Make Extra Cash

20 Genius Money-Making Ideas to Supercharge Your Earnings

Updated on February 24, 2024 Updated on February 24, 2024
Listen Money Matters is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. How we make money.
Table of Contents  
  1. Your Career
  2. Side Hustle
  3. Investments
  4. The Sharing Economy
  5. You Could Be Doing More

    We could all use some extra cash, and there are many ways to make it. So we found the best money-making ideas and intelligent ways to increase your income.

    At a certain point, you can’t save any more money; there isn’t anything left to cut. And really, saving money is not nearly as impactful as making more.

    So whether you want to increase your income to pay off debt, save for a home, take a vacation, or retire early, we have ways to do it. So what to know how to make money? Here are our favorite money-making ideas.

    Your Career

    You already spend a lot of time at work, so it’s important to make the most of it by seeking professional growth, enhancing skills, and engaging in meaningful tasks. This approach turns your job into a valuable opportunity for both personal and professional development.

  1. Fill The Voids
  2. People are  hired for specific roles, but they might not always fulfill every aspect of their job descriptions. It’s a common reality that every position includes tasks that are less desirable.

    Take the initiative by observing your workplace and pinpoint those less appealing tasks, especially those your supervisor might prefer to avoid, and proactively start tackling them.

    Don’t wait for an invitation; take the initiative and tackle the tasks at hand. Engaging in the less glamorous, behind-the-scenes work is what truly sets you apart and makes you invaluable in any job role.

  3. Know Your Worth
  4. You’ve been stepping up to fill the gaps, yet there’s been no change in your position or salary. While your efforts are appreciated, they haven’t led to a promotion or pay increase.

    Maybe it’s time to start looking for a new opportunity. Even if you’re completely satisfied with your current position, it’s wise to stay open to unique opportunities that may arise.

    The average pay raise in 2023 within a company was a measly 4.4%. However, then you move to a new company, the raise is 10-20%. If you’re unsure how much you should be making, you can check out sites like PayScale.

    LinkedIn is probably the best way to find a job or a recruiter who gets paid to get you a job.

    20 Genius Money-Making Ideas to Supercharge Your Earnings

    20 Genius Money-Making Ideas to Supercharge Your Earnings

  5. Negotiate
  6. Once you find that new job, you have to negotiate. Unfortunately, too many people accept whatever is offered, afraid that if they dare to ask for more, the potential employer will just revoke the offer and hire someone else.

    But they want you. You’ve made it to the point of being offered a salary because they want to hire you.

    The other side actually expects you to haggle a bit—it’s all part of the game. They toss an offer your way, you throw one back, and you keep at it until everyone’s smiling.

  7. Time for a Change
  8. If you not only don’t like the job you are in but don’t like the industry you are in, you should think about switching things up and trying something new.

    You might need to improve your skills or learn an entirely new set of skills, but you can do it.

    A listener who drove trucks for a living decided he wanted a change. He was tired of working such long hours, being away from home so much, and just making average money. So he went to coding boot camp. Fast forward about two years, and the guy is making four or five times what he was making, driving trucks and doing something he never dreamed of doing.

    Now more than ever, there are opportunities, often free opportunities, to learn new skills that can put you on the path to an entirely new career.

    Skillshare

    Skillshare is an online learning community offering thousands of classes from design to marketing to analytics. Discover hidden passions and explore new skills taught by industry leaders. Or, become a teacher, share your expertise, and make money.

    We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

    Side Hustle

    There’s a ton of side hustles out there, and for sure, there’s one you can rock at—or at least get pretty good at if you give it a shot. Who knows? You might just start raking in some cash doing it.

    money making ideas

  9. Writing
  10. Freelance writing is pretty cool because you can write about stuff you love and get paid for it. Plus, you can work in your pajamas from anywhere, which is a sweet deal if you ask me.

    Make additional profiles on other freelancing sites like Upwork, Sittercity, DoorDash, TaskRabbit  and Instacart. Contact blogs and publications focused on the subject you want to write about and offer to write for free.

    Explore other freelancing platforms. They offer a great way to develop your portfolio and receive positive feedback from clients, enhancing your reputation in the freelance world.

    Freelancing, even when the pay isn’t great to start with, can totally kickstart your career. It’s a cool way to make some extra cash and could even turn into a killer business idea for freelancers down the line.

  11. Social Media Person
  12. Most businesses recognize the power of social media these days, but that doesn’t mean they know how to utilize it. If you do and can convince them that harnessing that power can make them extra money, you can get paid to do it.

    I bet you’d have way better luck showing off your social media skills to small, local businesses around your town.

  13. Virtual Assistant (VA)
  14. People only have so many hours in the day and must assign value to their time.

    Is it cheaper to pay someone else to do things like return emails, schedule appointments, invoice customers, and dispute charges on their credit cards, or to do it themselves?

    The choice is evident if their time is valued at $100 an hour and they can pay a virtual assistant $20 an hour to do them.

    It makes sense to outsource those tasks. You can find these kinds of jobs on freelancing sites.

    You don’t have to be in the same spot as your boss. Some Virtual Assistants never actually chat with their boss on the phone; it’s all about emails or texts.

  15. Real World Assistant
  16. Real-world assistants do all the same tasks as virtual assistants, but you work in the same office as your boss.

    You can hunt for these gigs in the usual job spots, but if you’ve got some entrepreneurial types in your city and manage to snag a chat, definitely pitch yourself as their go-to assistant.

    It’s a smart move, especially if they’re rocking it in an industry you’re keen on.

    Being their assistant gives you a golden ticket to learn the ropes and, with a bit of luck, score a mentorship with them.

  17. Task Rabbit
  18. Task Rabbit is a website where people can hire taskers to do just about anything for them.

    The number one job on Task Rabbit is putting together Ikea furniture, so if you’re good at that, you could clean up.

    People hire taskers for the same reason they hire VAs: their time is too valuable to be spent picking up dry cleaning, dog walking, and putting together Ikea furniture.

    TaskRabbit

    Task Rabbit connects you to people who need help with their everyday to-dos. Services include moving, shopping, cleaning, and even assembling furniture. Create a profile, find jobs you love at rates you choose and set your schedule.

    We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

  19. Teach Something
  20. If you’ve got a skill that others wish they had, guess what? They’ll probably pay you to show them how to master it.

    This can be done online or in the real world. You can tutor online at sites like Wyzant. You can teach English to Chinese kids at VIP Kid

    You can create online courses for Udemy or Skillshare. You don’t have to find students; those sites do that for you. You have to make good content.

    You can give tutoring sessions, music, dance, cooking, or even dating lessons. There’s a crowd for everything out there. Just pop an ad on local Facebook groups or Nextdoor, and you’re good to go.

    These jobs are especially good side hustles because you can get many word-of-mouth clients if you’re good. It could even turn into your full-time gig.

  21. Sell Stuff Online
  22. The great thing about selling things as a side hustle is that there are so many things and places to sell them. Whatever your particular interest is, there is a market for it.

    Like books? Sell them on Bookscouter. Like antique toys? Sell them on eBay. Like thrifting and clothes? Sell used clothing on Poshmark.

    Do you have a lot of kids’ stuff, toys, books, clothes, and a multitude of gear? Facebook parenting groups are a good place to unload all of that.

    If you’re trying to get rid of oversized, bulky items, use Craigslist so you only have local buyers willing to pick the items up.

  23. Community Activities
  24. When you see kids’ little league games or adult inter-mural games being played, there is always a ref or an umpire, and those people are getting paid.

    This can be a fun way to get outside, get some activity, and meet new people while you earn extra money part-time.

    But if you want to do this, I would try to stick to the adult inter-mural leagues and steer clear of kids’ games. Their parents are like savages, and angry parents have assaulted officials.

    Sure, you might get the occasional heckling from a softball player who had one too many before the game started or even during the game, but those parents are out for blood. Avoid!

  25. Make extra money with online surveys.
  26. Want to get paid for your opinion? Using Survey Junkie, you can share your opinion to help brands deliver better products and services.

    After you create your profile, they will start matching you to online surveys you can take online anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

    Completed surveys earn virtual points that can be redeemed for PayPal or gift cards. Survey Junkie is great for anyone interested in making money from their couch.

    Survey Junkie

    Want to get paid for your opinion? Survey Junkie lets you share yours to help brands deliver better products and services. After creating your profile, they'll start matching you to online surveys you can take anywhere.

    Having some free time during your lunch break or commercials is a great way to make money fast. There are a lot of survey sites out there, but we like Survey Junkie. Check out our review here.

    Sign up to make some fast money online. Most online surveys are pretty straightforward, and you are not required to sign-up for other services, so no annoying spam mail.

    For starters, it’s free, and you earn 25 points when creating your account.

    Want to get your money under control?

    This is our guide to budgeting simply and effectively. We walk you through exactly how to use Mint, what your budget should be, and how to monitor your spending automatically.

    Get the Course

    Investments

    If you’ve listened to the show for any length, you know we wouldn’t let an episode about how to make more money go by without talking about investing.

    Investing is the best way to grow your wealth, and getting started is not hard.

  27. Fundrise
  28. Fundrise is crowdsourced real estate investing. You couldn’t make these investments, so you pool your money with other investors through Fundrise.

    They invest in things like apartment complexes, hotels, and retail complexes.

  29. Buy Turnkey Properties Online
  30. Andrew started investing in real estate using a turnkey rental property strategy.

    This approach requires that you don’t have to be a hands-on landlord, so your lack of plumbing knowledge won’t stop you from making passive income.

    It also means you can own properties nowhere near your city, which may be too expensive for you to buy.

    You can invest in homes with low living costs in areas like Indiana, Georgia, and Ohio.

    He even created a course documenting his experience focusing exclusively on turnkey rental property investing: Rental Properties for Passive Investors.

    You’ll learn his criteria for finding (and closing) the right property, the foundations of a successful rental business, the advantages of shielding your assets in an LLC, and more.

    Rental Properties for Passive Investors

    Our proven, data-driven approach to building a portfolio of income-producing rental properties that perform in the long-term.

  31. Dividend Aristocrats
  32. Not all stocks are created equal. For example, some stores pay dividends, and the supplies are dividend aristocrats.

    An aristocratic dividend is a company that has continuously increased the dividends it pays its shareholders.

    To be categorized as such, a company must typically have increased dividends for at least 25 years.

    Coca-Cola and McDonald’s would be two examples. The S&P 500 has a fund called The S&P 500 Aristocrat Fund that has, over the last ten years, had returns of 8.28%.

    Dividend Aristocrats Portfolio

    This is an index fund of the most consistent dividend-paying companies in the S&P 500. It has historically outperformed the S&P 500 long-term. Over the past 10 years, it has returned 10.98% on an average annual basis whereas the S&P 500 only returned 10.53% during that same period.

    The Sharing Economy

    People don’t necessarily want to own certain kinds of things, cars, for example. But they still need cars from time to time.

    And some bright people realized they could make money with their spare time or their spare things by renting them to those non-buying people.

    And poof, the sharing economy was born.

    You can rent out your car and driving services with like Lyft. You can rent your car to Uber or Lyft drivers who don’t have cars of their own up to those companies’ standards with Hyrecar and make more than $1,000 a month.

    Check what kind of insurance is required to do this, or it can cost you much more than you could ever make.

    Rent a room in your house or your entire home on Airbnb. Depending on where you live, even doing that one weekend a month could pay your mortgage.

    Airbnb: Become a Host
    Rent out a room or an entire home to travelers. Airbnb hosts, on average, make more than any other gig workers and are raking in an average $924 per month. Nearly half of hosts make more than $500 per month.

  33. Optimize Your Expenses
  34. Earning extra cash definitely has a bigger impact than just saving, but hey, trimming down your expenses where you can is still pretty smart. Plus, optimizing your spending can free up more cash for the fun stuff or to stash away for a rainy day.

  35. Dosh
  36. Dosh gets you automatic cash back at thousands of places when you shop, dine, or book hotels. No coupons or receipt scanning. Simply download the app, so you earn money as you shop!

    Dosh | Automatic Cash Back When You Shop, Dine & Book Hotels

    Dosh gets you automatic cash back at thousands of places when you shop, dine, or book hotels. No coupons or receipt scanning. Simply download the app or find us in your favorite ways to pay, like Venmo or Jelli. It’s awesome.

    We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

  37. Rocket Money
  38. 80% of people save money by using Rocket Money to find and cancel unwanted subscriptions! With Rocket Money, you can also effortlessly track your spending, easily lower bills and track your net worth.

  39. Cushion
  40. Cushion is the easiest way to organize, pay, and build credit with your existing bills and Buy Now Pay Later. All your recurring payments — one dashboard, complete control.

  41. Seated
  42. Seated is an awesome app that rewards you for dining out at restaurants. Just book a table through the app, enjoy your meal, and earn rewards like gift cards to your favorite stores!

    You can redeem your Seated Rewards for gift cards from your favorite brands like Uber, Amazon, Target, Sephora, Airbnb, Starbucks, Nordstrom, and more! You must use the app to make a reservation at participating restaurants.

    Seated

    It would help if you used Seated when dining out. Every time you complete a reservation (book ahead or walk-in), you get up to 30% back. Use your rewards on in-person experiences or redeem for gift cards with brands including Amazon, Uber, and Target. Laura and I almost exclusively eat out with Seated because it saves us so much.

    We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

    You Could Be Doing More

    Let’s face it, most of us aren’t maxing out our potential to rake in more cash. This week, why not pick just one thing from this list and give it a shot?

    Scope out your workplace, spot the tasks nobody’s eager to tackle, and dive into those. After that, hit up Payscale to check if your paycheck’s really reflecting your worth.

    If the numbers don’t match up, maybe it’s time to start hunting for a gig that’ll pay you what you deserve.

    Grab all the cash you’ve pocketed or saved up from the tips in this article and open a Starter Account with Fundrise.

    We could all do more to grow our wealth and achieve financial independence.

    Fundrise

    Diversify into income-producing real estate without the dramatics of actual tenants. Fundrise eREITs are a diverse family of funds, each of which pursues a focused real estate investment strategy.


    Disclosure: When you sign up with this link, we earn a commission. All opinions are our own. I am investing with Fundrise

Get our best strategies, tools, and support sent straight to your inbox.

Mark Fiebert - Contributor Mark spent over 30 years as a senior finance executive in Private Banking, Asset Management and Alternative Investments. Mark holds a BS in Accounting from Brooklyn College, an MBA in Finance from Pace University as well as being sponsored to attend The Wharton School Executive Development Program.
learn courses podcast popular toolbox