Real ways to make money from home - 4 Proven side hustles

Feeling the rising living costs and my savings dwindle, I embarked on a quest to discover real ways to make money from home. As a full time employee, it's hard to make it with the free time that you get. My strategy was to supplement my income and feel more secure. What followed was a series of trials tribulations and valuable lessons learned mostly through failures in building a reliable income stream. I'm nowhere near ready to say "Time to quit the day job!" so I'm sharing my experiences hoping you'll find them valuable.

The freelancing rollercoaster

My first foray into making money from home was freelancing something that had worked for me in the past. I envisioned myself taking on frontend development projects earning extra cash and expanding my skill set. Upwork seemed like the perfect platform because it's popular and has many clients looking for freelancers.

• Pros: A vast pool of projects freedom and opportunities for growth. You get the chance to apply to what projects appeals to your.
• Cons: Writing compelling proposals is tough. Competition is fierce and to my utter surprise my account was inexplicably blocked for "applying too much." No appeal no explanation just a closed door. I grew frustrated with it so I tried the next thing.

Fiverr's gig economy

Freelancing is a valid way of turning your passion into a side hustle. I turned to Fiverr hoping for a different experience than Upwork. I can confirm Fiverr works differently than Upwork, the most interesting part I find is that the clients look for you, not the other way around. And they also seem to have a lot of gig categories (even witchcraft 😂 🧙‍♀️);

• Pros: Easy to navigate diverse service offerings transparent fees and the potential for clients to come to you. Fees are transparent, withdrawals quick.
• Cons: Intense competition a rigid structure for developer services and a disheartening lack of success. Despite crafting eye-catching gigs and a solid portfolio I landed a single client a year ago working for peanuts for a week. I tried even Fiverr Pro in the hope to get more traction but I was unsuccessful!

Etsy's print-on-demand dream

My next venture was an Etsy shop specializing in AI-redesigned canvases using Gelato's print-on-demand service. I enjoyed this idea since print on demant is marketed as a passive income. But in practice it's not really the case. The shop still exists here, but I didn't manage to work on it lately: https://afiplaza.etsy.com

• Pros: Low startup costs, no inventory, easy integration with Gelato and the ability to create numerous designs quickly using AI. Gelato handles printing and shipping offering a hands-off approach.
• Cons: Far from passive income as it demands constant design creation promotional efforts and strategic thinking. Even with diligent effort a stable income is not guaranteed. Calculating shipping prices proved complex with varying taxes and Gelato's seemingly convoluted per-item shipping calculations. This was by far the most challenging side hustle I attempted with potentially years of effort required to generate decent sales. Forget about getting rich quickly! Perhaps a shop with handcrafted items works better, but I don't have such talent...

Freecash: The survey and game gamble

Finally I stumbled upon Freecash which is a website that pays you to play games and complete surveys. This is by far the most lucrative thing I did to earn some extra cash from home! Sounds absolutely lovely isn't it? I tried both completing surveys and playing games, Freecash indeed delivered it's promises making me richer with some extra money.

• Pros: Earn money from home, withdraw to PayPal and discover new games.
• Cons: Surveys are low-paying and frustrating games often require in-app purchases to reach levels and some offers have crediting issues. Tried to reach to the support, but they don't answer. Here is my link if you want to try it: https://freecash.com/r/9b10e232c4b95a1c67a0

The verdict

For now my corporate job provides the stability I crave. I'm a bit disappointed I didn't create a reliable side income. Freecash was the most lucrative option but its frustrations and questionable practices left me hesitant to rely on it long-term.

This has been my personal journey into the world of making money from home. There are countless other side hustles to explore and I'm eager to hear about your experiences and ideas. What has worked for you? Share your wisdom!