The internet has made it possible to make a career and earn some serious money while working from the comfort of your home. Blogging. Freelancing. Becoming a social media influencer. Capitalising on domains.
We live in amazing times. The internet has made it easy to do almost anything with just a few clicks. It has also given birth to a new community called digital nomads. As the name suggests, these ‘millennials’ lead a nomadic lifestyle while working online. Yes, the internet has made it possible to make a career (and some serious money) while working from the comfort of your home – or anywhere in the world for that matter.
How are they doing it? Can you give up the 9-to-5 lifestyle and liberate yourself? Well, here are five proven ways to make money online and live life on your terms:
Blogging continues to be one of the best ways to make money online. You can build a website and launch a blog in just a few hours. Identify what your core expertise is. It is better to start a niche blog rather than put out anything and everything under the sun. A niche blog helps you build a loyal following. It is important to have original, engaging, and continuous content to make a blog successful. Experiment with different types of content to see what works with your target audience.
Whatever your core expertise is – marketing, designing, writing – you can work as a freelancer to make quick money online. Freelancing does not require any investment and is one field of work that helps you make money from your very first gig. There are plenty of companies and individuals who want to get projects done but do not wish to invest in full-time resources. This is where freelancers come in.
If you are good at what you do, you can demand a premium price and clients will be happy to pay what you ask. There are online portals such as Upwork and Freelancer that can help you get freelance work. Build your network and steady jobs will start pouring in. It is not unheard of for freelancers to make up to Rs 3 lakh a month.
When everything is about Instagram and YouTube, you bet there is money to be made there as well! If you love being in front of the camera, creating content for YouTube is a great way to turn a hobby into a source of revenue. Channels that put up regular and engaging content can garner a substantial fan following on the video-sharing platform. Ad revenues from YouTube channels have created many new-age millionaires.
Other platforms such as Instagram also allow users with a large and dedicated follower base to earn either in monetary or barter terms by promoting products to their followers. Thus they act as ‘social media influencers’.
Buying a domain name is easy, but buying a name that has potential in the future is where the moolah is. If you have the knack of spotting domain names that other businesses would need in future, you can buy them for as little as a couple of thousand rupees and sell them at a premium. There are domain names that large companies have bought for Rs 10 lakh or more! You can list your domain names on online marketplaces such as Flippa and (with luck) make a neat buck.
This is similar to being an influencer, but in a more direct way. It works like this: you tie up with marketplaces such as Amazon, Paytm Mall, etc. and discuss, describe, review, and promote products on your website or through your social media handles. You link these products back to the marketplace. Any time a consumer buys a product via your link, the marketplace gives you an affiliate commission. The process is easy and quick; but you may need to work in large volumes as the commission is generally small.
There are numerous ways to cash in if you have the right skill-set. Even if you don’t, there are online courses that can help you learn skills in a matter of weeks or months. You will need to hustle in the beginning, but the eventual payoff makes it all worth it.
The United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal on May 9th, slapping back a long list of frozen sanctions that previously forced Tehran to the negotiating table with bloody knees, and this time with even more intensity.
There are claims heard that Europe can save the Iranian regime’s economy with its own version of the nuclear pact, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
It is, of course, quite natural for Europe to seek its economic benefits to salvage anything from the JCPOA corpse. However, the comments heard from senior Iranian regime officials are interesting.
“In one word, I believe the JCPOA is dead and the Europeans are busy eating the flesh of a dead corpse,” said Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary of the so-called Human Rights Department in the Iranian regime’s judiciary, according to state TV.
Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered his thoughts and “conditions” to maybe prevent Europe from taking too much advantage of Tehran’s weakness.
“… Europe must guarantee the issue of our missiles and presence in the region are not raised… they must explicitly stand in the face of U.S. sanctions,” he said, according to state TV.
While Khamenei is in his own world ordering the European to this and that, there are no signs indicating European leaders caring less. This is especially true considering the current balance of power the Iranian regime is under.
The European Union believes the nuclear agreement is not complete and they must discuss other issues with Iran, such as their missile program, according to Iranian state TV citing French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The JCPOA must be rescued and of course completed to include Iran’s regional influence and missile capabilities, the report adds.
Europe knows quite well that in its dispute with the Iranian regime, it is the latter party that must give in. It is crystal clear for all parties involved that Tehran desperately needs the JCPOA to remain intact, far more than Europe. The Green Continent’s economy is not reliant on on trade with Iran. For Tehran’s crumbling economy, however, the story is quite different.
In 2017, Europe’s total trade with the U.S. reached $1.045 trillion in comparison to Europe/Iran trade ending at $15 billion, meaning 1.6% of the Europe/U.S. transactions
In 2015, Europe exported $1 billion in services to Iran, whereas the same figure to the U.S. reached $225 billion.
In the same year Europe imported only €600 million of services from Iran, where as its imports from the U.S. reached €212 billion. This shows Europe’s dependence to U.S. service imports, being 353 times more than Iran’s.
Iran imports around €3 billion from Germany. Considering Germany’s €1.35 trillion in exports, Iran’s share ends at a staggering .002 percent. As a result, Iran is no defining partner for Germany and Berlin can easily neglect this issue for other more important interests.
Dozens of large, multinational companies based in Europe have been seen ditching the Iranian regime in the face of strong U.S. sanctions returning at a fast pace.
What is referred to as the “European JCPOA” and the talks between Europe and the Iranian regime will not open a new door for Tehran.
European governments cannot salvage the JCPOA, knowing their private firms will act based on their own interests and abide by U.S. sanctions. This will leave the Iranian regime hanging.