Are you looking for a way to make extra cash on the side of your 9 to 5 job? Passive income, also known as residual income, may just be the money-making strategy for you.
While you will initially have to put some time and energy into your source of passive income, the long-term financial benefits will be worth the initial investment. Certain forms of passive income may require minimal upkeep but may offer a higher reward in return for your efforts, such as app development or blogging.
With Covid-19 shaking up the economy and causing many to lose their source of income, now is a better time than ever to find ways to protect your financial status with passive income. Let’s look at whether these passive income methods align with your personal goals.
Benefits of Passive Income
Although choosing and creating your source of passive income may take some time and effort, there are significant long-term benefits.
Obtain financial freedom:
With the right skillset and niche, your passive income has the ability to generate enough cash to make you feel confident about your future wealth and secure your financial freedom.
Fill gaps in your resume:
Consider your passive income source and the skills it requires. Did you have to code? Write a blog? Create an online course? Whatever your project may be, it could be a good way to fill gaps in your resume.
Fulfill your goals:
If your current career makes you feel that you are missing out on spending your time the way you want to, passive income may be perfect for you.
8 Sources of Passive Income in 2021
Invest in the stock market
Purchasing shares that will then appreciate in value to earn you profit is a very well-known form of passive income. This form of passive income will require some initial investment but may pay off well in the long run. Choosing the right stocks to invest in can be difficult, but there are many articles on the Internet to guide you in the right direction.
Create and sell digital courses
Are you exceptionally skilled in a specific subject? Do you have a passion for helping others learn? Through websites such as Udemy or Podia, you can create and sell your own online course. This is a great form of passive income for people who do not want to do general maintenance on their project, as you just create the course, post it, and watch the income flow in. There is a market for a surprising amount of subjects, not just academic topics. If there’s an idea or topic you are very knowledgeable about and want to make videos about, this method might be a great option for you.
Place an advertisement on your car
Do you drive a lot? Car advertising may be the perfect passive income method for you. With companies such as Wrapify or Vugo, you can get paid to wrap your car with advertising and driving in the company’s campaign zones. If you live in a highly-populated area or a big city, this might be the perfect passive income method for you. By choosing this method, you can expect to earn an extra couple hundred bucks each month.
Publish a book
Publishing a book is a great way to make passive income. Once you’ve published your book, there’s no limit to your earnings and there’s nothing else to be done on your end. While publishing a book used to be a tedious process, you can now self-publish your book on Amazon and get it on the market within 3 days.
Sell stock images
If photography is your niche, selling stock images on Shutterstock is super easy. They’ve paid their contributors over a total of one billion dollars. All you need to do to get started is create a contributor account, then submit your photos to get paid! There are people looking for all kinds of different topics and themes of photos, and you don’t need a professional camera to successfully make money off of stock photos.
Store other people’s stuff
Do you have extra storage space in your home? Extra parking space that goes unused? Neighbor is a great form of passive income for you. All you have to do is sign up and rent out your unused storage or parking space to earn some extra cash.
Rent your car
If renting out your space isn’t plausible, that’s okay! Turo and Zipcar are car-sharing marketplaces that allow you to rent out one or multiple of your cars. According to Turo, the average annual income of someone with one rented car on their site is $10,516. If you’re in or close to a tourist location, you have the potential to earn a good amount of extra money by renting out your car.
Vending machines
Vending machines are actually a great way to earn passive income but do require an initial investment when you purchase the machine(s). If your vending machine is well-placed, there is a potential for a good amount of extra side cash. Vendingconnections can help you get started on purchasing a new vending machine that you can then use to generate income from pedestrians who purchase from your machine. If you want to buy a used vending machine, UsedVending can help. Looka can help you design a professional-looking logo if you decide you want to advertise online. You will have to return to restock your machine(s) about once a month.
3 Less Passive Income Forms
These ideas are still passive income forms, as you will still be earning money while not working on these projects. However, some low-effort, long-term commitment is required. If you feel passionate about any of these, they may be worth checking out!
Develop an App
Are you interested in coding? Great! Developing an app isn’t the most passive form of income on this list, as you will have to make updates to your app for as long as it is available for download. You don’t have to be a coding expert to develop an app. Appery, Appmysite, and Zoho Creator are three great websites for beginners and experts alike to create apps. You can earn income by charging a monthly subscription to your app, charging an upfront price, or even by making the app free and implementing ads.
Blogging
Blogging is a super flexible form of passive income that you can use to show off your personality and talents. Like app development, there are many different ways to make income through blogging. You could get sponsored to advertise different products, run ads through
Google AdSense, or even sell your own products. Squarespace is a great website to assist you in creating your own blog – it’ll walk you through the process and even offers templates to make your site look more professional and clean.
YouTube
Do you like the idea of blogging, but dislike writing? YouTube is great for you if you’re interested in filming and video editing. On YouTube, you get paid through ads, typically 1-3 cents per ad. If you begin making a decent profit off of YouTube, you could even hire an editor to make this a much more passive form of income!
Is passive income glorified? The truth about passive income
True passive income is not actually possible – there will always have to be at least a bit of effort or money put into your source of income. You must make an initial investment in order to begin earning money. There is a whole spectrum of effort regarding residual income forms in 2021, from low-effort stocks to high-effort blog running.
Whether you want to choose one of these forms of passive income or think they are worth the effort, is fully up to you. If you have a specific interest and love writing, writing a blog dedicated to that topic may be a super fun way to earn money, however, your earnings may be dependent on your dedication to the blog.
For each passive income project, consider asking yourself:
Does my source of passive income require routine maintenance, or can I publish my project once and be done with it?
How much money am I looking to make off of my source of passive income? What skills are required for my source of passive income?
In the long run, you could be making a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand extra dollars each month if you choose the right passive income path for you.
