Think you need money to make money? Think again. Here are 5 ways to earn money even if you have zero dollars in the bank.
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Do you want to earn money online, but don’t have the money to get started?
This is a barrier a lot of people face.
We have a money-making idea that we’re eager to start. But no cash to get the ball rolling!
Luckily, there are certain methods to making money online, even if you’re strapped for cash.
You can use these methods anywhere in the world. Plus, none of them require a credit card.
So long as you have an internet connection, and willing to put in an effort, you’re good to go!
Here are the 5 free ways to earn money online…
1. Start a Free Online Merch Store
One of the best free methods to earn money online is to start an online merch store.
This is where you create your own custom merchandise, like mugs or t-shirts. And then list them for sale in an online marketplace.
When someone purchases your product, their production team will:
- Print the design onto the product
- Package it up
- Then ship to your customer’s address
In the industry, this practice is named “print-on-demand.” Because that’s what it is: Printing a design on demand.
And it works great because:
- You only pay for inventory AFTER a customer makes a purchase
- You don’t need to do any of the heavy lifting
How you get paid is also very straightforward.
When someone makes a purchase, the cost to fulfil the order is deducted from the sale price. Whatever is leftover (profit) is then paid out to you as a commission.
For example, let’s say a t-shirt sells for $20, and costs $8 to fulfil. This means that for every sale, you earn a nice $12 commission.
If this method sounds interesting, Cafe Press may be a great website to get started with. Just set up a free account and get started right away.
And to learn more about how to make money with print-on-demand, check out this article.
2. YouTube Tutorial Videos
While YouTube is great for entertainment, it’s also a place to learn new skills.
So, a great way to earn money while helping others, is by creating tutorial videos. Specifically, tutorials that show people how to use a specific product or a service.
For example, you could show people how to use certain software, like Photoshop. Or, you can show them how to build a website (as we’ve done here).
In addition, the product or service you promote needs to have an affiliate program. This is a program that allows you to be an affiliate for the product you’re promoting.
When you sign up to an affiliate program, you’ll be given your own affiliate link (also known as a referral link).
When someone clicks on that link, and buys the product, you earn a commission from that sale. In the industry, this practice goes by the name of “affiliate marketing.”
How does this tie in with tutorial videos? Well, you can pair your affiliate link and tutorial together to earn money.
By simply placing your link in the video description, and asking people to use your affiliate link, you can start earning commissions on autopilot. This means whether you’re present or not, people can still click your affiliate link and purchase your product.
“This all sounds great,” you might be saying. “But what if I don’t know how to use that product or service myself?”
That’s a good question. The answer: You don’t have to be! You can easily study and learn from other successful tutorials. Then, see how you can create a tutorial that is of the same (or better) quality.
3. Create and Sell Your Own Video Course
The online world is swamped with free information. Yet, this has no effect on the online education market, which is rapidly growing each year.
In fact, they’re projected to reach a market size of $319.167 billion, increasing from 187.877 billion in 2019.
If you have a skill, or passion, there’s a sea of opportunity to make money here.
One particular way is to create a video course.
For example, a course on how to become a social media pro, or lose weight.
Teachable is a platform that allows you to create and sell your own video course for free.
You can set up a free account here, and enrol up to ten students to join your course. After you’ve surpassed ten enrolments, you’ll need to upgrade your plan.
4. Create Your Own Fivver Gig
Fivver is a platform where you can hire freelancers to carry out certain tasks for you. For example, building a website or creating a brand logo.
As a freelancer, you too can create and list your own gig on Fivver. Then, get paid every time someone purchases your gig.
The problem here is, most freelancers make the mistake of selling the same service as everyone else.
This makes it harder to land projects, since you’re competing with so many other similar gigs.
Our “secret” advice: Discover gigs that very few people offer as a service. Then, create a gig for that instead.
With little competition, your chances of landing a project are much higher. Moreover, you stand out from other freelancers, which is great for personal branding.
5. Make Money From Instagram Shoutouts
There’s plenty of ways to make money on Instagram.
But, one, free method is to grow a niche following.
This is when you create a page around a specific niche (e.g. dogs). Then, post regular content around that niche that your followers will like, comment and share.
The goal here is to build a big following. Specifically, 10,000+ followers. We say 10,000 because:
- It’s a big enough audience to make money from
- You need 10,000 or more followers to unlock the “Story” feature on Instagram
The Story feature is important because you can use it to earn money through shout outs. This is when you promote a brand’s product, page, or site on your story for an agreed period of time. It’s a very profitable way of marketing. And, best off all, doing shoutouts isn’t a hard job.
Shout Cart is a site where businesses can purchase shout outs from niche pages. A 24-hour page shout out will cost $15, while a Story shout out will cost $50. Many businesses purchase both options, so you could be earning $65 for each shoutout.
The Bottom Line
Even if you’re cash strapped, there’s still several ways to earn money online for free.
You can earn money through telling t-shirts. You can earn money through Instagram shoutouts. You can even earn money with a YouTube channel. There’s a number of profitable ways, but the first step is to take action.