You might’ve heard about the saying spend money to make money but how can you do that in a realistic way without breaking the bank? I created this post to answer this specific question.
When I first started dabbling in some entrepreneurial endeavors I was what you’d call a cheapskate. I was convinced I could succeed without spending a dime.
After failing miserably I started investing a small amount of money into some of the things I tried and a lot of doors opened up.
It made me realize that you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on stocks for example to earn meaningful money.
A modest amount of money is more than enough to heavily influence your lifestyle from a financial perspective.
I’ll show you my top 10 ways to spend money to make money that comes with relatively low financial risk but have an enormous upside.
Let’s get into it!
1. Make money by spending money on a blog
Contrary to what many people believe, blogging is far from dead. According to WordPress, somewhere around 70 million new posts are published using their platform each month.
People are making up to the 6-figures a year with blogging. Not too long ago, I interviewed a 6-figure legal blogger on my podcast about how you can legally protect yourself.
She started a few years ago and turned the blog into an income generator.
Can you create a blog for free? Sure but these come with a lot of monetization limits. This is why most bloggers always recommend spending money to start a self-hosted blog.
How much money do you have to spend?
This is where the spending money part comes in. In most cases, you’ll spend around $10 for a domain name and $20 for hosting.
Depending on your knowledge, you might have to spend between $30 and $300 on a blogging course.
How long does it take?
In the starting phase (first 9 months), you’ll probably not make a lot of money but once you have enough content on the blog and you start to get on the first page of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Related Article At Realdigitalsuccess.com
Ever wondered how exactly to start a blog?
Check out my How to earn money by starting a blog post in which I explain the basics in 5 simple steps.
2. Make Money By Spending Money On Writing ebooks
Ebooks can be a great source of income.
You create an eBook once and afterward dependent on how evergreen the content is it can be sold forever.
There are a lot of methods you can use to distribute these books without spending money such as using Amazon Kindle but in that scenario, you’re at the mercy of their algorithm.
That being said to create and sell these eBooks at the point where you can earn meaningful money while keeping control you’re going to have to spend some money on marketing and a base of operations aka a website.
How much money do you have to spend?
Just like with the blog for a self-hosted website you’d spend around $30 and after that for advertising, I’d start with $50 (which you could get as free credit on Google Ads) and invest more after getting some data about your sales.
How long will it take to earn money?
If you’re using paid advertising you could make money right away. It’s important to use the right keywords in your ads though.
3. Make money by Spending money on a YouTube Channel
YouTube is a great way to earn money.
You can monetize a YouTube channel in dozens of ways and unlike for example Instagram, where pictures for the most part disappear in the ether your videos, can be looked up for years to come.
If you know how to make engaging videos and thumbnails that keep peoples attention, YouTube SEO, and are willing to put a lot of effort into marketing your videos your chances of succeeding skyrocket.
While it’s free to sign-up there are a few costs you’d have to take into account if you want to take YouTube seriously.
How much money do you have to spend?
At the very least, you’ll need a mobile phone with a decent camera. How much you want to spend on that is up to you. You’ll also need some video editing tools. I use Adobe Premiere but I know a lot of people that also use Final Cut Pro.
How long does it take to earn money?
This depends on how good you’re at YouTube SEO and what kind of monetization strategy you use. If you’re trying to get into their monetization program you’ll have to get the hours in watch time first.
The second method would be to direct the traffic you have on YouTube and funnel it to another website where you could sell products, promote affiliate offers, etc which can get you paid in a matter of weeks.
4. Rent out a room
If done right and you’re dealing with the right renters this can be an ideal method for earning money. It’s probably one of the closest things to earning passive income without doing massive work upfront.
You can make a lot of money especially if you reside in a good location. I once rented a location in the city center of Barcelona and when we looked at the agenda it was booked full almost the entire year long.
How much money do you have to spend?
You can sign-up for Airbnb and list a room or an apartment for free but Airbnb is going to take 3% to process payments.
Renting out an apartment of the room will also require some maintenance. You could do it yourself but most Airbnb hosts hire someone to do the deep cleaning.
How long does it take to earn money?
It’s hard to give a clear-cut answer as to how long it’d take to earn money because you have to take multiple factors into accounts such as location, price, and competition in the area.
In an ideal world, you’d be able to earn money from the moment you list your room but in reality, it’s more complicated.
5. Make money by spending money on Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a form of marketing where companies use independent creators, marketers, and publishers to promote their products and direct people to their company.
Every time someone buys a product based on the recommendation of one of these publishers they’ll earn a commission. There are thousands of affiliate marketing success stories of people who started from scratch and are now making 6-figures.
How much money do you have to spend?
Affiliate marketing is appealing to a lot of people because the financial risk is very low but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to spend money.
At the very least you’d need to cover the same costs for website hosting and a domain name which at the very least would be $30.
If you don’t have any experience with affiliate marketing I’d also recommend purchasing an affiliate marketing course which can range from $50 to $500.
How long does it take to earn money?
It depends on how you’re planning to market your affiliate offers. Directing organic traffic is often going to take a few months before you see some progress. Paid advertising if done correctly makes it possible to earn money immediately.
Related Article At Realdigitalsuccess.com
Affiliate marketing makes it possible to create a passive income stream.
Check out my newly updated Wealthy Affiliate Review — Is It Still Worth It In 2022?! which is the affiliate marketing training platform that taught me how to create an affiliate business.
6. Flipping websites or domains
Flipping websites and domains is one of the most profitable methods to earn money by spending money.
Surprisingly, it’s also a lot easier than most people think it is especially when it comes to flipping domains.
If you know how to spot good domain names that are on sale for a decent price you can flip them on websites that do domain auctions.
The same goes for websites even though often you’d have to put in some more work after you bought them to increase their value.
How much money do you have to spend?
It depends on how much the domain or website costs. This could range from $10 to thousands of dollars. The trick is to find the gems that are low in price and only valuable to a specific group of people.
How long does it take to earn money?
Flipping domains can be done immediately if you know what you’re doing. Flipping websites depends on how much you’re going to work on the website to increase its value.
Sometimes, it can be done in days or weeks while other websites might take years.
Related Article At Realdigitalsuccess.com
Check out my newly updated How To Flip A Website guide in which I explain how you can earn money by creating or buying websites and flipping them for a profit.
7. Invest in educational courses
Investing in educational courses is different from the other methods I have named up till now but it’s a great investment. Knowledge and building up specific skills are valuable to a lot of people.
It’s not only valuable for entrepreneurial endeavors but can also aid you in earning more with 9-5 jobs. Some courses come with certificates that look good on your resume and give you the capability to demand more money.
You’ll also notice that a lot of the previous methods I mentioned I recommended getting a course because it avoids having to “reinvent the wheel”.
How much money do you have to spend?
That’s entirely up to you. The goal is to get more practical knowledge that you can use to earn more money. Some succeed with a $50 course while others could invest in a $2000 course and it can change their life.
How long does it take to earn money?
Courses mostly cover the theoretical part but it needs to be applied and turned into practical skills. Rebert Greene in his book Mastery talks about 10000 hours.
I don’t think complete mastery is needed to help earn money but it is going to take some time.
8. Investing in mentors
Investing in mentors is similar to investing in educational courses but there are a few differences that make it a bit more valuable for most people. You’ll receive the knowledge in real-time and are able to respond to questions.
A few other differences are that mentors can keep you accountable and are able to guide you along the process of learning everything. It’s all related to improving your skills and being able to provide more value to those around you which results in earning money.
How much money do you have to spend?
Just like with educational courses, how much money you should spend is up to you. I’d rather prioritize finding someone that’s a great fit for you instead of looking t how much money to spend.
How long does it take to earn money?
This is hard to say. Every mentor will have another process in mind for getting you to your desired result.
I don’t think it’d be an overnight thing but it also necessarily needs to take years. There are just too many unknown variables to make an accurate estimation.
9. Sell hand-made products
You could make a lot of money getting into the arts and crafts and selling them. I’d recommend this more for people that are already doing it as a hobby rather than people who have no experience with it.
This can be a relatively cheap endeavor if you do it in the correct way. There are a lot of websites like Etsy where you can list your products so they can be seen by a large audience.
You could also do it yourself by creating a website and marketing it yourself. The second option would probably take some time if you want to direct free organic traffic but if you use paid advertising you could save a lot of time.
What I would take into account is that this method is hard to scale because everything is hand-made.
How much money do you have to spend?
Most money would probably go to buying the materials needed to make your products. The demand for your product is going to dictate how much money you’ll have to spend.
How long does it take to earn money?
Aside from creating the products, most time is going to go into marketing your products. On websites such as Etsy, you could get eyes on it immediately but that isn’t a guarantee.
These websites are often very competitive so you need to find ways to stand out. In regards to doing it without a website like Etsy, I have already touched on that earlier.
10. Rent out your car
The same applies to renting out a room or apartment. If you don’t use your car a lot it’d be better to rent it out than have it collect dust in front of your house.
You can sign-up for renting your car out on a lot of websites. I know someone that used to live in the city center of Amsterdam that makes roughly $100 a day just renting out his car to tourists.
I can imagine that this method of earning money isn’t for everyone. At the end of the day, you’re letting strangers ride in your car but you make a lot of money.
How much money do you have to spend?
Most of the costs go towards car maintenance and the percentage of money that goes to the website or app you list your car on. Most websites where I am from (the Netherlands) get somewhere between 10% and 20% which isn’t bad.
How long does it take to earn money?
Just like with the arts and crafts websites like Etsy you could technically earn money right away but people need to pick your car. You’re reliant on the people interested in renting the car which makes it hard to give a concrete guess.
There are undoubtedly a lot more ways to spend money to earn money.
If you have any experience with one of these methods or a method I haven't named I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
That’s all for today.
See you at my next post!
