How do I make money online without spending money?

Annie
4 min readJan 29, 2022

1. Sell Your Photos

Do you have photo skills or live in an area where images are in demand? “Stock photography websites are huge repositories of photographs, covering almost every possible subject you could imagine,” advises International Living. So how does it work? Photographers can upload their images to any one of a number of huge databases, allowing magazine editors, designers, or any organization with a website to buy them. And the beauty of stock websites: Photos can be sold any number of times — so you can continue to make money without any effort. Photography Sites to check out include Shutterstock, Photo shelter, and Getty Images.

2. Become a Copywriter

Want to earn a great income no matter where you live — a house by the sea in Latin America, a historic European city, or even on a Greek island? Copywriting could be ideal for you. According to International Living, “copywriting is a mega-industry, ripe with opportunity. And yearning for people who can fuel it with fresh marketing messages and one of the best benefits of the freelance copywriter’s lifestyle is that you can get paid in U.S. dollars…yet live virtually anywhere in the world.” Express Writers has tips on how to become a copywriter and is also a resource for jobs.

3. Teach English

“If you’re a native English speaker, you may not realize it, but you already have the number one qualification you need for a fun, portable income that can hand you a steady paycheck from anywhere in the world,” says International Living. Some resources include GoOverseas. com, Teach Away (teach English online to Chinese students), iTutorGroup (teach English online to Taiwanese children and adults), and English Hunt (teach English on the phone to adult students in Korea).

4. Turn Your Interests into a Podcast That Pays

“Podcasting doesn’t have to be complicated,” says International Living. With a microphone, laptop, and free recording software, you’ll be up and running. Plus, podcasts don’t need to run every day (once a week is best) and are better when they’re short. There are a number of ways to make money from a podcast. The most obvious is commercial sponsorship, but you can also use it as a platform to advertise your own products or services. NPR has a great guide to launching a podcast.

5. Become a Translator and Interpreter

Do you speak another language? Anywhere you find ex-pat communities — and where English is not the first language — you’ll find a need for interpreting and translation services. You can also do translation and interpretation online. You’ll find a number of resources for being a translator or an interpreter here; one of the best is Welocalize, which ranked at the top of this list of the top 20 companies for remote jobs in 2020.

6. Try Drop-shipping

Have you heard of drop-shipping? It’s a method of retail where the seller doesn’t actually have a physical inventory. Instead, when a customer makes an order, you purchase the item from a third party, and they ship it directly to the customer. “This means you’ll never have to fork over a single dime to store your products or maintain your inventory,” advises International Living. “And you’ll never have to buy products in bulk, hoping to sell enough to recoup your investment.” This method can be done with online selling platforms like eBay or Amazon.

7. Tutor

“Establishing your own tutoring service can be a lucrative business that provides you with a comfortable and flexible lifestyle,” advises International Living. “The best part of all, you can set up a tutoring business in almost any country in the world.” A tip: Offer discounts to clients who promote your business. “Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most valuable marketing tools you can have when starting out,” advises International Living. The site Tutors .com has a list of the best online tutoring jobs, and you can also apply to be a tutor at Tutor me .com.

8. Tap into the E-Book Business

The e-book business is a great way to earn money. You can create your own (Kindle has a guide for how to do it). Or find a book that’s already been published in print and license it to publish online. You can pay the author 8–15% royalties based on net sales or a one-time payment for the online publishing rights.

9. Set up an Online Course

Or go beyond writing an e-book and create a whole online course with tutorials, PDF downloads, and videos. It’s a great way to create a passive income because people will pay for the info and can go at their own pace or post questions related to the course in a dedicated group. Here’s one resource for creating and selling online courses: Learn Worlds, which makes it possible for anyone to profit from their knowledge and experience by creating an online program.

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Annie

Master from Economics, Research Methods and Econometrics. Lives in Heidelberg, Germany University of Heidelberg