by James Sowers |
Last Updated: April 22, 2019 This post may be sponsored or may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission, at no additional cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Read the full disclosure.
Are you tired of trading your time for money? I sure was.
And that’s why I built online passive income streams for myself.
Passive income means putting in work once and getting paid over and over.
It may require you to put a lot of work upfront, but once you set it up, it’ll bring in money even if you’re SLEEPING.
In this post, I’ll share with you 9 passive income ideas that you can START TODAY and make money online.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
1. Start A Blog
Out of the many ways, blogging is my favorite source of passive income.
The reason I’ve kept this on top of the list is because most of my income comes from my blogs without exchanging my time for it.
This might sound really funny, but the first thing I do in the morning is check how much money I made while I was sleeping. (And that leads to no disappointment)
This blog post you’re reading now will bring in money for years to come, and I don’t even have to do anything apart from promoting it.
Another good thing about blogging is you have full control over it and you decide every single move.
In short, you are your own BOSS!
However, this doesn’t mean blogging is a piece of cake. It takes A LOT of patience and you need to continuously put in work.
There will be times when you would feel you’re on a road to nowhere, but then you gotta keep pushing to see those numbers pile up.
If you’re ready to put in the work and reap the benefits of passive income through blogging, then make sure you read How to Start a Blog and Make Money Online.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing means referring someone to a product and when they buy it through your link, you get a commission.
To make it simpler, here’s how it works:
- You join an affiliate program/network
- You choose a product that you want to promote and grab the affiliate link
- You share the link on your social media profiles, your blog, YouTube channel, email list or wherever it’s allowed.
- Whenever someone buys the product through your affiliate link, you receive your commission.
It’s that simple.
A massive 70% of my income comes from sharing affiliate links on my blog, and the other 30% is split between ads and sponsored posts.
Also read: 5 Creative Ways to Make Money from Instagram
Just so you know, you don’t necessarily need to have your own blog to promote affiliate products.
I’ve found success on a few Facebook groups as well where I just have to slide in my affiliate link whenever someone is looking for a product recommendation. (Without spamming)
There is literally no limit to how much you can earn with affiliate marketing and when you combine it with blogging, the earning potential can be skyrocketing.
If you want to make money from affiliate marketing like I do, but don’t know where to begin, then don’t worry! I’ve got you covered.
My friend Franklin Hatchett who is a well-known affiliate marketer and eCom expert, is one of those bloggers who’s KILLING it with affiliate marketing.
…..and because he’s passionate about sharing how he does it, he created a full-blown course called Savage Affiliates to help you make your FIRST $1,000 and then make a living through affiliate marketing.
Franklin went from being completely broke stuck in a dead-end 9-5 job to making a living online by various business models including affiliate marketing.
He’s been in this business for a long long time, so you can be sure he knows the tools of his trade.
This course teaches you everything from ground-zero to becoming a PRO in affiliate marketing.
If you’re looking for a step-by-step video course to make money as an affiliate marketer, then you should definitely grab Savage Affiliates.
3. Sell Online Courses
If you’re good at something then why not make money teaching it?
It could be teaching how to play guitar, how to speak a language, how to get six-pack abs, how to write irresistible content or just about anything.
Selling online courses is one of the most fun ways to earn passive income online because it’s not really complicated. PLUS, this business model is blooming with profits.
There is somebody somewhere looking to learn something and YOU could be the one teaching it. Give it a thought.
Platforms like Teachable makes it super-easy to create and sell your own online courses.
Five of the best things of Teachable are –
- You have full control over it
- You own your students’ data
- You decide on the price
- You get paid instantly
- It’s FREE to start
Check out Teachable and launch your own online course now.
On a side note: If you want to learn the ins and outs of selling online courses, I highly recommend taking this class which you can get in for FREE!
4. Start A Dropshipping Store
Dropshipping basically means being a middle-man between your customer and the wholesale supplier.
In simple terms:
You list and sell the product on your online store –> buy it from the wholesale supplier -> have it shipped directly to the customer.
The best part is you don’t have to keep your own inventory. The supplier does all the work for you, such as labeling and order fulfillment.
As long as you have an internet connection, you’re all good to keep running your dropshipping business.
Again, Franklin Hatchett is a fabulous example of someone who’s making it big with dropshipping.
He makes a full-time income from his dropshipping stores and guess what?
He now has a spectacular course called eCom Elites to take you step-by-step through the entire process of making money with dropshipping eCommerce stores online.
It has over 150 step-by-step videos teaching everything from building an online store, finding suppliers, adding products to making sales fast using little-known strategies.
This course has over 5000+ students enrolled and has to be one of the BEST dropshipping course out there because it not only focuses on paid traffic, but also free traffic.
Which means, even if you don’t have a ton of money to spend on paid traffic sources, you can still make money with this.
5. Sell eBooks
Selling eBooks is another great way to earn passive income online.
Just so you know, you don’t have to be an expert to write and sell them.
If you have an idea or a skill that needs to be shared with the world, you can go ahead and write an eBook about it to earn money from it for years to come.
Here’s some basic things which goes into making money with eBooks –
- Find a topic you want to create an eBook on. It could be a tutorial, story or tips on the topic you have knowledge upon.
- Come up with a catchy title. “Powerful Tips To Gain Confidence And Boost Your Self Esteem” works better than “How To Gain Confidence”
- Prepare an outline and write the eBook.
- Use Grammarly to edit and proofread to make sure there ain’t no errors.
- Start promoting it on your blog, social media etc.
Now, these are really basics things. If you dig much deeper, you’ll know that you’ll have to create a sales page, get your eBook listed on Amazon or have a solid marketing strategy so that people buy your eBook.
All of this information becomes a a bag full of confusion. And if you’re someone really new to this, you’re already skeptical on where to start first.
To clear all the chaos in your mind and help you by the hand to start making money by selling eBooks, I highly recommend taking eBook Bestseller Bootcamp by Ana.
It is a beginner to advanced video course that shows you how to self-publish your eBook the right way and have people buy them like CRAZY!
Ana makes a consistent $500-$3500 each month by selling eBooks, all of it being 100% passive income.
Use code “EBB20OFF” to get $20 OFF
6. Start A YouTube Channel
We all know that video is rapidly taking over the internet and is considered as the “King” when it comes to user-engagement.
Whenever I have a confusion or I am in need of a tutorial, I instantly head over to YouTube because video is the most easiest and fun medium to digest any form of information.
With over 1.9 billion monthly users, starting a YouTube channel is the hottest thing right now. It has the potential to make you millions of dollars if you can really make your audience stick with your content.
In fact, a 7-year old kid became the highest YouTube earner of 2018. He made a whopping 22 MILLION DOLLARS by just reviewing TOYS!!
It’s crazy if you ask me, but at the same time – It’s possible.
Though it’s not as quick as you might think, but in no time you could be making a living out of it.
You can make tutorials, funny videos, day-to-day vlogs or just sing songs in front of the camera. Just make sure you’re consistent. 1-2 videos a week is a good number to maintain consistency.
Once you have a decent amount of views and subscribers, you can enable ads on your videos which pays you whenever a viewer clicks on the ad.
Plus, you can also monetize your channel with affiliate products and brand sponsorship.
My friend Phil Ebiner has a great course that teaches you how to make money on YouTube. You can check it out here.
7. Sell Stock Photos Online
If you have a good camera and some decent photography skills, you can make some good money on the side by selling your photos online.
You can submit your photos on sites like ShutterStock and get paid every time someone downloads it.
Though it is unlikely to provide you a full-time income, but it can be a great way to profit out of a fun activity like photography.
Plus, apart from your camera, there is no additional investment required.
All you do is submit your photos to ShutterStock and watch your earnings shoot up with every single download.
It becomes a PURE passive income source.
If you want to learn more about selling stock photos online, I recommend taking this class for FREE on Skillshare.
8. Sell Merchandise On Teespring
Be it t-shirts, mugs or hoodies. We all love buying stuff we see on the internet.
But do we know that there is a lot of money to be made selling these items?
In fact, you could earn over $1,500 a month designing simple t-shirts like this:
Teespring is a platform that lets you sell customized merchandises.
All you have to do is make your own designs. Teespring then prints it into t-shirts, mugs, phone covers etc and ships to your customers whenever they order it.
Except the design and a little promotion, everything is taken care of by Teespring.
How cool is that?
If you want to learn more about this passive income idea, I recommend checking out this class you can get in for FREE.
9. Sell Crafts On Etsy
Selling handmade items, crafts or printables on Etsy can become a highly profitable home-business.
If in case you don’t know, it’s an online marketplace focused on selling unique items that probably cannot be found elsewhere.
The items could be anything from jewelries, personalized cards, candles, soaps to printables, wall art etc.
You can list your items for as low as $0.20/each and get started right away.
I have a couple of friends who started selling crafts and other handmade items on Etsy and they haven’t looked back since.
Just like any other business, you have to put in some work upfront, be unique and have patience until you start to see some tiny profits build up into bigger ones.
If you want to learn more about selling on Etsy, then you can take this brilliant class for FREE.
Final Words
There you have it.
9 passive income ideas you can start today and make money online.
But hey, any of the above passive income ideas won’t work unless YOU DO.
It’s easier to start then to prosper, so put your hustle into action and make this year yours.
Which passive income idea did you like the most and want to start with? Tell me in the comments. 🙂
Interested in getting more articles like this sent straight to your inbox?