Posts in Best Finance

25 Places Get Free Perfume Samples by Mail Without Surveys

So how do you get expensive perfume samples by mail without surveys? Here are a few ways to get these free samples that you might not be aware of.

Clubs & Websites for Free Perfume Samples by Mail

There are almost always websites offering limited-time perfume samples while supplies last.

Check these sites to see if they have active campaigns for free perfume samples by mail:

  • Popsugar Dabble (create a profile to be eligible for perfume and beauty samples). They do ask that you provide a return in exchange.
  • Home Tester Club (sign up or link Facebook account). This site also asks that you review the products that you receive.
  • FreeSamplesbyMail perfume page of sample website. Check back often for new samples!
  • Sampler sample website to free samples of almost anything and stop wasting money on things you don’t like
  • PinchMe sample website. This free sample site offers perfume samples, beauty samples and grocery samples
  • SampleSource sample website. This free sample website offers great freebies for both the USA and Canada
  • Freefly’s sample website. Check back often for great freebies including free perfume samples
  • Bzzagent product review website. Try new products in exchange for sharing your opinions
  • The Beauty Lucky. Previously known as Poshly, this product review website offers free beauty samples
  • Jo Malone – This product website often offers free fragrance samples
  • Lancome – While samples aren’t always available, watch for occasional free sample opportunities

The good news is that by signing up for free sample and product review websites, you can try many other kinds of products in addition to perfumes!

READ: How to Get Free Clothes Online from Brands

Follow Companies on Facebook and Watch for Ads

Today’s companies love targeted advertising. and they often reward loyal fans! Try following the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages of companies that sell perfume.

You can also try visiting their websites and browsing their perfume selections. You may just find that the cookies bring some sample offers across your Facebook feed.

Here are some good Facebook pages to follow:

By following your favorite companies on social media, you’ll be the first to know when they’re advertising new perfume samples.

Contact Companies for Free Perfume Samples by Mail

Finally, it never hurts to just ask! If you’re interested in a sample from a company, shoot them an email or use their website contact form.

Some, like Hermes Paris, even encourage you to get in touch and ask if samples are available for a fragrance that interests you.

If you have retail outlets nearby and are open for asking in-person at stores, that can be another effective way to leave with a sample or two in your hand.

Get Free Samples With a Product Order

If you’re already planning to place an order for beauty products, popular retailers might sweeten the deal with an extra free gift offer.

These can include makeup, skincare, or perfume samples.

Check current free gift options on:

Perfume samples by mail won’t often come in large sizes, but we can’t complain when they’re free, right?

If you’re an avid sampler, you’ll probably be able to smell wonderful all year with the help of free perfume samples by mail.

Or you might fall in love with one and decide to splurge on a full-sized version—just make sure it fits into your budget.

Do you know of a place fragrance fans can get free perfume samples by mail without surveys? Let us know about your favorite perfume scents and sample websites in the comments!

Getting Free Stuff

Free Perfume samples are not the only thing you can get completely free. Check out these free and helpful resources:

How to get a Free LaptopFree Toys
Free Vacation TripsFree Food
Free ShoesFree Appliances
Free StarbucksGet Free Land
Free Movie TicketsFree Hotel Rooms
Cheapest Fast FoodFree Coupons
Free Kids StuffFree Car Seat
Free Amazon Gift CardsFree Doordash Gift Cards
Free PayPal MoneyFree Diapers & Wipes
Free HuluFree Newspapers
Free FirewoodFree Costco Membership
Get Free YarnFree Compost
Free Tree RemovalFree Junk Removal

How I Grew My YouTube Channel From 0 to 100,000 in Less Than 2 Years

So, you want to start a successful YouTube channel?

I started in 2015 and since then it has grown to over 300k subscribers on YouTube and it went from a hobby to a full-time job for me.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Luka, just a normal guy who finished architecture school, but failed to enroll in the University of my choice due to a lack of credentials, and decided to search for a way to make money online.

The origins It all began back in 2012 when still lots of people didn’t care all that much about Adsense and the concept of online business, let alone using Youtube as a way to make extra money!

After finding out that one of my friends started making some serious cash from a similar career, I decided to pursue it!

The first thing I did was get in touch with him, in order to ask some questions about the small nuances that made the whole thing possible.

We had a long Skype conversation where he explained everything from how to make a Youtube channel, Adsense profile, and ultimately, how to turn it into a profit and now I am gonna tell you how to make a successful Youtube channel.

Contents [show]

How to Start a Successful YouTube Channel

What Doesn’t Work (or How To Kill Your Channel Early)? First, let me tell you what doesn’t work or how to kill your channel early (learn from my mistakes).

Attempt 1 in Growing a YouTube channel

The following day, on February 8th, 2012, I began the whole operation, by opening my first Youtube account. I had the channel all to myself and Adsense profile setup and ready to go, so I began to wonder where should I begin?

What is the content that’s gonna draw the most viewers, and more importantly, put more cash in my pockets! I took the path of least resistance (or so I thought at the time) and decided to make funny fail complications, but I also “borrowed“ content from other channels. Naturally, due to several copyright claims, Youtube shut down my channel, but it gave me a good idea of how many views I’ll need to get in order to gain money.

Back then, the CPC and RPM were significantly better than they are now, and you could earn a decent profit from 100,000 views.

Attempt 2 in creating a Youtube channel

Can you guess what it was? Yep, none other than a Music channel, which I created on September 18th, 2012. It worked to my advantage that some bigger music publishers didn’t have their own official channels at the time and that the content was spread all across the web.

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I downloaded the content from over 1000 channels and uploaded it one by one. I worked on one song at a time, making lyrics video in the process, and honestly, it was like taking candy from a baby.

After a while, my channel started growing exponentially, with some of the songs reaching over a million views, and I ended up receiving my first „MAJOR“ paycheck (which amounted to $300).

Sure, that might sound laughable to some, but considering that I was 17 at the time, I was doing pretty well in my book. The income steadily grew over the next couple of months, reaching $600, and that lead me to believe this was the start of something great!

The crash and newly found determination

One morning I woke up, and much to my surprise, I failed to log into my account time and time again! THE CHANNEL WAS SHUT DOWN! I never even received a single email of warning, and it was all gone.

Due to my copyright strikes and the fact that one major publisher decided to open their own channel, all the content was suddenly made unavailable. When you get used to the good life, and a steady $500+ income coming your way every month without moving a finger, plus you’re only 17 years old, and all get taken from you in an instant…

I felt like I was run over by a train.

After trying out a couple of similar feats, failing miserably each time, I started to lose my will to pursue it any further. I searched for my place under the sun elsewhere, finishing school and working a part-time job as a waiter.

Still, this was grueling, and I came to a realization that I’m not made for that lifestyle. Work my butt off in college, only to work for someone else my entire life? Nope, that’s not how it was going to end.

This time, the outcome will be different! I’ll invest 100% of my efforts to make a Youtube career, and whether it took me 5 or even 10 years, I’ll come out on top!

What not to do if you want to grow your YouTube channel?

  • Do not steal other people’s content, make your own. YouTube will find you and terminate your channel and worst case, somebody can sue you for stealing intellectual property.
  • Do not buy views. If the views are poor quality or low retention or coming from blacklisted sources, you’ll more likely get your video banned rather than ranked. Btw, traffic isn’t always good – focus on quality traffic that converts well, not just numbers. I don’t see the point of spending money to get millions of views that are not even monetizable.
  • Never do Sub4Sub. You don’t want a subscriber with no intentions of watching your videos. This strategy will leave you with a significant amount of subscribers that won’t watch your videos when you upload them, your CTR and your views to subscriber ratio will be really bad and the YouTube algorithm will see your content as low-quality content.

How to Get Your Youtube Channel Out There

YouTube success is about planning and timing. Here are the exact steps I made to create a successful YouTube channel and you should follow them if you want to succeed on YouTube.

Determine your niche

Among many interesting topics, lifestyle and gameplay were the most popular ones, but that really wasn’t my area of expertise. I decided to forge my own path, and do something never seen before in Serbia, a Do It Yourself channel!

Since I always excelled in the creative areas of work and considering I graduated from architecture school, it was tailor-made for me. I named it „Kucni Trikovi“ which roughly translates to „Lifehacks“. Tip: Focus on one niche, don’t be all over the place if you talk to everybody you talk to nobody. Try and make a unique idea that people want to see, but still can be made frequently.

Define Your Audience

This is one of the most important steps you have to do before you even start your YouTube channel. When you ask new Youtubers who is their target audience, 90% of them will tell: Everybody, I have entertaining content that anyone can watch.

Newsflash: WRONG!

It is really important to understand your target audience and what you can offer to them. Start by researching other successful channels in your niche, subscribe to them and determine a specific group of people who are watching that kind of video.

See what people like to watch in your niche, see what’s trending, stay up to date on what everyone else is talking about and make those videos. Find subscribers of those channels outside of YouTube, in Facebook groups, Google+, Instagram as they are interested in your topic and they are potentially your subscribers and viewers of your videos.

Promote but do not spam and use these groups for research on future topics for videos.

Create an appealing YouTube channel art and profile icon

Invest in channel design (you can hire a designer from Fiverr for cheap). This is the first thing people will see when they land on your channel. Youtube channel art for your channel is the same as the cover photo for your Facebook profile. The profile icon is the photo that shows next to your videos and channel on YouTube watch pages.

Make sure your channel art is appealing to visitors. It creates the visitor’s’ first impression and many will make a subconscious judgment based on what they find here.

Create Quality Content

Maybe I’m preaching to the choir, but it’s so true. Thumbnails can draw the viewers in, but quality content will turn them into subscribers.

Due to my previous experience with Youtube, I know that the audience is expecting a complete package, so in time, start to perform voice-overs.

One tip I can also give you is to keep an eye out for current trends, as Youtube has specific algorithms which push video with currently interesting topics to the top, just make sure you put your own spin on it, be different enough to separate yourself from the rest of the crowd.

For instance, those were the fidget spinners in recent memory. Look at your videos from the viewer’s perspective.

What videos would you click on?

Spend some time researching SEO, tags, keywords, use the TubeBuddy extension…and most of your viewers and subscribers will come from the YouTube search and via suggested videos.

In short: be remarkable. It’s not enough to post weekly videos, you need to convey your content in an engaging and entertaining format that separates you from the crowd. The biggest sin on YouTube is to be boring.

How to gain an audience on YouTube?

How to get big on YouTube?

You might be wondering, what’s a good place to start? Most people overlook one fact: YouTube is the second largest social media network, right after Facebook.

There is an existing community on YouTube and some of those people don’t even have profiles on other social networks.

Don’t waste your time trying to get someone from another network who never watches YouTube to watch you, when there are people who already watch YouTube and follow YouTubers.

Now, when you understand that YouTube is a community, not just a place to host your videos you should start to interact with the other members of this community and start working on a bit of self-promotion by commenting on other videos in your niche (perhaps include a few humorous remarks, so that your comment reaches the top where it can be seen by a lot of people).

Commenting on other people’s videos will have a major impact on the number of views your videos and profile receive

With commenting you make about 50 subs a day on average, additional to the “normal” gain. Be careful, spammy comments are very risky. If you get flagged, you´ll be “shadow/ghost-banned” for an uncertain time.

At this moment you think everyone can read your comments, but no one else except you can really. This happens also, if you comment too much, or if you do not really watch the videos and comment within the first seconds.

This happened once to me, and so I wasn´t able for a few days to comment seriously. I guess I´ll comment about 5-10 videos a day (1-4 an hour).

Instead of being spammy, my tricks were to be fast to comment after you publish your video, to be funny AND to like the comment yourself so you stay a moment longer at the top comments for other viewers to read and like it, too.

Don’t forget to comment on other users’ comments on the videos in your niche. People like to be noticed and probably they will be curious about, visit your channel, watch some videos and eventually subscribe.

Other YouTubers in your niche are not your competitors! They are and they will be your most loyal fans.

Connecting with other YouTubers in my niche, via their YouTube videos and social media, enabled me to make reciprocal relationships. They would share my content with their audience and that was the turning point for my channel.

How to do it?

  1. Type your keyword in YouTube’s search bar
  2. Go to “Filter” on the top and “Sort By” column. Then click on “Upload Date” and select the most recent videos
  3. Choose a video you like that relates to your niche. Watch it, comment it and share it with your audience

Trust me, that YouTuber will do the same for you!

Promote your videos on other platforms

Facebook also offers a ton of opportunities, where you can share some of your videos to attract the audience. Share the content with your friends, and perhaps ask them if they could do the same. Do you know someone who has a big number of Instagram followers? Go ahead and ask them for a favor. Even if you get a negative response from that person, what’s the worst that can happen?

Create Engaging Thumbnails

My advice would be to always design 3 or 4 thumbnails and ask some of your friends which would they click on first. In my experience, this works like a charm. If your thumbnails suck, many won’t click on your video if it isn’t relevant or attractive. At the end of a day thumbnails (and title) will determine your CTR. If your thumbnail fails to capture your viewer’s attention, then you have failed. You can use TubeBuddy’s Thumbnail Generator to create thumbnails and save your precious time.

YouTube SEO

Trust me, none of your videos will go viral (you can forget about that), none of the bigger YouTubers will shout you out (don’t waste your time contacting them), you are on your own and you have to utilize the YouTube algorithm and try to get your videos shown in the suggested videos of popular YouTubers, and get your videos at the top of semi-popular or long-tail search terms. Some basic tips for SEO:

  • use the main keywords in the title
  • use a 5,000 character limit in the description (use your keywords)
  • create playlists around your main keywords
  • meta tags (use relevant tags)

How do I do it? First I SEO friendly title with main keywords. Then, once again in tags, I add the keywords from the title, and several long-tail tags combinations using my main keywords. Then, if I have some extra space left in the tags, I will add other relevant keywords that aren’t suitable for the title, and last but not least I use the “description section” to support the other keywords related to the video.

How to find (see) Competitors tags on any YouTube video

In the video watch page, press “CTRL+U” to open the source code page, then click “CTRL+F” on your keyboard to open a search box, type “keywords” in the search box, hit Enter twice and voila there they are…tags for your competitor’s video.

If you don’t want to do that every time then use Tube Buddy which has a built-in tag viewing function that will come up for every video on your screen. Do not just copy the tags from the competitor video. If you do it, your video will be a view feeder for that competitor’s video.

YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine and SEO is a huge issue so you should pay attention to it. Tube Buddy is one of the best tools out there that helps you with YouTube SEO.

SEO is the only way to get your videos to the top of search terms and in the suggested videos section.

Do some keyword research and take those tags seriously. Tube Buddy allows you to search for keywords for tags and it’ll tell you their search volume and the competition volume.

How to get YouTube subscribers

Now, when you have an audience, viewers of your channel it is time to turn them into subscribers. It is quite obvious what is the biggest thing with grabbing subscribers so make sure that you have really, I mean really high-quality content. If your content sucks people won’t really care.

Subscribers are the main asset of your YouTube channel and as soon as you post a new video, the majority of your subscribers will watch it right away and you will have those initial views which are most important for the YouTube algorithm.

If your videos are good enough, then most people will do subscribe on their own but still, I never assume that my viewer can read my mind and I like to ask for likes and subscriptions at the end of the video and so should you.

Add the subscription button “click here to subscribe” to encourage users to subscribe  – the key is to make it as easy as possible.

Likes are very important. The more likes (and dislikes :))you get, the more engagement your video will have. The higher the engagement, the more Youtube’s algorithm will promote your video and suggest to other people.

As a result, you will get more viewers and hopefully more subscribers. You can use this simple trick to increase YouTube subscribers.

Trick to get more YouTube subscribers

Simply add “?sub_confirmation=1” to the end of your channel URL and you will have this URL form http://www.youtube.com/user/XXXXX?sub_confirmation=1. XXXX is your channel ID. You can share this link on social media, blogs, forums, or in emails.

You can run Giveaway or PayOff

Post your goal in public, you can use your Facebook profile and this simple step-by-step process of the “subscriber payoff method”:

  • Tell them your current number of subscribers (e.g., 100 subscribers)
  • Tell the world your goal (e.g., 200 subscribers)
  • Choose something fun, interesting, unique or different that you will do once you reach 200 subscribers (e.g., shave your head, do a funny thing in public do a crazy dance on video, a free giveaway, embarrass yourself, or whatever)

This is a great way to spread the word about you and your channel with little effort and having a fun time doing it. People love this kind of stuff, they will jump on board to support you and help you accomplish your goals.

Comment your own video

Comments are another indicator of engagement. Encourage commenting by posting your own comment in the form of a question when you release a video. Once again…more engagement = more views + more subscribers.

Tip: Comment on every single comment. When doing this drop keywords in the responses and your video will start indexing in google for those keywords – this obviously drives more traffic.

Do the hard work with video engagement early on

Do the hard work with engagement early on to get a “snowball” on the channel. At the beginning or start of your channel, you should be doing all the legwork to bring an audience to your channel.

After a while of YT indexing your channel and seeing real engagement coming to your channel, they will start pushing your content, you can see quick results in a matter of days, doesn’t matter if they send you 5 views, at least it was suggested.

That’s a good sign already, you will slowly get your new content among the suggested videos and it will grow on its own as long you stay consistent with your uploads. That’s when the snowball effect comes into play

How can I get my YouTube video suggested on some popular videos

With trial and error method. Optimize your videos properly with relevant tags related to targeted videos. Stay consistent with your uploads, the more you upload the more chances are that one video will take off.

Is starting a YouTube channel profitable business

Sure, it’s like any business. You can make tons of money opening a bar, restaurant, photography business, with Amazon business, etc. But most don’t.

Having a  video that earns a few bucks here and there doesn’t seem like much when you publish each one.  But when you have hundreds of them, each one becomes one of the hundreds of little “workers” for your budget over time.

Once you get there, even if you don’t publish another video ever, you can expect to earn $$$ completely passively from royalties.

The beauty of this is that those videos will keep earning you money if you never spend another minute on it but you should know that the Adsense = small potatoes.

The pay is horrible, for the same amount of views you can earn 3-4 times more elsewhere.

The real money is owning and promoting your own stuff rather than relying on AdSense. You can do affiliate links, product placement…depending on your niche.

Don’t worry, advertisers will contact you themselves once you reach 50k subscribers.

My final words on How to Create A Successful YouTube Channel

When my channel started to grow, and I adapted accordingly. Furthermore, I always kept a good communication flow with my viewers through social media platforms. This is absolutely vital if you want to build a strong community.

If I wanted to put everything into a short summary, I realized that success isn’t going to come overnight, and in order to become great, I’d have to work hard and make some sacrifices.

At the start, it’s a rough go and it’s hard to stay motivated when no one is watching you. With a bit of luck and most importantly, patience, everything will come around eventually.

If you already gained a huge number of subscribers, it’s important to connect with them and create a community.

You can ask questions through the videos, respond to their comments, or even read some of the highest-ranked ones during the video.

Speaking of community, there’s no better way to maintain it than by creating a popular Facebook and Instagram profiles. In that way, you can design specific polls regarding the content, and that can provide valuable insight.

Another important thing is the average length of your videos. Your goal should always be to force the viewers to watch the content for as long as possible.

It’s no secret that YouTube promotes videos and channels with a large amount of total watch time. The longer the video, the more income you’re gonna generate.

WARNING, don’t go too far. Statistics show that the optimal time for a video length is 5-10 minutes.

Similar to any other business, Youtube has its ups and downs. Because the algorithms are changing every couple of months, the income is gonna fluctuate, but the most important thing is to remain active!

As for me, I’m currently still into my channel „Lifehacks“, which allowed me to meet some great people, and also opened up other business opportunities as well. Honestly, I love my job, and wouldn’t change it for the world!

Ultimately, if you’re satisfied with working in a desk job, it’s your choice, but if you always wanted to find out what else is out there, don’t be afraid and take a chance!

Take it from me, if you put enough time and effort, anything’s possible. Pick your favorite topic, invest the time, and 200% effort, and you’ll reach the top. Remember, creativity starts with self-belief!

13 Ways to Make Money in College Without a Job (Fast)

College can be a stressful time in and of itself—from cramming for exams to juggling classes, sleep, and socialization, it requires you to manage your time in a way you never really had to before.

For many people, college is also the first time they’ve had to live on their own and handle their own finances.

This can cause a lot of stress, especially at a time when cost of living is high. You may also be concerned about whittling down the mountain of student loans looming in your future.

However, traditional jobs often have rigid hours that don’t fit around your schedule—or they limit you to minimum wage—which is why the perfect solution is finding a flexible way to make money in college without a job.

Fortunately, there are many things college students can do to make money on the side in college.

Here, we’re going to explore how to make cash fast for college students with 13 ideas.

These quick ways to make money in college will let you work within your schedule so that you don’t have to miss classes to make rent.

Best Ways to Make Money in College (When You’re Broke)

They say it takes money to make money—but what if you don’t have any money to start with?

Luckily for you, there are several flexible ways to make money in college when you’re a broke college student and need money fast.

Later, we’ll also cover ideas to make money in college if you already have some savings you can leverage.

1. Take Surveys

This is one of the really easy ways to make money in college, but the tradeoff is that you probably won’t earn a lot with it.

If someone told you that you could make $500 a day taking surveys, you should know it is likely a scam.

That said, it definitely adds up over time, and occasionally you’ll find a survey with a pretty large payout. 

You can find a variety of sites online that will pay you for your thoughts. I personally recommend Survey Junkie because I’ve tried it and find it safe and easy to use, and it usually has surveys available on any given day.

Doing a few surveys every day between classes or during lunch at the dining hall could earn you a not-insignificant chunk of cash over the long run.

If you can make even $10 a day online, that’s $3000 a month, which definitely isn’t chump change.

2. Sell Your Knowledge

Are you academically inclined or ahead of the curve in certain subjects? There are a lot of ways to make money during college by drawing on the hard work you’ve put into your studies.

A lot of people struggle with academic subjects, especially things like math and science, so if you’re good at these skills, you can potentially make a lot of money just by sharing the gift of knowledge with your classmates.

Spread the word with fliers around campus, posting on your college social media groups, and (of course) telling your friends.

This idea to make money in college isn’t limited to academic subjects, either. If you’re a good guitarist or pianist, you can give lessons to children and students near you.

Or, if you are experienced with a niche topic, you might also consider selling your knowledge in courses on sites like Skillshare and Udemy.

3. Freelance With Your Skills

This is how I got myself through college and started to build my freelance career, so I absolutely recommend giving it a shot.

I won’t claim it’s the easiest way to make money on the side in college—there are a lot of logistics involved like finding clients, writing proposals, meeting deadlines, managing taxes and invoices, and so on—but it does teach you real-world skills and helps you build valuable connections.

I still work for some of the clients I got in college!

There’s a large market of people on the internet who are looking to outsource tasks from programming to graphic design to content writing (who says English majors can’t make money?).

From freelance-specific sites like Fiverr and Freelancer all the way to broader communities like Reddit, there are plenty of opportunities for you to connect with these potential clients.

Over time, it’ll become even easier as you build a worthwhile portfolio that shows off everything you can do. Depending on your skill level, availability, and the rates your clients agree to, this is a potential way to make a lot of money in college.

Check out our guide on how to Make Money on Fiverr (A Step-by-Step Guide).

If you don’t have many marketable skills at the moment, take a look anyway and see what things you could learn in order to make money online. (Doing this research might even help you choose your elective classes, e.g. Intro to Programming or Writing for the Web.)

4. Sell Plasma

On one hand, it sounds a bit dystopian and vampiric that you can actually sell your blood to make money at school. But if you think about it another way, it’s a wonderful thing to do for others and a fairly universal way to make money (after all, blood is something that everybody has—and you’re young, you’ll make more).

Plasma is the viscous and clear part of the blood, and it’s an extremely helpful medical resource for people with various different chronic diseases.

Selling plasma is fairly painless, both literally and figuratively. Normally, you’ll go in and have a physical. After a short foray into your medical background, you’ll be seated in a room with a bunch of machines and other donors.

A small needle is inserted into your arm and then you just sit there for about an hour. Many plasma places will let you donate twice per week, and this can be an extra $50-$100 in your pocket depending on how much your local plasma clinics pay out.

Some people report bruising or tenderness at the needle site afterward, but it tends to get easier every time.

Extra reading: 8 Highest Paying Plasma Donation Centers in

5. Make Use of Your Car

Driving jobs like deliveries can run up a car’s mileage, so they usually aren’t recommended for new cars because it reduces the value faster.

Many college students, though, drive a used car, which means that this might be a perfect flexible way to make money in college!

There are several app-based courier-style jobs that will pay you just to drive things from place to place in a timely fashion. Delivery apps for college students to make money this way include DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber EatsInstacart, and Shipt. (Check out these Apps like DoorDash to make extra money)

On average, people make about $10 to $20 an hour doing this sort of work. Of course, it’s more consistent in places where there are more people.

Since college towns usually have a pretty decent population, these can be a good way to make side cash—especially since there’s a sizeable market for food delivery from your tired (or drunk) fellow students.

6. Offer a Helpful Local Service

There’s always a demand for services like dog-walking and babysitting, especially in metropolitan areas. Try looking around for opportunities near you.

These don’t cost you anything, and with something like babysitting (or house or pet-sitting), it will often be a pretty low-profile job that effectively acts as downtime for you to study. Two birds with one stone!

Depending on your area, there will also generally be a lot of open opportunities for menial labor on sites like Facebook Marketplace. People will need things like brush removed from their property or their yard mowed, and they’re willing to pay you to do it. This sort of simple work can be a great opportunity for you to make some pocket money in college or to supplement a summer job.

You often don’t even have to market these services yourself, thanks to several gig-economy apps for college students to make money with these services. Look into TaskRabbit, Wag!, Rover, Gigwalk, Care.com, UrbanSitter, and Handy.

7. Teach English Online

In places where English isn’t widely spoken, many parents want their children to grow up with a grasp on the language so they have a leg up on the competition. This is where you come in.

If you’re a native English speaker, you can often find a position with one of many companies teaching English to children in places like China. Often these companies will have predefined lesson plans ready for you, which will make your job even easier.

While some of these jobs will require that you already have a bachelor’s degree, others (like QKids) do not. In the end, people are generally just looking for the best possible quality education for their children, and you just might be the person to give it to them.

8. Become a TA or RA

Campus life brings some of its own opportunities to make money in college without a job you have to work full-time. Two of the most famous on-campus roles are a TA (teaching assistant) or RA (resident assistant).

TAs help professors grade assignments, complete administrative work, monitor classrooms during tests, etc. If you’re close with any professors in your department, ask them if they’re looking for a teaching or research assistant.

RAs live in the dorms and are usually responsible for one floor. They coordinate activities, settle disputes, and make sure rules are being followed. As an RA, your payment may come in the form of free housing and food instead of straight-up cash.

More Easy Ways to Make Extra Money in College (When You Have a Little Already)

Remember our old phrase “it takes money to make money”? Well, let’s say that you do already have a little bit of start-up capital (and I mean a little bit; it doesn’t take much to get started with these methods). If you’re up for it, you can plant those small seeds and watch them grow with these next four ideas to earn money while in college full-time.

9. Buy and Flip Items

Flipping is a super simple concept that can net you a lot of profit. If you’ve ever heard that saying “buy low, sell high” about the stock market, flipping is sort of the same idea.

You look for things that are good deals, maybe do a little work to them to improve their condition, then sell them off for more than you paid for them. It’s a pretty simple concept, but it also requires background knowledge and good research and sales abilities.

The most foolproof way to manage flipping is to search for items you’re familiar with, be it video games, vintage clothing, or technology. Lots of people will sell things at yard sales (or on Craigslist, eBay, or Facebook Marketplace) without knowing how much they’re actually worth.

If you spot items at a price you think is undervalued, snap them up and relist them yourself on other platforms. Locally, you can also look for furniture that’s cheap or free, then paint or reupholster it and resell it. You can make a massive profit for only a little bit of your time and money.

10. Monetize a Craft

If you have an artistic flair, you can easily invest in skills like painting, calligraphy, sewing, or jewelry-making in order to create physical products that you can sell on storefronts such as Etsy.

In fact, with a little business savvy, you can build an entire brand based around the things that you’re selling and eventually turn it into your own company.

This one will take a little bit of time, and like any business, there’s an element of risk that you may lose your financial investment. But you don’t have to shell out a lot of money to try and get started.

Even something like $50 towards supplies can go a long way in terms of the products you’re making, especially when you consider that some things such as jewelry can have a pretty huge markup and still sell.

11. Be a Mobile Notary

Notaries make the world go ‘round, but they do it quietly in the background, which is why this idea to make money often slips under the radar.

Depending on the specific restrictions in your location, there’s a pretty good chance that you can get certified as a mobile notary for people who may have difficulty getting out of the house and signing things for themselves, like people with disabilities or the elderly.

Additionally, mobile notaries will often be called in for things like real estate dealings.

Becoming a notary is fairly simple and ultimately depends on your jurisdiction, but often only requires getting certified and maybe passing an exam or two.

Relatively speaking, it’s not too steep of a financial investment, usually costing only between $50 and $300 once everything is accounted for.

Most mobile notaries who make a solid plan for putting themselves out there will make that back within a couple of appointments.

12. Use Passive Income Techniques

If you have spare time and a little money to invest, you can use various different techniques to generate passive income (well, passive after you do the initial work to set it up). For example, you can start up a website full of reviews on a niche topic and do affiliate marketing, where people pay you to link their site or product in your articles and get conversions.

13. Start a Dropshipping Business

While this last idea is a bit more intense than the others, you can also look into dropshipping, where you act as a middleman between manufacturers and customers to sell products at a markup.

You can ship right from your manufacturer to your customer without ever having to handle shipping yourself. This is easy to set up using platforms like Shopify, but you’ll need to market the products and take on some financial risk if your items don’t sell.

Peter’s series on Amazon FBA is a good place to head for more information on setting up a dropshipping business.

As a broke student looking for quick ways to make money in college, the main thing you need is determination. What’s ultimately important is that you’re willing to put yourself out there and invest your time and effort to build a variety of income streams. After all, opportunities are all around, and it’s up to you to seize them.

14 Best Finance Books for Beginners (2025 Guide!)

The Best Financial Books for Beginners To Read

Naturally, you’ll also need to surround yourself with people in the know, who have your best interest at heart, but let’s not jump too far ahead of the story.

The problem with this tactic is that there are now thousands of financial literacy books out there, and it’s hard to choose the best ones.

Luckily for you, I already got through hundreds of them, and thus, I believe I can give out some honest recommendations from the heart.

Here are some of my personal favorites, in no particular order.

1. Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps

Would you be willing to accept financial advice from a 28-year-old?

If you’re anything like me, that idea seemed preposterous at first. However, I still decided to give it a go.

The young author of this book is a lady named Kelly Williams Brown, and she decided to put her own personal twist on this topic. 

Every great journey starts with a single step, and Kelly wasn’t afraid to take as many steps as she needed on her way to complete financial independence.

At the very end, she stopped at 468, a point where she was happy to declare herself as an “adult.”

I’ll be honest with you, some of these steps seemed quite trivial, but at the end of the day, some people can really appreciate the exact blueprint to follow. One thing’s for sure, you will laugh and enjoy this easy read. If you dare yourself to approach this book with an open mind, you might walk out with a completely different mindset.

And no, in case you were wondering, you don’t have to be in your teenage years to fully appreciate it.

Regardless of your age, chances are, you’ll always be coming back to this awesome read.

The best way to describe it, in my mind, is to consider it as a friend who seemingly always has all the answers.

Get it here.

2. The Wealthy Barber

Wow, what an interesting name, right?

Still, if you’ve done your research on great financial self-help reads, I’m sure this one caught your attention early on.

One thing I can appreciate about the author David Chilton is the fact that he keeps trying to improve the formula, and thus, we came to the third edition of this bestseller, which is currently available.

Unlike most of the other publications within the financial niche, Chilton didn’t focus on how to make the most money possible.

In fact, his goal was to showcase that even people with average salaries can make a fine living for themselves, just by making sound decisions ahead of time.

One other thing worth mentioning is that Chilton focused on the big picture, and also included a section on how to create your retirement plans.

If you are searching for an easy-to-comprehend read to get you into the game, this is a great place to start.

Buy it here.

3. I Will Teach You To Be Rich

A six-week training program to become financially independent?

To me, that sounded more like a fitness than a finance book, but excellent reviews practically forced me to see what the author Ramit Sethi had to say on the topic.

Luckily, I also belonged to the target audience, as this read is primarily intended for individuals between the ages of 20 to 35.

Sethi claims that the key to a stable financial plan is to approach things without guilt, allowing yourself to enjoy the journey.

At a certain point, if you start to follow his path, you will become automatic at making sound financial decisions, and the whole process will come completely naturally.

Judging from my experiences, this is a vital component, as the most complicated plans start wearing down on you after a while. You wouldn’t want to make it feel like work.

By taking a steady approach, Sethi is teaching us how to become more financially savvy one week after another.

After you complete the six-week course, you are guaranteed to walk out with a much better understanding of credit cards, how to manage your bank account, why it’s important to splurge on the stuff you have a passion for, and how to invest smartly in the process.

You can get it here.

4. If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly

Looking for something short and sweet? Then this read is a must!

There are no excuses this time, no matter how busy you are or how short your attention span might be, you should be able to go through this 50-page masterpiece with ease.

William J Bernstein did a great job detailing the hurdles one has to jump over in order to get into the world of investments.

Truth be told, this is not a read I would recommend to absolute beginners, but if you have at least some knowledge on this topic, you will be blown away by the quality of content found in this condensed publication.

People around the globe cannot stop raving about how terrific it is, and I would gladly support those claims.

What’s more, when it comes to financial books, this booklet is dirt cheap, and if you are being serious about your investments, you absolutely cannot miss it!

You can buy it here.

5. Personal Finance For Dummies

You’d think that being called a dummy would insult a whole lot of people, but as it turns out, these self-help books were constant bestsellers, so there must be something to it.

All jokes aside, but I don’t mind being called a dummy in order to get the best advice from a financial counselor guru such as Eric Tyson.

Are you feeling under pressure due to that impending doom is known as the high-interest debt?

Well, this book offers some techniques to help you get on top of it.

Not only that, but Personal Finance For Dummies will also teach you how to track your spending, and develop a strategy for the future.

What I like best about this publication is the simple English that the author used, without any fancy terminology that’s hardly comprehensible to the general public.

Well, it should come as no surprise, as Tyson already wrote several books for dummies. You can say that he really cracked the code.

Get it here.

6. The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life

It’s always better to be uninformed than misinformed.

I believe it’s this exact sentence that was constantly popping up inside the head of the author JL Collins while writing this book.

It’s hard to put your trust behind a book, when you don’t even personally know the author behind it, but this publication has quite an interesting backstory.

It was constructed based on letters Collins used to send to his daughter.

Naturally, most of those letters contained financial advice, but Collins also had to wrap it all up in a neat package, as all the finances were pretty dry and boring to his, then teenage, daughter.

Besides the obvious things, such as strategies on how to amount the wealth in the first place, the author takes a deeper look behind the scenes, trying to explain why having “F-you money” is the thing we should all strive toward.

If you’re tired of all the fluff content that everyone keeps pushing upon us these days, and you’re looking for data-driven facts, definitely check out this gem.

Get it on Amazon.

7. A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing

In case you have decided to search for this publication now, you’ve probably seen that it currently sells its ninth edition!

That’s right, it would appear that the author Burton G. Malkiel is a very detail-orientated man. Well, I guess any decent financial advisor should be.

However, being very detail-orientated can sometimes bring you the title of being very boring as well.

I won’t lie to you, this book sure has its dry bits, there’s no going around it.

Despite those sections, if you look at the whole publication, I would gladly claim that some of the information you can find here, cannot be found anywhere else.

In the world of finances, that is a rare gift that should be celebrated.

If you think that you already know everything about the stock market, prepare to have your mind blown to pieces!

After reading these battle-tested examples, nothing will ever be the same. And that’s a good thing!

Buy it on Amazon.

8. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money – That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

Ah, finally, here’s a man who’s not afraid to talk about assets.

In a way, that message resonates through the entirety of this bestseller, written by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

Now, try to understand just how difficult of a job Mr. Kiyosaki faced, trying to tell people that they’ve been living their lives entirely wrong.

You see, most people consider their home as their most prized possession, but Kiyosaki considers it more of a wasted opportunity.

Instead, he advises his audience to invest in things such as Businesses, Real Estate, and Paper assets.

Additionally, he insists that cash flow is the king, and that net worth is a figure which has no real value anyway.

With that in mind, why would I recommend this book?

At the very least, it will give you an entirely different perspective on life, as it might lead you to alter your long-term goals and motivate you to challenge the existing order.

It’s never a bad thing to think outside the box every once in a while.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, and you know a thing or two about my life, you probably already noticed that I didn’t exactly follow the rules provided by this book.

Still, don’t think that just because you don’t agree with the basic principle there are no valuable lessons to learn from the whole thing. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Buy it here.

9. The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy


The road to getting wealthy requires tons of effort, and it’s not easy to get there.

Heck, if it was, wouldn’t everybody already be there?

When you put it this way, it almost seems like a mission impossible, as if it was only meant for a specific number of people.

If you’re in this club congratulations, but if not, guess what, you ain’t never getting in there.

No, that couldn’t be the case, right?

If we were just able to draw some parallels between wealthy people, perhaps we would be able to find the pattern?

With that achieved, would it be possible to work on those things and reap massive success afterward?

All of these complicated questions can be answered if you just read this tremendous publication.

It points to seven common traits found in the wealthiest people in the world, and explains how you can get there eventually, if you start working on it today.

Are you willing to put in the work?

Get it here.

10. The Richest Man in Babylon: (The Success Secrets of the Ancients – the Most Inspiring Book on Wealth Ever Written)


A self-proclaimed most inspiring book regarding financial well-being ever?

Talk about high expectations. Luckily for the author, George S Clason, the audience worldwide tends to agree with that statement.

What most of these finance books struggle with is the problem of becoming eventually outdated.

However, chances are that the problem of procrastination will be around for as long as the human race roams the earth, so there are no worries regarding this publication.

Even though it’s published quite some time ago, this marvel still contains a bunch of useful information that can get your life back on track in an instant.

When it comes to managing personal finances, it’s generally regarded as a classic you shouldn’t miss.

Before I eventually got around to reading it, I had some prejudice, as I thought it would be just another one of those self-help motivating pieces that offered no real-world substance.

Boy, was I wrong! Even nowadays, when I’m a grown man, with many business ventures behind me, I still come back to this masterpiece from time to time, in seek of that eternal motivation. It never failed me thus far.

You can buy it here.

11. The Feminist Financial Handbook: A Modern Woman’s Guide to a Wealthy Life

A colleague of mine, Brynne Conroy, in 2018 wrote the #1 Amazon New Release The Feminist Financial Handbook.

If you’ve ever felt like all the money advice you read is for those who have already “made it,” this book is for you.

It looks at the effects intersectional oppression–whether that be classism, racism, homophobia or sexism–have on our personal economies.

But rather than having a “woe is me” attitude, the pages in this book include ways to work around the many financial obstacles you may face.

As you read, you’ll be both inspired to change the system as a whole, and inspired to take control of your personal finances as you work within that system.

It’s a source of empowerment that doesn’t diminish the real fiscal struggles everyday Americans live through.

Grab your copy here.

12. Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances

All of the books I have recommended focus on improving your own finances and growing your wealth.

But as every adult will discover, they’ll have to get involved in one way or another with their parents’ finances.

As parents age, adult children often have to step in and help them with money matters. And when parents die, the children have to deal with what’s left behind.

This book by award-winning financial journalist Cameron Huddleston helps you get over your fears of having money conversations with your parents and walks you through the process step-by-step.

There’s no other book out there like it, and it should be required reading for anyone who will have to get involved with their parents’ financial lives – which is pretty much all of us.

Get a copy here.

13. Napkin Finance: Build Your Wealth in 30 Seconds or Less

If you’re new to personal finance and the thought of diving into a long, word-heavy book is intimidating, Napkin Finance might be the best personal finance book for you to start with!

It covers basic financial concepts in bite-sized (well, napkin-sized) lessons, with simplicity and humor. Visual learners will appreciate the infographics and illustrations.

However, it’s worth repeating that this is definitely a basic book. It may be one of the best financial books for beginners, kids, and teens, or anyone who wants a simple crash course to get their financial knowledge started.

If you’re more advanced, you’ll likely find most of the information repetitive. Napkin Finance does make a perfect gift for a high schooler who’s getting interested in money.

Grab a copy here!

14. Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required

If JL Collins is too conservative for you then this is a must-read. This is one of those “from zero to hero” books. It is a story of how Kristy Shen achieved financial independence starting from zero with no business to support her on her way.

It is a good motivational book with a story that seems easy for anyone to replicate but some claims are questionable. Ie. she said that dividends can shield you from market volatility.

The book offers practical advice and strategies for achieving financial independence, with an emphasis on frugality, smart investing, and prioritizing experiences over material possessions.

Key principles discussed in the book include understanding the concept of ‘enough,’ which involves determining what you truly need to live a fulfilling life and learning to differentiate between wants and needs. The book also encourages saving aggressively by cutting expenses, increasing income, and investing wisely.

Investing in low-cost index funds is recommended as a passive investment strategy, which provides diversification and minimizes risk. The authors advise minimizing taxes by utilizing tax-advantaged accounts and strategies to optimize investments.

Embracing geo-arbitrage is another strategy presented in the book, which involves considering relocation to lower-cost areas, both domestically and internationally, to stretch your money further and reach financial independence faster.