Almost everyone’s goal in life is to get paid for doing as close to nothing as possible. After all, everyone loves money, and few people actually enjoy working! This makes a lot of people gravitate toward the world of passive income. Passive income is effectively making money through a system that has been setup, and requires very little ongoing upkeep.
The majority of people with sizeable amounts of passive income make that income through their financial investments. However, financial investments require a lot of money upfront. In today’s day and age though, you can generate passive income with an upfront investment of your time in lieu of money.
In this guide, we’ll delve into some unusual but incredible passive income streams that can help you generate some extra cash!
Passive income vs. active income
Before we jump into our passive income strategies, it’s important to outline the differences between
passive income and active income. Passive income often requires an upfront investment of either time or money and can generate cash flow for you regularly with very little upkeep. Whereas active income is income that is only generated when you invest time into a venture. Common active income sources that many people have are their jobs, side hustles, and small businesses.
Incredible passive income ideas
Now that we know the difference between passive and active income, let’s get into some great ideas for creating a source of passive income:
Selling products through vending machines
Vending machines are in countless buildings all over the world, generating (mostly) passive income for their owners 24/7. Although this may sound like an antiquated side hustle, owning vending machines can be a great way to generate income that’s mostly passive. When you own a vending machine, you’ll spend quite a bit of time finding a great location initially and a little bit of time each week restocking the vending machine. However, a vending machine with great placement can bring in hundreds of dollars for you each and every month!
Renting out space in your home
The gig/sharing economy has become huge over the course of the past decade. Up until recently, you had to make a huge investment in a rental property to enjoy rental income. However, that’s not the case anymore! Sites like
Airbnb and Neighbor make it easier than ever to rent out a spare room or other space in your home for others to stay in or use for storage.
Selling stock photos
If you’re a photographer, and you’ve got a backlog of high-quality pictures that you’ve taken, you can actually sell them as stock photos on a site like Shutterstock. Although there is a bit of upfront work involved in listing and tagging your photos so that people can find them, selling stock photos can be a great way to monetize something that you love, with little to no additional effort involved.
Crowdfunded real estate
For decades, you couldn’t invest in a 100 unit apartment complex unless you had a huge amount of money to invest. However, with the advent of crowdfunded real estate, real estate investing for passive income has become easier than ever. Platforms like
Fundrise allow investors to invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs) or real estate projects with low minimum investment requirements. You can then reap the rewards of both rental income and capital gains without having to do the work associated with real estate investing.
Selling digital products
Today, it’s easier than ever to sell digital products, whether that be something as simple as a digital planner or template or something as complex as a print-on-demand t-shirt. There are endless opportunities to create a great product once and then sell that product as many times as possible through the power of internet. Additionally, sites like Amazon and Etsy allow you to leverage an existing customer base without having to create and design a website of your own. If you want to stand out from sellers on these platforms, you can always build your own website through a platform like Shopify.
Peer-to-peer lending
Another unconventional passive income opportunity is through peer-to-peer (P2P) lending. P2P lending is when you lend other people money and charge them interest and/or fees for borrowing the money. This is typically done through platforms like Propser that match borrowers with lenders. There are some risks associated with this though. Since you’re lending money out, there is always the risk that someone won’t pay your loan back, leaving you without your initial investment. However, the key is to spread your investment out over multiple different loans, to mitigate your risks.
Content creation
Although not entirely passive, content creation has become an incredibly powerful way to create passive income over the course of the past decade, whether that be in the form of YouTube channel where you post videos and podcasts, user-generated content, or just plain old blog posts. Content creation allows you to take content that you’re probably already creating and monetize it through different avenues like affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and more. Although content creation requires a bit of upfront work and ongoing work, once you have a great catalog of content, you can enjoy the long-term benefits of passive income.
Watch out for online courses
As you might already know, there are an abundance of online courses out there that claim they will teach you the principles you need to be a millionaire. Although there are certainly some very helpful courses out there, be mindful of their costs and the reputation of the person who is creating the course. Only purchase reasonably priced courses that are well-reviewed online. At the end of the day, you’re trying to create passive income for yourself, not be the provider of someone else’s passive income.
The bottom line
Passive income can be incredibly elusive, as it can be time-intensive and difficult to set up a great source of passive income. However, once you have set up a source of passive income, the sky is the limit. Usually, passive income sources are very scalable since they require little ongoing investment, making them a ticket to financial freedom for countless people across the globe. With a little bit of work, a great idea, and a bit of execution on your end, you can set yourself up with passive income for the rest of your life!
