20 Ways to Make Passive Income with Minimal Start-Up Costs!

Make money while you sleep? Where do I sign-up? Keep reading to find out. 

This post contains affiliate links, and I may receive a commission if you make a purchase at no cost to you!

Is Passive Income a Real Thing?

Ok, I know what you might be thinking—passive income is too good to be true. However, that is a myth. Passive income is actually the foundation for financial security. Here is why–there is only so much of “you” to go around. You only have so many hours in a day, and your services are only worth so much. If you rely on owning a service-based business, there is a limit to how much you can make. However, with passive income, there is no limit to how much you can make because you aren’t constrained by time. 

Many (if not all) of the wealthiest people in the world have some form of passive income. 

Passive income includes things like owning a rental home, investing in stocks, selling products, and more. But it can also be something smaller like writing a book or selling products online. There is a form of passive income for every family.  

What Is Passive Income?

There are many different forms of passive income, but it is essentially income that you generate without much effort. This can be in the form of rent, subscriptions, or creating a digital product that you can sell many times. Some forms of passive income, like buying a rental home, require a big investment upfront, but there are plenty of passive income streams that cost little or nothing to begin. So here are some of my favorite ways to start making money. 

Who Is Passive Income For?

All of these ideas are perfect for people who want to generate a lot of money with minimal effort, BUT there is a small catch. Most of these require quite a bit of marketing–whether through running ads or promoting them on social media and Pinterest. 

1- Start a Blog

If you are looking for a great place to start, you might want to consider starting a blog. It costs less than $100 to get started and the upside potential is amazing. You can sell products, run ads, do affiliate marketing, and more!

2-Sell “Glitches and Price Drops”

 Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money with a blog, but you actually don’t need a blog to do it! Some moms make money by signing up as an Amazon Affiliate and creating “Amazon deal groups.” Then they search out deals, glitches, and price drops and get a commission every time someone buys through their link. 

3-Pin It

Here is another type of affiliate marketing you might not have considered. Pinterest allows you to use affiliate links in your pins, and some companies will allow you to become an affiliate for them without a website. Use Canva to create a nice pin, and you are on your way! 

4-Create Printables

Printables are a great way to generate passive income since you just have to do the work once and then promote them. Create party decorations, games, and more. Once you have created your items, you can sell them right on Etsy!

5-Sell Cricut Templates

This is perfect for crafty moms that don’t necessarily want to create products. You can simply create the design template and then sell it right on Etsy!

6-Canva Templates

Here is another fun passive income idea. Canva allows you to create templates and sell them on places like Etsy and even Fiverr. These can be images, checklists, book cover templates–anything you could imagine!

7-Lightroom Presets

Are you a professional or even amateur photographer with a decent understanding of how Adobe Lightroom works? Do you know how to create a preset? (Hint-it’s super easy!) Many people sell Lightroom Presets on Etsy and promote them on Pinterest. 

8-Sewing and Knitting Patterns

If you have a passion for knitting or sewing but don’t have time to create products to sell, you might want to consider just selling your patterns. This way, you can create the product once, snap a picture of it and sell the tutorial!

9-Write an eBook

If you have a lot of knowledge or passion about a topic, you might want to consider writing an eBook. It can be a “how-to,” a cookbook, a guide, or anything you think people would want to know about. Then you can sell it on Amazon KDP or as a PDF on Etsy!

10-Write a Novel

If you love to read, you might want to try writing a fiction novel or novella (a short novel.) Your novel doesn’t have to be long either! Amazon KDP has a section for short reads too, which is popular with people who don’t have much time to read!

11-Zero Content Book

If you are really pressed for time but still want to publish a book, you might want to consider creating “zero-content” books. A zero content book is a book with only a few words, like a planner or notebook! All you have to do is design the cover (or hire someone to) and design the interior, but there are free and affordable templates online. 

12-Create a Course

Many people think you need to be an expert to start a course, but you don’t. You just need to know more than the person that you are trying to teach! There are many different platforms that make it easy to get started! 

13-Sell Your Photos and Illustrations

There are a bunch of great websites that allow you to sell your photos and illustrations, including Shutterstock, Dreamstime, and more. Simply sign up for an account and upload your images to begin selling!

14-Sell T-Shirts

If you have a bit of an artistic flair and a great sense of humor, you might want to consider creating t-shirts for a company like Printify. You can even sell your creations on Amazon. It might take a bit of promoting, but t-shirts are a popular product with excellent profit potential!

15-Create Print-On-Demand Products

If t-shirts aren’t your thing, you could try mugs, jewelry, Christmas ornaments, and more through a company like Gearbubble. There are so many ways to create and sell gifts with your own personalized designs on them, and you don’t even need to hold inventory or make them yourself!!

16-Dropshipping

If you have ever wanted your own online store, this is how you do it. You find products and then sell them on your own website. You don’t need to have inventory, ship anything or handle payments. Just pick your products, set up your website, and promote the heck out of it!

17-Rent Stuff (That’s Not a House)

If you are a parent (which you probably are), you know how annoying it is to buy a $100+ baby gear item, only for your kid to outgrow it in two minutes. That’s why some parents turn to renting baby gear from local rental companies. If you have stuff that other people would want to rent, this can be a great business model!

18-Start a Vending Machine Business

So, this has been a thing forever and is surprisingly affordable. Basically, you rent vending machines, find a store that wants them and then check them regularly to make sure they are properly stocked and collect the money. 

19-Start an Agency

Just because you are a freelancer or own a service-based business doesn’t mean you actually have to do the work! You can hire people to do it for you! Whether you are a graphic artist, a writer, or a marketing specialist, you can hire freelancers on Fiverr or other sites to help you complete your work! At the content marketing company I work for, we actually advertise “wholesale” SEO and copywriting services, meaning marketing agencies hire our company to hire freelancers to do the work for them.  

20-Advertise on Your Car

There are a bunch of companies, including StickerRide and Wrapify, that will pay you to put ads on your car! While this won’t necessarily make you rich, it is a great way to make a few hundred extra dollars a month!

So there you have it! Twenty great ways to make extra money each month! Have you tried any? Drop them below in the comments!