How To Make $10,000 Per Month Without Quitting Your Job

There are plenty of ways to make $10,000 per month, but many opportunities have high startup costs, require advanced skills, or simply don’t scale beyond small side hustles.

To help you pick the best opportunity to make substantial money within the next few months (and enjoy the process!), here are the ten best ways to make $10,000 per month. 

We analyze the pros and cons of each opportunity and give you a few tips to get started today.

1. Offer SEO Services

Many businesses are willing to pay SEO (search engine optimization) professionals thousands of dollars per month to improve their website’s ranking in search results because ranking even one spot higher in Google can generate significantly more leads and customers.

SEO basics are also relatively simple, but most businesses don’t have the time or in-house resources to execute the steps themselves.

Earning Potential

Most freelance SEOs make between $75 and $200 per hour. 

Tips To Succeed 

• Target profitable, larger businesses rather than mom-and-pop shops, as larger businesses will have more money to spend.
• Create a proven process with specific deliverables. For example, you’ll deliver four blog posts per month, a keyword research document, and 5 backlinks. 
• Get started by emailing your dream client a completed keyword research document and a blog post targeting one of those keywords. Then, offer to work for free for the next six months. They’ll likely start paying you after that time period, and even if not, you’ll have a great case study to add to your portfolio.

Pros 

• Even the average SEO can make $10,000 per month because ranking high in search engines is very valuable to businesses.
• SEO basics are relatively easy to learn, so you can start making money quickly.
• There’s a large market of businesses that need SEO services.
• SEO is a recurring revenue business model, meaning companies will continue paying you each month.

Cons

• It can take several months to see results, making it harder to get great case studies.
• SEO is a competitive landscape, and cold pitching businesses is rarely a successful method to earn clients as most businesses receive hundreds of SEO pitches each month.

If you want more support becoming an SEO freelancer, consider joining the Copyblogger Academy. It’s a community of entrepreneurs and side hustlers run by seven figure entrepreneur, Tim Stoddart, who also operates an SEO agency. You can ask him and the rest of the community questions and get the support and accountability you need to take your career to the next level.

2. Offer Email Marketing Services

There are a few different ways to make money as an email copywriter:

1. Writing engagement emails: Engagement emails are usually weekly or monthly updates from the company. These require minimal writing skills as they’re usually just a compilation of news. Here’s an example of the Copyblogger weekly engagement emails:

2. Writing ecommerce marketing emails: These emails are high value to ecommerce companies. They are primarily image based and require minimal copywriting skills, but excellent conversion rate optimization skills. Here’s an example of an ecommerce marketing email:

3. Writing email nurture sequences: This opportunity offers the biggest upside and highest earning potential because these emails are designed to drive sales to a particular product or service. Businesses are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a skilled copywriter, as increasing conversions by even a small percentage can increase sales by tens of thousands of dollars. 

Here’s a great example of an email nurture sequence for a course that people’s skills expert Vanessa Van Edwards launched:

You can see that each email was sent about two days apart, and each one nurtures the reader to eventually purchase her course. 

Earning Potential 

The average email copywriter makes about $65 per hour.

Tips To Succeed

• Learn basic copywriting skills and then specialize in writing email nurture sequences, as this email copywriting opportunity has the highest earning potential. 
• Select just one specific niche and become the ultimate expert (e.g., writing nurture sequences only for SaaS companies or course creators).
• Write a sample email nurture sequence for your dream client and then send it to them for free. Ask if they’d publish it and send you the conversion stats so you can use it as your first case study. You can also ask for referrals.

Pros 

• High earning potential for relatively low effort (especially if you specialize in email nurture sequences).
• High demand as virtually every business needs email marketing. 
• Receive statistics (conversion rates, open rates, etc.) immediately, making it easy to build case studies quickly.
• If you become excellent at writing email nurture sequences, this can scale to a seven figure opportunity without hiring employees.

Cons

• Getting your first client can be tricky, as you must tailor each email sample to that prospect’s business.
• Writing email sequences (the most profitable email marketing opportunity) isn’t a recurring revenue business model, so you’ll constantly search for new clients.

3. Start An Ecommerce Business

Ecommerce businesses are excellent side hustles that can earn an extra $1,000 per month, or you can scale them into seven or eight figure businesses.

Native is a great example of an ecommerce business that began as a small one-man show and was then sold for $100 million in just a few years.

If you’re interested in ecommerce, start with dropshipping – a business model where you build a website and advertise and sell a manufacturer’s products. This is an excellent business model for beginners because you don’t have to purchase any of the products yourself, so it doesn’t require any capital to get started.

As you become a more savvy ecommerce entrepreneur, you can build your own products to have more control over the design, product quality, and customer experience.

Earning Potential

Most dropshippers earn $1,000 to $3,000 per month, though ecommerce businesses can scale to seven figures and beyond.

Tips to Succeed

• Start by dropshipping your favorite products or services before building your own products. There’s a learning curve to figuring out how to market ecommerce products, so it’s best to learn how to market other people’s products before adding in the challenge of designing and producing your own products.
• Select one very specific niche.
• Only work with reputable suppliers who have a track record of producing quality products. Compete on quality, not price.
• Consider outsourcing the SEO work to a reputable ecommerce agency. As an entrepreneur, wearing many hats and learning many skills at the same time can be overwhelming.

Pros

• You don’t have to cold pitch clients to get started.
• Ecommerce businesses can scale to seven or eight figures.
• Unlike service businesses it’s passive income (even though it will require some active work at the beginning). It can also scale with very few employees as you aren’t trading man hours for money.

Cons

• It isn’t a recurring revenue model, so you’ll have to constantly attract new customers. 
• Getting your first customers can be challenging when your initial website has little authority. It’s a great opportunity for influencers who already have a following or people skilled in ads. 

4. Repurpose Short Form Video Content 

Short-form video content is an in-demand service, as companies and content creators are interested in maximizing the reach of their long-form content by repurposing it into shorts.

For example, all of the long form Andrew Huberman podcasts are repurposed into YouTube shorts to maximize reach:

Additionally, some creators are willing to invest in creating entirely new videos for their shorts because short form videos attract a different audience and require a unique editing style.

Earning Potential

Short form video repurposing agencies like ViralCuts charge $3,000 to $4,500 per month.

Tips To Succeed

• Become an expert in a particular niche (e.g., vlogs, podcast repurposing, etc.).
• You can easily get started by selecting a long form video from your favorite creator and turning it into various short form videos. Then, send them the completed shorts and offer to work for free to build a portfolio. If you produce results, they’ll probably hire you.

Pros

• Short form content is in high demand, and there aren’t many truly excellent short form content editors.
• It’s easy to start as a short form video repurposer, as creating a single free sample for your favorite creator is relatively low effort.

Cons

• ​​Video repurposing requires some basic knowledge of video editing, though this is fairly easy to learn.
• Short form video is relatively new, so future demand is uncertain.

5. Offers Social Media Ghostwriting Services

Entrepreneurs and executives are realizing the importance of building a personal brand, but many of them don’t have the time, desire, or copywriting expertise to create social media content.

Instead, many of them are happy to pay a copywriter to write social media content for free. 

For example, Alex Lieberman charges $7,000 per month at his ghostwriting agency and feels optimistic about its future:

Earning Potential

Premium social media ghostwriters charge anywhere from $2,000 to $7,000 per month.

Tips To Succeed

• Specialize in a particular niche (e.g., venture capitalists, entrepreneurs in SaaS, CMOs, etc.). Identify your dream client and write a few sample posts for them for free.
• Learn the basics of ghostwriting and develop a process to interview clients to make the best content possible.
• Build a network of other social media ghostwriters to collaborate with to help your clients earn more engagement.

Pros

• Social media ghostwriting is a service business, so you can make money immediately. It’s also currently in high demand.
• It’s a recurring revenue business model so you don’t have to find new clients each month.
• The value of a personal brand is very high for entrepreneurs and executives, so it’s easy to justify a high price point for a service that requires minimal work. They also have the money to pay a premium ghostwriter.

Cons

• It can be challenging to attribute the value of your social media content.
• Some clients may be very picky to work with as you’re essentially representing them as a person.

6. Start A Local Business Directory

Local businesses are always looking for new ways to promote their business in the community, and many are happy to pay a few hundred dollars to list their website in a local business directory. 

For example, Experience Scottsdale is a great example of a local business and news hub for the town of Scottsdale. Businesses can purchase membership (which likely costs hundreds or thousands of dollars).

Visit Charlottesville is another excellent example of a local business directory/news outlet. It charges anywhere from $60 to $240 to promote local businesses and events:

This business also offers sponsored blog post options for several hundred dollars.

To build a local business directory, set up a website and then write blog posts about the best things to do, places to visit, and restaurants to eat at in a particular city.

As the website begins to rank for keywords related to your hometown and earn traffic, you can start offering businesses to advertise on your website.

Earning Potential

Local business directories usually charge between $50 to $350 for a business listing or sponsored blog post.

Tips To Succeed

• Learn the basics of SEO to ensure your website ranks for local keywords.
• If your hometown is very small, consider selecting the nearest city.

Pros

• This is a truly passive business model as businesses can purchase a listing without any involvement from you.
• It can scale to six and potentially even seven figures with no employees.
• It only requires a website to get started.

Cons

• It might take months to start making money because you’ll have to wait for the content to rank in search engines to start making money.

7. Offer Recruiting Services

Businesses spend thousands of dollars searching for the right employees to join their teams, so they’ll pay a commission to recruiters who can find and bring great employees to them.

To become a recruiter, browse job posts that offer a referral bonus, find employees on LinkedIn who match the job description, and refer them to the company (assuming the candidate consents).

If the company hires the employee, you receive a commission. 

These bonuses can range from a few hundred dollars to the low five figures per employee.  

Recruiting is a great opportunity if you already have a network in a particular industry. However, you can still get into recruiting with no network by contacting high-value candidates for free. 

For example, if you see someone looking for an SEO manager, you could contact a handful of SEO managers on LinkedIn who fit the job description and ask if they’d be interested in a new job position.

Earning Potential

The average day rate of a freelance recruiter is about $372.

Tips To Succeed

• Find job posts and then research ideal candidates that meet the description on LinkedIn. Reach out to those candidates and ask if they’d be interested in another job. If they say yes, refer them to the open positions.
• Target high level talent as the commission percentage will be much higher. 

Pros

• There’s significant earning potential with recruiting, and you can scale your income to six figures without hiring additional employees. 
• You can start earning immediately, and it doesn’t require many skills to get started.

Cons

• You only make money when the company hires an employee, so you might work many fruitless hours before closing an employee.
• It isn’t a recurring revenue business model, so you’ll have to constantly find and close new candidates.

8. Offer YouTube Services 

There are plenty of YouTubers searching for great thumbnail designers, editors, and scriptwriters, though because it’s a growing industry, there aren’t many talented YouTube service providers.

There were over 500 jobs posted on the YTJobs job board in the past 90 days, and most of them are remote. 

Earning Potential

Many YouTube thumbnail designers charge from $10 to $50 per thumbnail, though some artists like Dill Toma charge $250 per thumbnail. Toma says, “With the clients that I have, I make $5,000 to $6,000 a month.”

Top YouTube strategist Paddy Galloway earns over $50,000 per month, though most full-time YouTube strategists make between $129,000 and $229,000 per year.

The average YouTube editor charges about $32 per hour, though premium YouTube editors can charge upwards of $100 per hour.

YouTube scriptwriters can charge between $250 to $1200 per script. 

Tips To Succeed

• Create your own youTube channel and use that as your resume when applying for jobs. You could also create sample thumbnails for creators and send them to them for free.
• When you’re starting out, if you’re working for free, aim to only work with creators who already have a substantial following, as doing so will make it easier to quickly build an impressive resume and earn referrals.

Pros

• There’s a growing demand for YouTube talent, so there are plenty of opportunities for new YouTube service providers.
• It’s relatively easy to become a YouTube scriptwriter or even a basic thumbnail designer.

Cons

• At this time, only a handful of the most successful creators have the budget to pay substantial amounts of money to YouTube talent, though this is changing as the industry grows. 

9. Become A Content Creator For Brands

Monetizing your own YouTube channel can take years, but you can make money immediately by recording and producing videos for a brand. 

For example, these UCG content creators and brand spokesman create and produce videos for brands and earn anywhere from $50 to $150 plus per hour. 

To get started, you could actively reach out to brands and offer to create video content for them for free. For example, the brand Experience Scottsdale invests in video content but doesn’t have many subscribers.

You could visit different restaurants around Scottsdale, record interviews with the owners, and then produce the video. Then, send the final video to Experience Scottsdale and offer to produce similar videos on a regular basis.

Earring Potential

Plenty of brands are willing to pay six figure salaries for full time content creators, and freelance UCG content creators can make anywhere from $50 to $150 per hour.

Tips To Succeed

• ​​Pitch larger brands that already have a strong marketing engine, as they’ll have more marketing budget to pay you more. 
• Ideally, pitch brands with a handful of underperforming videos, as that indicates they are investing in video content.

Pros 

• Significant upside as the value of video content for a brand is quite high, meaning you can charge more for it. 
• You can start by recording videos on your iPhone and then easily scale it into a business with employees filming and editing content for you.

Cons

• For some people, learning to record and edit videos is overwhelming. 
• Filming during the day may be challenging if you have a 9-5 job, but you could also hire someone else to film for you and then edit the videos yourself in the evenings.

10. Website Design and Development

If you have basic website design skills, you can easily make $10,000 per month, as the average website costs about $500 to $5,000.

While plenty of website developers overseas only charge $10 or $15 per hour, many brands are willing to pay a premium for talent that is communicative, thorough, and easy to work with. 

Earning Potential

The average rate to develop a website ranges from $100 to $180 per hour, while the average rate to design a website is about $30 to $80 per hour.

Tips to Succeed 

• Specialize in a particular platform (WordPress, Squarespace, etc.) and a particular niche (SaaS, photography, etc.).
• Create a few sample websites to build your portfolio and then partner with brands and influencers that work with new business owners. For example, if there’s a dropshipping course owner, reach out to them and ask if they’ll refer their students to you. You can also reach out to agencies and ask if they’ll use you on their client sites. 

Pros

• Website design and development is excellent for introverts as it requires minimal calls and face-to-face client communication.
• You can scale from freelancing to building a seven or eight figure agency.

Cons

• It’s not a recurring revenue stream, as once you’ve built the website, you have to find new clients.
• If you lack technical skills and don’t enjoy technical work, it might not be a great fit.

How To Take Action Today To Earn $10,000 Per Month

If you want to start earning $10,000 per month, the key is to take action today. Choose your favorite opportunity outlined above, and then take one step to get started now. 

There will inevitably be challenges with any opportunity, though the key to success is to simply keep going. If you select a creative opportunity and want more support from other people working towards financial freedom, consider joining the Copyblogger Academy.

It’s an online community of entrepreneurs and side hustlers building wealth through writing and content creation.

You’ll also have access to nine different marketing courses on SEO, content marketing, email marketing, copywriting, personal branding, and other skills you need to master to get your side hustle off the ground and obtain financial freedom.

Join before we raise prices later this year.