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This post is all about the best passive income strategies.
Hey guys, everyone wants to make money right? But how great would it be to make money without doing anything. Thats basically how passive income works. You just set it up once and then boom, the money keeps coming in over time without you putting in extra work.
And for someone like me, that put in TONS of time with a 9-5, that sounds amazing. I used to always be so stressed about how to make more money on the side. But it was so hard when I would barely have any energy or time after I got off work. And then I discovered passive income and realized I could make money easily even when I slept!
And yeah you’re probably like how the heck is this possible? It sounds crazy right? But thats why I made this post to go through the 20 best passive income strategies that anyone can do so you can be making more money on the side easily in no time! I hope you find all of these helpful and more!
This post shows you passive income strategies to make money.
BEST PASSIVE INCOME STRATEGIES
1. Film a skillshare class
If you happen to be skilled at something, this could be a great way for you to bring in passive income. No you don’t have to be the most talented person ever either. Trust me, I understand lol. But if you’re good enough to be decent, you can def help someone else by showing them how as well.
And this could be anything. Maybe you’re good at cooking tasty recipes. Or you know how to make cute instagram photos. Or you happen to understand Microsoft Excel. Whatever it is, you can totally turn that into a helpful series, film a few videos, and then post it on sites like Skillshare.
And we’re talking lots of money too. I know people on here who literally only posted a few videos with their course and now make hundreds of dollars a DAY. Just from random people watching their course to learn how to do something. It’s def worth trying!
2. Play video games on Twitch
Are you a gamer? Trust me I won’t judge. Gaming can take up a bunch of time though. Hours of the day even. Instead of just wasting that time playing random video games for fun, why not stream yourself doing it on Twitch so other people can enjoy it with you.
Obviously this is not hard. Well playing the video games can be lol. But actually setting up a Twitch account and then streaming is super easy. And anyone can do this too so you don’t have to be the most entertaining person ever. People like to watch others who have fun with it so be yourself.
And don’t think you can’t make much on this. There are people on here making well over a million a YEAR just playing video games. And I put this on the passive income list because when people subscribe to you (like 4.99 a month), you get a cut of that income each month from doing nothing. The more subscribers you have, the more free money!
3. Make helpful youtube videos
Yes, I know everyone talks about this. It’s basically a meme at this point. But its popular for a reason, you can def make money posting youtube videos online. Literally anyone can be a youtuber these days. And you can make videos about pretty much anything.
Maybe you’re into fashion. Talk about that. Maybe you’re into technology. Talk about that. Theres lots of room for anyone to talk about anything. The key is just to make it helpful or entertaining so other people wanna watch your videos and hit that subscribe button.
And this can quickly turn into passive income as your videos do better over time. You can have a video you filmed 6 months ago continually earn you $100 a day from ads without ever filming another video. And you can totally have a video do well in under 20 days.
4. Self publish an ebook
Are you good at writing? Do you ever feel like you could write a whole essay on something you’ve been through that could help others? If so, you might wanna try writing up an ebook and self publishing on Kindle. I know it can sound intimidating when you think about writing your own book but its really not that hard.
And your book can be about anything. It doesn’t have to be nonfiction. In fact a lot of the ones doing well on Kindle are fiction novels. You can write a steamy romance. Or a scary thriller. Or a cool sci-fi. Just make it a series and put cliff hangers so people get hooked and need to read more.
These days lots of people are doing this and by just publishing one ebook, they can have reliable passive income coming in every month doing absolutely nothing.
5. Start drop shipping with Shopify (sell custom products)
This one is slowly becoming more popular as more people learn about it. I really had no idea this was even a thing a few years ago. Basically drop shipping is where you but generic products from a wholesaler (think basic items with no branding), and then resell them to people with your own custom branding for higher price.
It may sound like a scam but really its all about marketing. Imagine you buy some basic white paper from the store and then paint it pink and resell it to people as “Magical Pink Paper”. You can say it makes your writing extra good. Thats basically what drop shipping is.
Sites like Shopify make it really easy for you to put together your own online store, connect with wholesalers, choose your products, create your branding, and start getting your first sales in no time. And this is a passive income strategy because once you set up the store, people can purchase at any time (even while you sleep).
6. Sell your clothes online
You ever look around your house and see a bunch of clothes lying around? (Don’t lie lol but same). Stuff you don’t wear anymore. Stuff that doesn’t fit. Or stuff you just don’t like once you put it on. Yeah, I think we can all relate. Instead of just letting it sit there like trash, why not sell them to other people and get your money back?
And we’re talking more money than you originally bought them for. With sites like Poshmark, you can literally set up your own online store, pick your own price, and watch as people flock in to purchase your old stuff.
Of course, they’re gonna buy stuff based on what they see. So make sure you take good pics of the clothes you wanna sell so they can see the quality. I’ve even bought stuff from other people on there so its totally legit.
You can be making easy passive income AND free up your closet at the same time. Talk about a win win!
7. Auction your old junk on eBay
Again, we all can be crusty at times. (I’m a secret hoarder lol). Random old junk can quickly build up around the house if we’re not careful. Instead of letting that clog up our rooms, it makes more sense to get rid of it and sell it on eBay.
And the cool thing about eBay is you can do an auction. So whoever agrees to pay the most for your item gets it. Imagine selling an old rare CD for 10x what it actually costed to buy it. Thats the magic of bidding.
If you have a bunch of stuff on your eBay store (cause you have a bunch of junk at home lol), you can see how over time as sales come in, you can be making decent passive income.
8. Design custom t-shirts with Teespring
I don’t know about you but I used to always love doing tie-dye as a kid. I would love during events at school or field days how we’d get creative and make cool t-shirts with our own designs. But did you know can literally something similar as an adult and make money from it?
Yes, with sites like Teespring, you can design your own custom t-shirts (who didn’t dream of having their own clothing line as a kid?), and then sell them to people online. The key here is to be creative and design cool t-shirts that stand out. Obviously stuff you’d wanna wear yourself.
Then it all just comes down to marketing. Teespring makes it easy to set up the online store. All you have to do is make it pretty and watch the sales roll in. Believe it or not, there are people making tens of thousands from one shirt on here.
9. Create a website and add display ads
Who hasn’t thought about making a website before? Having your own site and having people come to it and read it and everything. It sounds pretty cool right. But most people don’t realize that you can actually make hella money having your own site too.
There’s all kinds of sites too. News sites. Review sites. Blogs. You can pick anything but the key here with making money is gonna be display ads. You put those ads up and then the more people that visit your site, the more money you make.
There’s other ways to make money having a website too but display ads is one of the easiest. And this is totally passive income cause people can visit your website during the day, at night, while you’re sleeping, whenever. And you’ll still make money!
10. Set up a small handmade shop on Etsy
I always loved making handmade crafts as a kid. Little paper airplanes or stuffed birds. All sorts of cool little arts and crafts. But did you know you can literally do that stuff now as an adult, sell it to people, and make money?
Yes, with sites like Etsy, they make it so easy for you to create your own handmade items and market it to people who would love to buy them. I even go on Etsy myself from time to time cause there’s just so much cool stuff on there.
And while handmade items are def the dominant thing there, you can make digital products like printable, worksheets, or whatever, and sell those on Etsy too! Then just watch the sales come in every month.
11. Sell your art on RedBubble or DeviantArt
Are you super creative? Maybe really artistic? Do you love drawing pictures or making cool designs? If so, you might love posting it up on sites like RedBubble to make sweet passive income.
RedBubble or DeviantArt are both super cool sites where you can easily put up your custom art and make money from it. People go on there to find unique art they can’t find anywhere else. And thats where you come in. You just set up your online store, put your art there, and wait for people to come through and buy it. So simple.
Of course, not everyone is gonna buy just anything lol. Don’t think if you put a line on a blank white canvas that its gonna sell really well. (But it might, who knows. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.) You wanna create something that sticks with you and gives off a cool vibe.
12. Record a song and put it on Spotify or Soundcloud
As a kid I always wanted to make my own songs, create a band, and become a pop star. I literally used to put on shows with siblings in front of my parents. (I know embarrassing lol). Now I only sing in the shower. But with platforms like Spotify and Soundcloud, you can literally host your music and make money when people stream it.
And you don’t even have to have THAT good of a voice. Think of all the singers out there who are popular but low-key sound trash. That could be you lol. There is definitely an audience out there for everyone.
13. Rent out a spare room on AirBnb
We all have spaces we don’t use very often. That one guest room that no one uses cause you don’t have friends. (I know the struggle lol). That one part of the garage. Etc etc. Instead of just letting that empty space go to waste, why not rent it out on AirBnb and make easy passive income?
AirBnb is basically a platform where you can put a spare room (or even your whole house) up for temporary rent, and then people can rent it out for a weekend or a week etc. It’s super simple and if you’re social, you can even be there with them hosting it.
People love buying AirBnbs these days rather than just going with a basic hotel when traveling somewhere because it’s so much close to actually living there. Also, it can be more convenient to get an AirBnb if its close to a destination you planned on going than a hotel thats further away.
Bottom line, if you happen to live near a convenient area (maybe close to a sports stadium or wherever), you can totally put up a spare room on AirBnb, and make easy money as people rent it out each month to stay.
14. Invest in dividend stocks
Now we’ve all heard of investing in the stock market. You probably know about investing in companies and watching as shares go up and down in value. But did you know there’s a special kind of stock called a dividend stock that will literally pay you just for owning it?
Yes, I know it sounds crazy but these kinds of stocks are great for getting reliable cash flow. One of the most popular dividend stocks is ATT cause they offer such a high rate but there’s tons of others too. The cool part about dividends is even if the stock itself is not doing the best, most times you can still count on that dividend.
These dividends can come in multiple times of the year too. So all you have to do is hold onto that particular stock and you can expect to get paid by them a piece of their profits every several months. Talk about passive income!
15. Create your own paid app
We use apps for pretty much everything. Playing games when we’re bored. Finding good restaurants in town. Seeing constellations in the night sky. Apps are so useful these days so it makes sense that if you make a cool app, you can get tons of money from it.
But a lot of people don’t realize that you can actually make your own app really easy. It does not have to be hard at all. You don’t even have to know how to code. With sites like AppMachine, you can just design your app with a simple drag and drop interface and be publishing on the app store in no time.
And of course, you can make an app about pretty much anything. Maybe something to show the best reviews for certain products. An app to help friends connect. (Don’t copy facebook lol). Theres tons of ideas out there. And even if you charge .99 cents for it, if enough people buy it, thats easy passive income.
16. Put your money in a high yield savings account
This one can sound kinda boring but guys trust me, it’s in here for a reason. Putting your money in a high yield savings account is a simple reliable way to make money without doing anything. No its not gonna make you rich or anything, but it’s better than just sitting in your wallet and not making ANY money.
Right now, interest rates are low so this isn’t going to give you that good of a return but if you keep it in here, as they adjust, that rate will go up over time. That means you can be making a lot more money the longer you leave it in here.
I personally think is the best place to put your money for an emergency fund or anything where you think you’ll need the money right away. Otherwise I suggest putting it in the stock market for better returns. But this is def a simple way to make passive income for beginners.
17. Sell your photos as stock pictures
If you’re like me, you probably take a ton of photos every day. Random pics of the park. A nice selfie in golden hour. Portrait shots with your friends. While its perfectly fine to just let that sit in your camera roll or even posted on Insta, you can totally sell those as stock images and make hella money instead!
You might be thinking, why would anyone want my crusty photos. But it doesn’t work like that. People need stock photos for all sorts of reasons. Writing articles, creating design illustrations, business campaigns, everything. And sometimes the most natural authentic photo looks way better than some artificial heavily produced one.
With sites like Shutterstock, you can casually post your photos and make money every time someone wants to buy it to use for something. And of course, you have full control over what photos you post. So don’t think it has to be that creepy.
18. Use credit card with cashback to pay your bills
I never used to realize how cool this feature was with some credit cards. That you could just buy stuff that you normally gonna buy anyway and then make free money from it. But thats literally what happens when you use a credit card that has good cashback.
And you can do this all the time without even thinking about it. Paying for gas that you already were gonna buy anyway. Paying for plane tickets for that vacation you already had scheduled. Buying your groceries. Without thinking about it, you could be earning easy cashback passive income.
Oh and if you wanna know the best credit cards that offer good rewards like this, check out my post on good credit cards here. I go over all the best ones for college students, parents, etc.
19. Use reward sites to earn money when you shop online
Are you an online shopper? I almost feel embarrassed to admit how much I shop for stuff online. Random stuff on amazon. Gifts for friends. A new shirt from a store I like with an online discount. Buying stuff online is great. But did y’all know that with reward sites, you can actually MAKE money from doing this?
Yes, with sites like Ibotta, they will actually pay you real money just to shop at stores you like online. It sounds pretty crazy but they do it because they make money through affiliate deals. If you’re already doing a lot of online shopping anyway, this is an easy way to make passive income.
Also this isn’t just for online. They actually have way more offers for in person shopping. You just download the Ibotta app, take a pic of your receipt, upload it to the app, and they pay you like that! Super simple and fast.
20. Set up an online store with Amazon FBA
Okay, lastly if you’ve ever thought about making your own products and selling them to people online, you might wanna consider starting an Amazon FBA store. Basically you create the products and then Amazon takes care of the delivery and customer service so you don’t have to deal with that headache.
And your products can be anything. Maybe some beauty product that you come up with. Or a device that helps clean bathrooms. Some cool looking sunglasses. Anything. Just put your entrepreneur hat on and think about something you can come up with that other people would need.
Now this could take longer than 20 days but it doesn’t have to. There are certainly simple items you can put together in a couple weeks and have them shipping out through Amazon to potential customers. And once they’re on Amazon, that’s easy money whenever someone buys your product.