ll be a writing gig for you.

Become a Social Media Manager

Fan pages on Twitter or Facebook require people to connect with them. Log on to Fiverr and get jobs for maintaining social pages. You can also do simple things like create pins for people's Pinterest Account or retweet people's tweets and earn if you have a large following.

Use Amazon Flex to Flex Your Side Hustle Muscle

Amazon Flex – The latest entry to this market space, Flex launched in Amazon’s home market of Seattle and has since expanded to two dozen other markets. You can earn up to $25/hour delivering packages to Prime customers in under one hour. You cover gas, maintenance, and any other car expenses.

Make Extra Money with Mechanical Turk

Mechanical Turk – Another Amazon service, Mechanical Turk lets you do “human intelligence tasks” online for a variety of pay points. One man earned $20,000 doing these small jobs from home while he still had a full-time job!

Get Tasks with Task Rabbit

TaskRabbit (iOS): Cleaning, shopping and delivery, handyman, moving help, general help and summer tasks are a few of the categories that you can hire yourself out in.

Get Points with Check Points

CheckPoints.com: App that offers manufacturer deals while you’re in the store. You earn points for simply scanning the barcode on an item in a store. No purchase of the product is necessary. You can redeem the points you collect for free gift cards, airline miles and other perks.

Get Shifts with the Easy Shift App

EasyShiftApp.com: Become an on-demand secret shopper. You’re assigned “shifts” by product manufacturers who want people on the ground to go into stores and confirm that their merchandise is being displayed properly. The pay rate for a shift is between $3 and $8 and the money is remitted to you via PayPal.

Review Stuff on Yelp

Yelp: Write a review and earn anything between $1 and $50 per review according to the requirement. Yelp can give you some special invites.

Complete Jobs on Zaarly

Zaarly: This website connects those offering random services (like walking a dog, being a personal assistant for a day, giving guitar lessons, etc.) with buyers who are looking for those services. I would suggest checking out some of the ideas listed on the site and sign up and offer those services as they are in demand.

The Bottom Line

Did you know that the online outsourcing market is projected to grow to $16 Billion by 2020? Millennials, especially those in the age group of 20-25 years, form a large part of this outsourcing market. You can easily take part in it.

With this list of eighty ways to make money with online businesses for beginners, I hope you are able to find an online business that best suits your skills and passions.

If you want to take complete advantage of the opportunities available to you, then the list above are some of the best ways to start an online business for beginners.

Like these types of lists? Here’s an even bigger one for you: 100+ Fun and Easy Ways to Make Extra Money Today!

Have you tried any of these online business ideas for beginners? Are there any other ways you’ve learned to make money online through online businesses?

Brian Meiggs
Hi, I’m Brian Meiggs! I’m a personal finance expert and founder of My Millennial Guide, here to help you build real wealth. With a background in finance, I’ve spent years guiding people on smart, practical ways to grow their money. For stock market beginners, I recommend Acorns. It’s a simple way to start investing with just your spare change, helping you steadily grow your portfolio over time without the need to actively manage it. And if you’re interested in real estate, check out Arrived and Fundrise. I use both myself—they make it easy to start investing in property without needing huge upfront capital. These platforms are perfect for anyone looking to add real estate to their investments for passive, long-term growth. I believe these tools are great for building a balanced investment portfolio, combining stocks and real estate for a solid approach to wealth-building. You can trust this advice—my work has been featured in major publications like Business Insider, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, NASDAQ, Discover, Fox News, and MSN Money.

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