1. Start a blog
There are plenty of free blogging services that allow you to start your own blog and have it up and running within minutes. You do not need any sort of web programming experience to get one started. Most services will have a list of free templates you can choose from if you wish to go that route. A couple of examples are Blogger.com and Wordpress.org. All you need is a topic that you are passionate about and you will have an endless supply of material. The trick is to provide the information in a unique and creative fashion that will keep your readers coming back. Earning money from blogging is primarily done by posting ads on your blog from ad revenue services such as Adsense by Google.
2. Sell your stuff on Ebay or Craigslist
Look around your house and I guarantee you will see a plethora of stuff just laying around not being used. That stuff is a gold mine! You can easily make a few extra bucks by selling an old guitar on ebay or putting a weight set that hasn't been touched in years on craigslist. I prefer to use craigslist for more bulky items to avoid the shipping fees and ebay for the specialty items like baseball cards, comics, etc... Some people will even go to thrift stores or garage sales looking for deals on items just so they can turn around and sell them for a profit online.
3. Deliver pizzas
If you have a car and a clean driving record then this is a great side job idea. Most pizza delivery places will pay you minimum wage plus tips and some places will even give you an additional amount per delivery to cover gas. The other great thing about delivering pizzas on the side is the flexible hours. If you already have a day job, then this would be something that you can do on the evenings or weekends to help make some extra cash for paying off bills, extra money for food, or whatever!
4. Join a focus group
Some people are generating some extra cash on the side by joining focus groups. Locating a paid focus groups is getting easier with online services like findfocusgroups.com. You will sometimes find a focus group that will pay $100 or more for just an hour of your time. I can't think of an easier way to make money than to sit in a room and tell a stranger my opinions on what makes a good video game or what a good dining experience means to me, easy money.
5. Turn your hobby into a business
What better way to make some money than to turn something you love doing already into a profitable business? It can be something as simple as giving guitar lessons once a week or selling arts and crafts online. The less overhead your business has the better. Meaning, if you do not have to pay for additional storage or keep a huge inventory then you will be able to realize more profit and it will require less of your time and effort to maintain. The idea is to start very small and grow from there.
6. Sell your photos
If you find that your photos get a large amount of attention from your Facebook friends or your Flickr.com photos generate a large amount of responses then you might have an eye for photography. There is a growing number of online services that are paying royalties to contributors of stock photos, one example is istockphoto.com.
7. Rent out a room in your house
If you own your home then those spare bedrooms are perfect for generating additional monthly revenue. If you do not mind sharing your house with strangers you meet from online sites like Craigslist than this is a great way to offset the cost of your mortgage or make some extra money to pay off other bills. This can also be a great way to start getting into real estate. If you are able to purchase a home and then fill it with tenants, basically turning your house into a cash cow, then you are freeing up that additional money to be used to purchase additional real estate that can also be rented out for monthly profits, and so on.
