Wondering how to start making passive income in your photography business? Over the past few years, I have learned a few key ways to start bringing in extra income each month that require little to no upkeep. Let's dive into a few!
Disclaimer: A few of the links below are affiliate links. This means that I make a small commission if you decide to invest in those products (at no added cost to you). This helps small businesses (like mine!) continue to invest in educational content and materials. I appreciate your support.
01. Sell Prints Passively
I constantly see photographers leaving large amounts of money on the table (I mean, like way too much). In the past month, I've brought in over $2600 in passive income from my client galleries alone. And a huge part of this is in thanks to my gallery-hosting platform, Pic-Time. Whichever gallery-hosting platform you use, please ensure that there are great marketing capabilities.
For example, Pic-Time galleries have built in email-marketing options. These include things like Holiday Sales Email Templates, Post-Order Promos, and more. When creating your gallery, you can set these up to run automatically, and bring in client print sales in your sleep. While I typically assist my wedding clients 1:1 with prints and albums, this is a great way to take in print sales from other family members, wedding guests, and more.
Pic-Time allows for a free 30-day trial to test out their features. And if you'd like to get an extra FREE month of Pic-Time if you decide to upgrade eventually, use the code W3E77B.
02. Become an Affiliate
Do you find yourself constantly recommending gear (or business platforms) to your friends and family? One of the easiest ways to start bringing in some passive income is to become an affiliate for businesses you already love. A few businesses you may want to consider are:
- Amazon
- B&H
- KEH
- Adorama
* Get started finding great affiliate programs at ShareASale.
Looking for easy ways to link your affiliate links? I highly recommend building a separate hidden page on your website that lists out your top recommendations. You can find an example of this in my own Gear Page here. Additionally, if you want to turn social media traffic into affiliate commissions, I highly recommend building out a great Bio Link. To see an example, check out this ShowIt Bio Link Template.
03. Sell Educational Content
Before I recommend selling educational content, I want to preface with this: it's critically important to only sell educational content on the topics that you are proficient in. That can look different for each photographer. If you're not as great at the business side of photography, but you're an expert on retouching images, then focus on that while creating educational content.
Here are a few educational content ideas:
- Editing Tips
- Poses You Use During Sessions
- Photography for Beginners
- Photography Workflow Tips
Examples of Educational Content in My Store:
04. Start Blogging
Ahem, something like this blog! Blogging can be a great option if you're willing to put in the work, and if you're ready to be a little patient. Blogging can allow you to create free content for other photographers and business owners, to then bring them to your website. From each blog post, you can link affiliate links, educational products, and more.
Once you start getting more traffic to your website, you can also incorporate Google Ad Sense ads to bring in further revenue.
05. Sell Lightroom Presets + Digital Goods
Another profitable passive income side hustle is digital download content. This can include things like: selling...Lightroom presets, email templates, Canva templates, website templates, and more. All of these resources typically only require your time and knowledge, and have very little cost per unit sold, making them much more profitable than something like Print On Demand Shirts, Handmade Products, etc.
Want to see some of the digital products I'm selling? Check out my Etsy Store.
06. Open a Print Store
Another great way to make passive income as a photographer is to open your own Print Store. If you're looking to do this without spending more money on a new website, I highly recommend opening a separate gallery in your gallery hosting platform.
Within Pic-Time, I am able to create a new gallery that remains open (and is open to the public) that you can see here. This can allow you to sell print products (already linked via the online store) of your favorite travel images, detail images, etc. I highly suggest keeping these categorized to help potential customers. Suggestions might include: travel (specific locations), seasons (spring, fall, winter, summer), humanitarian, etc.
Want to read about more ways to make more money in your business? Check out all of my Favorite Money Tools here.
xx. Abi