Passive income is money that you don’t have to spend a lot of time actively working on. For example, if you were to publish a book, for the rest of your life you’d be earning royalties from its sales, and therefore it would be considered passive income.
On the other hand, if you were working as a consultant, your income would be directly tied to the hours that you work.
The great thing about passive income is that it gives you the freedom to do other things, which makes it an ideal income stream for teens. Most of you probably have many other things going on in your lives, such as school, a social life, etc. This article will go over 17 passive income side hustles for teens.
17 Low Capital Side Hustles for Teenagers
1. Start a dropshipping business
Dropshipping is one of the most lucrative passive income businesses you can start online.
If you’re not familiar with the concept, this is how it works in a nutshell. You start by identifying products that have a lot of demand, and then find a cheap supplier that can handle your orders. Most people use AliExpress.
Once you have all that in place, the next step will be to create a Shopify store where you can then list all those products for sale. Whenever you get an order, you then use the money to buy the item from your supplier and then have it shipped directly to the buyer.
You’re just like a middle man in the transaction. It’s one of the most profitable side hustles for teens because you don’t need a lot of capital to start.
2. Start a blog
One of the greatest benefits of blogging is that it allows you to turn one asset into multiple streams of income.
You can monetize your blog through ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, selling your own merchandise (via the dropshipping model), etc. If you’re a great writer then this could be the perfect side hustle for you.
3. Create an online course
If you have any skill that people would pay for, you can easily create a course through platforms like Udemy. You could create a course on dancing, cooking, foreign languages, playing guitar, etc. The possibilities are endless.
Although the bulk of the work will go into putting together the course content, once you’ve uploaded it online, you won’t spend any time actively teaching. People can just enroll and pay your fees to access the prerecorded content.
4. Create an Instagram fan page
Instagram allows people to create fan pages for almost anything. You can create a fan page for anything you like, including fashion, beauty, home decor, or something very unusual, such as knitting.
To get a lot of Instagram followers, you must be consistent with the content you post. As your account keeps growing, you’ll start to receive sponsored post requests.
5. Print-on-demand
Print-on-demand allows you to sell custom graphics on t-shirts, mugs, and many other things. You can create your own branded products without keeping stock of any one of them.
This idea works like dropshipping. Whenever you get an order for a custom print, you then place the order from a print-on-demand service like Printify and then ship it directly to the buyer.
6. Build an app
Nowadays you don’t need to have any coding knowledge to create apps. There are many no-code tools that make the task significantly easier, including Adalo and Webflow.
So if you have an idea for the next Uber, you can start working on it literally right now. The barrier to entry is so low, making it a fantastic side hustle for teens.
There are two primary monetization options with apps. You can charge people a fee to download it, or make it free and then insert some ads.
Another way to make money with this idea, although it’s not passive, is by building apps for other people.
7. Create a niche e-commerce store
You can create an e-commerce business and then outsource all the work, including customer support and order fulfillment to freelancers. Although by doing so, you reduce your potential profits substantially, it’s the only way to make such a business passive.
8. Affiliate marketing
This is a great way to make money online if you have a large following on social media or an audience on YouTube/ a blog.
With affiliate marketing, you’re essentially getting paid commissions for promoting other people’s products and services. You can find relevant products to start promoting through affiliate networks like CJ Affiliate and Clickbank.
9. Flip websites
If you have some experience with web design and SEO, you can buy operational websites from marketplaces like Flippa, improve them, and then resell them for profit on the same marketplace.
10. Make YouTube videos
YouTube is one of those passive income machines that just keeps on giving. You can create a channel on nearly anything that can attract an audience, as long as it’s not breaching YouTube’s policies.
Once you build a substantial audience, you’ll make recurring income through ads, sponsored videos, and also affiliate marketing.
11. Sell stock photos
If you’re good at taking photographs and using editing tools like photoshop, then you can start selling your work on stock photo websites like Shutterstock.
Any time someone licenses your photos, you get paid a commission. It’s a great low capital business idea for teens.
12. Help small businesses bring in clients
Are you a skilled marketer and salesperson? Then you can become an agent for small businesses in your area and help them find clients in exchange for a referral commission or bonus.
Almost every business could do with more clients. You could literally walk into any store and pitch them your idea of bringing in more clients and they’ll most likely be interested.
13. Create an e-book
This is an idea that scares a lot of people, but it’s quite possibly the best way to make passive income for teenagers.
Similar to creating an online course, you can write an e-book on any topic that has demand and then publish it through platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing.
Most of the work goes into writing the e-book, and it can take several months, but once you publish it, that’s it. You’ll be set for years to come, especially if your book becomes a hit.
14. Sell old textbooks
You probably have lots of old books you’re not using anymore, and so do your friends. You can create a website where students can sell their old textbooks to other students and then make money through commissions.
15. Sell Digital Products
Digital products include PDFs, graphic designs, templates, website plugins, audiobooks, etc. If you are skilled at making any one of them then you can make lots of money selling them online.
And if you don’t want to create the digital products yourself, you can create a marketplace where you simply list other people’s work and then make money through commissions.
16. Passive income apps
Passive income apps work just like they sound. You install them on your phone and then take a few actions to make money. These actions can be anything from watching videos, playing games, or answering survey questions.
There are many apps that can help you put your smartphone and time to good use, including Swagbucks and InboxDollars.
17. Audiobooks
Do you frequently get complimented because of your voice? Do you enjoy reading for hours each day? If you, then you can make passive income recording and selling audiobooks!
