How to Make Money Online in Canada

The good news is, making money online in Canada is relatively simple. No matter what your skills or experience are, there are countless opportunities available.

Wondering how to make an extra $1,000 month fast? Or how to make money online as a student? Or just looking for some legit ways to make money from home? This article has you covered.

How to make money from home in Canada

Many of the best ways to make money from home in Canada can be found online. All you need is a computer (or in some cases even just a tablet or smartphone), an internet connection, and online payment accounts (such as PayPal).

Before you start looking for ways to make money online, ask yourself some simple questions.

1. How much extra money do you need?

For starters, how much extra money do you want to make? Do you need a little or a lot? If you need a lot of extra money, you’ll probably need to devote more time and leverage higher-value skills.

2. How often do you need extra money?

Do you want to make extra money here and there, or do you want to make extra money regularly every week or month? If you want to make extra money here and there, the solution could be as simple as selling some of your old stuff online. For more regular income, you might need to consider something like freelancing.

3. What skills can I leverage?

Everyone has unique skills they’re likely undervaluing. Ask yourself what you’re good at, as well as what you enjoy doing. For example, if you like meeting new people and learning new things, you might find it enjoyable to create and grow a podcast as a side hustle.

Find a full-time remote job in Canada

The simplest way to make money from home in Canada is to land a full-time remote job. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the number of companies offering work-from-home opportunities has climbed dramatically, so there’s no shortage of opportunity.

According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Insights report, 11.9% of all paid job postings in Canada were remote in September 2021. Contrast that with just 1.3% of postings being remote in February 2020, just before the pandemic started.

That’s good news for anyone with the experience and skills for jobs that only require a computer and an internet connection. Online job boards such as Indeed, LinkedIn, and Monster all include search filters for remote work, so finding roles suitable to your skills and experience is simple. There are also job boards dedicated solely to remote opportunities, such as Flexjobs and RemoteOK.

Realistic ways to make extra money online in Canada

If you’re looking to make some extra money online, there’s no shortage of ways to do it. You can easily earn a few extra bucks selling some of your unwanted stuff on a site like Facebook Marketplace, or you can set up large amounts of recurring monthly revenue by creating something like an online course or writing eBooks.

Here’s a quick look at some of the top ways to make money from home and around your own schedule in Canada.

Become a freelancer

The gig economy is thriving. If you have a computer, internet connection, and some unique skills there’s no shortage of opportunities to take on freelance work. Some of the more common types of online gigs that are readily available include blogging, copywriting, social media management, SEO, graphic design, and web design.

Picking up freelance gigs can be as easy as setting up a profile on sites like Fiverr or Upwork. You can bid on projects that appeal to you or offer set services at specific prices. Toptal is another popular marketplace for freelancers but it requires you to apply and pass their skill vetting process in order to gain access. You can also set up your own website and begin reaching out to your own network of contacts, or by pitching your services to businesses.

Freelancer earnings vary wildly, from as little as a few dollars an hour to hundreds of dollars an hour. Your earning potential really depends on the services you’re providing, the experience you have, and the budget of your clients.

Become a virtual assistant

Another great option for anyone with computer skills is the option to become a virtual assistant. This is something that can either be done part-time or full-time and for either one client or several. The skills and experience needed vary depending on the type of tasks a particular client or company needs support with. Tasks can range from bookkeeping to scheduling social media posts to coordinating virtual appointments.

Virtual assistant jobs or gigs can be found on standard job sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, and Flexjobs, as well as freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork. You can also apply to work with virtual assistant companies that service a large number of clients.

Like freelancing, how much you can make being a virtual assistant will vary depending on the work you’re doing, the skills you’re offering, and how much you’re working. According to Talent.com, the median yearly income for virtual assistants in Canada is $48,000 or $24.62 an hour.

Start a blog or niche website

If you’re more interested in setting up a longer-term side hustle, starting a blog or niche website has high earning potential. This opportunity requires a lot of upfront work and can take some time to start paying off, as you need to establish modest amounts of steady traffic in order to begin seeing revenue later on.

With a blog or niche website, you make money by hosting ads relevant to your audience, recommending products through affiliate links and programs, or by selling your own goods and services.

To get started you’ll want to buy a unique domain name through a service like GoDaddy and a start building your site on a platform like WordPress. If you don’t have all the required skills, you can serve as more of an editor and choose to hire writers or designers on freelancing sites like Upwork or Fiverr.

Create and sell online courses

If you’re thinking about offering freelance services, being a virtual assistant, or starting a blog, that probably means you have some unique professional skills and experience. One of the best ways to leverage that into recurring income is create and sell your own online courses

Professional-looking online courses are simple and easy to set up on platforms like Udemy, Teachable, Skillshare, or Thinkific. All you need is to set aside some time to create meaningful and unique educational content on the subject of your choice, then weave it into an online course platform. Or, you can simply turn your content into a package of eBooks, courseware, and even videos then sell them through your own website.

The best part of creating and selling your own online courses is you’re no longer trading your time for income, as you are with freelancing. With an online course, you spend the time up front to create it and then (ideally) sell it again and again, so it becomes passive income.

Write and sell eBooks

Long gone are the days when it was next to impossible to be a published author. Today, anyone with the drive to complete a manuscript can self-publish their books and sell them digitally through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program or any number of other platforms.

If you’re an expert in a certain field, eBooks are a great way to establish your authority or leverage your experience. Or, if you enjoy writing fiction, this is a great way to turn your imagination into a bit of a side hustle. Self-published eBook authors who earn money typically write several books a year.

Like starting a blog, writing an eBook is far from easy or quick. Most self-published authors don’t find significant financial success from this but it’s still a viable path to making some extra income on the side. To set yourself up for success, consider hiring a professional editor to review your work before you hit publish, as well as a professional designer to create your book cover.

Start a podcast or YouTube channel

If you’re comfortable behind a microphone or in front of a camera, then starting a podcast or YouTube channel is a great way to turn your creativity into a side hustle. Like many other career paths in the creator economy, these ones require some significant upfront investments in time before they can potentially start generating revenue.

As your audience grows you’ll find opportunities to monetize. For a podcast, this is usually through businesses paying for ads (or mentions) on your podcast, or through affiliate-style partnerships with companies. For example, a company might offer your listeners 10% off their products if they use a special promo code you mention during your show.

On YouTube, once your channel has more than 1,000 subscribers and more than 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months you can join the YouTube Partner Program, which gives creators access to a host of monetization options, including shares of ad revenue.

Play video games

Yes, that’s right. You can earn money (a lot of it!) by playing video games. You can earn money either by playing competitively or simply by streaming your gaming sessions on a platform like Twitch.

Like monetizing a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel, earning money on Twitch will require you to have a modest to large following of fans. Once you do, you can earn money through a mix of paid subscriptions, ads, affiliate links, and “Bits”, which is a way for viewers to cheer on streamers.

Competitive video game players can earn money by competing in tournaments with cash prizes. If they have a higher profile, they can also earn money through paid sponsorships from companies that want to capitalize on that player’s reach.

Create an online store

It’s tempting to think the online marketplace is dominated by Amazon and Amazon alone but that’s just not the case. In fact, there’s never been a better time for entrepreneurs to start their own virtual stores and sell products online. You don’t even need your own products to sell either.

With a platform like Shopify, setting up a professional and fully featured ecommerce store is incredibly simple. Once you’re set up, you can either list and sell your own products or, with tools like AliExpress, Alibaba, and Oberlo, you can leverage dropshipping to sell third-party products.

The great thing about dropshipping is you don’t have to buy and warehouse inventory upfront or coordinate shipping. Instead, when a customer buys a product from your online store, that product is shipped directly from your dropshipping supplier.

Create and sell goods online

If you’re crafty or artistic, you can also find a lot of success creating and selling your goods on a site like Etsy, which can expose millions and millions of monthly visitors to your products.

If the idea of coordinating shipping doesn’t appeal to you, you can also sell digital goods on Etsy, such as printable artwork and crafting templates. This makes it a great place for graphic designers and photographers to sell their work.

Selling goods on Etsy isn’t free but can be quite profitable if you factor the selling costs into your product pricing upfront. It costs about $0.26 to list a product on the Etsy marketplace and once an item sells there’s a 6.5% transaction fee. As well, there can be a payment processing fee if you accept payments through the Etsy platform.

Take online surveys to earn cash rewards

Another low effort way to earn some extra cash is to take a variety of online surveys. This doesn’t result in huge amounts of money but can easily be done on your smartphone or tablet while you’re sitting on your couch binge-watching the latest hit series.

Sites like Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, Opinion Outpost, and Branded Surveys are popular choices. Once you sign up you’ll be given the option of taking a handful of surveys in exchange for points, which can typically be redeemed for cash rewards via PayPal.

How to make an extra $1000 fast in Canada

If you need to make some extra money quickly, you can make a surprising amount of cash fast simply by selling some of your stuff online. Can you make $1000 in a short amount of time this way? You’d be surprised.

Take a moment to look around your home. Chances are you’ll notice you have a lot of stuff you probably don’t use, don’t like, and don’t need. A lot of it might be worth some decent money as well. You can easily sell it online through sites like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and eBay.

Some of the easiest things to resell online are clothes, shoes, accessories (such as handbags), electronics, and furniture. Luckily, these are also things which can fetch decent prices when sold online.

With Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, you’ll need to consider how you transfer the items you’re selling to the buyer—either meeting at a mutually agreed upon destination or giving them your home address. If you’re not comfortable doing this, you can reach more potential buyers by listing your unwanted stuff on eBay—just ensure you’re taking potential shipping costs into account.

How to make money online in Canada as a student

If you’re a student in Canada, either in high-school or post-secondary education, there are some other online opportunities you could be uniquely suited to, and which don’t require as much time as the above ideas.

Online tutoring

If you’re advanced in a particular topic or subject, there are lots of opportunities available online to become a tutor, either privately or through sites like VIPKid and Tutors.com. This can be as simple as lending a few hours a week to help teach English, or something more advanced like leading a virtual study group for a university course.

Proofreading

If you’re in college or university you likely have lots and lots of experience writing papers. That experience is invaluable when it comes to proofreading the work of others, and there’s plenty of demand on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. This can range from light proofreading (catching typos and errors) to more advanced proofreading work, such as editing for clarity.

Data entry

Sure, it sounds boring (and it usually is) but data entry is an ideal way to make money online as a student. Not only does it require next to no experience, it’s something that can be done around the busy schedule of a student. Data entry gigs can usually be found on standard job sites, such as Fiverr, Upwork, and Indeed.

Become an influencer

If you’re already spending a lot of time on social media, you might consider finding ways to become an online influencer. Typically, you can monetize your social media efforts once your followers reach a certain threshold on a particular platform. This is usually done by partnering with brands and companies who will sponsor your posts when you promote or recommend their products.

Best Options for Beginners

When it comes to making money online, it’s important to remember that whatever option you choose will take some work. It doesn’t just happen. Pretty much every way you can make money online is great for beginners, you just need to figure out which one you want to do. The key is to play to your strengths and choose something that interests you. This will make it more likely that you will stick to it.

Which is the Easiest?

Again, this will depend on your individual skills. One way to make money online may be way easier for one person than it is for someone else. Try out some different options until you find the one that works best for you.

Tax considerations when you’re making money online in Canada

If you’re regularly making money online in Canada, there are a handful of tax implications you need to be aware of.

For starters, keep in mind that no matter how much money you’re earning online in Canada, all of your income needs to be reported on your annual taxes that are filed with the Canada Revenue Agency.

Secondly, if you’re making self-employed or side hustle income, you should be keeping accurate and up-to-date records for all of the money you’re earning. These records should include the amount you earned per transaction, how you earned it, and who you earned it from. Additionally, it’s a good idea to immediately set aside 15-20% percent of every dollar you earn online and put it in a dedicated bank account (ideally a high-interest savings account). This way, if you end up owing money to the CRA after you file your taxes, you’ll already have it set aside.

Last but not least, be aware of how much you’re making online or in your side hustle, as you’re required to register for a GST/HST number if you’ve made more than $30,000 in one calendar quarter, or if you’ve made over $30,000 in the last four consecutive quarters.