4 Best Ways to Make Money from Home in 2025
With much of the world’s population currently stuck at home, there are a number of people looking for ways to pass the time. You can only watch so much Netflix and finish so many puzzles before you start to become a little restless. So, what are your options?
One thing you can do is start a home-based business. There are a number of ways to make money from home, and if you find one that works for you you’ll actually be able to stay productive and start earning some extra income.
We’ve created a list of the best and most legitimate ways to make money at home. For most of these, all you’ll need is a computer and a little spare time (which shouldn’t be much of a problem right now).
Best Ways to Make Money from Home
# 1 Selling Products on Amazon
Of all the items on this list, this is likely the most profitable and proven option. You’ll need a little more capital to get started, but if you do it right you can build a really profitable part-time side business. In fact, the most successful Amazon sellers do this full-time. Many of them have even been able to quit their nine to five jobs and have long-term success.
How to Get Started
Selling on Amazon may sound complicated, but it’s not as hard as you think. In fact, many regular people with no experience have done it so there’s no need to be intimidated. Here’s how to do it.
Find a Product to Sell: This is probably the most important step. You need to find an item to sell that has enough demand to make it profitable, but not so much competition to make it difficult to break into the market. You also want to make sure your product has good profit margins so you can make money on every sale.
Research Products Using the Right Software: AMZScout’s Web App and Pro Extension make product research quick and easy. Between these two tools, you’ll be able to find products that meet all of your criteria and determine whether an item has the right level of demand and competition. Best of all, you can try both of them for free.
![Find a product to start an Amazon business with the AMZScout Niche Score]( "AMZScout Pro Extension Niche Score")
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Source Your Products: Once you find a product you want to sell you’ll need to find somewhere to purchase it. If you have a larger budget it’s best to source your items from wholesalers and manufacturers, as you’ll get a much lower cost per unit. However, you can also purchase items from local businesses if they’re on sale.
Fulfilling Your Orders: For most sellers, we recommend the Fulfilled by Amazon program. It’s a smart strategy because it lets you send all of your inventory to Amazon and they’ll store it and ship it to your customers every time you make a sale. This saves you both space and time, allowing you to grow a larger business all by yourself.
Large Profit Potential: If you find a profitable product and scale your business through Amazon’s FBA program you can quickly become a top seller and grow a five or even six-figure a year business.
Can Be Automated: Once your business is up and running, it’s just a matter of managing your inventory levels and placing orders for new products as you need them. If you utilize the FBA program most of the work is done for you, making this business highly automated.
Easy to Grow: After you have success with one product you can easily start to add more items to your inventory to expand your customer base and profits.
You Need Capital to Start: In order to source your products, you’re going to need some money. How much will depend on what you’re selling and how much inventory you want to start with.
It Takes Some Time to Make Your First Sale: In order to do it right, you’ll need to take your time to research products, suppliers, and business strategies. However, once you’re up and running the profits will be worth it.
If you’d like to learn more about selling on Amazon we recommend reading How to Start an Amazon Business as a Seller.
# 2 Affiliate Marketing
If you like the idea of selling products, but don’t have the money to invest in inventory, don’t worry. Affiliate marketing actually lets you sell products without having to purchase anything. It may sound sketchy, but it’s actually one of the best ways to make money online legally.
It works by placing affiliate links into your content (either on your own website or social media). If someone clicks on your link and buys the product you’re promoting you’ll get a commission. This is a great way to make money from home for those who have a smaller budget. While it doesn’t pay as well as selling on products on Amazon, you can still make good money.
How to Get Started
Setting up an affiliate marketing business is fairly simple. Here are some tips to get you started.
Find a Niche: The most successful affiliate marketers focus on one niche. This is an area of products or services that appeal to a specific portion of the population. Look for keywords related to products that you could promote and try to find a good number of related keywords that have strong traffic and low competition.
Choose an Affiliate Program: There are a number of affiliate programs to choose from. However, by far the most popular and trusted option is Amazon Associates. The best part about it is that someone doesn’t even need to buy the product you’re promoting. If anyone clicks your link and then buys something on the site you get a commission.
Create Content: Use the keywords you found in step one and build content around those. Then, place your affiliate links inside your content. If you already have a large social media following you can post your content there. Otherwise, it’s a good idea to build your own website and drive traffic to it through SEO.
Cheap to Get Started: Unlike selling products on Amazon, there’s no need to buy a large amount of inventory. This makes it one of the most inexpensive and legit businesses to start.
Quick to Set Up: All you need is to set up a website and start placing some content and links there. If you already have a large social media following there’s even less time to get started.
It Takes Time to Gain Traffic: If you’re starting a website from scratch you should give yourself about six months before you start ranking for your keywords and gaining enough traffic to make real money.
You Have to Come Up with Content: People are only going to click on your links if they like your content. For some people this is easy, but for others coming up with quality content can be difficult.
Doesn’t Pay as Much as Selling Products: Because your cut of each sale is so small, you likely won’t make as much as you would selling products on Amazon.
If you’re interested in building an Amazon affiliate business make sure to check out How to Make Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program.
# 3 Make YouTube Videos
If you’ve ever watched videos on YouTube before, you’ve probably thought about making your own videos and posting them on the platform. If you’re creative and good at making videos, this is actually one of the easiest ways to make money from home. In fact, even some kids make YouTube videos, so it’s not difficult.
How to Get Started
Lucky for you, in this day and age you likely already have most of the equipment you need to get started. This means that even students and people with a small budget can do it.
Choose a Niche: Like any business, it’s a good idea to focus on a single niche. Some popular niches include content for moms, business coaching, entertainment, gaming, sports, and cooking. For the best results, try to come up with your own unique spin on something. Be innovative, different, and even weird in order to set yourself apart.
Get Your Gear: If you have a smartphone then you already have an HD camera. Other equipment you might want to look into includes an external mic and some lighting. If you get crafty you should be able to come up with a pretty effective rig for shooting videos.
Shoot Your Videos: You don’t need to have super high production values on YouTube. The majority of creators are just sitting in front of a camera and talking. The most important thing is to just get comfortable in front of the camera. Shoot some practice takes, then watch them and make note of some things you can improve on.
Learn how to Edit Videos: If you’re just talking in front of a camera you shouldn’t have to do a lot of fancy editing. However, learning a few simple tricks can make your videos look a lot more professional. Things like adding intros, outros, and background music will make a big difference.
Easy to Get Started: If you really want to, you can start shooting videos on your smartphone and uploading them to YouTube right now. And most people can learn how to shoot fairly professional videos pretty fast.
Large Potential Audience: YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the internet. So, if you create good content you’ll have plenty of potential viewers.
It Takes Time to Build Up Your Followers: The biggest YouTube channels didn’t find success overnight. You’ll need to put in the time to grow your channel and it could be a while before you’re making good money.
You Need to be Comfortable on Camera: Not everyone is a natural on camera. If you’re not super outgoing it may take time before you become comfortable with the idea of publishing videos of yourself online.
You Need A Lot of Views to Make Money: Each view of a YouTube video pays a very low amount, so you need to get a lot of views before you generate a decent income.
# 4 Freelancing
Doing freelance work is probably the easiest business to start from home. You can also do it without spending any money, making it very practical. If you’re currently laid off from work, or your hours have been reduced, you can put your skills to use for other companies looking for freelance workers.
How to Get Started
All you need to get started freelancing is a laptop and an internet connection, so if you’re reading this article you likely already have all the equipment you’ll need. Here are a few other tips to get you started.
Figure Out What Skills You Have to Offer: Freelancers perform a wide range of tasks, including web design, programming, graphic design, content writing, marketing, and more. Think about what skills you have and how you could be of value to potential clients. It’s quite realistic that you already have a desirable skill that’s in demand.
Find Clients: There are a number of ways you can do this. You can create your own website. You can also send cold emails to potential clients. However, the easiest way to get clients is to utilize freelance platforms. By signing up for sites like Upwork and Fiverr you’ll have access to hundreds of relevant jobs posted by clients around the world.
Nurture Client Relationships: By delivering your work on time and exceeding expectations you’ll be able to continue getting new projects from your clients. They’ll also be likely to write you positive reviews and refer you to their friends and colleagues, which will help you grow your client base and allow you to start making decent money.
Little or No Start-Up Cost: Aside from potentially signing up to a freelance platform, there’s really no cost involved in starting a freelance business. This makes it a safe choice for those with a small budget.
Set Your Own Hours and Schedule: As a freelancer, you can work when and how you want. You’ll be able to set your own hours and decide which projects you want to work on.
Can’t Be Automated: As a freelancer, you only make money when you’re actually working. There’s no way to automate things to allow you to make money when you’re away from your computer.
It’s Very Competitive: Because the start-up cost is so low there are millions of freelancers all around the world competing for jobs. So it can be difficult for new freelancers to break in.
You Need Experience: In order to be a successful freelancer, you need to have experience in something like programming, writing, design, or marketing.
Conclusion
Being stuck at home can be difficult, and you’re likely starting to get bored. With all the free time you have on your hands, there’s never been a better time to start a home-based business. As you can see, there are plenty of legal and genuine ways to make money from home. Success is never guaranteed, but if you’re willing to put in the work the possibilities are endless.
And if you’re looking for more ideas, the AMZScout blog has a number of articles on various Amazon-based businesses, so be sure to check them out.
