How To Earn A Side Income When The Going Gets Tough
Lydia98 September 6, 2017Hi,
My name is Alice, and I’m an HR assistant working in London.
I love living in the British capital. It’s a very exciting place to be when you’re 25, but also incredibly expensive. My current salary barely covers the cost of my rent, but…
… I found other ways to earn money and pay for my flat, and no, it doesn’t involve anything weird or illegal!
If you’re like me and you live in an incredibly expensive city such as London, New York City, Paris or Tokyo, I have good news for you. It’s possible to survive, and I’m going to show you how with these tips:
1. If you like writing, self-publish your stories on KDP Select.
Most people have heard of Amazon’s Kindle. But they don’t know that you can use it to self-publish novels, guides, comics or short stories to make money. You just need to create a Word document, write something interesting, create an attractive cover, upload the files on KDP Select, and voila! It’s totally free to publish your Ebook, and if it’s any good, you can make very good money. I earn around £800 a month doing just that. I’m not kidding you! If you’re better with Photoshop than Word, you can also use Merch by Amazon to sell T-shirts on their platform.
2. Rent your stuff.
The sharing economy is a dream come true if you want to earn a side income. The concept is really simple: rent your stuff to make money. For example, I own a driveway next to where I live (it’s actually the only valuable thing I own). I registered on YourParkingSpace.co.uk to rent it to people who need parking in London for a day, a week or a month (you can do the same thing in the US with Spothero.) YourParkingSpace.co.uk takes care of everything for me, people park in my space and I can earn £75 a day. A pretty nice side gig. If you don’t own a parking space, you can rent your tools, garden, flat (Airbnb anyone?) or anything else you want. The sky is the limit!
3. Sell things you create on Etsy.
Do you have a creative bent of mind? Do you like to sew, paint, or design cute jewels? Why not sell your creations on Etsy? It’s a great marketplace for handmade items. For example, I design jewels made of sea shells, and they’re proving to be quite popular. Of course, I’m not selling hundreds of them every day, but it’s a nice little side income and it’s also great to know that people like what I’m making. You should really sign up to Etsy if you’re good with your hands. It could become your full time job one day, and it’s also a nice community where you can make great friends.
4. Offer your services on Fiverr or Upwork.
If you have a specific talent such as writing, translation, graphic design, SEO or web development, you can register on Fiverr or Upwork and find side gigs as a freelancer to earn extra cash. Jobs on Fiverr are a bit more casual, while you can find very well paid jobs on Upwork. Before you accept working for someone, you should check what kind of reviews other freelancers gave them, and also ask your boss if it’s OK to work for other people or companies in your spare time. If you’re not afraid to work in the evening or on weekends, you can make very good money with these platforms. But if you like binging on Netflix or video games during your free time, it might not be a great idea.
5. Work as a pet-sitter.
Most teenage girls (and a few boys) have worked as a baby-sitter at least once in their life. But what about working as a pet-sitter? If you love being surrounded by cute little fur balls, it could be your dream job! You’ll get to play with cheeky cats and go for long walks with friendly dogs. It’s a great way to enjoy yourself while earning a little bit of money. So what are you waiting for? If you have a good head on your shoulders and know how to care for animals, you should register on websites such as Trustedhousesitters or Pawshake in the UK to have the time of your life! I actually pet-sit a lovely little pug every Saturday morning, and to be honest, he’s so cute that I could do it for free…