This article is about different ways to make money without a 9-to-5 job. What if you want to make a living without working a 9-to-5 job? Having a traditional job can be boring, and it leaves no time for you to pursue other passions in life. People are still trying to figure out how to make extra money. If you have a side hustle, you might be able to make a few extra bucks. These 18 ways to make more money might help you right now or in the near future.

Making money without a 9-to-5 job is possible. You just have to be creative and think outside the box. When you embark on this journey to make money without having a traditional 9 to 5 job, you are essentially going against the grain and pursuing an entrepreneurial endeavor. All of the ways that are mentioned below give you flexibility, and you can choose how much you want to work.

In this article, I’m going to share 18 different ways for you to make more money. Some of these methods might require a little bit of effort on your part, but most are relatively easy and can be started right away! So what are you waiting for? You can start making more money today. Excited?

Here are 18 ways you can make more money today without a traditional 9-to-5 job.

1. Create a YouTube channel

If there is a topic you are passionate about and you have knowledge that other people can benefit from, then you can start a YouTube channel and start making money right away. You might not be able to generate advertising revenue right away, but you can work with brands and form partnerships to make money before you can make money running ads on your channel.

2. Create a Blog

Starting a blog can make you money. It can take a lot of time to make money from blogging, but if you stick with it, your blog can be profitable within a couple of years. It just depends on how much work you put into it and the niche your blog is in. Once your blog becomes profitable, you can make enough money from it to support yourself without having to work at all. Just like running a YouTube channel, blogging is also something you can do from anywhere in the world as long as you have your system, your laptop, and a WiFi connection.

3. Create an Online Store

An online e-commerce store can make you money for sure. There are so many different ways to make money with an online store. You could sell physical products, digital products, or services through your website and make a profit off of each sale if you have enough traffic coming in daily (you will need around 100 visitors per day depending. Many people start an online store and spend some money on advertising to get the store up and running and to be able to test their ideas. If their store is profitable, then they know they have a winner and they can continue to build their brand. This is the way to go if you want to build a big brand.

4. Make Money by Selling Items on eBay or Amazon

One of the easiest ways to make more money is by selling your stuff online. You can sell anything on eBay or Amazon, and you might be surprised at how much money people are willing to pay for certain items. Just make sure that you take amazing pictures of your products with good lighting and write a great description of the product you are selling. I recently sold an old camera that I wasn’t using, and I ended up selling it for more than I had initially purchased it. I wasn’t trying to make a profit from selling the camera, but I ended up making a pretty nice profit because I spent a little time taking really good photos and writing an awesome description.

5. Earn Money Through Affiliate Marketing

You can make money promoting products that other people have built, and you don’t need to worry about managing customer service for the product or providing support to existing customers. If you have a blog, an Instagram account, or a Facebook account, you can just promote these products directly to your audience and receive a commission in return. Affiliate marketing simply means that you are promoting someone’s product or service and receiving a commission in return. The more you promote, the more commissions you can generate.

6. Earn a Living as a Social Media Influencer

You can make money as an influencer on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and you can also make money by selling products there! What if I told you that it’s possible to make more than $1000 per month just by posting on Instagram? You can make money through affiliate marketing or selling ad space on your account. If you already have a social media presence, you can immediately start using these techniques. However, if you don’t have a social media presence, you will need to think about what topic you want to generate content about and create social media accounts to go with it.

7. Earn a Living as an Online Consultant

You can make money as an online consultant for companies who need help with anything related to their online business; this is something I’ve done myself in the past, so if you’re interested in learning more about it, shoot me an email. Many businesses need help with things from setting up business email to managing their online ads and running their blogs. You can figure out what you’re good at and reach out to businesses and make them an offer they can’t resist. This work can be done from anywhere in the world, and you don’t need to be local. This is a huge opportunity, and there aren’t enough people taking advantage of it.

8. House Hacking

You can make money by renting out a room in your house on Airbnb or similar platforms. This is a great way to make some extra cash and can be especially lucrative if you live in a touristy area. If you’re in a big city and you have a spare room, you can supplement your mortgage payment or rent payment by renting out a spare room. If you do this, just be smart about it and create a process for it so that you think through all the details before posting your spare room for rent. For example, I would only rent to people who have been on the platform for a while and have reviews from previous stays.

9. Start a Dropshipping Business

Dropshipping is a business model in which you create an online store and partner with a supplier who will ship the products directly to your customers. When someone orders something from your store, you simply contact the supplier and have them send the product out. This is a great way to make money without having to carry any inventory yourself. You can make money through affiliate marketing or selling ad space on your account. This is similar to starting an e-commerce store and you will use all the same strategies and tactics. However, in a dropshipping business, you will never carry any inventory, so you can start with no money. This means that as the orders come in, the factory will automatically ship them to you. All you would need is a domain name, which you can buy here. And you will need a cheap WordPress site that you can create here. You can also build your entire store on Shopify if you want a completely done-for-you solution. Honestly, Shopify is the best option if you don’t want to mess around with too much technology.

10. Work as a Pet Sitter

Do you love animals? Do you love taking your dog out for walks every day? This is an option for people who love animals. People are busy these days, and they need help from people who are reliable pet people. So the way it works is, a client will decide how long an animal stays with you, and if your calendar is open, they will go ahead and book the stay. The stay can be for a single day where the client drops off their pet in the morning and picks them up in the evening, or it can be for an overnight stay. You can decide what your availability is, so the client knows exactly what is available. They want you to take care of their pets while they work, and they want you to look after them when they’re away from home, so if you love the idea of this, then this might be the perfect way for you to make extra cash without having to work a 9-5 job.

11. Earn Money by Pressure Washing

Pressure washing is one of the most lucrative businesses, and it doesn’t require a ton of money to get started. All you need is a commercial pressure washer and a few chemicals that you can purchase at your local Walmart. Once you get started and make money in the business, there are a lot of fancy things you can add, but to get started, that’s all you need. It helps if you already have a truck or van, but if you don’t, you can buy an inexpensive one on Craigslist. You can make $350-$600 per job depending on how well you upsell, and you just need a few commercial cleaning contracts to make a full-time living doing pressure washing.

12. Work as a Virtual Assistant

If you have a knack for being organized and helping people stay on track with projects, then you ought to look into becoming a virtual assistant. You can become a virtual assistant without any prior work experience. You won’t have any prior work experience to talk about, but you could offer a money-back guarantee. If you offered a potential client a money-back guarantee, you would remove the risk, and this would be like a breath of fresh air for the client. Just make sure that you outline exactly what your tasks and responsibilities are in a written agreement. This will ensure that you and the client are on the same page.

13. Mobile Pet Grooming

The mobile pet grooming business was valued at more than $15 billion in 2025. This is a huge opportunity for anyone who wants to jump in and create a side business they can do whenever they have time. The business requires little advertising and it’s easy to grow with referrals. If I was starting a mobile pet grooming business, I would immediately connect with people who run local Facebook groups in my area and ask if I could offer their members a buy 3 get 1 free deal for pet grooming. This is a great way to get those first 20 to 50 customers and kickstart your business.

14. Publish Books on Amazon

Do you enjoy writing? If you do, publishing books on Amazon could be a great way for you to add an extra source of income. Depending on the niche you’re in, you can make anything from $50 a month to thousands of dollars. It’s also a volume game, so the more books you write, the more money you can make. I know someone who writes short stories on Amazon and she makes thousands of dollars every month. Yes, this is not easy and there will be a big learning curve, but once you master the ins and outs of the publishing business on Amazon, you will be able to make a pretty good living from it.

15. Become a Web Developer

These days, you don’t have to go to college to get a degree in computer science to be able to become a web developer. You can become a web developer by simply taking an online course and practicing. If you have the knack for clean interfaces and you can put in the time and effort needed to learn a programming language, you can work from anywhere in the world and make a living doing web development work. Web development is also a pretty safe bet because, as long as the internet exists, there will be a need for capable web developers. You can start slowly and build your portfolio. Initially, focus on the quality of work you do rather than trying to get as many projects as you can. You can also reach out to other web developers in the online community and ask if someone would be willing to pair up with you and work on these projects. Both of you can code together, and this way you will learn a lot from the other, more experienced developer.

16. Become a Real Estate Professional

Licensed real estate professionals make anywhere from 1% to 3% in commissions when a house sells. So, let’s say you listed a house for $500,000. You could make a $15K commission check when the house sells. Even if the house was not listed by you, you could make $15K for representing a buyer in the deal. If you want an extra $15K to $100K a year, getting your real estate license might be a good way to add an extra “part-time” source of income as well as learn a lot about an asset class that could make you wealthy.

17. Become a Part-Time Photographer

Do you have a love for photography as a hobby or have you always wanted to learn how to be a photographer? As a part-time photographer, you can photograph events, parties, and weddings and also sell your photographs on several stock photo websites. The best part is that you can do all of this part-time, or even just as a hobby. All you need to do is set things up once, and people in your area will be able to find you and reach out to you. You can promote your photography business on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other social media. When you start getting recommendations from past clients and they refer you to their friends, you might even get flown out to different parts of the country to photograph events. This could become a very fun hobby, and you can make money while learning more about photography.

18. Teach an Instrument

Do you know how to play the piano, guitar, flute, or some other instrument? If you are a talented musician, people in your area would most likely pay to take classes from you. Did you know that you can also teach music online through sites like YouTube? There are several people currently building massive audiences who use their free videos to attract an audience and build a community. The more people find out about you on sites like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, the more people will sign up to purchase your music classes or online workshop. The sky is the limit once you start building a loyal following who loves your music and ability to teach.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many different ways to make extra money. If you’re looking for some additional income, these 18 ways to make more money could be a great place to start. Do you have any other ideas? Let me know in the comments below. And let me know if you end up using any of the ideas mentioned in this post. It’s always fun to hear success stories from my readers.