9 Passive Income Ideas - How I Make $27k per Week

Intro (00:00:00)

• Discusses nine passive income sources that generate about $27,000 per week
• Emphasizes a gradual build-up of income over eight years; no quick riches
• Defines passive income as earnings not tied directly to time, emphasizing value creation
• Cautions against get-rich-quick schemes, noting they are scams
• Highlights that real value must be provided for income
• Promotes a Skillshare class on productivity and side hustles

Investing in stocks and shares (00:02:20)

• Investing money provides value and can earn returns
• Easiest way to make passive income is through the stock market
• Recommends investing in index funds, specifically the S&P 500
• Suggests starting by signing up with a stockbroker appropriate for your country
• Investment can potentially earn a 10% average annual return
• Ongoing income depends on the amount invested and market performance
• Maintaining stock investments is simple; once set up, they require little active management
• Personal example: a portfolio worth about $350,000, mainly in S&P 500 index funds, yielding estimated passive income of $682 per week

Difficulty Rating Summary

• Starting: 1 out of 5 (easy)
• Making $100/month: varies, but about 3 out of 5 (moderate)
• Maintenance: 1 out of 5 (easy)

Starting a YouTube channel (00:07:07)

• Starting a YouTube channel is easy and requires creating an account and uploading videos.
• Monetizing a YouTube channel is challenging, requiring at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours.
• On average, it takes around 52 videos and six months to achieve 1,000 subscribers.
• Making significant money, like $100 a month, requires around 50,000 views on YouTube.
• An average channel with 62,000 subscribers could expect about 20% viewership per video.
• Earning starts earlier than 60,000 subscribers but growing a channel to make substantial income is difficult, rated 4 out of 5 stars.
• Once a YouTube channel gains traction, maintaining growth is easier, rated 2 out of 5 stars.
• The presenter's channel makes about $12,000 a month in ad revenue, mostly from older videos.
• Different monetization strategies exist, but only ad revenue is considered passive income in this context.

Starting a podcast (00:10:36)

• Starting a podcast is generally easier than a YouTube channel but harder to grow due to a lack of a supporting algorithm.
• Creating a podcast can be done using tools like Anchor.fm and Riverside.fm.
• Podcast income primarily comes from brand deals, not from a platform's AdSense-like system.
• To earn $100 a month, a podcaster needs around 1,000 downloads per episode, assuming they run weekly episodes with sponsorships.
• Only the top 20% of podcasts get more than a thousand downloads per episode.
• Maintaining a podcast and earning consistent income is somewhat easier once finding the right formula, rated 2 out of 5 stars.
• As an example, the presenter's podcast with his brother earns approximately $625 per week from brand deals and memberships.

Becoming an affiliate marketer (00:13:35)

• Affiliate marketing involves selling others' products and earning a commission.
• Globally, 48% of affiliate marketers earn $20,000 a year, equating to $1,660 a month.
• Starting in affiliate marketing is rated 2 out of 5 for difficulty.
• To start, one can sign up for programs like Amazon Associates, share links on various platforms, and earn commissions from purchases through those links.
• Making $100 a month can be challenging with low commission percentages and a need for high website traffic.
• Other programs like Skillshare offer different commission structures, like $7 for referring a free trial signup.
• Building an audience is essential to succeed in affiliate marketing, requiring consistent content creation, typically for at least two years.
• Passive income from affiliate marketing is rated 3.5 out of 5 for difficulty in reaching $100 a month due to the need for an audience.
• Once set up, maintenance is relatively easy, particularly with evergreen content.
• The creator of the video makes approximately $11,000 per month from Skillshare and about $450 a month from Amazon UK, with additional earnings from the US and Canada.

Selling a digital product (00:16:50)

• Selling digital products, such as ebooks, apps, or themes, involves creating them once and selling them multiple times.
• Examples include Traf's iOS 14 icon set generating $300,000 and Oliur's Tumblr themes earning $700,000 since 2014.
• The difficulty of starting to sell digital products is rated 2 out of 5.
• Success depends on the value provided and solving a problem that prompts purchase.
• Making $100 a month from digital products is rated 3 out of 5 for difficulty.
• Maintenance of digital products is easier than creation and is rated 2 out of 5.

Selling a course (00:18:53)

• Creating an online course is a form of generating passive income.
• Online courses are usually in video format and can be easily made with available tools like phones.
• Skillshare is a platform where courses can be uploaded without direct charges to users.
• Maintaining a course to earn about $100 a month is relatively easy once it's established.
• Generating significant income on Skillshare depends on content quality and potentially an existing audience.
• This method contributed roughly $60,000 to $65,000 per month to the creator's revenue, which is a large portion of their weekly $27k passive income.

Building a membership community (00:23:36) and Automating a business (00:26:12)

• Paid membership communities can provide passive income if a content creator has an engaged audience that trusts them.

• Starting a membership program like Patreon is accessible, but it requires offering substantial value to retain members.

• Examples given include Hannah Witton making approximately 3,000 to $7,000 a month on Patreon, and Anne-Laure generating $100,000 a year from Ness Labs.

• Maintaining a membership program's income typically becomes easier after the challenging establishment phase.

• The creator's own membership community for YouTube alumni earns about $2,800 a week, but requires active participation and is not entirely passive.

• Automating a business involves selling goods or services and then delegating or outsourcing to reduce active involvement.

• Successfully automating a business requires considerable setup but can lead to reasonably passive income once operational.

• Examples include a $1 million Shopify store selling vegan leather goods and an Instagram/Facebook ads agency.

• Starting and earning the initial $100 a month from such businesses is challenging due to the value creation involved.

• Once established, the maintenance effort is less intense, hence easier to manage.