Getting started with passive income in Australia

Before getting started, I'd like to qualify that the topic of money and income is very difficult to write about without coming off as completely self-interested hand-wringing. This is not my intention at all. In no way is money my only focus point, as you can no doubt see from my previous posts, nor is it my primary motive - I get much more satisfaction and fulfillment from other pursuits. I really just want to share some information about a topic that I've become interested in, and to describe some of the steps that I have taken to begin this journey.

A definition

I've become quite interested in the idea of passive income generation lately. Passive income is somewhat self-explanatory - the basic premise is that you provide some form of content online and monetise it so that you have very little work in the way of upkeep and maintenance. The form of the content can be anything, but generally it is digital to allow for digital delivery (though there are definitely some examples where a physical product is used). So your content could be a blog, ebook, YouTube channel, podcast, an app or a piece of software or whatever really, so long as there are people willing to either pay you for that content or pay to be in front of the audience of your content.

It's important to note that the process to create a passive income stream is not an easy task. It does involve a hell of a lot of upfront work for very small initial rewards, which might turn some people off. The argument is that the value over the long term is much higher. For example, you might write articles on a blog which earns you some ad revenue - you are probably going to spend a lot of time writing the articles in the first place before you earn a cent, so your revenue per hour is minuscule. However, that article is now there, for all intents and purposes, permanently. So that article will over time, providing it still receives some interest/traffic, continue to generate that small amount of revenue permanently. If you continue publishing content and increase your article base, then this builds the income stream you have.

I've set myself a goal to earn $100 - just $100 - through passive income methods between now and the end of the year. It's going to be difficult, but I think it is achievable. I discuss my small steps so far below.

Advertising revenue

I have taken my first steps with this on this blog; you might have noticed the new features at the top and sides of the blog for example. It has taken me well over a year of writing content for this blog to even get approved for Google's AdSense program. However, you might have also noticed that I qualified that sentence above with "providing it still receives some interest/traffic". The topic of your content and building an audience around this topic is key. Unfortunately for me, because I write across a whole range of topics, the chances of me actually building an audience and getting traffic through this blog is slim to nil - I'd need to be a lot more focused on what I write about - but there is at least some prospect of earning something, no matter how little really, from writing about stuff that I am (and, I assume, you are) interested in right now. Also, because of the wide variety of topics I write about, from my understanding this makes it difficult for Google's algorithms to determine what sort of ads it should display - so they are probably not going to be 100% relevant either.

Affiliate marketing

The one other thing I am trying out is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is basically where you refer people to products or services and if those people purchase that product or service, then you earn a commission. "I already write reviews for books," I thought, "so I am already promoting them to people. If they end up buying it from my review of it, why shouldn't I get something from that?". Importantly, it doesn't cost you any more for the product, but you do decide to purchase something through my referral links, I want you to feel awesome because you are acknowledging that my review helped you, and helping people makes me feel awesome too! Really. The ability to earn a little money from the reviews I would write anyway is a bonus, but it doesn't really matter to me. For me, the important metric this gives me is that my review helped you, and that motivates me to write more - it is hard work writing when you don't know if anyone reads it or actually cares.

In summary

I have only really dipped my toes into the pool of online business and entrepreneurship. Many concepts apply whether you live in Australia or any where else, but there are some things that don't. I will endeavour to share what I can from what I learn, and I hope that will benefit you too. If you found this or any of my other posts useful or interesting, all I ask is that you take a quick second to share it around. If there's anything else you want me to know, why not leave a comment?