Some Second Income Ideas

There’s no better time to write about earning extra money than now. When markets across the globe are melting and Us is in a standby mode. It looks like a market crash or correction is on the card. I have sold a few positions over last month. But the subject of this post is having a steady source of second income, outside of your day job or main business.

Many people, these days, are trying to find additional sources of income, which can sometimes be quite a drag. Choosing which alternative source of income is best for someone mostly depends on the amount of work and time each person is ready to invest in this project. In this article, we’re going to list some of the most creative ideas on how to make some extra money without sacrificing too much time and nerves.

While you start working on your second income, do have a PayPal account created. PayPal has become the most accepted payment medium for everything related to earning on the side.

Answering Surveys

Not a huge money but you’ll earn some handy money for your need. You can do it in the night and weekend hours. Here’s list of top survey sites.

Freelancing

The freelance economy is growing by the day and changing the world around us. People who lost their jobs during the 2008 economic crisis never went back to the 9 to 5 corporate work hours, in spite of the economic recovery that happened in the meantime.

The great thing about freelancing is that workers themselves can choose how much work they’re going to take and how much money they’re going to get. This makes it the perfect second job and one of the best active income sources. Getting started with freelancing is not that difficult, especially with plenty of freelance marketplaces that can be found online.

These websites can be used for presenting skills and expertise to clients, establishing valuable business connections or even finding a better-paid job.

If you’re interested to become a freelancing blog contributor for us, get in touch with me. We are looking for someone who can write engaging articles with a lot of research into it. 

Stock Trading

Stocks are part of any investment portfolio. The doubts that people had about stock trading, that was influenced by the Dot.com bubble and the 2008 economic crisis are slowly fading away and the new age of the internet allows everybody to trade stocks from their home and to be good at it.

Two decades ago, stocks were only sold at official brokerage offices, which were also offering their advisory services making the overall price too high for most people. Now when they can be bought online, without paying any additional fees, stock trading is easier than ever. There are several types of stocks that can be traded.

Penny stocks are considered to be more volatile, but they also provide much bigger returns in case of success.

Blue-chip stocks are stocks from top companies and they are also much more expensive, which makes them more suitable for bigger players.

Readers should know that stock trading shouldn’t be considered as another get-rich-quick scheme and that success in this business requires a lot of expertise.

Blogging

This is my source of second income. From this blog, I earn a lot of money on the side. And creating your blog is an easy task. People who are experts in a certain niche can share their knowledge and earn money through ad platforms like Google AdSense or affiliate programs like Amazon Associates.

AdSense is a regular pay-per-click platform, and it’s good for blogs that deal with news, politics, society, every-day subjects etc.

Through affiliate platforms, bloggers earn a percentage from every purchase the reader makes from the products they promote. These platforms are much better for product reviews, finance, tech, food and other blogs that recommend different kinds of products.

If you buy your blog domain and Hosting from SiteGround, I’ll also earn a commission from them. But I also promote SiteGround as this blog uses SiteGround for hosting the site and I am extremely satisfied with their flawless service and cheaper price.

Airbnb

Airbnb is a network made to connect travelers with people who offer accommodation. Everybody can offer their bed, room, flat, or house and earn from renting it to strangers. This might sound scary at first, but the whole system is much more secure than it sounds.

Money is withdrawn automatically from people’s AirBnB accounts and there’s also a system of references that are made to pin individuals that are using the system in a bad way.

Airbnb can be very lucrative to people who live near popular tourist sites since the demand for accommodation in these places is much higher. Of course, you can always rent out a bed even if you don’t live in a city that attracts thousands of tourists a year.

Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping is used by market research companies to rate customer service and compliance with company regulations in retail stores. For people who don’t have a problem with “working for the Dark Side”, it is a great way to earn some extra cash or to get different presents that go from coupons and goods to vacations and restaurant meals.

These gigs can be found on different aggregator websites and in most cases, a PayPal account, internet access and a scanner for receipts is everything a person needs to become a mystery shopper. You can also have a lot of fun performing these covert tasks, and find a lot of good deals and offers you might have missed otherwise.

Buying and Selling Domain Names

People sometimes bump into domain names that have been bought already, but that doesn’t have a website they are directed to. These domains are already bought by people who want to resell them. Sometimes they even list their company contact and domain name price on the page where the domain leads to.

For making this operation profitable people need to follow the latest online trends and be in constant search for new, attractive domain names.

Reselling Stuff on eBay

eBay offers a lot of possibilities when it comes to earning. It is the online marketplace and that means that for purchasing goods and selling them later, small-time eBay entrepreneurs don’t even need to get out of their armchairs. This makes reselling stuff on eBay the perfect second job.

Resellers should first do a little research, which will help them determine which products are popular at the moment. After that comes the long process of searching for things to buy and bidding for them. For this, they’ll need to learn more about placing bids, and in time they’ll become skilled bidders.

Another very important thing when it comes to selling products on eBay is to write a creative presentation of the product and to add lots of high-quality photos of it photographed in nice environments. eBay is not the only online marketplace. There are plenty of other websites where people can buy affordable goods, and if they see that some item is becoming more popular it’s good to buy it wholesale.

This can be done on various websites like Alibaba, but one of the most important things for wholesale purchases is to always ask for samples before deciding which product to buy. Selling popular products on eBay while buying them through wholesale purchases can bring much bigger profits and save a lot of valuable time.

Becoming an Uber Driver

Uber is a very popular application and in a lot of countries around the world, it is going to replace standard taxi companies. Uber drivers averagely earn $6 more than standard taxi drivers and their services are less expensive. You can apply here.

Uber managed to grow their business with better planning and the use of the latest technologies in connecting drivers and customers.

The company has recently released two reports, one that represents the analysis of the Uber labor market and the other that contains the results of an anonymous survey of 601 Uber drivers from around the world. These documents provide all information on the conditions this company is offering to independent contractors.

There are also some requirements that drivers need to fulfill so they can start their partnership with Uber:

• Drivers need to be at least 21 years old and have an in-state driver’s license;
• They need to have a 4-door car, 2005 or newer (on the West Coast and in Chicago cars can be a few years older, while in NYC they need to be 2011 or newer);
• Drivers need to have in-state insurance, with their name on the policy;
• They need to have in-state plates with a current registration that can be regular or commercial;
• They need to pass a background and a record check.

Start Working as a Virtual Assistant

This is something like an online secretary and this work has become more popular recently. The job itself doesn’t require too much knowledge or tech. People who already worked as secretaries will find their way around things more easily, but basically, anyone can do it.

The only requirements are: a laptop, an internet connection and a telephone and the work can be done from home or any other location. This is one of the best jobs for stay-at-home moms and a great way for people to earn some additional income.

Opening a Work Hub

People who have bigger real estate close to the city center can easily open a work hub in their place. They only need to make it comfortable, install fast internet and prepare themselves to make coffees and teas all day long. There are different work hubs on the offer.

Some professional ones offer meeting places, conference rooms, and real offices, but most freelancers and small-time entrepreneurs are just searching for a comfortable place to run their websites and blogs.

They only need basic comfort, air conditioning, fast broadband and coffee of course. Someone who has a home big enough to welcome a dozen of quiet and working people can easily run a place like this.

Bottom Line

There are a lot of untapped sources of income in the advanced technology world of today. Sometimes is hard to step out from the 9 to 5 world, most of the people live in, but those brave ones who do are greeted by thousands of money-making opportunities, that can easily become full-time jobs if combined with some creativity and diligence.