11 smart ways to make some money

Picture this: earning a living quickly, from home and without the need for a degree.

It sounds too good to be true, we know. But it’s not. Online you can find dozens of articles listing ways to become rich, fast. There are so many options. But be wary, don’t take them all too literally. You can’t expect your bank balance to increase overnight. But some options are worth looking into.

We did some research and came up with this final list of 10 options to earn money quick and easy. Sit back and take it all in. Your future might be a lot brighter at the end of this list.

Take note that we haven’t organised the tips below in any way. They’re not ranked from best to worst. Every job suggestion has its pros and cons, depending on who’s reading this article!

You’re rushing to make it to someone's birthday, when you realise you don’t have a gift. Stupid! You can picture yourself trying to come up with a decent excuse amidst friends and family gifting perfect gifts. The embarrassment makes you cringe. But wait! There’s always the internet.

Exactly, there’s always the internet.

It has become impossible to imagine a world without webshops. Every product has its own online shop. But have you thought of a niche product that is hard to come by online? Or do you think you’ll do a better job at selling a product than current vendors? Start your own webshop!

It’s easily done. Many companies offer software that can program a website for you. Which means you can have your site up and running in no time. Don’t forget to register at the Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel in Dutch). Also, make sure you know all the rules and regulations surrounding this topic and that you know what service to post your packages with. Another tip is to think about your target group and how you’re going to match your product to their requirements.

Your website could save a lot of last minute gift buyers a lot of hassle, whilst earning a nice income for yourself. Perfect!

Another easy way to make money: Affiliate marketing; a kind of internet marketing. It means that you earn money by stimulating people online to buy certain products.

The advertiser, the retailer of the product, pays you a commission for every sale made through your affiliate link or with your affiliate code.

Before the internet age, this job was done by door-to-door salesmen and -women. But nowadays you don’t even have to leave your house.

By posting the product on a blog or website, or by talking about it in a vlog, you can stimulate your subscribers to buy a product. In comparison to door-to-door sales, the internet has enormously expanded your reach. Which means an increase in income as well.

Start by joining an affiliate network. A few popular ones in the Netherlands are Awin, Daisycon and Tradetracker. They manage an enormous advertiser database. Through their platforms you can sign up for campaigns you find interesting. The advertisers decide whether your website, blog or vlog fits their campaign. Once they’ve accepted you, you receive all sorts of promotional material that you can use to entice your subscribers to visit the advertisers website.

When your subscribers visit the website through one of your posts, you’ll receive a commission.

But pay attention. Affiliate marketing calls for a well thought-out strategie. Carefully consider which campaigns match your audience and don’t randomly post everything on your website. Explain to your subscribers why they should buy the product. This will heighten the chances of them clicking to the advertisers website. Be sure that your information is accurate. Untrustworthy articles or videos will mean less clicks in the long run.

Big brands are always curious to know their customers opinion. By knowing what their customer wants they can potentially tweak their products to appeal to a broader audience.

This means there’s an unlimited amount of paid surveys you can fill in. You can do it from the comfort of your own home, on your own computer. You can earn a couple of hundred euros a month, but make sure you know what you’re doing to avoid frustration.

Only apply to websites with a good reputation, to ensure you’re being paid for the time it takes you to fill in the survey. Examples of trustworthy websites are: Opinieland, Panelclix NL, I-Say NL, SamSam and Toluna NL.

Check how much you’ll be paid per survey and if your profile means you’re suitable to answer the questions. Both precautions will prevent you from wasting your time.

You’ll learn by doing and within a few months filling in surveys can become a significant monthly income.

Many companies invest in content marketing nowadays.

Search engines we use everyday work due to complex algorithms. We won’t delve too deep into this subject in this article but in short: the quality of the content on a website, determines the ranking of a website in the results of a search engine.

Obviously, the higher, the better applies in this case. The higher you rank, the higher the chance that someone ends up on your website.

This has caused a huge demand for high quality content writers. So, are you good with words and feel like making some money from your living room? Look for copywriter or content creator/writer job offers.

Turn every room in your house upside down. You’ll probably find many things, worth money, that you’d completely forgotten about. Sell them on Marktplaats, easy and free of charge.

Take note of the following tips:

1. Check the competition (other vendors). How are they selling their products? What can you learn from them?
2. Make sure to use relevant search terms in your product description. Important details are things like dimensions, purchase date, condition and brand.
3. State all useful information. You don’t want to leave your potential customer with any questions. So be thorough, you’ll come across as reliable and buyers will opt for your items.
4. Found a buyer? Come to clear agreements about reserving and viewing the item. This will prevent disappointment later on.

Our reality is inseparable from the digital world. Almost every company needs someone who speaks the digital language: the language of coding.

Endless amounts of free coding courses are offered online (like codeacademy). Another option is to follow a more advanced course paid for by your future employer.

By learning to code you’ll have a new life skill and - if coding is something you’re good at - job security later on. Worth mentioning too is that coders can earn a good salary.

For companies and organisations it’s an absolute must to produce correct texts for things like their websites, minutes and annual reports. Spelling or grammatical errors come across as unprofessional.

On the internet there are many job offers for spell checkers or correctors. You can work from home and earn a nice living too. Only prerequisites are a good comprehension of the English or Dutch language and some basic computer skills!

With the growing amount of freelancers, comes a growing group of people doing their own tax administration.

This added workload can prevent freelancers from doing their actual jobs. And so the need for virtual assistants arose.

A virtual assistant does the same job as a personal assistant does. Things like tax administration, social media and website management and content and graphic design. Usually no schooling is required, however previous experience can be helpful when applying for a virtual assistant job. Salaries can vary from twenty to forty euros an hour. And remember, the more experience you have, the higher the pay will be. But the best part is undoubtedly that you can work from home.

Being a virtual assistant might be the best job option on this list. The pay is relatively high, you can keep developing yourself as a person and by working for someone, and you don’t miss the personal touch of colleagues as with the other jobs on the list.

You’ve probably got them too. Items you need, but not that often.

Things like the carrier cycle you bought when the children were small, the ladder you use twice a year to replace light bulbs or the pressure washer you use once in a while to clean the patio.

All very useful, but not used enough! You could earn some money with all of these unused products.

Rental websites like Peerby.com allow you to rent out these items. Peerby ensures that the items reach the renter and they also make sure they’re insured. This makes renting out the things you have laying around an easy way to make money. Don’t expect to earn a lot, but every little helps!

Are you a car owner that drives around a lot? In large cities it might be worth it to print advertisements on your car. On websites such as cashcar.nl and loonrijden.nl you can fill in which route, how often and what kind of car you drive. Following these details a profile is created. Companies interested in your profile will contact you to talk business.

In today’s day and age, it pays well to know how to build a website from start to finish. And, the good news is that you can learn the skill quite easily!

There are lots of easy-to-follow and understand web design courses on Udemy and the internet is filled with resources for beginners who want to launch their careers. Furthermore, it’s easy to reach out to other designers and ask for advice. Not to mention that all you need to start learning is a laptop/PC and a good internet connection.

The not-so-good news (for some of you): this is a line of work where you never stop learning. In the last decade, the idea and shape of a website has changed drastically, so designers have had to adapt to the new world. And the same is happening right now, with intelligent technologies invading the web and new elements constantly coming our way (such as voice search, visual search, intelligent chatbots, and more).

Still, if you start now, you have the advantage of seeing these new technologies with fresh eyes. Also, there are lots of projects for beginners that allow you to test your skills and refine your style!