Intro to Making Money Online

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Let's Kick This One Off

Online money making is a beautiful thang, and is the reason I had so many nice pairs of trainers in 2008. It’s something that everyone has at least vaguely heard of, but so many people haven’t explored fully. There are so many structured opportunities out there now. A decade ago or so, it was a different story. There was so much jargon and the only apparent ways to make money from the internet were reserved for those with technical skills of some sort.

Nowadays, you can create full-time earnings streams by tapping into one of the many platforms out there. Most of them don’t make money unless people like you use them, so they tend to be filled with support documentation, and guides to help you get to that cash. If you don’t like the ones out there now, with a little research, and you will be able to create your own system to boost your income from the internet.

Can Anyone Do It?

In the words of the great Bo Dallas, all you have to do is BOlieve. I swear. When I first discovered this, I was 15, and I was scared of all of these technical words. I did well at school, but felt like I studied all the wrong things. I was just looking at things the wrong way.

Back then, I read that affiliate marketing was the easiest way to make money online. I wasn’t tryna here that. I didn’t do business studies at school, so “marketing” was a scary word. I read that you needed to make a website to do that. I didn’t do an IT GCSE, so I thought it was impossible. All of these obstacles were irrelevant. You can learn how to do anything with a few Google searches and YouTube, and I’m going to keep reminding about this.

What Methods Are Out There?

As it is all so varied these days, I’m going to group them into just five different online money making methods. I dabble in each of them myself to keep things fun (as too much of one thing gets tiring), and to ensure that if one drops off, I’ve always got something else to cover my back. Here’s a quick overview of what’s out there, and the benefits and drawbacks of them all.

Get-Paid-To

These are the entry-level online money making methods, and things that anyone can do. You can get paid to write, review products, test websites, complete surveys, click ads, watch videos, download apps, and plenty more. Thousands of people do these things in the UK, and it’s only going to grow over time. I’m creating a resource of my favourites here.

You won’t believe the sorts of things that you can earn a few pounds from each day, and that money will build up in no time. With a clear head and a desire to bring cash in quickly, you will make these get-paid-to websites work for you.

Benefits:

Structured and easy to do at your leisure
Usually results in a quick cash injection
Easy to do, sometimes even while you’re multitasking with something else

Drawbacks:

Usually has limited money making potential
Saps a lot of your time, if you’re unorganised or inefficient
Unprofitable to outsource

Services

Whether you do this as a hobby, or go full-on freelancer with it, there are a bag of services that the people of the internet need. If you know you have a skill, head over to somewhere like Fiverr or UpWork, and get selling. If your specific service needs it, it may make sense to go and make yourself a website to market your abilities there. What’s best is that once you get a portfolio together, it’s usually easy to generate further work from more people.

Benefits:

Using skills you already have, and can expand on
With the right clients and the right frequency of work, it’s good money
Can be outsourced cheaply to a VA from OnlineJobs.ph, in some instances

Drawbacks:

May depend on your ability to acquire clients
Can leave you with little time for anything else
Clients can mean stress

Marketplaces

Simply exploring the breadth of marketplaces online will give you inspiration about what you could be selling. As well as physical goods on eBay, you can sell various services (as above), as well as things like stock photography. There’s a marketplace for all sorts of things. For actual products, you’ve got the ultra-niche, like a platform for buying and selling Lego, then you have ones for handmade items like Etsy, and then there’s also something as big as Amazon. Try things out. For digital goods or services, you can head over to Gumroad or Bandcamp, and get the ball rolling.

The only limit for marketplace earning potential is how much effort you put into it. If you have something with worth, or you know how to create something with value, it’s in your interest to explore the various online marketplaces there are today. It’s ever-expanding, and I’m sure there’s something out there for everyone.

Benefits:

Structured and designed to help you make money (as it makes them money too)
Easy to jump in and out of, whenever you see fit
Can be outsourced in some instances

Drawbacks:

Restricted to the rules of the marketplace, which may change
May involve clients, which (again) can mean stress
Might involve some sort of initial investment

Investments

ISAs take forever to accumulate money. If you have money to invest, put it towards something with as little risk as possible. Online, you have so many options, from trading stocks, cryptocurrency, commodities and Forex via eT o ro, to peer-to-peer lending with RateSetter and LendInvest.

This one doesn’t fit neatly into ‘investments’, but it’s an option generates big money quickly, once you’ve put a bit of money in. This off-beat, no risk method is matched betting with Profit Accumulator. Guaranteed profit betting. No lie. Thousands of people in the UK do this to create a tax-free revenue stream for themselves, but it takes a little time to get your head around.

Benefits:

Puts money to work, rather than having it sit there making no money for you
Low risk, if you take the time to learn things properly and take advice from experts
Can result in high returns (and quick returns with matched betting)

Drawbacks:

Usually requires a significant amount of money to make a decent return
Requires patience and lots of reading to begin with
Some may result in you losing your initial investment (especially if you don’t take the time to research and learn from specialists)

Build Something

This one is going to require a lot more time before it becomes profitable, but may generate more than all the other means. Think big. Many people go down the ebook, app and online course lane. Others may make websites, monetise them with ads or affiliate links, or just flip them for a their valuable domain. People with a good product idea may create themselves a brand. Creating something yourself is so deep, so this isn’t the place to cover it all here.

A lot of these are going to require investment, and a lot of time. If you want instant results, this may not be for you. However, these are the types of things that could create a gradually increasing revenue stream for you. You may even achieve one of those elusive passive incomes from one of these ideas, or outsource the work to a virtual assistant using OnlineJobs.ph.

Often enough, your first won’t be your last. Many start with an online t-shirt store or a niche blog and advance to bigger things. You might even make your own marketplace or get-paid-to platform.

Benefits:

You own everything
Tends to bring in the most long-term revenue
Outsourceable (new word for ya!) and sometimes can be automated for a passive income

Drawbacks:

Usually requires investment (then a bit more, and a bit more)
Often takes a while to become profitable
Usually a lot of learning, before the greatness begins

How Much Money Can You Make Online?

There are levels to this. For those that want to top up their income with low-effort money-making means, there’s a little cash in it for you. You might stretch to a couple of hundred pounds per month. Surveys, get-paid-to websites, tasks-paid apps and those kinds of things will make you money, but rarely enough to make a difference.

Services and marketplaces are where things step up. With those, it’s completely down to your abilities, and your ability to create efficient systems that maximise your earnings. Before it was against their guidelines, one fella on Fiverr could generate thousands of YouTube views for his clients with a couple of clicks. That’s the kinda efficiency we’re talking about. If you’re sewing jumpers by hand for £40 extra a month off Etsy, is the time worth it? You will work these things out with time.

If you’re going out of your way to create something of your own, like an ecommerce store, a brand, a website, or anything like that, this is where the earnings potential can jump even higher. All it takes is the right idea, and you’re off and away. You may not crack it the first time around, but all it takes is that one – or that one that brings in steady a cashflow each month – and it will change things for you.

People with absolutely no business sense are making enough money to leave jobs, thanks to the internet. There are so many opportunities to make money, especially if you’re creative and you hit an underrepresented niche. Of course, some skills are going to put you at an advantage over others, but there’s always going to be something out there for you to exploit.

Anything Else I Need to Know?

Be willing to learn, take a few losses, and brace yourself for a wild ride. You could create a nice side-earner, sustainable lifestyle business, or something that properly takes you to the riches. Just take your time, work out what works for you, and roll with it.

The only thing I need to reiterate is the importance of productivity. Avoid any time drainers (like low-return surveys) to a minimum, unless you really have to do them to bring you bank balance up. Also, stay away from MLMs – multi-level marketing schemes – because they’re usually scams, or your time is better spent elsewhere.

That was just the intro, as I’m going to expand on many of these in the future. Shout me if you need assistance, or ideas on where to start/expand your online money making.