8 Best Passive Income Ideas for Profitable Side Hustles

Doesn’t your blood boil when you see a guy your age driving by, probably in an Aston Martin, with a beautiful female by his side, swerving through the road, utterly indifferent to your existence?

Why can’t you help but notice him then? Even when there’s no chance of reciprocation? It’s the aura that captivates you. The aura that radiates success and financial ease, the aura that speaks to you, not in words, but something more painful, showing you in plain sight what you are not!

But even then, you excuse yourself. You internally come up with obscure reasons to protect your own procrastination, ‘Must be a trust fund kid’, ‘Must be in a shady business, ‘It’s probably not his car’, to name a few.

Wouldn’t it benefit you more if you simply asked yourself, ‘How the hell do people have so much money?’ rather than giving yourself reasons to forget about it?

Well if you find yourself asking the same question, we will simplify it for you in two words. Passive. Income.

What is Passive Income?

I once heard someone ridiculously rich say, “if you just have a single source of income, you’re just one step away from poverty”.

And it does translate very well in today’s financial trend. You just cannot rely on a job to make you money because what you are basically doing is renting out your time.

Earning passively means having such arrangements that don’t need much time and effort to manage and earn you money on the go.

You are not conventionally paid for your time by your employer, therefore, your earning potential is not limited and depends on the kind of work you choose and its demand in the market.

To build a steady source of passive income you’d ideally want to have three or four side hustles making you money while you actively earn from your job.

What is a Side Hustle?

A side hustle is something you invest your spare time in, making you some extra bucks. From gig jobs to freelancing projects, whatever you do apart from your full-time job to earn money can be considered a side hustle.

Oftentimes, the internet’s abundance doesn’t let a person research and zero in on a few profitable side hustles.

What if I gave you the perfect passive income ideas coupled with the right side hustles?

But first, you’d need the formula to pick the right side hustle to incorporate the perfect passive income idea.

Formula to Choose the Best Side Hustle for Yourself

The key is to identify your natural skill set first and then go about finding out whether or not the skill set is monetizable. The combination of these two pieces of information gives you the side hustle you are most likely to make money from.

E.g Somebody with a knack for writing will choose blogging as their side hustle.

You will earn the most profit when your side hustle is a combination of a highly polished skill set with a lot of monetizable avenues.

If you have more than a couple of perfectly combined side hustles, you very well may have the formula to accumulate a lot of money in a very short span of time.

Now, I will give you a comprehensive list of passive income ideas to fix your analysis paralysis from an information overload on the internet. With each passive income idea, there will be a side hustle mentioned with the level of required skill and the monetizability of that skill.

1. Writing for an Audience

Writing is never out of style. Especially when you can monetize it. If you have a skill for writing, there are a lot of avenues waiting for you to utilize them and maximize the amount of money you make.

The most doable and appropriate way to make passive income through writing is to start a blog. You are in the right direction if you like to articulate your opinions, views, and experiences in a clever and engaging manner.

You can start a blog for free with websites like WordPress.org, Blogger, Wix, Medium, Tumblr, etc.

Once your blog starts attracting eyeballs on Google, you can monetize it in the following ways:

A. Running Affiliate Programs: First, you need to find a product or service that you believe in and that you think you can sell. Once you've found a product or service, you'll need to get an affiliate link. This is a special link that lets the company know that the sale came from you. You can usually find these links on the company's website or by contacting them directly.

B. Selling Directly to your Audience: Since you’d have a ready audience to pay head to whatever you have to say. You can sell your own products directly to them by promoting your products on your blog.

C. Writing sponsored content: Writing sponsored content is another way to boost your income through your blog. You can set your own price for promoting products or services through your blog. It will chiefly depend on the kind of traffic you generate. The more traffic your blog gets, the more you can charge per sponsored content.

D. Google Adsense: You can get paid for featuring ads around the space where your blog content appears. Through Google Adsense, you can monetize your blog by getting paid whenever the ads posted by you cross a certain viewership. This is a great way to ensure a continuous flow of income through blogs.

Side Hustle: Blogging

Skill Set Level: ⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monetizability: 💸💸💸💸/💸💸💸💸💸

2. Making Short Video Snippets

You would have noticed a surge in the outpour of short video snippets on your social media. There’s a reason why such a video format is getting popular.

Hint* (Short attention spans)

You can also cash in on the collective trend by making original, engaging, and precise video snippets on different social media platforms like Youtube and TikTok.

• If whatever you put out resonates with an audience, you might be on your way to becoming a social media influencer.
• Making short videos is a lot easier than making original long-format content on social media. You just need to be aware of what’s trending and create a hooking spinoff of the same.
• You’d be able to master the skill of creating short videos with a few tries and acumen for what people could react to collectively.
• Once there’s enough buzz around your content, you can monetize the same by running ads or becoming an affiliate.

You just need to update your shorts for them to show on people’s feeds, the more eyeballs your shorts get, the more you earn passively.

Side Hustle: Social Media Influencer

Skill Set Level: ⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monetizability: 💸💸💸/💸💸💸💸💸

3. Sharing jobs for Payouts

This is probably the easiest way to earn passive income online as you are just required to share job opportunities with people and earn on every successful application that comes through you.

Synkdup Headhunter is probably the most comprehensive program offering this opportunity to people willing to connect top employers with potential applicants

• If you choose to earn passively this way, you can join Synkdup and sign up to become a Headhunter.
• As a Headhunter, you get access to a lot of job openings from different companies.
• You can choose to share these individually with the people in your community, in personal groups, or with anyone looking for a job.
• You can even send jobs in bulk to all your contacts.
• Whatever way you choose, you’d be earning huge payouts for every successful applicant that comes through your link.

You will need basic interpersonal skills to get going. This is for anyone who knows people looking for employment.

Side Hustle: Refer and Earn

Skill Set Level: ⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monetizability: 💸💸💸💸💸/💸💸💸💸💸

4. Starting an Online Store

Starting an online store may sound like a daunting task, but trust me, it’s not rocket science. It can be a super cool way to earn passive income, and you don't have to be an e-commerce expert to get started. Here's a quick guide to get you on your way:

• Find your niche: The first step is to figure out what you want to sell. Pick something you're passionate about and that has a decent market. That way, it'll be easier to create a brand and market your products.
• Build your website: You don't need to be a web designer to build a website. Platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce make it easy peasy to create a professional-looking website.
• Source your products: Now that you have a website, you need to get your hands on some products. You can either create your own or find a supplier to dropship products for you. Many e-commerce platforms have built-in tools to help you find and work with suppliers.
• Get the word out: Once your store is up and running, you need to market it to drive traffic and sales. Use social media, email marketing, and paid advertising to get the word out.
• Optimize and scale: As your store grows, you'll need to optimize it for conversions and scalability. Experiment with different pricing strategies, test different marketing campaigns and automate processes to reduce your workload.

Starting an online store isn't a one-and-done deal, but with some time, effort and patience, it can be a great way to earn passive income.

Side Hustle: Dropshipping

Skill Set Level: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monetizability: 💸💸💸/💸💸💸💸💸

5. Selling Photos Online

Are you constantly scrolling through your camera and thinking “Wow, I should be making money off of these”? Well, the good news is that you can! Selling your photos online is a great way to earn passive income. Here's how to earn passively and turn your hobby into a money-making machine:

• Pick your platform: There are plenty of websites where you can sell your photos, such as Shutterstock, iStock, and Adobe Stock. Do some research and pick the platform that's right for you.
• Get snapping: Take photos that people might want to buy, such as landscapes, cityscapes, and cute animals (because let's be real, who doesn't love cute animals)? Make sure they're high-quality and well-composed.
• Edit, edit, edit: Once you've got your photos, it's time to make them look even better. Use editing software like Lightroom or Photoshop to give them that extra pop.
• Sit back and relax: Once your photos are uploaded, you can sit back and relax. The platform will take care of the rest, and you'll start earning money every time someone buys one of your photos.

Selling photos online is a great way to start a passive income source. So, get out there, start snapping, and send your stills to as many platforms as possible.

Side Hustle: Photo Licensing

Skill Set Level: ⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monetizability:: 💸💸💸/💸💸💸💸💸

6. Becoming an Online Instructor

If you have expertise on a certain subject matter that others are willing to learn, you can turn that into passive income by creating an online course. Here's how to make it happen:

• Identify your niche: First things first, you need to figure out what you want to teach. It could be anything from knitting to quantum physics, as long as you're passionate about it and you think people would pay to learn.
• Plan your course: Once you know what you want to teach, it's time to plan your course. Break it down into manageable chunks and make sure you cover everything your students need to know.
• Create your content: Now it's time to create your content. You can use a combination of videos, audio, text, and even quizzes to make it more interactive and engaging.
• Launch your course: Once your course is ready, you can launch it on platforms like Udemy, Coursera, or Skillshare. You can also create your own website to sell the course.
• Promote your course: Use social media, email marketing, and other channels to promote your course and attract students.
• Keep updating: Keep updating your course with new information and keep your students engaged with new features, quizzes, and so on.

Creating an online course can be a fun and rewarding way to earn passive income. So, find your niche, plan your course, and start teaching and beach-ing your way to financial freedom.

Side Hustle: Starting an Online Course

Skill Set Level: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monetizability: 💸💸💸/💸💸💸💸💸

7. Selling Designs Online

Are you an artist, designer, or creative individual with a passion for creating beautiful things? Well, guess what? You can turn that passion into cash by selling your designs online. That's right, folks, you can make money while you sleep by putting your skills to work and creating designs that people will want to buy.

• The first step to earning money by selling designs online is to figure out what kind of designs you want to create. Are you into graphic design, fashion design, or home decor? Whatever your niche, make sure it's something you're passionate about and can create consistently.
• Once you've figured out your niche, it's time to start creating. Design some fabulous pieces and make sure they're high-quality, visually stunning, and unique. Then, it's time to put them up for sale on online marketplaces such as Society6, Redbubble, or TeeSpring. These platforms allow you to upload your designs and sell them on a variety of products such as t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and more.
• But don't stop there! You can also create your own online store and sell your designs on your website, or even on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. The key is to make sure your designs are easy to find and available for purchase.
• One of the best things about earning money by selling designs online is that it's a passive income stream. Once you've created your designs, you can sit back and watch the sales roll in. Plus, you don't have to worry about inventory, shipping, or customer service. Just sit back, relax, and let the money come to you.

If you have a passion for creating beautiful designs and are looking for a way to earn some extra cash, then selling your designs online is the perfect solution. It's easy, fun, and can provide you with a steady stream of passive income. So, what are you waiting for? Start designing and watch the money roll in!

Side Hustle: Online Design printing

Skill Set Level: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monetizability: 💸💸💸/💸💸💸💸💸

8. Self-Publish

If you have a passion for storytelling and want to turn your hobby into a steady source of income, publishing an e-book is the way to go about it. Here’s how

• Write a book: Whether you're a fiction or non-fiction writer, start by creating a book that people will want to read. Make sure it's well-written, engaging, and informative. If you're not sure what to write about, consider writing about something you're passionate about or have expertise in.
• Format your book: Once you've finished writing, format your book to make it look professional. This can include adding headings, and page numbers, and creating a table of contents.
• Publish your book: Now that your book is ready to go, it's time to publish it. You can do this by uploading it to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or other platforms such as Kobo, Nook, and iBooks.
• Advertise your book: Once your book is live, it's time to let people know about it. You can do this by using social media, email marketing, or even running ads. The more people know about your book, the more likely they are to buy it.
• Sit back and relax: Now that your book is live, you can sit back and watch the sales roll in. Remember, once your book is published, it can be sold indefinitely, making it a perfect passive income stream.

Here are some additional tips and tricks to help you make the most of your e-book publishing journey:

• Make use of a catchy title and cover design: A catchy title and a well-designed cover can go a long way in making your book stand out. It is the first thing that a potential reader sees, so make sure it's eye-catching and appealing.
• Utilize keywords: Use keywords in the title, subtitle, and throughout the book to make it easy for people to find your book when they search for related topics.
• Promote your book: Share your book with friends, and family, and on social media. Encourage them to leave reviews, as it will help boost your book's visibility on the platform.

Consider offering a free sample: Offer a free sample of your book to entice readers to buy the full version.

In conclusion, publishing an e-book can be a great way to earn passive income. It's easy, fun, and can provide you with a continuous flow of cash. Plus, it's a great way to share your stories with the world. So, what are you waiting for? Get writing and start earning passive income today!

*Note: Remember to always proofread your work and make sure it is of high quality. Happy Writing!

Side Hustle: Publishing an E-Book

Skill Set Level: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monetizability: 💸💸💸/💸💸💸💸💸