Posted by There are unlimited Passive Income types of streams. Today I decided to compile a 20 Passive Income Ideas list and help you start with your first Passive Income stream. I included a bunch of different ones, to make sure anyone can start with at least one, no matter your budget or skills! After reading this you may also want to read: These are some of the Top Passive Income Earner(s)
1. Selling Courses
Do you have a lot of knowledge on an important topic? Even if it is something you do as a hobby, people are willing to pay a good price to learn about it. With platforms such as Gumroad and Udemy it has never been easier to create a course and sell it on your own!
2. Selling Ebooks
This is similar to Courses but for those that do not really have the knowledge on how to record and edit professional videos. All you need is a topic to write about, educational or not, Microsoft Word and Amazon, or a different platform to publish your books on. Why not give it a try?
3. Dividend Cash Flow
Many companies pay their shareholders a decent % of money simply for investing in their stock. This can be a little tricky but if you know what you are doing and have a great amount of money you can start earning passively today!
4. Print on Demand
Do you know a little bit about Graphic Design? Do you think you have what it takes to design unique and beautiful clothing or home accessories? Perfect! Merch by Amazon / Redbubble and probably hundreds of other companies would love to work with you. All you have to do is upload your designs and they will handle promoting, creating and shipping the products. You will never get to see your products but you will be rewarded with a decent percentage of the profits!
5. Start Blogging
Do you like writing and have a passion for a specific niche? Blogging may be for you. Even though it is not a straightforward journey, blogging can get you far. Top bloggers make 10s of Millions of euros per year and even though I cannot promise you the same success, you can definitely earn a decent income from your blog if you really want to.
Related Post: These are some of the Top Passive Income Earner(s)
6. Start a Youtube Channel
Similar to blogging, if you have video editing skills and a decent camera / microphone you may want to start a Youtube channel. Do you have a story to share? Do so and get paid from ads revenue as well as paid collaborations. This may not be completely passive at first but if done right it can become fairly passive. Some of the biggest Passive Income Youtubers either work on ever-green content or outsource the majority of their work.
7. Renting your House / Room
Websites like Booking and AirBnB make it insanely simple to list your house, apartment, or even a spare room and earn from it passively. They will promote it to their audience and give you ~ 70 to 85% of the earnings.
8. Renting your car
This is something that is relatively new, but people are doing it and it can be pretty passive. List your car on a car renting app and have it earn you money as you sleep. You do not need to own an expensive car, although it can help and you can use the Passive money you earn to finance your next one!
9. Streaming Music
Next in our “Passive Income Ideas” list, we will talk about distributing your own music to an audience. If you create music you can get rewarded for it passively. All you have to do is upload it on famous music streaming services such as Youtube and Spotify and get paid for the number of streams you get. Obviously, this requires an audience and is not going to happen from one day to another.
10. Credit Cards that reward you
That’s right! There are credit cards that give you money back when you use them. Now, of course, this will not make you rich or even replace your 9 to 5 job. The rewards are typically tiny compared to the amount of money you need to spend but if you already use a credit card why not switch to one that’s rewarding you?
11. Mobile App Development
If you open Google Play or the App Store you will find thousands of apps listed. Many of them targeting children that will play a game for hundreds of hours and tap on the different apps that pop up. This is how many developers worldwide make money passively.
12. Software Development / SaaS
SaaS stands for “Software as a Service” which is an insanely profitable business structure. Basically, instead of selling a physical or digital product, you sell a tool. You make a program or platform that fills a need in the market. For instance, Adobe rents its software monthly or yearly and people pay for them because they help them in their job. I think this one is by far my most favorite idea in this Passive Income Ideas list. That is because it is hugely scalable.
13. Photo Licensing
If you have a decent camera and love taking photographs of random places or things, this may be a passive income for you! There are many websites where you can upload your own photos and sell them for others to use on their blogs, videos, etc. Shutterstock is one of them.
14. Vending Machines
How many times have you been minding your own business and you notice a vending machine? Now all of a sudden you want to buy that Coca-Cola can it sells… You can profit from that by setting up your own vending machines and filling them with goods. All you have to do is wait for people to buy from them and refill them once they are empty.
15. Amazon FBA
“FBA” or “Fulfilled by Amazon” is Amazon’s service where you can store a product in their warehouse and have them sell it for you. This is a little complicated to explain in a couple of lines but this is the main idea. If you know what you are doing you can make a LOT of money passively this way. Now, of course, there are some costs to it. Amazon will not risk storing your product for free. They will charge you for it and many times you may end up negative so do some research before you start FBA.
16. Real Estate
I think this one is extremely popular and therefore had to be added to this Passive Income Ideas List. People will always need a house to live in. You can rent one to them or flip it for profit. (Buy cheap, fix, sell) I do not have experience in this space but I do know that starting in Real Estate needs a lot of knowledge and money so it may be hard for the majority of people.
17. R.E.I.T. – Real Estate Investment Trust
As I said above investing in Real Estate is not affordable for everyone. As an alternative, you could invest in a REIT. A “Real Estate Investment Trust” according to Investopedia is:
“A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, operates, or finances income-generating real estate. Modeled after mutual funds, REITs pool the capital of numerous investors. This makes it possible for individual investors to earn dividends from real estate investments—without having to buy, manage, or finance any properties themselves.”
18. Laundromat
Running a laundromat should be considered Semi – Passive Income. It is basically a self-service business where customers come to do their laundry for a small fee. It is extremely popular close to Universities as many young individuals may not have a washing machine on their own.
19. Affiliate Marketing
Again, this is Semi – Passive as you need to actively market your links. Even though it requires some effort, I could not leave it outside a Passive Income Ideas List as it can be extremely profitable. Affiliate Marketing is when you promote a product or service through your custom link and get a commission for each sale you make. I consider it Passive as you do not need to create a product and everything apart from Marketing is taken care from others. If you know how SEO or Facebook / Google Ads work then this is something you should try!
20. Renting your Tools
If you have a tractor, other farming tools or even tools that are not affordable for the public, you may want to consider renting them. When was the last time you were working on something and needed this expensive tool to build it? You saw its price and thought “this is too costly to use only once…” well, save money off others and earn some too!
To conclude, there are countless smart passive income ideas. You probably have a lot of skills needed for at least one of them and your budget cannot stop you. It is just yourself that can stop you from achieving your true potential!
