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You may not admit it, but our smartphones are practically our best friends. Funny enough, these handy devices are almost as mighty as a computer. The only difference is that they fit in your hand and you can carry them everywhere.
With the rise of technology and having around 5.25 billion people with smartphones, there are a lot of opportunities to earn money on your phone.
Seeing the potential, many businesses have gotten creative with mobile tech and developed all sorts of money-making apps. These ideas help them make money, sure, but they also give people like us a chance to earn a little extra money on the side.
You could get paid for giving your opinions through survey apps, sell your used shoes online for instant cash, or enjoy cashback on shopping sprees. And that’s only scratching the surface.
Keep in mind that while your phone can help you earn some extra money, you won’t get rich overnight. However, with constant effort and dedication, it’s conceivable that your side hustle could eventually replace your regular job. It did for me!
Ready to make your phone pay its own bills? I’m going to show you how to make your phone hustle for you. Let’s get into it and flip your phone from play mode to pay mode!
PIN THIS: I’ll be updating this post so make sure to pin this image here and save it to your Pinterest board. That way you’ll be able to come back to this page and learn how to make money from your phone!
1. Taking Online Surveys
If you want to make a few bucks in your spare time, taking online surveys is the perfect way to do it. You may not make $100 a day on your phone with this hack, but you can earn a few dollars by sharing your opinion on survey apps.
Why would companies care about your opinion? It’s because consumer feedback is invaluable in the business world. The business model of online survey sites is simple. They have clients, usually business enterprises, that need information from their target market to make decisions about a certain product, marketing, product development, etc.
Some survey sites may not be truthful about payment, but others, such as Branded Surveys, Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, and InboxDollars, rank among the best survey sites available online.
These are my go-to sites when I want to earn extra money in my spare time right away without all the headaches. Plus, to be honest, I don’t like answering random surveys, and these platforms give me ones that resonate with my interests.
For you to receive interesting surveys, here’s my ultimate tip: BE HONEST.
Be sure to give your actual age, the city you live in, what you’re into, and all that important stuff when you sign up. Survey apps use this info to create questionnaires that align with the demographic data you’ve submitted, connecting you with surveys that genuinely pique your curiosity.
2. Social Media Manager
A social manager is the perfect job for creative people. Do you have a keen eye for design? A knack for storytelling? Or can you analyze what works well in social media and what doesn’t? Then, you have what it takes to be a social manager!
This type of job hardly existed a decade ago, but in this digital world, where everyone’s on their phones, a social manager is a highly sought-after job.
Most businesses and companies have already invaded social media platforms to promote their business; even celebrities and influencers have dedicated social managers to better showcase their talents and land endorsem*nt deals.
If you don’t have much experience with social media, you can start by being a Pinterest virtual assistant. Basically, you’re a social media manager, but you’re only focusing on one platform, which is Pinterest.
Business owners wanting to promote their businesses and bloggers who want to grow their platform are looking for Pinterest Virtual Assistant to help them gain Pinterest traffic to their sites.
As a Pinterest VA, you’ll earn an hourly wage for creating and sharing pins on your client’s account, both of which can be done directly from your phone.
3. Selling Photos Online
Can’t help but capture everything through your iPhone lens? Well, those picture-perfect moments could be more than just memory fillers. Your love for photography can finally pay off. Many businesses are more than happy to pay for quality photos to use in their marketing materials, such as brochures, websites, social media posts, billboards, and promotional flyers.
And it’s not just any photos that sell; it’s the sweeping landscapes, genuine snapshots of life, active work settings, and mouth-watering food shots that often get the most downloads. If you have the know-how to manipulate lighting, frame a shot expertly, and tell a captivating story through imagery, you can tap into this market. Skillful photographers like you are making about $100 a day by producing the kind of striking images that businesses are eager to buy to catch their customers’ eyes.
Using just your smartphone, you can take quality photos and share them on photo distribution sites like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, FOAP, and more. These apps are completely free, and you can upload your photos from your phone.
The beauty of selling photos online is that they make good passive income. Your photos can remain for days, weeks, months, and even years and continue to make more money for you – truly a great side hustle from home.
4. Gig Economy Jobs
Being your own boss is a dream come true – no work schedule to follow, no uniform, and no meetings. If these perks sound enticing, you will probably be interested in joining the gig economy.
For those not aware of the slang “gig economy jobs,” this phrase was coined during the financial crisis in 2008 when companies provided temporary work to deliver basic services.
The gig economy workers are the people you see every day. These are the ones who pick you up at a bar during a night out and deliver food to your office or front door.
I am part of the large population of gig economy workers who, just like you, want to make extra money using my phone. I got interested in the job in the most unexpected place – while ordering a meal on DoorDash.
Seeing Dashers around, I was struck by the job’s flexibility and earning capacity – I earned over $1,000in less than two weeks. It is quite feasible to net $500 weekly if you can put in the hours.
Companies like DoorDash, Uber, TaskRabbit, and Lyft are just a handful of established side hustle apps. There are a lot more, so finding the best side jobs that suit your abilities is easier than ever.
5. Selling Items on Marketplace Apps
Is your closet looking like a clearance rack at the end of a season, stuffed with once-loved fashion? I’ve been there – holding onto fashion “maybes” that turn into “never-worns”. What would Marie Kondo do? Sell off those past-season pieces and give both your wardrobe and your bank account a well-deserved refresh!
For quick sales, you’ll want to list your items on popular apps like Depop, Poshmark, and Facebook Marketplace. These are the best apps to sell clothes, gadgets, kitchen utensils, toys, or anything under the sun that is legal and still useful. Their large user base means that your unused items will have a higher chance of being seen by the buyer.
There are a lot of things to sell to make money. Got an old T-shirt you received as merch from one of Taylor Swift’s concerts? They’re worth more than gold now. You might want to sell them to pocket some dollar bills in your wallet or use the money for Eras tour next year.
Each platform offers a straightforward process for selling second-hand items straight from your phone. Set up an account, capture some photos, list your item with a description and price, and you’re good to go.
Take note that high-quality photos and engaging descriptions attract buyers. They’re more likely to click into and read your posts if they look appealing.
Need to make money today but don’t want to deal with the hassle of shipping? List your old items on Facebook Marketplace. It’s a great way to connect with local buyers, meet up nearby, and make a sale without ever stepping foot in a post office.
6. Content Creation & Monetization
Are you dreaming of becoming the next online superstar? Now is the chance!
You can make money by producing content on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or Pinterest. If you get lucky and gain a large following, you can monetize the content you upload on your social media feeds.
YouTube is still the number one video-sharing app worldwide and the first platform to look at when looking for smartphone apps that will pay you for uploading videos.
TikTok, however, is an app that pays you for creating short-form videos. It is a popular social media platform among Gen Z’s thus the perfect venture to make money as a teenager. It has a vast user base, making it easier for you to gain traction and followers. TikTok is a lucrative app to make money from your short videos.
If making videos is not your thing, all hope is not lost. You can still earn money on your phone with Pinterest. Perhaps you’re already using the app for DIY ideas, OOTD inspirations, or house interior designs, but Pinterest is more than that. Leverage the platform to promote products and earn commissions through affiliate links. Once you start a blog, use Pinterest to drive traffic, promote your content, and sell products. You can also create sponsored pins, sell online courses, and more.
7. Tutoring or Coaching
Do you have skills in a second language or know your way around algebra like the back of your hand? Put those talents to work! Tutoring is a highly profitable side hustle, especially if you’re the go-to guru for subjects like English, Math, Science, or any language that’s not just “hello” and “goodbye.”
If you are a psychologist, a finance expert, or a fitness enthusiast, you can also utilize your expertise by being a life, finance, or fitness coach, respectively.
Using platforms like Chegg Tutors and WyzAnt, you can connect with students who need online tutoring with their studies and get paid for your service.
Nope, you don’t need to have a computer for your one-on-one classes. You can use Zoom, Google Meet app, and other communication platforms through your phone.
The best part of teaching online is that you can set your own rate and work from home. Want to make $200 a day? You can set $20 to $50 per hour and get as many students as possible you can handle a day.
At the start of your online teaching career, you should lower your rate to attract more students. But as you grow and learn more, you can ask for a higher rate.
If you only want to work in your spare time, that’s okay. You are free to teach a single person. The pay may not be much compared to working full time, but the cash earned could be used to add funds to your travel, food budget, etc.
8. Investing in Stocks and Cryptocurrency
In the pre-digital world, investments were made face-to-face and required a financial expert, such as a financial advisor or financial planner. However, these days, everyone has access to various investment opportunities on their phone; thus, one can easily take care of their future.
Investment apps are good nowadays; they are great passive income if you do things right. With the right strategies, these apps can provide financial opportunities that may lead to financial freedom.
However, investments, even in the digital world, require money. If you are unwilling enough to take a financial risk by putting some funds in stocks and cryptocurrency, then these investing systems are not for you.
But if you’re interested in exploring opportunities that will not dent your bank account, I’ve got you covered. Your best option is to try beginner-friendly apps to help you gain knowledge of stocks and crypto. Beginner apps also require little investment, sometimes as little as $1.
Some easy, legit apps for stock investment are Acorns and Robinhood, while Binance and Gemini are the leading beginner apps for crypto.
You can get these apps for free, they’re straightforward to use, and you can invest as low as a dollar. It’s convenient because you’ll hardly notice a dollar missing from your account.
9. Gaming Apps That Pay Real Money
Haven’t we all experienced a gaming addiction? I can still recall the time when I was deeply absorbed in playing The Sims many years back and often wished that the in-game currency I earned could translate into real money. Sigh.
I’m not sure about the latest mobile games nowadays, but if you ask me about games that pay a player real money, I could name a few. Well, I may not be into online gaming now, but playing gaming apps that pay real money is an exception.
Some legit apps that pay you for playing games are Swagbucks and Mistplay. If you’ve been a reader, you must have been tired of me flexing Swagbucks. I can’t help it, though; the app is a good platform to get you out of boredom while making a few dollars on the side.
On the contrary, if you want to explore various game genres, you might want to try Mistplay. It offers a variety of engaging games that, when you advance to the next levels, you’ll gain Units redeemable for goodies. You can choose to cash out with PayPal, redeem free Amazon gift cards, or even pick up some Google Play credits for your other games.
Mistplay offers adventure, survival, card, and puzzle games. There’s definitely a genre out there that’ll catch your attention, offering a good time and the sweet bonus of monetary gains.
10. Earning Cashback Rewards
To some, spending and earning money from shopping may sound like girl math. However, you don’t have to feel guilty shopping online, especially if it’s a necessity or a “want” that makes you happy.
Shopping is more fun when you’re earning rewards, too. That’s why I’ve made a point of using cashback apps and reward-offering credit cards whenever I shop. It turns out, those little savings can make a big difference over time. Every year, I get back $1,000+ through cashback rewards.
Many rewards websites will reward you with cashback points every time you make a qualifying purchase. My favorite cashback sites are Rakuten and PayPal Honey because they’ve paid out the most money to users and the interface is extremely easy to use.
Using these platforms is simple: download the app on your phone or visit the site from your desktop, set up your account, find the retailer you want to shop at, and shop as you normally would.
These two platforms may work the same, but they actually have different benefits. For instance, Rakuten does not only reward you with cashback but also coupons and money by referring friends.
Conversely, PayPal Honey assists you in finding deals and discount offers when shopping. So besides earning cashback, you can reduce your spending through their discount deals.
Tips for Making Money on Your Phone
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it doesn’t mean it’s also challenging to make money these days.
I’ve just shared various ways you can make a profit on your phone, but now, let’s find out how you can make MORE money through your mobile device.
Be Consistent
Consistency is always the key to success. If you are really eager to get paid daily or make more money, set a dedicated schedule to work on your side hustle.
I’m a full-time blogger and a Dasher at the same time. These jobs can be done through your phone. I blog during the day and deliver food at night.
My steady commitment to both of my side gigs has led to a nice bump in my income. It’s this consistency that lays the foundation for self-discipline. When you structure your work schedule, you create a routine that minimizes the chances of procrastination.
Diversify Your Earning Streams
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. This is a popular phrase in investments. However, for this topic, it can also mean you must explore other quickest ways to make money on your phone.
If you invest all your time and resources in one area, such as cryptocurrency, and the market takes a hit, you could lose everything. But if you balance that with steadier work, like online tutoring, you’ll have a financial fallback that could also expand your phone’s income-generating capabilities.
Stay Updated with Trends
Change is inevitable. As the saying goes, “The only constant in life is change.” The same goes for technology. The trend today may be different tomorrow. Hence, you must be updated on the new apps, tools, and other platforms that may help you increase your income.
Consider the arrival of a new social media platform. By being one of the first to explore its potential, you have the chance to build a following and open up a new channel for revenue before everyone else jumps on the bandwagon.
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