What Can I Do to Make Money On the Side That’s Not a Business?
Having trouble paying some of your bills? Need some spending cash for your family every month? Then you’ll want to stop what you’re doing and read this..
I understand how it must feel to not have enough money to pay all your bills at the end of the month or to not be able to treat your family to a nice dinner at your favorite restaurant.
More than ever I get contacted by people who just want to make a little extra money on the side without the commitment of doing a business.
I totally get that.
Yes, you can absolutely make money on the side doing various things – from filling out surveys to clicking links in emails…and everything else in between.
If you dream of having a little spending cash every month, then you’ll want to carefully look at the section below…
What Can I Do to Make Money On the Side? How About Surveys and Pay to Click Sites…
These lists will be short, sweet and to the point.
You see, people tend to not make choices when faced with too many choices. My hope for you is to get out of “analysis paralysis” mode so that you can be on your way to making some cool moolah.
With that said, here is the question I see all the time…
Do Surveys Really Work?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
However…
I’ve probably said it a thousand times on this site, but here’s my disclaimer…you’re not gonna buy a Maserati clicking links and taking surveys. There I said it.
I have to admit that sometimes I actually enjoy being the bearer of bad news because then it sets you FREE to set realistic expectations that you can actually achieve 🙂
Here’s the reality – on average what you can earn is enough money for a bill or two every month. Some guy actually posted that he’s making $1k – $1600/month just filling out surveys! More on that later…
Consistency is your best friend. Pick an amount of time that you know that you can commit to daily. At minimum 30 minutes a day.
Here are the TOP 3 Survey Variety Sites
These sites have many ways you can earn from taking surveys, to getting paid to watch videos to getting paid to do tasks.
Higher Paying Survey Company
Prolific – This company is sponsored by Oxford University
Other Survey Type Sites
Some of these sites pay in gift cards.
InstaGC – Surveys and trial offers
Earn Honey – Claims it offers some of the highest payouts
Swagbucks – Earn by doing surveys, doing Internet searches etc…
Think About Mystery Shopping as a Way to Make Money on the Side
I was a BIG time mystery shopper back in the day when I unexpectedly got laid off from my job. Mystery shopping can create a nice side income in addition there are times you get small items for free, free meals, free hotel stays etc…
There are hundreds if not thousands of companies across the United States, Canada and Australia. I’m not sure about any other countries.
Remember, you NEVER ever pay to become a mystery shopper.
Here Are Some Top Picks:
A Closer Look – They’ve been in business over 20 years! They service includes restaurants, hotels, and retail establishments.
Amusement Advantage – This company services amusement parks, bowling centers, museums, etc… This company has also been in business over 20 years. This is a great opportunity if you have children or grandchildren (or if you can borrow a niece or nephew :-).
Bestmark – A leader in this industry – has been around over 30 years! They have a wide variety of shops in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada. I worked for this company way back when.
Cirrus Marketing – Another company I used to work for. They’ve been around for ages and have a wide variety of shops including theme parks and audit shops.
Micro-Tasks, Errands…

You can get paid a few cents for doing small tasks online or you can gt paid some serious money by doing errands for others.
Micro-Tasks
Some of those Survey sites I listed earlier have micro-tasks you can complete and earn a few cents for. In addition you have sites like:
M-Turk – This is a company that is a part of Amazon.
ClickWorker – Read this Clickworker review I did a couple of years ago.
Run Errands
Be a Driver
Home Jobs
With these jobs you’re either employed by a company or you’re an independent contractor. Some home jobs have very strict requirements and some only hire in certain states. Make sure you read each job’s FAQ/Requirements,/Description etc before you apply.
Customer Service Agent
Internet Based Jobs
Lionbridge (very strict criteria – make sure you read carefully)
LeapForce – Do search engine related tasks
Zero Chaos – Rating ads online. There’s not a lot of English speaking jobs, but a ton of jobs in other languages such as Vietnamese, Russian, etc… If you speak a language fluently other than English then your odds of getting in improve greatly.
Miscellaneous
Get Paid For Writing
Constant Content
Content Gather
Become a Mail Decoy
US Monitor – Long time company that’s legit. You’ll only get a few bucks per month
I Have a Health/Physical/Mental Issues – What Can I Do to Make Money On the Side?
If you’re dealing with some sort of issue that prevents you from having to work with people, and/or if you have some sort of limited ability, know there are ways that you can still make money online…
Mystery Shopping – You can just do shops that are a lot simpler and easier to do (i.e. gasoline, drug store shops (Wal-Greens etc), apartment shops. Better yet, just do shops that only require phone call audits (no physical store visits).
Home Jobs – If you’re not into dealing people even on the phone, consider doing data entry, You can check with local businesses in your area to see if they need someone to do data entry for them. Also consider internet search type jobs like Leapforce, Lionbridge.
Online surveys can work well – if you spend several hours a day doing them like this guy. He says he makes about $250-$400 per week. The alternative to making that kind of money without filling out the surveys yourself is to get referrals – IMHO that is the better way.
Where to Start?
Clearly you don’t want join every single thing on here. The best approach is to find the one or two things that appeal to you and do those. My hope for you is that you don’t leave this site without putting together an action plan of how you intend to make money.
So, what can I do to make money on the side that’s not a business? Well, you got your answers…
Now go make some money!