Earning a passive income has always been a great way to get ahead of your bills and save up some extra money for your retirement. However, setting up a way to make this type of income has always been a challenge. Before, people had to invest in rental properties or a business to earn this type of income. Fortunately, there are a lot more options available in the digital age.
The widespread introduction of home computers and smart devices hasn’t only improved our work output and communication skills but has also made it much easier to start earning a passive income. Here’s how.
Online Surveys
It doesn’t matter what era you think about, customer feedback has always been essential to businesses. The best way to receive this information has always been to ask the customer a series of questions through a survey. Unfortunately, these questionnaires have always been time-consuming to distribute and analyze. But not anymore.
The internet allows big companies to post online surveys on the web. This information is so vital to industry leaders that they will even pay people to fill out these surveys. Answering a few questions on your phone during your commute takes no time at all and could earn you some frequent extra cash.
Blogging
It isn’t going too far to assume that you have a lot of opinions about something. It may be about something that you like or about a political situation. Either way, there are groups of people out there who no doubt feel the same. What’s more, the Internet allows you to connect with these people in real time.
As such, you should think about writing these thoughts and opinions down instead of just daydreaming. An online blog allows you to write about whatever you like for your audience and have them respond. The best part is that businesses will pay you for advertising space should your blog posts reach a large enough audience.
Start A YouTube Channel
There are some people who have their own thoughts, opinions, and talents who cannot write in an effective way. Therefore, you may consider reaching an audience in a different way like in a video format and posting it to YouTube instead.
A YouTube channel can gain enough attention to warrant the attention of advertisers too, so you can still earn some passive income using this medium. The only downside is that you will need to learn about video editing and recording software before you start.
Online Teaching
Teaching is a skill that only a few people possess. Fortunately, you no longer need just a classroom to reach your intended audience. Some people will happily pay you to tutor them online.
These people may need help with their current school or college studies or need to know more about specific computer functions like the one at Smallpdf. Either way, an established online tutor can earn quite a bit by taking an hour out of their day for a tutoring session.
Influencing
Marketing has had to change a lot in recent years to accommodate social media. The first marketing strategies involving social media merely involved posting ads on the most popular platforms; however, things have evolved much faster than anyone could have expected.
Social media sites have now produced personalities. These are essentially people whose content is so popular that the creator becomes a celebrity in the space. These creators are known as influencers, and companies will pay them big money for them to advertise on their channels. Influencer marketing is similar to product placement in media only now it is online.
Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time, effort, and luck to build up a large enough audience on social media to reach influencer status. However, anyone who is using a social media platform for fun can try and achieve this status as a way to make some passive income on the side.
Selling Stock Photos
Perhaps your creativity isn’t suited to social media. Fortunately, there are ways that you can make money online if you are a skilled photographer.
All you need is a good eye for a photo and the ability to upload your work to your computer. There are plenty of sites that are willing to purchase decent images that can be used as stock images. Therefore, you should aim to capture images with this goal in mind. Sites that buy stock images include:
- Shutterstock
- Pexels
- Alamy
- Getsy Images
- Stocksy
Rent Out Your Car
There are probably a few evenings in the week where you stay indoors for a cozy night in. All the while your car is sitting outside doing nothing. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could be using this stationary vehicle to earn some money?
Fortunately, there are plenty of websites out there that let you sign up your car as a rental to people in your local area. This means that you could be sitting at home doing nothing while your car is out making you some extra money. This strategy is particularly useful to households with more than one car. That way you will never find yourself stranded without a car in an emergency.
Rent Out A Room
You might be pleased to know that you can make use of a similar money-making strategy even if you do not want other people driving your car. Instead, you could rent out your spare room to people.
There are hundreds of tourists and travelers out there who are looking for a place to stay the night on their journey. So, why not sign up for any extra space you have as an Air BNB? This way you get paid for that room you aren’t using, and you also get to provide a roof for the night. This idea works out a lot better if you live in a desirable location for travelers, like a big city, however.
Conclusion
The online space is always going to make life easier. This is especially true if you are looking to make a bit of passive income.
Veeramachineni Lalitha
I am Finance Content Writer. I write Personal Finance, banking, investment, and insurance related content for top clients including Kotak Mahindra Bank, Edelweiss, ICICI BANK and IDFC FIRST Bank. My experience details : Linkedin