2020: Your Year to Create Passive Income Streams?

bylaurenjean

4.2K followers

Updated 5 years ago

We all dream of making money while we sleep. We think passive income looks like this (picture above).

When in reality it looks like this (picture below)... for what can seem like the longest time

Because the thing about passive income is that it doesn't start out passive, right?

Not. At. All.

You have take action - and plenty of it - committed, concerted action - to create passive income streams.

Passive Income Starts with Action

Take Affiliate Marketing for example. We all know it's not a get-rich quick scheme by any stretch of the imagination.

You have to start by creating a niche website or YouTube channel.

Create around 100 pieces of content (posts or videos).

Build an audience of at least 1000 subscribers to your channel or email list.

If you have the discipline to create a post or video a day, you're looking at a minimum of 3 months before you start gaining some traction and generating some revenue.

But that's only once you've gone through the learning curve.

Once you're lazer-focused, know exactly what problem you solve and already have a handle on the market.

Shhh... don't tell anyone but I'm 4 years down the track and I'm still not 100% sure of what exact problem I solve for my audience. Because it seems to keep changing - as I evolve and as my online empire unfolds.

And hey, let's be serious.. most of us take a few years to get to that point - the point where we know exactly what we are doing and who we are doing it for.

Because it's so easy to get distracted by the tasks that bring in short-term income (in my case, this has been through sponsored posts and freelancing)... and never get around to the meaty stuff that brings in long-term income.

Because... the thing about passive income is that it doesn't start out passive, right?

Now there's no shame in putting your marvellous skills to work and becoming a freelancer selling content writing or website design or graphic design or social media marketing or sponsored posts, or whatever you're passionate about...

Except that, if you remain in this phase, your income will always be limited.

Because you'll always be paid per post or per word or per gig or per task... essentially, you'll always be paid by the hour.

You're still working for others, creating a job for yourself.

To Create Passive Income, CREATE something that's YOURS

You can only start making money in your sleep when you take the time to build something that generates income for you.

You get to choose what you create and this will depend on your personality, your skill-set and the activities that interest you most.

Here are some of the passive income streams you could create as a Digital Entrepreneur:

• A Niche Website
• A YouTube Channel
• A Kindle Book
• An Online Magazine
• A Membership Site
• An Online Course
• An Online Store
• An App for Smartphones
• An Affiliate Marketing System
• A Digital Marketing Agency
• A Website Flipping Business
  
• A Mastermind
• A Coaching Program
  
• A Brand
• A Sales Funnel
  

To Create Passive Income, Create Something that SELLS

And it's not enough to create that special something, you also need to promote it or build-in the promotion from the start...

Here are a few examples of what I mean by this.

Affiliate Marketing

A rule of thumb when creating content is to spend 10% of your time in creation and 90% of your time promoting the heck out of it on social media.

Or you can focus on organic traffic from the start. Pay close attention to the training here at Wealthy Affiliate on Keyword Research and SEO because that's what will bring organic visitors to your website so that you can make money in your sleep.

Or you can focus on building an email list and that becomes your main asset and form of promotion.

Or you could write your posts on a high authority website, such as this one - write them on the Wealthy Affiliate platfom itself. (Just make sure you stick to the rules).

Online Courses

If you create an online course on your own website or on a platform like Teachable or Thinkific, you will also be responsible for the promotion and sales - you'll have to find your students yourself.

If you're ready to create an online course, but you don't have a huge following yet on social media or a big email list, you can publish your course on a platform like Udemy or Skillshare.

Platforms like these already have millions of students and will promote your course via their email list and on their high authority website. This gives you a higher chance of enrollments (sales) but remember, your students are not your students - they belong to Udemy and Skillshare.

Or you could publish training right here on Wealthy Affiliate via the Open Education Project.

Or you could create an affiliate program and a course and get your affiliates to help you promote your course.

Or you could create a Patreon account or build a membership site.

Online Stores

If you've decided to create your own online store, you could set it up on your website using WooCommerce.

Or you could leverage the awesome platforms out there that give you a leg up in the e-commerce world.

• You could set up a Shopify Store.
• Or upload a Dropshipping plugin and start dropshipping.
• Or try your hand at Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).
• Or create a Print-on-Demand store on RedBubble or Zazzle or Printify or Etsy or Merch by Amazon.

So is 2020 Your Year to Create Passive Income Streams?

And which income streams are you going to choose?

I've kicked my year off with a dropshipping store on my website, a RedBubble store and my first online course on Udemy and Thinkific, which of course, includes affiliate links.

Let's see which passive income stream starts working for me while I sleep.

To Your Success