4 Tips for Identifying Your Passive Product Ideas

You want to start making passive income, and you’re ready to put in the work upfront to make it happen. There’s just one teensy problem…when it comes to brainstorming passive product ideas, you’re drawing a blank.

We’ve all been there, love. I have a solution for busting through that creative block, though, and it’s sitting right in front of you. Your business is a gold mine of passive product ideas just waiting to be tapped. All you have to do is discover them!

Look over your existing content

I talked about this a little bit in my blog about preparing your business for adding passive income, but it’s so important that I wanted to include it here, too. The content you’ve created for your business is teeming with passive product ideas. You just have to know where to look for them.

First, look at your freebies and opt-ins. You use these to entice potential new customers and grow your email list, right? Your freebies might be one of the following:

• Social media swipe copy or graphics
• Email templates
• Pinterest or blog templates
• A how-to guide
• Roadmaps or tutorials
• Checklists
• Challenges 
• Courses
  

People are downloading your freebies, which means that they want these products. And they’ll likely pay money for them if they fulfill their needs or solve a problem for them.

Take some of your most popular freebies and consider what you could charge for them. Do they need to be updated or the content expanded so your customers get their money’s worth? Can you bundle any of your freebies together? Think about it from your customers’ perspective so you can figure out how to make an attractive passive product that will sell.

Analyze your onboarding or client processes

I’m betting the processes you use every day in your work are really familiar to you. So familiar that you may not have even thought to mine them for passive product ideas! But your processes are a fantastic source since they already make your job easier — and probably make your clients’ and customers’ lives easier, too.

Take your client onboarding process, for example. Everyone’s is different and depends on their business, but yours most likely looks something like this:

1. Welcome and paperwork (proposal and contract, etc.)
2. Collect client data
3. Kickoff meeting to get your project or partnership rolling
4. First check in with your client
5. First full meeting (where you can also tweak and refine the process)

Now look at each step of your process. Is there content that you could turn into a passive product to sell to customers? Maybe you have an amazing welcome packet that always gets you compliments from your clients. Why not transform those into templates and sell them?

You may find passive product ideas within your internal content as well, not just your client-facing content. I sing the praises of having a company guidebook all the time, and I think every creative business needs one. If you have something similar, like your company’s brand guidelines or employee onboarding journey, you could turn it into a product to be sold!

Think about what makes you unique

If a little voice in your head is telling you, “Well, why would anyone buy my onboarding process welcome packet or checklist or email templates? I bet there’s a ton of them for sale already!”

That’s a totally fair thought. After all, you don’t want to spend time creating a passive product only for it to sit on the (digital) shelf and not sell. 

But the market is not too saturated for you to start selling. Your idea doesn’t have to be completely original. All you have to do is put your fresh, unique spin on it. Maybe your new client welcome packet is so great and unique because you record a quick, personalized welcome video for each client. 

Look beyond your processes and think about other tools you use or skills you have! Reflect on what you do differently. Do you have a different approach to time management when coaching clients? There may be a fresh idea for a daily planner there. Is your style of web design like no other? You could create a design guide for people looking to design their own website.

See what I mean here? There are so many opportunities out there for creating a passive product! It doesn’t have to be totally new, which would take ages to brainstorm, honestly. All you have to do is make your idea special and distinctly you.

Review your client or customer feedback

Finally, I want you to reflect on what people have asked you for in the past. Customer and client feedback can be helpful in more ways than one! 

For example, maybe a potential client reached out to you to see if you sold part of your services or only half of your course. They may have asked not because of their budget, but because they’re short on time and want to complete a shorter course. Or they only need part of your services.

Mining your customer feedback and communication can be really eye-opening. When you review what people have asked you for, you can truly see what solutions people want and what’s actually in demand.

Consider what your clients or customers have requested of you, but throw your colleagues, friends, or even family members into the mix! Maybe your friends always ask you to design wedding invitations or graphics for baby showers in Canva. That sounds like passive product ideas to me!

Let’s take your passive product idea to the next level

Isn’t it exciting, finding passive product ideas within your business so you don’t have to start completely from scratch? 

Mining your biz for passive product ideas isn’t just easier. It also ensures that what you’re selling aligns with your business and serves the needs of your ideal target audience. I think that selling a passive product that feels right to you is one of the most important parts of the process. 

Now that you have a fantastic idea that you’re itching to bring to life, what’s next? If you’re not sure, I’ve got your back. Let’s talk about next steps to take during a Passive Income Possibility Call! 

During a 60-minute intensive call with me, we’ll talk about your passive product ideas, figure out how to bring them into the world, and how they’ll impact your business. Schedule your call with me today. I can’t wait to chat about your vision and help you bring your ideas to life.