Everyone's looking for ways to bring in some extra cash these days - what with the recession coming and inflation raging its ugly head.
So if you’re short on cash, you’re probably looking for ways to make some extra money to help make ends meet or just to line your savings account with some extra cushion.
If you’ve tried other methods that don’t seem to be working, here are some unusual (and some unorthodox) ways to make some extra money this season.
1. Buy multiple limited edition products and sell them at a higher price point once they sell out.
Find a high-ticket, in-demand item to focus on and buy up as many as you can afford to.
Pro Tip: Don’t go into debt for this, just in case you can’t unload the merch afterwards.
Then, when demand goes way up (and it will, if you choose the right products), sell at a higher price than you paid.
The oldest rule in business: buy low, sell high.
Do some research before you embark on this journey.
Example: Jordan’s, Playstation 5s, etc.
2. Use your lesser skills to your advantage.
Got a skill that you could monetize quickly in your own neighborhood?
For example, can you braid hair? Can you design clothes?
Whatever the case may be, find a way to monetize your skills in your own backyard.
You’d be surprised just how much money is just out there for the taking.
Think outside the box and think of any skills or talents you could use to bring in some extra money. Everybody’s got something.
3. Babysit the neighborhood kids or your relatives’ kids.
Babysitting is something even a kid could do and although about only three out of ten Millennials actually have kids, there’s always someone out there who could use some childcare.
You could make it a one and done situation or you could offer your services on an ongoing basis.
Just be professional and figure out how to take payments easily. You could start with Venmo or CashApp.
4. Sell dinners.
When I was little, my church would raise money by selling dinners. The women in my church would cook up big batches of food, like collard greens, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, macaroni salad, etc.
Then, we’d have to go put up flyers to let people know that we’d be selling dinners and where to come pick up a plate.
Back then, plates would go for about $5, but these days, you can throw in a dessert and a drink and charge $10–$15 and people will pay.
I know because I paid for one not too long ago. A church in our neighborhood was doing this and they had fried fish, mac and cheese, and something else. I forget what else it was, but they charged about $10 for a plate. But there was no dessert and drink, so do the math and figure out how much you could tack on.
I don’t know about you, but I’d be willing to pay $15 for a plate of delicious southern cooking with a dessert and a drink. 👀 😋
5. Create an App.
Have a good idea for an app that no one else has seem to come up with yet?
Develop it yourself.
Creating an app can generate over $5,000 a month for you with the right idea and execution.
Learn how to build a mobile app and then start creating one from scratch or build one using a platform.
You don’t even need to know how to code anymore to build an app, so what are you waiting for?
The world needs your app…hopefully.
Let me rephrase that: Make an app the world needs.
6. Start a Food Truck Business.
A lot more small business owners who want to open restaurants are doing this to save money on location costs.
Overhead costs are lower with a food truck business and you can take it to some of the most popular locations in your city or county (with permits, of course — check with your local municipality).
If you can throw down in the kitchen, a food truck business might be right up your alley.
Get one or two people to help you run the truck, apply for the permits, buy the truck and equipment, and get your business up and running.
But first, think about what kind of food truck you want to run. Are you going to do frozen foods? Seafood? Mexican food?
You could even come up with a new type of food truck like combining two different foods into one truck — like an ice cream taco truck.
But obviously don’t do that. That’s a terrible idea. LOL.
7. Create a Product People Need But Don’t Have (And Sell the Idea).
Are you always coming up with ideas for new products that nobody’s ever thought of yet?
I know I am. I kicked myself when someone else came up with the idea for the nail clipper that keeps the nail clippings inside. I had that idea since high school (when I would clip my nails in Mr. Drakeford’s history class) and he commented on the fact that my finger nails were now all over his classroom floor.
And eureka! I thought, why doesn’t somebody come up with one that keeps the nail clippings inside?
And then I let that idea sit in a notebook in my drawer for years…years!
Until one day, I walk into Price Chopper and see the very thing I could have invented hanging from one of those plastic hanging things in the aisles (in the midst of all the food — you know you always see those really useful products you never thought you needed hanging from them)!
I wanted to kick myself.
Don’t be like me. Get your idea fleshed out and sell the idea or patent it and produce it yourself.
8. Use Your Spiritual Gifts.
Do you have a gift of communicating with spirits that have passed on to another dimension?
People will pay to communicate with loved ones they’ve lost. Helping them communicate with their loved ones is a win-win for both of you.
Start out by promoting your services online on social media and your own website.
Figure out what services you’ll offer and how much you’ll charge for them. See what similar prices are and determine whether you want to be the low-cost option (so more people can afford your services) or the premium option (charging more — but likely with less clients).
9. Sell Your Makeup Artist Services.
Are you good with makeup? Do people tell you that often and ask you to do their makeup?
If so, you could sell your services as a makeup artist. Know anyone that has an event coming up? Like a wedding?
Offer up your services and show them what you’ve done in the past.
Maybe you could keep an Instagram or Pinterest full of all the work you’ve done as sort of a portfolio to show potential clients.
10. Do Caricature Drawings on the Boardwalk.
If you live near a boardwalk or in a city where there’s always outdoor events happening, and you can draw, consider doing caricature drawings for people on the boardwalk.
You can charge upwards of $15 for one photo in really popular travel destinations and people will actually pay for it.
It’s a fun, easy way to make some quick cash on a nice day and make people smile in the process.
11. Create Your Own Songs and Make Money on Spotify.
A few people I know recently did this and I see people creating songs and putting them on Tik Tok — and then they blow up!
This song I found on Tik Tok called Energy is now in a frickin’ commercial!
You could do the same thing — although there’s no guarantee your song will make it into a commercial.
But if you’re passionate about making music and you put it on Spotify and promote the hell out of it, you could bring some attention to your song and actually make money from it.
12. Get Paid to Eat.
Do you love to eat and wanna get paid to eat?
Well, there are a few ways you can get paid to just that.
Check out my article on eight ways you can get paid to eat.
13. Sell Cold Water on a Hot Day.
I used to see this all the time in the city.
Cars stuck in traffic in the heat. And people taking advantage of that by selling cold bottled water to people in traffic that didn’t appear to have air conditioning — and sometimes, they even sold to people that did.
I always admired their hustle and I wanted to do the same thing as a teenager to make some extra money.
If you want to make some extra money in your city and you know there’s always a traffic jam in certain parts of town, take advantage.
Sell cold water on those particularly hot days.
14. Try Match Betting.
Okay, so this is more-so gambling than a way to make money, but it is unusual and people have made money doing it.
So, why not you?
Of course, there’s no guarantee that you’ll actually make money from this. My advice is to find someone who’s already winning at it and ask them to share their strategy. You might have to pay for that information so be ready to fork up some cash. Not all information is free.
15. Sell Your Notes.
If you’re a great note taker who’s just finished up college, create a listing for free on NoteSale.
Or you could even sell your notes directly to your classmates.
Know someone who’s constantly asking to copy or “borrow” someones notes?
Take advantage and ask them if they want to buy yours.
You could also write study guides for people in your class and sell them when it‘s nearing test or exam time.
Do this every year and you could make a nice chunk of change to support yourself as you make your way through college.
16. Become a Mystery Shopper.
Mystery shopping won’t make you a ton of money, but it can help put a dent in that stack of bills piling up.
There are a few apps you can try for mystery shopping jobs. They include:
Secret Shopper
BestMark
Market Force
Signature Worldwide
Service Evaluation Concepts
IntelliShop
Sinclair Customer Metrics
Check out some of these and decide which ones you like best. Have you tried any of these? Let me know in the comments.
17. Be a Professional Cuddler.
Being a professional cuddler sounds like a made-up job, doesn’t it?
But you can actually get paid to cuddle with someone as strange as it sounds.
If you’re good with people and can make your clients feel less alone, you could make decent money doing this on the side.
It might not
18. Make Money by Sharing Your Life Story with a Magazine.
If you’ve got a pretty interesting life story, you could share it with a relevant magazine publisher and get paid for it. Magazines pay anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to a little over a thousand dollars.
You could also tell a short story (less than 100 words) and submit it to Reader’s Digest.
Another option is to submit list-style ideas to ListVerse.
19. Become a Field Agent.
Field Agent is an app that allows you to complete different types of tasks for money.
According to their site, “Agents gather information for brands and retailers by taking photos, sharing opinions, and completing other tasks to ultimately help companies deliver the best products and experiences possible for people like you!”
I downloaded the app and going through the jobs, these are the types of tasks I saw:
Real estate audits (taking exterior photos of residential and commercial property)
Ticket jobs (jobs where you earn tickets to enter a drawing instead of cash)
Mystery shops (interaction with employees is required)
Fourth of July Specials
Ratings and Reviews (Try a product and leave a review on the specified item page — you’ll be reimbursed for the price of the product)
General (a little bit of everything)
Eye Spy! (Finding products in certain stores around your neighborhood)
Basically, you’ll have your pick of what kinds of jobs you want to do. But they don’t pay a ton. This is great if you just want to earn a few extra bucks here and there.
It will not…I repeat…WILL NOT replace your full-time job, or even your part-time job.
20. Make Your Own Booth and Charge People to Use Them At Fairs.
I recently found out that a cousin of mine does this. She has a photo booth that she charges people to use.
She goes to different events and gets paid every time someone uses her photo booth.
You can attend fairs and any outdoor event in the summer. You could even promote your services to schools for their events, like school dances, proms, and other fun school events.
You don’t have to do a photo booth, either. Get creative. Maybe instead of a photo booth, you could do a selfie station and have several backdrops that people can take photos in front of.
Charge them a certain amount for four or five photos — or make up your own pricing! It’s all up to you. The sky’s the limit with an idea like this.