Charis: If you love talking about your interests, try turning your musings into profitable content.
AS a tertiary student, I understand the struggles of earning an income to pay for accommodation, food, transportation and even tuition fees, while juggling studies and other responsibilities.
If you are also a tertiary student looking to make some money to pay for your living expenses, here are five passive income opportunities that you can consider.
1. Is there a skill that you are confident in? Utilise it to create an online course.
There are many materials online which you could reference to get started. Once you have a template for your course plan, you should find it easy to create your course.
There is no limit to the number of people that can take your course at a time and it does not directly take your leisure time away, unlike a traditional tutoring session.
There are many platforms on which you can upload your courses. You may even set up your own website.
The upside is you may upload your courses on multiple platforms at the same time as long as they are suitable for your courses.
2. Sell digitalised study materials
As a tertiary student, you should be well equipped with lecture notes, personal notes, and copies of past year examination papers. You could post your study materials for sale online.
The difference is that instead of coming up with your own content and course plan, all you have to do is digitalise the study materials you already have and market them well. Materials in the digital format can be sold countlessly for a long period.
There are several platforms and websites such as Studypool on which you could do this. These platforms allow you to register an account and upload your materials where anyone could buy them. Some might take a small commission from your earnings but you will still be profiting from what otherwise would end up in the bin.
3. Network marketing
Network marketing, otherwise known as affiliate marketing, is a business model where you work as a marketing link between a company and its potential consumers.
This can be as easy as posting your testimonials about the products or services that you genuinely enjoy on your social media pages to attract interest.
That said, this would require you to build an extensive network and be equipped with a certain level of marketing skills to close the sales.
This is a suitable option for students as it generally does not involve a startup cost. It is important that you do your research on the company you want to be affiliated with to ensure that you are getting into a trusted company.
4. Start a podcast
If you love talking about your interests, try turning your musings into profitable content. There is no need for any fancy equipment as you could just start recording on your smartphone. It could be a one-man show or a joint endeavour.
From entertainment and technology to current affairs, the topics you could talk about are endless. It could also be structured according to your preference, such as whether you want it to be like a talk show or a storytelling session.
Despite the limitations on certain features such as storage space and editing tools, there are several podcast hosts that provide their services for free. This would be a good starting point if you are on a tight budget.
5. Make custom merchandise
Do you have some random doodles lying around? If so, you could start your own small business by incorporating those doodles into daily-use items like shirts, mugs, notebooks and phone cases.
The designs could be as simple or peculiar as you like depending on the market you are aiming for. To start off, you would have to determine your supplier and the printing service provider available to you.
If you find it difficult to get hold of mug printings, or to supply various phone cases, start with easily sourced products such as T-shirts and notebooks. You could add other products that are in high demand to your merchandise line once you have built a strong customer base.
Charis, 20, a student in Kuala Lumpur, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team. To join Star-NiE’s online youth community, go to facebook.com/niebrats.
