How to monetize an Instagram account with 20k active followers?

I have an Instagram account with 20k active, organic followers in the tech niche but I haven’t earned anything from it yet.

Generally speaking, I am aware of a few ways people make money.

• Affiliate marketing
• Sponsored stories and posts for other brands
• Selling my own digital products or digital services

I don’t like affiliate marketing because I believe it doesn’t earn much money. For example, if I pick a random product that costs $10 and I get a 10% per sale and I post an affiliate link in a story that is seen by 5k people, maybe only a few people will actually buy it. In that case, I would earn just a few dollars which is basically nothing.

Sponsored stories and posts for brands sound more interesting to me because they can earn more money, but the problem is that brands don’t contact me. Most companies prefer to pay for ads directly on Instagram rather than work with influencers.

I don’t have any digital products that I can sell. I have thought about offering digital services, such as creating websites for clients but most of my followers are average people who don’t need websites. Maybe a few of them do but if they need one, they probably contact someone on Fiverr or Upwork already to do it for them.

I really don’t know how to make money from this.