🤫 Secret pricing strategy: Selling stuff on Amazon? Use the “charm pricing” trick — set the price just below a round number. Research shows folks perceive $9.99, for example, as much lower than $10. Bonus tip: Put expensive items next to affordable ones to make them seem like an even bigger bargain.
15 out-of-the-box ways to make extra cash from anywhere
By now, you probably know that you don’t have to leave home to make money. After all, many companies sent employees home to work during the pandemic. But even if you aren’t a salaried employee, you can still make a living from the comfort of your own home.
All you need is a computer, a phone and a solid foundation of internet know-how. Some jobs are straightforward, like working for a call center from your home. But not all jobs have to be dreary and bereft of fun.
For instance, you can work as a professional dog groomer or even an artist who creates items from home. Apps like Etsy, Rover, Dolly and more have sprung up to empower you to become your own boss and work flexible hours. Here are 15 money-making opportunities that put you in the driver’s seat of your work life — sometimes literally!
Bolster your bank account
A few names get the most headlines when it comes to the gig economy. There’s Uber, Lyft, Instacart and DoorDash.
Good news if you don’t want to drive around the city, carting strangers and their food. There are many ways to make extra cash without surrendering to the 9-to-5 corporate world.
We collected some exciting ways to put extra bucks in your bank account. Save yourself some research time and check out our favorite resources:
- Sell your skills: Whether you like writing, drawing, dancing, voice acting or doing celebrity impressions, you can do anything on Fiverr. Some people will even throw a message in a bottle or speak with other people’s pets telepathically … or so they say!
- Pet sit dogs from your own home: Want to pet sit but don’t want to leave the house? Rover pays you to take care of strangers’ pets while they’re away.
- Transcribe audio: Put your ears to work by typing down the words from audio recordings at waywithwords.net.
- Be a mystery shopper: Check out BestMark and SecretShopper to start.
- Rent your car: If you aren’t using your car right now, rent it out through Turo.
- Decorate your car: Companies like Stickr.co and Wrapify give you decals with advertisements. Drive around with them to make sure people see the ads.
- Watch TV: If you love sitting in front of the silver screen, good news: there are sites that pay you for watching.
- Sell your friendship: Tons of people are lonely since the pandemic drove us home for a year and a half. Rent-A-Friend lets you connect with others for cash.
- Test products: Do you love free stuff? Sites like Toluna, Nielson and Johnson & Johnson will pay you to test products.
- Listen to music: Audiophiles can head to Slicethepie to make a few cents for every song they listen to and rate.
- Test medicines: If you want to be a part of medicinal progress, join clinical trials.
- Rent your swimming pool: Swimply lets you sell access to your pool by the hour.
- Rent out extra rooms in your house: We aren’t talking about roommates. Some folks just want cheap storage space. If you have rooms, rent them out through storeatmyhouse.com or neighbor.com.
- Sell your hair: If you have luscious locks, let it grow out to at least eight inches in length and chop it off. Sites like HairSellOn, OnlineHairAffair and WorldofWigs will be happy to take it off of your hands.
- Cook for your neighbors: Here’s a way to turn your love of cooking into cash…without working in the hectic environment of a restaurant kitchen. EatWith is a meal-sharing app that lets you host, cook dishes for people and even sell baked goods.
While many of these jobs are fun, you’ll probably have to put in a lot of hours and hard work to make a significant chunk of cash.
If you want to widen your net to find as many job opportunities as possible, we recommend heading to our sponsor, LinkedIn. It’s the No. 1 social media site for job seekers, employers and more.
You can find a ton of great gigs on LinkedIn
On the flip side, if you’re hiring, there’s no better place to put a job listing than on LinkedIn.
Your smartwatch isn’t as accurate as you think
Sensors in today’s smartwatches can detect your heartbeat, track how you sleep and even monitor blood oxygen levels. We’re not far from your watch tracking your blood sugar … and possibly sending reports about it to your doctor.
I get this: My Amazon Astro robot has been turned off, and I miss the little guy. Rationally, we know robots don’t feel emotions. Practically, we’re still softies. Researchers in the Netherlands asked participants to shake a robot. If it was silent, they’d do it again — no problem. If the bot made a sad sound, they’d try to avoid it.
The very first photo was uploaded to the internet in 1992. Was the image a … A.) Band, B.) Child, C.) Goat or D.) Phone? This is a toughie!
$65,530 purse
Built around Nvidia’s H100 processor, the workhorse powering ChatGPT-4. An AI research scientist started GPU Purses. I wouldn’t buy one, but I appreciate the ingenuity.
Recent health studies you need to know now
Did you know video games are good for your health? No, really! I’m a health nut, so I keep up with studies that have practical takeaways for a better, longer life. Spoiler: Your parents were right about eating your broccoli.
How to rock a remote interview: Tips for shining over the phone or on video
Remote interviews are the present and the future. Why? The pandemic forced many companies nationwide to move to a remote system nearly overnight.
Now that we’ve been operating remotely for a while, many employers have seen the positive benefits of having remote employees. Increased productivity is one of them.
Teamwork makes the dream work: Copilot Pages is Microsoft’s answer to Google Docs. Ask Copilot for research, drop the responses into a new page, then edit with your colleagues in real time. Try it now if you use Microsoft 365 Copilot ($30 per month); it’s coming free for Copilot customers with Microsoft Entra accounts soon.
76% of patients
Got a price break on a medical bill. How? Picking up the phone. You may assume it’s not worth the time, but new research shows disputing an error or simply asking for reduced pricing goes a long way. My advice: Be polite and firm.
Online dating the safe way
You may not be looking for love online, but Tinder says about 40% of couples meet via apps. I know a couple who met on a dating app for farmers. They’re perfect for each other — they got married and have two boys and two girls under age 8 with another on the way. But for others, dating apps can be a complete nightmare.
I see fake people: Celebs like Victoria Beckham, Margot Robbie and Kate Moss are endorsing $660 LED beauty masks. The light rays supposedly stimulate collagen production and blood circulation to make your skin look younger and firmer. Research shows they can’t even reach the dermis, which is the second layer of skin where regeneration takes place.
😸 Meow you’re talking: Earn $50 and contribute to scientific research just by playing with your cat. I’m not kitten you. Researchers at the Animal Welfare Epidemiology Lab at the University of California, Davis, are looking for two-minute videos. Apply here.
$5 million
Fine for fake plastic surgery reviews. Seattle-based Dr. Javad Sajan will pay restitution to 21,000 victims after he forced them to sign nondisclosure agreements and threatened them when they left bad reviews. If you’re getting a life-changing procedure, do your research — and not just on the doc’s website.
Find your family tree without compromising your data
Seven million 23andMe customers thought they were just getting insights into their family history — instead, they got their data hacked.
It went beyond names and addresses. Hackers got their hands on DNA genotypes, predispositions to certain conditions and carrier status. And they were able to hunt down genetic relatives for millions of 23andMe customers. So scary.
🗿 I love this story, but I don’t know Y: A team who discovered a lost civilization’s alphabet on a fifth-century B.C. slate slab posted a pic on X. The rock caught the eye of a part-time researcher, who recognized a symbol as the Paleohispanic letter “i.” He’s been invited to join the official research team. Maybe X isn’t all that bad? Wait, yeah, it is.
When a bot is not a bot: People are calling folks a “bot” when they don’t agree with them or they question their intelligence. It’s getting political, too. Research shows it’s largely left-leaners hurling it at right-leaners who speak up on social media.
70% increase in cancer
In young people, and Red Bull might be to blame. Researchers believe taurine (one of the main ingredients in energy drinks) is used as a primary energy source for cancer cells. More research is coming, but this is scary. Talk to your people.
Automakers want to get rid of AM radio
When I was growing up, my dad worked for United Airlines, and I traveled a lot. I would always sneak a portable AM radio in my backpack, and as the plane crisscrossed the country, I would tune into various stations along the way. Never would I have imagined what that little hobby would become for me.
AI chatbot Perplexity has a new feature: You might like Perplexity if you haven’t tried it already. Its new trick is that you can type in a prompt and it’ll research, write and lay out an entire report. All the teachers just groaned.