12 Ways to Increase Your Income This Month That feeling of being stressed about money pretty much goes away when you get a side gig going.
By R.L. Adams Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Whether you're living paycheck-to-paycheck or you've got some reserve in the tank, so to speak, you're likely looking for ways you can increase your income. The problem? How can you earn more money without having to spend countless extra hours every day trying to figure out what works?
Now, we've all seen some of the so-called gurus on the internet who cheerlead the latest offers. They propose different ways you can make money online, and do it fast. Does it usually work? Sure, if you have a list and a following and a good understanding about how you can market online. Otherwise, you might hit a wall.
It's hard to persist when you're struggling financially. But, what other option do you have? At the end of the day, this comes down to what you focus your thoughts on. Yes, I'm a firm believer in the Law of Attraction and the sheer abundant nature of positive thinking. But, that isn't enough to help you increase your income this month or next, or any month for that matter.
If you don't combine that positive thinking with action, you'll go nowhere fast. So you have to take action. You have to put the proverbial pedal to the metal. That's what it takes. But, to get there, you need to figure out what to do. How are you going to increase your income so that you don't have too little money at the end of the month?
Related: 32 Proven Ways to Make Money Fast
How to increase your income quickly.
There are endless ways you can make money, but not all of them are viable and not all of them can be done quickly. Sure, there are some terrific sources for passive income like blogging or writing ebooks. But, you'll need to put weeks, months or even years of work behind some of them to make them produce any sizable amount of recurring income.
If you're in a bind and you need to increase your income this month, there are some things that you can do that will move the needle. You will need to devote the right amount of time to some of them to see them through. But, once they're up and going, you could supplement your income by hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars extra per month.
1. Drive for Uber or Lyft.
This is a no-brainer. If you have a car and a clean driving record, drive for Uber or Lyft. Payments come in quickly and you can choose your own schedule. Simply download the app and sign up. You'll need to set yourself apart so that you can get good reviews on the platform. Find a way to add more value. Provide refreshments or some other unique service.
Oftentimes, people won't head out with a driver with a low score. I know that I personally cancel ride shares for drivers with a score lower than 4.7. It also works the other way around. Drivers often won't pick you up if you have a low score. So they usually go for passengers with higher scores.
Related: These Are the Best Cities for Uber and Lyft Drivers (Infographic)
2. Take paid surveys online.
There's a variety of websites online that will pay you for your opinion. You can easily take surveys to make a bit of money when you're in a tight spot. Granted, you won't get rich. But, you will increase your income. And if you do lots of these, you do have the chance of making a few hundred bucks or more extra.
Sites like Swag Bucks, Survey Junkie and Inbox Dollars are among some of the sites you can use to take paid surveys online. There are others. All you have to do is conduct a search. But, these three are the most reliable and trusted paid survey sites out there.
Related: 7 Ways to Relieve Boredom by Hustling for Extra Cash
3. Answer professional questions.
If you're knowledgeable in a technical area, such as the law, taxes, medicine or information technology, for example, you could answer questions professionally. You can get paid for every successful and accepted answer on sites like Just Answer.
This is perfect for working part time or simply in a spare hour or two that you might have to answer these questions. You do need to be an expert in one of the areas that are represented. If you are, it's simply a matter of grabbing the question as soon as it comes in and going into detail with your answer.
Related: Set Your Consulting Fees Using These 5 Tried-and-True Methods
4. Sell used items online.
I probably don't need to tell you where you can sell used items online. Obviously, Amazon, of course. For textbooks and other used goods. You can sell just about anything on Craigslist. You can even opt for eBay if you're feeling like you can auction off something that might otherwise have a hard time selling on one of the other sites.
You can also do things like sell your used phone on Gazelle. That might come in handy if you're looking to upgrade your phone and don't want to sell it through retail channels. You can even use Etsy or Handmade to sell other arts and crafts that you might create.
Related: The Co-Founder of Gilt on What Her First Job at Ebay Taught Her About Running a Company
5. Conduct a webinar.
I've learned a lot about webinars from Jason Fladlien, who's done over $100 million in webinar sales without ever having his own product to sell. Super affiliate would be the name for it. But, I've also learned a great deal from Russell Brunson, who's created the perfect webinar script, and goes into detail about crafting webinars in his book, Expert Secrets.
Webinars are a great way to increase your income quickly. If you can get an audience on a webinar, and you can follow the perfect webinar script, then you can likely make some fast cash. Webinars are a great way to sell high-ticket digital products, coaching and other membership-based software.
Related: 12 Steps for Creating the Perfect Webinar
6. Build a simple sales funnel.
Sales funnels are meticulously crafted automated selling machines. You can sell just about anything in a sales funnel. The beauty of it? The up-sells and the one-time offers. If you're looking for conversion optimization, and to ensure that you make a profit on every dollar spent, build a sales funnel.
Even if you don't know a thing about sales funnels right now, go learn. This is quite possibly one of the most important concepts in the online marketing world. And if you're serious about increasing your income or earning any semblance of money online, then you need to understand sales funnels.
Related: 5 Steps to Building Your First Online Sales Funnel
7. Do social media marketing for businesses.
Social media is exploding. Businesses around the world understand the importance of this medium. However, most don't know how to take advantage of it. That's where you come in. Of course, you do need to understand social media in order to charge clients to manage their social media accounts.
The best part? It doesn't take much effort to post on social media and draw in interested consumers that are looking to purchase whatever product, service or information a company might be peddling. That's where you come in. You can easily supplement your income almost immediately by doing this type of work for clients.
Related: 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing
8. Start up a side hustle business.
Side hustles are all the rage. They're businesses that you can launch on the side. Even while you have a full-time job. Some require a bit of time, others require far more of your resources. What type of side hustle business can you launch? Maybe you can do graphic design or web development or SEO work.
This all boils down to your skill set. If you don't have the skills, go out there and learn them. Sign up to an online course and educate yourself.
Related: 50 Ideas for a Lucrative Side Hustle
9. Rent out your home as a vacation rental.
Clearly, you can opt to rent out your home as a vacation rental. That much is certain. You can either do this yourself by listing it on a website like Airbnb or have a company like Invited Home or Luxury Retreats to manage the entire process for you.
Running a vacation rental takes some effort. But, there is an extraordinary amount of money to be made if your home is located in a heavily trafficked tourist destination.
Related: 6 Benefits of Renting Out Vacation Homes
10. Use Fiverr to source gigs.
Want to join the gig economy? No matter what service it is that you can provide, it can likely be sold on Fiverr. This is a go-to resource for many digital nomads and people who are simply looking to earn a big of extra money and increase their income.
On Fiverr, you can sell things like graphic design services, web design services, blogging, ghostwriting, accounting, and so on. Pretty much anything you can imagine that's legal, can be sold on Fiverr.
Related: How to Use Fiverr and Skyrocket Your Startup's Growth
11. Play video games on Twitch.
Twitch is a great way to make money if you're into video games. You can stream your gameplay and provide voice over services to get people to subscribe to your channel. You can also make money through video ads, donations, sponsorships, and so on.
You can find a list of games that you can play on Twitch here. Some of their most popular games are Hearthstone, League of Legends, Overwatch and Player Unkown's Battlegrounds.
Related: 5 Lessons Video Games Taught Me About Success
12. Create tutorials on YouTube.
Everyone knows that you can make an extraordinary amount of money with YouTube if you can reach that all-star status. For every million views you can expect to make anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000. If you can build up a sizable channel, you can earn a significant amount of money.
The best part about this? YouTube videos offer passive income. And, if you create tutorials about popular topics, you can increase your income quickly. It might not happen overnight. But, it will happen.
