I think we can all agree that law school life is financially draining.
Between paying for the ever-rising tuition fees and catering to other expenses such as buying books, paying for accommodation and meals as well as having spare money for spending, law school students most often than not will find themselves strapped for cash.
Thankfully, there are now many opportunities for making money as a law student that will not compromise your schoolwork. If you have been wondering how to make money while in law school to avoid being the proverbial broke college student, then you are in luck.
In this article, you will find a complete list of some of the easy ways to make money in law school.
How to Make Money in Law School
Sell Your Notes
Taking notes is part of everyday activity for a campus student. If you take really good notes and do not mind sharing with others, you can be able to make a little extra cash from them.
There are several online sites that you can sign up to for free, list your notes and get paid once someone downloads them. Some of these sites include; Nexus Notes, NoteExchange and Course Hero amongst many others.
Sell Second-Hand Books/ Clothes
During your study, you have probably found yourself needing to buy so many books that you no longer need after completing a unit. Instead of the books piling up on your bookshelf and being used as props for aesthetic social media photos, why not resell these books to students who need them?
Flipping books can turn out to be a profitable business venture once you identify which type of books cash in the most; Not all books are resalable.
To start selling you could either choose to advertise and sell them in-person on campus, list on Amazon Marketplace or several other sites that allow you to sell second-hand books such as Declutter, and eBay amongst several other such sites.
Some ideas of places where you can source second-hand books include;
- Thrift stores
- Garage sales
- Libraries
- Donations from Friends and Family
Besides books, you could also start selling high-quality thrift clothes. People are becoming pro sustainable fashion and eco-friendly shopping hence making the sale of second-hand clothes a highly profitable business idea. A quick search on social media will show you how popular thrifting clothes have become hence if you have a great eye for good items, you can make a killing from flipping second-hand clothes.
Become a Research Assistant
Are you an expert or rather do you enjoy digging around for information? If yes, then you can become an assistant researcher to your lecturers at school or work online with companies and professionals seeking to gather certain information.
Working as a research assistant is a great money-making option for a law student since it offers one the flexibility to work on their schedule. Also, it is quite profitable especially if you specialize in law-related research which is a high paying niche.
Anyone can work as a research assistant as long as they have a computer and working internet. Your best bet when sourcing for information will include blogs, google, books, magazines etc.
Affiliate Marketing
As much as you have to do a lot of work initially to get this gig rolling, affiliate marketing is a great way to make passive income. This is especially great for people with a huge social media following or if you have a blog or a YouTube channel.
Affiliate marketing involves promoting products or services online using your affiliate link and making a commission from any time someone makes a purchase using your link.
Most eCommerce sites offer affiliate programs. It is free to sign up and start making money without having to put so much effort.
Start a Dropshipping Business
Ready to start your own business? Try dropshipping
Dropshipping is perhaps the easiest business model you can venture into regardless of whether you have an entrepreneurial spirit or not.
Dropshipping simply works by selling products on an eCommerce store without having to keep inventory. Therefore, when you make a sale, you contact the supplier with your order, pay for it and have it shipped to your client by the supplier.
The advantage of dropshipping is that you need little to no money to start and is quite flexible since you can work from anywhere at any time.
Become an Assistant
Internships offer students great opportunities to gain work experience (best practice area for solo lawyer) as well as make some extra cash. As a law student, you could apply for an internship position as an assistant to a lawyer who could even turn out to be your mentor.
Another option along these lines is working as a virtual assistant. With many businesses shifting their services online, the demand for a virtual assistant is on the rise. Companies are now more than ever finding the need to outsource assistance for certain tasks that do not necessarily need to be done in-house. This could include tasks such as data entry, transcription, bookkeeping, posting ads etc.
Your earning potential depends on the level of your skills and expertise as well as the budget of the hiring company. To start working as a virtual assistant, you can list your services on job boards such as Upwork and Fiverr.
Become a Taxi Driver/ Delivery Guy
Do you own a nice, well-maintained car? Are you comfortable with driving people around?
If you answered yes to both questions, then this is a great option for making money as a law student. seeing to it that you are a private contractor, you can sign up to work for up to two taxi services within your local area. The advantage of this is that it opens you up to more opportunities when you are clocked in for work.
In addition to being a driver, you could also use your vehicle to make food, grocery and shopping deliveries to people’s homes. Delivery services are high in demand since people are becoming more accustomed to shopping online.
Perform Tasks
Every once in a while, people will find themselves needing some extra help with small tasks such as trimming hedges, mowing lawns, walking their pets, house renovations etc.
Using an app like TaskRabbit, you will be able to find people within your local community who need help with a wide range of tasks. The advantage of this app is that it offers you flexibility to choose the type of work you are willing to accept as well as allowing you to work only when you are available.
Performing simple tasks is a really good opportunity to make a lot of money as a law school student.
Other profitable money-making options include;
- Testing websites
- Live streaming games
- Taking surveys
- Content creation on a Blog or YouTube channel
- Becoming a mystery shopper
- Freelance writing
- Tutoring kids: this can be done either online or in a face-to-face session.
In Conclusion
The above-highlighted ways of making money as a law school student are just but a few examples, there are so many more methods. Whatever options you choose to go with, at least you are sure it will help you break out from the proverbial ‘broke college student’.
Some of these gigs if done correctly can lead up to a serious business whether online or offline helping you pay out your student debts.
