How to Make Money Without a Job - 12 Amazing Online Ways

Due to the availability of countless alternate options today, more and more people are finding themselves unwilling to work the 9 to 5. And if you are wondering how to make money without a job, you are by no means alone.

Different platforms on the internet offer all kinds of ways to make money online where you can have the freedom and flexibility nine-to-fivers can only dream of. And with many of these ways, you can make way more than you ever could with a regular 9-to-5 or easily monetize a hobby of yours.

So, in this article, we have put together a list of 12 ideas for anyone wondering how to make money without a job, and we really hope you find one that works for you.

Top Twelve Online Ways to Make Money without a Job

1. Use Online Rental Platforms

Various online platforms have made it extremely convenient to earn a passive income by renting out your stuff and property of all kinds. A spare room, garage, clothes, you name it. On platforms like Just Park, you can even rent out your parking space.

If you have got a spare room in your home that is furnished, consider listing it on platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. You could also use these platforms to rent out multiple rooms or your whole house when you are not home for some days.

Turo and Getaround are among the most popular online platforms for renting out your car and other vehicles by the hour or day. They take about a 20 percent cut of the rent, which is pretty reasonable.

If you have got spare clothes that are in good shape, you can use platforms like Armoire, Renttherunway to rent them out. Not just clothes, on these platforms, you can list just about anything, from kitchenware to furniture.

There are also devoted platforms for renting out stuff like baby gear and camera equipment. On babyquip, you can rent out stuff like walkers, prams, and strollers, while on Kitsplit, you can easily find borrowers for your camera equipment.

2. Offer Mystery Shopping Services

A lot of businesses today hire individuals to visit their stores, interact with the sales staff, make a purchase, and then provide reviews to the company about the shopping experience. These hired individuals are referred to as "mystery shoppers."

These reviews are really important to businesses, and they are often willing to pay good money to mystery shoppers. And of course, you are reimbursed for the purchases you make.

Mystery shoppers are also hired by restaurant chains and market research companies (to collect data for clients), and there are more opportunities in this field than you might expect. You can also get remote work where you are required to provide reviews on customer support helplines, e-commerce sites, and call centers.

Platforms like Secret Shopper, Market Force, and BestMark are among the best platforms to get work as a mystery shopper. You need to be at least 18 years old to mystery shop on most platforms and may get $10-$30 per assignment. And it is one of the most fun ways to make money without a job.

3. Pet Sitting

Another really fun way to make money without a job is to work as a pet sitter or dog walker, especially if you love pets.

Pet owners are often in need of someone to take care of their pets while they are away and are willing to pay good money for pet sitters and dog walkers. And there are many online platforms today that offer the service of connecting pet owners with pet sitters in their locality.

Rover and Wag are the most well-known platforms for getting pet-sitting gigs.

You can register with these platforms and offer pet sitting services that involve either you staying at the owner’s place to watch after their pet or bringing the pet home for some hours or days. Most platforms allow you to fix your own rates, and on average, pet sitters charge $12 an hour, though most platforms allow you to fix your own rates.

4. Be a Market Research Participant

There are many websites that offer companies a platform to conduct primary customer research to help them get a better idea of customer needs and preferences. The research includes methods like interviews, surveys, and online polls which almost everyone can sign up to participate in.

You can participate in these online surveys and interviews to make up to $5 an hour. Some of the most reliable platforms for participating in online surveys include Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, and QuickRewards.

5. Sell Personal Belongings Online

You can make some easy money by selling your unwanted possessions on various online platforms like eBay and Depop and decluttering your room/ home at the same time.

if you look around your house, you are most likely to find stuff that is in perfectly good shape but that you do not use anymore or stuff that you bought but never actually used.

Scour your closet and you are bound to find something; it can be anything from old earphones to ill-fitting clothes and shoes. You may not have any use for them, but on the vast marketplaces on the internet, you could find someone who is willing to pay money for them.

There are dedicated platforms for all kinds of items. If you have got electronics, check out Gadget Salvation, a popular online platform for selling used electronics.

ThredUp and Poshmark are among the best-known platforms for selling second-hand clothes. And if it is a musical instrument you have got, consider listing it on Reverb, a dedicated platform for musical instruments.

Remember to take high-quality photos with good lighting of your stuff and check out the prices for similar items on the platform to set a reasonable price.

6. Become a Virtual Assistant

If you are wondering how to make money without a job, not because you don't want to work a 9-5, but because you haven’t found the right career path for yourself yet, you should consider taking on virtual assistance gigs to get by until you figure it out.

If you have good organizing and time management skills, you can earn money by doing simple day-to-day tasks for an organization remotely as a virtual assistant. Besides making money, you will also get exposure to the job world without actually getting a job, and you may even end up finding your passion.

Tasks can include posting on social media, making basic images on Canva, data entry, calendar management, admin tasks, excel-sheet management, research, and other organization-specific tasks.

In addition to working for businesses, you can also work for individuals looking to delegate their work to others, which can be personal or professional. However, in most cases, it is businesses looking to outsource their non-core assignments.

To get a better idea of the industry, check out 24/7 Virtual Assistants, a popular website offering virtual assistant services. As to where you can find virtual assistance gigs, Upwork, one of the largest freelancing platforms in the world, is probably your best option.

7. Sell Your Class Notes Online

If you are a student wondering how to make money without a job, just start studying more diligently and making proper notes. Why? Because there are websites where you can sell your  notes and make some extra money.

Some popular websites where you can find buyers for your notes include Stuvia, Docmerit, and NoteXchange. They charge 15-30 percent commission per sale made.

Make typed-up, well-structured and comprehensive notes. Include sections like an index, key takeaways, a summary, and anything else relevant to the topic. Just think about what you would like to have in course notes if you were buying them, and frame your notes accordingly.

8. Live Stream Video Games on Twitch

If you love playing video games and are particularly good at one, you can make money by live streaming your game time on Twitch and entertaining viewers with interesting commentary.

Twitch is the biggest platform for video game live streams and provides several methods to monetize your live streams. The audience often actively participates in the live videos and tends to be very willing to support the streamers through small donations.

Popular games on the platform include Minecraft, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft, etc.

9. Become a Synkdup Headhunter

Ironic as it is, if you are living in the U.S. and are fairly active on social media, one of the best ways for you to make money without a job is to share job openings online. How? By joining the Synkdup Headhunter Program.

The Synkdup Headhunter Program follows a performance-based recruitment marketing model where participants promote job openings on their social media platforms and earn commissions on job applicants. Here is how:

Your headhunter dashboard is updated regularly with web links to new job openings. You can share these on your linked social media accounts directly by clicking the share button on your dashboard. For every candidate who applies to a job using a link shared by you, you get a commission of up to $25.

10. Become an Affiliate Marketer

If you have got a significant following on social media, you should consider affiliate marketing to make money without a job. As an affiliate marketer, you promote the products and services of a brand on your online platforms and get a commission for every sale generated through you.

Besides having a sizeable social media network, it also greatly helps to have built an online persona around a marketable niche. Some popular niches include Travel, Pet Care, Personal Finance, Health & Fitness, Fashion & Beauty, and Technology.

Amazon Associates, Rakuten Marketing, and ShareASale are some of the most established affiliate programs out there, offering a wide range of products to promote.

There are also many dedicated programs that offer a specific category of products. For example, Avon, Sephora, and Ulta Beauty are quite famous in the Beauty and Cosmetic sector, MyProtein and Bodybuilding.com in Health and Fitness, Udemy and Coursera in Learning and Education, and Expedia and TripAdvisor in travel.

11. Try YouTubing

YouTube is a great platform to make money for creative people who are into making videos. And if you can create engaging video content, YouTubing can be no less than a full-time job.

The platform provides a large audience for all kinds of content, how-to’s, comedy sketches, commentary videos, food and cooking videos, video gaming videos, educational videos, you name it. And you can make long-format videos or short-format videos in the form of YouTube shorts, as per your preference. No social media platform gives creators greater freedom.

The platform also provides many different ways to make money off your content. Though most of them require you to cross the 1,000 subscriber benchmark, there are also methods to earn without having that many subs, especially if you have garnered a supportive viewership.

It can take some time to build an audience base, but if you stay patient and keep posting quality videos consistently, the rewards you reap are well worth it.

12. Be Paid to Lose Weight

Yeah, you read that right, now you can earn money to get fit. There are websites out there that pay people to take a weight loss challenge and complete it successfully. You place a bet on yourself to lose a certain amount of weight within a deadline (at least 6 months) and if you actually lose the weight within that time, you get paid a certain percentage of the money you bet.

Check out HealthyWage, a popular weight loss challenge platform, if the idea sounds appealing to you. You may not make a lot of money this way, but it can be a good motivation to start going to the gym and change your life.

Not to be over-optimistic but, you may find your passion in working out and go on to become a fitness trainer, which is a very well-paying profession these days.