Making money online from the comfort of your home is a dream for many. Giving genuine advice on achieving it is challenging as people have different skills and material capital. As a person who has been doing it for years, I have compiled the knowledge of the best methods and ranked them in terms of difficulty.

Online reselling and dropshipping

Don’t let the subtitle misguide you. Dropshipping and resale of goods online aren’t the same thing. However, they fall into the same category mainly because they require similar tools and skills, which makes them the most difficult methods I have tried.

Online reselling involves purchasing high-demand items in bulk for a lower price than you can sell them individually. This can include computer parts (for example, graphics cards), fashion accessories (most notably, sneakers), event or travel tickets, books, and much more.

Your imagination is the limit, but be wary as the goods you plan to purchase must be sought after, or you’ll end up with a lot of stuff that no one needs. To avoid this, you’ll need to do a lot of research and, of course, take risks.

Such risk is usually expressed in the amount spent on tools, storage costs, and the actual products. That’s why online resale businesses are very investment-heavy. You need subject matter expertise and some spare cash to purchase the goods. A dropshipping model might solve these issues.

Dropshipping is a retail business strategy in which a seller accepts orders without keeping the physical stock in his warehouse. It’s a safer model as you do not need to spend money on actual products before someone orders them. It's also a versatile model that can also be combined with the print on demand model, thus allowing you to sell customized goods such as embroidered towels, custom hats, printed phone cases and more. However, you’ll still need to do research and have good contacts for ordering goods when needed.

Purchasing items in bulk is more difficult than it sounds. If you don’t have the capital, buying items on a large scale involves bots and multiple accounts. It’s all easier when you have a way to finance your venture from the get-go.

Depending on the market size you are trying to enter, you’ll need a thousand to ten thousand dollars just to purchase the goods. The most difficult part is to find the buyers, which can be as simple as posting goods on Amazon if you already have the products.

If you don’t have the goods already, you’ll need some clever marketing on social media or Google to get the ball rolling. Obviously, this will require you to have some skills in online marketing unless you already have a large follower base on social media.

Influencer marketing

Chances are you have some favourite influencers to follow daily. They aren’t entertaining you for free and often advertise various services or products for money. This can be deals they made with companies or sometimes the products they made themselves.

Many success stories tell us how influencers started from scraps, with only a video camera and a laptop. While this might be true to some extent, becoming a successful influencer requires a lot of skill and luck. That is especially true if you don’t have much capital at the very start of your venture.

Once you start practicing this business yourself, you’ll quickly find that fighting against other creators and the algorithms is extremely difficult. Some investment in ads, fake followers (you’ll be surprised how many influencers do it), or even marketing agencies are also needed.

So, even if you can theoretically start selling products on Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok without much investment, your chances will be slim. The only exception is if you have some extremely outstanding talents just waiting to be monetized.

Taking surveys

Reselling, dropshipping, and influencer marketing are on the difficult spectrum of ways to make money online. Both because they require a lot of skill and because of the financial investments needed. A lot of seemingly different activities can fall under these categories, as there are many things you can resell online and even more activities to get you in the spotlight.

If both of these options don't suit you, there is a method on the easy end of the spectrum - taking online surveys. Your opinions are useful to companies, corporations, and other organizations. They are so valuable that they are willing to pay money for it. 

Websites like YouGov, Branded Surveys, and Pawns allow you to answer questionnaires and get money for simply expressing your opinion. In most cases, it does not require any skills or education, and you only need a good smartphone or a laptop. So, where’s the catch?

There are two caveats. Earning decent money on survey platforms takes a lot of time and is only possible if you register on multiple of them at a time. Most of them need the opinions of people from specific countries, so their offerings (and payout amounts) differ depending on where you are from.

Sharing your internet bandwidth

If you don’t have time to answer questions, there is still an option for you to earn money online. All you need is to install an internet sharing earning app, set it up to for access, and earn. It’s so simple that it sounds like a scam, but it isn’t. 

The thing is that our internet bandwidth is valuable for others - researchers, companies, or individuals who want to stay private. By letting them connect through your smartphone, you will make the internet a more open and safe place while earning money. It’s a win-win for everyone.

I was only able to earn around 10$ with such apps, so don’t expect to earn a living from
sharing your internet connection. However, considering that this method requires only a
smartphone with internet, there’s not much more one could expect.

Conclusion

The methods I chose to cover here are described in broad categories, differentiating on the skill and investments needed. I think it’s safe to conclude that the easiest ones can be the most profitable until, at least, you build the capital necessary for others.