extra income

How to Make $50 a Day

September 11, 2020 By Kathryn Vercillo Leave a Comment

Learning how to make $50 a day can significantly improve your finances. You can use that extra cash to pay down debt. Alternatively, you can put it into savings. There are many different ways to earn this extra cash through hustling, passive income, and making money online. Here’s a roundup of suggestions to get you started.

Make $50 a Day with Items You Have

There are things that you already own that can help you easily begin to earn extra money. Let’s start there:

Rent Out a Room with AirBnB

If you have a spare room in your home that you can rent out then this is one of the quickest ways to make $50 a day. After all, that’s as cheap or cheaper than most hotel rooms. Therefore, people are often willing to pay that rate. Of course, you should take into consideration that you’ll spend a little more doing extra laundry and cleaning, but overall this is one of the most consistent ways to earn that extra cash.

Rent Out Your Car

If you aren’t using your car every day then why just have it sit there? Instead, figure out how to make $50 a day by renting it out to others who need to use it temporarily. There are sites such as Getaround that make it easy for you to navigate setting this up.

Rent Out Garage / Storage Space

If you have extra space for storage then you can rent that out to someone who needs it. Of course, whether or not you can make $50 per day doing this really depends on your area. Right now in San Francisco there’s a huge exodus of people leaving the city, at least temporarily, due to COVID-19. As a result, storage rental prices have drastically risen. People need that storage space so they’re willing to pay high prices.

That said, you can also get creative to make more money from your garage. For example, could you rent it out a few nights a week to different bands that need rehearsal space? What about renting it to an artist who needs a studio? Or, during these times when people are working from home, you might even be able to rent it out as a “man cave” / “she shed” to people who are happy to pay $50 per day to escape from home for a little while.

Rent Out a Parking Space

Do you have a parking space in your building that you don’t use? Or do you own a home with its own garage? If so, and if you live in an area where parking is at a premium, then you might be able to rent out your parking spot. Here in San Francisco, it’s not impossible for people to make $50 a day renting out their parking spot to travelers who are staying in certain neighborhoods.

Sell Your Stuff

Declutter your home and sell everything that you don’t need. Become an eBay seller. Try Poshmark. Sell your books online. Sell your old computers, phones, and gadgets. Although this isn’t sustainable forever, since of course your amount of stuff is finite, it’s a great way to make $50 / day for a short period of time to boost your savings or pay down debt. And, if you discover that you really like selling stuff, you might be able to parlay it into a side job doing the same work for other people at a commission.

How to Make $50 a Day Online

It’s nice to be able to make use of your possessions to earn extra money. However, honestly, when most people think about how to make $50 a day, they’re thinking about what they can do online in their spare time to earn that extra cash. There are many great options:

Freelance Writing / Design

Notably, this isa real full-time professional job so it’s not easy to break into if you’re new. That said, if you already have skills that translate well then you can begin finding work fairly quickly. For example, if you have already done content writing within the context of your work history, then you can brush up your resume to reflect that and start looking for freelance writing jobs. If you have a graphic design background, there’s work for you as well.

Virtual Assistant

Anyone who has basic administrative experience can parlay that a job working as a virtual personal assistance for someone who needs help across all kinds of different fields. And even without that kind of experience, there might be jobs out there for you. If, in your spare time, you’re happy to help someone schedule their appointments, book travel plans, and organize their calendar then you might do well in this kind of work.

Rideshare / Delivery Driver

Of course, this is a hybrid offline/online job as it requires that you leave the home but also that you’re connected to the Internet constantly. In any case, this kind of app-based gig work using your car is one of the most popular ways that people turn to today when looking for how to make $50 a day.

In the same vein, you can sign up with a site like Instacart to do shopping for others.

Get Paid to Take Surveys

The truth is that you will have to spend quite a few hours of the day doing this if you want to make $50. That said, it’s not impossible. And it will put some extra cash in your pocket. Learn more about getting paid for your opinion here.

Offline Ways to Make $50 a Day

If you’re already online regularly for your day job then you might want to know how to make $50 a day offline. After all, you can only stare at a screen for so many hours of the day. Luckily, there are a lot of fun gigs that will allow you to earn some extra cash:

Dog Walking / Pet Sitting

If you’re an animal lover then this can be one of the most pleasurable ways to make that extra cash. Whether you join a service like Rover, set up an account on a site like Care.com, or simply head to the dog park and use word of mouth, you should quickly find it easy to get gigs. You can walk one or more dogs at a time. You can petsit in your home or in someone else’s.

House Sitting

This is often a spinoff of petsitting because so many of the people who want you to stay in their home expect you to care for their pets. However, that’s not always the case. Even if you don’t want to watch pets, you might be able to get some good house sitting gigs. Some people just want a person who will water the plants, collect the mail, and accept deliveries while they are away.

Babysitting/ Childcare / Mother’s Helper

If you prefer children to pets then perhaps you’ll want to get a gig taking care of them. This can be a delightful way to spend a few hours, easily earning $50 or more per day.

Tutoring

During the pandemic, children have started doing a lot of their learning at home. Parents don’t always have the time, skills, energy, or willingness to devote to educating their children. Therefore, there’s a growing interest in home-based tutors. (Of course, this can also be an online job or a hybrid of the two.)

Decluttering / Organizing

Do you excel at and enjoy organizing closets, files, and other areas that many people keep cluttered? If so, people need your skills. Start by offering to declutter for friends for a small fee and take it from there.

Tailoring / Upholstery / Domestic Skills

Do you know how to sew? What about reupholstering old furniture to make it look new? If you have domestic skills like these then you can market those. This is a great way to start making extra cash, perhaps doing something that you really enjoy.

Lawn Care

Mow lawns. Rake leaves. If you can do a bit of gardening and landscaping then you can earn even more money on the side.

Almost Any Part-Time Job

Remember when you were a teenager and you were willing to accept almost any job just to start earning some money? If you’re looking for how to make $50 a day then go back to that mentality. Get a job at a coffee shop, a fast food restaurant, cleaning offices. Work the minimum number of hours required to earn that small amount of money. Since it’s your second job and not your career, you might even find that it’s kind of relaxing this time around.

More Ways to Make That Extra Cash

If you’re still asking how to make $50 a day in other ways, here are some miscellaneous extra ideas:

Create a course and sell it through a channel such as Udemy.
Write and sell one or more ebooks.
Make and sell your own food.
Make and sell your own jewelry, stationery, art, etc. using a site like Etsy.
Start a blog / YouTube channel and make ad income.
Take the time to get good at investing your money and earning that passive income.
Taking the long view, purchase a second home as a real estate investment.
Advertise on your car.
Become a paid friend to a tourist, elderly person, or other in need.

What is your favorite way to drum up $50 a day quickly?

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How to Get Paid by Advertising on Your Car

July 16, 2020 By Kathryn Vercillo Leave a Comment

You have probably seen cars driving around with advertisements on the side or top of the vehicle. This is called wrapping. It’s a way for companies to gain attention for their products and services. Moreover, it’s a way for car owners to make a little bit of extra money. Here’s how to get started if you want to advertise with your car.

Research Companies to Advertise with Your Car

Unfortunately, there are a lot of wrapping scams out there. The scams vary but if a company asks you for money then you should be wary. When you advertise with your car, it’s a job. They should pay you, not the other way around.

One variation on this is the company will offer to send you money before you’ve even begun to advertise with your car. Then they ask you to wire back some of that money. This is a huge scam. Don’t buy into it.

If you’re serious that you want to advertise with your car, then you need to research to make sure that you work with a legitimate company. Investopedia says that Carvertise, Nickelytics, and Wrapify are three legitimate businesses to work with. Survey Clarity also lists Varvertise and Wrapify along with another six companies that they say are legitimate.

But do your own research. Check with the Better Business Bureau. Read reviews of different companies. Be selective about who you work with.

How it Works

When you sign up with a legitimate car wrapping company, they will ask you a series of questions. Think of it this way: the people who are advertising on your car want to make sure that the ads are seen by the right potential customers. Therefore they need to know things like where you typically drive, how often you’re on the road, perhaps where you park your car. The more information that you provide to the company, the more likely you are to get matched with good advertising opportunities.

Some of the things advertisers look for:

Typical mileage driven including routes (they’ll often request GPS information)
Clean, undamaged car
Your driving record, car insurance, and age (typically companies accept drivers 18+)

When the right match comes along, the car wrapping company will notify you. They’ll provide you all of the details about the advertising campaign. This includes how long you’ll advertise the product for. Once you agree to the terms, the company sends you the advertisement. Often, this is simply a vinyl sticker that you place on the side of your car. Of course, you’ll follow whatever rules you’ve agreed to for the campaign.

Then you’ll sit back and let the money come in. While you shouldn’t expect to get rich when you advertise with your car, you can definitely make some extra side income. Reports indicate that you can earn a few hundred dollars per month this way. Some people earn more, depending on the ads that they qualify for.

The Benefits of Being a Freelancer

May 7, 2015 By Lilian Nwa 3 Comments

There are countless articles written about the “9-to-5 grind” and likewise, how to manage the psychological dissatisfaction and disillusionment people often feel traversing to work Monday morning. If you work as a freelancer, however, such complaints might very well sound like a foreign language to you. Yes, we have article deadlines and “bosses” in the forms of clients and editors, but the life of a freelancer can offer individuals more freedom, control and perhaps even happiness than the life of a “regular” worker bee.

On of the easiest ways to start is to sign up with a website like Fiverr. This site lets you advertise small freelance gigs for $5, and it can be a good way to break into the area of freelance you want in your spare time doing your chosen skill at its most basic form. All you need to do is take whatever freelance work you want to do, break it down into a simple service which you offer for $5 and then fulfil any requests you get in your spare time. Doing this will give you the opportunity to test out the market in the freelance area you’re interested in, let you get creative in your offerings, and it’s an easy way to get your freelance career started. Even if you aren’t completely sure what you would like to do in your spare time, you can get some great ideas here. Why do want to do this? Here are four specific benefits of being a freelancer.

Take as much (or as little) work as you desire

In the beginning, it might be difficult to find a steady gig, but if you scour the Craigslists of many cities, you might find that with a decent portfolio, you can assemble an array of clients. In this case, you can decide to take on more work at certain times, or decrease your workload at other times. This kind of flexibility is unheard of in a more traditional job because, in essence, as a freelancer, you’ve become your own boss.

Work when you want, where you want

One of the most unpleasant aspects of the “9-to-5 grind” is the commute, both to the workplace and back home. As a freelancer, you can choose to work from home and as such, can decide to work in the early morning or in the dead of night. Most importantly, not only can you decide when to work, you can also decide what to work in. Instead of stifling ties and too tight pencil skirts, as a freelancer you can choose to work in your pajamas avoiding the unnecessary drama (and discomfort) related to choosing an outfit or wearing it. .

Charge what you’re worth

At a more traditional job, you earn more when you are promoted and you are promoted when your boss or supervisor deems you “worthy.” Now, for some, the criteria for worthiness is clear, but at many other jobs the criteria can be more vague and seem strangely aligned to whomever a supervisor likes. As a freelancer, you set your own rates and can pocket the profits. You have flexiility with what you charge so what you make isn’t capped by an hourly rate or a salary.

Avoid office politics — and unpleasant people

Sometimes the worst part of working in a traditional setting is not necessarily the job, but the individuals you might be forced to work with. As a freelancer, you can work from the comfort of your dining room table and interact with those you choose to talk to. In this way, you avoid office politics and the unpleasantry of interacting with people you would rather never see again.

These are just some of the benefits of being a freelancing and a simple Google search will unearth many more (with a list of disadvantages as well). In general, the key to success in freelancing is to take on projects that interest you and with the many people interested in hiring others to perform a specific project for them, there is bound to be something (perhaps even many things) to pique your interest and sustain your checking account. Good luck!

The above post is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Fiverr in partnership with Kasai Media. All opinions in the article are 100% mine.

Make Money with Teespring: The $10,000 Extra Income in Spare Time Challenge

March 6, 2015 By Jeffrey Strain 5 Comments

Every now and again my sister and I get together, and the result is almost always her telling me that it’s impossible for me to do something. This, of course, brings about the automatic reaction that I can do whatever particular thing she says I can’t, and it leads to various challenges I’ve attempted over the years. It was through her prodding that I attempted to eat well on $1 a day for 100 days, as well as try to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal for six people for $1. Over the years, she’s learned when it comes to saving money, I can do a pretty decent job. With this in mind, she decided to switch it around and push my buttons on making money.

I recently wrote an article about whether or not Teespring is a legit company, and another one about a college student who made $80,000 in less than a year with their platform. I mentioned this to my sister because she’s the one with artistic talent in our family, and I thought it might be a good way for her to make some extra money in her spare time.

Sister: “Do you really think people can make money at this?”

Me: “Yes.”

Sister: “How much?”

Me: “I don’t know. I guess it would depend on how much time the person put into it.”

Sister: “How about someone just doing it in their spare time? Maybe a couple of hours a day, a little longer on weekends?”

Me: “I don’t know. Maybe $1000 to $2000 once they got going.”

Sister: “So you think you could make that much in your spare time?”

Me: “No, I didn’t say that…”

Sister: “Just as I figured. You suggest these things to others while you can’t do it yourself. That’s so typical of you.”

Me: “Wait a minute. I’m sure I can make some money doing this if I gave it a try.”

Sister: Laughs to herself as she rolls her eyes. “There is no possible way you can make money creating t shirts.”

Me: “And why is that?”

Sister: “Well, you have no artistic capabilities and you think Comic Sans is an acceptable font.”

Me: “Oh, come on, I’m not that bad…”

Sister: laughing to herself. “You’re the poster boy for the the inartistic in the world.”

Me: “I think I could do it…”

Sister: “Okay, then prove it to me. Make $10,000 in 100 days in your spare time.”

Me: “Wait a minute. I said I could make some money. I didn’t say I could make thousands a month.”

Sister: “Figures. Chickening out even before you try…”

Me: “I’m not chicken, I’m just being realistic. I’ve never done anything like this before and I readily admit I’m not the most artistic person in the world. I’m sure I could make a few hundred dollars.”

Sister: “There is a college sophomore who made $80,000. You’re saying you can’t even make a fraction of that? Just go ahead and admit it. I’m right. You can’t do it.”

Me: “Stop being ridiculous.”

Sister: “Either do it and prove me wrong or admit that I’m right and you can’t do it…”

And this is how I find myself attempting the Teespring $10,000 extra income in my spare time challenge. The rules are pretty simple:

1. I have to make $10,000 profit in 100 days.
2. I can only work on it during my spare time. That means I have to put in at least 8 hours a day on my writing and can’t work an entire day on the challenge. The exception is weekends when I’m free to work on it as much as I want.

I’m really not sure if I will succeed or not, but it should be a worthwhile way for others to learn from if they are interested in trying to make some extra cash with Teespring. I believe it will be an interesting experiment, and it should give a good indication of what will be required to be successful from the perspective of someone who is literally beginning from scratch in their attempt.

If nothing else, you’ll get to see my thought process as I tackle the challenge so you can possibly get ideas if you decide to try to create some Teespring campaigns yourself, and learn mistakes to avoid. I look forward to your comments, criticisms, helpful hints and opinions on this journey as I take on the challenge of once again proving my sister wrong.

Day 1: Upfront Costs
Day 2: Artwork When You’re Not Artistic
Day 3: Teechip vs Teepsring
Day 4 & 5: Free Audience Targeting Tool
Day 6: Gluten Free T-shirt
Day 7: Paddleboard T-shirt
Day 8: Hello Knitty T-shirt

How College Sophomore Marc Boulos Made $80000 with Teespring

February 18, 2015 By Jeffrey Strain 7 Comments

How a college sophomore made $80000 on Teespring

For those who are looking for ways to earn extra money in their spare time with little upfront costs, one opportunity out there which may be of interest is Teespring. This is a company which allows you to design T-shirts and try to sell them. The appealing part of the company is that you don’t have to pay for the T-shirts upfront, meaning if you don’t sell as many as you anticipate, you aren’t out any money. The question is, how difficult is it to make money with Teespring?

Anyone who has common sense knows that earning money is never as easy as those trying to sell you on their system make it out to believe. What’s difficult to decipher is what type of dedication it will take to earn the money that those promoting the system claim you can make. They only highlight the successes they’ve had, and never the failures. Anyone who has tried to start a new business knows there will be a learning curve and there’s no such thing as instantaneous success. The question of how steep the learning curve will be is one that can be difficult to ascertain.

That’s why those who think the Teespring model may be a good way for them to earn some side-business income should watch the interview with a college sophomore Marc Boulos (see below). He managed to earn $80,000 through Teespring over the last year only doing it part-time (he was a full time student), but some of the things he says in the interview might surprise you.

In his very first Teespring campaign, he had a small success, earning about $100 after expenses. That’s what encouraged him, but it wasn’t smooth sailing. He admits that after his first success, he launched 40 new campaigns, all of which failed to meet the number needed to get printed. Yes, you read that correctly. After one small success, he failed 40 times in a row where he didn’t earn any money. While he didn’t lose money for the T-shirts, he did spend about $10 for advertising on each campaign, so he was $300 ($400 in advertising costs minus the $100 in profit from the first campaign) in the hole after 41 campaigns.

That doesn’t sound like much of a success story. It sounds like someone who was learning a system, and trying to make adjustments with everything he learned from each campaign that failed. It was his 42nd campaign that finally did well and when he began to start making some good money.

Now, you might think that once he had a successful campaign, all was easy money from that point on. It wasn’t. Marc says that of the 500 T-shirt campaigns he’s launched with Teespring, only 80 of them have actually sold the minimum required and made money. He had 420 failed campaigns to only 80 successful ones, but the 16 percent which were successful earned him $80,000 for the year.

Understanding that those earning money with Teespring have had a learning curve to overcome and aren’t successful with every campaign (in fact, they are only successful in about one out of every 6 campaigns) gives a much more realistic view of what it will take to make money with Teespring. That said, there is an opportunity for people to earn money in their spare time if they put the time and effort into it.

The video is a bit long (35 minutes), but it is worthwhile watching if you think you may be interested in T-shirt design.

Preparing for McDonald’s Monopoly 2014

May 28, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 3 Comments

I received an interesting e-mail from a reader who wanted to know what was the best way to prepare for McDonald’s Monopoly 2014. While many people simply play this game for fun and entertainment, there are a number of people who take the game quite seriously as a way to earn some extra money during the year. It’s possible for someone to earn several hundred dollars on this game, if they know what they’re doing and decide to try to make money instead of try to win the contest. The e-mail that I received wanted to know what was the best way to prepare for McDonald’s Monopoly in 2014. This is what the e-mail said:

“I’m looking for the best way to earn money with the next McDonald’s Monopoly game that comes out. I see that you have written about this contest in the past, and I was wondering if you had any advice on what would be the best way to prepare for the contest so that I can make the most money when it does arrive. I’m looking to use the contest as a way to supplement my income at college, and I want to do everything that I can to make sure that I’m successful when the contest comes about. Any advice you might be able to give me would be greatly appreciated.”

Here are a few steps you can take to better your chances of making money when McDonald’s Monopoly 2014 launches.

Get a Job with McDonald’s

This might be going overboard a bit, and could be difficult to time since the Monopoly game isn’t set for a certain time of the year. It launched in July in 2013, but it had been held in October and November in previous years. That being said, if you want to have access to game pieces, working at McDonald’s would be one of the best ways to accomplish this. You likely won’t be able to take them directly from the packaging (most stores inventory the packaging quite tightly for these games), but you’ll have first access at all the game pieces thrown away by customers.

Make Friends with Those Who Work at McDonald’s

Another way to get early access to game pieces is to have friends who work at McDonald’s. If they aren’t collecting game pieces for themselves, they can save you the pieces customers throw away. The best scenario would be to have friends at different McDonald’s locations across the city or town where you live. This will allow you to have friends collecting the pieces from several different stores, instead of from a single location. This has the potential to get you quite a few game pieces in a short period of time.

Recruit a Team to Help You

Another way to acquire game pieces is to have a team who helps you collect them. By finding a number of people who are willing to help you well before the game begins, you’ll be ready to collect as many game pieces as possible from day one. If you wait until the game begins, it can take several days to organize a team, and waste valuable time collecting game pieces when they’re most in demand.

Come up with a Strategy

Take the time to come up with a strategy for all aspects of the game. You need to figure out ways to collect as many pieces as possible, and how you plan to sell them to make money. By creating a strategy well in advance of the game beginning, you can be ready to put it into action the day that the game begins. The sooner that you’re able to do this, the better chance you have of making money on the game.

Start Quickly

The best time to make money with McDonald’s Monopoly is the first week or two of the game. This is because people haven’t had the chance to collect many game pieces themselves, and many of them decide to buy ones to fill in their board. It’s important to realize that a lot of people don’t understand how odds work. There are many who collect game pieces trying to get any peace that they don’t have regardless of whether it’s a common piece or a rare piece. In the beginning, even common pieces can generate quite a bit of money because there are so many people who are trying to get them for their board. By knowing that people who play the game don’t always logically look at the value of the pieces, there’s an opportunity to make money if you can start selling them early enough.

Commit to Making Money at the Game

It’s important to commit if you plan to make money on the game. There are enough people who do this these days that if you aren’t committed to getting yourself organized to begin selling as soon as possible, there’s a good chance that it won’t work out for you. By creating a strategy, putting it into action as soon as the game begins, and committing to put the time and effort into selling the game pieces, you should be able to come away from the 2014 Monopoly game with a little extra money in your pocket.

(Photo courtesy of Miguel Vaca)