Latest Creatives’ ideas for passive income

a. Write an e-book

Writing an e-book can be a good opportunity to take advantage of the low cost of publishing and even leverage the worldwide distribution of Amazon to get your book seen by potentially millions of would-be buyers. E-books can be relatively short, perhaps 30-50 pages, and can be relatively cheap to create, since they rely on your own expertise.

You’ll need to be an expert on a specific topic, but the topic could be niche and use some special skills or abilities that very few offer but that many readers need. You can quickly design the book on an online platform and then even test-market different titles and price points.

But just like with designing a course, a lot of the value comes when you add more e-books to the mix, drawing in more customers to your content.

Opportunity: An e-book can function not only to deliver good information and value to readers, but also as a way to drive traffic to your other offerings, including audio or video courses, other e-books, a website or potentially higher-value seminars.

Risk: Your e-book has to be very strong to build up a following and then it helps if you have some way to market it, too, such as an existing website, a promotion on other relevant websites, appearances in the media or podcasts or something else. So you could put in a lot of work upfront and get very little back for your efforts, especially at first.

And while an e-book is nice, it will help if you write more and then even build a business around the book or make the book just one part of your business that strengthens the other parts. So your biggest risk is probably that you waste your time with little reward.

b. Sell photography online

Selling photography online might not be the most obvious place to set up a passive business, but it could allow you to scale your efforts, especially if you can sell the same photos over and over again. To do that, you might work with an organization such as Getty Images, Shutterstock or Alamy.

To get started, you’ll have to be approved by the platform, and then you license your photos to be used by whoever downloads them. The platform then pays you every time someone uses your photo.

You’ll need photos that appeal to a specific audience or that represent a certain scene, and you’ll need to tease out where the demand is. Photos could be shots with models, landscapes, creative scenarios and more, or they could capture real events that might make the news.

Opportunity: Part of the value of selling or licensing your photos through a platform is that you have the potential to scale your efforts, especially if you can provide pictures that will be in demand. That means you could potentially sell the same image hundreds or thousands of times or more.

Risk: You could add hundreds of photos to a platform such as Getty Images and not have any of them really generate meaningful sales. Only a few photos may drive all of your revenue, so you have to keep adding photos as you search for that needle in the haystack.

It may require substantial effort to go out and shoot photos, then process them and keep up with the events that may ultimately drive your revenue. And motivation could be hard to maintain: Every next photo might be your lottery ticket, though it almost certainly won’t be.

c. Create an app

Creating an app could be a way to make that upfront investment of time and then reap the reward over the long haul. Your app might be a game or one that helps mobile users perform a hard-to-do function. Once your app is public, users download it, and you can generate income.

Opportunity: An app has a huge upside if you can design something that catches the fancy of your audience. You’ll have to consider how best to generate sales from your app. For example, you might run in-app ads or otherwise have users pay a nominal fee for downloading the app.

If your app gains popularity or you receive feedback, you’ll likely need to add incremental features to keep the app relevant and popular.

Risk: The biggest risk here is probably that you use your time unprofitably. If you commit little or no money to the project (or money that you would have spent anyway, for example, on hardware), you have little financial downside. However, it’s a crowded market and truly successful apps must offer a compelling value or experience to users.

You’ll also want to make sure that if your app collects any data that it’s in compliance with privacy laws, which differ across the globe. The popularity of apps can be short-lived, too, meaning your cash flow could dry up a lot faster than you expect.

d. Create an Instagram or YouTube channel

Are you an expert on travel to Thailand? A maven of Minecraft? A sultan of swing dancing? Take your passion for a subject and turn it into an Instagram or a YouTube channel, using ads or sponsors to generate your income. Find a popular subject, even a small niche, and become an expert on it. At first, you’ll have to build out a suite of content and draw an audience, but it can create a steady income stream over time, as you become known for your engaging content, with flashy photos and attention-grabbing editing.

Opportunity: You can leverage a free (or very low-cost) platform, then use your great content to build a following. The more unique your voice or area of interest, the better for you to become “the” person to follow. Then draw sponsors to you.

Risk: You’ll have to build out content at the start and then create ongoing content, which can take time. And you’ll need to be really passionate about the product, since that can help you maintain the motivation to continue, especially at the start as your followers are still finding you.

The real downside here is that you can outlay a bunch of your time and resources, with little to show for it, if there’s limited interest in your subject or niche. Your area of expertise may be too niche to really draw a profitable audience, but you won’t be sure of that until you experiment.

e. Sell designs online

If you have design skills, you may be able to turn them into a money maker by selling items with your printed designs on them. Businesses such as CafePress, Vistaprint and Zazzle allow you to sell items including T-shirts, hats, mugs and more with your own designs. You can even sell on Etsy.

Opportunity: You can start with your own designs and see what the market is interested in, and expand from there. You may be able to capitalize on the surging interest in a current event and design a shirt that captures the spirit of the times or at least a snarky take on it. And you can also set up your own web storefront through a site such as Shopify to market your goodies.

Risk: Printing partners may allow you to ship items without directly investing in the merchandise yourself, avoiding one of the biggest risks of tying up your capital. But you may be able to get better pricing if you invest in some of the inventory yourself. Another big risk here is that you could invest a lot of time with little payoff, but this avenue might be interesting if you’re already doing the design work for another purpose, such as personal interest.