Easy ways to make money online: 20 beginner-friendly ideas to start today

Making money online is easier than ever - read this guide and find 20 beginner-friendly ways.

Are you looking to make money online but not sure where to start?

Then you're in the right place.

This guide is packed with easy, beginner-friendly ways to earn money online. Inside, you'll find flexible, scalable side hustles you can fit around your 9-5 - no specialist skills or technical expertise needed. Just simple ways to make money with your phone, laptop, or desktop computer.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive in.

How to make money online for beginners: 20 easy ways 

Making money online might seem like a pipedream, but it's real — and you can start today.

For these following online money-making opportunities you don't need a ton of money or experience. All you need is patience, a willingness to learn, and a commitment to making it work.

1. Clipping

Short-form content is everywhere. It's TikToks, Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts — and most of this popular content is actually clips.

But what exactly is clipping?

Put simply, clipping is taking long-form content (think visual podcasts) and transforming it into short-form videos (think 1 min reels). It's a way to showcase the most important parts of long-form video in a short-form way.

Getting started as a clipper is easier than you might think: the only skills you need are editing and an eye for viral content. If you’ve watched a lot of short form content (you probably have), you’re already basically an expert, so once you learn how to edit and clip, you can start making money as a content clipper right away.

So how do you make money clipping?

It's way easier than you think - especially when you use Whop Content Rewards, which pays clippers like you to clip viral content.

• Ease level: Very easy, especially if you’re already scrolling viral content daily
• Time to start: As little as less than an hour total to sign up and post your first video.
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $100-$500
• How long until you get paid? Paid upon submitting a clip (can be within a day of signing up if you find a clip and submit fast)

2. Microtasks

Now this is a super simple way to make money. Microtasks are short, easy tasks that can be done in just a few minutes. Their flexibility, combined with their ease, makes them perfect for anyone starting from scratch.

Examples of microtasks include tagging photos, transcribing a few seconds of audio, categorizing items, or answering short surveys. While each task pays a small amount (often under $1), they add up and many can be completed quite quickly.

To get started, sign up for microtask platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk or Clickworker. Approval is usually quick as there are very few requirements, so once you go through that process, you can browse through available tasks and start completing them right away. 

• Ease level: Very easy
• Time to start: Less than 1 hour to sign up and go through screening, about 24 hours or up to a week or more in some cases to be approved
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $50-$200
• How long until you get paid? Typically up to 30 days or more based on minimum payment thresholds

3. Social media support

Getting started as a social media creator is one of the best ways to cash in online, but we are talking about easy ways to make money, and becoming an influencer takes a lot of time and effort.

Instead of becoming a social media creator, offer support to social media creators. Just pick a social media related skill that you’re good at (captions, reels, templates, etc), and reach out to creators and businesses.

Your job could be as simple as answering comments, researching competition, creating hooks, content scheduling, or providing basic customer service–all things that can be done easily with no previous experience.

Pro tip: Rather than list your service on a saturated marketplace like Fiverr, try Reddit in addition to well-researched DMs to qualified clients to find leads faster

• Ease level: Easy execution for anyone that spends regular time on social media, moderate level for finding your first paying client 
• Time to start: Can start sending DMs immediately, but will need to wait for a client to agree to payment before staring paid work
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $50-200
• How long until you get paid? Depends on how fast you can get a client and the payment terms you make with them

4. User feedback

Like giving opinions? You can get paid to share feedback on websites, apps, or games. Businesses rely on real user feedback to improve their platforms, and your input is more valuable than you might think - particularly if you have good attention to detail and can give thorough and honest feedback.

Companies like UserTesting and TryMyUI can get you started right away with minimal requirements. Based on your profile information and demographics, you’ll be matched with paid tasks and receive straightforward instructions regarding duty and pay.

• Ease level: Generally easy to moderate if you are doing skilled or intensive feedback
• Time to start: Not normally immediate, will typically need to wait to get matched to relevant companies and available feedback opportunities, can take months of waiting 
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $50-200
• How long until you get paid? Up to 30-60 days after participating in the feedback session

5. Sell your extra stuff

Another low-effort way to make money online right now is by selling your extra stuff. It’s almost certain that you still have things that are sitting unused, so rather than just having them take up space, take the time to list them online so you can get paid to get rid of them. 

All you need to do is take decent pictures, do some pricing research, and create listings on platforms like Depop, Mercari, and Facebook Marketplace.

You might not make a huge amount of money selling your unused goods, and eventually, you'll run out of stuff to sell. Still, it's an easy way to earn some quick cash.

• Ease level: Very easy
• Time to start: Less than 1 hour to sign up and create a listing once you have the item you want to sell
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $10-$500+ depending on the value of your stuff
• How long until you get paid? As a new seller, you need to wait until a certain period (generally 5-14 days) after the buyer has received the item for funds to be released.

6. Online surveys

Survey sites pay you to take surveys (duh!). Sites like Survey Junkie, Branded Surveys and Five Surveys pay peeople like you for feedback on products, services, and experiences.

Responding to surveys doesn’t pay enough to be more than a side hustle, but every little helps.

Extra money making tip: Many survey sites have referral incentives, so if you get friends to sign up and make money with the platform, you can earn a referral fee 

• Ease level: Very easy
• Time to start: Can sign up for multiple survey sites in less than 1 hour
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $25-100, depending on current opportunities (not always immediate)
• How long until you get paid? 1-30 days depending on platform and payout thresholds

7. Teach a language

If you’re reading this, you’re likely fluent in English — or at least at the level that you can teach it. So, you’re already qualified to cash in just by teaching what’s arguably the most valuable and in-demand language in the entire world.

Companies like VIPKid are actively recruiting native English speakers, and they allow you to work remotely and earn around $20 per hour, which in some countries is considered a generous income and can buy you quite a comfortable life.

To really maximize your earning potential, create a whop and teach languages from there. You can include a language basics course, downloadable worksheets, and live lessons - all neatly packaged into a recurring subscription fee.

• Ease level: Easy to moderate
• Time to start: 5-14 days 
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $100-$1500 (part to full time)
• How long until you get paid? Depends on terms and platform but typically monthly

8. Affiliate marketing

Alright, this may take a little while to get started, but once you get going it has the potential to be a big earner.

So, how does affiliate marketing work? First, you join an affiliate marketing program (as long as you meet the entry criteria, of course, or use Whop which has no entry criteria). Then you can fetch affiliate links to insert into your content - this can be a blog, newsletter, or your social platforms.

When someone clicks on the link and uses it to buy the product or service, you will get paid a commission. It’s not hard to imagine, then, how your earnings from affiliate links could grow if you have many readers willing to click on them.

• Ease level: Easy to sign up and start, moderate to scale
• Time to start: 1-2 days to set up accounts and generate links
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $20-$250
• How long until you get paid? Typically 30–90 days after generating sales

9. AI model training

AI art is trending online (remember when everyone was creating images of themselves as action figures or Studio Ghibli characters?) so you've probably used AI programs like ChatGPT and MidJourney at least once or twice.

AI models seem smart because they’re trained on a massive amount of real human data. To keep improving, they constantly need more data, and real people are the ones who help train them.

Becoming an AI trainer is easier than you might think. Platforms like Remotasks and Scale AI let you sign up for free and start earning money without needing any technical background. In fact, being a regular person works to your advantage — these companies actually want input from everyday users, not just experts.

• Ease level: Easy
• Time to start: 1-5 days for account approval and initial training
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $50-$500
• How long until you get paid? Normally 14-30 days after completing tasks and meeting payout thresholds

10. Playing games (yes, really!)

Okay, so there are some caveats. For a start, you shouldn’t expect to earn a living from this alone — unless you land a full-time job as a games tester. That’s unlikely to be a position you could easily get as a beginner.

What you could do instead is sign up with a website or app that pays you to play games. One good case in point is Bigcash.

Another option is Freecash, which is also available as a mobile app (albeit only on Android devices).

Just keep in mind that most play-to-earn (P2E) games won't earn you enough to be worth your time. So, it’s crucial to do your research on the best apps that pay you to play games.

• Ease level: Very easy for simple games, moderate for crypto-based P2E (Play-to-earn)
• Time to start: Less than 1 hour to download apps and start playing (sometimes there are waitlists)
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $20-$100
• How long until you get paid? 7-30 days depending on platform and payout threshold

11. Print-on-demand (POD)

Print-on-demand  is a business model that is actually a form of dropshipping. So, it's a beginner-friendly way to sell custom products without having to deal with inventory or fulfillment.

You simply create a design, upload it on a platform like Printify or Printful, and once your listing is live, you just need to drive traffic and the platform handles all of the production, shipping, and handling.

The great thing about Print-on-demand is that it blends the tangibility of physical products with the scale and passive income potential of digital products.

While it will take some effort to generate traffic and sales, the fact that you don’t need to worry about inventory costs or fulfillment (even the design can be completely outsourced or done quickly with Canva) makes it very beginner friendly.

• Ease level: Easy to create designs, moderate to generate sales
• Time to start: 1-3 days to set up accounts and finalize designs
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $50-100
• How long until you get paid? up to 14-45 days after sales (shipping can be long for some platforms)

12. UGC content

One of the newest and most exciting ways to make money online is user-generated content, aka UGC.

And you don’t even need to be an influencer to get started.

Brands are now actively paying everyday people to create short, authentic videos that help showcase their products for brand awareness and trust.

This means that you can get started right away: no need for a big following, no pressure to go viral, and no need for any expensive equipment or setups. Most UGC videos are casual product reviews, unboxings, or product placements in get-ready-with-me or day-in-the-life type videos. In some cases, you can get into UGC without even showing your face.

We've already touched on Whop's Content Rewards for clipping, but you can also use it for UGC. Brands put out a campaign on Whop Content Rewards, and all you have to do is check the requirements, make and share your content, and submit your UGC link.

• Ease level: Easy to moderate (depending on comfort in front of camera)
• Time to start: Less than 1 day to create and submit first content
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $100-$500+ if consistent
• How long until you get paid? Up to 7-30 days after content approval. As you gain experience, you can potentially get paid up front

13. Virtual assistant

How about something that resembles a traditional 9-5 role, without the 9-5 hours?

Being a virtual assistant (VA) is one of the most practical and reliable ways to make money online. It will be an especially good fit if you are organized, systems-focused, communicative, and good at getting things done with good attention to detail.

While you can still make money as an entry-level VA, make sure you view market rates and set your price and expectation. If you already have special skills or qualifications, use those to blend with your VA resume so you can stand out and get higher rates. Find out how you can start a Virtual Assistant business with Whop.

• Ease level: Easy to moderate
• Time to start: 1-3 days to set up profiles
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $200-$800
• How long until you get paid? Up to 15-30 days after completing work, depending on payment terms (almost never up front or quick for new VAs)

14. Grow a social media account

Having a solid account on social media is the equivalent of having digital real estate — it’s an online asset that can generate multiple streams of income with minimal upfront investment.

The best part about growing a social media account today is that you don’t need a huge following to start making money.

Companies have become more wary of traditional influencers, so they care more about engagement and brand voice rather than vanity stats like followers or even likes, both of which could be faked.

While it might feel overwhelming in the beginning, don’t make it too complicated. Just pick a niche, start consistently putting out content, engage with your audience, and be patient.

It just takes one viral reel to hit for you to change your life forever.

• Ease level: Easy to start, difficult to scale
• Time to start: A few hours to make a new account and create first post
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: Many social media creators expect to make $0 or less than $100 in the first month
• How long until you get paid? Depends on monetization model and traction, but expected to take more than 30 days

15. Monetize AI content

Most people today use AI out of curiosity, for fun, or just to follow an online trend. But the smart ones are turning it into a powerful way to launch side hustles or businesses faster than ever.

The simplest way to start is by picking a tool and creating content you actually enjoy—whether that’s text, video, or voice. Focus on learning how to prompt effectively so the AI produces results that match your vision.

Once you’re comfortable with content creation, choose a niche and think about how to monetize it. You could make AI-powered ebooks, blog posts, Twitter threads, YouTube videos, or graphic designs. And if you want to take it further, tools like Cursor even let you build apps or software (SaaS) that you can sell—no advanced coding required.

With AI, tasks that used to take hours or even months can now be done in minutes. That’s a huge advantage. If you haven’t started making money with AI yet, now’s the perfect time. Here are some AI-based side hustles you can dive into today.

• Ease level: Easy to moderate (depending on current familiarity with AI tools)
• Time to start: Up to 1 week to get familiar with AI tools and creating good content with them
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $0-$500
• How long until you get paid? Varies widely depending on monetization method

16. Live streaming with Whop

If you have been following TikTok or influencer related news, you’ve probably come across Pinkydoll, a livestreamer who reportedly makes tens of thousands of dollars every time she goes live.

Even as a beginner without such a massive audience, you can still get a piece of this livestreaming pie by putting yourself out there and going live — including on Whop. Many people are even making money streaming things they already love doing, like playing GTA 5.

Once you’re live, there are quite a few ways that you can make money. On social platforms like TikTok and Instagram you can ask for tips, virtual gifts, or donations. Keep in mind the requirements that some platforms might have, for example, TikTok’s requirement of 1000 followers in order to be eligible to go live.

With Whop you can put your livestream behind a paywall, or get paid by your users incredibly easily with Whop's payment system.

• Ease level: Easy to start, moderate for audience growth
• Time to start: Less than 1 day to set up and go live on platforms with no audience thresholds
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $20-$100
• How long until you get paid? Depends on monetization method

17. Retail arbitrage (reselling)

This term sounds fancier than it actually is: retail arbitrage just means buy low, sell high. It’s one of the best ways to get started in reselling, and it’s how many entrepreneurs get their first start with bringing in dollars that they generated themselves.

The first step to profitable retail arbitrage is to figure out which niche you want to deal in. While you can basically sell anything, you can get started much faster in a market you’re familiar with as you know exactly what people are willing to pay, how popular an item is, and when you come across a deal that you can comfortably sell for a profit.

Simply, you need to get good at finding the best places to find hot inventory at the lowest price. This can be anything from clearance racks to seasonal sales and promos, so while you might have to do broad searching in the beginning, soon enough you’ll be able to narrow down to the most effective inventory sources. 

• Ease level: Easy
• Time to start: 1-7 days to research and find first items to sell+create platform listings
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $50-$1000
• How long until you get paid? Immediate pay for local sales, waiting period of up to 1 week after delivery for platform sales for new sellers

18. Community moderator

Online communities are more popular than ever. Being a community moderator is probably the easiest job you can get within one of these groups, and best of all, you can do this entirely online.

Getting started with no experience as a community moderator is totally possible, and in many cases this is even the norm. Most community owners are simply looking for reliable, trustworthy individuals and prioritize motivation and alignment rather than formal experience.

The most reliable way to get hired as a community moderator is to be a member yourself. Once you’re inside, you can prove to the owners that you’re already engaging, helpful, and interested in helping them improve the quality of their community with your actions. Sometimes, if you’re helpful and active enough, you might even get offered a role directly without even needing to ask.

You can find countless communities right here on Whop, some of which are already looking for an aligned and motivated moderator to fill an online role ASAP.

• Ease level: Easy to moderate
• Time to start: Near immediate if already engaged in a community, up to 30 days to establish yourself and propose if starting from scratch
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: Free membership (for paid group) up to $500-$1000+ for a profitable group that values you
• How long until you get paid? Depends on terms you agree to with community owner

19. Selling info products 

What are ‘info products’? At first glance, the term sounds self-explanatory: products that provide information. But to be more precise, an info product is any product that offers valuable, specialized knowledge to a specific audience.

Chances are, you already know plenty of things you could turn into an info product, even if you don’t realize it yet.

For example, if you’re a cleaner, you could create checklists, calendars, planners, and trackers to help people clean more efficiently. If you're a tradesperson, you could design a handyman checklist that helps others stay organised and work faster.

Ebooks are a classic example and can be “evergreen,” meaning you can sell them again and again without updates. But some topics change quickly—like business funding—where a newsletter may work better.

Courses and communities are also powerful options. With Whop’s course creator, you can launch a course in minutes, build a community around it, and even upsell extras like ebooks or templates.

Creating an info product is easier than it sounds. With tools like Canva for designing downloadables and Whop for creating courses and selling any digital product, you can turn your expertise into something people will pay for in just a few clicks.

• Ease level: Moderate
• Time to start: 3-7 days to 2 months+ to create and launch first product (depending on product complexity)
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $20-$500
• How long until you get paid? As soon as you make your first sale

20. Freelance writing

Got a certain skill when it comes to writing?

Then you could make money online as a freelance writer. As a freelance writer you would be writing content for other people — your clients — to use. So, each piece of content you write as a freelancer must be to the standards of a specific brief drawn up by the client.

The good news is that you can pick and choose which clients you work with. So, you could create a good relationship with particular clients if they like what you produce for them. As for how to find those clients in the first place, you can look for them on freelancing websites like Upwork and PeoplePerHour.

You might be asked to write for companies’ blogs, landing page copy, meta data, and press releases for clients’ websites.

• Ease level: Easy to moderate (depends on writing ability)
• Time to start: 1-3 days to set up portofolio and profile in addition to time it takes to find the first paying gig
• Realistic monthly beginner earnings: $200-$500+
• How long until you get paid? Varies depending on payment terms

Start making money online with Whop

There are countless ways to make money online — and with Whop, you can do them all in one place. Whether you want to earn as a clipper, UGC creator, or virtual assistant, start your own business selling info products, or even dive into affiliate marketing, Whop makes it simple.

The average creator on Whop makes $7,382 per month, but your earning potential can go far beyond that if you focus on what excites you most. Whop is built to help you chase your passion and unlock real financial freedom.

Getting started only takes a few minutes. Sign up for a free account on whop.com, set up your personal whop (your own corner of the internet), choose the apps you want to use, and publish it for the world to see.

So, what are you waiting for? Start your journey to making money online with Whop today.

Online money FAQs

Why should I try to make money online?

Most of the content you see online was made by people who started out just like you - the only difference is that they chose to start creating instead of just scrolling.

And, even if you’re a beginner or if you have a demanding full-time job, you can start sooner than you think.

One of the biggest drivers behind the millions of individual creators cashing in online is the widespread use of apps and platforms like Whop, Instagram, and TikTok, which have already made countless people life-changing money.

How soon can a beginner realistically make money online?

For those just starting out, it can take some time to start making money online, and it depends on the business model you choose. However, even a total beginner can make money online as soon as they sign up for a platform and go through the steps to earn a reward, which in some cases can even happen the same day.

For example, if you sign up on Whop and join Whop University or Whop Clips, you can choose an easy bounty and get paid the moment you submit it. 

What’s the best way to make money online without experience?

If you don’t have any previous experience, you’re best off starting with beginner-friendly methods that we mentioned in this guide, including survey taking, AI training, providing user feedback, and clipping.

But, if you have previous professional experience, you can quickly leverage those skills to make your first online dollars through something like consulting, a membership, or selling digital products.

Can you make money online for free?

Yes, you can start making money online today without investing anything up front by using free platforms and tools to make money or reach an audience. Many survey sites, teaching platforms, and social media platforms are totally free to sign up for and allow you to make money online without investing a dime.

Whop is a particularly good choice for a free platform as it allows you to not only create a store but to launch it to an active marketplace. 

How to make money online fast with Whop

While you probably won’t make big money right out the gate, the fastest way to make online money is by jumping on emerging opportunities early.

Whop is quickly growing but still relatively new, meaning it’s the perfect time to get in as a creator on the platform. 

Whop opens up tons of ways to monetize, particularly through selling digital products. Best of all, selling digital products doesn’t just allow you to make online money, it also opens up the potential for passive income - the best way to earn financial freedom fast, even without having a huge nest egg saved up.