Financial investments
Financial investments include a range of options, such as investing in the stock market, mutual funds, bonds, and peer lending, and they require minor follow-up work as they accrue interest. The main pull of investments is that they always earn at higher interests compared to the usual savings account so you can be sure that the money you invested will most certainly outpace the money in your savings account.
Of course, how much you earn will depend on a multitude of factors as well as the type of instrument you invested in the first place so the best thing you can do is work with a financial advisor to figure out the best options for you.
Own rental property
Owning a rental property can be a secure way to earn passive income by taking advantage of space that you’re not using anyway and turning it into a money-making opportunity. If you’re going away for the summer or have to be out of town for a while, or maybe even just want to travel, consider renting out your current space while you’re gone.
You can list your space on any number of websites, such as Airbnb, and set the rental terms yourself. You’ll collect a check for your efforts with minimal extra work, especially if you’re renting to a tenant who may be in place for a few months.
Sell stock photos
Selling photography online might not be the most obvious place to set up a passive business, but it could allow you to scale your efforts, especially if you can sell the same photos over and over again.
Whether you’re an amateur or seasoned photographer, you can sell your original photos as stock images using sites like Alamy, Shutterstock, Stocksy, or Adobe Stock.
To get started, you’ll have to be approved by the platform, and then you license your photos to be used by whomever downloads them. The platform then pays you every time someone uses your photo.
Rent out your car
Similar to listing your place for rent, you can also list your car for rent. This can be truly passive because once you list your car, it can earn you income when you’re not using it!
Another option is to look for someone who needs a car for Uber or Lyft. So instead of actively driving around in your free time, you can pull up a Netflix show while your car works for you.
Create an online course
Do you have expertise on a particular topic? If so one option open to you is to create an online course which have become easier than ever to do for educators as these can be sold online and distributed through sites such as Udemy, SkillShare and Coursera.
Whether it’s marketing, illustration, or entrepreneurship, you can create courses and start selling with few limitations. Similar to digital products, you can sell online courses repeatedly without holding any inventory or stock.
Teaching online requires some upfront investment in time. You’ll need to outline your course, record it, and make downloadable assets like templates for students to walk away with.
Create a blog/vlog
Are you passionate about a particular topic? Do you know more than the average person about a niche topic or passion? In the age of content, even the most niche topics have an audience. Take your passion for a subject and turn it into a blog or a YouTube channel, using ads or sponsors to generate your income. At first, you’ll have to build out a suite of content and draw an audience, but it can create a steady income stream over time, as you become known for your engaging content.
You can leverage a free (or very low-cost) platform, then use your great content to build a following. The more unique your voice or area of interest, the better for you to become “the” person to follow. Then draw sponsors to you. Be aware however that you’ll need to dedicate your time and resources, oftentimes with little to show for it, if there’s limited interest in your subject or niche.
Your area of expertise may be too niche to really draw a profitable audience, but you won’t be sure of that until you experiment.