How can I make passive income with no money?
That's the question we're answering today.
You're there from 9 til 5, stuck behind a desk. You don't want to be there, but you have to — there are bills to pay.
Trying to make a living, but not really living at all.
Every day you research about passive income, and how you can make money online without investing your money.
Does this sound about right?
I've been there.
The good news is that there are ways to create passive income with NO initial funds whatsoever.
The bad news is that it will take your time, and you need an inch of patience.
But I do want you to know that it is feasible to achieve it.
I know it's possible because I did it myself. Over the past 12 years I have created multiple different streams of passive income — earning me money even while I sleep. Read my story here.
This postwill guide you through 5 simple strategies on how to create passive income with no money.
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Few words about passive income online
Passive income online is tough to build, because it does take a bit of time.
People are frequently asking how to make money from nothing – and the answer is: either you invest money, or, you invest your time.
Many people actually think it's impossible to start without some form of a nest egg. Although having some money definitely helps, it's not a requirement to build a passive income.
Before we get into the 5 strategies to creative passive income without investing money, let us just declare what passive income is.
What is passive income?
Passive income is money you earn regardless of your current activities. It comes from a source that does not require your time and effort – anymore.
There is a large initial commitment to setting up the income stream — after that, it makes you money automatically, indefinitely.
It does need to be said that passive income does not come easy. It takes time and effort to create. You need to be committed.
The more money you invest, the faster you'll build your passive income. If you want to generate a passive income with no initial funds, it will take longer.
Passive income examples
- Earning passive income from your affiliate website (can you really make money from affiliate marketing?) could be passive income (at least semi passive, depending how you build it). Months of building the website, getting visitors and fine tuning the conversion can eventually lead to a cash-cow providing a monthly income for years.
- Another example would be sales from a book you wrote. You invested time to write the book, and it continues to make you money (royalties) long after you finished it.
- Owning real estate and charging rent is another example. It required an initial large investment, but once setup, you'll earn money passively forever.
- Investing in P2P platforms (interests up to 20% annually). If you have enough cash to invest, you can actually make a substantial income from Peer to Peer lending. Find the best P2P sites.
Benefits of passive income
There are many reasons why you should try to build passive income streams. Some of these include:
- Freedom from exchanging your time for money
- More time to spend doing other things
- Makes your income usually location-independent
- Diversifies your income and makes it resilient
- Freedom to work anywhere in the world
Now, time to dive into how to create passive income and get you started.
How to build passive income with no money (5 strategies)
How to generate passive income with no initial funds? Is it even possible?
Yes, it is.
There are a number of different passive income strategies you can do right now, and some doesn't require any initial funds.
Below are 5 proven strategies to create passive income with no money.
All these ideas will take some effort — nothing comes easy. But if you put in the work, you can get the snowball rolling.
👨💻 Strategy #1: start a blog
Starting a blog is by far the best thing you can do to build passive income without any capital. Not only can you earn money from the blog itself, but it’s the perfect vessel to promote the other strategies.
Before you can monetize your blog in any way, you’ll need to build up an audience. This means making great blog posts that draw in organic traffic from Google and other search engines.
There are really 2 important keys to succeed here:
- Do good keyword research
- Make your posts informative, educational and entertaining
Once you get some consistent readership, you can start looking to monetize.
Blog ad revenue
A good blog with awesome content can draw in large amounts of search engine traffic. If one were to place ads on their blog, they would earn passive income.
This is one of the ways so many blogs earn hundreds of dollars a day.
Google Adsense is the most popular ad provider people use to monetize their blogs.
Here’s how some of the ads look (examples):
But you also have textual ads that blend in better.
They are placed on the top and sidebar of your blog posts.
The amount of money you can generate from Google Adsense varies, depending on various factors. Website traffic is obviously a crucial component.
There’s a good calculator that gives an estimate of how much you might earn. If you run a health blog based in Europe with 50K monthly hits, you are projected to earn $4770 annually.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is great way to get a passive income online with no initial funds.
If you have convertible traffic on your blog (from high value keywords), you have a chance of creating good passive income through affiliate marketing.
I personally love affiliate marketing, and have been using it as a monetization model for the last 12 years.
I created an affiliate course – click for to sign up for the affiliate marketing training for free.
Affiliate marketing is basically when you recommend/review a product or service, and you get a cut of the sale. A hyperlink is added to a blog post, typically a review of said product/service.
This is something I'm doing myself.
This is an awesome way to earn passive income. Some affiliate marketers earn in the 6 figures. Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income earned $110,160.30 in a single month, all from affiliate marketing.
To begin affiliate marketing on your blog, you’ll need to sign up to an affiliate program. Here's a list of the best affiliate programs.
Each program has its own products you can earn passive income from. The commission rates vary depending on which program, and what products or services you choose.
Worth checking out: I built a keyword volume tool to calculate how much money you can make from certain keywords.
Promoting your products/services
A blog and the traffic you bring it, make it an ideal host to sell eBooks and courses.
These are two things that require no money to create. They will be elaborated more in detail later in this post.
📹Strategy #2: open a YouTube channel
A YouTube channel is like the video equivalent of a blog, and it's a passive income strategy that works great for many people.
Especially if you're enjoying being in front of the camera or into video editing.
It can earn ad revenue itself, as well as promote your other bootstrapped passive income strategies.
Just like a blog, the first step is building an audience, attracting them with awesome video content. Many people have done it with no money, and you can too.
YouTube ad revenue
Because YouTube is owned by Google, it makes it the perfect video platform for Google Adsense.
Here’s an example of what an ad can look like on YouTube.
There are a variety of different types of ads, with various lengths. They can show up at different times, usually at the beginning, or in the middle of a long video.
To be eligible to have ads on your videos, you need to apply for The YouTube Partner Program. You’ll need at least 1000 subscribers, among other criteria to be accepted.
Many YouTubers earn thousands in ad revenue each month. Entrepreneur Roberto Blake made $2,400.36 in January 2020 from the ads on his videos. That’s completely passive income, earning for him 24/7.
YouTube affiliate marketing
Many YouTubers earn lots of passive income through affiliate marketing. It really doesn’t work that different from a blog.
You sign up for a program/network and choose a product/service. You’ll then add the affiliate link in the description of your video.
Here’s an example.
Affiliate marketing done through YouTube is just as successful as done through a blog. Maybe even more so, depending on the product or service.
Promoting your products/services
Just like a blog, your YouTube channel is an awesome tool to promote and sell courses and eBooks.
📖 Strategy #3: write an Ebook
Writing an eBook is a great way to earn passive income without a nest egg. It will take sometime to write and put together, but it will generate passive income for you, indefinitely.
To create an eBook, use Kindle Create — it’s a free eBook creation tool.
You can then publish your eBook on Amazon for Kindle, through Kindle Direct Publishing.
If you have an active blog and YouTube channel, you can promote it. People will continue to buy your eBook, long after you wrote it. The passive income will be ongoing for potentially years, depending on how evergreen the topic is.
Many people have succeeded at this, and you can too if you're a decent writer, and willing to dedicate a bit of time for a few months.
👨🏫 Strategy #4: create a course
This is another awesome passive income strategy. You can create an educational course, and then sell it online.
Just like an eBook, a course will continue to make you passive income, long after you created it.
You can create, publish and sell your course on Udemy. There is an interface on the website which allows you to put together your course.
Then when it is published, it will be displayed on the marketplace with all the other courses.
Your blog and YouTube channel can help promote your course to your audience.
This is definitely a good method to build some passive income, even if you have no money. A man named Greg Jeffries made $30,000 in one year from courses alone. All of that was 100% passive income.
Personally I recommend to create a free course first, to give some free value to your audience and show them that you're able to provide quality.
📷 Strategy #5: sell stock photos
This might be one of the easiest ways to generate a passive income without any initial funds if you're enjoying being behind the camera.
You can take professional stock photos and sell them to various image companies. All you really need is a camera.
Even better if you already built up your own image database.
It's not very easy to make a considerable income from this, but..
If you are a good photographer you can actually make a decent passive income online, as you build up a bigger image database.
Doing a bit of research to figure out what pictures to take can help you make more money. Find what pictures there are demand for, and the less competition, the more people will use your specific pictures.
Here are some websites you can sell stock images to:
Each website has their own terms and conditions when it comes to stock photos. Commissions may vary.
The conclusion
That's the best passive income ideas that I can recommend you if you want to build a passive income with no money.
Maybe you'll try some of these ideas, maybe not. But I want you to know: generating passive income with no money is absolutely possible. You just have to be creative and resilient enough.
The key is to create a strong blog, and YouTube channel and overall, build your audience online.
Once you’ve got an audience, you can begin to create different products and services.
The potential for passive income can be great, but it's not going to come easy.
You have to work hard and put in the hours.
If you are dedicated, you can absolutely make it happen. I know, because I did it myself.
Consider enrolling in The 7 Step Entrepreneur Blueprint to learn more about starting your own business and becoming an entrepreneur.
Got any questions or ideas on other passive income strategies or methods that doesn't require money? Leave a comment below.
