Episode Archive
Episode #19
December 31, 2024
We had some amazing content in 2024. Episode #19 is my attempt to compile the best and most popular posts for the whole year and offer some inspiration for 2025. You’ll find these below.
Most recent episodes:
This year we also started the “Mod vetted” series. This is the mod team’s attempt at sifting through spams and scams and highlighting opportunities we have done at least a bit of investigating (live interview & review offering) and think have a good team behind them and offer legitimate value (latest one here). We’ll continue to post these as they come. Of course do your own due diligence.
Best & Most Popular Posts of 2024:
We also had lots of questions. In fact, asking for help or advice is the #1 type of post in our sub. So for the benefit of the community, here are some of the most commonly asked questions this year and the answers.
What do I do with $x to generate passive income?
Probably the most common question. The easy answer is making money via interest or some dividend-based investment strategy.
Otherwise, you still need a good idea in a good niche. Money just accelerates the timeline - like real estate, buying a business, etc.
I have a lot of time but not a lot of money. How do I generate passive income?
If you can’t buy an asset that can produce passive income, you need to use your time to build it.
Plenty of examples: creating a blog in a profitable niche, building an app, building a social media presence, etc.
I need $2k by tomorrow. What do I do?
Sell some things and/or do some odd jobs. You can't build a big passive income stream in a few days. Check out r/beermoney or r/flipping
Is it still worth getting into x? Is x a good passive income method?
Likely yes. But also likely, you’ll need a unique angle and strategy.
Some say blogging is too saturated, but if you have fresh, unique content that’s valuable - it’ll work. Similar with other methods.
What skills should I learn to build passive income?
Think of it like this: if you can provide value to people without having to actually be there (a book, an online course, a house, a business you don't actively run, etc), that's how to build passive income. Whatever skills you can build to do any of those things is what you should learn.
See more commonly asked questions and answers on our FAQ page.
Mindset for 2025
As we start 2025, it’s important to get into the right mindset. I wanted to offer some inspiration to make this year your best yet for building your passive income. Just two thoughts really.
First, Scottie Pippen wrote that Kobe holds the all-time record for missed shots, but is a 5x NBA Champion. Babe Ruth led the MLB in strikeouts for 5 seasons, but is a 7x World Series Champion. Tom Brady holds the record for most interceptions in Superbowl history, but is a 7x Superbowl Champion. Winners don’t succeed in spite of failure - they succeed because of them. So do bold things this year. Take chances. Just start!
Second, make this year a year of focus. Remove as many distractions as possible. “A focused fool can accomplish more than a distracted genius.” Let's get after it!
Make 2025 your best passive income year! It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #18
May 5, 2024
Episode #18 is here. Here are the best and most interesting passive income ideas, tips, and content shared from the past month around the web.
Most recent episodes:
Best content of the past several weeks:
The best Twitter (X) threads
Grow some cocoa! This guy walked the walk. Growing high value plants can be very lucrative (no, not the illegal stuff).
@TheDevinSwan shared 100+ passive income ideas with associated no-code platforms.
@garyseconomics shares via a YouTube video his thoughts on passive income. Rambles at the end but good overall message. Become an asset owner by either building it or buying your way into it.
Those making $1M/yr generally have income from these sources: capital gains, interest, and rent. Figure out ways to do this for yourself.
Best Reddit posts
Passive income is possible. Lots of people have generated passive income for themselves. This redditor gives a couple personal examples and highlights that you have to build something people will pay for.
Online casinos pay you a reward for logging in. This person created an app that will log in and collect the reward for you. Brilliant. This guy also made a browser extension that does the same.
One redditor encourages young guys to focus on building your skills and money so eventually you're in a position to actually build passive income.
Here's a playbook of how this person creates passive income through stock investing (high dividend ETFs).
Here are some ChatGPT prompts to make money.
Best Tiktok videos
Resell restaurant reservations. Not exactly passive income but super creative! Here's another video about the same thing.
Ride the trend. Remember the solar eclipse? Sell solar eclipse glasses. This summer, think of other things to sell. I think he's selling something tho so just be inspired by the idea and forget whatever he's selling.
This guy goes from start to end of how he succeeds with print-on-demand.
Sell $20k+ on Etsy. The key is product research, trends, and nailing the mockup.
E-books still work. This person explains how to write and produce your own.
Start your own ghost kitchen. Good idea but you do need a decent amount of capital to do this. Do your own research for your own city and state (if you're in the US).
Make videos for Amazon. Become an Amazon influencer. Make recurring income from them.
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #17
April 6, 2024
Episode #17 is here. Here are the best and most interesting passive income ideas, tips, and content shared from the past week around the web.
Most recent episodes:
Best content of the past several weeks:
The best Twitter (X) threads
5 vending machines you can place. Some of these I've never seen so got my creative thoughts flowing. The key to success is great location and terms with the facility owner.
Salary --> Investment Income --> Passive Income. Stop getting hung up on the definition of passive income. Figure out a way to make money work for you!
Building passive income channels takes effort. This guy sells an affiliate program and i have no idea if he's any good but I agree with his point.
Best Reddit posts
This person brought the receipts. She made an online course and it keeps generating money.
Once you get enough passive income - then what? This post started as a different question but it really became a conversation about life after achieving success.
I loved this person's comment on what you'd do to turn $1k into passive income. A penny saved is a penny earned. Brilliant answer.
Best Tiktok videos
Get started on Tiktok Shop. This guy made $100k last month and he just started.
Do what this guy says and secure the deals - then pay a teenager to do it for you.
Think owning a franchise is passive? For the rare few, yes. The most? A resounding no. This guy spills the beans on exactly what his Subway franchise makes him and how much he has to work himself.
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #16
March 27, 2024
Episode #16 at your service. Here's the best passive income content in the last couple of months.
Most recent episodes:
Best X (Twitter) Threads
7 website that pay you from home. Not all are passive but still nice if you need to make money in your spare time so you can invest it into real passive income projects.
Real estate is NOT passive for a beginner. It can absolutely be passive for the educated, diligent, long-term investor.
Multiple streams of income. Is it really "the stupidest piece of advice on the net"? I agree that you need focus - but I think once you establish one stream, you can start another.
Best Reddit Posts
Making money from churning. Taking advantage of sign up bonuses at banks and financial institutions. You won't make millions but this guy made $13k last year.
Monthly recurring revenue from marketing and selling personal trainer services. Decent idea that you could apply to a lot of other types of industries.
This guy created a website full of webtools that he plans on monetizing after drawing traffic from SEO.
Best Tiktok Videos
Build small websites and rent them out to other businesses for $500-2,000 per month. Pretty interesting idea but how does he get traffic to his site?
Gotta respect the hustle. Fake it til you make it. Hope this can inspire action today and get your creative mind flowing!
Funny video. Let's be real. Most influencers have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to finances and building businesses.
Best Web Content
Three myths of building passive income streams. Not sure I agree with him 100% but it's impressive what he's done tho I'm going to guess only 1 or 2 make the bulk of his income.
D.J. Burns of N.C. State's basketball team owns vending machines. Despite it being questionable as a "passive" method, great to see young people doing their hustle. Respect!
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #15
December 9, 2023
Episode #15 at your service. I have the best and most interesting passive income ideas, tips, and content shared from the past few weeks around the web.
Most recent episodes:
Best content of the past several weeks:
The best Twitter (X) threads
Use AI to negotiate down your rent - I imagine you could adapt this to your own situation
Reality check on owning real estate
Discipline + hard work is the difference
The rise of AI "models"
Best Reddit posts
This person's experience trying a bunch of passive income ideas
You need primary income before generating passive income
Slow and steady with REIT
This person's profitable experience with ebooks
Selling Google Sheets Templates
Selling Canva templates
This person's experience creating and selling a Udemy course
Best Tiktok videos
Watch this guy find an idea and launch a business within 30 days
Motivation: the magic you're looking for is in the work you're avoiding
Fix your relationship with money and other tips
Unethical way to make passive income
ChatGPT prompts to find an idea of what to sell and to who
Passive Skittles income (vending machine)
How much could you make by becoming an influencer?
Create custom GPTs for profit
Super unethical way to make money (only putting this here because it's so creative)
Take advantage of Tiktok Shop
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #14
September 25, 2023
Episode #14 is here. I've found the best ideas, tips, and content shared from the past few weeks around the web.
Most recent episodes:
Episode 13
If you want this in an email sent weekly, sign up here
Best content of the past 3 weeks:
The best Twitter (X) threads
Jordan Belfort's sales script (use it for good)
Validate your business idea quickly with this ChatGPT prompt
Turn a shipping container into passive income
Earn income through massive volume of informational content
Another faceless YT channel tutorial using AI - I think the key is first, picking a good niche and second, luck.
Exactly! (also this reddit post)
Best Reddit posts
Become an Amazon influencer
Interesting comments about how to monetize a high traffic website
Great detailed post about earning income through AI-generated content website
Very entertaining comments in "strangest passive income ideas"
Best Tiktok videos
Businesses with the lowest failure rate
Start a rental business
Try out churning
Here's a personal anecdote: I recently had a conversation with someone that ran an affiliate site a while back. Those sites that gave away big prizes if you completed 3 tasks (sign up for free trials, intro offers, etc). The big secret to these is that 99.9% of people only complete 1 offer and each of these give you big commissions. He ran the site for years and never had to give away any of the prizes but earned a lot of money from people signing up for at least the 1 offer.
I'm not telling you that so you copy it (it's an old model and let's be honest, kind of scammy) but maybe it inspires you to be creative in your business model.
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #13
August 6, 2023
Episode #13 at your service. Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from the past few weeks around the web.
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Best content of the past 3 weeks:
The best Twitter (X) threads
It’s passive until it’s not (Turo example)
Nothing revolutionary here but the quote is always a good reminder
Get started with AI prompt writing as a source of income
I mean, sure all it takes is writing a hit song…
Create video games to generate passive income
Agree with this a lot
E-bikes have been trending for a while but it does seem more popular than ever. Maybe some opportunities to rent them? sell them? repair them?
Best Reddit posts
“I feel attacked” lol
PoD best practices told from actual experience
$500-1k passive income streams
“Hard truths” - popular post. I agree with most but not all of it. Asking for advice is part of the process, even if you’re asking 20 times - maybe it’s the 21st time someone’s explaining for it to click for you.
Remember, just because they guarantee your money back, doesn’t mean you’ll get your money back… be careful out there.
Methods for finding passive income ideas
Best content from around the web
Is passive income a distraction? Are you really looking for purpose?
8 misconceptions about passive income. One of the better articles I’ve seen on the topic.
Best Tiktok videos
Brand arbitrage - new trend?
Set up a virtual receptionist business (starts at 0:51)
One guy’s take on passive income (I don’t fully agree with his conclusion but I agree with him that it all takes a TON of work to set up)
Got old college notes? Sell them for income
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #12
July 5, 2023
Episode #12. Got a lot of goodies for you today. Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from the past few weeks around the web.
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Best content of the past 3 weeks:
The best Twitter threads
Best Reddit posts
Mind map to earn a million dollars
Discovering your old efforts generated passive income
Best content from around the web
One of the best content creators for passive income. Lots of wisdom shared.
Best Tiktok videos
I don’t know about “ethical” but it’s an interesting approach to copy successful Shopify sites
LOL please don’t do this
Open a mattress store?
So many people who ask “I’m 19 and have $10k, how do I make passive income?” need to watch this video
A.I. automation to convert a news article into an Instagram post
Rent out selfie stations
Major d-bag vibes but the core idea is good
They’re ALL IN A COURSE!
“The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they’re too heavy to be broken” Do it now!
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #11
May 27, 2023
Episode #11. Let’s go! Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from the past 3 weeks around the web.
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Best content of the past 3 weeks:
The best Twitter threads
Passive income takes time and effort to establish and maintain. Totally agree! This person said something similar.
Start with some recommended books
Write books. Lots of books.
Stop chasing “passive income”.
Best Reddit posts
Free list of resources to promote your products - nice work and thanks u/Signal-Idea-2489!
Have a great software idea but have no idea how to build it? This software dev is offering his services.
Are you a web developer? Try searching on Google Maps for businesses with bad websites and offer a monthly maintenance fee to fix it for them.
Best content from around the web
11 passive income ideas to increase your cash flow - nothing revolutionary and pretty high level but it might spark an idea
How To Have Multiple Streams of Income (11 High-Earning Examples) (investorjunkie.com) - decent idea of active vs passive income
Exactly How to Make Passive Income: The Only Guide You Need - Nat Eliason - not recent but I just ran across it. Good content and ideas.
Best Tiktok videos
How to do Print on Demand
Take time to learn new skills!
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #10
April 30, 2023
Episode #10. Some fun ones today. Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from the past 3 weeks around the web.
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Best content of the past 3 weeks:
The best Twitter threads:
Chicken Genius: If you want to learn, learn from the best. Nothing less. Don’t waste your time with fake gurus.
@sabattons: Pay attention to changes in your profit share on PoD platforms. They’re getting obliterated.
@MadadiaHarsh: 10 inspirational videos on autoGPT
@MrPassive_: All vending machines are not the same. I’m still convinced these require substantial active work so “passive income” is a stretch but check these out.
@SMB_Attorney: Invest $100k to get $30-83k in yearly passive income (buy a small business)
@Codie_Sanchez: 7 ideas for generating income (I’m NOT endorsing her courses - but she is a master at marketing and building an online following)
Twitter now allows subscriptions. Big money can be made when you are the early adopter. Check it out!
u/S-man75 sold their first ebook! Good reminder to just GET STARTED. Don’t get paralyzed by the process. Tackle the challenges as they come but focus on the end result.
u/Jazzcaution asked about how to best use inherited land. Answers ranged from selling carbon credits to selling lumber (or Christmas trees).
These all seem capital intensive but here are 5 alternative asset classes worth checking out
Have web dev skills? u/coolshoeshine suggests making web apps that solve niche problems and gave some examples.
Tiktok videos
Harnessing the power of AI for business
$10k per month running a membership business
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #9
April 10, 2023
Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week around the web.
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Best content of the week:
Twitter threads
Start a passive publishing business
Passive income is addicting. I wanted to include this simple tweet because it’s true. Once you get started - once you taste success - your motivation grows and it snowballs. Get started!
Build Framer templates
Great twitter account to follow. Writes about dividend investing and owning websites.
Thinking of doing Airbnb? Outside of the actual real estate purchase, these are the most expensive parts of setup.
AI will change the world and from right now until the next few years, there is huge opportunity. Take this niche for example. This guy is already begging to give money for it.
Passive income is a fantasy. Only if you think it requires no effort or money. You need to build or buy an asset that produces cash flow. The problem is some people think it’s a step-by-step program that produces immediate results. “I want passive income!” is the same thing as saying “I want wealth!” It’s an end goal - not the means. The path is different for everyone depending on their knowledge, skills, liquid assets, network, etc.
Careers with skills that align well with passive income. You could really turn any skill into an asset, but if we look at some of the most popular methods for passive income:
Real estate: real estate agent, leasing consultant, property manager, mortgage broker, legal assistant, etc
Dividend investing: market analyst, finance analyst, portfolio manager, auditor, etc
Digital goods (online courses, digital templates, etc): digital marketing, website designer, graphic designer, SEO analyst, copywriter, etc
Tiktok videos
Etsy > Printful > Customer Super simplified. The trick is finding the right niche. It’s getting pretty saturated so make sure you have a good strategy.
Side gig > Dividend investing > REIT > Real estate properties This guy is goofy but I’m a fan of the game plan.
What’s a REIT?
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #8
March 21, 2023
Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week around the web.
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Best content of the week:
Twitter threads
This guy gave ChatGPT-4 a budget of $100 and told it to make as much money as possible. Hilarious and fascinating. There’s a Tiktok video if you want the short summary without reading.
Are credit card points passive income? I think so. This guy has 7 that he recommends. (I just used my points to get a huge discount on my flight and a 4 nights free luxury hotel stay so I would say yes ONLY if you pay off the balance each month)
Teach them young. That’s what I always say too.
Great advice! Not sure what he’s selling (looks like a course on vending machines?) but the idea he’s communicating is solid. I personally think vending machines business sucks, but I’ve never done it so what do I know.
Catboarding might be an interesting niche to get into. Figure out a way to test the demand in your area (Facebook Marketplace ad?) and go from there.
This person made $1200 from YouTube one month after monetizing. Doesn’t say how long they’ve been making videos tho. It’s certainly not easy and almost a gamble that you’ll make any money at all, but I like that the content they produce is evergreen (won’t expire).
Here’s some inspiration for you from someone who’s still young but on their way to a life of passive income. Good commentary of their experience and also is realistic about future expectations.
Vending machines came up again this week. If you really want to do vending machines, make sure you can get a high traffic location and you are able to maintain/fix your machines. Getting the store manager to agree is also a big challenge. Here’s a popular vending forum.
Do you own a house? Ever thought about renting it out and living off of the cash flow in a much cheaper part of the world? This person is and gets some sage advice from the crowd about U.S. taxes.
A lot of people need remote jobs to even allow them the possibility of building passive income streams. Here’s a video about 5 entry-level remote jobs.
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #7
March 14, 2023
Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week around the web.
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Best content of the week:
Picking a topic (like Edgar Allan Poe), then creating a YouTube channel, a blog, and Shopify store to make passive income. Leveraging content tools like Murf. Great idea. Looking forward to seeing their progress.
Would you share your internet bandwidth to earn passive income? Check out Myst Node which earns this person $15 per month. Some pointed out there may be liability risks in case someone uses your internet to do illegal activities. Do your due diligence and attempt at your own risk.
Another take on “what is passive income”. I like it.
Ever thought about creating random websites and monetizing them with ads? The hardest part is figuring out how to get traffic there. You can use SEO tools to find niches where there isn’t a ton of competition, but it’s not an easy task.
Vending machines have a reputation for being “passive income” but many who do it say it’s far from passive.
Great response this week to someone really needing urgent help. [Editor’s note: passive income is not a solution for urgent money needs. It’s a long-term game. Better to check out side hustles or beermoney if you need money right away.]
Twitter threads
Top 5 books that will help you create passive income
5 best ways to create passive income
There is no such thing as passive income
This is funny & fantastic
A new YouTube video published this week with 7 passive income ideas. Nothing super new but good commentary and explained nicely.
Upwork + ChatGPT = profit? Not a bad idea but probably not as easy as they make it out to be.
Usually MSN has a lot of clickbait but this is one on the better articles on building passive income.
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #6
March 6, 2023
Episode #6 hot off the press. Some great stuff this week. Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week around the web.
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Best content of the week:
Dry and lengthy but this guy has achieved passive income and talks about various ways to make passive income (real estate, dividend investing)
Not necessarily passive income but certainly tools that could be used to generate passive income
One of the more honest videos about passive income ideas that was released this week, tho it’s somewhat generic and he does peddle his ebook and course. But there are nuggets of wisdom in there.
Remember this post? This niche is full of scams. So this week, a different person asked where you can go to find actual trustworthy content. The main consensus was it doesn’t exist, though someone recommended Steve Pavlina. [Editor’s note: I think it exists, but not as “how to create passive income”. Passive income is a result - not a method. There are countless ways to generate it and it requires you to explore and seek out the expert resources in each path and subject matter.]
Separate thread asking for a legitimate course on Amazon FBA. I agree with this guy - Amazon also provides a great free resource. Start there. I also like this article from JungleScout.
On the subject of FBA, this comment from this week was outstanding.
By the way, here’s a wiki listing some reported scams in the passive income space
What if you had a job where you regularly take weeks or months off at a time? It could certainly be ideal if you’re looking for dedicated time to focus on building passive income without having to go “all in”. Answers ranged from seasonal jobs (e.g. national parks, wild land fire fighter) to travel healthcare jobs, cruise crew, teachers, and software engineer.
Ever wonder how long it took for people’s passive income projects to actually generate money? Here are some people’s answers:
Someone offered their website tools to create puzzle books. Seems pretty cool. Maybe make a few, format it nicely on several pages, add a nice design for the cover and sell them online? The real puzzle here is how will you package it up and where will you sell it?
A popular question this week was how you generate passive income in a 3rd world country. [Editor’s note: Outside of the obvious physical goods that cater to that population, the real leverage should be online. Get an audience or customers from developed countries. This person suggested making videos about the lifestyle in that country. Again, that means your audience should be for a developed country where there are affluent people - people advertisers want to show their ads to.]
Have some decent cash sitting in your savings account? Might be worth looking at a high yield savings account. Some are claiming Wealthfront is giving 4.05% APY.
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #5
Feb 27, 2023
Episode #5 has arrived. Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week around the web.
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Best content of the week:
Someone wrote a book using ChatGPT. Still needs proofing and a human touch but cuts down on 90% of the work. And results are TBD. However, everyone seems to be doing it, which will necessitate a response from Amazon. Seems like there's still money to be made here, but be careful investing too much into it.
Getting constant spam and robocalls? Make money from them. One person validated the method. There was a news article last year of a guy in Texas making $100k doing this as well.
Have a social media account with tons of followers but have no idea how to monetize it? Figure out what your engagement rate is. Doesn't matter how many follow you if they're all barely interested or are bots.
Not the best video but interesting method to arbitrage Etsy and Facebook Marketplace.
Rent out your equipment for some extra passive income. Some options:
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #4
Feb 20, 2023
Episode #4 at your service. Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week around the web.
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Best content of the week:
Let's start off with a great question that was asked this week: What problem does passive income solve for you? There were lots of great answers including freedom to tell off your boss, helping with retirement, travel the world, and peace of mind.
Noteworthy comment about how this person built their passive income war chest.
Are you a minor (17 or younger) looking to generate passive income? This is a frequently asked question. (In fact here's one more from this week.) Someone suggested focusing on developing your skills and getting certifications. There was another suggestion to learn Excel from YouTube and create your own Tiktok content from what you learn.
[Editor's note: All good suggestions, but there are some extra challenges when you're young like getting your own business license, how you pay taxes, etc. This topic is also answered in the FAQ page. Good luck!]
What's a good passive income investment to make if you have $200k? How about $25k? Or $20k? Or $10k? Or $1k?? How about $10k in ad credits?
Outside of the usual Roth IRA and dividend stock answers (which are great answers) some noteworthy suggestions this week were to buying a business and house hack.
There was also a good comment about how shaky food truck investments can be.
How long does it take to make good money with blogging?
This person took 4 years to make $800 per month
This person took 8 months to make $700 per month
This person took 2 years to make £5 every two months
This person tried for 2 years, switched to YouTube and was more successful
So you have a digital product, but no customers. What now? One comment encouraged them to do something every day. [Editor's note: this is a common mistake. Making the product without a clear plan of how you will market it. You have to figure out who the target audience is and what problem you're solving first. Then figure out where your target audience hangs out and how to get your product in front of them.]
Here are some tips on making digital products for Etsy
Are you new to this and totally lost? This person was and people gave some advice about avoiding analysis paralysis, googling unfamiliar terms, and reading up on books. I may work on a glossary if that'd be helpful. Let me know if you think it's a good idea.
Anyone have a great idea that you need an engineer to build out? Like maybe this guy - you should talk to each other.
Some quick hits:
Maybe affiliate marketing for a surrogacy agency could work for you
Amazon's FBA takes more of the cut
Ever wondered about owning a billboard?
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #3
Feb 13, 2023
Episode #3 coming in hot. UFOs might be on the news but we're focused on a different kind of UFO here (Undiscovered Financial Objects). Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week around the web.
If you want this in an email sent weekly, sign up here.
Best content of the week:
Do you make any Print-on-Demand products? There was good advice this week to make sure and use them yourself. As you interact with people and are out in public, people can see it and you may make a sale. You could even hand some out to friends and family to increase exposure to your merchandise. [Editor’s note: I also imagine you’ll be able to quality check the product this way to make sure it’s the right color/size/etc if you haven’t done so already.]
Here’s a common question that came up again this week. How do you invest $20k? Another user has been working hard and building up savings and they’re ready to deploy their cash. What’s the best way to build your own passive income stream with cash?
Answers varied from bonds, dividend stocks, CD, 401k and Roth IRA, and P2P loans.
Another answer suggested building a tiny house to AirBnB out.
One answer led to a tangent about storage facilities being much more passive than rental properties: “Rental properties aren’t passive, not sure why this is such a common misconception. Unless you buy it turn key and hire a property manager, who in turn, is going to take a chunk out of your monthly rents, then it could be passive.
Self storage, around 10 units to start, now that’s a honeypot.
I have both a self storage facility and a rental property and I would invest all my money into more self storage 100/10.”
Another common question we got this week is how to invest some spare time you have. How do you build passive income if you have lots of free time?
The most popular suggestion was the earn money by doing food delivery on the weekends and taking that money and investing it into a Roth IRA (VOO, SCHD, VTI, JEPI)
Another person had a long list of ideas.
Someone else suggested Amazon wholesaling (apparently they’re netting $3k+ per month).
Related video that came across my feed this week: Are you lazy? broke? Here’s an easy way to make $10k this week. Worth the watch.
Like we mentioned last week, this niche is littered with snake oil, poor quality content, and outright scams. One person gave a full account of their experience this week with a paid course promising lots of passive income. Someone else gave some more interesting context about the author and program.
This inspired me to make a wiki that lists out all of the poor quality or scam courses we encounter regularly. Check it out here and add your own to the list.
While side hustles are not passive income, they can certainly become passive income. That said, there were some discussions this week (one, two, three) about side hustles. If you need money in the short term, you’ll find some better content at r/sidehustle or r/beermoney.
Do you have a social media account with a lot of followers? Do you want to start your own YouTube channel? What should you do and how will you monetize?
Typically you could drop some affiliate links and if you’re a match for brands, do some sponsored posts.
Depending on your niche, you could also peddle merchandise.
Notable comment: “You have created a potential sales funnel, keep in mind that conversion for most of this stuff is low (typically 1-2%) Think through the various ways you can monetize and then use the account to redirect others to what you are selling. This could be through very direct method, such as injecting affiliate and/or commissioned sales links. It could be more subtle by recommending sites who pay you to inject traffic. Or it could be redirecting them to a blog or YouTube or whatever where you give recommendations, provide insights, rate things etc.. There isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer here.. more how much effort you want to put into it and what you are willing to put your brand on.”
Curious how other people are making passive income?
One person rents their spare bedroom to travel nurses and generates $15k per year. (By the way, if you have a spare bedroom, some people suggest not only renting it out on AirBnB but you could grow culinary mushrooms even.)
Another sold stickers on Etsy for $14k last year.
Someone else does Amazon private label and nets $100k+ per year.
Another person does PoD with Merch by Amazon and does $50k per year.
One of the more interesting posts this week was a mind health coach who wants to generate passive income through an online course. They were wondering where to start. I think maybe a lot of you can relate. This person recommended they stay organized, write a few blog posts, and stay consistent with branding across social media accounts.
[Editor’s note: This is actually something I have a lot of experience in. It’s tempting to get ahead of yourself and build out the online course, putting paid ad campaigns out there, and envision people paying money for your course. This typically has a poor chance of success because you’re relying on getting all of the different elements right on the 1st try and with zero brand awareness. I would start with one social account. Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, etc. And try out some posts. Once you nail down your style and audience, your path forward will become more clear.]
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you.
Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.
Episode #2
Feb 7, 2023
This is episode #2 of our weekly passive income newsletter. Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week around the web.
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Defining "passive income": I really loved this thread this week. It hits on what passive income means to different people. Some folks just have the wrong expectations when it comes to passive income. (2nd thread on same topic. 3rd related but different thread)
Interesting excerpt: "Let’s say we have a 1 to 10 year timeline. And you worked your butt off for year 1, set up the structure, automation, systems, the team and what not. Then for years 2 to 10, you get paid $2000 a month. Does that first year of active work discredit the income that came passively for 9 years? Surely not. If you were to have 10 businesses that do that each. You can see how that can really accumulate in your bank…"
Editor's note: I think to build true passive income you either build that machine through sweat equity (business, online shop, etc), or with a lot of cash (dividends, compound interest, etc). Often both.
Biggest scams in passive income. Top answers were "courses on how to make passive income" and "MLMs". This niche is full of scams and pyramid schemes. Careful how you spend your time and money in it.
Can you make money blogging in 2023? According to this person, you can. While there are real people making real money from it, there is an argument that for continued success it's active work. (Someone else wondering if food recipe content could work)
Editor's note: Of course blogging still works. So does YouTube. And TikTok. You just need interesting content people will consume. That's the tricky part, but if you figure it out and stay consistent - success!
Can I quit my job and travel the world with passive income? Lots of good answers. My take: Short answer? Sure! Reminds me of the story where two guys are talking and a guy asks why he works so hard and he answers, "So I can live my dream to have the freedom to hop on my motorcycle and ride cross country." And the other guy asks, "Oh. Why couldn't you just do that now?" And he says, "Because I'm busy working!"
There are so many variables here, but ultimately if you're young and you really really want to chase your dream - do it. If you don't you'll always look back and wonder "what if" and will regret that you didn't try.
Ever wonder about those compilation videos on YouTube and how easy that might be? Seems like you can't monetize a lot of that unless you hold the rights to the videos. Or unless you do it in a narrow enough niche.
How do you get started with vending machines? Getting the machines is easy. Getting lucrative locations and contracts is the hard part. Also, it's a lot of active work with some risks.
Episode #1
Feb 1, 2023
Welcome to the very first edition of the weekly passive income "best of". Here are the best ideas, tips, and content shared from this week.
Have you thought of investing in dividend stocks as a passive income stream? One person gets advice on how to invest their $500 (mostly ETFs and mutual funds) and another user gets similar advice.
Notable comment: "It’s generally a touchy subject on any investment leaning sub. I personally have ~$200k parked there that nets about $1600/mo in dividends (QYLD and JEPI) but you MUST remember you have to pay tax which is generally the part people forget about"
Does using ChatGPT and Midjourney to accelerate PoD (what is PoD) actually work? This user thinks so (and made a post and video about it). And check this out, it looks like this guy automated basically everything. Another user debates that graphic production is not as important as the marketing needed to get your designs on page 1 for searches (I agree).
Editor's note: AI tools are all the rage now but it's still early days and everyone seems to be trying to figure out how to best utilize these new powerful tools to their benefit. There is so much opportunity here for someone who can use this in a way that nobody else has thought of before.
What should you do to create passive income if you're old looking for modest returns? People suggest beermoney, taking online surveys, and usertesting.com. Here's a tiktok video on something similar. What if you're young? What if you just got out of prison?
Editor's note: This is a popular question. I'm x age - what should I do? Check out the FAQ on the passive income subreddit.
Someone asked for top passive income ideas for 2023 and there were two comments that stood out.
Comment 1: "The best way to make a passive income is through content on a website.
After doing extensive keyword research, you find keywords that you can actually rank first page for.
You then (if you're decent copywriter) give ppl what they're looking for with your copy.
You want to target keywords with high intent (buyers intent)."Comment 2: "For outside of the U.S. you can do Big Data as a Service.
Essentially purchasing processors that get plugged into a data center (current clients include Google, Meta, Oracle, Amazon, Xbox, and more) and they pay out 80% of the compensation they receive for processing that data. Average payout per processor over the last few months has been just over $900/month. 2-year average is about $1500/mo. You can expect income for at least 7 years." [Editor's note: this does have some scammy vibes so do your own due diligence.]
Are tax liens a good passive income option? Best comment was from a person who has done it and has a warning to future investors. "Make sure that the property doesn't have an underwriter whom is also non-profit." And also "NEVER BID on any property that you have not laid eyes on."
Can you earn income by working out? Yes. Evidation. Cashwalk. Paceline.
A couple of people in this thread are making money selling coloring books on Etsy.
Do you ever feel guilty from making passive income? Interesting take.
Spend 30 minutes a day writing and turn it into a book in a year. Good advice on self publishing on Amazon.
List of some AI tools to have in your arsenal:
Affiliate/Referral marketing - Affistash (gives you 2 winning programs every day + AI generated sales scripts and marketing tips to help you generate revenue fast, from the get-go)
Web Development - SiteKick.ai (generates landing pages within seconds for free, you can start as a web developer and make sites for other people instantly)
Thumbnails for YouTubers - Thumbnail.ai (you can start offering thumbnail services for YouTubers)
Social media content - Bannerbear.com (generates social media content using AI, so you can start reaching out to local brands and offer social media content services, since lots of them probably lack it)
Good thread on renting things out for semi-passive income
Here's a list of SaaS affiliate programs someone put together
Let me know if any of the above sparked an idea or inspired you. Keep working toward your goals. It's possible. You can do it.