How to Make Money While You Sleep: 34 Practical Ways (2024)

Making money while you sleep is the ultimate dream for many people. And it’s not as impossible as you may think. There are several ways to generate passive income, meaning you can make money while sleeping, spending time with your family, traveling, or pursuing a hobby.

We’re exploring 34 ideas on how to make money while you sleep. Whether you’re looking for side hustle ideas or want to find ways to save up some extra cash, keep reading for some passive income ideas.

How to Make Money While You Sleep: Ways to Earn Passive Income

We get it – 34 ideas on how to generate passive income while you’re sleeping is awesome, but a little overwhelming with where to start. Joseph John, who’s been a financial professional for almost 20 years, shares his top recommendations (in case you don’t want to read the whole article!):

“My favorite recommendations from this list are digital products and online courses. I like these because you can leverage a skill set you already have (maybe from your day job or something you are passionate about), and you can share your talent and knowledge with others. 

A low risk way to get started is by teaching on YouTube. Whether you share how you detail a car, how you cold call a client, or how you make lunches for your kids, there are others who want to learn that skill!”

1. Start a Blog or Niche Website

A blog or niche website is one of the most popular ways to make passive income. Of course, starting a content-based website requires time and effort. But if you’re successful, passive income will be possible in the future.

Content-based websites can generate revenue with display ads, affiliate marketing, publishing sponsored content, selling digital products, and more. Some monetization methods are better for passive income than others. For example, advertising is typically not the most lucrative way to monetize a site, but ad revenue is almost entirely passive.

Most new blogs and niche websites make very little money for the first six months or even longer. However, with some patience and persistence, your site will eventually turn the corner. Once you have a consistent source of traffic (usually organic search traffic), your site will generate money daily, whether you’re working on it or not.

If creating a source of passive income and making money while you sleep is your goal, you can outsource most of the work involved in running the site by hiring freelance writers and virtual assistants. With others doing the work, you’ll be free to use your time for other things, including the possibility of duplicating the process with another site.

You could grow to become an authority like Business Insider, and of course, this is one of the great ways to make money while you sleep. 

For more details, see my articles How to Start a Blog and the Guide to Building a Profitable Niche Website.

2. Create and Sell Digital Products

Another great way to earn passive income is by creating and selling digital products. You could create countless types of digital products, but one of the most popular options right now is to design and sell printables. Things like planners, organizers, and checklists are in-demand and can be created for various topics.

Once you’ve created the product, you can make money selling it repeatedly without any additional work required. This is a fantastic way to earn money while you sleep since you only have to create the product once. Ideally, you’ll have a shop with several different products to maximize your income potential.

You could sell your products on your own website or blog by using Shopify, Podia, or SendOwl. Or, you could sell at a marketplace like Etsy. Selling at a marketplace allows you to tap into a large, established audience. However, you’ll give up a lot of control and have to pay fees or share revenue with the marketplace.

Selling the products yourself requires more work to establish our audience, but you’ll have higher income potential. Of course, it’s possible to do both. You can set up a shop at a marketplace like Etsy while also working to grow your website.

Selling digital products is one of the best passive income streams because once you have some successful products, sales will come around the clock, whether you’re actively working or not.

You may wake up in the morning and see a few sales while you were sleeping. Or you may be on a family vacation and making money while taking time off. To increase your net worth, you could put some of your proceeds in a high yield savings account. 

3. Try Affiliate Marketing

I mentioned affiliate marketing as an option for monetizing a blog or niche website, but there are also many other ways to promote products as an affiliate. In fact, many of the top affiliates worldwide use ads and paid traffic to generate sales.

If you need to find a way to make money online while sleeping, mastering affiliate marketing is something you might want to consider.

As long as you have a stable and reliable traffic source that you can send to a relevant landing page through your affiliate link, you can generate affiliate revenue. This is why many of the best affiliates love paid traffic from sources like Facebook ads, Google ads, and other social media platforms that can produce traffic on demand.

Of course, if you’re just starting, you may have a limited budget for buying traffic. But some methods, like social media marketing, also allow you to get some traffic for free. As you earn affiliate commissions, you can reinvest into ads and develop your skills for creating winning ads.

To learn more, see The Ultimate Affiliate Marketing Step-by-Step Blueprint.

4. Create Funnels

Sales funnels can be extremely effective, whether you’re selling a physical product, a digital product, or just promoting someone else’s product as an affiliate, you can earn semi-passive income while you sleep.

A funnel involves taking a potential customer through a series of steps that eventually lead to a sale. Most funnels start with an email lead capture. Once you have the prospect’s email address and permission to market to them, you can send a sequence of timed emails that continue to promote the product you’re trying to sell.

There are endless possibilities for designing funnels, but one of the most common methods is to give something away for free (like an ebook) in exchange for an email address.

You can use ConvertKit to create landing pages and lead capture forms that can be placed on your website. ConvertKit also allows you to create a series of messages that will be sent at specific intervals. You can automate the entire process and even set up advanced rules to send different emails based on the subscriber’s actions.

The best thing about using funnels is that they can continue to work while you’re sleeping or taking time off. As long as you have a stable traffic source, the funnel will continue to generate leads and sales.

5. Host Webinars

Webinars are live events that usually involve some teaching or instruction. They can be used to promote a product, build an email list, or provide value to the audience. Webinars are extremely effective for building trust and selling through teaching, so they’re often used to promote high-ticket products like expensive courses or services.

Of course, hosting a live event doesn’t allow you to make money while you sleep. However, not all webinars are live, even if they have the appearance of being live. You can record a webinar and offer it over and over again. The webinar recording will promote and sell for you while doing other things, like sleeping.

Whether you use a webinar to promote your own product or service or to promote something as an affiliate, it can be an effective way to earn passive income.

Creating the webinar will require work upfront, but once it is set up, it can function on autopilot. If you’re promoting a high-ticket product or service, you might make a few hundred to a few thousand dollars with every sale. Put some away in a high-yield savings account and watch your portfolio rise. 

To learn more about creating and hosting a successful webinar, see the Webinar Success series.

6. Try Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to build relationships with your audience and promote products or services. It can generate leads, make sales, or just keep in touch with people who are interested in what you have to offer.

The best thing about email marketing is that it can be completely automated. You can set up a series of messages to send at specific intervals and have complete control over who receives them and when they are sent.

Email marketing allows you to make money in your sleep because it doesn’t require your constant attention. As long as people subscribe to your list, you can continue to earn passive income from email marketing. Remember to put some of these funds away in a high yield savings account. 

You can use email to promote your product, affiliate products, or both. ConverKit is an excellent option because it also includes e-commerce capabilities. You can customize which messages are sent to customers who have purchased your products as opposed to those who have not purchased yet.

You could also do email marketing for small businesses and generate some income. You’d mostly need good writing skills and a good internet connection. 

7. Start a YouTube Channel

YouTube is one of the most popular websites worldwide and a great platform for making money and earning passive income. You can create videos on any topic you want. If you can build a large enough following, you can make money passively through advertising revenue, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, or selling your own products and services.

Of course, starting a YouTube channel requires work upfront. You’ll need to create videos regularly and build a following before you start seeing any significant income. However, once you have a successful channel, it can make money passively while you’re sleeping or doing other things.

With people constantly searching for video content, your established channel will rack up views around the clock. This is very similar to how a blog or niche website generates passive income once established, except you’re using video content instead of written content.

In fact, you could create a YouTube channel for your website or blog and combine the two methods together. This way, you can create video and text-based content for each topic you cover. You’d need a great internet connection to pull this off, and it’s one of the most practical ways to make money. 

8. Create an Online Course

If you have expertise in a particular subject, creating an online course can be one of the best passive income streams for you. Just like other digital products, online courses can be created once and then sold for profit over and over again. While some topics require periodic updates to the course, there are many evergreen topics that will need very little updating.

Creating a successful online course requires work upfront, but you can continue to make money from it indefinitely once it’s complete. And you can duplicate the process with multiple courses to maximize your earning potential.

It’s possible to create a course on just about any topic. Think about the topics you already know well and brainstorm potential online courses you could create. You don’t need to be the world’s leading expert on a topic to create a profitable online course. Many people have created successful courses based on their hobbies or passions.

Setting up an online course may sound complicated, but thanks to platforms like Teachable and Podia, anyone can set up a professional website to host their own course.

Online courses provide excellent income potential because of their high perceived value. Many people will pay a few hundred dollars for a good course, so you can make a significant amount on each sale. Aside from selling your own online course, you can also offer others a commission to promote your course as affiliates, which is a great way to spread the word and earn more money.

9. Invest in the Stock Market

Investing in the stock market is one of the oldest and most well-known ways to make money. Although it’s been an option for a long time, platforms like Public.com and Webull have made the stock market more accessible than ever before. Even if you only have a few dollars to start, you can buy fractional shares to invest your money in the companies of your choice.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that any company will be successful, so investing in the stock market always comes with risk. However, many investors prefer to buy dividend stocks that tend to provide more stability than the stock market as a whole. You can also consider investing in index funds. 

By learning to invest, you’ll also build valuable financial skills that will pay off in many ways. Investing helps you to actively take control of your finances and encourages you to become more financially literate. Finally, remember that a major part of being financially literate is saving, so consider putting some revenue from your stock market investments in a high yield savings account. 

10. Invest in Real Estate

Real estate investing is one of the popular asset classes for generating passive income to earn while you sleep. There are a few different ways to invest in real estate. One option is to buy rental properties for rental income by renting it out yourself. Having rental property requires more work than other options on this list, but it can be a great way to make money and build wealth.

Another option is to invest in a real estate crowdfunding platform like Fundrise. These platforms allow you to pool your money with other investors and invest in a large portfolio of commercial real estate projects. They’re a modern alternative to the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT).

Real estate crowdfunding platforms typically have lower minimum investment requirements than traditional real estate investing (you can start investing with Fundrise with as little as $10). Also, as an investor, you’ll have no responsibility to manage the property or deal with tenants, which makes it passive income.

Fundrise pays quarterly dividends to investors. The dividends can be taken as cash if you’re looking for a supplemental source of dividend income, or the money can be reinvested. Reinvesting is ideal if you have a long-term focus since it helps your money to grow faster. If you want to diversify your portfolio, you could put some cash in a savings account. 

11. Invest in Alternative Assets

Making money investing in alternative assets is another great source of passive income and a step closer to financial freedom. Alternative assets are non-traditional investments that aren’t stocks, bonds, or real estate. A growing number of platforms make alternative investments accessible to everyone.

You could start investing in fine wine with Vint or Vinovest. Both of these platforms are open to all investors (not just accredited investors), and they’ll help you select wines with excellent potential for producing strong returns. You won’t have to store the wine yourself or sell it when the time comes. They take care of the details for you.

Another option is to invest in art. Masterworks is an online platform that allows you to buy a share of paintings from blue-chip artists. The paintings are stored and insured by Masterworks, so you don’t have to worry about losing or damaging your investment. You purchase a share of the artwork, and when it is eventually sold, you’ll get your share of the returns.

Cryptocurrency and NFTs are popular investments that make money while you sleep, although they’re highly volatile and have a greater risk.

By investing in alternative assets, you can add diversity to your portfolio and potentially earn higher returns than you would with more traditional investments. For more diversification, consider a high-yield savings account with good interest rates. 

12. Rent Out Storage Space

If you have unused space in your home or office, you could rent out storage space to earn passive income. Neighbor is one platform that allows you to do this.

With Neighbor, you can list your space on their site, and renters can book the space for however long they need. Neighbor will handle all the logistics for you, so you don’t have to worry about managing the rental yourself.

This is an excellent option if you live in a high-demand area and have extra space that you’re not using. You can also set your price, so you’re still in control.

Renting storage space is an excellent way to make money while you sleep. Your only responsibility is ensuring the renter can access the space, so it’s a very passive way to make more money. Remember to put away some of this money in a dedicated regular savings account. 

13. Rent Out an RV or Camper

If you own an RV or camper, you can rent it out when you’re not using it. RVshare is a platform that connects RV and camper owners with renters who are willing to pay. Making money in your sleep is easy with this method.

RVshare is similar to Airbnb but for RVs and campers. You can list your RV on their site and set your own rental price. They’ll also handle the rental process for you, so you don’t have to worry about many details.

It’s a very passive way to make money and can be quite lucrative. You’ll turn your RV or camper into an income-producing asset instead of something that just sits around when it’s not being used.

RVs and campers are among the best assets that make money while you sleep. The rental market for RVs and campers is very strong since most people don’t have them, and they’re expensive to buy. As a result, this is an excellent side hustle that doesn’t take much of your time, aside from cleaning it out between renters.

14. Rent Out Your Truck

If you have a truck or cargo van, you can rent it out when you’re not using it. Fetch is the leading platform for peer-to-peer truck rentals. According to Fetch, you can make up to $1,800 worth of rental income per month by listing your truck on their app. That’s a pretty nice cash flow for a passive income source!

You can list your truck on Fetch. They take care of all the logistics for you, so you don’t have to worry about managing the rental yourself. You can even use the Fetch device so renters can get into your truck and retrieve the key, so you don’t have to meet with renters in person.

There are countless reasons why an individual or business would need a truck, so there’s plenty of demand from renters. It’s a great opportunity to earn extra cash if you have a truck you want to rent. Having a dedicated savings account where you put away some of the money is an excellent idea.

15. Rent Out Your Car

If you have a spare car, you could make money off it by renting it. Online platforms like Turo allow you to list your vehicle to other drivers. You’ll also have the freedom to set your rates. This side hustle is a great idea to help you settle your car payments or other personal monthly expenses. 

16. Advertise On Your Car

Keeping with the car theme, you probably didn’t know you could rent the space in your car for advertising. Yes, you can sign up with a company interested in wrapping their vinyl advert on your vehicle. They may ask you to drive through a specific route to create awareness. Your payout will depend on how much traffic you can generate with your ad. 

If you live somewhere where you have to park your car on the street while sleeping, your car is still in public with the ads being seen. Just be sure to park near a light so the ads are visible.

17. Rent Out a Spare Bedroom

Making money renting out a spare bedroom is another great passive income option. If you have an extra bedroom (or a separate unit), you can list it on Airbnb, which is the most popular platform for this, but other options exist.

Renting out a spare bedroom is a great way to make extra cash without much work. You’ll need to clean and prepare the room for guests, but Airbnb will take care of the rest. They’ll handle all of the marketing and reservations for you.

You can also set your own price to control how much money you make. This is a great option to earn money while sleeping if you live in a popular tourist destination.

You could also rent out the spare bedroom to a long-term tenant. Short-term rentals provide more income as long as the room is rented most of the time, but you’ll also have more work to clean the room between guests. Opting for a long-term tenant will require less time and effort.

18. Try Self-Publishing

Today, anyone can become a self-published author thanks to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP makes it easy to write a book or ebook and make it available for sale on Amazon. You can sell it in e-book format, or Amazon will print and ship paperbacks as they’re sold. That means there’s no need to invest money in large print orders or inventory, with the potential for making a solid passive income.

If you have a book idea, you can write it yourself or hire a ghostwriter to do it for you. Once the book is written, you can upload it to KDP and start selling it immediately.

You can write any type of book that interests you, including fiction, non-fiction, how-to guides, and even children’s books.

It’s also a very passive way to make money since you don’t have to do any publishing or order fulfillment work. It’s an excellent work-from-home job that helps you make money even when you’re not working.

If you have your own website or blog, you can promote your book there as well. Amazon gives you access to its massive audience, but doing some promotional work will help your book get more exposure.

Overall, self-publishing is an ideal business that makes money while you sleep, and a viable way to help you achieve financial freedom.

To learn more, please see From First Draft to Bestseller.

19. Sell on Amazon

If you’re not interested in writing your own books, you can still make money from Amazon by selling physical goods. You can sell just about anything on Amazon, and there are a few different business models you can follow.

One of the most popular options is to build a private-label brand. You’ll choose a product you want to sell and source it from a supplier. The supplier will add your own branding and packaging so you can sell it under your own brand.

You’ll need an initial investment upfront to get started, but you can quickly recoup your investment and start making a profit if your product becomes popular. Once your brand is established, it can be a somewhat passive way to make money since you don’t have to do the work related to manufacturing and order fulfillment (assuming you’re using Fulfillment by Amazon).

Thanks to Amazon FBA, this can be a low-maintenance business. You’ll send your inventory to Amazon. They’ll store it in their warehouses and fulfill orders.

My wife and I ran a private label business selling on Amazon for about two years before selling the business. It’s great to wake up and see that you sold several products and made money while you were sleeping.

20. Build an E-Commerce Website

While Amazon provides an incredible platform for building an online business, there are some drawbacks to selling on Amazon. Of course, Amazon’s fees eat away at your profit margin. Additionally, you’re at Amazon’s mercy, and they can change policies or even shut down your seller account anytime. Some people prefer to build their own e-commerce site instead of (or in addition to) relying on Amazon.

Shopify is one of the most popular platforms for building an e-commerce site. It’s affordable, and you can get a professional-looking site with no design or coding skills needed.

You’ll need to invest time and money into setting up your shop and building traffic. But once it’s up and running, it can generate money around the clock, whether you’re working or not.

You can also use drop shipping to fulfill orders if you don’t want to carry any inventory yourself. In that case, you’ll need to find a supplier to ship the products directly to your customers as they’re sold. There are some options for integrating drop shipping with your Shopify website.

21. Start a Print-on-Demand Business

Another promising passive income business idea is making money through print-on-demand (POD). A POD business is similar to an e-commerce website, but instead of selling products in stock, you’ll sell custom-printed t-shirts and other merchandise.

You can upload designs to sites like Redbubble or CafePress, and they’ll handle the printing and order fulfillment. The downside to this approach is that your income potential is limited. You can create your own e-commerce website if you want a higher ceiling. Shopify integrates easily with print-on-demand providers like Printful.

You’ll need to get traffic to your site. Many print-on-demand businesses get most of their traffic from social media (organic sharing and paid ads).

The products will be printed and shipped directly to your customers as orders come in. You don’t have to worry about holding inventory or fulfilling orders yourself.

It’s an ideal side hustle for graphic designers who want to start an online business. If you’re not a designer, you can use a tool like Canva to create simple designs, or you can hire a designer on sites like Upwork and Fiverr to do the work for you.

22. Sell Stock Photos and Graphics

If you’re a photographer or graphic designer, you can earn income while you sleep by selling your photos and designs online. Shutterstock is one of the most popular options for selling stock photos. You can also sell stock graphics on sites like Creative Market and Etsy.

You’ll need to create an account and upload your photos or designs. As people purchase them, you’ll earn a commission.

It’s not a hands-off way to make money, but it can give you some passive income if you have a large portfolio of high-quality images or designs.

Stock marketplaces are highly competitive because millions of resources are already available at the leading sites. You’ll need to create something that stands out or serves a specific type of user.

Due to the level of competition, it’s not easy to make a huge amount of money on stock marketplaces. But it’s a realistic option if you’re looking for a way to use your skills and make a few hundred dollars of extra cash each month.

23. Passive Income Apps

Several mobile apps allow you to make extra money (or earn rewards like gift cards) with little-to-no effort. You won’t get rich with these apps, but it can be an easy way to get some extra income. This is a good option if you’re looking for easy ways to make money.

• MobileXpression: By installing this app on your mobile device, you can earn about $50 in gift cards per year. It collects data related to your browsing activity but does not collect personal information.
• SavvyConnect: This one is similar to MobileXpression but also works on desktops. You’ll earn $5 per month per device.
• Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel: Similar to MobileXpressions and SavvyConnect. You can earn $50 per year in rewards. You’ll love this make money while sleeping app.

24. Create Apps

We live in the 21st century – the internet age. As a result, our lives heavily rely on our mobile phones and their mobile apps. These apps make our lives more convenient and are in constant demand. 

So, there’s potential to make plenty of money from creating mobile applications. You can develop apps for gaming, entertainment, fitness, or even music. However, you’d need some programming skills to start making money creating apps. 

25. Get a High-Yield Savings Account

Another reliable way to make money passively is with high-yield savings accounts. These bank accounts are designed to offer you a high interest rate on how much you save. They have a considerably higher interest rate than a regular savings account and are easy to operate. All you have to do is register, deposit, and let the interest compound over an extended period. 

Another reason to consider high-yield savings accounts is that they have zero maintenance fees. Therefore, you’ll stack up interests on your account without paying exorbitant fees. The more interest, the more your money grows. Additionally, your investment in the high-yield savings account is FDIC-insured. This means the amount in your accounts is insured up to $250,000. 

You could consistently put in funds from your active income or returns from investments like mutual funds, small businesses, rental property, the stock market, other asset classes, or even referral fees from various platforms and increase your net worth. You don’t need a high risk tolerance for this. 

26. Invest In Small Businesses

You can also earn passive income by investing in small businesses. If you can spot companies that will grow over the long term, you can make plenty of money from this. 

When you invest in an SME, you’ll benefit from growth in your shares or stocks with the company. You’ll also earn income directly through revenue sharing. The revenue you’ll get depends on how much you’ve contributed to the business. 

One of the most exciting things about investing in small businesses is that it requires little capital, and you are exempt from maintenance fees. Also, almost anyone can earn with this tip, even without being an accredited investor. 

Of course, before being able to invest conveniently, you’d need to work on raising your active income from your full-time job and have proper personal finance management. 

You may also need a healthy amount of risk tolerance to start investing in this.

27. Become a Social Media Influencer

Are you social media savvy? Do you spend plenty of time exploring the pages of social media platforms? Have you successfully built a large, loyal fanbase of followers? If yes, why not use your social media skills to make money? As a social media influencer, you’ll advertise brands, products, and services on your profile. 

To become a social media influencer, you must regularly post exciting content, including pictures, videos, and compilations of both. Depending on your preferred social media platform, you may also have to write a bit. When you get a large following, brands will readily partner with you. 

Aside from regular income, you’ll enjoy freebies, sponsored products, and exclusive events and merchandise. Having a strong internet connection is critical to your success here. 

28. Try Drop Shipping

If you’re interested in a side hustle that involves selling products but without the challenge of stocking your home with items, you should opt for drop shipping. As a drop shipper, the supplier will be responsible for stocking and shipping products to customers. You can list and sell products by creating an online store or advertising on social media. 

29. Try Peer to Peer Lending

Peer-to-peer lending is a great way to make money by compounding your available cash. You’ll be lending money to someone who probably doesn’t qualify for traditional loans, and they’ll pay back with interest. 

Peer-to-peer lending has an annual return of 4 – 7%. The upside is that your money makes you more without having to do anything. However, before engaging in this, ensure there’s a system in place to guarantee you get your money back. 

30. Use Cash Back Apps

As their name suggests, cash back apps refund a percentage of your money after you make online purchases. These apps track your online expenses and help you save automatically. Of course, the money you’d initially spend in the online marketplace could be from active income. 

31. Use Cash Back Cards

Similar to cash back apps, a cash back card refunds users for their daily purchases. All you have to do is find the card with the best offer. Certain service providers offer up to 5% on purchases, which can stack over time. Before using a cash back card, read its terms and conditions to determine any restrictions on the type of purchases supported and spending limits. 

32. Use Weight Loss Apps

Another innovative way to make money is by signing up for a weight loss app. While there are several alternatives, a few motivate users by paying them to maintain progress and constantly track their weight. . 

33. Invest in Fine Wine

While this may not sound like much, it’s a proven way to make money. There’s a common saying that fine wine gets better with age. So, the value of the bottle will increase. Fine wine has performed well as an investment alternative over the past two decades, even outperforming the S&P 500. 

Another reason you should consider investing in fine wine to begin making money while you sleep is that fine wine has a low correlation with the stock market. This means that the value of fine wine will remain constant even when the stock market experiences volatility. However, you may need to know how to differentiate good wine from bad to get the best value for money. 

34. Invest in Rare Art

If you flashback about three to five decades ago, you’d only find the ultra-rich and influential people possessing rare art. However, the status quo has changed. Today, it’s easy for almost anyone to invest in rare art while spending as low as $500. 

By investing in rare art, you’re ensuring that you’ll be making money 24/7, even while sleeping. Investing in rare art is a great idea because these items have continued to grow in value despite economic hardship. 

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Earn Money While You Sleep

Final Thoughts on How to Make Money While You Sleep

There are many ways to make money while you sleep, but not all are created equal. The best way to choose is to look at the options and decide which makes the most sense for you.

Regardless of your choice, remember that it takes time and effort to build up any form of passive income stream. Don’t expect to get rich overnight. But if you’re patient and consistent, you can create a passive income stream that will help you reach financial freedom in the long run.