I think one mistake many people make is that they believe any side hustle is passive income. I read a lot of articles on medium.com and some of the publishers on that platform can mix up side hustles with passive income.
So, what is the difference you ask?
Side Hustle
A side hustle is something that you do on the side, outside your regular job, to make income. A side hustle, isn’t a side hustle if you spend the majority of your time on it. It is something that someone would classify as ‘not their real job.’ Now, before I get too far, building websites to build passive income is a side hustle for many, but it is a classification of its own.
Side hustles are typically things that you do for money in your spare time. Basically though, you’re still trading time for money, which is the opposite of passive income.
If you search the web for the top Side Hustles, you’ll find things like:
- Completing online surveys
- Website user testing
- Writing content
- Transcribing video or audio
- Proof reading
- Publishing articles on medium.com
- Flipping furniture
Passive Income
This whole website is about generating passive income. The ideas shared are can be side hustles, but the difference is that the work you put in will make you money while you’re not working on it. And, passive income sites can become your main source of income meaning it is no longer your ‘side hustle.
I’m not going to get into a list of ways to make passive income in this article as I already have a full page that lists all the types here.
What I do want to say about passive income though is that if you are looking to make money outside of your ‘regular’ job, create a website that you can make passive income from. Yes, it can take time build that income stream and start making real money, but the amount you can make will far out way any other side hustle can get you.

Passive Income gives you freedom by allowing you to separate the money you make and the time you spend to do it.