"Making money while you sleep" is the dream, right?

After all, one of your financial independence goals is to build wealth that doesn't waste your time so that you have more time to do what you want.

A common misconception about passive income is that it doesn't take work. That couldn't be further from the truth. You need time, skills, and/or money to build passive income streams; sometimes, it takes all three.

You can either invest your time or money. If you don't have the latter, we'll slowly build towards acquiring a nest egg to be able to invest our money over time.

Passive income is a long-term game that requires short-term investments.

I will break down what passive income is and show you the steps I took to create and continue to create multiple passive income streams for my family.

What is Passive Income?

Passive income is money earned while requiring minimal daily effort or upkeep.

• Passive — requiring little or no time

• Income—generating cash

The golden rule of passive income – protect your time.

My favorite passive income stream, which I help my clients with most often, is building an online course.

Suppose I build an online course. At first, (if you're not using my signature method, the P.I.P. Method), you could be earning no money, and my investment in time is very high.

Once the course is complete, you may be required to market it and/or provide customer support, but it's an automated asset that can earn you income on automatic.

Passive income is not:

+coaching

+consulting

+freelance work

Because each of those tasks requires you to be present in the allotted timeframe to deliver the work. Again, we're seeking to create income streams that need much of your time to generate income.

Generate Passive Income With Money Investment (Effort Level: 1-2)

1. Real Estate Investment In Your PJs (Effort Level 1)

Real estate has been a way for megamogal to build lasting wealth.

Now with today's technology, you can begin to invest in real estate in your PJs from the comfort of your home. With an appl like Fundrise, you can start investing in real estate investment trusts for as little as $10.

2. Passively Invest In The Markets (Effort Level 1)

Investing in public stocks and bonds is a crucial way people build long-term wealth and income through their retirement plans or brokerage accounts.

As a former certified financial advisor who used to help people manage their brokerage accounts, I know firsthand how complicated this can be.

EFTs can be bought and sold during the day, and index funds are exchanged after the price is set at the end of the trading day.

Assets my family is currently invested in are Vanguard EFT [ ] and [. ].

3. CD Laddering (Effort Level 1)

When it comes to making money while you sleep, there isn't anything more passive than investing in a Certificate of Deposit, aka CDs, as it's a low-risk strategy to accrue interest risk-free.

CDs are like savings accounts, without the ability to withdraw as you please. The CD must reach maturity based on the time you set up the account.

The longer the CD is held, the more interest the financial institution will pay you for holding the CD.

4. Buy A Blog (Effort Level 2)

Did you know that thousands of lucrative blogs are abandoned by their owners annually?

And that most blogs are linked to Google AdSense, meaning that each time a person clicks on a particular link in a blog post, the owner can receive compensation. We're talking potentially hundreds or thousands of dollars in cash flow each month from web traffic.

A blog that has good evergreen content has the potential to earn year over year.

If the site generates $500 a month in income, you can likely buy it for no more than $12,000. A $12,000 upfront investment will buy you $6,000 per year in cash flow.

If you're willing to maintain the blog site and add fresh content regularly, over time, you could increase the blog's value and, if you so choose, resell it.

A go-to resource to help you find a blog to buy a blog on Flippa. You might check it out!

5. Invest in a Business (Effort Level 2)

If online isn't your game and you'd prefer to invest in a 'harder' asset, you might consider supporting an established business as an active or silent partner.

Just be sure that if you do, the business has a mission you believe in, viable repeatable systems and processes, and a robust C-suite team to help ensure the business grows.

Generate Passive Income With Time Investment (Effort Level: 3-5)

6. Sell Stock Photos (Effort Level 3)

Whether or not you consider yourself a professional or you're someone who enjoys snapping pictures. You could consider selling your photos as stock images on third-party sites, Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, iStockPhoto, etc.

You could set up a website owner and sell your photos from there directly, much like my friend matthewjphotography.com does.

7. Become A Social Media Influencer (Effort Level 3)

If you love sharing the highlights of your life and have helpful tips and strategies that could help others improve, then maybe becoming a social media influencer is the gig for you.

Building an online following takes time, but once you hit a threshold of engaged followers, you can begin to work brand deals, get an affiliate link for a product you love and share away and earn passive income.

8. License Your Music (Effort Level 3)

Do you love to make music and dream of getting paid to create it? You can license your music to be used across various platforms with third-party platforms like YouTube, independent videos, podcasts, ads, etc.

• Consider checking out:

• Musicbed.

• Music Vine.

• Marmoset.

• Crucial Music.

9. Build An App or Product To Sell (Effort Level 5)

Building an app might be a fun way to get your product or service out into the world.

Thanks to modern technology, it's never been easier to build an app.

If you create handmade products, a site like Esty is a simple way to set up a storefront and begin making money.