Passive income
In this article, I will explain what passive income is and 8 ways that you business can build extra income while your sleep.
We have all heard about passive income as a term being spoken about more frequently due in part to the dramatic change in how the way we work and make money has changed over the last few years.
Covid played a large role in these changes but it was inevitable. Even without Covid, the way we work was going to change sooner than later. As the change started hitting, some coined the change “The Great Resignation”.
The great resignation
The Great Resignation, also known as the Big Quit and the Great Reshuffle, is an ongoing economic trend in which employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs en masse beginning in early 2021.
Possible causes include wage stagnation amid the rising cost of living, equality issues, long-lasting job dissatisfaction, and safety concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
What this means is people either quit or found another more creative and supportive way to take care of themselves financially that suits their lifestyles.
Quitting a job, starting a business, or finding new ways to hustle can be scary but a considerable amount of people have found more fulfilling work, are making a higher income, and are more satisfied with their lives which contributes to a healthier sense of wellbeing.
One of the ways that people are doing this is with passive income. Passive income is money generated without countless hours of work or a full-time commitment.
What is passive income?
Passive income is defined as any money you earn while not actively working on something. This can be anything from, a course, affiliate marketing, investments to royalties from someone else using your intellectual property (IP) or ideas that you have created, such as music and video content, etc.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 20% of American households earn passive income.
Start the ball rolling
Creating passive income does not just happen unless you make it happen. This means you don’t just lay in bed looking at your cell phone watching money just funnel into your bank account because you think it should.
The truth is that building a passive income stream usually isn’t passive at first. It requires time, money, skills, or all three funneled into a well-oiled machine that when you walk away continues to do the work for you.
And remember there will always be some work and maintenance involved, but if you build a solid passive income stream, the time you have to invest will be minimal compared to the returns on your original investment.
Don’t let the fact that making a passive income is not easy scare you away from making it happen for yourself.
Anyone, even you, can make passive income if you want to particularly know when there are millions of opportunities to do things never imaginable 10 years ago and make excellent money doing so! The sky is the limit if you just look up.
Here are 8 passive income ideas to get your started
1. Create an online course
Small businesses can take what they do and are passionate about to find a way to either teach it to others, offer their services, or provide tips and tricks to clients through online courses.
As a small business, you can create and host your courses on your own branded website or you could also use outside sites like Teachable, Udemy, and Thinkific.
Both have pros and cons, yet both have a lot of potentials to help you attain passive income. You can teach just about anything and there is going to be someone wanting to learn it.
If you want to create a course on your website directly, you will need to add an LMS to your site. A LMS (learning management system) is a software application that enables users to create, design, and deliver their course content through a website or a mobile app.
This can be done on your own and has quite the learning curve or you can hire a professional to set it up which you would pay more for upfront but much less to maintain.
You can also build on an eLearning platform which are web-based applications that allow users to design online courses on their platform. Examples of eLearning would be places like Teachable, Udemy, and Thinkific.
These platforms will cost you more in the long run with a much higher monthly bill to maintain than if you paid upfront for an LMS on your own website.
However, the choice between the two will depend on your needs, the outcome you want, and of course, your financials.
Course examples
- If you are a real estate agent, you could teach a course on what are the most important things to look for when buying a house.
- If you do freelance work, you could teach somebody a special skill.
- If you are good with technology, teach somebody else how to do something technological.
- If you are a hairdresser, you could teach other hairdressers your signature cut and style.
- If you are an artist, you could teach your skill to another person.
- If there is a hobby that you love and that you’re good at, you could teach somebody how to do that hobby. For example, if you’re good at playing the piano then you could teach somebody how to play the piano.
2. Create e-commerce store
In the past few years, the e-commerce industry has seen a rapid increase in popularity. The reason for this is simple: people want to buy things online!
More and more people are shopping on their computers and smartphones, which means that there is an ever-expanding market for businesses that sell products online.
Which means you an create a a passive income stream with a website that sells items while you are busy doing other things that you love. Build your very own e-commerce store.
3. Blogging
Blogging has become a very popular form of communication in the modern world. It allows businesses to reach out to their customers and potential customers by giving them valuable information on products and services.
Blogging is also a great way of making money because it allows you to create an income that is passive, meaning that once you have set up your blog and put in the hard work, then you can sit back and watch the money roll in.
Here are a few reason that blogging can level up your business.
- Blogging helps build trust with customers
- Blogging helps you rank higher in search engines
- Blogging builds trust with search engines
- Blogging provides new avenues for advertising
- Blogging can help build relationships with other bloggers
As a digital marketing company, we love blogging and know the value. This is one of the reason that you are here on our blog reading this right now. To gain value, insight and information to help your business.
What kind of blog content can you provide your clients/customer or leads?
4. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online. It’s passive, you don’t have to do much work and it can be done from anywhere. But this is not limited to just affiliate programs.
Affiliate marketing creates passive income for businesses that are not necessarily online-based. If you run an offline store or brick-and-mortar business, you can still take advantage of affiliate marketing.
You can use affiliate links in your email marketing campaigns, social media posts and print ads to create passive revenue streams for your business.
You don’t need to spend any time on them once they are set up, but they will continue paying off over time!
5. Niche Sites
Niche sites passive income is the kind of income that you get when you create a site that has a very specific topic. This can be done by targeting a single keyword or just targeting a topic that is popular in your niche. The idea is to create content on this website and then monetize it with ads or affiliate marketing.
The idea behind niche sites passive income is to build up traffic over time and then slowly start earning money off of that traffic.
The great thing about these types of websites is that you do not need a huge amount of visitors in order to make money from them.
You will typically make more on smaller websites than you would on larger ones, which makes it a great option for those who are looking for ways to earn extra money fast.
6. Flipping things online
Flipping things online passive income is a great way to make money. You can make money by learning how to flip items on eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.
Flipping is the process of buying an item at a low cost and selling it for a higher price. This can be done in person or on the internet. It’s actually quite easy to learn how to flip things online.
The first thing you need to do when learning how to flip things online is find an item that people want or need right now. This will help you sell it quickly and get your money back so you can start buying more items to resell later on.
You should also look for items that are going out of style or are being replaced by newer models. These items will be harder for people to find at local stores or online retailers, so they will be less likely to use them as replacement parts or accessories for their products.
Once you find an item that needs replacing, go ahead and buy it from somewhere like eBay or Amazon if you don’t already have one in your home already!
It doesn’t matter where you get it from as long as it has good reviews and isn’t too expensive (around $100-$200 is usually best). You can even use social media platforms to flip connect. Here is an article to help you up your Instagram game if you want to sell on social.
The idea behind niche sites passive income is to build up traffic over time and then slowly start earning money off of that traffic.
The great thing about these types of websites is that you do not need a huge amount of visitors in order to make money from them.
You will typically make more on smaller websites than you would on larger ones, which makes it a great option for those who are looking for ways to earn extra money fast.
7. Renting space
Renting space is a passive income stream that you can start today. If you are interested in starting a rental business, here are some tips to help you get started:
Rent out your spare room
Rent out a room in your house or apartment. If you have a spare room in your house, consider renting it out on Airbnb.com or another similar site. If you live in an apartment building and have a vacant unit, consider renting it out as an Air BnB (or other similar company).
Rent out your car parking spot
If you live in an apartment building with off-street parking, consider renting out the extra space. You can put up flyers around the complex or even advertise on Craigslist or other sites that offer free classified ads.
You may be able to rent one or two parking spots per month at $10-$20 each depending on where you live and how much demand there is for these spots.
8. Podcasting
Podcasting is one of the most popular ways to create passive income. Here are five reasons why you should consider creating your own podcast:
- Podcasting is a great way to build your brand and get more exposure for your business.
- You can make money from ads on your podcasts, which means more revenue for you!
- Podcasting allows you to reach an audience that wouldn’t normally be available through other online avenues like social media platforms and blogs.
- You can promote other people’s products through sponsorship or affiliate marketing programs, which will increase your income even further!
- If done correctly, podcasting can be extremely lucrative and rewarding!
That’s it! Make money while you sleep
“Making money while you sleep” has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Take some time and look at all your options for passive income.
Perhaps online courses are not the right avenue for you, and if not there are numerous articles on the internet with passive income ideas that you could try out.
If one does not work, give it another try. You never know what might be the right fit for you. Building passive income can make you more resilient, and better able to weather economic shocks.
We hope that one day you will get to lay in your bed wrapped in warm blankets, snuggled up to a dog watching your bank account grow without breaking a sweat knowing that you worked hard to get to this comfortable place.