Turn your passion into a pay check

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - It's an easy way to make a living during these tough economic times. All you need is a computer, an Internet connection, and some expertise.

That Internet connection you have can be used for a lot more than checking your email and logging onto Facebook. If you have some good advice to give, you can make some extra cash on the side.

If this looks like your idea of office decor, then you might want to consider the career path of online expert Sabah Karimi. "When I tell people how much freedom I have with working online, that I can work by the pool or take half the day off and go to the beach, there's definitely some jealousy there, but they wonder how I do it."

What's her secret? From her home, Karimi writes for Associatedcontent.com . It's a site that offers people articles on everything from decorating and recipes to how to save money when buying toothpaste.

"I've written over 2,200 articles, on topics like travel, education, personal finance, shopping," said Karimi.

She earns about $1100 per month. Upfront payments for an article range from just $120 per article, and then a $1.50 per thousand page views it receives.

"You don't get paid as soon as you'd like to, it's not always a consistent income like a regular job, but it pays off and in the long term it's much better," said Karimi.

For online expert Ryan Kappel, doling out advice comes naturally. "I work primarily relationship problems, depression, anxiety."

A former psychotherapist, Kappel quit his real-life jobs to work full time for Liveperson.com . On this site, users pay online experts anywhere from 50 cents to five dollars per minute.

Kappel charges 2 dollars. "I probably work between four and ten people a day. Some people just want a professional perspective or something and some people want normal therapy session."

Kappel earns as much as $50,000 a year and said others make even more. There are also plenty of people who don't earn enough to quit their day jobs.

In order to make anything successful, you have to love what you do. If you love giving people advice you may want to consider this option. Many people are already turning to the Internet to earn some extra cash.

Associated Content reports paying over one million dollars to its experts since the web site started back in 2005.