5 side hustles that can earn a passive income

Estimated reading time
 3 min

In this article

• Earning passive income through a business
• 5 side hustle ideas to generate passive income
• Simple tips to kick-start your side hustle

Earning money in your sleep sounds like a dream. But with a little set-up and a great idea, this could be your reality.

Passive income is money you earn with little ongoing effort. One way you might earn passive income is through starting a side hustle, which requires some initial planning to get the ball rolling. You’ll need a smart idea, a budget and some start-up cash.

Side hustles that are passive income earning tend to be more digitally and creatively focussed – the goal being to create a ‘product’ that can be purchased, printed or downloaded without any additional time or effort on your part.

If you’re looking for some side hustle inspiration or aren’t sure where to start, then you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to cover some common side hustle ideas and share some tips on how to get started.

5 side hustle ideas that can help you earn passive income

While there are many side hustle ideas out there, here are five options that have relatively low starting costs and suit different levels of technical know-how.

1. Digital artworks, illustrations and stock photos

This side hustle is perfect for digital creators who love turning ideas into visual masterpieces. Whether you're a whiz at graphic design, digital illustrations, or capturing eye-catching stock photos, there’s a growing demand for these products. You’ll need to make the product buyer-ready before selling, such as ensuring your stock photo is high quality and not blurry or checking for typos if there’s text on your design). Then you can upload to dropship or printable sites to start finding your customers.

2. Online courses and education resources

If you’ve mastered a craft or skill that others want to learn, consider creating an online course. From teaching people how to build a website to offering yoga tutorials or sharing the secret to making your own honey, the opportunities are endless. With a bit of time and effort, you can record lessons, create course materials, and package up your knowledge. In a digital formal, ready to sell on the online platform of your choice. You don’t need to be a design whiz to make it – there are lots of software and platforms out there that can help you get started. You can sometimes do a free trial of their premium services to get what you need

3. Templates and printable products

Turn your creativity into cash by whipping up templates and printable products like resumes, planners, or greeting cards. These digital downloads can be customised by buyers, offering them a convenient way to get a polished product, at a fraction of the cost (as they’re without delivery fees and the printing of these products are done on the buyers side saving you the cost on that.

4. Your designs printed on other products

If you’ve got a flair for creating designs or illustrations, consider partnering with a third-party to have them printed on popular items, like mugs or t-shirts. You can work with one of the many third-party printing services that are out there to upload your designs while they handle the printing, shipping, payment and even customer service! It’s a simple way to turn your creativity into profit without the hassle of inventory management or payment processing. Plus, you’ll get to see your designs come to life on all sorts of fun products.

5. Rent out things you own

If you own items you don’t use often but can’t bear to part with, why not rent them out? There are many platforms you can use to rent out items such as:

• Your car, boat, motorbike, caravan or campervan.
• A dressy outfit or fancy costume you wore once.
• A space or spare room in your home for other uses, like photoshoots or filming.
• Power tools such as circular saws, sanders and drills
• Quality technology that’s hard to come by, like a 3D printer or professional filming equipment.
• A parking spot you’re not using.

While you don’t have to do too much prep work, you’ll need to research booking platforms to find the best one that fits your needs.

  Brain hack

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your side hustle. Turning an idea into a passive-income-earning business takes some work, even if the idea is simple or you’re going through a third party. Misjudging the workload is what’s known as planning fallacy where you underestimate the time and effort you need to create a profitable side hustle.

To avoid this, have a clear plan to keep your side hustle on track. There’s nothing worse than thinking you’ve got your ducks in a row only to realise you’ve missed something. You can also factor your side hustle into your budget or savings goal to achieve your passive income dream.

Simple tips to start a side hustle

• Identify what you’re good at. Whether it’s making art or whipping up epic templates, if you’re good at creating something, see if you can sell it.
• Consider how you’ll sell your products. Will you manage everything yourself with your own online store, or go through a third-party and let them take care of everything while you focus on creating? Do whatever works for your side hustle. If you use a third-party platform, consider any fees you might need to pay or T&Cs you have to sign.
• Research the market to learn what people really want and identify gaps you can fill.
• Get crafty and use your talents to develop a product that fits a specific niche.
• Decide where you want to sell the product, such as going through a third-party platform or on your own website.
• Put the money you’d spend on things you ‘want’ rather than need towards your side hustle. You may need to pay for initial and ongoing costs, such as a website domain or developing the product.
• Work out how to market your side hustle. You can keep marketing costs low by learning about search engine optimisation and leveraging organic social media. Need a hand getting started? Our marketing on a shoestring budget checklist gives you a launching point for your marketing efforts.

It sounds like a lot, but once you’ve put in the hard yards, you can earn a passive income.