3 Powerful Ways to make Passive Income as an Artist
Your knowledge as an artist is valuable, so why not do something with it.
Whether you are new to the creative world or you’ve been here for a while, the skills and knowledge you have gained has the potential to help others to get a step up in their journey.
What is Passive Income?
Passive income is a way to generate income, money, passively. I.e without much effort and on autopilot.
Another way to look at it, make it once and sell over and over again.
It is a great option for many creatives such as, artists and illustrators, writers, sculptors, musicians, and many more creative fields. Possibly all of them, who knows.
As a famous stoic named Seneca once said, “While we teach, we learn” so let’s learn it, write about it and then teach it to solidify our own understanding of our chosen subject.
3 Ways to make Passive Income as an Artist
Digital downloads
Online Courses
Memberships
Digital Downloads
It’s no secret that you can create a lovely PDF for people to download and use, but don’t be tempted to sell yourself short by thinking your download isn’t worth something. Your knowledge and experience might be the key to someone else’s problem.
Digital downloads are one of the quickest entry-level ways to generate passive income. It is also what I would refer to as a low-ticket item since it is usually priced from £1 to maybe £20 at the most.
I sell colouring pages of the line art I create and little study guides that I originally created so that I can refer to them over and over again when I want to draw a particular subject. Both of these digital downloads can be just as valuable for other creatives to use so, I make them available for people to purchase and download to keep.
Online Courses
With all that experience and knowledge that you’ve been gaining from trial and error, and learning from others, how about turning it into an online course with your unique take on things?
No one can teach the way you teach because you have your own personal way of figuring things out and creating. Chances are you probably have little hacks and tips that other creatives could benefit from.
If you’re anything like me, you probably love to take online courses. I currently have one available and this year I hope to make more.
An online course is a nicely packaged single-subject teaching tool you can continue to make money from for years to come.
My mentor Amy Porterfield runs an amazing online course and experience that teaches everything you’ll ever need to know about creating and building a course. If you’re interested, you can look out for the next opening for DCA here.
Memberships
This one is one of my personal favourites. A membership is more than just a learning platform, it is a community of like-minded individuals who join together to form one of the greatest inspirations for all included within it.
My membership and the memberships I have been part of for so long have helped me grow as an artist. It also helps your users to develop is a nice safe space; which is what every creative needs, myself included.
Another mentor of mine, Stu McLaren, is a complete expert in memberships and has an online course that runs you through the whole process of creating a membership that your community wants to be and remain a part of.
He also offers a free-to-attend workshop that you can gain sooo much information from.
The Membership Experience(TME) for 2024 is closed but it’ll be back in April 2025.
And Finally..
Digital downloads, online courses and memberships are all great resources for any creative and I highly recommend you implement at least one of these in your business.
If I had to choose one way to make passive income, I would pick a membership due to the recurring revenue you can generate from it. No more “starving creative” syndrome.
Which would you choose?
I hope this has been helpful to you on your creative journey and good luck!
Until next time, stay creative x
