One of the secrets that’s pushed millions of people to find ideas to earn passive income is the fact that this is one of the most reliable options to make extra cash by the side while keeping your job or doing your business or other things by the side.
It has also become one of the cheapest ways to get an extra source of income to take care of some peculiar needs not covered by your paycheck, without putting in extra effort.
The good thing about your aspiration to earn an extra income while you sleep is that it is very doable. But the bad news? It’s the fact that some of the popular options you have out there are not just practicable for some reasons.
As a strong advocate of side income, in this guide, I’ll be sharing with you some of the key lessons I’ve learned along my journey with passive income earnings, the key ideas I’ve evolved and the ones I’ve shared with my students.
Writing & Book Publishing
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Writing or creating content is one of the best ways to earn passive income online. One good thing about this passive income idea is that the most it requires from you is the first initial effort needed to write, publish and promote your book at first.
As a writer, there are many ways to earn money by the side, while creating your content.
For example, you can decide to earn money by creating and publishing content on a blog. This allows you to garner a decent audience. With this audience, you can create options for advertisers or other promoters to advertise on your blog. (You don’t make any extra effort while doing that).
And there are a lot of ways to do this, ranging from posting direct banner ad spaces on your blog, writing sponsored posts, using affiliate links or the engaging in direct influencer marketing approach.
Another way to earn passive income as a writer is creating and publishing your content into books, be it digital or hard copy.
Doing this does not only give you the chance to earn a residual income, it gives you an opportunity to build your brand while getting prepped for better opportunities as your thought leadership grows.
A good number of writers today have written books that have enabled them to earn a decent income passively. And using this approach, you can join their ranks.
Launching Digital Products
Digital products are items like eBooks, music, tutorials, PDFs, Pictures, Videos, Short Movies and other similar products you create and sell digitally either by automation or otherwise.
As someone with a specialized skill, you can create digital products like courses, trainings and videos; sell them online, as in-demand courses and make your earnings while you sleep.
It’s one of the best ways to earn passive income regardless of your location. And one big advantage of creating digital products is that you don’t have to create the product each time a client needs it. You can create it once and sell it for as long as you want.
This makes it one of the perfect fit ideas to earn a passive income.
Additionally, as a creative person either as a Graphics Designer, Photographer, Video Creator etc. you can also create your own digital products and sell them off online.
There are a number of platforms selling these products online, in exchange for a less than a token as fees.
The major downside with this is that you need a proper in-demand skill to get started creating digital courses however; you can get around this by hiring skilled experts to create the content for you, where you don’t have the expertise.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a marketing model where as an affiliate; you earn a commission by promoting a product or service by another company. This could be by the use of affiliate links or special codes that gets you earning a commission when a customer buys the product using your unique link or code.
Be it online or offline, over the years, Affiliate Marketing has become one of the most popular approaches used by individuals and businesses to earn passive income.
As a content creator, you can strategically include your affiliate links as part of your content via your blogs, websites or social media posts.
To start making money with affiliate marketing, you’ll need to set up your blog, choose the right affiliate product, create top quality content and then promote them to drive the right traffic to your links.
The major cons with affiliate marketing as a passive income earner is that as a beginner you may have a slow start during the early days.
Also, you will need a decent writing skills and some good number of traffic to generate actual income using this model. However, this can be sorted out, should you decide to hire an experienced content creator and SEO expert to do the job.
Social Media Influencing
The advent of social media has ushered in influencer marketing as one of the most well-known passive income generation models today.
With a decent number of social media followers, nice engagement and good content, you can start earning passive income right from your social media pages, with little to no effort.
One of the advantages of using this model for your passive income ideas is that the social media already has a widespread audience you can tap into, using your own content and other brand promotion ideas.
To get started, you will have to identify your preferred audience and social media platform, create an account on the platform, start creating, sharing and promoting your content on the platform.
Generally, the cons with social media influencing is that even though it takes a lot less effort to get started, you’ll have to put in the work to create, share and promote your content and then garner a decent number of audience, before you can actually start earning your pay check as an influencer.
Again, if you’re willing to invest in this, you can always hire some content marketing and social media experts to get the job done for you.
That said, you can actually still earn a passive income from the social media while doing the things you absolutely love. Yes!
Become a Blogger
Blogging is a great way to earn a passive income online. A lot of bloggers are actually doing this and cashing out to the bank.
The thing about blogging is that it gives you a lot of options to earn your side income, depending on what works for you.
For example, you can decide to blog about topics on any niche that interests you and also has a decent audience. Or you can opt for a high selling niche with a bigger audience.
While blogging can be demanding in the early days, you don’t necessarily have to create content everyday to make it out as a successful blogger.
You can take out a few hours of the day, create, post and promote your content while doing other things that keep you busy. The idea is to do something that doesn’t take too much or any of your time while still getting you the earnings eventually.
Another advantage of blogging is that you have different monetization options you can use to make your earnings, depending on your niche, industry or personal outcomes. Learn how to make money blogging here.
Start a YouTube Channel
Just like blogging, you can start a YouTube channel, create content, grow it and then get to monetize it and start earning after you start getting a decent traffic.
It is one of the popular ways to earn passive income. And it’s being used by some of your most visible content creators.
Best thing about YouTube is that you don’t have to be perfect before getting started. All you’ll need is good and valuable content, consistency and an audience.
The moment you have these things in place, you can start using the monetization options and start earning while you audience grows.
One notable thing about both blogging and starting a YouTube page is that there are multiple ways you can earn a passive income from these platforms.
And you can choose to start with and grow one preferred option and then expand as much as you want.
Investing in Real Estate
One of our first non-digital-only ways to earn passive income in this guide is to invest in real estate. Fortunately, this also happens to be one of the most popular and most traditional ways to earn passive income online.
Over the years, it has become one of the most well trusted passive income generation models, recognized globally and so many have earned steady revenues, using this model.
There are many ways to invest in real estate as a passive income model. For example, the following are ways you can invest in real estate:
- Buying and selling properties: You can engage in buying a real estate property like lands or houses and reselling them at higher prices after some years.
- Building & Leasing: You can buy landed properties in choice locations, erect structures and lease them off at good bargains. This model allows you to earn on the property many times over, after your initial investment.
- Renting: With this model, you can buy landed property in strategic locations, build on them and rent out the apartments. Alternatively, you can buy already erected structures and rent them out as individual apartments.
Done well, this model allows you to have a steady flow of earnings, after an initial investment.
The major cons about investing in real estate are the high cost it demands at the initial stages and the enormous work you’ll have to put in getting good real estate properties and erecting the structures as the case may be. Although, with the right kind of resources, this can be sorted out.
Final Words
In a nutshell, earning passive income is doable. But, one thing you have to keep in mind is that irrespective of your location, preferred industry or passive income model, to be able to earn a passive income realistically, you have to identify your preferred target audience, industry or niche and then put in the work to initially get started on this.
Also, where you’re using a digital model, you have to go all out to create, share, and promote content to drive the necessary traffic that will be useful in increasing your passive income earnings.
Additionally, you’ll have to keep in mind that passive income is not something you’ll earn automatically; you’ll have to put in the work before you earn and sometimes that might take a little while.
With the right help and resources, you can start earning even faster and easier than you would on your own. To do this, reach out to our team here.
Now, it’s your turn. What are your biggest challenges when it comes to earning passive income online? Drop your comments below.
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