Digitally She Does It Podcast

EPISODE 98: 5 simple ways to create passive income in your business

• Karen Davies • Season 1 • Episode 98

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In this episode of the Digitally She Does It podcast, I am diving into some of my favourite strategies for adding passive income to your business. If you’re an ambitious creative ready to scale sustainably or just curious about creating that extra layer of financial freedom, you’re in the right place!

In this episode, I’ll walk you through 5 powerful ways to bring in passive income, from digital products to automated webinars - all designed to make a real impact on your business without demanding all your time. 

I’ll also be sharing a bit about my own journey and how shifting my business model after the pandemic to include passive income has truly changed everything for me.

So, settle in for practical tips and strategies that can give your business the boost it deserves! And before we get started, don’t forget to swing by my Digital Creators Hub for free resources to support you in building your online empire. Let’s jump in and get started!

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Karen Davies [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to the digitally she does it show. This is episode 98. And in today's episode, I'm going to be sharing simple ways to create passive income in your business. So let's jump right in and let's get started. Welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show.

I am your host Karen and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business. If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, then this podcast is perfect for you. With my award winning approach to marketing, and expert knowledge in creating online courses, this show will leave you feeling inspired, energised, and ready to bring those big dreams to life.

Karen Davies [00:00:49]:
Join me each week for a dose of motivation and marketing know how along with actionable step by step strategies to help you accelerate your businesses grow. So let's dive in, and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes which drop every Wednesday. Hello, and welcome. Thank you for joining me today. I'm your host, Karen, and I really do appreciate you hitting our play button to listen to today's episode.

Today, I am talking about passive income and how you can get started with creating this in your business. But before I do, I just want to talk about the digital creators hub. This is your one stop shop for getting started online, and I've got lots of resources and tools in this hub that you can access for free.

Karen Davies [00:01:43]:
Now to gain access, just head on over to my website, www.karen-davies.comforward/hub, and there you'll be able to gain free access. There's no better time than now to start creating your online business. We're in November. We are now planning for the next year. And wouldn't it be amazing if you had an online course or something in your business that you can start selling on repeat. So head on over to the Digital Creators Hub, go and get yourself in there, and gain access to all that good stuff that I'm giving away for free. Okay. So back to today's episode and today I am talking about passive income and how to get started in your business.

Karen Davies [00:02:35]:
Now this is something I think that a lot of entrepreneurs want to be creating because they recognize that passive income is going to be the way that you can really build and scale your business in a sustainable way. And having that extra income stream in your business, if that's what it is, it might be your main income stream, is just a great way to take the pressure off you and to create a business that gives you back that freedom. We are in the game of providing transformations in our clients' or customers' life. And what better way to do that than to create something that you create once, but then you then sell it on repeat over and over again. So it brings you in that money on a regular basis so you don't have to go and find it. You don't have to go and constantly find those clients in order to keep the lights on in your business. Now passive income is absolutely possible for you to to create. I have multiple passive income streams in my business that I have built out, and it it makes my life so much easier.

Karen Davies [00:03:56]:
And this where I am today is so different to where I was pre pandemic at a time when one of the main income sources for me was my service based business that heavily required me to go and find new clients to bring into the business. That that's predominantly how I generated income. But the thing is that approach led me to burnout because it was a lot all of the time. Not only did I have to put in the strategies to go and find clients, I then had to implement those strategies and go and get the clients. And then I would have to do the work to support my clients and then all the on for off boarding stuff. And and I think, you know, they could they I think at one point, I was I was managing 14 projects at one point that ultimately led me to to being burnt out. And it was because I was trapped in that cycle of trading my time for money. And I wasn't really aware of of what other options were available to me.

Karen Davies [00:05:12]:
And I think for me, and I've spoken about this before on the podcast, that once the pandemic happened and we were forced to really look in at our lives and where we were, and and it gave me time to reflect on the business that I was creating and the direction it was going, I realized that the path I was on was not sustainable long term. So I made the decision that I was going to change my business model and I was going to create a business that would actually support me and give me the freedom back that I ultimately wanted. So that I can go and spend time with the children. We can go on holiday. I can take time out of the business and everything's not just gonna grind to a halt. Because that for me is what's important. So if you're like me and you're looking at creating a business that supports you in your life, what better way to to do that than to create passive income? And so in today's episode, what I want to do is share with you 5 different types of passive income that you can create in your business. But before I do, I just want to talk about what passive income is.

Karen Davies [00:06:29]:
So passive income is whereby you are creating income with minimal effort after the initial setup. So you do the upfront work, you set it up, and then you reap the rewards of your effort. Now this is different to active income which is where you're trading your time for money like consulting or coaching or maybe providing a design service or something. Instead, passive income works for you in the background. So you create the thing once, you sell it on repeat, and then whilst you're off doing your thing, living your life, doing whatever, you're making money. And this could be done through creating digital products. It could be through having a membership. There there are so many different ways in which you can create passive income.

Karen Davies [00:07:30]:
Now it doesn't mean that no work is needed. You'll have to invest time and effort upfront in order to make this work. But the great thing about this is once the systems are in place, you can start to to get the rewards. You can start to get that influx of income coming into your business. And it's like with anything, you start small and you build it up over time. But once you get yourself to a place where you're getting those regular sales, it means that you are earning money on repeat with very little effort. So that's why creating a passive income stream in your business is so powerful because it gives you income coming into your business so that you can start to focus your energies and your effort on creating a business that you actually want to have rather than getting caught up in this cycle of trading your time for money, of, you know, becoming burnt out and supporting clients that actually you don't want to work with. This is another option for you that can actually help you to scale your business and that will ultimately be a game changer for your business.

Karen Davies [00:08:49]:
So let's talk about the 5 different types of passive income streams that you can create. So the first one, and and this is probably the most easiest I would say, is, are is creating digital products. Digital products like ebooks, templates, and printables are easy to create because you most likely have this already in your business. What's great about these is that they're cost effective, which means that you're not having to invest a lot of money in order to get them created. And and you can sell them unlimited amount of times without having to put any further production costs into it. So you don't have to hold inventory. You don't have to have a warehouse or somewhere to hold the inventory. They are digital, which means that you create the thing once, you don't have any storage costs, and you can just sell it on repeat.

Karen Davies [00:09:52]:
Now tools like Canva make it really easy to create digital products. They have templates. So they give you a really great starting block for creating something that you can then sell. As I said, you most likely have something in your business that you're using as part of a process or a workflow. So all you need to do really is take the thing that you've you that you're using that's helping you do the job that you do and you can package that up into a sellable product. Now there are so many platforms out there online that will help you to sell your digital product. You've got Etsy. Etsy is a brilliant marketplace for selling digital products, downloads, templates, all of that good stuff.

Karen Davies [00:10:44]:
You've got Shopify. You can set yourself up a Shopify store and you can sell digital products from your own Shopify store. You can put it on your website and then you can lead people to your website where they can purchase it directly. And then you've got platforms like Gumroad, which also provide you with a platform to sell digital products. So there's lots of platforms and lots of ways in which you can get your products out in front of people. Now the great thing about this, as I said, is that once you've created it, then you can then sell it on repeat, whereby people just pay you to get access to it and then they download it, which means that you have a source of income that requires little to no ongoing maintenance. The second type of passive income that you could create is an online course. Now I'm a huge advocate of online courses.

Karen Davies [00:11:48]:
I think this is a great way to help people with whatever challenge they're facing in their life, but to give you the opportunity to use your expert your expertise in a way that's going to make you money. And this model is very scalable and it's very hands off. So once you've created your online course and you've set up your marketing funnel so you know how you're gonna get it in front of people, then people can go and buy it, and then they can work through it at their own pace without you being involved. So this requires minimal effort from you going forward. So, yes, you do need to do the work upfront. You need to create the course, and you need to have that marketing funnel in place so that you can get it in front of the right people. But once you have the pieces of the puzzle in place, then this becomes a very lucrative option for your business. So before the pandemic hit back in 2020, I had created my own online course.

Karen Davies [00:12:55]:
It was a branding course called Crafting Your Brand. And when the world went into lockdown and everything stopped and business stopped, it was the thing that I had to sell when I couldn't see clients in person. And at that time, jumping onto Zoom and having online meetings was in its infancy. It was happening, but it wasn't as common as what it obviously is today. And so what I found in my business is that I was able to make money through my online course. But what I really enjoyed about selling the online course was that I knew I was creating impact. I knew that the students that were buying my online course was learning something of value that was gonna make a difference in their business. And so I always think with online courses and it's one of the reasons why I moved over into this space because I think creating courses is life changing.

Karen Davies [00:13:55]:
It's life changing not only for the entrepreneur creating the course, but it's also life changing for the people buying the courses as well. Because what can be a really simple result to us that we're delivering can actually be a game changer for the person that's actually bought the course, and you're making a difference in people's lives. And as entrepreneurs, we are in the business of providing solutions. And what better way to provide a solution than to deliver it through a self paced online course that you create upfront and then sell on repeat? So online courses are such a viable way of scaling your business and making a difference in your life whilst helping other people. And I think for me, that's why I absolutely love online courses and why I teach people as well. Because normally the or usually the barrier to entry is the fact that people don't know how to get started. But what what I've noticed, especially with the people that I work with, is that they have abundance of knowledge and expertise that they need to get out in front of people that actually creates that difference in people's lives. It's just learning the know how on how to pull it all together.

Karen Davies [00:15:12]:
And, of course, that's where I help my my members and my clients create courses so that they can actually make the money that they truly desire in their business. Okay. So passive income option number 3 is a membership site. Membership sites is another fantastic passive income model, especially for those of you who have valuable on ongoing content to share. With a membership site, you can provide value over time, giving your members access to exclusive content, resources, and, most importantly, a community. And this can create recurring monthly income which can actually be a huge benefit to your business. Now I launched my membership site back in July this year and I've never run a membership site before so I'm still relatively new. But what I have noticed is the difference it's made to my income but also because I have income that comes into my business on a regular monthly basis at different points in the month, it means that I don't really have to now worry about that income.

Karen Davies [00:16:34]:
I'm not having to chase clients. I'm not having to constantly market myself because the thing that I offer now is my membership site, and my membership site is scalable. It's a thing that I can grow from 1 member to a 1000000 members. It really doesn't matter. And, of course, whenever a member joins, so your income increases. So so far for me as a membership site host, I absolutely love this model. My membership is called sell your brilliance online. It teaches entrepreneurs how to create profitable online courses.

Karen Davies [00:17:18]:
And what I love about it is that I get to serve my members on a deeper level. So not only do I get to provide ongoing content and I get to train them and give them access to my online course, but I also host events, and I host q and a sessions and catch up sessions, and I get to build a community. I get to bring people together that share a common goal. And I absolutely love doing this, but best of all, I get paid for it as well. And it's a great way to build passive income in your business. So if you have not considered creating a membership site, then this could be an option for you if you have a lot of high value content that you have available to share. And they're all all different types of membership sites. My membership site is predominantly content based with training and events, but you could just do a membership site where you you host regular events if that's the thing that you want to do, or it could just be a simple training membership.

Karen Davies [00:18:30]:
There are all different types of membership models that you can look to create. You just need to choose the one that's right for you and your business. Okay. So passive income option number 4 is affiliate marketing. Again, this is a great way to generate passive income just by simply recommending other products and services that you genuinely believe in. So when someone purchases something that you've recommended through a unique link that you have been given by the company that you're promoting, you then earn commission. And many businesses thrive on just making affiliate commissions alone. This is a really great, viable way to build your business.

Karen Davies [00:19:22]:
And it's a perfect add on if you run a blog or you have a podcast or you have a YouTube channel because you can weave in recommendations about tools and resources that you use in your own business. And the thing is people wanna buy from people that are using stuff. So if you genuinely recommend a product or or some tech or something that you've used that has helped you, then you're most likely gonna bring other people on board, and they're going to be interested in signing up as well. Now every year I buy a planner. I buy a planner for my business. It's called the daily greatness planner. And it is by far the best planner that I have ever purchased. And it's always around this time of year.

Karen Davies [00:20:13]:
So we're in November at the moment. You know, we we've got what? 6 weeks until Christmas. So I'm very much into the planning stages for next year. I'm working out what my goals are and what it is that I ultimately want to achieve. Now I need a really great tool to support me with this, and the daily greatness business planner is a really great tool that helps me to achieve what it is that I'm looking to achieve, which is ultimately to plan for next year. So just by having a conversation with one of my business colleagues, I mentioned that I bought this planner. I love this planner and that it's a really great tool to use to support me with my, goals for next year. They asked if I could send them a link so that they can go and purchase the planner alone as well.

Karen Davies [00:21:06]:
Now the what's great about this is that not only am I putting a really useful tool in their way so that they get to use something that's gonna benefit them, What's great about this is I get to earn commission from them purchasing the planner. So I get to make passive income simply from a recommendation. Now the recommendation is genuine. I use it. I love it. It does the job. Of course, I'm going to recommend it. I'm gonna recommend the planner even if I wasn't an affiliate for the planner.

Karen Davies [00:21:39]:
So what can you recommend in your business that's gonna bring you in passive income that you can make money from? Because I guarantee you, you will be using things in your business or in your everyday life that you can use affiliate commission links for to bring you in that income. So what is it that you can create? Just jot it down on paper. List out all the tools and things that you really enjoy using, and then go to the websites of the tools and search for affiliate commission. And I'm sure most of these companies will have something that you can sign up to. And usually, you just give them you log in to somewhere and you sign up for something and then they will send you a unique link and it's that link that you would then use to earn your commission. So I highly recommend if you haven't done this, do do this because it's a great way to bring in that extra income. Okay. So my 5th and final passive income option is creating an automated webinar.

Karen Davies [00:22:51]:
Now an automated or evergreen webinar, which is what it's also known as, is essentially a prerecorded presentation that is set up to run on a reoccurring basis. And what the webinars do is it teaches attendees something that gives them a very quick win, but it also gives you the opportunity to lead your attendees through to an offer. So that could be you selling a digital product. It could be you selling your membership or your online course. But what's great about this is once you've set it up, you can then run it on repeat. So, again, it becomes very automated. And you can use platforms like WebinarJam or EverWebinar to automate and schedule, you know, these webinars that that then people can register for. Now attendees can join at any time.

Karen Davies [00:23:50]:
So it really does benefit them because they get access to your content at a time that suits them. But, of course, you can earn passive income through running this webinar. So you can sell the webinar and have it on your website and, you know, put a small cost towards it. When somebody joins and they pay for it, you get to earn the money. But, also, it's a great way to promote other op other passive income options that you may have in your business. So for example, as I said, you could promote your membership or an online course or just simply sell a digital product. So this one could be double ended. You can make money from people attending the webinar, but you can also make money from the offer that you then promote at the end of the webinar.

Karen Davies [00:24:41]:
And what's great about this is after the initial setup, automated webinars allows you to market and sell continuously without needing to constantly repeat the live event. So once you know that the presentation that you're delivering works, it delivers the right level of content, and it it leads people to the offer that you wanna lead them to, then you can then automate it for people to then join at a time that suits them. And you can stand back and you can reap the rewards of that effort by making that money. So automated webinars are are also a great way for you to make passive income. So there you have it. Five different types of passive income that you can create in your business. You've got, number 1, digital products, 2, online courses, 3, a membership site, 4, affiliate marketing, and 5, automated webinars. Now all of these will give you the ability to create passive income in your business so you can create income on demand when you are not working.

Karen Davies [00:25:55]:
But remember, it takes time to set up. There is work involved, and you do need to commit to making this happen. And it's all about starting small, choosing 1 income stream to focus on, and then building it from there. But it's totally doable, and I with the right strategy in place, you'll be on your way to earning money whilst you sleep. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you very much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you found it to be of value And, of course, please do feel free to share it with others who you may think will also benefit from listening to today's episode. If today's discussion has sparked some inspiration and you're eager to dive deeper into creating your online presence, then go to my website www.karen-davies.com and download the free resources.

Karen Davies [00:26:56]:
And if you're ready to take the next step and want to learn more about my all inclusive membership, sell your brilliance online, which is designed to get you started creating your very first online course, then head on over to my website www.karen-davies.com/membership. I will be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great week. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the digitally she does it show. Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources resources mentioned in today's episode. New episodes drop every week on a Wednesday. So, why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Thank you for tuning in today and I will see you next time.