What on earth is Passive Income I hear you cry! I thought this myself not so long ago but basically, its a way of creating income from very little initial work. It could be from selling stock photos, Flash animations, templates etc.

Passive Income can be see as an extra way for you to generate income in hard times. The main benefit to you is that generally it is only a relatively small amount of time input for you initially and then after this you keep earning money.

How does it work!?

Its really very simple. You create something to sell (web template, photo, Flash animation etc) and then upload to a website that can sell your creation for you. Each time your creation is sold, you earn a commission. The commission you make varies depending on the website you are selling on and the type of product you are selling. It basically means that potentially you can make money while you sleep.

Here are some things you can do:

Website Designer

If you have skills in web design, why not produce website templates for WordPress that you can sell through template sites… or how about producing Magento templates - Magento is fast becoming a very popular e-commerce platform and, at the moment, there aren’t a great deal of really good templates out there. WordPress on the other hand is a completely different matter. There are TONS of brilliant WordPress templates, many of them available for a free download. If you are considering offering WordPress then you really need to find yourself a niche or do something completely different to everyone else.

Other options would be to produce a new online web application. Im sure that most web designers have heard of 37 Signals and there excellent range of online applications… well, this is basically how they started out.

Photographer

This one is more obvious. If you are a photographer then you can sell your photos online through stock photography sites. You earn commission on every image that you sell. If you are thinking of doing this then you need to make sure that your photos are of a very high quality and you have found a niche.

Graphic Designer

For a very small amount of time, you could add your design creations to t-shirts, mugs, hats, mousemats… pretty much anything. The good news is you dont need to print these items yourself! There are a few really good websites out there that enable you to create your own store online, for free, and then attach your designs to a range of products.

Writers

Writers or experts in their fields can make income from selling books… yep, without a publisher. There is a great site out there called Lulu that enables you to sell your creation directly through their website. Well worth a look.

Important to Remember

If you are looking at any of these ideas as an additional way to make income then you need to remember that the qualuity of your item needs to be very good. Nobody will purchase anything that looks half-finished or rushed. Its also very important to remember that you need to find your own niche. Its pointless basically reproducing something that has been done hundreds of times before.

Some ideas for you

Here are some ideas for you to make Passive Income:

• Website Templates (WordPress, Magento, Expression Engine, Joomla etc)
• Flash Animations
• Audio Loops and Sound Effects
• Icons
• Layered Photoshop Files
• Vector Illustrations
• Photographs
• Graphic art of apparel
• Books
• Instruction Guides
• Online Applications

That’s just a taster of some of the things you could do.

Sites of Interest

FlashDen - www.flashden.net
for: selling Flash, audio and videos

Theme Forrest - www.themeforest.net
for: selling web templates

Graphic River - www.graphicriver.net
for: layered Photoshop files, vectors, icons

iStockPhoto - www.istockphoto.com
for: selling photos, video, audio, illustrations

VectorStock - www.vectorstock.com
for: selling vector illustrations

ShutterStock - www.shutterstock.com
for: selling photos

Lulu - www.lulu.com
for: self publishing

Etsy - www.etsy.com
for: selling homemade items

Zazzle - www.zazzle.com
for: selling products

CafePress - www.cafepress.com
for: selling products

Would love to hear your comments and suggestions. Have you got a success story, other ideas, other websites? Leave your comments in the space below!