We’re going to hear a lot of people talking about passive income in 2018. This new trend for boosting your income is attractive because it’s a way to make more money without continually having to put in the time as you would with a traditional job. If you work 9 to 5 every day, you have 40 hours per week to make money, which can be limiting if you earn a salary or are paid hourly. Passive income is about putting in an extra few hours here and there and then reaping the benefits for months or years to come.
While it does involve putting in the work in the early stages, if this means you can be earning extra money to bolster your monthly income, then surely this is worthwhile. Some people have even been able to replace their monthly income and leave their full-time jobs on the back of passive income. If you’re interested in boosting your earning potential with passive income, why not try these five different paths…
Write a book
You don’t have to be the next Dan Brown to have a bestseller on your hands. Whether your interests are in fiction or non-fiction, there’s plenty of money to be made in publishing. Some of the most successful passive income streams from publishing are in business, cooking and self-help books. If you can pass on your skills and knowledge in a book, then self-publishing platforms will help you to put this book in front of the right audience and make money long after you’ve finished writing your book. It’s not unheard of for people to be offered huge book deals on the reputation of their self-published works. If you gain a cult following, this can only help your passive income and could turn it into a full-time career choice.
Make an app
There are more smartphones than people on the planet, which goes to show just how popular apps are. Making an app has become easier and easier and there’s no shortage of app development companies that can help make your app a reality. If you have a good idea for an app, this could quickly gain a viral following. You have to remember that some of the most popular apps today had very humble roots. Instagram started life as a simple photo sharing app and was purchased by Facebook for $1 billion 2 years after launch. Not a bad passive income!
Affiliate Marketing
If you run your own blog, there are easy steps you can take to monetise this channel and create a strong income stream. You could either advertise products and make money through affiliate links or you can sell advertising on your site. In order for this to be successful, you will need to focus on building a strong and loyal following. It can take bloggers years to achieve this, so be prepared for a long period of investment.
Cryptocurrencies
You’d have to be living under a rock for the past year to avoid all the talk of cryptocurrencies. These new digital currencies can be mined or traded like any other type of currency. There are plenty of stories of people investing years ago and then discovering they are overnight millionaires as a result of their investments. As long as you are careful and manage your investments well, you could earn a strong interest return through investing at the right time.
Get Into Teaching
If you are highly skilled at what you do, there is guaranteed to be someone in the world who is willing to pay to learn from you. Creating a teaching course on your specialist subject is a great way to make extra money on the side. The beauty of this type of passive income is that you only have to put the work in once. Once your online learning course is set up, it will keep running without any effort from you. Unlike traditional teaching, you won’t be teaching face to face or be buried in marking all weekend. There are plenty of sites that will give you the tools you need to create and market your online courses, such as Skillshare and Lynda.
If you want to make 2018 the year you break free of the 9 to 5 mentality, then passive income could be the thing you’ve been looking for. As long as you’re willing to put in the time to create a quality product to start with, you could be earning passive income from your investment for years to come.
If you’ve had any success with passive income, why not share your story below and help others to realise their dreams.
