3 (FOOLPROOF) WAYS TO MAKE YOUR FIRST $100 ONLINE
NO, it's not freelancing
Making money online is seriously easier than doing a lot of physical jobs these days.
Sure, it takes some time to pick up the skills and dodge those pesky scams, but once you figure it out, it's totally worth it.
I remember being flat broke, constantly asking my mom for a little extra cash, and wondering, "Will I ever get to a point where I’m the one giving her money?"
Well, guess what?
That moment came, and it came sooner than I expected—within the same year.
Thanks to my side hustles and passive income streams, I managed to cover my university fees by myself.
So, if you're out there struggling to make money online, believe me, you’ve got this! Trust yourself—you will make it happen, and your time will come.
Stay consistent, keep pushing, and don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
If there’s something that every creator/money maker must know, it should be this one point.
DON’T BE STUCK ON ONE SINGLE STREAM ONLY!!
My advice? Have at least three different income streams going.
Work on them regularly, and before you know it, you'll be making more money than you ever thought possible.
Trust the process, and it’ll all fall into place. Just keep believing in yourself, and you can do anything! (mindset matters a lot in this field).
So here are my three favorite ways TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE—no fancy website needed, and definitely no working around the clock for someone else:
1- Create and Sell a Digital Product
I know what you might be thinking, this is the same BS Afnan.
I get it—maybe creating something from scratch sounds intimidating, especially if you’ve never done it before.
Or maybe you’re thinking,
“I have no clue how to create, host, or manage any of this on my own.”
But here’s the thing: it’s not as hard as it seems! If you’ve got some basic internet skills, this side hustle could be perfect for you.
But if you still think you cannot do it on your own, this mini-video course will teach you how to begin from scratch.
Right now is the best time to hop into the trend of digital products. The digital product industry is growing more rapidly than ever before.
Here’s how to get started:
Think about the things you’re naturally good at.
Maybe you’ve got a killer family banana bread recipe, some awesome keto weight loss tips, some amazing hacks for growing tomatoes, or a knack for marketing.
Whatever it is, don’t worry if you’re not a total expert—just something you’re confident in.
Instead of trying to tackle a huge project, start with something small and manageable, like mini workbooks, cheat sheets, e-books, guide sheets, Canva templates, Notion templates, or checklists.
Use ChatGPT to help you sort and organize your ideas, or even draft your content. Once you’ve got something down, give it a good edit and proofread it to polish it up.
or even ask a friend or family member to review it for you.
Next, use Canva to design and put together your digital product.
Price it anywhere from $7 to $50, depending on how much value your product provides and the problems it solves for your customers.
But as a beginner, I’ll suggest you go for lower price tiers e.g $7-$20
Now it’s time to set up your digital shop.
I personally love topmate.io and Lemon Squeezy for this. (they payout easily in my Payoneer receiving account and Pakistani account( stripe express) respectively)
You might be wondering, “Why not Gumroad? or Stan store?” Well, Gumroad takes an 8% cut of your earnings, so I prefer platforms that don’t.
Stan store is not free but you have to pay for it to get started. It uses Stripe and PayPal to pay (so unfortunately I can’t use that).
Promotion Strategy:
Here’s a super simple way to promote your baby digital product. It’s not hard, but it does require consistency.
Start by creating a brand-new Pinterest business account.
Set up 2–3 boards related to your niche and save at least 5 pins to each board from similar creators.
Then, create 3 pins for your product and add them to those boards. Keep doing this every 3 days.
Next, create a medium or substack account and write 3 articles/week about the problems your product can solve OR how can it help anyone. Don’t be too much salesy, okay?
You can also text me here directly if things are not making sense, and I’ll help you set up everything.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and most rewarding side hustles out there. The biggest downside? It requires patience—sometimes a lot of it.
But the best part is, you don’t have to create any products.
All you need to do is promote existing products, and when someone buys through your special link, you earn a commission.
Right now this is my main income stream.
And mostly this is all I am obsessed with right now. I can’t emphasize how much rewarding affiliate marketing is.
But the worst part about it is that you gotta stay patient, you have to wait if you are promoting your links organically.
Here’s how it goes:
You decide on a niche, ( health, wealth, making money) works best.
You sign up for affiliate networks or programs.
They give you a special link, known as a hop link.
You share the product (using that link) with your audience.
When someone buys the product through your link, you make money.
If you’re just starting with affiliate marketing, here’s a free and easy guide to help you get started.
Here’s how to get started:
Many people use paid ads or promote their links directly on social media. Personally, none of that worked out for me.
It was email affiliate marketing that worked for me.
I learned this from Matt’s Secret Email System (his $5 email system is a game-changer!). It helped me score my first-ever affiliate commission!
Which was very small though.
Here’s a quick breakdown on how it works:
Build an email list through a funnel page (don’t worry, I’ll explain below)
Email your target audience with affiliate offers
Get commissions when someone buys through your referral link
No ads, no website, no delivering goods — just simply emails.
Don’t worry if you don’t have an email list, you can easily learn how to build it from scratch here.
How to Make Money on Autopilot?
Choose a niche (health, wealth, finance and business do well)
Sign up for affiliate networks (digistore24, systeme.io marketplace, etc)
Find offers that work for you (pick ones with a good conversion rate and less refund rate)
Sign up for Systeme.io or Getresponse (both are free up to a limit)
Create a funnel page (easy peasy, just edit a template)
Offer a freebie related to your niche in exchange for email addresses
Set up an autoresponder and email automation workflow
Add affiliate links to swipe emails and set them up in the workflow
That’s it! Now, you can make sales while you sleep.
A person signs up for freebie -> gets emails with your affilate links (on auto) -> someone buys through your link -> you make money
If you want to see how to create a freebie, set up a funnel system, and automate it, check out this checklist that walks you through every step with video instructions.
Promotion Strategy:
Put in the Effort (30 Minutes a Day)
This is where a little elbow grease comes in—commit to just 30 minutes a day, every day, for at least 2–3 months. Here are a few ways to start driving traffic:
Create a Pinterest account and pin like crazy (pin 10 pins a day from same niche as yours, and create 5 new pins daily with links to your lead magnet).
Write on Medium (3 articles a week) that solve your audience’s problems and point them to your freebie as the solution.
Aware people and drive traffic from substack notes, LinkedIn posts, and Instagram threads.
Please keep in mind, this isn’t going to happen overnight. Just remember, marketing is more of a marathon than a sprint!
If someone’s telling you otherwise, they’re probably bluffing. This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme—it’s just one of the less grueling ways to build a profitable income.
You can also text me here directly if things are not making sense, and I’ll help you set up everything.
3. Start a POD Business
POD, or print on demand, is an incredibly fun and amazing business model. It’s one of the easiest side hustles you can dive into.
Here’s how it works: You come up with an idea—like a design, meme, quote, or greeting—and share it with a printing company.
They create the custom product for you, which you then list in your online shop.
When a customer places an order on YOUR SHOP, the printing company handles the shipping for you, and you earn money from the sale.
It does involve setting up an online store, but you don’t have to worry about creating the products or even handling the deliveries.
Here’s how to get started:
If you’ve got some basic Canva skills, you can totally crush this side hustle.
Here’s how to do it:
Scroll through Pinterest, Etsy, or Instagram for inspiration.
Pick 2–5 designs to create (they can be simple patterns, text-based designs, graphics, etc.).
Use Canva or AI tools to bring your designs to life.
Head over to Printify and sign up for free. You’ll find hundreds of products to choose from. Select at least 3 products and apply your designs to them.
Connect your Printify account to your online store. Shopify was a bit complex for me as a beginner so I recommend using Sellfy to create your store—it offers the most reliable rates compared to other e-commerce platforms. (it also gives you in built POD services too)
Set up an Instagram page and promote your 3 products like crazy.
Promotion Strategy:
Set up an Instagram page and promote your 3 products like crazy. The best strategy is to create 1 reel using trending audio and 2 basic posts every day for a month.
Post stories of individual shop products with links.
Run a weekly sale on selected items in the beginning to build audience.
Repurpose the same reels om tiktok.
Post content everyday religiously.
You can also text me here directly if things are not making sense, and I’ll help you set up everything.
That’s it, folks! I hope you picked up something valuable that’ll help you on your journey to financial independence.
None of this is easy. Trust me, there’s no make money quick scheme. Every good thing requires hard work, patience and time to grow.
Trust yourself, manifest and teach yourself skills that can make you better at achieving your dreams.
p.s don’t spend on expensive courses, less expensive courses can teach you exactly same things for better prices.
I know I’ve thrown a lot of info your way, so if you have any questions, feel free to reach out—I’d be more than happy to help 💜