She's just trying to 'earn a living'. [=to earn the money needed for food, clothing, etc.]
He will do anything to 'earn his keep'. [=to earn what is needed to support himself]
He 'earned/won his spurs' by doubling the company's profits in the past year.
(..) - What? - To live in a lighthouse. Nice, but highly impossible. You're a real slave to the Establishment. Work, produce, earn... You miss the best things in life. - Like? - Me. Right, I forgot. - But I'll save you. (..)2008 Scusa ma ti chiamo amore
(..) very much "in trouble dead." The Prophetess is a mercantile vessel, not an underground railroad for escaping slaves. I be able seaman, I earn passage. Well, then I suggest you surrender to the captain's mercies forthwith. No, no. They no hear I. They say "swim away home, nigger", (..)2012 Cloud Atlas
(..) where the strong gorged on the weak, but the teeth, sir, they spat out, like you or I would expel a cherry stone. Do you know the price a quarter pound of these will earn? Remember this is not an interrogation or a trial. Your version of the truth is all that matters. Truth is singular. (..)2012 Cloud Atlas