10 Automated Business Ideas That Can Make Thousands of Dollars While You’re Asleep!

Imagine, you’re sleeping like you won’t get to sleep tomorrow and upon waking up, you get a notification on your mobile phone saying ‘You have a new sale’. How would that feel? Many people dream of achieving this so, that they’ll never have to worry about their financial situation again. If you’re one of them, then you’re in luck.

In this post, I’ll share 10 automated business ideas that can make you money even you’re asleep. I won’t just tell you about the business idea, but I’ll also share you the steps to get started. And another thing, you can start all these businesses for either free or with less than $100. So, they’re worth giving a shot!

Please Note: This post contains affiliate links to products I use, trust, and recommend. If you choose to purchase a product using these links, I may receive a small commission for referring you – at no extra cost to you. These funds help me keep this blog up and running.

1. Start an Affiliate Marketing Blog

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to earn passive income on the interent. Even I make hundreds of dollars every month through affiliate marketing by promoting affiliate links on my blog. In affiliate marketing, you promote other people’s product and whenever someone purchases the product, you make a commission. You’ll get an unique link called affiliate link to promote that product.

In order to make money with affiliate marketing, you need to create valuable content that attracts & engages visitors. Doing so, the chance of your visitors purchasing the product through your affiliate link increases.

How to Get Started:

• First, you need to choose a niche (it can be tech, beauty, fitness, finance or anything else).
• Then, you need to create a landing page to promote the product or you can start a blog to do so.
• After that, all you need to do is, create valuable content and add affiliate links in between.
• At last, you need to drive traffic to your content to generate sales.

2. Create & Sell Printables

Printables are digital products that people can print physically and use as they like. Some examples of printables are planners, worksheets, invitations, and wall art. The beauty of this business is that you have to create the product only once, then you can sell it unlimited number of times. If you’re a creative person and enjoy designing stuffs, then creating & selling printables can be a great way to make passive income.

If you want to create and sell printables to make thousands of dollars every month, then check out this free workshop that teaches you everything about creating and selling printables for profit.

How to Get Started:

• you can use graphic design tools like Canva or Adobe Illustrator to create your printables.
• Then, you can either list them on marketplaces like Etsy and Gumroad, or create your own storefront using Payhip to sell them.
• After that, you need to promote them to generate sales and make money. Pinterest & Instagram can be the best platforms to promote your printables.

Check out 5 Best Online Business Ideas You Can Start Today Itself for FREE!

3. Start a Print on Demand Business

With Print on demand (POD) business, you can sell custom-designed products like T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, and phone cases without ever needing to create, package or deliver the product yourself. Only thing you do is, create designs that can be printed on the items, upload them to a POD platform like Printful, and promote your designs. Whenever someone makes a purchase, the POD platform will print, package and ship the item on your behalf.

How to Get Started:

• Start by creating an account on POD platform like Printful.
• Then, create your designs and upload them on your POD platform.
• After that, promote your designs on social media or run paid ads to generate sales.

4. Start a Faceless Instagram Account

If you think, you need to show your face to be an influencer and make money on Instagram, then you’re so wrong! It’s not always the case. You don’t have to be an influencer nor show your face to make money on Instagram. You can create a niche Instagram page focused on a particular topic like motivation, meme, pets, or travel, and grow it to thousands of followers. After gaining some followers, you can monetize your account with various monetization options like sponsorships, affiliate marketing, selling products/services, and more.

If you want to learn more about the starting and growing an Instagram account to make money, then do check out Instagram University 4.0. In this course my friend Niklas Pedde teaches everything about starting and growing a money making Instagram account. The best part is, you can grab the entire course for less than $7.

How to Get Started:

• First, pick a niche to create content about. As I said above, it can be anything from motivation to memes and fitness.
• Then, start posting engaging content to grow your account.
• You can create content on trending topics and use relevant hashtags to grow faster.
• After your account starts to grow, you can monetize it through various ways.

5. Sell Stock Photos & Videos

If you love taking photos or videos, then you can turn your passion into passive income by selling the photos and videos you click. Businesses, bloggers, and marketers are always looking for high-quality visuals to use in their projects, and they’re ready to pay a hefty price for it. Once you list your photos and videos for sale, you can make money from them for lifetime, whenever someone purchases them.

How to Get Started:

• Start bt taking high-quality photos and videos. You don’t always need a fancy camera to do it. Your mobile phone can work as well.
• Then, list your work for sale on platforms like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, or Pexels. Here are 8 Best Sites to Sell Your Photos & Videos Online.
• After that, you’ll make money, whenever someone downloads or purchases your work.

6. Start an E-commerce Store

Starting an e-commerce is another great way to make money online. By starting an e-commerce store, you can sell either physical or digital products without needing a physical store. One of the best ways to automate this business is by using dropshipping, where the product supplier handles everything for you from, production to storage, shipping and even returns.

How to Get Started:

• First, find a good product to sell on sites like Alibaba. You can find products at cheaper price on Alibaba, which you can resale through your own store for a higher price.
• Then, use platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce to create your e-commerce store.
• After that, you need to market your store organically on social media or run paid ads to generate sales and make money.

7. Start a Newsletter

Newsletters are getting insanely popular day-by-day and they are a great way to make money for the creator. So, if you have a good knowledge of or experience about a specific topic, then you can share it with others by starting a newsletter. The more subscribers you have, the more money you can make. You can monetize your newsletter either by charging a monthly fee or with sponsorships, affiliate marketing and by selling your own products.

How to Get Started:

• First pick a topic that you have a good knowledge of! (e.g., finance, productivity, health, gardening, carpentry, etc.).
• Then, use platforms like Substack or Beehiiv to create your newsletter.
• After that, you need to promote your newsletter to gain subscribers and make money with it.

8. Setup a Vending Machine

The very first offline business idea in our list is, setting up a vending machine. Vending machine can be a great way to make money passively, especially if you can find a high traffic place to set it up. Once you setup your vending machine, it can make you passive income 24/7. To run a successful vending machine, you just need to restock the items time and often. That’s it!

How to Get Started:

• First, find a location that has a high flow of traffic (it can be a gym, school, office buildings, etc.).
• Then, buy a vending machine. You can buy a used one to save money.
• After that, stock it with popular snacks and drinks. That’s all you can do. Now, it’s people’s turn to do their thing!

9. Create & Sell Softwares & Plugins

If you have some programming skills, then creating and selling different kinds of softwares and plugins can be a highly profitable business. Even if you don’t have proper knowledge about coding, then you can use AI to help you in creating such softwares and plugins. If you can create a software program or plugin that can help others in anyway or even entertain them, then you can make good amount of money with it.

How to Get Started:

• First, identify a problem you can solve with your software. Then, create the software.
• You can sell your software/plugins on platforms like Gumroad, CodeCanyon, or through your own site. You can also set up a subscription based payment plan for your software, where you charge a monthly fee to your users.
• Then, you need to promote your software to get users to it.
• Other than that, you can create a software and sell the whole software to someone else who needs it.

10. Create & Sell an Online Course

People like me myself are always looking for ways to learn new skills and online courses are a great way to do so. Creating an online course can be a great source of passive income, especially if you can create course about complicated and high-paying skills. If you’re good at something, whether it’s photography, coding, fitness, or marketing, you can package your knowledge into a course and sell it online to make money.

How to Get Started:

• First, find a topic that you’ve good knowledge of and you can easily explain to others. (e.g., photography, fitness, or marketing).
• Then, record videos for your course and list them for sale on platforms like Udemy, Domestika or sell it through your own website. You can use a free website builder tool like Systeme.io to create a website to sell your course.
• After that, promote your course to get sales.

Wrapping it up

So, these were 10 automated business ideas that can make you thousands of dollars while you’re asleep. Even though these businesses can be completely automated, you need to put some effort while setting them up. Choose an idea that fits you and take the required action to start making money!