Passive Income Ideas

By Stacy Garrels | April 20, 2021

Do you want to generate passive income but have no idea where to start? You’re not alone. Income ideas can be difficult to come by, even in the age of the Internet.

Luckily, the versatility of the Internet can work in your favor. No matter what your field of interest is, you can use the skills you have at your disposal to secure not one, not two, but multiple passive income streams.

Passive Income Ideas for 2021

The best passive income streams are ones that take advantage of skills you already have. If you’re looking to make money without too much effort, then, take stock of your talents and hobbies. With a little bit of elbow grease up front, you can use those interests to supplement your 2021 income with a passive income stream.

Some of the best passive income ideas include:

Managing Rental Properties

To secure a passive income stream, you often have to first spend a decent chunk of change. Such is the best way to make a passive income off of rental properties. If there’s a stretch of land that you think will rent well in your area, you can purchase it and parcel it off to interested parties.

Do note, though, that you’re under no obligation to take on a land investment on your own. You can alternatively partner up with existing landowners to parcel off bits of unoccupied land. Alternatively, you can sign on as a partner landlord with an existing property, provided that the current landlord is interested in such a partnership.

Of course, renting real estate does require more than just an upfront investment. You’ll want to make sure that the property you’ve purchased is in good condition before setting up rental opportunities for audiences locally and online.

Participating in Ad Placement Programs

Marketing is the name of the game these days. There are a few different avenues, however, that businesses can use to get the word out about their products and services.

The ad placement game doesn’t have to be a complicated one. Instead, if you do a bit of research, you can find a litany of businesses who will pay regular people to wrap their cars, post on social media, or otherwise spread the word about their products and services. This way of making money on the side is one of the truly passive ways to secure a steady income. After initially setting up the ad a business wants to put in place, you can go about your day-to-day life without making any changes to your schedule. Instead, you can let your daily habits do all the hard work of earning an income for you.

Do note, of course, that each business’s method of paying you is going to differ. Some businesses, for example, may pay you via ad revenue, particularly if the company measures that revenue based on the number of clicks your hosted ad gets. Comparatively, companies that prefer car wrap advertisements may pay you for your efforts based on the size of the ad you get or the distance you drive every day.

Renting Out Your Home

The rise of Airbnb has been a boon to homeowners looking to secure a truly passive income. Renting out your home lets you take advantage of a purchase you’ve already made, even if you’re not actively taking advantage of it.

Airbnb lets you rent out all manner of property, from a full home to a spare room. Certain benefits, like a parking space or included utilities, can set your home apart from the rest, making it even easier for you to secure regular rental payments. If you’re smart about your marketing, you can use that rental income to pay off your property’s mortgage or to invest in additional local real estate.

Renting out your home on a platform like Airbnb doesn’t require too much financial planning. Instead, make sure you’re comfortable allowing company into your home. As soon as you’re satisfied with the way your property looks, you can create a profile on the Airbnb platform, kick up your heals, and start building passive income.

Selling Files on Etsy

If you’d rather set yourself up as a small business, there are platforms that will let you do just that. You don’t even have to create a physical product! Instead, when you sign up for a platform like Etsy, you can sell all manner of creations, including templates and similar digital files.

Etsy allows burgeoning artists and graphic designers to find their stride. Build up your audience with active social media accounts, and you’ll be able to sell anything, from digital art work to to-do lists, to parties who want to relish in your aesthetic tastes.

Do note that Etsy does require you to pay a fee to list your chosen products on their platform. Once you’ve gotten that initial cost out of the way, though, your sales should help you make money to cover that loss.

The great thing about selling digital work, as well, is that your start-up fee should be the end of your expenses. Because your customers can download your product, you shouldn’t have to worry about the cost of postage or processing. What better way to make passive income?

Opening Up a KoFi

The Internet is a fascinating forum to meet other people on. If you’re looking to make a passive income, there are a few different platforms that will make the process simple. KoFi is one such platform.

If you have a particularly prolific online following, you can set up a KoFi to let interested parties buy you coffee. These “coffees,” not, aren’t always coffees. Instead, they’re donations of roughly three dollars are more. This insignificant addition to your income may not seem like much, but in reality, it is the ideal side hustle. You don’t have to do anything besides post on social media or otherwise engage in your favorite hobbies. So long as interested parties know where to go to donate money for your efforts, they’ll make their way to KoFi and make sure that you have a little extra money in your wallet.

Selling Stock Photos

If you’re a photographer, or if you’ve thought about posting your photos online before, why wait? One of the best passive income ideas for aspiring photographers lets you establish yourself on platforms like Shutterstock.

Shutterstock and its sister platforms let you make pennies on the dollar for every stock photo your upload. While your income may not set you up for life, you will make money every time someone purchases one of the photos you’ve shared. As your work makes its way in the world, you’ll have the opportunity to connection with professionals who can elevate your work and career.

Eventually, this passive income stream may transform into an active one, especially if the right people find your work and admire your talent. When you’re just getting started, though, platforms like Shutterstock are the perfect places to build a passive income to supplement your day job.

Influencing Social Media

Advertisers love little more these days than a social media influencer. If you’re already active on social media, why not make your hobby go to work for you?

Earning a passive income as a social media influencer lets you make money in a semi passive manner instead of a completely passive one. You will, after all, have to take photos, write posts, and secure influencer deals with the companies that you want to work with. After you’ve launched a post, though, you’ll be able to sit back, relax, and let interested parties interact with your work.

Many companies pay social media influencers based on the number of likes or clicks your posts get. If your post goes viral, you can make thousands of dollars after only a few minutes of work. What’s not to enjoy about that?

Investing in Dividend Stocks

The stock market may be fickle, but it’s existed for as long as it has for a reason. If you’re looking for a passive income source, stocks can serve you well. Before you leap into the world of stocks, however, you may want to sit down with a financial advisor. These parties can help you create a stock budget and determine, in turn, what stocks you’re most interested in investing in. So long as you invest in stocks that see growth in the long-term, you can transform your initial chunk of change into a sizeable passive income. Be sure, however, to keep an eye on your stocks – you don’t want to lose out on opportunities to sell if the market seems primed to crash.

Starting a YouTube Channel

Like many other forms of social media, YouTube has risen in popularity, especially since its purchase by Google. The platform makes it easier than ever for its users to benefit from ad revenue – so why not make a channel? Even if you don’t have any experience editing videos, you can create engaging content designed to draw in viewers and encourage conversation. You can choose, all the while, where you want to roll your ads and how you want your viewers to interact with them. At the end of every month, you can collect your income courtesy of the platform.

Do note, though, that you can only generate a consistent passive income from a platform like YouTube if your content gets monetized. To become monetized, you have to meet certain requirements through the YouTube platform, including reaching certain viewer counts, creating a certain number of videos per week, and so on. Before committing to this process, consider how much work you want to put into earning your passive income and, in turn, what kind of content you think you can create that can stand out online.

Refinancing Your Mortgage

If you choose to refinance your mortgage, you’re less making a passive income and more saving money. Refinancing your mortgage allows you to lower the interest rate on your existing mortgage by up to two percent. While you will have to take out a new loan to trigger this process, you can start to put away more money for ongoing projects, interests, or expenses. There may also be opportunities for you to pay off your mortgage sooner if you have an income that’s more fluid.

Starting a Blog

Writing is hard. Some days you’re not inspired; some days your schedule gets in the way; some days, you think that all of the original ideas in the world have been taken. If you’re willing to slog through the writer’s block and imposter syndrome, though, you can generate a passive income with your writing.

This, like a few of the other options on this list, is one of the passive income ideas that makes you do a little bit of work in advance. After all, if you want to start a blog, you’re going to need content to share on it. Similarly, you’re going to need to advertise your blog on various social media accounts if you want to generate traffic.

After you’ve built up an audience, though, you’ll have an easier job earning money off of the clicks your blog gets. If you offer to host advertisements on your blog, you can add to that passive income with regular ad revenue.

Make Passive Income With Swagbucks

You don’t have to work a nine-to-five to thrive in this day and age. If you’re interested in securing a passive income, you have ample opportunity to do so. A platform like Swagbucks can even help you find the best place to start.

Swagbucks lets anyone who makes an account on its platform earn money by taking surveys, watching videos, and playing games online. If you have a few extra hours in your day, you can turn a few clicks into enough money to pay for next week’s groceries or to support your other investments.

Don’t wait for another opportunity to come your way. Earn money while you sleep today!