If you’re tired of working a 9-to-5 job and find yourself dreaming of achieving financial freedom, the time to get started is now. Don’t wait another year to act on passive income ideas that can set you free.

4 Top Passive Income Ideas for 2020

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1. Blogging

Blogging is one of the easiest side hustles to get started, which is why it tops many lists of passive income ideas. If you’ve been holding back on starting a blog because you hate writing, the first thing you should know is you don’t necessarily have to do any writing yourself.

It all starts with building a site people want to visit. When you choose a good host, like Siteground or WordPress, they’ll take care of many of the technical details so you can worry about content.

Your content needs to draw people, but all you really need is a great idea. There are plenty of content production companies who can provide you with videos, pics, and written posts within the parameters you set up. The best will also offer SEO optimization, so your site ranks highly. Yes, it takes an initial investment to get things started, but once you have enough visitors to your site, you can start making money.

Advertising

Advertisers will pay you to put their ads on your site. It doesn’t get much simpler than this. The more traffic you get, the more ads you’ll attract.

Affiliate Marketing

Use your website to promote another website, platform, or product. When people click on the link at your site and visit or buy, you get paid.

Sell Leads

As your website grows, you’ll have a list of email and social media contacts that could be valuable to a business in a related niche.

2. Drop Ship Retailing

You can go into business for yourself as an eCommerce retailer with just a minimum of investment. With modern drop shipping models, you don’t have to do anything except set up the site and take orders. You don’t even have to stock inventory. Drop shippers like Dropship Direct or Wholesale2b do that for you.

When customers visit your site and place an order, you automatically forward it to your drop shipper, who then packs and ships it in your name. There’s no overhead, and very little you need to do once you have everything set up.

Just remember that customers are ordering from you, so if something goes wrong, you’ll get the blame. That means choosing a reputable drop shipper, even if it means paying a little more for the service.

3. Sell Your Own Digital Product

This can be anything from an ebook to an online course, an app to a piece of software. If you have some IT skills, put them to use designing something people need. If you have a particular skill of any sort, consider making a video course people pay to access.

Whenever someone wants your product, that’s money in your bank account. You can promote any of these products on your social media accounts, too. They can be useful additions to your blog or a completely separate stream of income. Either way, once you’ve done the work to produce your product, you don’t have to do anything more; but your product will keep working for you.

4. Get Started in Real Estate

Real estate investment is one of the most lucrative passive income ideas and one of the faster ways to move forward towards real financial freedom. It seems intimidating, but much of that is due to insider terminology. Once you know the terms, it all de-mystifies.

Start by evaluating your finances while you start learning the terminology. Financially, you need to be beyond survival mode and have some savings as well as money to invest.

Baby Steps

An easy way to get started is with real estate investment trusts or online investment platforms. With these, you can invest smaller amounts and essentially take part in crowd-funded investments. You’ll own a small stake in a commercial property. These are great for getting started, but you’ll want to move on as soon as you can to owning your own rental property.

Rental Properties

This can start simply. Buy a four-bedroom apartment, live in one bedroom, and rent out the other three to pay off the mortgage quickly while also bringing in a bit of passive income. Then sell and use the payout to invest in something even better. When you live in the place you’re renting, you can usually qualify for a residential loan, which comes with better terms than a commercial one.

Flipping Properties

If you’re ready for a bigger risk, flipping homes is that great risk: but it also offers greater rewards. You need some real estate experience to do this safely. Consider starting out with a partner, like a contractor, until you learn the ropes and feel comfortable doing it all yourself.

Take The First Step

The first step is always the hardest, but you’ll never achieve the freedom you dream of until you take that step. Step out and start a blog or eCommerce site, start saving for a real estate investment, or write the first line of your new ebook. Make today the day you look back on and say, “that’s the day I decided to be free.”