If you’re a fellow bibliophile, you might be interested to know that you too can make some money on the side. How? Why, a booklover’s side hustle, of course.

Some of the best ways to make money are doing things you love. That’s why, if you can, turning a hobby or interest into a revenue stream is a favorable way to earn. Because, really, when you’re doing something you love, it never feels like you’re actually working.

Book Seller

Every time I’m in my local Goodwill, Salvation Army or other second-hand store, I always take a stroll down the book aisles. Sure, I like to browse  the titles looking for something for myself, but I’m also scouting for books to resell.

And it’s really easy to find valuable books for cheap that you know will sell for a profit. How? A free and simple app called BookScouter.

All you do is scan a book’s ISBN barcode and, voila, the BookScouter app will let you know how much it’s worth if you sell it on popular sites like Chegg, Abe’s Books, or Barnes & Noble.

When I lived by a university, I would alway go to a nearby Goodwill scouting for used textbooks — and it paid off. It wasn’t uncommon to find a textbook or two that ended up selling for $100 or more.

But you don’t have to live near a college to make money selling used books. Many titles from self-help to sci-fi can be worth something. That’s why it’s so important to use BookScouter. It will let you know what sites are willing to pay you for a particular title. Then you just have to go to the site, fill in the product details, and ship the book in — and, nine times out of ten, they’ll cover the cost of shipping. Within two weeks, you’ll usually receive payment through Paypal or check. That’s it. If you’re gonna be at the second-hand stores anyway, you might as well do a little scouting on the side!

Book Reviewer

After you read a book, you know you have an opinion — something that ranges from can’t put it down page turner to ho-hum predictable. But what you think to be the next bestseller may not be so great  to me, and vice versa. That’s why book reviews are so important — they give potential readers an insider’s glimpse of the goings on from chapter to chapter.

If you have previous experience critiquing books, Kirkus has freelance book reviewer positions available. These are project-based gigs. After you’re assigned a book, you have two weeks to submit your 350-word review. You can also find copywriter positions here that would be a perfect side hustle for the booklover. Most tasks involve writing promotional content for new books. However, some assignments may include writing book descriptions and back cover content.

Other places to look for gigs as a book reviewer:

Online Book Club – As “an internet community for book lovers,” you’ll get a chance to connect with new authors while also earning a few bucks and free books! Some reviews pay ($5-$60) but most assignments are only paid via free books. But if you’re a booklover, this may be payment enough

BookLook – Do you have a blog? Are there 30+ people following it? If so, you can apply to become a book reviewer at BookLook. As a reviewer, you’ll receive each book you review for free. This is a great way to build experience as a reviewer!

Any Subject Books – There are a variety of books available for review here. Payments vary depending on the length of the book. You don’t have to review a minimum number of books which makes this a great side hustle for the busy booklover.

eBook Author

If you read a lot of books, I bet you have the skills to write a book, too. It’s true. In fact, avid readers are some of the best writers. And with the soaring popularity of ebooks, it’s never been easier to pen your own fiction or nonfiction work and make some pretty good money while doing it.

In fact, you can easily write your very first ebook in just 30 days. Of course, if you’re particularly strapped for time, you can always take 45, 60, 90 days or more. But it’s not a stretch to think you could set aside some spare time every day to devote to writing an ebook.

What’s great about writing an eBook is you can use platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing to get your book up for sale quickly. And with a reach of million of worldwide readers, this can be an easy way to passive income success — after all, you write the book once and collect sales over and over again!

Other Side Hustles to Consider

Those who love to read are generally pretty fond of language and words. And this is great news for the would-be side hustler — after all, there are plenty of word-related ways to earn extra money from home.

Scoping

I bet this is a side hustle you’ve never heard of before. But really, it can be a great income generator for word nerds out there. But what is scoping, you ask? In a nutshell, scoping is editing transcripts for court reporters. You see, court reporters use steno writers to take down what is being said. Software is then used to turn their work into readable transcripts. But computers aren’t perfect (at least not yet). They miss subtle nuances, punctuation, wording, etc. — and that’s where a scopist comes into play.

If you’re a lover of language, you’ll equally love this side hustle. And the best part? The pay is great and the training is affordable. This side hustle can easily go from extra income generator to full-time wages. To explore scoping a little more, check out this free course over at Internet Scoping School.

Scoring

From helping elementary-aged children learn to read to critiquing high school students’ essays, there are quite a few ways to side hustle as a scorer. Again, as a lover of the written word, you’ll likely find it enjoyable to spend your spare time helping students improve their reading and writing skills. Some companies to check out include:

ACT – Remember the ACT? You can get paid to read and score student-written ACT essays. To be considered, you will need to have at least a bachelor’s degree and previous teaching experience. U.S. residency is also a must!

Brainfuse – As a Brainfuse Paper Reviewer, you’ll help students writing college-level papers. This can include reviewing essays and providing feedback to live one-on-one tutoring sessions done over a virtual whiteboard (no webcam or mic needed). To be considered, you’ll need to supply proof of a bachelor’s degree in any field.

ETS – ETS has both location-based and subject-specific scoring positions available. It’s best to check their job opportunities page to see current open positions.

Gradiate – You’ll earn $25/hour as a Gradiate Genius. This is mostly grading work and providing feedback that students can use to improve.

Literably – This is part transcription, part evaluating. You’ll listen to elementary students read out loud and note whenever they’ve made a mistake like omitting words or mispronunciations.

Measurement Inc. – You’ll need a bachelor’s degree in any field to work from home as a reader/evaluator at Measurement Inc. There are a number of different projects available, each with different pay rates.

Pearson – Pearson is one of the largest education companies around, and they often have a number of online evaluator positions available. Check out their scoring at home program to see what kind of projects they’re hiring for throughout the year!

WriteScore – WriteScore offers hand-scored essay services in the education industry. They will train essay scorers, but you’ll need at least a two-year degree to be considered.

Blogging

Review-based blogs can be a fun way to monetize your personal thoughts. And if you have a particular niche you absolutely love, you could solely focus on that. For example, if you love romance novels, set up a blog devoted to discussing and sharing some of your favorite reads. Or if science-fiction is more your thing, give readers your thoughts on the latest and greatest to familiar favs.

A book review blog could be monetized with affiliate marketing. For example, you could recommend titles for purchase via Amazon and earn a percentage of each sale through the Amazon Associates program. Remember, blogging as a side business is a lot of work but, when done right, can lead to full-time income for part-time work.

Proofreading and Editing

Do you spot spelling mistakes while reading everything from cereal boxes to billboards? Do you know what it takes to make good writing great? Well, then, you’d make a great editor or proofreader. And, honestly, that’s not surprising. Most diehard readers are often inherently great editors — it just goes with the territory.

Fortunately for you, there are plenty of ways to make money as a proofreader or editor. You could start your own proofreading side hustle, take a free introduction course to proofreading, or contract with one of 16+ companies as a virtual proofreader.

Booklovers’ Side Hustles

Reading is a great way to pass the time but it can also lead to extra money in the bank each month. With these booklovers’ side hustles, you can take your love of the written word one step further by turning it into a side hustle.

If you have a great idea for a side hustle but have no idea how to get it off the ground, head on over to The Side Hustle Starter Kit. Brette will show you how she launched her own side hustle in 30 days, quit her 9 to 5, and was profitable from the very beginning. If you’re ready to follow your passion and get serious about side hustlin’ this is the course for you!

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This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure statement to learn more!

The post Side Hustles for Booklovers: 30+ Money-Making Ideas for Bibliophiles appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

Sounds too good to be true? It’s not. But it does require a bit of planning to do it right. This ultimate blogging as a side business guide will give you the blueprints needed to start (and sustain) a successful blog.

Prep Your Blog

Before becoming a blogger, you need to put in a little prep work. The hardest of which is picking a niche. A niche is a well-defined (and profitable) subject you’ll blog about.

What’s in a niche? It could be anything, really. If you want to be a part-time blogger, choose a niche you love. When you write about the things you truly enjoy, you’ll never feel like you’re actually working. And, as a bonus, you’ll actually earn some money for sharing your thoughts on your favorite subject.

If you need a little niche inspiration, consider this, the most profitable niches fall into one of these three main categories:

1. Money
2. Relationships
3. Health/Fitness

Remember, these three categories are super broad. You don’t just want to be a “money” blogger. Instead, you want a really defined niche. For example, let’s say you enjoy a good bargain. Your favorite store to bargain shop is Target. You religiously check their weekly ad, online coupons, and Cartwheel offers to save big on everyday purchases to once-in-a-blue-moon splurges.

Great! On your blog, you could share your Target shopping tips and tricks — give shoppers alerts on sales, suggest stock up items, and provide markdown schedules on clearance. This very targeted niche (no pun intended) could fall into the broader “money” category while also discussing a subject matter you truly enjoy — Target shopping and saving (win-win!).

Niche Inspiration

Don’t worry if a niche isn’t immediately jumping out at you. And even if one is, take a day to think about it. Your niche will drive your blog’s content and, with it, the amount of money you make. You wouldn’t start a brick-and-mortar business on a whim — and you don’t want to hastily jump into a blog either

So, think about the three big categories (love, money, health) and start jotting down ideas. For a little inspiration visit the ‘For Dummies’ book people.

Check out their active categories. If they’ve written a book about it, that subject has the potential to be profitable.

The For Dummies people spend a lot of time and money researching potential niches — if it’s profitable they’ll publish a book about it. If it’s not, they won’t.

So, if there’s a subject there you feel could be a potential niche for you — you can also feel pretty confident it has the potential to be profitable.

Get Started

Once you’ve picked a narrow niche involving a subject you actually enjoy, you can move onto the next step: Setting up your blog. This step can seem daunting, especially if you’ve never been involved in the creation of a blog or website before.

But fear not! I’ve discussed this in GREAT detail in my No-Fail Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Blog.  In it, I reiterate the importance of picking a niche, help you pick a domain name and, of course, go through the process of selecting a host and installing WordPress. There’s even an included handy guide of free WordPress themes you can install to give your blog the perfect look without spending a penny.

This guide will show you everything (and I do mean everything) you need to do to go from blog idea to owning your own piece of Internet real estate. I promise, it’s easy. Just make sure you set aside an uninterrupted 20 minutes to go through the process, step by step. Once you do, you’ll be the newest member of the blogging community — welcome!

Prep Your Posts and Pages

Now that your blog is up, it’s time to get it running. The content you create for your blog will make or break its success — no pressure, right?

Don’t panic. Creating amazing, share-worthy content isn’t a matter of luck. There are many steps you can take to ensure everything you publish is as equally amazing as the next post.

Categories

Before you get to work writing content for your blog, you’ll need to create a roadmap. In the blogging world, your categories are what will give your blog content direction. All you need are 3-5 categories and 3 or 4 subcategories under each one.

For example, here at Work from Home Happiness my main categories are:

1. Work from Home
2. Freelancing
3. Side Hustles
4. Online Entrepreneurship

And under each of these broad categories, I have specific subcategories I talk about:

1. Work from Home
   1. Job Leads
   2. Company Reviews
   3. Extra Income Ideas
   4. Job Search Advice
2. Freelancing
   1. Pitching
   2. Selling Services
   3. Finding Clients
   4. Setting Rates
3. Side Hustles
   1. Beginner’s Guides
   2. Management
   3. Growth
4. Online Entrepreneur
   1. Blogging
   2. Passive Income
   3. Affiliate Marketing
   4. Infopreneur/Solopreneur/Creative Entrepreneur Ideas

Having these categories and subcategories helps me maintain focus and makes sure I stay on topic with my blog’s content. When someone visits your blog for the first time, you want them to know what it is you’re talking about. Having set categories and subcategories in place ahead of time will go a long way in helping you stay on point.

The Purpose of Categories

Pretend someone stumbles upon one of your blog posts on Pinterest. The article is an amazing how-to piece on repurposing an old dresser. The reader loves the article and decides they want to look around your blog for more amazing DIY ideas and home decor advice. But as they start looking around, they can’t find any related content. Instead, there’s an article about grocery budgets and another about what you did this past weekend — not at all what the reader was hoping to find. So, they leave — likely never to return again.

You want to hook your readers from the beginning — having a cohesive blog with well defined categories and subcategories does that. It lets readers know what they can expect from you from the beginning and never leaves them guessing about what you may talk about next!

So, before you sit down to write your first post willy-nilly — stop — write down your 3-5 categories and 3-5 subcategories and keep it handy for reference. You can jot them down on a piece of paper or use a Google Doc to keep track of them — just make sure you reference it frequently  to make sure you’re staying on subject!

Start Blogging

Now you have your name, niche, categories and blog set up, it’s time to add some amazing content. In the beginning, blogs look bare. That’s okay. A quick fix is to sit down and write 5-10 blog posts that you immediately publish. This makes it appear that your blog isn’t brand new (even though it is) and gives your new readers some material to browse through.

Create Your Content Strategy

Your personality will play a huge role in your blog’s content. Your posts may be funny, informative, slightly snarky, light-hearted — or any combination of writing styles. Some people will love your unique way with words and others will hate it — no problem. That’s the great thing about blogging — it gives you a chance to connect with like-minded people who appreciate your approach to your chosen niche

So, whatever your style and tone, make sure to keep it consistent. You don’t want to start off writing funny, pun-filled posts and then suddenly switch to serious, academic style writing. It’s confusing and will likely turn off readers you worked so hard to get!

Content Length

As a part-time blogger looking to earn extra money, you may be tempted to skimp on your post length. But I’m going to strongly recommend against teeny-tiny posts. Instead, focus on creating longform content. The exact definition of longform content varies. Some people say it’s anything more than 750 words. Others say a post needs to exceed 2,000 words to qualify.

For me, longform content is somewhere in between — I make it a point to write blog posts that hit at least 1200 words. Now before you start freaking out, thinking that number of words is akin to writing a novel — it’s totally doable. Just make sure you’re sitting down to write posts with ‘meaty’ topics. You want your posts to be a certain word count but you also don’t want them stuffed with fluff.

Create a Content Calendar

Now that you’re a blogger, you’re going to need an editorial calendar — especially as a part-time blogger. This will keep you organized, on track, and keep you from feeling burned out. After all, blogging as a side business should be a fun way to earn extra money, not a stressful time suck. One of the easiest ways to prevent blogger burnout is to create an editorial calendar.

Simply put, your editorial calendar will show, months in advance, which posts are going live and on which dates. When you have posts scheduled out in advance, you’ll never be scrambling last minute to come up with a post idea or, worse, throw something up on your blog just for the sake of posting.

There are a number of both free and paid plugins you can use. But you don’t necessarily need a plugin — you could keep track of your posts in Google, create a spreadsheet or even an old fashioned desk calendar — really, whatever works for you is fine! Just make sure you brainstorm topics, create content, and schedule everything out in advance. This means when you go to sit down to write once a week, you know that post won’t be going ‘live’ until a month or two later. So, if something happens and you can’t work on your blog during a busy week, no problem, you’ve created a content calendar that keeps going even when you’re tied up.

My personal favorite editorial and scheduling plugin is CoSchedule. It costs money each month — but there are several ways to save on your subscription. If you write a review of CoSchedule on your new blog, you automatically get a 50% discount!

Monetize Your Blog

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably pretty eager to learn how to monetize your blog so you can make extra income each month. And, it’s a good idea to start monetizing right out the gate so, as your traffic grows, so will your income month over month. Bloggers all create different strategies when monetizing their blogs — and as you get more comfortable with yours, you’ll likely make changes and tweaks to maximize your earnings, too.

But to get started, consider these common ways to make money as a part-time blogger.

Affiliate Marketing

As an affiliate marketer, you get paid a commission for referrals you make. Even if you have a small blog, you can earn big with affiliate marketing. It’s all about recommending the right products/services. If you were a fashion blogger, you would recommend your favorite clothing and brands. You wouldn’t, however, recommend tech products because your readers turn to your blog for advice on fashion — not electronics purchases.

Some bloggers earn $10,000+ each month with affiliate marketing. It’s not a stretch to think you too could earn even a fraction of that each month as a part-time blogger. For an in-depth look at affiliate marketing, including programs you might want to join, check out my post on how I went from $0 to $2,500 a month in affiliate income in just 5 months.

Advertising Out the Gate

I’m going to come right out and say it: Ads can be annoying. When you’re trying to browse a site and get bombarded with one pop-up after another or full-page ads that are next to impossible to X out of, it can be a major turn off. And that’s why, if you choose to use ads, it pays to use them sparingly. In other words, don’t plaster your posts and pages with a ridiculous amount of ads. Chances are, you’re not earning that much from them anyway and they’re likely preventing you from developing a loyal audience of readers.

As a beginner, Google AdSense and Media.net are good places to start. These companies use cookies to display relevant Google and Yahoo ads on your site based on your page’s content and/or your visitor’s browsing history. That’s why, when you’re on a webpage, you might see an ad for a product you just were looking at on Amazon.

Information Products

Many bloggers forgo ads altogether in favor of creating their own information products. An information product can be any type of digital creation available for purchase on your blog — eBooks, workbooks, courses, webinars are all smart ways to turn your knowledge into paid-for products.

As a part-time blogger, you may be particularly drawn to creating and selling digital downloads on your site since the income made is completely passive. In other words, you can get paid over and over again for doing the work once.

For a complete look at information marketing and how you can benefit from selling info products as a part-time blogger, check out my beginner’s guide to info marketing.

Getting Traffic

It doesn’t matter how you choose to monetize your blog — affiliate marketing, ads, information products — you’re going to need an audience to make some money. Keep in mind, you don’t necessarily need a huge following to see profits each month, but you do need to get people to visit your blog and interact with it by either making a purchase, clicking an ad or viewing a recommended product.

As a part-time blogger, you’ll rely heavily on social media to promote your latest posts and interact with readers. But social media can be a total time suck. And the last thing you want to do is spend all your free time promoting your blog by endlessly tweeting, pinning, and posting — it’s a surefire way to burn out quickly.

Instead, take a cue from pro bloggers out there and take advantage of automation.

Authentic Automation

Social media automation tools send social updates on your behalf so you don’t have to monitor your accounts 24/7. As a part-time blogger, this makes you look active on social media each and every day even though you may only spend a small chunk of time once a week on social media.

Now this doesn’t mean you should never login and check what’s going on with your social accounts. It does mean, however, that you can spend less time on social media and more time creating killer content and growing your audience (and income).

There are a number of free tools you can use, like Buffer or HootSuite, to start scheduling social posts. My go-to social scheduler is CoSchedule (the same plugin I use for my editorial calendar). CoSchedule lets me easily share old blog posts and keep track of what I’m sharing and how often. The best part is I only spend about an hour each week scheduling my social posts which results in about 50% of my traffic each week.

Pinterest

Pinterest is currently one of the most powerful tools you can use to drive traffic to your blog — regardless of your niche. When I just started out, I thought there was no way Pinterest made sense for a work-from-home blogger like me. After all, Pinterest was all DIY, fashion, recipes and pretty pictures, right? Wrong.

While Pinterest is very much a visual social platform, you don’t need to be in visuals-heavy niche to be successful here. Instead, make sure you create “pinnable” images for each of your blog posts that you can share on Pinterest. I use Canva to do this. It’s a free and easy tool you can use to quickly create vertical images that stand out on Pinterest. There’s even free templates you can use for inspiration.

Start Pinning

Once you have pinnable images, you’ll need to start pinning. The secret to success here is pinning around the clock. As a part-time blogger, it’s not practical to sit in front of your computer all day waiting to send out your next pin. That’s where automation it’s a huge helper — and traffic driver to your blog.

While Hootsuite and Buffer are great for Facebook, Google+, Twitter and even Instagram, Pinterest requires a little something extra. That’s why there are scheduling tools exclusively for pinning.

My two personal favorites are Tailwind and BoardBooster. Really, it comes down to personal preference on which you’ll like the most. Fortunately, you can try them both for free before you commit to one or the other. You can try Tailwind for an entire month for free by using this referral link and give BoardBooster a try by using this referral link.

Part-Time Blogging Success

Remember, you’re not likely to see blogging success overnight as a part-time blogger. But, you can create a killer content strategy combined with social media automation that helps your blog grow and, with it, your income each month.

Feeling stuck? Leave your questions in the comments below! I’m happy to answer any questions you might have. Don’t forget to sign up for the weekly Happiness Digest for extra tips and at-home inspiration. You’ll also gain access to the free resource library, created for out-of-the-cube thinkers like you

The post Blogging as a Side Business: A Guide to Earning Extra Money Each Month as a Part-Time Blogger appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

Bloggers usually have a lot of knowledge about a specific subject. Etsy sellers are typically talented artisans. And the millions of others paying their bills with online work could say the same — programmers, designers, writers, teachers, marketers all have training and experience that allow them to earn online.

But outside of these experience required online jobs, there are many other ways to take in an online income. And the good news is (almost) anyone can do them. So, if you’ve been searching for a way to make money online but think all the good internet jobs require tons of experience — think again! There are ways to make money online that just about anyone can do.

Search Engine Evaluator

You probably rely on Google (or your personal fave search engine) to help you find everything from local movie times to the best deals on new tech. And this reliance on search engines for everyday information means that they need to be pretty good at what they do. But the truth is, search engines are far from perfect. That’s why companies hire internet users, like you and me, to lend a helping hand as search engine evaluators.

Search engine evaluators are tasked with ‘teaching’ search engines the little intricacies that exist in language. For example, when someone Googles “apple sale” they’re probably looking for deals on Apple products like Macs, iPads, and iPhones and not a list of places to buy apples on the cheap. But search engines don’t instinctively understand pop culture references or current events like you and I do.

So, as a search engine evaluator, you’ll rate the relevancy of search results based on a search query. That’s it. You don’t need any experience. But you will need to know basic news, current events, and pop culture happenings in the country you’re applying in.

I did a small project with iSoftStone. And while it wasn’t my cup of tea, the work paid well and is certainly something I wouldn’t hesitate to do again. If this is something you could see yourself doing, check out this list of search engine evaluator companies to see who’s hiring.

Usability Tester

If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time online and in apps browsing websites to find information, purchase products, grab your daily news, play games or otherwise entertain yourself while waiting in line. And you probably have an opinion about how well those apps and sites work. These opinions are quite valuable to the website owner or app developer. So valuable, in fact, that you can actually get paid to share your candid thoughts about what it’s like to use an app or website as a consumer.

And, don’t worry, you don’t need any kind of developer or QA experience whatsoever. All you need is an ability to speak your thoughts out loud while completing tasks. I’ve been a longtime usability testing at User Testing. Sometimes, I’ll get the chance to visit a website, pretend to make a purchase, and give my thoughts about my shopping experience and the overall checkout process. New website owners may ask for testers to give their unabashed first impressions of their site. Really, there are endless possible scenarios you may be tasked with as a usability tester.

So, if you frequent websites and are comfortable navigating various apps with little to no instruction, you’ll be just fine as a usability tester. Remember, you just have to be honest and provide real feedback — that’s it. Check out these companies that hire usability testers and you’ll be one step closer to earning money with this popular online job option.

Crowdworker

As far as internet jobs, there are no shortage of options to become a crowdworker. If you’ve never heard the term before, crowd working is an inexpensive way for companies to get work done quickly. This work is made available to a pool of workers and is claimed on a first come first serve basis. A lot of times, this kind of work is referred to as micro jobs and can be found on short task sites.

Crowd working tasks are usually quick and simple — think data entry, image tagging, and URL ranking. While these tasks don’t really pay much, they can be done when you have a free minute. That’s why crowd working is a great way to monetize your down time or sneak in a quick buck or two whenever you have a second to spare.

And since these tasks are super simple, just about anyone can do them! Amazon Turk is probably the largest micro job site out there — but it’s not the only one. Check out this list of short task sites to ‘join the crowd’ and gain access to thousands of mini internet jobs at any given time. If this sounds perfect for you, read through subreddits like UHRS Work and Hits Worth Turking For for tons of helpful advice from turkers like you

Telephone Mystery Shopper

I know online jobs that require you to pick up the phone aren’t exactly popular, but hear me out on this one. As a phone mystery shopper you simply place calls to an assigned shop, ask a couple of questions, and write up a quick report. You don’t need any special experience to be a phone mystery shopper but you should be able to communicate well both when speaking and writing.

This is a great opportunity for stay-at-home parents since shops can be done at any time during business hours and background noise isn’t an issue. So, if you have kids in your care or a noisy pet — no problem! As a phone mystery shopper you need to act like a real consumer, not a paid caller. And nothing sounds more real than a busy household in the background.

The amount you’ll earn per completed call depends on the company you sign up with. For example, Call Center QA pays a flat $5 per shop while Perception Strategies pays up to $20. To find out who’s hiring, head on over to this list of telephone mystery shopping companies and start earning money for being on the phone.

Call Reviewing

Speaking of being on the telephone, you can take advantage of internet jobs as a call reviewer and get paid to listen in and rate recorded phone calls. Sounds interesting, right? It can be! Most of the time, the calls you are listening to are sales calls. And you’re listening in to see if there was a missed sales opportunity.

For example, you may be asked to listen to a customer who called into a car dealership wanting to speak with a certain sales rep about a car they saw online. You’ll listen into see who answered the phone, whether the caller was transferred, if the caller was sent to voicemail or otherwise was unable to reach the sales person. That’s it.

There’s no particular experience you’ll need to get started at sites like Humanatic or Reynolds & Reynolds. But obviously being a good listener is a must!

Flipper

Buying items for cheap and flipping them online for profit is quickly becoming one of the most popular internet jobs out there! It’s a great option for just about anyone looking to make money online since you can work when you want and use sites like eBay and Amazon FBA to do most of the work for you. All you have to do is find the items to flip for profit.

One of my favorite ways to make money online is to find used books at my local thrift stores and sell them for profit. It’s not uncommon to find a few books that sell for well over $100. Thanks to the free and easy-to-use BookScouter App, you have all the information you need right in the palm of your hand — after scanning a book’s ISBN it will tell you how much sites are willing to pay you for that book.

But finding and selling used books for profit is just one way to make money as a flipper. You could also sell clearance items using Amazon FBA or make treasure hunting your job as a thrift store flipper.

Market Research

Let’s be honest: Not all online survey sites are created equal. Some have insanely complicated point systems that make it difficult to turn into cash. Others have not-so-awesome prizes or very few options to earn anything. And while there’s a lot of legitimate survey sites to be found, you might want to stick with a few that actually pay well and make it possible to earn extra money each month.

Vindale

My two favorite survey sites are Vindale and Swagbucks. I like Vindale because they actually pay you cash and you can request your earnings be paid out with a check or through PayPal. 

And, as you can see, they actually have some survey opportunities that are well worth it, like a payout of $6.42 for a quick 11-minute automotive study. There’s other ways to earn aside from surveys like watching videos, checking email and participating in panels. The opportunities available will depend on your demographic information. But once you sign up, you can start earning and even receive a $2 bonus for filling out your information!

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the most popular survey sites out there. Why? Because they’ll pay you for doing all the random things you’re already doing on the internet! This includes shopping, playing games, watching videos and, yes, taking surveys.

To date, Swagbucks members have been paid out more than $100,000,000 in cash and rewards. Pretty impressive, right? You too can join the group and start making money for all your online activities. When you sign up, you’ll automatically get a bonus $5 to get you started.

Start Earning with Easy Internet Jobs

With all the no special experienced needed internet jobs out there, it’s never been easier to earn extra money online. If you’re looking for more ways to earn, check out this list of 101+ Ways to Earn Extra Money Online. And don’t forget to sign up for the Work from Home Free Resource Library for special freebies for out-of-the-cube thinkers like you!

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure statement for more details.

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With so much flexibility in services, it’s no wonder one-third of U.S. workers are freelancers. But, freelancing doesn’t just let you sell your strengths. It also gives you a chance to make a flexible income. One that lets you work on the projects you want and for clients you choose. Oh, and did I mention, you get to set your own rates?

There’s not too many jobs out there that let you:

• Pick your schedule
• Select your job responsibilities
• Set your pay rate

Sounds pretty ideal, right? It is. Or, I should say, it can be.

But just like anything unfamiliar, it can be tough to get started. Especially when there’s a lot of information out there. How do you take the first step? What services do you offer for sale? Is it even possible to start a scalable freelance business in your free time?

These are all very important questions, and ones that are easily answered. But first things first, you’ve got to figure out where to start.

Freelance in Your Free Time

When I started freelancing, I jumped right in. That is, I quit my day job and devoted all my attention to freelancing. For me, this was great motivation. Knowing that I had no income coming in really lit a fire under my bum, so to speak. And to make sure I stayed afloat financially, I gave my all to freelancing.

But, I know this doesn’t make sense for everyone. Instead, it’s a lot more realistic to dip your toe into the freelance waters. You know, take it for a test drive before going all in. But this also means you’ll be juggling freelancing with your full-time gig. And, honestly, that can be tough. Impossible? No. Tough? Yes. But, you’re up for the challenge, right? Especially when the payoff is a truly flexible work-from-anywhere career that pays better than that 9-to-5 of yours.

What Freelance Services Will You Sell?

It’s a simple question. But the answer isn’t always easy to come by. New freelancers overthink this. And that makes it hard to start when you think, “Gee, I can’t even figure out what to sell. How can I actually make a living?”

First up, know that you’ve already got the right skills to freelance. You just need to pick the most profitable one.

Go with what You Know

Don’t try to sell freelance services that are a stretch for you. That is, simply go with what you know. Remember, you don’t have to be an expert to be a freelancer. You must, however, provide a service that offers value to clients.

And the best way to figure out what that is is to first take inventory of your existing skills.

Skills Inventory

The whole point of freelancing in your free time is to put your existing skills to good use. And it also means you should offer things you’re comfortable doing so you can confidently complete client work.

So, what skills do you have that can turn into freelance services for sale? Good question! It’s time to take a skills inventory.

Without getting too technical, there are a lot of different skills and categories they fall into. But generally speaking, they can fall into two main categories: hard skills and soft skills.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are things you learn and can be measured. For example:

• Typing
• PhotoShop
• Excel
• Design
• Math
• Data Analysis

Soft skills, on the other hand, are difficult to measure. For example, we can take standardized tests to find out who’s the fastest typist (hard skill). But it would be a lot harder to show who’s the most adaptable (soft skill).

Soft Skills

Some examples of soft skills include:

• Networking
• Humor
• Public speaking
• Decision making
• Adaptability
• Time management

Why is knowing the difference between hard skills and soft skills important? The more hard skills you can identify, the better your chances are of matching them up with in-demand freelance services that sell.

Does that mean you can’t freelance soft skills? No, of course not. Soft skills often complement hard skills and are important to a successful career as a freelancer.

For example, let’s say you want to freelance as a transcriptionist. You’ll play up the fact that you can type 100 WPM with 99% accuracy (hard skills) but also mention you are reliable (soft skill) and always meet deadlines.

Similarly, if you are going to freelance as a web designer, you’ll advertise that you’ve got CSS knowledge (hard skill) and are an effective communicator (soft skill) when it comes to making revisions.

Or, if you opt to sell freelance services as a social media manager, you might list Hootsuite, Buffer and Tailwind (hard skills) as automation tools you know and also mention that you’re comfortable networking (soft skill) online.

See what I mean? Hard skills sell really well and soft skills back them up. Together, they make for a really valuable freelance offering!

Identify Your Skills

Before you go any further, break out a pen and paper, create a new Note, Google Doc or whatever it is you like to jot stuff down in. You’re going to make two lists: 1. Hard skills 2. Soft skills

Remember, only list those things you’re already comfortable doing. If you’ve used Photoshop once or twice, you probably won’t want to include it as a hard skill. Be honest about what you can and can’t do. This isn’t one of those times where the more you know the better off you’ll be. Really, all you need is to identify one profitable skill you can sell as a freelancer.

It’s Time to Pick a Freelance Niche

Okay. You’ve got an honest look at your existing skills. Now it’s time to figure out a niche. I’m always preaching the power of a niche here at Work from Home Happiness. Whether you want to be a writer, virtual assistant, proofreader or blogger, you can fast track yourself to success by simply picking a niche.

As a reminder, a niche is a narrowly defined (yet profitable) service offering. The narrower your niche when starting out, the better you’ll fare.

Niche Inspiration

To get your wheels turning, check out the most in-demand freelance skills on Upwork. If you’ve never heard of Upwork before, it’s the world’s largest freelance marketplace. Clients go to Upwork to post gigs. And freelancers pitch against one another to land them. It really is the mecca of freelance work.

You don’t have to sign up at Upwork (not if you don’t want to, anyway). But you should go there for inspiration. Because it’s a giant in the freelance services world, you can take a look around to see what exactly clients are most requesting from freelancers, like you.

Anything on this list match up with your hard and soft skills? I’m gonna guess, yes! Which is great because you can bet if these services are in demand on Upwork, they’re generally in demand. And in-demand = sales! But it’s not time to start selling just yet. Now it’s time to narrow down your niche by defining your audience.

Define Your Audience

Let’s say you chose content writer as your broad niche. After all, grammar is one of your hard skills and writing is one of your soft skills. So, you put the two together and, voila, content writer. Great! While it’s easy to say you’ll write anything for anybody, it’s not the best approach. It’s just too broad. Instead, figure out who you want to write for.

Ask yourself, “Who is my audience?”

Don’t Make the Mistake I Made

I’ll use myself as an example. I decided I wanted to be a freelance writer. And I pitched and pitched and pitched some more. And guess what? I didn’t land any work. Not a single gig.

You see, I was too generic. My pitches were terribly broad and my potential client base was equally diverse. This meant I spent a lot of time sending out bland pitches to too many clients. And it was all for nothing.

Fast forward a month later when I finally decided to focus my content writing. Instead of targeting anybody and everybody, I decided my clients would be lawyers. I have a legal background, so it just made sense to offer content writing services to lawyers.

And you know what? Once I knew who my audience was (lawyers), I was able to perfect my pitch. And that’s when I started seeing results. Before I knew it, I had more offers to write than I could keep up with. Soon enough, I was rarely pitching for clients. Instead, they were coming to me by way of referrals.

The Power of a Niche

I know it’s counterintuitive to limit yourself to a particular niche and narrowly defined audience. You’re probably thinking, that’s crazy! How can I get any work if my potential audience is so darn small?

But remember, a niche accomplishes several things:

• It makes it easier to find your audience
• Helps you perfect your pitch
• Cements you as a go-to expert in your field
• Allows you to command higher rates

So, whether you want to freelance on the side or plan to start freelancing full time, do yourself a favor: Pick a niche.

Selling Freelance Services

Believe it or not, the hard part is done. Let’s review what you’ve done up until this point:

• You assessed your hard skills and soft skills
• You selected a broad niche that’s in demand and uses your existing skills
• You’ve defined your audience

Whew. Honestly, those three things keep many a would-be freelancer from getting started. It can be hard to figure out what freelance services sell. It can be harder still to believe that you have valuable skills that people will actually pay for. But you do.

Freelance in Your Free Time

Now you’re eager to start selling. After all, the whole point of freelancing in your free time is to make extra money, right? Perhaps start small and scale your freelance business until you can quit your day job and focus full time on freelancing.

First things first, you’ve got to approach freelancing in a way that doesn’t interfere with your day job but still offers enough attention so you can grow it into something larger. No problem.

Where to Sell Freelance Services

In today’s day in age, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are a number of places to sell your freelance services. As I touched upon earlier, there are entire marketplaces, like Upwork, that do nothing more than bring together clients in need of services and freelancers who have services to sell.

And while Upwork is the largest freelance marketplace, there are others like it, including:

• Freelancer
• Guru
• CloudPeeps
• People Per Hour
• FreeeUp
• Fiverr

Each site operates a bit differently but the premise is the same: The site acts as the middleman connecting you with clients. You pay a percentage of your earnings each time you land a gig.

As with anything, there are a lot of pros and cons to these marketplace sites.

Notable Pros:

• A lot of gigs to choose from
• Payment protection
• Quickly set up a freelance presence online

Notable Cons:

• Fees as high as 20%
• Limited in proposals you can submit each month
• Less flexibility in how you can communicate with clients

Since you want to freelance in your free time, marketplaces might be a good place to jump in. Whether or not you land any gigs, you’ll get a chance to submit a lot of pitches. And the right pitch can make all the difference in how much work you secure as a freelancer.

Plus, freelance marketplaces let you login any time you have a free moment, see what gigs are posted and decide whether you want to pitch to any of them. You’re not required to pitch a certain number of times per month and you can decide whether or not to accept any offer to work.

Branching Out on Your Own

Everybody has their own path to freelance success. Some people start out on marketplace sites. Other people choose to set up a freelance services site right out the gate. And others use network marketing to get their name out there.

Really, you can use any one or combination of these tactics. It really depends on what you’re looking to get out of your freelance career. As a newbie wanting to freelance in your free time, it’s best to start small and grow organically. You don’t want to stress yourself out by trying to pitch your services on too many platforms at a time.

Instead, pick one method of finding work and stick with it for a while.

What’s my personal favorite way to land freelance work? Email outreach. If you cringe at the idea of emailing someone out of the blue to see if they might, by chance, be interested in working with you — don’t! It’s not as scary as it may seem. And it can be one of the most effective ways to sell your freelance services to your ideal clients.

Have I piqued your curiosity? Sign up for the weekly Happiness Digest below and get my quickstart guide to Freelance Email Outreach. In it, you’ll learn the dos and don’ts of effective email outreach as a freelancer and be one step closer to selling your freelance services in your free time!

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Whatever it is you’re good at, you can turn it into a work from home career. No. Really.

Look at Chantel Waterbury, founder and CEO of Chloe + Isabel. While she built a successful corporate career in the jewelry business, she knew she wanted to use her existing skillset to help others. That’s how Chloe + Isabel, a direct sales/ecommerce business, was born.

Now she empowers women to “tackle their financial needs” while building their own successful careers that make good use of their unique skills.

The good news is, you can too. Whatever it is you’re good at, I bet you can find a work from home job that puts those skills to good use. 

I’m Social Media Savvy

In 2016, about 78 percent of Americans have at least one social profile. And worldwide, there’s nearly 2 billion people active on social media — that sure is a whole lot tweeting, snapping, pinning, instagramming, posting, and sharing going on.

This also means there’s quite a lot of social media work that can be done from home. If you know a thing or two about engaging an audience online, check out these work from home social media gigs.

ModSquad

When you become a Mod over at ModSquad, you get the chance to work with some big-name businesses and familiar brands. You might be tasked with spreading the word about a new product on social media or responding to social questions in a helpful and friendly way. As a Mod, you get to choose the projects you want to work on and work as much or little as you’d like.

Appen Social Media Evaluator

As a global language company, Appen has a number of work from home jobs available, but if social media is your thing, you’ll want to check out their Social Media Evaluator gig. If social media is a daily part of your life, i.e., you get your news via social channels and stay in contact with friends and family on Facebook, you’d probably be a great fit for this easy gig.

Time Etc.

Time Etc. is a leading virtual assistant company. They break down their assistant roles by skills and, you guessed it, one of those positions is Marketing and Social Media Assistant. The pay rate here starts at $11.00/hour. You’ll also get a pretty flexible schedule and only need to make a small commitment each week (as little as three hours!).

Crisp Thinking

Join the team of freelance social media moderators at Crisp Thinking and help clients keep an eye on their social channels. This can include responding to user-generated questions or making sure comments left on social pages and profiles are appropriate.

Even More Social Media Jobs

With so many businesses and brands using social media to reach their target audience, there sure are a lot of ways to earn from home if you’re social savvy. Check out these companies for additional at-home social media gigs:

• ICUC
• eModeration
• LiveWorld
• 99Social
• Lithium

You could also head on over to the Mashable’s Job Board where they have an entire section devoted to social media and marketing jobs — you just never know what you’ll find.

I Can Type Quickly (and Accurately!)

Head on over to TypingTest.com and take their quick 60-second test. How’d you do? If you typed more than 75WPM with at least 95% accuracy, you can turn those typing skills into work.

Transcription

And, no, I’m not just talking about small typing gigs here and there. Instead, how about starting your own general transcription business? When you source your own clients and set your rates, you can earn much more than what you might expect to earn as a contractor for one of the many transcription companies that hire beginners. You can earn as much or little as you’d like when as a general transcriptionist — this side job can easily turn into a full-time career.

Captioning

If you’re more of a visual person, consider captioning videos. Rev has been around a long time and has enough work available that allows their top earners to make $1,200+ a month — if you’re looking for a flexible way to add to your income while putting your typing skills to use, Rev might be the place for you.

I’m a Time Management Pro

Lucille Ball once said: 

If you’re great at getting things done, I bet that quote resonates with you. And the good news is, you can use your skills to help others get more done each day when you work from home as a virtual assistant.

Fancy Hands

This is a crowdsourced VA company that pays you for each task you complete. Work is available 24/7/365 so you can login whenever and wherever and work as much or little as you’d like.

Time Etc.

Time Etc. doesn’t just have jobs available for social media pros — there’s also opportunities for general administrative assistants, writers, and customer service experts.

eaHelp

If you come from an admin background, you might be a good fit for the open positions at eaHelp. This is a part-time contract position mostly helping professionals with typical time sucks like email and calendar management.

Create Your Virtual Assistant Own Side Job

So many people needs VAs — bloggers, small business owners, busy professionals — that it almost makes sense to create your own side job as a VA. There’s plenty of work to go around and going solo gives you total control over your schedule, rates, and clients you work with. Plus, you’re only limited by how much you want to grow — a VA business can easily start as a side job and turn full-time!

I’m Comfortable on the Phone

Whether you have a pleasant phone demeanor or simply have the ‘gift of gab,’ you can use your on-the-phone prowess to pick up an online side job that puts your skills to good use.

Call Center QA

Become a mystery shopper at Call Center QA and earn money for making phone calls  — dial a shop, ask some questions, write a quick report and, bam, you just earned $5.

ARC

You can earn extra money as a phone mystery shopper at ARC, but they also have opportunities for Objective Call Center Evaluators, too. This is perfect for those with an excellent telephone presence and can be done on evenings and weekends — making it an ideal opportunity for parents, disabled adults, grandparents, students or anyone wanting a side job that makes good use of their incredible phone skills.

MaritzCX

MartizCX is a customer experience company. They hire part-time virtual market researchers to conduct surveys over the phone. This is a great way to put your personable phone presence to work with a great company that will hire you on as an employee and not a contractor.

NextWave

If you enjoy talking to people, consider joining the NextWave Advocacy at Home team. They offer flexible schedules that match your schedule. Projects on their GO Team give you a chance to use your phone skills to motivate people to take grassroots actions.

VoiceLog

Become a Live Operator at VoiceLog and receive live verification calls to help battle sales fraud. This is a flexible side job that lets you work in shift as short as two hours.

I’m a Pretty Great Researcher

I love a good research project. But, too often it leads me down the Internet rabbit hole where I emerge two hours later with no real research to show for my journey. I suspect I’m not the only one since more and more people are choosing to outsource their research tasks to, one, save time and, two, get real research results.

Wonder

Wonder is a fast-growing network of online researchers. You too can join them and get paid for each question you thoroughly research and answer. You can login in at any time to see what work is available, making this a super flexible side job you can do from home.

Accurate Background

As a Verifications Researcher at Accurate Background, you’ll combine internet investigation with phone work to verify applicant information. In other words, you’ll be making sure that what people put on their applications is actually the truth. There’s a lot of work to go around with shifts ranging from overnight to midday — so whatever your schedule is, you can make it work as a Verifications Researcher at Accurate Background.

10EQS

From time to time, you can find fact finding tasks and jobs available on 10EQS. Keep an eye on their hiring page to see what online researcher employment positions are currently open.

Article One

Become a Researcher at Article One and choose the projects you want to work on. To date, they’ve paid out more than $7,000,000 to their researchers!

I’m Somewhat of a Grammar Pro

So, you proudly wear a badge that says Grammar Police and want to put those skills to work? Great! Grammar buffs can find many different opportunities to earn on the side.

For starters, you might want to consider taking on work as an online editor or proofreader. These are contract positions that come with a lot of flexibility. You might want to also consider proofreading transcripts as a way to earn a side income. Babbletype is a market research transcription company that often hires transcript proofreaders to make sure finished transcripts are perfectly polished.

There’s also proofreading transcripts for court reporters. Caitlin Pyle was able to turn a proofreading side hustle into a full-time income of more than $40,000/year — and you can, too.

Another way to put your words to work is to become a Pop Culture or Automotive Metadata writer at Crawford. This is a project-based side job that lets you work as long as there is work available.

If you’ve always wanted to launch a freelance writing career but just didn’t know where to start, this guide will show you the way. You’ll learn everything from picking a profitable niche to best practices when pitching to clients — it’s a must-read if you want to use your grammar skills as a paid writer!

Start Side Hustling

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, getting started is usually the hardest part. So many people want a side job to add a little to their bank account each month but because there are so many options, they just don’t know where to start. So, they don’t. And a side hustle remains a good idea but never becomes a reality.

It’s time to stop thinking about a side job and get to work. Take this fun 11-question quiz and you’ll find out which kind of side hustler you are!

Side Hustle Help!

Need a little extra boost to get started side hustling? No problem! Head on over to Side Hustle To Success.

Whether you want to get out of debt, add to your bank account, or just save more money, Side Hustle To Success can show you how to make extra cash when it’s convenient for YOU.

Once you know, you can get down to business and actually put your skills to work. Have any questions? I’m just a tweet away at @AshleeWrites or send me an email ashlee@workfromhomehappiness.com

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And, to be honest, it’s perfectly fine for informal communication. In fact, it’s even recommended.

A recent study found that text messages with punctuation can make you seem insincere.

Who knew putting that period at the end of a text could make you seem like a jerk? (Not this gal — I always end a sentence with punctuation, text message or not, sorry for the offense).

But just because the preferred type of everyday communication doesn’t emphasize proper punctuation, spelling or grammar, doesn’t mean it’s a lost art entirely. In fact, your grammar know-how and ability to put together a coherent sentence can actually be a lucrative skill.

If you proudly identify as a card-carrying member of the Grammar Police, have taken a stance on the Oxford comma, and can use they’re, their, and there correctly in a sentence, well then, I bet you can find a side hustle that puts your skills to good use (i.e., makes money!).

Proofreading

If you can spot an error easily enough, you can side hustle as a proofreader. From bloggers to ebook authors and even court reporters, there’s no shortage of work to be found as a proofreader. In fact, this single mom earned $3,000 in ten short weeks with her proofreading side hustle — you can, too.

Popular to contrary belief, you don’t necessarily need an English degree or years of experience to earn extra money as a proofreader. You will, however, need a sharp set of eyes so you can identify in-text errors.

Where to Find Work

A number of companies hire remote proofreaders to work on everything from academic papers to medical reports. Some of these companies are very entry-level friendly, as long as you can pass a test, and others require advanced degrees combined with subject matter expertise.

Upwork

If you’re not already, you could sign up as a freelancer on Upwork and fill out a profile. It’s free to join and apply to gigs each month. You only have to pay fees once you’ve landed a gig and been paid by the client.

You never know what kind of work you’ll find on Upwork, but sometimes you can stumble upon some quick and easy gigs like the one above — if you landed this gig, you could earn as much as $250/week working about 15 hours or so — not too bad for a side hustle.

Indeed

Proofreading jobs are hit or miss on Indeed. But it is worth checking every so often to see if there’s anything available that seems like a good fit for your proofreading side hustle.

what	where
job title, keywords or company	city, state or zip jobs by

Just type “proofreader” in the “what” box above and “remote” in the “where” box and hit “Find Jobs” — chances are, there’s at least a handful of gigs worth applying for at any given time.

Go Solo

If you’re not thrilled about contracting with a company, signing up on Upwork or keen to search Indeed for a gig or two, you could always take your side hustle into your own hands and go solo. It may take a little longer to see income coming in this way, but it often gives you the most earning potential and flexibility than the other options. This get-started guide to proofreading will help show you the way if you’re interested in pursuing a solo side hustle as a proofreader.

Writing

Grammar buffs can find tons of side hustle success as a writer — just ask Elna Cain, mother to twins and successful side hustler. She started from scratch and was able to build a profitable business even though she had no experience and spent most of her days chasing two toddlers.

And, she’s not the only one — I too started freelance writing as a side hustle and ended up turning it into my full-time job. Eventually, I started this blog, but I would have never gotten to this point had I not jumped into the freelance writing waters first

But, before turning your great grammar prowess into a side hustle, remember: Everybody’s writing side hustle is different — some start with content mills, others find clients on social media and some decide to apply to gigs posted on popular job board sites.

Remember, your side hustle is just that, yours.  Don’t let anyone tell you you’re doing it wrong or should be starting somewhere else — do what makes sense for you! Got it? Great! With that being said, let’s look at some of the more popular ways to get started as a freelance writer on the side.

Pick a Niche

I’ve said it many times: Whether you want to be a full-time freelancer or a part-time side hustler, you’ve got to pick a niche. Not only does picking a niche bring you overall clarity when it comes to writing, it helps you narrow down your gig search so you can find something quickly and easily. And that’s what a side hustle is all about after all — earning money. Trust me when I say, you’ll earn more as a niche writer AND find work much faster. Period.

What Will Your Niche Be?

It can be anything, really. My original niche was legal writing. I have a background and education in law, so it just seemed natural to start off writing content for lawyers and law firms.

When picking your niche, it should be something that you enjoy writing about or have experience in. Some niches to consider include:

• Health
• Fitness
• Beauty
• Fashion
• Marketing
• Automotive
• Personal finance
• Parenting

Really, the list could go on and on. If you’re stuck for a niche idea, Skyword has 5 Tips for Finding Your Content Writing Niche to help you narrow down your options. You can also head on over to the Dummies website (you know, those yellow and black books that will help you learn everything from knitting to investing).

Take a look at their existing categories for inspiration. The Dummies people do a lot of research and investigation before they write a book — so if they’ve found something to be a worthwhile subject, you can bet it’s a pretty good freelance writing niche, too. 

Start Writing

You’ve got your niche picked out, great! Now it’s time to start writing. Aside from content mills, like Textbroker, you could sign up as a freelance writer on Upwork and start bidding like crazy until you land your first gig (the first one is the hardest one). There’s several other things worth considering if you want to jump start your freelance writing career today — you can even try a combination of sites to see which ones make sense for you.

Where to Look for Writing Gigs

If you’re not crazy about the whole bidding thing or writing for a content mill, no problem, head on over to the ProBlogger job board. Here, you can directly apply for all kinds of gigs ranging from one-off projects to steady work as a contributor. It’s worth checking ProBlogger at least once a day — you just never know what will be posted.

Other good sources of reliable writing gigs include:

• BloggingPro
• LinkedIn Jobs (networking can go a long way in landing you writing jobs!)
• Freelance Writing Gigs (a roundup of writing gigs)

Social Media

If you’re active on social media, especially Twitter, you can find a gig or two just by sharing writing-related content and making your profile search-friendly.

<—-That’s me! As you can see, I’ve strategically placed the hashtag #freelancewriter in my profile. Believe it or not, this has resulted in some connections that have then turned into writing gigs.

It also helps that I tend to share writing-related content on my account at least once a day. Typically, I just pop on over to AllTop, check out the latest freelance writing news and share some of my favorites.

This too helps to connect with other writers and eventually clients. Like I said, in the world of writing side hustles, networking can go a long way in landing work!

LinkedIn

Speaking of networking, you could certainly use your LinkedIn profile to side hustle your way to success as a grammar buff — there’s tons of opportunities to find higher-paying clients here than anywhere else. If you’re not already, create a profile on LinkedIn and start making connections. After that, go visit Jorden over at Writing Revolt for her exact method on how she uses LinkedIn to land high-paying clients — it’s a must-read for anyone wanting to start a writing side hustle.

Transcription

There’s a lot of transcription work to be found, making it an easy-to-enter into side hustle for those with talent. Too often, people think anyone and everyone can make a living transcribing. But, the truth is, there’s definitely a lot of skill involved and, although there’s entry-level transcription opportunities anyone can try, some people just don’t have the talent for it.

But, if you’re a grammar buff, you’re halfway there to being a successful side-hustling transcriber — the other part is being able to accurately type what is being said into a document. It also helps if you’re a fast typist because in the world of transcription the faster you are, the more you’ll earn.

If you’d like to try your hand at typing, this beginner’s guide is a good place to start. As with other side hustle opportunities, you can set up shop on your own and source your own clients — and believe me when I say, there’s plenty of them out there.

Everyone from podcasters to best-selling authors use transcriptionists — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to people who turn to transcriptionists for help. So, there’s definitely work to be found, if you know where to look.

Where to find Work

There’s not really a job board out there dedicated to transcription jobs. But, you can find tons of helpful information on forums. Head on over to the Transcription and Writing Forum over at WAHM and browse around a bit. You can usually find job leads and helpful hints — which is especially useful as a newbie side hustler.

Other Side Hustle Ideas for Grammar Aficionados

While proofreading, transcription, and writing are the three main side hustle ideas for grammar buffs — there’s other gigs you might want to consider too. These might not be as readily available as the other three, but they’re still a great way to put your grammar skills to good use and earn some extra money at the same time:

Gradiate – Become a Genius at Gradiate and help grade English papers and problems. You’ll also offer feedback and help students do their best work.

Wonder – Join a team of virtual researchers at Wonder and use your grammar skills to answer questions by conveying research in a well-written synopsis.

ETS Scorer – Your grammar know-how will come in handy when you work from home as a scorer for ETS.

Virtual Assistant – A lot of professionals rely on virtual assistants to handle content-heavy tasks (take bloggers, for example). There’s no shortage of VA jobs out there, and you can even start your own VA side hustle by reading this guide.

Blogger – I might be slightly biased, but this is my favorite grammar-savvy side hustle. You don’t need any experience to get started and you can easily turn this side hustle into a full-time job.

Get Started

As with most things, getting started is the hardest part! But, you got this — after all, you already have the skills needed to succeed, now you just need to put them to work. To help you manage your new side hustle and get off to a great start, sign up below to receive my bonus guide: 5 Free Tools to Manage Your New Side Hustle (Grammar Pro Edition)!

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And, if you have any questions, you know where to find me: ashlee@workfromhomehappiness.com I’m also known to hang out on Twitter under the handle @AshleeWrites — Don’t be shy, drop me a line — I’m here to help.

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The post The In-Demand Side Hustle Guide for Grammar Buffs appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

For starters, there’s the actual job search itself. If you’re looking for a traditional second job outside the home, this means scouring classified ads hoping to stumble upon a flexible option that doesn’t interfere with your current 9-to-5.

And even if you’re lucky enough to find one, there’s home and family responsibilities to consider — how will you work 60+ hours  a week working two jobs and still have time to spend with loved ones or much-needed downtime for self-care?

Instead of turning your attention outside the home, why not work from home? A part-time job from home can allow you to keep your day job, supplement your income and give you plenty of time to spare to do the things you love — all from the comfort (and convenience) of your home office.

I know it sounds a little too good to be true. But, the truth is, there are a number of ways you can work from home part-time without quitting your day job. Ready to find out what they are? Let’s go!

What are My Options?

Generally speaking, when you want to work from home to supplement your day job, you’ve got a few options available to you. As with anything, they each have their pros and cons.

Neither one is necessarily better than the other options — they’re just different. What might work for someone else might not work for you and vice versa.

It’s up to you decide which is the perfect part-time work from home opportunity — so keep that in mind as we discuss the three main ways to add a part-time income from home each and every month.

Part-Time Work from Home Employee Jobs

Some people simply do not want to work from home full-time. But it sure would be nice and oh-so convenient to have a part-time job that comes with a ten-second commute.

Fortunately, a growing number of companies have part-time work from home jobs. When I say part-time work from home jobs, I’m talking ones where you’re hired on as an employee and not an independent contractor or freelancer.

These positions aren’t always as flexible as the other options, but they are flexible enough that they can be done on nights or weekends so they don’t interfere with your typical Monday through Friday routine.

Pros of Part-Time Employee Jobs

• Stability
• Set schedule
• Consistent part-time income

Cons of Part-Time Employee Jobs

• Not always flexible
• May require purchasing home-office equipment
• Lengthy hiring and training process

What’s great about these part-time home-based jobs is the fact you can count on a certain amount of extra income each month — there’s no wondering if there will be any work available or guessing as to how much you might make by the end of the month. But part-time employee positions may also require you to have a proper home office setup that includes a landline, headset, and a quiet spot where you can do work — not always possible when you’re working in a busy household.

There’s not always a lot of part-time work from home employee jobs out there. And when you do find them, they often come with longer hiring and training which means it could be months before you actually see any money come in.

Part-Time Work from Home Employee Jobs

Like the idea of set schedules, steady pay, and being hired on as an employee? Perfect! Here’s some options to look at for part-time employee work from home:

U-Haul

U-Haul has an entire work-from-home program available throughout North America. These moonlighter positions happen to be perfect for anyone looking to supplement their day job by working from home.

Some of the home-based part-time jobs at U-Haul include:

• Roadside Assistance Agent
• Storage Sales Representative
• Customer Service Agent
• Center Sales Reservations Agent

Keep an eye on U-Haul’s hiring page to see which of their at-home jobs are available. They hire throughout the year to keep up with the busy moving seasons.

MaritzCX

If you’ve never heard of MaritzCX before, they’re a customer experience company. Their services help businesses turn customer feedback into a competitive advantage. To do this, they hire virtual market research interviewers to conduct surveys over the phone.

Working at MaritzCX:

• Must work minimum 20 hours a week
• Must work at least 6 hours each weekend (Friday/Saturday)
• Weekly pay via direct deposit

To learn more about working as a virtual market research interviewer for MaritzCX, check out their full job description. You can also send any questions you may have about the job to Virtual.SC@maritzCX.com

Convergys

Convergys offers a number of work from home jobs as an employee. These can range from customer care to tech support and even collections — it just depends on the needs of the companies they contract with.

When you work at Convergys,  “You will have the flexibility to be hired into the particular window of time and shift time that you are looking to work.” They have a variety of shifts available, including overnight, so you really can make working from home part time work for you.

Head on over to their work from home careers page to learn more about this flexible part-time job and see if there’s any openings that seem like a good fit for you!

Concentrix

Like Convergys, Concentrix contracts with companies to provide different business services. So, when you sign on as an employee at Concentrix, you might provide customer care or support services — it really all depends on the assignments available.

According to Concentrix, they have shifts available 24/7 so there’s plenty of room for flexibility here no matter what times or days you work during the week.

Check out the Concentrix Work at Home program to learn more about this part-time work from home position — you can even get the application process started if it sounds like a good fit for you!

Freelancing from Home Part-Time

A lot of people (myself included) choose to freelance from home full-time. It’s a great way to have a lot of flexibility, work on the projects you want, and set your own rates. But, the world of freelancing can often seem like an endless cycle of feast or famine — one week you have more work than you know what to do with and the next week, absolutely nothing.

For some, not having guaranteed income is just too great of a risk to go full time. But, freelancing as a way to earn extra money each week is a lot less intimidating and can be a fun way to contribute to your income by doing things you enjoy.

Freelancing Part-Time Pros

• A lot of flexibility
• Choose when you work and for whom
• Set your rates

Freelancing Part-Time Cons

• Upfront time investment
• No guaranteed income
• May have a hard time finding work

It does take a bit of work upfront to get started as a freelancer. You’ll have to decide which services you want to offer, set your rates, and set up shop somewhere.

You can choose to start your own service website, sign up at Upwork, or even offer a couple of gigs on Fiverr — that’s the great thing about freelancing, it’s entirely up to you how, when, where and for whom you work.

Some ways you can freelance from home, even if you have no experience, include:

• Writing
• Virtual Assisting
• Proofreading
• Transcription

But, really, you can freelance just about anything (just check out the Weird category on Fiverr to see what I’m talking about).

Part-Time Contract Jobs from Home

Contract jobs are another way you can work from home part-time without quitting your day job. As a contractor, you often get to work when you want and how you want as long as you turn work in on time.

Contract positions aren’t as steady as employee positions but they’re not as unpredictable as freelancing either — they’re a good mix of flexibility and reliability and the perfect alternative for someone who doesn’t want to commit to a part-time employee position but also doesn’t want to have to find their own work as a freelancer.

Pros of Contract Jobs from Home

• Work when you want
• Work as much as you can and when
• Company finds work for you

Cons of Contract Jobs from Home

• Work is often claimed on a first come first served basis
• Unpredictable earnings each week
• Contract can be terminated at any time and for any reason

I often get asked, “What’s the difference between freelancing and contracting?” The short answer is this: As a freelancer you’re in charge of finding your own clients, finishing work, and getting your clients to pay. When you contract, the company you contract with finds clients and handles payments, you just claim available work and submit it on time.

But remember, as a contractor, there might not always be work available. And your services can be terminated at any time and for any reason — there’s just no guarantee.

However, there’s a quite a few opportunities to work from  home part-time as a contractor. Two of the most popular options with plenty of work available include search engine evaluator and transcription.

Part-Time Contract Jobs from Home

If you’re looking for some legitimate companies that are always (yes, always) looking to add contractors to their team, look no further. You can apply right now for part-time work from home at these companies:

ModSquad

Work on any number of projects as a ModSquad Moderator! You might be tasked with social media management, community moderation or forum management (to name a few). Some big-name brands work with ModSquad — when you become a Mod, you’ll get to work with them, too!

Wonder

As a Wonder researcher, you’ll get paid to conduct online research. Once you pass the application process, you’ll be able to login whenever you want and get to work (as long as there’s work available!).

Fancy Hands

When you contract with Fancy Hands, you’ll join a team of crowdsourced virtual assistants. Clients submit tasks around-the-clock and you can login anytime day or night to see what work is available.

Rev

Transcription, translation and captioning jobs are available at Rev. You can get started as a captioner in just 24 hours and easily earn extra money each month adding captions to videos.

Time Etc.

If you have as little as four hours to spare in a week, you can become a virtual assistant for Time Etc. Assignments vary from social media management to writing for clients — you can choose the option that makes the best use of your skills. Don’t worry, if you’re a jack or jill-of-all-trades you can become a general assistant and help people get more done.

Work from Home Part-Time Without Quitting Your Day Job

There you have it — plenty of opportunities to earn from home while holding onto your 9-to-5. Between part-time employee jobs, freelancing and contract gigs, there are any number of ways to supplement your income from home.

Remember, pick the opportunity that makes the most sense for you. If you’re looking for a long-term opportunity, employee positions are your best bet. Ready to set up shop on your own? Freelancing is the solution! Want a little more stability but still plenty of flexibility? Consider contracting with a company on a part-time basis.

If you’re not ready to take on a part-time job but are still interested in earning an extra income from home — no problem! Sign up for the weekly Happiness Digest below and receive my free guide of sites you can join today to start earning EASY extra money.

As always, if you have any questions you can leave them in the comments below or feel free to contact me directly at ashlee@workfromhomehappiness.com

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One of the easiest ways to do both is by joining refer-a-friend programs for your favorite brands and products that you already use. Depending on the program, this could amount to a nice chunk of change each year or cut down on the costs of using those products or services each month.

And the best part? A lot of the companies you probably do business with have these programs, making it easy to sign up and start receiving rewards. Here’s 40+ popular refer-a-friend  programs that help you earn extra money and save big on your favorite businesses and brands.

What are Refer-a-Friend Programs?

Each one is a bit different. Typically, all you have to do is share your unique referral link with your friends and if they purchase/sign-up for the product or service you’ll be rewarded.

The reward is different at each company. But it’s usually one of two things:

• Money
• Account credit

These programs are a win-win. The company gets a new customer and you get a bonus offer just for making the referral. And a lot of time, your friend will even get an incentive or reward to join, too (win-win-win!).

Why Join Refer-a-Friend Programs?

Most people tend to seek out advice from friends and family members before making a purchase or signing up for a service. And chances are, you’ve been asked for your opinion on everything from cell phone service to a pair of shoes. Wouldn’t it be nice to receive rewards for the suggestions you make?

How Much Can You Actually Earn?

That all depends. Generally speaking, you really shouldn’t look at this as anything more than a way to earn and save for doing something you’re gonna do anyway — make recommendations to your friends and family.

Since each program has a different model, your earnings will depend on how many programs you participate in, what their payment/reward structure is, and how many referrals you make.

On a personal note, I actively use and love the Ibotta app. It makes it super-easy to save on everything from fresh produce to household goods. I often recommend this super helpful app to others and, when they sign up using my link, I get $5 and they get a reward for joining.

In the last year, I’ve earned an extra $100 referring people to Ibotta. Not amazing, I know. But it’s a hundred bucks that I got for doing nothing out of the ordinary — recommending an app I love to my friends.

Start Earning

Ready to sign up and start actually getting paid for your recommendations? I’ve included some of the most popular companies with refer-a-friend program on this list. To make it easier to browse, I’ve broken it down by category. Let’s go!

Banks & Credit Cards

You probably have a checking account, savings account, debit card and may even have a couple of credit cards in your wallet. And if you’ve had a pleasant experience with your financial institution or card issuer, you probably wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to others. As far as refer-a-friend programs, banks and credit card companies offer some of the best referral rewards.

Chase

You’ve got to be a current Chase cardholder to participate in their refer-a-friend program. Chase will share a unique link on your behalf that you can send via email, Facebook or Twitter. The details of the program all depend on the card you have with Chase but you may be able to rack up as much as 50,000 bonus points each year.

Capital One 360

If you have a Capital One 360 account (checking or savings) you can get an easy $20 for each friend you refer (up to $1,000). The money is deposited into your account once your referral meets the sign-up requirements. Just login to your account and click on the refer-a-friend link to start sharing. To sweeten the deal, your friend gets a bonus $25 just for opening an account. Don’t have a Capital One 360 account? You can sign up for a free, no-fee checking or savings account so you too can get in on their refer-a-friend program.

American Express

If you’ve got an AmEx card in your wallet, you can participate in their referral program. All you have to do is login to your account to see what promotion is currently available. Usually, there’s an incentive for both you and your friend in the form of bonus points when they are approved for an American Express card.

Discover

It pays to have friends at Discover. Their referral program can earn both you and your friend a $50 cash back bonus. You’ll get the reward for each friend who’s approved (up to 10 a year) once they make a qualifying purchase with their new card within three months.

NetSpend

NetSpend is a prepaid debit card, so there’s no credit checks, interest charges or late fees to worry about here. As part of their refer-a-friend program, you can get $20 when someone signs up using your link and then loads their card with at least $40. As a bonus, your referral gets $20, too. Unlike a lot of other programs, NetSpend doesn’t limit the number of referrals you can earn — so spread the word and start earning!

Fidelity

When you refer friends and family members to Fidelity to help them meet their financial goals, you both can receive rewards once your referral opens and funds their new account. You may be eligible for a $100 Visa Card and your referral can earn a bonus between $250 and $2,500 depending on their opening deposit.

Wireless

If you have a cell phone (and you probably do) chances are your carrier has a referral program in place. Participating in your carrier’s program can be an easy way to reduce the cost of your phone plan each month.

Boost Mobile

You’ll get a $25 in service credit (up to $500 a year) for each person you refer to Boost Mobile. And considering they have plans as low as $30/month, there’s the potential to get your phone service for next to nothing if you get just one referral a month! The person you refer will receive a bonus reward too when they sign up for service.

Cricket

You and your friend both receive a $25 account credit when they sign up for service as a referral. The program is limited up to $250 in account credits each year. With monthly plans starting at $35/month, you could get service for as little as $10 for each month you refer a friend!

Virgin Mobile

Do you like the unlimited plans, limitless music or generous data available to you as a Virgin Mobile customer? Tell your friends and earn $25 service credit each time one of them signs up (up to $500/year). Your referral will receive an account credit, too.

AT&T

The AT&T Referral Program is available for their wireless, internet, home phone, and U-verse customers — so there’s plenty opportunities to earn. You and your friend each receive a $25 AT&T Promotion Card which can redeemed for merchandise or used toward monthly charges.

TracFone

When your friends and family join TracFone as your referral, you get a reward and they get $5 off their phone purchase. The amount of your reward will depend on how much airtime they purchase. If it’s $79.99 or less, you get $10. Anything over that, and you get $30!

T-Mobile

As an existing T-Mobile customer, you may be eligible to receive a $25 rewards card for each friend you refer. If your referrals need a little convincing, you can let them know that T-Mobile will pay their early cancellation fees when they trade in their working device — not too bad of a deal!

TV/Internet

Cable and internet is expensive (especially cable!). Even if you’ve found ways to cut down these expenses, they can still take a nice chunk of your budget each month. One way to offset the costs is to see if your cable and/or internet provider has a refer-a-friend program and start spreading the word.

Comcast

Called Xfinity Refer-a-Friend, you can share your unique code via email and social media. When someone signs up, you’ll receive a Visa Prepaid Card. The amount you gets depends on the services your referral signs up for and whether or not you’ve made any other referrals. The Xfinity Refer-a-Friend program pays out higher rewards the more signups you send their way.

DISH

Tell your friends, family, coworkers and anyone who’ll listen about DISH and get $50 account credit when they sign up. Be sure to tell your referrals that they’ll also get a $50 credit when they sign up using your referral code!

DIRECTV

Both you and your friend receive $100 in bill credits when they sign up for eligible DIRECTV packages. The bill credits are broken up over 10 months so you’ll each get $10 off your monthly bill during that time. The more friends you refer the more you’ll save each month — up to 10 friends in a year.

NetZero

NetZero is currently offering a $30 “bounty” for any people you refer for eligible promotions. What’s interesting about NetZero is that they actually mail you a check instead of offering account credits or prepaid cards as a reward.

Verizon

It’s surprising to see that Verizon offers a referral program for their in-home service customers but not their mobile customers. In any event, if you refer friends for eligible services like Triple Play or Double Play, you’ll both get points. Points are redeemable through the Verizon My Reward+ Program.

Travel

If you do a lot of traveling you may benefit from the rewards programs that some popular hospitality companies offer. These rewards can help you cover the costs of your hotel or even help pay for that cruise you’ve been saving up to take.

Princess Cruises

If you’ve taken a trip through Princess Cruises before, be sure to let your friends who are dying to take a cruise that they can receive a $25 reward when they book using your referral code. You’ll also get $25 credit and can refer as many friends, family members, and coworkers as you’d like.

Marriott

As a Marriott Rewards member, you can refer others and receive points for each stay your referrals make. One stay is worth 2,000 points and you can earn those points for each of your referrals’ first five stays. Your referrals also get 2,000 bonus points for those first five stays — those 10,000 bonus points can be used for room discounts, upgrades, and other Marriott perks.

Choice Hotels

Get your friends and family members to join Choice Rewards and you’ll each get 500 points added to your accounts. These points can be redeemed for a variety of rewards including room upgrades and discounts.

Airbnb

Earn Travel Credits when you refer friends to travel and/or host through Airbnb. When they travel, you’ll receive $35 and if they host, that’ll earn you $65 — for a potential total of $100 in credits. What’s great about the Airbnb credits is that they act as a coupon. So, when you go to book a stay, you can actually redeem your credits on the checkout page. Your referral will also receive a $35 code when they sign up through your referral.

Uber

You can get Uber rides for free when you take advantage of their promotion program. Just tap Free Rides in the Uber App to access your personal referral code. Uber credits and free rides will be added to your account when a friend take you up on the invite.

Lyft

For each friend that tries Lyft for the first time using your referral code, you’ll get a free ride too. You can share your link through email, Facebook or Twitter.

Shopping

The average American spends somewhere around $2,000 shopping online each year — that sure is a lot of opportunity to cash in for referring friends and family to check out some of your favorite brands. Most online stores offer a store credit over cash for referrals but if you shop at a store often enough, it can add up to quite a bit of savings on the things you’d buy anyway.

Groupon

Your favorite daily deals site will reward you with $10 in Groupon Bucks for each friend you refer who then makes a $10+ purchase. You can use your Groupon Bucks for additional savings on already low-priced products — definitely a great program to be a part of to help pay for gifts or things you need around the home.

Gymboree

Kids clothes are expensive, especially considering they outgrow them so fast. Help your friends save on children’s clothes purchases by giving them a 25% off coupon to use at Gymboree. When they make their first order, you’ll be awarded with $20.

Shutterfly

Refer loved ones to order prints and photo gifts through Shutterfly and you’ll both receive a free reward. The promotions change — so make sure you check in to see what the refer-a-friend reward is on occasion. Currently, you and your referral will both receive a free photobook!

Snapfish

At Snapfish, you can send your friends and family members a 40% coupon and you’ll earn a $10 credit when they make a purchase over $10. You can use your credit for prints, cards, announcements, and an assortment of fun photo gifts.

Zulily

If you’ve got a lot of friends on Facebook and Pinterest, send them an invite to join Zulily where they can shop for everything from beauty and wellness to toys and playtime. When they make their first purchase, you’ll get $15 credit that will be applied to your future Zulily orders.

Ebates

Ebates is a free site that gives you cash back when you make online purchases. If you’re not a member, sign up and start saving just for making online purchases. Earn even more when you refer friends — they’re currently offering a $50 bonus when you refer two friends.

Ibotta

The Ibotta app is better than coupons — it’s an app that makes it incredibly easy to save on everyday purchases at your favorite stores. If it’s not already on your phone, download Ibotta, redeem your first rebate and earn an extra $10. Then start earning $5 bonuses for each friend you refer (your friend gets $10!).

Subscription Boxes & Membership Sites

Subscription boxes and membership sites have soared in popularity in recent years. And, really, what’s not to love about them? The different boxes are usually delivered on a weekly or monthly basis and are tailored to specific interests. You can have all sorts of items from pets supplies to kids toys and personalized beauty products delivered right to your door.

Dollar Shave Club

Refer your friends to Dollar Shave Club and earn a $5 credit for each one that signs up — it’s just that simple. Your referrals can sign up for a monthly subscription box or purchase items individually — it doesn’t matter what they buy (or if they buy anything at all). You’ll get a $5 credit as soon as they sign up!

HelloFresh

If you enjoy receiving your HelloFresh deliveries including the delicious recipes and flexible subscription options, let your friends know. When you send invites to friends, they get $20 off their first HelloFresh box and you get $20 off your next delivery.

Thrive Market

Not only can you receive $25 in Thrive Cash when you refer friends who become a paying member, but you’ll also be entered into their sweepstakes to win $1,000 shopping spree if you refer five friends in a month’s time. You can easily share your unique link through email, Facebook and Twitter.

Miscellaneous

Some refer-a-friend programs just didn’t fit in the main categories but they’re nonetheless easy ways to make money and/or rack up savings. For an assortment of unique ways to reap the rewards of referrals check out these programs.

Evernote

If you can credit Evernote for keeping you organized and helping you make the most out of your days, be sure to let your friends know about it! For your efforts, you’ll be given points which you can use to upgrade your free account to a premium membership which lets you annotate PDFs, retrieve files when you’re offline, and scan and digitize business cards (to name a few!).

AAA

Nobody likes the idea of being stranded on the roadside or locked out of their vehicle. That’s why you may belong to a roadside assistance program like AAA. When you refer your friends for a AAA membership, you’ll get $20 AAA Dollars that you can use to help pay for your membership renewal.

Dropbox

Let your friends know how Dropbox can help keep their files safe, secure and organized and you’ll earn more storage space for yourself. If they sign up for a basic account, you can receive 500MB of additional storage.

Hulu

Refer your friends to Hulu and you’ll receive credit towards your own Hulu subscription. If you’re a Limited Commercials plan subscriber, you can earn a free year of Hulu just by referring others.

InboxDollars

One of the most well-known survey and micro tasks sites around, InboxDollars will reward you when you send referrals their way. You’ll receive 10% of your referral’s earnings. There’s no limit to the number of referrals you make — so start sharing and watch your account balance grow!

Vindale Research

If you’re a panelist at Vindale, you know that they pay some of the highest rates per survey and are one of the few places that still pay you cash and not points (if you’re not a member, you can easily sign up). As a bonus, they’ll deposit $5 into your account for each friend you refer.

Slice the Pie

Being paid to rate music and fashion is a fun way to earn a little extra money online. Chances are, your friends would probably agree! Slice the Pie will pay you a cash bonus every time your referral submits a review. If you’re not a reviewer on Slice the Pie, you can create an account and start sharing your referral link for an easy way to rack up extra cash.

Best Refer-a-Friend Practices

No one likes to be spammed. So, while you might be eager to share your referral links and codes with others, make sure you pace yourself! It’s good practice to only share your referrals with others you truly believe would enjoy and/or benefit from a product or service.

Also, make sure you understand each refer-a-friend program’s terms. Some of them have strict rules about where you can share your referral code. For example, you probably can’t go around adding your link on Wikipedia pages or represent yourself as an employee of the business or brand.

Find More Refer-a-Friend Opportunities

If your favorite brand, service or business isn’t on this list –don’t worry. They may still have a refer-a-friend program in place.  Simply Google the company’s name + refer-a-friend to see if it leads to a referral page. I’ll also be continually updating this page as I come across more programs for popular places — so be sure to check back often.

Your turn! What refer-a-friend programs do you use? Is there one I missed you think should be on this list? Share it in the comments below!

This post contains affiliate links. Please see the disclosure statement for more information.

The post 40+ Refer-a-Friend Programs: Easily Make Money & Rack Up Savings appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

And while forums themselves are valuable, did you know you can actually earn money by participating in them? It’s true. You can get paid to post on forums.

A number of companies help new and established forums generate buzz. How? By paying daily internet users, like you, to jump in and get involved. This helps spread the word, make a brand new forum appear active, and generally gives off a lively vibe if a forum has gone a little stagnant.

If you love being involved in forums already or just enjoy being social online, consider signing up to one of these companies so you can actually get paid to post on forums!

 1. Postloop

Postloop is one of the most well-known sites to sign up with if you want to get paid to post on forums. When a forum needs a little help getting activity, they turn to Postloop to rally the troops. Then people around the world are invited to visit and participate in these forums. You get paid to post and the forum owner gets much-needed discussions going — win, win!

Postloop Requirements

Postloops is open worldwide. However, you must have a PayPal account and be an English speaker with good grammar. There’s also an application process you have to get through before getting paid. It consists of 10 unpaid posts. These posts are made on the Postloop Portal and not on outside forums.

Postloop Payments

Postloop uses a point system. Honestly, it’s a little complicated. When you post, you get points. The number of points you receive is based on several factors. For one, it takes into consideration what your rating is.

As a Postloop forum poster, you’ll be given a rating. Your rating will go up and down depending on the quality of your forum posts. If you have a rating above 4 (out of a possible 5), you will receive bonus points for each post you make. So, it does pay to make sure you’re posting relevant and helpful information.

You can convert your points into PayPal cash. The average Postloop users earns $0.08 for each post they make. You must have at least $5.00 in your account and have a rating that is better than the average for all Postloop users. The current average rating is 3.31 stars.

So, if you’ve racked up more than $5.00 worth of points but your rating is below 3.31 stars, you won’t be able to request payment until you get your rating up past 3.31.

Get Paid to Post on Forums at Postloop

When you’re ready to get started, head over to their sign up page. From there, you’ll be able to join and subscribe to the Postloop Portal.  Remember, it’s required to post 10 trial posts before getting paid. You will either be approved or rejected based on these trial posts — so take your time doing them! Within 24 hours, you’ll have a decision either way.

2. Paid Forum Posting

Paid Forum Posting has been around for a while. They have opportunities to get paid to post on forums as well as comment on blogs. As a paid poster, you get a chance to work on different assignments. These assignments are meant to be done over a period of time. The idea is that you post a little bit on the same job over a longer stretch of time instead of posting a bunch of comments at once.

Paid Forum Posting Requirements

You must be at least 18 years old. Posters can be from any country but you must be able to write with proper English grammar and spelling. A PayPal account is also a must if you want to get paid.

Paid Forum Posting Payments

At Paid Forum Posting you get paid for each forum post or blog comment you make. You can request payments via PayPal once they’ve been credited to your account.

Get Started

First things first, you’ve got to sign up. After that, you’ll be asked to submit 7 uniques posts (4 topics and 3 replies). Your 7 posts will be carefully reviewed by the Paid Forum Posting Team. They will be looking for spelling, grammar, content, and how well you followed instruction. It may take as long as 3 days to hear a response.

3. MyLot

Several years ago, I regularly participated on MyLot and received payments through their Earnings Program. But then in 2013, they ended their program. The good news is, they reorganized the company and brought it back. Once again you can get paid to post on forums with MyLot!

MyLot Requirements

Unlike the two companies we’ve already discussed, MyLot doesn’t pay you to post on other forums. Instead, they pay you for being active on MyLot — and there’s a lot to do. It’s quite a large site. There’s a question and answers hub, discussion board, and blogging community (to name a few).

To be a paid member, you have to have a PayPal account. You can join without one — but if you want to get paid, you’ll need PayPal.

You will also need to follow the community guidelines which include things like only posting in English and no spamming, advertising, affiliate links or adult content.

MyLot Pay

It’s simple to earn. All you have to do is participate. When you start a discussion, post a response or comment, you are making payment-eligible contributions. Payments vary quite a bit. It all depends on how well-received your contributions are by other MyLot members — the more others interact, the more you’ll earn.

You can also get paid for completing offers. Keep in mind, you don’t have to complete any to earn. However, if you see an offer that interests you, click on it and follow the instructions to receive payment.

Get Started

It couldn’t be simpler. Head on over to their sign-up page, fill out your name, email address and create a username. That’s it. Since you get paid for posting on MyLot, you don’t have to go through an extended application process — just sign up, be social and get paid to post on forums!

4. Fiverr

It’s no secret that Fiverr is a great place to launch a freelance career. Some Fiverr sellers have great success stories like quitting their day jobs, paying off mortgages, and supporting large families — one gig at a time. You too can easily get started on Fiverr (and get paid to post on forums!) Check out these sellers who offer forum posting for inspiration.

Fiverr Requirements

Fiverr has over 100 categories you can sell in. And posting on forums is one of their services that is approved and complies with their terms of service — so no worries there. You have to offer at least one gig that starts at five dollars. Fiverr lets you offer “package deals,” which means you can offer add-ons to a basic five-dollar gig and earn even more.

Fiverr Pay

It’s completely free to sign up on Fiverr. You keep 80% of all completed orders. This means you’ll actually earn $4 for each $5 gig you sell and complete.

You can get paid three ways:

• PayPal
• Bank Account
• Fiverr Revenue Card (a MasterCard with a number of fees associated with it)

You have to wait 14 days after a gig is completed to request payout. If you’re a top-rated seller, you only have to wait seven.

Getting Started on Fiverr

Get paid to post on forums with Fiverr by signing up and completing your profile. It’s recommended to fill out your profile entirely. Many sellers also swear by uploading a video of yourself — it doesn’t have to be in-depth, but just a quick video introducing yourself and your gig can do wonders for your sales.

There’s a great freebie course on Udemy called Fiverr Selling for Complete Beginners. It’s the perfect place to start if you’d like to get paid to post on forums as a freelancer!

Remember, it can take some time to get established on Fiverr and get orders rolling in. But once you do, you can start expanding your services. Who knows — you could start out offering paid forum posting and wind up launching a lucrative freelance business!

Get Paid to Post on Forums

Forum posting is an easy (and fun!) way to earn extra money online. How much you earn depends on how active you are. If you sign up and sell on Fiverr, you have the potential to earn much more than with the other sites.

Either way, posting on forums is probably something you do anyway — you might as well earn a little extra money for doing it!

Have any questions? Know of another way to get paid to post on forums? Share it in the comments below! Need something else? You can contact me directly at ashlee(at)workfromhomehappiness(dot)com

The post Get Paid to Post on Forums: 4 Easy Ways to Earn appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

Are there really opportunities to make money online without a website? Yes! And I’m not talking about survey sites (although they are legitimate ways to earn!). Typically, when you think of generating an income online, your mind naturally goes to setting up a blog or website and using those as platforms to earn.

While launching a blog or a money-making site is still one of the best ways to make money online, there are a number of ways to earn extra cash or even a full-time living — no website required.

1. YouTube

The top earners on YouTube in 2015 are all millionaires. How exactly are ordinary people making serious money online without a website? Simple. By uploading and monetizing YouTube videos.

YouTube Ads

Two popular ways to make money with YouTube videos include ads and sponsored videos. Ad revenue is as easy as connecting Google Adsense with YouTube. If you don’t have a Google Adsense account, you can sign up for one for free.  With Adsense, you’ll earn a set amount for each 1,000 views your videos receive.

As you grow your YouTube audience, you may be invited to join a Multi-channel Network and the YouTube Partner Program. This offers additional promotions and ad revenue opportunities that can turn into some serious money made without a website.

Don’t forget about the possibility of affiliate sales on YouTube. Channels that focus on product reviews are perfect platforms for affiliate marketing. In fact, some people make all of their online income through affiliate sales.

YouTube Channels that Earn

Intrigued by making money online without a website by using YouTube? Some popular channel ideas include:

Vlogging – Video blogging =Vlogging. It’s just like a traditional blog but you are making video entries instead of written ones. You can vlog about whatever you’d like — current events, musings, motherhood, personal finance, etc. Vlogging is the easiest way to get started since you don’t need anything more than a webcam and your own thoughts!

Product Reviews – As I mentioned, product review channels are easily monetized with ads and affiliate links. If you become popular enough, companies may even pay you to review their products in a sponsored video.

How-tos & Tutorials – Millions of viewers turn to YouTube each month to learn how to do everything from makeup contouring to installing a hot water heater. If you’re creative, handy, or a subject-matter expert you can make money with informational videos that share your knowledge with others.

Cooking – Do you have some serious culinary skills? Show them off on YouTube and get paid for doing something you enjoy. Cooking channels can be super niche like vegan paleo recipes or tackle cooking with specific instruments like grills or slow cookers.

Music – If you’ve got some singing chops or can play any instruments, consider launching your music career on YouTube (Justin Bieber was discovered this way).

2. Revenue Share Sites

Getting traffic to your website or blog is no easy task. And typically, you need traffic to make money. That’s why so many people want to know how they can make money online without a website.  Many writers turn to the various revenue sharing sites as an easy way to start earning extra income.

Revenue sharing sites pay contributors a portion of revenue the site generate. Usually, this is from ad earnings but some sites offer the opportunity to make affiliate sales. The revenue you’ll earn likely depends on how many page views your content receives. It’s a good idea to promote your content on social media to get as many visitors as you can.

Some writers swear that popular platforms, like HubPages, offer consistent extra income, while others insist they earn a full time living on revenue sharing sites. If you’d like to try your hand at earning on these popular platforms, check out:

• Hubpages
• Examiner
• Infobarrel

Carol Tice, over at Make a Living Writing, offers up some revenue share advice in her article How I Earn Good Money Writing for Revenue Share.

So, what are some popular topics that actually generate income on revenue share sites? Not surprisingly, the popular topics are those that seem universally in demand:

• Health & Beauty
• Parenting
• Finance
• Business
• Fitness
• Relationships

What’s great about revenue sharing  sites is the possibility to earn passive income. You write the article once and can get paid over and over again each month. Remember, when it comes to passive income, it takes some time to build up a decent stream of money. While you might not see immediate results, after a few months you should start to notice an increase in money earned from older posts.

For those with a lot to say needing a platform to share and earn, revenue share sites offer an easy-to-setup way to make money online without a website.

3. Affiliate Marketing

As I’ve mentioned so far with both YouTube and revenue share sites, the possibilities of earning money online without a website are HUGE with affiliate marketing. What keeps many people from going after affiliate sales is they think they need to set up a blog or website to actually make anything — but that isn’t true!

While a blog or site is a traditional way to get affiliate sales, social media can be a powerful tool all by itself — no website required! Like most things worth doing, building up an audience that will actually buy what you’re selling takes some time. So, don’t expect to tweet an affiliate link and have sales rolling in.

Instead, work on building your social media following the right way (no buying followers, please!). Part of this includes:

• Build trust with your audience (provide high quality, valuable information)
• Promote products you use or can stand behind
• Don’t oversell (all of your posts shouldn’t contain affiliate links!)

A properly set up Facebook fan page can be a great way to make money through affiliate marketing.  You can set up a fan page for anything you’d like. I’ve known two people who have killed it with affiliate sales on Facebook just from fan pages — what are their pages about? One is about yoga and the other is about vintage cars.

They picked popular niche topics, set up a page, got as many “likes” as they could and started posting highly relevant, engaging, and targeted posts — and, yes, some of them are posts containing affiliate links but certainly not all of them.

Keep in mind, the more likes you have on your page, the greater your engagement which turns into more sales. If you’re serious about Facebook as a means to make money online without a website, it’s worth promoting your page with Facebook ads. Even if you’re on the tightest budget, Facebook ads are super affordable when done right.

4. Create Digital Products

Ebooks and video courses are extremely popular as more and more people head online to read, watch and learn. And, you don’t even need your own website or blog to sell your products. Instead, consider selling an ebook on Amazon’s popular kindle platform or offering a course for sale on Udemy.

These websites can get your products in front of millions of people and can translate into a lot of sales.

Ebooks

What can you write about? Anything! Of course, there are those topics that perform well like:

• Health
• Fitness
• Recipes/Food/Cooking
• Self-improvement
• Advice/How-to

But, really, you can write an ebook about whatever you’d like. Keep in mind, it’s a good idea to tackle a subject you have knowledge and/or an interest in. This lends a bit of credibility to your ebook and will make it that much easier to write. Think you don’t have what it takes to sell an ebook online? Think again! Even without experience, you can sit down, write and get an ebook for sale in just 30 days.

Udemy

Udemy is one of my favorite places to turn to when I need to learn something. Over the last year, I’ve taken a number of Udemy courses which have ranged from just an hour in length to 20 hours or more. Through Udemy, I’ve learned about SEO, social media marketing, freelancing, and growth hacking.

But Udemy instructors can create videos about anything from beginner’s yoga to how to play the guitar. The average instructor earns $8,000 for each course they create! Udemy provides free course-building tools to ensure you create a course that actually sells.

Not only are digital products, like ebooks and Udemy courses, great ways to make money online without a website, they’re also lucrative sources of passive income!

5. Product Design

Have a great idea for a t-shirt? Think you’ve got the perfect drawing for a coffee mug? Sign up at a popular online site to start selling your designs!

While these companies each work differently, the basic idea is the same:

• You come up with a design
• You place your design on a product like a t-shirt or shower curtain
• The company offers it for sale on their website
• When a product with your design sells, the site manufactures and ships it
• You earn a percentage of each sale

You don’t have to worry about customer service, collecting payments or maintaining a website — it’s all taken care of for you! Some people have had such great success on these popular sites that they can earn a full time living designing and selling t-shirts online.

While t-shirt sites are a popular way to make money online without a website, there are other platforms like Zazzle and Redbubble that offer the opportunity to place your designs on everything from iPhone cases to duvet covers.

Make Money Online without a Website — get Started!

While I can’t stress enough how amazing it is to earn a full time living blogging  or the benefits of launching a money-making site, it’s also nice to know there are legitimate (and lucrative!) ways to make money online without a website.

Have a question? Need a little advice? Leave your comments below or feel free to email me at ashlee@workfromhomehappiness.com

The post Make Money Online Without a Website appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.