If you would have told me in high school that I making money wasn’t only easy, it can actually be enjoyable, I would have been the happiest girl in the world. So often, when it comes to earning money we only look at traditional, and contemporary ways to do so. However, there is a big world filled with different ways to earn passive income. In some cases, people make a living this way. Other times people are hoping to find extra ways to make money to put toward debt or to build wealth. Whatever the case, let’s talk about how you can earn passive income and create financial stability.
*This post contains affiliate links. While I may make a commission, please know all recommendations are my own.
What is passive income?
Before we dive in, I suppose we should discuss exactly what passive income is in the first place.
To put it as plain and simple as possible, passive income is getting paid for work that you only did once. You put in the time and effort and then the funds just keep coming. It sounds like a dream come true, right?
There are other ways to earn passive income where you actually keep doing work…but it doesn’t really feel like work.
Either way, it’s a pretty great gig.
If you are hoping to find a new way to create financial stability for yourself or your family, but don’t have that much time to commit to a new venture, passive income is definitely something you want to look into.
How do you earn passive income?
I have read through many articles that discuss passive income ideas. The list I have compiled are some of the most reasonable ones that require the least amount of effort on your part.
Of course, you could start your own company from the ground up and then eventually hire other people to do the work for you. Right? That’s definitely one way to get your hands on some passive income. What I’m talking about is easy ways to start earning a little extra right now and you don’t need to take out a loan or bust your butt for decades to start reaping the benefits.
So what are some ideas?
Blogging
This one is top of the list because it is my absolute favorite. Learn how to make your first $1,000 blogging. My blog has become my baby away from my babies. As a stay at home mom, I always felt like I needed more than just motherhood. I don’t know if it’s because I was raised as an only child so I really enjoyed my own personal space or if my creative juices just needed to flow again. Either way, blogging has given me something separate from my family that is all mine and I make money from it.
As far as the passive income earnings go, there are 3 main sources to earn passive income with blogging: affiliate marketing, advertisem*nts and digital products (which I will chat about later.)
How much money you earn from blogging definitely depends on the efforts you put into it. Either way, it’s going to require a little research on your part. That’s why I created a blogging course to help newbie bloggers get started and there are 5 FREE sections just for fun!
Most posts on blogging:
- Can You Really Make Millions with Affiliate Marketing?
- Should I Blog for My Small Business?
- FREE Blogging Courses from the Top Successful Female Bloggers
- How to Make Money Blogging. Your 7 Biggest Questions Answered.
Course Creation
Do you always have people asking you questions on a particular subject? Maybe you really love woodworking and friends and family always want your tips and advice. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what it is, you can create a course on it.
There are courses on the internet about hiking, painting, photography, cooking, writing…any trade you can think of. Is there something you might be able to offer through a course?
Personally, I recommend Teachable for course creation. They have easy to use technology that allows you to create your own curriculum and they design your sales page for you!
When creating your own course all you have to do is put in the work and then promote the heck out of it. Chances are your course will sell better if you have a big online presence (like a blog.) However, you can still promote yourself on your own Facebook and in your local community.
Write a book
Have you ever dreamed of having your own book, but the huge process of it all just seems too overwhelming? I get that. Going back and forth with publishing companies, re-writing, editing and promoting…it can all seem like too much to handle.
Did you know you can just write your own book? Self-publishing doesn’t have to be a scary thing at all. There is a company called Blurb that helps you create your own book whether it be a cookbook, trade book or novel. You create the layout, design the cover and have total say over what your finished product looks like. Blurb will even help you turn your finished product into an eBook for online sales!
I highly recommend checking them out because their prices are great, especially if you’re buying in bulk and they make the process so fun and easy.
Rent a spare room
Do you have a spare room that is going unused? Why not take full advantage of the opportunity and rent it out with Airbnb? There is very little you have to do during this process besides a load of laundry and some quick vacuuming in between guests. Airbnb takes care of payments, gives you insurance and gives you a huge, well-known platform to promote on!
Take a few pictures, write a great description and start letting that extra bedroom make you some extra cash. It could help pay for the rent or even be some additional spending money. Check out my tips on how to be the best Airbnb host.
Use Airbnb’s calculator to see how much money you could be earning.
Start investing
It’s SUCH a scary word, I know. The idea of investing to most people sounds so foreign and intimidating but it doesn’t have to. Investing is becoming an easier thing for people to start doing every day. There are now spare change investment apps like Acorns that do exactly what they say: invest spare change.
Mindless investing
Say you purchase a coffee for $4.50. Acorns would round up to the nearest dollar ($5) and invest that .50 cents for you! Besides signing up, there is no additional requirement on your part. You can just continue living your life as normal and let Acorns pile up your funds. Read my full review.
CD investing
Another great way to do some “hands-off” investing is through a CD. Investing with a CD, all you have to do is get a large sum of money together ($1,000 or more) put it into a CD for 5 years and let it accumulate interest. See how to get started.
High Yield Savings
Opening a high yield savings account is one of the best ways to get the absolute most out of your money. By contributing a little money each month to a high yield savings account, your money will start to get serious interest. The average savings account has an interest rate of about .01% -.05% whereas a high yield savings account will earn you around 1.55%.
This may not sound like a big difference but could actually mean thousands of dollars worth of money that you’re not raking in! The best part is you can get started with as little as $100.
Money Market Account
A money market account is similar to high yield savings, except that you have the potential to earn even more on interest! About 1.85%.
So what is the difference?
Basically, with a money market account, there are stricter rules on how many times you can deposit or withdraw your funds. Personally, I don’t see this as a problem if you are hoping to actually make money. Not only do you stand to earn even more on interest, but they make it tougher for you to take money out. As someone who used to make constant transfers from my savings to my checking, this is a feature I definitely see as beneficial.
It’s super easy to set up a money market account online with only $100 to start.
The Savings Builder account is by far the best savings account you can get your hands on (or get your money into!) With a $100 start-up and a minimum of $100 per month you can get an amazing interest rate of 2.45%!
If you want to seriously watch your cash grow, I highly recommend checking out the Savings Builder with CIT Bank.
Great savings ideas:
- 12 Ways to Save $1,000 Fast
- Find the Best Savings Account to Earn Money and Save Big
- Save Over $10,000 per Year by Making These 7 Simple Changes
- Should I Save Money or Pay off Debt?
Rent your stuff
If you have great, high-quality equipment that people are renting from local stores, why not beat them to the punch? Personally, I have rented carpet cleaners and tools from friends.
Check out what local stores and businesses are renting their items for and lower your price a bit. Let friends and family know and tell them to spread the word! May as well profit from those things you may only be using a few times a year anyway!
Dog sit
Now, I know this isn’t totally passive income because you do actually have to be responsible for a dog. For our family, however, this was no big deal. We already have 2 dogs of our own, so opening our house to a few new pups on the weekend really didn’t change our daily routine at all. We started using the Rover app to help local families find us and got a booking within 20 minutes! Then we used the funds to help pay off debt.
Maybe you don’t have dogs of your own and don’t want any in your house? That’s fine too, Rover also has the option of walking dogs for people in your area. So, if you are one of those people who like to take an afternoon walk, maybe you could take a puppy friend along and get paid for it!
Social media influencer
If you have a big following on social media platforms like Instagram, you could bring in some serious spending money by becoming an influencer. Brands will pay influencers to promote their product via social media.
Other income ideas:
- Work From Home by Starting Your Own Subscription Box
- 3 Ways Uber Can Help You Save for a Vacation
- 22 Entrepreneur Jobs.
- How to Make Money While You Homeschool
Advertise for local businesses
Many local businesses in your area are willing to pay money to get their name out there. A lot of times this comes in the form of paying regular people to slap a sticker on their back windshield.
Sell photos online
If you are a photographer, there are plenty of stock photos sites that you can use to sell your photos on.
You could also sell them in bundles via a blog or website that you already own by using apps like WooCommerce. There are tons of influencers and bloggers who are hoping to snag some original photos in order to help them and their brand stand out.
If you don’t already have an online presence, try creating a great online portfolio, I recommend looking into Smug Mug. It’s a great place to display your work and help you get your name out there.
Create an app
Now, this is one I can’t help you with too much, but I will say, this sounds like a totally awesome idea for those of you who have products to sell or a genius app idea!
Don’t worry, you don’t have to be super tech-savvy to achieve this goal either! Creating your own app is actually pretty straight forward and super simple.
If you already have products or courses to sell, creating an app will make you that much more accessible to people and help increase your sales so you can do a lot more relaxing.
What else?
Do you have another form of passive income that you love? Have you had major success from some of these forms of passive income? Share in the comments below!
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