Generating passive income provides additional income that falls every month. Whatever the initial investment and the amount, this additional income protects you in the event of a serious blow, periods of inactivity, or unemployment, all the more in times of crisis and uncertainty.
If you are an employee and you are in a full-time position, a passive income can generate money without compromising your main activity. Indeed, passive income should not take you much time each month, that is why it is “passive”. However, passive income does not fall from the sky, it requires work that represents a diligent effort, especially at launch.
Generating passive income also meets aspirations in terms of lifestyle: allowing you to free yourself up with more time, freedom, and flexibility. And why not leave the metro-work-dodo to start your own business, convert to another activity, work at home, or become a digital nomad…
This article brings together 20 ideas for passive income that will help you generate money while keeping your main job, or convert you.
Having a passive income online is often mentioned in the examples of passive income, because the Internet is a great way to launch a gainful activity that you can control at any time, without too much logistical or budgetary investment.
These online businesses that make money regularly have their own little trendy name: they are called “muses”. It’s time to realize your dreams and have passive income, or find your muse!
What is passive income?
Income is considered passive when it requires little or no effort to be generated. The work is mainly done upstream: if you create online training, it will sell in the long term well after its launch. You will work hard for a few months to create, launch and promote your online training. In the meantime, you won’t have much to do.
The training will run in “automatic pilot” mode, so that your additional income will be generated automatically, without much effort, wherever you are.
You may know the phrase “earning money while sleeping”. This is what motivates people the most to generate passive income. you can create an online business, and content (a blog, a course, an ebook, a video, or an online store), which will save you money, even when you are not working. Many seek to generate additional income on weekends or at home in addition to their main job, that is the whole point of passive income.
For this activity to materialize and to receive real income, it is advisable to diversify your sources of passive income. Businesses online are the most common and are called “muse businesses”. But you can also own tangible or intangible goods (a property or stocks), which allow you to get this additional income.
What is a muse business?
It was Tim Ferriss who popularized this term for business in his famous book “The 4 Hours Week”. It defines the muse as a mini online business that will ensure optimal profitability per hour worked. The idea is to spend as little time as possible at work while having a profitable activity!
One common challenge for readers of The 4-Hour Workweek is the creation of a “muse”: a low-maintenance business that generates significant income. Such a muse is leveraged to finance your ideal lifestyle, which we calculate precisely based on Target Monthly Income
Tim Ferriss
Passive income, example:
Dropshipping is a very good example of a business that can quickly turn into a muse. Be careful, however, not to delude yourself. Of course, you can generate money and be profitable, while working less. But to achieve this time-saving balance, takes time and work, especially at the start of your business.
Dropshipping, like other muse businesses, requires a high dose of start-up work to be able to last over time. In this article, we will take examples of passive income to generate additional regular income. But most of his examples can turn into a muse business if you work hard and seriously.
How to generate passive income?
One or more passive sources of income must be generated to hope for regular cash inflows.
Before defining an idea of passive income, we advise you to think about the time you have to dedicate yourself to your new business. The ideal is to clear several hours a week at the start because that’s when the bulk of the work is done.
Indeed, the more time you will have to devote to it from the start, the faster your activity will have a chance to take off. The weekend can be the time dedicated to working on your activity and generating additional income. Imagining a near future that brings you passive income every month will help you motivate yourself!
Then you have to find an idea of passive income, by researching the skills to have, or the risks to be taken. Your passive sources of income will also depend on your skills.
If you work in finance, for example, you will have no problem getting into stock market investment. Likewise, investing in stone will not pose the same risk to a real estate expert. If you are a photographer you can very easily sell your photos online. Or if you have one of its skills listed above, you can sell your training online on this subject. Finally, you will find it easier to launch your online store if you are already very good at marketing.
Earning additional income or side money can be as useful when you want to start an online business without a budget. We are talking about it in this live YouTube exchange with Pierre-Eliott, a successful entrepreneur. It gives you lots of tips to generate its first euros online by selling microservices!
20 passive income ideas 2024
1. Start an e-commerce activity
Do you want to generate additional online income? Online commerce is a growing activity today! Particularly in 2022: since the Covid crisis, online sales have experienced rapid growth reflected in constantly changing e-commerce figures.
Consumers are mature, they buy more than ever online. And you have at your disposal high-performance tools, which are easier and easier to take in hand and inexpensive. The timing is therefore perfect for you to get into e-commerce, provided of course that you choose the niche market and the trendy products that will be successful.
Getting into e-commerce has many advantages. Unlike physical trade, your starting budget is much lower, you can sell at any time of the day and night and without geographical limit, target customers precisely and launch advertising campaigns to pay off, control your sales, and adjust your prices in a few clicks. So many clever tactics to reach your customers.
2. Dropshipping, ideal for getting started
Dropshipping is a particularly interesting form of e-commerce to generate passive income since you outsource your stock and you do not manage deliveries. You will have no trouble finding a wealth of information to get started on our blog, starting with our updated dropshipping guide.
You can start now by registering on Shopify. You will have access to Oberlo, which will help you find products for sale and dropshipping suppliers. A business plan can help you formalize your project. Indeed, the choice of your products, your suppliers, the user experience offered by your e-commerce store, and your web marketing promotion actions will make all the difference.
Focus your efforts on these points in the first months. The goal is to generate sales automatically every month, with a minimum of work then, if not the updating of your products, regular updating of your site, and advertising and e-mailing campaigns in highlights such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and some parties in the year.
3. Sell your designs with the print on demand
Since e-commerce remains one of the most popular ways to generate passive income these days, it seems logical to try your luck with print on demand. This system allows you to sell your own graphics printed on products such as clothing, mugs, covers, phone ticks, bags, and much more.
You can thus develop a true brand image. However, you will have to limit your graphics budget because the commissions will generally be too low to obtain a large margin.
However, you can create many different designs and import them to your Shopify shop. The advantage of Print on demand is also the low initial investment. The choice of your supplier Print on demand is strategic since it is he who will manage printing, manufacturing, packaging, and delivery to the customer.
You take care of the graphic design, sales, and digital marketing. If creating a POD online store and generating traffic on it represents an investment in terms of time that is too great, you can also sell your print-on-demand creations on specialized marketplaces like Spreadshirt or Merch by Amazon.
With POD, you may one day have the chance to meet someone who wears a t-shirt with your design or message. The coolest thing that can happen to you. Without necessarily having design skills, it is the simple messages that work best in printing on demand!
It’s the business going up right now.
It is already exploding in the United States and landing in France. We advise you to follow this free training right away to get started now! In this 45-minute web, we can see together how POD works, tools, and tips for finding design ideas and marketing techniques to generate sales.
4. Create passive income by creating your own price
Selling online training is one of the best ideas for passive income in 2024. With the rise of telework and freelance infopreneurs, there has been a significant increase in demand for online training and, consequently, an increase in sales for online course creators.
Whether you decide to sell training on your own website or on a platform such as Udemy, you will always find customers who want to learn your professional tricks and tricks.
Selling your training on your site can help you control the volume of your passive income. In return, it will be easier to gain notoriety online right away if you sell your training on platforms like Udemy. However, you will have to pay a commission that can fluctuate.
On the other hand, for your training to turn and allow you to obtain regular passive income, you will have to update it from time to time with new data according to your theme.
Income supplement idea thanks to online training :
5. Launch a blog to have passive income online
The blog remains one of the most popular passive income streams. Blogging is an idea of additional income that has enabled thousands of bloggers and entrepreneurs to generate passive income.
The creation of a blog has a major interest in being able to transform into different types of income supplements, through affiliate links, courses, sponsored posts, products, books for sale, etc… Even if some stocks don’t work, you are almost guaranteed to get a minimum of passive money.
It is true that creating a successful blog will require a lot of work upstream. Especially since the dreaming sector has become very competitive. However, this is one of the most profitable sources of passive income because the blog is one of the very reliable means of generating an audience through organic and social traffic or emailing.
6. Sell photos and videos
Professional or amateur photographers not only make money by taking photos but also by selling them online. Image, magazine, and printing bank sites can help you get significant additional income. At first, you especially need a good camera, although these days your smartphone can allow you to take very nice photos. And if you are passionate about photography, you can generate passive income without feeling like you are working!
Video content is the one that generates the most commitment on social networks. If you love making videos and you are overflowing with ideas, you’d better get started. You probably do it very often without even thinking about making money! In reality, with a little creativity, this activity can allow you to generate passive income. Why? Because you can sell videos to news sites or image banks. And if the video works well, it can make you money for weeks, months, and maybe even years.
Of course, the easiest way to find interesting things to film is to go to public events like demonstrations, shows, festivals. Wherever you find controversy and the public, you will have the opportunity to sell your content.
7. Rental on Airbnb
You don’t even need to own, you can only rent a room in your apartment or home. Rental to third parties is a very good source of passive income. Here is an idea of passive income that does not require investing in additional skills.
In addition, thanks to the Airbnb experience, you can organize guided tours of your city. Even if it does not constitute passive income, you can always generate additional income while creating social ties.
How to generate money through Airbnb rental?
8. Coaching and freelancing
If you want to earn additional home income, freelancing is obvious. The creation of a micro-enterprise is a simple, fast, and flexible process, and telework has been developing in France since the pandemic. When you need additional income, you can look for short missions that you can complete outside of your work schedules.
Ideally, to avoid training and making your skills profitable, choose missions that are close to your expertise or your passions. If you are good at design, look for freelance graphic designer missions. Likewise, if you can write well, get started as a web editor. Also, you can get into coaching, which can be broken down into many themes.
9. The sponsored posts on Instagram
If you are an addict to Instagram, you would probably like to transform your scrolling time into posting time: an idea of additional income that you don’t think of spontaneously! Isn’t that the perfect solution to generate passive money without changing your pace too much?
Instagram’s great interest is that you can create content on absolutely all subjects. Travel, fashion, beauty, decoration or something very particular like, for example, canine grooming … you will always meet an audience.
What is the secret to having a lot of Instagram subscribers? There must be great consistency in the type of your content. So be sure to respect the interests of your audience so that the people who follow you can find the content that interests them. Remember to put your email address in your bio on Instagram.
As your account grows, you will receive proposals from sponsored posts, which will allow you to make money on Instagram. But also to receive free branded products! The more your posts get Instagram likes, the more people will contact you. So make sure you create engaging content.
We are only at idea number 10 and yet you have probably noticed a trend: creating content generates passive income. If you are a developer or programmer, you could try to create an application to have a passive income. There are two ways to do this: first, you can sell your app.
Second, you can offer a free app and monetize it with advertising. By buying code on CodeCanyon for example. You can use a tool called Eclipse and install Android Development SDK to make code changes to create a unique application.
11. Affiliation marketing
Affiliation marketing is one of the most popular ways today to generate passive income. The advantage of affiliation? Most major brands have an affiliation program, so you can sell very popular products and make money. The only downside is that you only get a sales commission.
Some affiliate programs allow you to earn up to $ 2,000 per link, which is astronomical. Some online resellers only offer a 10% bonus. We, therefore, advise you to do research to find the best affiliation programs before starting.
Blogging tends to be the most effective way to reach regular membership fees, without having to spend money on advertisements.
Generate passive income with affiliate marketing:
12. Launch your website for passive online income
Starting your own brand on the Internet can be a reliable source of money. Some create marketing agencies and outsource freelance work. Others, like some entrepreneurs on this list, create online courses to share their knowledge and train others. You can also sell products, physical or digital. But the advantage of having your own website is being able to better control what you sell and how you make money.
You are the guarantor of your own success and are free to take your brand as far as you want. It is a way to have additional income while remaining very free in your choices and your organization.
13. Write an ebook
The ebook or white paper is a popular medium of content and a passive income generator par excellence. There are still many people who earn passive income from a book they have written years ago. Of course, this is a very competitive market. But if you have good writing skills and you know how to find popular subjects through SEO or Google Trends, you could get regular additional income.
By creating practical ebooks on popular niches or captivating novels, you could develop a base of fans or loyal readers. Likewise, you can sell your e-books to companies on topics that interest their prospects.
Another idea of passive income that allows you to take advantage of your talent.
14. Sell digital products to generate passive income
If you are thinking of creating your own products rather than selling those of others, you could create digital products. Shopify can help you sell your digital products online. Digital products cover all kinds of content: ebooks, online courses, PDFs, graphics, image banks or any other dematerialized property. Selling this type of product is ideal for earning money since the entire process can be automated on Shopify in seconds.
15. Create YouTube videos
YouTube is a catalyst for passive income in perpetual motion. From sponsored videos to advertising revenue, you will quickly discover that you can make money through your Youtube channel. The secret to maintaining a successful Youtube channel? Create content regularly and over the long term.
If you stick to it, you will start to have a substantial income. However, you will still need to post regular new videos to keep your current/old videos well ranked and recommended by YouTube.
16. Sell your stuff
You have undertaken a vast operation to clear up your home? So why not turn these bulky into money? We have all these cardboard boxes filled with objects that are useless. You can keep them in the hope that they disappear on their own, or you can sell them on Ebay or
Facebook marketplace to help you generate money while making an ecological gesture.
By searching carefully, perhaps you could find valuables. So if you don’t know where to start when it comes to passive income, maybe your closet is the best start.
A good idea of passive income: sell your things
Nicolas Christensen, Founder of Lottery Critic explains how he generated a good income by storing the affairs of his family members: “I am the man who whispers in eBay’s ears. It started with volunteering to open up my older aunt’s house. About 60 years of accumulated things to sort, give or sell. I found a box with a huge doll inside. It turns out that it was an ancient doll from Shirley Temple, in perfect condition. I did some research I sold it on Ebay and shared the profits with my cousin. The word happened to other members of my family and I started to have a rather nice supplementary income. It always works and the income is nice.”
17. Develop websites to have passive and regular income
Do you know how to develop websites or online stores? If so, you have found another source of passive income because you can sell them. And the money gain can be very positive and exceed your known business income. You will probably need to wait for your first sales (to show that your stores are up to par). If you are looking for a place to sell your website, test Shopify’s Exchange Marketplace. On the platform, you can sell your newly developed shop or even a very complex shop, at a price you set. It is a platform suitable for all kinds of sites.
18. Invest in real estate
Passive income is generally associated with digital, however, if there is one investment that resists profitability, it is real estate! Depending on where and how you invest, real estate can be a good way to earn substantial passive income. The value of properties has grown very rapidly and interest rates have fallen. If you buy apartments on plans at very low costs, their value could very well increase even before the end of construction, which allows you to sell it barely built, making a better capital gain.
You can also think about your retirement and make a rental investment: the rent for your accommodation will allow you to pay your loan, and once it is repaid after several years the rental of your apartment will bring you a good additional income. Like all investments, there is a risk, so it is more reasonable to chat with a real estate agent if you are new to this area, to help you buy reliable real estate.
19. Invest in stocks
If you look at the wealthiest people in the world, you don’t take too many risks to say that stocks have played a big role in the multiplication of their bank accounts. Warren Buffett reads 500 pages a day but he doesn’t read your bedside book. No. He reads annual financial reports. Reading financial reports every day, he sees better whether a business is performing well or not, which helps him improve his investment capacity.
While investing in stocks is rather passive, the research that leads to it is active. However, investing in stocks can help you develop a passive income that can compete with the value of your full-time job and your known business income. You should therefore consider this idea of passive income if you like to keep yourself informed of stock market prices, business results, or economic news.
Yes, your full-time work salary can become a type of passive income. No, it’s not with the hours you work. However, your business actions and supplementary retirement plans can help you achieve a rather attractive income. Of course, you will have to invest your own money, but the profits generated by the business are not negligible. If you start a full-time job, be sure to negotiate a stake in the capital of the company included in your contract.
Top 20 Sources of passive income in 2024
Find an idea of passive income :
- Start an e-commerce activity
- Dropshipping is ideal for getting started
- Sell your designs with the Print on demand
- Create passive income by creating your own price
- Launch a blog for passive online income
- Sell photos and videos
- Rental Airbnb
- Coaching and freelancing
- The sponsored posts on Instagram
- Create an application
- Affiliation marketing
- Launch your website for passive online income
- Write an ebook
- Sell digital products to generate passive income
- Create YouTube videos
- Sell your stuff
- Develop websites
- Invest in real estate
- Invest in actions
- Company stocks
Conclusion
Passive income can actually raise your standard of living and fill any gaps in your main job. If you are looking to quit your job or have just lost your job, some of the ideas in this article will help you take the plunge and generate additional income without upsetting your lifestyle, and endangering your current situation.
If you like your job, that’s fine. Most activities generating passive income are compatible with full-time employment. So yes, you can do both.
Whether you are looking to start a dropshipping shop, your own agency, or create profitable content, you will find that it is possible to generate money in each of these areas. All you have to do is start. You just have to find a passive source of income that suits you!
