6 Media Driven Passive Income Business Ideas (Pros & Cons)

We live in the information age where the opportunities available to young (and older) people are potentially limitless. The Age of Permissionless Leverage.

And, it’s not inherited money, laundered money, or stolen money. Genuine, honest, hard-earned money, all from the right ideas presented to them on a silver platter.

The internet. 

Now you can earn money in the comfort of your home with only three essentials — a good computer, a stable internet connection, and the proper understanding of leverage. 

This article explores the pros and cons of popular passive income business ideas.

Starting with the worst and moving down the list to the best, we have ranked them in order of your chances for success and the level of control over the platforms. 

1. Tiktok

TikTok has taken the world by storm as a platform, amassing over a billion active users in a few short years. 

Users simply hook their viewers using viral videos and then make millions from the views.  

However, is it worth investing in the long-term as passive income? Let’s dive into its pros and cons. 

Pros

• You can get a lot of views on the platform and easily make them go viral if you put in the effort. 
• You can partner with the TikTok Creator Fund system to start earning from the platform. 
• You can also get sponsorships from established brands and businesses. 

Cons

• You need 10,000 followers and more than 100,000 views to qualify for the TikTok Creator fund. 
• You can be hostage to “The Spike of Hope.”

• If you qualify for this system, it takes a long time to start earning a decent income. For example, for every 1 to 2 million views, you earn about $100, which is pretty low for such an amount of views. 
• Lack of control. You cannot market your other social media outlets on the platform. TikTok limits you from staying on the platform. It does not allow outbound links to your website or other social media platforms.  
• TikTok is incredibly addictive. Once you start using it, it’s hard to stop. 
• Your earnings purely depend on the number of views you get. This makes it kinda not passive(ish).
• You have to make 1 to 3 posts every day to keep up with your audience. That is a lot of work.   

Is it worth investing in TikTok for passive income?

Some people make millions from TikTok and have established their brand names using the platform. 

However, TikTok is not for everyone. And, it’s not a good choice for creating passive income. 

Based on the above analysis, the cons outweigh the benefits, meaning it’s not a sustainable idea.

Especially if your focus is on the long term. 

2. Instagram

Instagram is a valuable platform for businesses that focus on visual impressions. These include the fashion industry, cosmetics, food and lifestyle, and travel.  

It is generally considered a secondary platform to media outlets like YouTube, Pinterest, and personal websites (blogs). 

You can market your products via reels, Instagram stories, and the store section within the platform. Some of its advantages and disadvantages include:

Pros

• The revenue model is scalable.
• You can link your business website, YouTube channel, and other social media platforms in your Bio.
• You can market your products on the platform using Reels and Instagram stories.
• You can also establish your brand name on the platform through a good audience.

Cons

• There’s no ad revenue on the platform.
• Getting affiliate revenue is also tricky. You may need sponsorships from established brands and influencers to make some money. 
• You need thousands or millions of followers to make a decent income from the platform. And you also need to post every day, which can slide you into the tedious “content hamster wheel.”

Is Instagram a good option for generating passive income?

Instagram is only suitable for visually-dependent businesses like fashion and footwear. 

If you want to make passive income from it, consider creating products and services that are visually appealing to your audience.

3. Digital Marketing Agency 

Starting a digital marketing agency has excellent potential in earning you significant profits and making passive income. 

Many agencies operate remotely, prospecting for clients and offering services worth $4,000 to $5,000. Some agency owners make up to $20,000 a month from digital marketing agencies through active pitching and delivering quality services to clients. 

Pros

• The revenue business model is scalable and predictable. 
• You can control how you optimize profits and reduce losses made from sales.
• You get to earn money quickly. 

Cons

• You’ll make a lot of profit, but it requires your input to run smoothly. This means the business is not entirely passive.
• You have to deliver quality work matching clients’ needs and expectations.
• You need digital marketing skills, including SEO, social media marketing, and advertising. You also need to understand how Google algorithms work.   

Can agencies help me make passive income?

Digital marketing agencies are a great way of earning instant money and learning the trade.

It’s worth considering for long-term investment, but you should know that it’s not exactly passive and will require many hours.  

4. Online Courses 

Online courses are one of the most underrated ways of making passive income.

It’s interesting how students invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on college degrees but cannot set aside $1,000 to learn a highly profitable skill. 

The general notion that online courses are poor needs to change.

People earn up to six-figure income by applying “cheap” knowledge from online courses. 

Here are some of its pros and cons:

Pros

• You can set the price and earn well by selling your expertise.
• You can coach students and help them succeed.
• Once the course is established with a good audience, passive income starts streaming.
• Many educational sites make it easy for you to publish your course online. 
• It’s an evergreen passive investment since the course will always sell as long as it exists in the online space.

Cons

• You need subscribers to pay and sign in to your course.
• It’s time and labor-intensive. You have to put in lots of work to be an excellent finished product.
• You may need to cover startup expenses like video equipment (if any), pay test students, editors, reviewers, etc.
• You have to make an effort marketing the course to make sales.

Are Online Courses the best passive income investment?

An online course is a good investment choice for passive income. Their demand is ever-growing, and it will keep accelerating with time. 

And as long as they exist in the online space, income will keep streaming in as new students keep subscribing. 

If you have expertise in a particular field and haven’t created a course, take that leap of faith, package your knowledge into one comprehensive course, and start marketing it. The time and effort this investment will pay off in the long run.  

5. Blogging

Blogging is one of the best ways of earning passive income.

By sharing your ideas and creating informative and engaging content, you can attract a dedicated audience that can be a good source of passive income. 

Pros

• You can monetize the blog through advertising, affiliate marketing, selling digital products and services, etc. 
• It’s a great way to connect with like-minded people and build a community around your interests.
• You can promote your business, grow your brand, and market and sell merchandise.
• Ranking on Google gives you the benefit of 
• You can get out of the “content hamster wheel” trap by outsourcing your work to quality writers.
• You can control how you run your blog as you completely own it.

Cons

• It’s time-consuming at the beginning. At times you’ll need to create lots of content that is labor-intensive.
• You have to set up a website which can feel overwhelming. Hiring a web designer is also an added cost.
• Your website can be prone to malicious hackers who can attack and corrupt your website, potentially harming your audience.
• You’ll need to build and structure internal and external links so Google algorithms can pick content from your blog and rank it. 

How can I start earning passive income from a blog?

Starting a blog is worth the investment for generating passive income.

Once you build a blog and gain enough audience, you can monetize it and start earning from it while you sleep.

You can go on vacation, then come back and find your revenue renewed from the monetization strategies you applied in the blog. 

If I were you, I would start now.

Don’t wait till you get perfect. Create that first MVP (Minimum Viable Product) post, publish it, and share it with your friends, family, and social media platforms.

Get feedback, then keep improving and building on content. Watch your audience grow, monetize, and start earning exponentially.

Blogging lends itself to a trial-and-error bottoms-up approach with tight feedback loops.

6. YouTube 

YouTube wins as the best pick in this category. The ultimate evergreen passive income investment will only keep growing over the years.  

The mechanism is simple.

You create valuable content, shoot a video, edit and optimize it, then publish it on the platform for your viewers to see.  

Pros

• It’s an evergreen investment as the views keep growing over the years.
• Highly scalable.
• You can have multiple income stream revenues from the platform. These include affiliate commissions, course sales, and ad revenue from organic views.
• You can also link to your website and online course and market your products using the platform.
• You get the opportunity to build and establish yourself as an authentic personal brand.
• Your viewer’s comment can help you identify needs to fill, which you can address in a new “upcoming” video. This strategy also helps maintain your audience. 

Cons

• You’ll need to invest in quality videography equipment which is sometimes expensive. The shooting cameras, lights, stands, and perhaps hiring a video editor.
• Some people don’t want to be on camera. This is a standard phobia for beginner YouTubers, but as time goes by, you’ll gain the confidence to showcase yourself to the world.
• It takes work to shoot great videos, edit them and create thumbnails for your viewers to navigate through your videos easily.  

How good is YouTube for passive income?

YouTube is the best passive income business idea. Most people find watching YouTube videos easier than reading a blog. For example, an honest review about a product. 

People get to know you as a personal brand which creates trust between you and your viewers. The trust makes it easy to market and sell your products and services and those you sell through affiliates. 

Warp Up

TikTok is suitable for virality and making quick money, but in its current form, with the lack of control, we do not believe it is sustainable in the long term.

Instagram is great for businesses focusing on visuals, but it’s not passive and can be time-consuming.

Digital marketing agencies are a great way to make money quickly, but they’re not entirely passive. Online courses are an evergreen investment that can be pretty time-consuming.

Our favorite is blogging. The perfect way to connect with like-minded people and build a community, but it can be time-consuming at the beginning.

Blogging combined with YouTube, we believe, is the best passive income business machine as it’s evergreen and highly scalable.

FAQs

What is the most profitable passive income?

Creating and selling digital products, such as e-books, online courses, and services, is one of the most profitable ways of making passive income. You can also sell other people’s or businesses’ products through affiliate marketing and earn decent passive income. The only homework for you would be marketing and later automating the business.  

How can I make $1,000 a month passively?

Some businesses you can try to make $1,000 a month passively include creating niche websites, growing them, then monetizing them; starting a YouTube channel and earning from ad revenues and sponsorships through the platform; setting up e-commerce and dropship products from a supplier; etc. 

The methods are endless. It all depends on what you choose and how determined you’ll be in growing these businesses to earn that $1,000 a month passively. 

What is a good passive income business? 

A good passive income business earns you money without actively working on it. It yields good returns whether you show up for work or not. The key to finding a good business model is identifying its ability to work for you in the long term and earn you infinite money.