In the previous articles, we discussed how to generate passive income from selling digital products & creating online courses (Part 1), and affiliate marketing & licensing ideas (Part 2). But, if all of the above-mentioned are not for you, let’s try some other alternatives in this article.
Dropshipping
If you can find the right niche, a dropshipping business can be lucrative without requiring too much effort. There’s also a relatively low start-up 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 cost that people frequently search for.
Shopify
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.
Renting Properties
Renting Unused Room
If you have a spare room and you don’t mind having strangers in the house, you could rent it out on a website, such as AirBnB. There are a lot of people who even turn their garages into a little room so that they can rent them out and make extra money that way. You might even choose to list your entire home while traveling to help offset the cost of your trip.
Renting Unused Car
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. Travel Car rents out your car for you while you travel; simply park at qualifying airports.
Utilising Sign-Up Bonus, Cash Back, and Gift Cards
Check your debit and credit card T&C, you might be eligible for sign-up bonus, cashback, and Gift Cards. Also check some apps and sites like Fetch Rewards, Swagbucks, Ibotta, Drop, and Seated.
Running Apps/Websites/Plugins in the Background
This method is truly passive without any effort. However, you need to keep in mind that since these apps/websites/plugins will be running in the background, you might give consent to them to access your data or activity. If you are the type of person who is concerned about data privacy, this method is not for you. Please make sure you do deeper research and read some reviews, for example from websites such as Trustpilot, and then you can judge them yourselves. Even though we do not recommend a method that offers you a “completely passive” income like this, it is good to know these methods are available. Please be very mindful and careful, and use it at your own risk!
Rakuten
Rakuten is a plugin you put on your computer and as you go shopping on the internet coupon codes will pop up and you’ll get cashback when you’re buying something It’s basically to save you money. However, if you refer someone, you send your link, it’s basically your affiliate link or your referral link from your Rakuten account to someone else. For example, if the person who used your referral link installed the plug-in and ended up purchasing $25 worth of things online, he/she gets $10 from Rakuten, and you get $25 for referring them.
Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel
This is a panel you can just install on your phone and computer. However, it depends on where they currently are looking for members. It’s not available in all countries, which countries it’s available in will change from time to time. You can earn by just having it running on your device because it will gather data anonymously about how you use the internet, and this will be used for market research; you just need to be aware of that.
Peer2Profit
Another way you do not have to do anything once it has been set up, you just simply install it, and then you let it run in the background whenever you are online. You will earn by sharing your unused internet bandwidth. You can use this from all countries while earning some nice extra money on the side. You only need to earn $2 before you can get paid. You can get paid in cash in different ways.
Mediarewards.co
Mediarewards is where you can get paid just by watching TV or listening to the radio. When you install this app, it will be in the background. Register what kind of media exposure you have, and then you will get paid for having that running in the background. So, if you ever watch TV o listen to the radio, it doesn’t matter which channel they are, you can make some money. You just need to be aware that it’s not available in all countries. They are not always accepting new members and they also fill up; so, you have to be a little bit lucky to get a spot, but then, it can be an easy and fun way to earn a bit extra passively.
Honeygain
It is very similar to Peer2Profit; you earn the same way, you install it and you earn some having it in the background whenever you are online by just sharing your unused internet bandwidth. You can use it no matter in which country you live. If you join through an invitation link, you will get a $5 joining bonus. Honeygain has several different payout options; you can get paid via PayPal, Bitcoin, or JumpToken; but you will need to earn $20 to get paid.
Nexo
This is a little bit different from other methods that we have mentioned earlier. This will only be relevant if you are into cryptocurrencies and accepting payments from the above-mentioned methods in cryptocurrencies. You can earn up to 18% per year just by having your cryptocurrencies here.
Final Thoughts
This is the end of the “How Can I Make Passive Income with No Money?” series. Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” We provide you with a lot of alternatives to generate passive income, now it’s time for you to decide which one is suitable for you. Or, if you can’t decide yet, at least try out all the different options, and let’s see which one works for you. Don’t give up! Once you have saved a certain amount of money, you can start making your money work while you are sleeping.
Check our next article on How I Make Passive Income with Idle Cash?