Passive Income Streams for Photographers Part 1

Passive income, the dream for all freelancers. Who doesn't want to be able to sit back and relax while their business makes money for them? Well I hate to burst your bubble, but true passive income is somewhat of a myth. There isn't really much that is completely passive. All revenue streams require either lots of upfront work or maintenance (or both), but that doesn't mean that they aren't worth it. The more revenue streams that your business has, the more stable your income will be, and the more free you will be to pick and choose the clients that you want (also the dream haha). 

We've tried a lot of different kinds of passive income over the years so I though it could be helpful to walk you through some different ideas and also share about our experience with them (if we have any) and what work is actually involved in that specific avenue. Not all streams work for all people, what has worked well for us might not work well for you and vice versa - that's ok! It may take some time for you to figure out what works, and it also may take time for a stream to become profitable so just keep that in mind. Let's jump in!

Courses
I would definitely say that courses have been our most profitable stream of income, mainly because we can sell them at a higher price point than some of the other educational pieces we have created. Part of the reason that we can sell them for more is that they take a LOT more work, time, and money to create. 

First, for any educational resource you'll need to build an engaged audience in order to see any profit at all. It doesn't have to necessarily be a big audience, but it has to be an audience that expects educational content from you. You have to prep and earn the trust of your peers before launching a course that sells successfully. This can take a lot of time - for us it took a couple years of blogging consistently, but you could also do this solely through social media.

Once you feel like you have an audience that's ready, you can decide what topic you want to focus on. We always recommend that you try to create something unique to you, think about what people always ask you about, or what you get the best responses to on social media. A good course is clear with plenty of information (but not enough to overwhelm your students), practical, and inspirational. You want people to walk away feeling motivated to do something while also having the tools to actually do it! 

You will then need to decide if you'll be filming the course yourself or hiring someone else to create it. For us, we always hire our friend Erick (with the exception of our Domestika course that was produced by their team) because we aren't skilled with video and it's worth it for us to pay him and not have the extra stress. 

Ok, you've made a course, now what? You have to market it! See how this isn't really passive? LOL. You'll need to market your course in order to make any sales - this will probably be a lot more time in the initial launch and then once it's out there it can live on your site and make money more passively, but you'll still need to mention it on social media from time to time and maybe even run some ads to keep that income flowing. 

If you're interested in creating a course, you can sell it as a downloadable video on Shopify (our current platform), or you can also use a course-specific platform like Teachable or Kajabi.  

Downloads
Downloads kind of fall into a similar category as courses since they're typically educational, but they are usually a lot simpler to create and produce. They do take some time to write and design, but once the content is created, you can usually put it together and get it up and running somewhat quickly. Again, it helps to have an audience that expects educational content and trusts you, and you'll need to market your downloads in order to see any profit. Things that make good downloads are templates or guides vs demos or full processes that are typically better shown in a video course. 

Now, you can definitely include some little videos with your downloads, we have little demos with both our proposal and shoot plan templates, but it really will depend on what the download is, it may not be necessary. If you're planning on making money with downloads, it is helpful to think of a few different ones you want to launch so that you can create a more robust shop. Like streams of income, the more variety you have, the more substantial your shop income will be. 

Coaching
If you've ever had someone ask you if they can "pick your brain" you might want to consider adding coaching as a service. While we definitely believe in sharing information freely, there comes a point when you have to protect your time. There are also certain questions that you can answer much better with more context and over a video chat instead of DM or email. We take coaching appointments through our Squarespace site, and we started off with a pretty low price of $50/45 minutes. As demand grew, we increased the rate and also offered a bulk rate for anyone who wanted to purchase more than one call. This stream is definitely more passive as there is much less work upfront, and it's pretty much just marketing it as well as the time that we spend on the calls. 

Rentals
Renting out things you have is another great passive stream! The main thing that we rent is our studio which we do through Peerspace. This doesn't take a ton of time, we make sure to keep it pretty clean and then pay someone to deep clean it once a month. We do have to take time to market it, respond to messages, and show up to open and close the space, but as our rentals usually cover the cost of our rent, it's worth it. If you don't currently have a studio and you're thinking about getting one, we have a post on if you should get a studio which you can read here. 

You can also rent out other things like your equipment or your props! These are also great ways to make some extra money when you're not using them. We include both of these items as add-ons with our studio rentals, but you could rent them on their own as well. 

Podcasting
This is possibly the least passive stream that I'll share in this post, mostly because it takes time before it can become profitable, and you also need to continually make new episodes in order to make more money. It can also be an investment upfront to get the equipment you need, pay for a hosting platform, hire an editor, etc. You also will need to build up listeners before you're able to start making money through sponsorships (you usually need at least 1,000 total listeners to start). 

The reason that I'm including it is that it's definitely a popular income stream that a lot of people see success with, and if you batch record episodes then you can just record 1-2 days a month and still put out a lot of content! We currently host our podcast on Buzzsprout, and we have all of our equipment in our Amazon shop (affiliate links) which you can find here if you're interested in starting a podcast yourself. 

Speaking Engagements
This is a pretty new stream for us, and we started doing it a lot more because of all the virtual events that have happened in the last year and a half. I know I sound like a broken record, but you will definitely need to have an engaged audience and also put out educational content regularly before you'll be asked to speak at any events. If this is something you're interested in, you can network with other creatives who regularly host events or conferences and let them know that you would love to speak if they ever have an opening. You can even pitch specific ideas you have or topics that could be interesting. Make sure that the rate that you charge covers your prep time, travel time and costs (if any) and the time that you will be speaking. 

Merch
Merch is a stream that we've tried for a while, but recently took down because we wanted to rework it to make it more profitable. We were using Printful which is a drop shipping site and selling through Shopify. Drop shipping can be great because you don't have to pay to print merchandise up front that ends up not selling. Basically, when the customer orders an item, they pay for the cost of the item, it is printed and shipped right then from the platform and you make a small profit.

For us, we weren't making enough to justify leaving it up and sometimes it would actually end up costing us money because of the cost of international shipping. I think drop shipping can be great if you have a really high volume of orders, but it didn't make sense for us at this time. We're looking into other options and will probably end up going with a pre-order route at some point. 

Some things to note - always ALWAYS do a test run, either before you order a bunch of items or before you put something up to be drop shipped. You want to make sure that your items are high-quality and that nothing prints weird. Also make sure to get a sellers permit if you're selling tangible items. You will also need to look into sales tax. The laws for sellers permits and sales tax will vary depending on your location so make sure to do your research and ask your accountant for help if needed.

There you have it!! A few ways you can add some additional income into your business. I have more ideas for you, but I would also love to hear yours so make sure to comment your own ideas below!

Is it the weekend yet?
Elle