It's totally possible. In fact, it's easy to earn much more than that.

Have you ever thought about offering a service that you're good at to others? What are you good at - writing, video editing, proofreading, graphic design, heck, even flyer distribution? You could consider becoming a freelancer. With plenty of dedication, you could rely on it as a full-time job.

I left school with a passion for writing - it was my favourite subject, probably the only one I had an actual interest in. I had a lot of practice, too.

The first thing I did was list my writing services on Fiverr; a 500-word writeup for $5.00 was what I charged. That being said, after just a couple of weeks, I was getting a bare minimum of five orders a day. $5 five times a day - I was earning a little under $800 a month. That work took me about 70 hours a month, that's less than 20 hours a week. Not too shabby for someone who just left school, right?

Whilst working on Fiverr, I built up a fairly large mailing list as well as a list of testimonials. Very useful when I decided that I wanted writing to be my career.

Now I find my clients on /r/forhire, /r/jobbit, /r/slavelabour and /r/HireaWriter. I stay away from Upwork and other freelancer sites. I'm not going to announce it publicly, but let me say that my standard rate is a fair amount more than $5.00 for 500 words. I'm earning more than average wage for here in England.

How? I took those testimonials and write-ups from Fiverr and used it as evidence that I'm good at what I do. I made a pitch (which still isn't fantastic) to help clients see my potential. I used my mailing list to tell my old clients that my rate has gone up, but I can offer them better work.

To start earning a comfortable pay, it only took me a few months. It does take time, but it won't take years.

Just to clarify, I'm not posting this to brag or show off. I just want to let people here know that you don't have to spend hours on MTurk for a few dollars.

If you have any questions about freelancing, let me know. I'm still new to the game, but I'm happy to help. As are most other freelancers - if you hit up the /r/freelancer sub, people will help.

Good luck!