Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2018. The prices are from that time and unsourced: $100 to $500 for hair (up to $4,000), around €150 a month from plasma, and €10 to €40 per mystery-shopping visit.
Sometimes working harder isn’t enough to earn the money we need to cover our expenses or save more. That’s when we need to look for other ways to make extra money. And while there are plenty of ways to do it (we’ve shared some ideas for generating income in this article and this other one), this time we’re going to focus on some ways of making money that are as curious as they are strange.
1. Sell your hair
You can make a lot of money selling your hair, especially if it’s virgin hair, meaning you’ve never dyed it. Many factors affect how much you’ll be paid for it: length, thickness, colour and so on.
Where can you sell your hair?
The HairSellOn website has a calculator that gives you a rough idea of how much you could sell your hair for. Depending on your hair type, you can get anywhere from $100 to $500. As much as $4,000 has been paid for one type of hair. It really is a quick way to get some extra money.
And if you already know something about the subject, you can build a business around it by becoming a hair buyer and seller. Bear in mind that there’s demand for hairpieces and extensions made of natural hair, so you can sell both your own hair and other people’s, either to hairdressing companies or directly to individuals online.
2. Make money from your selfies
It’s not exactly like that, but people are making money from this idea. If you’re one of those people who enjoy taking selfies and you have the right style, you can upload your selfies to Stylinity and tag your clothes. If people like them and decide to buy the clothes, you earn money through reward points that can be exchanged for cash or for products.
It really works like an affiliate programme, so if you have an Instagram account or a YouTube channel you can do it yourself, either with clothing brands that have an affiliate scheme or with Amazon, tagging the clothes you’re wearing through the Amazon affiliate programme. So-called “influencers” use both options.
3. Become a research subject
Research studies are an easy way to make money. It’s not a steady source of income, but it can bring in some extra cash when you need it. The most effective approach is to check with the universities in your city or keep an eye on the notices they publish in different media, where they sometimes look for focus groups.
That said, some medical studies pay money for something easy, while others pay more but take up a lot of time and may even carry a health risk. Then there are companies that pay to study the consumer’s mind, so you may find yourself being paid to watch TV for 8 hours or play video games for weeks.
4. Make money by putting ads on your car
This is one of the business ideas we suggested for entrepreneurs. In fact, taxis and buses regularly offer their vehicles for advertising. But this market isn’t only for big companies: private individuals can also cover their cars with all kinds of advertising and earn money from it. After all, all advertisers want is for their ads to be seen. Find a company in your country that offers this service to private individuals, and if you don’t mind wrapping your car in advertising, this way of making money is for you.
5. Donate plasma and sperm
This way of making money is very widespread in many countries, although it isn’t possible everywhere in the world, and in countries like Spain it doesn’t pay much, though you do get something.
Some people earn around €150 a month selling their plasma, a liquid filtered from human blood that is used to treat diseases. You can also donate sperm and eggs.
6. Become a mystery shopper (one of the best ways to make extra money)
This way of making extra money isn’t hard to get into. All you have to do is sign up with one of the companies that are constantly looking for mystery shoppers: people sent by companies to report afterwards on how they were served, any problems they had, their opinion of the staff and so on.
Sometimes they’ll want you to have a particular car model so you can visit a dealership or garage. Other times they’ll give you a couple of cinema tickets and cover your drinks and popcorn. There are many kinds, and it can be fun. The problem many people who have worked as mystery shoppers complain about is that at first it’s a hassle to follow the procedure they ask for and to fill in the form you have to complete afterwards. You can earn an average of between €10 and €40 per visit.
7. Product reviewer
In the past, companies set aside products and even paid professional product reviewers, but today it’s something you can set up on your own. In other words, you can either receive a product from a particular brand and write a partial review of it, or buy the product yourself, review it on a blog or YouTube channel and add an affiliate link to the product (if the review is positive) or links to competing products (if the review is negative). Every time someone buys products through your links, you earn extra money from them.
Featured image: Wouter van Vliet, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
