When you think about earning extra money to pay down debt, what do you think of? Most people would think about things such as having a garage sale, selling stuff on eBay or horror of horrors, getting a second job. The problem with options like garage or estate sales or selling stuff on eBay is that you probably have a limited number of items available to sell. So what would you do when you run out of that stuff?
Getting a second job is one of the best ways to earn extra money to pay down debt but it just doesn’t work for everyone. We live pretty much in a 24/7 world now and the hours you’re working at your primary job just might preclude you from getting a second gig. For example, we know of tech support people that work shifts like 10 AM to 6 PM or even 10 PM to 6 AM. It’s just not possible for people like that to take on second jobs. Even if you have a traditional 8 AM to 5 PM job you might find that there are many days of the week when the job just doesn’t end at 5 PM.
So if you fall into one of these categories what could do to earn extra money?
#1. Put your car to work
If you own your car you could put it to work earning money for you. In today’s sharing economy there are numerous people looking to rent other people’s cars instead of purchasing their own. There are sites such as RelayRides and GetAround where you could connect with people that might be interested in renting your car by the day or even a week. If you’re not in a position where you could rent your car you could pick up extra money through Lyft or Uber where it’s possible to earn up to $35 an hour by taxiing people around. Plus, you get to set your own hours.
#2. Do mystery shopping
Here’s another part-time gig you could do where you get to choose your own hours. If you’re not familiar with mystery shopping it’s where you go into restaurants, stores and other places of business and then report on your experiences to help the companies determine how well they’re doing in customer service. You not only make your own schedule as a mystery shopper but you could take on as many or as few assignments as you chose. Some people who do mystery shopping take just a few assignments a week and make maybe $100. If you were to treat mystery shopping more like a full-time job you could earn up to $500 a week.
#3. Become an eBay drop shipper
If you don’t have stuff of your own to sell on eBay you could become a drop shipper or middleman. This can be a great gig because you don’t even have to ship stuff yourself. You find companies that are willing to use drop shippers and then list their products on eBay along with some good sales copy. When you make a sale, you notify the company that has the product and it ships it to your buyer for you. There is an online wholesale directory called SaleHoo that has listings for more than 8000 prescreened suppliers including companies like Playskool and Gap. Sign up for some of these companies and you would then become a storefront selling their products. The money you earn would be the difference between their wholesale prices and what ever it is you sell the merchandise for.
#4. Do affiliate marketing
Many different companies including well-known ones such as Amazon and Starbucks are looking for new customers and are willing to pay to get them. The way affiliate marketing works is that you promote a company’s’ products or services using a unique URL. When a person uses that link to buy the company’s products, you get a commission. Sites such as Share a Sale and Rakuten Affiliate Network are affiliate consolidators where you can find many different companies willing to pay you a commission to help sell their products or services. If you’d like to know more about affiliate marketing, go to the website Affilorama where you’ll find training information that could help you be successful.
#5. Become a direct seller
Thousands of people make extra money by direct selling for companies such as Avon and Mary Kay. Direct selling has earned a sort of poor reputation but does offer the opportunity to make an enviable amount of money while still working a full-time job. Direct selling isn’t just about cosmetics, either. You could earn a nice extra piece of change selling wellness products like Advocare, pet products, Tupperware or accessories.
#6. Join focus groups
Companies that would like to improve their marketing and advertising periodically conduct focus groups consisting of potential customers to help them understand what’s working and what’s not working. If you have the time necessary to participate it’s a good way to earn extra money. There are many companies that are actually anxious to pay you for your insights as a consumer and in some cases they’ll even come to your home. One company recently held a focus group that lasted two hours and consisted of talking with just several people about snack foods and tasting some cookies. The person hosting this group earned $250. The website FindFocusGroups.com has listings of companies looking for people that would like to participate in focus groups. Alternately you might search Craigslist using keywords like “paid study,” “market research” or “surveys.”
#7. Become a consultant
Many small companies need help but can’t afford to work with one of the big, well-known consulting groups. Instead, they look for individuals like maybe you where they can get the same skills cheaper and on an ala Carte basis. For example, HourlyNerd connects well-educated professionals with small companies that need consulting help. If you have skills in areas such as marketing, social networking, search engine optimization or program management you could pick up a nice bit of change by consulting with companies that need these types of skills.
#8. Be an online jurist
There are trial attorneys that look for people to judge cases that haven’t gone to court yet. They use online jurors to help figure out what an average group of people might think about the merits of their cases or how they might respond to the attorney’s concepts or tactics. Companies such as Online Verdict enable attorneys to access regular people to serve as online jurors. If you meet the criteria to sit on one of these juries you would likely earn between $10 and $60 for your time.
#9. Rent out a room or your house
If you have a spare room in your house why not rent it out using a site like Airbnb that connects travelers with people that are willing to rent out a room or an entire house. There are also sites such as the VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) and HomeAway where you could rent your house to paying guests when you’re away from home. In the event you have a friend that would let you sleep on his or her couch you could rent your house for a period of time without even leaving town.
