How to Make Money Fast: 10 Fast and Proven Ways to Make Money

Need to make money in a day or a few hours?

Maybe you need a full tank of gas to get to work, or maybe you need to pay your bills before your next check arrives.

Either way, it’s easy to feel stressed when your bank balance is on the verge of zero. According to CNBC, 63 percent of Americans live “paycheck to paycheck.”

Fortunately, there are many ways to make money fast, both from home and by using your skills and expertise to earn cash. Some great ways to make money fast require creative thinking and hard work, while others require little to no effort.

Sure, you want to learn how to invest for financial security later in life, but that will have to wait. If what you need is cash that you can spend right away, consider these 10 ways to make money in a day, a week, or a few months.

1. Make money online as a freelancer

Potential income: $5 to $500 or more per job

Do you have skills you can use on the Internet? You’ll have the opportunity to make extra money online. Currently, more than 36 percent of Americans are engaged in some kind of freelance work, according to Zippia.com.

If you have any skills that can be translated into work you can do online, you can find freelance work and start earning extra money right away. This is true for freelance writing, graphic design, programming, and even helping others organize their businesses.

There are various platforms you can use to start freelancing, including Fiverr, where you can find easy jobs that start at $5, but which you can use to build your portfolio and progressively get paid more over time.

Other platforms that offer jobs for freelancers include Upwork, Freelancer.com, and FlexJobs, among others. You can create an online profile for almost free, and the lucrative income you earn through freelancing depends on how much time you want to put in.

2. Build a digital real estate portfolio

Potential Income: Unlimited

While you can invest in digital real estate that others have already established, building your own brand may be more lucrative over time. Building a digital real estate portfolio can be as simple as starting a blog or creating and nurturing an affiliate marketing website. However, digital assets can also be monetized TikTok accounts, Instagram accounts, or even highly-followed gaming accounts on Twitch.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that this site has helped me make millions of dollars over the past decade. Also, it’s important to note that starting a blog isn’t hard or expensive, but there is a big learning curve as you hone your online skills.

For the most part, you just need to take the time to learn how to run a digital real estate empire and how to monetize every aspect of your brand. As with anything else, the first step to making money online with your own website is to get started and see how far you get.

3. Create and sell homemade items or digital products on etsy.com

Potential Income: Unlimited

If you love making homemade items or have a really creative mind, then you can easily make money by making items and selling them on Etsy.com.

Your homemade items could be anything from customized floor mats to unique Christmas ornaments or home decor and graphic design prints. The sky’s the limit when it comes to items you can make and sell, and the amount of cash you can make depends on your craft, the items you’re selling, and the market demand.

While Etsy charges a small listing fee (20 cents per listing) and takes a percentage of each of your sales (6.5% of the order total), your startup costs are likely to be minimal. Over time, you can also increase your revenue by growing your audience and sales.

The best thing about Etsy is that you can start small and see what happens. You can also experiment with making different items and see which ones sell the fastest and make the most profit.

4. Sell Stock Photos Online

Potential income: $1 and up per photo

If you have a good camera and an eye for detail, consider taking stock photos and selling them to sites like ShutterStock or iStockPhoto. These sites need new photos to market and sell to potential clients over time, but they don’t necessarily have to take the photos themselves.

What kind of photos can you sell? Stock photos can be almost anything, but the best sellers tend to be generic photos of nature, roads, cars and homes.

The key to success is to take lots of ordinary photos that apply to a wide range of situations. From there, you can learn which photos sell best and adapt your approach to what works best.

5. Start a Home Organization Business

Potential income: $100 and up per job

If you love organizing and want to make some quick cash by doing what you’re good at, then consider starting your own home organizing business.

Home organizers typically get paid $100 or more per job. You can use your skills and experience to help people organize their homes, garages, or office spaces.

You can create and distribute flyers or advertise your business on platforms like Facebook Marketplace or offer your home organizing services on platforms like Care.com. On this platform, you can set your own rates, as well as post jobs or apply for jobs posted by others.

6. List Your Home on Airbnb or Host Experiences

Potential Revenue: $15 and up per booking

If you live in a tourist area or other place that people frequent, you can market and sell a variety of unique experiences to tourists who want to explore. You can host hiking or food tours in your area, or you can teach people what you know, such as gardening or glassblowing.

A simple search shows examples of unique experiences on Airbnb that include flight lessons in the Chicago area, hands-on farm tours, and a fun campfire experience accompanied by cows. One guy I know (Martin Dasco of Studenomics) even hosts coffee-drinking tours in his hometown, which people often book and pay for.

If you can think of any fun activity that people would pay to attend, you can use Airbnb to host it and make some easy money along the way.

7. Work as a Virtual Assistant

Potential income: $20 to $50 or more per hour

If you’re looking for a great self-employment opportunity where you can work from home and you have extensive online skills, then consider working as a virtual assistant. Those who do this work can perform many different online tasks for clients, including writing newsletters, editing content, responding to emails, and creating charts and graphs. Most virtual assistants also have to juggle several clients who assign them different tasks, and they can work flexible hours to fit their lives.

While revenues for virtual assistants vary, most charge $20 per hour or more. Their average hourly rate is $34, according to Zip Recruiter. The most skilled virtual assistants can even charge between $50 and $75 per hour. On top of that, I could go higher.

To find virtual assistant jobs, look on sites like Fiverr, Upwork, and FlexJobs.

8. Help Install Christmas Lights for the Holidays

Potential funding: Varies

Are you physically fit and enjoy enjoying the rooftop view? You can find work installing Christmas lights during the holiday season.

How much you can charge depends on where you live, consumer demand, and the size of the home to be decorated, but you should be able to set a price floor of at least $100 for up to two hours of work.

How do I find part-time work installing holiday lights and decorations?

Distribute flyers in the neighborhoods where your target customers live, or post an ad on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.

The best part? If you have a ladder, you can start this side hustle with little to no upfront investment, or you can use a client’s ladder when booking a job.

9. Complete Home-Based Tasks Through Taskrabbit or Amazon Mechanical Turk

Potential Funding: Unlimited

TaskRabbit and Mechanical Turk are online platforms that can provide you with a variety of jobs that can bring in extra income. Some of the jobs you can get through these platforms include assembling IKEA furniture, hanging flat-screen TVs, or working on data entry.

You can even help people move furniture or complete basic handyman tasks. The best thing you can do when it comes to making quick money on both sites is to create a profile and then search for jobs in your area to see what’s out there for you.

10. Answer Questions on justanswer.com

Potential Income: $2,000 to $7,000 per month

If you’re a professional with a great deal of expertise in a particular field, you can earn extra online income by answering questions through a website called JustAnswer.

This online platform claims that some of their top experts make between $2,000 and $7,000 per month from home, and they do this entirely by answering questions sent in by paying subscribers.

The best thing about this app is that you can work as long or as short as you want. You can also do all your work from home on your own time and make money doing what you love.

What kind of experts does JustAnswer look for? Many of their questions are addressed to professionals like doctors, lawyers, and veterinarians, but almost any expert can use the platform.