5 Awesome Ways You Can Make Money From Home
Part-time ideas that could create full-time income
With unemployment seeing over 800,000 people file for unemployment last week, many people want to make money from home or anywhere. The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the economy as small and big businesses go out of business.
When you file for unemployment, the benefits last anywhere from 14 to 26 weeks. After the pandemic hit, many states extended these benefits. For California and New York, unemployment benefits previously were 26 weeks but were extended this summer to 59 weeks for people who qualify.
Since unemployment doesn’t last forever, and jobs are not hiring at 100%, this might be a good time to start a side hustle to create additional income.
These are five areas I have tried before and all are relatively easy to do. Some work is required for each of these. No one makes money out of thin air. You have to truly understand the system and put in the time to make it happen.
The five I will discuss are:
- Start a YouTube channel
- Makes sales as an affiliate marketer
- Sell on eBay
- Retail arbitrage items
- Become a Multi-Level Marketer (MLM)
Before starting any of these, you need to do your research and limit your expectations. To earn a lot of money takes time and creating the right system.
The top five ways you can make money from home
Start a YouTube channel
There’s a difference hearing what a negative person says and letting their words affect how you live your life.
Evan Carmichael, YouTube creator
As long as you have a smartphone, an android, iPhone, or something similar, you can create videos and start your YouTube channel. You don’t have to be an expert in creating videos but need to have a niche to brand yourself.
After you learn the basics of creating a YouTube video, you can always scale up with additional equipment for your channel.
To earn money from YouTube, you have to have 4000 hours of watch time from your viewers in a year. Also, you need 1000 followers.
This sounds easy but harder than you think. Some video creators are very good at using tips they learn from making videos on Vine, Snapchat, or TikTok. For them, the transition was not hard.
If you’re just starting, don’t wait for the perfect video. Your audience will understand. The key point is you need to get better with each video you create.
- For instance, you need to add more lighting since the video looks too dark.
- You need to speak louder when talking to your phone or you need to buy a microphone.
Many video creators recommend making videos at least10 minutes long though some may be shorter. When you do get monetized, this helps since YouTube allows advertisements when your videos are at least 10 minutes long.
The longer the video, the longer you’ll keep your audience on your channel. The shorter your video, the shorter you’ll keep your audience on your channel. This may not make sense at first, but in the end, it all comes down to the numbers. YouTube is a numbers game.
The more people who watch your video, the more time the watch time adds up. This will help you to get monetized as a YouTube creator. There are more details but this is basically what you need to know.
Don’t expect to make thousands of dollars right after you are monetized. How much you earn depends on how large of a following you have along with how frequently you create a new video.
Makes sales as an affiliate marketer
If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs.
Tony Gaskins
Many companies today offer affiliate products for marketers to sell. One of the most recognized is Amazon. You can search for Amazon affiliate to apply to be an affiliate.
As an affiliate, you are indirectly a salesperson for the company you apply for. From each sale you make, you can expect to earn anywhere from 1% to 6% commission of the product sold. Some commissions may be higher but this is the average.
You can sell these products from your blog, website, or even from YouTube. Selling from a social media page also works.
If you decide to be an affiliate marketer, it helps that you physically own the product. This helps to bring more credibility to you as a salesperson rather than trying to sell something you personally don’t own. This will be a common question customers will ask you.
When searching for an affiliate, try typing in a company name and affiliate to see what pops up. Some companies offer affiliates to sell their products while others don’t.
You can also sign up for CJ affiliate or Rakuten Advertising. These companies host hundreds if not thousands of affiliates under their platform. Once you sign up, some companies may or may not approve your request. They want to see how you plan to sell their products.
Having an established website or blog helps in these cases.
Sell on eBay
I used to have an eBay addiction. I was really good at selling stuff. My sister needed to get to a funeral in Ireland — the airlines were on strike — so I listed her on eBay: damsel in distress. Guys were outbidding guys to be the hero and help her. A guy who owned a helicopter won.
James Blunt
Selling online is a new way sales have entered this space as the internet was created. A common way people sell is on eBay. You may not become a top eBay seller but you may over time.
Find a niche or product (s) that you can sell. You could start with items sitting around in your closet or garage that haven’t seen the light of day in years. Someone may offer you some money for these items.
Don’t expect to get top dollar unless it’s a collectible item. After some time, you may find products that bring in money to you consistently.
You can sell picture frames, sports cards, or anything lying around your house. After you sell everything you could possibly sell, then you should look at the next topic so you can make money from home.
Retail arbitrage items
Don’t waste energy. Focus on what you control. Not what you wish you controlled.
Gary Vaynerchuk
When I first heard about this, I didn’t know what it was. Gary Vaynerchuk or Gary Vee, entrepreneur and the author of “Crush It” and several other books, talked about this often. He said literally anyone could start selling retail arbitrage.
Basically, you pick a niche that may have an audience. Gary would go to garage sales and find items that he could turn around and sell online for a profit. Other times, he would go to a store and see what items were on sale.
The items were in fairly good condition and Gary would sell the items. He could buy a $5 item and then sell it for $20.
This requires some money upfront but then you would have to turn around and sell the product. If you don’t have a lot of money, you could start small and work your way up.
Don’t be surprised if some items don’t sell. You could be pricing the item too high.
Make sure you have an audience that is looking for your items. Sometimes selling is hit or miss. I encourage you to look online and see what is getting attention from sellers. You could look at the hot items that are listed for sale.
You never know, you may find yourself a new job that you created with little to no effort.
Become a Multi-Level Marketer
Network marketing isn’t perfect, it’s just better.
Eric Worre
The last item you have probably heard or seen a few times before multi-level marketing (MLM) or some refer to it as network marketing. You are literally selling a product to someone with the intent to keep them on your team so you earn residual commissions every month.
MLMs are not hard but they are also not easy. You need to be focused and understand the product you’re selling.
Just as with affiliate marketing, it helps that you have used the product you’re selling.
There are good MLM programs out there as well as bad ones. You have to see what works best for you.
You may see some people making thousands of dollars a month, but they put in a lot of time and effort to get there.
In most cases, you’ll have the option to sign up as a customer or as a business owner. The prices will be different for both. If you’re not sure if you want to join an MLM, start out as a customer.
Many popular companies have been around for years. There is Avon and Mary Kay for makeup. Then there are newer ones that focus on tea and fitness. Many companies are available.
I encourage you to do your research on the company and find out what they stand for. Find out the beliefs of the owners and that they are not only trying to promote making money for their owners.
That is the whole point so you don’t join a company and then find out it was shut down.
MLMs cannot openly say you can make $10,000 a month. The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has closed down many MLM companies over the years. The SEC believes these companies are pyramid schemes preying on unsuspecting people.
Over the past few years, the SEC has closed down many popular companies such as Veema, Wake Up Now, Mona Vie, and others.
The SEC wants the MLM companies to be honest about the product they promote and that they are not just promoting ways to make money.
If you decide to join one, know that the odds to retire from your day job are very slim. Only a small percentage of people in an MLM company make thousands a month.
Have you tried any of these ways to make money from home?
Tom Handy is a top Finance, Investment, and Bitcoin writer on Medium, and the father of two kids. He retired from the Army and sits on several non-profit boards. You can find him on Twitter @tomhandy1.