Earning money while you sleep might seem inconceivable, but it is possible and most definitely doable.
This is not about how to make money overnight but about earning passive income. The ways to do it can take some work. But with today’s economy, it is more crucial than ever.
That being said, here are 20 proven ways to make money while you sleep, as Warren Buffett would advise.
Best Ways to Make Money While You Sleep
1. Invest in the Stock Market
Invest your money in safe stocks to earn profits doing nothing while also letting your asset grow in value. Creating a diversified, low-cost portfolio that you can hold across long periods can lead to making passive income.
Investment apps today allow you to start investing online for as little as $1 or $5. You can buy fractional shares (instead of portions of full shares) of companies of your choice. Open an online brokerage account to buy and sell various investments, such as stocks and mutual funds.
2. Invest in Real Estate
Commercial real estate properties are among the best investments due to their potential for higher cash flow. If you invest in a commercial property, you can likely enjoy a higher income and more financial benefits.
Investing in real estate by becoming a landlord of a rental property can be both profitable and satisfying. You can use leverage to purchase a property and pay only a portion of the total cost. Over time, you can pay off the balance plus interest.
3. Create a Blog
Start a blog you can monetize down the road. Pick a niche to focus your content on and determine your target audience. Sticking to a niche helps attract a dedicated following that will be interested enough to subscribe and give your blog significant traffic.
Choose a blogging platform and a web host, or you can go with a website builder if you are a beginner. When making content, set specific goals and identify your target audience. Optimize your site and your content for search engines. Produce regular content that your audience will look forward to.
4. Start a YouTube Channel
If you have an interest or expertise that you can make content out of, start a YouTube channel. Create captivating videos about your chosen topic and upload them regularly to build a following. Traffic will start slowly, but it will gradually grow, especially if you are consistent in producing valuable content.
When you create content for your website or blog, you can also produce a video format and upload it to your YouTube channel. This way, you combine various methods and content for every topic you tackle.
5. Write an eBook
Educational eBooks often sell well. Many people buy eBooks that provide useful and relevant information. Before writing an eBook, find a profitable niche market. Develop content for a specific audience and produce relevant information, such as in-depth how-to guides or a tips book.
Once you complete it, you can put it up for sale on Amazon, Noble, or any major retailer. Upfront marketing is vital before your eBook turns into a passive income stream. Try marketing it using tools like Google advertising, Facebook ads, or the Twitter ad network.
6. Create and Sell Online Courses
Do you have an expertise that you can teach others with confidence? Online courses provide great income potential due to their high perceived value. Consider developing an online course, producing educational content, and selling it for profit.
As with other digital products, you can sell it repeatedly. If you produce superior content, many people will be willing to pay for it. This then lets you earn a significant amount on every sale. Promote your course on your website and social media accounts.
7. Run a Long Livestream
Livestreaming can be profitable and an exceptional opportunity to earn extra money. The length of your live stream will depend on the platform you use for your broadcast. The different live streaming platforms you can use include Twitch, TikTok, Amazon Live, and Facebook Live.
The different ways you can make money from live streaming include subscriptions, advertisements, donations, affiliate programs, ad revenue sharing, selling your own merchandise, and paid content.
Related: Ways To Make Money On Social Media
8. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing offers a fast and profitable way to make money with minimal investment of time. In this method, you promote a product or service of a company and earn commissions when someone purchases through your affiliate link.
When finding affiliate programs to join, you can start with low-paying, high-volume products or those that do not pay much but have a high demand. Amazon’s affiliate program falls under this category and pays its affiliates a 10% commission.
9. Sell Stock Photos
Consider selling your photos online and earn income while you sleep. Start by selling your photos to sites like Shutterstock. You can also produce stock photos and sell them on platforms like Etsy or Creative Market.
When selling your photos on the abovementioned sites, take the time to fill out your metadata. Add titles, tags, and descriptions to help people find your photos. Make sure to complete them to make your photos easy to find and subsequently boost your odds of a sale.
10. Create a Website
Your strategies for making money while you sleep should include creating a niche website. It will take time and effort to start and maintain a content-based website, but when it does succeed, then passive income will often follow.
Websites can generate revenue through affiliate marketing, display ads, sponsored content, selling digital products, etc. The first six months or so may not yield much, but with a consistent source of traffic, it will start to generate money regularly. The trick is to keep producing content that will attract more people to your site.
11. Sell Apps
Apps are in-demand nowadays. If you are proficient in coding, consider creating an app that many will find practical and useful. You can also hire a coder and designer to develop one for you. They may agree to work on it for a profit share or require an upfront payment.
If you offer your app for free, it is still possible to make money from it. It can be through subscriptions, in-app purchases, sponsorships, selling merchandise, affiliate or referral marketing, and the freemium upsell model. With freemium, you can offer some app features for free and save the best ones for paying customers.
12. Rent Your Room or House on Airbnb
Renting out your room or entire house on Airbnb is a hands-off way to earn at least a few hundred dollars a month. Your actual earnings will depend on the market that your house is in and how often people rent your property.
Be an effective host by having cleaners after the guests are gone. Always be ready to answer questions or concerns of potential guests. Decide what you are willing to provide and how much it will cost. Update your Airbnb listing and strive to get high ratings and good reviews.
13. Invest in Bitcoin
Investing in Bitcoin can be a lucrative strategy as Bitcoin is more stable now than it was previously. To start investing in it, find a Bitcoin Exchange to join. Obtain a Bitcoin wallet and connect your wallet to a bank account and then place your Bitcoin order.
As a beginner, you must start small and use only an amount you can afford to lose. Before deciding how much cryptocurrency to buy, it is important to consider your budget, financial goals, and risk tolerance.
14. Open a High-Interest Savings Account
Make your money work harder for you by putting it in a high-interest savings account, which can have interest rates exceeding 1%. Compare this to a regular savings account, which typically only offers 0.01%.
Before putting your money in a high-interest savings account, it is essential to have an emergency savings account. Keep the emergency fund in a separate account, which you can access when necessary.
15. Rent Your Car
There are several ways you can make money from your car and offset some costs of owning one. Consider renting out your vehicle to people who need one. You can use your earnings to cover car payments. This is also a great opportunity to make extra money and possibly generate profits.
Turo, the Airbnb of cars, is one way to earn passive income by renting your car to others. Use the app to list your car in a popular location and quote higher rates. If your vehicle is in high demand, you can earn a higher rate and potentially higher income.
Related: Get paid to advertise on your car.
16. Rent Out Your Parking Space
Earn around $50 to $300 a month by renting out your extra driveway space to a neighbor. If you live near a shopping center, a school, or a stadium, you can take advantage of this by registering your parking space and renting it out on a daily or weekly basis.
Sign up with online parking marketplaces like Neighbor or ParkingForMe. You can choose to offer a daily or weekly parking space. Depending on your chosen marketplace, you can receive payments directly from the renter or through a digital or contactless payment method.
17. Start a Dropshipping Business
The dropshipping business has exploded, with everyone now ordering everything online. As a store owner, you will not have to deal with inventory, warehousing, labeling, and shipping. All you need to do is start a dropshipping store and have a third party deliver the goods.
Build your own e-commerce store using Shopify, source items from sites like AliExpress to get better prices, and sell them through Amazon FBA. You can also choose another dropshipping company to handle the work while you market your store and manage customer orders.
18. Sell Print-on-Demand Products
Do you have a graphic design that would look great on a mug, cap, t-shirt, or other merchandise? Consider selling print-on-demand products. Managing a print-on-demand shop has fewer risks, and there is no need to invest in inventory or deliver products.
Even so, you have to put in time and effort in the beginning. Decide on a niche and what to sell, and begin creating designs. Choose where to sell them and set up an online store. Pick your supplier and set a price. Market your store on your website, channel, and social media accounts.
19. Participate in a Research Study That Pays You to Sleep
This is where you literally sleep and get paid. Researchers today hold experiments and studies to better understand the importance of sleep and how it affects one’s life. Universities, hospitals, clinics, and research centers offer money to participants who enroll in clinical trials.
The Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder searches for sleep participants to join its sleep studies. Those who join can earn up to $150 for 13 hours of participation. Families with preschoolers can also participate in specific studies and get paid up to $580 cash and a $200 U.S. Savings Bond.
20. Create a Membership Community
A membership community is where you can have subscribers who pay a monthly fee to receive added high-quality content and information exclusive to subscribers. Such communities are a means to earn passive income.
Every time a member joins, you get paid the sign-up fee. You also set up recurring payments and earn from renewals. Keep your subscribers by continuously providing fresh content with value. Content can include blog posts, videos, eBooks, and podcasts.
