If you’re like me and love side hustles, you’ll definitely want to know the 5 ways I’ve made me $200 in one day!
They vary from an effort of 10 minutes, to 10 months, before they hit the $200-in-one-day benchmark, but I’m sharing them all here…with the receipts! I’ll also summarize how long each strategy can take and if it is a passive (little to no effort) or active (requires active effort).
This post may contain some affiliate links. This means that I may make a commission if you purchase via some of these links (at no extra cost to you!).
1. Create a digital product & sell it
While my Instagram page is about personal finance, I found that a lot of people wanted to know how I grew my account to my first 10K followers (I am currently at 50k +!).
Responding to each person in the direct messages was tedious, so I decided to record myself teaching all my tips on Zoom. I created slides using Canva, and uploaded it on Gumroad to sell. I launched in July of 2020 and with the help of an IG friend I made from Hawaii (who I actually met in person on a recent trip!) called it “Zero to Hero on Instagram”. Check it out here!
- UPDATE: if you or a friend want to grow your Instagram community, my Zero to Hero webinar is on sale for $25 today! Code already applied here: at this link.
During The first few weeks there were two days that I made $200, as you’ll see in the yellow highlights in the snapshot below.
If you have a skill or something you can teach others, I highly recommend you consider Gumroad has an easy platform to sell your digital product on.
FAQ: What are examples of digital courses?
Here are examples of courses that I’ve bought from Gumroad creators to give you an idea of what you can learn, and what you can teach!
- Finance Mama’s Basic Mortgage Tracker / amortization schedule – $7
- Learn to Save for Retirement: $199
- Don’t Buy Real Estate UNTIL You Read This: 7 Steps For Buying A Profitable Rental Property – $47
To break it down further, here are various ways to price your digital product to make $200 in one day. You can sell a:
- $5 item to 40 people
- $10 item to 20 people
- $25 item to 8 people
- $50 item to 4 people
- $200 item to one person
| Time it took | one month to create the course and 2 weeks to launch it. |
| Passive or Active? | initially active, then more passive unless I’m updating the course |
2. Selling on Facebook Marketplace
Another side hustle idea that made me $200 in one day was to sell lighting used items on Facebook Marketplace.
I’ve had some success in the last year and go into more detail in this separate article.
In the image below, I’ve broken out the various items I’ve sold. My best sale was my dining room table and six chairs for $420. I find the best items are lightly used furniture, electronics, and children’s toys.
FAQ: How do I access Facebook Marketplace?
All you need is a free Facebook account to have access to Facebook marketplace.
| Time it took | 30min to One hour to take the photo and upload it onto Facebook marketplace. Received a quote on the same day |
| Passive or Active? | Active |
3. Dividends
Perhaps my favorite way to make $200 in a day is through dividends!
You will need a large enough portfolio for it to generate dividends and I have shown a screenshot below of my portfolio size. I’ve included other smaller stocks so you can see the difference of what a dividend payment can be.
A dividend is a way for a company to rewarded shareholders by returning a small share of their profits for every quarter for every share I own.
While I take some time to build this passive income stream, I find that it is one of my favorite ways to make $200 in one day! I didn’t have to get dressed for work nor did I have to report to my boss or deal with any coworkers. I just had to buy the stock and wait for the company to pay the dividend.
It is a very passive way that will continue to pay back without me having to do anything (related – see this Instagram post on how much money I made in dividends in 2021).
FAQ: What stocks should I consider?
This page does not provide financial advice, but for transparency I can share that the majority of my stocks are in a total stock market index fund.
- Per Investopedia: A total stock market index fund is an investment vehicle that contains a basket of stocks within a mutual fund or exchange traded fund (ETF) that tracks an equity index. An equity index contains numerous stocks across various industries designed to represent the performance of the overall equity market. However, investors can’t buy an index directly, but instead, can invest in a fund that mirrors a broad-based index, such as the Russell 3000 Index, the S&P 500, or the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index.
Learn more about building wealth by investing in index funds from my friends at Personal Finance Club:
You can buy individual companies that also pay dividends. Here’s one list that shows 30 dividend paying companies, called Dividend Kings.
- A Dividend King is a publicly traded company that has increased its shareholder dividends every year for at least the past 50 years. While past performance doesn’t mean they’ll continue this in the future, these companies do have a proven track record of rewarding shareholders with regular dividends.
| Time it took | One year for me to build up my portfolio. It can take 3 to 5 years depending on how much stocks you buy per year. |
| Passive or Active? | Passive . Other than depositing money to invest, I did nothing else to earn it |
4. Influencer Marketing
Leveraging social media is another great way to make $200, or more, in one day.
Building the Everyday Finance Gal community on Instagram page has led to many brand and creator opportunities. The goal with a partnership is to provide value to my audience by sharing and promoting products and services that I’ve either used, or I know will add value to their life.
That is why it is so important to have a strong community online with a targeted niche so that companies can no what might be relevant for your audience here is an example of one such collaboration where I worked with the brand on a preset post and earned $500 for that item.
The screenshot below is less PayPal fees (everybody wants their money!)
FAQ:
a) How can I find partnership opportunities paying $200 as an influencer?
- Here are a few of my favorite sites do use. Some opportunities come in my email and some may even come through direct message
b) How many followers do I need to make $200 from me page?
- In short, the more lucrative opportunities come after you reach your first 10 K followers. However, it is more about engagement rate and how well you understand who your audience is and what they are looking for from your page. Think of your page the magazine that an ad company while place an ad in. You want to provide the brand with the demographics of your audience and what kind of information they’re used to seeing. For example, you wouldn’t have car advertisement on a page that only talks about food and whose target audience are under 18 years old.
| Time it took | It took me 10 months to build to my 10 K and get my first brand deal but it can be much faster than that in today’s market |
| Passive or Active? | Active. There’s a lot of work that goes into creating a page and also work to perform the requirements of the brand. |
5. Unclaimed Property website
Finding unclaimed checks that were originally mine is another way I’ve made $200 in a day.
Have you ever had to move and change cable or internet provider? Or close a credit card which had a small balance and you never received the check back?
Well, these companies have to track you and your new address down in order to get your check to you. If they cannot track you, the money still belongs to you. After 36months the bank or company will have to submit the amount to the states unclaimed property division.
FAQ: How can I find unclaimed property?
Here is the website for California but you can just type in unclaimed property and your state.
For other states, just Google your state and “unclaimed properties.” (caution – Make sure it ends in a .gov so you know the website is legit! ). You’ll need to fill out basic information. I would only put your name and last name, and perhaps a city if your name is common.
You’ll get a page of results. In this example there was a refund due from American Express that was unclaimed. You can press add and fill out the form.
If the property value is under $1,000, you can claim it online and they will mail you a check in 2 weeks. Otherwise, you will need to print out forms and have a notary sign to verify your identity before they will mail you back the check. Make sure you check for yourself, but also share the link with your family so they can check as well!
| Time it took | Ten minutes |
| Passive or Active? | Passive and one time, generally |
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