As mobile usage steadily increases, smartphones are a key part of modern business. Small business owners and freelancers can benefit from knowing how to use cellphones to earn extra income in today’s mobile-centric world. Fortunately, there are more ways than ever to use just your phone to make money online. Here are ideas to get you started.
How to make money from your phone
- Launch an ecommerce store
- Take paid online surveys
- Sell items you already own
- Find odd jobs
- License photographs
- Engage in affiliate marketing
- Offer tutoring services
- Participate in user testing
- Start a YouTube channel
- Provide customer service
- Manage social media accounts
There are several ways to make money using your mobile device, including running an ecommerce store, taking paid surveys, and participating in affiliate marketing. Here are some effective ways you can make money on your phone:
1. Launch an ecommerce store
Start your online store through an ecommerce platform like Shopify, which makes setting up a store easy. Shopify’s mobile app gives you the power to create, grow, and manage your store from your smartphone, from uploading product photos to answering customer inquiries and launching email campaigns.
Come up with a business idea that plays to your strengths and fills a need in the online shopping marketplace. Research your target audience, develop your product or service, and draft a business plan. When the pieces are in place, you can launch and manage your online store on the go—and keep track of sales, payments, and fulfillment, all from your phone.
2. Take paid online surveys
If you have a phone and some spare time, you can complete surveys through paid survey apps that offer money in exchange for valuable data they can sell to companies. The most popular survey apps include Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, InboxDollars, and KashKick.
3. Sell items you already own
Earn extra cash from your mobile device by selling pre-owned items using online marketplace apps like eBay, Etsy, and Facebook Marketplace. You can make money by selling clothes, crafts, jewelry, decorations, and antiques. Taking high-quality photos of the items can make your products look more enticing. Write clear product descriptions to ensure customers find the items they’re looking for.
4. Find odd jobs
Use mobile gig apps like TaskRabbit, Handy, and Upwork to earn cash by picking up groceries, moving furniture, cleaning, or doing yard work. Picking up odd jobs through mobile apps can allow you to make more money on your own hours. Consider also making money through mobile ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft, or food delivery services like Grubhub, DoorDash, Postmates, and Uber Eats.
5. License photographs
If you have a knack for photography, you can sell photos online through stock photo websites like Shutterstock, Getty Images, Alamy, and 500px. These platforms compensate you with a share of the fee each time your photo is licensed by a brand, agency, or content creator.
Selling high-quality photographs once required expensive cameras and equipment. With increasingly high-quality cameras built into smartphones, virtually anyone can capture and sell professional-grade images.
6. Engage in affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where a business rewards an affiliate for each customer brought in by the affiliate’s marketing efforts.
As an affiliate, you promote a company’s product using a unique link and earn commissions whenever someone takes action. Merchants pay affiliates through various models, such as pay per click, pay per lead, and pay per sale.
Find an affiliate marketing program and share links for brands that speak to your friends, family, and social media following. Sharing affiliate links can help you build passive income through mobile online platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.
7. Offer tutoring services
Make money from your phone by offering tutoring services online. If you have expertise in a particular topic like math, science, and English, or skills like coding, consider putting your knowledge to work. Plenty of mobile tutoring apps help tutors find students and take a commission for their service, including Wyzant and Varsity Tutors.
8. Participate in user testing
Earn extra money on your phone through user testing applications that pay you to provide feedback about websites, apps, tools, products, and services. Numerous websites and smartphone apps pay users to provide data to paying companies, including Tapestri, Honeygain, and Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel.
Or, play games. There are applications that pay users for playing games and watching videos. Apps like Mistplay and Swagbucks connect game developers willing to pay for user feedback with gamers who want a fun way to make a few bucks in their free time. Compensation for these apps may come in the form of points to be later redeemed for gift cards.
9. Start a YouTube channel
If you love content creation, consider starting a YouTube channel by recording, editing, and releasing videos using your phone. You might create educational videos, tutorials, reviews, or entertaining videos. Lean on your strengths and interests. Build a list of video ideas and stick to a consistent release schedule. Release your videos with engaging descriptions optimized for search engines.
10. Provide customer service
You can work as a customer service representative from your own home using just your phone. A customer service agent interacts with customers, helps them resolve issues, and provides helpful information.
11. Manage social media accounts
If you have experience in social media marketing, content marketing, and search engine optimization, you can work as a social media manager. This involves running accounts for small business owners, guiding small businesses, brands, and individuals to engage effectively with their online audience. This can become a full-time job you can do on the go.
Ways to make money from your phone FAQ
What can I do with my phone to make money?
You can earn money with your smartphone by taking surveys, reselling items, doing odd jobs, engaging in affiliate marketing, and operating an ecommerce store on platforms like Shopify.
What app is legit to earn money?
You can use several apps to earn money from your phone, including ecommerce apps like Shopify’s mobile app, marketplace apps like Facebook Marketplace and eBay, and affiliate marketing apps like UpPromote and ReferralCandy.
Can you make money with your phone?
Yes. You can earn money with your phone by taking surveys and doing user testing. Tutoring, social media managing, and selling stock photos are also viable options to earn and save money.
