• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

How to make money with your smartphone

QoS in an era of cheap smartphones

Smartphones are getting more sophisticated with in-built cameras that could rival most traditional cameras. Storage has also been getting a lot of attention.

In the 2019-2020 period, nearly half of Huawei’s and Apple’s smartphone shipments came from their 128GB and 64GB variants, respectively. In the same period, Huawei’s and Apple’s 128GB variants experienced a yearly growth in low-to-mid teens for shipments. Low-end manufacturers like Transsion are also increasing their phone capacities significantly.

All of that translates to more space and aesthetics that could help you earn money while working your 9-5 jobs. It is even more important given that our smartphones are now an essential part of our lives. We use them everywhere, while at work, during lunch breaks, in traffic, and at home. These are opportunities to earn more.

Here are five legit ways to unlock new earning streams of income.

Investment apps

Many years ago, you needed to have a stockbroker or read many manuals to understand and take advantage of the various investments assets including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies among others. However, by downloading one of the several mobile applications that offer different investment options, you can kick off an entire investment system that takes care of your future.

Here are some of the apps:

Chaka: This app provides opportunities for Nigerians to invest in dollar assets and allow foreigners to invest in Nigerian assets. The platform gives access to more than 10,000 stocks and ETFs trading on local and foreign capital markets. Chaka in June 2021 became the first fintech firm to secure a licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which means that your investment is secured by the regulator.

Read also: Oil expert says Nigeria lost over $95Bn investment heading to Africa in 10 years

Cowrywise: It allows users to save money and enjoy high returns from risk-free investments in Nigeria with zero fees. On Cowrywise, users can save and invest with as little as N100 (&0.25) with five investment partners including United Capital Asset Management, Meristem Wealth Management, Afrinvest Wealth Management, ARM Investment Managers, and Lotus Capital. Cowrywise earns its fee by indirectly charging customers for the service and share the fee with the mutual fund partners. It has a licence from SEC.

Bamboo: If you know your way around the stock exchange and have the ability to spot winning foreign stocks, Bamboo is the app for you. Any Nigerian with a BVN-linked bank account can sign up and fund their naira or dollar balance and start buying and selling shares instantly in just a few clicks. The app uses bank-level security and each account opened is insured for up to $500,000.

Take paid surveys

Filling surveys is one of the ways to make good money using your smartphone. You can do this by visiting survey websites to share your thoughts which are very valuable to companies that are willing to pay money for them.

One of such websites is Opinion Space Africa. After you register on the site, you will receive invitations for profile-appropriate surveys. The surveys will be loaded with cashpoints. You will be required to fill the survey to earn cashpoints. You can withdraw your accumulated cash points in your preferred reward channel from Paypal, Jumia Pay, to Chipper Cash.

Get active on YouTube

Anyone with a Gmail account is already halfway to becoming a YouTube creator. What you need to do is open a channel and get people to watch your videos. You will need to be very creative with your videos to attract the type of views that eventually sets you up as an earner.

Videos that attract attention include comedy skits, fashion videos that offer advice, videos about beautiful destinations that you visited, among others. To qualify for monetisation, your channel has to have at least 4,000 hours of watch time within the last year and at least 1,000 subscribers. This policy went into effect at the beginning of 2020 and is another way for YouTube to prioritise watch time.

Set up an e-commerce channel

In the digital era, owning a physical shop is not necessary when your smartphone can do even better. For example, your physical shop is located within a defined geographical territory and is only accessible and visible to the people in that location. Opening an eCommerce channel whether on Instagram or selling on an already established channel, gets you visibility beyond your physical location. You can sell and deliver to customers outside the country without having to travel to meet those customers. There are different options of items to sell on your eCommerce channel, it can be new or some of the items you are looking to dispose of.

You can also put up items for sale on eCommerce platforms like Jiji, Jumia, etc. the better ratings and reviews you get the more you are able to sell and earn.

Become an online tutor

If you are very fluent in English and love to share your knowledge with other people, starting an online tutoring class that people can access and pay for is a great way to monetise your skill. You can do this at your convenience and it can be on an individual or a large class option.

You can also apply as an online tutor on many platforms and start earning money teaching students from different countries.

If you do not have a Paypal account, you can download Flutterwave to still receive payment from Paypal users.