Side Hustles From Home: How to Earn Extra Money
Some Americans have the benefit of working from home with the promise of earning their regular pay — the only inconvenience being cabin fever as a result of self-quarantines. Unfortunately, however, the COVID-19 outbreak has pushed shops and businesses to temporarily close its doors, leaving many retail and restaurant employees unemployed or with severely cut hours.
Whether you’re looking to stay busy while social distancing or need to fill a gap in income stat, there are a few ways to earn extra money from home.
1. Sell pre-loved clothing and electronics online
Now is a good time to scramble through your gently used clothing and cabinets to do some spring cleaning. If you’re in need of cash, be relentlessly critical of things that no longer spark joy. After all, an extra $20 is a DoorDash meal waiting to be delivered or a well-budgeted week’s worth of groceries.
If you want to know how to make extra money fast by selling your stuff, it’s all about curating your items and post. When selecting which things to sell, brand name merchandise generally sells better than off-label attire and products. Take clear photos, including areas of damage, and write a clear and honest description so buyers know exactly what to expect.
Since you want to avoid conducting pick-up arrangements, you’ll want to sell on a platform where shipping is the standard. A few places to sell your pre-loved items online include, eBay and ThredUP, buy-sell-trade Facebook groups, and Gazelle for electronics. Just make sure your listed price accounts for costs, like platform fees, PayPal fees, and shipping.
2. Peddle your stock photography
Are you guilty of storing a million photos from previous trips or outings? Put those old photos to use by starting a stock photo side hustle. Comb through your well-composed images — whether a photo of your city, a branded gas station or a hiking trail — and tag them in a dedicated album on your device for easy access.
Stock photo websites, like Shutterstock and iStock Photo, can help you earn money while you’re under self-quarantine. Keep in mind, however, that these platforms have varying requirements you’ll need to meet to sell your images. Examples include sending samples of your work, taking a quiz, or using specific cameras to shoot your photos.
3. Take online surveys
As suspect as it may sound, taking online surveys is a legitimate side gig to earn extra cash from home. It can be time-consuming, but if you’d rather make a few dollars or a gift card than spend another four hours binge-watching on Netflix, this side hustle can help.
Now, for clarity, you won’t make a full-time wage (or even part-time income) just through online surveys unless you spend a lot of time taking them — even then, many platforms lean toward offering gift cards as a form of payment. This is still a valuable incentive if you’re forced to stay home, though.
A couple of places to start your search for paid online surveys are Swagbucks and Survey Junkie which offers surveys about brands and product experiences.
4. Try on that freelance life
If you have a sellable skillset or talent and have been toying with the idea of starting a freelance side hustle, this is a good time to start. Whether you have a knack for writing an eloquent and engaging cover letter or are a skilled graphics designer by profession, reach out to friends and family to spread the word that you’re taking new projects.
You’ll want to research a fair starting rate in your industry, and develop services and packages to offer to potential clients. Start off with one or two clients to see if you enjoy the work. To get started, you don’t really need much aside from leads for freelance gigs. In addition to putting out feelers in your network, check remote job boards, like Upwork, to learn about more opportunities.
5. Work as a virtual assistant
If your regular work isn’t geared to the digital space or you don’t feel like you have hyper-specialized skills that are marketable online, working as a virtual assistant may be an option. According to ZipRecruiter, the national hourly wage for virtual assistants is $19 per hour, depending on experience.
Whether you’re helping a C-suite executive with their daily appointments or assisting a small business owner with data entry, virtual assistants act as an extra set of eyes and hands to help manage the details. You can find virtual assistant gigs on websites, like Zirtual, FlexJobs, and Remote.co to make money from home online.
For now, COVID-19 is here for the unforeseeable future. Knowing how to make extra money fast while you’re social distancing can give you a bit more financial cushion to lean on. At the very least it helps you avoid going stir-crazy while you’re responsibly abiding by self-quarantine mandates.
Keep reading: 4 Financial Moves to Make Before Investing During COVID-19
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