Winning the lottery isn’t the only way to earn a lot of money with minimal effort on your part. And you don’t need hundreds of thousands of followers on social media to earn money online, either. There are some business ventures that require very little of your time on an ongoing basis but can bring in significant income. Money earned regularly without investing time or effort is known as “passive income.”
With most passive income ventures, you’ll need to put in some work upfront to get your business up and running. This could be as simple as investing a small amount of money and as involved as creating meaningful content, such as an ebook, blog, or YouTube series.
It’s a common myth that you need money upfront to start earning passive income. While there are many fruitful opportunities that require you to invest your hard-earned dollars, there are also ways to start earning passive income with no money.
And because there are a variety of ways to apply your unique talents and interests to earning passive income, you may find that you can actually have fun earning extra cash.
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1. Answer surveys
Some websites will pay you just for taking surveys. While this option does require you to give up some of your time, answering survey questions takes minimal effort; you could practically do it in your sleep. Some sites that pay for survey responses include:
- SurveyJunkie
- Swagbucks
- InboxDollars
- Harris Poll Online
- PrizeRebel
- Pinecone Research
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2. Rent ad space on your car
If you drive frequently, you can get paid for displaying a company’s advertisement on your car. It’s easy to get a wrap on your car and start earning money just from making your regular trips. The wrap won’t damage your car, and you can earn up to $450 in passive income every month. This option could be especially lucrative for rideshare drivers. Get started by using one of the following services:
- Carvertise
- Wrapify
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3. Rent out your car when you’re not using it
Infrequent drivers may be better served by an app that lets you rent out your car to other drivers. Services include:
- HyreCar: Lets you rent out your car to rideshare drivers to make up to $12,000 annually.
- Turo: Lets you rent out your car to travelers and make hundreds per month. Use the Carculator to find out how much your car could earn.
- TravelCar: Rents out your car for you while you travel; simply park at qualifying airports.
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4. Enter sweepstakes
Whether you’re sitting in a waiting room or just killing time, there’s money to be made by entering free sweepstakes on your phone or computer. PrizeGrab offers different prizes every week, including cash.
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5. Sell your lesson plans online
If you’re a teacher, you deserve a pat on the back and some extra income for your hard work. If you have lesson plans you’re proud of, especially materials that include high-quality graphics, you may be able to sell the content you created through Teachers Pay Teachers. There’s no limit to how much you can earn, and some teachers have even surpassed the $1 million mark.
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6. Create an online course
If you’re not a teacher but you have expertise you’re willing to share with the public, you can create an online course. You’ll help people around the globe acquire new skills, and you’ll get paid every time someone purchases your course. You can use the following tools:
- Udemy
- Teachable
- Skillshare
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7. Write a book and sell it online
Publishing a book was at one point a costly venture, but in the world of online self-publishing, all you need to get started is your unique knowledge about a topic. Sure, writing a book isn’t exactly a passive activity, but if you put in the work upfront, you can continue to sell copies without much ongoing effort. There are a few online tools that can help:
- Kindle Direct Publishing
- Lulu
- Blurb
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8. Create a design & sell it online
If writing isn’t your speed but you have a knack for the visual arts, consider creating a design to sell online. Whether you want to create a funny T-shirt or sell prints of your artwork, there are several online tools that can help you accomplish your goals:
- Redbubble
- CafePress
- Zazzle
- Society6
- Etsy
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9. Make YouTube videos
It can be tough to make it big on YouTube, but if you have knowledge you want to share, you’ve got nothing to lose by trying. Your first goal should be to create engaging content and build an audience. This may take time, but once you have enough followers, you can join the YouTube Partner Program and make money through Google AdSense. You’ll need 1,000 subscribers and at least 4,000 watch hours over the past year in order to be reviewed for the program.
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10. Sell photography
For every type of art, there is an avenue to make money online — and that includes photography. If you already have high-quality images on your smartphone, why not upload them to one of these sites and get paid for each download?
- Shutterstock
- Getty Images / iStock
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
11. Build an app
Building an app is no easy task and will require a significant time commitment. However, once you’ve sold your finished product, this venture requires little to no effort to keep bringing in money. If you have a great idea for an app but don’t know how to code, there are even some services that will build your app for you. However, you’ll need some money upfront to pursue this option.
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12. Get into affiliate marketing on your blog
Whether you’re posting recipes, how-to guides, parenting advice, or just cute pictures of furry animals, there are likely some products that will be of interest to your readers. When you include an affiliate link to a product on your blog, you’ll either get a share of the revenue if one of your readers makes a purchase or a flat fee per click. If you’re just getting started with affiliate marketing, check out Shopstyle Collective or the Amazon Associates Program, both of which make it easy to monetize links on your website or blog.
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13. Open a credit card with a lucrative sign-up bonus
One of the simplest ways to earn extra money is to open a rewards credit card with an impressive sign-up bonus. While the most robust rewards cards tend to charge high annual fees, you can still earn a nice bonus with cards that charge no annual fee.
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14. Earn cash back on credit cards
If you’re still using cash or a debit card for your purchases, you’re potentially missing out on a lot of free money. As long as you’re spending money on the things you buy anyway, why not use a credit card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited that provides easy cash back rewards on every purchase?
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15. Earn money while shopping
Whether you’re a shopaholic or just have a few mouths to feed, you can earn cash back or gift cards by shopping at grocery stores and other retailers, and it requires very little effort on your part.
- Shopkick (Android or iOS)
- Ebates
- Swagbucks
- Paribus
- Ibotta
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16. Earn gift cards for eating out
With the Seated app, you can earn up to 30% back in rewards for every meal you eat out at one of their participating restaurants. That’s a lot more in gift cards than you would earn with a credit card, even one with extra points on dining. It’s currently available in five major cities.
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17. Become a referral source
Try networking with local businesses to see if you can get paid for referring new customers. There are also a number of sites and apps that will pay you to refer friends, so look for opportunities to recommend products and services that you are passionate about.
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18. Invest $5
A lot of people get scared off from investing because it sounds intimidating or like you need a lot of money to start, but I promise you, it’s super simple to get started these days. Plus, it’s one of the most effective ways to grow wealth.
Stash is a good example of an easy place to get started. For as little as $5, you can make your first investment in two minutes and learn how to become a confident investor over time. Plus, you’ll have access to over 40 different investment options, so you can invest in what matters to you most.
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19. Buy music royalties
If you’re a music buff who enjoys discovering new artists, this might be the venture for you. With Royalty Exchange, you can purchase a portion of an artist’s royalties via auction. You’ll then receive a return on your investment when the organizations that pay royalties, such as radio stations and streaming services, use the piece of music. You can view the history of the song’s earnings to determine what you might earn over time. And buying royalties isn’t tied to the stock market, so there’s less risk that prices will change.
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20. Buy someone else’s blog
Building a blog on your own can take time. If you have some money saved up, you may want to consider buying one that you think has potential or already has an existing base of followers. Once you have ownership, you can use affiliate marketing, ads, or related products to monetize it.
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21. Get into index funds
An index fund is a collection of stocks designed to match or track a market index, like the S&P 500. The greater diversification offers less risk, and taxes and fees are lower as well. And because index funds are hands-off, your investment can truly be considered passive income. You’ll be able to sit back and watch the returns pour in over time.
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22. Buy equity in a small business
When you buy equity in a small business, you are providing capital in exchange for a share of the profits or losses. There can be a lot of risk involved, so make sure you feel as confident as possible in a business’s future before choosing to invest.
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23. Invest in rental property
If you have enough money to set aside, real estate can be one of the smartest investments out there. You can buy a building and hire a property manager to rent it for you, or buy a duplex and rent out one unit while you live in the other. However, remember that managing the property yourself will take significantly more effort.
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24. Become a real estate crowdfunder
If you don’t have enough money to buy an entire building, you can still invest in real estate. All you need to get started with online real estate investing company stREITwise is $1,000, and you can have a “professionally managed portfolio of private real estate assets.” Other real estate crowdfunding sites include:
- Prodigy Network
- Fundrise
- RealtyShares
- RealtyMogul
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25. Buy some vending machines
A vending machine business has a relatively low startup cost. Each machine costs as little as $150 to $400, plus inventory. You can buy an existing business or a franchise opportunity, like Kytch’s Frobots, which require very little upkeep. Some management will be required to stock and maintain the machines, so you may also want to consider hiring someone to help.
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26. Buy some parking spots
If you live in high-traffic city — like Chicago, New York, or Washington DC — renting out a parking spot can be extremely lucrative and has a lower startup cost than buying real estate. That’s what Chicago, IL resident Moustafa Mohamed, 28, realized when he began looking into buying property. His spot earns $250 to $300 per month in extra income, and he’s looking to buy more spots. “It will take me 4.5 years to earn back the $15,000 I spent on it,” he said, adding that the effort needed has been minimal. “I’ve invested maybe a few hours a week to getting everything researched and getting the paperwork done for the deed.” His goal is to own four to five spots to rent out, and then he hopes to start buying condos.
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27. Buy a storage facility
Like owning a parking spot, owning a storage facility requires very little work. Plus, you won’t have to deal with the drama that sometimes comes with interacting with tenants. You can expect to earn anywhere from $20 to $300 per unit in rent each month, depending on the size and location.
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28. Become a peer-to-peer lender
Peer-to-peer lending is a system in which a platform facilitates individual investors (like you) in lending money to individual borrowers. The borrower then pays back the loan with interest. There’s some risk of the borrower defaulting on a loan, but you may find that you’ll get a greater return than with some other investment opportunities. Additionally, you’ll be able to help someone in need avoid the financial strain from high-interest credit. Some sites allow you to fund loans in increments, so you can invest a small amount or lend money to a lot of different people. Some platforms include:
- Upstart
- Prosper
- Peerform
- LendingClub
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29. Open a dropshipping business
If you can find the right niche, a dropshipping business can be lucrative without requiring too much ongoing effort. There’s also a relatively low startup cost, since you don’t need to stock inventory ahead of time. It’s a good idea to sell something unique with a low shipping costs that people frequently search for. You can get started by finding some products to sell on Oberlo and creating a Shopify ecommerce website to sell your items. From there, you’ll need to invest some money in getting people to visit your site, whether that’s through content that helps your search engine ranking or through Facebook ads.
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30. Open a high-yield savings account
If you’ve got extra money sitting in a checking account, you’re not alone. The average American checking account balance hit a record high in 2018, indicating a sense of financial insecurity. But if you have money set aside, even if you’ll need to make a withdrawal at some point, you can earn up to 2.51% APY (annual percentage yield) with a high-yield savings account or cash account. That’s the rate currently offered by Wealthfront and others. And many of these options are free of fees, with low or no minimum balances and unlimited transfers.
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31. Build a bond ladder
A bond ladder is an investment strategy that involves a diverse portfolio of bonds with different maturity dates. According to Richard Carter, vice president of fixed-income products and services at Fidelity, “Laddering bonds may be appealing because it may help you to manage interest rate risk, and to make ongoing reinvestment decisions over time, giving you the flexibility to invest in different credit and interest rate environments.” But you’ll need a significant amount of cash to get started, especially if your goal is diversification, since bonds are typically sold in minimum amounts of $1,000 or $5,000.
Investing money can be intimidating, especially if you don’t have a lot of surplus cash lying around. You may have to take on some risk and it may require some effort upfront, but building a passive income stream is a great way to grow wealth without sacrificing what’s most precious to you — your time.
This article originally appeared on FinanceBuzz.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
