40+ Alternative Income Ideas and Resources

March 4, 2008 by Pinyo.

When I wrote “Building, Diversifying, and Shifting Your Income Streams,” there was an important element that I left out. That element was some practical real life ideas about how you can start building alternative income streams today. It is worth noting that not all alternative incomes are passive, so you will actually have to actively work for these income streams to grow.

Grow Alternative Income Streams

In compiling this list, I did my best to avoid any sort of scams, and stay with practical ideas that work. I have not used all of these ideas, but I have used, or am using, many in this list.

Alternative Income Ideas:

Start a business
Get a second job
Invest in dividend paying stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds (ETF)
Buy Certificates of Deposit (CD)
Start an online savings account — e.g., Capital One offers 3.10%, ING offers 3.00%, and WaMu offers 3.55%, etc. (rates may have changed)
Lend money on Prosper and LendingClub, and refer your friends for referral bonus
Start a blog and make money with it
Write for money — e.g., Squidoo, Associated Content, Triond, etc.
Save money online shopping with Ebate, and refer your friends for referral bonus
Becomes a landlord, or a real estate investor — e.g., rent out a parking space, a room, etc.
Beat the S&P500 with a virtual portfolio to earn real money with UpDown.com
Offer basic services — e.g., babysitting, housekeeping, gardening, painting, etc.
Offer services in your area of expertise — e.g., tutoring, resume writing, business consulting, web site development, etc.
Turn your hobbies into income streams — e.g., photography, videography, quilting, etc.
Sell handmade products on Etsy
Write and sell eBooks
Ghostwriting
Enter contests and giveaways (use Google Alerts) and sell the prizes
Earn money with online surveys
Turn your everyday spending into college savings with Upromise
Use cash back reward credit cards strategically — e.g., DiscoverCard, Chase Free Cash Rewards, American Express Blue Cash, Citibank Reward Cards, etc.
Play the credit card arbitrage game (note: this is too risky for my tastes)
Sell used books on Amazon
Becomes an Amazon Associate, and ask your friends to use your affiliate link to buy things
Sell unused items on eBay or Craiglist; or buy bulk items and resell them
Freelancing — e.g., Elance, Guru, RentACoder, etc.
Sell your collectibles
Start a bulk candy vending machine business (note: I actually lost money on this)
Mystery shopping
Find missing money — MissingMoney, Where’s My Refund, TreasuryHunt, PBGC database, and GovBenefits.gov (see Frugal for Life)

Alternative Income Resources:

My Sources Of Alternative Income And How I Make Them Work For Me at My Two Dollars
Spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think at Brip Blap
A Guide to Making Passive Income at Freelance Switch
20+ Free Passive Income Resources at Life Optimizer
Passive Income: How to Earn More and Work Less at About.com
8 Ways To Earn Passive Income Online at iSiteBuild.com
Five Ways to Create Passive Income With Little or No Money at Genius Types
Automate Your Income to Simplify Your Life at Zen Habits
Passive Income is the Key to Freedom and Retirement at All Financial Matters
11 Great Ways to Earn More Money at Free Money Finance
Defining Alternative Income at Lazy Man and Money
Ten Ways to Translate Your Passion Into Additional Income at The Simple Dollar
50+ Resources to Legitimately Raise Your Income at My Super-Charged Life
40 Ways to Make Money on the Internet at Dumb Little Man

Photo by ErRbBbiiIE via Flickr

This post was featured in:

The Carnival of Personal Finance #143 - Oh Canada Edition hosted by Quest For Four Pillars. For more information please visit the Carnival of Personal Finance.

23 Comments

Jay, 4. March 2008, 9:37

I’m curious about what makes Credit Card arbitrage “too risky” in your mind.

If the money received from the 0% balance transfer is placed directly into an FDIC-insured CD or bank Money Market account, there is effectively zero risk.

Sure, there is a temporary hit to your credit score, making this strategy inappropriate to anyone planing on buying a house any time soon. But the strategy only pays off for those with excellent credit to begin with, so the impact will be minimal.
Pinyo, 4. March 2008, 9:46

@Jay - It’s all mental for me. I hate owing CC companies large amount money due to fear of having to pay interest and late fee. I am even itching to pay off my Home Depot 12-month no interest/no payment offer. That’s just how I am. But I know a few PF bloggers who are doing well with this strategy.
Phil, 4. March 2008, 11:31

I’ve tried the online survey route. WAY too much effort for the return. I can’t tell you how many lengthy surveys I’ve gotten halfway through before being told that I’m not a candidate. They still got tons of info, I got zip. Pretty scammy, if you ask me.

One great source of income I have found is doing in-person consumer opinion studies. Once or twice a month, I get paid anywhere from $75 to $200 in cash for an hour or two of providing my opinions on a wide variety of topics/products. Look up these firms in the yellow pages in your town and get your data entered into their database. They’ll call if you match who they are looking for.
Shanti @ Antishay Ventenne, 4. March 2008, 11:38

What an AWESOME list! I have been selling stuff on eBay, half..com and Amazon like mad in the last week and it’s been pretty great. I agree that there is some challenge to this, but I have been doing it off and on for years. Only recently have I started to get serious about selling.

Thank you for the ideas, though! I have been trying to think of other ways to earn money and a few of the things here (particularly rent-a-coder and tutoring) I have thought about before but not acted on. I appreciate the suggestions!

At this point, I don’t really need the extra income to pay off my debt (will be out in April/May!! http://www.antishay.com/?p=65) but as I look to my future and my goal of being able to retire at 35, I have a LOT more I need to do to build up my income over the next 13 years
MInTheGap, 4. March 2008, 13:32

I don’t believe that Amazon allows you to tell your family and friends to buy things through their associates account. I know that their TOS actually tell you that you can’t buy things for yourself through it nor can you have others buy things for you through it.

Now, how they go about enforcing it is a different story, but you may want to read the fine print when it comes to affiliate programs.
Pinyo, 4. March 2008, 13:47

@Phil - I agree, survey is not for everyone. I am too busy for it, but I have friends who said survey works well for them. I linked to her site.

I will have to take a look at in-person consumer opinion. I haven’t done one, but is seems to be worth it at $75-$200 a shot.

@Shanti - Thank you. I used to be a seller on eBay too. I buy wholesales, then retail sell them. But the margin is not as good as I’d like it to be due to all the fees, and I didn’t get a very good price to begin with.

If you are interested in tutoring, paidtwice is doing it online and getting decent income from it. You should check out her blog and ask her.

@MInTheGap - I didn’t say family because you and people in the same household cannot buy from your affiliate links. Last time I checked, nothing is wrong with asking your friends to visit your web site and use your affiliate links.
Money Millionaire, 4. March 2008, 14:11

I think MInTheGap is right, Amazon does ask you to not have your friends use your affiliate links. I don’t know how they can police it, but I believe in the terms of service.

I notice that most of these involve A) getting a second job or B) investing income that you already have. There are quite a few examples of each, but they are fundamentally the same.
Pinyo, 4. March 2008, 14:29

@Money Millionaire and MInTheGap:

From Amazon’s page:

http://affiliate-program.amazo....._join_menu

“You may not purchase products during sessions initiated through the links on your site for your own use, for resale or commercial use of any kind. This includes orders for customers or on behalf of customers or orders for products to be used by you or your friends, relatives, or associates in any manner. Such purchases may result (in our sole discretion) in the withholding of referral fees and/or the termination of this Agreement.”

You can’t make the purchase on their behalf, but it doesn’t say anything about asking your friends to make their own purchases through your web site.
Buck, 4. March 2008, 22:11

A friend of mine got some vending machines too and I thought it was a really horrible idea. He goes around to them every weekend and collects change and restocks. It sounds like a huge amount of work. I’m all about passive income.
Brip Blap, 5. March 2008, 17:47

Great list - I was intrigued by Updown (#11) when you wrote about it before and again this time. Thanks for the mention, too!
Denise, 6. March 2008, 10:29

Thanks for the great list!
I will be returning to do more research
Christy, 6. March 2008, 16:40

This is such a wonderful resource. Thank you for sharing. If you don’t mind, I’m going to link to this on my blog for all my stay-home mom readers!
Pinyo, 6. March 2008, 17:50

@Buck — That’s probably one of my dumbest investment, but some people made it work. Not to mention it’s a big business.

@Brip Blap — It’s tiny amount of money, but it’s fun. Also, the whole point about income streams is having a lot of them. Small things do add up.

@Denise — Thanks!

@Christy — I am flattered. Yes, please do share this with your readers.
Evan, 10. March 2008, 18:48

I had been looking for alternative income for a while! So, I just started an internet business IT WAS SIMPLE and HELPS PEOPLE! Can’t think of a better way to have an alternative stream of income.

If anyone is interested the site is www.RealCash4GiftCards.com - check it out!
7million7years, 11. March 2008, 10:58

Thanks, Pinyo; increasing income is the only way to accelerate your investments (such as by putting at least 50% of the extra income these generate towards your investmnet strategies) … and accelerating your investments is the only way to get financially free or, dare I say … rich!
Four Pillars, 11. March 2008, 19:25

Thanks for the link.

Mike
Jeff@MySuperChargedLife, 19. March 2008, 17:16

Pinyo,

Thanks for adding my article to your list of resources! This contains a lot of excellent ideas.

Jeff
Know The Ledge, 19. March 2008, 18:18

There are a lot of interesting ideas here. I too wondered about the bulk candy machine opportunities. It does seem like a lot of work for peanuts, but I guess it’s all about your perspective. I’m going to look into a few of the items on the list, see if I can expand my own income streams. Can’t ever have too many!
MInTheGap, 21. March 2008, 7:55

Pinyo, it’s this part of what you quoted that concerns me:

“This includes orders for customers or on behalf of customers or orders for products to be used by you or your friends, relatives, or associates in any manner.”

Orders for products to be used by your friends, relatives or associates in any manner seems to me to equal having your friends buy things through your site even if it is for themselves.

Now, I grant to you that I think that this is insane, and highly unenforceable. Also, I would think that Amazon would gladly accept the business and let the people that are advertising share in some deals, but obviously that’s not what the TOS state.
Pinyo, 21. March 2008, 8:29

@Know The Ledge - ROFL. I know you probably didn’t mean it, but “work for peanuts” is a great pun for vending machine business.

@MInTheGap - Yeah, I don’t know why they would be against asking friends. I can understand why they wouldn’t want family. I guess it’s up to the person if they want to point their friends to the web site or not.
Dan, 24. March 2008, 10:43

Thanks for all the ideas, tips & tricks!

I personally like & use #6: create & sell ebooks.
I sell them from my own sites & on Forums.
Leslie Raymond, 6. April 2008, 23:18

What a great list! I’m trying to pull in some extra income myself, and I’ve looked into a few of the items on your list. This is a great jumping off point for me, the idea of making stuff and selling it on etsy is appealing, but something tells me it would involve more time than just a second job.

Thanks for the resources!
Passive Income from Domains, 10. May 2008, 3:39

I think the best way to generate passive income is to build up website and earn from the online adspace.

This way you can create 1000s of $$$$ of passive income.