9 Awesome Online Passive Income Ideas for 2019

Did you know that there are plenty of easy, passive ways to earn some extra cash on the side? And most of these you can do from home in your pajamas, which is clearly the ideal situation. While you probably shouldn’t rely on any these passive income ideas as part of your actual income, they’re great if you want to start saving up for a goal (putting money away for Christmas gifts, treating yourself to a nice meal, or even going on that vacation). We’re going to take you through 7 awesome online passive income ideas for 2019, that you can guaranteed accomplish from sitting on your couch.

1. Rent out your home on Airbnb

Now, we’re not saying you need to vacate your only premises to list a rental property on Airbnb, while you sleep in your car for the night. However, if you have an extra room to rent out, or maybe even some additional real estate like a summer home that you’d be able to give up for a few days here and there during the summer, this is an easy way to earn some quick cash. Signing up with Airbnb is easy, and can allow you to rake up some decent money, depending on what sort of space you’re able to offer. Even your spare bedroom could rack up to $100 per night. Going away for a few days and would like some extra cash to help pay for your trip? Take this opportunity to list your entire home on Airbnb, and watch the money roll in while you’re not even there.  This passive income stream has become such a popular option for anyone looking to make a little extra money.

online passive income ideas

2. Sell your crafts on Etsy

In order to sell on Etsy, you must have a homemade product that is not being sold elsewhere (basically, no ripping off someone else’s design, and trying to pass it off as your own). Etsy also allows you to sell “antique” or “vintage” items, being defined as items that are 20 years old or more, whether you’ve made them yourself or not. While it can take a little while to get your Etsy shop off the ground, it is also possible that your shop may achieve success fairly quickly.  Then you can hand off management to someone else, or spend minimal management time on this effort every week.  As a passive income source, Etsy can be a great way of earning money without having to create a new product every time.  For example, you can sell prints, sewing designs, and other useful PDFs that are available for purchase to your customers.

3. Sell your photography

There are many ways in which you can earn money from selling your photography online. There are many websites including Getty Images and iStock Photo, where you can upload your photography, and get a royalty (residual income) whenever it is purchased. You can also choose to sell your photos independently through websites such as eBay or Etsy, as well as platforms where you can create your own photography store, such as SmugMug and Photo Shelter. If taking photos is your passion, and you have a ton of awesome shots just taking up space on your SD card, there’s no reason why you can’t turn them into some extra cash.

4. Sell your drawings/digital illustrations

Are you more of an artist/digital illustrator as opposed to a photographer? There’s a market for that too! Selling your drawings and/or digital illustrations to a platform such as Redbubble or Society6 can gradually bring in some income. Websites like this work by you uploading your content according to specific quality standards, and allowing them to be turned into whatever you choose (canvases, throw pillows, t-shirts, mugs, etc.). When someone chooses to purchase one, you then get a small royalty. This can definitely add up if your design is popular, and can be a great way to earn an extra few dollars (especially over the holiday season). 

5. Self-publish a book

While yes, you’re going to have to put the effort into writing a book in the first place in order to do this, self-publishing a book is not only incredibly rewarding as a personal accomplishment, but it can be financially rewarding as well. Websites like Amazon, Lulu and Smashwords can all assist you in publishing your own book, and do not require you to put any money down in order to do so – it’s only printed if someone buys it, and can also be made into an e-book. Think you’d like to write an e-book, but aren’t sure how someone would even find your book in the first place? A digital marketing company like Content Refined can give you tips on how to get your book seen online, by assisting you SEO optimization, as well as creating content to help direct traffic to your book.

If your book is informative, you could turn it into online courses for your ideal customers.  Each lesson can be like a ‘chapter’ in your book.  A lot of people make money online from marketing their online courses.  It’s something you create once, and people sign up for at their leisure, so it’s a great way to generate passive income and continue to earn.

online passive income ideas

6. Complete online surveys

Yes, this may be the oldest trick in the internet books when it comes to passive income, but we swear – it works. As long as you are consistent and patient, you will collect passive income from completing surveys – you just have to be willing to wait for it. Many online survey companies only let you cash out your earnings once you’ve hit a certain amount. And unfortunately, many people aren’t patient enough to complete enough surveys to collect their earnings, hence they end up doing these surveys for free. Whether in the form of actual cash, gift cards or otherwise, you can most definitely cash out on online surveys.

7. Rent out a spare closet or room as storage space

Yes – this is actually a thing. Surprised? We were too. Yes, you can actually get paid to let someone store their stuff in your closet. Through a website called Neighbor, you can be connected with individuals who are looking for storage space, and don’t want to pay an arm and a leg to rent a storage locker, for a long or short period of time. The idea is that you will pay 50% or less to rent storage in someone else’s home. And get this – you can actually earn up to $15,000 per year by doing so. Might be time to clear out that spare closet.

8. Start an e-Commerce Site with Drop Shipping

If you’re looking to make more of an investment, you should consider an e-commerce store.  Sourcing wholesale products can be done online, and then you can work with a drop shipping company to fulfill your orders.  Once you’ve built up some solid organic traffic to your online store (through content marketing, backlinking, and social media), the site will be able to create passive income for you with minimal management.

online passive income ideas

9. Building a Portfolio of Websites

Another popular choice for investing online is to purchase existing niche websites, grow their traffic and revenue stream, and then re-sell them to other investors.  If you see a good opportunity website where you could take a little time to build up the content marketing and link building efforts, it can become an awesome money maker for you.  Many people choose to take advantage of an Amazon affiliate program with niche websites like this, or another form of affiliate marketing.  You can also increase the website’s cash flow by joining Google AdSense and making money through clicks on advertisements.  Like traditional investing, it’s recommended that with this source of passive income you diversify your portfolio.

These are only nine of the multitude of possible ways that you can create an additional income source for yourself and your family. If you’re willing to put just a little initial effort into it, there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t be earning some extra cash every month to add to your savings account. If you want to push your potential passive income success even more in the right direction, Content Refined can help you to direct traffic to your new business. So really, you’ve completely run out of reasons not to be earning passive income. Ready to get started?

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