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Best Passive Income Ideas | Passive Income Sources

What is Passive Income?

Imagine that you are sleeping and even at that time you are earning money.

Can this happen? ....... It absolutely can..

This is what we call passive income, in which we do not need to do a lot of active work. But that doesn't mean there's never a need to work. To earn passive income, you have to put up an asset up front and you will generate income from that asset in the future. The asset could be your time, it could be your expertise, it could be your money, or it can even be your car.

We are categorizing the income sources into 3 types: Obtaining an Asset, Sharing an Asset and Investing Money.

Now when it comes to money, some of you (students or young adult who is looking for jobs) will say that they do not have that much money to invest, so we'll talk about money later. First we discuss about those sources in which you do not need to invest money.

Passive income by Obtaining an Asset:  Here you need to build an asset that will passively make money for you over time.

1.  Passive Income from Blog

income from Blog

Some people will feel that blogging has become old method or nowadays the competition level has increased or there is no scope for a new blog. But I want to say that this assumption is absolutely wrong. Even today a new blog gives you income within 1 to 3 months. All you need to do is just start the blog, go in the right direction and be persistent. Having your blogging account is a ways of earning money in your own free time or the comfort of your home.

It is the most passive type of online business, because revenue comes from more than one passive income streams – Affiliate Revenue, Ad Revenue, Digital product sale. All these terms will be discussed in this blog.

How to Start A Blog?

2. Passive Income from Affiliate Marketing

income from Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the best passive income sources, here you do not have to make your own product nor do you have to provide any product service.

It is the process by which you earn a commission for marketing another person's or company's products.

Various companies offer tons of affiliate programs in every niche (category) - it's important to find the best ones that pay the best.

What you need to do is choose a niche, after that you have to search which good affiliate program is available in that niche.

Select the affiliate program; there you will get an affiliate link for a particular product you want to promote. Get the link, promote it on your website or any social media platform, every time someone purchase the product from your link you will get the commission. If you have a high-traffic blog or social media (Instagram, TikTok) presence, it can generate some decent revenue.

I would highly recommend Fiverr Affiliate program for beginners. It is high paying plus recurring affiliate program.  Join Fiverr Affiliate Program

Complete guide on Affiliate Marketing.

3. Passive Income from Online Course

income from Online Course

One income-generating idea is to develop an online course. There are tons of tutorials, video courses and eBook content creators out there that generate a steady monthly income.

If you have a depth of knowledge to share, people will pay to learn what you know best about a particular topic, and you don't need a PhD. to start your online class, you just need to have a strong background in the subject you care about.

income from eBook

You can publish a book on online sites like Amazon and apps like LiteReader or you can host the course through your own blog or social media channels. However, the book to be published does not have to be complete. You can write and publish in bits, and over the years you'll be surprised at how far your profile has progressed.

4. Passive Income from Adsense

income from adsense

Adsense is an advertising service operated by Google, works in much the same way as an affiliate program. To use AdSense, you must have a content site, YouTube channel or blog with views. But instead of allowing you to promote or link to a specific item or brand, AdSense automatically places relevant ads on your site for readers to click on.

 AdSense works by matching ads to your site based on your content and visitors. You will automatically earn money for views and clicks on your ad. The more views you get, the more money you can earn.

5. Passive Income from YouTube Channel

Passive Income from youtube

YouTube is a great choice - it's not just a great place for entertainment and information, it's a platform with many passive income ideas. In short, you can earn a lot of money here.

YouTube pays you based on the number of views you get on the videos you post.

Youtubers earn between $3 and $5 per thousand video views on average.

Also as a YouTube partner, you will earn money for each click or view of an ad placed on your video.

6. Passive Income from Freelancing

Passive income from Freelancing

Freelancing business involves providing services at your convenient time. You can be an app developer, a writer or maybe an editor.

People are looking for a specialist who can offer and solve various services and pay them an agreed amount for the work done. You can sell your services on various online sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, LinkedIn, and many more and get paid after completing the task assigned to you.

7. Passive Income from Podcast

income from podcast

Starting a podcast is one of the many great ways to earn passive income.

Podcasts are a form of audio broadcast on the web. It can be heard on the go, while commuting to office or even while working. It is a content medium that does not require the attention of all your target audience like videos or blog posts.

 Podcasts are one of the leading online platforms that can earn you a passive income from the comfort of your home. You can start an entertaining, informative or educational blog, if your voice is good and catchy, you can get hired for commercials that means more money in your wallet.

8. Passive Income from Selling Photos

Income from Selling photo

You can sell your own photography to be used as a stock photo. There are many big-name stock photo agencies out there, such as Getty Images, Shutterstock and many more, you can become their contributor.

When you contribute to Shutterstock (One of the biggest marketplaces to sell stock photos is Shutterstock), you retain the copyright of your creations, and you receive royalties every time a customer downloads one of your photos.

Or selling your stock photography on your own website allows you to set your own prices, licenses, and keep 100% of your earnings for yourself.

Start selling your work now

Buy photos for your project


Bottom line: Internet has opened up a lot of opportunities for anyone to earn extra money in the form of passive income. All you need to do is find your passion, sell your skills and build a revenue generating asset that will bring extra income to your bank account.

 Sharing an Asset: Here you can sell or rent properties that you already own.

Share Asset

Rent your Room: Have extra room or space in your home? Many people are looking for cheap and alternative places to live. If you can take advantage of this opportunity and rent the space, you will be guaranteed a monthly income.

Rent your parking space:  If your parking space is too large or you don't have a car. You can rent this space out to commuters or residents and earn a good monthly rent.

Rent your car: You can use platforms like Turo to rent your car to people, earning a daily fee.

Advertise on your Car: You can get paid by brands to promote their goods and services on your car.

 Investing Money: Here you will need to invest the money you already have, this will earn more money for you.

Now if you have some money that you haven't been using for a long time, now is the time to use it.

Investing offers the greatest opportunities to generate passive income, but can require large amount of money to generate good returns.

1. Passive Income from Real Estate Investment

Income from Real Estate

Real estate has proved to be a great investment opportunity for investors to boost their income and create financial freedom. Many owners have earned substantial property through traditional rental strategies. Investors buy homes or commercial spaces and rent them out. As a landlord, they earn recurring income every month.

You can also take part in “buy and hold” real estate investing, where you buy a land at a low price, hold it till its price rises and then sell it.

Whether you participate in a "buy and hold" in real estate investing or there are many other ways to invest like Real Estate Investment Trusts(REITs) or even a P2P lending platform such as Fundrise, which can be bought to enjoy passive income.

2. Passive Income from Dividend Stock

Income from Dividend stock

Dividend stocks are one of the simplest ways for investors to create passive income. As public companies make profits, a portion of those earnings are passed back to investors in the form of dividends.

Investors may decide to keep the cash in pocket or reinvest the money in additional shares. You have to do a lot of research to find good stocks and invest a significant amount of money to get big dividend checks.

3. Passive Income from Index Funds


Index funds are mutual funds or exchange traded funds that are linked to a particular market index. Index funds can be a collection of holdings in different companies that diversify your risk compared to individual stocks.

Unlike more traditional forms of mutual fund investments, in Index Fund after the initial investment, you don't need to put regular time, effort, or expense into your investment. Therefore investing in index funds is one of the best “buy and hold” strategies for new investors

4. Passive Income from P2P Lending

P2P lending is the practice of lending money to borrowers who usually do not qualify for a traditional loan. As the lender you have the ability to choose the borrowers and you are able to spread your investment amount to reduce your risk. The great thing about this is that you simply lend your money, and you are paid the principal plus interest on that loan.

Passive income investing can greatly simplify an investor's life. The above four options represent different levels of diversification and risk.