How to Make Money Online and Offline: 25 Clever Ideas for 2024

I’m always looking for ways to boost my income with the current state of the economy and high inflation. If you’re like me and wonder how to make money online, you’ve come to the right place.

I’ve rounded up a long list of online and offline side gig ideas to help you choose something that fits your lifestyle, talents, and personal interests.

Some of these popular ways to make extra money don’t even require you to leave your house and just require an internet connection.

If you’re looking to make $500 fast, start a new income stream in your spare time, or just find a new fun way to make money, check out this list.

How to make money online

1. Take surveys for money

Earning potential: $1 to $5 per survey

Participating in market research is one of my favorite ways to make side cash. Knowing that my opinion impacts the future of businesses and is a surefire way to make quick cash from my couch makes it one of my faves. Most survey sites match you with personalized online surveys and let you pick the ones that matter to you, so it might even be interesting to do.

When you take surveys, you get paid for sharing your opinion, typically either as cash back or gift cards, but the best survey sites have a variety of payout options. Most will let you answer surveys from your smartphone or give you a bonus for getting your friends to join as referrals.

Survey Junkie, Branded Surveys, and InboxDollars are some of the more well-known sites, but there are plenty of others and you can answer surveys on more than one site to stack your side hustles and make even more easy money.

• Sign up for Survey Junkie
• Sign up for Branded Surveys
• Sign up for InboxDollars

2. Get paid to watch videos with Swagbucks

Earning potential: $2 to $5 per day

If you spend some time every day watching movie trailers and entertaining videos, you can get paid for your browsing habits. Swagbucks lets you earn points for watching videos, answering surveys, or just surfing the web.

You can then redeem your points for gift cards from popular retailers or for cash via PayPal. You’ll even get a $10 bonus just for signing up.

Sign up for Swagbucks

... Read our Swagbucks review

3. Eliminate forgotten bills with Rocket Money

Earning potential: Varies depending on the number of canceled subscriptions.

Making extra money isn't just about increasing your income. It's also about reducing your expenses. If you’re anything like me, you have a few free trials and subscriptions you've forgotten about that are quietly draining your bank account.

Fortunately, Rocket Money can quickly find these hidden leaks in your bank account. It works by having you connect your bank accounts and then automatically finds recurring bills for you to review.

Rocket Money can cancel any unwanted subscriptions for you, saving you the time and trouble of doing it yourself. The app can also negotiate lower fees for existing bills — like your cell phone or cable bill — all without you ever having to pick up the phone (for a small fee).

Sign up for Rocket Money

... Read our Rocket Money review

4. Sell stuff on Amazon or Shopify

Earning potential: Amazon sellers make around $1,000/month and Shopify depending on the type of seller you are.

Whether you choose to resell or manufacture your own product, Amazon can help get your items in front of millions of shoppers. Plus, if you use Fulfilled by Amazon, Amazon will even store, pack, and ship your items for you.

It’s not hard to figure out how to sell items on Amazon, especially when you use a tool like Jungle Scout to guide you through the process. The platform helps you source high-demand physical and digital products to resell, find qualified suppliers, and track your sales and expenses.

You might also consider selling through Shopify, an e-commerce platform that supports millions of businesses. With Shopify, you don’t have to have products in your possession. Instead, you can consider dropshipping, where you sell items packaged and delivered directly from the supplier.

5. Become a social media influencer

Earning potential: $31 an hour

Social media can be a great way to make money online. One way is to grow your own social media accounts and become an influencer. As with blogging, you can partner with brands or use affiliate marketing to monetize your social media presence.

If you’re savvy with social media and have a proven ability to collect Instagram or TikTok followers, you may also be able to get a side job or full-time gig managing social media accounts for others.

6. Sell your photos on Shutterstock

Earning potential: 15%-40% of sales price, can be $0.10-$5.80 per image.

If you're a shutterbug who enjoys taking beautiful pictures and posting them on Instagram, you could get paid for your hobby.

Sites like Shutterstock let you upload your best photography and pay you every time someone downloads one of your pics. The more photos you contribute, the more you'll get paid. You might have the pleasure of seeing one of your pics on a big brand's website.

7. Freelance online

Earning potential: Freelancers average $48/hour, but it can be much less or more, depending on the skills you possess.

If you know how to do something useful, you can advertise your services on sites like Upwork, TaskRabbit, Fiverr, UserTesting, and Amazon Mechanical Turk.

You might become a virtual assistant, offer graphic design services, format Kindle books for authors, do data entry, or even become a freelance writer.

Because you get to be the boss, you’ll have flexibility in setting your schedule and even what you charge. This means you can pick up freelance gigs outside of a full-time job to earn extra income. Eventually, you may even gather enough clients to freelance full-time if that’s your goal.

8. Start a website or blog

Earning potential: $30 an hour is the average, but some websites can be turned into six and seven figure businesses.

If you build a website or blog that gets enough visitors, you can monetize it. If you’re not sure where to start, just try writing on a niche topic that you’re knowledgeable about.

To make money, you can use Google AdSense to earn money for advertisements on your site, or you can find products that relate well to your content and earn money through affiliate marketing.

When readers click an affiliate link on your website and make a purchase, you’ll get a commission, and you may even get paid per click. You can also start an online store if you have services or products to sell or host a podcast to share your knowledge.

As a bonus, writing content for your own website or blog could lead to freelance writing work. If becoming a blogger sounds good to you, here’s how to start a successful blog.

9. Start a YouTube channel

Earning potential: $18 per 1,000 views, around $1,100 a week

If you have skills or knowledge to share, you may be able to get an audience on YouTube. Once you have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours in the previous year, or 1,000 subscribers and 10 million public shorts views in the last 90 days, you can monetize your channel and earn ad revenue through Google AdSense.

You might also use your channel to sell related products or services. For example, you might direct viewers to an online course or ebook that you have for sale.

How to make money offline

10. Deliver food for DoorDash

Earning potential: $16-$20 an hour (including tips)

Today, it’s easier than ever to pick up shifts whenever you want whether to deliver restaurant food, groceries, or other goods. When you work as a delivery driver for a gig economy app, you operate as an independent contractor. This means you’re responsible for your own expenses and taxes.

You’ll typically use a mobile app to receive orders, then you just pick them up and deliver them to customers. Like many of the best side hustles, food delivery allows you to make your own hours. Pay varies, but you keep 100% of your tips.

Some services you could work for include Instacart, where you pack and deliver orders from local grocery stores, and DoorDash and UberEats, which require you to pick up and deliver meals from local restaurants.

• Sign up for Instacart
• Sign up for DoorDash
• Sign up for UberEats

11. Rent your car to others

Earning potential: Around $42,000 per year

It’s easy to earn passive income renting out your car when you’re not using it. Car sharing marketplaces like Getaround and Turo allow you to list your car for rent.

Both companies provide robust insurance coverage, so you’ll be well-protected if something happens to your car. Getaround even offers keyless entry — users unlock your car with their mobile phone, so you never have to meet the renter.

Sign up for Getaround

... Read our Getaround review

12. Drive for Uber or Lyft

Earning potential: $19 an hour

If you enjoy meeting new people and exploring your city, rideshare driving could be a great way to make money from the comfort of your car. You can choose your own hours — simply open the rideshare provider’s app and accept a ride whenever you want to start working.

Some rideshare services even allow you to cash out instantly, for a small fee. Although Uber and Lyft are the better-known services, there are other rideshare companies out there.

Sign up for Uber

13. Walk or house-sit dogs

Earning potential: $22 an hour

If you want a job that puts a smile on your face, consider becoming a dog walker or dog sitter to make extra money. With Rover, you can earn good money with on-demand dog services while you create your own schedule and set your own prices.

As long as you have prior pet experience, you can offer services like dog walking, pet boarding, pet sitting, house sitting, or grooming. Plus, you get paid just two days after you complete a service.

Sign up for Rover

Set up a profile on Care.com

14. Offer handyperson services

Earning potential: $24.19 per hour

If you enjoy fixing things, consider offering your services as a handyperson. You may want to start by doing some work for friends or neighbors and collecting testimonials.

You can list your services on a platform like HomeAdvisor Pro and Thumbtack to get sales leads.

To increase your earnings, respond to customers promptly, provide superior customer service, and ask satisfied customers to write a review.

How to make money from home

15. Rent out your garage on Neighbor.com

Earning potential: $100-$600 a month

We live in the age of "stuff" and it's often a struggle to find a place to put it all. When most people's garages and attics are filled to the brim, they're often forced to pay for expensive storage units.

Enter Neighbor.com. This person-to-person platform lets you lease unused storage space in your home, garage, or property to people in your neighborhood. Renters get a better rate than traditional storage units and you make money with that unused space in your garage.

Sign up for Neighbor.com

... Read our Neighbor.com review

16. Sell your old electronics

Earning potential:

If you have an old phone or laptop you no longer use, knowing how to sell your used electronics can be an easy way to make some money fast. You could sell to an individual on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, or you could use an online resale marketplace like eBay.

There are also companies that will buy your used electronics, but you won’t be able to set your own price. With Decluttr, you get free shipping and payments via direct deposit or PayPal. Retailers like Best Buy and GameStop also buy used electronics.

Sign up with Decluttr

17. Start a business

Earning potential: Varies considerably based on the type of business

The first step in learning how to start a business is to write a business plan to think through the details and costs. This will help you think through your idea a little more to ensure it’s a good fit and will make you money.

You’ll also need to secure funding for your business, whether that’s a small business loan, a business credit card like Ink Business Cash^® Credit Card, or crowdfunding. You should also open a business bank account.

As you build your business, you must determine your business model, register your business, follow any licensing requirements, and get your tax ID number. Don’t forget to secure the domain name and create a new company page on LinkedIn to share with your community.

Check out our Ink Business Cash Credit Card review.

18. Sell your old clothes

Earning potential: Depends on the quality and brand of your clothing, but on average sellers earn 3%-80% of sales price

If you have gently used clothing that you no longer wear, you can turn your old stuff into extra cash. You have a few options when it comes to selling your clothing, shoes, and accessories:

• Take your high-quality items to a resale boutique or consignment shop
• Send your items to an online resale site like ThredUp
• Sell your items locally on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or LetGo
• Use an online resale platform like Poshmark, Mercari, Depop, or Tradesy

Using a resale platform will typically result in higher earnings since you’ll be able to set your own pricing. Most online resale platforms also send you prepaid shipping labels that make the process hassle-free.

19. Expand your skill set

Earning potential: Varies based on the skills you learn

Taking online courses or certification programs can help you appear more valuable in the eyes of your employer. That could help bolster your case the next time you ask for a raise or promotion.

Some employers may offer to fund continuing education courses, and there are also plenty of free online courses you can take to improve your skills.

20. Help others increase their skills

Earning potential: $23.81 per hour

If you already feel highly skilled in a certain area, you can help other people learn more. A few examples of what you could do include:

• Tutoring in-person or online
• Coaching
• Create online courses

Become known as someone who can answer questions for beginners, and you might have a shot at making some amount of money with your knowledge.

21. Sell your crafts on Etsy

Earning potential: Varies based on what you sell

Etsy is an online marketplace that allows creators and curators to sell everything from handmade items and artwork to vintage items and t-shirts. It’s easy to start your own Etsy shop, and the listing fee is quite low.

Keep in mind that when your item sells, you’ll also pay a percentage-based transaction fee and a payment processing fee, so you should build those costs into your selling price.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to start an Etsy shop, along with some Etsy shop ideas to get you started.

22. Have a yard sale

Earning potential: $100+ depending on what you have to sell

If you need to declutter your home and need a way to quickly make $1,000, consider having a yard sale. Depending on what you have to offer, you can make a lot of money selling things like old furniture, gently used clothing, tools, your kids’ old toys, and more.

Set your prices a little higher than you’re willing to let the items go for, so you’ll have room for negotiation. To make a little extra cash, you can sell snacks and beverages at your yard sale as well.

23. Start a subscription box service

Earning potential: Varies based on what you sell

Subscription boxes are wildly popular, so if you have an idea for a monthly item or themed package, consider selling on Cratejoy. Your box will get the attention of four million monthly site views, and there are no monthly fees, just transaction and payment processing fees.

You can either buy products in bulk and combine them into packages or sell something handmade. If you’re offering something unique at a competitive price, you could turn a subscription service into a business that makes you fun and easy cash.

24. Host an experience on Airbnb

Earning potential: $500-$2,500 per experience

Airbnb isn’t just for renting out your spare room (though that’s another great way to snag some extra cash). You can also host in-person and online experiences to share your skills, knowledge, and passions with others.

You might teach a music lesson or cooking class, take travelers on a walking tour, teach yoga or meditation, or put on a magic show.

If you can dream it up and there’s an audience for it, you can list it as an experience on Airbnb. You’ll also be able to set your own prices and host on your schedule.

Keep in mind that Airbnb keeps 20% of what you charge as an administrative fee, so price your experience accordingly.

25. Find a new job

Earning potential: Varies considerably

If you’re stuck in a low-paying job that you’re not passionate about, it’s probably time for a new role, a new employer, or a complete career change.

The best jobs for you will be ones that accommodate your lifestyle, provide enjoyable work, and pay a salary you can live comfortably with.

FAQs

Bottom line

It’s okay to experience times when you need more income; it happens to everyone at some point. Whether you’ve lost your job, had your hours cut, or moved and the cost of living is higher, there are ways to make money.

I find myself motivated to make money online or from home when I have a big goal in mind, such as a dream vacation, or mastering debt payoff. No matter the reason you need more money, there are side hustles galore to choose from to help you meet your financial needs.