Making And Saving Money Using The Internet
There are so many uses for the internet these days, it’s almost limitless, and you should be using it to help you make and save money.
It can be super convenient if you know how to do it, and it’s something you can do in your spare time, too.
Not all money plays on the internet are going to be easy to make though. You need to know what you’re looking for in order to reduce your risk of loss. So, if you’re prepared to put in some research, then I’ve got some tips to help you save & make money online.
Finding the best deals
When it comes to saving money, online shopping can be your best friend.
Hunting for deals online is often the best way to buy just about anything because you can:
Easily compare prices from a variety of stores
Compare product descriptions & specs head-to-head, and;
Read reviews from actual customers.
You can save money on almost anything by getting it online - Even items you’d usually buy in person, like furniture, cars, and even food! You never know what you’ll find when shopping online, but if you look hard enough you’re sure to find a great deal.
Look Out For Letdowns
If a price tag looks alarmingly cheap it could be a scam, or you could be at risk of receiving something that wasn’t exactly what you purchased. Make sure you look for detailed reviews before you buy anything that seems too good to be true. Also, try to stick to reputable vendors with a reasonable return policy and responsive customer service.
Sell Your Talents
Have you heard of “The Gig Economy”? There are sites like Fiverr & UpWork that will allow you to capitalize on the skills that you’ve learned and developed over the years.
Can you paint? Edit resumes? Do you have a great radio voice - Maybe you could get paid to narrate someone’s audiobook! These are all jobs that people pay others to do every single day online.
Or, maybe you have a niche talent that not many people are good at. If so, you can sell lessons online.
There are a bunch of sites designed for creative people like you to create & host their courses. Once upon a time, I used Thinkific to create an online investing course to teach new investors how to navigate the stock market on their journey to building generational wealth.
Online Communication
If you find yourself frequently paying extra for phone bills, you might look to the internet to cancel that out completely.
There are apps like WhatsApp and Skype that can help you stay connected for free. As long as you have internet access, you can escape long-distance calling, roaming, and messaging fees completely. The only downside to this is, if you don’t have internet access, you won’t be able to make calls obviously.
Discount Apps
Promo codes are a game-changer.
Apps like Honey will find and apply discount codes for you automatically. Once you sign up, you can add Honey to your Google Chrome browser and it will go to work for you right away.
I have personally used honey for a few years now and it is pretty cool to catch an extra 15% discount when you least expect it.
Most recently, Honey found a 10% discount promo code for me when I was renewing my domain name.
These apps are great, and provide you easy savings - and you don’t have to pay a single penny to use them!
Trading & Investing In Stocks
If you’re looking for big returns, putting your money into stocks might be for you.
You need to be well informed if you’re going to invest, as it’s possible to lose some or all of your money. Investing is not a game. In fact, investing is big business and it should be treated as such.
Timing the movements of the stock market is not an exact science, so it is imperative that you never risk more than you are comfortably willing to lose. Especially, early on while you are still learning.
On the other hand, if you take your time to understand how investing works and you study strong business with great products, you can make a lot of money over time.
Investing is just as much mental as it is mechanical. You have to learn how to be patient and control the emotions that come with being in the world of investing.
A wise man once said, “Don’t let fear keep you out and don’t let greed keep you in.”
Your own website
There are a lot of benefits of having your own website. You can start a blog (like me) or if you are tech-savvy you can create an online tool that other people will find useful.
Ideally, you want your website to provide massive amounts of value for your visitors so that you can generate a lot of traffic.
Traffic is the most important commodity on the internet because other brands will pay money to whoever can help them build their awareness and find new customers.
When you are regularly generating a high volume of engages visitors you can make money from hosting ads and selling affiliate products. The more people who visit your site and see the ads or buy the products you promote for other people, the more money you stand to gain from having your website up.
If you can build a helpful site that people want to visit, there’s marketing money waiting for you online.
Start A YouTube Channel
If you don’t want to build a website, you can start a YouTube channel instead.
YouTube creators can monetize their channel once they have 1,000 subscribers & 4,000 hours of watch time on their videos.
This may seem like a lot, but you may be surprised at how big some of these channels actually are.
If you create content that people really want to see, your channel can be monetized in a few short months.
The key to growing your brand on YouTube’s platform is to consistently produce valuable content.
Get Paid To Play Video Games
Here’s one you may not have thought of. Regular people are actually getting paid to live stream the video games they play on a platform called Twitch.
Cool, huh?
Twitch makes money the same way that YouTube (and every other media platform) does - By selling ads.
As a content creator / gamer, the more viewers you bring to Twitch the more money Twitch makes on ads and the more money you get paid.
To become eligible the Twitch Affiliate program guidelines are pretty straightforward.
You need to have:
500+ total minutes broadcast in the last 30 days
At least 7 unique broadcast days in the last 30 days
An average of 3 concurrent viewers or more over the last 30 days
At least 50 Followers
If you stream on a regular basis it might take you anywhere from 3 to 9 months to hit affiliate status. Of course this depending on your skill level, entertainment value, and your other existing social presences.
My friend / old teammate Juwan Brescasin (JBoogieXCiii on Twitch) hit affiliate in just about 4 months.
Work From Home
There are many jobs that you can do from home, especially post-pandemic - Some of them pay pretty well, too.
You can use a career portal like Indeed to hunt for employment online, filtering specifically for remote work. Online job boards have evolved over the years to accommodate all kinds of roles. So, you can prune your career criteria to only remote work opportunities.
The decentralization of the digital workforce has allowed employers to recruit both locally and nation-wide, often pulling in job candidates from different time-zones. As long as you have the credentials to do the job, you’ve got a shot to apply at more places than you ever could have even just five years ago.
To give yourself the best shot at getting hired online, here are a few tips.
Update Your Resume For The Job You Want. Not every job is looking for the same exact candidate, so you need to highlight the traits that will make you stand out for the role you are currently working towards. Look at the job description and see how you can rearrange your resume to complement the verbiage in the job outline. Never lie. This isn’t about making things up. This is about telling the stories from your experience that are most relevant.
Clean Up Your LinkedIn Profile. Many recruiters and hiring managers will check-up on your online presence to see what you’ve been up to professionally. A well-manicured LinkedIn profile can go a long way in making a strong first impression.
Get Comfortable On Camera. Chances are you will do a phone interview and a video interview. Not everyone loves to be seen on screen, so before you have a video interview do a practice zoom call with someone else you know to help you get the jitters out. Learn how to mute and unmute yourself. Find good lighting. Put your camera somewhere that doesn’t have a distracting background. This way, when you get into the video interview you will be ready to land the job.
The Last Word On Saving & Making Money Online
There is a lot of money to be made online, but you have to know where to look.
Some people get excited to save an extra 5% at the checkout. Others want to shift their entire career online. Shoot, you could do both! If you have the time to research, there are opportunities all around us. You just have to be willing to put in the time to find them.