Local lead generation, automating a YouTube channel, and travel blogging are the top 3 ways to make passive income while travelling in 2023. Local lead generation requires little to no work after your service sites are ranked. Automating a YouTube channel can bring in ad revenue while you travel, and you can even use footage from your travels in your videos. Likewise, with travel blogging, you can collect photos, videos, and stories and use them to generate income.
Of course, there are many other ways to make passive income while traveling, and choosing the most profitable stream that also compliments your natural skills will help you be successful as well as enjoy your travels.
Local lead generation is the most passive of many income streams because you won't have to continuously create more content unless you're ready to scale to a secondary site. Just create your site, rank it, and provide leads to small businesses.
10 Practical Ways to Make Passive Income While Traveling
1. Local Lead Generation
Local lead generation tops this list because of how much potential profit you can earn with it in the long-run. I make around $52k per month with local lead generation and I have made it as my business. Even when I’m traveling, I still make passive income with very minimal work to do. The primary income of local lead generation comes from business owners buying the leads you've produced from the website you've ranked on Google.
Local lead generation isn’t something you can build while you’re traveling. It takes time before you get to make passive income. Having to rank your website and produce leads might take a year, so you’d have to do a lot of work. You also have to spend capital on creating your website for domain name registration and hosting plans.
All the work you’ll be doing with local lead generation will all be worth it once you’ve ranked your website. You’ll be able to produce leads and sell them to local business owners. This business model also leverages on the fact that business owners have to pay you for leads, or otherwise, their competitors may benefit from it. From there, it’s passive income which you can earn even if you’re traveling. Plus, it also opens up other opportunities for having multiple income streams.
Pros
Multiple income streams
Great passive income stream in the long-run
Opportunity for business
Cons
Takes time generate passive income
Needs capital
Learned skill set
2. YouTube Automation Channel
Setting up a YouTube automation channel is another one of the best passive income ideas for travelers. Like local lead generation, this also opens up other opportunities for additional income from ads and sponsors. This is a good passive income source while traveling since your videos stay up online even if you’re traveling.
However, having your channel monetized takes time, as the YouTube Partner Program has certain requirements before receiving commissions from ads. It also takes time to build up an audience for your channel.
You can still start your automation if you have the additional capital to pay for the automation tools like hiring a freelancer, social media integration software, and video upload schedulers. If you’re persistent in this business idea, it’ll all be worth it once your channel is monetized. Plus, there are other opportunities you can incorporate in this idea, such as promoting your blog or ecommerce shop (if you have one) and affiliate marketing. The average RPM, or Revenue Per Mille (revenue per 1,000 views), is around $5 - $10. Meaning, if your videos garner around 10,000 views, you can earn $50 - $100.
Pros
Great passive income stream in the long-run
Multiple income streams
Opportunity for additional income sources like affiliate marketing, promoting your online shop, etc.
Cons
Needs capital
Takes time generate passive income
Building an audience takes time
3. Being a Travel Blogger and Becoming an Influencer
Being a travel blogger is one of the best ways to make money while traveling because you can post photos and videos related to your destinations. Your audience will be people who want to know more about that certain place. However, you will need to create content as you travel, making this semi-passive income at best.
Once you’ve built up an audience, other income opportunities may arise, like sponsorships from other travel brands. Ideally, you would also want to have your own social media channels wherein you can also share your travel ideas, tips, and guides. Check out Scale Your Travell Blog or Travel Blog Accelerator to start learning.
Pros
No need for capital since you’ll be traveling already
Each travel destination is a new content
Opportunity for additional income sources like affiliate marketing and taking photos and videos to be sold online
Cons
Building an audience takes time
Takes time to experience passive income
Need capital for website
4. Investing in Stocks, Forex, or Cryptocurrency
Investing in stocks, forex, and/or cryptocurrency is one of the best passive income ideas wherever you are. It has been more convenient over the recent years since accessibility has been improved with the creation of online trading platforms. This allows investors to check on their investments in just a matter of minutes, wherever they may be.
There is always the risk of losing instead of gaining. You should also be knowledgeable about the stocks, currencies, and crypto coins you are planning to invest in. Especially in crypto, the markets are volatile so you have to be alert about whatever changes are happening with the crypto coins.
The stocks and forex markets are more stable for long-term investments that guarantee profit, while the cryptocurrency market is great for short-term investments (active trading). Stocks allow you to gain around 10-15% annually, which is significantly better than banks. Some experienced forex traders earn at least $20,000 per year. While there are expert traders wherein they can earn that $20,000 in just less than a year.
Pros
Convenient access to markets anywhere
Stocks and forex markets are more stable than crypto
Potential steady cash flow
Cons
Crypto market is volatile and the global economy affects stocks and forex markets
Need capital for investments
Crypto market can be at risk of cyber attacks and security breaches
5. Take Photos and Videos to be Sold Online
Taking photos and videos then selling it online is an excellent source of quick money online since you’ll receive payments whenever a user uses your photos. There are websites online to upload your photos, like Shutterstock and Getty Images.
However, taking photos and videos and selling it online don’t generate as much profit as having a business. It might take some time for your photos and videos to gain an audience, too.
Like travel blogging, you’re doing work while you’re traveling and uploading the photos and videos at a later time. But technically, any income you’ll earn after uploading the photos and videos online is already passive income, and it’s still worth it, since you’ve only done minimal work and have still enjoyed your travel. Stock photo websites like Shutterstock give photo contributors between 15-40% commissions, which is fairly a good deal for just taking a photo.
Pros
No need for capital
Good for short-term cash
Each photo and video sold is passive income
Cons
Not much profits in the long-run
Need good quality captures for more sales
Takes time to earn profit
6. Managing an Ecommerce Shop Using Fulfillment Services
If you have an ecommerce shop and are planning to travel, you can use fulfillment services to help you manage your shop's inventory, orders, packaging, and delivery. This helps you free up your time to travel without doing all the work from your customer orders.
However, it would mean additional expenditures for the fulfilment services, but you could still get profits for every product sold. You would also have to make sure that the 3rd-party fulfillment servicers you're getting are trusted since you would lose control over the quality of the post-buying process.
Pros
Easy to set up
No need for capital
Lesser work, more time
Cons
Loss of control over post-buying quality
More costing for fulfillment services
Lack of customization
7. Starting Your Own Online Marketing Company
Starting your own online marketing business is another way to make passive income. You can start out slow by looking for clients who are needing digital marketing for their businesses. You can then go look for freelancers to do the work for you on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. This idea is great for a long-term passive income stream since you have access to a lot of talent if ever you need more.
Once your online marketing business experiences stability, you can get passive income even when traveling. But before you get there, you would have to do a lot of work in building up your marketing company. You would also need to constantly check in with your clients for updates and engagement, and with your team to ensure work quality.
Having to start your own online marketing company and stabilizing it will always be worth your time and effort. It may be quite the work, but you’ll get to earn passive income even when you’re traveling. Profits will definitely be there in the long-run.
Pros
Excellent opportunity for business growth
Access to more talent
Great passive income source in the long-run
Cons
Communication challenges among team members
Client engagement and management
Constantly ensure team quality and production
8. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing involves promoting products from ecommerce shops and earning commissions from customers buying using your affiliate link. Affiliate marketing can be done by anyone and is convenient anywhere you are. You can even do affiliate marketing even when you are traveling.
However, engaging in affiliate marketing means you should have already gained an audience in order to have people buying from your links. Less audience engagement would also mean a lesser chance of selling. So you have to work on your marketing and promotions of the product affiliate links.
Ideally, affiliate marketing is mixed up with other ideas on this list, such as blogging and your YouTube channel. This can also open up another opportunity if you have your own ecommerce shop as you can do affiliate marketing on your own products on other platforms. Affiliate marketing is also very easy to set-up so you won’t have to worry about it. Various platforms offer around 5% - 10%. So if you’ll be affiliate marketing a product which is at $50, you would get around $2.5 - $5 as commission per purchase.
Pros
Opens up other income opportunities
Easy to set up
No need for capital
Cons
Less audience means low conversion
Competitive market
More work on marketing affiliate products
9. Sell Courses Online
If you're passionate about something, you can teach others how to do it through selling an online course. Your courses may be on how to start your own business, effective marketing strategies, or graphic design. As long as you're knowledgeable in the topic, there's a good chance you can make a worthwhile course.
Creating courses takes a lot of time, and it takes even longer to market and brand your course. You'll have to write the course, make graphics, record the content, do retakes, and more. Then you'll have to stand out from the thousands of other courses available online.
If you can build a traffic base, every purchase from your customers means passive income. Online courses can be sold for around $30-$5000 depending on the niche. Business Lending Blueprint is a good example of this. Oz Konar sells different courses based on his audience’s varying needs.
Pros
Significant source of leads
Income will still come in even after making the courses and guides
No need for capital
Cons
Takes time to build up an audience
A lot to work on when creating courses and guides
One take is never enough
10. List Your Home on Airbnb
Since you’ll be away from your home, make income from it while gone. You can list your home on Airbnb from the day you leave until the day you return.
Of course, there's a chance no one will rent your home while you’re away. If you do have renters, you'll need a plan for cleaning and repairs.
Pros
Great practical way to make extra money online while traveling
Easy to set up listing
No need for capital except for improvements
Cons
Expect cleaning every after rent
Risks of damages by tenants
Having tenants to rent isn’t always guaranteed
FAQs About Making Passive Income While Traveling
1. How can I make a passive income from anywhere?
You can make passive income from anywhere by diving into any of these ideas and doing the initial work. Once it grows and becomes stable enough, you’ll surely experience passive income and can travel the world.
2. Do you have to do any work before earning passive income?
Yes, you need to work before earning passive income. You actually have to work more than compared to full-time work in order to reach the point of generating passive income.
3. Do I need certain skills before I can start working on these ideas?
Yes, you do need certain skills before working on these ideas. Consider it as part of your capital so you won’t have to do additional work in learning a new skill.
4. How do you earn extra money online to survive when you’re traveling?
To earn extra money online to survive when you're travelling, a source of quick cash might be a go-to. For example, if you went for “listing your home on Airbnb” as an idea, you can list your home on Airbnb weeks or days before your travel date. If a tenant’s interested, then you can ask for payment in advance, which you can use as extra money for your travel.
Conclusion
These practical ways to make passive income while traveling can definitely provide your profits in the long-run. It might take a while to experience generating profits from these ideas, but it’ll surely be worth it once it becomes stable, and as long as you’re persistent to do the hard work early on.
Local lead generation tops this list because it generates the highest passive income profit in the long-run compared to the other ideas. It also is a great opportunity to start a business as what I’ve done with mine. This has allowed me to make passive income while being anywhere in the world.
I've heard about Youtube automation but don't know the details of it. Is it faceless Youtube videos where you find videos and share them on your channel with attribution given to the video owner?
Faceless YouTube videos are YouTube videos without the channel creator’s face. You can also find other videos (with a Creative Commons or CC license) on YouTube and include them in your own videos.