The idea of making fast cash on the internet seems easy until we try it. When we’re faced with the blank canvas that is the Google homepage suddenly all of our grand schemes and ideas disappear.

But money can be made on the internet as quickly as you can grab it, assuming you know where to look. And there are some unknown little regions of the internet where money can be made almost instantly, with no need to wait around for paychecks or payment cycles.

I’m talking about the weird little corner of the web that is r/slavelabour.

As the introduction to the sub states:

“This is a place to find [and offer] casual online work and get jobs done well below market rate. Any tasks (within reason!) for any amount.”

Fast cash on Slave Labour

On this Reddit page of around 50,000 ‘laborers’, you can find people offering every kind of service imaginable within the digital realm. The jobs on offer range from the odd to the outrageous; from the skilled to the mundane – all paid directly via PayPal, Amazon vouchers, or cryptocurrency.

One of the sub’s highest rated posts is from a user offering to make phone calls for the socially anxious. The initial going rate was $2 per phone call, but when the post received so many responses the user had to raise their rates.

At the other end of the spectrum you have people seeking custom logos for their website for $20 a pop, while jobs relating to web development are in very high demand, with a steady stream of people looking for cut-price websites built over the space of a weekend.

In the middle are various straight-forward tasks like writing blog posts, sending mass emails, setting up social media profiles, tracking down old CDs, and finding mods for certain PC games.

But amid this apparent madness, there is a method to be found and it’s one you should follow if you want to make some quick cash on r/slavelabour.

Provide a specific service

There are thousands of posts scattered throughout the sub’s history from people who weren’t specific enough to grab any attention. Writing a post that says you’ll do anything to make ‘X’ amount by next week only looks desperate.

Instead, analyze what skills you have to offer and then write a well-worded post advertising your expertise in that particular skill. And yes, we can stretch the definition of the word skill here. After all, it does take some skill to get a hundred likes on someone’s Instagram photo within the next hour ($5). While finding a rare video that isn’t listed on YouTube also requires some level of web know-how and ingenuity ($ price negotiable).

Be creative

Some of the best money-makers are those that capture people’s imagination. Yes, everyone needs more content for their blog, but those jobs have lots of competition and are priced below fair writers’ rates.

However, the user offering to paint a portrait of people’s pets for $50 a pop gets a surprising amount of attention and can expect to make steady work if they present themselves effectively.

Likewise, the user offering to build websites at $50 each with ongoing tech support also sets themselves apart by offering a very high-demand service for cut-price rates.

If you can think of it, there’s probably someone out there willing to pay you for it. Even if it’s calling up anyone in the world and screaming at them in a thick German accent ($3).

Conclusion

Alright, so you might not find a full-time salary on r/slavelabour, but if you ever find yourself in need of fast cash with nowhere else to turn, you could do a lot worse than spend half an hour browsing through this strange little sub-reddit. With tasks being posted every day, there’s enough work to be found for all but the pickiest of laborers.

Ultimately, the r/slavelabour sub-reddit is a handy little tool to keep in your back pocket in case of emergencies. It’s a direct user-to-user marketplace where skills and services can be traded and exchanged without regulation, fees or authority. A place to make money, fast.