5 Passive Income Ideas for Coaches

There’s a super attractive idea floating around in the online coaching community right now: passive income.

Passive income is this elusive accomplishment that nearly every business owner wants to achieve. It supposedly doesn’t require any work to maintain—nor does it require much effort on your part to “sell.”

But how do you find passive income ideas that actually work for coaches? How do you get started? Is passive income even real? Here’s what you need to know:

The Truth Behind “Passive Income” and Business

While the idea of passive income (income earned with little to no labor to maintain) is very tempting as a coach quickly reaching your limit with your 1:1 clients and even group work, it’s not very realistic. Not because you’re limited to high-proximity one-on-one work but because passive income doesn’t exist.

Instead, it’s more of minimal maintenance and lower proximity (or no proximity) offers you can sell—and yes, there’s a difference between that and the passive income marketers (and even some coaches) are saying you should earn.

Nothing is truly passive if you value your client experience and results; every offer you create and sell is designed to provide your clients with a transformation, but to deliver that transformation, it requires involvement from YOU.

It’s not technically passive.

5 Passive Income Ideas for Coaches 

At least, ideas that are as passive as possible. If you want to make more income but in a way that doesn’t require your full attention and takes pressure off of serving more 1:1 clients (and potentially getting a bit more time freedom), these are for you:

#1. Masterclasses

If you’re interested in creating an evergreen product to sell to support and potentially funnel buyers into your program(s), a masterclass is a great starting point. For more evergreen income, you would create and record a video teaching your audience how to do or understand something that would benefit their life, business, mind, or body.

#2. Course

What may be my favorite way for coaches to diversify their income, a course that offers the ability to generate income without serving clients in a high-proximity offer but still delivers a “larger” transformation. You could create a signature course, a DIY version of your signature offer(s)—or you could create a “mini-course,” covering a more niched area in your industry.

#3. Affiliate Marketing

This may be the closest to actual passive income, but it has the lowest payoff. Affiliate marketing is when you sign up to be an affiliate for someone else’s offers or software, like Flodesk, Showit, etc. In exchange, when someone purchases through your link, you earn a percentage of the sale. Affiliate marketing still requires trust, expertise, and maintenance.

With affiliate marketing, you’re trading time creating for time selling as the percentage of the sale you earn is MUCH lower than if you were to create and sell your own offer.

#4. Partnerships

If creating a curriculum or product on your own seems overwhelming at the moment, partner with a fellow coach or business owner serving the same audience. Sharing the work can make the process less time consuming—although you’ll also be sharing the profits.

#5. Licensing of Products

Licensing your digital products is almost another form of collaboration. You partner with someone to provide your product to their group, membership, or program for their customers/clients and get paid a licensing fee in exchange. However, you have to have an offer created, and it’s best to consult with a lawyer to ensure you have a solid contract in place.

How to Start Diversifying Your Income and Gaining Time-Freedom

Although it’s not technically passive income, diversifying your income is one of the best ways to gain time-freedom and spend more time outside of your business, living life.

Still, don’t let the idea of passive income lead to neglecting your client experience or transformations. Your clients and customers deserve the experience you promised—and when they have a good experience, they’re more likely to shout it (and you) from the rooftops!

Whether you’re in search of passive income or simply trying to expand past your 1:1 client work and consulting (or away from anything high-proximity), book a consult to see what would fit best in your offer suite to achieve your goals.