Workers around the world are on edge. Every moment, they fear receiving the dreaded email, “Hello employee,” and losing their jobs.
With Tesla now in its fourth consecutive week of layoffs since April, its laid-off employees took to Business Insider and across LinkedIn to share their experiences and feelings during this nerve-wracking time.
One anonymous employee, speaking to Insider, related, “I keep waiting for Elon to send another email and tell us they’re finally done firing people. We need some level of closure or a sign that we can stop worrying about losing our jobs.”
Is this latest round of layoffs from Tesla a sign that things are really shifting in the workforce? Will the workforce ever return to its pre-pandemic stability?
It appears as though the workplace is undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts, in which the old layer—jobs as we once knew them—is being gradually shed off, while being replaced with the new butterfly that is side hustles, freelancing, and self-employment ventures.
Professionals everywhere desire a sense of independence and autonomy, to be able to take their careers and their financial future in their own hands, and work on their own terms without the constant threat of the rug being pulled from their feet.
The best answer to this is to find ways to make one’s own money, using what is already in your own hands to build passive income and financial freedom.
Making money online is a very attractive option for most people because it requires minimal resources and can be done from the comfort of one’s own home office—or bedroom, as the case may be. If you have lately discovered that your role has been eliminated or is at threat of elimination and you’re worried about your personal finances, here are some relatively easy ways to make money quickly. These side hustles will help you stay afloat until you’re able to get back on your feet, or until you’ve settled into a solid freelance venture.
1. Online Focus Groups
Companies are always looking for feedback on their products and services, to ensure viability before releasing to the public, so they’ll sometimes host focus groups to understand people’s initial feedback and reactions before committing to a full launch. Platforms such as User Testing, UserInterviews, and iPoint Market Research are great legitimate places to create a profile and put yourself forward to participate in focus groups and market research opportunities, many of which are hosted online. Compensation can be as little as $50 or go up to as much as $300 or more for a project.
2. Hosting Virtual Workshops
If you’ve just been laid off, or are under the impression that you soon will be, think about all the wealth of knowledge and expertise you have gained during your time working there, and throughout the years you have worked within your industry.
Chances are, you likely know many things that others don’t, so leverage this and work your knowledge and skills to your financial advantage. Host workshops and training events online, to teach others the skills you’ve learned. Provide participants with course materials (you can easily do this with AI instructional tools), and host workshops on remote video-conferencing software such as Zoom or Google Meet.
3. Selling Old Items On eBay
Have a mountain of collectibles in your closet, garage, or storage? It’s time to sort them and sell whatever you don’t need. Clothes, old toys, games, and vintage items can be valuable, especially if they are rare and difficult to find. You can even give them a full servicing with a few brushes of paint, and some DIY and cleaning tools, to restore their original color and quality, then sell them on eBay.
4. Affiliate Marketing
Identify a niche that is in high demand, which you are passionate about, then find products or services that align with that niche, and promote them in your blog, social media pages, or website, via affiliate links. You will earn a specified commission based on each successful sale. You can join affiliate networks such as Amazon Associates, ShareASale, or ClickBank to find products.
5. Remote Customer Service Jobs
Another way to make money online rather easily is by looking for remote customer service jobs. These jobs can be found either directly in a company’s career page, by joining call center and customer service agencies who are outsourced by companies, or by seeking for freelance or flexible customer service jobs on platforms such as Upwork. This is a great way to temporarily tie you over until you’re able to be more settled in your career.
All five of these ways to make money online can be set up within a few hours or days at most, and you don’t need to have substantive business capital or work outside of your home to get these off the ground. There are literally countless opportunities to make money online. Explore the different options and choose the ones that align with your goals.