4 Ways Founders Can Turn Their Expertise Into Passive Income 

Founders, especially successful ones, build a unique set of skills that are constantly in demand. And while launching, running, or selling a startup is the primary mission, there’s no reason you can’t profit off of those strengths on the side, by generating some passive income.

By leaning into the things that you have learned as you launched your business, you can prepare lessons or shortcuts for founders coming up behind you. To stand out in an increasingly crowded market, you’ll need to have a track record that impresses. But if you’ve created a successful business, here are four ways you can earn some additional passive income from the skills you picked up along the way.

1. Create Notion Templates.  Structure helps in the chaotic early days of a startup. Founders who have succeeded can put together Notion templates that provide a framework for startups, focusing on everything from team collaboration to project management. There’s no one-size-fits-all in any field, of course, but putting together a template that leaders can modify to their own needs is one way to attract a customer base. You can sell these templates on the Notion marketplace for passive income or open your own shop on Shopify to begin earning.
2. Write a playbook.  You’ve built (or are deep into building) your own business empire. A book is a good way to share how you overcame obstacles and the lessons you had to learn the hard way. Founders’ playbooks can be actual books, sold via Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform, a podcast or as a video series (you’ll need a sufficient number of followers to monetize in that format). You could even create an online course and sell it on your own website or through sites like Skillshare or Udemy.
3. Build a cohort-based course library.  Much like a playbook, a cohort-based course library is a way to impart your knowledge, in this case through a series of courses that foster communication and social learning. Students take the same lessons at the same time and work together to build skills in whatever area that particular course is focused on. If you’d prefer to take a more active approach, you can (of course) run these courses yourself, interacting with students and perhaps acting as a mentor. Alternatively, you can create a library of courses to sell to other instructors, letting you reach a wider audience.
4. Become a fundraising consultant. When it comes to helping other entrepreneurs find and secure funding, many former founders take on consulting roles, commanding impressive fees in the process. But if you’d prefer to spend your time on other ventures, there are still ways to help startups and earn some side cash at the same time. These range from putting together templates to assist with grant writing or organizing a fundraising round to online courses (or books) focused on best practices and strategies. One upside to taking a more active approach in this category? You’re more likely to find a company whose team and product impresses you to the point that you choose to become a backer yourself.