How Freelancers Can Make Extra Money Every Month

Being a freelancer takes extreme focus and hard work. Finding your niche, honing your craft, and making your work into a profitable business takes dedication.

You may want to branch out a little while you’re getting your freelancing up and running so that you can generate some income on the side and keep everything ticking over.

This post will give you some tips on how to make a little extra money each month, and don’t worry, none of these methods involve dodgy, ‘get rich quick schemes.

They may require some initial efforts to get started, but on the whole, these activities should take up a fraction of your time, giving you ample opportunity to concentrate on building your freelance writing career.

Take Stock Photos

If you have a decent camera and a bit of skill in photography, you could take a day out to shoot and edit a large batch of stock photo images and sell their usage rights to bloggers and businesses through sites like iStockphoto.

There are millions of stock images available online, but surprisingly few that businesses can use for marketing material. Scanning a stock photo site with keywords can give you ideas of the images writers and designers are looking for. Photos that depict phrases like ‘social media,’ ‘business,’ and ‘retail’ are popular amongst bloggers and are a good place to start.

Sell Downloadable Templates And Graphics

Create some templates for things like wedding invitations, orders of service booklets, graphic icon packages, bespoke fonts, etc.. and put them on a site like Etsy to generate a steady income stream from their download sales.

You may need to take a few hours out to design these user-friendly and attractive downloadable graphics packages, but, with some paid advertising and self-promotion, you can run this ‘micro-business’ alongside your freelance work.

Become An Online Tutor

If you’re an expert in a professional skill, such as writing, you could share a series of video lectures on an online tutorial site like Skillshare. Here, users pay to sign-up to crowdsourced, educational content covering a wide range of skill areas.

Initially, you will need to create lesson plans and videos of your skills and teachings in action, but once your videos are uploaded to the site, you can start earning.

Become A User Tester

If you are free for periods of around 20 minutes throughout the day, you could sign up for a usability testing service. For a small incentive of around $10 per test, you can help web designers and marketers improve their content — provided you meet the testing company’s eligibility criteria.

By no means do you need to be a computing expert to make the grade, in most cases you just have to be over 18, own a Paypal account, and have the ability to stream video and record sound from your computer?

Try Online Data Entry Work

If you have a few hours a week to dedicate to this, you could sign-up for some remote data entry work online through services like Freelancer.com or Upwork. Administration tasks can be conveniently outsourced to freelancers and you don’t need to be an expert in any area to be accepted.

Open An Online Store

Run an ecommerce business and use dropshipping to fulfill your orders, without having to spend any money on inventory to get you started. Dropshipping allows you to set your own prices, and you only pay for inventory that you have already sold, whilst a third party handles storage and fulfillment on your behalf. Easy.

If you opt for an ecommerce host, you can adjust your inventory, brand name, web design, and marketing methods easily, using online tutorials and support when you need it. You really don’t need to be a web designer to get started quickly, just work from templates and develop your skills as you go.

Buy A Fully-Functioning Ecommerce Brand

Further, if you have some working capital, you could try searching for websites for sale and get a fully-functioning ecommerce site in a matter of days. Here, all of the hard work is already done for you, and you can step into a profitable business just like that.

The stores will show sales and reach statistics to help you validate the website and estimate feasibility — don’t settle for a ‘dud’ store; it might not be worth its price tag. Some owners will offer support and advice, ensuring that you have all the tools and skills to make the business profitable.

To Wrap Up…

Turning your freelance work into a profitable business can take up a lot of your time and, as the old adage goes, ‘time is money. Try any of the above ideas to generate extra income to help you in the beginning stages of your new, work-from-home career.

Your Turn

If you’ve developed any genius money-making schemes to supplement your freelance income, share your methods with us in the comments below.