Ever thought of waking up in the middle of the night, only to check how much money you earned while you were sleeping for the past three or four hours? Or have you thought of having a business where you are pretty much sure that you don’t need to be actively involved in its upkeep and maintenance and yet you will earn from your business? That’s the idea behind having passive income streams, you earn even when you are sleeping. So, Before we jump into some hottest passive income ideas, let’s understand what passive income means.
What is Passive Income?
Passive income is the income you earn from a business while you are literally not doing anything about it. You could be sleeping and still, the money keeps coming in. Thus, any income that you get from a business where you are not involved actively and that business requires little to no maintenance can be termed as Passive Income. Even though your income is passive, your tax liabilities are similar to what you have with an active Income.
Now the concept of Passive Income is not new. For instance, in the Victorian age, there was a boom in the housing market. The population almost doubled in a span of fifty years. Not everyone could afford his or her own house. Due to the scarcity of houses, the ultimate beneficiaries were the rental property owners.
The whole concept of Rental Income as a passive income idea has remained the same even after 200 years. But with the advent of technology, there are several other businesses or streams through which you can earn passive income. The below list contains some of the most successful passive income ideas. Believe me, you should give at least one idea a try(Of course with adequate planning). You will not be disappointed.
Passive Income Ideas that can make you rich while you are Sleeping!
Sell Ebooks online
Have you heard of Amanda Hocking? During the early part of 2010, she needed to raise a few hundred dollars. She was waiting for a publisher. The book which she was writing was still unpublished. She finally decided to self publish the book and sell it on Amazon.
Guess what, not only she was able to fulfill her dream of publishing her book, but also made a couple of million dollars. That’s what self-publishing has done for millions of writers all around the world.
Apart from the initial effort involved in preparing the ebook and making it available online, all she did after making her book available online was to sit back and count the dollars coming in. If you are good at writing and if you truly believe that people will love your work, you can consider the idea of writing a book in the field of your expertise or interest.
Either you can sell it as a pdf on your website or make a kindle version of the book available on the Amazon Kindle store. People have bought the idea that reading a digital book can be fun. In 2018, Revenue in the eBooks segment amounted to $12000 Million. In the US alone, the number of ebooks sold from 2010 to 2017 was over 260 million. These stats show that the market for ebooks is well established and there is enough scope for new players too. It’s not surprising, selling ebooks has become one of the most popular passive income ideas.
Advertise on your Mobile Apps and Websites
The US mobile app advertising revenues in 2018 was over $35 billion. Globally, it was around $100 billion. By 2020, the combined revenue from Android and iOS advertisements is expected to be around $190 billion.
And who gets all this money? Apart from the advertisement platforms which enable publishers to display ads and which act as mediators, it is the app publishers and website owners who make money for displaying such ads.
Once you publish an app which has enough downloads and once you have enough pageviews on your website, you can consider monetizing your platform by showing ads by partnering with advertising platforms like Google AdSense, media.net, etc. Now getting approved by such premium ad networks may not be that easy but once your platform gets approved by such networks, it could provide you a regular source of income.
Build Niche Websites or Blogs
Building a niche website or blog has immense potential to generate passive income for you. For building a niche website, you need to know inside out about the subject around which your website is built. For example, if your website is around content marketing, you should be the best guy you know about content marketing.
Once your website has enough content and is search engine optimized, you can consider selling either your own products or products for someone who has something to offer related to your niche. For example, if your blog talks about word press hosting, you can show ads of the WordPress hosting providers and make money as commission once a sale takes place.
Sell Photos and Videos online
Once you have enough quality photos taken, you can earn a royalty every time someone purchases it from the platform where you have uploaded them. There are literally hundreds of online platforms where you can sell photos. Some of the top websites where you can sell your photos or videos are Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and Alamy among others.
Yes, there is a lot of competition in this sector but if the quality of your images draws the attention of marketers, you can start expecting clients from all around the world. Similarly, this is the era of Video Marketing. Videos are not only used by marketers for promotions but also as a part of their SEO strategy. Even a 10-second quality video can become a source of passive income for you.
Earn Rental Income from Real Estate properties(One of the oldest Passive Income Ideas!)
As said earlier, earning income from your real estate properties remains as one of the most popular passive income streams. According to Global Real Estate report by HSBC, ‘Real estate is the world’s most important asset class, with a value totaling $228 trillion at the end of 2016 and it is expected to be worth $425 trillion by 2025.
Yes, for many owning a real estate itself could be a big deal. If you don’t have enough money, you could wait for the downfall in the economy. Someone who knows the financial market would agree that there are cyclical downfalls and upswings in the market and downfall is the best time to make real estate deals. Something similar to the 2008 subprime crisis.
But the moment you have enough money to buy real estate, you should definitely consider purchasing real estate properties and renting them out. The maintenance part does not involve visiting your property on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Just keep your eyes and ears open about it and make sure that you are in constant touch with your tenants.
The Bottom Line
There could be nothing better than doing your regular job or business and earning from something you have done in the past. These Passive Business Ideas are not difficult to implement and once done right, it can provide the financial freedom you strive for. If you are not successful in implementing any particular idea, understand the reasons why that idea didn’t work for you. For example, If you are planning to sell ebooks, having a great command over your language is a must. You cannot expect a single sale if you simply don’t write good enough. The same applies to creating a Blog or a Website. Having said that, once you know what people love and are sure of your abilities, you will be able to strategize better and prepare a product that people fall in love with thereby creating a passive income stream.
