*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
Ah, the elusive passive income stream.
Having money appear in your bank account each month without ever having to go to work.
Sounds nice, but is it actually possible?
While that may sound like a pipe dream, it doesn't have to be.
Truly passive income may be hard to come by but it's not impossible to build a series of income streams that are semi-passive/mostly passive that continue to pay you out month by month with minimal maintenance on your end.
I'm also sorry to break it to you but no one just gets passive income streams handed to them, it takes some serious work up front to build a business that can hold on its own.
But once it's done, it's done.
And you can move on to the next project while you continue to get paid from the last.
Let's say you have a goal to earn $5000 in passive income each month.
This number may sound outrageous at first but when you break it down it feels much more attainable.
Below is a list of what income streams you can build that will get you to that number.
Just one hustle probably won't get you to $5000, but you'll soon see that a combination of hustles can really start to snowball.
1. Sell digital products
I put this idea first so you wouldn't miss it.
There are so many different kinds of digital products that you can sell online that the potential of this hustle is limitless.
I urge you to pick at least one type of digital product that sounds interesting to you and build a business around it first.
Especially if you're looking for a way to earn passive income, these types of businesses are going to get you there the fastest!
Let me give you an example.
Right now I am growing an Etsy shop for downloadable pdfs and spreadsheets.
I have 90 different digital products for sale in my shop right now and on average all of them together earn me (passively) $180 a month.
So it's safe to say that for every product I add, it'll increase my passive income each month by $2.
I know that doesn't seem like a lot yet, but just wait.
I have a goal to be at 500 digital products at the end of the year.
This would put my monthly passive income (from this 1 store) at $1000.
It's worth mentioning that I have done ZERO marketing for this store yet, it's brand new but I'll let you know how that goes and how much of a difference it makes for my sales.
PS: I also pay a virtual assistant to make these digital products for my store, so if you have an idea for a store but you're not super tech-savvy, no worries.
That will cost money upfront if you go that route though, but this is an investment. And like I said, once you build these passive income streams.
They're DONE.
I also don't plan to stop after I'm done building my downloadable spreadsheet shop, I'll just pick a different type of digital product and start another store.
There are so many types of digital products that you can build all of your income streams around.
The potential is unlimited.
That's pretty smart.
2. Merch by Amazon
It's no secret, I am a die-hard Amazon fan.
There are tons of ways to make money on the platform but Merch by Amazon might just be the coolest.
Especially for those of us looking for ways to earn passive income.
Once you sign up you can upload your designs to be sold on Amazon Merchandise, like clothes, phone cases, and tote bags.
Every time one of your items are purchased through Amazon, you get paid royalties!
Here's how it works:
You create a design
Upload it to Amazon
Choose which Amazon products you want your design on
Set a price
Customer purchases a product with your design
You get paid royalties
And once again, I recommend hiring someone on Fiverr to create the designs for you! What I like to do is focus on product research and pass along my ideas to an artist. That way I can get a lot more done!
You don't need to stop with just Merch by Amazon either.
I would cross-post your designs on:
That way you can maximize your sales.
While there are lots of other great print-on-demand websites, many require you to have your own online storefront and be marketing your products yourself.
Since our goal is income that is as passive as possible I only included print-on-demand sites that already have customers coming to them where they may stumble across your designs.
Just like digital products though, this is a numbers game!
Because of how competitive this business can be, many Merch by Amazon pros recommend you niche down.
That's where you'll find the most success!
3. Skillshare
Creating a library of classes you teach on Skillshare is another great way to earn passive income.
The best part is you don't need a teaching background in order to teach, anyone can create a class!
This is a quote directly from the Skillshare site:
"Anyone can teach a class on Skillshare! There’s no application or approval process, and you don’t need to have teaching experience. Our teachers are creatives, entrepreneurs, and professionals who are great at what they do and passionate about sharing their skills with others. Each has a unique background, perspective, and teaching style."
Take a look at some of these trending classes in the lifestyle category:
Okay, so how much do Skillshare teachers even make?
Students don't pay per class, they purchase a monthly membership on Skillshare that gives them access to all of the classes on the platform.
You get paid based on how many minutes those students spent watching your classes. I have heard on average a Skillshare teacher makes $200 in their first month with one class.
Clearly, one class isn't going to make you rich.
But what if you had 3 classes...or 5?
That could start bringing you in some serious passive income!
And once a class is created, it is just there making you money forever.
4. Create a Simple App
Sounds technical, right?
Not necessarily!
It's actually easier than you may think and no, you don't need to learn how to code.
And your app doesn't even have to do anything too fancy! Just take a look at Connor Garrett's typewriter app, it earns him $5000 a year in passive income.
Plus he didn't create the app himself, he paid someone else to do it for him! There are hundreds of qualified developers on Fiverr that can help you bring your app idea to life.
If you don't have any ideas immediately, don't worry!
I know that the more you immerse yourself into the hustle community, and start working on other income streams you'll start to see other business opportunities within those niches!
And you'll probably see an opportunity for an app.
Just keep an eye out!
Now that you know how simple it would be to create one, you'll start seeing opportunities everywhere.
5. Membership Websites
A membership site is simply a library of content, stock footage, courses, digital products, or anything like that, that members pay a monthly fee to have access to.
That's it!
Now, this idea has me really excited right now because it has the potential to make you a lot of passive income, without too much extra work.
I recommend you combine this idea with another one of your hustles.
For example. I'm in the process of creating a membership site for my Etsy spreadsheets.
There are lots of different types of membership sites that you can create.
The sky is the limit.
And if you've already created digital products for your first hustle you already have a ton of valuable products for a membership store.
Think about this, let's say you've been working on your new Etsy shop all year and you have 500 products.
That's a lot, I know.
But you hired talented freelancers on Fiverr to create them for you so it was a breeze!
Right now you sell 250 items a month in your store, charging an average of $3.50 a piece, and in all of your listings, you advertise that you also have a separate membership site.
And with a membership, your customers would have access to all 500 products,
plus any new ones you add in the future.
And it's only $14.99 a month.
That definitely doesn't sound like a bad deal!
What if 5% of all of your Etsy buyers decide to sign up for a $14.99/month membership.
That's 12 members at $14.99,
so in your first month, you'd make $174 in passive income.
And if you had that same amount of new customers each month, by the end of the year you'd be bringing in $2088 a MONTH,
just from your membership site.
I KNOW, my jaw dropped.
6. YouTube
Every YouTube video you create is a new asset in your digital portfolio.
This hustle is unique because you don't need ANY money to get started.
You can even start this in High School and begin building a following on Youtube that could bring you profit for years.
Maybe even a full-time income.
Every video you create goes out to the world and has the potential to make you money, the more videos you have, the more money you make.
Here's how creators monetize their YouTube videos:
Ads
Affiliate links
Sponsorships
Digital products
Selling services
Now, in the spirit of passive income, you could create all of your videos with ads, affiliate links, and selling digital products in mind.
Ad revenue definitely won't be your biggest earner,
but still, it's passive income, baby!
Affiliate links, and selling digital products to your audience will be your biggest money makers.
And the best part about YouTube is you get to decide what niche you want to create in, who your target audience is, and the value you want to share with the world!
Besides being a way to make money, it can be a creative outlet and something you're really passionate about.
And if you decide you're not interested in creating videos anymore you could either:
Stop creating & continue to make passive income from old videos.
7. Product Licensing
I touched on this idea on Tiktok and a lot of you were interested in getting started.
Product licensing is essentially selling your invention ideas to companies and collecting royalties.
Yes, people do this.
No, companies aren't just going to steal your ideas and run.
There are ways to do this right and protect your ideas,
Sites like Invent Right are there to help you pitch companies your ideas and get paid!
Inventors like Stephen Key make a lot of money doing this and he's written a few books on how to get started.
Bonus Ideas:
Now let's talk about two other passive income ideas that you can use to earn extra cash while you grow your income streams:
Advertise on your car:
There are actually companies that will pay you to advertise on your car!
So if you don't mind being a rolling billboard it's a nice way to make money doing something you already do.
Driving!
I recommend Nickelytics or Carvertise.
Rent out Space with Neighbor:
This is pretty much Airbnb but for storage spaces.
You can rent out your unused garage, attic, or spare bedroom as a storage space and collect a monthly payment.
simple as that.
Now the goal of $5000 a month in passive income doesn't sound so crazy.
It's actually achievable and now you have a plan to get there!
It will take some hard work but don't be afraid to hire out when you don't already have a skill you need for your hustle.
This will save you so much time and money in the long run.
I am building a lot of the income streams we talked about right now, and I will keep you updated on how they are going.
Feel free to reach out with any questions and maybe we could brainstorm ideas together.