There are a number of ways to begin working for yourself when you start out with $0 to invest in your business nowadays however it is important to realize that whatever you start out doing, be sure to consider the long term effects of spending time on that thing.
When you work for yourself or someone else always consider if you are getting closer to your end goal. My finance professor wrapped up the course with a game that only could be won if you consider the end of the game and work backwards. The message was the most important (especially because I can’t remember exactly how the game worked now).
With this in mind I’m going to provide examples of ways to work for yourself and also the potential end goal. You should make it a habit to consider the end goal so your not wasting your time. Otherwise you must be okay with a temporary position and accept that the skills might not exactly transfer over. If the position is helping you and you weighed the pros and cons than that is still good because you are planning ahead.
Teach English to children in China. You must be from the U.S. or Canada to join and teacher qualifications are helpful to stand out. This position allows you to work remote. This could be a great fit long term if your plan to build up your remote work experience and start your own business teaching languages. Click here to find out more.
Teach your native language or any language your fluent in to students around the world. Teacher qualifications are not required but the TEFL certification can be beneficial if you are teaching English. I know a number of friends teaching English abroad and it can be a great way to begin working remote and traveling. This could be a great fit if you want to start your own website that offers teaching lessons. You decide your prices, but Preply does take a portion of your earnings that exceeds 20%. You do not get paid for trial classes but they do contribute to the total class given which helps lower the percentage Preply takes as you become more of a consistent tutor. The most common range I see friends making money is between $10-20, before Preply takes it’s portion out, which you can start making in about a month after a few classes on your profile. Most students just want to have conversations so don’t worry if you have never taught anyone before. Click here to find out more.
Pro Tip: Don’t ever cancel classes as it affects your ranking. If a student asks to reschedule have them reschedule the class in their account. If a student confirms the class but does cancels with short notice (12 hours or less) than you still get paid.
Reselling can be an effective way to make money online. From my own experience I would be cautious selling internationally and selling items that could break when shipping. You can take advantage of USPS to ship the cheapest in the United States, but be sure to know the different package options USPS offers to make the most savings. To be honest I essentially broke even buying and reselling items I found at thrift stores. The experts online will tell you to use eBay to check the value of the product previously sold on the platform to determine if you can make money of it. From my experience I found that after shipping I made very little. Also a lot of people on eBay come to the platform looking for a bargain so keep that in mind when trying to make it on the platform. Instead of going to thrift stores yourself I would actually recommend going to friends, family or sites like Nextdoor to have people bring you items to sell. It costs you zero, they get a portion of the profit and you keep the rest for selling the item.
Unless you are trying to open up your own thrift store in the future I would not recommend this business as a full time gig. Selling personal items from time to time here or even better on a platform like OfferUp (just be wary of scammers) can be a great way to build your confidence selling items to people. As a full time job I found thrifting, taking photos, packing products, and shipping them was incredibly time consuming for very little gain.
You have heard of them already Uber Eats, DoorDash, Rappi (if you are in South America), and many more. I personally only tried Uber Eats but often found that drivers like to sign up for multiple, have both apps running and accept the best offers available. This could be a good option for extra income if you like me have a small car with only two back seats. Uber only allows cars with three seats in the back. The lower barrier to entry also unfortunately means you aren’t learning many skills. I would not suggest this as the long term strategy as it is really only a means to provide you quick cash. Also you are considered self-employed so you are paying the taxes your employer usually pays when you are just an employee. You can make deductions on your expenses but taxes can still take a lot of earning out when you complete your yearly tax return. I did Uber eats all across the U.S. and naturally I found the most success in bigger cities.
Your experience may be different from mine, but to be honest unless you are looking for some quick cash or need a temporary source of income I would not recommend this option. The people that were making money were the ones in real estate buying the buildings that restaurants could rent out to only do delivery instead of paying the cost of an entire restaurant.
I found the most success using Wag for just quick dog walks. Rover is another option, but I was not as successful and believe it is more suited for dog boarding if you have the space. Same as food delivery I would only recommend this as quick cash or a temporary source of income. Unless you plan to start your own dog daycare.
I would recommend checking out Shipt. It is easy to get started. Normal grocery runs are quite time consuming so definitely take advantage of the Target only orders as they are the fastest. Prepaid orders are great too. Be sure to look at the order details before accepting an order in the app and don’t worry about cancelling an order. Don’t quote me, but I don’t recall a penalty for cancelling. It can be beneficial if you took a time consuming order on accident. For quick cash or a temporary source of income.
Sort of out of left field here but if you are younger and interested in making income that isn’t a lemonade stand or cutting grass you can use sites like NextDoor to offer your services. Word-of-mouth will quickly spread so be sure to set your prices right and consider only doing this temporarily. Long term you could look to hire a team or work with a group of friends, but I don’t see this expanding beyond that.
This became all the hype a few years ago although the practice of not holding inventory has been around for a while as far as I am aware. Not sure if it still is the “hype”, but I wouldn’t recommend. I believe it is very difficult to do well if you are just starting out. I can’t speak on personal experience but believe there are better ways to start a business online than drop shipping anything and everything. If you know someone successful doing it, take their advice not mine. I can confidently say that not every who gives their opinion in your life is always qualified to give their opinion. A complementary side tip for you.
There you have it! These are just some ideas of making some income for yourself. It is important to get use to earn your own income in multiple ways and not feel reliant on employers. I think it helped build my confidence in working for myself. However for most people these are just temporary ways to earn and I would recommend learning to program as it becomes that much easier to work remote to launch your freelance business (SEO specialist, UI/UX specialist, web developer), start an eCommerce store selling physical or digital products (i.e. illustrations, eBooks, etc.), and promote your startup. It also give you time to figure out what type of business you want rather than being unproductive with your time spending hours coming up with a business name for a business you don’t have yet. Not that I have struggled with that…
No fluff. Just real projects, real value, and the path from code to cash — one useful build at a time.