How to Make Extra Income Living in Canada

Gone are the days where Canadian citizens would get a job as soon as they left school and stay in the same career for decades to come.

Nowadays, Canadians are job-hopping more than ever. People are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities or higher-paid jobs. Most of us are searching for innovative ways to make more money.

The term ’side hustle’ has become a buzzword in business. We’re told that hard work and dedication are the keys to turning your side gig into your full-time gig.

If you have a unique set of interests and passions, it’s often worth trying to turn it into a stream of income. You’re already spending time on these interests and it’s worth making some money while you do so.

But how exactly do you create these extra streams of income? Here are some top tips on how to make some extra money when you live in Canada.

Invest in Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has become hugely popular in recent years and the industry is only going to grow even further in the future.

Often shortened to crypto, cryptocurrency is a digital asset that you can use to pay for things instead of money. You can buy bitcoin via a crypto trading service or venue.

Unlike traditional methods of payment, it uses a decentralized digital system. Although most companies don’t currently offer the option to buy their products via crypto, it’s likely that most will in the future.

Buying bitcoin in Canada may not be the most conventional method of making money but it could be extremely lucrative. You can make a significant income through your bitcoin investment if you’re strategic with it.

Use Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning commission through promoting a brand’s products or services to your audience. Usually, you will be given a unique, trackable link or code. When somebody uses this link or code to purchase something, you earn a small percentage of their order value.

You can generate a huge amount of commission using affiliate marketing, especially if you have a large audience. If you’re promoting brands that you know and trust, and sharing products that you already use, it’s an easy way of earning some extra money.

It’s important to partner up with brands that offer products that are within your niche. This way, your audience is going to be genuinely interested in checking out the products that you’re promoting.

Affiliate marketing is a win-win for both you and the brand you’re affiliated with. Use your social media channels or your weekly blog to share your trackable link or code with your followers to direct your audience to the brand’s website so you can generate sales and commission.

If you want to partner up with a particular brand, you can either reach out directly to the brand and ask whether they have an affiliate program. Alternatively, there are lots of companies that work as agencies to help you find affiliate programs to join.

Some great programs in Canada include:

• Ownr Affiliate Program
• LinkConnector
• Share Results
• Rakuten
• ClickBank

Find Freelance Work

Your interests can easily be turned into a stream of extra income through freelancing. You can freelance any one of your skills, whether it’s photography, graphic design, writing, or social media.

Websites such as Upwork, Fiver, and Freelancer make it easy to find freelance work. You can work on multiple projects at once and, often, clients will want to work with you long-term.

Even if you start as a freelancer part-time, it could eventually turn into a full-time job. There are thousands, if not millions, of people that work solely as freelancers and earn a great income.

Every freelancer works differently and it’s your responsibility to market yourself. Consider how you’re going to advertise your services and obtain new clients. This might involve creating a website to display the services that you offer or you might want to start posting on social media to gain an audience.

You can also join a freelancer agency, which will act like a recruitment company to help you find new clients. They are often in contact with several large companies that have a constant stream of work available.

Although partnering up with an agency reduces the pressures of finding new clients, they will take a percentage of your earnings. You may have to charge more for your services to gain a significant income.

Some great freelancer agencies include:

• Creative Circle
• Randstad
• Tundra Technical
• Flex on Demand

Note that if you do decide to work as a freelancer and you earn a significant income, you will likely have to register yourself as self-employed or partly self-employed and pay state taxes. This can be a complicated process but it’s a necessity!

Sell On Etsy

If you’re a creative individual, Etsy is the perfect place to sell your creations and designs. There are millions of small businesses that are seeing huge success on the platform.

Etsy is great for selling your handmade crafts or digital designs. It’s the number one place that people go to when they want to find unique, one-of-a-kind products that larger companies don’t offer.

Whether you love making hand-dipped candles, cute prints, or online journal templates, you can sell your products as a small business on Etsy to earn an extra bit of money.

Setting up a shop on Etsy is quick and simple. You’ll need to create an account on the website and fill in a few personal details. After this, you will need to think of a store name and logo.

When you set up your store, you’ll also be asked to choose a niche and write a short description of what you sell. Try and make your description as intriguing and exciting as possible to maximize the chances of making sales.