3 Supplemental Income Ideas You Can Do from Home

Let’s get one thing out of the way right up top: no income is truly passive. Even successful investors put effort and time into curation, diversification and portfolio maintenance. Still, there are a few ways you can supplement your primary income that do not require hours of daily effort – or even leaving the house.

Below, you’ll find three supplemental income ideas that you can support with little more than an internet connection and a concept.

E-Commerce

Opening an e-commerce store can be a fantastic way to make supplemental income from home. You can choose to open a "private labelling" business, in which you manufacture and package goods in-house (for instance, starting a homemade candle business). Or you might opt for a "white labelling" model, in which you rebrand products purchased from a manufacturer (running a branded necktie store, for example). You can read about the various e-commerce revenue models here.

Next, you need to consider distribution and partnerships. Many e-commerce retailers choose to operate a dark store – a retail space designed to facilitate online orders, which isn't open for in-store shopping.

You could consider partnering with a company like REEF, which operates a retail distribution network of micro-warehouses. These micro-warehouses are placed in high-density neighborhoods, so you can provide fast and efficient order fulfillment to your customers, wherever they live. And if you want to expand your business, you can do so easily, leveraging their network to seed new markets.

Before long, you may find your e-commerce income eclipsing your main income – which is the dream!

Blogging

Blogging has a relatively low bar for entry. All you really need is a domain, a hosting platform, a concept and the time to populate your blog with engaging content.

The best approach to starting a blog is to look at your current interests. If you’re passionate about food, you might start a recipe blog. If you love travelling with your family, you could start a travel blog that hosts family-related content too. Or, if your passion is personal finance, you can reach viewers with basic, knowledge-driven tutorials on finance fundamentals.

Once your blog sees some traffic, you can make money by hosting banner ads, featuring paid content or finding affiliate marketing opportunities.

Real Estate

Owning a rental property – or even a small commercial property – is the closest you can get to earning truly passive supplemental income, but it requires upfront investment. Before investing, look into purchasing properties in desirable, high-traffic areas, and read thoroughly about passive income real estate.

Once you have a property, you will need to screen tenants, develop a system for rent collection, and take an active role in property management (even if you work with a property management company). These are steps you can do remotely, so you won’t have to leave home except to check on your property occasionally. You can also enroll your property in a proximity network (like the one mentioned above) to host modular businesses and parking solutions, further increasing your passive income.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it should get you started thinking about earning supplemental income from home.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes