Making money online doesn’t have to be hard. We, as humans, are used to making things more complicated than they are. And there is no reason for that. There are plenty of options wherever we go. As easy as it might sound, it can be tricky though. No one will come and give you a ton of money just because you want it. But again, it’s never as hard as we make it in our minds to be. Here are a few easy online jobs that you can start doing today and make money:
Stock Photography
Selling stock photography can turn into a well-paying passive income. It costs you nothing to start. We live in the 21st century, and you don’t need a professional camera to be able to take good photos. You can create better photos playing around with your smartphone than you could 20 years ago with professional gear. So why not use what you have to make some money? It’s not that hard anyway.
There are many websites that you can use. Shutterstock seems to be the most popular. But there are also many others like Pond5, Alamy, and Getty Images. The idea is to have an unexclusive deal with all of them. When you have an unexclusive deal, it means you can sell the same product on other websites. When you have an exclusive deal, you can only sell it on their website. The difference is that you will get a lower percentage of sales when having an unexclusive deal. But it’s not that lower to even consider the offer. It’s much better to have your photos on all the possible stock websites on the internet. Which means your pictures will be available to a larger audience. This way, more people will see your work, and you will make way more than you ever would by having an exclusive deal.
Content Creation
If you have a few skills that you can use for content creation, you should consider monetizing them. Or at least try it. This can be anything from graphic design to making beats. Even if you don’t know anything about design, you can create a lot of good stuff using free software like Canva. You only need to be creative. Creating content for other people can be a good part-time job. But if it turns out you’re good at it, it can become a high-paying full-time job very fast. And you don’t even have to be good to start. You can just play around until you find your style of work.
When you find your unique style, you can make a portfolio and charge even more money. But let’s go back to the beginning. You need to find your first client. Don’t overthink. You’re not an agency (at least not yet) and nothing will happen if you don’t have one today. You can go to freelance websites and submit a few proposals for a few jobs. But if you don’t want to deal with their guidelines or huge competition, there’s a less complicated way.
Go to Instagram and find people who are doing well, but don’t have content that looks professional. This doesn’t have to be a celebrity or something like that. It can be a local hair salon. They may be doing good with their business, but their Instagram profile looks like 90s websites. Here’s your chance. There’s a very big possibility that a lot of people who run small businesses don’t want to deal with social media. And it’s usually because they don’t have time. Most of them will be happy to pay you to do it for them. And if they like the results, you got yourself a nice side hustle. They will often contact you to make something more for them. Find a few small businesses like this and you get yourself a stable income with flexible work hours.
Translating
If you happen to know a second language, you’re already ahead of most people. You have much more possibilities. And this comes to many different jobs. But we will focus on translating at the moment.
Translating is always needed. Once you start looking, you will see it everywhere. Because it’s everywhere. Some people started learning another language when they saw the number of opportunities to earn money with it. For example, working for an online newspaper, or a blog. Especially if it’s something that has to do with daily news from around the world. They always need someone to translate the news from another country so they can be the first to publish.
Another good option is to translate books. Many bookstores will pay you a good amount of money to translate books from certain authors. Some of them may even offer you a part of the royalties. And that can become a good and stable source of passive income. For example, if you’re fluent in Russian and you find a bookstore that just published Crime and Punishment. You can contact them and offer to translate other books written by Dostoevsky. Most of them will say yes because it’s really hard to find people to do that. And the best thing about it is that you will work from the comfort of your own home.
Proofreading
Another good online job when it comes to writing is proofreading. If you don’t know a second language and don’t want to do any writing, this may be for you. It’s much easier to do, and you have a lot of software that can help you along the way. This is also in demand. And, as easy as it sounds, it pays well.
You can contact blogs and newspapers over email and ask them if they need someone to do proofreading for them. You can contact hundreds of them every day. And once you start doing them and get used to editing software, you’ll do it much faster. When you start doing it faster, you’ll be able to do more. So it’s an easy one to make you $100 a day.
If you want, you can combine proofreading with the previous one. If you’re translating books for a book publishing company, great! Offer to do proofreading of other books that they are about to publish. You can make extra money on the side, and you will have a stable income. Also, once they see how many things you can do for them, they will never let you go. They would rather pay you more for you to stay and continue working for them. You’re a big player now.
Transcribing
Transcribing is one of the simplest jobs that you can start doing today. If you like simple writing jobs, but don’t like to think too much, this may be for you. You won’t have to deal with creative writing or translating. You don’t even have to worry about grammar most of the time. All you have to do is to listen to audio tracks and write everything down.
You can do this for magazines and blogs that do a lot of interviews. They are always looking for transcribers. Most of them want to publish the interview in the written word. This is your opportunity. Even on freelancing websites. From smaller part-time gigs to long-term projects. If you’re a music lover, you can find music magazines that do interviews with artists. It will be even easier for you to do this when it has to do something with music that you love listening to. The best part about it is these kinds of magazines usually give their employees free CDs and tickets to concerts. That makes it even more enjoyable.
Writing Articles
Now, you may be thinking about writing articles and reviews for that music magazine. It’s much easier to do it once you are already working with them. People usually want to start in a much higher position, and don’t want to bother doing simple stuff like transcribing. And that’s ok. It’s totally fine to want something better for yourself. Especially if you think you deserve it. But it’s a little bit harder to go straight to the 4th floor if there’s no elevator in the building.
On the other hand, if you’re already working for them, they are more likely to offer you a promotion. You can write a few reviews of your favorite albums, or a few articles on recent events in the music industry, and send them. You’re more likely to become a full-time writer for that magazine now that they trust you. Especially if you’ve already done a good job for them. No doubt about it.
But what to do if you haven’t been working for anyone? Start writing! The best way to get any writing job is to have work to show. Have a decent portfolio. And if you want to go a few steps further, publish a book. Write a book on a specific theme you know a lot about, and publish your work on Amazon Kindle. It’s very simple to do, and it can make a huge difference because you will stand out from everyone else. Even if you’ve made only a few sales, they don’t have access to your account, so they will never know.