Making Money Online in 2020 | Passive Income

Making money online is something that everyone wants but very few stick to and do what it takes to make it worth their while. Over the last 7 years, I have been fortunate enough to make passive income almost on a monthly basis. This did not come by easy, I learned early on that I needed to spend money to make money. So, are you ready to start making money online? Are you willing to spend money to make money and earn passive income along the way? If so, then read on as we are dropping some gems.

So, what is passive income anyway? People often interchange passive income with earning money online but I think they are slightly different. Passive income is defined as an income resulting from cash flow received on a regular basis were as earning money online is not something many of us achieve on a regular basis. In the last 7 years of blogging, I have gone through months of making money in abundance to months were the money-pit completely dried out. I think that is the difference between making money online and having a passive income.

Making Money Online in 2020

As a blogger, traveller and miss-independent, there is nothing I love more than finding new ways of earning passive income. When it comes to earning money online, I have shared on several occasions some of the ways you too can earn a passive income (on a regular basis). The difficulty I have found over the years is that more often than not, folks struggle with the idea of ‘spending money to earn money’ – the ideal passive income.

Whether you spend actual money or you spend time (time is money), you need to invest in the product, your skills or your time to be able to earn money online. Over the last 7 years, I have grown as a blogger, I have found avenues that allow me to make a regular passive income which I mostly spend on my travels. There are only a few avenues that I utilise to make money and I have mentioned the majority of them in this post.

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Etsy – create something

Etsy is a place where you can sell almost anything handmade although that shouldn’t limit you on what items you can sell. A lot of bloggers use Etsy to sell their services from blog themes, custom blog makeovers to online courses. For me Etsy is a place to sell things that both my mum and sister made, it brings in a small but steady income.

eBay – second hand items sell too

I have always associated eBay with being a place where I can buy and sell second-hand items. For my family, we use it to sell handmade items like bonnets, baby clothing, bookcases and the like. In the past, I have used eBay to sell presents I had received in the past that I did not like and items I had bought but never used.

Ebooks – write something

Ebooks are some of the ways bloggers and online entrepreneurs make money online, if you have a hidden talent for short stories or even ‘how-to’ guides, you can sell them online. I started writing an ebook many moons ago and I still haven’t finished a chapter, this is not for everyone but if you have the talent, it’s another great way to make money.

Blogging – your corner of the world

When I started blogging, I did not know that this would become my second source of income. There have been months during this blogging journey where I have made £1000+ easy and other months where I have made £50 only. But one thing I can promise you is that this blog month on month brings in something and back when I started I didn’t think it would be anything more than my little corner of the world where I complained.

In the last 7 years, I have gone through peaks and troughs but in each phase, this blog has brought in some revenue. I have seen many bloggers come and gone, not everyone has the knack for blogging but everyone has the knack for dreaming about earning extra income.

To make money from this blog I spent money (self-hosting, blog themes, widgets, Facebook promotions and much more) and I spent countless hours which in turn translated into income. I should, however, warn you, not everyone makes money from the first month or even the first year. In that time, many are spending for the future they know their blog space will generate.

Online Surveys

Before I started blogging, I used to love completing online surveys and it was all for fun until I saw an ad for an online survey that you pay you £50 (if you matched their criteria – I did) to complete their survey. It was my first time realising I could make money online like that and so I went down the rabbit hole. I completed countless studies and whilst all paid, none paid as good as the first-ever paid survey I ever completed. There are many companies online looking for people to complete various market-research surveys and pay you for your time.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the money-making avenues that I loathe mostly because you can send gazillion traffic to some affiliates and you only earn peanuts. Even affiliates where people buy items through your affiliate links you still don’t earn anything worth mentioning because more affiliates returns are like 0.5% of whatever someone bought via your link. Some affiliate links are regional so people who might use your link might not result in you earning anything because the links don’t work for them.

Apps & Websites

The same thing as online surveys, there are companies online searching for people to review their apps and/or websites. I have in the past reviewed apps and gotten paid for the service. I have not ventured into that recently so I don’t know if it’s worth the money anymore but back then you tested out the app, wrote a review and got paid (sounds like blogging to me).

Teach English Online

Teaching English online is something I have done in the past and did pay well but I got into this via recommendations from friends. But I know there are online schools and international schools that pay English speaking people with a degree to teach their students online. These days teaching is more common than most people realise and plenty of online schools are always looking.

In the last 7 years, I have been fortunate enough to find money-making avenues that work for me and continue to many years later. When I started blogging, I never could have imagined that this would become my source of a second income. Blogging for me is a side hustle, a small business that over the years I have worked up to update, provide useful content whilst being original to my initial purpose.

Have you ever thought of making money online? What are some of the avenues you utilise to make money?