7min
Feb 22, 2024
If you are looking for ways to make a little extra money on the side, you are not alone. More than 60% of Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck, and economic problems have affected us all in recent years. However, learning how to make money doing nothing can put an end to the problem.
In this guide on how to get paid doing nothing, you'll find eight good options and learn how to start the process.
Understanding Passive Income Basics
When considering how to make money by doing nothing, the key is to find passive income streams. Experts at Xero define passive income as “money that you don’t have to actively work for; it comes in from something that already exists and continues to work for you.”
Ultimately, there is no solution for how to get money doing nothing at all. However, creating a passive income stream means putting in a little work now to subsequently keep revenue rolling in without any (or very minimal) effort.
The benefits of knowing how to make passive income doing nothing are plentiful, and include:
- Significantly increased financial health,
- Reduced pressure off of your primary source of income,
- Financial and emotional security gained by not relying on one revenue stream,
- The knowledge that you can continue to make money when on vacation,
- No limit on potential overall earnings.
Whether you're wondering how to get rich doing nothing or just want to earn some extra money on the side, passive income streams are the answer.
Related: 10 Lucrative Side Hustle Ideas to Boost Your Income
8 Simple Ideas for How to Make Money Out of Nothing
When researching how to make money doing nothing at all, there are many possible solutions to consider. The best options should:
- Require minimal work in the establishment phase,
- Run in an almost entirely automated fashion,
- Offer the chance to earn a worthwhile sum of money,
- Be something you enjoy making money from,
- Boast longevity and the possibility of sustained results.
With this in mind, here are eight top choices for earning money effortlessly:
1. Reselling concert tickets online
Reselling concert tickets is easily one of the most popular options for making money by doing nothing. You simply buy tickets when they go on sale before reselling them at an inflated price. Essentially, it's like earning a commission for buying tickets for someone else.
One of the best ways to get started is by purchasing additional tickets for the events you plan to attend. It’s a great way to make money without much effort, especially since just buying tickets for yourself takes the same amount of time. Thanks to platforms like Lysted, selling concert tickets as a side hustle is easy and profitable.
With Lysted, you can easily sell your concert tickets on thousands of ticket reselling marketplaces like Ticketmaster and StubHub. Delivering excellent service to clients requires minimal effort on your behalf, especially when paired with tailored and automated VIP treatments. Payment processing and forwarding e-tickets can be automated too.
It’s a great way to make money with nothing other than upfront ticket expenses. Alternatively, you can spend a few minutes purchasing tickets for events you won’t be attending to unlock even higher returns.
2. Investing in Dividend Stocks and Bonds
Smart investments have helped millions passively improve their financial health. As long as the income streams yield higher returns than a traditional savings account or ISA, it’s a worthwhile endeavor. Dividend stocks and bonds are particularly good choices if you’re asking yourself, “How can I make money doing nothing?”
Dividend stocks and bonds create a passive income stream that usually pays out quarterly. Essentially, you will become a shareholder in the company and are rewarded by the organization based on its performance. In most cases, dividend payments are made through cash, although it is possible to gain stocks.
By creating a diverse portfolio over time, you will generate revenue from multiple sources. It is one of the best options for anyone who is looking at how to get money without doing anything because you get to leverage success from the companies you’ve invested in. Even after receiving your dividend payments, the investment continues to work hard each quarter.
Once you have set up your investments, you can leave them to work in the background. When searching for how to get paid for nothing, this outcome is sure to appeal to passive income enthusiasts of all backgrounds.
3. Rental Properties: Generating Passive Rental Income
If you have ever been a tenant, you’ve probably cursed the fact that you’ve helped pay someone else’s mortgage rather than your own. Switching sides and becoming a landlord yourself could help you learn how to make money without much effort. It can also bring in a steady income.
The great news is, you don’t need a lot of money to get started. Buy-to-let mortgages and interest-only mortgages let you generate passive income right away. Along with regular monthly payments, they can also open the door to upscaling and portfolio growth opportunities.
People seeking solutions on how to earn money by doing nothing often flock to rental properties because they are very stable assets. They have been shown to appreciate above the rate of inflation, making them a great long-term asset as well as a source of passive income.
It does take a little effort to get started. Once the real estate assets have been acquired, though, you can use property management teams to take care of the ongoing tasks. When combined with a good tenant, you will enjoy a smooth path to profits.
4. Creating and Selling Digital Products or Courses
The vast majority of internet users are eager to educate themselves online. Likewise, millions of people actively look for digital products like templates to simplify their personal or professional tasks. While it’s not exactly a solution for making money doing nothing, a single product can be sold time and time again to generate passive income.
For example, you could create a downloadable video or PDF course that is put behind a paywall. Whether it’s for teaching guitar lessons or training employees on using new software, it doesn’t matter much. More than 30% of Americans have taken at least one online course and your one digital program could potentially earn passive income for years to come.
Digital products including templates and tools are great alternatives. A spreadsheet template, for example, could help a user save valuable time and money. Once you have made the template, it can be sold countless times without any additional effort or expense. This makes it a good option for earning money when you have none
You could also sell products online via automated on-demand services. Once you have uploaded your t-shirt designs, for example, the company handles all the orders. It’s a highly effective method for making money when you have nothing.
5. Affiliate Marketing: Earning Passive Income from Referrals
If you have been researching “how to make money with nothing” or thinking about ways to start a business without a huge investment, affiliate marketing could be the answer. Rather than manufacturing or curating products to sell, you can earn money by helping other companies sell their products. It’s a way of selling without ever handling the product yourself.
With a commission-based model, you refer customers to a company’s products, and the company pays you upon each sale. The industry is now worth over $17bn, showcasing its potential to help you make money from very little investment, especially when considering the many ways to gain referrals.
One of the most popular ways to embrace this pathway is to build a social media following through engaging content. The key is to find products that attract a similar target audience to yours, while also adding value to their lives. As well as social media platforms, you could turn to blogs or use platforms like Reddit to promote the products in relevant situations.
In addition to earning commissions, it may be possible to gain free products from the company. This allows you to create more meaningful content. Referral schemes could also be something as simple as having a friend use your sign-up link for a service.
6. Peer-to-Peer Lending Platforms
When businesses and entrepreneurs are unable to get traditional bank loans or funding, peer-to-peer lending is a route they often choose. P2P lending sees them turn to an intermediary, who will subsequently connect the borrower to a potential lender. You can earn money by becoming one of those lenders.
If you are thinking about how to make a lot of money doing nothing, this is an option worth considering. Look for platforms that do not have any membership fees, meaning 100% of your capital can be used to make money. The passive income stream comes from the loan repayments that the borrower makes. You will see your full investment and more.
Peer-to-peer lending is a relatively new concept, at least online. However, it is believed that by 2025 the sector will be almost 20 times bigger than it was in 2015. You will naturally set a relatively high interest rate as the business owners have been able to get traditional funding. Loans often run between a few months and a few years.
As well as being a suitable option for anyone looking at how to get paid to do nothing, P2P lending gives you the option to part-fund a business loan by connecting with other lenders in a similar position. So, even if you only have a modest amount of cash to invest, it is a good option.
7. Royalties from Intellectual Property or Creative Works
Royalty payments have been a great source of passive income and ongoing revenue for many generations. Whether you’re getting paid for creative works, artistic endeavors, or an innovative idea that you’ve copyrighted, it doesn’t matter. Anyone pondering how to get rich by doing nothing will quickly discover that this is an effective solution. 
Music is a great example of how royalties can earn creators millions of dollars. However, you can also create passive income streams from online uploads like videos and photos. By charging businesses or other entities a fee to use your content, you can generate a lot of money. The earnings can easily outweigh what you’d have earned from commissioned projects.
In many ways, it is not like you are looking at how to get money by doing nothing. After all, you will have put your skills and expertise into the creation process. Nevertheless, this model can be a very wise choice when hoping to keep earning money from old projects. Depending on the type of project, royalty checks may come weekly, monthly, or annually.
Besides, nobody else should profit from your intellectual property without compensating you for it. Of course, another route is to acquire the rights to another person’s work before gaining revenue from future licensing.
8. Automated Businesses and Online Platforms for Passive Income
Once upon a time, starting a business required a significant investment of time and money. In today’s climate, thousands of entrepreneurs run automated businesses that allow them to create revenue passively (& that pay frequently). Computers can do the heavy lifting for you at every stage of the process, thus allowing you to focus on enjoying the profits.
The aforementioned ticket selling through Lysted is a great option as the automated tools take care of the main processes. Similarly, print-on-demand services and dropshipping ventures can earn big money with little effort. As well as virtually running themselves, these business models promote fantastic upscaling opportunities.
Many entrepreneurs will now operate multiple automated businesses. Even if each one creates a small profit, the fact that it is a solution for how to make money doing nothing means that they will have the freedom to start the next project as soon as the previous one has been established.
Whether you’re looking at how to make money when you have none or creating side hustles that require minimal input from you, online platforms and automated businesses are the answer. Now is the perfect time to start.
