Are you ready to start earning passive income?
In this article, I’m going to give you a unique look at the best way to earn passive income and the 5 basic ways to do it. This will get you started on brainstorming for ways you can earn passive income that are best for you.
Ready? Let’s get started!
What is passive income?
Passive income is income that you earn without having to directly work on it. In other words, your ability to make money isn’t tied to the time you’re working.
Typically, passive income streams take upfront work as you create a product or set up a system, but then you don’t have to work on it much or at all as it provides you income for months and years to come.
I’ve been working on building passive income for a few years now. I love passive income because it means that even on days that I don’t work, like if I’m on vacation or if I spend all day reading and eating chocolate, money still comes to me.
My passive income streams – things I’ve created and set up years ago, in some cases – are always working in the background and earning me an income. It’s a wonderfully gentle way to make money.
How can I earn passive income?
There are plenty of articles out there with ideas of ways you can earn passive income. Full disclosure, I don’t have a secret method that no one else knows.
But if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed with passive income ideas, I can simplify things a bit.
From all the research I’ve done and all the experiences I’ve personally had, I can boil it down to this: The best way to earn passive income (especially as a beginner) is to sell something online.
In general, SELLING SOMETHING ONLINE is the simplest and easiest way to make passive income for beginners.
When I talk about selling something online, there are a few different ways that “selling” could take shape:
- You sell a product directly to a consumer, either through your own website or through a third-party website like Etsy or Amazon (these could be digital products, courses, physical products, print-on-demand items, etc.).
- You earn money from advertisers when your audience engages with your product. In this way, you’re technically “selling” to advertisers, but your audience is the consumer. YouTube accounts, podcasts, and blogs are often monetized in this way.
- You promote products made by others, then earn money when a consumer makes a purchase with your unique link (this is called affiliate marketing.)
In each of those situations, you create something to sell. The thing you’re selling might be a YouTube video, a digital printable, or a sales pitch for an affiliate product. The person paying you might be a consumer, an advertiser, or a company you’re promoting, but in every case, you create something that is being “sold.”
That’s why I say that selling something online is the most basic way to earn passive income.
What can I sell online to make passive income?
There are different categories of things you can sell online to make passive income. I’m going to break it up into 5 categories in this article. (Of course, some things you could sell fit into more than one of these categories.)
5 things you can sell to make passive income:
- Sell information
- Sell ideas
- Sell entertainment
- Sell solutions
- Sell beauty
Let’s break down each of these 5 categories. For each category, I’ll give some examples of what you could create, how to know if you’d be a good fit for selling it, and how to get started.
Sell information.
Every day, millions of people are turning to the internet for information. In short, they want to know more about something.
Some pieces of information are simple, like “How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?” Some information that people are searching for is more complicated, like “How do I raise chickens in my backyard?”
Think of selling information as giving your audience answers to their questions.
Here are some examples of ways you could sell information:
- An ebook about how to grow an herb garden in an urban apartment
- A video course on how to properly clean the hooves of goats
- A blog about what a student should know to pass their AP Calculus exam.
- A YouTube channel about how to use the subway system in NYC
- An email newsletter that summarizes the major news stories of the week
Selling information could be for you if:
- You enjoy reading and researching topics.
- You enjoy teaching and helping people understand concepts.
- You have a topic that you’re so passionate about you can imagine creating hundreds of articles or videos about it.
How to get started:
- Brainstorm topics that you know a lot of information about, or topics that you are interested in enough that you wouldn’t mind researching a ton about them.
- Search for those topics on Google and Pinterest to see what’s already out there and what specific questions people are asking (See the “People also ask” section in the Google search results).
- Decide which medium would suit you and the topic best (writing vs. video, for example).
Sell ideas.
Selling ideas is similar to selling information, but it’s kind of like taking it a step further.
Instead of merely compiling information, you might use information you’ve learned to come up with your own ideas. These new ideas could be of value to your audience.
Think of it as the difference between a blog post that’s focused on “The 5 steps of properly cleaning your oven” versus “A radical new way of thinking about cleaning.”
Instead of telling your audience, “This is what to do” or “This is how it is,” you’re presenting them with ideas to implement in their life the way they want to.
A lot of creators, podcasters, and authors who have made it big have done so by “selling ideas.” Think: James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits; Brooke Castillo, the founder of the Life Coach School; and Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Work Week.
They are often people who have come up with their own “system” after years of researching and experimenting, and they earn passive income by sharing their ideas with the world.
Think of selling information as giving your audience new ideas to implement in their life.
Here are some examples of ways you could sell ideas:
- A blog focused on unique ways to incorporate meditation into your life
- A YouTube channel that teaches a brand-new system of decluttering.
- A non-fiction book, published on Amazon, about why everyone should learn how to juggle
- A life coaching podcast that teaches listeners ideas of how to regulate their negative thoughts
Selling ideas could be for you if:
- You enjoy coming up with ideas and like sharing them with people.
- You’re naturally gifted at articulating complicated concepts in a way that resonates with people.
- You’ve experimented with different systems in a certain area of life and have come up with one that works for you.
How to get started:
- Build an audience and start sharing your ideas. (You could do that on X, YouTube, a podcast, a blog, etc.)
- Connect with other creators whose ideas resonate with you.
- Package your ideas into products (like books or courses) that would provide value to your potential customers.
Sell entertainment.
People will always come to the internet to be entertained. And the cool thing is, there’s literally an endless amount of ways to entertain people.
Think of selling entertainment as giving your audience something that will make them smile, pique their interest, distract them from their troubles, or simply be entertained.
Here are some examples of ways you could sell entertainment:
- A YouTube channel where you vlog about your life as a children’s performer.
- A fiction book about robots taking over the world that you publish on Amazon KDP.
- Music that you wrote, recorded, and posted on YouTube.
- An word search book that you publish on Amazon KDP (activity books like these typically fall into the category of low-content books)
- A humorous podcast discussing the weirdest things celebrities have done.
- A serialized story, posted on Patreon or Wattpad, with one chapter that comes out every week, which readers need to pay to access
Selling entertainment could be for you if:
- You don’t mind being “the face” of your content (this isn’t necessary, but if you become a vlogger or influencer, it’s something you’ll likely have to do.)
- You’re a natural storyteller
- You can creatively keep yourself and others entertained when you get bored.
How to get started:
- Brainstorm what you could create that others might find entertaining, starting with what you personally feel entertained by
- Decide the medium through which your entertainment skills would shine the best. Is it writing? Podcasting? Short-form videos?
- See what other entertainment-based creators are doing that’s successful, and consider how you could add a unique twist to what they do.
Sell solutions.
People everywhere have problems, and you better believe they’re turning to the internet to get help. They want a solution that makes their life easier, gives them more time, earns them more money, helps them be happier, etc. etc. etc.
To be honest, most things that are worth selling solve a problem of some kind, but some products are more solution-based than others.
Think of selling information as giving your audience something they can directly act upon to get a quick solution to their problem.
(For example: Problem – I need a place to write my thoughts. Solution – a beautiful journal.)
Here are some examples of ways you could sell solutions:
- A workbook for setting up a budding entrepreneur’s first small business
- A meal planning list for new vegetarians
- Website design templates for blogs
- A planner for organizing your end-of-life needs (sold as a low-content book on Amazon KDP)
- Building blueprints for newbies to build a camper van home.
- A DIY crochet pattern of an alligator that you created.
(Providing a service (like being a virtual assistant or business consultant) usually falls under this category, but since that isn’t very “passive” work, I wouldn’t consider it a passive income source.)
Selling solutions could be for you if:
- You’re often creating solutions for the problems in your life.
- You’re naturally organized.
- You’re good at taking abstract solutions and streamlining them into a single product.
How to get started:
- Brainstorm problems that you can create a solution to – either a solution you’ve come up with yourself, or gotten from somewhere else but you’ve improved upon it.
- Do some keyword research (AKA search for different things on Google and Pinterest) about what problems other people are facing. Can you come up with a solution?
- Remember, it can be as simple as: Problem: I have too many clothes that I forget to wear. Solution: A planner that helps you plan outfits so you incorporate all of your favorite pieces. You could sell it as a digital download or a low-content book on Amazon.
- Remember that the range of solutions you could solve is huge. You could sell a $.99 shopping list printable on Etsy or a $1000 course on becoming a personal trainer. I recommend starting relatively small and inexpensive when you’re first starting out, because that means that the solution will likely be easier for you to create.
Sell beauty.
When I say “sell beauty,” I’m not just talking about selling makeup products.
There will always be a market for things that don’t necessarily solve a burning problem or provide a lot of utility. They just provide… beauty.
Humans love beautiful things, and I think it’s a very noble thing to bring more beauty into the world.
Think of selling information as giving your audience something that will satisfy their sense of beauty.
Here are some examples of ways you could sell beauty:
- Original artwork prints you sell on Etsy
- Print-on-demand wall art created using Canva
- A collection of sunset photographs that you sell as stock images.
- Your own original songs that you post to YouTube or sell on Epidemic Sound
- A YouTube channel with aesthetic scenes for people to watch.
- Online boutique where you sell clothes and makeup
- One-of-a-kind T-shirts you design yourself and fulfill using Printify
This could be for you if:
- You’re artistically inclined
- You’re a musician
- You have an eye for home decor, fashion, and artsy trends.
How to get started:
- Brainstorm things that could be beautified. Take inspiration from other artists and creators.
- Decide how you could best add beauty to the world.
- Build a following of people who find your creations beautiful.
How should I choose what to sell online?
As you think about these 5 categories, choose which one you’re most drawn to, the one that sounds like the best fit for you based on your passions and skills. Then, get started on brainstorming what products you could create to sell online.
The truth is, many products fit into more than one of these categories, and most businesses that earn passive income sell things from more than one of the categories too.
In Passive Income Butterfly, I “sell” ideas, solutions, and information.
In some of my other businesses (like publishing on Amazon KDP), I sell entertainment and solutions.
Don’t be afraid to start with something small and see where it takes you!
Conclusion
Building passive income through selling something online is one of the simplest and most accessible ways to create a steady stream of income. Whether you’re selling information, ideas, entertainment, solutions, or beauty, the possibilities are endless.
Your action step for now? Take some time to brainstorm, research, and explore which “product” feels the most exciting for you to create and sell.
You don’t need to have everything figured out immediately—just start small and keep building.
So, what’s stopping you? Choose the category that excites you the most, create your first product, and start sharing it with the world. Whether it’s an ebook, a course, a YouTube channel, or a piece of art, your future self will thank you for the effort you put in today.
Now, go ahead and take that step. The world is waiting for what you have to offer!
P.S. If you want to get started with affiliate marketing, check out Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. It’s where I learned my best tips for making money with affiliate marketing.
Best of luck!
