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Passive Income Ideas

We all wish we could make money while we sleep right?

Think about it, you can take an extra-long holiday while your “passive income” makes you money behind the scenes – truly a dream come true.

So, what is a passive income stream?

Passive income is where you start or create a project, and later, this project brings you money day in and day out even if you are not actively involved.

Lets say you create an ebook and put it up for sale. This book starts generating sales on a regular basis, 24×7. You could go on a holiday and the e-book is still making you money. Since it is sold in a digital format, you don’t need to produce a physical product.

This is called passive income.

You only wrote that ebook once, but you are getting paid for it over and over again every time someone makes a purchase.

Sounds like a dream job isn’t it? This is why you hear a lot of people say, “Make money while you sleep, with passive income”.

You don’t need to create products. You can also sell other people’s products and still make a passive income.

In today’s post, I am going to share some smart passive income ideas to consider this year, so you can make $1,000 a month in passive income.

PASSIVE INCOME IDEAS

1. Sell Printables

We are in a digital era, where almost everything can be done online.

There is an increase interest in buying custom-made printables that you can buy online and download instantly at home.

Etsy is currently one of the best places to shop for customised goods.

You can make use of this growing trend, by selling your own printables online or on your Etsy store.

If you are wondering what are printables, these are digital files that you can create and sell online.

There is no shipping or packing involved. Once you create your digital file, simply add it to your shop and each time someone buys and prints them, you make money.

This is the best example of an online passive income. You create a single “project” and sell as many copies of it as you like.

Here are a long list of printables you can sell online:

  • Meal Planners
  • Fitness Trackers
  • Cleaning checklists
  • Goal trackers
  • Bullet journal sheets
  • Monthly Calendars
  • Weekly Planners
  • Budget Planners
  • Inspirational Wall Art
  • Bible Verses
  • Kids coloring pages
  • Adult coloring pages
  • Kids rewards chart
  • Kids activity sheets
  • Wedding invites
  • Printable wedding table numbers
  • Birthday invites
  • Greeting Cards
  • Labels for home organisation

sell printables for passive income

For example, if you create a pack of beautiful bible verses, you an add a copy of the pdf. file to your store and sell them for say, $10.

Now every time someone buys this instant download, that’s $10 into your account. Say if you sell 10 of these a day, that you making $100 a day in passive income.

If this is a passive income idea you like to consider, check out this free online course that will help you get started.

2. Sell Digital Stickers

Similar to printables, digital stickers are also digital PNG(having a transparent background) files.

They are stickers used by those who own a digital planner that is similar to a physical planner.

People who own digital planners often buy digital stickers to customise their planners.

Here are some examples of digital stickers you can sell to make an online passive income:

  • Planner label stickers
  • Clip art icons
  • Basic Shapes
  • Fun art – rainbow, hearts etc
  • Photo frames
  • Calendar stickers
  • Picture frames
  • Numbers
  • Lists
  • Washi tapes and more!

These are just a few digital stickers for inspiration.

Michelle earned over $7,000 in passive income, selling digital stickers on her Etsy store in 6 months.

make passive income on Etsy

She has created a very easy to understand online course where you can learn how to create and sell digital stickers online – from scratch! Check out Michelle’s course here, if you also want to make passive income selling digital stickers online.

 

3. Blogging

I know you see this at the top of every list of passive income ideas, and that’s because it works – and I can testify.

There are so many bloggers that work on their blog either full-time or part-time and generate passive income. However, it does take a little time to bring in a steady income each month. It all comes down to how much time you have to work on it.

The flexibility with blogging is amazing, and I believe its the perfect stay at home mom job as it has given me the opportunity to have a flexible work at home lifestyle.

So how do you make money blogging?

You can earn money by placing ads, link to affiliate products or even sell your own product – an ebook or an online course.

The amount of money you make depends on the number of visitors (traffic) to your site, and if the readers are interested in your content.

If you are ready to give blogging a try, I highly recommend Siteground to host your website.

I have been with them since the start, and they have been so helpful – from setting up, doing regular backups, increased site speed and just keeping my site free from hackers – I can’t recommend them enough. And the best part – they set me all up, so there wasn’t the need for me to read tutorials and learn the technical side of things.

Read how I got set up with Siteground the easy way>>

 

4. Start your own YouTube channel

If you enjoy being in front of the camera its never too late to start a YouTube channel.

You make money on YouTube the same way as you would with a blog – from ads and affiliates.

See those little ads that show up while watching a video on YouTube?

Those are ads that will generate you money.

Swagbucks Make extra money by browsing the web, watching videos, playing online games and testing new products - clothing, food, cosmetics and more! Its free to join. Sign up for your chance to get a $5 Swagbucks bonus.
 

And in the description below the video, you can see some notes and links right?

If someone were to click those affiliate links below and make a purchase you earn a commission.

Here are some popular Youtube video ideas:

You can do recipes, hair and makeup tutorials, travel logs, parenting, and toddler videos or just generally even a family lifestyle channel and get the entire family involved.

And even create free classes to help others with knitting, crocheting and other helpful tutorials.

 

5. Online Book Arbitrage

make passive income with Zen Arbitrage.

Did you know that you can resell books on Amazon for a higher price and keep the profits?

There is a simple online tool called Zen Arbitrage that scans Amazon for profitable books and lets you sell it for a higher price.

Anyone can do this without experience and the best part is, there is no inventory.

Here are the three steps to make money with Zen Arbitrage:

  • Zen Arbitrage finds cheap books on Amazon
  • You then relist it for a higher price
  • When it sells, you keep the profits

There are beginners making well over $1,000 a month in passive income. While those with experience are earning over $10,000 a month.

Read our full review of Zen Arbitrage here.

 

6. Get Paid to Advertise

Did you know that there are several ways you can get paid to advertise without a marketing background.

For example you can make passive income, by placing an advertisements on your car with Wrapify and Carvertise.

You can also make money advertising on social media and YouTube.

Read our post on 9 different ways you can get paid to advertise to make a passive income.

 

7. Retirement Savings

Saving up for retirement is a passive income stream that is best to start today.

Bloom is an online Robo advisor platform, particularly for your workplace retirement 401k plan.

They help you link your existing 401k which then allows their bots to do the research for you.

You are not required to have an account minimum, so you can begin with a zero balance – great for beginners looking to save.

Get your free 401k analysis here.

 

8. Open a High-Yield Savings Account

CIT Bank offers the most competitive interest rates on its savings account.

You can earn up to 2.20% APY just for having money in your savings account. This is one of the best ways to make money from your income.

There are two ways to do it with CIT.

1. Monthly savers – Open this account with a $100 minimum and continue to deposit at least $100 each month to continue receiving high-interest rates.

2. High Balance Savers – Maintain a $25k balance on your account to receive CIT’s highest interest rate.

Check out CIT’s Savings Accounts here.

 

9. Earn for using the Web

We all use the internet to find the best answers for the price comparisons, recipes, or just about anything.

There is a rewards site called Swagbucks that pays you when you do an internet search. You earn points for your web search that can be redeemed for gift cards or PayPal cash. Gift cards start from $3, and you can cash out every day if you have enough points.

So instead of using Yahoo or Google for browsing the web, try Swagbucks and earn a passive income.

Join Swagbucks here for a $5 bonus and start earning. Make sure you verify Swagbucks email confirmation in your inbox to gain access to their dashboard.

Read additional ways to earn with Swagbucks – which includes daily surveys, cashback and more.

 

10. Investment App for Beginners

Investment might seem like a term for those looking to invest big money.

Not necessarily.

You can begin with investing as little as 50 cents and build it up.

Like the sound of that?

Most of the time our expenses and income are so tight that we end up having no money left to save. If that’s you, Acorns is the best savings app to help you invest your spare change.

So if you join Acorns and connect it to your bank account, next time you shop for a burger or a coffee and use your card, Acorns will round up the change to the closest dollar and automatically invest it for you. I have included this investment App in this list of passive income ideas, because every time you shop, you get money automatically invested for you – more money for you.

 

11. App to Cut Bills in Automation

Trim is one of the best automation apps to help save money on your bills.

Whether its cable, internet or car insurance Trim has saved is users over $1,000,000 in bills each month.

They have been featured in mainstream media like The NewYork Times and ABC news.

Once you connect Trim to your account, it analyses your recurring subscriptions and determines where you can save.

It helps negotiate or cancel bills on your request.

 

12. Drop-Shipping

If you are interested in selling products online this might suit you. Drop-shipping is where you sell products on your website and get someone else to do the delivery for you.

The advantage to dropshipping as opposed to owning your own e-commerce store is that you don’t need to stock any inventory. Once a customer visits your website and places an order, your chosen dropship supplier will deliver the product for you.

The investment in dropshipping is minimal and you can set up your website for less than $100 a year.

 

13. Sell an e-book or an online course

Selling a digital product like an ebook or an online course doesn’t have to be overwhelming or expensive.

For an eBook: Canva is a free website that lets you create an design an ebook in a pdf format that is free to download. And to sell your book I recommend using Sendowl to take care of all the transactions. Prices start at just $9 a month and all you need to do is upload the PDF file of your ebook to Sendowl, enter your price and method of payment.

For an online course: With an online course, you can include video tutorials to make it more interactive. Teachable is the recommended platform for selling online courses. You can use Teachable to create and sell on the same platform. It’s convenient because you can make updates to your course anytime and readers can view the changes when they login to their dashboard.

Every time someone makes a purchase you get the money straight into your account. Pinterest and Facebook have been the best way to promote online products. And if you don’t want to create your own website, you can also consider selling it on Kindle using Amazon.

 

14. Sell Stock Photos

If creating an ebook or selling an online course is not for you, how about selling photos online?

Wondering how?

Stock photos.

Online business owners, magazines/editorials and bloggers all use stock photos for promotion. So if you love taking high-quality images you can sell either per image or as a photo bundle – say 20 photos for $15 (as an example).

You can either sell your photos on sites like iStock and Shutterstock. Or you can create your own website and sell your photos on your site. The advantage in using your own website is, you can run random promotional offers – like a Christmas sale or a Black Friday sale as these sell like hotcakes.

You can also create an affiliate program for your website, so others can promote your site for you, while they earn a commission.

My friend Alicia Powell has her own stock photo website – you can check hers out here for inspiration!

 

15. Rent your house and things inside

Something that doesn’t involve investment or any of your time. If you have a spare room at home -why not rent it out?

You can either rent it out on a contract basis for a few months or join hands with Airbnb and rent it to travellers looking for a few nights stay. Either way, you can easily make a few hundred each week in passive income doing this.

Want to rent things you don’t use often?

Yes, there are many legit sites that offer to pay you for renting your stuff. Here are some worth looking into.

Rent parking space – Just park, Your parking space,  Park on my driveway

Rent clothes – Style lend

 

16. Rent your car

You can rent your car on Turo if you don’t use it often.

Its free to list your car on Turo and it takes less than 10 minutes to do so.  You get to set your own daily price and can also choose to offer discounts on longer trips.

Turo protects your car against physical damage and have access to 24×7 roadside assistance and customer support.

In regards to how much you earn – you get to keep 75% of the trip price and earn via PayPal.

 

17. Sell homemade crafts

Here is a long list of 40 crafts ideas that you can make from home and earn extra cash.

But if you are looking to start an online business selling your crafts, then Etsy is the way to go.

It’s an online marketplace that you list some of your goods and get paid when it sells.

Etsy sells physical products that you make at home -like handmade goods. A few ideas for selling on Etsy are handmade scarves, jewellery, hair accessories, party supplies and so much more.

Check some of the popular things to make and sell on Etsy.

 

18. Cashback – Online shopping

Cashback apps are a good beginner’s passive income stream. There is an increase in trend to shopping online either for convenience or to avail discounts.

And to get more out of online shopping, cashback apps work the best.

If this is the first time using cashback apps take a look at this little GIF that shows you how to save money when buying everyday products at Target using Ibotta a cashback app available to those in the US.

Ibotta is free to use and you can withdraw your earning once you reach a minimum of $20.

 

19. Neilson App -$50

Neilson Digital is another highly genuine company that lets you run their app on your phone to understand internet behaviour for their research purpose.

You can get paid an easy $50 just for successfully running the app on your device.

 

That’s your 19 legitimate ways of making money from home even when you are on a holiday.

That’s the best part of building a career on passive income. You get paid over and over for work once done.

If you are looking for some quick ways of earning money, here are some creative ideas.

Passive Income Ideas