There are so many different ways to make a living nowadays that having a full-time job is not the only way to go. You can make money from home, on your own terms, and—most importantly—without any formal employment.
Whether you've lost your job or you're simply too young to join the workforce, there are ways to make money that won't restrict you like full-time jobs do. We're talking no age restrictions, all over the globe, no commute, no uniform, and no predetermined work hours.
There are tons of options out there, and with Whop, you can start making money right away for free. Here are our top 20 recommendations for making money without a job.
How You Can Make Money Without a Job: 20 Creative Ways to Make Money
If you're sick of the 9-to-5 grind, then throw those job application forms to the side and check out our best methods for making money without a job. We've aimed to include as much variety as possible, so while not everything on the list will be right for you, something will be.
1. Use a POD (print-on-demand) service
POD services allow you to sell your designs without having to manufacture the products or deal with shipping.
You can add logos, artwork, and text to all sorts of products depending on the service you choose. Clothing, mugs, badges, stickers, and stationery are all popular examples, but you can also find services that print onto tableware, blankets, towels, bags, shoes, phone cases, and much more.
Once you've designed your products, the POD company will print and send them any time someone makes an order. That way you don't have to make any large risky investments and can relax as you automatically earn from each purchase.
Here are some well-known and trustworthy brands you can work with to make POD products:
Fees work differently for each service, so make sure you look around and find out which works best for you. Alternatively, you can sell your designs directly to clients or with private label rights (PLR) in bundles.
2. Get on a gig economy app
The term "gig economy" refers to one-off jobs that you choose to accept on your terms. You decide when you're happy to work, and you get paid for the work you do as you do it.
There are a few types of gigs you can try based on your skills and preferences, including food delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats, handiwork apps like TaskRabbit, or babysitting apps like UrbanSitter.
It's a good way to fill up extra time because you can work when you want and at a moment's notice. If you have another side hustle or project with uncertain hours, you can pick up a few gigs whenever you have free time you want to use.
3. Rent out your unused space or items
Renting is a great way to earn money in exchange for very little work or sacrifice—all you have to do is let people use the stuff you're not currently using. If you have unused space like a room, house, holiday home, or cabin, you can use Airbnb to rent it out to others.
You can choose when to make the space available, so you don't need to give up using it yourself. Whenever it's available, you can just open it up for booking and let people pay to stay there.
It's not just spaces that you can rent. You can also rent out items like photography gear, drones, sports gear, camping gear, and all sorts of other things people tend to only need temporarily.
Some people even rent out necessities like strollers for people traveling with babies. Rannsak and Yoodlize are two services you can use to rent out items—just make sure you get the right insurance to cover any damage.
4. Start coaching online
If you have a skill you want to share or a passion for teaching, you can turn this into a moneymaker. And with the power of the internet, you're no longer limited to students within your area.
From tutoring platforms like Varsity Tutors to language learning platforms like iTalki, there are all sorts of places where you can sign up to share your knowledge with paying customers online.
You can also make a custom learning platform by signing up with Whop. You can add courses, set up chats, and use the Whop Video Calls app to interact with your students and run an online coaching business.
Unlike many other tutoring platforms, Whop lets you run a comprehensive coaching business at no upfront cost.
5. Complete surveys online
You can try taking online surveys if you'd prefer to make a bit of money with your spare minutes rather than scrolling social media. Services like Swagbucks, Cloudconnect, and Survey Junkie show you a list of surveys that fit your demographics and give you points for completing them. Some take just a couple of minutes to fill out, while others take as long as half an hour.
The best survey apps are the ones that pay out quickly. For instance, with Survey Junkie, you can withdraw your earnings as soon as you hit 500 points ($5).
The downside of these apps is that it often takes ages to make any real money, so your best bet is to sign up with several and treat them as a source of money for your next trip to Starbucks or your next Steam sale splurge.
6. Take transcribing jobs
Listening to audio and writing down what you hear is known as transcribing, and it's one of the easiest online jobs to jump into. As long as you're fluent in the target language and have a computer to type on, you can join agencies like TranscribeMe and Scribie to take freelance transcription jobs.
When it comes to making good money with transcribing, it's all about speed. You don't need to worry about the content and whether you think it's good or not, all you have to do is type out the words accurately—and the quicker you can do it, the more money you'll make.
Platforms that offer transcription jobs often have a lot of people competing for the same gigs, so if you're a skilled transcriptionist, you might be better off working with clients directly and sending them checkout links.
7. Get paid for house sitting
While house sitting isn't always a paid job, you can make money doing it if you're in the right place. On sites like House Sitters America, you can sign up to become a house or pet sitter and receive requests from homeowners.
You can also respond to listings from people who just need someone to drop in and make sure their home and pet are safe and sound.
Some sitters charge for their services, while others sit for free in return for the free accommodation. On the other hand, looking after pets usually pays even if you get free accommodation too.
8. Start your own blog
Blogging may have started as a kind of online diary writing, but nowadays it's a big business. Successful bloggers drive digital product sales, earn commissions, and collect income from advertising. Depending on the niche, you can also find yourself receiving PR boxes and products from companies hoping for your recommendation.
There are all kinds of bloggers, from travel and fashion to food and crypto advice. You can also find super niche bloggers covering certain types of products like plastic models, figurines, stationery, and so much more.
There are lots of different methods to make money as a blogger, with the biggest earners bringing in over $1,000,000 a year, and the average successful blogger earning $37,534 or more.
9. Get paid to play games
If I had been paid for every hour I'd spent gaming, I'd have enough money to retire. Sadly, it's hard to make that much playing games, but there are ways to game and get paid, which is pretty awesome regardless.
You can use apps like Fetch, Bridge Money, and Swagbucks to get paid for playing games, which works similarly to taking paid surveys online.
You can also earn money by testing games with platforms like Game Tester. To collect points, you need to take notes about problems you run into while playing the game so the developers can use your feedback to make improvements.
There's also the social media route—streaming games on Twitch or YouTube. You'll need to build a following if you want to make decent money this way, but if you love gaming and interacting with people, you can give it a go for little to no investment.
10. Start a dog-walking business
If you like dogs and feel comfortable being on your feet all day (with a happy pup in tow), dog walking can be a great way to earn cash. Succeeding in this field is all about earning people's trust.
Some people will pay dog walkers to take their pets out for multiple hours a day, and may even give you a key to pick up the dog while they're at work. How much money you can make here is quite location-dependent, and more populated areas tend to get more business.
As well as walking, you can offer services like drop-ins, overnight dog sitting, and training sessions.
11. Host a podcast
Podcasting can be seen as more of a hobby, but it's very much more than that. As long as you have something to talk about, you too can have a podcast. (And even if you're not sure what to talk about, these standout podcast topic ideas can help.)
Not every podcast is monetized, but any podcast can be. The big ones earn thousands of dollars per episode, and there are lots of different ways to use a podcast to bring in cash. You can place ads in your show, get a sponsorship, sell merchandise, offer a newsletter, publish an ebook—and so much more.
One great way to monetize your show is to create a paid community around it. With Whop, you can offer ways for the community to talk to each other and you, ask questions, buy courses, access exclusive content, attend events, and more. You can charge a subscription to turn your whop into a great source of passive income.
12. Sign up for a rideshare app
For people who own cars and don't mind driving, working with companies like Uber or Lyft is an easy way to make money on your terms. You decide when and where you want to work, and aside from a vehicle and the credentials to drive it, there aren't many requirements.
Because you're not obligated to work, you can also sign up just to take advantage of the best-paying days. For example, if you're not busy on a national holiday, you can earn peak-time prices and enjoy good tips for the same amount of work.
13. Use cashback apps
Cashback apps help you earn money while taking care of daily activities. Use the apps to see what offers are nearby, claim them, do your shopping, and get a percentage of your money back.
Apps like Upside, Swagbucks, Rakuten, and Ibotta are available in all sorts of regions and list a variety of offers. Some of the apps combine other money-making activities like games and surveys, too.
Cashback apps won't give you a proper income but don't take long either. Since it doesn't take a lot of effort to take advantage of them, you can sign up for a few and use them alongside whatever other side hustles you have going.
14. Tutor people online
From high school math to foreign languages, there are a lot of topics that people want one-on-one guidance on. There are also more niche topics like crafts, cooking, and penmanship—so you don't need to be a professional academic to have marketable knowledge.
There are lots of different platforms to choose from based on the topics you want to teach, but your best bet is to set up a custom community on Whop.
Getting started only takes a few minutes, and once you're all set, you can start adding apps to your whop. You can offer all sorts of services like courses, video calls, chats, files, Discord servers, and more—all with individual pricing. This way, you're not dependent on a company and you become your own business owner, raking in nearly all the profits.
15. Build an online course
Making an online course is a particularly smart way to make money from your unique skills and knowledge.
What makes it smart is that, unlike direct tutoring or coaching, you only have to spend time making your course once—you don't necessarily have to do anything else with it once you're done. To make the most of it, though, regular updates help your course stay relevant forever.
With Whop, you can use the Courses app to make your course from scratch. Add files, text, video, PDFs, knowledge checks, and quizzes to make your course the best it can be.
The good thing about monetizing your course with Whop is that you can expand it to add even more content. One-on-one coaching, webinars, live events, or private student communities help you keep your students happy, and as a result, charge so much more.
In fact, courses are some of the best products if you want to make a high-ticket item (and forego needing a full-time job altogether). People are willing to pay for well-presented information that comes with a community to supercharge their learning.
16. Become a virtual assistant
Virtual assistants are the unsung heroes of many businesses. Many self-employed people and remote businesses are busy enough to need an assistant, but hiring someone full-time or on-site doesn't make sense.
This is where you come in with your amazing time management and people skills.
The work varies depending on who hires you, but it can include any of the following:
- Administrative support
- Customer service
- Social media management
- Website management
- Transcription
- Data entry
- Bookkeeping
- Email marketing
Virtual assistant jobs can range from one-off gigs to lucrative retainers. One easy way to get paid is with Whop checkout links—simply send the link to your client and it will take them to a secure checkout page.
17. Participate in market research
Collecting and selling data is big business right now, but you don't have to let massive corporations take all the profits for themselves. If you're okay with sharing your data, some apps and platforms will actually pay you for it.
Apps like Pogo, MobileXpression, and Caden all offer you the opportunity to generate some passive income through data sharing. These apps work by getting your permission to monitor certain activities. Some watch everything you do on your phone, while others connect to specific apps like Netflix or Uber.
To keep yourself safe, look at reviews and ensure the platform is legitimate like the examples we've listed here. Good data-sharing apps also anonymize your data so it's not connected to you as an individual. As long as you're comfortable with it, it's a great way to make some money for doing literally nothing at all, and who doesn't love that?
18. Publish an ebook
You might think writing an ebook is the same as writing a novel, but it's actually a lot more freeform. You can write fiction, non-fiction, self-help books, educational books, poems, jokes—whatever you want. Ebooks also come in all sorts of lengths, so you don't need to be the next George R.R. Martin to become an author.
You can also see it as another way to deliver the same content you'd put in an online course, just without the videos and interactive elements.
Selling ebooks online is pretty easy and even inexpensive if you partner with the right sales platform. With Whop, you can put multiple ebooks up for sale on your whop along with other services of your choice.
You can set up various pricing tiers, so some books can cost more and some less. You can even offer bundles where you combine books with things like community access at an extra fee.
19. Set up a paid community
Paid communities are one of the best ways to get what you want out of the internet without all the searching, trolls, and trial and error. There's almost no other way to get access to lots of subject matter experts and like-minded people without running into misinformation or scams.
People who pay to be in a community really want to be there, so it changes the whole dynamic. Any hobby, interest, skill, or topic can be the base for a paid community. Social media influencers have them; tutors and coaches have them; and even fan clubs have them.
Once you have your own whop, you can create all kinds of ways for your community to interact with you and each other. One of your options is to use the Chat app to create chat rooms for various topics You can also add forums, courses, files, ebooks, Discord servers, and so much more.
20. Run an ecommerce store
If you're ready to put in some work, running an ecommerce store is probably one of the most involved money-making methods on this list. If you do it right, however, it can make a lot of money.
When it comes to ecommerce, the trick is picking the right niche. If you want to make big bucks, you need something that's popular but not super saturated. If you're looking for something a little more chill and passion-driven, specialty shops are the way to go.
You can sell items you make personally, try out dropshipping, import overseas products, sell vintage items, or even sell digital items. There are tons of sales platforms to choose from, such as Etsy for homemade objects, Zendrop for dropshipping, and Whop for digital products.
If you're new to the topic, a good idea is to join a community with other people who make money from an ecommerce business. You can find lots of them on Whop.
Why Choose a Side Hustle Over a Full-Time Job?
When you work a full-time job, you're stuck there for eight (or more) hours a day. Oftentimes, you're not in charge of your schedule, and your earnings are the same every month. If you make commission or tips, how much you earn isn't just in your hands but also in the hands of other people.
To get a full-time job, you need to send dozens, if not hundreds of resumes, attend interviews, and make a good impression. Simply put: it's hard work, and that work begins before you even get the job.
Full-time jobs offer some degree of stability, sure, but what they lack is flexibility and the ability to earn as much as you like. Running your own hustle offers both of those things. You choose what you want to do each day and you can tailor it to your mood. Take some paid surveys on a chill day, take some freelance gigs when you want to sit at the computer, or choose something offline when you want to leave the house.
Plus, by being your own boss, the only one who decides how much you can earn is you. If you find a good niche and put in the work, projects like paid communities, online courses, podcasts, ecommerce stores, and blogs can start bringing in a lot of cash.
You also have the freedom to try out and drop as many projects as you want. Not everything will work out, but the majority of ideas on this list require no monetary investment, so you've really got nothing to lose by trying.
Start Making Money With Whop Today
If you want to make money on your own terms and have some knowledge to share or ideas for a digital product, Whop is exactly what you need. Whop is a social commerce platform where you can sell all kinds of digital products and services, including:
- Online courses
- Ebooks
- Coaching sessions
- Access to webinars and live events
- Exclusive podcast episodes
- Fitness and meal plans
- Access to private Discord or Telegram servers
- Masterminds
- And so much more.
Getting started is completely free and it only takes a few minutes. With your whop up and running, you can start customizing it right away.
Pick and use apps such as Chat, Courses, Forums, Video Calls, Events, and Discord access to build your unique offerings.
Your whop can stand alone or complement another project, like offering a paid community for your podcast listeners or Twitch followers. It's the best way, by far, to monetize an existing audience or to help you build one from scratch.
Each feature or service you add can be individually priced, from one-time payments for courses and ebooks to tiered subscriptions for community access. You can also provide some free services if you want to—it's completely up to you.
Traditional employment is no longer the only way to find success. With Whop, you can earn money your way by monetizing your talents, skills, knowledge, interests, and passions. Sign up today to get started.
FAQs
How can I make money as a teenager without a job?
Many types of work have age restrictions, but there are still ways to make money as a teenager. You can become an influencer on social media, make online content, do gig work like dog sitting and babysitting, rent out items online, and much more. The key is finding low-investment work that you can fit around your school schedule.
How can I make money fast without a job?
If you need to make money fast, work that doesn't require experience is the best. You can jump right into online freelance work like transcribing and virtual assistant gigs to make money quickly. You can also try rideshare driving or food delivery if you have access to a vehicle.
