The Best Ways To Make Money From Home In A Recession

A recession has a massive negative impact on most industries. If you think you may lose your job or be forced to live on a reduced income due to a pay cut because of the impact of a recession, you may be feeling panicked about your financial future. Thankfully, there are numerous ways to make money using the fabulous internet.

You can sell your service online or sell physical or digital products online to make money from home in a recession. Starting an online business from home will not bring in money immediately, but if you are committed to it, it can make you money consistently in the long-term. You can sell your freelance services, work as a virtual assistant, and teach English online to make money fast in times of crisis.

In this article, I will show you some of the best ways to make money from home in a recession. All of the ideas for making money listed below only require skills you may already have, no experience is needed.

Photo by Wherbson Rodrigues from Pexels

Blogging for others

If you have a knack for writing and are knowledgeable about a particular topic, or have research skills, then blogging for others can be the best job you can do from home. You can generate an income immediately from home during a recession by writing blog posts for companies and individuals who are always looking for bloggers or freelance writers to write fresh content for their blogs. 

There are always plenty of blog writing jobs online. Check out the following sites to find blogging jobs online:

  • ProBlogger Jobs

  • BloggingPro

  • Freelance Writing Job Board

  • All Freelance Writing Job Board

  • Upwork

  • PeoplePerHour

  • freelancer

  • Guru

  • Fiverr

Another way to find paid blogging jobs is to contact the owners of blogs in your niche to see if they are interested in your blogging service. There are hundreds of blogs that accept articles from bloggers and online writers and pay for each article that is approved. Just run a simple search with relevant keywords on Google to find these blogs.

You can earn anywhere from a few dollars to several hundred dollars or way more per blog post, depending on your skills and the client.

Teaching English Online

Online English teachers are in demand as more and more non-native English speakers from around the world are looking to learn English as a second language. If you have a knack for teaching and English is your first language, then teaching English online can be one of the best ways to make money from home in a recession.

There are numerous sites or companies that hire native English speakers or those who are fluent in English to work as an online English teacher. Some of these companies require you to have previous teaching experience, but others do not. As an online English teacher, you will usually teach English online in 1-on-1 meetings via Skype or some other online communication tools.

Check out these companies for online English teaching jobs:

  • VIPKID

  • Cambly

  • italki

  • Preply

  • NiceTalk

  • Tutlo

  • goFLUENT

  • TutaPoint.com

  • Barons English

  • AM Class

Teaching English online could be a great way to make money from home in a recession.

Become a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants, also known as VAs, make money online by helping businesses and individuals with various tasks completed remotely online. Some tasks might require you to talk over the phone, depending on clients' needs. 

As a VA, you should consider applying for VA jobs that require you to perform tasks based on your skills and interests. 

Typical tasks of a VA can include replying to emails, scheduling blog and social media posts, proofreading or editing blog posts, creating graphics, searching the web, research tasks, and much more, depending on the VA's skills and their clients' needs.

You could offer general VA services, or specialize in a particular area. Here are some of the best sites to find virtual assistant jobs online:

  • Zirtual

  • BELAY

  • Boldly

  • Time etc

  • Fancy Hands

  • EA Help

  • VirtualAssistants.com

  • Upwork

  • PeoplePerHour

  • Freelancer

  • Fiverr

If you work as a specialized VA, e.g. a Pinterest VA,  you can charge between $30 and $50 per or way more. Some experienced VAS make $100+ per hour. Generally speaking, I recommend charging a flat monthly fee. You can learn more about pricing in my Financial Foundations 5-week training in the Money Makers membership program.

Become a website tester

If you want to make some extra cash from home online, then you can test websites of other people where you get paid to give your honest feedback on various types of websites for things like user-friendliness, functionality, etc.

Typically, these jobs go fast so you will need to grab them as soon as they are available. 

Some of the best companies or sites that pay online testers to test websites include:

  • WhatUsersDo

  • UserTesting

  • Userlytics

  • Userfeel

  • TryMyUI

  • Testbirds

Most companies pay $5-$15 per test, depending on the company. UserTesting pays up to $60 per test.

Website testing is a good flexible job you can do in a recession to make extra money. 

Sell your unwanted stuff online

One of the best ways to make money in a recession is to sell your unwanted items on eBay or Craigslist, as used and unwanted items tend to do very well in an economic downturn for obvious reasons.

If you have things you do not need or want, then you can make some extra money selling them on eBay. You could sell your unwanted or used clothes, electronics, books, and more items online using sites like eBay, Facebook, and Craigslist.

Selling things you don’t need on eBay can be extremely simple to do. You might even into the habit and look to buy different things before making a profit on them a little while later. Selling on these kinds of platforms can make you quite a bit of money. If you take it seriously and approach it like a business, then you might do very well for yourself. Setting up social channels and planning with an ebay calculator by flyp could set you up very well during a recession.

Flipping items online

Flipping items online is one of the best ways to make money from home in an economic downturn. Flipping items online involves finding in-demand products for cheap prices and then selling them online for higher prices to make a profit. 

Once you have decided on what items you want to flip online, research sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace or at thrift stores, yard sales, etc. places to buy for cheap prices and then flip them for profit on online marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon and Facebook Marketplace. 

If you can source the right products, you can be able to make some money quickly in a recession by flipping items online.

Sell your crafts online

If you are a crafty or creative person, then you could consider making handcrafted products and selling them online to make money from home in a recession.

Depending on your skills, you can make clothes, jewelry, sweaters, quilts, iPhone cases, brackets, rings, art or more, and sell your items online via an online marketplace like Etsy or eBay or via your own online store. 

It is easy and free to start an online shop or an online marketplace like Etsy or eBay to advertise and sell your crafts online. Etsy is one of the biggest platforms for selling your handcrafted items and artwork online. 

If you are looking for the best ways to make money from home in a recession, you can consider selling your crafts to people around the world. 

Affiliate marketing

If you already have an established blog or an engaged audience on your own social media platform, like Facebook or Pinterest, affiliate marketing could be one of the best ways to make money from home in a recession

Affiliate marketing is when you promote other people's or companies' products or services on your own blog or site, social media, or other places online via affiliate links provided by those people or businesses and then get paid for each sale, lead, or click made through one of your affiliate links.

Once you have signed up for an individual or company's affiliate program and get your affiliate link, you can start promoting their products or services online. 

You can choose to join an individual or company's affiliate program directly such as Amazon Associates or choose to join an affiliate network like ShareASale that acts as a third-party between you and people or companies that offer the affiliate program. An affiliate network allows you to apply for the affiliate program of different companies within the network on an individual basis.

Here are the best places to sign up for affiliate marketing programs and start earning money.

  • CJ Affiliate

  • ShareASale

  • ClickBank

  • Rakuten

  • Amazon Associates

If you do not have a blog or website of your own, starting one is not that expensive. Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online without creating and selling your own products or services. Please note that since Covid-19, companies have been reducing the percentage they pay to affiliates and/or completely eliminating their affiliate programs. While this is still a viable option, my prediction is that it won’t be as lucrative as in previous years.

Freelancing

Freelancing could be one of the best ways to make money in a recession if you have any marketable skills that you can sell online. Some people even make a living as a full-time freelancer. 

Freelancers are in demand. They can provide fast and efficient services whether it is for a one-off or short-term project. They are in demand  particularly in a recession because many companies tend to hire freelancers to cut costs on hiring or keeping permanent employees on stuff.

If you have any skills that people are willing to buy online, then you can become a freelancer to make money in a recession. 

Some of the most common freelancing jobs are:

  • writing

  • translation

  • transcription

  • virtual assistant

  • graphic design

  • web design and development

  • social media marketing

  • photography

  • consulting

  • video creation

Here are some of the best sites that list online freelancing jobs:

  • Upwork

  • PeoplePerHour

  • Freelancer

  • Guru

  • Outsourcely

You could start making money immediately with freelance work, making it one of the best ways to make money in a recession.

How much you can charge for your freelance service depends on the field of your expertise and who you work for. If you work as a freelance graphic designer, you can charge anywhere from $15 to $150 or more per hour, depending on your skills and experience and the clients you work for. I recommend charging a flat monthly fee as a freelancer, but some folks still prefer to use hourly pricing.

Start a Blog

Starting a blog is one of the best ways to make money from home. But It will take time to make money from a blog. You will need to receive a lot of traffic to it if you want to make serious cash blogging. If you put in the work, you can earn a full-time income from your blog. 

Anyone can easily create a blog. You do not need to have any technical skills to set up a blog. It is also affordable. Here are the steps to create a self-hosted blog:

  • buy a catchy domain name from a domain registrar like Namecheap or GoDaddy

  • buy hosting service from a reputable web hosting company like Bluehost, DreamHost or SiteGround

  • Choose Squarespace or WordPress as a blogging platform 

  • Start blogging

You can buy the domain name from the web hosting company you have chosen for your hosting service, if you like. Once you set up your blog hosting, follow the easy-to-follow instructions to install WordPress or launch directly from Squarespace. I use Squarespace for Money & Mimosas and I love it.

How to make money from a blog

You can make money from your blog in a number of different ways, including:

  • online ads like Google AdSense ads

  • affiliate marketing

  • sponsored posts

  • selling products by adding e-commerce functionality to your blog

  • offering your freelance services

  • selling advertising space

If you are passionate about a topic, start a blog. It is possible to make thousands of dollars a month from a blog if you put effort and time into it.  

Conclusion

As you have seen, there are many ways to make money from home even when in a recession. Whether you are looking for extra money to boost your income or replace a lost income, I hope you can try one or more of the ideas listed above for the best ways to make money in a recession.


Disclaimer: the content presented in this article is for informational purposes only, and is not, and must not be considered tax, investment, legal, accounting or financial planning advice, nor a recommendation as to a specific course of action. Investors should consult all available information, and consult with appropriate tax, investment, accounting, legal, and accounting professionals, as appropriate, before making any investment or utilizing any financial planning strategy.