How I made over $5,000 of passive income online, in one month
Today, I thought I would do something a little different and share with you how I was able to generate over $5,000 of revenue in the month of June 2021.
Now initially I was quite hesitant to share this with you, because I honestly don't want to come off as braggy, but the reason I decided to was that I want you to use this as inspiration and motivation to start your own online business and make passive income just like I have.
If I can do it, I believe anyone can do it... that is the honest truth.
Okay, so before we get into the nitty-gritty details of the breakdown of my passive income, I just want to let you know how I make money in my business.
So currently, I have 4 sources of income, which I consider passive.
The first should come as no surprise, yep, you guessed it it's sales from my Etsy shop(s).
The second might come as a surprise, but it's actually revenue from Google Ads, which are shown on my YouTube channel.
The third income source is from sales made from my online course, The Passive Income with Canva course.
And the last source of income (but certainly not the least) is from Affiliate Marketing.
Now if you're unfamiliar with what affiliate marketing is, essentially it is a commission that's earned when recommending other peoples products or programs.
I'll go ahead and explain this in a bit more detail shortly.
Passive Income Source One:
Etsy Sales
Okay, if you've been on my YouTube channel over the past year or so, you'll know that I run my own Etsy shop (actually shops) that sell digital products. Specifically, in my shop Penny Street Studio I sell Canva templates.
If you've watched any videos in the past year, you'll have seen a video or two about how I've built my Etsy shop and the wonderful benefits of selling Canva Templates on Etsy.
Initially, my Etsy shop was my main source of income, however, in recent months it has also been the catalyst to so many amazing opportunities that I now have inside my business.
It made me realise that reaching my own Etsy shop success and the journey along the way has opened the doors to other opportunities to help make me passive income. These sources include making ad revenue on YouTube, creating and selling online courses and also affiliate marketing.
Can you see the snowball effect here?
Passive Income Source One:
YouTube Ad Revenue
Okay, let's talk YouTube.
Once I started seeing success in my own Etsy shop, I realised that I would love to teach others to do the same.
I've always had a passion for helping others and what better way to do so through sharing my journey and learnings on YouTube.
Starting on YouTube was extremely difficult for me. I was shy and awkward in front of the camera, I had self-doubts about whether I knew enough to teach or whether or not anyone would even want to listen to me, let alone take my advice.
But once I got over the hurdle and self-doubt, once I started uploading more videos, I finally got my groove and SLOWLY started getting subscribers and watch time.
Once I hit my 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers (this is the benchmark to get accepted into the YouTube Partner Program) I was then able to allow monetisation of my videos. Meaning that people would pay to have their ads seen on my content.
Pretty cool right?
And although there is upfront work in creating the videos (generally this is the case when earning passive income), videos from weeks, months or even years ago can generate ad revenue which is just incredible.
If you've been on the fence about creating a YouTube channel and sharing your 'Zone of Genius' with the world, I highly suggest getting started. It's such an amazing platform to be heard and seen by the people who connect with your message most.
Passive Income Source Three:
Online Course Sales
The next revenue stream I want to dive into is course sales.
On the 31st of May 2021, so literally, just a day before June started, I launched my very first online course - the Passive Income with Canva course to my audience, with great success.
This course is a step-by-step program teaching you how to make sales on auto-pilot, selling Canva templates on Etsy.
The perfect course for anyone who is ready to generate passive income online by creating original Canva templates ONCE and then selling them over and over again through your Etsy shop.
If you want to learn more about the course, click here.
But similar to YouTube, although there is a lot of upfront work creating the course, once it's done it can be sold on auto-pilot, just like any other digital product.
Creating this course has been in the making for so, so long, and to have finally launched it out into the world has been such a highlight for me.
Being able to help others create passive income online is honestly one of my favourite things to do, and this course allows me to do just that.
Passive Income Source Four:
Affiliate Marketing
Now the last (and certainly not least, you'll see why inside the revenue breakdown) is affiliate marketing or affiliate sales.
Like I explained before, affiliate marketing is a way to earn passive income through sharing other peoples products or programs. Certain products have affiliate programs that essentially give you a percentage of the sales.
An affiliate program you may have heard of before might be the Amazon Associates program, however, the products, software and programs I recommend generally range between 20-50% commissions (amazing right).
Now the reasons I believe I have been successful with affiliate marketing is first and foremost I ONLY ever recommend programs I LOVE and currently use or have used in the past and secondly I make sure that my recommendations are relevant to helping my audience create passive income online too.
The key to successfully promoting any affiliate product, software or programs is believing in it 100%.
Total Revenue Breakdown for June 2021:
Okay, so now that you have an understanding of how I generated over $5,000 in revenue, you're probably interested in seeing a breakdown, right?
Okay, let's check it out.
Etsy Sales: $557.00
Etsy sales for my shop Penny Street Studio was $557.00
Now, this amount is actually quite low for my shop. It's not unusual for my revenue to be double this around $1,000 in previous months (for example in April I earned $1,015) however, I know that January, June and July (sometimes August) can be a little slower for my shop, but as you'll see, having three other revenue sources makes up for the loss in income from my shop.
YouTube Ad Revenue: $996.00
The second source of income here is YouTube, which accounts for $996.00 in the month of June.
Incredible right. By uploading videos on YouTube that my audience loves has helped me generate nearly $1,000 in passive income.
Online Course Sales: $1,133.00
The third source of income was course sales which ended up at $1,133 dollars for June.
To think that this amount was non-existent one month prior is crazy. But now that I have launched my course, any future sales will add to my revenue, every single month.
Again thank you to all my students who are part of this course, who took a chance in joining and are now on their journey to creating passive income selling Canva templates on Etsy.
Affiliate Sales: $2,546.00
And last, but not least is you guessed it... affiliate sales.
My affiliate sales for the month of June added up to over $2,500.
$2,546 to be exact.
Isn't that incredible!!! By sharing products, software and programs that I LOVE and use, programs that could help my audience, actually generated over 40% of my monthly revenue for June.
Revenue that is ENTIRELY passive on my part.
If you're shocked by the amount, don't worry I was too, but it just proves to you that if I can make that kind of money through affiliate marketing, what's stopping you?
An extra $2,500 of passive income can be life-changing for most people like it is for me.
Okay, so if we total it all up. In the month of June, I was able to make $5,202.00 of passive income.
Incredible, right?
And the cool thing is that this is scalable. If I can earn $5,000 this month, what's to say I can't double that by the end of the year.
It's not impossible that's for sure.
Now, hear me when I say this, If I can do this... so can you.
I believe that these results are possible for anyone, including you. If you're willing to put in the time and effort to build it up.
How you can get started?
Okay, but you're thinking. That's cool Alicia, but how do I even get started?
Well, that's easy. Start with an Etsy shop, start creating digital products that you are passionate about, digital products that light you up and show off your zone of genius.
Once you start earning your first dollar online selling digital products, it opens up the doors to so many different opportunities.
Like I did, you could share your knowledge on YouTube, build up your audience, create more digital products like courses or even 1:1 programs.
And then align yourself with programs, software and products that you can earn a commission from and then recommend them to your audience too.
People are doing this all the time, so why can't you?
So feeling inspired yet?
I hope so.
Now if you're ready to build a business beyond Etsy, just like I have, then you're definitely going to want to check out this presentation: https://www.aliciarafiei.com/pipg
This link will take you over to a special video from me, that will explain how I went from starting on Etsy to now running a business that generates me passive income online.
I hope that you check it out. You never know, you might just end up telling me your story on YouTube or your own blog about how you went from $500.00 of sales on Etsy to making over $5,000 with your online business too.
Okay, I wish you all the success in this world!
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I created a community & market hub, specifically for sellers and shop owners looking for tools, resources and templates to help with their Etsy shop.
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