Ways to Generate Passive Income Without Money

There is no question that setting up a passive income stream is a fantastic way to build wealth with minimal time and effort. However, many routes to establish passive income involve putting in money upfront. If you are not in a position to do so, we have compiled a list of ways to generate passive income without spending a dime. 

Our passive income ideas can be broken into seven categories:

• Driving
• Exercising
• Real Estate
• Referral Programs
• Shopping Habits
• Surveys
• Talents
• Monetary Investments

If you have a car, you can use it to build income with no money.

Rent out your car with Turo. Turo is completely free to use with no monthly fees and no buy-ins. All renters are screened, so you can feel safe about using it. You can pick when and how often you rent out your car, and earn a percentage of the trip price. Plus, it comes with insurance and safety features. If you own a car and sometimes don't need it, this is a great way to make extra money.

Turn your car into a money-making billboard with Carvertise. Carvertise is a marketing company that matches brands with drivers. They will wrap your car before a campaign and unwrap it once it’s over. This is truly passive income, since all you have to do is drive anywhere you normally would.

Become a chauffeur in your spare time with Lyft. Driving for the popular ride sharing service Lyft gives you the flexibility to set your own hours and accept the rides you want. Plus, it pays well! Lyft drives get paid per ride and get extra cash through tips.

Exercising: Workout to Earn Passive Income

While you cannot exactly generate cash flow, through fitness aps you can with prizes and gift cards.

Get paid to work out with Evidation. Do you hit the gym regularly? Keep doing just that, but start earning money with no upfront investment. Evidation is an app that will pay you for healthy habits. Connect the app to over 30 fitness apps to start earning points redeemable for gift cards.

Turn your car into a money-making billboard with Carvertise. Carvertise is a marketing company that matches brands with drivers. They will wrap your car before a campaign and unwrap it once it’s over. This is truly passive income, since all you have to do is drive anywhere you normally would.

Get paid to walk outside with Sweatcoin. Take two minutes to download the Sweatcoin app, and earn points every time you walk outside. Sweatcoins can be redeemed for cool offers such as plane tickets and TVs. Like Evidation, Sweatcoin does not require an upfront investment.

Real Estate: Earn Passive Income Through Real Estate

Many real estate investments, such as owning rental properties, need significant upfront capital. However, there are real estate investments that require little or no money to get started and can generate decent passive income.

Rent out your spare room on Airbnb.  If you’re not able to purchase rental properties but happen to have a spare room, consider renting it out on Airbnb. The earning potential is substantial, especially if you make your room available during high-demand times in your city. This strategy could be considered active income due to the nature of creating listings and managing guests.

Become a real estate investor with as little as $500 on Fundrise. Fundrise is a crowdfunded platform that allows you to invest directly in private market real estate and real estate investment trusts. Plus, their investment advisors help you manage your investments, so you can feel good about your portfolio. This passive income source is a great way to invest money inexpensively and with expert help.

Refer landlords and real estate investors to the Visio Lending Referral Program. Through our Visio Lending Referral Program, you don’t have to be a customer or put in a lot of time to generate income. Our Referral Program is essentially an a affiliate marketing program. It is run through affiliate marketing platform Impact, and we pay $50 per qualified lead. One Referral Partner sends us 200 qualified leads per month. That is $10,000 in monthly income.

Referral Programs: Refer Your Network & Earn Money

One way to build passive income with no money is to find referral programs that do not require a purchase. In addition to Visio Lending's Referral Program, here are others you can participate in:

Refer nurses you know to Fastaff and earn up to $1,000 per qualified nurse. Fastaff partners with healthcare facilities to provide traveling nurses to fill positions as needed. Get paid for every nurse you refer that takes a job. If you know a lot of nurses, this could a fantastic passive income strategy.

Refer your artistic friends to Teespring to earn up to $2,500 per referral. Teespring allows anyone to make and sell shirts. If you aren’t crafty, but your friends are, refer them and earn up to $0.50 per shirt they sell up to $2,500. Friends who sell a lot of shirts earn money, and so do you.

Refer travelers you know to Pavlus Travel to earn up to $250 per referral. Pavlus Travel is a travel agency that will pay you $250 when your referrals travel with them. This is a passive income idea that doesn't cost you anything.

Refer shoppers to ArtPal and receive 5% cash on everything they buy.  ArtPal showcases the work of 88,000 artists selling original prints. Through their affiliate marketing program, if you share a piece on social media and someone makes a purchase through your link, they will pay you 5% commission for up to a year.

Shopping Habits: Earn Passive Income for Things You Already Buy

A great way to build passive income streams is to get money back for things you already buy.

Earn cashback every time you shop with Drop. Link your credit cards and debit cards to Drop, and rack up points for your usual spending. Redeem your points whenever you want for gift cards

Earn up to 40% cashback at over 2,000 stores when you shop with Rakuten. Before you do any online shopping, check Rakuten to see if you can get cashback. Simply continue your usual shopping through their links and receive your rewards quarterly via PayPal or a check in the mail.

Earn cashback for all sorts of items from toothpaste and body wash to magazines and beer with Ibotta. With Ibotta, you can add offers to the app, shop at any participating store, and then redeem your offers by taking a photo of your receipt. Get your cashback within 48 hours via PayPal, Venmo, or gift cards.

Earn cashback and take advantage of instant savings through Tada.  Tada is another platform to shop through for several rewards and instant savings. Receive your cash compensation through gift cards or a PayPal account.

Surveys: Earn Passive Income While You Binge Netflix

A great way to build passive income streams is to get money back for things you already buy.Earn money online while you watch TV through these survey sites. Keep in mind there will not be extensive cash flow from these surveys, yet it could bring in some extra cash.

Swagbucks: Swagbucks offers gift cards in exchange for taking surveys, watching videos, and more. Choose from a wide variety of popular stores including Amazon, Starbucks, and Target.

Survey Junkie: Survey Junkie enables users to “shape products and services that are meaningful to you.” Plus, rewards can be redeemed either through gift cards or PayPal.

Prize Rebel: Prize Rebel boasts 13 million members and has paid out 28 million in rewards.

MyPoints: Like Swagbucks, MyPoints goes beyond taking surveys and gives you points for several online activities. Points can be redeemed for gift cards, cash, or travel miles.

Talents: Use Your Artistic Abilities and Other Skills to Earn Passive Income

Some of these passive income ideas are more active income streams than passive income. For example, blogging takes time and effort, whereas stock photo sites are a great way to work now and generate future income. All of these are worth checking out if you are looking to generate income on the side with no minimum investment.

Become a contributor on Shutterstock. Shutterstock is a global marketplace for artists and creators to sell their footage, images, and vectors. Earnings are based on the type of contribution and the amount your work is downloaded.

Start a blog. Are you a foodie? Sports fanatic? Book worm? Blog about your passions. Although it takes a lot of time and effort to monetize a blog, it can be done on your own time, and if you get a decent following, you can make decent residual income. The Penny Hoarder has an excellent guide to starting a blog and ultimately making money.

Create YouTube Videos.: Not much of a writer but have a talent you can put on YouTube? Or even an adorable pet that could gain a YouTube following? If you can get 10,000 views to your channel, you can start generating income.

Get paid for human intelligence tasks from your own computer on your own time with Mechanical Turk. Mechanical Turk operates a marketplace for work that requires human intelligence such as identifying objects in a photo or video, transcribing audio recording, or researching data deals (just to give you an idea). You set your hours and select the tasks and you want to complete.

Take on some freelance work through Upwork. Upwork is an online platform that connects freelancers to projects. Have skills in SEO, social media, content writing, graphic design, administrative tasks, accounting, etc.? Check Upwork for high-paying, quick turnaround opportunities.

Monetary Investment: Use Your Money to Create Passive Income

One of the best passive income sources is using the money you already have to get more. Of course, this requires upfront investment funds. If you have that, move some of your money from a savings account into a fund that can work for you. Keep in mind, you should consult your counsel before investing.

High Yield Savings Account: This is a great starting point. A regular savings account is essentially a safe place to store your money. A high yield savings account is a safe place to store your money that pay you higher returns. Here is a great list of high yield savings accounts.

Stock Market: Consider investing in index funds, mutual funds, individual stocks, dividend stocks, etc. through a brokerage firm or brokerage account. Investing in the stock market, when done well, can be a profitable money investment. Visio president Matt Matza has a great piece on the different kinds of investments.