11 Best Passive Side Hustles You Can Do at Home

Do you want to create income streams with little effort that are not time-consuming?

Passive side hustles allow people to receive continuous or short-term income through opportunities they don’t need to work for actively.

In no particular order, check out our favorite passive income ideas that can help you generate passive income at home.

1. Earn from Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a marketing model where a business or brand pays a marketer (affiliate) to promote their product or service via articles, videos, or social media. While not required, a degree in marketing or advertising helps.

Affiliate marketers generate passive income through commissions, ranging from 1% to 20%. Actual income varies, but they earn an average of $72,969 yearly. 

Other perks of becoming an affiliate marketer include starting with little to no budget, receiving free products or services to try out, and having no experience as long as you have a market to sell to.

2. Try Blogging

You can make money blogging about your interests, experiences, or preferred niche. This side hustle doesn’t require a degree to start, but ideally, you should have good writing skills to craft compelling content.

You can earn income by writing sponsored articles, linking or placing ads on your blog page, selling digital products, or creating a membership community. Bloggers typically earn around $44,751 yearly.

Besides having a creative outlet to share your thoughts and passions, starting a blog offers a long-term opportunity to earn passive income since whatever you post online stays online.

3. Self-Publish a Book

Self-publishing a book means having control over your content, book quality, and income. The process of self-publishing includes writing, editing, designing the book cover, creating your book metadata, and publishing via self-publishing companies or platforms. 

You can generate passive income from royalties and earn an average of $12,749. Note that actual income greatly depends on the number of copies you sell.

Although you can publish a book through a traditional publisher, self-publishing lets you own the rights and royalties, resulting in higher income. Plus, publishing a book doesn’t require a degree as long as you have good writing skills.

4. Produce Online Courses

Producing and selling an online course involves filming yourself teaching a topic through a series of videos. It also involves researching the topic, writing your script and course outline, and editing the videos.

Course creators earn around $86,938, but this figure varies depending on your course fee, the number of sales, and the demand for your course’s topic. Ideally, having a degree in your subject matter adds credibility to your digital courses.

Selling online courses offers a great way to earn passive income since you can sell a course multiple times, enabling you to earn an unlimited number from just one topic. 

5. Start a YouTube Channel

If you become a YouTuber, you can earn through the YouTube Partner Program, which enables YouTubers to generate income via channel memberships, super chats, and AdSense. However, content creators must follow specific requirements to be eligible for the program.

Earnings range between $1.61 and $29.30 per 1,000 views. On average, you can make around $51,349 yearly. However, this highly depends on your total number of views.

Fortunately, you don’t need a specific course to start a YouTube channel, but knowledge and skill in filming, editing, and content creation will help you make decent videos. Plus, if you don’t have professional filming equipment, you can start filming using what you have, like your smartphone or laptop. 

6. Create Print-On-Demand Items

Print-on-demand refers to creating custom designs for mugs, shirts, or hats and working with suppliers to produce and ship these items to your customers. Popular items that sell include tote bags, shirts, hoodies, and posters.

Print-on-demand businesses can make around $4,639 monthly, making it one of the most lucrative passive income sources.

Also, it’s an ideal way to sell and earn passive income since you don’t need to stock the products at home physically. Plus, one design can fit in various items, giving you more earning potential with just one design. It’s a highly lucrative hustle if you have trendy or unique designs.

7. Upload Stock Photos

When you sell photos online via stock photo sites or directly to clients, you allow others to use your photos freely for their purposes. Although this hustle doesn’t require a degree, you must know the basics of photography to take great photos.

Earnings vary depending on the platform, agency, and skill level. Stock photographers earn around $0.02 per image monthly, while professionals earn $0.05 to $0.25 per image monthly.

Consider selling stock photos as a passive income stream if you have good photography skills and a high-quality camera. Also, sell stock photos if you want a long-term way to earn money, even with just several quality photos uploaded.

8. Try Cash-back Apps

Cash-back apps offer rebates when you purchase a certain item or use a specific discount coupon. Some apps provide points you can use to redeem discounts or gift cards.

For example, rebates from Ibotta can save you between $10 to $20 monthly, but active users also earn up to $300 monthly. Anyone can use a cash-back app, and most apps don’t have financial requirements or background checks to use one.

Overall, it’s a great passive income stream for shopaholics whenever you buy certain products and services since you get part of your payment back, helping you save in the long run.

9. Start Dropshipping

Dropshipping involves a retail fulfillment method where you sell goods you don’t keep in stock. Instead, you work with the supplier to procure, store, and ship products directly to your customers.

According to Shopify, spending 10 to 15 hours weekly on dropshipping can help you generate around $2,000 monthly. You don’t need a degree to start dropshipping, but knowledge and experience in e-commerce selling will help you succeed.

Explore dropshipping if you’re looking for a low-risk business model with minimal upfront investment and high earning potential.

10. Invest Your Money

Invest money in profit-producing opportunities like dividend stocks, real estate investment trusts, or a high-yield savings account.

Your earnings depend on what and how much you invest. For example, dividend-paying stocks in Apple pay a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share. Anyone can invest in real estate or stocks, but a degree or experience in finance will help you understand money investment and reach your financial goals easier. 

Consider investing in various individual stocks if you want effortless, long-term passive income opportunities. It’s ideal for people who want a diversified portfolio and want to maximize their savings.

11. Rent Out Your Room or House

Another passive income idea is to turn your spare room, apartment, or house into a rental property by listing it on online rental platforms. 

The rental income varies and depends on the rate you’ll set. However, most investors aim for an 8% average return on investment (ROI).

Having a rental property offers one of the real estate investment s since it provides steady, long-term income and highly low effort. Plus, the Internal Revenue Service offers tax benefits like letting you deduct expenses related to the rental properties. 

Other Side Hustles to Consider

Check out these other ways to create passive income streams.

• How to Sell Used Clothes Online: Sell your old or unworn clothes by uploading them to online thrift shops or e-commerce platforms. It’s a great gig for people who want a quick and easy way to earn money on the side.
• How to Sell Digital Art: Create, upload, and promote digital art like photographs, videos, animation, and digital paintings. Due to the number of online buyers globally, selling digital products offers a lucrative and flexible way to make money online.
• How to Sell Sneakers for Cash: Sell or resell old, work, luxury, or trendy sneakers online via e-commerce platforms or reselling apps. The sneaker market offers a highly profitable opportunity that can reach $285.9 million by 2032.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrapping Up

If you want to receive a high future income without burning out in the long run, tap into passive hustles to make passive income while you sleep.

If this article helped you start earning passive income, let us know in the comments, or share this list with others looking for a passive income source.