AFFILIATE MARKETING
25 Tried & True Methods in 2023
Want to learn how to make money while you sleep? Look no further.
We’ve compiled some of the best and most interesting ways to make money while you sleep, both online and offline.
From relatively simple and blasé to totally bizarre, keep this list handy if you want to start making money any time of day or night.
How to Make Money While You Sleep
The internet is ripe with ways to start making money at any time of day. Here are 25 of the top passive income ideas to cash in while you’re nappin’.
1. Create a Niche Website
One of the best ways to make money while you sleep is to create a niche website.
Depending on the amount of work you put in at the beginning, niche websites have the potential to earn anywhere from a few hundred dollars a month to well over 6 to 7 figures a year!
And we put together a popular and free guide for how to build a successful niche website here!
You can also get great value from the awesome step-by-step video walkthrough of the Authority Site System (TASS) by the industry experts at Authority Hacker.
2. Start Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to start making money while you sleep. This is a business where you earn a commission for recommending products for sale.
There are many ways to do it, and some options can have a pretty quick payoff. Here’s how to do it.
- Pick a niche.
- Sign up for affiliate programs.
- Create content in the niche and promote the products.
- Send interested parties to the product sales page with your affiliate link.
If you want to see results with this as fast as possible, TikTok is a great place to start. This can be a passive income stream once it gets going!
For more ideas, check out our list of 13 ways to start affiliate marketing with no money invested!
3. Try Amazon FBA
FBA stands for ‘Fulfillment by Amazon’. This is an online business model where you sell products directly on the Amazon marketplace. You purchase the product, ship it to Amazon’s warehouses, and list it on the marketplace.
Then, sit back and relax while you earn passive income while you sleep with Amazon FBA.
And check out this full guide to growing an Amazon FBA business based on a real success story here.
4. Self-Publish on Amazon
Did you know you can self-publish books of all kinds on Amazon and make money while you sleep? You don’t even have to be a writer! You can hire a writer or sell low and no-content books like journals and notebooks. Publishing on Amazon can be insanely profitable!
Luckily we have a walkthrough on how to self-publish a book on Amazon here.
5. Sell an Online Course
One of the coolest ways to make money while you sleep is to create and sell an online course. You literally get paid for your niche knowledge at all hours of the day!
Online courses are a great way to earn passive income. Once you create the course, it can sell on autopilot with the help of ads, automated webinars, SEO, and social media. And we have a full guide on how to build an online course to help you get started!
6. Sell Printables and Digital Downloads on Etsy
Etsy is one of the leading online marketplaces, and digital downloads are a hot seller.
You can create and sell printables and digital downloads on Etsy and have the potential for massive earnings! Sasha Hutchinson earns $11k per month using this business model.
You too can learn how to sell digital downloads on Etsy here.
Pro tip: you don’t even have to create the products yourself. Outsource it to Fiverr!
7. Try Your Hand at Dropshipping
Dropshipping has been hot for several years for a reason: it’s a great way to earn passive income while you sleep. You don’t have to worry about shipping or fulfillment because you just act as a middleman.
This process involves selling goods directly from the manufacturer at a markup, and you keep the extra profit!
And even if you have no money you can learn how to start a dropshipping business here!
8. Start a YouTube Channel
Starting a YouTube channel can be a great way to make money while you’re asleep or at any time of day. Aside from earning passive income from YouTube ads, you can monetize your channel in many ways (just make sure you how to find the right YouTube niche).
Ideas for monetizing your channel include selling merch, affiliate marketing, selling your own products, online courses, and more.
9. Start Investing Your Extra Cash
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a millionaire to start investing and seeing results. You can start investing in the stock market with pocket change!
The only thing you need to get started as an investor is to literally just get started… And there are many apps and websites out there to help you get started fast!
You can get started with real estate investment trusts (REITs) with a minimum investment of $1,000. Or you can try investing in the stock market!
Acorns is a mobile app that seamlessly (and safely) integrates with your bank account and starts investing your spare change from purchases in the stock market. You are in total control of the amount and how often!
10. Invest in Websites
Yes, investing in websites is a thing, and it can be a pretty popular thing to do, too. If you have a big chunk of change, you can purchase a website that is already making money. This is a great way to start making money while you sleep almost instantly.
You can purchase a legit website of any age that’s already earning cash on marketplaces like MotionInvest.
11. Open a High-Yield Savings Account
A high-yield savings account is an account that offers a higher interest rate than a traditional savings account. Ally bank, SoFi, and Capital One are all well-known banks that offer high-yield savings accounts.
While this idea won’t make you rich overnight or without a large amount in savings, it is a good idea for those who don’t want to try riskier investment options.
12. Rent Out Your Extra Room
Do you have an extra room or living space on your property? Rent it out to travelers or local renters to earn some extra money via rental income!
While this option involves trusting strangers in your personal space, it can be a great way to earn extra money if you have space available.
13. Rent Out Your Vehicle or RV
If you have a vehicle or camper that you don’t use that often, why not rent it out to make some extra money?
Turo is a legit peer-to-peer car sharing platform that works similar to AirBnB. If you have a camper or RV, you can rent it out on platforms like Outdoorsy or RVShare.
14. Make Money By Live Streaming While You Sleep
This is bizarre but it’s totally legit and people do it every single day. Live streaming while you sleep to earn money from sleeping might seem absurd, but it works!
People on streaming platforms like Twitch and TikTok are literally streaming themselves sleeping and earning money from viewers. Viewers can pay to play sounds to wake the “Sleepfluencers” up, or send gifts that have monetary value for the streamer.
Learn more about sleep streaming here on Sleeopolis.
15. Sell Your Photos on Stock Photo Websites
Phone cameras have the ability to take incredibly high-quality photos these days.
If you have an eye for photography and a phone full of photos, upload them to stock photo website to earn extra money every time someone downloads them!
And you guessed it! We have a guide to help you sell pictures online here!
16. Create and Sell Your Own SaaS
SaaS is “Software as a Service”, and creating and selling SaaS is a great way to make money while you sleep. Spencer Haws, founder of Niche Pursuits, is a great example on creating SaaS businesses without having to create the software himself.
Creating a software business is a great way to start making money or to add as an extra passive income stream to your own business or website.
You can even start a successful software business as a non-technical founder as described from experience.
17. Sell Print-On-Demand Products
Print-on-demand or POD is a business model where you sell products with your own graphics and designs on them. When a customer buys, the POD company prints the product and ships it to the customer directly, and you keep the profit.
You don’t even have to be a designer… There are many marketplaces where you can buy POD designs! Popular products include T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, and more.
Not sure how to do it?
Learn how to start a t-shirt business from home here!
18. Sell WordPress Themes
If you have an eye for UX and love creating custom WordPress themes, you can sell them on marketplaces like Etsy and Creative Market.
Bloggers and new website owners love aesthetically pleasing themes, simple to install, and fast. Popular themes for designing on include Astra, Kadence, and GeneratePress.
19. Sell POD Designs
If you’re a designer or love to draw, you can earn money selling the designs for print-on-demand sellers. There is a high demand for high-quality, unique designs for POD sellers.
You can sell your designs on platforms like Fiverr, Dribbble, Creative Fabrica, and Creative Market.
20. Resell PLR Products
PLR stands for Private Label Rights. PLR products are pre-made products like ebooks, articles, notebooks, planners, and online courses that you can purchase and legally resell as your own. The beauty of this business model is that you have to do minimal work to get started, and it’s pretty passive once you get going!
High-quality PLR sites include White Label Perks, Piggy Makes Bank, and PLR.me.
21. Sell Notion Templates
Notion is an organization and project planning powerhouse, and Notion templates sell like hotcakes! Since Notion has so many capabilities, you can create dozens of template types for many different uses. You can sell Notion templates on platforms like Etsy, Creative Market, and the Notion Template Gallery.
22. Start a Vending Machine Business
A vending machine business might not be the first thought that comes to mind to make some extra money, but it can be incredibly lucrative.
If you want to learn how to make money while you sleep with an offline business, check out this article on how to start a vending machine business.
23. Start a Membership Website
A membership site is a great way to start a money-making website right away. This is a type of subscription website where people have to pay to view the content. Ideas for membership websites include online courses, software, coaching, and more.
With a membership site you can charge less than you would for an online course, but you’ll have subscribers that pay you every single month to keep their access.
24. Flip Websites
Flipping websites for profit can be a great side hustle that can earn you money while you sleep. While this method does create work to create the websites, there are a couple ways you can make money with it.
First, you can earn money from the websites from advertising and affiliate revenue, which comes in passively with traffic. These passive income streams can earn even more money once you sell them! Once you list the website for sale on a marketplace, it can sell any time – day or night.
25. Get Paid to Sleep (Literally) By Becoming a Mattress Tester
Last but not least, you can get paid to literally sleep as a mattress or bed tester. Occasionally, mattress companies hire professional bed testers to spend a significant amount of time relaxing and napping on their mattresses for a paycheck. One company offers a salary of $33k per year for sleeping on their beds!
That’s right: a passive income stream just from sleeping.
But that’s not the only way to become a mattress tester – you could start a mattress review website, TikTok, or YouTube channel and start earning commissions from reviewing and recommending mattresses!
AFFILIATE MARKETING
Cut Costs, Not Features with This Microsoft Bundle Deal
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
Software subscription fees can quickly add up, and for small-business owners, entrepreneurs, or freelancers, these costs can eat into profits. Businesses spend approximately 29% of their IT budgets on software, according to a 2023 survey by Gartner.
For business professionals who are looking to streamline workflow without paying steep subscription fees, the Ultimate 2019 Microsoft Bundle might be the perfect solution. For just $71.94 (regularly $927), this comprehensive four-part bundle offers Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019, Windows 11 Pro, Project 2019, and Visio 2019.
While it’s not the newest version of Microsoft’s software, it can deliver tremendous value for anyone seeking tools to manage their business, boost productivity, and work efficiently. The bundle offers a lifetime license, meaning you’ll get all the functionality you need without the recurring costs associated with subscription services like Microsoft 365.
However, it does come with Windows 11 Pro, which includes the recent AI updates. Windows 11 Pro delivers a modern, intuitive interface with enhanced security features such as biometric login and Smart App Control, making it ideal for professionals who prioritize privacy and usability. It’s also equipped with tools that support multitasking, such as Snap Layouts and Virtual Desktops.
For companies looking to reduce overhead without compromising essential functionality, making a one-time purchase of slightly older software is a smart financial move. This includes Office’s most popular productivity tools, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Project 2019 is a must-have for anyone who is managing large or small projects. It helps track tasks, timelines, and resources, making it easier to stay on top of deadlines and ensure your team moves in the right direction. Project 2019 gives you the tools to streamline processes and manage tasks efficiently.
Visio 2019 is ideal for creating professional diagrams, flowcharts, and organizational charts. It’s particularly valuable for visualizing complex data or workflows, which is essential for business owners looking to improve operational efficiency.
If you need a productivity boost without eating into savings, take a closer look at this bundle.
Get the Ultimate 2019 Microsoft Bundle with Office, Project, Visio, and Windows 11 Pro for $71.94 (regularly $927).
StackSocial prices subject to change.
AFFILIATE MARKETING
3 Trends That Will Change the Future of Entrepreneurship
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The most recent data from the new Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report reveals a powerful trend for the future of entrepreneurship.
Young adults, aged 18-24, had both the highest entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial intentions in the United States, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2023-2024 United States Report. With similar results in 2022, this is not just a minor shift — it’s a fundamental change that could have lasting impacts on the economy and society.
I serve as the chair of the board for the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, the entity that oversees GEM, which was founded in 1999 as a joint venture of Babson College and the London Business School. As the GEM U.S. team co-leader and a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson, I see firsthand the impact of the research created by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.
Here are three entrepreneurship trends from the new GEM report that are changing the landscape for the future.
Related: 21 Success Tips for Young and Aspiring Entrepreneurs
1. Young entrepreneurs on the rise
For years, entrepreneurship has been dominated by older, more experienced individuals, but this year’s report shows that the youngest adults are now at the forefront. According to GEM, 24% of 18- to 24-year-olds are engaged in some form of entrepreneurial activity, a higher rate than any other age group. What’s driving these young entrepreneurs is equally remarkable: They aren’t just starting businesses to make money; many are deeply committed to making a positive impact on society and the environment.
These young entrepreneurs make sustainability a key priority. They are more likely than entrepreneurs from older generations to build businesses with sustainability as a core focus — whether that means reducing their environmental footprint or focusing on social causes. This shift toward impact-driven entrepreneurship isn’t just anecdotal. GEM data shows a significant number of young entrepreneurs taking real, measurable steps to create businesses that align with their values. With sustainability as their north star, young entrepreneurs appear to be simultaneously pursuing societal impact as well as profits.
However, it’s not all smooth sailing. While young people are leading the way in starting businesses, they are also discontinuing them at higher rates than their older counterparts. The discontinuation rate for 18- to 24-year-olds is 15%, the highest among all age groups. This is not surprising, given the challenges of inexperience and more limited access to capital. Starting a business is tough, and sustaining one is even more challenging. But despite these hurdles, the enthusiasm and energy that young people bring to entrepreneurship are undeniable, and with the right support, this generation has the potential to drive substantial change.
2. Tech gender gap narrows
One of the most promising findings in the GEM report is the narrowing gender gap in the technology sector. Historically, tech startups have been dominated by men, but 2023 saw a record-low difference in the number of men and women starting tech companies. The gap has narrowed to just 1%, with 8% of women compared with 9% of men launching businesses in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.
This is a significant step forward and reflects broader efforts to support more women technology startups. Still, it’s important to recognize that while progress is being made, continued focus on providing equal opportunities is essential to ensuring this trend continues.
3. Optimistic outlook for Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs
Another highlight from the report is the optimistic outlook among Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs. These groups showed stronger confidence in their entrepreneurial abilities and lower fear of failure compared to their white counterparts. Black respondents, in particular, demonstrated high levels of resilience and self-assurance, which is vital in overcoming barriers faced in starting and sustaining businesses. This optimism is encouraging, but there’s still much work to be done in assuring ecosystems offer equal opportunities for all aspiring entrepreneurs, regardless of their background.
Related: I Wish I Received This Advice as a Young Entrepreneur
A promising future
Reflecting on the key findings of this year’s GEM report, it’s clear that the entrepreneurial landscape is changing in meaningful ways. The rise of young, sustainability-driven entrepreneurs signals a future where business is not only about profit but also about making a difference. These young entrepreneurs are launching businesses at a time when the world is looking for solutions to some of its most pressing challenges — climate change, poverty and economic recovery.
Yet, to fully realize the potential of this next generation, there must be more focus on addressing the challenges they encounter. Young entrepreneurs need access to the right resources — whether it’s funding, education or mentorship — to turn their innovative ideas into sustainable businesses. The narrowing gender gap in tech is encouraging, but we must continue to foster environments that support women and other underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship.
The GEM report paints a picture of an entrepreneurial future driven by purpose, diversity and innovation. But it also reminds us of the work that lies ahead in making entrepreneurship more accessible and sustainable. If we can provide young entrepreneurs with the tools and support they need, we will not only see more businesses being created — we’ll see businesses that are making a lasting, positive impact on the world.
AFFILIATE MARKETING
These Are the Top Side Hustles to Work Less, Make More Money
In the best-case scenario, a side hustle could turn into a multimillion-dollar business that generates a passive income stream — but at the very least, starting a side gig could help pay some bills.
A new survey from personal finance software company Quicken shows that almost half (43%) of Americans with a side hustle, or an extra source of income added to a primary income, make more money and clock in fewer hours overall than those without a side hustle.
The three most popular side hustles pursued by those who work less and make more money were personal assistance (20%), cooking and baking (16%), and caregiving (16%). One in five people with side hustles said they were business owners, too, selling products online or offering services like photography.
The majority of people with side hustles (82%) said starting a side gig helped them financially, and kept them from living paycheck to paycheck. Most with side hustles (57%) had savings equal to at least four months of living expenses.
The survey also found that, for younger side hustlers, a way to an extra income doubles as a path to becoming more employable. 44% of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) choose to start a side hustle in order to obtain skills for long-term careers, much higher than the overall 18% of Americans who started a side hustle with the same motivation.
Quicken conducted the survey online, gathering responses from more than 1,000 Americans.
Additional research on side hustles, released in August by NEXT Insurance, showed that three out of five people bring in less than $1,000 monthly in side income, while 22% make $1,000 to $10,000 a month, and 15% make more than $10,000.
Related: Starting a Side Hustle Should Come With a Warning Label — Here’s What You Need to Know
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