Passive income business ideas

Many individuals accumulated their wealth after transforming their active income into passive income streams. Instead of trading their time for money directly, they are paid in a variety of ways depending on the value they created with years of hard work (learn more in this article on our site).

What are passive income opportunities? Passive income opportunities include eCommerce, blogging, affiliate marketing, podcasting, and building passive income generating chatbots. With the right methodologies, patience, dedication, and skill, beginners can earn passive income from their passion, experience, or profession.


In this article, we will look at 18 passive income opportunities and some key statistics about them. We chose beginner-friendly ideas and most of them have guides on our website that you can read to learn more. Just click on the orange button or the image in each idea to access the detailed guides on our site. Let’s dive right in.

1. eCommerce

In 2018, an estimated 1.8 billion people worldwide purchase goods online, and global e-retail sales are expected to reach $4.8 trillion by 2021.

(source)

Selling products online is going to be one of the largest and most lucrative industries globally. In 2019, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 3.53 trillion US dollars and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 6.54 trillion US dollars in 2022 (source). eCommerce represents an incredible passive income opportunity if set up correctly. This can be a very active endeavor if not built to be passive. Learn more about the difference between passive and active income here.

One way to make passive income from eCommerce is selling digital products. Digital products consist mostly of anything you can download such as eBooks, courses, videos, music, games, files and more. Selling digital products is passive in the sense that you do not have to physically ship anything. With Ecwid eCommerce, you can automate the entire process. Just upload your products for sale to your online store, and once a customer places an order, they will automatically receive their digital goods in their email inbox.

Dropshipping is another way to make eCommerce sales more passive. It consists in selling products that you do not physically stock. Just set up your online store with a drop shipping service (you can do this with Ecwid for example). When you sell a product, the order is sent to a fulfillment service that will take care of shipping it to the buyer. You do not have to deal with logistics like stock inventory, shipping or delivery. The bulk of the work will consist in effectively marketing the products. Learn more about how you can leverage eCommerce for passive income in our guide below.


Learn More About Passive Income with eCommerce

2. Blogging

77% of internet users read blogs.

[2019 – source]

Blogging is an incredible online passive income opportunity. If you have a passion or idea you’d like to share, you can create a blog, write articles, monetize your content, and earn well over $1,000 every month by following the right methodology. According to Income School, a monetized blog can expect to make 1,000$/ month of passive income once traffic reaches about 30k monthly page views following they’re what they teach. Their course, Project 24 demonstrates how to replace active income with passive income in 24 months. They provide the exact methodology they use to make over $7,000/month from their blogs. Learn more about Project 24 here.

Growthbadger.com asked 1,117 successful bloggers about their blogging techniques and projections for the future. Some techniques and tips for future success in blogging include having blog posts that are 2,424+ words long, adding videos, and offering free products, services, and trials. The survey also indicated that the most popular blog content included list articles (63%), how-to guides (57%), case studies (35%), and original research and statistics (33%). Learn more about how to make passive income blogging here.

Blogging can be a very promising passive income source when carried out correctly. This guide on our site explains more about how you can make passive income blogging following the Project 24 methodology. Although you’ll need to put in time and money at the beginning, blogging can be a highly lucrative passive income idea. For more details about blogging, read our detailed guide.


Learn More About Passive Income Blogging

3. 3D Printing

The global 3D printing market is expected to grow at 19% to reach $22.7 Billion by 2022.

(source)

Although it is still a fairly new concept to many, 3D printing can be a highly lucrative way to earn passive income. There are a variety of ways you can make passive income from a 3D printer. Some of these ideas include selling printed objects, leasing your printer, or offering 3D printing training online (digital products). You can also sell 3D print files, plans, guides as digital goods. 3D printing is, and will continue to be, at the heart of many industries including manufacturing fashion, aerospace, automotive, and healthcare (source).

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Some cool things you can make and sell with a 3D printer include jewelry and fashion accessories, motion picture props, and electronic device casings. The best part is you do not have to be a developer or a designer to pursue this incredible passive income idea. You can learn from experts online, gain basic skills, and start earning income selling products or teaching others about the concept. Here is a detailed guide for beginners looking to earn passive income from 3D printing.


Learn More About Passive Income 3D Printing

4. Cryptocurrency

The value and popularity of blockchain technology remains high and is expected to grow rapidly and reach $23.3 billion in market size by 2023.

(source)

Global spending on blockchain solutions is on the rise and is expected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2018 to over $11.5 billion by 2022 (source). Some ways you can make passive income from crypto include mining, lending, running a lightning node, participating in EOSApps, arbitrage, margin funding, and masternodes (source). However, cryptocurrency is uncertain and volatile. Never invest more than what you are willing to lose. Learn more in this guide on our site that contains passive income ideas for developers.

5. Affiliate Marketing

In the US alone, affiliate marketing spending is projected to reach grow from $5.4 billion in 2017 to reach $8.2 billion by 2022.

(source)

Affiliate marketing can be a very passive way of generating income. It is also one of the most popular ways to monetizing a blog or site. You earn passive income by choosing a product/service you love, signing up to an affiliate marketing service, promoting the product to an audience, and receiving a commission on sales made through your links. Creating passive income from affiliate marketing is not easy because you need to have an audience who trusts you. But with the right skills and dedication, you can build that audience on YouTube or by blogging and make affiliate marketing a highly lucrative and passive income source. For more details about affiliate marketing and ways of earning passive income from this idea, read our guide on our site.


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Learn More About Passive Income Affiliate Marketing

6. Niche Sites

According to Income School, a monetized blog can expect to make 1,000$ / month of passive income once the traffic reaches about 30k monthly page views following their methodology.

(source)

A niche site is a monetized blog with content curated for a specific group of people. Niche sites have become a popular way of earning passive income. Rick and Jim are successful entrepreneurs with over 20 successful niche sites under their belt. Through their site, Income school’s Project 24, the duo teaches you how to earn over $7000/month in 24 months from your niche site. We are Project 24 members and can attest that their methods work!

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We love that they are still testing and perfecting their methods today, and that is key because the way to build successful niche sites is constantly evolving. “Amazon Niche Sites,” like most internet gurus are teaching, do not work so well today because they are so product-focused. Rick and Jim teach how to monetize value, not websites full of product promotions. The future of earning income from niche sites looks very promising (source). So long as you identify the right niche for you, provide the right content, follow the correct methodologies, monetize your site, and grow your audience, this can be a great passive income idea.

Creating a niche site is not a simple task. Initially, you will need to put in a lot of time and effort before you can make the idea more passive. You will also need to monetize your site by placing ads, affiliate marketing, and selling digital products for example to make passive income from it. For more details about making passive income from a niche site, feel free to read our full guide that covers methods explained in Project 24.


Learn More About Passive Income Niche Sites

7. Copywriting

89% of B2B marketers use content marketing.

(source)

Copywriting is another simple, lucrative, and semi-passive way of earning income. Copywriting is a great way to start making income from home as a side hustle. You can make the idea more passive by outsourcing the work, creating an agency, or creating your own blog and monetizing the traffic. With the right content, you can earn over $1,000 of passive income every month from copywriting. In the UK, for example, copywriters earned about 52K pounds in 2018 (source).

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As more and more businesses are adopting content marketing, the future is bright for copywriters. Providing quality content for online businesses is lucrative and continues to be in demand. Copywriting is not easy so its important to learn copywriting tips that can help you write exceptional content. With the right copywriting skills and quality content, you can earn passive income well into the future as a copywriter. For more details about making passive income through copywriting, feel free to check out our beginner guide.


Learn More About Passive Income Copywriting

8. Chatbots

The call center AI market is expected to grow from $800 million in 2019 to $2.8 billion by 2024. Moreover, the global virtual digital assistant market is expected to eclipse $15 billion by 2021.

(source) – (source)

Although they are fairly new, Chatbots have become a viable mode of communication amongst businesses and individuals. With the right skills, you can earn up to $2,000 passive income per month with a monetized Chatbot. According to entrepreneur.com, Chatbots are the future of customer service. The virtual assistant market is growing rapidly (source) and intelligent bots will be at the heart of every business.

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Some of the ways you can earn an income from your Chatbot include selling your Chatbot, giving it away free & earning commissions on sales, affiliate marketing, assisting conversions on landing pages, conducting surveys, and generating leads. So if you effectively create and monetize your bot, you can earn excellent passive income from it. For more details, check out our detailed chatbot guide that demonstrates different ways you can make passive income with Chatbots.


Learn More About Passive Income Chatbots

9. Podcasting

According to Statistica.com, over 70% of the US population is aware of what a podcast is in 2019, up from 22% back in 2006. There is an estimated 86 million podcast listeners in the US alone and numbers are expected to reach 132 million by 2022. In fact, 32% of the population reported having listened to a podcast in the past month (source).

(source) – (source)

Podcasts are becoming very popular avenues of educating, entertaining and sharing information with people internationally, while providing the producers decent income passively. With the right content and strategy, you can earn over $6,000 every month with a monetized podcast. Podcasting has become so popular that even prominent figures like the Obamas are doing it (source). With these forecasts, podcasting is bound to be a major income source in the future and making your podcast passive will also be highly beneficial. Some of the ways of earning passive income from your podcast include placing ads, affiliate marketing, membership fees, member donations, selling products etc.

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The best part? You don’t have to be an expert to earn a decent income through podcasting. Online courses like Project 24 can help you get started on podcasts and show you different ways of earning passive income through podcasting. We are Project 24 members and their course on podcasting is one of the most resourceful, to the point courses out there. Rick and Jim explain exactly how you can create and monetize a podcast. For more details about podcasting as a source of passive income, feel free to check out our podcasting guide.


Learn More About Passive Income Podcasting

10. eBooks

With 26% of the American population reading e-books in 2019 (source), the revenue from eBooks is expected to reach $1.52M by 2023.

(source) – (source)

Writing and selling eBooks can be a very viable passive income source. You can earn passive income from books you wrote months or years ago. All you need is to do is identify a niche topic, a target audience, to write the book, and sell it to earn passive income. This may sound complicated but it is not. Watch the video below for a step-by-step process presented in just over ten minutes.

With more and more people turning to digital content over physical books, there’s a promising future for eBook publishers. The numbers show that with compelling content and a good audience, selling eBooks will be a lucrative passive income idea in the future. The best part? As a writer, you can combine selling eBooks with other passive income ideas like copywriting and blogging to diversify your income streams. For more details about eBooks as a passive income source, please read our guide.


Learn More About Passive Income With eBooks

11. Gaming

According to Statistica, the global media and entertainment market is expected to reach $2.2 trillion by 2021, and gaming is an integral part of this segment. Global mobile and online gaming markets are projected to have a market volume of US$60,9M and US$14M respectively by 2023. With these forecasts, the future of gaming looks very promising and the industry is expected to surpass the $300 billion mark by 2025.

(source) – (source)

Although nonexistent just over a decade ago, the gaming industry is booming and people are making thousands of dollars every month from it. In fact, some gamers are even turning into millionaires well before hitting 30 (source). You can earn an income from gaming by joining tournaments, offering paid subscriptions, displaying ads, selling merchandise, accepting donations, with sponsorships and more.

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You can build a large audience with a lot of hard work and determination on dedicated platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Identify a game you love playing or a trending game (like League of Legends, Overwatch, Counter-Strike, and StarCraft 2). Once people subscribe and start gaming with you, you can monetize your audience. Check out our detailed guide about gaming where a well known YouTuber explains how she leveraged her passion for gaming and traded her active income for passive income in less than a year.


Learn More About Passive Income Gaming

12. Renting Your Space

The rental service industry is growing rapidly (source). More people prefer renting products and services to purchasing them because of factors like cost, risk, and changing social trends. You can rent anything from a space, to vehicules, to personal items. Each party can benefit in the process that usually includes a peer-to-peer platform, a lender and a borrower. Popular space rental services that can earn you a decent income passively. Let’s have a look at some examples and statistics for each.

Rent Your Home

By 2020, over 40 million travelers in the US and Europe are expected to use Airbnb.

(source)

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You can earn passive income by renting your home to temporary renters. Popular rental sites like AirBnb allow you to list spaces like houses, apartments, cottages, villas, treehouses, islands, castles, rooms and more. According to Forbes, renting your space will be a viable passive income source for the future. For more details on renting your home for passive income, check out our guide.


Learn More About Passive Income Renting Your House

Rent Your Parking Spot

In Sydney’s CBD, for instance, a premium parking space sold for $495,000, with parking spaces costing over $100/day in prime areas.

(source)

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If you own a private parking spot, you can actually earn passive income by renting it to others. Parking spaces are in high demand, especially in major cities, and people are earning hundreds of dollars monthly by renting their parking spots. The parking space market is bound to grow and making it a passive income stream can be beneficial in the future depending on where you are located and demand. For more details, check out our guide.


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Renting Storage Space

Currently, 8.96% of US households rent a self-storage unit. Renting storage space in cities like New York and Tokyo costs $219 and $280/month respectively.

(source)

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As the demand for storage grows, renting your storage space can earn you hundreds of dollars every month. The bottom line is that you can earn passive income by renting space to people in need of it. Read our guide for more details about this rental idea as a passive income source.


Learn More About Passive Income Renting Your Storage Space

13. Renting Your Things

You can also earn passive income by renting stuff things your car and personal belongings. Here are some stats and passive income ideas related to both.

Renting Your Car

Revenue from the US car rental industry is expected to reach $12 billion by 2023.

(source)

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Car rental services are becoming more and more popular making it a lucrative and viable passive income idea for the future (source). Through Apps like Turo, you can rent your vehicle and earn up to $500/month in passive income. For more information about this idea, check out our guide.


Learn More About Passive Income Renting Your Car

Rent Your Personal Belongings

According to FatLama.com, which is a site that allows you to rent your things online, you can earn “up to $3,000 a month renting out your stuff.” Their highest earner actually makes $6,726 /month according to their home page.

(source)

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As more people prefer to rent things as opposed to purchasing, there are more passive income opportunities being created. You can earn hundreds of dollars every month by renting your personal things on sites like Fatllama. You can rent everything including electronics, clothing, jewelry, sports equipment, tools and more. For more details about this rental service, check out our guide.


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14. Flipping Things Online

35.3% of eBay sellers are making between $10,00 and 100,000 USD per year selling on the platform. The same source indicates that 26.5% of sellers are making $100,000 USD to $1M, and 3.9% are making between $1M and $10M.

(source)

You can earn a decent income passively by flipping things online, from products to domain names. You earn passive income by buying products at a cheap price and then listing them, and reselling them at a higher value. Through popular sites like Craigslist, you can earn up to $1000/month flipping items and products. You can do the same on eBay. Check out our guide for more information about making passive income by flipping items.

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You can also earn a decent income by flipping domain names. Flipping domains is like participating in online real estate. The properties consist in the domains, and your goal is to purchase the best properties, and to hold onto them until you find a buyer. There is a high risk that they do not sell, however the cost to hold a domain name for a year is only around $10, and they can sell for upwards $50k depending on the domain name and the demand for it. To learn more about this passive income idea, check out our guide.


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15. Charging Scooters

It is projected that around 55 million electric two-wheelers will be sold globally by 2024.

(source)

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More and more people living in cities are opting for scooters as a mode of transport for parts of their commute (source), and with this rapid growth, charging these vehicles has become a lucrative way of earning income passively with some people making up to $2,000/month. You can earn income by offering charging services through apps like Bird and Lime. All you need is to sign up to either platform, pass their entry test, and start offering charging services to earn income. For more information about charging scooters as a passive income idea, feel free to check out our guide.


Learn More About Passive Income Charging Scooters

16. Food Truck

The value of the U.S. food truck industry is expected to reach $900 million+ in 2020.

(source)

If you are a food enthusiast, investing in a food truck can be an interesting way of earning passive income. Mobile food trends indicate that food truck popularity is growing rapidly, which makes it a viable passive income business for the future (if set up to be passive). According to foodtruckempire.com, food trucks generate between $4,000-$15,000 of income every month depending on a couple of factors. You can hire chefs to run your truck to make the business more passive. With the right food, ideal location, and a large clientele, making passive income from your truck can remain viable in the future (source).

17. Laundromat

Laundry facilities and dry cleaning services market in the US will amount to close to US$13.8 billion by 2025.

(source)

With this industry soaring, investing in an automated Laundromat is a promising venture for the future. According to the Coin Laundry Association, you can earn between $15,000 and $300,000 annually from this business idea (source). All you need is a good clientele, an ideal location for your business, and excellent services. You can make your business more passive by hiring an assistant to run the laundromat on your behalf.

18. Automatic Car Wash

Revenue from car washes in the U.S. is expected to reach US$10.8 billion by 2023.

(source)

As more people own cars, the future of the car wash business seems promising (source). You can earn decent passive income from managing an automatic car wash. Some people are actually making up to $4,000/month in passive income from their automatic car wash businesses.


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Although there are many factors to consider when starting an automatic car wash, the amount of revenue you can generate is impressive. You do need to consider that this can represent a large financial investment. Once the business is setup, you can make it more passive by hiring people to work there on your behalf. For more details about this passive income business idea, check out our guide.

Learn More About Passive Income With an Automatic Car Wash

Related Questions

Which is the most promising passive income idea for the future? All the ideas listed above show promising future trends. Each idea is showing signs of growth and be a viable passive income source in the future, if setup to be passive. Any business will be and remain active if not setup to be outsourced or automated at some point.

How can I boost my passive income in the future? You can boost your income by combining two or more ideas. For instance, if you are a passionate writer, you can combine writing, blogging, and selling eBooks. The idea is to combine ideas that you are passionate about to multiply your passive income streams.

How can a beginner make passive income? Yes, beginners can make passive income. Depending on your skills, motivation and dedication, you can choose between different passive income streams. For example, renting your parking space is very passive and easy to setup. However, creating a business is more demanding and can be longer to make passive.

Get more passive income ideas in our passive income idea guide!


More Passive Income Ideas