Earning in dollars and spending in naira is the typical average Nigerian dream.
With the constant devaluation of the naira, high inflation rate and economic instability, earning in a stable currency like the dollar is a better way to hedge against inflation and economic downturn.
Early November 2022, the Nigerian naira and the US dollar exchange rate traded at an average of ₦855/$1. For context, if you were exchanging $1,000 that will convert to ₦855,000 in naira.
The biggest flex as a Nigerian is earning in dollars. Nothing beats that feeling!!!
— HONITEL (@Honiitel) April 3, 2021
Without a doubt, earning in a foreign currency like the dollar is more stable, has a higher value and appreciates the value of saving compared to the naira. This is in addition to the fact that earning in dollars means your job is based on hourly deliverables, which allows one to get involved in multiple tasks.
Here are seven streams of dollar income; building a blog, freelancing or remote jobs, creating and selling digital products, running a YouTube channel, creating an e-commerce store, monetising GitHub projects and Affiliate Marketing
1. Build a blog
If you’re looking for how to earn money in dollars, you may want to consider starting a blog. Your first step is picking a niche. It can be a lifestyle blog, news blog, business blog, teaching a new language or mastering a skill, travel, technology, health or fitness blog.
You can use content management systems such as Blogger or WordPress to build the blog and purchase your own domain name and hosting. Posting relevant and uncommon knowledge that is not currently available online will help drive traffic to the blog.
To monetise your blog, you can apply for Google AdSense on your blog, attach affiliate links or get advertisers who would publish sponsored posts about their products and services.
2. Freelancing or remote jobs
Freelancers are contract professionals who work on a project-by-project basis, while remote workers work for an organisation but not from a central office operated by the organisation. This means the remote worker is location-independent.
Tech startups from every corner of the world are hiring freelancers and remote workers as the world becomes more digitally inclusive. There are also online job marketplaces that connect employers and employees such as Upwork, Fiverr, and LinkedIn.
On these platforms, employers hire all forms of tech professionals like software engineers, product designers, product marketers, data analysts, and technical writers.
3. Create and sell digital products
Another way, you can earn in dollars or foreign currency is to create and sell online digital products. Digital products often come in the form of downloadable or streamable files, such as podcasts, PDFs, videos, and plug-ins.
There are a variety of platforms that allow you to sell these digital products. Some popular platforms include Udemy, Coursera, and Teachable for videos; Anchor and Spotify for podcasts; Themeforest and Codecanyon for plugins. These platforms also provide tools to help you market and promote your course.
However, some of the platforms require that you promote the digital products yourself to potential learners. Like creating a blog, you’d need to decide the niche or what your course will cover. You can teach coding, writing, designing, cooking, and a new language.
4. Create a YouTube Channel
Every month, YouTube gets 1.7 billion unique monthly: that’s half the internet. However, 500 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute. So, creating a YouTube channel requires possessing the right knowledge and strategies.
To build a successful channel: select a sustainable niche (sustainable in the sense that you’ll be able to continually create content and run ads), identify your target audience, and consistently provide value. By employing unique storytelling and providing value for your customers, you’d be able to attract your audience.
Some monetisation strategies you can adopt are ad revenue, YouTube premium revenue, channel memberships, super chat payments or even selling your own merch.
5. Build an E-commerce store
In 2020, the revenue generated by online shopping in Africa was estimated to be around $27.97 billion, an increase of over 6 billion since 2019. These numbers will keep increasing between 2021 and 2025. Due to the impact of the internet in every area of our lives, creating an e-commerce store represents a lucrative way to earn dollars.
Creating an e-commerce site may be easier than you imagine. There are now e-commerce solutions that do most of the work for you, but you still need to understand what’s offered and what your site needs.
To give your customers the best e-commerce experience in your store, a number of things must work seamlessly. They are website performance, traffic capacity, mobile optimisation, secure payments and data.
6. Monetise your GitHub projects
Developers can monetise their GitHub projects. GitHub is an online software development platform that makes it easier for developers to store, track, and collaborate on software projects.
Some organisations will finance your repository if they use it, or they want to include their logo in your readme file. You can also find repositories that are paying to get issues resolved on GitHub.
7. Affiliate Marketing
You can promote different products as an affiliate marketer to earn dollars. Large e-commerce companies like Amazon, Jumia, Konga give you a customised link which you can share on your socials, email list, blog or YouTube channel.
To join an affiliate program is quite easy. All you need to do is find an affiliate program or network you are interested in. Look at the program overview, including the type of products or services, payment methods, and commissions they offer. Register and place your clickable link where your audience can see and click.
Related Article: Step-by-step: How to buy dollars from CBN in Nigeria (aka apply for PTA) with add. context
