How to make money online and from home: Australia guide

Working from home has become more and more popular with the rise of remote and online jobs, and the gig economy. There are many ways to make money online - and while they’re not easy, they do often offer huge lifestyle perks including cutting out the commute, working to your own schedule, and flexibility in weekly hours.

Interested? This guide walks through how to make money online for beginners in Australia, including ideas for a side hustle, passive income opportunities and where to look if you’re trying to earn alongside your studies. We'll also introduce to you Wise that can help you save on international transfers with it's low, transparent fees and mid-market exchange rates.

How to make money online as a student

Let’s start with some ideas which may suit students or people trying to earn money online and from home alongside studying or a day job. These options offer potential to manage your hours to a minimum level when you need to, but add in extra hours if you have free time - in the uni holidays for example. Here are some ideas to think about:

Look for freelance gigs using your skills

One place to start is to browse freelance marketplace sites like Fiverr¹ to see if there are projects there which appeal to you. Freelance work can be anything from a few hours to a far longer project, and you’ll find a rich variety of types of job from voiceovers to social media management, admin and personal assistance tasks, coding, accounting and more.

If you have niche skills this can be a lucrative option to explore - but even if you’re looking for something with no specific skill base in mind, some gigs could suit you, such as transcription or writing guest blogs.

Tutor other students and learners

No matter where you are on your post high school academic journey, the chances are that you could get paid for sharing your knowledge by tutoring others. Most tuition is offered digitally using tools like Zoom, making it easy to access learners in many different locations.

Take a look at platforms like Learnmate² which exist to connect tutors and learners, or start asking around in your own network to see if there are opportunities coming up you could get involved in.

Start a dropship business

Dropshipping can be a good choice for students as there’s no need to hold any inventory - meaning little upfront cost and no need to cram your products into your uni dorm. You can work with a provider like Dropship Zone³ to find products you think you can sell, and then you’re responsible only for the market building and sales.

All the logistics are left to the dropship service, allowing you to focus your time on building an attractive website, connecting with customers using social media, or selling in whatever way suits your product and your customer best.

Make money online doing surveys

It’s not likely to generate life changing money, but making money online through completing surveys with a service like Surveyz⁴ or Octopus Group⁵ is easy and can mean a steady trickle of income for very little work.

The process of how to make money online doing surveys depends on the service you work with, but you’ll usually find you’re paid directly in cash and where you’re eligible for specific surveys based on demographics, you might get multiple earning opportunities in a week.

How to make money online with a side hustle

Next let’s think about a few ideas of how to make money online if you have a bit more time to put into building up a more involved business. These ideas lend themselves to a side hustle you could start while working elsewhere - but then build into more of a full time enterprise if you wanted to over time.

Start an ecommerce store

Online selling is now common, but there are still gaps in the market and opportunities for new stores and sellers who have interesting products or propositions. Using a platform like Amazon⁶ takes a lot of the technical know-how out of the process, as you can build your store using the provider’s tools - plus customers know the platform already making it easier to connect with your audience.

Amazon and similar services can also offer fulfillment services, which allows you to hand over much of the logistics to the platform if you don’t have time for the end to end process yourself.

Sell print on demand items

If you’re creative you might find that selling print on demand items through a provider like Printlocker⁷ is a good way to combine your ideas and your business ambitions. Print on demand services let you sell items like hoodies, singlets, caps and beanies, which are produced on demand with the image, logo or caption of your choice.

There’s not usually a minimum order quantity so each item is custom printed as you sell it, meaning no need to invest money in stock upfront and no need to store product at home.

Monetize your crafty hobbies

If your creativity is in something more like knitting, crochet, woodwork, jewelry making or other crafts, Etsy⁸ may be the place for you.

Etsy allows sellers to market their hand made crafts, as well as vintage finds and some crafting supplies, in a market of likeminded makers and shoppers. It’s a go to for unique items for clothing, homeware, gifts and more - letting you sell as much or as little of your stock as you like.

Consider consulting

A final idea if you’re already experienced in working in a niche area - consulting. You can find gigs through freelance websites, or you might be ready to start building your own brand through your local and digital network. Consulting projects can often be managed remotely and online, working with businesses in niches from HR and organisational design, social media management and marketing, and more.

Have a look within your industry or niche to see what consultancy opportunities are available to see if it’s something you could build for yourself.

How to make passive money online

Making money while you sleep is a dream - and while there’s really no such thing as free money, it is possible to build out ideas which allow you to earn an income stream with little day to day management of your business. Here are some options to think about.

Create online courses

People turn to the internet to learn many things - and often find themselves using digital courses which have been put together and sold by experts and influencers in their own specific niche. Online courses could cover anything from makeup and skincare, to passing accounting exams or designing cosplay clothing - pretty much any niche skill you have could be fertile ground.

If you’re great at a specific skill, think about whether you could set up paid for courses, tuition or advisory sessions to allow others to learn to do what you do.

Sell ebooks

From fiction and fantasy to biographies and self help, ebooks can be marketed and sold with little to no upfront money, so if you have an idea, you might find you can earn passive money online this way.

Not everyone has a book they’re yearning to write - but if you have ideas and some time, there’s lots of guidance out there to help you to get your finished product in front of readers.

Make money from your photos

Keen photographers can sell licensed images in various ways online, including providers like Picfair⁹ which lets you sell digital and physical images with ease. With a provider like Picfair you can simply upload your images and create a photo store, to connect with buyers. If a customer likes an image they can buy it as a digital product or as a print, wall art or other physical products - which Picfair can produce and ship on your behalf.

Invest online and make money

Our final idea requires upfront investment but can then offer potential to earn passive income for some people. How to invest online and make money really depends on your situation and goals, but using platforms like Moomoo Australia¹⁰ let you buy assets like stocks and ETFs in Australia and other countries, which you can then manage with just your phone.

Investing isn’t the right option for everyone, and your money is at risk - so learning more about trading is crucial before you start. Most platforms offer a demo account you can use to get a feel for how investing might work for you, and help you decide if it’s the right way to make money online in your specific case.

What to look out for when earning money online?

Before you start looking for opportunities for online earning, take some time to think through the potential pitfalls and risks involved. Scammers do prey on vulnerable people with fraudulent online job offers, for example. If an idea or an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.

When you’re working digitally you’ll be responsible for managing your own time, and in most cases your own tax compliance too - don’t overlook the need to report your online income to the ATO to stay on the right side of the law.

Summary: How to make money online in Australia

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to make money online in Australia. The bad news is that they’re not necessarily easy - and you may need a bit of trial and error to find the right option to fit around your preferences and needs. This guide gives you some ideas to kickstart your thinking and start you on your journey to flexible online remote work.

Receive money from anywhere and manage 40+ currencies in one place with Wise

If you're earning from outside of Australia, you may need a way to receive your money. Wise is a simple way to receive money fast and conveniently. Open a Wise account for free; get paid however you like, wherever you are. You will get 8+ domestic account details in global currencies like USD, GBP, and more to receive money like a local.

Easily manage transfers through the Wise app by sharing your account details, requesting with the Wise tag or syncing your contacts. After getting your funds, you can hold and exchange 40+ currencies in your Wise account. For all your currency exchanges, you can get the mid-market rate and low, transparent fees, which usually gives the best value for your money. Wise also lets you send money to 140+ countries or get a linked Wise debit card to spend internationally, all at the same great mid-market rate.

When it comes to international transfers, Wise makes things easier and cheaper.

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1. Fiverr
2. Learnmate
3. Dropship Zone
4. Surveyz
5. Octopus Group
6. Amazon Australia sellers
7. Printlocker
8. Etsy Australia
9. Picfair
10. Moomoo