Five Passive Income Ideas for an Easy Side Gig

You’re not working a side hustle? In this economy? Why not?

No time? No problem. Truly. It’s easier than ever to build yourself a gig as a passive income to generate a little extra money on the side. 

Now, the “passive” part of “passive income” is a bit of a misnomer because, technically, there will be a bit of labour required to set up and maintain the business. However, compared to traditional work that requires complete focus these are jobs that you can set up to be almost fully automated once you’ve put in the time on the back end. With minimal upkeep and updating, here are a few options to help you generate some passive income as an easy side gig. 

1. Digital Templates 

Canva is an easy-to-use, web-based design software with a freemium model. While their library of templates is substantial, many businesses benefit from having customized (or customizable) branded content. Selling pre-designed template or image sets for users to take advantage of only requires some front-end work from you and the rest is all up to the buyer.

2. Print on Demand

Create adorable clothing with fun sayings and images you’ve designed yourself. You can host sales through a site like Etsy or on your own website with a Shopify plug in. The best part of print on demand (POD) is that a third party site (like printify, for example) does all the heavy lifting of storing inventory and only prints products as they’re sold (ie. on demand) so there’s no waste or unsold items for which you need to carry the cost. 

3. Affiliate Links

The key to generating passive income through affiliate links is to ensure that they’re not onerous and actually provide enough of a kickback to make it worthwhile. Two that offer the highest return on investment are aloSIM and Hushed. With the aloSIM Affiliate Program you can receive $5 USD for every new user who uses your unique link. Hushed offers $10 USD for every Lifetime Number that you sell to another user. The Amazon Affiliate program is also an easy option for a side gig; earn money by sharing links to your favourite purchases. The best part about affiliate links is that you can drop your codes anywhere (Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, via text message — you name it!). Once someone uses your code, the money gets directly deposited into your PayPal account. It couldn’t be easier so why not try it?

4. Content Libraries

If you have skills with photography and design you can sell curated packages by theme or aesthetic as a content library for an easy side gig. Think: A collection of images of an office space that can work for nearly any business or generic nature or forest photos that make great backgrounds for companies with natural products or travel websites. 

5. Rent What You Have

If you have a spare room or even a vehicle that you’re not using daily, consider renting them out for a fee. While you do need to be okay with having others in your space, there are options you can explore for extra insurance to protect yourself. If it’s a weekend that you’re staying close to home anyway, you could earn a few hundred dollars by lending out your car. Nothing more passive than not having to do any extra work!