Growing up in a single parent household, I knew all too well what it was like to have a need for extra income, and limited resources to be able to earn it. At a very young age, I wanted to learn how to make money, so I would not have to live like this forever. I got creative in my efforts to earn money as a kid, and this has helped me into today.

You don’t need a job to earn money

There are many ways to make money that do not involve working at a job. No, I am not talking about doing something illegal. Rather, there are several ways you can earn money, even if you think you have limited time or are unable to work.

I couldn’t go get a job when I got started trying to figure out how to make money because I was only five years old. Instead, I figured out what resources I did have that could start earning me money. Much to my surprise, I started making $200 a month selling pencils to my classmates. My entrepreneurial spirit didn’t stop there.

Throughout grade school and even into college, I sold everything from pencils and erasers to candy and sandwiches. This was earning me a decent amount of pocket change during the school day, and allowed me to start my first online business.

Earning Money Online

I started my first online business my freshman year of college. I was pretty good at art and had been designing tattoos for friends in high school. I figured I could earn more if I sold my artwork online.

Wrong.

The problem wasn’t my artwork. I was continuing to sell tattoo designs to my friends and friends of friends. The problem was my website. I didn’t have the know-how or the skills to create a profitable website. To fix this, I started watching videos online, reading countless articles, and buying books on how to build a website. I was able to create a more attractive website, but wasn’t able to sell any artwork.

I ended up getting rid of my art website, and bought a health and wellness website. This one online business went better than my tattoo site because it was deigned by someone else. It also included a program to teach me how to sell the products on it. Nonetheless, the site was too expensive to keep up, so I sold it and created a couple new ones.

My newest websites were all about helping people. One was geared towards helping people find discounted electronics. The other was meant to help people avoid scams online. I was scammed several times trying to learn how to build websites and make money online. My new site could help people avoid the things I lost money on. This would’ve have been great, if I knew how to get people two the site. I thought that by having a beautiful site design and a good purpose, folks would flock to my website. Instead, I once again lost money and decided to let the internet business idea go for a while.

By my junior year in college, I was working three jobs and still doing odds and ends to earn money. I had gotten pretty good with technology, so I started repairing computers in my spare time. I also started a small baking business. Even with all these avenues for making money, I still needed money and I was had no extra time to get another job.

Then I made a very profitable mistake

My senior year of college I created a food themed website. This was purely for my own interest. I didn’t expect to make any money from it, I just wanted to share some food knowledge. Much to my surprise, I started getting booked for live cooking demonstrations, asked to write for the school newspaper, was asked to review local restaurants, and even had a company selling my merchandise for royalties. I was no Paula Dean, but I was enjoying myself. The issue was I had no idea what I was doing right or wrong to get this interest. This led to a decline in gigs ad of course income.

To an extent, I was perfectly fine with this outcome. At the time, my father and I were starting our own business and I was thinking about going to graduate school. My plate was full and I’d enjoyed what I did with my website. I hoped to return to it someday and make it even better than before. And I did.

How to Make Money Online

Towards the end of graduate school, I wanted to figure out another way to earn money besides the businesses I had with my dad. No matter what type of job you have, you always need to have a means of earning additional income. This secures you and your livelihood should unforeseen circumstances arise. You can do anything to earn an extra income, just make sure you are doing something. It took me a while to figure out something I could do, as I had very limited spare time due to my responsibilities to my other businesses.

I knew I couldn’t work at an additional job, nor did I have the energy after 10 to 12 hour days to do so. I wasn’t interested in selling some random product. I didn’t have time to commit to art or odd jobs anymore. Though internet businesses hadn’t worked out very well for me in the past, I decided to take a chance with Wealthy Affiliate.

I found the missing link

The website I created with the guidance of the training at Wealthy Affiliate is a million times better than the ones I created on my own. Not only is it more attractive, it:

• took significantly less time to build
• requires little of my time to sustain
• cost me nothing to maintain
• earns me an extra income

I couldn’t ask for more, yet Wealthy Affiliate gives so much.

The reason my previous sites weren’t successful is because I failed to learn the keys to making money online. Wealthy Affiliate taught me this for free via their certification course. They also taught me how to make money online using the my interests. I am now earning an additional monthly income with my website FoodiO.org, helping people to become empowered through food, and enjoying what I am am doing.

The unexpected happened

I didn’t expect anything good to come from signing up at Wealthy Affiliate. I thought it would be a scam. I thought there was was no way I could make a significant amount of income online without devoting all my free time to a new website. Thankfully I was wrong.

You can make money online and you don’t have to sell anything to do it. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself. The Starter Membership at Wealthy Affiliate is completely free. You don’t even have to use your credit card to sign up. Plus, if you need any help deciding how to turn your passion into a profitable online business, there’s a whole community there to support and guide you.

What have you tried to make money? Were your efforts successful? Comment below.