You don’t have to rely on your job to make money. There are hundreds of ways to make money without a job. Most of the tasks you can do at home, and some even work on your phone, so you can do them while waiting at soccer practice or the doctor’s office.
Learning to diversify your income helps you reach your financial goals and reduces the pressure when one income stream stops.
We’ve rounded up the top 21 ways to make money without a job that will put more money in your pocket or help you reach your financial goals. Add a few of these methods to your routine, and you’ll have more money faster than you thought.
How to Make Money Without a Job
Here are the top ways to make money without a job:
- Rewards Programs
- Market Research
- Cash Back Apps
- Answer Surveys
- House or Pet Sit
- Sell Unwanted Items
- Gaming Sponsorships
- Write Reviews
- Game Apps
- Write a Book
- Enter Competitions
- Flip Furniture
- Blog or Vlog
- Cash-In Recycling
- Exercise
- Sell Photography
- Listen & Review Music
- Build and Sell a Course
- Rent Out Your Car or Home
- Open a Savings Account
- Invest
1. Rewards Programs
Some apps or websites pay points versus cash for specific tasks, including shopping. These get-paid-to-sites reward you for your efforts. The rewards focus on marketing tactics or ways to get a company’s products or services in front of more people.
You may earn rewards for shopping online, taking surveys, watching videos, playing games, or accepting offers.
Here are Some of the Best Rewards Programs:
- Swagbucks: Swagbucks pays you for many tasks, including shopping, playing games, and watching videos. They pay ‘SBs’ for each task, which you can convert to cash or rewards.
- InboxDollars: Get paid to take surveys, shop, read emails, or play games on InboxDollars. They pay in cash, and you can cash out once you reach $30.
- Fetch Rewards: Get rewarded for shopping anywhere you want, in person or online, and upload your receipt. Fetch Rewards pays 25 points for each receipt and bonus points for specific purchases. In addition, you can convert your points to cash or gift cards.
2. Market Research
Brands hire market research companies to learn what consumers think about their products and services.
There are Two Ways to Earn Money in Market Research:
- Online Surveys: Answer surveys online and earn $1 – $50+ depending on the survey length. To qualify, you must pass a screener that determines your demographics, likes, and experience to ensure you fit the brand’s demographic and will provide thoughtful answers.
- Focus Groups: These market research groups are in-person or on Zoom. Instead of typing your answers, you’ll discuss the product or service with a moderator and other consumers. You’ll share opinions about products you’ve used or try a new product and share your thoughts. In-person focus groups can take a couple of hours but pay $100+.
3. Cash Back Apps
Making money while shopping is a great way to make money without working, and you get to do what you love — shopping. Hundreds of cash back apps are available, each catering to a different type of shopping or category.
Here are Some of Our Favorites:
- Rakuten – Shop the largest network of stores (3,500+) and earn up to 30% back on your purchases. To make money, you shop through the app online, and Rakuten will send you a quarterly check with your earnings.
- Ibotta – Get rewarded for grocery shopping by activating offers in the Ibotta app before shopping. After shopping, upload your receipt and earn cash back. They also offer some cash back opportunities by shopping online.
4. Answer Surveys
Consider answering surveys online if you want to make money without a job. There are hundreds of market research companies, but not all are legit, so always do your research. You won’t get rich answering surveys, but a few dollars for each survey adds up, especially if you do several in an hour.
Some of the top survey sites include Survey Junkie, Opinion Outpost, and Ipsos i-Say. Some survey sites pay cash, while other survey sites pay with gift cards.
We recommend setting up an email strictly for your market research surveys. Each time a company has a survey you might qualify for, they’ll email you. They are first-come-first-serve and fill up fast, so check your email often for opportunities.
5. House or Pet Sit
If you have free time and love plants or pets, consider house or pet sitting. When homeowners or pet parents are away, they need someone to watch over their home or pets. They might ask you to walk their pets, feed them, and play with them. Homeowners may also ask you to grab the mail, water the plants, or shovel the snow in the winter.
You can charge what you think is fair for your house or pet sitting services and advertise your services locally. There are also apps that match buyers and sellers, such as TrustedHousesitters and Rover.
You name your services and prices on the apps, but reaching a larger audience is easier because the apps do more marketing, vetting sellers, and ensuring all transactions are fair for both parties.
6. Sell/Rent Out Unwanted Items
Do you have items lying around your house collecting dust? Let them make money for you by selling or renting them.
If you won’t have a use for the items again, sell them and declutter your house. Sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Poshmark are great sites to sell unwanted items. eBay is great for items that will attract interest. Set it up as an auction and watch people fight over your item.
If you have items you might use in the future, consider renting them out. You wouldn’t believe the items people are willing to rent. Special occasion clothing, strollers, electronics, and instruments are just a few examples.
There are sites made for specific categories. For example, on Babyquip, you can rent baby gear, and KitSplit is a great place to rent out camera equipment.
7. Gaming Sponsorships
If you’re a gamer, monetize your channel or platform to make money playing games. You’ll make the most money if you choose sponsors within the gaming industry since that’s what your audience is most likely interested in.
You can start with affiliate links, which you share while playing games and in your comments. Then, when viewers click on the links and buy something, you earn a small commission.
As you build a larger audience, larger companies may sponsor your play. For example, companies making controllers may sponsor you to use them in a video. You’ll talk about the controllers, subtly advertise, and they pay you for your time.
8. Write Reviews
Companies thrive on reviews, both good and bad. They want to hear what consumers love and hate. This allows them to fix what their audience doesn’t like about their products so they can sell more.
Some companies pay for your reviews after you’ve used a product. They want honest and thoughtful reviews; they aren’t buying good reviews. For example, market research companies usually seek reviews for companies, surveying people who have already used the product.
Some companies also provide their products to consumers for free in exchange for your feedback. You won’t make much money writing one review, but if you write them often, the earnings add up, and you’ll help small businesses succeed.
9. Gaming Apps
If you love playing games, turn them into an income-earning opportunity. Many apps pay you to play games, but be careful because some require an upfront investment (almost like a bet) to play.
Here is one of our favorite gaming apps that doesn’t require an investment:
Learn More:
10. Write Books
Have you always wanted to be an author but were too scared to approach a publisher? It’s possible to be an author on your own terms using Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
You can self-publish books for free. This means no overhead, and you can publish anything you write. It takes only a few minutes to upload your book and a few days before it appears on Amazon.
You’ll earn up to 70% royalty on each sale, and the books are available worldwide. You set the prices and can make changes at any time. This works best if you market your book, especially on social media. Increase the hype about your book, and you’ll make money without a job.
I personally wrote my first book in 2020 and am currently working on my second book. 😊
11. Enter Competitions With Cash Prizes
If you have a special skill and think you can beat competitors, enter contests with cash prizes. This can be a fun way to earn money and meet new people while doing what you love.
Even if you don’t win first place, you’ll likely have fun trying, and who knows, you might get better next time and win the contest.
12. Flip Furniture
If you love fixing furniture, consider fixing and flipping it. You find the furniture at flea markets, resale shops, or even free on the side of the road, fix it, and sell it for a higher price.
This can be a fun way to make money without a job because you can use your creative juices and make money.
You might also find furniture that doesn’t need a complete overhaul but just a few repairs. Making it look new may allow you to sell it for much more than you paid, putting money in your pocket.
13. Blogging or Vlogging
Blogging and vlogging are great ways to make money without a job. Notice we didn’t say make money without working because these methods require work.
Blogging is written content, and vlogging is video content, but they have the same premise. You choose a topic and narrow it down as much as possible. For example, if you blog or vlog about parenting, choose a genre, such as parenting teens.
Create engaging content and share it with your audience. Then, market your blog or vlog on social media posts and create a following.
Once you have an audience, you can monetize your blog or vlog by offering affiliate links to products and services your audience would like. If they make a purchase using your link, you earn a commission.
Some brands may also pay you for sponsored posts or videos about the brand’s products or services.
14. Cash-In Recycling
What if you could make money off your trash? You can start with cash-in recycling.
Get paid to recycle cans, cardboard boxes, books, and your used cooking oil. Check out sites like Amazon to sell your used books, Boxcycle for cardboard boxes, and Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for used cooking oil (biodiesel companies need it).
You could even make money recycling clothes you don’t wear on Poshmark or unused gift cards on sites like CardCash.
15. Exercise
If you really want to make money without a job, get moving, and you’ll earn money. Health apps pay you to workout and lose weight, meet your fitness goals, or just move your body.
It sounds crazy that someone would pay you to exercise, but the apps are sponsored by companies with a stake in America’s health, such as insurance companies.
Most apps, like HealthyWage and Stepbet, require you to ‘bet against yourself.’ You can create a solo challenge or compete with a group. If you meet the challenge, you earn your money back plus a piece of the pot. Of course, the size of the pot depends on the number of participants.
Other apps like Sweatcoin pay coins for every step you take. You can trade the points in for prizes or to give to charity.
16. Sell Photography
Consider selling your favorite photos to make money without a job. For example, if you love taking pictures of nature, landmarks, or other images you think people would like, sell them for money on sites like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto.
You take the picture once and upload it to a marketplace; buyers can view and purchase your images repeatedly or until you remove them. Each time you sell an image, you earn a commission minus the site’s fees.
The nice thing is you can sell the image as many times as people will buy it, and you don’t have to do any work. Instead, they print it using their favorite method.
Learn More:
17. Listen and Review Music
You won’t get rich listening to music, but if you love music, you can earn money listening and reviewing songs for independent artists.
Apps like SlicethePie pay you to listen to music and provide a quick review. You must listen to at least 90 seconds of the song and provide a thoughtful review to get paid.
This little side gig is a great way to help independent artists learn more about what their listeners want and help them get their names out. It’s like doing a good deed while earning a few cents.
18. Build and Sell a Course
Building a course requires some work upfront, but it can be a form of passive income once you complete it.
You can sell your course on sites like Teachable or Udemy. Using these sites, you leverage their large audience and pay them a portion of your sales.
It’s best if you market your course yourself, too, though. Share it on social media, create TikToks about it, and stay active on Instagram to raise awareness.
If things change in your course’s industry, update the course and make more money by offering subscriptions to groups or support you provide in addition to the one-time course fee.
19. Rent Out Your Car or Home
You can make money renting out your car or home, too. This works well if you have a vacation, investment home, and/or a second car you don’t use.
However, you can also make money renting a spare room or car when it’s not in use. You can list your home, room, or basement for rent on Airbnb and your car on Turo.
The key to making money renting your house or car is to provide an accurate listing, provide great customer service, and get great reviews. The more good reviews you have, the easier it is for future renters to choose your home or car to rent.
20. Open a Savings Account
Opening a savings account is a great passive way to make money without a job. Today, your best bet is an online high-yield savings account. Each time the Fed raises rates, it increases the APY on savings accounts.
If you open an online high-yield savings account and leave the money untouched long-term, your earnings will grow by compounding. Then, make regular contributions to your savings account to increase your earnings even further.
21. Invest
Investing is a great way to make money without working. Of course, you’ll take some risk, but the more risk you take, the more money you might earn.
You can invest your money in many ways, and we always recommend diversifying your portfolio to reduce the risk of a total loss. Before investing, determine your risk tolerance and find investments that fit.
Here are Some Investment Ideas:
- Dividend Stocks: Invest in companies that pay monthly or quarterly dividends or a percentage of their profits to investors. Investing in dividend stocks usually means investing in successful companies. Of course, there’s never a guarantee that you’ll earn dividends, but if you do your research and choose companies that historically pay them regularly, you have a higher chance of earning them.
- Real Estate: Investing in real estate is one of the best ways to make money without a job, and you don’t need much money to do it. If you buy properties and rent them out, you can leverage your investment with a mortgage if you qualify for financing.
If you’d rather not own properties, you can invest in crowdfunding or real estate investment trusts on sites like Fundrise, where you invest in real estate with hundreds of other investors. You earn a prorated amount of the property’s rental income and capital gains when the owner sells.
If you’d prefer something conservative with no risk, invest some money in CDs or savings accounts.
- CDs or Savings Accounts – This is a great way to keep some assets liquid while earning interest. Look for online high-yield savings accounts and CDs for the largest return on your investment.
Frequently Asked Questions
I get a lot of questions about how to make money without a job. Here are the most commonly asked questions to give you a head start.
How can I make money without a car?
You don’t need a car to make money without a job. Many opportunities available today require a mobile phone or computer, allowing you to make money from home.
How can I make money with my car?
If you have a car, you can do jobs like driving for Uber or delivering for Instacart, but there are hundreds of opportunities to earn money without a car, so don’t sell yourself short.
How do Influencers earn income?
Influencers are marketers for big brands. When influencers have a large following, brands pay them to share their products and services. This may be through a sponsored post about a specific product or links the influencer shares.
How does affiliate marketing work?
Affiliate marketing is another way companies market their products using people outside their company. Affiliate marketing consists of links brands share with influencers. Influencers make a small commission each time someone clicks on the link and buys something.
How can I live without a job?
Many people have the mindset that they cannot live without a job. This is not true. You need the right mindset and determination to take the next step to work for yourself and live your best life – I know – I am living this life!
Should You Make Money Without a Job?
It’s easy to make money without a job. You need only a computer, motivation, and sometimes a car or another asset to rent if you trust others. The key is choosing a few ways to make money outside of a 9 to 5 job is to diversify your income streams and increase your cash flow.
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