073. Make Money While You Sleep

In 2015 I released my first eBook, Purpose Playbook: A Woman’s Guide to Discover a Life of Purpose. This was my introduction to generating passive income and the point I became obsessed with making passive income.

You may be thinking, “Now Ebony, what is passive income? And why are you so obsessed?”

The IRS will tell you passive income is earnings derived from rental property, limited partnerships or other enterprises in which you are not materially involved. And that may be true from a government viewpoint.

But, I am going to tell you passive income is when your money works for you, when you are able to generate income while you are sleeping or even on the beach sipping mojitos. Simply put it is money you earn from a project or investment after you’ve made an initial contribution of time and/or money.

Having access to the world at our finger tips through the web has made it much easier to generate passive income. In the online capacity, the idea is to create products or services that can be produced once and consumed over and over again with unlimited earning potential.

For example, back to my Purpose Playbook eBook. I invested to create the initial ebook once, but once it was developed I was able to sell hundreds of copies without having to duplicate efforts. I created the book and designed a sales page setup on autopilot. The same is true for my online courses and programs.

As we creep into 2017, I want you to think about what passive income would mean for you.

Passive income is a great way to build wealth, pay off your debt quicker, or just earn additional income for your household.

Here are some of the best ways you can generate passive income online. The passive income streams provided in this workbook can be used by anyone – even if you have never produced content before or have absolutely no experience selling anything.

Affiliate Marketing

The most common and perhaps easiest method is with affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others, and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make. You’re happy because you earned a commission, the company is happy because they have a new sale from a customer that they might not have normally been able to reach, and the customer is happy because they learned about a product from you that will hopefully fulfill a need or desire.

In the words of Smart Passive Income founder Pat Flynn, “The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to invest the time and effort to create a product to sell. You can begin selling something as an affiliate as soon as you have a platform to sell it on.” If you have a website, YouTube channel, blog or podcast you can capitalize on affiliate marketing; you focus on generating content and getting traffic to your site and let your affiliate links generate income for you.

Online Courses/Workbooks

Online courses or programs are just starting to gain momentum, but online classrooms have been around for a while now. An online program or course is a seminar or class conducted over the internet that participants can go through as a group or at their own pace. Online programs are a form of distant learning that allows members to participate in the class from anywhere in the world. Online courses and programs include workbooks, webinars, self-study programs, audio/video training, and teleseminars.

eBooks

An eBook is an electronic version of a printed book that can be read on a computer or handheld device designed specifically for this purpose. EBooks are a great way to share your story or a compilation of your teachings and expertise in book form. Identify the burning problems or questions of your audience and write a book about it. Your book does not need to be massive, but it should serve a need and add value to your ideal client. Technology is your friend, you could even create a 15-20 page “How-to” eBook for a specific topic in your genre. Common eBooks are how-to’s, Ultimate guides or lists, your story, manifestos, or solutions to a problem.