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10 Creative Ways to Make Money On the Side

January 25, 2024

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20 Creative Ways to Make Money On the Side

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If you are looking for different creative ways to make money on the side, you are in the right place.

I have 10 different ways below to help you narrow down how to increase your funds – in a creative way.

You can pretty much make money on the side through a number of ways.

But if you have a passion, a hobby or something that you have an interest in, it is easier to follow through to do the work that it takes to make a profit.

1.) Start a Niche Blog/Website

Starting a blog or website is easier than ever.

There are several different platforms, free and paid, that you can choose from and the need to be a webmaster with a designing degree is a thing of the past.

I prefer to use a platform by the name of WordPress. It is a content management system and it allows you to create nearly “any” type of website that you can think of or image.

Check out this link to the WordPress.org website where they showcase different types of websites that people create on the WordPress platform.

WordPress has one of the largest user bases of websites in use and is used by some of the most popular websites in the world.

With all of the millions of websites on the web, creating a niche focused website or blog will give you a better chance to get more traffic and exposure.

For example, instead of creating a general dog website, you can narrow down the subject by focusing on a certain breed like chihuahuas, Labradors or French Bulldogs.

Then keep narrowing down the niche even further!

For instance, you can talk about the personal care and essential needs for chihuahuas, then personal care and essential needs on a budget for chihuahuas and so on.

The possibilities are endless.

You can use free tools like Google trends, Google search, Google Keyword Planner, KeySearch and more.

You can see what is popular and what people are searching for and hopefully see a need that has not been properly met and supply that need.

Check out some Examples below:

2.) Narrate Audiobooks

How does getting paid to speak out-loud sound to you? In this case, you don’t have to be in front of an audience.

One of my favorite YouTube duos are Rhett and Link from Good Mythical Morning.

They recently put out a new book called “The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek”. They have a physical book as well as an audio book.

If you check out their audio book page on Audible, you will see that a guy by the name of Vikas Adam is the one that narrated the book. This could be you!

On a website called ACX, you can start your audio book narrating career and get paid for it. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Create a Profile

Step 2: Upload Samples. You can add tons of samples on your profile of you using different accents and styles. The more the better.

Step 3: Choose how you would like to get paid.

Step 4: Audition. Look for different books that you would like to narrate or produce and record a few minutes of the manuscript. If you are the top choice, you can receive an offer.

Step 5: Accept the Offer, agree on the delivery dates for the first 15 minutes of audio, the final audio book and the terms of payment.

Step 6: Start Recording. You will be able to record the first 15 minutes of the audio book for the rights holder to approve and give feedback. If approved, you can record the rest of the project.

Step 7: Work with Other Studio Professionals. You may want to work with other experts on your journey. ACX has independent contractor agreements you can use.

Step 8: Finish the Recording.

Step 9: Get Paid. You will be paid by the Rights Holder if you and the Rights Holder agreed upon a Pay for production fee. You also can get paid per the outline royalties option.

Step 10: Keep Auditioning. Keep coming back to produce more books. Also, you can apply to be an Audible Approved producer if you are highly experience with at least 25 audio book credits under your belt.

Here are some Examples:

3.) Write and Sell eBooks

Creating an eBook today has never been easier.

We all have access to free writing tools like Google Docs to transfer your thoughts onto paper (digital paper) and there are several ebook providers that will help you get your book off of the ground.

There are also several ways to make your eBook available for purchase.

You can create a PDF of your book and sell it directly on your website (example: through WooCommerce or a number of different services) or through a third party platform.

Check out these websites to Create an Ebook:

4.) Sell Your Services on Design Contest Websites

If you are into the graphic arts and you have skills in programs like Photoshop and Illustrator, there are websites like 99designs that offer design contests.

This is how it works:

1.) Your potential customer puts in a request to have a logo, website, branding materials or any specific design project created.

2.) They will give you design specifics and usually will discuss dates in which the project should be complete.

3.) You can choose the projects that inspire you and that you feel will best suit your creative needs and skill set.

4.) The customer will pick and choose the designs that resonate best with their needs.

5.) And if you design is the one the is picked, the customer will choose to work with you to finalize the project and you get paid upon completion

Here are some Examples:

5.) Do Graphic Design Work For Local Businesses

Even in today’s day in age, there are several businesses that do not have a website or don’t have any branding materials to give their business a professional look.

In this scenario, Google maps and Facebook are your friends. Go on Google maps and do searches in your town to view different small businesses that you can reach out to offer your services.

You can also look on Facebook in your area to look at business owners that have a poorly designed logo and reach out to them to elevate their look.

6.) Sell Products on Your Own Shopify Store

You can sell nearly anything on Shopify. Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform that enables you to create your own website with custom domain to sell digital goods and physical products on or off platform.

There are several ways that you can sell items on your own Shopify store: on your Online Store, Point of sale, buy button and different sales channels.

Online store: Pick from over 70+ website themes and utilize their drag-and-drop store builder to customize your site.

Point of Sale: Offer you customer a personalized shopping experience with simplified and easy to use hardware and software.

You can utilize specific tools to manage your product and inventory.

The POS software allows you to access it through an app on your smartphone or tablet and they integrated hardware helps you accept payments.

Buy Button: Make your existing website or blog into your very own eCommerce store.

Embed products onto platforms like WordPress and Squarespace, offer secure checkout and create custom buttons.

Sales Channels: Get your products in front of more people by boosting your reach on social media websites like Facebook and Instagram.

Also sell to people that shop on Amazon and Ebay by syncing your inventory of products.

Check Out Shopify

7.) Sell Your Crafts, Art and Handmade Goods

There is an entire section of the internet that offers nothing but the best hand crafted goods from the most talented artisans across the globe.

You may be one of these artisans. If you are, there are a ton of different websites that offer services to get your products in front of the right audience.

Here are some websites to sell your Goods:

8.) Become an Instagram Influencer

If you haven’t noticed, Instagram is pretty hot.

They have over 1 billion monthly active users on the platform and half of those users frequent the platform every day.

Instagram is the social platform that young adults absolutely love and 83% of Instagrammers say that they discover new products and services on Instagram.

Imagine the possibilities of the amount of exposure and reach Instagram can give your business, passion and/or hobby.

Like with anything in life, of course, if you choose to use this platform for more exposure, you will have to put in a little work.

But by doing so, it could give your business much more exposure, leads and partnerships.

Check out this Instagram for Business Dummies book for helpful information:

Instagram for Business

9.) Sell Stock Photos Online

Although this way to make money on the side may not make you a ton of money or enough money to quit your full time gig (unless you are an absolute rockstar).

It still can allow you make a few hundred every month.

If you think about it, this is still good because the extra money can help you to upgrade your camera/video gear and your production as a whole.

Most notable websites have strict requirements for submissions. so you can not expect to shoot a ton of crappy photos and expect to get paid for them.

Quality is the key; along with a dash of consistent uploading. Make sure that you take top quality photos and put your own spin on them as well and it will help yield better results.

Here are some sample Stock Photography websites:

10.) Start Your Own Online T-shirt Business

Nowadays, you don’t have to buy expensive equipment to start a T-shirt business.

There are several reputable websites that essentially, allow you to use “their” equipment, they process payments, and they ship the products.

It’s called print on demand and all you have you do is set up an account, provide the image that you want printed on the t-shirt, make sure the specks are ok and post it on your website or other marketing channels.

If you want to make “any” full-time income, you of course have to put some work in and treat it like a business. But getting started has become easy as ever.

For instance, here are two examples of what I created with a free software called Canva. I created some designs and posted it, for Free, on a website called Teespring:

Here are some sample websites to look into:

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