How to achieve a passive income by working at it

Become a silent partner in a business

It takes a lot of time and effort to build your own business, especially when starting out. However, if you get the opportunity to invest money into a business as a silent partner you can earn a percentage of the income the business generates without doing any of the work to run the company. You will need to do some research first though to find a suitable investment opportunity. Careful analysis of the history of the company, it's current financial status and other financial considerations are all likely to infuence your decision, and help you to minimise the risk of investing in a business that is doomed to failure. The more you know about the business and it's potential, the easier it is to make an informed decision.

Affiliate marketing

This method of making money involves making commissions from promoting and selling someone else's products. This is mainly done through online marketing. For example, Amazon has an affiliate program which provides affiliates with unique links that can be used on your website or blog that send visitors to the Amazon website. Specific products can be linked to as well which makes it ideal for promoting items that are related to your website content.

Lets say your website provides information about remote control model cars, you can check with Amazon which models they sell and then grab the links from their associates section and place them on your site. When a visitor goes to Amazon through your link and makes a purchase you will be credited the sale and receive a commission. Even if the visitor buys something unrelated while on the Amazon site you will still make a commission.

For as long as your website remains popular, and the longer the product links stay active, the initial work of setting up the tracking links will enable you to receive a passive income over a period of time that could literally last for many months or even years.

Create videos on YouTube

Video content creators can partner with YouTube and earn commission from advertisers who appear on your YouTube video page. Certain requirements need to be met to be able to benefit from this passive income opportunity. The main criteria is that you have a minimum 10,000 views from your YouTube channel (not just a single video)

The more popular videos and videos that go viral can make this a worthwhile income stream. So if you like making videos and come up with the right content, this could be the ideal way for you to start making commissions for your work. For more details click here.

Another possibility is to create videos that provide useful product information reviews. By linking to your own a blog or website from your video description and promoting the site in the video then you could potentially earn affiliate commissions from sales of products generated from your affiliate links. The more traffic you send to your site, the more sales commissions you are likely to earn.

Start a vending machine business

A vending machine business can provide a good regular income without devoting much time to the business. Finding the best locations for your vending machines is the secret to success.

Lets say you pay £850 for a snack vending machine and you sell £250 a month worth of products with up to 50% markup. That's a possible £125 a month profit. Not a huge income you might say, but what if you had 10 vending machines earning you £1250 per month for doing hardly any work? Not a bad way to build an extra income stream is it? And the business is scalable, so depending how ambitious you are, you could continue to expand and double or treble your income by using your profits and buying more machines.

Snack vending machines are always popular. They are particularly appreciated in the workplace but are also useful in a variety of locations, especially where there is a steady number of passing people. However, you will also have to take into consideration any percentage of the profits you have to share with the owner of where the vending machine is situated. This may not be a problem if the machine is located in a factory workplace where you can persuade the owner to allow you to locate the machine for free because it will be a useful service for their employees.

Running a vending machine business involves very low maintenance, but you will need to keep the machines well stocked and have to carry out repairs if needed. Of course, the more machines you have, the more it will take up your time if you have to stock the machines yourself, so there comes a point where you might consider employing someone to do this work for you. It's a good way to make an extra income if you set it up right.

To find a supplier of vending machines you can do a search online. Used machines can also be found on ebay but caution is required to ensure they are in good working order. But I have heard of people who have started out with used and reconditioned machines and have done very well out of it.

For these and more ideas on how to make a passive income, check out the video below.