Online Services I've Tried to Make Money With
You may have heard of some of these, but I'd like to talk a bit about some online gig services that you can use to make money from home. These are simple jobs you can do online from home and you choose your own hours. You're not going to get rich from any of these services, but they can be effective ways to monetize your off-time, should you desire. I'll talk about the services themselves, but I'll also offer my experience with them.
Companies like Uber and Lyft have not only caused a stir in the transportation industry, but they've also brought the idea of the "gig economy" to life. This is the idea that instead of hiring full-time employees to perform a service, companies can "hire" regular people like you and I, to be contractors. This means flexibility for the workers like getting to choose their own hours. Whether you want to work 4 or 40 hours is up to you. However, the companies hiring an army of independent contractors have a lot of flexibility too. It means that the company skirts a lot of liability. Since the "employees" are ICs, then there's no minimum wage, insurance benefits, etc. If you'd like to learn more about what constitutes an independent contractor, check out this page from the IRS.
These are services online that will pay you to do odd-jobs online. For example, one pays you to test/review websites. Another one pays you to transcribe audio/video. Relatively simple tasks. I've also tried each of these, so I'm including my experience with them.
Making any money with Mturk seems to have a learning curve to it. When I first started as a "Turker", I had trouble finding HITs that I was "qualified" to complete. The most difficult part of Mturk is finding HITs that pay decently for the amount of time they take. Sure, making $5 is great but taking 2 hours to do it isn't a good use of my time. Most of the HITs that I find take 15 minutes or more and only pay $.05 to $.25. I value my time too much to invest hours into making $1. I took my $3.60 and closed my account after about a month.
They give you a test first. It took me 3 times to pass the test. Once accepted, I might get a website or two to review each month. I'd be more interested if the work were more frequent.
As with most of these services, there's a limited amount of work. In the case of Music Xray, they have to have songs ready for you to listen to. For me, I got 1 song in a few months. When I signed up, I thought that the frequency of available music to listen to would be significantly greater. This doesn't stop them from spamming you with a message "You may have new songs to listen to." I deleted my account after making $0.10 in 4 months.
I wish I could say more about the service but after 2 attempts, I can't seem to pass the entry exam. Transcription is more difficult than it sounded. Most transcription companies have a style guide that you'll need to follow, so familiarize yourself with it before taking the test. If you're good at it then this could be a relatively decent way to make a little bit of extra money.
The catch is two-fold. 1, you don’t get surveys all the time. I’ll go several days without getting a single one. 2, the advertised payment for the survey is only earned if you qualify for it. It’s not uncommon to see a survey saying you’ll earn $2 or $3 for completing it: The problem comes when you answer the first couple of questions and find out you don’t qualify. However, you still earn anywhere from $0.10 to $0.25 for the surveys you don’t qualify for. In the last few months, I've made a whole $10! I'm rich!
Taskrabbit
Upwork
Fiverr
Scribie
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
At the end of the day, these are all means to make money but they all rely on you giving up a chunk of your time. In many cases, the amount of time you have to give up isn't worth the money made. For most of these, my opinion is that my time is better spent reading, spending time with your family/friends, or learning a new skill.
These are services online that will pay you to do odd-jobs online. For example, one pays you to test/review websites. Another one pays you to transcribe audio/video. Relatively simple tasks. I've also tried each of these, so I'm including my experience with them.
Amazon Mechanical Turk
This one seems to be the most interesting, though there's a learning curve, which I'll get to shortly. The name sounds weird and is commonly referred to as Mturk. Amazon uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) and opens it to Requesters who need small jobs done. These small jobs could be taking surveys, tagging photos, etc. That's where you come in. These tasks are referred to as Human Interface Tasks (HITs). Once you sign up, you can look through the available HITs and complete them. Some only pay a few cents, while some can pay several dollars. It's a job, but like I stated at the top of the post, you're not going to quit your day-job or get rich doing this. However, $1 a day isn't unreasonable to start with. After some time, $5 a day is achievable. After a bit more time, $10 a day can be your new goal. This can go on. Some people (claim to) make enough money through Mturk that they can quit their day-jobs. I'd gather they are exceptions to the rule, however.
Making any money with Mturk seems to have a learning curve to it. When I first started as a "Turker", I had trouble finding HITs that I was "qualified" to complete. The most difficult part of Mturk is finding HITs that pay decently for the amount of time they take. Sure, making $5 is great but taking 2 hours to do it isn't a good use of my time. Most of the HITs that I find take 15 minutes or more and only pay $.05 to $.25. I value my time too much to invest hours into making $1. I took my $3.60 and closed my account after about a month.
UserTesting
Usertesting.com is a web service that can pay every-day people like you and I to go to a website, perform some tasks on the site and record your experience doing it. This will allow the company who hired Usertesting to make improvements to their website or test new features, while you can make $10 for each job completed. An example would be you're given a scenario where you're planning a family trip to a specific zoo and you're using their website to find the hours, cost, location, and map of the zoo. It requires a microphone but past that, you just need a working computer with an internet connection. No particular technical skills required.
They give you a test first. It took me 3 times to pass the test. Once accepted, I might get a website or two to review each month. I'd be more interested if the work were more frequent.
Music Xray
Musicxray.com is a service that aims to connect artists with fans and will pay you $0.10 for listening to a 30-second clip of a song. That equates to nearly $12 an hour just for listening to music.
As with most of these services, there's a limited amount of work. In the case of Music Xray, they have to have songs ready for you to listen to. For me, I got 1 song in a few months. When I signed up, I thought that the frequency of available music to listen to would be significantly greater. This doesn't stop them from spamming you with a message "You may have new songs to listen to." I deleted my account after making $0.10 in 4 months.
TranscribeMe
Transcribeme.com is a service that companies can use to have audio and video files transcribed. Transcribeme contracts that work out to you and I and will pay $10 for each audio-hour. Again, it's not quit-your-job money but if you're a good typist and looking to make a few extra bucks, every little bit adds up.
I wish I could say more about the service but after 2 attempts, I can't seem to pass the entry exam. Transcription is more difficult than it sounded. Most transcription companies have a style guide that you'll need to follow, so familiarize yourself with it before taking the test. If you're good at it then this could be a relatively decent way to make a little bit of extra money.
Surveys on the Go
This is an app I installed on my phone. You create an account through the app and it sends you surveys you can do for money. Some of the surveys pay up to $4. If you read the reviews of the app, people talk about making $30 to $50 per month. That’s not get-rich money, but that can put a dent in a smaller bill or pay some of your smaller bills
The catch is two-fold. 1, you don’t get surveys all the time. I’ll go several days without getting a single one. 2, the advertised payment for the survey is only earned if you qualify for it. It’s not uncommon to see a survey saying you’ll earn $2 or $3 for completing it: The problem comes when you answer the first couple of questions and find out you don’t qualify. However, you still earn anywhere from $0.10 to $0.25 for the surveys you don’t qualify for. In the last few months, I've made a whole $10! I'm rich!
Services I Have Not Tried
Taskrabbit
Upwork
Fiverr
Scribie
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
At the end of the day, these are all means to make money but they all rely on you giving up a chunk of your time. In many cases, the amount of time you have to give up isn't worth the money made. For most of these, my opinion is that my time is better spent reading, spending time with your family/friends, or learning a new skill.
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