Here I’ll briefly jot down my thoughts, so I don’t forget them.
Earn money automatically
HomeLab’s first way to make money is through cryptocurrencies.
They mine for cryptocurrencies like Monero using their own equipment. The core idea is to utilize solar energy and wait for Monero to appreciate in value within one or two years, potentially increasing tenfold or even a hundredfold, or through frequent currency swaps.
As long as you hold the cryptocurrency, it has the potential to appreciate. Since it wasn’t purchased with real money, it’s not considered a loss. The key is converting free natural resources like solar, wind, and hydropower into electricity, as electricity is one of the core costs of cryptocurrencies.
HomeLab’s second way to make money is through WordPress blogs and personal tool sites.
Essentially, these are website formats that can integrate Google Ads, VPS commissions, Amazon commissions, and sell ebooks and courses.
Furthermore, static websites have very low server performance requirements, allowing for the deployment of many static sites.
Tool sites are suitable for independent developers: develop once, maintain continuously, and then enable paid subscriptions and sponsorships.
HomeLab’s third way to make money is through unmanned live streaming.
They use ffmpeg to stream videos to TikTok or YouTube. Set up interactive APIs or animal feeding; all you need to do is start the live stream.
For example, feed cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, squirrels, fish, or birds, 24/7.
HomeLab’s fourth way to make money:
Similar to the first, but also about waiting for value to appreciate over time.
Every so often, memory and graphics card prices will rise or fall. When prices drop, buy used Raspberry Pis at 70% of the list price. Wait a few years for material shortages, and when Raspberry Pi prices rise, sell them all.
Bought used, used for three to five years, and then sold at a higher price, you can earn over 50% of the standard price. For example, a $100 Raspberry Pi can earn $50 per unit, so 100 Raspberry Pis would earn $5000.
Furthermore, during these three years, with proper casing and anti-oxidation measures, the Raspberry Pis are essentially brand new, meaning you’ve used them for free for three years and doubled your money.
Of course, this is a gamble—betting on the price to rise and for you to be able to sell them.
Even if you can’t sell them, you don’t lose money, because you already use them for automated money-making on HomeLab, such as for your WordPress blog and unattended live streams.
practical value
Even if it doesn’t generate revenue, you can still make good use of it.
First, there’s the NAS. Many video editors store large amounts of video files.
Ordinary people also store family photo albums or electronic documents—this is the NAS’s cloud storage.
Second, there’s entertainment with a NAS: building your own e-book library, movie and TV show resources, music library, and hosting games like Minecraft or NES.
Third, there’s Home Assistant for smart home integration, connecting the server to your daily life.
For example, temperature and humidity monitoring, smart planters, automatic fishkeeping, electricity and water bill monitoring, fire detection, remote door locks and real-time monitoring, and motion detection security.
There’s also air quality monitoring, water quality monitoring, rain detection, and various other lifestyle applications.
Currently, I’ve deployed a PVE on an Orange Pi 3B, with a full Home Assistant installed. Combined with ESPHome, I’ve deployed multiple temperature and humidity sensors and air quality sensors.
My future plan is to have a smart indoor planter, mainly for growing vegetables like scallions, bell peppers, lettuce, and tomatoes. This will provide fresh vegetables and also serve as a reserve of supplies during times of war or natural disasters.
How to make money
First, consider who can pay you.
First, Google Ads: Google pays you.
Second, YouTube live streams or Tk Live streams: Google or Tk pays you.
Then, paid subscriptions to tool websites: users pay you.
Cryptocurrency is directly converted from electricity and computing power into new currency.
Used Raspberry Pis and Raspberry Pis with inflated prices are traded on the market, and users pay you.
Automated earning: large companies or service providers pay you, not users.
Therefore, prioritize WordPress blogs and Google Ads, followed by VPS commissions and Amazon commissions, and lastly, paid memberships.
The simplest is cryptocurrency, such as Monero or other cryptocurrencies, which you mine yourself using your computer (pay attention to electricity costs and heat dissipation).
Tips
I will continue to explore other ways to make money.