When you see a headline on social media like “Lying down and making 100k a month,” do you feel tempted yet skeptical? The internet is indeed flooded with outdated advice—affiliate marketing, subtitle translation, online surveys… Most of these are either being replaced by AI or were never really suitable for ordinary people.
The truth is: there are still real, reliable ways to make money online in 2025—you just need to choose the right direction and stick with it. This article will show you which methods you should drop immediately, which skills can help you make your first 20,000 RMB within 3 months, and how to reach a 100,000 RMB monthly income in 1–3 years.
The rise of AI has completely changed the game. Subtitle translation? Automated tools can do it in seconds. Data entry? ChatGPT is faster and more accurate than humans. These side gigs that used to bring in some pocket money now barely have room to survive.
Even more dangerous are those seemingly attractive “high-income” projects:
If you’re currently doing data entry work, take this as a serious warning: within the next two years, your job is very likely to be fully replaced by AI. Now is the best time to pivot.
70% of people who try to make money online give up within six months. The problem isn’t a lack of opportunities, but the “shiny object syndrome”—today you learn video editing, tomorrow you want to do design, the day after you find a trading course… and in the end you master nothing.
Remember one principle: you can do anything, but you can’t do everything at once. Pick one skill and stick with it for 3–6 months before expecting real results.
These methods don’t require a complex background. With 1–2 months of learning and 1 month of client outreach, an average person can start monetizing.
You don’t need to be a VFX master. You only need the basics: editing with Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, adding transitions, text overlays, and sound effects. Practice 3–4 hours a day, and you can start taking orders within 45 days.
The key isn’t technical complexity, but understanding audience psychology—what kind of visuals grab attention, what pacing makes people want to keep watching. Combine this with AI tools like Descript (auto subtitles) and Runway (AI effects), and your efficiency can multiply.
Pricing: Beginners can charge 500–1,000 RMB per short video; once proficient, 2,000–3,000 RMB per video is realistic.
Real scenarios: Creating promotional shorts for local restaurants, gyms, salons, or editing Shorts/Reels for YouTube creators.
If you need to manage multiple social media accounts or serve different clients, you can use the MasLogin fingerprint browser to manage multiple accounts without linking, avoiding platform detection.
Good scripts don’t rely on inspiration; they follow formulas:
How to learn: Pick 5–6 creators you like and analyze 40–50 of their scripts—how they pose questions, tell stories, and control pacing. After two months, you’ll start forming your own style.
Pricing: 2,000–10,000 RMB per YouTube script (depending on complexity and research required).
Local businesses and small startups all want to automate customer support, but they’re not technical. You only need to learn no-code tools (like Chatbase, Landbot) and use ChatGPT for guidance to build smart support bots for them.
Real examples: A bot for a restaurant to handle order inquiries, a scheduling assistant for a gym, a post-sales FAQ bot for an online store.
Pricing: About 10,000 RMB per bot setup + 2,000–3,000 RMB monthly maintenance.
The hard part isn’t tech—it’s finding clients who need this and explaining the value to them.
On YouTube, Instagram, and Xiaohongshu, hundreds of millions of posts fight for attention every day. A good thumbnail can boost click-through rates by 300%.
Core skills:
Pricing:
Advanced path: Combine AI tools (Midjourney, DALL-E) to generate unique visuals, improving both efficiency and originality.
Brands no longer just want polished ads—they want real user scenarios. All you need is a phone to record yourself using a product (you can stay off-camera), and brands will pay for these clips as ad creatives.
How it works:
Pricing: Producing 15–20 pieces a month can earn 20,000–25,000 RMB.
This is one of the easiest entry points and suits people who don’t want to show their face but want to make money.
Many people think internships are just unpaid labor, but strategic internships can become a springboard for your career.
Steps:
Real example: The author landed a paid internship at IIM Bangalore in their second year of college using this exact method, mainly by demonstrating self-learning ability and clear intent.
If you want more than a side income that covers living expenses, and instead aim to replace a full-time salary, you’ll need higher-value skills.
Brand founders and KOLs all want to produce more content, but don’t have time to film constantly. That’s your opportunity—use AI tools to “clone” them.
Core tools:
Workflow:
Pricing: 10,000–40,000 RMB per AI video (depending on length and complexity).
Competition: In India, weekly usage of these tools is still under 15,000 visits; the market is far from saturated.
If you serve multiple clients at once, MasLogin can help you manage multiple social accounts efficiently and scale operations.
This goes beyond simple “cutting”—it’s creative production. You’ll use After Effects to make animations and complex motion graphics so videos look like big-brand work.
Learning path:
Pricing: 15,000–50,000 RMB for a high-quality brand explainer video.
Career outlook: Once skilled, monthly income can reach 80,000–100,000 RMB, with growing demand.
Large companies have in-house teams, but small businesses and startups need cost-effective solutions—that’s your ideal client.
Tool choices:
Key skills: Beyond tool usage, you must understand color, typography, UX, and conversion psychology—where users click, and how to guide them to take action.
AI helpers: Figma AI, Relume (AI website wireframes), Uizard (sketch-to-design).
Many founders, executives, and professionals want to build a personal brand on LinkedIn but lack time. You can become their “ghost operator.”
Core tasks:
How to learn:
Pricing:
Key advantage: Once you have one successful case (e.g. helping a client gain 5,000+ followers or tangible business results), you can raise your rates significantly.
Brands need massive amounts of visual content every day—posters, infographics, Instagram posts, ad creatives. If you can produce high-quality designs quickly, you’ll have steady income.
Skill framework:
Real edge: Not how well you operate tools, but understanding “what design makes people stop scrolling” and “how to drive clicks/purchases”.
Real-world uses: Product posters for e-commerce brands, cover images for content creators, promo materials for events.
Pricing: 500–2,000 RMB per image; 20,000–50,000 RMB for monthly retainers.
At this level, you need more than just skills—you need business thinking, systems, and long-term consistency.
Instead of offering a single service (like video editing), you provide full-stack solutions: content production, social media management, ad buying, and analytics.
How to build:
Key reminder: Don’t try to be a “full-service agency” from day one. First build authority in a niche (e.g. beauty brands, SaaS companies), then expand horizontally.
Earning potential: Mid-sized agencies can bring in 40,000–150,000 RMB per month.
Real challenges: Managing a team, maintaining service quality, and balancing costs vs profits.
Using MasLogin helps agencies safely manage multiple clients’ social accounts, avoid account-linking risks, and improve team collaboration efficiency.
If you’re from a top university (like an IIT), raising funds is relatively easier. But the key to startup success isn’t a “unique idea,” it’s execution.
Common pitfall: Spending months chasing the “perfect idea” while never testing if anyone actually wants it.
Correct approach:
Practical advice: Don’t chase “what no one has ever done”; focus on “doing something 10x better than current options.”
This is the author’s most recommended long-term path—by consistently creating valuable content, you build personal influence and eventually monetize through ads, sponsorships, paid communities, courses, etc.
Platform choices:
Success formula:
Monetization paths:
Monthly income potential: Around 20,000–50,000 RMB at ~10,000 followers; 100,000–300,000 RMB at 50,000+ followers.
Biggest challenge: Most people quit after 3–6 months of “no obvious results.” Remember, content creation is a marathon, not a sprint.
It’s harsh but true: 95% of people who finish this article will be in the same place a year from now. The problem isn’t the methods—it’s that:
You watch video editing tutorials for a few days, then decide design seems more profitable, so you switch to Photoshop. Two weeks later you hear AI chatbots are hot, so you start that… In the end, you’ve “learned” a bunch of things but mastered none.
Solution:
Many people “feel” like they’re learning but are just staying busy. Without planning, progress tracking, and regular reviews, time just slips away.
Recommended tool: Use a project management tool like Odoo to track learning progress, client follow-ups, and income goals. The first app is free for life—more than enough for personal use.
Lots of people learn a skill for three months but never approach clients because they “don’t feel good enough yet.” The truth: no one starts out perfect—clients care more about your rate of improvement and your sense of responsibility.
Action advice:
Challenge: Comment with the skill you choose and your start date. Come back in 90 days to update your progress. This is not only a promise to yourself but also motivation for others.
Yes, if you meet two conditions: First, choose a relatively simple skill (like short-form video editing or UGC content), not something complex like After Effects right away. Second, commit 2–3 hours of focused learning every day. Many success stories started from complete zero; the real key is whether you can stay consistent.
You don’t need “connections”; you need initiative. Three effective methods:
Mostly no. Beginners can use free or low-cost tools: DaVinci Resolve for video editing (free), Canva for design (free plan is enough), Card.co or Wix for websites (free tiers available). Once you earn from your first projects, then consider upgrading. Avoid the mindset of “buying tools will make me money”—skills matter more than tools.
99% of people should start part-time. Keep your job or studies and use spare time (2–3 hours a day) to learn and take on clients. When your side income stably reaches 50% of your full-time salary for at least 3 months, then consider going full-time. Quitting too early creates financial pressure that hurts learning and performance.
Three rules:
Outline
