Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world where you only need a day job to survive? But sadly, we don’t live in such easy times anymore.

If you aren’t getting income from another source, you risk your financially secure future. Luckily, the Internet is here to save the day!

From selling whatever you can find to advertising for influencers, there are many ways to generate a passive income online. The tricky part is figuring out where and what to start with.

You might end up asking, “Can I put enough effort into passive income without losing my job?”. You definitely can. You might need to check out some time-management tips, but anyone can get this right.

You will need to put in extra time at the beginning when trying out the best ways to generate a passive income and keep your job. But this sets up the revenue stream for future months.

You’ll eventually get to a point where minimal effort will be needed each month. Don’t take our word for it though, try one of the options below and see for yourself!

What is Passive Income?

We describe income as money received for work completed or through investments.

The difference between active and passive income is the length of time from when you worked to when you were paid.

With active income, the employer pays the employee before or after they finish the work. This happens very close to the completion of the project.

Conversely, passive income occurs when you complete work months beforehand. The actual payment or payments come through later.

You can also benefit from investments that generate passive income. For example, being a hairdresser as opposed to an affiliate marketer.

A hairdresser meets with clients at set times during the day, and each client pays as they leave. It’s possible for a customer to pay a few days later. But this is still classified as “active income,” as the customer should’ve paid first.

On the other hand, an affiliate marketer does the initial work without being paid.

Marketers utilize social media strategies to bring viewers back to the affiliate platform.

This is a great example of passive income generation.

With affiliate marketing, you can only collect revenue weeks or even months later. Once the amount is sufficient to withdraw.

Generating a passive income online, where you need to put in daily effort, takes a lot of energy.

That’s why you should consider one of the following ideas to generate passive income while keeping your job.

Open an Online Store

With ecommerce stores, you can either sell physical products or content and services.

Yes, there is a big difference between these types of products.

You shouldn’t market physical products the same way you market paid-for services.

Often, the type of audience willing to spend money on content won’t waste time on physical products. And vice-versa.

If you decide to sell physical products, here are a few tips that you should consider:

  • Use high-definition images for your products;
  • Check the desktop versus mobile compatibility of your website;
  • Ensure that the layout and design are attractive and easy to use;
  • Instill proper SEO practices;
  • Ask for feedback from all your customers;
  • Keep updating and improving your store.

 
Whereas for content- and service-based ecommerce stores, you should keep the following in mind:

  • Unique selling point: this shows customers why you are the better choice over others;
  • Strong customer relationships ensure that viewers return;
  • Be confident in who you are and add a personal touch to your store;
  • Have a customer care line or help center.

 
Remember that the presentation of products is just as important as their quality. Your customers need to easily navigate through product pages. The payment methods should have minimal steps to ensure quick transactions.

As well as the speed of your ecommerce store, this makes a massive difference. If your pages won’t load, you won’t be able to buy any products!

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has become the most reliable way to make a passive income and keep your job.

An affiliate relationship exists between a brand and a publisher. The brand needs advertising. While the publisher has space on their platforms and a need for income.

The affiliate network provides the publisher with referral links to each product page. These referral links are unique to each publisher that joins the network.

A publisher’s duty is then to send as much traffic as they can through the referral links. This is how they get paid.

A brand can pay you in one or more of the following ways:

  • Cost per click;
  • Cost per a thousand impressions or views;
  • Cost or sale or lead;
  • Cost per engagement;
  • Revenue sharing.

 
The brand you choose to advertise for will define the revenue you can make from them. Find a brand whose niche interests you.

You’ll advertise a product more often if you enjoy it on a personal level.

Finding relevant brands can take a lot of time. That’s why it’s easier to use a platform like Admitad Partner Network. Admitad helps connect publishers with complementary advertisers.

Join Partner Network Now!

Affiliate marketing is no walk in the park. It requires dedicated hours of setting up your advertisements and marketing strategies. Then you’ll need to consistently advertise brands every month. You can only make as much money as you put in during the month.

Affiliate marketing requires more active effort than any other form of passive income. But those who get it right are set for life.

Become an Influencer

Has your favorite celebrity convinced you to buy their products? Or maybe a YouTuber offered you a promo code for discounted items? Well, congratulations! You’ve been exposed to influencing.

By nature, influencers can convince their audiences to buy certain products.

Though some may try to scam you, an influencer is powerful because they pull on your heart strings.

An influencer must use all the tools at their disposal to manage their ads. This means using as many social media accounts as you can. Though some influencers stick to a single account, this can be limiting.

The number of accounts you need depends on your desired income goals. If you’re aiming for that 100K a year, you’ll need much more.

Monetization is the key purpose of your social media accounts.

Certain social media networks have built-in monetization methods. Each platform has a different rule for activating the monetization of posts. You may need to reach a specific number of views or subscribers first.

While these built-in methods are great, there are better ways to monetize your accounts. Even your messaging apps. ConvertSocial platform monetizes any social media network you can think of, including:

 
Make sure to utilize as many monetization methods as you can find. Every post you upload as an influencer can make you money.

It’s great to get a million views on your video, but it means nothing for your future if you aren’t making money from it.

Generate Passive Income as a Freelancer

As a freelancer, you have the world at your doorstep. Many freelancers have a multitude of skills and services that they can offer.

This allows you to work on completely different projects at the same time. Or you bounce from niche to niche as often as you’d like.

There are no limits to the projects you can take on. And whatever employer you have will only last a certain period. You’ll never have to be stuck with the same person for years on end!

If you want to become a freelancer, you’ll need a strong skillset. You can choose from a variety of skills, like coding, writing, or even digital assistance.

You’ll also need an intriguing profile that proves your skills to potential clients.

Make sure you have a CV and portfolio to display your previous work. You can even create mock-up projects for your portfolio. As long as a client can see the type of work you do.

There are a host of freelancing platforms where you can find new projects, namely:

  • Freelancer;
  • UpWork;
  • Toptal;
  • Behance;
  • Fiverr.

 
When you choose freelancing as a passive form of income, you can define the hours you work. You could start a project for this week and do your next one a month later when you need it again.

Freelancing is the least stable form of passive income, but you can receive larger sums of money in one go.

If you’re clever enough, you’ll only need one good project a month to meet your quota.

Photography, Music, and Art

When it comes to photographs, great music, and art that grabs your attention, there can never be enough.

Every person has a unique point of view and can put together something distinctive. An art piece that no one else has ever created before.

The ability to be artistic doesn’t happen at birth; you need to learn the skills involved in your art. Any art form can be understood through online videos and courses.

A good camera can earn you a decent passive income. A photographer can charge a hefty price for quality photoshoots. You can also photograph as many things around you as you like and sell these images online.

Websites like ShutterStock and Getty Images will pay you each time a viewer buys your image.

If you’ve got the most basic knowledge of any instrument, you can teach them to play.

While you may not charge as much as advanced teachers, you’ll earn enough for a passive income.

If you’ve evolved to the point of making your own music, you can make money from it online. You can choose to sell it as a whole to customers, or you can provide free access for viewers.

When you opt for free access, you can add the option to pay for ad removal and access to restricted content.

The same goes for any art you make. Online viewers find the most abstract art fascinating. There’s always a person willing to pay big bucks for an art piece. You’ve just got to look in the right places for them!

The World of Writing

Writing is a skill that every person with any language can develop. It’s a case of toning this mental muscle that turns it into passive income.

Even if you only know one language, there are tons of projects that could use your help.

The most common form of freelance writing is article or blog writing. This involves writing an article ranging from 500 to 3000 words based on the provided topics.

You can decide what topics you want to write about based on the available projects.

The next type is copywriting or editing. A copywriter or editor adjusts the grammar and flow of the writing. Often, those who struggle with a language will hire someone fluent to edit for them.

Transcribing can make you a lot of money. As a transcriber, you’ll sit for long hours to write down each word said throughout the provided audio clips. As this is a time-consuming job, employers generously compensate their transcribers.

If you’d prefer to work without an employer, you can always write your own fantasy or non-fiction book!

As someone who is bilingual, the perfect option for you would be translation gigs. If you can translate a block of text from one language into another, you’re a commodity in the writing world.

As publishers try to gain traffic, more people have a need to translate their content into other languages. This drastically increases their potential number of viewers.

Investments Generate Passive Income

The younger generations have forgotten the power of investing in trustworthy banks. Although investing takes a lump sum of money to begin with, it can be a stable form of passive income. Investing is the most passive form of income, as once you’ve invested money, you don’t need to put any work into it. The bank or stock markets do all the work for you.

Investing in the stock market is very risky, as you could lose every dime that you’ve invested. Once a stock drops too low, it won’t come back up. It’s safer to invest smaller amounts in different stocks in case one or two of them fail. Whereas if you invest money in a bank, the investments are dependent on the interest rate you’ve received.

As with all forms of passive income, be careful of the following:

  • Research the security measures protecting your money;
  • Watch out for bank scams;
  • Protect your trading capital;
  • Always use a stop loss;
  • Risk only what you can afford to lose.

 
The biggest warning against buying assets that generate passive income is this. Be careful not to bankrupt yourself because a deal seemed too good to be true. If it sounds unbelievable, it probably is!

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, whichever passive income you go for, it shouldn’t take away from your active income. Your day job should still be your biggest source of revenue.

Comprising your active income only impacts your survival.

One day, you could reach the point where your passive income exceeds the amount you get from your day job. But until then, you need money.

A passive income job can be fun and shouldn’t add to your work load.

Find a passive income that relieves your stress rather than adds to it. This way, it won’t feel like you’re wasting your life only focusing on money!

The products, services, or content you provide can enrich many people’s daily lives. Respect the job you’ve chosen and the customers within it.

It’s hard enough figuring out how to generate passive income and keep your job. Don’t make it harder on yourself by scaring away your audience!