Recently, I was part of a discussion on a forum, and the topic of the discussion was…
Can you make good money on the side while keeping your job and without making any changes to your schedule?
You can make some pretty good cash on the side on top of doing your day job or studying or just being at home taking care of the family.
Everybody has the need of some extra cash at some point—whether you want to save for the future or build a small emergency fund or even save to spend on something you like.
There are many side hustles or side gigs that you can do to supplement the income, but the ones I am going to tell you about are the ones that do not require a commitment. You can do them once or keep doing them if you like.
You will not get rich with these, but it definitely would be some extra cash in your pocket. Who does not like that?!
Microtasks
Microtasks are gigs you can squeeze into any tight schedule or whenever you have some free time. The tasks are diverse like editing, writing, and image tagging, but the best part is these tasks can be done by anybody and don’t take much time.
It can be a perfect fit for your weekend or break times.
The tasks are mostly open to international workers and are offered by companies like Appen and Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Website Testing
Usability testing is where you test the functionality of a website or app. This has become increasingly popular, and the work itself is quite simple.
Don’t worry; you don’t have to be a developer or a techie for this gig. You just have to check the functionality of the different pages or the sections of the website and give feedback. The same applies for testing the functioning of apps.
Most of the usability testing companies recruit testers around the world. You can sign up for companies like Analysia, Userfeel, Intellizoom Panel, Trymata, and UserTesting.
You usually earn $10 to test a website.
Related:
How to Get Paid Online as a Search Engine Evaluator
Beginner’s Guide to Become a Mystery Shopper
Researcher
You can put your researching skills to work and get paid. Web researching has gained momentum recently, and many companies are offering researcher jobs. One such company is Wonder.
You fill out a form and do a sample research task, and if approved, you become a Wonder researcher.
Clickworker also offers some research jobs like data tagging and web research.
Other than this, there are many researching opportunities on freelancing websites like Freelancer.com and Fiverr.com.
You can earn up to $16 per question working for Wonder.
Moderator
A chat or forum moderator monitors posts, chats, or social media, implements the rules, and takes care of spam. It is not a techie job and can be done from anywhere. You do not need prior experience for this.
This role is very suitable for those who enjoy being social and participating in forum discussions, social media, and chat rooms.
You can apply for this role at ICUC, ModSquad, and The Social Element.
Chat Agent
Have you ever visited a website and suddenly a chat agent pop-up comes up?
With more and more companies building their presence on the web, chat agents pop-ups are becoming more frequent when you visit a website. They are the first point of contact with the company for users who want to find out anything. You can think of it like online customer service.
Some positions might need prior experience and some skills, but generally, if you are computer savvy, then getting a chat agent role is possible.
Needle and Apple hire work-at-home chat agents.
Search and Earn
Did you know that you can earn some extra cash while doing your usual searches on the web?
Instead of using Google or Bing as a search engine, you can use Swagbucks and InboxDollars.
I make around $100 per month from Swagbucks totally passively, just from doing searches. The best part is you can do these while doing other things.
You simply have to use their search engines to surf the web. So keep doing what you are doing and make money on the side, How cool is that?!
Forum Posting
Did you know that forum posting can give you some extra cash?
You can comment and participate in conversations and make some money from it. No prior experience is required, but grammar is the basic requirement.
If you are already a member of some forums and enjoy the discussions and networking, then this will be FUN rather than being a job.
So where do you find forum posting jobs? Go to Indeed and PaidForumPosting.
Captioning
This is a fun way to earn money. Companies like Rev recruit people without any experience, and this can be a good place to start if you are new to captioning.
If you can type and follow some instructions, then you can try this side gig. Captioning, especially video captioning, is merely transcribing the video content.
Other companies like VITAC might require some experience, but Rev recruits newbies.
You can earn an average of $250 a month working for Rev. To learn more, you can read our review on Rev here.
Surveys
I know nobody believes that you can make money from surveys, but you can make some nice side income from these. This is not a job, but it sure can be your extra moneymaker.
Now, it’s not only the surveys you can do to make money, but you can also watch videos, do some microjobs, download apps, and much more. These are not huge moneymakers, but they can be good opportunities to make money during your break times.
Some of the survey sites that are legitimate and pay decent money are Harris Poll Online, Survey Club, Clear Voice Surveys, and Product Report Card. More sites for my Australian readers include Valued Opinions, Pureprofile, and Toluna.
If you sign up to most of them, you can make up to $200 a month. Awesome, right?!
There could be other opportunities out in the market, but the above can also add some great value to your side income.
Now, get ready to start hustling!!!
What are the other ways you can make extra income?