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Are you seeking more information about what are some ways to build passive income for students? If so, welcome to Internet of Business. I wish I would have come across a blog post like this while I was still in undergraduate work. In fact, the information I will be sharing here I have yet to have heard even in my Doctoral work. I am working on my Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree at the University of Missouri-St Louis.
That being said, residual income strategies are not taught even in business schools. What is taught is how to be a highly paid employee. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, there are many people around the world who love what they do for a living. The problem is for most people, one source of income is not enough.
Yes, you can have a great job but there are only 24 hours in a day. You and I get tired and need sleep. Does your employer pay you for the work your co-workers do? Of course not, as an employee you are only paid for the work that you do.
What is the best income source for students?
When it comes to building residual income you have to think outside the box. The best passive income ideas for students is help solve a problem. For example, I create running courses at rundreamachieve.com, a website I created in 2011. I use a software called Podia that I highly recommend you look into. Remember, we all have a topic or something we can do well. Why not create a course around that particular topic.
Can you teach a topic that other people find hard? If so, you are thinking in the right way. I have run 2:19:35 for the marathon. So, as a running coach I help other runners run faster based on what I have been taught.
Podia is a platform you can use to create products that other people will be willing to invest in. Digital entrepreneurship is another massive way to make passive income for students. Here is the bad news. It takes time and effort to create a product. That being said, once it is made you can continue to sell it over and over again for years to come. In addition, Podia doesn't take any of your profits like other platforms like teachable.com does. You can make as many products as you wish and it is still the same $33 USD per month to use Podia.
Try Podia out for FREE for 14 days.
How can a student start a business?
The great news is that you don't have to have a lot of money to start your own business even as a student. Remember, students come from different background and are of different ages. I am 45 working on a Doctoral degree. So, I, too, am a student. That being said, most of what the school systems teach will not drastically help you in the way of building additional revenue streams.
Employees have to keep working hard for linear income. Income that stops coming in the moment you stop trading time for it. Residual income continues to come in for having worked hard once. My recommendation? I would become a digital entrepreneur. You can do this many ways. For example…
Start a YouTube Channel
It is free to start a YouTube channel. I started mine a little over 3 years ago. My only regret is that I didn't have started sooner. Remember, you can start earning money from YouTube ads running on your videos. That being said, you need a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in order to get your channel monetized. Yes, this will take time to achieve but there are other ways and means to speed up the process…
So, the more videos you are making the more people you are going to watch your channel and sign up as subscribers. What I see many students doing through is creating content about anything that comes to mind.
You don't want to do this. Remember, you want to solve a need that other people have. So, use softwares like TubeBuddy that will help you do exactly that. TubeBuddy will help you find keywords that people are already searching for.
In addition, they will be keywords that have high search volume within YouTube but low competition. Your channel will grow much faster and more people will see your videos if you create content around what they are already searching for.
Try TubeBuddy out for 30 days for just $9. Also, you can get a full refund if you are not satisfied.
What can student sell to make money?
There are endless ways a student can make residual income online. As mentioned above, Podia, helps you to create digital products you can sell over and over again. Digital entrepreneurs are making significant income online. That being said, it isn't easy and does take time. One of the best things you can do is…
Start Your Own Blog
Blogging is one of the best passive income ideas for students. The problem is you have to be willing to create content. Content is King. Remember, always place your focus on the needs of others. What problem can you solve? How can you help someone else to get what they want? People want to earn more income online. In addition, they want ti look and feel better.
Are you interested in health and wellness? Would you like to get paid for sharing nutrition with other people? Well, starting a home based business is another one of the very best passive income ideas for students. I started my nutrition home business for $94.10 USD and it has continued to pay me for years. No, it isn't simple. Yes, you have to be willing to put in the up-front work.
Become an Affiliate
One of the best methods for generating passive income for students? Sign up to be an affiliate for someone else's product. I have mentioned in this post some ways of creating your own products. That being said, you don't always have to make your own products to make residual income. For example, you can sign up for free to be an affiliate for my running and fitness products.
My Sub 3 Hour Marathon Pro course sells for $167 USD. So, as an affiliate you can earn 40% each and every time someone buys that product or $66.80 USD. In addition, you also earn 40% of each sale on any of the other products that I have created as well. Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to earn passive income. I mention to start your own blog in this post for a reason. It is the headquarters for where all your content and ideas are housed.
Remember, as a student you want to build your brand. So, you always want to be thinking about new ways to create new revenue streams. Yes, there are many others like real estate or crypto assets. That being said, you first need money in order to invest in these types of assets.
Blogging Resources
Again, we are talking about residual (passive) income ideas here. Income that is going to continue to come in for having worked hard once. We aren't taught this in our school systems, respectfully. What we are taught is to climb the corporate latter and be higher paid employees. Remember, the highly taxed paycheck only arrives every 2 weeks or month. In addition, your income is capped as an employee. So, you have to start paying attention to these passive income ideas for students to get beyond living paycheck to paycheck.
My top recommendation is to start your own Siteground Blog. Siteground is the website host that I use. You can start your own website for only $17.99 USD (or the equivalent in your countries currency). Remember, to operate a website it has to be hosted somewhere. You will want to make sure that if something goes wrong with your website your host can fix it for you. I found Siteground to be the very best at this.
It is only $3.99 USD per month or $35.88 USD per year to host your website at Siteground. As a student, you want to build your brand. One of the best ways to do this is create content around your passion on your own website. In addition, you can link your YouTube channel to it as well.
Learn more about Siteground here.
Make Sure to Pick the Right Keywords
Remember, if you start a blog or YouTube channel, make sure to focus on finding the right keywords. I mentioned the software I use above for creating content on YouTube. That being said, if you are blogging you want to make sure to use the right software. Blogging takes time and effort. A major mistake I see students making is writing blog posts that no one will ever read.
The reason being is they are either writing about highly competitive keywords or one that no one is searching for. I use a software called KWFinder to ensure I don't make this mistake. I want to make sure that you don't make it either. KWFinder helps you to find long-tail keywords that have high search volume but with little to no competition.
I would focus on finding keywords that a score of 5 to 20. KWFinder easily helps you filter “easy” keywords from “very hard” keywords you will not be able to rank for. New bloggers with new websites have to focus even more on ensuring they are choosing easy keywords. The reason being is a new website has no backlinks (votes from other websites) pointing to it.
Try KWFinder out for FREE for 10 days.
Which business is best for students?
There a lot of students who start their own ETSY store. ETSY allows to you sell both physical as well as digital products on their website. There are product creators there selling everything from jewelry to digital download products. Also, you can create your own pricing using ETSY. I would recommend looking into Canva. Canva can help speed up your designs.
In addition, with Canva you can create digital download products. As a YouTuber you can make beautiful, eye-catching YouTube video thumbnails. In addition, if you are on social media Canva can help you make designs for Instagram, Facebook banners and much more.
I would also highly recommend starting your own home based business.
Closing Thoughts
So, now you know some new passive income ideas for students that even your teachers won't bring up. My hope is that some of what you have learned in this brief post will impact your life. You are more than welcome to reach out to me at nathanpennington [at] protonmail [dot] come if you have any other questions.
I would also focus on investing in your own personal development. The two courses that helped me to start earning income were Pinterest Traffic Avalanche and the 6-Figure Blogger course. Again, you have to be thinking outside the box. The majority of good, hard working people have been taught an old, tired, Industrial Aged philosophy. Work hard for the paycheck and rely on one source of income.
If you have 7 to 20 bills to pay is one source of income going to help you create the lifestyle that you desire? It will be difficult and a long road if you continue to focus on this method of generating income. Yes, you can still make money as an employee. That being said, just make sure your focus is on how can I use leverage and build more revenue steams. Go back and scroll up, the revenue generating softwares I have mentioned in this post will help you generate residual income.
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