Although many people looking to start passive income side businesses tend to have unrelated day jobs, some small business owners want to know how they can leverage their company to earn more money with little-to-no effort.
Luckily, if you already own and operate a small business, you have many opportunities to earn a passive income. While the following examples won’t universally apply to businesses in every industry, you can use these ideas to boost your profits without putting in a lot of work:
Rent Your Space
Does your business have a brick-and-mortar location that attracts customers? If so, you can rent it out to other companies in several ways.
First, you could simply rent out a portion of your space to another business owner who doesn’t have the funds to operate from his or her own location. However, you may not want to invite the competition into your shop. You’ll also want to consider whether you want another company to detract from your store’s branded experience.
If you decide against renting out space, you could still allow other businesses to purchase advertising space from you. If you run a business that attracts a high volume of customers on a daily basis, you could set up a table or booth where other local business owners can leave business cards, ads, or other marketing materials in return for a small fee. You could even allow other businesses to advertise on your vehicle fleet if you have one.
This is a simple way to earn more money with practically no real effort. All you have to do is set up the contracts with other business owners. Then you can simply collect your payments.
Let Others Learn from You
If you’ve managed to create a successful small business, then you have garnered expertise that others would find valuable. Maybe you’re an expert in a major industry. Even if you aren’t, the fact that you managed to create and run a successful business means that you know how to do something plenty of others would like to emulate. Many people who want to build their own small businesses don’t know where to start.
One way to monetize your experience is to create an e-book or online course sharing what you’ve learned. While this will involve some degree of work up front, because you need to create and market the product, once it’s online, there’s very little you have to do to earn money from it. Of course, it’s always a good idea to continue to do some light marketing work to attract more customers, but you can hire freelancers to handle this task for you if you’d prefer.
That being said, if you do create a truly valuable e-book or online course, it could practically market itself. Good reviews and word-of-mouth will help others find your product on their own.
Sell for Other Companies
Many would-be business owners offer quality services and products, but they can’t manage to turn a profit. The problem is often simple: people don’t know they exist. Marketing is hard, and some people just don’t have the skills necessary to get the word out about their own businesses. As a result, these individuals choose to “piggyback” on the success of other businesses in similar industries.
For instance, perhaps you own a local gift shop. A jewelry designer who primarily sells online might want to make more money off tourists who visit the area. For a cut of the profits, you can let the designer sell his or her products at your shop.
You can still employ this type of strategy if your business isn’t a retail store. As long as you have a large enough customer base, other business owners will consider your potential influence to be valuable. You could offer to share their information on your social-media accounts for a price, promote their services on your blog, or refer them to others, earning a commission every time you bring a new client on board. This strategy is effective because it involves very little work, and you can adapt it to suit many different industries and businesses.
Hire Freelancers to Promote Your Services
Just like you can charge money to promote other businesses, you pay others to promote your business. If you find freelancers in your industry with access to influential people or publications, you can hire them to spread the word about your products and services on social media, blogs, and other platforms. While this means that you are feeding some of your profits back into your business, it’s a relatively low-effort way to attract more customers.
Again, you don’t need to own a small business to earn a passive income. However, if you do, you have some very unique opportunities that others might not have to earn a passive income. Keep these tips in mind if you’re looking for a way to boost your profits without putting in more work than necessary.