5 easy ways to make money without even trying

When I was about 16 or 17 years old, my parents got me a book for my birthday. For most teenagers, this may have been the worst gift possible, but I loved it because reading was my therapy (in addition to dance and writing). When I realized the book they got me was Robert Kiyosaki’s best-selling book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” I couldn’t be happier.

Yes, that sounds strange. But it makes sense once you realize I was one of those nerdy kids who loved reading financial help books. (It’s probably what made me so frugal and enterprising today) Within that book was a lesson that became the icing on top of the cake of a birthday gift. Don’t work for the money. Make the money work for you. It’s a mantra that I kept in the back of my mind for a while when thinking about jobs. While that life lesson resonated with me, this next one was embedded in my heart. The key to being financially rich, is doing something once and continuously getting paid for it.

Ever since that Terrific Mantra came into my life, I’ve continuously thought of ways to make money doing something only one time. While, I can’t claim any wealth yet (at least financially) I can say that I have found some ways to reap the most financial benefit possible while doing the least amount of work. They certainly aren’t get rich schemes by any means, but they will certainly help you earn a little pocket change.

1. Use your phone

It sounds crazy, but you can definitely make money from simply doing the things you normally do on your cellphone. The Media Insiders Panel is an app that pays you to use your phone to better understand how consumers view and share TV shows, how they download and what things they listen to. And at no time is your personal identifiable information shared or released. Create an account then install the app and you can get paid up to $5 per month for each device the app is downloaded on. Sign up at Media Insiders Panel and download the app for some easy money!

2. Capture the moment

If you’re one of those people who loves to take pictures at any chance you get ; especially vacation pictures of great scenery you are in the perfect position to make some easy money. You can either sell your photos on stock photography sites. Or you can get your creative juices flowing by placing your image on a product and listing it for sale on zazzle.com. It’s really simple. After creating an account on Zazzle., pick your photo and your product. The best photos are usually clear images of skylines or landscapes. I usually add words to the photo such as a quote, or name of the location. Then add the photo to a product. The best selling products tend to be keychains, magnets an postcards, but there are many others to choose from. Finally, post your items for sale and wait for the money to come rolling in.The more products you have, the more sales you’ll likely make. My favorite sales method here  is to set it and forget it. Just by leaving the products up and doing nothing can bring in sales eventually. You may not make the most money that way, but it’s easy and requires no effort. Need a few ideas of what to create? here a few examples of my designs: Postcard , Cell phone case,  Magnet

Permanent Vacation Mug

3. Design it

I think we can agree that writing, performing on stage or drawing isn’t the only way to express ourselves. People also love to express themselves while wearing Tshirts with interesting meaning, beautiful pictures and unique imagery. So it should come as no surprise that tshirt designing is big money and actually a bit easier than you think, thanks to Teespring.

Come up with a concept and design the tshirt imagery using the website’s free design tools. Check out two of my designs here and here for some ideas. Once a design is created, you can determine a price and sales goal based on the profit you’d like to make. You don’t have to worry about losing any money or purchasing supplies because Teespring doesn’t print any of the tshirts until your sales goal is reached. Be sure to name and describe your tshirt design accordingly utilizing SEO to make it easily searchable on the site for potential buyers. Take it a step further and post it on your social media sites, email signature, etc to get people talking. Just another way to do something once and keep making money from it.

4. Affiliate and refer with the best

I’m willing to bet that at any given moment, you tell acquaintances about your favorite food, apps, websites, etc. Well how about you starting make some money from all those advertising plugs. That’s right. Whether you realize it or not, you are advertising for those companies you namedrop. So if the television stations, magazines and radio get loot for it, why shouldn’t you? Turns out many of the apps, websites and products you love tend to agree. Several of them either give you points each time someone you refers joins like Ipsy or Mypoints . Or they might give you cash such as student loan payment app, SmarterBucks,  grocery cash back app such as Ibotta , and survey site, Survey Spot . (Yes, these are my affiliate links.)

Now for the easy part! Quickly jot down your referal codes and affiliate links and keep them nearby so they are easily accessible.  The next time you rave about your favorite item, you’ll have the codes or links available so you can reap the benefits and cash out! It’s about time you were able to make doing money doing something you naturally do! Think about adding them to social media sites or even a blog. (Don’t have a blog yet? Think about purchasing some cheap hosting and start blogging.)

5. Use your words

You’ve got a lot on your mind and a great story to tell, so why not make some money from it? I’m talking about writing an ebook. Yes, ebook creation takes a bit more effort than the other things on this list but it’s certainly a lucrative option. Plus it may be easier than you think. It doesn’t have to be a longwinded novel. As  a matter of fact, the most successful ebooks are usually short with several follow up editions. Write one in Microsoft Word and then upload it to a free Amazon KDP account and tag it appropriately taking cues from the subject. OK, now that I told you the basics on how to write an ebook, you’re probably wondering how you’ll ever make money on this without ever trying. Well here comes the easy, aka the not trying part. Are you ready?

Here it goes. Do nothing. Remember when I said tag your ebook? Well, you’re going to let those categories you tagged do all the work for you. If you tagged them appropriately your ebook will pop up when users do a search for ebooks of a particular niche. Now admittedly, doing nothing once the ebook is published will not make you a lot of money. As a matter of fact, it won’t make much money that way at all for a while. However, it is possible. If you really want to rake in the big bucks from ebooks, you’ll need to market the book. It doesn’t have to be anything too involved, but at least enough to let people know it exists. That means posting it on social media accounts, adding it to your email signature, and even getting your friends to review it. Even though it may be a slightly more involved than the others, ebook creation is one of my favorite things to do once that will keep making you money.

Have you tried any of the methods above? What other ways have you made money without really trying? 

TERRIfic Words: You aren’t wealthy until you have something money can’t buy.