Looking for the easiest way to make money in 2021? Well, look no further.
This article covers 21 money-making ideas, from affiliate marketing to selling extra fruit and even searching the web.
No job is too odd for this list, and these are all legit ways to make money.
Like anything, you won’t make money without putting in the work, but these ideas are relatively easy to start with.
Let’s begin!
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links, where I may receive a small commission on purchases at no cost to you. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
Easiest Way to Make Money – 21 Ideas
1. Review apps or websites
This is one of the easiest ways to make money from the internet. You can review many products, apps, and websites with your computer.
Several websites out there offer website reviews and user testing services. These include UserTesting and Respondent.
These platforms pay internet users money to test different websites and complete tasks.
The testing and reviews do not take more than twenty minutes in most cases, and the payment varies anywhere from $15 – $300+. Currently, there’s a 60-minute mobile app test paying $100 on my Respondent dashboard.
All you need is a PayPal account to receive your money. This is genuinely one of the easiest methods to make money from home.
2. Start a blog
This is a consistent way of making passive income online.
If you create a blog or a website and monetize it, you could be making money even while you’re sleeping. I must warn you that it isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, and it’ll take a while to start seeing money, but the sky’s the limit with earnings potential.
If you’d like to start a blog, read this step-by-step guide to starting a blog.
Although there are free platforms like Blogger or Medium, I wouldn’t recommend joining them because they’ll never be ‘your own website,’ and there aren’t as many monetization options.
Hosting your blog or website with Cloudways is simple and easy, and it will take you less than thirty minutes to get a blog started.
It does not matter about your age; the fact is that you can start this online business and begin to earn money with it consistently (in the future). Blogging is ‘easy’ because, in comparison to working in the construction industry, blogging is a lot less demanding.
Many online resources can guide you from starting a blog, valuable tips, and monetization methods.
You don’t need to be an expert to start a blog. As long as you’re able to form a complete sentence and have an internet connection, you’ll be good to go.
3. Affiliate marketing
If you have a social media following, you can earn money by promoting a company’s products and services.
Affiliate marketing is the process of getting a tracking link for a product and sharing it with your followers.
If someone clicks on your affiliate link and buys the product through the link, you’ll make a commission on the final sale price.
Commissions vary but can be anywhere from 1% to 90%. The affiliate link also has a duration cookie, meaning it could last for 24-hours or even 30-days.
The amount you make depends on your efforts. You may make zero dollars, or you could make $50,000 a month. It’s all dependent on your fan base and if people trust you.
You must disclose the affiliate links. A simple ‘AD’ will not cut it. Explain how you’ll make a commission if someone purchases through the link.
An example of a referral (like an affiliate link) is below. If you sign up through my link, I’ll get $25 after you’ve qualified. You can also get $25 back, so it’s a win-win for both of us.
BONUS: Sign up to Rakuten and spend $25 to receive $25 back!
4. Flipping old mobile phones
Flipping your old items like a mobile phone is one way of helping the environment and making some money.
If you’re good at repairing phones, you could buy broken phones for cheap, fix them, and then sell them for a profit.
They could be sold on Facebook Marketplace or Flipsy.
Flipping iPhones is the most profitable, as they’re in steady demand and retain their value well. Just make sure not to buy an activation or iCloud locked phone, as you won’t be able to get into it.
This article by Flipsy tells you everything you need to know about flipping mobile phones.
5. Become a Clickworker
Internet crowdsourcing is one of the easiest ways of making money from the internet.
There are many companies out there that pay small yet consistent money for micro-tasks.
Clickworker is one of the companies providing these microtasks, and you can earn money directly through their app on your smartphone.
You could do advertising jobs, text creation, proofreading, surveys, app testing, and way more!
The most important thing about this work is that it’s straightforward and relatively easy to do. You can accomplish most of the tasks within 20 minutes or less.
You can make consistent income from such companies without difficulties.
6. Taking surveys
Filling out surveys online is another easy way of making money on the internet.
You can do this task in your spare time. The fact is that there are lots of companies, especially research firms, looking for people like you to provide their opinions about specific products or services.
It does not matter the company you currently reside in; they choose respondents from all parts of the world.
As long as you can speak the required language and satisfy the requirements, you can make consistent money through this method.
Payment for taking surveys varies, but it generally isn’t a lot. Doing surveys is more of an extra pocket money gig and will not supplement a full-time income.
Nonetheless, there are lots of survey sites out there that you can choose, they include the following:
Branded survey sites:
– Toluna
– InboxDollars
– SurveyJunkie
– Valued Opinions (Australia)
7. Search the web
An average internet user searches the internet for one reason or another, but did you know that you can get paid for doing so?
This method is straightforward, and there are hardly any tasks involved. You can earn consistent income through this method.
Several platforms pay you when you search through their media, and one of them is Qmee.
Qmee will quite literally pay you for simply searching the internet, it’s super easy to get started, and you’ll collect points on all your web searches.
8. Day trading
Day trading is another way of making money from the internet. It isn’t necessarily the most straightforward way, but you can do well from it once you perfect it.
Day trading involves buying and selling multiple shares simultaneously, aiming to buy for cheap and sell at a profit.
There is a learning curve to day trading, and it is advisable not to make any investment in this until you become perfect about the system.
Trading foreign exchange, commodities, and other investments shouldn’t be done without knowing the risks. I wouldn’t go down this route, but the earnings potential is massive.
ClayTrader has a good YouTube video showing him making $2500 in 5 minutes. 🤯
9. Delivery rider
Becoming a delivery driver is a faster way of making money that doesn’t require any particular skill. You could choose to become a rideshare driver or delivery driver.
You can start this by using your bike, car, or motorbike and delivering many things to destinations like food, people, items, and more.
You can choose from many delivery companies, like Uber, Didi, Doordash, Postmates, and more.
You’ll have to compare their services and signup with a comfortable and ideal one for you. A great thing about becoming a driver is its flexibility. You can choose when you want to work, and the hours you will work.
Many restaurants these days also depend on delivery drivers to deliver food and other items from one place to the other. The USA’s average pay for delivery drivers is $25.03/hour.
10. Publish a Kindle eBook
Publishing an eBook is another way of making money on the internet.
You can write a book or eBook of any niche of your choice; just make sure it’s necessary and will actually get sales. A way I’d check to see if it’s relevant is by searching Amazon: [Niche] eBook.
If the books have no reviews, it’s safe to say that they don’t get many sales.
Even if they do not buy it outright, you can get paid when they click and read. This is particularly good when you have a blog or a website to publish a book and promote it from day one.
It’s relatively easy depending on your ability to write articulately, and the extent of money you make depends on the quality of information you provide.
11. Take up a part-time job
Taking up a part-time job is a great way to earn quick money to support your activities and lifestyle. Most students or other busy people can take this kind of job to support themselves.
As the name suggests, part-time is just on a temporal basis and is more flexible than other kinds of 9-5 jobs. It ensures that you have a continuous and steady flow of income without having to work full-time hours.
An excellent way to search for part-time jobs is consulting local businesses and handing in your resume. I got my first part-time job at Subway at 15 by simply handing in my resume and talking to the manager.
You could also apply online to companies. Do a Google search of [Company/Job Title] Apply Online.
I’m not saying that you’ll get a job after the first application, but with some perseverance, you should be good. It took me 12 months and four resume hand-ins at one particular store to get my current part-time job, so don’t stop trying.
12. List your services on Fiverr
The arrival of the internet has created lots of opportunities for people to make money on the internet.
Fiverr is a global online marketplace where you can list your gigs for people to hire you as a freelancer.
The most exciting thing about Fiverr is that you can offer services on anything. Usually, charges for such services are between $5 to $500+, but I’ve seen gigs listed in the thousands.
You can offer any service, including writing, translation, teaching, proofreading, logo design, and more.
Recommended read: How to Make Money from Fiverr in 2021
Another marketplace where you can also sell products is Etsy. Fiverr is a marketplace for services, whereas Etsy is more for physical products (like homemade crafts, jewelry, etc.)
13. Review music
Products and services aren’t the only things you need to review to make money. You can also review music.
Each review doesn’t take too long, and you can conclude it within 20 minutes. One of the platforms that allow you to review music for money is Slicethepie.
It may take some time to build a good reputation, but if you are consistent in providing good reviews, you will create a solid reputation within a short time.
14. Sell extra stuff
If you have some stuff you are not currently using or some old items lying around, you can sell them to make money.
You can sell different items like old clothes, shoes, books, electronics, and more.
Another easy way that graduated high schoolers can make money is by selling their notes for exams. You could list the notes on the Facebook marketplace or list them in school-orientated Facebook groups.
The money you make depends on the quality of notes you upload online and the number of people that come looking for them.
I’ve seen notes listed in senior/year 12 groups from $5 to $50+.
15. Start dropshipping
Dropshipping is another easy way of making money, and it’s one of the fastest-growing online businesses.
Dropshipping is the process of a store selling products but not holding the stock. In reality, the orders are fulfilled and shipped by a third-party seller.
All you need is a computer/laptop and an internet connection to get started. Research and find which products are popular and go from there.
It can be an easy way to make money, but it’s time exhaustive, and many things can go wrong.
Apart from that, many drop-shippers can earn a full-time income, with some passing over $10 million a year.
16. Become a mystery shopper
It’s not difficult to become a mystery shopper and is likely easier more than you think.
Mystery shopping is the process of getting paid to shop in stores and collect data/review your experience.
The payment is usually between $8 to $25 but can also be over $100.
Field Agent is an app that allows you to find mystery shopping jobs, and other apps include EasyShift and Shopkick.
17. Babysitting
This is an old money-making idea that won’t go away. It’s the process of watching children when their parents are out/working and getting paid for it.
The idea is classic, and it has continued to make money for many.
It also comes with lots of privileges, and you can use your spare time to watch television and do other things that can earn you money, like blogging or doing surveys.
Even if you are not a trained child care expert, you could be paid regularly for looking after children.
You could also charge on a number basis, like $10/hour for one child, plus $2/hour for additional children, which means that a four-child household would pay you $16/hour.
18. Sell your stock photos and videos
If you have stock photos or videos that you think people would like, you could sell them and earn money if they’re used.
There are so many places where you could sell them on, including Getty Images and Adobe Stock.
These platforms pay anywhere from 15% to 45% of the sale price.
I must say that these platforms are saturated, and it may be hard to stand out. So instead of posting a flat lay on these platforms, niche down and publish photos from your city.
They’ll more likely sell as it’s often challenging to find high-quality images of particular locations.
19. Freelance work
If you’re talented in a specific niche, you could go down the path of freelance work and make money out of it.
Freelancing is providing a service to customers and getting paid for it. You’re not an employee but rather your own boss.
As a freelancer, you can choose your work schedule, which customers you want to work with, and set your price.
Examples of freelancing services:
– Website designer
– Marketing
– SEO specialist
– Social media manager
– Data entry
If you have no skills, then freelancing will most likely not work for you.
20. Sell extra fruit
A weirder way to make money, but a super easy one, is to sell excess fruit from your backyard. If you own fruit trees, like lemons, limes, oranges, and so on, you can make money from the extra fruit.
Instead of it all going to waste, list the fruit on the Facebook marketplace for a price per pound/kilo.
Just make sure that it’s a better deal than your local grocery store, and you’ll be good to go.
My sister sells feijoa’s for $10/kg when in season and can make $50+ from relatively easy work.
21. Become a dog walker
The last of the easy ways to make money is to become a dog walker.
You could join an app like Wag! or Rover for dog walking jobs. Another way to source jobs is by posting job adverts on local Facebook groups.
The pay isn’t incredible, but if you can walk multiple dogs simultaneously, it increases dramatically.
If you’re a dog lover and in need of some exercise and money, this may just be the perfect job for you!
Conclusion
So, there we have 21 of the easiest ways to make money in 2021. Like anything, these aren’t get-rich-quick schemes, and you’ll have to put in the hard work and perseverance to make some money.
Nonetheless, I recommend experimenting with a few of these ideas and getting a feel for what you enjoy doing.
Who knows, maybe you’ll find a profitable side hustle or a way to make a full-time income.
Which of these ways to make money will you experiment with?
Read next:
– How Does a Blogger Make Money? 9 Ways Explained
– 5 Ways to Make $5000 a Month