Your 9-5 shouldn’t be your only stream of income.
Your job isn’t safe – it’s true. I’ll say it louder for the people in the back: Your job isn’t safe.
You can be let go at any time, as time goes on it’s going to be a rarity that someone stays at one job for 40 years. Also, some people don’t even want to stay at one job for that long.
Extra streams of income will give you more flexibility and protect you in case you lose your job.
Extra streams of income are almost a requirement if you want to be wealthy someday. Thomas Corley, the author of Rich Habits, found that most self-made millionaires have at least 3 different streams of income.
There are a lot of different ways you can make money from taking extra jobs or starting businesses, but I think the best thing you can do is build up passive income streams.
WHAT IS PASSIVE INCOME?
Passive income is a type of income stream where you can earn money with minimal effort.
Passive income doesn’t mean you don’t have to do anything at all ever to make a bunch of money.
You do need to put in some effort, in the beginning, to build up the income stream before you can take a hands-off approach, but creating passive income is definitely possible.
Here are some great passive income ideas to get your start:
CASHBACK REWARDS ON CREDIT CARDS
This is one of the simplest “don’t have to think about it” ways to save a good amount of money over the years! I’ve been earning 1-3% on every purchase I’ve made for about a decade just by using a cashback credit card, and man it makes me feel good to see some savings rack up on things I have to buy anyway! I always apply my cashback to my credit card statement before paying my bill.
When you pay your bills, buy groceries, or use any subscription services (basically your normal monthly spending), you should use a rewards credit card if you have it.
That way you can get rewards anytime you use your credit card. You can use these rewards for travel, paying down debt, or investing!
Since you already spend money on these things anyway just switching over to a rewards credit card means all the rewards you generate are passive income. (Just make sure you pay your bill in full each month so you don’t have to pay interest).
If you want to learn more check out these posts:
CASHBACK WEBSITES
You probably shop online at least once a month, right? Why not get a percentage of that back in cash, or with a gift card that you can use to buy something else? Even if it’s just 1% cashback, it does add up!
eBates is currently my favorite cashback website to use. They usually offer the highest amount of cashback, they have a browser add-on that will show you the percent cashback you can receive when shopping online, and will “remind” you to activate the cashback opportunity (to make sure you get that free money!).
Since you already shop online, all you have to do is sign-up for ebates and the browser extension will do all the work for you! It will even apply any relevant coupons for you when you check out, so you can save even more!
SCAN YOUR GROCERY RECEIPTS
Ibotta is an app that will give you cash for buying certain items. Just download the app, pick your favorite store, and find the items you’re interested in buying, and just upload a picture of your receipt when you’re done shopping!
The money will be added to your account, and when the balance reaches $20 you can withdraw via PayPal (or get a gift card!). Neat, right?
INVEST IN THE STOCK MARKET
If you saw the words “stock market” and immediately thought, “oh, that’s too hard” or “that sounds boring,” or “that’s too unstable,” I totally hear you!
However, learning the basics of stock market investing has REALLY given me some peace of mind about the future, and made me feel like any money that I do squirrel away can make aa lot more than it could in a savings account. I learned that it actually doesn’t have to be very risky at all, especially if you’re in it for the long haul, and are trying to save for retirement or another long-term goal.
In fact, I even opened my own Roth IRA retirement account totally for free online with M1 Finance!
You can read more about my experience and thoughts on stock market investing (as a former scaredy-cat) here.
GET PAID FOR WALKING
Do you like running or taking walks? Do you also have an iPhone? Awesome! There is an app called SweatCoin that will give you a type of currency called SweatCoins.
You can redeem the SweatCoins for things like gift cards, running shoes, Apple watches, and even trips!
This is a great way to earn passive income, because once you download SweatCoin you will automatically begin generating SweatCoins each time you walk (or run)!
SELL EBOOKS
There are tons of different ways to go about doing this, you can self-publish your book and put it on Amazon and either sell it for profit and/or let it be free in their Kindle Unlimited program.
Or you can create your own ebook and sell it yourself on a blog or through your social media channels.
Either way, you’re going to need to do some marketing, but after a while, if your book is good then people will tell other people about it and you will get sales that way.
If you want to learn more check out this resource:
CREATE AN ONLINE COURSE
Udemy is an online learning website that has user-created video courses on tons of different subjects. I’ve taken courses on SEO, dropshipping, and even basic accounting!
Nearly anyone can create a course and put on Udemy as long as it’s helpful in some way. You don’t need to have a teaching degree or a PhD either.
If you want to learn more check out this resource:
SELL STOCK PHOTOS
Have a creative eye? Love taking photos on your smartphone? There’s an app called Foap, that will pay you for your pictures. All you have to do is download the app and upload your photos (or videos). When a person or company purchases your photo or video, you split the sale price 50/50 with Foap.
SELL MUSIC
You can earn money from your music when you post it on places like AudioJungle.
People will be able to buy a license so they can use your music in things like YouTube videos and films.
SELL DIGITAL ITEMS ON ETSY
Etsy isn’t just for selling physical handmade products, you can also sell a multitude of digital products, too!
Everything from planners, website templates, images, even labels!
The best part is, once you set up your shop and add the products, Etsy can do all the work for you!
If you want to learn more check out these resources:
- How To Sell Digital Downloads On Etsy
- How to create passive income on Etsy with digital downloads (+ Etsy quick start guide!)
RESELL DIGITAL PRODUCTS
Sometimes you can find digital products online (like hosting), and you can resell that product under your own brand and take whatever profit is leftover for yourself!
This can be a bit complicated, but if done correctly, it can be a great passive income stream!
If you want to learn more check out these resources:
Of course, you can also promote many digital products as an affiliate, just like you can physical products!
SELL AUDIOBOOKS
This is similar to creating an eBook and selling it, but this requires a bit more equipment (the audiobook has to sound good of course!).
But you can create your own audiobooks and sell them yourself on your website (and on other platforms) for money.
If you want to learn more check out these posts:
SELL WORDPRESS THEMES
If you’re a web developer and know your way around WordPress, you should consider selling your own wordpress themes.
You can either sell them on your own website or use a marketplace like ThemeForest to sell your themes on.
If you want to learn more check out these posts:
SELL PRINTABLES
If you’re great at designing things and know your way around Adobe, Canva, or even Google Docs, you can create printables! Printables can be anything from blogging checklists, chore charts, grocery lists, and even planners.
If you want to learn more check out these resources:
- Sarah Titus (who makes money selling printables)
- Passive Income Blogging Selling Printables [Quick Start Guide]
DESIGN T-SHIRTS
There are quite a few websites that will let you upload a unique design that will be put onto t-shirts. When someone buys the shirt they will be printed for that person and sent to them (all you have to do is supply the design!
You can do this with CafePress, RedBubble, and one of the most popular service: Amazon Merch.
If you want to learn more check out these resources:
- Income Report #1: My First 30 Days on Merch by Amazon
- Merch by Amazon: $53k in T-Shirt Profits in 10 Hours a Week