Everyone wants to earn as much cash they can while working as efficiently as possible. According to the PwC Future of Work survey, over 65 percent of employees are looking for a new job in the US, with their top reason being higher salaries. With the correct information and a little bit of effort, you can create income streams that generate a lot of money, even as an artist.
Accessing alternative sources of income allows you to earn more money through passive income or side hustle jobs. This article focuses on how to earn passive income for artists. If you’re an artist looking for ways to make more money, use this guide. It highlights some effective passive income strategies for artists.
What Is Passive Income?
Passive income refers to money earned without putting in a consistent, active effort. As the name suggests, passive income is earned passively and is almost self-sufficient. A passive income idea can help you pay for extra expenses and sustain your art career. Affiliate sales, selling greeting cards, and art leasing are some examples of passive income.
However, it’s important to remember that passive income doesn’t start this way. You have to put in the initial effort before the cash starts to flow into your bank account. For example, writing a blog post takes some effort. However, once uploaded to a blog, it generates money passively through Google Ads and potential affiliate marketing strategies.
Passive Income Strategies for Artists: Types of Passive Income
Passive income is a great way to build long-term wealth. This strategy does not adhere to the normal way of making money, which involves earning profit from active investing, such as buying and selling goods. Below you will find some types of passive income strategies you should consider employing as an artist.
Real Estate
As a passive real estate investor, you don’t necessarily have to be actively involved in buying property. Instead, you contribute funds to facilitate such investments. Real estate groups or syndication firms offer such opportunities. The best part is you don’t have to be a real estate guru to invest in real estate.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing refers to any medium used to promote other people’s businesses, products, or services. You can make a good income from affiliate marketing, as you could use your online platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, or blog sites to promote products or services. You can earn money by offering links that direct customers to websites to make specific purchases. Indeed estimates that an affiliate marketing manager’s salary can reach $66,684 per year.
Dropshipping
The idea behind dropshipping is to purchase products from a supplier and sell them to customers without having a physical store or shop location. You purchase goods from a third-party vendor to fulfill a given number of orders. Platforms such as Shopify tend to have stiff competition, so at the beginning, you can partner with an in-demand dropshipper until you learn how to be successful in this field.
10 Best Passive Income Ideas for Artists
1. Create Online Tutorials and Classes
Aspiring artists today are accustomed to learning online and interacting with online communities. As an artist, this gives you a large target audience meaning you could upload your art videos and tutorials and earn some money from people that want to access them. In addition, online teaching is a great way to build a following and establish yourself as an industry trailblazer.
2. Lease Your Art
Leasing your original artwork is just like renting an office space. It involves renting your art for a specific period of time to a paying client. You can gain a lot of advantages when you lease an original piece, like building a regular customer base. Renting your artwork creates a marketing opportunity for you that could generate a substantial income in the future.
3. Start a Blog
Blogs have become popular in recent years because they are easy to start and maintain. If you want to start your own blog, you need to establish a niche and write relevant blog posts for your target audience. Moreover, for your blog post to become more visible and reach a wider audience, you can follow SEO blogs. You may also choose to monetize your blog by partnering with Google AdSense.
4. Start and Monetize a YouTube Channel
Many people use YouTube for entertainment purposes, while some use this platform to learn. However, there is a different crop of artists who’ve decided to use this platform as a major income-generating tool. According to Forbes, the highest-paid YouTube channel belongs to Mr. Beast, who earned $54 million in 2021. You can make videos about your art to also increase your visibility.
5. Create an Online Shop
An online shop simply refers to a store that features products and services and is readily available on the global network. This form of ecommerce allows customers to buy your designs and artwork without necessarily leaving their homes, generating passive income in the process.
This form of art business has become popular in recent years. You should consider this passive income stream if you have in-demand digital products that don’t need lots of marketing and promotion.
6. Turn Your Art Portfolio into a Coffee Table Book
If you are an experienced artist and have included all your art projects in a portfolio, you can create a coffee table book. The purpose of such a book is to be displayed in different areas of someone’s house or even an office for people to look at to pass the time. You can print your work in a local shop and distribute it to places you believe will give you exposure.
7. Work with Print-on-Demand Sites
Print-on-demand refers to the process of working with a supplier of products, such as tote bags, to customize and sell them based on a pre-order basis. The products can be under your own brand or feature your own designs.
Print-on-demand websites have risen in popularity because they present a creative solution for selling your art online. You can partner with a company like Redbubble that does all the marketing and selling to increase your chances of success in this field.
8. Sell Your Art in Galleries
Selling in galleries is perhaps every artist’s dream. Other than the money this will generate, you can think of it as a way to market yourself and your work. However, remember that a gallery will take a substantial amount of the proceeds, and it is a hard business to get into in the first place.
9. Write Ebooks
Have you ever thought of writing an ebook? If you’re a good artist with a knack for writing, you should consider writing an ebook as they present excellent passive income opportunities. This option works well, especially if you have a strong online presence. You can sell a PDF version of your book with very little effort.
10. Offer a Subscription Service
If you’re a creative with a solid social media presence, you should consider developing subscription services. Such services are excellent for generating extra cash. There are a lot of options available to artists with subscription services. For instance, you could use Patreon to grant special access to new products such as videos and exclusive art previews.
Other Ways to Make Extra Money as an Artist
- Sell digital downloads on Etsy. There are plenty of things that you can convert to digital downloads, including fonts, templates, art prints, designs, and other artwork. The more downloads you have, the more you can earn.
- License your designs. Licensing is one of the best passive income ideas for creatives. Licensing your designs to a company means that you earn royalties when they sell their products with your designs or artwork. Urban Outfitters and Society 6 are good places to start.
- Become a freelance designer. There are many freelancing platforms, such as Upwork and Fiverr, where you can meet with clients to work on projects that require your skills. Signing up is free and doesn’t take too much time.
- Offer graphic design lessons. You could sign up on platforms such as Skillshare and earn extra income as you share your creative skills while teaching art classes. You can even create your own online courses.
How to Make Passive Income for Artists
Passive income is a great way to increase your income streams and make more money. Many professionals in America are quitting their jobs, citing higher earnings as their primary reason. However, you can earn so much more by investing in a few income streams, which could ultimately lead to financial freedom.
Building your skills is also a great way to earn high salaries. You can do this by attending coding bootcamps or free courses. You can enhance your creative artistic abilities by picking up new skills, such as learning about graphic design software. To do this, you can attend free graphic design courses and learn about the latest graphic design tools and how to use them.
Passive Income for Artists FAQ
The best way to make passive income as an artist is by selling digital art online. Other passive income options include print-on-demand services, where you can earn some extra cash on the side. However, the amount of money you make passively depends on how much time and effort you are willing to invest, including taking into account customer demand.
Yes, you can make a living off artwork. You can create a coffee table book with your most successful work, lease your art, or try and sell it to galleries. You can also land jobs for artists without a degree to make some income on the side.
You can sell digital products such as prints, fonts, designs, and artwork online. Print-on-demand services are an excellent opportunity for artists to make extra cash.
The best sources for passive income include dividend stocks, rental properties, affiliate marketing, selling ebooks, Google AdSense, and licensing.
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