Are you a stay-at-home mom looking to earn an income from home? Do you have limited time to devote to work because your primary job is raising your children? Creating passive income through Etsy might just be the answer your bank account is looking for!
Unless you’re living under a rock you are more than likely familiar with the shopping platform Etsy. Etsy started out years ago as a platform for crafty people to sell their handmade goods. Over the years Etsy has evolved and it continues to be one of the top-performing e-commerce platforms.
These days you can find anything and everything on Etsy and by no means is every product being sold hand-made. Many have leveraged drop-shipping, digital goods, and print-on-demand services to create passive income streams on e-commerce platforms such as Etsy.
Not sure what passive income is?
Active income=going to work for 40 hours to earn a check at the end of the week
Passive income=creating a digital item, posting it online, and making sales while you sleep
Passive income might require some initial time and effort, but once it’s all said and done it will earn you income around the clock without having to lift a finger.
Let’s dive into some real-life examples of how you can set up and earn passive income on Etsy as a stay-at-home mom.
- Create an E-book
Years ago publishing a book meant you needed to not only write a kick-ass book people would want to read, but also do a ton of leg work to get it printed and on store shelves. Not anymore. Self-publishing is the way of the future. Anyone, and I mean literally ANYONE can create an E-book and self-publish.
I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily easy, I mean, you do have to write a book…but it is simple.
Once you’ve decided on a topic, and picked a title, it’s time to write.
After you’re finished writing you’re going to want to design your book. I personally would recommend using an app like Canva (I am a die-hard Canva girl). Canva has pre-made templates available that you can customize with your brand colors, fonts, imagery, etc. or you can design your template completely from scratch. You will want to create a stunning cover page, professional-looking page layouts and include everything a traditional book would (a table of contents, index, author page, foreword, etc.) that applies.
Next comes publishing! You will want to create your shop on Etsy. This is a fairly simple process anyone can do, and if you get stuck there are tons of YouTube videos, blogs, etc. that can walk you through it step by step.
After your Etsy shop has been created you can then add your product. You will want to save your e-book as a pdf file and then upload it into Etsy, again, if you get stuck there are endless tutorials out there on how to add products to an Etsy shop. With this type of product specifically, you are going to want to make sure you select *digital* product when prompted to do so. Your customers need to know that they will be receiving a digital download rather than a physical item shipped to them.
Once your product is added you will want to put some time and effort into Etsy SEO. This will help you get your first sale, and hopefully what are many more sales to come.
Why is this method so great? It’s passive! Sure, you had to write a book, you had to take the time to design, it and start an Etsy shop. But, once that’s all done, that’s it! The work is done! Once your product begins selling, your profits will pay you back for the initial time you dedicated upfront, and continue to bring in re-occurring income without you needing to lift a finger.
This entire process is automated through Etsy. Once your product is uploaded to your store when a customer makes a purchase Etsy will automatically email them the file to download.
So if it’s 3 A.M., you’re asleep and someone makes a purchase, they will receive the product immediately, and you will wake up to a notification that you literally made money while you were sleeping.
Cool right?
2) Start your own line of merch
Selling merch has literally never been easier. Have you ever heard of print on demand? Print on demand websites like Printful, Printly, Pietra and many more open so many doors for online entrepreneurs.
Print on-demand services automate ordering and completely negate the need to stock inventory which is one of the biggest obstacles people face when trying to create their own line of merchandise.
In order to create your own line of merch you need to have some designs to print. This is where people often think it gets complicated but really, it doesn’t need to be. You don’t have to be a photoshop wiz, or a graphic designer to create a design to printed. Take it from me, I have 0 design skills, all I have going for me is that I am self taught in Canva (yes again, I love Canva). Not only do I not have any graphic design skills I also am extremely lacking in artistic creativity. Yet I still managed to successfully set up my own line of merch.
Utilizing a platform like Printful (my personal preference because this allows you to connect to Etsy and make the process automated) allows you to completely automate the process. All you need to do is spend your time on the initial set up. Once you’ve created your design, the next step is going to be choosing your products. Whatever platform you are working with will have a catalog of all available products. These range from clothing (sweatshirts, leggings, t-shirts, hats, etc.) to tech accessories (phone cases, computer cases) and even home-goods (coffee mugs, blankets, wall prints). Once you know which products you’d like to print on you upload your designs and do all the technical stuff. You can find plenty of in-depth tutorials on this online (it’s super easy don’t worry). Next, if the platform you chose allows you should be able to sync your products automatically to Etsy. Once synced, if someone places an order on your Etsy store it will automatically be fulfilled. You literally have to do nothing.
I promise you there is no better feeling than getting an email at random that says you made money without having to life a finger.
3) Dropship
Drop-shipping is an e-commerce model that delegates the majority of the work, making it pretty passive. For example, say you’d like to sell silicone baby pacifiers. Instead of spending your own money upfront to buy a massive amount of inventory wholesale (that there is no guarantee you’ll sell) you find a company that already has the inventory that will ship it on your behalf. This is called drop-shipping. Choosing drop-shipping as your business model saves you the upfront cost of starting a business, saves you time by taking out the bulk of the work for you (packaging and shipping orders), and creates a passive income stream that will let you make money while you sleep.
You’re going to want to first decided on what kind of product you want to sell. Then you’re going to need to find a drop-shipper. I’m not going to lie, for some this is an easy task, and for others it will require many hours dedicated to Googling. However once this part is done, it’s pretty much all up hill. There is plenty of information available on the internet on how to find a drop-shipper, I advise that you use that to your advantage.
Now that you have a drop shipper it’s time to move on to the technical stuff! Which once again, there is plenty of information floating around out there on how to set up your Etsy shop, and upload products. Once your products are uploaded you’ll be good to go. The bulk of your efforts should lean towards Etsy SEO and marketing. Once orders begin coming in, all you have to do is then turn around and place an order with your drop-shipping supplier. When placing your order you will simply put in the customers name and shipping address. They’ll then ship the product for you.
A few clicks a day is all it takes with this business model!
4) Sell Web Designs
Just like an e-book, you can sell digital web designs that can be automatically downloaded via Etsy upon purchase. This is an awesome way to earn passive income! Again I will state, that you don’t have to be the most creative, or even super tech savvy to do this.
I probably sound redundant at this point but I would highly recommend taking a Canva crash course. It’s such a user friendly program and perfect for selling digital templates.
If you purchase the pro version of Canva (I think it’s something like $12 a month) you can set your templates up to be shared with anyone who is given access to them. So when you sell them on Etsy the person who purchases them can open them in their own Canva account, and customize them with their own brand colors, fonts, or tweak them however they’d like.
You can sell Instagram templates, Pinterest templates, Menu templates, YouTube Channel covers, Instagram Story templates, App icons, the list just goes on and on.
If you know anything about coding and web design you can also sell entire website templates. The WordPress theme for this site was purchased from an Etsy shop.
Take the time to do some Googling and you can easily find instructions on how to do both of the above.
This is a great way to create passive income because once the templates are made you’re all done! A few hours of work up can be rewarded with endless earning potential.
5) Sell photo pre-sets
Do you love that perfectly curated Instagram feed look that requires a custom filter to make every photo appear as if they were effortlessly shot to compliment one another?
Did you know you can use the Lightroom app to create custom pre-sets, and sell them?
Just like selling templates created on Canva you can share the pre-sets you create with other people, who can then open the pre-sets right in their own Lightroom app.
As with anything else on this list, you don’t have to have any extra special expertise to do this. All you need to do is spend some time learning Lightroom basics on the Google and you can easily create some kick ass pre-sets.
I myself have purchased several resets off of Etsy for my personal social media ages as well as for social media ages I manage for businesses.
Once you’ve done the leg work of learning how to use Lightroom and creating the presets (which you can do 100% from your phone if you wanted to, seriously its so simple once you get the hang of it) you have the potential to have income coming in around the clock. Pre-sets are a hot commodity for personal and professional use this day in age.
6) Design and sell wedding invitations
At this point Canva should really sponsor me. This idea didn’t occur to me until a friend was frustrated with trying to design her own save the dates on Vistaprint. She asked me if I could do something very specific for her, I obviously was more than happy to help, I opened my Canva app and it took me all of maybe 20 minutes. She literally was over the freaking moon. That’s when it occurred to me that though I wouldn’t consider myself an expert in graphic design by any means, I know more than the average joe.
I would and in fact plan to design my own wedding invitations but for the average person wedding invitation design is something that they would rather delegate.
That’s where you are going to come in!
A crash course in Canva will give you the tools you need to start designing beautiful wedding invitations. As with the web designs I talked about above, someone could purchase your design on Etsy, open it on Canva, and customize it with their own names, dates, location, etc. they will then be able to save their edited file themselves and print it on either a printing site like Vistaprint.com or take it to a local printer.
The wedding industry is HOT, don’t miss out on an opportunity to get your piece of the pie.
7) Design coloring books
This is not a joke. I swear.
People are constantly purchasing digital coloring downloads that they can print themselves at home. Whether it’s for themselves or for their children coloring templates are a digital product that is often overlooked by sellers.
There are a bunch of different ways that you can go about this. One of which is utilizing the popular design app pro create. This is perfect if you are an iPad owner! If you’re not an Apple fanatic like myself there are other options out there as well. Again, a quick Google search can point you in the right direction.
The bulk of your time spent on this method will more than likely be learning how to use a design app like procreate. I bought procreate for fun when I purchased my iPad and I could spend literally endless hours on YouTube and TikTok watching pro create tutorials if I had the time. I find it so fascinating and there are SO MANY cool things you can learn. Once you’ve figured out how to create your coloring book designs, like with anything else I imagine doing the actual work will take less and less time.
After the designs are finished you’ll save them as a PDF, upload them to Etsy, select the digital file (remember this is always key), fill in your blanks, and list!
Designing coloring books can be a fun and profitable way to build a passive income on Etsy that will earn you money around the clock.
8) Write a book
You’re probably thinking yeah, okay Brittany. Sure, let me go write a book…
But seriously, go write a book! Not only can you self-publish ebooks online, but you can also publish a good ole fashion hardcover or paperback.
You don’t need a publisher, you don’t need a book deal, you don’t have to run around begging bookstore after bookstore to carry your book.
Remember that print-on-demand method we talked about before? Print-on-demand companies that specialize in printing self-published books do indeed exist. Use this to your advantage! Writing a book isn’t what I would call easy but it certainly is the simple part when you’re trying to become a published author. Getting the book published, and getting paid is where things tend to get sticky. Traditional publishing methods take a lot of time, effort, and oftentimes do not result in the amount of money that most envision. Using an on-demand printer takes away the hassle of having to find a book publisher to produce inventory, finding a bookstore to sell your book, and in the end, could potentially earn you more money if your book becomes successful.
The Book Patch, Book Baby, and Ingram Spark are just a few of the print-on-demand book companies out there. Depending on the company you decide will work best for you you may be able to automate the printing process with Etsy. If the company you choose does not automate with Etsy, don’t fret. All you’ll have to do is place an order with your company when someone places an order from your shop.
Another great place to make passive income with print-on-demand books? Amazon! Authors like poet R.H. Sin have made an absolute fortune self-publishing.
9) Sell Excel spreadsheets
How do I know this is a thing? Because I have literally purchased Excel sheets on Etsy before.
Excel is something that you either love or hate. I refuse to believe there is any in between. Me, personally, I freaking loathe Excel. I barely know how to use it, I think it’s confusing and frustrating, and I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to learn. But… sadly I still need to use Excel for some things here and there. One of which would be to keep track of my small business finances for my online boutique Nessie Co. Instead of banging my head against the wall for hours trying to figure it out on my own, I bought a spreadsheet that fit my needs on Etsy.
Believe it or not there are tons of people out there like me that may need a program like Excel for whatever it is that they’re doing but don’t want or can’t be bothered to learn how to do it. Enter you! If Excel is your thing, or even if it’s not but you’re at least willing to learn you can start selling these spreadsheets on Etsy.
Create your sheets, save the files, upload them, list them, and sell, sell, sell!
10) Become an Etsy affiliate
Do you love Etsy? Like loveeeeee Etsy? Do you love supporting small businesses? Becoming an Etsy affiliate is a win-win. Earn commissions for yourself by promoting products from your favorite small businesses.
All you need to do is sign up for Etsy’s affiliate program. Once accepted you will be able to create custom links to certain shops and products. You will want to create content around those products, promoting the shop, the product, and encouraging people to buy from them utilizing your link. When someone makes a purchase after using your link you will receive a commission payment!
Affiliate income is the ultimate passive income in my opinion. Once you create content and get your links out on the internet they can earn you income for YEARS if done well.
As a mom, your time is absolutely precious. You need to forget the traditional way of thinking when it comes to work and money. By no means do you have to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, or go out and perform rigorous manual labor for 12 hours a shift. And you can throw that “hustle” mentality right out the window. I like to say, work smarter not harder.
Building passive income streams is the key to continue to bring in income while enjoying life at home with your children.