Updated: 5 May 2023
We all want residual income, right? I mean, we can trade time for money, but that only gets us so far.
If you are unfamiliar with the term, residual income is getting paid by doing the work once then profiting off it many times over.
Residual income does not have to be difficult. But it does take an investment of time upfront.
When I first started online, I tried many ways to get residual income. I also made it more complicated than it had to be.
I would try and create these huge, complex courses. I would also purchase PLR products thinking I could get a head start.
Truth was, nobody was interested in this.
Truth was, I didn’t feel right about it.
And in the end I did not take action. You can’t do something if it goes against your values…
This was also a lot of work upfront. And it felt wrong.
When frustration started boiling over, and I’d almost given up hope, I actually did a 180 degree flip and started selling my time for money.
While selling services, two things became apparent.
It is hard to leverage these type of activities because when they involve your time.
If I became exhausted or needed a holiday, I had no income.
Now I’m not knocking selling services. I absolutely love what I do. But what I am saying is you need residual income for those dry times.
That’s why I am going to share 7 ways that doesn’t have to be hard. Ways to make residual income.
So let’s dig in.
Create a tools I use page
This is something I’ve been advised to do as a service based provider. And honestly I’m yet to take this step.
You see, when somebody visits your site, they will often go to your resources page and see what you are using.
This is particularly true if it’s your competitors. And the reality is, you can monetise on your competitors in this way.
What you need to do is use your affiliate links. But one big tip is to offer free resources as well so it doesn’t look like an entire sales pitch.
You can see my very own Tools I Use Page by clicking here.
Cancel redundant subscriptions
This doesn’t really fall into the category of creating income. But it does count because you are saving money.
Let me give you an example. Imagine you are paying for Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive.
These are all cloud storage facilities.
Let’s say your purpose for having these was purely for extra storage.
Because they are all doing the same job, and you have more storage than you could poke in the eye with a long stick, you may simply just choose to have one.
Now having said that, I have all three because I do need the individual features they provide but I could easily drop Google Drive.
The same goes for training. Maybe you are paying two sources that both teach FB ads. Why not cancel one source and keep the best?
Create a course and put it on a third party platform
This method may take a little more time to start with.
The trick here is to not worry about your website and technical infrastructure for your course.
Yes, it will need to be your own course; but you can put it on a third party platform like Udemy and get royalties for it.
I had created two courses for VA Classroom University in this manner.
And there are many other places you can put your course. The trick here is to make sure they are searchable in a third party marketplace or someone else is responsible at least for marketing them.
Put entry level offers in your sidebar
Okay so sidebars are generally not a reliable way to showcase primary information. In fact, on mobile devices they tend to fall to the bottom.
But it doesn’t hurt to place a relevant offer in your sidebar.
There are two principles to follow when doing this.
- The item should ideally be relevant to the blog post
- It should also ideally be a relatively low dollar offer and act as an impulses buy
This will also help build your list and relationship with the new customer.
Now you can put higher ticket items for sure but that tactic is totally different from this residual income tactic. So don’t confuse these two principles as being a catch all.
Create an autoresponder series
One of the best ways to build a relationship with your followers is through email marketing.
But in order to get them onto your list, you need some kind of incentive. Telling them to simply sign up to your newsletter isn’t as likely to get as many people signing up as having some specifc form of download.
They exchange their name and email. And then get your downloadable resource.
Hint: You can put affiliate links in both your research and on the correspondining emails that you are sending out.
If you really want to pour fuel on this technique, make your emails directly related to the resource they downloaded. Which in effect is the reason why they signed up!
Sell a newsletter subscription
Have you ever considered selling a premium version of your newsletter?
Well I have – at least considered it. But I’m yet to do it.
Although I have seen a few of my colleagues do it over the years.
This is simply a low ticket, recurring payment made for a digital or physical newsletter of value.
You can share valuable, insider tips every week so people are expecting your email.
One wonderful technique that can make this even sweeter for you is if you get guests to do the writing. It gives them exposure to an audience who is paying. And it gives you content.
Put affiliate links in your downloads
We discussed putting affiilate links briefly in your download gifts. You can also put these same affiliate links in handouts or downloads that you are just giving away on your website with no expectations.
Slideshare is a service too where you can put such resources up. Ungated. Meaning anybody can get them without paying with an email or money.
Another twist is allowing somebody to use this resource to give to their own list. So they get a free lead magnet and you can some exposure!
Some Final Thoughts
This is not an exhaustive list. There are many additional ways to generate side income for your service or consulative based business.
There are also many angles within each of the ways I have laid out for you here.
If you have a business that deals heavily with customers, patients or students, and you want more information on how you can add residual income – reach out to us today via our contact form.
