So, what is passive income? It’s something you build piece by piece by putting simple systems in place, offering one clear solution, and showing up with consistent content that brings the right people to your product. And once those pieces start working together, the income keeps flowing, even on the days you’re not online.

In all my programs and trainings, I teach passive income in a way that’s simple and doable for complete beginners, not by overwhelming you with ten different products or complicated funnels, but by helping you focus on what actually works. You don’t need dozens of offers or eight different platforms. You only need one crystal-clear product and one system that sells it for you.

Ahead, I’m breaking down exactly how passive income works based on the same frameworks I use in my business and the exact methods you’ll find inside my videos, courses, and digital products. By the end, you’ll know how to create passive income online in a way that’s sustainable, profitable, and, most importantly, simple.

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What Is Passive Income?

Most people hear “passive income” and imagine effortless money, or income that appears out of nowhere while they relax on the couch or on a beach. And that misunderstanding is exactly why so many people stay stuck.

Passive income is not:

• a shortcut
• a loophole
• effortless money
• zero effort once you post something online

And that’s exactly why they get disappointed. 

What passive income actually means is building a product and system at once, so that the system continues generating income whether or not you’re actively working. The work is real, but it’s front-loaded. In other words, you put in effort up front so you don’t have to be “on” every hour of every week.

And that’s why passive income is so powerful! Once you’ve built a system, your income is no longer tied to your hours. Passive income is predictable, scalable, sustainable, life-changing, and, most importantly, learnable.

Ready to get started? Let’s break down passive income mistakes, passive income ideas that work, and even how to make passive income on Instagram. Step by step, I’ll walk you through how to build a system that earns money 24/7.

Passive income is absolutely real, but it’s not magic and it’s not luck. It’s something you build with intention.

Common Passive Income Mistakes 

OK, so I don’t want to kick this off with negative talk. However, to understand passive income ideas that work, you first need to understand the common mistakes we are trying to avoid.

So, before we dive into the best passive income ideas, let’s go over some of the most common passive income roadblocks. These are the same patterns I see over and over again when I chat with my students:

1. Their product is too broad.

Broad offers sound like a great way to make passive income (e.g., “I will have something for everyone!”). But broad doesn’t sell. People don’t buy general help; they buy solutions to a very specific problem.

2. They don’t commit long enough.

If you expect results in 10 days, you’ll quit in 10 days. If you want to make passive income, you need to be consistent with your posting and build a system. Momentum takes time, but once it kicks in, you’ll be unstoppable.

3. They keep switching ideas or platforms.

Every time you switch your niche or product, you reset your momentum to zero. This is why people feel like they’re constantly starting over. (We’ll chat about top passive income ideas in a bit to avoid this!)

4. They have money guilt or money fear.

If you feel guilty selling, uncomfortable charging, or unsure whether you’re “allowed” to earn, your audience feels that too.

5. They lack consistency. 

Posting randomly won’t give consistent results. Your system can’t run if you never feed it traffic.

6. They quit when the results are small early on.

Early results aren’t meant to be big; they’re meant to be data. Think of it like planting seeds. You don’t get fruit on day one, but the growth is still happening.

How to Start Making Passive Income

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s break down how to make passive income with tips and ideas that are repeatable, beginner-friendly, and proven to get you results: 

1. Sell Digital Products 

Selling digital products is the foundation of everything I teach about how to make passive income. And for good reason. Digital products for passive income mean:

• no inventory
• no shipping
• zero overhead
• infinite copies
• no customer service if set up right
• a massively scalable product
  

Plus, digital products adapt to your personality, skills, and interests. You can create something once that solves a specific problem and earn from it for years. Here are some quick examples:

• A niche pregnancy wardrobe guide
• A workout accountability system
• A travel itinerary that made $1,100
• A beginner product that made $600 in the first week
• Specialized ADHD worksheets
• Emotional regulation guides
• Low-ticket templates and planners
  

These passive income ideas are prime examples of what I mentioned earlier: create hyper-specific products. So, for example, instead of “how to be productive,” a person might try “a 15-minute daily routine for moms with ADHD who feel overwhelmed by work tasks.” That’s very specific! Or, instead of “meal planning for everyone,” you might try “5-minute meal plans for moms who hate cooking and have zero time”

Ask yourself: “What problem can I solve right now, without doing hours of research?” And remember that the more specific the product, the faster it sells.

2. Build Passive Income Using Instagram Content (Your Traffic Engine)

Instagram plays a huge role in my passive income system because it’s the fastest way to build daily traffic for free. So much so that I even built an entire course around how to leverage with Instagram.

When you understand how Instagram’s three main content sources work, it becomes your #1 sales engine. Let’s break it down step-by-step:

1. Reels = Traffic

Reels bring in new followers. One good Instagram Reel can reach thousands, or even millions, of people who never knew you existed. I’ve had a single reel bring in $2,500 in product sales. My students have had weeks where one reel changed the entire trajectory of their business.

Reels work because they tap into visibility, momentum, and discoverability. When you create short, value-packed videos consistently, you build a steady stream of new eyes every single day, even if you’re not posting multiple times a day or dancing on camera.

2. Carousels = Nurture

If Reels introduce you to new people, Carousels are what keep them coming back. This is where you showcase your expertise, your personality, and your ability to deliver results for people. Carousels are powerful because they:

• Slow people down
• Deliver value in a structured way
• Tell mini stories
• Build authority
• Show your unique perspective
  

A well-crafted Carousel can quickly warm up a cold follower fast, and unlike Reels (which are primarily about reach), Carousels help build the relationship that leads directly to sales.

​​3. Stories = Sales

Instagram Stories are where you build relationships with people. It’s where people see your personality, your process, and the behind-the-scenes moments that make you feel human instead of “another marketer.” Stories are so powerful because they build familiarity and connection fast, and that trust often leads to sales.

Instagram doesn’t replace your funnel; it feeds it. Your content builds your audience, your funnel converts them, and your automations deliver the product.

3. Create a Simple Automated Funnel for Passive Income

One of the biggest misconceptions about passive income is that you need a massive, complicated funnel with twenty moving parts. No. Absolutely not. In fact, complexity is one of the main reasons people don’t make passive income. If your system is too confusing, too long, or too “fancy,” it breaks. Or you stop using it. Or, most commonly, it never gets finished.

The students who succeed the fastest? They follow this same simple, three-part funnel I teach in every program because it works:

1. Traffic

The first piece is traffic. This is simply the flow of people coming into your world. You don’t need 10 platforms. You need one. Instagram is more than enough. Your Reels bring in new eyes, your Carousels warm people up, and your Stories show your personality. From there, you funnel people straight to your link in bio and then to a simple landing page. That’s it: no ten-step staircase, no fancy detours.

2. Capture

The second piece is lead capture, and I want you to keep this as simple as humanly possible. A straightforward checkout page performs better than a complicated one every single time. Your offering could be a single course, a one-page template, a mini training, or a short start-here guide. Avoid long paragraphs on the page and be hyper-specific about what they will get. You can deliver it through Manychat or traditional email; both work beautifully.

3. Automated sales sequence. 

This is the part everybody gets excited about because it’s where the “while you sleep” magic actually happens. Once someone gets excited about what you’re offering and wants to purchase, an automated system like SamCart can guide them through the buying process. That means your automations can pitch your product, answer objections, follow up when they forget to check out, deliver the product instantly, offer upsells, and even send bonuses, all without you having to do anything.

When this is built correctly, it really does become a 24/7 sales machine. You don’t need to be “on.” You don’t need to check DMs all day. You don’t need to be glued to your phone. The system does the work. Your only job is to keep creating content that brings people into the top of the funnel, and the funnel handles the rest.

4. Make Passive Income While on Vacation

One of my favorite examples of how passive income actually works is what happens when I go on vacation. I’m not talking about “working a little” or “checking in quickly.” I mean truly unplugging, which means no content, no posting, no checking DMs, no sales calls, no emails, no strategy sessions, no laptop in sight.

When I’m on vacation, I genuinely do not:

• post
• check Instagram
• answer messages
• write emails
• monitor sales
• think about the business at all
  

And yet, the sales still come in.

I remember one trip specifically. I turned off my phone, spent the day exploring, ate dinner with my family, came back to the hotel room, and saw a stack of SamCart notifications waiting for me. 

Sale after sale after sale.

Not because I got lucky.

Not because I went viral.

But because the system I built was doing its job.

Here’s why it worked:

• I had one clear, specific product
  A confused audience never buys. A crystal-clear offer makes sales simple.
  
• My content had already warmed the audience.
  The trust was built before the trip through Reels, Carousels, and Stories.
  
• My funnel was simple and beginner-friendly.
  No complicated tech. Just one path that leads people straight to the sale.

• Delivery was fully automated.

Once someone bought the product, it was delivered instantly without me having to send a single file or message manually. Everything was already set up to run on its own.

• My offer was evergreen.
  People could buy it at any time, meaning the product was not tied to a launch window.

• I had months of momentum built beforehand.
  Consistent posting feeds the system well in advance of when you need it.
  

And here’s the part most people don’t want to hear, but absolutely need to: Passive income is built before the vacation, not during it.

You don’t create passive income by working from the beach. You create passive income by setting up a system that lets you take a vacation while still making money.

When the system is built the right way, your business doesn’t pause just because you do. And that’s the real freedom of passive income; not “doing nothing,” but being able to step away without stepping backward.

Ask yourself: “What problem can I solve right now, without doing hours of research?” And remember that the more specific the product, the faster it sells.

Passive Income Tools I Wouldn’t Run My Business Without 

Now that you know why you should create an automated funnel, let’s talk about the tools that can help you do that. 

I’m a big believer in keeping your tech simple. You do not need 19 platforms or a complicated funnel. But the right tools make your system run automatically, smoothly, and without you babysitting the process.

So, what tools help me sell digital products? For me, it’s a dynamic duo: SamCart and Manychat. I absolutely could not successfully run my business without them:

1. SamCart: Your High-Converting Checkout 

SamCart is the first tool I recommend because it’s simple, beginner-friendly, and built to convert. SamCart handles the entire buying process for you: the sales page, checkout, upsells, and product delivery. It removes all the tech headaches so your digital product can sell on autopilot.

SamCart handles:

• Order bumps
• Upsells
• Product delivery
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Beautiful, clean checkout pages
  

And because it’s built for conversions, it keeps making sales even when you’re offline.

2. Manychat: Your Automated Follow-Up + Lead Nurture System

We’ve also got Manychat, a tool that automates your DMs, delivers freebies, follows up with leads, and answers common questions so you don’t have to be on your phone constantly. It helps you:

• deliver freebies instantly
• follow up with people who clicked but didn’t buy
• give quick answers to common questions
• walk people through a buying decision
• nurture leads without you typing every DM
  

Manychat is especially powerful when you’re traveling or taking time off. Your Manychat flows help you grow your business by continuing the conversation and converting people even when you’re unavailable.

To wrap up, here are how automated systems run even when you’re tucking in for the night:

• SamCart handles your checkout.
• Manychat handles your follow-up.
• Instagram drives the traffic.
• Your funnel handles the rest.

It’s a simple ecosystem that works together, and once it’s built, it creates predictable passive income that feels like magic, even though it isn’t magic at all.

Passive Income Checklist

Whew! That was a lot of info, but exciting, right?! I like a list that I can check off as I accomplish my goals, so I put together a simplified, beginner-friendly checklist for building passive income:

✓ Choose one hyper-specific problem.

Pick a problem you can genuinely help someone solve right now. THat means skipping something broad, overwhelming, or theoretical.

✓ Pick one audience.

Focusing on one group (e.g., postpartum moms, adults with ADHD, or total beginners) helps you speak clearly and build trust faster.

✓ Create one simple digital product.

Start with the smallest, simplest version of a solution, like a PDF, a guide, or a template, and improve later once it’s selling.

✓ Set up a simple sales page.

Your sales page only needs to explain what your product is, who it’s for, and why it helps. Simple pages convert better than complex ones.

✓ Install core automations.

Automations like instant delivery, upsells, abandoned-cart reminders, and basic DM follow-ups help your product sell without you having to do everything manually.

✓ Consistently post on Instagram.

Daily content builds traffic, trust, and visibility, the three elements your passive income system needs to run consistently.

✓ Stay consistent even when you want to give up.

Results start small, then compound, and consistency is what turns a few early sales into a reliable, steady income stream.

Passive Income Is Simple When You Follow the Right System

Passive income isn’t luck, timing, or secret hacks. It’s clarity, consistency, and a simple system that runs whether you’re online or not. When you stick to one product, one audience, one clear solution, and one traffic source, the results build faster than you expect. And the best part? Once the system is up and running, it frees you to step away without your income dipping. If you’re ready to start making passive income, begin with one specific problem, create a simple product that solves it, and let your system grow your results day by day. The sooner you start, the sooner your passive income starts working for you.

Passive Income FAQs

1. What are the easiest passive income ideas for beginners?

The easiest place to start is with a simple digital product. A one-page template, checklist, guide, or mini-training can be created quickly and sold repeatedly without extra work. You don’t need a big audience. All you need is a clear problem and a clear solution.

2. Do I need a big following to make passive income?

Not at all. Many of my students start earning with fewer than 500 followers. You need a warm audience, or people who trust you and understand the problem you solve.

3. How many products should I create?

To start? Just one. One product will scale faster than juggling multiple mediocre ones. Once that product is selling consistently, consider adding a second.

4. How do I choose a passive income niche?

Pick the specific person you can help most easily based on your experience. The more specific the audience, the faster they say “yes” to buying. Vague audiences slow down your sales.

5. What if I feel uncomfortable selling?

This is extremely common. Selling becomes easier when you remember that your product solves a real problem for someone. You’re helping them save time, reduce stress, or improve their life. And that’s worth paying for.