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Jen “Odd” Glantz here! I always find weeks that have a Monday holiday are hard weeks to stay focused and get things done. I just want every day to feel like a vacation but instead, I find myself spending Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday staring at my unruly email inbox as the sun tries to catch my attention.

I found a handful of new weird jobs to share with you. Maybe some of you will pursue these gigs and maybe some of you will look at these gigs as a way of getting inspired about something cool you can start doing in your own life.

Either way, on these short feeling weeks, keep things odd.

Take Your Skills & Make Passive Income

When I got laid off from my job in 2015, I promised myself that I’d do whatever it took to become my own boss and never go back to a full-time job.

It was a goal that came with many brainstorm sessions and lots of Excel spreadsheets. In the end, I not only wanted to make enough money to cover my bills and increase the funds in my savings account but also to match and possibly exceed my old annual salary. 

One of things I quickly realized was that as an entrepreneur and freelancer, job security was far from guaranteed. To cut down on my stress, I quickly decided that to make this goal work, I needed to diversify my income.

I became fascinated by the idea of passive income. Common passive income sources can come from renting out property, making investments with dividends, or equity investments. Passive income is defined as income that requires little to no effort to earn or maintain. 

The more research I did, the more I realized there were so many other ways to develop a passive income strategy that aligned with my existing business, my personal brand, and my financial plan. 

Over the last five years I have made thousands of dollars each month from my passive revenue streams. Here is how I’ve done it. 

I use my skills to teach others 

When I got laid-off, I decided to start digging deep into skills I had, and ways I could teach others how to master the knowledge and experience I gained over the years. Rather than teaching one-off workshops, in person or live virtually, I decided it would be a better use of my time and resources to create digital courses with a longer shelf life. 

The first course idea I had was one that would teach people how to start a wedding business similar to the side hustle turned full-time gig I launched in 2014. I set it up on a website where people could purchase the course and access the material whenever they wanted. It took me a few months to develop the digital course, but it’s provided me with passive income every month since it went live. 

Sometimes I wake up in the morning, check my email, and notice I made a couple of sales while I was asleep. Most of my courses range from $47 to $150 and I host them on a platform called Thinkific, which is similar to Skillshare and Teachable. It’s been a model that I’ve been able to repeat with a lot of success.

During the pandemic, I created six new courses that have helped make up for the significant amount of income I lost this year from other projects and clients. 

I set up affiliate links 

One way I’ve been able to monetize my blog, which I’ve had since 2011, and the content I provide on social media and my email lists is through affiliate links. I primarily use Amazon’s affiliate program and I’m able to link to products I mention in my content — whether it’s books I’m reading or products I bought and loved — and make a percentage of any sales I bring in. 

This has been a good way of making anywhere from $40 to $200 a month.

While it’s not big money, the more your audience grows and the more you produce content with products that could be of value to them, the more potential you have to increase your revenue.

There are other programs I have considered using, such as ShareASale and Rakuten, which gives you access to more brands and products that offer affiliate links. Many influencers and bloggers use sites like that when posting about outfits or decor. This year I plan to expand my affiliate offerings around products that I endorse and also software that I use as a digital creator. 

I publish downloadable eBooks 

Another way to make monthly income, without doing repetitive work, is to put out downloadable e-books.

While it can take anywhere from a few months to a year to write these downloadable books, it can bring in income for you for years to come, without you having to rewrite or provide any additional content. I usually charge anywhere between $5 and $25 for these e-books.

While the price point is low, it’s still a great way to bring in a few hundred dollars a month. It also introduces people to my brand and content, for a little bit of money, with the hopes they’ll buy a higher-priced item along the way, such as a digital course.

I use free programs like Reedsy and Canva to format the books so that they look professional and provide the buyer with a good user experience.  

I set up ad dollars 

I’ve had a blog since 2011 and a YouTube channel for over six years. I was told early on that one way to make money off that content was through ads. I used programs like Google’s AdSense for my blog and turned on YouTube ads for the videos

I only make around $10 a month from ads on my website or videos. While it’s not a lot of money, it’s a good start and it helps me think of new strategies to grow the potential here. 

Since a lot of the money you can make through ads is based on your audience numbers and page views, it gives me fuel to want to optimize my website and my content to draw more people to what I’m putting out there.

I have a high-yield savings account

A big change I made to my finances, three years ago, that I’m proud of is moving all of my money out of a savings account that only offered 0.01% interest to a savings account that offered over 1.8% interest. 

Having your money in a high-yield savings account, that compounds monthly, allows you to make hundreds, or even thousands, a year just by keeping your money in a savings account.

While I’m only pulling in less than $150 a month in interest, it’s still far more than my old bank account. Plus, it requires no additional maintenance or attention and is an easy way to pull in monthly passive income.

Over time, passive income streams have helped me feel more secure as my own boss, and have helped me during this uncertain moment. This year in particular, when some of my longstanding clients and jobs were paused because of the pandemic, these passive income strategies have continued to bring in income month after month. 

This article originally appeared here.

We're so grateful for this week's newsletter sponsor: CLAY 

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Clay, a beautiful and private digital rolodex intentionally designed to help you be more thoughtful with the people who matter to you.

Before I started using Clay, being thoughtful and remembering important details about the people in my life relied on my own memory, as well as a mix of spreadsheets, notecards, contacts apps, and CRMs. In addition to being difficult to manage, this approach lets important relationships, moments, and context fall through the cracks.

But when you log onto Clay, you enter your very own personalized home for the people that matter to you, empowering you to remember important moments and information. Clay uses your calendar, email, iMessage, Twitter, phone contacts, and LinkedIn to create one source of truth for your relationships. Take notes, set reminders, get notified when people are in the news, and more.

I use Clay not only to foster relationships with friends and acquaintances but also to show up prepared for so many different business situations, whether it’s to be prepared for a meeting, to search my network to find a mentor, or to stay on top of important details about the important people in my life.

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LET’S GET RANDOM:

Random Odd Jobs

If you like outer space

For the YouTube obsessed

Hollywood might be calling your name

Great for photographers

Like tools? Make them

Random Tools to Use

To help you start an online course

Let a robot do the copywriting for you

Start making cash as a freelancer

Email marketing that looks beautiful

To help you start a podcast

Random Stuff You Might Need

Odd finds but good finds

Why nobody has or needs hobbies

How to be the most interesting person at happy hour

Ways to get brand sponsors for your podcast or newsletter

Until next week,

-Jen (odd) Glantz

Want help starting a summer gig? Grab a coaching session with me!

Jen Glantz is a whimsical entrepreneur, 3x author, podcast host, and all-around pizza-obsessed goofball. You can connect with Jen on LI or IG. If you want 1:1 coaching, this is for you, or if your business wants a badass speaker, check this out.