In a previous article, we talked about what a passive income source is and compared it with an active source of income as well. However, as a refresher, a passive income is a side-hustle–some stream or a collection of streams of income to support your main income source. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to have different revenue streams and not rely on just one income source such as a job.

However, having multiple streams of income does not mean you have to work around the clock, especially if you are already engaged in a full-time job. There are smarter ways to work and make your money work for you. After all, we all have a limited time, and a human being needs their free time, relaxation, sleep, and social time. The entire premise of a passive income is to allow yourself to be financially free.

So, let’s find out some ways we can earn a passive income without having to pull your hair.

Best Strategies to Earn a Passive Income

There are a lot of ways to earn a passive income to support your main source of income. However, none of them are “get-rich-quick” schemes. But most of them allow you to have a more-or-less consistent income. Still, the best approach would be to develop a few sources of passive income to mitigate the ups and downs.

(1) Property Rentals

One of the cleanest and best ways to earn a side income would be to rent out any spare properties you have. Even if you don’t have a spare property, you could consider purchasing or mortgaging a property to be rented out. However, in the latter case, you need to do a cost-benefit analysis. After all, you don’t want to be losing money.

Property rentals could include;

• Renting a house
• Renting a room in your house
• Renting your vehicle/bicycle

These options can usually generate a fixed and a consistent income source. And these incomes will be on auto-pilot, meaning you will have minimal effort in the revenue generation.

Downside is, there is always the wear and tear of the properties that you need to think about before renting them out. There is always a chance where the other person might damage your property, and this is why you take a damage deposit in advance.

(2) Investing in High-Yield Avenues

Now we return to the classic passive income source-investing. You put aside some of your extra cash in different investments and you earn revenue. Sounds simple enough. But, to make any significant income, you need to invest in the right source/sources.

The idea behind ‘right sources’ is a balancing act of high yield (return on investment) and the risk. Usually, high yield is associated with high risk and vice versa. So, it will require a bit of information to pick the right sources. Fortunately, the Internet is filled with these information–concise and simple enough for everyone. But be careful of fake news as well.

When looking at the returns from investments, there are two main sources to consider–growth of the investment and dividends. The difference between the two is that with the growth of the investment, for you to receive and income, you have to sell or liquidate your investment. For example, if you invested $1,000 today in shares, it could grow to be $1,500 in value in a year. However, for you to get this extra $500 in your pocket, you have to sell these shares. With dividends, you don’t need to sell your shares to gain a return.

Both are viable options when it comes to making a passive income from investing. However, selling your investment and cashing out is a one-time gain, unless you have a diversified portfolio of investments to cash out frequently. On the plus side, you get a chunk of money at once, and you will get back your initial investment to re-invest, should you choose to do so.

The downside of relying on the growth of your investment is that there is always a chance that the investment will not grow, or even go down in value. In such a case, your money will be stuck in that investment until it grows.

When it comes to dividends, reputed companies or companies performing well will pay out dividends either monthly, quarterly, or annually. Granted the return will be low compared to liquidating your investment. But, you can combine different dividend portfolios and build a decent and consistent revenue stream.

(3) Blogging

Blogging has never been easier right now. You can start your own website or you can start writing on a hundred other blogging platforms out there.

A lot of people consider blogging as a source of passive income because of the versatility of the medium and the freedom it provides them. You can write/blog about anything you want–whatever your passion is. And owning your own website allows you to monetize it in a variety of ways.

A few blogging ideas are;

• Travel & recreation
• Sports & athletics
• Fashion
• Food & cooking
• DIY tips
• Home gardening
• Science & technology
• Movies, books, songs, automobiles, etc

Once you set up your website and get a few articles on it and see some traffic trickling in, you can start monetizing it. The most popular method of monetizing a blog would be to display ads. There are many advertising networks that facilitate this, and the easiest to get in is Google Adsense. If you build your blog to a decent size (over 10,000 visitors per month), you can move on to higher-paying networks such as Ezoic, MediaVine, or AdThrive.

As a second step of monetizing your blog, you can start selling products on it. There are many platforms/e-commerce vendors that allow you to become an affiliate marketer for them. You can pick products that match your blog niche and display them for your readers.

Another step forward would be selling memberships and subscriptions. Your blog needs to be a shining star on the Internet for this to take off. If you have built a very loyal fanbase around your blog, you could potentially charge them to give access to the website or just exclusive/members-only areas of the blog.

How much you can earn from blogging depends on a lot of factors, and we have a comprehensive article on this.

(4) YouTube

Creating video content for YouTube still remains one of the most popular income streams among millennials. However, there is no shortage of creators from all age groups on YouTube sharing their passions and making an income for their efforts.

Creating a profile on YouTube is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Creating video content is not as easy as it sounds as content creators have pushed the limits of content quality over the years. But this is not to say that it has to be difficult.

A few tips for creating excellent content for YouTube are;

• Creating videos on fresh and interesting topics,
• Use an interesting and attractive video title,
• Creating an engaging thumbnail for the video (and not clickbait),
• Creating 10-minute or above video,
• Keep the content of the video interesting and engaging throughout the duration of the video,
• Invite viewers to click ‘Like’ button on the video and ‘Subscribe’ button for the profile.

There are many beginner YouTube creator guides on the Internet for more and in-detailed information.

Once your profile reaches 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of playtime in the past 12 months, you can start earning money with YouTube as a YouTube partner.

To create a passive income source out of YouTube, you do not need to be a full-time YouTuber, creating videos daily or even weekly. The higher quality your videos are, the better they will perform for a long time period.

(5) Selling online courses

If you possess a certain know-how or skill that can be shared with others, this will be a great opportunity for you.

There are many online platforms such as Udemy.com, that allow you to create an online course and present it to a massive marketplace of knowledge seekers. If you can create a course that interests many, your one-time hard work will bear fruits for an indefinite time period.

(6) Get Paid for Product Testing/Reviewing

There are many enterprises out there that need to hear their consumer’s thoughts about their products-sometimes even before products are released to the market. These companies pay handsomely for products to be tested and reviewed by average consumers. However, most companies have strict selection criteria for their product testers to ensure the quality and genuineness of the test. If you do manage to get into such a program you have the opportunity to use and experience free and brand new products and get paid to test them.

These 6 passive income sources are some of our favorites. There are many more ways to earn an income through a side-gig, and potentially convert it to a reliable and consistent source of income.

Let us know if you have any more questions on these and if you recommend any other passive income sources in the comments below.