How to Grow Your Passive Income & Affiliate Marketing Income

Over the last few years, I’ve really gotten into passive income.

I mean *really* fallen in love with it. The primary reason was so I could earn a living while I was doing other things (like playing pickleball, shopping with my sister, enjoying a day on the lake, etc.).

When you say the phrase “passive income,” most people will tell you they want more, but hardly any of them are actually moving forward in the process. Why is that?

Let me tell you the truth about affiliate marketing income, why it’s something I believe every online business person needs — and the easiest way to get started.

But first, raise your hand if you:

• Feel like you’re tethered to your computer/tablet/phone.
• Wish there was a way to live the Internet dream of producing sales while you sleep.
• Would love more free time to spend with the hubs/wife/kids/friends.
• Could seriously use some monetary breathing room, but you just can’t work any more hours.

This is where passive income strategies come into play. Whether you are ready to get started earning more revenue or you’ve done this before but lost your mojo, now is the best time to engage!

Does Passive Income Require Work (Really)?

Some people define passive income as a zero-effort process, saying you do absolutely nothing and still generate dollars. Uh… no. It’s “passive” (aka lethargic = with little effort) not coma income. Even if you won the lottery, you still had to do something first… buy a ticket.

You do have to put some work into passive income, but after that, it produces for you on a larger scale and without you being hands-on all day, every second.

For instance, you can take 30 minutes to pop off an email, then go do some client work while sale notices flow into your inbox! You created an email once — OK, that took a little effort. But now it’s producing sales over and over and over. That one simple action (sending an email) resulted in dozens or hundreds of reactions (people buying something).

That’s called one-to-many marketing. When you perform some task for a client, that’s one-to-one work. You still receive revenue, but you have to repeat the entire process to earn more.

Passive income is exciting! It’s encouraging! It’s easier than you think!

Why You Need to Include Passive & Affiliate Income in Your Biz

Ever heard of Robert Kiyosaki? He wrote a book called “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” He’s considered one of the smartest minds in the personal finance world.

Robert says, “To obtain monetary freedom, one must be either a business owner, an investor, or both, generating passive income, particularly on a monthly basis.”

He’s right. People who solely work for other people (and do nothing else) are far less likely to earn the living they dream about than those who incorporate passive income.

That’s because time is the enemy.

There are only so many hours in a day that a person can work. If you are dependent on the number of hours you can perform and bill, you’ll hit a brick wall (or ceiling or whichever other metaphor you prefer) every time.

Which Passive Income Ideas Work Well?

Technically speaking, you can earn revenue passively by moving your savings into a high-yield money market account. When you put some of your earnings into an IRA or 401(k), that generates passive income. Purchasing a home and renting it is another way to work once and get repeated income.

As far as marketing is concerned, here are some of my favorite passive income ideas.

• Digital Course Creation – Developing my own courses and selling those (to my list and through affiliates) brings in a great deal of money for me. This is a complex and advanced process, however, so there is quite a learning curve.
• Monthly Memberships – Similar to course creation, monthly memberships are paid for each month in exchange for new material, access, etc. Instead of creating a product once and selling it, you would create new content every month and sell to many people (your members).
• Affiliate Sales (As an Affiliate for Others) – One of my most profitable means of income. Low learning curve, no major investments.
• Affiliate Sales (From Others Who Sell My Products) – It works both ways! Affiliates can bring in a huge number of sales for course creators and service providers… if you know how to manage and motivate them.
• Selling Ads – Have a blog? A podcast? A video channel? You can recruit sponsors who will pay you to mention them, show their ads, or place their banners on your site. You would choose the timeframe. Monthly campaign runs are typical. They are moderately difficult and require that you know how to insert video or digital ads into various platforms.
• Publishing on Medium.com – This is something I’ve just gotten into and, so far, I love it! Not only does it drive traffic to my site, but it also pays me when people “clap” for my articles. Low learning curve, no monetary investment.

There are dozens of other passive income ideas, but these are the ones I find most profitable.

The Easiest Way to Start Making Passive Income

If we are talking about online marketing, the easiest way to earn passive income is affiliate marketing / referral sales, hands down. I love this for what it offers as well as what it does not require.

With affiliate income, you’re simply making recommendations. You find a product you use and love, sign up as an affiliate, and notify your friends / followers / clients about it.

While you can use the affiliate marketing methods below, you don’t need to have:

• A large email list (or any email list)
• A social following
• Expensive video equipment
• Upfront cash to buy inventory
• Budget for paid ads
• Your own website

Choose from what you have available now and work with that. Don’t have an email list, but do have a YouTube channel? Make videos about the affiliate products and post them. You can absolutely start small and expand as your income grows.

How Much Can You Make in Affiliate Marketing Income?

There is no limit to how much you can make. Seriously. It all depends on how much time you have to devote to affiliate marketing. If you work with a virtual assistant, s/he can do much of the work for you.

Here are some real-life examples:

If you promoted:

• A $27 ebook that paid 50% commissions and sold just 20 copies, that would give you an additional $270!
• A $57 video course that paid 50% commissions and made just 15 sales, you’d have another $427.50!
• A $97 web training that paid 50% commissions and made 10 sales, another $485 would be in your PayPal account!

Yes, there are super affiliates who make hundreds or thousands of sales with a single email, but guess what? They started exactly where you are right now.

Already an Affiliate Making Some Revenue? Here Are a Few Quick Passive Income Ideas

1. Use a P.S. – This has become one of my favorite passive income ideas! It’s quick, easy, and it works! Add a P.S. to your emails — any emails. This is one of the most-read sections of email communication. I pop a quick sentence or two into an email and almost always get at least 1 extra sale.Don’t have a big list? This classic book from Connie Green shows how she got huge profits from a tiny list.

2. Post in Social Groups – Unlike your public business page or personal profile, groups tend to be more active and receptive. There’s a greater chance that people in a group will read and act on your post.

3. Create Low-Content Books to Sell on Amazon – Don’t have a list to email or a social following? It’s not difficult to create low-content books to sell on Amazon. For example, journals are H-O-T right now. They don’t require a lot of content (because most of the book is filled with lines for someone to write on).

D’vorah Lansky has an excellent course on how to create take-action journals and sell them using a print-on-demand system through Amazon.

Jim Cockrum and his team show you how to create Amazon KDP low-content books to sell for recurring passive income.

There are so many options when it comes to affiliate marketing income that getting started is as simple as making a choice.

Whatever you do, pick one and get started this week! It will take some effort on your part to kick things off, but once you make your first sale, the thrill you feel will fuel your drive to continue down the path. Consistence is key!

Need help finding and choosing which affiliate products will make you the most profits? That’s what my Passive Income Jumpstart course is all about.

It’s complete with checklists and cheat sheets, so you’ll quickly discover the exact process I use to scope out the best affiliate products.

Get access today and save $10 when you use code PASSIVEBLOG.

Have questions about making passive income or affiliate marketing income? Talk to me below!

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