Work From a Laptop: 7 Side Gigs, From Tips to Store Builds

7. Sell a website or online business you have built

Seven side gigs you can do on a laptop, step by step. Number one builds online stores for other people. Number seven: sell a website or online business you have built. A listing runs on a package you buy, and an auction listing first runs for thirty days.

On Flippa, you list a website or online business that you want to sell to a buyer. You write the description as a one-page pitch that draws buyers in and gets them to ask more. Detailed, informative descriptions typically sell faster and at higher values than ones with little information. You also give accurate details about the costs of running the website.

You then pick a Classified listing, which is open to offers from buyers. It stays active for three months or with no fixed duration, depending on the package. Or you pick an Auction listing, which collects bids over its first run. If the highest bid meets or beats your reserve price, that bidder becomes your buyer.

If the reserve price isn't met, the listing moves to open offers for a time your package sets. A new winning bid in the final hour can extend the auction by up to one hour. After a sale, you transfer the domain and the buyer accepts it. You also give access to the hosting and send the buyer any files related to the website.

Thirty days is how long the first run of an auction listing lasts. After that point, the reserve price and the package decide what happens to the listing. By our count, an auction listed on March first initially runs until March thirty-first, thirty days later. March has thirty-one days, so thirty days after March first lands on March thirty-first.

The transfer details are for the buyer and seller to agree, and the platform gives only limited advice. Selling rules can differ where you live. If guides like this help you, subscribe: every step in this video comes from each platform's own help page, linked below.

6. Let supporters back your work with a page of your own

Number six: let supporters back your work with a page of your own. The platform fee is 5% per transaction, and processing fees are separate. On Buy Me a Coffee, you set up a page that helps you share your work and build community. The platform is free to start, with no monthly fee.

There's no minimum requirement to set up a page, and creating it starts with an email address. Your username then becomes part of your page's web address. You control what shows up on your page, how it's organized and what it looks like. In your settings, you can change its colors, its coffee emoji and text, and its button labels.

Supporters can thank you or tip you with a simple one-time payment. The platform also has memberships and a shop, in case you want to offer more. To receive payments, you connect a payout method to your account. You share your page's link wherever your audience already is, such as a bio or a newsletter.

Your first payout request sends your account to a one-time review by a human moderation team. The first payout typically takes seven to fourteen days in total, and it can vary with your location and bank. 5% is the platform fee that applies to each transaction on your page. Payment processing fees are separate and come on top of that platform fee.

By our count, a five-dollar support payment leaves $4 and seventy-five cents after the 5% fee. That is twenty-five cents to the platform, with processing fees on top. You can request a payout once your balance reaches $10 or more. Payout methods can differ where you live.

5. Run a newsletter and place paid ad slots from an ad marketplace

Number five: run a newsletter and place paid ad slots from an ad marketplace. A claimed ad has to be published within five days. On beehiiv, you use the Ad Network, a live marketplace that is open on paid plans. There you browse ad offers and insert the ones you claim into your posts.

You browse a catalog of offers, ranked by relevance to your publication. The list refreshes every hour, so new offers can appear while you browse. Each offer card shows the advertiser and the rate, paid per click or per thousand unique opens. You read the card, then decide whether that offer suits your newsletter.

When an offer fits your publication, you claim it on your own schedule. You can hold up to five claimed ads at a time while you plan your posts. Once you claim an ad, you have five days, or 120 hours, to publish it. If that time runs out before you publish it, the claimed ad expires.

Five days is the time you have to publish a claimed ad. You can add your own intro above the ad, but the ad's copy, image and link can't be edited once placed. By our count, an ad claimed at nine a.m. on a Monday must go out by nine a.m.

on Saturday. Monday to Saturday covers five days, which matches the 120 hours. Offers have limited availability, and once other publishers fill an offer, it's no longer available. Advertiser offers can differ where you live.

4. Help train AI models by giving feedback from your own expertise

Number four: help train AI models by giving feedback from your own expertise. Onboarding typically takes thirty to ninety minutes, and each project has its own qualification. On Outlier, you join a platform that connects experts with AI companies to give human feedback. That feedback is used to improve large language models.

To apply, you need a valid ID and a mobile phone from where you live. You also need a current résumé that shows your expertise, and at least an associate degree. Onboarding starts when you create your account and select your areas of expertise. You then complete the skill screenings and verify your identity to finish onboarding.

Next comes project qualification, where you review the project guidelines. You also complete assessment tasks, and after that you work on the project's tasks. Work is paid hourly or per task, with the payment details given before each project. Payments are processed weekly on Tuesdays.

Thirty to ninety minutes is how long onboarding typically takes on the platform. The screening is selective, and available projects may not match your field. By our count, an onboarding started at seven p.m. typically ends between seven thirty and eight thirty.

Those times are thirty and ninety minutes added to that seven p.m. start. There are no minimum requirements on the schedule, and you don't have to accept every project invitation. Work rules can differ where you live.

That's past the halfway mark: selling a website, supporters, newsletter ads and AI training so far. Number three: take freelance projects from clients who contact you directly.

3. Take freelance projects from clients who contact you directly

Malt's commission on a first mission is 10% on the freelancer side, before value-added tax. On Malt, you join a freelancer community that connects you with clients looking for your skills. You must be at least eighteen and have a registered business to sign up. You register with your personal and professional details to build your freelancer profile.

Then you sign the freelancer charter, which shows on your profile and reassures clients. Malt works as direct matchmaking, so no job postings are published for you to apply to. Clients contact freelancers through Malt messaging to propose projects. Once you accept a project, you send a quote that is task-based or time-based.

The project starts as soon as the client validates that quote. That commission changes as you keep working with the same client. That rate drops to 5% after six months of missions with the same client. 10% is the commission Malt takes on a first mission.

The rate is 2% when you invite your own client to Malt. By our count, a one-thousand-dollar first mission leaves $900 after the 10% commission, before any tax on the fee. The commission in that example is $100, which is 10% of 1,000. You need a registered business, and clients contact you rather than you applying to postings on the platform.

Business rules can differ where you live.

2. Build websites for clients as a Squarespace Circle partner

Number two: build websites for clients as a Squarespace Circle partner. Website referral payments start at 20% and rise with your partner status. On Squarespace Circle, you join a program that is free and open to all Squarespace customers. Partners also get longer trial periods, prioritized support and exclusive content.

To join, you open the Circle page and choose to join the program. You then sign in with your Squarespace email and password, the same details you already use. Next you fill out your profile and agree to the terms of the program. After that, you are a Circle partner with access to the benefits on the page.

Partners have one of three statuses: Silver, Gold or Platinum, and your points decide which one you hold. Under the twenty twenty-six requirements, Gold starts at 1,000 points and Platinum at 5,000, and points reset every January first. You collect points by starting a website trial for a client that becomes a paid subscription. Points also come from being the first administrator added to a client's site.

20% of the annual plan's list price is what Silver partners receive on a qualifying website referral. Gold partners receive 30% and Platinum partners 40%, with no referral codes or links needed. By our count, reaching Platinum takes 5,000 points in a year, five times the 1,000 for Gold. That means Platinum asks for 4,000 more points than Gold does.

Referral payments need partner status, an age of eighteen and a separate account for commission payments. The website plan has to start annual and stay active for fifteen days, and payment terms can differ where you live.

1. Build online stores for clients as a Shopify partner

Number one: build online stores for clients as a Shopify partner. Each part of the revenue share runs for four years on a store you build and transfer. On Shopify Partners, you join the Shopify Partner Program, a global community that is free to join. Every partner begins on the Registered tier, the starting level of the program.

Partners can move up through higher tiers based on performance, and higher tiers add benefits. When you build and transfer a store for a client, you can receive a monthly revenue share. That share comes from the company that runs the platform. To build a store for a client, you create a client transfer store in the Dev Dashboard.

You build the store there, then you transfer it to the merchant. The merchant activates their plan through your transfer. For a store you build and transfer, the share is 20% of the merchant's monthly subscription fee, after discounts or credits. The share also includes 0.1% of the merchant's eligible online sales, on top of the subscription part.

Payouts are processed monthly, and the first payout has a standard thirty-day hold. Four years is how long each part of the revenue share runs for a store you transferred. That applies to both the subscription part and the online sales part. By our count, four years from a first payment in January twenty twenty-seven end in January twenty thirty-one.

Each part counts its own four years from its own first payment, so the two parts can end in different months. Starter and Lite plans aren't eligible, payout terms can change, and the platform makes the final call on payouts. Payout rules can differ where you live. So, seven side gigs: Flippa, Buy Me a Coffee, beehiiv, Outlier, Malt, Squarespace Circle and Shopify Partners.

Each one sets its own rules on its own help page. Rules and availability differ where you live. So open the platform's own help page first, and see what it asks for in your area. Which one fits your laptop and your skills?

Tell us the number in the comments. Results vary, and this is information only, not financial advice. This is Wealth Filings. Next, more side gigs and how each one works, linked on screen.