21 simple ways to make money without doing anything

INSIDER

Jacob Shamsian 1/23/2017

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   The INSIDER Summary:
  • If you're willing to put in the initial work, these methods of making money will
   insure that you'll be receiving payment far into the future.
  • Read on if you're looking for an easy side hustle to supplement some income.
  Making money takes work, but working can suck.
  Luckily, there are some ways to make money with little to no effort. Though some
   of these methods do take some work up front, they can set you up to earn passive
   income for the long term.
  Here are 21 ways to make money with minimum effort.
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  1. Become a referral source for local businesses.

  
  

  A lot of small, locally focused businesses - like landscapers, electricians,
   and home improvement companies - spread by word-of-mouth. Many
  of them pay referral fees for people to help spread the good word about
   their business.
  So the next time you have your plumber over, ask if they offer referrals.
  And if they do a good job, make sure to take advantage of that if you
  recommend them to a friend.
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  2. Write a book and get royalties.
  

  
  

  Okay, so this one takes a bit of work. But lets say you're an expert on a
   subject. On Marissa Mayer and the company Yahoo!, for
   example (now available in paperback). Once you actually write the book and
   put your expertise to paper, then get it published, you're pretty much done.
  From then on, whenever people buy your book, you get paid in royalties.
   The precise amount of royalties are contingent on your contract with the
  book publisher.
  If you self publish on Amazon or another self-publishing platform,
  there are standardized contracts that pay out depending on how many
   people download the ebook or read it through Amazon's ebook-lending
   program.

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  3. Create an online course and get paid for it.

  
  

  Let's say you're an expert in a subject, but don't think that a book is the right
   way to communicate the knowledge you want to share.
  You can do it with an online course. You can make and upload one to Udemy,
  for example, and set your own price points.
  Whenever someone buys the course,
   you'll get paid.
   

   4. Make a website and get advertisement revenue.
  

  
  

  If you're an expert in a subject, but that subject isn't fit for a book
   project or an online course, set up a website!
  Use Wordpress, Weebly, or some other web-creation platform
  to make a site and make your guide there. Then sell
  online ads - which you can do with Google, for example - on
  your site so that you get some spare revenue whenever
  someone reads your work.

  

  5. Or make a YouTube video guide.

  
  

  Stick with me. Let's say you're an expert on a subject, but the best way
  to convey your information isn't in a book, an online course,
  or a post on the web. Instead, consider making a YouTube video.
  YouTube is filled with thousands and thousands of guides
  on every topic imaginable. If you're an expert on how to
  do a factory reset on an iPhone, you can make a video about that. If you're
   an illustrator and want to explain the vocabulary of your
  trade, you can make a video about that.
  As with the web, YouTube lets you set up ads
   on your videos. People searching for those subjects
  will find your videos, watch them, and then the
   ad revenue will roll in indefinitely.

   

  6. If you already have a website, use referral links.

  
  

  Whether your website is an online guide, a blog, or whatever
  else, use referral links whenever you discuss a product.
  Sites like Amazon, for example, let you add a bit of code
   in the URL of a product. If anyone buys the product
   through that URL, you get a percentage of the revenue
   from that purchase.

   

  7. Be in a commercial.

  
  

  Any actor will tell you that getting an acting gig - even a
  commercial - is tough. If you live in a major metropolitan
   area, though, it isn't as difficult to become an extra.
  If the contract is good, you can make some serious money.
   One of my friends was featured in a Target commercial
  that was in heavy rotation during the 2012 Summer
   Olympics. He got $500 every time it aired and used
  the cash to pay off a good chunk of his college tuition.
  Here's more info on how to become an extra and what it's like.

   
  
  

  8. Airbnb your unused apartment or room.

  
  

  If your kids have flown the coop and you have an extra room in
  your house, or if you're traveling for awhile and won't be in your
   apartment, consider renting it out for the short term on
  websites like Airbnb or VRBO.
  They basically allow you to turn your room into a hotel.
  You can list your room, set rental dates and prices, and
   people visiting the area will pay you to live in your
  room for a short amount of time.
  How much you can make depends on the rental
   market in your area, however.
  If you have an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
  , for example, you can stand to make a pretty penny by renting
   out your room while you go backpacking in Europe for the
   summer. But if you're in Pittsfield, Maine, you might not
  find as much demand for your house's extra bedroom.

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  9. Sell old books on Amazon.

  
  

  If you have a bunch of old books lying around that you never plan to read again, you can put them in a box and ship them to Amazon to sell for you. Whenever one gets sold, they'll take a cut and then give you the remainder of the profits.
  I wrote about how it works here.

  

  10. Invest in index funds.

  
  

  It's generally a really bad idea to try to play the stock market unless
  you're a financial professional.
  There's one exception: index funds. Investing in a small number of
   stocks is a volatile business. It's possible to make a lot of money, but
  you could lose a lot, too.
  Investing in index funds puts a little bit of money in a lot of stocks.
   Those stocks track parts of the stock market as a whole.
   One index fund known as the S&P 500 has grown by more than 2,000% over
  the last 40 years, so it's a relatively safe, stable fund to invest in.
  However, you likely don't stand to lose or gain as much money
   as you would if you invest in individual stocks.
  To invest in stocks, the easiest way would be
   to get a brokerage account at a bank like Charles Schwab, or
  use the free stock trading app Robinhood.

   
  
  

  11. Save your money in a high-yield savings account.

  
  

  When you save your money in a savings account, banks often give
  you extra money based on interest.
  Sometimes their interest rates can be low - below inflation rates,
   even - which means you're effectively losing money. The interest
   figure, often referred to as "APY," can differ based on which country
   or state you live in and what each bank offers in your
   area. On the low end, they're about 0.01%, assuming you
  meet the bank's minimum requirements.
  But with a high yield savings account, you can get an
   APY of about 1%. It isn't much, but it's significantly
   higher than what a low-interest account would offer.
  Unless you have a lot of savings, it's hard to be eligible
   for a high-yield savings account from a traditional bank.
   Instead, you'll probably
  have to park your money in an online bank, like Ally or Synchrony.
  Since they don't have brick-and-mortar stores, they pass the money
   they save on rent to the consumers, with things like high-yield
  savings and by reimbursing users for ATM fees.

  
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12. Use Acorns to invest your spare change.

The app Acorns also offers a similarly safe, relatively stable way to make
a little extra money.
It's an app that lets you link credit or debit cards to it. When you make
a purchase, it rounds up the price and then invests the difference into stock portfolios.
So for example, lets say you buy a cup of coffee for $2.69.
You can instruct acorns to charge your credit card $3, and
then invest the extra 31 cents into an index fund, or
in another
stock portfolio.
Bank of America has a similar program called Keep the Change,
which puts the difference into a savings account.

 

13. Invest in high-dividend stocks.

Among the funds you invest in, make some high-dividend stocks.
There are two kinds of dividends: cash dividends and stock dividends.
Cash dividends are when companies give shareholders
cash based on their profits, and stock dividends are when
corporations give shareholders extra stock.
Dividends are given for different reasons, but they're ways
 that companies reward shareholders for holding on to a stock.
The list of companies that regularly give out dividends
sometimes changes, but you can find some recent
ones on
finance
  sites like The Motley Fool, which currently recommends Iron Mountain.

14. Get even more cash back with Ebates.

Thousands of online stores, whether it's J.Crew or Amazon,
also offer cash back for purchases you make on their sites.
You just need to know where to look.
The website Ebates catalogs almost all of them. If you shop
with their browser extension installed, it'll tell you
 when cash back or coupons are available. You can also
 use the extension Wikibuy, which has Ebates integration
 built in, and additionally checks in the background if
 the item you're shopping for is cheaper on a different website.

Slide 1 of 22: <p> Making money takes work, but working can
suck.</p><p>Luckily,
there are <a href="http://www.thisisinsider.com/ways-to-earn
-passive-income-2015-12/#-2"> some ways to make money with
little to no effort</a>. Though some of these methods do take some
 work up front, they can set you up to earn passive income for the
 long term.</p><p>Here are 21 ways to make money with
minimum effort.</p>

1/22 SLIDES © frankieleon/Flickr

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