21 Passive Income Ideas To Help You Make More Money
Robert Kanaat
Full-Stack Engineer | AI Automation Wizard | Direct Response Marketer | Master Copywriter
Passive income is the Holy Grail of income streams. But not all passive income is fully passive. There are levels to it. You'll never come across something that is completely passive. But you can get close. The best part? These ideas will help you make more money without quitting your day job.
By its definition, passive income is designed to make you money in your sleep. So whether you work full-time or have several part-time jobs does not matter. Some of these ideas require a large investment of time upfront. Some require a large investment of capital upfront. Some require both.
Passive Income vs Active Income
Lots of people talk about passive income. But what is passive income? At the end of the day, here's how we define it. Passive income is the ability to generate money that is mostly disconnected from time. When something is passive, by its true nature it's not being actively worked on or managed.
For example, your full-time job is directly connected to your time. If you don't show up and put in the time to do your job, you won't get paid, right? We call that active income. You are actively contributing your time to get the output of money from those activities.
Passive income does not require you to always show up. It doesn't require you to be actively working to produce an income. But the big difference is that it takes time for that income stream to start producing. Especially without the investment of capital upfront.
For example, you could launch a YouTube channel and do a bunch of videos for a year or two and not even make enough money to cover lunch. But as soon as those videos take off and your subscriber count grows, your income grows and becomes more passive.
It's not fully passive. You can't let the channel sit dormant. But it will start producing an income without you working on it all the time. However, if you ever stop showing up for your regular full-time job, you won't get paid. That's why it's considered an active income.
Time vs. Money
The most precious resource you have is time. Not money. You can spend money and make it. But with time it doesn't work that way. Yes, you can spend time or even waste it. You just can't make it back. There is no magic time machine where we can generate extra hours in a day.
You have just 24 hours. That's it. It doesn't matter how much money you have, the great equalizer is time. The richest person in the world has the same amount of time as the poorest one. Just 1,440 minutes in a day. That's it. Not a moment more.
Passive income is important because it gives you the freedom and leverage of time. When your income isn't directly connected to your time, you gain leverage. The more leverage you gain the more money you can make. Not just passively. But in general.
Think about it this way. You won't always be able to work all the time. What if you get injured or something happens to you? Can you still work a full-time job and show up? Do you want to spend your entire life directly exchanging your time for money? You probably don't, right?
21 Passive Income Ideas
There are literally thousands of ways you can generate income passively. Not all of them are fully passive. Some of them require your attention. But these are the top 21 ways you can create a sustainable passive income in a relatively short period.
No, we're not talking about snapping your fingers and having instant cash flow. There's always some legwork. And sometimes you'll need to invest a bit of money to create an income stream that eventually pays you passively. But it is well worth it.
#1 —?Buy A "Boring" Local Business
There are so many boring local businesses in your town. Why not buy one of those? Do you need money to do this? Yes. But not all the time. You can buy some of these businesses with no money down as long as you're able to negotiate a win-win deal with the business owner.
Most businesses that generate income passively are boring. And there are so many of them in your town or city. Most of these businesses require minimal staff to keep them going. As the owner, you just have to ensure you generate a net income after all your expenses.
There are so many types of businesses that you can buy. They're boring because there's not much too operating them. They're run-of-the-mill storefronts you see every day in every town across America. All you need to do is run a search on Google and ask "storage business near me" or "tanning salon near me."
It's not hard to find these businesses. And you don't need a lot of money to buy them. When you search hard enough, you can find owners who just want to get out of the business and retire. You can offer a small equity or an ongoing income in exchange for a deal with minimal cash upfront.
#2 —?Generate Real Estate Rental Income
Another great way to create a passive income stream is through real estate. This can be both long-term unfurnished real estate. And it can be short-term vacation rentals. You can either rent out a room in your house or the entire place. It all depends on your local regulations. Some areas are clamping down on short-term rentals.
For a more hands-off approach, long-term unfurnished real estate is your best best. This creates the most consistent form of passive income. You can find upscale units or you can go after Section 8 rentals. Section 8 rentals are housing that's subsidized by the government.
The best part is this. You don't need a lot of money down to buy a house. You can purchase the home subject to the existing mortgage. And if you need cash, you can always do a wholesale real estate transaction. Just grab a list of water shut-off homes from your county and start calling them up.
Most people that are in bad situations are willing to sell their homes. And it doesn't take much to step into that home. Once you do a transaction, you can use that cash to buy a duplex or triplex. Live in one of the units and rent out the others. This way you can cover your monthly expenses and generate income from the other units.
#3 —?Build A Subscription Business
Everyone knows that acquiring new customers is expensive. You have to work really hard to acquire them and spend a lot of money. Especially today in the wake of Apple's privacy war with Meta. When you work that hard to acquire a customer make sure that the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer is high.
You can make sure the LTV is high by having a subscription business. You can either build a subscription business through a newsletter, monthly drop, software, or something similar. Or you can buy a subscription business. Either way, subscriptions offer you continuity. It means the payments are ongoing as long as the customer doesn't cancel.
You can think about these types of subscription businesses:
#4 —?Create An Online Course
I am a firm believer in building online courses. This is probably one of the greatest opportunities for passive income that exist now and likely well into the future. Although people could go out there and search for information, they prefer to purchase neatly organized and packed online courses.
There are many e-learning platforms out there. The one you choose is entirely up to you. Some of them give you full control over the course and the marketing. Others don't and they do all the marketing and pricing changes for you.
If you're looking for a hands-off approach to marketing your course, go with Udemy. If you want more control over it I would use a platform like ClickFunnels to build the entire thing. You can also use Teachable, Kajabi, Kartra and many others that exist out there.
You can teach virtually any skillset in an online course. It can be anything. Literally. If you want to teach people how to basketweave, you can do that. Although, the audience might be pretty small for that. Anything tech-related is huge. You can teach things like:
To make this a passive income business you also need to put out free video content on YouTube. People will discover your content and look at you as an authority. Then you simply link out to your course in the description and even tell them they can sign up to it if they want to learn more.
#5 —?Launch A Lead Generation Business
There are three ways to grow a business:
But before you can get customers to do anything you have to generate leads. Leads become customers. But generating leads is hard, right? All businesses struggle with this. That's where you come in. All you need to do is generate leads for businesses.
Lead generation is as much an art as it is a science. But there is a method to the madness. What you need to do is use the I-4 Approach.
Once you identify the person and their problem you can create a powerful lead magnet that helps solve part of their problem. Build the lead magnet into a lead generation funnel and you have yourself a lead generation business. If you can generate leads cost-effectively, you can sell those leads to businesses all day every day.
#6 —?Create A YouTube Channel
I have a good friend who created one of the most popular Kids YouTube channels out there. Just before doing this, he was homeless for many months, living in his car. He got the idea after his 2-year-old nephew was watching low-quality videos for kids. That's when he knew he could do something much better.
Stevin John went on to create a huge passive income stream. He launched Blippi in 2014 and by 2017 he had crossed one billion views. By 2019 he was making 8 figures passively per year. And he has since crossed 20 billion views and was acquired in a huge deal by Moonbug Entertainment.
I'm not saying that you're going to have that same level of success. He was pretty devoted. But it just goes to show you what someone can do on YouTube when they're 110% dedicated to doing it. It's a monumental feat to say the least. But even if you could build out a small niche channel, over time you could do well.
The key to YouTube is consistency. You have to keep putting out really good content regularly. Not daily. Maybe not even weekly. But certainly a couple of times per month at least. That takes some devotion for sure. But in the end it's well worth it.
#7 —?Purchase A Niche Site
People buy and sell websites every single day. It's similar to buying and selling any other brick-and-mortar business. The cool thing is this. There are marketplaces out there where you can buy an entire site along with all its content, products, services, and everything else, all at once.
When you purchase a niche site that already has traffic and sales, you're buying your way into a virtual business. Russell Brunson did this before he launched ClickFunnels . He bought a website called Champion Sound in the wake of a major business failure when a payment processor froze all his funds.
That website was a platform for SMS marketing way before it was even a thing. Brunson knew this was the future. However, once he bought it he realized it was built using Ruby on Rails. That's a programming language not many could code in. When he was about to shut it down he decided he would ask his list if anyone could code in Ruby on Rails.
That's when he met Todd Dickerson. Dickerson became his future partner in ClickFunnels. Today, ClickFunnels is a massive sales funnel platform. And to think that it all began because Brunson bought a niche website on a platform called Flippa.com .
#8 —?Do Affiliate Marketing
One of the best ways to generate passive income, hands down, is through affiliate marketing. But most people approach affiliate marketing wrong. This is not about spamming social media platforms or direct messaging every single connection. It doesn't quite work that way.
To succeed as an affiliate, you still need to deliver value. Think about it this way. Help the person understand the problem, the platform, the supplement, or whatever the affiliate thing is about. Do a comprehensive video training explaining the thing to them. Do this before you ask for any contact information.
This way, you're delivering value upfront. But it doesn't have to be a video training. It could be an audio, a checklist, cheatsheet, or something else. But videos are great ways to convey value and train because you can convey tonality. You can even show your face if you choose.
When you deliver value upfront, you become an authority. People begin to know, like and trust you. Once that happens you can send them through a bridge funnel. A bridge funnel allows you to collect their contact information before pushing them to the affiliate offer. This way they're on your list.
#9 —?Publish A Book
Books are like little money-making machines. You can quite literally create money out of thin air simply by writing a good book. If you've always been drawn to writing, I would suggest publishing a book. You can self-publish it easily on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform.
I have long loved using books as a passive income strategy. The best part? You never have to print, ship, or deal with any customer service. Whether it's a digital version or a print version, it's all done for you through KDP. There are other online publishers too but Amazon is the clear frontrunner here.
Create a book around a problem you can solve. Use the I-4 Approach by identifying the person, their problem, the solution, and the offer. You can then write the book for that specific person's problem, talk about the solution, and even use it to generate leads for your offer.
When you publish a book you create authority. People are more likely to trust you. And if that book actually helps them solve their problem, you will gain maximum trust. Once you've gained their trust, they're more likely to purchase whatever it is that you're selling.
When you're writing your book, create an accompanying checklist, cheat sheet or some other downloadable "goodie" that you can give away for free. Then make sure to create a simple lead generation funnel and link to that domain within the book. You can build your list, build your business and create a passive income stream by publishing a book.
#10 —?Create An Audiobook
Audiobooks are another great passive income idea. But you'll need the actual book before you turn it into an audiobook. I know lots of people say to use AI to do the writing. I don't agree with this. Write the book authentically and uniquely by you first. Then turn it into an audiobook.
You can use AI to outline the sections or chapters but don't use it to write the actual book. Some might not agree with me here. And that's fine. But a book should come from the heart and should help solve someone's problem. And it should be based on your area of expertise.
Audiobooks can easily be created on ACX. This feeds directly into Audible. You can hire producers to narrate your book for a fee. You can also have them do it for free upfront but give them a percentage of the sales. It all depends on your personal situation. If you can afford it, pay the hourly fee of a narrator.
You can also use ElevenLabs to synthesize your voice and then create the audiobook for you. However, it might not get across the same authentic tonality of your voice. They do offer a premium version of this service. If you have the coin, you can certainly splurge to make your life easier when creating audiobooks.
#11?—?Purchase Dividend Stocks
One of the most passive ways you can earn money is through dividend stocks. They'll pay you out quarterly and the amount you receive will be based on the number of shares you own. Keep in mind that you need a lot of shares for this to make a dent in your annual expenses.
The typical yield for S&P 500 stocks can range anywhere between 1.5% and 2% depending on the economic climate. At 1.5%, you would need $100,000 in stock to earn $1,500 annually. However, $1 million in the same stock would earn you $15,000 annually.
If you have the capital to put into dividend stocks, it's a good move. It would certainly diversify your portfolio. If you don't, this won't make much of a dent in terms of passive income. Although, if the stock appreciates over time, then it's certainly a major win.
Comb through the S&P 500 and find great dividend stocks that have performed well over time. Don't look for an instant windfall. Instead, look for something that consistently pays you out over time with high yields and low risk. This is definitely a smart move.
#12?—?Launch An App
Today, you can launch an app without coding. There are many no-code app platforms that you can use. They won't do all of the legwork for you. But they will do most of the heavy lifting. Apps are a great way to make money when the idea behind them is a unique one.
Try to come up with a unique spin or angle to the problem you solve in your business. If you're not in business, think about high-value problems you can solve and what apps would offer that solution. You can make money when an app is purchased or set up an app that has a subscription plan.
You can also have a professional app developed or learn how to make an app yourself. But no-code app platforms are straightforward to use. Although they're not free they are more cost-effective than hiring out a team to build your app for you.
When it comes to some ideas for launching an app, here are some that you can consider:
#13 —?Peer-to-Peer Lending
Peer-to-peer lending platforms allow you to lend out small micro-loans and make money back passively. While there is some risk to it, most platforms give you full transparency into the borrower. And you can usually pick and choose who to lend your money out to.
Companies like Prosper and Upstart are just some of the platforms out there for peer-to-peer lending. Each of them have criteria set out for borrowers. And it's fairly straightforward to step in as an investor. Do your due diligence and see if these platforms make sense for you.
Although you're tying up money here, it's typically at a higher interest rate. Some offer personal loans and others offer car loans. You can pick and choose the types of loans you want to fund. It's entirely up to you.
#14 —?Invest In REITs
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are a great way to generate passive income because they are backed by income-producing real estate assets. When you put money into a REIT you are putting money into a fund that produces a dividend return.
This is a passive investment and doesn't require much beyond the capital you need to put up front. This works great for people who have money set aside and want to diversify their portfolio.
REITs pay out a regular dividend and there are many benefits to putting your money into a REIT. But there are also some drawbacks as well. You risk things like volatility of the market, volatility of interest rates, potential for high fees, and others. However, most of the benefits outweigh the risks here.
#15 — Sell Sales Funnel Templates
Another way to generate passive income is to sell sales funnel templates in a large marketplace like this one. If you have design skills and understand how to use sales funnel software, you can create designs that people are willing to buy. And by placing these designs in a large marketplace, you can reach the widest audience.
This doesn't require you to advertise or market your designs. As long as you can create solid designs, you can sell them. There are several other marketplaces where you can sell designs like this such as Monster Templates, Envato and more. You just have to pick one and stick to it.
Sales funnel templates are ready-to-go multi-page templates that can help people either generate leads, make sales, convert browsers into buyers, and more. If you understand the mechanics behind sales funnels, this is a great option for generating some income in your spare time.
#16 — Do A Print-On-Demand (POD)
Print-on-demand is a highly sought-after opportunity where you can create designs and sell them in an online shop. The beauty? You never have to create the products, warehouse them, or even worry about shipping them out to customers yourself. This is all handled by the POD provider.
There are two very popular POD platforms right now. And they typically integrate with most online systems like Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, and others. The two platforms are Printful and Printify.
For both of these platforms you need to provide the designs. You need to be careful about things like trademarks and copyrights and not to infringe on others. It's easy to make mistakes here so you have to be careful.
#17 —?Rent Your Car Out
There are lots of car rental platforms out there. Basically, here's how it works. You can take your car and rent it out just like you would rent out your property on a platform like Airbnb or VRBO. Instead of a home, you're renting out a car. Simple enough, right?
This makes sense if you have an extra car you're not using. But some people turn this into a full-time gig by purchasing several vehicles they can rent out on these car rental platforms.
If you don't want to rent your entire car out, you can simply place advertisements on your car. Companies will pay you to advertise on your vehicle. That's a very low risk passive income strategy if there ever was one.
#18 —?Invent A Product
I have a good friend Howard Panes who is an inventor and pioneer in the fitness and e-cig industries. He's able to look at things in a unique way and invent products that transform and revolutionize the marketplace. But it wasn't always like that for him.
The interesting part of his story is that he failed at 24 different startups. He tried everything under the sun and nothing worked. Until about 44 years old nothing seemed to go right. But it only takes one home run to knock it out of the park and that's exactly what he did.
He went from broke and broken with the bank taking his house away in a short sale to doing $100 million in sales in the first 18 months after Logic was created. That company was purchased by Japan Tobacco in a huge deal.
The moral of the story? Don't give up. Invent a product and bring something to the marketplace that's unique. Think about ways not just to reiterate but to revolutionize products in different industries. This probably has the most potential for generating a sustainable passive income than anything else.
#19 —?Buy Vending Machines
Vending machines are a great business to have. They don't require you to be there to keep the business going. All you need to do is hustle to find places and businesses where you can set these up in. They often want a small commission or monthly fee. But not all the time.
Vending machines are also not very expensive. They do need to be restocked and refilled occasionally so this is not a fully passive income business. But if you can strike a deal to place them in highly trafficked locations, you could do very well with vending machines.
Think about locations like college campuses, shopping malls, and other places where vending machines would make sense. It requires some effort but it is well worth the time it takes.
#20 —?Heavy Equipment Rentals
To generate a substantial passive income, consider heavy equipment rentals. This typically means you're renting out construction equipment. We're talking about things like forklifts, cranes, bulldozers, excavators, and so on. There is a huge demand for heavy equipment rentals.
This will take a substantial investment. However, the returns on heavy equipment rentals are typically quicker because you can charge a higher fee for the rentals. These machines are usually in high demand and due to the high costs are often rented rather than purchased.
#21 —?Place ATMs In Businesses
Just like vending machines, businesses need ATMs. Think about all the convenience stores that you visit. There's always an ATM in them, right? Any corner shop, 7-11, school, church, grocery store, big box retailer, and any other business aside from a bank need ATMs.
ATMs pay you a fee for every single transaction. It's a small fee but it adds up. Again, the goal here is to find a high-traffic location. If you can find a high-trafficked location you can generate a good passive income from these machines.
This is also a business based on volume. The more machines you can place the better. Start small and build your way up. The cool part? You can do this while working a full-time job. Yes, they need to be refilled with cash when they run out. So it's not fully passive.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Can I Make $1,000 Per Month In Passive Income?
There are many ways you can make $1,000 per month in passive income. Although nothing is guaranteed, it all depends on where you're at currently. If you have money to invest, you can generate a passive income by buying a boring business, investing in REITs, dividend stocks, peer-to-peer lending and more.
If you have no money to invest, you'll need to invest time. You can do many things to make $1,000 per month passively even if you're starting out with very little money. You can do print-on-demand, rent out your car, create sales funnel templates, do affiliate marketing, create a YouTube channel, and more.
How Can I Make $100 Per Day In Passive Income?
To make $100 per day in passive income is the same as making roughly $3,000 per month. To make $3,000 per month in passive income you need to either invest your time or your money. And expect to invest a lot of it upfront to get that passive income stream paying you as soon as possible.
For most people who don't have the money to invest, affiliate marketing, YouTube, lead generation, sales funnel template designing, and similar strategies are ideal. You can invest a lot of your time upfront and it will slowly start paying you back over time.
How Do I Get Passive Income Daily?
There are people out there who can make passive income with easy. And they can do it every day. Not by placing bets or taking major risks. Simply by hunkering down and choosing one strategy to go all in on. As long as you don't dabble and you persevere, you can make it happen.
Every person has a different set of skills we can use to generate an income. But you'll want to put some of your attention toward passive income and not just active income. Because, if something happens to you, your ability to generate active income might just disappear.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Passive Income?
The major disadvantage of passive income is that it either takes a lot of time or a lot of money to get off the ground. It's the direct opposite of active income. Active income pays you immediately. You exchange your time for money. But passive income is different.
Although passive income doesn't pay you right away, it does build up steam over time. Every single strategy will require some effort upfront. Unless you have lots of money to put into dividend stocks, REITs, buying boring businesses, or other things that require upfront capital, expect to wait for a while to start earning.
What Would Be A Good Passive Income?
A good passive income is different for everyone. But in general, if the income covers your living expenses, it's good. Considering that passive income will give you leverage over your time, when you can disconnect your ability to earn money from clocking in and out, you're a winner no matter how you look at it.
Do You Pay Taxes On Passive Income?
Yes. You pay taxes on passive income. When it comes to real estate, you can offset some of that income through depreciation. But always talk to your lawyer or tax advisor in your country or region. The rules differ from country to country so it's best to check with professionals in your area.
How To Make $1,000 Per Day Consistently?
$1,000 per day in passive income sounds like a dream to some. But it's a reality for others. To make $1,000 per day you typically need to have a high-ticket product or service you can sell. A high-ticket course or service is a good way to do this. You can also find affiliates to help you market that to scale faster.
Is Rental Property Good Passive Income?
Yes. Rental property can offer good passive income. There are two ways to approach this. You can either do long-term rentals or short-term rentals. Short term will require more of your time and attention. But you can hire a property manager for that.
Short-term rentals will make you more money, especially if your rental is in a vacation hotspot. However, long-term rentals will be overall less to deal with and less to manage. Everyone looks at this differently. But rental property in general is a very good way to earn passively.
How Can I Make Passive Income Without Investing A Lot Of Money?
To make passive income without investing a lot of money, you need to invest a lot of time. Usually, you either need time or money to create passive income. Sometimes you need both. But you certainly will need a lot of time if you have very little money to invest.
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