Last Updated on February 16, 2023
Have you been wondering how you could make a side income from home on your laptop or while out and about, and using your mobile phone?
We have put together this how-to make money online for beginners list, so you don’t have to spend time researching it yourself. Find your next gig that suits your skills, work style, time and interests.
1. SecretShopper – Market Research
| Description | Pose as a customer in order to evaluate a business’s customer experience. Gather information about a market, competitors, products and services. |
| Income Potential | $15 – $25 |
| Requirements | Laptop/Smartphone |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Payments are done once a month via checks or PayPal for international shoppers. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
2. SquadHelp – Brand Naming Expert
| Description | Submit unique business name ideas to contest holders. Earn cash awards if your idea is selected by the contest holders. |
| Income Potential | $100 – $300/contest |
| Requirements | Laptop/Smartphone |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | After you win your first contest, the award amount will be automatically credited to your account immediately. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
3. eBay – Retail Arbitrage
🔗 eBay.com
| Description | The idea is simple, buy a product low and sell it high, repeat. Flip items you find in thrift stores, yard sales, or discounted products in the local shops. |
| Income Potential | The higher the discounted product you find the higher potential income. |
| Requirements | Laptop/Smartphone |
| Fees & Costs | Product packaging and shipping fees. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | Payouts are sent directly to your bank account within 2 days of making the sale. For sellers who opt-in to receive payouts weekly, payouts of available funds are initiated on Tuesdays. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
4. MTurk – Complete Human Intelligence Tasks
| Description | As a MTurk worker you will be taking on tasks such as identifying objects in a photo or video, performing data de-duplication, transcribing audio recordings or researching data details. |
| Income Potential | The average worker earns $2/hr |
| Requirements | Laptop |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | When the requester approves your job, you will automatically get paid. However, as a new MTurk worker, there is an initial holding period before rewards are transferred, you need to be active for at least 10 days. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
5. SwagBucks – Complete Online Activities
| Description | Swagbucks is a platform that allows you to earn digital rewards and cash. Earn your rewards when you Shop, Answer Surveys or Watch Videos. |
| Income Potential | $50 – $100/month |
| Requirements | Laptop |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Swagbucks members earn points, called SB, for activities on the platform. Those SB points can be instantly cashed out in the form of an electronic deposit to your PayPal. You can redeem your SB points for cash or gift cards if you have earned 300 SBs minimum. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
6. Proz – Freelance Language Translator
🔗 Proz.com
| Description | Language jobs posted to the world’s largest community of freelance translators, interpreters and subtitlers. |
| Income Potential | Avg. rates per word: $0.10 – $0.08 |
| Requirements | Laptop |
| Fees & Costs | Access to posted jobs is available free of charge. There is a Standard plan for $110 and a Plus plan for $170 annually that gives benefits while competing for the best jobs. (Plans break down) Additionally, once you earn money, Proz freelancers are charged a withdrawing fee of 5%. |
| Job Difficulty | 🔴 Hard |
| Payment Speed | Earned money for a given month will be available on ProZ*Pay from the 25th of the following month onwards. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
7. SliceThePie – Review Products Online
| Description | Slicethepie pays to write reviews on new songs, fashion items, accessories and commercials before they are released. |
| Income Potential | $0.1 – $1/review |
| Requirements | Laptop & you must be over 13 years old. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Payments are weekly on Tuesdays and Friday and are made to your PayPal account. The minimum withdrawal limit is $10. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
8. NiceTalk – Speak to Chinese Students
| Description | NiceTalk is a mobile English learning platform that provides students with instant access to fluent English speakers through one on one video chat. |
| Income Potential | $10/hr |
| Requirements | Smartphone and you must be an English native speaker. Preferably with TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certificate. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | You will get paid once a week, as long as you have a balance above $20. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
9. Upwork – Virtual Assistant
| Description | A virtual assistant is a person who assists clients via the instant chat, phone, or email. They help with day-to-day tasks and should be creative, patient, and good at time management. |
| Income Potential | $10 – $20/hr |
| Requirements | Laptop, Headphones & Webcam. Proficiency with Outlook Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Full list of required skill sets. |
| Fees & Costs | No fees until you complete your work. Fees that will apply once you bill the client. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | “Instant Pay” method ensures you get paid straight after the client is charged. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
10. Wordvice – Freelance Editor
| Description | As an editor you will be tasked with proofreading a college work, essays and many other documents for grammar. More on this here. |
| Income Potential | $0.044 – $0.102/word avg. |
| Requirements | Minimum 2 years of professional editing experience. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🔴 Hard |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
11. Triaba – Online Surveys
| Description | Earn money by answering paid surveys. The surveys focus on consumption trends in the USA. |
| Income Potential | $0.50 – $5.50/survey |
| Requirements | Laptop/Smartphone. The platform is available to the US users only. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Cash payout threshold is $12.50. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
12. CaptionCall – Captioning Agent
| Description | A captioning agent transcribes a telephone conversation so the person with hearing loss can read what their caller is saying. You will be expected to repeat everything you hear word for word. |
| Income Potential | $12/hr Pay could vary based on the location. |
| Requirements | Must be 18 years of age. Must be in office for training and interview process. Must pass typing test for accuracy and speed (30 wpm). |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
13. NextRep – Call Center Agent
| Description | Nexrep is a virtual call center offering flexible hours for positions such as inbound and outbound calling, tech support, virtual sales consulting, virtual receptionist, and beauty consultation. |
| Income Potential | $15 – $25/hr |
| Requirements | Laptop/Headset/Mic |
| Fees & Costs | You are expected to pay $25 fee to cover the background check and training material. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | Bi-weekly via a direct deposit. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
14. TranscriptionOutsourcing – Transcriptionist
🔗 Transcriptionoutsourcing.net
| Description | The job entails listening to voice recordings and converting them into written documents. Provide transcription service in the law enforcement, medical, financial, legal and general fields. |
| Income Potential | $0.80 – $1.10/minute |
| Requirements | To qualify for this job you will be expected to pass an entry test that checks level of your grammar and spelling. This opportunity is only open to US residents except users from California, New Jersey, or Massachusetts. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | Payment is on the 1st and the 15th of every month via direct deposit and PayPal. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
15. VarsityTutors – Online Tutoring
| Description | Varsity Tutors is a personalized service that offers online tutoring, test prep and classes to students. Varsity tutors provides tutoring in well over a thousand subjects most popular are: Algebra, Reading, History, Study Skills and Science. |
| Income Potential | $70 – $95/hr avg. |
| Requirements | Smartphone/Laptop |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🔴 Hard |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
16. Rev – Transcribing, Captioning & Subtitling
🔗 Rev.com
| Description | Rev is a speech-to-text company that provides captioning, subtitles, and transcription services. As a freelancer create a flexible work schedule, choose from hundreds of jobs and enjoy selecting from a variety of projects that actually interest you. Rev’s vast network of customers means a steady stream of freelancing jobs to choose from. |
| Income Potential | Transcriptionist: $0.30 – $1.10/minute Captioner: $0.54 – $1.10/minute Subtitler: $1.50 – $3.00/minute |
| Requirements | Rev accepts Transcription and Caption freelancers from, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, The United States (excluding California). You have to provide an ID for verification and be physically located in the approved country. Note! The above list may not apply if you are applying for foreign language subtitling. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | Receive weekly payouts via PayPal for all work completed. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
17. CourseHero – Online Tutor
| Description | Become an independent freelancer and leverage your knowledge to answer homework questions to help students online. Main categories: – Arts, Humanities, and Languages – Engineering and Technology – Business – Science – Math – Social Science |
| Income Potential | Top tutors earn up to $1,500/month. The earnings may vary depending on how many questions you answer, subject category, question difficulty and answer quality. |
| Requirements | You do not require to be a certified tutor or professor. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🔴 Hard |
| Payment Speed | How do tutors withdraw their earnings from Course Hero. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
18. Rover – Get Paid to Play with Pets
| Description | Rover is an online marketplace for people to buy and sell pet care services. Some of the services include pet sitting, dog boarding, dog walking or drop-in visits. As a pet sitter you are in control of your schedule and service prices. You can even set a size or age of the pet you wish to mind. |
| Income Potential | $20 – $50 avg. per service. Earnings can vary depending on your location and account rating. As a pet sitter you are required to pay 20% service fee of your earnings. |
| Requirements | Upon applying you will be asked to pass a Safety Quiz and submit a Background Check. |
| Fees & Costs | $5 fee on payout via checks. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Two days after the stay ends money will be automatically put to your PayPal account. If you opt-in for payout via checks you will need to wait up to 20 days for the money to arrive in your bank account. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
19. GrabPoints – Complete Activities & Earn Cash
| Description | Grabpoints is a rewards-based site that rewards for completing actions online such as watching videos, surveys, or downloading apps. Earn points and convert them to cash or Amazon gift cards. |
| Income Potential | $10 – $20/day According to Grabpoint, most active members earn 10,000 – 20,000 points a day where one point is worth $0.001. |
| Requirements | You need to be 13 years old to join the platform however some surveys, videos, or games may be restricted to users 18+ years. GrabPoints will also request verification documents to verify the member’s account. The verification method may include providing a photo identification (state or country issued identification card), selfie photo, utility bills, or other supporting documentation. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Rewards are processed and sent within 1-7 business days to Paypal account. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
20. RedBubble – Design Art for T-shirts & Mugs
| Description | Redbubble is an online marketplace for print on demand products such as T-shirts, mugs, wall pictures, pillows and many more. The idea is simple, you upload your designs, Redbubble puts it on their products and sell it to the customers. |
| Income Potential | This depends on the sold product. The average artist’s margin on the sold product is 20%. Example: If a product goes for $125 and the margin is 20% that means your earning is $25. |
| Requirements | – |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | The official pay cycle begins every 15th of the month. You are paid once your earnings reach the payment threshold of $20. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
21. ibotta – Earn Cash Back
| Description | ibotta is a free app that pays cash back on items purchased from stores. The app monitors and shares shopping habits in exchange for discounted products that turn into cash for their users. |
| Income Potential | $20/month avg. cashback |
| Requirements | US only users |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | You are paid once your earnings reach the payment threshold of $20. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
22. TakeLessons – Teach Music Instruments
| Description | Become an online music teacher and provide personalised lessons to students around the world. Instruments allowed for online lessons: – Piano – Guitar – Violin – Cello – Flute – Saxophone |
| Income Potential | Minimum lesson price is $15 per lesson. For the first 10 lessons you teach a new student, you’ll earn 80% of the lesson price. |
| Requirements | Other than being able to teach an instrument here is a list of requirements |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🔴 Hard |
| Payment Speed | You will be paid weekly via direct deposit for all lessons marked as attended. All payments are made via Electronic Funds Transfer. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
23. AirBnB – Marketplace Listing Photographer
| Description | If you are a photographer with backgrounds in interior, architectural, and editorial photography work with Airbnb hosts to schedule and photograph assigned listings. You will be assigned to cover a 30-mile radius from your home location. |
| Income Potential | The average price of a photo session can range from $100-400. The prices will vary by geographic region as well as listing size. |
| Requirements | You need to have an existing online portfolio of photography work featuring interior/architectural/editorial work. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | 2-4 working days after completing the session |
| Additional Info? | Role overview |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
24. Amazon Explorer Host
| Description | As as Amazon Explore host your job is to provide a virtual tour for users around the world. The experiences is livestreamed allowing users to see, hear, and talk about everything as it happens in real time. You can provide the virtual experience in categories such as tour guides, wellness coaches, artisans, chefs or stylists. |
| Income Potential | $10/hr is the minimum people pay for experience. Amazon will charge a fee as well but they don’t disclose any information on this. |
| Requirements | Smartphone & mic for streaming |
| Fees & Costs | – |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
25. StitchFix – Virtual Stylist
| Description | StitchFix is an online personal styling service. As a stylist your job will be to help women, men and kids to create their own style that suits their personality, budget, and available to them clothes. |
| Income Potential | $13 – $28/hr |
| Requirements | An ideal candidate is comfortable using G-Suite applications, including Google Docs, Gmail, etc. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | Every two weeks |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
26. UserFeel – Website User Interface Tester
| Description | Userfeel conducts usability tests on websites. As a tester your job is to perform and document found issues. The tasks may involve finding a product in an online store or going through a checkout process. The provided test reports help site owners to find and fix usability issues. |
| Income Potential | $10/test |
| Requirements | Laptop |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | You receive payment to PayPal account about one week after the test. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
27. StudyDrive – Sell Lecture Notes
| Description | Studydrive is a student platform for sharing knowledge. Share your study materials, lecture notes and exam examples with students and earn rewards. |
| Income Potential | Up to $500/semester |
| Requirements | Laptop |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | Cash out is available at the end of the semester |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
28. BunnyStudio – Voice Over Artist
| Description | Become a voice artist and provide your voice to narrate, impersonate a character, market products or services for different purposes. |
| Income Potential | Average $39.63/hr |
| Requirements | You will need to possess an ability to read a script eloquently, in different ways, putting an emphasis on certain words, using different emotions or accents. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | Payment 30 days after the task has been approved. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
29. Friendpc – Virtual Friend
| Description | Friendpc is a place where people go to rent a friend. Become one of the hundreds of virtual friends, and offer friendly texting, or a video game session, or offer a phone call. As a virtual friend, you will help people to build their confidence, provide personal companionship and offer a listening ear if they are lonely. |
| Income Potential | $15 – 25/hr avg. |
| Requirements | – |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | Get paid instantly after completing the task. 5% fee is applied to each completed transaction. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
30. Skillest – Online Golf Instructor
| Description | Skillest is a platform that connects students wanting to learn golf with online instructors. |
| Income Potential | $25 – $300/lesson |
| Requirements | Golf Instructor skills |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🔴 Hard |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
31. BuyAndSellHair – Sell Hair
| Description | Buyandsellhair is a marketplace for buying and selling hair. This is more like a one-off gig, but the earning potential for selling hair is high |
| Income Potential | $100 and can go up to thousands of dollars |
| Requirements | Quality picture of your hair for the listing |
| Fees & Costs | A one-time listing fee is $14.50 |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Paid via PayPal as soon as the purchase is made. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
32. FindYourTrainer – Fitness Instructor
| Description | Become a personal fitness trainer and provide a personalized training program to online clients. Once hired for the online session, your job is to deliver a great training experience to the client, and hopefully they turn into a long-term subscriber. The clients can subscribe to 4, 12, or 24 sessions. |
| Income Potential | $29/session |
| Requirements | Must got through an application review. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
33. Tawkify – Matchmaker
| Description | As a matchmaker, you will connect with clients to help them develop and execute online dating strategies. |
| Income Potential | ~ $100/arranged date |
| Requirements | Proven success in a client-facing role. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | Full job description |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
34. Phuture – Tarot Reader
| Description | As a tarot reader, you will be offering services such as a digital Tarot deck reading, or palm reading using previously uploaded pictures of the clients’ hands. |
| Income Potential | – |
| Requirements | An applicant is asked to give 5 free Tarot readings to randomly selected clients, if a minimum of 3 clients express satisfaction with the level of reading, you will be offered the job. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | Full job description |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
35. Rentagent – Gent on Demand
| Description | Rent A Gent is a marketplace of handsome, and talented men on demand. As a gent on demand you are available for rent by the hour for dates and parties. |
| Income Potential | $100/hr |
| Requirements | Available to applicants located in USA & Canada only. |
| Fees & Costs | Applicants must upload their picture and pay $50 application fee. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟠 Medium |
| Payment Speed | – |
| Additional Info? | – |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
36. TaskRabbit – Become a Tasker
| Description | TaskRabbit, is of the biggest marketplaces in the gig economy where people offer their time to complete tasks such as house cleaning, house moving or delivering groceries. |
| Income Potential | Avg. rate is $15/task The rates are different based on your location. |
| Requirements | Available only to users located in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany & France. What’s required to become a tasker |
| Fees & Costs | $25 registration fee. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Taskers are paid almost immediately upon completing the task. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
37. EasyShift – Get Paid to Shop, Eat, & Explore
| Description | EasyShift is an app that allows you to make extra cash by completing simple tasks at local stores. These tasks may include answering questions about products, taking photos of aisles/displays, or promotional signage within the store. |
| Income Potential | $4 – $40/assignment |
| Requirements | Available the US or the UK only |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Once your assignment is approved, you can expect to be paid within about 48 hours. |
| Additional Info? | – |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
38. Gigwalk – Find Quick Gigs in Your Area
| Description | Gigwalk is a mobile app that allows you to find quick jobs based on your location. An open job will be displayed on a map in the mobile app that you can randomly grab it to earn cash. Jobs can take anywhere from 5 minutes to a few hours to complete. |
| Income Potential | $3 – $100/job |
| Requirements | Must be eligible to work in the United States |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | The customer will first review your work and then approve it. Once approved, you get paid directly to your PayPal account |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
39. FancyHands – Assist in Completing Online Tasks
| Description | FancyHands offers a virtual assistant service. If you are good on the phone, and great at internet research you will be able to make side money. The work will be coming via different channels such as text messages, emails, or phone calls. The typical jobs include, scheduling, purchasing items online, researching, or making phone calls. |
| Income Potential | $3 – $7/task |
| Requirements | Strong written communication skills. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | Payments go out every other week (on Tuesday) |
| Additional Info? | Full job description |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
40. Humanatic – Review Recorded Phone Calls
| Description | Humanatic is a platform that provides clients with analysis of their phone calls. As a reviewer, your job will be to ‘decipher’ recorded phone calls and provide answers to create a meaningful analysis for the clients. You don’t have to make or receive phone calls or to have a live conversation. |
| Income Potential | $1 – $4.5/hr |
| Requirements | You must have a valid & verified PayPal account. |
| Fees & Costs | No extra fees & costs. |
| Job Difficulty | 🟢 Easy |
| Payment Speed | You need to make a minimum of $10 before receiving the first payment. Payments are processed every Thursday. |
| Additional Info? | FAQ |
| How To Start? | Sign up |
