“If you don’t find a way to earn money while you sleep, you will work until you die” — — — — — Warren Buffett
From our very childhood, we have been indoctrinated with the idea of getting perfect 9–5 jobs by working hard which will fetch us a decent income. The importance of getting good grades, degrees, and then the job is being embedded in almost everyone’s mind. We have been taught that working hard is the only way to earn money and to live a decent life. Although, the fact that there is no substitute for hard work is not denied, the fact that typical 9–5 jobs ensure a decent life is no longer true. We are living in a world, where prices are soaring and our cost of living is expensive day by day. In such a situation, you can’t just rely on your active income for a decent living and must look for earning passive income. Unfortunately, no one teaches how important passive income is for a decent living.
IMPORTANCE OF PASSIVE INCOME
Everyone has taught us that instead of chasing money, we should focus on things that truly matter- relationships, health, love, to name a few. But no one teaches us that we can’t find this happiness without having money. Would health be of any use, if you don’t have money to pay the hospital bills to save your loved ones? Would relationships be of any use if you can’t finance your child’s dream college? I’m sure your answer is in negative. Therefore, you can’t deny that money doesn’t matter. It does matter.
We all want to follow our passion and do a job not just for money but because we love to do it. But what if your dream job doesn’t guarantee you a decent income to survive; in that case you would be compelled to do the job which you don’t like, thereby making your life any less than a hell. Here, comes the role of passive income. If you have something to rely upon for income then you can easily follow your passion and money would be taken care of by the passive income.
There is not even an iota of doubt that we miss many beautiful events in our lives due to our hectic jobs. Remember the time when you have to skip your children’s annual function for your office meetings and many such events where you badly wanted to be your family but you couldn’t because you had to earn money. Therefore, by having the passive income you can enjoy those beautiful moments of your lives.
There are hundreds of more advantages of having passive income. But above that, passive income has become a necessity rather than a choice. So here are 12 ways to earn passive income.
12 WAYS TO EARN PASSIVE INCOME
1. FREELANCING
Freelancing is one of the widest options to generate passive income as it includes many options like content writing, app development, graphic designing, website designing, photography, etc. You can even teach as a freelancer. In freelancing, you are paid according to the work done by you per hour which makes it different from our normal jobs.
2. CONTENT WRITING
Although content writing is covered under freelancing, the scope of content writing is increasing a lot as compared to other options in freelancing. This is because people are relying more on online information. You can choose any website of your interest and then apply for content writing jobs. As a content writer, you will be paid per word which makes this job as one of the lucrative sources of passive income. You can also start writing on medium.
3. BLOGGING
This one is my personal favourite. If you are a good writer and even have a little technical knowledge of SEO then blogging is the best option for you. You can start any blog with a niche of your interest like fashion, food, self-help, technology, etc, and can earn income from advertisements, banners, and google ad sense. Even if you are not a good writer but are good at making websites and SEO, then you can delegate the task of writing by hiring a content writer.
4. YOUTUBE VIDEOS
With the advent of easy accessibility of the internet; the number of people spending time on the internet has also increased. And considering that in the last few years, YouTube has emerged one of the platforms for earning money. You can make YouTube videos on any niche that you like. From teaching any subject to making fashion videos, there are a plethora of other options like teaching music and dance; sharing food recipes; reviewing movies and books. Once you attract viewers, then you would be able to earn from Google ad sense and other advertisements. It might happen that you don’t earn anything initially but don’t lose hope. There are varieties of audiences available online, you will find your target audiences and your target audiences will also find your videos.
5. AFFILIATE MARKETING
If you already have a website and blog then affiliate marketing is a tailor-made job for you. There are thousands of brands that want to promote their products. You can sign up or enter into contracts with any brands and promote their products. So whenever anyone would buy that product that you are promoting then you will get a certain amount of commission on the purchase of the product.
6. WRITING A BOOK
Although writing a book is not everyone’s cup of tea but if you are one of those few people who are blessed with good writing skills, then writing a book can generate you a good amount of passive income. Above all, writing is just a onetime investment because even if you write one book, you will get the royalties in your entire life whenever someone buys your book.
7. SELLING YOUR PRODUCTS ONLINE
This is the job with widest possibilities as you can sell anything that you have created. It can be apparel, accessories, mugs, or even digital products like a DVD. You can either sell your products through various e-commerce websites or even by creating your website.
8. PRINT ON DEMAND
If you are good at designing or creating captions then you must try Print on Demand (POD) business. It this model, your designs are printed on products like t-shirts, bags, mugs, etc. and whenever any customer buys any item with your design, you get certain profit on the purchase of the product. So, if you want to try POD, then you need to choose a POD website and then upload a design to a product. And when your design is sold, you can earn money from it.
9. MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING (MLM)
MLM or network marketing or pyramid selling is a marketing strategy where the participants are supposed to sell the company’s products by hiring someone else to do so and again the hired person will hire someone else to sell the product, thereby making a chain or pyramid. The money comes from recruiting others to sell the product and the idea is to build a sales empire to generate money. Since MLM is not legal in every country, before starting it please make sure that it’s legal in your country.
10. INVESTING
Although investing is not a choice rather a necessity regards the time that we are living in, but it’s one of the best ways of generating passive income. There are two types of investing- one is directly investing in the stock market and the second is indirectly investing through mutual funds and SIPs, index funds. Not everyone finds stock market interesting as it requires your active engagement and research, so if you are the one who doesn’t want to research and want to leave the task to the experts then you should consider mutual funds and index funds. You can also invest in real estate, gold, and government security. Depending on your knowledge and risk appetite you must choose your investment option wisely.
11. RENTING YOUR HOUSE AND CAR
This is the easiest what to earn passive income. If you have a spare home or even a spare room (that you can give on rent) or even a spare car, then you must not waste it and earn money from it).
12. SAVING IN BANK
If you can’t think of any of the options available above, then at least you can invest your money in a bank account which would help you earning money at a certain rate of interest.
Having extra money always makes our lives easier. There are many problems in our lives that we can’t control, but the problems which are related to money, at least we would be able to fight with them. Robert Kiyosaki in his book Rich Dad and Poor Dad says that “there are two types of problems- “having money and not having money”. It’s on you to decide which problem you want in your life. If you have a passive income, you don’t have to trade-off between funding your child’s college fee and buying your dream car. With passive income, you can do both. Therefore, find your source of making a passive income. Initially, the journey seems tough but don’t give up. Remember the beginning is always tough.