Residual income often gets touted as a way to earn money whilst not doing much at all. However, many residual incomes result from some initial hard work and perseverance.
Are you looking for residual income ideas? This guide is just what you need to get you started.
What is Residual Income?
This income results from the initial investment and is part of income-generating work. For example, sales from a book, music royalties, or online businesses such as blogs and YouTube channels are often classed as residual incomes as you need to create something that brings in the money and helps build your wealth.
Residual Income vs. Passive Income
Passive income can be generated with little or no upfront effort and very little input from yourself to maintain. Renting an apartment is an example of passive income, although it was obviously a massive investment in the beginning. However, the two terms are often used interchangeably.
If you are looking for ways to create residual income streams, this post looks at some great business ideas you can set up.
11 Residual Income Ideas
1. Start a Dropshipping Store
Dropshipping involves running an eCommerce store where you don’t have to purchase anything yourself or fulfil any requirements associated with running a store. Dropshipping requires an initial investment, but your supplier handles everything else, leaving you to take home the profit. Dropshipping, when done correctly, is an excellent passive income investment.
2. Create a Course
In the first instance, you need to create a course that others are willing to buy, then package it together, making it easy to sell, market and use. Creating a course is often hailed as a great income idea. You need to set up a marketing plan to get your course out there while the income rolls in.
3. Run a Blog
While a blog can be one of the best passive income jobs, it technically is more of a residual income ideas type of endeavour. Anyone can set up a blog, but to make money only from blogging, you need to produce high-quality content regularly to take onboard advertising, affiliate links and collaborations with third parties to make money. In the long run, blogging requires more effort for potential earning than most other ways to build wealth.
4. Buy a Property
Increasing your assets is often looked upon favourably for building wealth regarding residual income ideas. Property is one such asset that can be a lucrative way to earn passive income. You can look at buying a house to make rental income or flip it to sell on and make a profit. Either way, this requires initial investing, knowledge of the market, and knowing what taxes are applicable when purchasing a property.
5. Invest in the Stock Market
The stock market can have a steep learning curve, and as such, it might require some serious research to make sure you are turning a profit and not a loss, especially at the beginning. Avoid thinking of investment as short-term income and focus on the long term to help you maximise your wealth and return on your investment.
6. Write an eBook
Are you knowledgeable on a topic and have some insight others can benefit from? Or do you fancy yourself as the next J. K. Rowling? Either way, it’s easy to self-publish an eBook and get it on the market. Once your book is published, you can sit back and wait for royalties to come through from your ongoing sales over time. You don’t necessarily need to scout for the publishers in Australia if you’re happy with eBook publishing.
7. Rent out Your Car by App
If you find you aren’t using your car as much as you can or want to make your car work harder for you, renting out your car can be added to your list of residual income ideas. Becoming an Uber or Lyft driver can earn you money by driving, or you can rent out your car short-term to people who need to get from A to B.
8. Sell Photography Online
If you have a keen eye for images and can take a good shot without using auto settings on your camera, you can sell your photography online for others to use. While the potential earnings for this aren’t initially that high, over time, you can build up your wealth by adding to your portfolio and selling more images.
9. Invest in REITs
A REIT is a Real Estate Investment Trust and is a way to invest smaller amounts of money in the property. Basically, you pool together your resources with other investors to purchase a property you otherwise wouldn’t be able to buy on your own. In this way, there is a potential for greater returns on your investment and building wealth without taking on the total cost of the purchase yourself.
10. Sponsored Posts on Social Media
If you have a significant social media presence, then looking at how to make money from home can be answered by working with brands to create sponsored posts on social media. Influencers are big business right now, and sponsored posts on feeds are great residual income ideas if you can make the right look, aesthetic and audience.
11. Sell Ad Space on Your Vehicle
First of all, you don’t need to do anything, making this one of the top ways to make passive income. If you are driving around frequently and want to make your car work harder when on the road, selling ad space on your car is a win-win. The company you partner with will put their ad on your vehicle and pay you to keep it on for a set period.
Wrapping Up
Remember, passive income jobs are ways to make passive income, but residual income ideas require time, effort, and investment upfront to help you get started before the cash flows in. Make sure the investments you make as part of your residual income ideas are suited to you, and you have done your research before you invest money and time into a certain project.
1. How are Passive Income and Residual Income Taxed?
Both passive and residual income are taxable at different rates from active income, and the amount largely depends on the type of business you get your earnings from (e.g. if the income is from real estate or an online business).
2. How do I make money from home?
There are many ways to make a profit from home, both actively and passively. In this guide, you may get some inspiration from our creative residual income ideas.
