Do The Hustle

I've spoken before on the ability to make a bit of spare change in your spare time by doing little jobs here and there online. Since then, a new term and quite a few more opportunities have sprung up to make a some cash (legally). That term is now- the "Side Hustle".

This post is going to focus on digital-only jobs, for jobs that force you out of your comfy computer cave- see my upcoming post "Do It! Do It!"(Yes that title is dumb, yes that is the only other lyric in that song, and yes, I obsess about sticking with a theme)

Now the jobs I spoke of before were of the chump change variety. ChaCha paid ~$0.02/question depending on your role. Notice my use of the past tense there. The CEO has rather recently run off to Hawaii leaving the few remaining Expediters high and dry (and the last of their earnings unpaid). I myself was lucky enough to have given up on working with them before the end. While I made a decent amount of money at first, the number of questions coming in gradually started to taper off. Only to be expected with the rise of the smartphone.

Amazon Mechanical Turk is still going strong. Recently, many of the jobs are coming from rewards apps farming out the many many photos of receipts submitted to prove that an incentive item was purchased. Those jobs have been paying from $0.05- $0.15 per hit with bonuses for extra long receipts. Pinterest has been using AMT as well, listing jobs that are about checking that groups of pins are related, or for what category a pin falls under. Those are paying about $0.20-$0.40 per hit. The highest paying per hit (that are legit) tend to be the psychology surveys by various universities. They can pay $1-$2 per hit! But the better your qualifications, the better jobs there are available to you. So if you get better qualifications than myself, your experience could be different. While I doubt anyone could make a living off Turking, I still think it's a handy way to make a little cash in your spare time, between classes, in waiting rooms, or while vegging on your computer.

Audio transcribing is also a good way to make a buck. If your skills include listening and typing- give it a go! You need to have a good grasp of the language in which you are transcribing- able to read and write on at least a high school level. The more extensive your vocabulary the better. Most websites will require you to take a basic grammar test before letting to take a crack at the audio. I also recommend having a reasonable quality headset for listening. Built in computer speakers really are not adequate in my experience. Sound-isolating headphones are best. Obviously don't run out and drop a $100 bill on a pair of headphones if you don't already have a pair but if you can snag a a pair for about $20 and are going to transcribe a couple times a week, they would make for a good investment.

Wanna transcribe? Try it HERE

On the prospect of writing, there's innumerable opportunities to write online. You could do like me and write a blog. (I returned from my long hiatus to find that I had accumulated almost $30 in ad revenue, not bad considering my low traffic). Blogger has been an excellent platform to work with but there's plenty of other sites to use. You can also freelance articles for established websites like Cracked which is always looking for new funny people to generate laughter and likes for them.

If you have a good grasp of the rules of language but aren't really the creative type, perhaps proofreading is for you. If you're a student, you understand how valuable a second set of eyes can be. (And if you read the comments section of any website, you know that proof reading is sorely needed!) A website that comes highly recommended (though I've not used it myself) is Fiverr.

And if you are the creative type and you aren't shy with a camera, YouTube might be for you. Like Blogger, you can monetize your videos with ads. So long as your video gets plenty of views- you can get paid. Now, bear in mind that it takes a LOT of views to make a decent chunk of change. Pro Tubers invest a lot of time, energy, and capital into their videos. The polished look of the videos uploaded by the likes of Hillywood, Cute Polish, and CinemaSins does not happen in one take or without skill. That isn't to say your videography on stinky cheeses cultured from human bacteria won't get watched, just that you shouldn't expect to become a millionaire from something that looks like found footage. Except for ya know when that happens with horror movies.

Welp, this post grows long and my eyelids grow weary (please forgive any late night typos!). Part 2 should be ready for public consumption later this week. Farewell, my savvy savers!