If you’re just starting out in the working world, one of the things that will quickly become apparent to you is how important it is to have a fall-back plan. Something that most people will tell you is that you should always have an exit strategy.
Working 9-5, Monday-Friday is great (if you’re in the right job), but it’s not the be-all and end-all. You should be thinking about how to diversify your income streams — particularly given the fragility of that stream, as 2020 showed us.
If you’re looking for some ideas and options on how to generate passive income for yourself, then here are some ideas to get you thinking. But that said, it’s important not to have all of your eggs in one basket. So, here are four options to earn income passively.
1. Invest in dividend stocks
One of the often-overlooked ways of earning passive income is the stock market. This might be a scary prospect for first-time investors, but fear not, even if you don’t know much about stock investment, it’s nothing to be scared of.
The first thing you should know is that investing in stocks means that you’re investing in something for the long-term potential of a return on that investment that will be many times greater than the initial amount that you put in.
Patience is a necessity when investing in stocks, as they are often locked away for several years before you can access them, so prepare yourself to not be able to withdraw anything for several years.
A good rule of thumb with stock investment is to not put in more than you can afford to lose. Also, diversify your investment across multiple companies/industries. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
2. Dabble in affiliate marketing
If you have any kind of internet presence, a worthwhile venture might be to try to capitalise by launching various affiliate marketing ventures through popular sites like Amazon or eBay. Amazon’s affiliate program is something with which most people are familiar – essentially, if people use an Amazon affiliate link that you provide, you get a small percentage of the profits from that specific link.
This is popular among YouTube content creators and other creatives more broadly, though the earning percentage is small, it certainly adds up on big-ticket purchases or multiple smaller purchases over time.
3. Consider using a robo-advisor
Another way to invest in the stock market, if you’re not interested in dividends, is something called an automatic investment. This is just as it sounds – these automated stock advisors, known as Robo-advisors, take all of the decision-making out of your hands and make your investment choices for you. This is great if you can’t be bothered with all of the complex minutiae of stock investment.
4. Create and sell content
One other way to earn passive is to create some form of online content that you can sell time and again without even needing to lift a finger, once the content has been produced and released to the general public.
This might be done through an Etsy store, or self-publishing an eBook on Amazon, or creating a course for online universities like Udemy if you have a particular set of skills that you feel you could help other people learn from.
Summing up
The online world is exploding at a rate never before seen. As such, there are plenty of ways to earn passive income from creating new things. You can do all this without you having to lift a finger, except for mailing the items when they are sold if it’s something physical.
Passive income really is the way of the future, as much of the world transitions to doing everything online. Whether you’re looking to earn a few extra dollars or make earning passive income your job, there’s a way to do it.
Full-time passive income earners have actually made fantastic business decisions by having multiple streams of revenue that are generating more than enough money for them to live on. If you’re interested in joining the club of passive-income earners, consider the options above. It will help you get on the right financial track today, and into the future.
