Let’s face it: you’ll never get rich and spend your days either lounging or working on other projects with your traditional 9-to-5 job.
That’s why a stream of passive income is essential for the budding entrepreneur.
It’s unlikely that one big idea will translate to financial freedom right out of the bag. Fact is, most solo founders made it in steps. You first need to free yourself from as many financially-draining commitments as possible, so that you have the time and capital to pursue your true entrepreneurial dreams.
1. Generating Income Through Real Estate
Real estate will provide you a passive income since it’s known to have the most power for generating income. After all, people will always need a place to stay. The range of possibilities is practically endless; you can rent out a condominium, house, apartment, dorm, etc.
Your only worry is getting the money necessary to start. If your credit history isn’t good enough to obtain a mortgage loan at a manageable interest rate, you might need to get creative. One option, I took early on, was to unload my property and mortgage note so I could make real estate a full-time thing. When looking for a place to sell my note, I searched for a company willing to give me full value. Real estate requires a sizable upfront investment, unless you decide to go the investment route and not own any property outright.
A financially more conservative option is to rent out rooms in your house using the AirBnB options, where travelers use it for an extended stay. Either of these options could lead you to an entrepreneurial bout of inspiration, where you start renting out multiple properties as your capital grows, and you become the next big real estate tycoon locally.
2. Leveraging YouTube
There are a lot of people making thousands of extra dollars per month by making videos that consistently draw traffic.
If you are good at using certain types of software, making a YouTube tutorial can get you the views and subscribers necessary to really bolster your income.
Since that store of videos stays up for as long as you want, you can continue to earn without producing more content.
Besides, what you have to show to the world could be a huge hit, and you may never need to work again.
3. Building Apps
Anyone who owns a tablet or smartphone is familiar with the sheer ubiquity of apps. It’s much easier to start if you already have programming skills; but even if you don’t, a bit of dedication can make you competent within months. The payoff? Your apps can serve as passive income for years, and then you can sell them for a big sum. Usually, you can command about 2.5 years worth of the money they’ve made thus far in a single sale.
There are many apps that could use an upgrade, and even if you don’t want to learn how to program, you could pay a coder to upgrade it if you have an idea. Splitting the money will still leave you with a lot of cash. It’s not precisely passive income when it comes in one lump sum; but it can help you fund the starting stages of another idea.
There are many founders who started with a single app; built it – or had it built – and saw they had a knack for it. Before long, they had an entire portfolio of apps that were being downloaded; enough to make it their primary source of income.
About the Author:
Tomi Adewole is a super-connector with ManageBacklinks.io who helps businesses with building their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. Tomi frequently writes about the latest advancements in the SaaS world and digital marketing.