Making money while you sleep? And that is the great thing about passive income: it is all done for you. And the next business idea that makes you money could give you money every day of the year.
There is automation everywhere. Automation is a part of our everyday lives. Chatbots help people shop online, and soon cars will be able to drive themselves.
Today technology lets you automate boring, time-consuming, and repetitive jobs, which makes you more productive.
Business process automation helps owners reduce tasks and make their businesses run more smoothly, from social media to email marketing.
Here are 12 profitable business ideas that you can pretty much leave alone and not have to do much with every day.
What Is An Automated Business?
Business process automation is like giving your everyday office tasks to someone else to do. An automated business:
- Uses tech and software to get business tasks done
- Cuts down on how much you need to be involved in daily repetitive tasks
- Need minimal human intervention to make money
- Makes your business processes more efficient and productive by doing things quicker and better
- Runs more smoothly and saves you money in the long run
- Handles keeping track of business info, making your workflow easier
It helps you make more money and save money at the same time. It is like having extra hands, which makes things run more smoothly and gives you more money.
You do not have to keep an eye on every little thing; orders go through, funds come in, and customers are kept in the loop.
Now that everything is taken care of, you have more time to do the things that matter, like spending time with your kids or working on a project you are really interested in.
12 Best Automated Business Ideas
Many people do not want to start their own business because they think it will take too much time and work.
You can, however, start some business processes that make money for you with little work and can even be automated to make money while you sleep.
1. Starting A Blog
My favorite way to make money with an auto-pilot business is to blog. It is not hard at all.
It takes time to start a blog and write posts for it, but you can simplify the process and make money for years to come.
Our blog has been up for almost 8 years, and there are still posts from the beginning that bring in money every month.
First, you write articles and set up times to post them ahead of time. This way, your site stays up to date even if you are not at your computer every day.
Then, you make money from each blog post by adding ads, affiliate links, or digital goods like courses or eBooks. You will make money without doing anything.
You can also keep your audience interested without having to do much work by setting up an automatic email magazine.
2. Sell Feet Pics
You read that right! You can make extra money online without putting in much work by selling pictures of your feet.
You will basically take cool pictures of your feet with different scenes and props and sell them for $5 to $20 or more each.
As soon as you put them up for sale, the money keeps coming in. And the more movies or pictures of feet you add, the more people will want to buy.
This is a one-of-a-kind business that can make you money and that you can run with little or no help from you.
Automation tools could help you post your pictures at the best times or send emails to people who might buy from you.
You can put these tools to use to reach more people and maybe make more sales.
Feet pictures are not just a trend; they are a real way to make extra money, and FeetFinder makes it easier than ever to get people who will pay you.
3. Create Printables
Making and selling printables is a great way to make money because it blends creativity with the ease of automation.
You can be creative by making something one-time that is useful or interesting, like a stylish to-do list or a useful meal planner.
The great thing about it is that you can sell that image over and over again. It only costs you once to make, but it keeps making you money.
People can buy and download your beautiful set of printouts whenever they want, making you money while you sleep, spending time with your family, or coming up with your next big idea.
You are in luck if this sounds like something you would like to learn more about.
You can learn even more about how to turn printables into a profitable, automatic business at a FREE workshop put on by Gold City Ventures.
4. Become A YouTuber
It can be fun and easy to make extra money by starting a YouTube page.
You regularly post videos about things that really interest you and interact with your fans in the comments.
Then, make money by showing ads before or during your videos. If you become famous, you might even get paid to do things.
As your channel gets bigger, you can use some useful automation tools to make things easier by pushing your videos and making money from your channel automatically.
Is this interesting to you? The Mastering YouTube course is full of useful information on how to make real money from your YouTube account.
5. Start A Dropshipping Business
Start a dropshipping business to make extra money without having to worry about keeping track of inventory or sending items.
Someone will help you get clothes, shoes, accessories, and other things to put in your shop.
They will send you a link to check out, so you do not have to do any shipping or storage.
When a customer places an order, it goes straight to the supplier, who sends the item straight to the customer.
By automating the order handling and fulfillment parts of your dropshipping business, you can focus on building your brand and marketing strategies.
You can start selling right away on sites like Shopify, which takes care of most of the marketing to get people to your site and bring your users.
You can learn how to start a dropshipping business for free at Drop Ship Lifestyle.
6. Rent Out Your Stuff
When you rent out your things, you can make extra money without having to do much.
You may have an extra room, a car, or even an extra place to store things. Websites can do most of the work for you while you rent them out.
You are changing things you do not use into small businesses that make money while you go about your day.
You have a few options for ways to rent your stuff:
- Airbnb – Rent your spare rooms to travelers; put your whole house up for rent when you are on your vacation to bring in passive income.
- Neighbor Storage – Use those extra rooms and closets for someone else’s stuff- rent them out as extra storage space.
- RVShare – Do you have a camper that does not see the road much? Rent it out to other travelers for fast cash.
These sites will take care of the rest after you list what you have to give. They will help you rent your stuff to people who want to pay for it.
After setting it up, you do not have to do much. It lets you make money while doing other things, like spending time with your family or starting a new business that is easy to run.
7. Write An eBook
Writing an eBook is a fun way to make money and show off what you feel good about. After you write it once, you can sell it again and again.
The best part is that you do not have to be at your computer all the time to make sales.
There are tools for business process automation that can market and sell for you. You will have more time to make more great material or just live your life.
You can work with a publishing company, but if you want sales to be more automatic, you should self-publish on Amazon.
When you share the link to your book online, you can get more people to see it and buy it.
It is not enough to just post the eBook and brag about it on social media.
To get even more people excited, you can join podcasts or work with bloggers. You will sell more eBooks if more people know about them.
You write a great eBook, get some tools to help you sell it, and maybe even do a show. You will have a small business that runs itself in no time.
8. Create Online Courses
A great way to make money and share what you know is to sell online classes. What a great idea to turn your knowledge into something you can sell.
In a way, online classes can be like having your own little business that runs itself. It is a good way to make money that does not need your attention all the time.
Being a teacher is harder because each lesson is planned out and ready for the next student.
It is okay if you are not tech-savvy; anyone can do it. There are a lot of tools that can do the hard work for you, like advertising the course, getting people to sign up, and even teaching the lessons.
If you are wondering how to kick things off, here is a quick game plan:
- First, think of a subject you know well and that people want to learn about.
- Next, plan what you will teach and make any necessary videos, worksheets, or quizzes.
- Then, set up some automation tools to get the word out and handle the sign-ups and course delivery.
- Voila, you have got an online course that can make money while doing other things.
A program called “Six Figure Creator” can help you get the details right if you need more help.
You can learn how to make and sell digital goods like online courses with this course. So you can get help from professionals and make sure you are going in the right direction.
9. Sell Stock Photos
If you enjoy taking pictures, why not turn your hobby into a business? A great way to make extra money without doing much is to sell stock photos.
You just put your best photos on sites like Dreamstime, Adobe Stock, or Getty Images, and the people who sell them will take care of the rest.
People whose projects need photos will pay you to use them, and you will get paid. That easy.
As soon as you share an image, automation starts. You add keywords and descriptions so that people who need your picture can find it.
After taking the pictures and uploading them, the sales are taken care of by the software.
You will have a steady source of cash soon enough that you can focus on getting that perfect shot.
If you like shooting, this is a good way to turn your hobby into a business with very little start-up cost.
10. Flip Websites
When you flip websites, you buy one, fix it up, and then sell it for more than you paid for it.
You sell the better website and keep the extra money. Your overhead costs are low too, since you have computerized a lot of the work.
But here is the cool part: you can use automatic tools to take care of marketing and maintenance. So, you would not have to do all the small tasks and can focus on making the website better.
First, you will need to do some research to find a good store to buy from. Once you have it, make it look better, add more information, and make search engines notice it.
Do not stop there, though. To do things like send emails to clients or keep track of key data, use automation.
You have also cut down on time-wasting tasks like papers. You can buy and sell it with a lot less trouble than getting a small business.
11. On-demand printing Business
If you are good at design, you might enjoy running an on-demand printing business. You can have fun and make money at the same time. Come up with ideas.
You make your own drawings for things like mugs and T-shirts and then sell them on Shopify or Etsy.
The lovely thing about it? It is not your job to keep things in stock or mail them out. Printify and other sites like it are great for automating tasks because they print and ship the items for you.
You can make more money for your business and save time because you do not have to deal with work or stock.
Another thing is that a tool called Jasper Ai can help you make your product details stand out.
It will help you write descriptions that get people’s attention and really show what makes your items unique. In the end, you have a creative business that does most of its own work.
12. Start A Software Company
The great thing about a software business is that once the software is made, it can be sold to many people without any extra work.
Your software can make you money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether it is a mobile app, PC software, or a cloud-based service.
Also, many parts of running a software business can be done automatically. You can use automatic tools for things like marketing, customer service, and sales.
There is no need to worry about the details. There are many places, like GitHub, where you can store and manage the source code for your software. AWS is another option for hosting your software.
If you have a great idea for a piece of software, why not turn it into a business that runs itself? That is a great way to make use of your skills and make money online without doing anything.
Pros & Cons Of Automation
Pros
- Allows for increased productivity and efficiency
- Most automated businesses can be low-cost businesses
- Reduces manual and repetitive tasks
- Saves time and resources
- Enables passive income generation
- Offers greater customer service consistency
- Facilitates scalability without significant resource addition
- Enables you to focus on core business aspects and innovation
- Reduces human errors and increases accuracy
Cons
- Requires initial investment and setup time
- Potential technical issues with automation tools
- May lack personal touch in customer service
- Requires continuous monitoring and updates of automation tools
- Risk of becoming too dependent on technology
- May require technical expertise to set up and maintain
- Automation tools and software can be expensive
FAQs – Automated Business Ideas
Does an automated business really bring in passive income?
Yes, a business that is run by computers can make money without being worked on.
Business process automation lets computers do things that you would have to do by hand otherwise.
Customer contact management, data analysis, and accounting software are all types of software that you can use.
As an example, we could be talking about going through business data, doing back-office work, holding stock, shipping, or even customer service.
To help you with your marketing, do not forget to use email marketing tools and keep an eye on social media.
You willl have more time when you automate these chores. This makes you more productive, and when you are more productive, you have a better chance of making more money each month.
Even though it might take some work and money to get there at first, the return can be worth it in the end.
What is an example of an automated business?
For example, blogging is a great example of a business that can make money all the time with little work and the right automatic tools.
You have to write the content for your blog, so it might require some work at first. But once it is up and running and has a system, it can pretty much run itself and start making money.
It could be a successful business because you can make money from ads, sponsored posts, and affiliate marketing.
You can write and plan posts ahead of time, then choose which days they go live on.
Even if you are not at your computer all the time, this will keep your site fresh and interesting for the people you want to visit it.
Different jobs that keep a blog running smoothly are also often done automatically by a lot of bloggers. You do not have to send newsletters or changes to your readers by hand if you use email software.
What sorts of businesses can be automated?
Many types of businesses can be fully automated in some way, which might surprise you. If you want to make passive cash, automation is your best friend.
Here are some businesses that can get automated:
E-commerce Stores – You can use automation to handle the nitty-gritty stuff, like tracking inventory and ensuring orders get shipped out with little human intervention.
Online Services – If you are offering services online, like building landing pages, coaching, or consulting, you can automate appointment bookings and even send regular reports to clients.
Marketing Campaigns – If you have a product or service to sell, automated marketing can be a lifesaver to help target users.
Customer Relationship Management– Chatbots can answer common customer questions at any time of the day or night, helping with customer satisfaction and allowing businesses to flow smoothly.
Automation can be used to do a lot of different things, from keeping track of business data like sales to planning staff shifts.
Not only will it save you money, but it will also give you more time to grow your business and find your ideal customers.
All of these options are great ways to make passive income because they let you handle different business jobs and complicated processes with less human input.
Final Thoughts
You can keep your freedom and make money at the same time by automating business processes.
If you want to make money with less work, automated businesses are the best thing ever.
You start out small and use cool automatic tools and phone apps to keep things running smoothly.
After that, you can do fun things like growing your business or even starting a new one.
