On December 4th 2021, I delivered my second daughter, Mika. A lovely little girl who looks almost identical to my first daughter, Aria.
I teased my email subscribers weeks before she was born that I wouldn’t be surprised if I made Etsy sales while I was in labour.
And guess what?
I wasn’t wrong.
I made sales in my Etsy store before, during, and after labour and delivery. Not only that, but I also received affiliate commissions from a product I had advertised to my followers only days beforehand.
*Side note: Don’t worry, I didn’t have my phone on me while I was having little Mika (that would be crazy and truly quite hard to juggle) I just received the notifications a day later when I checked my phone.
Fortunately for me, I sell digital items (Canva templates) which relieves me of any work obligation to fulfill the order once it comes through. Because the products I developed months (if not years) ago now sell again and again without any additional work.
By creating passive income-generating revenue streams for my online business, I am able to have freedom in my life to work when I choose (or not) without missing out on making money.
Let’s talk passive income
Passive income is a great way to make money without having to trade your time for money. As a result, it’s no surprise to see that it has grown in popularity and that far more people and company owners want to create “passive income” as an additional source of revenue.
Passive income can be leveraged or residual, meaning that you do the work once and then get paid over and over again as opposed to if you’re a service provider or work a day job where you get paid by the hour.
In this article, I’m going to share with you 5 different ways how anyone can start earning passive income online and honestly the sky is really the limit when it comes to how much passive income you can generate, so let’s jump in!
What is passive income?
To begin, let’s define what “passive income” entails.
Passive income is defined as money that continues to be generated after the task is completed.
Passive income is leveraged or residual income, which means that you do the work once and then get paid over and over again as opposed to if you’re a service provider or if you have a job where you get paid by how much time (hourly) you work.
Why earning passive income is so attractive.
When it comes to earning passive income online, there are a lot of advantages!
- You can make money without trading your time.
- You can make money while you sleep.
- You can make money while doing something else (like other income-producing activities)
- Once you build a system, product or service you could be earning money for years to come.
- It’s full of possibilities and potential.
Passive income also gives you more freedom. When you’re not tied down to a job that requires you to be there for a certain number of hours, you have more time to do the things you love. You can travel more, spend time with family, and volunteer in your community.
What are the different types of passive income?
There are 3 different kinds of passive income:
Leveraged Income – when you do the work once and get paid over and over again without having to trade your time for money
Residual Income – this is a stream of income that continues to pay after the initial work has been done
Growth Income – this is when you get paid more due to how much your passive income grows over time
How can you get started generating passive income?
So how does one actually get started with generating some passive income online?
There are many different ways on how you can earn passive income and honestly if you really want to learn how to make money online there is no better way than actually going out and doing it yourself.
The internet is full of amazing resources, but you have to be willing to put in the time and effort if you really want to get started.
That being said, let’s go through some examples.
Passive Income Idea #1: Sell Digital Products
Digital products are resources that you create, often in the form of an ebook, template, spreadsheet, audio file or how-to information. Once you have created this resource, you can then sell it online to generate passive income.
You can sell digital products on Etsy, your own online store or on any other online marketplace.
Some examples of digital products you can create and sell include:
- Printables: artwork, party invites/cards, calendars, planners
- Digital planners
- Templates: website themes, blog templates, Canva templates, Photoshop templates
- Ebooks & workbooks
- Spreadsheets or trackers
- Stock photos or mockup images
- Clipart or design elements
- Fonts
Canva templates are an example of digital products that I offer on Etsy. I spend the time upfront to design and produce the templates, after which I resell them to my ideal customers on Etsy.
Want to learn how you can create and sell Canva templates on Etsy, then be sure to check out my free 5-day mini-course, Discover Your Ideal Canva Template.
Passive Income Idea #2: Create and Sell Online Courses
This is similar to selling digital products, but instead of selling items, you sell your time and knowledge by creating a course on how to do something like how to make money blogging or how to sell Canva templates on Etsy 😉.
In a course, you’re sharing your expertise and knowledge to your audience, through video tutorials or masterclasses, course workbooks and other supplemental resources.
If you’re interested in learning how I created and sold my own online courses, Michelle and Aimee’s program, Passive Income Planner Girl is a must-see.
This is the course I took to learn how to convert my zone of genius into a digital planner and then an online course, which I now offer to my audience.
Passive Income Idea #3: Sell Affiliate Products
This is actually how I first started making passive income as an entrepreneur and it’s my favourite still to this day.
Affiliate marketing can be a great way to generate passive income online. With affiliate marketing, you’re earning a commission for each sale that’s generated from your unique affiliate link.
The benefit of being an affiliate marketer is that you don’t have to worry about how much work it takes to create the products, product upkeep or customer service.
With this strategy, you only have to concentrate on getting visitors to your blog, website, or other online content and making money from your own material.
To get started you can sign up to become an affiliate for other businesses and then promote the business how you choose, which results in sales for that company.
Affiliate commissions can range from anywhere between 4%-50% sometimes even more. To find success with affiliate marketing you want to ensure you are recommending products, programs or software that your audience wants and that you’ve had experience using yourself.
Affiliate commissions are either one-time payments (when a customer purchases using your link, you get one payment) or recurring (you’ll receive a commission payout every month that a customer remains subscribed to that product).
It’s critical to find a course author, product, or software that has everything you require to teach your audience how to get started and/or can help them with their problems.
For example, I was interested in learning how to create and sell digital planners on Etsy, so I enrolled in a course on the subject. I had an amazing experience with the course that I decided on sharing it through my online content. And because it connects with my audience so well, it’s no surprise that this course generates many sales each week.
Passive Income Idea #4: Start a YouTube Channel
Another great way to start generating passive income online without any initial investment is through Ad revenue on YouTube.
With this strategy, you sign up for the YouTube Partner Program in order to start earning money. The YouTube partner program allows you to earn revenue through ads shown on your videos. When people watch the ad (and maybe even click it), money is made.
Once you have more than 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months and gained more than 1,000 subscribers, then you can apply for the YouTube partner program.
With the YouTube partner program, you can earn anywhere from .10 cents – $100 per 1,000 views depending on how many subscribers you have, how long people watch your videos and what type of content you share on your channel (i.e your niche).
Although producing video content for YouTube might be time-consuming, once it’s up, it can continue to accrue views for months or years after.
For example, this video “How to Create Canva Template to Sell On Etsy” that I posted to my channel back in February 2021 has now generated almost 60,000 views and has made over $1,600 in ad revenue. Not too bad for a video that took me about half a day to produce.
Passive Income Idea #5: Start a Blog
Blogging is a great way to make passive income. When you blog, you’re creating content that can be found online by people searching for information on various topics.
As your blog’s popularity grows and you gain more monthly visits, you’ll then be able to apply for ad networks and approach companies for sponsored content.
In addition to ad revenue, many bloggers create digital products, such as online courses, printables and e-books, which they sell directly from their blog or through other online marketplaces such as Etsy.
If you’re interested in starting a blog and generating passive income, here are a few tips to help you get started:
- Choose a catchy, memorable domain name that’s relevant to your niche or topic.
- Commit to writing regularly, ideally once or twice per week (I’m still working on this myself).
- Integrate affiliate links into your content whenever possible to promote relevant products and services.
- Implement a professional blog theme to make it stand out (for me, I used this template from 17th Avenue).
- Create blog posts that you know your target audience is searching for.
Now if you’re interested in starting your own blog, I highly recommend checking out the Blog by Number course by Suzi Whitford of Start a Mom Blog.
Ad revenue from my blog is definitely a passive income stream that I’m committed to adding this year. With the help of Suzi’s course, Blog by Number, I’m excited to learn more about how to build a profitable blog for my online business.
If you’re looking for a way to earn passive income online, there are plenty of options.
The key is investing your time in one or more that resonate with how you work and who you are as an online entrepreneur.
After that, just continue building and growing until you have a steady stream of passive income.
I hope you found this blog article useful and it helped point you in the right direction on discovering ways to generate passive income online.
Which idea do you plan on implementing? Let me know in the comment section below.
Affiliate Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
