The Only 25 Ways to Make Money in 2026

I know for a fact that you're tired of

searching the internet for the best ways

to make money online. Every day,

thousands of internet gurus tell you to

try affiliate marketing or drop

shipping, and they're all full of

Those things don't work in 2026,

especially not in the new era of AI. In

my AI venture studio, Martell Ventures,

I've created dozens of companies that

now generate millions, and I can tell

you there's only a few real ways to make

money online. To make it simple, we're

breaking everything into four buckets.

Trash, the stuff you shoulding run away

from. Easy, businesses you can launch in

under three months, earning 5 to 10K a

month. Medium, skills that can be

profitable within a year, making 10 to

50K a month. And hard, long-term plays

that may take more time, but can make

you millions if done right. I'll tell

you the income potential, difficulty,

how long it'll take to make money, and

who is best for each bucket. So, without

further explanation, let's get into the

real ways to make money in 2026. [music]

Starting with bucket number one, the

trash bucket. The income potential for

this bucket is zero or even worse, could

be negative. Difficulty, I mean, it

looks easy, but it gives you nothing

back. time frame wastes months [music]

before you realize it was dead on

arrival. Who is it best for? No one. NFT

flipping. The hype is freaking done.

Look at all the projects that launched.

Nobody made money. The ones that thought

they made money have lost money. And if

you're going to start there and you

haven't made money ever online, that's a

losing recipe. Next, crypto trading

moves really fast. Most people don't

have the patience and it's [music]

without any crazy skill. Unless you're

the person that tries to frontr run the

whole freaking trade, most people lose

money every freaking day. Next,

multi-level marketing. If the way you

make money is getting paid to recruit

people to join your thing and you don't

shape the business and you don't

actually sell anything and you actually

spend more money to buy product to try

to get up the leaderboard, that's not a

business you want to be in. Most of

these are scams. Next, basic caption or

subtitles. [music] Now, AI does it

faster, cheaper, and way better. After

that, we have low-level data entry. This

is wild to watch that people still think

they're going to make money on this

because AI tools have replaced this work

completely. Fiverr Microtask, my

favorite website on the internet 5 years

ago. Trying to make money this way. It's

not the worst on the list, but it has

zero long-term growth. Next, we got

print ondemand. Here's the thing, it's

really crowded and everyone sells the

same stuff. And last but not least, my

favorite, day trading. Here's the deal.

If you're not completely into it,

obsessed on it, and just want to just

live the day trading life, it is way

easier to lose money than to make any.

Basically, all these are like trying to

race across the ocean in a car. [music]

You keep drowning because you need a

different vehicle. So, to make sure your

idea isn't in this bucket, I need you to

run your idea through the trash filter.

Three simple questions. One, is AI

already replacing this? Two, is the

industry shrinking or going obsolete?

Three, is it easier to lose money than

to make money? If you answer yes to any,

move on immediately. Now, let's talk

about the first bucket that actually

pays real money. Bucket number two, easy

bucket. The income potential, 5 to 10k a

month, no problem. The difficulty, low,

simple skills, fast turnaround. Time

frame, 30 to 60 days to actually get

paid. And it's best for beginners trying

to gain some momentum and build some

skills. You don't need a degree for

these. These just need basic execution

and learning how to talk to customers.

Just get your first dollar online. Build

some confidence and learn how clients

work. Here are some examples. The first

one, basic short form editing. If you

haven't seen all the people that have

like these clipping accounts and people

like edit these short form videos all

over social media, I mean, the demand is

[music] huge. Every person now seems to

be a content creator and AI makes it

incredibly easy. So, it's easy to get

paid fast. Love this one. [music] Next,

we got social media copywriting. Every

business in the world needs to learn how

to use words to get customers to buy and

they need somebody to help them. And the

tools are getting so good. Just get the

client, do the work, get paid. Next,

we've got the AI chatbot setup for small

businesses. I love this one because

every small business needs more time

back. And if you can be the person that

comes in and help them set this up, they

will pay you money because it's easy for

them to redeploy their time to make more

money than what they paid you. use this

one. Next, we've got the AI

receptionist. Along those same lines,

it's crazy today when you can use tools

like your.com that you can get paid to

set up for small businesses to take all

the inbound calls to qualify, [music]

sell, fill up schedules, answer

questions, and it'll do it without being

upset, complain, take time off, or call

in sick. Helping businesses do this is a

great way to make money. Next, we've got

UGC content. Brands want to pay for real

people showing their products, not

professional models. Helping a brand

connect with a creator and you're the

middleman and you get a piece of this.

My buddy in Dubai, this is his whole

business and they're already doing 100K

[music] a month. So, you can make 5 to

10 starting with this one. And last, the

virtual or executive assistant. It's one

of my fave categories cuz I wrote a book

called Buy Back Your Time. See, rich

people hate wasting time and they'll pay

you to get it back. The best part is you

get paid to hang out with smart people

that can teach you about life to help

them get done. Nob brainer. A great

example of this bucket is my buddy Mark.

No background, no experience. He decides

to start approaching companies to help

them take long form content that they

were creating using AI to break it down

into short form clips. And that simple

process of using AI tools, making it

repeatable, and turning around really

quick has scaled now. Whereas a

freelancer, he earns $30,000 a month

with only seven clients. This bucket is

about learning how to master a high

income skill. Because if you already

knew how to make millions, you'd be

making millions. Which means you're

going to have to invest in yourself to

develop the skills to add value to the

world. If you want to try any of these

ideas, follow these specific [music]

steps. First, create your outcomebased

offer. Don't sell your time. Map to a

pain the customer already has. help them

make money or save time around an area

that they're really in pain around

because pain is a perfect way to figure

out what they're willing to pay for.

Make a promise that's specific around a

result in a very specific time frame.

That's how you create a compelling offer

and then just remove all the risks. Just

tell them what the guarantee is and then

say, "Because it's just you, [music] you

can only take so many clients, so I'm

only looking for three or five clients."

That creates urgency and it'll get them

to buy right away. And for what it's

worth, if you [music] want to make this

super easy, I can send you my exact

offer template. So, all you have to do

is copy and paste it. It'll save you

hours of tweaking and adjusting and

testing. Just DM me the [music] words

YouTube offer on Instagram or click the

link in the description below and I'll

send it over. So, once you have your

offer, just do one daily outreach.

That's a non-negotiable. If you want to

make money online, set it and forget it.

It's just a habit. So, reach out to one

potential client every day until you get

customers. But you just have to have a

clear offer. That's what this bucket

will teach you. That skill of crafting

an offer, getting somebody to understand

it, and paying you. [music] This will

get you the best chance to be successful

in this bucket. That being said, if you

already have experience [music] or you

want income that's more consistent, the

medium bucket might actually be better

choice.

Bucket number three, the medium bucket.

Essentially, the income potential is 10

to 50K per month minimum. Difficulty

level, it's medium, but multi-kill work

tied to real business outcomes makes you

money. You're not just doing task

anymore. You're solving revenue and

growth problems for businesses. And the

time frame to make real money could be 3

months, maybe worst case 12 months, but

you're setting up your future. And it's

best for people that have some skill but

want more stability and scale. When I

look at Sam on my media team, Sam didn't

ask for a step-by-step instruction to be

successful. He just framed the outcome.

He took ownership and he delivered.

Because of that, he got opportunities to

step up. That's why you've probably seen

the video of me giving him his dream

car, a Porsche GT4. It wasn't because he

was doing little tiny tasks. [music]

It's because he actually delivered the

outcome. And for me, that became vastly

more valuable. And that's what's

different about this bucket. You're no

longer just doing the skill. You're

actually tying your pay to an outcome.

The only way for your clients to make

more money is for them to focus on

solving bigger problems which mean you

come in and take the smaller [music]

problems off their plate. So what are

some examples in this category? The

first one automation agencies. This

one's the new hotness. Why? The demand

for this alone makes it a fantastic

opportunity and it makes you bulletproof

for the future. businesses are literally

drowning in opportunity to automate and

it makes them money quickly and it saves

them time at scale and it's going to

futureproof [music] you for other

companies. Next, we got LinkedIn growth

systems powered by AI. Every CEO or

leader out there, they need more reach.

They need people to know who they are.

They need people to know, like, and

trust them. And if you're the kind of

person to come in and own that outcome

of getting that attention, that

audience, that trust, [music] they will

pay you to help them grow. Next, we've

got micro SASS, near and dear to my

heart, and really AI tools for small

businesses. These are like really small,

tiny tools that help save people time.

So, you can have like a plugin, an

extension, an app for a marketplace,

[music] but the cool part is you charge

monthly for simple, clear value, and

that's how you stack revenue. Next,

we've got an AI content agency. This one

is super fun, especially if you love

content. I mean, brands are always

looking for more content that's aligned

to help them create associations [music]

to help their business. So, you use AI

to produce high volumes without

shooting. It's crazy. So, look into like

Hey Genen, 11 Labs, and other tools like

that that'll make this job easy. And for

these last two options, just take a

screenshot for all the AI tools that I

put up on screen so that you can make

this option way easier. And last, we

have highquality motion graphic [music]

designers. The more AI can do all kind

of lowquality stuff and like people are

shooting more and more content. What's

missing is somebody to understand how to

do motion graphics. This is the

separator. This is where you make

content [music] look pro. So you want to

learn After Effects plus all the AI

tools that help you make and deliver

premium assets fast. And for these last

two options, take a screenshot of all

these AI tools that will make it so much

easier for you. If you fall in love with

this bucket, here are two pro tips that

you need. One, build three to five

measurable case studies that you can

tell to other people. That way, it'll

allow you to sell to more clients fast.

So, if you're just starting off, maybe

you find people that represent your

ideal customer profile and offer to

either do it at a discount or free. I

don't love free, but let's say discount.

And in return for that discount, they

agree to let you use their project as a

case study to talk to other customers

about. Two, sell outcomebased monthly

retainers instead of one-off projects. I

still see people in today's age that are

selling their time for [music] money.

You have to disconnect from that. Don't

get stuck in it. Don't start there.

Don't get in the trap. When you can sell

outcomes, especially like monthly

retainers for a specific outcome, that

creates predictability and reoccurring

revenue in your business. And that is

the most beautiful place to get. And

that is how you make real money online.

But if you want to build something way

bigger than yourself, something that

could actually [music] change your

entire life, the hard bucket is where

it's at. Bucket number four, the hard

bucket. The income potential here could

be like a million plus a month.

Honestly, millions. The difficulty level

though is high cuz it's going to require

systems, leadership, and honestly

long-term thinking. It's hard to get

into and it may need some capital or

expertise, but you will see a massive

return. And the time frame to get to

this level, if you start from zero,

could take two to 10 years or more,

depending on your level of effort. It's

best for people who want to build

something bigger than themselves.

Essentially, an asset or even better, an

empire. [music] And the reason why is

because you're building something that

someone else might actually buy. The

people in this bucket are my kind of

people. So, let's run through some

examples. The first, [music] investing

in AI first founders. This is my world.

See, back in the day, I've been doing AI

investing for over seven years.

Companies like Flex Pay or Intercom,

etc. These are all companies I was

involved in in the early days. And

what's cool about it is that if you have

the capital and you invest in them, when

they win, you win. When you get equity

without running the company yourself,

you get a lot of time back. So, this is

a great way to create leverage and

create an empire. I've personally

invested in over a 100 companies using

this method. And starting from 2026,

this is going to get way bigger. A lot

of people are going to be able to do

this one. Next, we got software AI

products. Essentially, this is my world.

This is what I build at Martell

Ventures. We have built or partnered

with people that have launched a new AI

company every month for the last year

and a little bit. And I'm telling you,

this one has made me more money than

anything I've ever done my whole life.

The key to make it work is you got to

build tools that solve real problems in

a way that's unique. Most of the

applications that I'm working on,

honestly, the AI [music] isn't powerful

enough yet for it to work. Not only is

it a great way to generate reoccurring

revenue because it's software, but you

build some value where people will pay

you 10 [music] to 50 times more than

your topline revenue for the business.

Next is buying small businesses and

using AI to automate 30 to 50% of it.

It's so crazy how there's like these

really simple businesses that are still

stuck in the 80s. My friend Jason bought

a campground a couple years ago and all

he did was put in AI powered booking

software, management software,

maintenance software, and the thing

prints cash today, but buying a boring

business that somebody else is done with

using AI is a great way to create real

wealth. Next, we've got personal brand

or content machine for deal flow. I

break it into content and commerce.

You've seen this with Mr. Beast and

Feastables. You've seen this with Logan

Paul and Prime. You've seen [music] this

with all these content creators. But if

you can build a personal brand, build

distribution, then you have a way to

introduce customers to a product that

creates equity, that creates enterprise

value, and this is in the hard bucket

because most people are willing to stick

with it. It takes time. It takes

commitment. It takes dedication. You got

to be consistent. Most people would

rather take the easy way. That's why

it's in the hard bucket. Next, we've got

subscription communities powered by AI

curation. I've seen so many of these

online communities now where essentially

people pay every month to be part of a

group so that they have access to

knowledge and experience and the AI is

designed to answer their questions to

support them. It's faster, it's easier,

and you can build a business from it.

And last, licensing AI playbooks. This

is where most companies don't realize

their system prompts is their new IP,

their intellectual property. So, if you

have a business that has created these

playbooks that are AI powered, you can

copy paste those and sell them to other

businesses by making them passive

income. Like, just go look at all the

custom GPTs you can buy. A lot of people

are like creating innovation inside

their own business and licing it to

other companies [music] and making a ton

of money. This is a really cool one that

I think a lot of people are sleeping on.

The hard bucket is near and dear to my

heart because it's a reflection of my

life. I mean, a lot of people see me

today and they see all the success and

the accolades, but they don't know where

I started. I started as a software

programmer at 17 writing code and it

took me almost seven years to finally

find any software any traction what I

was doing and eventually at 28 I sold my

company and I became a multi-millionaire

and it's the thing that ultimately made

me financially successful but better

than anything it created the confidence

in my abilities that I could then apply

to my other companies. So don't forget

you don't get the hockey stick without

the flat first year. So, you have to

learn how to invest and reinvest and

recommmit if you ever want to be

successful. Here's [snorts] how you do

this for yourself step by step. One, tie

your strongest skill to a fast growing

industry. If you don't know what that

is, ask AI. It'll tell you. Second is

systematize your service. Don't sell

your time. Sell an outcome so that you

can build the system around delivering

that outcome and create automation so

it's systematized. Third is build a

small team slowly. Surround yourself

with killers. I believe the first 12

people that come into your business will

dictate your success. You want to be

slow on making sure they're the right

fit for what you're trying to do. And

for what it's worth, avoid adding

headcount where AI could do the job for

you. Number four, layer AI into your

operations to increase your margins. Get

rid of the cost. Get AI to build that

automation. And last, use content to

create inbound deal flow. If I would

have known when I started creating

content that not only would bring

opportunities to me, but it would bring

talent, it would bring friendships, it

would bring invites to things that you

couldn't even pay for, I would have

started a long time ago. So, no matter

what you decide to do in this bucket,

just make sure you create content around

it. None of this matters. If you fall

into the trap that destroys more

businesses than anything else, the shiny

object syndrome. Most people fail not

because they were in the wrong bucket,

but because they switch buckets every

few weeks. I got a friend, he's the same

age as me. I've watched him go from like

one idea to the other idea to the next

idea to another idea, and he hasn't

found any traction. Why? He keeps

resetting every time. Every 2 or 3

years, it's like, "Oh, that didn't work

cuz of this. I'm going to do this now."

Here's why. When you start from scratch,

you can't be wrong. If you stick long

enough with something it doesn't work,

then it can feel demoralizing. But the

real way to win is to stay in the game

long enough to win. See, winners lose

more than losers by definition of being

a winner. I know it sounds crazy, but

that's what it's going to take. So,

don't get distracted. Focus. Follow one

course until successful. Pick one of

these options out of these buckets and

execute. Just remember, you can do

anything, just not everything. So,

here's how you avoid the shiny object

syndrome. One, commit to a,000 days of

focus. Don't stop. Be consistent. Two,

document [music] the journey. Put it in

public. Build in public. It'll actually

hold you accountable because everybody's

going to be waiting to see what you're

going to post next. If you just do these

two things, it'll increase your

probability of success more than

anything else you could do. And the most

important thing is that you commit.

Don't just hear all of this and do

nothing. The separator in 2026 is the

people that show up and do. And those

are the folks that make it this far. So,

if that's you, I want a commitment. Type

commitment below. Look me in the eyes

and let me know you're one of the people

that are different. You're the one

that's not just going to do shelf help,

listen to a lot of stuff, and put it up

on a shelf, but you're actually going to

focus until you get results. And

remember, if any of you are

entrepreneurs out there and you want my

exact offer template to help you get

clients, just DM me the word YouTube

offer on Instagram or click the link

below and I'll send it right over. And

if you want to learn how to scale any

business from absolutely very beginning

to the end, click here and I'll see you

on the other