Alright, what you’ve been waiting for!
While creating an income online might sound intimidating, especially for those who aren’t super computer literate or internet savvy, it is becoming easier and easier.
We’ll share a few of our income streams below, but know that by opening your mind you can find opportunity on nearly every corner of the digital world.
Method 1: Blogging
As you know, we contribute regularly to this off grid homesteading blog. We also operate a couple other blogs which revolve around small business and digital marketing.
Blogging is a way for us to share our experiences, knowledge and helpful information with a large audience all around the world. Opening up our income source to become global.
Our friend Victoria, a stay-at-home mom with a small blog that produces $2,000/month. wrote an eBook called How to Make Money Blogging at Any Level that we've read and can personally vouch for… if you're interested in blogging, there are many income streams within blogging alone, and her ebook covers many of them so it's a great place to start!
If you’ve been wondering how to do this we encourage you to review this article on how to start your own homesteading blog.
We had to make an impromptu trip to Seattle and had to stay a day later than planned. We parked our butts at a local coffee shop and were able to work on various blogs and websites without skipping a beat.
Method 2: Affiliate Marketing
One of the biggest opportunities to earn an income online is by working with companies to promote their products.
You can do much of the work in helping their potential clients or customers both discover their products as well as help them differentiate between different market options.
Often, when researching a purchase there can be subtle differences which a consumer might want to know about prior to making their selection.
Additionally, you can share and discuss products or services you personally use and why you either would or would not recommend them. If you don’t recommend a specific model or brand, you can offer alternatives for people to consider.
Upon the sale of a product or service you recommended you will receive a commission.
One of the largest online retailers who has a very reliable and easy to work with affiliate program is Amazon.
Getting started is simple and straightforward.
It took us some time to build up a few websites which feature common products and helpful comparisons and reviews. When a visitor follows our link to Amazon and makes a purchase we receive a small commission.
An example of affiliate marketing: This tent we purchased has been a very useful tool as we saved thousands by using free camp sites while looking for property to buy and have been genuinely loving it. We could take the time to do a review of it, link to it from our blog so others can find it easily, and if someone buys the tent we would get a small commission.
Method 3: Digital Products
One of our favorite and most profitable income streams is digital products.
There are a vast number of ways to create products which add value to people’s lives and people are glad to purchase.
One way we particularly enjoy is by building video learning courses. We develop a curriculum and then create engaging videos which train you to do something or perhaps teach in depth on a particular subject.
These range from caring for animals to running a small business.
We charge a reasonable fee for the education and use this to both fund our work and create new courses.
One of Alyssa's very first was a bengal cat education course where she shares with current or would be bengal cat owners things she has learned about the breed, challenges of ownership and how to have a great bengal cat experience. We've since stuck parts of the course on YouTube where it continues to provide us with a small stream of income monthly.
Method 4: Video Production
Just over a year ago now we made the leap (okay, more like a hop!) into the mid-range Nikon 5200 dSLR camera.
I had long wanted to dive into video production.
Seems life is just one big story and capturing the story is something I’ve always enjoyed.
Video is hard work. Without decent tools it’s nearly impossible work. I had tried for a couple years with spare iPhones. The videos just never turned out as I wanted.
With our new Nikon D5200 dSLR immediately we began learning to do studio work with a very affordable lighting kit by Linco Studio. They turned out incredible!
It went so well we began doing more videos for our own digital products and creating e-learning courses such as Bengal Cat Love mentioned earlier. These videos usually end up on one of our many YouTube channels for entertainment, education and fun.
Shooting a video about picking which trees to cut down on our property.
Of late Alyssa has been really taking her video skills seriously and working our one good camera hard. So hard the lens broke the other day from a good jostle!
We earn a small commission when folks watch our videos on YouTube and an ad is played. It’s about $.004 each time. That does not add up very fast as you can imagine!
What video does for us is adds depth to our story and helps us connect with you and others in a deeper way. Finding our videos helps people also find our blog and join our journey.
Through YouTube plays and followers who support us we earn a small income. In the end it adds up to being able to support ourselves. More importantly it encourages us to keep on this journey and keep telling our story.
As rookies we need lots of practice. To help hone our story telling skills we've been actively seeking opportunities to tell stories for others.
Here are a couple of projects we did while learning to develop our story telling skills. These were done with iMovie and images on our phones.
Tyssen and Trentons Lemonade Stand
While traveling from our campsite on the lake to town for coffee and wifi we passed these two lads selling lemonade. Alyssa saw them. Otherwise I would have missed them!
We went back for some lemonade and found out their signs had been ruined by the rain. We took a brief departure from our coffee and wifi plan to visit the local building store and gather sign making materials.
They made the signs and together we put them up. They were raising money to repay their mother for wrestling shoes she had purchased for the year. A worthy cause to support we thought.
Applegate Valley Lavender Festival
Alyssa had been eager to attend the Lavender Festival near our former home.
When we visited we found out the owner of the farm was running out of time and open to help promoting the festival. We offered to help make an appealing video from photos taken on our visit to help her advertising efforts via Facebook.
This video helped the farm attract more guests and helped many local residents discover the festival.
We're still practicing…
Methods 5 6
To unlock methods 5 and 6 of how we make money online from home while homesteading, please click one of the social buttons!
Method 5: Sponsorships
Our journey is a great opportunity to work with companies who offer quality products.
We are already going to need many tools and trinkets to do work around the property. This gives us the chance to do real world testing and reviews.
Ideally, this helps you and others when you embark on your own journey or have a tough buying decision to make.
We’ll never recommend a product we wouldn’t use ourselves or simply give over our journey to corporate dollars or interests.
We feel it’s possible to do both and have a win-win!.
Method 6: Guest Blogging / Partnerships (Coming Soon!)
The digital lifestyle is becoming mainstream and there are many others out there living their dreams while earning an income online.
Through our blog and outreach we’re making connections with others who enjoy our writing style, story and journey.
Though we’ve never met many of these folks our journeys bring us together and through the digital world we can connect and help one another.
Guest blogging allows us to share our experiences with other communities, make new friends and grow our connections. Some opportunities pay, others are are partnerships.
Harnessing the power of technology allows you to grow your network around the globe. We’ve already worked with a young lad from New Zealand and made friends in Romania, UK, Melbourne, Canada and across the USA!
If you're interested in making money online, there's no need to do things solo.
Maybe you have one skill and someone you meet (and trust) has another… marry the two skills and have a happily ever after!
