5 Ways to Create Passive Income for Your Business
Use these tips to get some extra money moving your way.
If you’re a business owner, you know that most of the income you make comes from active income, meaning you have to work continuously to create, market, and sell your products or services.
Passive income is money that comes from creating something once, and then not having to take further action to make a profit from it in the future. Creating passive income requires an upfront investment of time, money, or both. Once a passive income stream is set up though, it can generate money almost without a second thought. If you’re looking to set up new sources of income for your business and rake in the cash while you sleep, here are 5 ways to earn passive income in your business:
#1: Sell an E-Book
Whether you sell products or services, you have knowledge that someone out there is interested in. E-books are a great way to share your tips, tricks, and wisdom with your customers. If you own an accounting firm, your e-book could be about budgeting and financial planning. If you sell skincare products, your ebook might be about holistic skincare tips for anti-aging.
The bottom line is that as a business owner, you're an industry expert, and people want experts to address their wants and needs. Creating an e-book might take some time upfront, but once it’s written and graphically packaged, no more work is required! Your customers will be able to pay for the book via your website and receive it as a digital download. Selling e-books is a great way to add customers' email addresses to your mailing list, which gives you the opportunity to market your products or services to them in the future.
#2: Create an Online Course
Online courses can be a creative way to earn some extra income and offer valuable content to your clients. Once an online course is rolled out, it can be sold over and over again, with no increase in your time investment. You may eventually need to make some tweaks to keep the content fresh, and will have to do some light marketing, but it’s worth these minor efforts to earn some passive income and position your business as an authority in your industry.
At Fearless Foundry, our resource bank of educational content, The Library, serves as our source of passive income. It’s full of courses and webinars on branding, marketing, and selling to help entrepreneurs align their messaging and reinvigorate their businesses. The content in The Library ranges in price from $5 to $250—even a small amount of passive income is better than nothing, right?!
#3: Benefit from Affiliate Marketing & Partnerships
Promoting companies you love or partner with can earn you commissions by referring sales. Your business has loyal clients or customers who trust your judgment. If you say you love a brand or product, that’s valuable information to your customer!
If you make an agreement to partner with a company, you’ll likely be given an affiliate link. An affiliate link is a specific URL that, when used by your customers, allows you to earn a commission for marketing someone else’s product or service.
You can place affiliate links in:
Blog posts
Sponsored social media posts
A welcome email series
One-off emails
Digital products like an e-book or online course
*If you’re promoting a product or service through an affiliate link, you need to disclose that information to your audience.
#4: Sell Merchandise
Branded merchandise is a great way to represent your brand. When your customers or clients wear or use your merch, they’re essentially acting as walking billboards for your business! Merchandise can be used for fun giveaways on social media, or can be given away at conventions or other events your business attends.
We use Bonfire to sell Fearless Foundry merch. This platform makes it easy for us to get our merch out into the world, and allows us to donate 100 percent of profits to organizations we love.
#5: Invest In Another Business
Investing in a business that isn’t your own can be risky. But then again, investing in your own business was a risk too! If done strategically, using your business to invest in a company you feel passionate about could earn you some solid passive income. It may take a while to see any kickbacks, but the payoff could be huge. We’re not here to give you financial advice, only to open your eyes to the idea that there are so many creative ways to make passive income!
For many business owners, a lack of time is the only thing standing between them and passive income streams. If the idea of an e-book, digital asset, or blog is piquing your interest, reach out to us! Our team of overqualified creatives are experts at whipping up show-stopping content that will generate passive income opportunities for your business.