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Most people want to make as much money as possible, but few are willing to do what it takes to achieve it.
Being self-employed sounds super, but what if you don’t want to ditch the 9-to-5? It’s possible to keep your day job while earning some passive income from another source.
It all boils down to your level of creativity. If you’re moping and complaining about how there’s not enough time in a day to earn from a side gig, you have the half-empty mentality.
Despite your busy schedule, you can make something out of anything if you’re truly determined.
Besides, you don’t need any formal training to generate some passive income in most cases. That’s more reason for you to get to it immediately if you haven’t started yet.
The only drawback is that you’ll have to wait for long before your efforts reap some fruit. But that shouldn’t be a hindrance to you. At least you know that you’re expecting some money in the near future.
That cash can bail you out when you need some green, who knows?
You don’t need to try so hard when looking for means to get some passive income. Your answer could be right under your nose.
Here are some ways to generate passive income while keeping your day job if you’d love to give it a try but don’t know where to start:
Table of Contents
1. Do Some Antique Shopping
You do not have to go to the mall, museum or any other high-end stores to score old treasures. There are many flea markets, thrift stores and estate auctions where you can get some valuables at a very reasonable price.
Dedicate your weekends or whichever time of the week you’re free to visiting these low-end areas and seeing what antiques they have to offer.
If you’re new to antique shopping, it might be a challenge for you to get something worthwhile. Follow these tips, and you’re good to go:
Ask as Many Questions as You Can
Contact the seller. When you find something you like, don’t rush into buying it. Ask them more questions about the piece to know if it’s the real deal or not. One of those questions should be how they came across it.
If they’re honest and genuine, they can provide additional information like where and when the piece was acquired.
Do Some Investigation on the Seller
Are they legit? What’s their background story? How did they start the business? If you don’t want to go through so much hassle, you might as well ask around.
Search for Some Patina
“Patina” is a word dealers use to refer to the sheen on a surface resulting from age or polishing
The piece you decide to buy shouldn’t be in tip-top condition. Look for some lack of shine, tarnish or dents on the piece.
This is the best way to get an item in its true value. In this case, trust your instincts and get what appeals to you. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Once you buy some antiques, do some research on their real price. Then, sell them on sites such as eBay and Craigslist for a profit.
2. Start Sewing
Do you have a sewing machine that’s gathering dust in your home? Better yet, do you have an interest in sewing but have never given it much thought?
Even if you don’t have the machine already, you can always buy one and sew whenever you’ve got some free time off work.
A lot of people do it as a hobby, but here’s a secret: not many people are good with a string and needle, and they pay those with the skill to either repair or make clothes for them. That’s a win-win right there.
The best part is, even if you’ve got some little experience, you can still trade your skill for some green.
The benefits of making money through sewing are countless. Some of them are:
- Work hours are flexible
- You can do it from home if you want
- It’s possible to earn from it even when you already have a day job
Sewing is one of those jobs that offers lots of options to those interested in trying it out.
If you decide to start your own business, for example, you can choose the type of business you prefer based on:
Your Personality
Do you love being around people or do you prefer your own company? There are business options for you regardless of your personality type.
The Sewing Projects You Enjoy
Choose a business that offers sewing projects that you enjoy if you’d love to make some passive income and have some fun at the same time.
Your Level of Experience
Rookie or pro? Your choice should be in line with your level of experience.
3. Start a Business and Let Someone Else Run It
Businesses are advantageous for a couple of reasons. The main one is that you always have somewhere to get money.
It doesn’t have to be a large establishment with lots of workers. You can get some ideas from your skills and the resources you have. A booming business is a top source of passive income.
You can do the bit of opening the business and hire one or two people to run it for you. In the long haul, all the profit you make goes to your pocket. You only have to set aside money for the salaries of your employees, and you can make use of the rest.
Starting a business is the toughest bit, especially if you don’t know where to start. Here are some tips you can try out to get your biz up and running:
- Know what you want. The first step to owning a successful business is knowing what you want to sell and the specific market you want to enter.
- Have a business plan where you answer questions such as who your target customers are, how you’ll finance your startup costs and the purpose of your business.
- Determine how you’ll cover the costs of your business. Taking some cash from your salary can work.
- Know your legal business structure. This will help you better handle issues such as your liability and tax filing.
- Register with the IRS and the government.
- Purchase insurance for your business.
- Hire a reliable employee(s).
- Choose vendors if necessary.
- Advertise your business.
- Sit back, chill and wait for the cash to roll in.
4. Invest Your Green In Something Worthwhile
Have you thought of investing before but again thought twice about it? It’s understandable. With all the scammers around, it’s close to impossible to determine who’s reliable and who isn’t.
Investing has more benefits than drawbacks. All you need is wise counsel, some knowledge about it and lots of patience.
Many people have the idea that a small investment yields great profit in a short period. Sure, such cases are there, but they’re so rare.
Most people who have made it invested over a long time. They use basic concepts like:
Not Investing In Ventures You Don’t Understand
Even if experts recommend it to you, if you don’t know anything about it, don’t take the risk. You may end up losing money instead of gaining.
Invest 15% of Your Earnings
The idea is to invest something small over your desired period. An effective way to make it work is having an amount of money, depending on your earnings, deducted from your paycheck and deposited into your investment accounts.
Don’t Put Your Eggs In One Basket
To maximize your chances of making your investment count, invest in more than one stock. If one fails, there’s hope in another.
Patience is Key
With all the excitement of earning some extra money, it’s easy to be hopeful in the first several months, but as time slips by, you might fall victim to the main enemy of success: impatience.
Remember that it’s normal for the value of your investments to rise and fall over time.
However, their value will almost always rise with time.
5. Create an Online Course
Online courses are among the best passive income earners today. Not only are they a fast and impactful way to get your knowledge out to a global audience, but they’re also a profitable venture with minimal requirements.
You only need to know what you’re good at and the road is smooth from there. Your area of interest doesn’t have to be the professional type.
Pitch an idea like ‘How to draw Spiderman Like a Pro’ and you’ll surely rake in some profit if you follow the right method.
Though there’s no exhaustive list of all you need to plan, prepare and execute a successful online course, here’s an overview of how you can create one:
- Pick the right course topic. It has to be something you love if it’s to last.
- Go for a course idea with high market demand.
- Have a catchy learning outcome for your course/courses.
- Choose and put together your course content.
- Take a look at what you’ve put together and group similar ideas, themes and tips into modules.
- Come up with a fun way to deliver each lesson.
- Film, record, and edit your online course.
- Set up your course online.
- Determine the price of your course.
- Find students for your course. A simple way you can do this is to get them signed to your email list first. Please note: before creating your course, know who your students are.
- Launch your course.
6. Get Paid to Catch Some Zzz’s
There are some seriously wicked ways to earn money, and this is one of them. How would you like to receive cash for doing absolutely nothing but sleeping?
Yeah, it’s not a joke. If you stay in an area where sleep studies are regularly conducted, are in good health, and love snoozing, here’s a gig you’ll enjoy.
According to experts, once you make the cut, you could earn hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars from a single study.
Additionally, you may undergo a psychological as well as a physical exam to ensure that you’re up for it. For each stage, you receive payment.
So, what happens during a sleep study? Well, immediately you fall asleep, doctors monitor you to find out what’s going on in your body and brain.
An EEG, or electroencephalogram, monitors your sleep stages and NREM or REM cycles you go through at night. This is done to spot any interruptions in your sleep pattern.
Other functions that are studied include body movements, oxygen levels in your blood, eye movements and snoring.
It’s conducted in a sleep lab that’s set up for overnight stays, like in a sleep center or hospital.
Before you go to sleep, a technologist places electrodes or sensors on your body and head. You can sleep in your pajamas if you wish.
The study is done in a dark room and made comfortable for sleeping. You should arrive at the hospital or lab at least two hours before the study to make any necessary preparations.
The plus side of it is you don’t need to sleep for a full night. The drawback is that you may be cut off from your social life as you undergo it.
7. Buy an Abandoned Blog
A person’s loss could be your biggest gain. In the case of an abandoned blog, buying it is a sure way to improve your financial state quickly.
There’s a catch. You need to look for a blog with an acceptable amount of web traffic and a demonstrated cash flow.
Blogs usually sell for about 24 times their monthly income. If, for example, a blog rakes in $250 per month, you can get it at not less than $6,000.
If you’re lucky enough to purchase a blog with content that generates revenue even after the blogger goes mum, the $6,000 investment is a small price you have to pay.
Buying a blog and sprucing it up with some fresh and exciting content is an excellent way to increase its monthly revenue.
Then comes the question, where can you buy an abandoned blog? There are lots of online marketplaces that grant you this opportunity.
A notable one is Flippa, which was established in 2009 by Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle. It’s based in San Francisco and Melbourne, Australia.
Flippa sells two types of sites; established sites and starter sites. Starter sites are new and rarely have any traffic going to them. According to Flippa, they are sites that are less than three months old with no revenue or traffic. They go for roughly $60-$100.
Established sites are the ones you should go for. They are sites that are three months old or older, have traffic and are possibly generating revenue. Their price is based on several factors, such as the amount it’s earning and how much traffic it has.
Next, you need to determine which payment method you’ll use. Currently, the marketplace offers three choices; PayPal.com, Flippa Escrow and Escrow.com.
Need to get your blog up? We suggest HostGator for hosting.
8. Rent a Spare Room in Your House
A common way of doing this is signing up on Airbnb. The process is quite simple. You first have to sign up, provide the necessary details and create a profile.
Afterward, prepare the space you plan on selling. If it’s dirty or needs a makeover, do that before moving to the next step.
Upon cleaning up, enhance its appeal by taking beautiful pictures, preferably of magazine quality. Take photos of different angles of the room to show potential guests what they stand to gain.
If you don’t have a quality camera or iPhone, or if you’re not a pro at taking pictures, ask a skilled friend to do it for you. Of course, you have to have a detailed description of the space under the photos.
Remember to include those features that make it unique. Whether it’s an exquisite view, a hot tub or fully-stocked kitchen, share away!
The mode of payment of this online marketplace is PayPal. Cash is also directly deposited in your account a day after a guest checks into your space.
Another alternative is doing it the old-fashioned way, without any help from the internet. Be sure to check the state laws in your area to ensure that you’re complying with the necessary housing and fee requirements.
Here are some pointers on how to rent a room in your house successfully:
- Put the house in order.
- Choose a room to rent.
- Come up with a price for it.
- Be honest when advertising the room.
- Don’t rent out the room blindly. Use your intuition.
- Request for a background check and credit report from a potential tenant through Cozy.
- Have a written account of the agreement.
9. Sell Stock Photos
Are you passionate about photography and love taking pictures of just about anything? On the surface, photography is a casual hobby, but in the core, it’s a simple way to fatten your bank account.
Don’t worry if you’re not an expert. Microstock sites like shutterstock.com and istockphoto.com allow you to get your photos online.
Once you receive approval as a contributor, you’re not charged to upload photos to their portfolios. They receive their payment by taking a percentage of each sale you make.
If you want to succeed in selling stock photos, you first need to have the proper equipment. That means no iPhones. Invest in a digital camera. Go for one that enables you to control the settings, like a DSLR.
Owning one isn’t enough. You must also know how it works. Maybe you’re the lucky few who manage to take a perfect picture once in a while, but luck won’t always work for you. You have to receive some form of training.
Next, come up with detailed descriptions for each of your pieces and use keywords that could apply to your photo when you upload it. Also, avoid using keywords for the sake of it.
When uploading, aim for large and established popular sites. Upload as many pictures as possible so you can increase your chances of receiving approval. On average, a photographer earns $1-$2 per image.
Finally, the microstock industry has gained recognition quickly. Many people are giving it a try. To stand out, try coming up with unique work. Go for a niche without competition, but with high demand.
10. Design T-shirts and Other Products
If you’re creative and are into design, you’ll love this one. You can make passive income from your extraordinary skill.
What’s more, you don’t need to go through the tiresome process of advertising your products. Instead, sites such as Redbubble will do that for you.
Founded in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia, Redbubble is a global online marketplace that showcases user-submitted artwork. It also has offices in Berlin and San Francisco.
To create a store on the marketplace, create a unique domain name. Upon visiting the website, there’s a ‘sell art’ button on the top left side of the screen. Click it and you’ll be redirected to the ‘Join Redbubble’ page where you should create your domain name.
Thereafter, choose a cover photo and avatar for your profile. They help to connect you to your buyers as well as reflect your creativity.
Next, add your payment details. It’s impossible to sell your work without filling in this bit. Be careful when entering your country’s currency. Once you enter it, you can’t change it.
Upload your artwork and you’re almost there at this point. Note: the marketplace accepts designs in JPEG and PNG formats. You can add some descriptions on the artwork if you want.
When shoppers visit your site and buy your products, Redbubble pays you a portion of the profit. Get this: they handle the shipping and production of the products as well.
Passive Income Is Easy to Earn
You put enough effort into your day job and it’s time you took things easy and got some money in a simpler way.
There are more ways you can earn some passive income apart from the ones mentioned in this post. You only need to find out what you love doing and capitalize on it.
If what you’ve decided to try out takes time to reap rewards, hey, look on the bright side. You’re building up on great profit in the long run.
And if what you try doesn’t work out at first, keep trying, and you’ll make it.
