Building income streams is vital in today’s world. Not only is it necessary to survive, but it also has extra perks like retiring early, choosing where you work from, and more. However, the problem most people face is being able to add to their income streams without having to spend money.
In this article, we will go over as many income streams as possible that you could build with just your time.
Before I dive into all the best options if you don’t want to miss another article or case study, subscribe to our newsletter. You will be notified every time we release an article like this one or when we release a case study of someone and their income streams!
Freelancing
Freelancing is a great way to take your skills and make some extra money. Whether you’re a good writer, web designer, or graphic designer (and many more), you could easily make some good extra income.
All you have to do is sign up to place like Fiverr and Upwork and offer your services to potential customers.
It may take a little bit of time to get your first client, but once you do, as long as you listen to directions, you should have an extra income stream for a good amount of time.
Also, once you get experienced enough, you could outsource the work to someone else and make the difference. This way, your income isn’t subject to your time.
Blogging
Next up is blogging. If you want to start your own site, it’ll cost some money to do so. However, there are some methods that allow you to do is for free.
The first method is through Medium.com. All you have to do to get started writing with Medium is sign up and start writing.
The great part about Medium is the fact that you can write about whatever you feel like. With a website built on SEO, you have to stay on topic. However, I see many creators on Medium just writing about their experiences and getting traffic from it.
This is because Medium has a high domain rating, which is good to have for ranking on Google.
You’re probably wondering how you could earn money on Medium. Well, once you’re signed up for the Medium partner program, every time you publish a post on the platform you have to hide it behind the pay wall. This enables you to earn money through the people who are subscribed to Medium.
They determine how much you get paid through engagement.
Earnings will be based on member read and listen time as well as member engagement signals
-Medium
Another platform that allows you to make money is Newsbreak. With Newsbreak you could share news within your preferred niche and get paid for the stories that get viewed a whole lot.
To get monetized you need to get 100 verified followers as well as have 10 stories published.
It’s very easy to get monetized on Medium since you could publish articles via AI writers. They say that all content gets treated equally as long as you make it known that your article is made with AI.
The very best AI writing tool to use for this is SEOWRITING.AI because of the fact that it allows you to use three urls for reference.
So all you have to do is find a trending story, find three reference URL’s, put the keyword and other info in the tool, and it will create a news article for you.
I just wanted to tip you if you plan on doing this. Make sure you make the news article length extra short in the settings otherwise it may repeat certain information.
Start a YouTube Channel
Starting a YouTube channel is another way to build an income stream by just using your extra time.
You don’t need any fancy equipment or cameras to get started. If you have an iPhone, that will do the trick.
All you need to do is identify a niche or topic you’re passionate about or knowledgeable in. This could range from educational content, how-to guides, gaming, lifestyle vlogs, tech reviews, and much more.
Once you’ve pinpointed your niche, start creating content. Focus on quality and consistency. The key is to provide value to your viewers, whether that’s through entertaining them, teaching them something new, or sharing insights and experiences.
To get your channel off the ground, utilize the power of social media to share your videos and engage with your audience. Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook can be great places to promote your content and build a community around your channel.
Monetization on YouTube comes through various avenues. The most direct is through YouTube’s Partner Program, which allows you to earn money from ads displayed on your videos. To qualify, you’ll need to accumulate 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past 12 months. While this may seem daunting at first, consistent content creation and engagement with your audience can help you reach these milestones.
Beyond ads, you can explore affiliate marketing, where you promote products or services in your videos and earn a commission for each sale made through your affiliate links. Sponsorships from brands are another lucrative income stream, where companies pay you to mention or review their products in your videos.
Sell Digital Products
Digital products are awesome. You don’t need any bulky inventory and can create something once and sell it for years to come. What’s better than that?
The digital product realm has been really growing over the last few years as people are selling everything from eBooks, online courses, stock photos, music, software, and templates to unique digital art and even virtual real estate in some cases. The beauty of digital products is the low overhead cost and the ability to distribute globally without the need for physical shipping.
The thing you need to figure out is marketing; however, places like Gumroad and Etsy allow you to list your products for free (Etsy may have a very cheap cost from what I remember – like 20 cents).
Not only do they allow you to sell for free, but they also have organic traffic sources (especially Etsy).
If you have an audience already, you could make some sales on Gumroad. Once some sales are made, the product or products will then get pushed organically on Gumroad.
The key to digital products is to fix a problem within the niche you’re creating for. One of the biggest ways you could do this is by scanning Reddit. On Reddit, many people tend to talk about their problems. Find a problem that many people are complaining about and create a product around it.
There is a tool called Gummysearch which uses AI to scan through audiences on Reddit and let you know what the biggest pain points are.
I created my first Ebook using Gummysearch.
| Digital Product Type | Platform to Sell | Description |
|---|---|---|
| eBooks | Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) | A popular platform for authors to publish and sell their eBooks directly to readers. Offers wide reach and easy access to the Kindle marketplace. |
| Online Courses | Udemy | A global marketplace for learning and teaching online where millions of students can learn new skills from an extensive library of courses. |
| Online Courses | Teachable | Allows creators to build and sell online courses and coaching services. Offers tools for course creation, marketing, and sales. |
| Stock Photos | Shutterstock | A global marketplace for royalty-free images and videos. Ideal for photographers looking to sell their work. |
| Stock Photos | Adobe Stock | Allows photographers to sell their photos and videos to a wide audience, integrated with Adobe’s creative suite for easy upload and management. |
| Music | Bandcamp | A platform for musicians to sell their music directly to fans. Offers flexible pricing and the ability to sell merchandise. |
| Software | Gumroad | A versatile platform that allows creators to sell software, digital products, and even physical goods directly to their audience. |
| Mobile Apps | Google Play Store | The official app store for Android users. Ideal for developers to sell or offer their apps to a global audience. |
| Mobile Apps | Apple App Store | The go-to platform for selling iOS apps. Offers a vast audience of iPhone and iPad users. |
| Templates (Graphic Design, Website, etc.) | Etsy | A marketplace known for unique, handmade, and vintage items but also a great place for selling digital templates and designs. |
| Templates (Graphic Design, Website, etc.) | Creative Market | Focuses on ready-to-use design assets from independent creators around the world, including templates, fonts, and graphics. |
| Digital Art | Foundation | A platform that allows digital artists to sell their work as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), catering to the crypto art market. |
| eBooks and PDFs | Gumroad | Besides software, Gumroad is also a popular choice for selling eBooks, PDFs, and other digital downloads directly to your audience. |
Creating Videos On The Amazon Influencer Program
How many things do you have throughout your house that are on Amazon? If you have a lot, then you’re in luck.
With the amazon Influencer program you don’t need social media, a blog, or anything to send traffic as you get organic traffic through the Amazon platform.
Here’s how it works.
All you have to do is create a video reviewing the in’s and out’s of a product and post it directly to Amazon.
You don’t have to make any fancy edits or show your face.
Let’s dive a little bit deeper.
When you click on a product while shopping on Amazon, you may realize that they have photos and videos of the product. It used to be that the company selling the product would post the videos, which were the only videos available. However, the influencer’s videos will also pop up with the Amazon influencer program. If someone watches the video you created and then purchases the product, you will make a commission.
So how do you get started? You need to apply using a Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram account. They don’t specify how many followers you need but you need somewhat of a following to get approved.
The second approval process is through posting videos. You need to post up to three videos, and those videos need to be manually approved by an Amazon employee. This could take up to 6 weeks.
Print On Demand
Another great option is print-on-demand.
Print on demand is where you create designs and put them on different products like t-shirts, posters, mugs, etc.
All you have to do is create an image or text design that you think would sell well to a specific audience and then list it on the platform. When you get an order, they will print it or create it for you and ship it out.
All you have to worry about is ideation and execution.
Some of the best print-on-demand sites are Printful, Teespring (now known as Spring), Redbubble, and Zazzle. Each of these platforms offers a unique set of products and services that cater to various needs, whether you’re an artist looking to sell your designs or an entrepreneur aiming to launch a brand with minimal upfront investment.
you’re probably wondering if you could use AI. In most cases and on most print-on-demand platforms, you can use AI. You just have to make sure the content abides by the guidelines of the platform.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a broad method of making money. However, it can easily be done without the use of money.
To do this, you must do a ton of research on the product. This is because when people promote products they’ve never used, it’s easy to tell that they’re promoting it just to get a sale. You want to learn about the product so much so the person actually thinks you’ve used it before.
This is easy, especially while being on programs like Amazon Associates. All you really have to do is scan the reviews of the product and then come up with a general consenus for your review.
However, if you don’t have the product in your hand, you could be limited in how you will produce the content.
Blog posts are probably the best option in this scenario.
Blog posts allow you to dive deeply into a product’s features, benefits, and potential drawbacks through comprehensive reviews, comparisons, and guides. Using detailed research from user reviews, manufacturer specifications, and expert opinions, you can create content that feels personal and authentic, even if you have yet to physically use the product.
Eventually, when you start to earn some affiliate income, you could actually start buying some products and using them to show some extra insights.
High Yield Savings Account
If you have any savings lying around that aren’t earning any money, consider opening a high yield savings account. Yes, it takes money to make money on a HYSA, however, if you already have it sitting there, you could earn significantly more by transferring it over.
High-yield savings accounts fluctuate in terms of average returns, but I can guarantee you that you’ll almost always get a higher return than sitting in the bank.
Conclusion
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