We reviewed three mini hustles this week — sites that pay a small amount of money for little to no real work. And, while none of them will make you rich, they each offer worthwhile opportunities given the minuscule amount of time and effort required.
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Mini hustles
Of three recently-discovered mini-hustles, the easiest to use is called OneMeasure Perks.
This site is a division of GWS, a mobile insights consulting firm. GWS does studies on things like what cell phone networks have the best coverage. Or which cell network performs best at DisneyWorld — or in their own customer’s homes, among other things.
To gather that data, GWS turns to OneMeasure. OneMeasure simply pays people to keep the site’s app running in the background on an Android phone. The site’s software can then measure your network’s signal strength wherever you are.
Since you’re not doing anything other than leaving the app running, you don’t get paid much. In the US, the payment amounts to 160 points, worth 16 cents, per day. So, in an average month, you’ll earn about $5, which is payable in gift cards.
The catch: Right now, this app is currently only available for Android phones. (They’re working on an IOS application.) And it uses cell phone data, so might not be worth it, if you have a limited plan.
Notably, we are not always fans of companies that want to snoop on you for pay. Invisibly, which asks you to share everything from purchases to banking data, asks for too much private information for too little, in our opinion. But, given OneMeasure’s limited interest, we think it’s an attractive get-something-for-almost-nothing proposition.
Scrambly
Scrambly is a get paid to play app.
Like most mini hustle platforms of this type, Scrambly gets paid by app developers and advertisers, who want more people to buy things or engage with their games. And it works with market researchers, who need consumers to fill out surveys and streaming companies that want new customers and customer feedback.
Ignore the offers that require you to buy something, unless you were in the market to buy that product anyway. Where Scrambly shines is in offering rewards for playing games on your smart phone. This doesn’t mean you’ll make a good hourly wage playing games, by the way. But, you can earn decent pocket money. And since a lot of people play games on their smart phones for fun, we consider modest payments good enough, as long as the site makes good on its promises.
Notably, that doesn’t always happen with other game-playing apps. Competing sites like CashGiraffe, Bubble Cash and Bingo Cash make it difficult, if not impossible, to get paid to play. They do that by setting their payout thresholds so high ($100-$150) and their rewards so low (fractions of pennies), that the chance of ever cashing out is slim to none.
Scrambly does the opposite. It allows people to cash out with as little as $1; and is among the best paying of these types of apps. In testing the site, we found it easy to generate a cash-out within a few minutes of registering. And, for game-playing enthusiasts, the app offered payouts of $100 or more for reaching top levels in some games. That may take some time. But, it’s a plus for people who genuinely enjoy the activity.
Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a stock photo site that enlists freelance artists, photographers, videographers and musicians to upload images and clips for sale. Purchasers include media organizations, websites, advertising firms and other individuals, who need relatively generic photos or clips to illustrate a story, brochure or advertisement.
Stock art generally sells for a relative pittance — anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars. So, unless you sell thousands of photos or clips, selling stock photos will not make you rich.
One popular photo of blooming lavender, for instance, sold 14 times in a two week period on Dreamstime. For that, the photographer earned $8.76 — between 38 cents and $1.98 per purchase.
That said, stock images can sell a nearly limitless number of times. And, outside of taking a photo or creating a piece of art, the only effort required from you is to upload the piece, which is likely to require all of a few seconds. So, if you manage to draw a popular illustration or take an iconic photograph, that one image can generate semi-passive income for years.
Sell, sell and re-sell
But, recognizing that this is a volume business, the smartest way to make money with stock art is to upload it to numerous sites. In addition to Dreamstime, consider uploading your photos and images to other stock photo sites such as Alamy, Foap, Getty Images, Adobe Stock, and Shutterstock. (You can sign up with Shutterstock here.)
You can use that same art to illustrate print-on-demand products with FineArtAmerica and Society6. Just upload the art and choose the products that you’d like your art to illustrate. These sites market, manufacture and mail the products. You earn a royalty any time a product that’s illustrated with your art sells.
2/5/2024
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