Audiobook Narrator Jobs: How to Read Aloud and Make Money

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Voice actors have been around for a long time, but audiobook narrator jobs have become a surprisingly big part of that industry in recent years.

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say it’s thanks to people’s long commute times and the boredom that comes along with that. Whatever the reason, being a narrator is great for anyone who’s been looking for ways to read and make money at the same time.

If eloquence and precise articulation get you excited, then maybe becoming an audiobook narrator is your calling.

It definitely sounds like an incredibly fun career track to pursue.

Before I start telling you all about this profession and how you can land your first gig, there’s something important you need to know first:

In voice acting, your voice is what’s going to get you hired.

It sounds obvious, I know, but think about that for a moment.

You need to have a pleasant voice.

Unfortunately, no amount of training or preparation can give you that. Like with other forms of acting, you either have it or you don’t.

That doesn’t mean audiobook narrating doesn’t require training or preparation, because it certainly does. But those things need to be fueled by natural talent.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a narrator, read on to find out what skills and equipment you need, the different types of audiobook narration, and where to look for audiobook narrator jobs

What skills do you need to apply for audiobook narrator jobs?

I’ve marveled at the unbelievable talent some people have for manipulating their own voices.

There’s something wonderfully entertaining about hearing someone tell a vivid story, or seeing a fictional character come to life thanks to the voice behind it.

People don’t always realize the amount of skill and talent that goes into audiobook recordings.

You have to consider the right pacing and tone but keep it entertaining, speak clearly, bring life to the story and the characters, and stay true to the original intent of the text.

All of these are necessary skills that you need to work on.

On top of that, very successful book narrators can modulate their voices to portray different characters (in what is known as solo narration), including ones of different genders and with different accents.

This isn’t a required skill, but it can open up a lot of doors for you.

Narration is a technical art form and requires dedication and stamina.

You have to coordinate with the publisher and other voice actors (if there are any), you have to deliver hours upon hours of reading work, and you have to be your own director.

Reading a book out loud is like directing a story that you’re telling; during every moment of the read-through, a narrator has to stay focused on the rhythm, characters, intonation, and enunciation.

Any mistake means doing it all over again.

Possibly one of the most important skills an audiobook narrator should have, however, is good organizational skills.

Books often have a lot of characters to keep track of and it’s important for continuity that the voices of each and the pronunciations of words stay the same throughout the book or sometimes a series of books.

What Equipment Do You Need to Do Audiobook Narrator Job?

1. Professional quality microphone

If you want to get and keep clients, don’t skimp on your microphone.

No matter how great your voice quality is, your recording can be ruined by a cheap mic that records poor quality audio or too much background noise.

It’s also recommended that the microphone you get connects to your computer via XLR, as opposed to USB or wireless microphones.

Also, a microphone stand is recommended, as you won’t want to hold the microphone for hours on end.

You’ll also want to invest in a pop filter, which is a mesh screen that you position between the mic and your mouth. It’s meant to reduce popping sounds from fast-moving air after saying sounds like p’s and b’s.

2. Professional quality headphones

Another piece of equipment that you can’t skimp on is your headphones.

To get and keep audiobook narrator jobs, you’ll need to hear your recording accurately to assess the quality of your voice and background noise while you’re editing.

3. Audio recording and editing software

You’ll need a stable program to record your audio as cleanly as possible without background noise and as little compression as possible.

It’s better if the program can also do editing, as in removing and stitching together splices, reducing background noise, and enhancing parts of the audio as needed.

4. Quality computer or laptop

Your computer needs to be able to handle all the equipment and software you need for narration.

Consider the ports available, sound card, processor, and memory.

5. Dedicated recording space

If you can’t afford a studio just yet, set up a space in a quiet corner in your house with minimal foot traffic, no outside sounds, and without ambient noises from fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, dishwashers, and other appliances and equipment that might be picked up by your microphone.

Egg crates work surprisingly well as a sound-absorbing material on your walls. You can also look for a desktop mic isolation shield that you can position around your microphone while you record.

5 Different Types of Audiobook Narration

There are three main types of audiobook narration:

1. Solo Narration

This involves just one person reading out all of the lines.

They could be acting out different voices for different characters, or use one tone of voice throughout.

It depends on the publisher’s needs and the type of book.

2. Duet Narration

This is where two people are reading different parts of the book.

It could involve one person as the narrator and another acting out the characters or both acting out different characters.

Sometimes, a book has two different points of view, of which each is then read separately by the two people.

3. Full-Cast Narration

A full cast is a whole production where a group of people is each assigned a different character role to read for.

Sometimes a person can still have more than one role.

As I mentioned earlier, there are also different methods of recording the audio:

4. Punch and Roll

This method of recording involves rolling back the audio a bit to before a mistake was made and then “punching” in a new recording that continues where that part left off.

C.C. Hogan does a great job of explaining this method if you’re interested.

5. Straight Record

The recording keeps rolling until you decide to stop.

This includes mistakes and rereadings to correct those mistakes. You then have to go back later and edit out the parts where mistakes were made.

How Does Audiobook Narration Typically Go?

The exact process varies depending on your employer or whether you work freelance, but in general, here’s how it goes.

You’ll be sent the text to read, often in advance, so that you can prepare.

Familiarize yourself with the book, the characters, any unfamiliar words, accents required, and other elements that can contribute to your narration.

Once you’re ready, start recording your narration with the appropriate cadence, lilt, voices, pronunciations, accents, and everything else required.

When you’re done recording, you can start reviewing and editing your recording to make sure that it’s clean and high-quality.

After editing and processing, you’re ready to deliver to your client and get paid.

How Much Do Audiobook Recording Jobs Pay?

According to established audiobook narrators like Krystal Wascher, someone who’s just starting out in this line of work (even those with no experience) can expect around $80 per recorded hour.

Experienced narrators can get paid up to $250 per finished hour, and sometimes even $500 for the best and most experienced narrators.

There are too many variables and branches of voice acting to get a solid number.

That said, audiobooks can be a great source of both active and passive income, depending on the deal.

Sometimes, a gig pays a flat rate (usually per hour), and other times the narrator will get a percentage of the royalties paid to the writer over a number of months or years.

A ‘finished hour’ does not refer to the number of hours you put in, but the length of the finished audio track.

Some narrators say it takes them about two hours of recording per one finished hour, depending on the number of mistakes, stops, and retakes involved.

Where to Find Audiobook Narrator Jobs

There are dedicated job boards for audiobook narrators, as well as voice actors and talents.

ACX is probably the most specialized and the most popular site to find audiobook narrator jobs.

It works as a marketplace where authors, agents, and publishers can connect with audiobook narrators, sound engineers, recording studios, and other producers of finished audiobooks.

Through ACX, you can find an unlimited number of potential gigs, and the audiobooks you produce will be available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

Being on ACX is also great for beginners. There are plenty of knowledge resources on their site. Also, it allows you to build your confidence and skills by auditioning to different jobs, plus you can use your recordings as samples to land clients outside of ACX.

Voices.com is a more general marketplace for voice actors, but you can specifically list your services under “Narrators.”

Other job boards for voice actors include Voice123 and Bunny Studio Voice.

Getting a job directly with an author or a publishing company allows you more flexibility in terms of your pay rate as well as a greater chance that you’re hired for future projects if you do a great job at first.

Your first stop should be FlexJobs. This job board vets companies that list jobs with them so you can rest assured you’re not going to get scammed.

The classic freelancer sites like Fiverr, Upwork, People Per Hour, and Freelancer are also great places to look for narrator gigs.

Tips to Be a Successful Audiobook Narrator

Read the book in advance. You’d think this shouldn’t even be said, but you’d be surprised at how many rookies waste time with imperfect recordings because they think they can wing it but get sidelined by unexpected words or accents from characters.

Develop a system to keep track of the characters and their voices. Some narrators color-code text spoken by different characters. Others list down pages and the lines themselves.

The physical descriptions of characters are also important when planning out voices for them. For instance, an active child may speak a little differently from a sick, frail child.

Learn to control your movements while narrating. Any movement you do creates extraneous noise: your clothes rustling, your desk or chair creaking, your foot tapping. If you’re working with a physical book, the sound of the pages turning can also make noise.

Watch your habits. Audiobook narration can strain your voice, so you’d be wise to change habits that will strain your voice even more.

This is a good time to stop smoking and drinking alcohol, especially before a recording session. It’s also a good idea to avoid eating food and drinking beverages that increase mucus output, such as dairy, eggs, soy products, soda, or coffee.

Another tip from the pros is to always have lip balm handy during a recording session. Otherwise, your lips could be cracked and bleeding at the end of a sessiomn.

The Bottom Line

Audiobook narration is only one branch of an over-arching voice actor industry.

There are plenty of other ways to earn a part-time or full-time gig with your voice, though you have to be dedicated and know where to get started.

This isn’t always an easy industry to get into, but it can be a very rewarding one with plenty of career satisfaction, especially if you love reading and like getting paid to read.

Does audiobook narration interest you? Where do you plan to look for jobs? Share your plans with us in the comments!

8 Social Media Jobs You Can Do From Home

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Whether you’re a novice job seeker or you’re already working in social media and want to switch jobs, this list of 8 social media jobs should be useful for you.

People who spend their time online spend 30% of it on social media; even more if you’re a millennial or Gen Z.

Social media has opened up plenty of opportunities for businesses who want to reach this wide and connected audience, speak to their target audience, and convince them to do a specific action, such as read a blog post, answer a survey, or share the post on their social media.

Here’s a rundown of social media jobs you can do from home that only require a computer and an internet connection.

Entry-Level Social Media Jobs

Entry-level positions usually require at least a bachelor’s degree, even without experience, though those who already have at least a year’s experience generally get paid more.

1. Social Media Copywriter

As a social media copywriter, you’ll be in charge of writing and social media posts, day-to-day management of social content, as well as the monitoring, tracking, and analysis of metrics for your client’s social media program.

Your copy needs to work with the graphics on the post, so you’re probably going to be asked to work with the graphics design team to make sure the messaging matches.

You’d also need to understand how your social media content integrates with other digital marketing programs of your client, such as their email marketing, blog, website, and other digital marketing.

It’s preferable to have an undergraduate degree in English, marketing, or communications, though it’s not required.

Also known as: Social media content specialist, social media content creator, social media writer and editor

2. Social Media Graphic Designer

Social media platforms are increasingly prioritizing posts with images.

Businesses know this and are prepared to hire graphic designers specializing in creating digital images for social media.

These digital images include illustrations, designs, motion graphics like GIFs and cinemagraphs, and the aim is to create engaging and informative social media content.

The digital images also need to be consistent with your client’s branding and messaging.

Also known as: Social media visual designer, graphic design specialist

3. Customer Support Representative

Bigger businesses have dedicated social media accounts and messaging app accounts solely for answering questions by customers and potential customers.

Customer support representatives answer these inquiries and requests for assistance in a timely manner, all while projecting the desired brand voice and personality.

Social media followers that post anything—a question, feedback, suggestions—expect to be replied to within hours, if not minutes. It’s important to make them feel that what they have to say is important to your company.

Aside from answering them punctually, followers need to have their concerns resolved and all their questions answered in a satisfactory way.

Also known as: Social media customer service representative, social media customer care agent

4. Social Media Analyst

A social media analyst uses social media tools to monitor conversations about the company, current trends in social media and helps inform the overall social media strategy for the brand.

Social Media Analyst

They also determine how effective the current social media strategy is and whether engagement is happening on various social media platforms.

They should be able to analyze complex data from a variety of sources, such as social media listening and monitoring tools.

Also known as: Social media associate, social media strategist, specialist

Managerial-Level Social Media Jobs

Managerial positions often require at least a bachelor’s degree and at least 2 years of experience in digital marketing or something related.

5. Social Media Manager

This is perhaps the most common and the most obvious position that you can apply for.

A social media manager creates and executes long-term social media strategies in accordance with objectives set by or approved by the company.

This involves optimizing which social media accounts should be active, planning the content (words and visual elements), scheduling the content, and making sure that everything reflects the brand personality.

Aside from organic social media posts, social media managers are also responsible for planning social media advertising campaigns.

Social Media Manager

They are also the ones who analyze the data from tracking software so they’d know if their strategies are working or not so they can adjust their strategies accordingly.

They may also be asked to delegate actual social media content creation and design to other employees. This is so that social media managers can focus on the overall strategy.

Note: If you want more details, check out our post on this site about being a social media manager.

Also known as: Social media content manager, social media content coordinator, social media coordinator, social media specialist

6. Content Marketing Manager

This is not a purely social media job, but it involves plenty of social media planning, promotion, and content creation.

A content marketing manager is responsible for creating content marketing endeavors that aim to direct traffic and engagement to a website.

The main component of content marketing is blogging and creating articles with calls to action (CTAs) for subscribing to newsletters, purchasing something on their site, or simply commenting on the posts.

Social media comes into play when it comes to promoting these blog posts and articles by posting compelling social media copy aiming to attract readers.

These content marketing initiatives normally includes social media campaigns to promote links and drive users to the site.

The main skills needed to do this job well are SEO writing, organizational skills, and creativity.

Content marketing managers also need to know how to monitor and analyze the results of their campaigns.

Also known as: Content marketing strategist, content marketing coordinator

7. Community Manager

A community manager is someone who is not only in charge of social media messaging but also in charge of engaging with customers.

When you’re merely in charge of social media posts, you can just drop the posts and then leave them to go about composing and scheduling the next posts.

But a community manager doesn’t just post and leave; they monitor each post for follower comments and shares, as well as reply to the comments as a brand representative.

Communities can be in the form of Facebook Groups, but more often than not, replying to audience comments on a post on a business’s social media page increases engagement and makes followers feel that they are seen and heard.

Community Manager

Depending on the company requirements, you can either reply to social media posts using the brand’s social media accounts or using a social media account of a certain persona.

You could, of course, use your personal account to do this, but it’s not advisable, especially if your personal account has been around for years.

Zealous social media followers of the brand are likely to scrutinize social media accounts that reply to them as a brand representative.

All your personal tweets are now subject to close examination, and if there’s even a single tweet that doesn’t match the brand personality, your campaign is going to fail.

Also known as: Engagement manager, social media brand advocate

8. Art Director

An art director is responsible for overseeing the overall aesthetics and imagery of a client’s social media campaigns.

Usually, an art director would be working with a team of graphic and visual designers, so companies would prefer art directors with experience in working with a team.

Also known as: Social media art director, digital art director for social media, senior social media graphic designer

Innate Abilities You Need to Be Successful in Social Media

There are skills that can be learned; using various social media, creating and designing compelling content, or working with social media tools to plan and schedule social media content.

But there are just some skills that can’t be taught.

Here are some of the inherent traits you need to have so you can do your social media job well.

Social skills

Posting on social media is one thing; posting on social media while able to really connect with an audience and building a relationship with them is another thing altogether.

Additionally, you should be able to carry on a conversation with anyone, regardless of age, gender, education level, or political affiliation.

Social Listening

Everyone can read a tweet or a status update, but not everyone can get meaningful insights or draw conclusions from them.

If you have a knack for social listening, you’re able to go through conversations happening around your brand and get a sense of what customers think or feel when they’re talking about your brand.

Do they like your brand or hate it? Are they complaining, or recommending your brand to someone else?

Analytical Skills

Because social media strategies are data-based (or at least, they should be), you’ll be dealing with a lot of data when you formulate these strategies.

Besides being comfortable with looking at numbers and data, you need to be able to analyze that data, formulate a hypothesis, and inform your decisions regarding planning and scheduling social media content.

Curiosity

Social media shifts quickly. What’s trending now may fizzle out tomorrow.

A curious social media worker would be someone who immerses themselves in social media, stays up to date with the trends, and examines them to find out what made them successful.

Adaptability

Adaptability complements curiosity.

When you find out about trends and what makes them work, you need to be able to adapt them to your social media job.

For instance, if you’re working as a social media content writer and you notice that a particular topic is trending, you’ll need to be able to turn around and write more of that topic so you can jump on the trend.

Where To Find Social Media Jobs

To help you find the best jobs, you’ll have to get into the best job seeker websites, starting with FlexJobs.

FlexJobs makes it safe to find legitimate jobs. Every company and employer who posts openings on their site has been thoroughly vetted and verified, so you can rest assured that you get high-quality jobs without being scammed.

Here are the other websites to find social media jobs.

The Bottom Line

Digital marketing, and social media marketing, in particular, is a thriving field offering numerous jobs that people can do with just a laptop, an internet connection, and a space to work.

If these social media jobs don’t pique your interest but you still want to work from home, check out these work from home jobs that you can start right now.

Or if you’d rather start your own online business from home, here are some ways to start an online business.

How attractive are these social media jobs? Were you inspired to find one today? Share your stories in the comments below!

How to Rent Your House Out and Embrace the Airbnb Era

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If you own a house, extra room, condo unit, or any other type of similar property that’s unoccupied entirely, most of the year, or even just for a few days a year, you probably want to know how to rent your house out to make some side cash.

Well, today’s your lucky day!

You can rent out this space and make some extra side cash. You can even turn this into a full-time earning machine if you go with a rental agent.

And because the Airbnb era is here, even ordinary homeowners can accommodate renters and guests short-term.

Read on for a comprehensive guide to renting out your house.

3 Options for Renting Out Your House

If you’re planning to rent your house out, you need to be armed with information about taxes, maintenance costs, as well as pros and cons for all the options available to you.

These details will help you decide if you’re ready to rent out your house to someone else either temporarily (via services like Airbnb) or long-term (advertised on your own or managed by a third-party rental agent).

1. Long-term Rentals

There are various instances wherein long-term rentals may be best suited for you. These include:

  • Getting a newly inherited property
  • Having a second property, such as a summer house, that you only visit a couple of times a year
  • You’re the only one living in a big house
  • You invested in a condo unit, but have no immediate reason for leaving your current home

Those who would benefit from long-term rentals are people with extra space or property aside from the one they currently reside in.

The main benefit of renting out your house long-term is that the extra income is definitely significant and consistent.

There are, of course, downsides to long-term rentals, including:

  • Property destruction — The longer tenants stay in your property, the higher the chances your property will get destroyed, whether it was intentional or not. Some landlords specify that no young kids and pets are allowed, since they’ve been known to mess up paint jobs, carpet, and other house features more quickly than older kids and households without pets.
  • Insurance — No matter how long you rent out your home, that space becomes an investment property. As a result, you’ll have to obtain insurance specified by the state where your property is in. Airbnb has some insurance offered to hosts renting out their properties, but it’s still better to check with your insurance provider because factors like the length of the lease can affect the premiums.
  • Local regulations — Aside from insurance, check with city hall about local condo regulations, professional lease or landlord agreements, and so on. You have to be updated with these things since breaking laws can cost you a lot in terms of fines and loss of potential income.
  • Collecting rent can be difficult — If you’re not hiring a property manager (more on this later), it means you’ll have to collect rent by yourself, which can be a challenging task.

Traditional real estate websites, such as Rent.com, Realtor.com, Homes.com, Zillow, Zumper (and so on) will let you list your homes as long-term rentals. Some of these sites come with a fee for two or more properties, while others rely on advertising for revenue so landlords can list for free.

2. Short-term Rentals

Short-term rentals would be better for homeowners who have an extra room, extra floor, a garage, or other spaces they could rent out temporarily.

The main benefit of going this route is that you can even be residing in the property for rent and only make it available during certain periods. For example, if you go on a yearly trip overseas, you can list your property on Airbnb only during those days, weeks, or months.

The downside to renting out your house on a short-term basis include:

  • Tax Responsibilities — In the eyes of the IRS, “short-term rentals” shouldn’t go beyond 14 days in a year. If it does, you’ll need to file it properly. FYI, Airbnb automatically sends tax forms documenting all income to the IRS, so if you skip your tax responsibilities, don’t be surprised if you’ll still get a letter from the federal agency.
  • Less income — Unfortunately, making your place available to guests for only a limited time also means you’d receive less income. If you’re only looking for some side cash, then this could be the solution for you, but if you need this rental space to help with expenses monthly, short-term rentals may not help that much.
  • More clean-ups — Because the turnaround for vacation rental properties like this is high, you’d have to keep the place clean for the next guest. This is especially true if you’re planning to rent out your place every weekend. The good news to this though is that platforms such as Airbnb allow you to charge a cleaning fee, and there are services like Guesty to handle cleaning for you.

A Word about Renting Your Home Furnished vs. Unfurnished

Whether you plan to rent your house short-term or long-term, you’d have to clean up your place and do a bit of sprucing up. This also means you have to remove your valuables, such as heirloom flower vases, jewelry, collector’s items, and so on.

Note that if you’re renting your house for only a few days, weeks or months, expect that tenants would prefer furnished homes. Depending on your circumstance and property, this could add costs for interior design.

People looking for homes to rent for a year or more usually look for unfurnished homes since it would make sense they’d bring in their furniture and other stuff for long-term residency.

3. Renting out Your Garage, Yard, and Other Outdoor Spaces

For those who don’t have space inside their homes or an extra property for rent, but live in a tourist destination city, you may earn some cash renting out your garage, yard, or other outdoor spaces.

Garage

Tourists traveling by car into your city (that has strict rules about parking just anywhere) will pay per day/night to avoid sky-high penalties, jail time, or getting towed. This is your chance to offer your garage for a fee. You can even choose a niche and cater to a specific vehicle type. For instance, if you have a large garage, you can advertise it as a parking space for SUVs, RVs, or even for boats.

If your garage has access to a functional bathroom, you can even deck out your garage into an extra room. It won’t be as fancy as villas and beachside properties, but if you offer fair pricing, there’s a good chance guests will bite.

Yeah, some people also need extra space for storing stuff. List your garage on websites like Stow It! and decide on your monthly rental fee.

Yard and other Outdoor Spaces

    • Weddings and other events — Depending on how spacious your garden is and how many people or tents you can accommodate, you can earn quite a substantial amount if you rent out your backyard even once a month. The downside is that even small events can have a ton of logistical issues. From problems with catering, bathroom, equipment, parking, even the weather can ruin events. Make sure you partner with an events coordinator before you list your yard for rent.
    • Campsite — With Instagram folks showing off their “glamping” (glamorous camping) adventures left and right, there’s a sudden spike for dressed up campsites. If your outdoor space has a good view of nature, try to build luxurious tents or campsites for this crowd and wait for the guests to come.

How Much Should You Charge for Rent and Security Deposit?

If you decide to rent out your house, you need to be aware that you can’t arbitrarily decide on how much rent to charge.

You’ll need to know the fair market rent for your house by doing research. Generally, your house should go for the same amount as other rental properties in the same area and are about the same size and condition.

You can start your research by looking at similar properties online.

The security deposit is a separate sum of money paid by a tenant to ensure that they fulfill the terms of their lease.

Because this is a deposit, this needs to be held in a separate bank account and returned to the tenant when they move out, minus any damages or losses that need to be repaired or replaced.

Should You Hire a Property Manager?

In contrast to rental agents, who focus on handling matters before the lease is signed, property managers take care of the property and tenants after the lease is signed.

Essentially, property managers are focused on customer service, property maintenance, rent collection, and other matters that involve the relationship between the landlord (that’s you), and the tenant.

A property manager will cost you additional in salaries, but if you don’t live on the property and/or don’t want to be bothered by these tedious yet necessary tasks, paying a property manager to do it should be worth it.

5 Ways to Rent Your House Out

Now that you know your options, if you decide that short-term leases are the best fit for you, the following is a list of sites and apps where you can list your house for rent.

Join one or all of the websites below, check out their rules, and list your property away.

1. Airbnb

Airbnb Hosting

Launched in 2008, this San Francisco-based company grew in record time thanks to how properties are shared on social media and the rise of travel bloggers seeking inexpensive yet Instagram-worthy vacation rentals.

Airbnb isn’t the oldest site like it, but with over 80 million monthly visitors, it surely leads the pack.

As the host, Airbnb lets you set the price per day and “required minimum stay,” which means you won’t have to worry about unappealing travel days (such as Sundays, or the day after a holiday).

2. Vrbo

Vrbo, short for “Vacation Rentals By Owner,” was launched in 1995 by David Clouse to rent out his condo. Since then, it has grown to list two million properties around the world and one of the best options to rent out your house.

Vrbo claims that members who list their properties receive an average of 120 inquiries per property every year, with its top members earning up to $60k annually from their Vrbo listing.

Hosts can choose from paid and free-to-list options. Paid members can further choose a subscription model ($499 per year) or pay-per-booking (pay around 5% for every property booked).

3. FlipKey

TripAdvisor is one of the most popular websites people go to when searching for reviews on hotels, beach resorts, and other rental properties from real travelers who have gone there. So when the company bought FlipKey, a platform that lets property owners list their space, it made perfect sense.

Similar to Airbnb, hosts pay FlipKey 3% on a pay-per-booking model. Unfortunately, guests suffer from the host’s low fee since they shoulder up to 18 percent more on top of the property’s fees.

This is kind of a bummer if you’re a guest. But as a host, just imagine the 448 million people visiting TripAdvisor each year that will remain untapped if you skip FlipKey and list your vacation rentals elsewhere.

4. Luxury Retreats

If you have luxury accommodation to offer, join Tripping.com’s Luxury Retreats and give guests an unforgettable experience.

Properties here come from all over the world and range from beachfront homes to vineyards, mini-mansions, and the like.

Note that since vacation rentals here are above the ordinary, the clients would expect personal concierge service, guest support, and other special services.

Plus, not everyone interested in renting out their house can list a property here (Luxury Retreats claim only 5% of applications are approved).

Homeowners don’t need to pay a sign-up or membership fee, but if your property is accepted you get to follow a pay-for-performance model.

5. VaycayHero

For homeowners with properties “on par with hotel chains,” VaycayHero may be the website to go to.

It’s a bit different from others on this list, as the San Francisco company vets all vacation properties ahead of time. It’s a win-win for guests and hosts!

Runners-up:

Final Thoughts

Everyone dreams of getting paid to do nothing. Renting out your house to other people is a legitimate and honest way to make quick money in one day (even while sleeping).

If you decided to rent out your property temporarily, you can list your property online on sites like Airbnb and its alternatives. The secret of a successful listing (aside from having an irresistible property) is effective marketing offline and online.

If you don’t have time to monitor listings across different websites, juggling upcoming guests, answering inquiries, clearing possible tenants, and handling paperwork, you can hire a rental agent who will handle almost everything for you, often for a fee or percentage of the booking. Aside from these, your rental agent will make sure that all local and state laws are followed during the process.

After the lease has been signed, it would be more convenient for you to hire a property manager so that you don’t have to be hands-on when it comes to collecting rent, scheduling repairs, and handling tenants’ concerns.

If you decide you don’t want to rent out your house, there are other things you can rent out to earn some side cash. Go over how to rent out your car, as well as this list of stuff you can rent out.

Are you planning to rent out your house? Did this article help you? Tell us in the comments!

How To Make Money From Your Phone: 17 Easy Ways

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How much time per day do you spend looking at your phone? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could learn how to make money from your phone and get paid for the time you spend using it?

I’ve done a little bit of digging to find some cool apps that make you money.

With a little bit of work, you could stop watching Instagram stories of exotic locations and start posting some of your own.

How to Make Money on Your Phone: 17 Different Ideas to Try Out

The ideas below will help you make money from your phone by watching videos, surfing the web, taking pictures, etc.

Sign up for everything that looks appealing! The more apps you download, the more money you can make!

1. Get paid to surf the web and watch videos

Swagbucks is an absolute MUST join and you get $5.00 simply for signing up!

This site offers a smartphone app that enables you to earn Swagbucks (SB) for watching videos, answering surveys, and completing merchant offers.

You can also surf the Web using the Swagbucks toolbar and win additional SB. Once you have at least 300 SB, you can trade them in for Paypal payouts (or gift cards if you prefer).

2. Make $50 by downloading an app

Get a whopping $50 just to download the Nielsen app.

They currently are offering a $5 bonus on top of the $50 you get paid, making the total you can earn here $55!

You’ve likely heard of Nielsen in the past. You know when you hear of a TV show being canceled or renewed for a new season due to ratings?

Well, Nielsen is the company that assigns the ratings to TV shows.

They do this by tracking what their users watch. The more people watching a show, the better the chances are at renewal. If no one is watching, it will probably get canned.

They are expanding into new areas and want to know how people are using their phones.

As a thank you for helping them out, you’ll get paid $50 just to download their app.

It’s non-invasive and how you use your phone will help shape a lot of trends in pop culture.

Pretty cool, yeah?

3. Get paid to submit your receipts

Ibotta Special offer: Get a special $10 welcome bonus when you create your account!

Ibotta was one of the first rebate apps on the market and offers cashback on grocery, apparel, electronics, restaurant, pet, etc. purchases.

The rebate amounts are fairly high (as much as $1.50) and work across a number of stores.

Many qualifying rebates are brand-independent (e.g., $0.50 off any orange juice), while others require that you purchase a given brand at a certain store.

4. Answer questions and make money from your phone

VIP Voice pays you CASH to answer questions about famous brands.

Plus, they’ll drop money in your account just for signing up.

Vindale Research

The more questions you answer, the more money you can make!

5. Invest your spare change

Acorns is an app that offers a cool opportunity that will allow you to start investing your money without even realizing it.

Let’s say you head to Starbucks and buy a latte. The price comes out to $5.25.

Acorns will round up your purchase to $6.00 and take that extra 75 cents and invest it for you.

It’s an incredibly easy way to start saving money and building towards your future. They also recently started offering cash-back on purchases at most major retailers. Now you get your spare change invested, and a little extra.

Plus, you get $5.00 just for creating an account. Win-win.

6. Watch videos

InboxDollars pays you to watch videos on your phone.

It literally does not get any easier than this. Load up the videos you want to watch and your earnings will continue to grow with them.

Cash out to PayPal or in gift cards when you’re ready.

If you were wondering if they have a signup bonus as well, you’re in luck because $5.00 is yours for the taking.

7. Visit stores and mystery shop

Field Agent has you earning money by completing tasks such as checking store displays, taking photos of grocery shelves, finding specific store products, and going through checkout.

You can complete jobs and make money on your phone at almost any major retailer. The assigned job must be completed in a given amount of hours.

Payouts are made via PayPal.

8. Run errands while on your phone

GigWalk is a mobile app that offers you paid tasks while you’re on the go.

Gigwalk App

These tasks are geo-focused on your specific location and might include checking a street sign, verifying a transportation option, or examining a landmark.

After you apply for an assignment and complete it, your payment is sent to your PayPal account.

Once you prove your worth as a Gigwalker, you’ll be sent higher-paying (i.e., hundred-dollar) assignments.

9. Sell your photos and videos

You likely have a few thousand photos on your device. Here’s how you can make money from your phone and its giant photo gallery.

Upload photos on Foap app and they will pay you $5 a pop every time someone wants to use one of them.

Foap connects publishers with creators and you can make some decent money just by sharing access to your photos.

Keep in mind that simple candids of your cat likely aren’t going to fetch anything, but more creative shots showcasing interesting sights can definitely pull in extra money for you.

10. Test out new products

Survey Junkie is one of the oldest and most reputable survey companies online making this one of the easiest ways to make money from your phone.

Survey Junkie

You can get to try out new products before they ever hit the shelves.

Answer a few short questions about them and help the company shape the future of their product lines.

You can get paid directly to your PayPal account or cash in your rewards for gift cards.

11. Answer (more) questions

1Q pays you $0.25 or $0.50 for every question you receive and answer in a set amount of time.

You’ll receive a notification that a new set of questions is available to be answered.

For example, you might be asked how many times in the last week you used a foot moisturizing cream.

The number of questions you receive depends on your demographics and geographic location.

Payments are sent to your PayPal account.

12. Make money from your phone by testing websites and apps

Companies will pay you to test their apps before they launch through the UserTesting app.

You do need to successfully complete a sample test with this company, but once that’s done, you’ll be earning $10 for each app you download, test, and review (via voice recording) for UserTesting.

earn-money-for-user-testing

13. Do almost anything and get paid

Earnably pays you for seemingly random things: listening to the radio, completing surveys, viewing videos, and completing online offers.

What’s especially beneficial with Earnably is that the site pays you bonuses and increases your payout options as you advance on the site.

It takes just $2 in collected earnings before you can request a payout through PayPal or a gift card.

14. Listen to new music

SliceThePie allows you to check out new music and get paid for giving your opinions on it.

If you have time to kill and like listening to new bands, this app is absolutely perfect.

There are other ways to get paid to listen to music, but they might involve having to be on your computer.

15. Download free gift card apps

There are apps that you can download on your phone that pay you in gift cards for doing various tasks.

I say “tasks” but some of these involve playing games on your phone.

Go through our list of recommended apps, download a couple, and start earning.

16. Get paid to lose weight

Losing weight is usually a solitary endeavor, but what if you can bet on your success and compete with hundreds of other app users?

DietBet is an app that gives you the financial motivation to lose weight.

It hosts games where participants wager a bet on who can lose 4% of their body weight by the end of the competition period. DietBet keeps a percentage of the pot, but all participants who lose the required percentage split the rest.

Here are other options to get paid to lose weight.

17. Take care of other people’s pets

How to make money on your phone by playing with dogs?

Rover is the answer!

Rover connects pet owners with pet lovers who can take care of their pets while they’re away.

With Rover, you can walk dogs, take care of them during the day in your house, stay with the dogs in their house, or even board the dogs overnight for pet owners.

Providing a safe place for someone else’s pet can be rewarding and lucrative.

Final Thoughts About Making Money from Your Phone

Let’s be real.

You aren’t going to get rich by making money from your phone.

At best, you have the opportunity to bring in some extra cash while you sit on the couch and ignore The Office as it runs in the background.

If you’re looking for more serious ways of making money, I would suggest you look into a work from home job, or browse this list of passive income ideas for ways you can make money even while you sleep.

Do you know of other money-making mobile apps? Share it with us in the comments below.

15 Best Free Gift Card Apps To Install Now

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I love using free gift card apps and finding new ones because I hate paying full price when I don’t have to, especially on items I don’t really need.

(Is there an Amazon Prime Anonymous?)

I’ve always been a bit of a frugal person and love trying out new ways to save (this blog stands as a testament to that) but I wouldn’t call myself a master at saving.

I don’t normally put in the effort and go to thrifty extremes to save as much money as possible.

Instead, I just turn to easy ways to spend less or get more out of my money—like getting free gift cards on mobile apps.

Here’s what makes them so great:

They offer one of the best ways to shop for what I want without all the guilt of spending more than I should. Plus it appeals to my greener side too—no paper!

It’s surprising how many apps out there give out free gift cards. And it’s just as surprising to learn how few people actually know about it. Which lead me to create this list of the best free gift card reward apps.

If you’re looking for an app that will suit your pocket and your lifestyle, then scroll on.

I’ve divided the apps into several categories so you can find what you’re looking for to start earning gift cards straight away.

Don’t have time to try out all the apps I’ve listed below? Then simply have a look at my top 4 picks for the best gift card apps and try those few out instead.

4 Best Apps for Free Gift Cards

Quickly find the app that best fits your needs and lifestyle:

For the best money > time spent ratio: Ebates

For the simplest gift card system: Ibotta

For the best assortment of gift cards: instaGC

For the easiest way to earn gift cards: Swagbucks

My absolute favorite app for free gift cards is Swagbucks. It’s super simple to use, offers a good points rewards system, and is still one of the most legitimate ways to earn free gift cards.

How do you earn free gift cards?

It’s never been easier to get free gift cards than now thanks to the many apps and websites out there that offer them.

Do keep in mind that while the gift cards are technically “free” you do have to exchange something for them.

Most of the time it is access to your personal information, whether it is shopping habits, location history, browsing history, or other similar information. Research companies use this data to better refine their algorithms to get consumers to buy more. They are willing to pay in exchange for this information.

Apps and websites will normally have you perform a task or complete surveys.

By far the easiest way to earn free gift cards is to join a program that pays you a percentage back on your purchases. You don’t have to do anything differently and you get paid. It’s a win-win-win.

15 Free Gift Card Apps to Install Today

I’ve broken down my recommended apps into three different categories.

Apps That Pay You to Do Various Tasks

1. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the most well-known get paid to (GPT) apps on the web.

Probably because it’s so incredibly easy to use and offers gift cards for Amazon. I also have a great list of ways to earn Amazon gift cards if you’re looking specifically for those.

With this app, you get paid to do a variety of simple tasks that won’t take longer than a couple of minutes a day.

They’ll have you do things like watching videos, answering polls, taking surveys, and playing games.

When you complete a task, you earn SB points and one SB point comes down to about $0.01. So 300 points will equate to $3.

2. InboxDollars

InboxDollars is another popular app that lets you earn by completing different tasks.

You can earn cash back and gift cards for activities like searching the web, watching videos, shopping online, and answering surveys.

I really like this free gift card app because you can earn cashback by doing things that you might want to do anyway, such as downloading an app or shopping online.

If you’re really keen on that idea, then check out my article on super easy ways to earn money with your phone.

3. MyPoints

Swagbucks and MyPoints are owned by different companies, but they differ in tasks as well as the values you can redeem for gift cards.

You can shop on MyPoints.com and find various promos, coupon codes, and deals at thousands of stores. Earn points while you shop and exchange these points for gift cards or PayPal credits.

MyPoints.com also gives you rewards for answering surveys, watching videos, and other small tasks.

It makes sense to join both Swagbucks and MyPoints to maximize your rewards.

4. instaGC

instaGC works pretty much just like the other apps listed above. You have to complete different tasks like watching videos, completing surveys, and surfing the web.

They have a huge selection of gift cards too, with over 350 options to choose from.

5. CheckPoints

When you sign up for CheckPoints, you’re shown a variety of tasks, such as watching videos, taking quizzes, signing up for mailing lists, shopping, and many more.

Completing each task earns you a certain number of points that you can exchange for gift cards from Amazon, Target, Walmart, and other major stores and retailers.

They also host a Sweepstakes where you can win gas money, shopping sprees, and many more.

Apps That Pay You to Do Specific Tasks

6. iPoll

This survey app is unique in the sense that it uses your location to provide location-specific polls and surveys.

You can earn gift cards for Amazon, iTunes, and PayPal, as well as entries into the quarterly draw.

7. Toluna

Earn gift cards by voicing your opinion with Toluna.

All you have to do is answer a few simple surveys about various subjects and earn points for your answers (there’s no right or wrong answer of course).

You can then use these points for gift cards at popular places like Banana Republic and Groupon.

8. Poll Pay

Poll Pay is a paid survey app where you can get free gift cards from Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, and many more.

It’s simple to sign up and you can even get additional rewards for inviting your friends to sign up, too.

9. AppNana

AppNana allows you to get rewards (i.e., earn Nanas) when you download free apps and games from Nana Offers.

In case you get any funny ideas, note that you need to actually open the free apps after installing them, or else you won’t get the rewards.

Other ways you can earn Nanas include watching videos, playing games, and inviting friends to sign up. You even earn 400 points just for opening AppNana.

Your Nanas can be exchanged for free gift cards, such as Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Xbox, and many more.

Alternatively, you can exchange your Nanas for paid apps and games.

10. Rewarded Play

As its name implies, Rewarded Play is a free gift card app that lets you play free games in exchange for gift cards to over 20 retailers, including Amazon, Target, Best Buy, and Walmart.

The free games are a mix of classic ones, such as Solitaire, Yahtzee, and Mahjongg, as well as more modern ones, such as Words with Friends and various slot machine games.

Unfortunately for iPhone users, this app is only available for Android users.

Apps That Pay You Back for Your Purchases

11. Mobee

Ever heard of mystery shopping?

Well, with this free gift card app, you don’t necessarily have to buy anything to earn. You’ll have to apply for “missions” where you evaluate the shops and restaurants close to you.

According to the app, each trip will only take a couple of minutes and you’ll have to answer 10 questions or less to complete the mission.

You’ll earn points with every mission which you can then spend on gift cards for popular places like Dunkin’ Donuts and Walmart.

12. Drop

If you want to get rewarded for shopping then Drop is your best friend.

While using this app, you’ll get to peruse their exclusive deals with various stores like Target.

If you see a deal you like, then you can head to the store to make a purchase and earn Drop Points.

You can then use those points to redeem gift cards when you have built up enough points.

13. Ibotta

Ibotta is great because it lets you earn gift cards for something you’re already doing: buying groceries.

By scanning your receipts, you earn cash back for buying everyday products like bread or toothpaste.

Sometimes you have to buy specific brands and other times you just have to buy the type of product.

14. Ebates

Ebates is a really awesome free gift card app to use because they’re supported by thousands of online stores and you can earn up to 40% back.

You can shop through their site, but they offer additional discounts for mobile users via their gift card reward app.

You can redeem your gift cards at major retailers like Amazon, Starbucks, and Home Depot.

Or, you can get a big fat check if you prefer cash!

15. Receipt Hog

Just like the other shopping apps in this category, Receipt Hog makes it simple to earn reward coins and redeem these coins for gift cards.

All you have to do is take a photo of your receipt from any store, gas station, restaurant, or coffee shop and upload the image.

You can also earn bonus coins when you get free spins on the Hog Slots. You also get entered in monthly sweepstakes with a chance to win huge coin prizes.

Once you’ve reached enough coins, you can exchange the coins for Amazon gift cards or PayPal cash redemption.

Final Thoughts on Free Gift Card Apps

The great thing about gift card reward apps is that they’re pretty much instant in terms of gratification.

They’re conveniently right there on your phone and you can usually redeem them whenever you want.

That said, there are a few other options out there to get free items for those who are a little bit more patient, like getting free samples by mail.

It’s not exactly gift cards and it’s not as instantaneous, but come on, getting free stuff you want is just as fantastic!

Have you tried any of these apps? Did you indeed get free gift cards when you used these apps? Did I miss any apps that actually pay? Let us know in the comments!

How Ordinary People Make Money with Patreon

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Patreon is a crowd-funding membership platform, which means you can make money with Patreon if people like you enough to pay and subscribe to your channel in order to access your content.

Compared to YouTube, Patreon is a bit underrated as a money-making platform.

However, it is one of the most highest-paying platforms for the creative crowd online.

There are over 100,000 creators on Patreon, with the top tier earning salaries of $2 million monthly (or more).

These creators range from YouTubers to writers, musicians, podcasters, comic artists, videographers, online gamers, and other creatives with interesting skills to share with the world.

Today, you’ll learn how you can make money with Patreon: how Patreon works, how it’s different from YouTube, and who earns the most on this platform so you can be inspired and encouraged.

How Does Patreon Work?

Many YouTube stars who have made money from YouTube embraced YouTube and Patreon equally.

But the original way people earned money through YouTube was via AdSense.

A viewer must watch an ad for 30 seconds, or click the ad featured before or somewhere in the middle of a YouTuber’s video. Only then will the YouTuber earn money.

It sounds simple but YouTubers don’t earn a lot this way. It would take about 1,000 views for a YouTuber to earn $10 to $20.

Unless a YouTuber’s channel has millions of viewers, earning through YouTube’s AdSense would take a lot of time, effort, and content.

To complement this income generation, many YouTubers took to Patreon and made it their second home.

In Patreon, musicians, singers, painters, writers, video game writers, and other creators were able to set subscription fees in exchange for VIP-style access to their work.

Several types of fan support at Patreon exist:

  • Monthly subscription – Fans of a creator pay a monthly subscription fee in exchange for freebies and insider news (sometimes being first to listen to a new song, asked opinions about a new comic character, and so on). Depending on your Patreon plan, you can create tiers of memberships with various monthly subscriptions. For instance, you can set entry-level memberships at $3/month, a mid-level tier at $10/month, and a high-level tier at $20/month.
  • Per-creation campaign – Let’s say an independent ukulele player wants to release a new album, but has no funds to do so. She then creates a campaign on Patreon specifically for this project. Fans can support this album one-off without having to pay a monthly subscription fee.
  • Donation – If you’re a fan and you donate money to a creator you like, you’re in control of how much you want to give, and when you want to send your donation. You don’t need to be a paying subscriber or a support of a campaign to donate. The catch is that donations often do not include freebies. Of course this isn’t set in stone, since the creator can still send gifts your way as a donor.

You might think: why go to Patreon, if YouTube is already the biggest video-sharing platform on the planet?

Here are several reasons why…

Patreon vs. YouTube Channel Membership

  • Patreon filled a void – At the time of Patreon’s launch in 2013, YouTube has not yet launched its own Channel Membership program (this came out in mid-2018). Those who have started out at Patreon’s membership service stuck with it even after YouTube’s launch.
  • Patreon takes a smaller percentage – Patreon is still a service, so it charges its users for using the platform by taking a percentage of their monthly income. Depending on which Patreon plan you subscribe to, they get 5% (for Lite), 8% (for Pro), or 12% (for Premium). This is aside from the payment processing fee. It sounds more Compared to YouTube’s massive 30% cut, Patreon is more friendly to its users.
  • Patreon’s terms do not change drastically – Google, the mother company of YouTube, is notorious for updating its terms regularly. These terms include changes with monetization, which can be off-putting to YouTubers.
  • No minimum patrons required – At Patreon, there were no requirements regarding the number of patrons upon sign-up. With YouTube’s Channel Membership, your channel had to have at least 100,000 subscribers.

When it comes to pledges of supporters, Patreon and YouTube have similar starting points.

The starting price for YouTube channel memberships is $0.99/month at YouTube Channel Membership, while the starting price at Patreon is $1/month.

How Much Can You Earn With Patreon?

It has been proven that you can make money with Patreon, but it’s simply impossible to state an estimated income you can get from Patreon mainly because the number of supporters and how much they’re willing to shell out are different among Patreon users.

Below are a few of the top creators making the most money on Patreon, according to Graphtreon:

  • True Crime Obsessed (Earns an estimated $103K to $293K per month with over 38K patrons) – True crime podcast hosted by Gillian Pensavalle and Patrick Hinds
  • Chapo Trap House (Earns more than $164,000 per month with over 36K patrons) – Political comedy podcast by hosts Matt Christman, Will Menaker, Virgil Texas, Felix Biederman, and Ambe A’Lee Frost
  • Yagami Yato (Earns an estimated $49K to $289K per month with over 33K patrons) – NSFW Vocal artist, ASMR, and interactive fiction
  • DarkCookie (Earns more than $68K per month with over 25K patrons) – Creator of NSFW game Summertime Saga
  • Brandon Stanton (Earns an estimated $38K to $197K per month with over 20K patrons) – Photographer and creator of the Humans of New York photo series on social media and now published as books
  • Amanda Palmer (Earns an estimated $18K to $136K per month with over 14K patrons) – Singer, musician, podcaster, and blogger
  • CGP Grey (Earns more than $42K per month with over 13K patrons) – YouTuber with educational explanatory videos on a wide variety of subjects, mostly through animation

As you can see from these creators, it is definitely possible to make money with Patreon no matter what type of content you publish as long as you have followers (or in this case: “patrons”).

As a creator, you will dictate the tiers (membership levels) and the corresponding benefits for every tier.

You can add multiple tiers, as well as multiple benefits. And choose if you’d like to include tangible items, such as t-shirts, stickers, CDs, and various other merch or digital items, such as access to a livestream or a copy of an unreleased song.

Who Can Make Money with Patreon?

Anyone can open up a Patreon account.

However, once you begin earning money from the subscriptions, Patreon gets a cut from your monthly income.

As I’ve mentioned, the percentage will depend on what type of Patreon plan you chose: Lite (5%), Pro (8%), or Premium (12%).

The pricier the Patreon plan you choose, the more add-ons you get, such as detailed analytics, accounts for team members, a dedicated partner manager, and so on.

If you’re planning to join Patreon, but is not sure if you’d fit in, you’d be surprised at the impressive range of Patreon users there are.

To give you an idea, here are some real Patreon users and how they’re using this platform to earn money online:

1. Podcasters

We know crowdfunding is a legitimate way of making money from podcasts.

You don’t need to be a professor, public speaker, or celebrity to create a podcast. As long as you’re creative, smart, and entertaining enough, people will naturally want to listen to you and hear more.

Aside from the Chapo Trap House, The Last Podcast on the Left is another popular podcast hosted by friends Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks, and Henry Zebrowski.

Since 2011, these guys have been releasing 1-hour podcasts about the horrors of the world, both imagined and real. Think zombies, serial killers, and so on. While Zebrowski is a comedian on his own right, his co-hosts mostly found massive fame through the podcast.

2. Teaching and Education

There is massive potential for teaching at Patreon.

From musicians creating music lessons for their patrons to English teachers creating lessons for their ESL students, the possibilities are endless.

You’d find essay writing lessons, painting courses, cooking lessons, and many more.

3. Musicians

Singers and musicians are big at Patreon.

A cappella groups Pentatonix and Home Free are perfect examples of music acts that opened their world to patrons, which ultimately helped them create music, tour more places, and produce music videos.

If you’re trying to learn guitar, you can find many expert guitarists sharing their knowledge at Patreon.

You just gotta dig deeper and learn how other musicians take care of their patrons.

4. Video Creators

These group of creators bring a wide range of content to the world.

Some share educational videos like cooking or experiments, while others stick with pranks, family funny videos, and so on.

5. Visual Artists

The internet threatened traditionally-beloved professions like comic book artists and other similar fields.

But the technology, tools like drawing tablets and software, and services like Patreon paved the way for visual artists to make money online.

Today, exceptionally-talented artists like Brian Gordon (of Fowl Language) and Nick Seluk (of The Awkward Yeti) are able to do what they love the most and earn a living from their comics too!

Thanks, in part, of their fans who helped bring money to the artists by buying their merch, joining Kickstarter campaigns, or subscribing to their Patreon.

6. Writers

The cool thing about Patreon is that creators can offer their content in phases, which is ideal for authors working on their novels.

They can choose to be “paid” as they go.

Journalists also have a nice little home here, especially those with very specific niches.

7. Game creators

Video game creators join Patreon and release updates and sneak peaks of their games to their patrons.

Some go as far as asking their patrons to help shoulder the game development bill.

Watching online gamers do their thing (and narrate what their characters are doing on screen) has been around for several years and who wouldn’t want to get paid to play video games?

It’s no wonder these popular names from the gaming industry are using Patreon to share more content in exchange for income from monthly subscriptions.

8. Communities and Organizations

Of course, organizations (whether private or non-profit) and communities can turn Patreon into their go-to fundraising headquarters.

Patreon was made exactly to unite a community of people into one (or more) goals.

Tips to Be Successful on Patreon

Making money on Patreon isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it type of task. It involves constant work on your end to keep your existing patrons, get new ones, and create new content.

Here are a few tips for success on this platform.

1. Carefully consider whether signing up as a Patreon creator is a good fit for you.

As I keep stressing above, anyone can sign up on Patreon and start making money.

But just because you can doesn’t always mean you should.

First, compute your overhead costs. If whatever you’re creating requires expensive raw materials, labor, or any other upfront costs, you might want to reconsider having Patreon as your main source of income.

Second, you need to come into Patreon with a fan base, whether from social media, your regular clients, or yes, even YouTube.

Patreon can help you get funded, but without enough online followers opening their wallets to support you, your Patreon campaign may go unfunded.

Lastly, you need to be able to handle enormous pressure.

Having a virtual line of patrons outside your virtual door, waiting for your next creation to drop, and being vocal about it (after all, they invested in your work) will either motivate you to get off your behind and start working.

Or the overwhelming pressure can break your resolve.

Know yourself enough to decide whether you can handle it.

2. Set achievable goals.

The best thing to avoid reneging on a promise is to not promise anything you can’t deliver.

Lots of sites will advise you to create multiple tiers of support, starting from entry-level, 1 to 3 mid-levels, and a limited VIP tier open only for a number of patrons. These multiple tiers would naturally have different rewards or perks.

And I’m here to tell you to set reasonable goals for yourself in terms of whether you’re able to deliver these perks.

Will you be able to meet the demand for content if you ever reach thousands of patrons?

Ask yourself this question constantly when you’re planning out your tiers and rewards.

3. Constantly be creating high-quality content.

Even if you were able to optimize your tiers, promote your Patreon page, and increase the number of your patrons, you’re not going to make money on Patreon for long if your content is less than your best.

Your followers became patrons because they’re fans of the free content you’ve already put out there. Asking for their monetary support and then delivering goods that are far from what they’ve come to expect is the fastest way to ensure that monetary support dries up.

4. Keep creating for non-patrons

Speaking of free content, suppress the urge to make all your content exclusive to patrons.

You’ll want to continue growing your audience outside of Patreon so you can reach more potential patrons who will invest in your project.

And they won’t do it if they don’t know what you’re about.

5. Keep an attitude of gratitude for your patrons.

While there is no bigger “thank you” than delivering what your promised, it’s still a good idea to thank your patrons in many different ways.

This is especially important during the early days, when only a few of them liked your content enough to have faith in you and invest in you.

Personalized messages and special perks to your early patrons will go a long way in promoting goodwill and ensuring you have loyal patrons.

At the same time, new patrons need to feel appreciated, too.

You might not be able to send personalized messages after a certain point, but never forget to thank them and acknowledge their contribution somehow, such as a special shoutout in your work.

Final Thoughts on Making Money With Patreon

Wouldn’t it be nice if creating content sold itself and paid for itself so you can keep doing it.

Unfortunately, it can’t.

Fortunately, making money on Patreon so you can sustain your passion is now possible.

I hope this article helped you make up your mind if Patreon is a good fit for you and inspired you with Patreon success stories.

Are you signing up for Patreon? Or are you already there and loving it? Tell us your stories (and maybe drop your Patreon link?) in the comments!

28 Online Jobs for Artists That Pay for Your Creativity

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Online jobs for artists are tricky to find.

In this day and age, anyone can get a full-time job in the comforts of their own homes and earn a livable income without the hassles of the daily commute, spending gas money, and so on.

That’s why I took the time to find different freelance art jobs to help you come up with legitimate ways you can get paid for your creativity.

Modern artist

Finding online jobs for artists that would preserve their artistry is harder to find because these gigs must have:

  1. an acceptable compensation and;
  2. an opportunity that would keep their creativity alive.

Artists are a special breed of people—they bring beauty, enlightenment, awareness, and just overall good vibes to the world. When their creativity, artistry, or spirit burns out, their art suffers in the end.

So what kind of online jobs for artists are there?

Types of Online Jobs for Artists

The cool thing about artistic jobs is that you can do as many or as few freelance art jobs as you want.

  • Freelance – You can cater to two or more clients at a time. Dabble in advertising, mixed with other specializations like t-shirt design, animation, and so on.
  • Full-time – As a full-time, but home-based employee, you work exclusively for one company or client. Your tasks are usually described before contract-signing and will continue to be your responsibilities throughout your “employment.”
  • Part-time – Part-time online jobs for artists are a mix of freelance and full-time gigs. You’d have to follow some kind of strict schedule, say 8 am to 12 noon, but you are free to do other gigs after work.

In the past, online jobs for artists were exclusive to work that requires no team effort.

For example, t-shirt design, tattoo design, and graphic design can all be done by a single person and have been known to be a good fit for work-from-home settings.

Meanwhile, animation work and marketing-related jobs such as branding or advertising often require multiple people in a team of artists to complete the work.

The advancement of communication tools and collaboration apps, as well as how companies now embrace the work-from-home culture have made working with a team easier, even if you actually perform your work at home.

This means the majority of the artistic jobs traditionally available in office-based settings are most likely available as work-at-home jobs as well.

10 Online Art Job Ideas

1. Logo Designer

Logo designer

Logo designers are in demand now more than ever. With how easy it is to start a business these days, everyone is looking for creative ways to showcase their new brands.

Fiverr is where most logo designers hang out, but if you’re looking for a steadier gig or even a stable job, go over to Indeed to check what jobs are available for graphic design.

2. T-Shirt Designer

Learn how to design and sell t-shirts, even without equipment or time for customer service.

T-shirts have the possibility to go viral too. The right design + the right ad could become an insane passive stream of income for years.

3. Illustrator

There are quite a few ways to make money as an online illustrator.

You can draw manually, scan your artwork and upload, or use any modern drawing pens and tablets to bring your art directly to the screen.

There are tons of technology to support illustrators these days, allowing you to create anything from stick people to realistic drawings, from line graphs to more complicated charts and diagrams, and a whole lot more.

You don’t even need to have a degree in illustration, but having one can give you an edge over your competition in terms of pay.

4. Font Designer

Designing fonts may seem silly, but you’d be surprised how a handful of graphic designers are still earning real money with fonts they’ve designed years ago.

A font designer can get employed by a company or you can create and sell your own fonts on various marketplaces.

5. Fashion Designer

Fashion Designer

When you think fashion design, the first thing that may come to your mind is the glitz and glamour of runways, magazines, photoshoots, and so on.

But before the clothes get into production and presentation (either by print or the runway), designing the actual lingerie, streetwear, dresses, outerwear, pants, tops and other types of clothing comes first.

And fashion design can be done wherever you are, which means it’s a perfect job for freelancers.

Plus, you’d be able to make at least $60k/year for one client alone.

6. Motion Graphics (3D) Artist

If you’re skilled at both special effects and animation, you’d be awesome as a 3D motion graphics artist.

You’d need advanced computer skills (with proficiency in tools like After Effects and Adobe suite) and several projects in your portfolio to land a job.

7. Industrial Designer

Do you have a flair for designing furniture, cars, or other industrial goods? Your skills can take you places if you explore engineering and industrial design.

You’ll need to have a knack for creating designs that balance visual aesthetics, function, user-friendliness, and cost.

This career path is also a lucrative one. An industrial designer can make at least $70k/year (and more if he/she takes on two or more clients).

8. Creative Jobs in the Tech World

Modern office

This fusion between the arts and the tech industry is an interesting field.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics found out (from surveying 400 marketing and advertising HR managers) that companies are looking for experienced workers with expertise in web production, mobile development, user interface, and interaction design for both mobile and web applications.

There are tons of tech-focused creative jobs available, and more jobs are being invented by the day.

9. Online Art Therapist

Seeing a therapist is not as taboo as it once was, and as jobs migrate to the virtual space, therapists can now hold sessions online.

Yes, even art therapists.

You might need to get a degree and some sort of professional certification and license to officially operate as an art therapist, but if doing art that helps people improve their mental health sounds fulfilling to you, it may well be worth it.

For more information, visit the American Art Therapy Association page.

10. Caricaturist

Art can be funny, too.

If you have a knack for focusing on qualities of a subject and humorously exaggerate it (and not be cruel about it), caricature art may be something to explore.

These days, caricaturists aren’t just hanging out in parks, boardwalks, or events; they can be found online, too.

You can be commissioned to create caricatures from digital photos for printing on heavy board or canvas to be framed or on various merchandise, such as t-shirts, mugs, holiday cards, invitations, etc.

If you’re into political or societal humor, magazines or newsletters may be looking for someone like you.

18 Freelance Art Jobs Available Year-Round

If you’re looking for freelance art jobs you can dip your fingers into, check out these 12 companies that are always in search of creatives like you:

Photographers

Photography Jobs

Those with mad skills behind the lens could join several websites and earn through either direct sales or commissions.

  1. Avanti Press – For photographers interested in designing greeting cards
  2. Nature Friend – Nature-focused magazine accepts submitted photographs for publication
  3. Obeo – You don’t need a portfolio here. You just have to take decent photos of homes listed in the real estate market
  4. The Sun Magazine – Freelance photographers can earn $100 to $500 for a one-time use of their photos
  5. Papyrus (see under How Do I Submit Artwork) – This greeting card company pays photographers and illustrators for their work to be included in their products

In the past, I’ve talked about several sources where photographers can turn their photos into cash.

Illustrators

Illustrator jobs

  1. Avatar Press – Illustrators and colorists can find regular freelance work with this comic book publisher.
  2. Analog Science Fiction – Exclusive for artists specializing in realistic-looking illustrations.
  3. Cricket Magazine – Only digital formats are accepted to their email.
  4. CafePress – Accepts fan designs of t-shirts, mugs, hats, tote bags, and many more.
  5. Cape Shore – If you’ve mastered painting in oil, watercolor, acrylic, or even mixed media and are interested in creating designs for the company’s holiday-themed paper products, then head over to Cape Shore for the opportunity.
  6. crowdspring – This site connects artists to clients in competitive bids for commissioned work, such as logo design, web pages, cover art, clothing, and many more. Currently, there’s a waitlist to join as a creative, but check back as they have open registrations from time to time.
  7. Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy – Exclusively for book cover artists.
  8. Funny Times – Got high-resolution illustrations with humor infused in them? Submit your artwork here.
  9. Oatmeal Studios – Submit funny greeting card designs and modern cartoon ideas. Oatmeal is always on the lookout for real talent.
  10. Photolamus – Create caricatures from submitted digital photos. Jump to “Artists Information” on the footer, leave your email address, and you’ll get contacted back.
  11. Rubber Stamp Madness – Regularly accepts artwork in specific themes.
  12. Viabella – Greeting card company accepts illustration submissions.
  13. Wild Apple – Wild Apple licenses and publishes creative artists throughout the year.

Where Else to Find Online Jobs for Artists

If you can’t find freelance art jobs from the list above, you can hang out in any of these useful resources:

  1. ArtJobs.com – ArtJobs.com is an international job board in the Arts & Creative Industries, so you’ll see some acting and singing job postings right beside visual artist and illustrator job postings.
  2. Arts Thread – Ideal for graphic design artists.
  3. Authentic Jobs – You get a mix of creative, design, and tech jobs on this job board.
  4. Behance – Classic site allowing all types of visual artists to display their portfolios and connect with employers looking for artists online.
  5. Krop – Creative industry job board and portfolio hosting website, allowing you to search for jobs and display your portfolio on this site.

There’s also FlexJobs, Indeed, Glassdoor, Hubstaff Talent, LinkedIn, and other online job boards that are filled to the brim with opportunities for those deep into creative arts.

The Bottom Line: Artists CAN Make Money!

From the moment you knew you were an artist, I bet you can hear the naysayers clicking their tongues and muttering “just another starving artist.”

Well, they’re wrong!

Persist in looking for online jobs for artists that won’t require you to sacrifice your soul.

You’d be surprised at how many online jobs for artists there really are and how the right opportunity can turn your creativity into your main source of income.

Which of these online jobs are you interested in applying to? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

9 YouTube Monetization Alternatives for Your Online Biz

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If you came here to find out the best YouTube monetization alternatives, I assume you have already tried the giant platform for years and decided there’s life after YouTube.

Don’t get me wrong. YouTube is still a powerful platform with its 2 billion active users. It remains the best introduction for beginner video content creators to dip their toes into this online business.

But there are valid reasons why people are looking to get out of YouTube. These include:

  • Policy changes in Partner Program – YouTube has always kept their policies updated, but sometimes, the video content creators get the bad news the most.
  • Competitive environment – In the past, it was easy to find success on YouTube. These days, aside from the millions of people you compete against for views, the environment can also be a bit competitive because the YouTube algorithm is designed to promote the popular channels than the up-and-coming ones.
  • Revenue-sharing can mean a big chunk of revenue loss – When you enable ads on your YouTube videos, you agree to Google’s ad revenue share for YouTube. The 45/55 split where Google keeps 45% and you get the bigger 55% cut of all YouTube advertising on your videos is acceptable as a beginner because you can’t find any other better deal. However, for advanced content creators with enough clout, this big chunk may not be the best program for you.
  • Big brand-names pull out their ads – Some advertisers began to pull out of YouTube starting in 2017 and 2018 due to lack of moderation. For example, Verizon’s ads were placed on videos from the Egyptian cleric Wagdi Ghoneim, who was banned from the U.S. over extremism. To protect their respective brands, AT&T, Hasbro, Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, Walmart, or pharma company GSK all pulled their ads to avoid getting involved with offensive content.
  • Unfair treatment of content creators – Because content creators earn differently, YouTube sometimes tends to favor bigger-earners than small-time or beginner ones who were no longer allowed to earn until they reach a minimum amount of views and subscriptions. This change happened in 2018.

Of course, the most common reason for people checking out YouTube’s competition is that they were forced out of the platform. Video content creators who were suspended were unable to get back to their accounts. Sometimes, it is due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down system, other times for no reason at all.

Beyond YouTube Ads: Other Ways to Make Money with Videos

Before we discuss all the possible YouTube monetization alternatives you can switch to, let’s first take a closer look at the other ways to make money aside from YouTube’s ad revenue-sharing program.

  • Affiliate marketing – Many video content creators have already been doing this even with YouTube. YouTubers list a link on the video description to a product or service and if other people purchase from this link, the YouTuber will earn a commission from the sale.
  • Selling products – Through videos, you can sell physical products (either your own product or other people’s products), or information products (like ebooks, courses, etc). This may not always work, especially if you don’t have followers yet, but there is always affiliate marketing for beginners.
  • Sponsorships – When brands see that a particular video content creator influences a niche that aligns with the company’s market, sponsorships happen so the video creators could reach the target customer on the brand’s behalf.
  • Video on demand (VOD) – You sell access to your own videos. If you have a very specific skill and people want to learn from you, video-in-demand can be very lucrative. Some are even super-successful with this method that they offer subscription plans.
  • Livestreaming – If you’re comfortable airing your videos unfiltered, then live streaming could be a potentially rewarding experience. You can earn from pay-per-view, donations, or sponsorships, depending on the platform you choose.

These are just the more popular money-making methods for video creators. I bet there are more I haven’t mentioned here, so feel free to sound off below if you know more.

9 Sites to Check Out as YouTube Monetization Alternatives

Now let’s dig into the other YouTube monetization alternatives that you can check out:

1. Twitch

Acquired by Amazon in 2014 for $970 million, this public streaming website already a whopping 550,000 online viewers, and 2 million content creators. Today, Twitch has 55 million active users.

Twitch is home to many live-stream gamers, but it isn’t exclusive to them. There are also musicians, singers, teachers, and so on. There are no prerecorded videos here, so if you’re not OK with live streaming, check out other options.

2. Patreon

Patreon accompanies YouTube, Twitch, and other content-creating sites because it provides any user a way to monetize his/her content. Consider Patreon as a subscription-based donation, where people commit to becoming patrons of their favorite creators like game streamers, comic book artists, singers, and so on.

The subscription model of Patreon is pro-creator with a commission of 5% for the Lite plan, 8% for Pro, and 12% for Premium. It also supports credit card and PayPal payments. The only downside to using this as monetization is you won’t find anything like it if Patreon decides to close shop.

3. Vimeo

It is one of YouTube’s direct competitions. Vimeo is a video streaming site, but with higher quality content than YouTube. The upside is that there is basically no learning curve when switching to Vimeo since the user interface is similar to YouTube. The quality of the videos is also unmatched.

The downside is that free users can only upload 500 MB worth of videos a week. After this, you’d have to go premium for more space. Also, Vimeo has a higher pricing model than YouTube.

4. Dailymotion

Dailymotion is also similar to Vimeo and YouTube. It has been around for years as well and could serve as a stable platform for creating and sharing your video content. Plus, the quality of videos uploaded is also pro-level and much better than what YouTube puts out.

Like YouTube, you can enable monetization and get a cut from those in-stream advertisements (ads that appear before, during, or after) your videos. Payment is automatically sent to your Paypal once it reaches $100.

5. IGTV

IGTV is Instagram’s streaming service. Unlike the short video snippets Instagram is known for, IGTV allows users to submit longer and vertical videos up to 15 minutes long via phone (and up to 60 minutes via desktop). Money-wise, you can make 55% off the ads placed on your videos.

6. Wistia

Ideal for business video hosting, Wistia allows brands to control CTA, social sharing, and monetization of their high-quality videos. It has one of the most comprehensive video analytics in the market and the videos they host are protected by high-end encryption. However, this does come at a price, which is why it may not be ideal for smaller video creators.

7. Uscreen

This all-in-one video-on-demand monetization platform allows several ways to earn, from live streaming to selling subscriptions. One major upside to Uscreen is that content creators get to keep the contact info of their audience. Uscreen also has built-in marketing and community tools with about 1000+ integration of online tools to make your online space as inclusive as possible.

8. Facebook

Facebook has expanded its foothold in the online-gaming-streaming market gradually in recent years and it continues to grow to this day.

Like other YouTube monetization alternatives on this list, Facebook gives video creators a platform to broadcast their gaming (or other content) live. The biggest thing about Facebook is that it will let you target the market you want to target as accurately as possible. 

9. TikTok

TikTok is a force to be reckoned with, especially with its 800 million active users. It allows video creators to make short and catchy videos from their phones. People Are Getting Rich From TikTok. Here’s How.

More noteworthy YouTube Monetization Alternatives include:

  • Thinkific – online video course creation and management platform.
  • Brid.TV – cross-device online video player platform with cool video analytics for optimization and monetization. Bird partners need at least 5,000 daily video views to start earning with publishers earning 70% and Brid.TV getting the lower 30% cut of ad-revenue sharing.
  • Veoh – Very niche-specific video-sharing platform. As video creators, you can add followers, DM strangers, create groups, and share content all at the same time.
  • Alugha – If you want to offer your video content to users in different languages, this unique platform allows you to do so by embedding subtitles in 2 or more languages.
  • Metacafe – short-form videos. This site is older than YouTube and offers unlimited upload.
  • Brightcove – Features a full-featured content management system, marketing automation, and several monetization options.
  • Maker Studios – Acquired by Disney, this digital platform for short-form videos gives about 60% revenue to low-traffic channels and up to 90% cut for popular channels.

Which is the Best YouTube Monetization Alternatives?

There is no single best YouTube monetization alternative for everyone because different video creators cater to different followers.

My take is to use as much of these platforms as you possibly can (without breaking any of their policies of course) because it is always better to diversify your income. Putting your eggs in just one basket is never a good idea – I’ve seen people get destroyed when their YouTube accounts they worked on for years suddenly get banned.

Also, work on quality video content. No matter your niche or industry, make sure you put out quality content. This is how you attract and keep your audience, who you’ll need regardless of what monetization route you take.

How to Become a Work from Home Financial Advisor

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The financial industry had been delayed in embracing the virtual work setting, but gradually, more and more jobs are now being offered with flexible arrangements. Today, I’ll focus on becoming a work-from-home financial advisor – it’s a pretty in-demand job traditionally, but will it work if the clients you normally communicate with face-to-face are no longer in front of you?

This post talks about how much you can earn from a work-from-home financial advisor position, and if being employed with a bank, private firm or other financial institution is better than the freelance route.

But first, let’s talk basics.

What does a Work-from-home Financial Advisor do?

A financial advisor is a general term that encompasses the role of brokers, stockbrokers, account executives, wealth management advisors, or other fancy names financial institutions call their skilled employees who handle customer accounts.

“Handle” here means a lot of things, depending on what the customer’s financial goals are.

This could refer to buying or selling stocks, bonds, and other securities on behalf of clients… or providing general financial advice regarding investments or something more client-specific like retirement plans.

The duties of work-from-home financial advisors are the same as those who work in traditional office settings.

These include:

  • Providing sound financial advice based on client goals. When employed in banks or insurance companies, a financial advisor is a person who would be facilitating the client’s transaction requests such as buying a new insurance policy or transferring funds into another investment.
  • Explaining laws relevant to the client’s financial goals. Financial advisors are up-to-date with laws related to insurance, taxes, investments, and other similar avenues.
  • Guiding clients to available services. It doesn’t matter if the financial advisor works at a bank, investment firm, and an insurance company or he/she works freelance getting new clients to sign up for certain services. This job will involve in-depth explaining (or sometimes up-selling) about products and services you think a client needs.
  • Helping clients build a financial plan. Some financial advisors do not sell any product or services. Instead, they provide consulting services to help clients plan out future expenses such as retirement, education, life insurance, investment, and so on.
  • Researching appropriate investments for clients. When a client has funds for a small home business or a corporation but has no idea what kind of business to put up, this is where a financial advisor steps in. He/she conducts research based on industry markets, client requirements, potential risks, and personal finance knowledge.

The financial advisor may seem like a job anyone can do, but this is actually not true.

The responsibilities of these advisors can be stress-inducing since there is not much room for error.

Poor advice could be costly to clients and lead to the advisor’s job loss, or worse, a major embarrassment to the advisor’s company.

Education, Skills, and Equipment Needed to Become a Virtual Financial Advisor

A work-from-home financial advisor has the same credentials as his/her office-based counterparts.

  • Formal education: A bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business administration, economics, pre-law, or mathematics will help begin a career as a financial advisor. Some colleges also offer financial planning short courses.
  • Training: A work-from-home financial advisor usually begins his/her career under the wing of a senior advisor. This is where entry-level advisors learn the ropes hands-on and build their own investment portfolios and client network.
  • Short courses: Any coursework with in-depth classes in taxes, investments, estate planning, mutual funds, and risk management are helpful as an introduction to this career.
  • Certification: If you completed any finance-related bachelor’s degree and already have at least 3 years of work experience, you can take an exam and (if you pass) become a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).
  • Licenses: Not all financial advisors would need certification. However, if you are providing financial advice and buying/selling stocks and bonds on behalf of other people, you or your company must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Meanwhile, those who buying/selling insurance policies must obtain a license from state boards. Check with the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) how you can get your license.
  • Required Skills: As someone who will be talking to clients day-in, day out, you need advanced communication and interpersonal skills. You should have natural teaching ability, so you could explain technical and complex financial information to clients. Math and analytical skills are just as important since you’ll be faced with numbers, graphs, charts, and other financial data, which you need to explain to clients. And if you’re selling a product or service, sales skills will come a long way as well.

Financial jobs like this require continuous learning because of the ever-changing state of local and global economies.

How Much do Finance Advisors Make?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, entry-level financial advisers can earn around $41.5k/year (around $20/hour), while senior advisors could take home up to $208k/year ($100/hour).

Of course, these numbers only consider those who are employed with financial institutions like banks, investment firms, insurance companies, stock market firms, and other similar companies.

A freelance financial advisor can earn on a commission basis if he/she brings in new clients or product orders to investment firms, banks, and other institutions.

Some freelance advisors own their respective companies and could bring in larger revenues.

A work-from-home financial advisor can either work for a firm, start his own financial consultation service, or a mix of both.

Entry-level advisors would likely earn less than their office-based counterparts, but experienced advisors who have impressive portfolios already and recognized names could earn as much as when they worked in an office setting.

Freelance vs. Employed by a Firm

Working from home can be done both as a freelance financial advisor and as someone employed by a firm.

There are pros and cons to both these routes:

Freelance (either solo or with a few home-based office employees)

  • Pros: You can become a financial advisor and earn entirely commission-based from two or more companies. You have can control which product and service to recommend to your own clients. And because you don’t work by-the-clock, you have the freedom to work as much or as little as you want.
  • Cons: Unfortunately, there are no “company benefits” to speak of as a freelancer. Plus eventually, if you’re a good work-from-home financial advisor, your operation has the potential to expand. When this happens, you would need more space (to rent an office, build a home office), and hire assistants to support your business. While expansion is always good, it also comes with additional expenses and/or more government fees, taxes, and licensing requirements.

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how Bill Harris launched his website Personal Capital in 2011 and provided effective money management for clients with $100,000 to $2,000,000 to invest.

Now, this is a full-fledged firm.

Employed by a financial institution 

  • Pros: You don’t need to invest in office equipment and renting out a suitable office space. You receive company benefits and get paid a salary and sometimes added commissions for extraordinary work. You get to work only 40 hours a week with travel and some fieldwork for meetings sprinkled into your schedule.
  • Cons: You are restricted to the clients your employer assign to you. It is very rare for financial institutions to allow you to work “on the side” for other companies, which means your compensation is quite limited.

Is Work-from-Home Financial Advisor a Good Career Path?

Whichever route you take in your work-from-home journey, the good news is financial advisors as a career is projected to grow 15% until 2026.

According to the BLS, this is because a growing number of baby boomers is off to retirement and would need help with money management moving forward.

A work-from-home financial advisor is a good profession for those who have experience working in the finance industry.

Unfortunately, because of the risks it could potentially cause other people’s life savings, becoming a financial advisor isn’t a profession anyone can just jump right into.

If you’re interested in working in the financial industry, but don’t want a consultant or advisor position, check out how to land virtual bookkeeping or work-from-home insurance jobs. You can even find part-time work helping other people prepare their taxes.

7 Ways to Make Money Gardening for All Seasons

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If you’ve always had a green thumb and you’re looking for ways to bring extra income from home, did you know that you can make money gardening?

I’m talking about real cash that you can supplement your income with, or better yet, turn into a full-blown business that you can operate totally from the comforts of your own home. 

Sound interesting?

Here are 7 ways you can make money gardening

The cool thing about the methods below is you can pick and choose which income-generating gardening activity you want to focus on depending on your interests and available garden space. You can start small, or plan big for all the methods below – it’s totally up to you.

1. Sell Fruits and Vegetables

Nothing is more fulfilling than being able to plant and harvest fruits and vegetables. Although some plants take months (or even years) before you are able to harvest, there are many others that are easier to grow and sell. You just need to figure out what kinds of fruits and vegetables your place and climate can cultivate. Here are some examples:

  • Vegetables – Some vegetables grow year-round and are perfect for beginners. These include beetroot, potatoes, garlic, onions, beans, peas, radishes, cucumbers, bell peppers, and leafy greens like lettuce and spinach. You can start in small pots and expand once you’ve gotten the hang of it. If you have limited space, you can even stick to sprouts and microgreens – they’re quick to grow and easy to multiply.
  • Fruits – Fruits are trickier because they take years to grow. (Except if you consider tomatoes and cucumbers a fruit, then that’s a debate we should talk at another day). Planting fruit trees should probably be a long-term plan because your returns wouldn’t be until 5 to 10 years. Examples include lemons, pears, apples, tangerines, avocados, peaches, plums, and various berries (cherries, strawberries, blackberries, and so on).
  • Mushrooms – Mushrooms are technically not plants, but part of the fungi family. Some types of mushrooms, like oyster and shiitake, can be grown indoors. They grow and multiply exceptionally fast even in small spaces (25-pound/square foot) and can be sold at around $5 to $10 a pound.

Once you’ve harvested and have sold to everyone you know, but don’t have the certifications to sell at the farmer’s market, check out sites like Ripe Near Me where you can find people who would love to take the produce off your hands for a fair price.

2. Make Money Gardening Flowers and Decorative Plants

If you haven’t found success in gardening fruits and vegetables, maybe you can try decorative and flowering plants. For example:

  • Succulents – As a favorite housewarming gift or as a new-job gift because they aren’t the hardest to take care of. Jade, aloe vera, cactus, and a whole range of succulent plants are also super easy to propagate. Some even multiply by themselves if you leave them outdoors. Invest in tiny, adorable pots, re-pot these babies, and sell them by-the-pot.
  • Flowers – You can sell flowering plants by the pot, or sell the actual flowers. It totally depends on how much you want to commit to a gardening business. You can even join local wedding sites and offer your flowers to would-be brides. Or better yet, partner up with a local florist and see if they could give you a good deal.
  • Indoor plants – Indoor plants are awesome investments but can be hard for beginners to grow. If you made a jungle for your living room and want to sell some of your beloved plants, you’d surprise how much you can sell snake plants, Photos, spider plant, Dracaena, ZZ plant, Philodendron, Rubber Tree, and Alocasia if you presented them in a cool pot. You can even look for interior designers or real estate agents near you who would be interested in buying your plants.
  • Indoor trees – If you check out housekeeping magazines, I bet you can find a picture or two with gigantic trees near a stylishly staged living room. If you’re able to propagate plants like the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree, Calamondin Orange Tree, Parlor Palm tree, and Umbrella trees (among others), you’re lucky because these sell quite high.

Depending on how much plants you’re able to produce and sell in any given month, you can even start an online shop for your plants.  Start small by opening up a Facebook page, instead of building a website from scratch.

3. Sell Seeds, Seedlings and Cuttings

You don’t even need to let your plants grow full size. You can make money gardening by selling seeds of from your last harvest, planting seedlings for sale, or taking cutting from your grown trees.

You’d be surprised that there are passionate hobbyists for every type of produce. Hot-peppers have a huge community and people from all walks of life buy and sell seeds of Habanero, African Devil, Trinidad Scorpion, Ghost Pepper, and Carolina Reaper (among many more). Some of them have no luck growing from seeds, so they begin with seedlings instead.

When it comes to cuttings (or small pieces cut from larger plants), some plants work and some do not. Mulberry is a good example of plant cuttings that can be shipped and survive even up to a week before repotting. If you have a lot of cuttings to sell, go to a nearby nursery and see if they’d be willing to buy.

4. Sell Homemade Products from Your Garden

The potential for products you can sell from your garden is unlimited. Below are just some examples of how you can make money gardening:

  • Herbs, spices and herbed butter – If you are fond of growing herbs, you can try to multiply them and sell them as a set. You can even create your own recipe of dried-herb spice mix and advertise it for steak lovers, pizza lovers, and so on. Herbed butter is a good example of how you can turn herbs into a well-loved product. Experiment and level-up ordinary butter into fancy herbed butter – you’ll be shocked at how many people look for this.
  • Fruit smoothies – For those with an oversupply of strawberries, cherries, other fruits and vegetables, you can turn them into smoothies and offer them at a nearby grocery store. Some people just post these products on Instagram or Facebook and turn neighbors into loyal customers.
  • Dried produce – Invest in a dryer and go crazy drying out apples, peaches, and even vegetables to make dried snacks. People trying to eat healthy would love new things to try.
  • Home décor – Potpourri, acorns, and other things from nature used as home décor can become a business. Even what other people may think of as trash, you can still turn into gold. Check out what Etsy has when it comes to rustic home décor so you could have an idea of what plants can be sold.
  • Candles and soap – Flowers and other plants with fragrance are often mixed with handmade soaps and candles. If you have a lot of flowers to dispose of, why not get into candle making or soap making business as well?
  • Homemade compost and potting soil – Veteran gardeners know how to make their own “black gold” or compost. And how to create potting soil for succulents, vegetables, or any other specific plant.

These are just a few ideas on the top of my head. I bet you can check out your garden now and think of more things you can turn into gold.

5. Sell Canned & Bottled Produce from Your Garden

Once you’ve got your vegetable and fruit garden down to a science, you already know which produce you’ll be able to harvest in the next week or month. Aside from selling the produce outright, another way to bring your goods into the market is to learn bottling and canning fruits and vegetables. This way, you’d be able to make products like:

  • Sauces – From hot sauce to salsas, relishes and other similar concoctions, if you’re able to mix your own blend, you can sell them as well.
  • Pickled Everything – There are tons of fruits and vegetables you can pickle beyond the traditional cucumbers. Carrots, onions, peppers, rhubarb, squash, asparagus, cauliflower, ginger, green beans, peaches, strawberries and many many more. Depending on what fruit or vegetable you pickled, you can sell them by-the-jar for $20 to $50 per quart jar.
  • Oils and vinegar – Did you get a surplus of garlic harvested this year? Turn it into chili garlic oil and bottle it up for sale. Regular vinegar can also be sold when mixed with your spice mix, hot peppers, ginger, or onions for one-of-a-kind, bottled spiced vinegar.
  • Fruit syrups, jams, jellies and marmalade – These products are always a hit at the farmer’s market because homemade tastes much better than their mass-produced, store-bought counterparts.

6. Get into Beekeeping for Honey Products

Not all communities will allow you to keep bees, so better check first. Once you do and you’re interested in making money beekeeping, check out my more in-depth guide about beekeeping as a business.

7. Make Money Gardening by Renting it Out

If your garden has turned out into a garden like the Mad Hatter’s, or a place you can chill and host people, you can hire out your garden for private parties (weddings, birthdays, romantic dinners, and so on), meetings, craft workshops, and other similar events.

If you have a mini farm and would love to host people for apple picking, or other kinds of “picking,” then send invites to your local community. You’ll earn money from the entrance fee you’d be asking per person.

Are you up for sharing your knowledge? You can make money gardening by teaching others how they could grow certain plants, trees and vegetables themselves.

The Bottom Line

Like any kind of business, there are guidelines for every type of produce, plant, or business idea you wish to pursue.

It is guaranteed that you can make money gardening, but not all areas will allow you to do so. Before you prep your soil for planting or buy supplies, make sure you check with your homeowners’ association, zoning regulations, or even city restrictions if you are violating any rules and if you need a license.

For example, in California, if you deliver your own produce to customers or have them pick it up from you, you don’t need any license to sell fruits and vegetables. But if you’re planning to sell on a farmer’s market, you’ll have to apply for state certification. Of course, this will depend on which state or city you live in, where or how much you’re selling, and so on. It’s better to be sure than waste startup money.

Don’t miss this post if you’re interested in more ways to make money from nature.

How to Land the Perfect Remote eSports Job

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You heard about the professional gamers who make millions a year, but did you know that there are other office-based and remote eSports jobs available, beyond the superstar, professional video gamer? They’re the people behind-the-scenes working day-in, day-out to bring the pros into the spotlight.

And like other traditional sports organizations like the NBA, NFL, and so on, these eSports events can be a lot of work. There are planning, marketing, negotiating, setting up, and ensuring everything is perfect days, weeks, or even months before the eSports teams arrive to play the game.

So if you’re interested in what’s in store in the eSports industry, read on. This is a special guide for the right person:

Types of Remote eSports Jobs

The following jobs can be independent from the pro player. Meaning, if you decide on a career in any of the following professions, you won’t be a part of any eSports team, but YOU CAN work from home (or remotely).

eSports Reporter & eSports Caster

As the name implies, this gig is perfect for those who are great at commentating. You’ll need a comprehensive knowledge of the industry, the games, and even the histories of the players involved, so this job isn’t for someone new to eSports.

What’s cool about this job though is that you can provide on-the-fly commentary during the tournament live (or for a recorded game anytime after). You can be employed by any media network, or work on your own blog, stream your “report” on Twitch or YouTube channel. The job can be virtually done anywhere, as long as you have the right equipment for the job.

eSports Analyst

An eSports analyst should have the same knowledge of the industry as any eSportscaster or reporter. However, aside from just reporting the blow-by-blow of the tournament, analysts take the information and use it to help a particular player, team, game developer, broadcaster, or other professionals.

Analysts create game strategies by pointing out the strengths/weaknesses of players and analyzing opponents’ performances.

eSports Marketer

Because the world of eSports depends on the fans of gamers, social media is a BIG part of the industry’s success. You can work as an independent marketer or social media manager, who will be responsible for growing an existing fan case for a particular video game, gaming company, or team.

This job is very broad and could include content writing, video creation, community management, and so on.

These remote eSports jobs are also available in traditional office-based settings.

eSports Teams in the Field, Remote and Office

The following jobs make or break a video game star’s career. Because professional eSports players focus only on the game, every other task (promotion, negotiation, scheduling, marketing, brand sponsorship, and other specific tasks) are assigned to other people in the team.

The following eSports jobs can either be done remotely, on the field and office-based. My best bet is that most of these require a mix of all three, so before checking out these jobs, understand what you’re signing up for.

  • eSports Recruiter – A gaming house employs the eSports recruiter to find gaming stars to join their teams.
  • eSports Coach – The eSports coach is like any other coach – he/she works closely with players, ensure that the players perform their 100% at all times, and uphold the rules of their respective gaming houses.
  • eSports Manager – The job of an eSports manager is similar to the coach, except his tasks are more about the business side of eSports and NOT about the games themselves. So expect an eSports manager to be taking care of schedules, sponsorships, branding, communication, and so on.
  • Tournament crew – This entry-level job gets you into the gaming houses’ day-to-day tasks, but the job will vary from secretarial duties that are bound to the office, or roadies, drivers and other crew involved with tour duties.

Jobs Responsible for day-to-day eSports business operations

There are many employment opportunities within the eSports industry that most people had no idea were available for them.

Many people with non-gaming-related professions are also involved in the day-to-day business operations of gaming companies. For example, if you’re an accounting professional or web developer with extensive experience in payment solutions, you have a chance at becoming a part of any gaming company with revenues. Other possible jobs are available in the following fields:

  • IT – For game development companies, the role of coder, game developer and other similar professionals are on the top of the chain. They are very in-demand, so if you’re good at digital drawing, animations, and programming, you’re in the perfect industry.
  • Human Resources and Communications – From recruitment to social media marketing and everything about expanding the presence of a gaming company, this field has plenty of opportunities for the taking.
  • Marketing and Sales – If you have a background in sales and marketing, you’ll be right at home in promoting the game houses, game developers, or any other brands. You may also be assigned to negotiate sponsorships.
  • Content creation – Aside from the video game itself, there is plenty of content required in this industry. Examples of jobs include videographer, photographer, content writer, or meme creator.

eSports Companies Hiring People of all Skills

The office-based and remote eSports jobs I listed here are just a few of the many other employment opportunities in this industry.

Explore others available on specific career pages of gaming companies, eSports teams, and other big guys in the world of competitive video gaming.

  • Blizzard Entertainment – This company launched popular games like Starcraft, Overwatch and World of Warcraft. They are located in California, but sometimes open remote eSports jobs depending on the projects they currently have.
  • Riot Games – If you know the Leagues of Legends, you know this company. Also based in California, Riot Games has positions for its other studios around the world (China, Singapore, Ireland, Korea, Turkey, Brazil, and so on).
  • Electronic Sports League (ESL Gaming) – This is one of the biggest esports company that hosts tournaments each year. Based in Germany, but has multiple locations around the world.
  • Amazon – Yes, the retail giant is also heavily invested in eSports. They have their own game development studio (Amazon Game Studios) and have job openings regularly.

Teams or Game Houses should be your goal company if you want to be closer to the action. Companies like Cloud9, Team SoloMid, Team Liquid, Fnatic, G2 eSports, Immortals, 100 Thieves, and Envy Gaming (among others) hire a wide range of people to support their respective rockstar players.

Twitch, where many video game stars launch their careers, also have job openings that are related to the eSports world. You can also find jobs on eSports-specific job boards such as Hitmarker and Jobs in eSports.

Which eSports Jobs Do you See Yourself in?

eSports has slowly crept into a global industry. Before the start of 2020, the eSports industry generated over $500 million in revenues with more and more eSports teams being scouted, formed, and made to compete in local and international tournaments.

The misconception that you have to be a genius at playing video games to land a job in this industry is a common misconception.

But if you’ve always been interested in eSports and would want a career change, I hope this guide has given you job ideas, from getting front and center with the action on the field, or just supporting the team backstage with remote eSports jobs, and many other career paths this industry can open up for you.

Interested in more info? Check out these posts about making money playing video games, video game writing jobs, and how to get paid playing Fortnite.

How to Launch a Party Planning Business from Home

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You can launch and succeed in operating a party planning business from home, if you’ve ever found yourself really enjoying the planning of your kid’s birthday parties, your best friend’s bridal shower, or your parent’s golden anniversary.

The outlook for this market is pretty good as well. In fact, the children’s party industry alone is a multi-million dollar industry with parents spending an average of $500 per party no matter the age of the kid. Imagine how well your business will make if you corner the market in your neighborhood or at your kid’s school.

This post should jump-start your dream of opening a party-planning business and give you a checklist of everything you’ll need moving forward…

Before You Start for Your Party Planning Business…

Like any kind of business, you have to be with the right mindset once you decide to set up an event planning business. This won’t be a piece of cake, and the success won’t be overnight either.

While the returns of a party planning business can be high, you’d need a ton of experience to withstand the ever-changing economy. Here are three major considerations:

  • Zooming in on a niche – Do you want to be an all-in-one party planning business? Would you prefer intimate events? children’s parties? garden weddings? Decide on this early on, so you can prepare the equipment, costs and effort involved in that particular niche.
  • Competition and Market Research – Even if you’re operating the business mostly from home, your market is important because it is the area where you’ll be targeting clients. Identify how many direct competition you’ll have in town once you decide to stick with children’s party planning, or just weddings. Once you’ve list down your competition, answer this question: do you offer something they’re not offering?
  • Employed to business owner – If you’re giving up your job to launch this business, you have to prepare for the inevitable days when you don’t earn a cent for yourself. How much money will you need to survive month to month? This is the reason many small business owners will advice that you start your party planning business from home “on the side” and work your way to full-time once the business pulls in as much as you were making from your day job.

You should understand what it takes to set-up this kind of business because they could make or break your chances of becoming a successful business owner.

Event Planning Equipment

Once you’ve decided on the type of events your business will focus on, gathering the equipment is going to be an easy step.

Because this business is service-based, you’d likely be investing more on hiring good people than things.

You do have to have the essentials, such as a working computer, printer, WiFi, phone, a place you can call your office (even if it’s only just a desk and chair), answering machine (or service provider), a van, marketing supplies (such as business cards and posters).

A FUNCTIONAL WEBSITE: This isn’t technically an “equipment,” but you’ll be using the website as your storefront because your business is home-based. And there’s no better way to give an impressive first impression than to launch a professional website with a user-friendly navigation, pleasing-to-the-eye design, and content that includes the business’ complete info, contact details and useful tips.

6 Steps to Launch a Party Planning Business from Home

Businesses, whether they have a storefront or not, must be planned properly from the start. This way, you’ll just be focusing on the day-to-day operations once you launch your party planning business from home.

1. Create a solid Business Plan

There are plenty of tutorial on how to create a business plan. You can make it as comprehensive, or as simple as you prefer. Just don’t forget these 3 things:

  • Business name – This will be your product, your brand, your income-generating name. Make it count. Don’t rush the process. Brainstorm for days and whenever you pick a name, put it aside and brainstorm some more. Once you’ve had several names placed on the side, compare and choose from that list.
  • Pricing – One major clue that a company isn’t organized is when you ask about fees and they answer with confusing or missing information. When building your business plan, make sure to identify what kind of pricing structure your company will follow. Do you want to separate a commission for your services on top of all the supplier costs? Do you charge by-the-hour and settle payments across all suppliers? Are you going to offer packages? Spy on your competition’s pricing to get an idea of what you’d like for your own business.
  • Marketing Plan – Marketing may seem like an overwhelming task if you’re all alone operating a party planning business from home, but don’t fret. You can take baby marketing steps and still reap rewards. Of course, the first step of your marketing should always be your website. From there, expand your online presence, pinpoint ways to market your business locally, and explore other techniques that would be perfect for your niche. For example, showcase a children’s party that you planned by inviting classmates of your kids with their parents, and then networking after the party.

 2. Become Legal and Insured.

Even if you’re operating your event planning business from home, you still have to fulfill legalities, such as registering your business.

  • Business permits: The process will vary between cities and countries, so better check your local government about required paperwork. If you have partners, they would have to be present when filing documents since everyone must sign and complete the forms.
  • Insurance: It is important to be insured so that your personal assets won’t be included if ever someone sues your business. Take to an insurance broker for other relevant insurance you might need.
  • Company bank account: Open a separate bank account for the business. Not only will this help you organize accounting, it will also ensure your personal finances will not mix with the business finances and vice versa. 

3. Hunt for an Army of Reliable Contractors.

As the event planner, you will lead a host of suppliers (flowers, cake, venue, musicians, clowns, balloons, and so on) and ensure that everything the client paid for falls into place.

Unfortunately, if there’s a weak link within your group, this will affect your company and not the vendor. This is the reason you should find reliable vendors that provide quality services and products consistently.

And once  you’ve found them, nurture these relationships. The more trustworthy people you have as part of your contact list, the better your chances of expanding your business.

4. Create a Portfolio.

With every event you complete, make sure to take pictures, save event details, and try to ask for testimonials from your current clients.

Do this every time, then post event details on your company website. If you compiled enough testimonials, upload them as videos (or audios) with their permissions, the publish as you please.

5. Build Your Online Presence

Your website isn’t the only marketing tool you should work on. You should also open accounts for the major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and other relevant social media accounts..

Invest in logo design, so the graphics will be uniform across all platforms.

And create a content calendar, so you’d remember to check messages and post every now and then. If possible, make it interactive by hosting giveaways, contests, and surveys.

6. Market Your Business Like Crazy

Like building your online presence, you should also be continuously marketing your business online and offline.

Referrals are important, so announce to everyone you know about the event planning business you’ve just opened up. Your family or friends may not need your service right now, but they could recommend you to other people they know.

You are the number 1 endorser of your company, so learn how to advertise your business everywhere.

*** These same steps apply if you’re planning to launch a baked goods business, candle-making, brewery, or any kind of business operating from home.

The Bottom Line

Once you’ve taken care of the initial preparations and footwork, most of the communication between clients would be done remotely (via text, chat, video chat, and even by e-mail). Even marketing efforts can be done at the comforts of your own home.

You do have to get to the party on the day. It helps with closing the deal with your current client, and networking to party guests who might be interested in your event-planning services in the future.

If you feel that an event planning business is a little too much for your taste, you can still take advantage of your organizational skills by setting up a travel planning service from home.

For at-home moms who are interested in earning extra cash, but can’t work yet, this list of work-at-home jobs for moms could be a lifesaver.