Making money online is easier than ever. There are tons of opportunities out there, but how can you tell which ones are legitimate and which ones aren’t? You may also be wondering if you need specific training or experience to take advantage of these opportunities as well.
We’ve put together a guide of legitimate ways you can earn money with a laptop. You don’t need a lot of experience or even a huge block of time. In fact, some of these money-making opportunities can lead to bigger possibilities, such as a full-time work-from-home position.
The jobs you do with your laptop can easily turn from hustling on the side to paying the bills with some savings to spare. Students can make money with a laptop, along with anyone who wants to add a passive income source to their life.
Are you ready to learn how to make money with a laptop? Let’s get started.
How to Make Money with a Laptop
The list below includes examples of ways you can make extra money with your laptop. Try out a few today to see which ones fit your lifestyle—and income goals—the best.
#1: For Hire: Virtual Assistant
If you’re not sure where to start, you can easily make money online by becoming a virtual assistant. In fact, it’s one of the easiest ways to make money online for beginners, as there’s little experience required and a whole lot of opportunities to take advantage of.
Most virtual assistants (or VAs, as they’re called) typically send emails, post on social media, make and answer phone calls, update website content, and many other tasks that support an individual and/or business.
It’s a digital and easy side hustle for millennials to break into or just about anyone with a laptop. Plus, you can network with website owners and content creators to market your skills and gain experience to earn more.
If you want to become a virtual assistant with no experience consider taking training courses and figuring out the prices to charge. Once you create an online presence you can start applying for VA jobs.
You can start your first freelance virtual assistant job today by creating a profile on professional networking sites and start looking for companies who need help.
Did your ears perk up at the mention of social media?
You can easily make money with social media by becoming a social media manager for a company. And yes, you get to spend the majority of your time on social media networks—for occupational purposes, of course.
Becoming a social media manager can be a great online job for teens. As a social media manager, you’ll manage Facebook ads, social media accounts, and responding to the public in general. You may even get to attend events in order to collect content to share.
#3: Take Advantage of GPT Sites
Get-paid-to (GPT) websites are more common these days, but do surveys really work? Can you actually earn money from answering survey questions?
The truth of the matter is, that the majority of survey sites won’t make you rich but they can make you side money with your laptop.
To really make the most of your time, you should consider the highest-paying survey sites, such as the following:
These websites pay you for more than just surveys, so you can maximize your return to make more money with your laptop:
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#4: Create Your Own Podcast
Recording yourself talking to no one in particular can seem like an odd way to earn money with your laptop, but it’s a legitimate way to get your voice out there and bring in some extra cash.
The first step you’ll want to take to start a podcast is to find a profitable niche. You’ll also want to decide on the format of your show.
For example, will you interview guests, incorporate multiple hosts, or go it alone? Running the podcast yourself for the first few episodes can help you establish a rhythm, but it takes two to have a dynamic conversation.
With your laptop, you can record, edit, and upload your podcast. There are programs that will allow you to monetize your podcast as well, with things like affiliate links or promotions and sponsored ads.
Some of the most successful podcasts break the mold to gain popularity. Grow your business on Instagram to take advantage of new audiences and opportunities.
#5: Design and Sell Digital Products
One of the best passive income ideas you can do to make money with a laptop is to design and build digital products. There are very few expenses associated with this side hustle that allows you to make money on autopilot. In fact, pricing your products can be one of the hardest parts.
Examples of digital products include things like printables. These documents could be calendars, to-do lists, or any number of files you get paid for when someone purchases them for download. You can also create longer digital products, such as eBooks, which we’ll talk about in a later section.
#6: Invest in Real Estate
Making money on a laptop can begin with investing in real estate. If you are just getting started, you may only need to invest $10, rather than putting an immediate $10k into real estate. At the same time, there’s nothing saying you can’t get to that point in the future.
Here are some of the best real estate investment apps:
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You can also invest in digital real estate, which lives in the metaverse and relies on blockchain. Some say it’s the new frontier for investing and making it big.
We earn a commission for this endorsement of Fundrise.
#7: Become a Tutor
Tutoring can be a great online job for women and men alike. Depending on how many subjects you tutor and how many clients you take on, you can easily set your hours to accommodate your life for an optimal work-life balance. Typically, you will have to demonstrate proficiency in the topic you choose to tutor if you sign up with an agency, but it’s a service you can also offer individually for the entire share of the profits.
#8: Establish a Blog
Individuals who prefer to express themselves through the written word might prefer to start a blog, rather than a podcast. That’s okay! Either endeavor is certainly a great way to make money with your laptop by talking/writing about what you love.
To make money blogging, you’ll need to decide on a niche and obtain a domain name. You should also source a website host, such as Bluehost. Picking a platform to blog on requires a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress or Wix. Once you’ve gathered these resources, you can publish your website, as well as your first blog post.
You can start a blog for as cheap as $2.95 per month when you choose to host your blog on Bluehost which is the best web hosting provider if you want to start a self-hosted WordPress blog or site. Bluehost is one of the few web hosting companies recommended by WordPress.org to host self-hosted WordPress blogs.
Most bloggers earn income through monetization. Examples include display advertising and affiliate marketing. You can also sell digital products like we talked about earlier. You should also market your blog on social media and with SEO and email marketing.
In any case, a blog is a great way to earn passive income that can supplement your lifestyle with just a laptop and a few ideas.
#09: Teach Online Courses
Teaching online courses takes tutoring a step further by putting up your instructions for students from all walks of life to see. You can decide what topics you’ll explore in an online course, so you’re not necessarily restricted to certain subjects such as math, English language, and science.
Most online course teachers produce videos, but this can take some time if you’re not familiar with the editing process. Instead, you could come up with a slideshow that features the information you’re going to talk about, and voice over that information as a blend of podcast and tutor sessions.
Most online course creators draw traffic to their courses through marketing such as digital ads, affiliates, and website monetization. If you’re interested in becoming a course creator, establish what topics you’ll want to explore, how you’ll present that information, and how you plan to market it for a wider reach. Then, it’s all about maximizing your passive income.
#10: Create an Online Store
Entrepreneurs of all kinds enjoy ecommerce success by opening their own stores. They may sell on platforms such as Etsy or Shopify or create their own ecommerce website from which to sell.
Step one in creating your own store is determining what products you want to sell. How will you run day-to-day operations and handle supply shortages, shipping, inventory, and everything else that goes with a store? These are questions you should consider before you dive into purchasing a bunch of items to sell. At the same time, you can easily turn $10k into $100k just by opening a store of your own.
#11: Sell Your Photos
Another one of our many money-making ideas starts with taking photographs and selling them. If you’re particularly skilled with a camera, this side hustle can be easy to foster and grow with a laptop. You will need photo editing skills to be successful, but you can easily sell on sites such as Shutterstock. Marketing yourself can be hard, but many photographers have excelled in making money with a camera and a laptop.
#12: Invest in Cryptocurrency
In addition to your regular investments, you may also want to try your hand at investing in cryptocurrency. This is a great way to utilize your laptop to diversify your investments and potentially earn quite a bit of money.
If you’re new to cryptocurrency, check out Cryptocurrency 101, our guide to getting started in this fast-paced investment. We’ve also put together a list of the best places to buy Bitcoin, including Robinhood Crypto.
Robinhood offers the lowest cost to trade crypto on average. Buy, hold, and sell popular cryptocurrencies and stablecoins such as BTC, ETH, DOGE, SHIB, AVAX, LTC, UNI, ETC, LINK, XLM, AAVE, the list goes on. You can send crypto to Robinhood, or send crypto from your Robinhood account to other crypto wallets. It’s secure, simple, and you’ll never be charged deposit or withdrawal fees.
#13: Create a YouTube Channel
Laptops go hand-in-hand with creating your own YouTube channel. You can decide on a topic you like and produce videos to post as entertainment for your audience. While it’s not as easy to make money with YouTube as it once was, you can still make money through YouTube advertising and affiliate links. The key is to capitalize on a unique feature and remain popular for higher returns.
#14: Build Websites
Companies of all kinds are moving online, where having a website is critical to connecting with customers and providing an ecommerce solution. If you know how to build websites and have a flair for graphic design, this is the perfect opportunity for you to make money with a laptop.
The amount of money you make will depend on how in-demand and marketable your skills are. Design skills go a long way, but you’ll need a bit of coding experience to create more complex websites for higher-paying clients.
#15: Buy and Sell Websites
If building websites isn’t your thing, you could try to buy and sell websites instead by using sites like Flippa. This opportunity allows you to earn money from the get-go if you purchase a profitable website. Some may pay only for the hosting fees and not much more, but the best websites earn you passive income as you build them up from a small scale. A single website could make you enough to purchase and sell plenty of other websites as you make money with your laptop.
Flippa is a global online marketplace where individuals and business owners buy and sell websites, online businesses and other digital real estate.
#16: Watch Videos and Get Paid
Many websites will also pay you to watch videos. These include:
You can also use your laptop to apply to become a content tagger on Netflix. In this role, you’ll get paid to tag episodes in regards to cast, languages, scene types, etc.
#17: Learn How to Edit Videos
As more internet users find themselves watching videos, you can easily make it big with your laptop by editing videos for other people to watch. This skill is in high demand and though it does require technical proficiency, you can easily grow your portfolio as you add to your experience. The more videos you edit, the better you’ll become, which in turn can allow you to raise your rates and even take on video editing as a full-time career.
#18: Write an eBook
We mentioned earlier that you can create digital products to sell, one of which is an eBook. This particular digital product typically centers upon a single topic and yet it can be published for free on self-publishing websites.
To write an eBook on your laptop, simply come up with a topic you’re passionate about that you want to share information about. It could be something you talk about in a podcast, write about in a blog post, or even produce a video on. The key ingredient here is to monetize your eBook through marketing on social media. This form of passive income does take a fair amount of effort in the beginning, but with some knowledge and a laptop, you can easily start making money in just a few hours.
#19: Invest in Stocks
Depending on what you’ve got already in your stock portfolio, you might want to include stocks as well. Apps such as Acorns and Robinhood help investors connect with opportunities in stocks, mutual funds, index funds, and more.
Making money with a laptop is possible with stocks. Keep an eye on business trends and try your hand at stocks with your laptop.
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Acorns is best suited for individuals looking to start investing with minimal effort and those who want to save and invest their spare change. |
Robinhood is best suited for various types of investors, especially those who are new to investing or prefer a user-friendly platform that is commission-free. |
Fundrise is a very easy-to-use app that allows individuals to access crowd-funded real estate investing without spending a fortune. This option is best for users who want to make money consistently and let their money make them money. |
Acorns is best suited for individuals looking to start investing with minimal effort and those who want to save and invest their spare change.
Robinhood is best suited for various types of investors, especially those who are new to investing or prefer a user-friendly platform that is commission-free.
Fundrise is a very easy-to-use app that allows individuals to access crowd-funded real estate investing without spending a fortune. This option is best for users who want to make money consistently and let their money make them money.
#20: Become a Freelance Writer
You can easily become a freelance writer with a laptop and a general sense of the written word. Freelance writers typically decide on one or two niches to focus on as they search for opportunities on job boards. Popular job boards include Upwork and Fiverr, but you may be able to find private clients as well if you market yourself well on social media and through your portfolio website.
As you gain more experience working with clients, it’s possible that you can turn the money you make from freelance writing on your laptop into a full-time income source.
FAQs
You can make money with your laptop by writing blogs, taking surveys, becoming a virtual assistant, etc. Our list is a great way to explore the opportunities available to you so you can earn more with a laptop than you thought.
If you want to make money with your laptop, the sky is really the limit. You can earn a few dollars here and there to support a coffee habit, or you can scale your earning up enough to supplement your full-time income. In some cases, you may even be able to trade your full-time job for the side hustle you fostered with little more than a laptop and some good old-fashioned dedication.
The best way to earn money with a laptop is to find something you like to do and put more time into it. See how it can make you money by working in your spare time. Connect with the larger community and gain experience while you’re still in school. Once you graduate, you can potentially use that experience on your resume or as part of your interview.
Besides the initial cost of the laptop itself, you’ll only need to pay for an internet connection in order to start making money with your laptop. You will have to dedicate some time to the endeavor as well, but by the time you’ve completed your first few jobs, you should be able to pay for your investment or at least a large part of it.
How Can You Make Money With Your Laptop
You might be waiting for the catch after hearing you can make money with a laptop. The truth is that besides some trial and error, a dash of effort, and a smidge of perseverance, you can make money with a laptop in just a few hours, with no strings attached. Our guide introduced you to a good number of opportunities available to you to make money with your laptop, some of them more profitable than others. Which will you choose to make money with your laptop?
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