10 Ways to Make Money Online You May Not Have Thought Of
The internet was made for profit, not just just memes and political discourse.
By Steve Eakin •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In today's economy, most salaries just aren't enough to live on. People are getting paid less and less compared to the standard of living and rents are rising; and costs keep rising. So, if you want to stop surviving and start thriving, launching a side hustle is worth looking into.
Related: 7 Realistic Ways to Make Money Online
Working full-time? Want an ultra-convenient way to make some cash? You need look only as far as your nearest screen. And, yes, you can make a living on your phone as well as your computer.
An internet side hustle isn't as easy or glamorous as social media influencers would have you believe, but it's possible. Thousands across the world are doing it. And you don't need to be a computer whiz. You just need focus, a plan, a lot of dedication and patience.
Here are the ten most promising ways you can make money online -- full or part-time.
1. Drop-shipping
Alex Tenorio, founder of Dropship Masterminds, has been earning his living through drop-shipping, which involves selling something that you never physically touch.
Tenorio tells me that he's been fortunate enough to experience a steady income from drop-shipping "while completely removing myself from the day-to-day tasks."
That's because drop-shippers take the orders and forward them to a larger store with insufficient online order capabilities, or even to the manufacturer, direct.
You have a storefront, you sell things, and those orders get sent out into the ether. Then, magically, the product gets into the hands of the paying customer.
2. Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA)
I spoke with Derrick Struggle, founder of FBA Heroes, about another proven way to make money online: through the Amazon monster known as FBA, or Fulfilled By Amazon.
Related: 3 Ways to Make Money Online From Your Blog or Website
"Amazon FBA is such an amazing way to make money online because it's not only a powerful and proven business model, but you're utilizing an online marketplace that has over 310 million active customers," Struggle told me.
With FBA, you can have an entire storefront on Amazon that's live and searchable. FBA will warehouse everything, and ship it with Amazon Prime, making it a no-brainer purchasing decision for the customer.
This allows your physical products to be sold in this everything store, and opens up the potential for some serious profits.
3. Digital products
If physical products seem too much of a hassle, have no fear: Digital products keep you earning, with a fraction of the overhead. A "digital product," at its core, is proprietary information in a nice package.
Kimra Luna, the founder of Freedom Hackers, has sold over 5,000 digital products -- in the form of courses. Luna told me that, "If you already have a problem in mind that you can help your ideal customers and clients solve, in 48 hours or less you could have your course recorded and ready to sell."
4. Virtual assistant
If all of this building and selling isn't something you're looking to do, fear not: There are other options.
If your genius zone is centered in execution, and you're a self-starter, you can become a virtual assistant.
Your tasks there will be remarkably similar to those of a personal assistant, but geared toward online duties. For example, if an internet exec needs someone to post all the social media content she has created, and doesn't want to hire a full-time employee, a virtual assistant would be the first person to consult for help.
As long as you can execute the tasks you're given, there is plenty of income ready for you.
5. Consulting
If you're more comfortable in the realm of business strategy, you could consider becoming a consultant.
You'll get paid to sit above the problems of the day-to-day world of business, and help companies see the forest through the trees. Bonus points if you can train a company's staffers to do something new or better than they're doing it now.
6. Coaching
If you're more comfortable sitting in the realm of personal strategy, you could become a coach.
From athletes to students to executives, people need coaches: someone that can give them actionable, honest advice to help propel them forward faster than they can do on their own.
You don't have to be an expert to be a coach either -- you just have to know how to fine-tune someone into his or her best version.
7. Copywriting
Copywriting is a skill not many people know how to do, and of those that do, not many do it well.
If you can write words that sell, you have a skill that can earn you a solid income from anywhere in the world — Like Colin Theriot, founder of The Cult Of Copy.
Theriot is known for running his business mostly from a phone and tablet. He's said, "I type 45 words per minute with my thumbs. And I publish something somewhere every single day. Not for fun. For money."
8. Ecommerce
You can sell anything online, even items you create yourself. Platforms like Etsy and Shopify make it remarkably easy to do this by removing all of the technical wizardry from the process.
All you have to do is create, sell and ship. If you're good at running operations, and have something that people want to buy, traditional ecommerce may be for you.
9. Startups/remote employee
Startups, by their nature, are a risky venture. That's something Maneesh Sethi, founder at Pavlok, can attest to.
One of the ways that founders are protecting their bottom line is by cutting the expense of a traditional office. That means that there are startups out there looking for remote employees to work a regular job on their own terms.
This is something Sethi has taken full advantage of. In our interview, he told me that, "With today's ease of communication, we got rid of our base office and became a fully virtual company: possibly the first location-free consumer electronics company in existence -- and it's made all the difference."
10. Apps
When you think about apps, you probably think of massively funded startups.
The truth is, the majority of apps available today are from smaller companies -- and individual side-hustlers.
They're not all making millions of dollars, but many of them are making five and six figures a year. The best part about apps is that once you know how to build one app, you can build more, leading to more revenue.
The above list is hardly exhaustive.. It's just a taste of what's available out there.
With a little sacrifice and dedication, you can build an income stream that can put cash in the bank. This can be "bonus" money that you use to travel the world, or the savings you need to quit your day job and become a full-time member of the laptop lifestyle.
Related: The 5 Most Reliable Ways to Make Money Online
It doesn't matter how crazy your job is now; you can still do it.
