Of course, thousands of sites — maybe even millions — claim to offer ways to make money fast, or to teach you some hack about how to make money fast, but the sites are scattered and have varying degrees of validity. Many of us don’t know where to start, or if the site we found is reputable. Our goal here is to fix that and to show 10 possibilities for how to make money fast.
1. Do One-off Selling on LetGo
LetGo is a great site for one-off selling to people in your neighborhood or general region. Anything with value, from clothes to old books and magazines, is going to be fair game. You need quality images, some ideas of a valid price point, and the ability to upload. You can also cross-share on Facebook and Instagram to drive more traffic to the sale. People have sold everything from old pens to collections of Blue Apron recipes on LetGo and made money quickly.
2. Sell Overseas for a Better Price
Two good sites for this are Alibaba and Taobao. When you sell items that are local to you but to overseas customers, you can get better deals — because things are often considered more valuable if they’re rare or imported from elsewhere. While it is possible to also sell services on sites like these, offering services from the U.S. to China might require consistent use of a private jet, and if that’s your situation, you probably don’t need this article in the first place.
3. Rent out a Room on AirBnB
AirBnB is an excellent way to make some additional cash. Many are now renting out their apartment and, using the funds from that rental, traveling the same weekend. Most AirBnB hosts are still doing it for side/quick money, although there are six-figure AirBnB earners.[2] In 2016, about 75 people worldwide earned more than $1 million hosting AirBnB,[4] although admittedly earnings for hosts are higher in 15 cities globally.[5] (In general, a “good” AirBnB city can yield a host up to 81% of their rent.) Signing up for AirBNB is safe and easy, here’re some handy tips to get started.
4. Rent out Parking Space with JustPark
You can rent out driveways, car parks, empty hotel spaces, etc. — and do so within the time windows that work for you with JustPark. There are a few limitations you need to be aware of, such as whether you’re the legal owner of the space (not a deal-breaker!) or whether the space requires FOB access. Check out the detailed requirements on JustPark here. JustPark is a good revenue-generator for some, although the monthly earnings are likely to be less than AirBnB. One “hack” to know, though: JustPark listings that include Minimum Retail Prices actually — and counterintuitively! — make 4x the revenue of other listings on the service.[6]
5. Writer Reviews as a Product Tester
This is a fairly easy one: visit a website/app, complete a series of tasks, and earn $10 per test on UserTesting. There are some necessary requirements, including:
A PC or Mac, an internet connection, and a microphone. You’ll need an iPhone, iPad, Android phone or Android tablet If you’d like to take Mobile tests. Ability to download testing software. You must be at least 18 years old. Ability to speak your thoughts aloud in English.
6. Teach on iTalki
In short, you’ll get paid to help others learn a language. There are a number of benefits, including a flexible schedule and international payments. Close to 20 languages are currently available to teach in, with demand consistently growing. iTalki takes about 15% of your earnings, and is best thought of as an extra income source — not a primary one. It’s a good example of how to make money fast though you won’t make a huge amount.[7] Sign up and become a teacher on iTalki.
7. Do Pet Sitting
There’s an extensive database of pet sitting jobs available on PetSitter, which is a huge bonus for pet lovers looking for ideas on how to make money fast. In addition to pet-sitting, there are a range of other pet-related activities (mostly dog-walking and feeding). The ceiling on pet-sitting earnings from this or other sites (such as Rover) is about $3,000-$4,000 per month, with most users making less than $1,000.[8] It depends on time available, market you’re operating in, and context. By “context,” one thing to note is that finding people who vacation a lot (empty nesters, retirees, etc.) will increase your recurring income from pet sitting. Once they trust you with their pets, they might hand you the contract for every vacation.
8. Get a Child Care or Home Care Job
You can find typically child care or home care jobs designed to fit your schedule on Care.com. The jobs will vary from babysitting to nanny work to after-school pickup to housekeeping, shopping, errands, and more. They do offer rate calculators for various services, such as babysitting, with larger cities starting around $20/hour relative to experience. One advantage of making money on Care.com is the volume of jobs available is very high. If you have flexibility to combine different commitments, you can generate $1,500+/month from this site.
9. Become a Uber Driver
There have been lots of discussions about driving for Uber vs. Lyft and which is better for drivers (the argument varies), but Uber’s driver requirements aren’t hard to pass. Check out the requirements to become a Uber driver here. Ride share driving is easy in terms of GPS navigation helping guide you, and the schedule is flexible. The actual hourly rate varies by city, but it’s usually $20/hour or under.[9] It’s oftentimes hard for Uber to classify because they don’t designate their drivers as employees. When they advertise $40/hour (as has happened), that’s probably on the very high end. Now you can even get a guaranteed $275 for your first 40 rides with the invite code here.
10. Sell Your Talent at Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the more popular gig sites, with new projects requested every five seconds and about 25 million projects completed to date. There are about 100 categories to choose from including writing, animation, design, making products go viral, Facebook cover photos, voice-over, etc. As a seller, you can charge anywhere from $5 to $995 for your package. They also have a “Pro” option now once you either prove expertise in a given area or work with a wide variety of clients. People do make six figures on Fiverr,[10] although that’s admittedly rare — most people make about $300 to $500/month depending on their level of commitment to the platform.[11] Start selling your skill at Fiverr.
The Bottom Line
There are many practical ways to make money fast online, typically through the emergence of new platforms. It’s important to remember the trade-off between flexibility and stability. These approaches of how to make money fast will usually give you some degree of flexibility in when you work and how you earn, but they may not give you stability. If you have certain bills that are due at a given time each month (i.e. rent on the 1st), you will need approaches to how you save or periods of time you ramp up working.
