For most of us, it always seems like there are more responsibilities than there are funds. You have yourself to take care of, sometimes family, too.
You might also be trying to get an education or improve yourself somehow because constant improvement is a necessity for future goals. So today, we’re going to discuss how to make an extra $1000 a month.
$1000 isn’t a small amount to anyone except for a fraction of the world’s population. With an extra $1000 a month, you can do many things and today, making money isn’t all that difficult anymore.
I’m going to share 20 ways to make $1000. Some of these ideas will need you to work at it before you can make $1000 per month using them.
However, all are viable. If you’re young, the list also consists of ways to learn how to make $1000 a month as a teenager or kid. But before that, let’s put that $1000 into perspective.
What Can You Do With $1000?
While it’s considerably easier to make $1000 nowadays than it was 30 years ago, you’ll still need to put your back in it.
Making $1000 can mean:
- Working 25 hours a week at $10 per hour.
- Working 20 hours a week at $12.5 per hour.
- Working 17 hours a week at $15 per hour.
- Working 12.5 hours a week at $20 per hour.
- Getting 67 people to buy a $15 product.
- Getting 40 people to buy a $25 product.
- Getting 20 people to buy a $50 product.
- Getting 4 people to buy a $250 product.
- Selling a high ticket product worth the whole $1000, so one person pays for all of it.
These are just a few ways you can slowly and steadily build up to that $1000. Here are a few things that money can do for you.
- An extra $1000 can help you push forward with your education.
- You can pay up your debts faster.
- You can save more for bigger expenses.
- You can invest more for greater gains later.
- You can donate it to charity (if you want).
- You can use it to take a vacation. An extra $1000 added to the funds you already have might be enough for a little holiday.
These are only six ways you can use an extra $1000 per month, but there are many others. So, here are a couple of ways you can make some more spending money every month.
Business Ideas to Earn an Extra $1000 per month
I’ve gathered up several ideas to earn extra money, and while every idea might not be suited to you, you will be able to find something you can do. I’m proud to say there’s something for everyone on this list (at least everyone older than 13). Let’s dig in.
1. Start a Blog
If you’ve been looking for how to make an extra $1000 a month, then this solution probably isn’t new to you. However, lots of people constantly harp on this for a reason.
Having a blog is a great way to earn money, both passively and actively. Plus, it can be a fun pastime.
Your blog is your capital: an asset you use to make money. Creating a blog doesn’t cost a lot of money, depending on what you want.
Blogs have been started with $20 or less, and blogs have been started with $200 or more. But for a personal blog, you don’t need to go big, and you can improve as you expand.
With hosting companies like Bluehost, you can practically start a personal blog for less than $5 a month.
A blog can bring you money in many different ways. You can sell ad space on it. You can use it to market goods and services, both yours or someone else’s, for profit.
If you’re confused about what niche to write about, it’s best to choose something that you like to read or write about. There are thousands or even millions of niches and ways to profit from each of them.
As long as someone wants to read about what you’re writing, you have an audience. What’s more important is making yourself visible so they can find you.
2. Become a Transcriptionist
Technology has soared to new heights in the 21st century and continues to evolve. However, there are some problems that programmers and developers have yet to solve. One of these is transcribing human speech.
Humans speak in a variety of accents and manners, so it’s very common to see errors within any machine-transcribed text.
You can become an audio transcriptionist and earn money for your services. What an audio transcriptionist does is listen to a recording and write what the individual in the audio is saying.
You turn spoken words into written content. Many companies regularly need this service, and they’re willing to pay to get it done.
The best part about becoming a transcriptionist is that it’s not necessary to have prior experience. You can become a freelance transcriptionist if you feel you need some experience.
However, it might be easier for you to make more money with established transcribing companies or websites as a beginner. These companies usually already have audio lined up and pay a few cents for each audio transcribed minute.
Transcribe Me! and Casting Words are pretty good places to start.
3. Freelance Writing
Do you love to write? Want to get paid for it? Then, you can probably become a freelance writer. Freelance writing is a fairly lucrative job, and once you’ve established yourself, it’s quite possible to make way more than $1000.
There are always people in need of content. Companies, websites, and individuals all need content because it’s the content that attracts people to them.
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “people buy stories, not products,” you’ll understand that content is king in business. People need content to boost their product’s attractiveness through text.
If you’ve only ever written casually or are interested in writing, you can easily get started with a course on writing on Udimi. I find this one to be very useful. If you don’t write web copy, you can still make something of your stories on platforms like medium.com.
There are always magazines or other publications looking for short stories or episodic features. If you’ve got a published novel or manuscript, you can enter competitions that’ll take you beyond $1000.
You can also advertise your services on freelance websites like Upwork or Fiverr. You can Check out this guide on how to start making money as a freelancer on Fiverr.
4. Make Money Proofreading
Some people love books and have an eye for good ones. They know what it takes to make a good book, and they’re able to easily pick out errors from written work.
They might be a little picky when it comes to grammar, punctuation, and sentence phrasing. If this description sounds anything like you, then you’re probably suited to become a proofreader.
If you’re not sure what a proofreader is, they’re the people who make sure your books are published error-free. The errors a proofreader looks for aren’t the same errors a copyeditor looks at.
A proofreader looks at grammatical, spelling, punctuation, contextual, and comprehension errors. To put it simply, they make sure a text goes out almost as it would when it’s published.
Sounds easy, but according to Payscale, freelance proofreaders can make around $12-$30 an hour. However, with proofreading and content editing tools like Grammarly in place, you can start making money with proofreading as a freelancer.
But to become a professional proofreader, it might be best if you complete some training. There are special symbols that proofreaders use to mark mistakes so that the author can change them or provide clarification.
You’ll also need insight as to what apps or equipment you’ll need as a beginner.
5. Graphic Design
If you’ve got a creative or artistic streak, you can become a graphic designer. It’s hard to say what experts are more in demand: writers or graphic designers.
However, each job is related to the common need of all businesses: marketable content.
Graphic designers create logos, illustrations, and images for businesses and organizations. They use their skills in color, font, illustrations, and layouts to create visuals that describe a company’s service or product.
They create an image or logo to fit your brand’s story. A good graphic can have a massive impact on a brand, so skilled graphic designers are in such high demand.
If you play your cards right, you can make enough with this job to not only figure out how to make an extra $1000 a month but even earn enough for a living.
To become a graphic designer, you’ll need the skills for it. However, it’s not all that difficult to learn.
What is difficult is thinking up new and innovative designs for each customer; hence, the requirement for creativity.
To start learning, you can take a beginner course. Below is a really good one.
6. Tutoring
Tutoring is an easier way to make an extra $1000 a month. You can do this online and offline.
There are always parents looking for ways to improve their children’s grades. This is good news for you because you can earn big bucks from teaching kids a few hours a week.
If you’re a teen or kid, this is a great way to make money and one that your parents or guardians will probably approve of. You can post an advert in your local newspaper and charge up to $20 per hour.
However, you will have to put in the effort to teach your charge or risk losing a customer.
Some parents may want you to have certain grades or test scores before you’re allowed to teach their kids, but not all of them.
As long as you know more than the kid about the subject you’re teaching, and you can understandably explain solutions, you’re a shoo-in.
So, just pick a subject you’re good at and start tutoring in it.
Hint: Math and Reading are usually hot subjects.
You can work as a freelance tutor, both online and offline. Freelancing is usually more profitable, but for complete beginners, a company might have greater benefits.
7. Teach a Language
You can make an extra $1000 a month by teaching a language. This is an awesome method for multilingual people.
If you speak French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, or Japanese, you can earn money teaching native English speakers how to get on in these languages.
I listed these six languages because these are some of the most common languages people pay to learn. Especially French and Spanish.
However, to succeed in this job, you can’t know only a few phrases. You have to be fluent. If you’re able to speak like a native, even better.
Conversely, you can make money in another way through foreign languages. You can teach foreigners English.
This method doesn’t require that you be fluent in your customers’ language, but to make things easier for yourself, you should be able to have a conversation at least.
Like the other methods, you can become a freelance language tutor or join a company remotely. A company might be more favorable for beginners because there’s support for you and your client.
8. Drop Servicing
Drop servicing is a business that involves you identifying what a client needs, and then finding a seller of this service to take care of that need.
In essence, a drop servicer is a middleman whose main job is marketing. he/she finds a customer who needs a service, but they’re not the ones who’ll do the actual work.
They just find people who can do the job and pay them part of the rate to do it.
Drop servicing can be a very lucrative business, but it’s easy to fail. Conversely, it’s also very easy to perform as long as you understand your role and the services you’re offering the client.
After all, you don’t want to tell a customer you can do something and then realize the person drafted to complete the task can’t do what you promised.
You need to have an understanding of the service and the people you ask to perform it.
So, who do you ask to perform these services? Freelancers. Just pick a comfortably-priced freelancer from a place like Fiverr.com or Freelancer and tell them the job.
Once it’s completed, you’ll pay them out of the money paid to you by your client and then deliver the product.
You can drop service anything. Some examples of services you can contract are blog posts, graphics, copywriting, animations (videos and images), video editing, and more.
You can easily create a drop servicing store on websites like Shopify or build a drop service website on WordPress. You can even start to drop services with no money on Fiverr.
9. Build Websites
Speaking of website creation, did you know that you can earn an extra $1000 per month by building a couple of websites? What do I mean by a couple? I mean, building three or four sites every month is enough to bag you over $1000.
Depending on the number of pages on the website, and how detailed your clients want it to be, you can even earn $1000 with one job.
However, that’s for later, when you get a little more experienced. But what if you don’t know how to code?
You can easily pick up web development with a little capital and a lot of enthusiasm. Udemi has some great courses with everything from beginner coding to the finishing touches on web design.
But what if you don’t like coding? Platforms like Systeme.io enable you to build websites, landing pages, and sales funnels with zero coding skills. You will even get access to ready-made website templates in different industries which you can modify depending on the needs of your clients.
Everyone needs a website these days, and you can be one of those people who make this happen. Besides, you’ll probably need your website one day; why not get a head start on everyone else and make some money?
10. Help People with Computers
Though we’re in the digital age, many people still aren’t sure how to use a computer properly. This can create a market for more tech-savvy people.
If you’re great with computers and/or digital devices, you can set yourself up as a local computer guru. Then, you can charge people to fix their computers or set up apps for them.
Honestly, the only limitation you have with this method is figuring out what people will pay you for.
You can help create PowerPoints or spreadsheets for your customers, help them download eBooks or music, update their apps, install and set up antivirus, etc.
The only thing you have to research is your customers’ digital problems and if they’re willing to pay for a solution.
11. Babysitting/Nannying
Here’s another one that’s great for kids and teenagers. Parents are humans, too. They can’t always watch their kids or be with them, so they hire others to do so in their place. And they pay quite well, too.
If you choose to babysit professionally, you can earn up to $20 per hour. You can choose to advertise your services locally, or you can join an agency.
Joining an agency will provide a more constant source of employment, which is great for beginners.
However, an agency will probably require you to have a bit of experience and maybe go through some training for things like emergency medical care.
If you want to increase your market value, you can get certified for CPR at the American Red Cross. It does cost $110, but you can see it as a long-term investment.
12. Lawn Care
Having a clean and pretty lawn is a thing of pride for most people.
However, few people want to get down and dirty with the grass and soil, so it’s a distant dream that’s usually marked as unimportant. Except, it can be a source of income for you.
Lawn care includes but is not limited to mowing the grass. Yes, that’s a very important part of keeping a clean lawn but doesn’t last forever.
Once spring, summer, and autumn are gone, so is your income. This isn’t ideal because you probably don’t want a seasonal job.
Lawn care can include shoveling the snow on the driveway in winter, raking the leaves up in summer, watering the flowers in spring and summer, and even picking up dog poop.
When you offer a lawn care service, it’s best to make it all-inclusive, so you can stand out from the rest of the people doing yard work.
13. Teach a Skill/Class
Teaching is an excellent way to discover how to make an extra $1000 a month. However, you don’t have to teach academics. You can train people in skills as well.
There are some topics that you have to get a certification before you can start teaching. Classes like first aid, some types of dance, and fitness usually require a certification from a verifiable and qualified source.
Some of these you can get online with a small investment, and others you’ll have to show up physically.
However, you can teach classes like swimming, music, or tech without being certified in any way. Heck, you can even teach origami.
Just find a skill you have that people may be interested in learning. Once that’s done, you’re halfway there already.
14. Become a Virtual Assistant
Just a few weeks ago, people were still stuck at home. However, they still had to work to eat, but those of them who had assistants at the office found it a bit difficult to work without them. That’s where you come in.
If you want to make an extra $1000 a month by being a virtual assistant, now is the best time.
People are working remotely now more than ever, and assistance is needed. A virtual assistant is on-call as long as their boss is ready to do what is asked of them.
As you can probably tell, this job will require a lot of patience.
Most often, a VA does smaller tasks that their bosses allot to them. Stuff like setting up appointments, booking flights, taking calls, and responding to emails are all taken care of by the VA.
Of course, there are more tasks, but that’s largely dependent on your employer.
You can offer your services on freelance platforms or sign up with sites more focused on providing qualified VAs like Zirtual.
15. Retail Arbitrage
Retail arbitrage is one of the most easily understood methods on this list. It’s an age-old business model and a good way for beginners to make an extra $1000 a month.
Retail arbitrage is the buying and reselling of goods. It’s kind of like drop servicing except you’re selling other people’s products instead of services, and the goods are usually gotten from shops instead of freelancers.
You can use any or many products to do retail arbitrage, and many people sell several products. This is how retail arbitrage works.
You go to a store. It can be any store, retail or wholesale, department, or not.
You buy a product. Some beginners may only buy a single or a few units of one product as a starter. If you have a bit more capital and lots of confidence, you can buy one unit of many products or several units of many goods.
Once you’ve bought your goods, you can now take pictures of them. Then, using your pictures and a good description, you can create a listing for them online.
A customer will then buy it if they like it, and you ship it to them. That’s all.
As I said, it’s simply the buying and reselling of products. You can list your products on any site that allows it.
Most people choose Amazon. If you’re selling vintage clothing, you can sell on Etsy, as well.
However, only vintage clothing is allowed. All other items apart from that, have to have been made by you.
16. Clean Homes
Like lawn care, cleaning isn’t a chore that most people like to do. It can be exhausting, especially after a long day at work or on the weekends when all you want to do is relax.
However, nobody likes a dirty home, so cleaning is necessary, and people are willing to pay cash for it.
Lots of houses don’t require much more than a good vacuum, a mopping (maybe with a little bleach), and a good scrub for the tiles.
Cleaning a small home or apartment will probably take you only a few hours, and you may be able to do two or three a day.
You can comfortably charge by the hour or a flat rate of up to $100.
As you gain more experience, you’ll get faster. Before you know it, you’ll be making an extra $1000 a month.
17. Move People’s Stuff
Before we dive into the explanation, let me give you a few requirements for this job.
- You have to be fairly strong.
- You have to be healthy.
- You have to have a good back.
- A large vehicle (truck or other) is preferred, but not a deal-breaker.
Moving can be exhausting. You have to lift heavy boxes in and out of your old and new homes and organize your stuff before you can relax. It can take a long time, so help is needed.
You can run a profitable business by simply helping others move stuff.
If you’re strong, organized, and careful, this job may be for you. If you have or can borrow a truck to improve your business, that’s even better.
You can charge over $100 per move, which is an excellent way to earn an extra $1000 every month.
18. Create and Sell a Course or EBook Online
You can choose this method as a way to make money while helping others.
By creating a course with your knowledge, you’ll be able to help others expand their knowledge and make some money.
It’s a win-win! You can create courses with tools like Systeme.io and sell them on sites like Udemy.
You can also sell eBooks. If you’ve made an eBook that you self-published, you can choose to promote and sell it through the internet rather than taking the financial risk of printing hard copies for no buyers.
Sites like Amazon Kindle and others provide great platforms for this. This is also an awesome way to make an extra $1000 a month online.
19. Deliver Packages
Becoming a delivery person doesn’t sound like a particularly profitable job. But even though it doesn’t sound profitable, it can be.
You can sign up to Amazon Flex as a delivery guy and deliver packages for $18-$25 per hour. There is also the option of delivering groceries through Instacart.
And if you live in a city with lots of restaurants, it may be even more profitable to use GrubHub to deliver some food and make some money before heading home.
This option works well for people who have cars, love driving around, and would like to make money in their spare time.
20. Sell On Etsy
If you can make handmade clothing, shoes, jewelry, toys, art, pillows, cushions, cases, etc., you can probably sell some of your stock on Etsy.
Etsy is a place to sell handmade goods only, and you can make a killing on it.
The handmade part isn’t particular. As long as you have a hand in making what you’re selling, then it’s handmade.
This is why painted shoes are allowed to be listed. So, get busy with your hands and start making money on Etsy!
Bonus Idea: Invest!
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times. However, I’ll say it again: you should start investing as early as possible. And with apps like Acorns app, you can automatically save, invest, and earn passively.
I know this article is about how to make an extra $1000 a month, but by investing, you can make that money in passive income.
Here’s a Bankrate Calculator so you can properly judge how much you’ll earn in retirement if you put your money in savings.
Hint: It’s probably going to be over $1000.
Conclusion
And that’s a wrap! Those are my 20 business ideas to earn an extra $1000 a month.
There’s something here for everyone, so you should have learned how to make an extra $1000 a month off you’ve made it here.
I wish you happy money-making in advance!
