What's the BEST way to earn passive income? (ebooks vs courses vs membership sites) 

I was one of the first 300 subscribers, and I am still learning and growing. Gillian is the real deal!

Gillian, I am so impressed as to how brutrlaly honest you are. Wow, is that impressive. You just don't find this kind of content on RU-vid like you present. At 76, a fellow has to remember/understand he must keep an open mind and know he can learn from a young whipper snapper like you. :-) Seriously, you and yours do a great job. Keep up the good work. Sincerely (an old marketing guy,) Keith Norris

Fabulous video! Helped my husband and I think through some things! I really appreciate this 😀

I found you while writing my first cookbook! So glad you made that video!! Now, I’m a member of your startup Society. Keep up the good work, Gillian. Xoxo

Hey Gillian!! I love how you’re changing it up these days in your presentation!! And I also just want to say how much I appreciate you always bringing value to us through your videos every week!! They are always chock-full of information and helps us viewers to consider everything you present and make better informed choices about the dreams that are in our hearts!! Blessings to you!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

I love how real you are with sharing your knowledge. Nothing comes without hard work!

When it comes to making money, this seems to be one of the best youtube channels. Quality content that's informative without wasting peoples time.

Congrats on the growth of your platform!!

Dang girl! I’m glued to another video! Great info!

She says she doesnt focus on her book promotion but I've watched several videos on youtube where she talks about it. But this is a helpful video. Great job.

Love how honest you are. I hear so many ppl talk about “passive” income and hype it up or don’t explain how it’s really rarely PASSIVE at all. 😂 The only truly passive income is residual income.

This is my first time watching a video on your channel. This is very helpful as I have been thinking about passive income and ways I can create it. Helpful and informative!

I've been following you a while on my other account and we met at VidCon last year. I plan to write a few short ebooks based on topics I know well. I took a course about short reads and think I'll focus on making several shorter books instead of one long book. The theory taught was that the more books you have, the more momentum you will build with book sales. Based on some book marketing podcasts I listen to, this seems to be true since once someone buys one of your books, they are more likely to buy more of yours. Even if the margins aren't amazing, I think books are a great low-cost introduction to you as a personal brand and can get people to be interested in your other products as well as your channel or podcast! Love your videos as usual and thanks for your transparency. Always appreciated!

Hi Gillian. Good to see you. I'll finish this video of yours later, I got it saved in the "save to watch later", your videos are just rich with information and insight. Thank you!

This has been super helpful Gillian. Thank you for your work!

Hi Gillian! I almost always click on your videos, and they always hold my attention till the end, because you deliver consistently useful and pertinent information without any fluff. This video was giving me a serious Mr. Rogers vibe... mixed with 90s scripted sales pitch. Two times I wanted to click away: in the intro and the outro. They were very distracting. Your usual style has served you (and us viewers! 😊) well because you get right to the juicy content. It’s also much less awkward/forced and felt natural, like we were talking face to face. I hope you’ll return to the old style and not fix what isn’t broken! Best to you, and thanks for the informative content.

Great info. Thanks for the blueprint! I'm glad I found your channel.

Courses of course!! They're more work but they can be very rewarding financially!! I chose to pass on your course, but it's good to hear that a fairly large number of subs took advantage of the opportunity!

Really helpful content Gillian for aspiring business owners. Lots of excellent ideas about starting your own business.

You're awesome, I love your advice. I just finished my first book and I'm working on the formatting now. It deals with theology and social psychology, those are my passions, and I am integrating them. I'm also working on my doctorate, so the book is a nice way to summarize my educational takeaways at this point. Thanks for your content, it's priceless!

Thanks, Gillian, your videos are always eye-opening.

This was short and extremely useful. Thank you. Instant subscriber

I LOVE your honesty and am so happy for all your success. Keep grinding girl! 🙌🏻♥️

I was directed to this video by RU-vid after watching some others on the same topic. The others seemed like a lot of flash designed to rack up views, not to help the viewers learn something--honestly almost felt like scammers. I really appreciate how open and authentic you are, while also being professional and providing actual, valuable content--which prompted me to immediately subscribe and start watching your other vids. Thanks!

I'm just building my course and I love this video of all of the choices. Thanks

Your content is better an better every time!!! Thanks for your knowledge!

Thank you for sharing. This was very valuable.

Great info! Thanks so much for being so transparent about numbers!

I just scrolled through the description and info on this and see that your PO Box is in Salem. I'm also an Oregonian, southern Oregon, but still! You are really inspiring me to get off my duff and do videos! I FINALLY have a focus which is about Travel and helping people plan their trips, how to pack for different locations and climates along with other things. Having said that, I feel that there is a lot of competition and I'm wanting to stand out. Which, I think it would help me if I defined my "perfect" customer or viewer, this is a struggle and I feel like I over think this, instead of keeping it simple. Because then I think that maybe by defining that person then I'm limiting myself. Anyway, lots rattling around in my head. Thank you for all of your great advice!!

Great video - thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom! I think that with the Membership Program, it’s really not “Passive”. The point of passive income is not to have to continue to create content, right? Glad the $ is good, but I think it’ll feel more like a job. A passive income stream that I use is Print on Demand. With my Etsy shop, I design a product (mug, shirt, bag, jewelry, art print, etc.), link it to a production company like Printify or Printful, then link it to my Etsy shop. Of course, I need to market it, but that will always be true for passive income. This has done well for me. Feels much more passive. Haven’t been able to quit my day job yet, but that’s my goal! Best of luck to all of you out there in your pursuit of truly passive income! And thank you, Gillian for your guidance!

My main source of income is affiliate marketing plus I have an online business. Passive income is fairly easy to do as long as you have patience, determination, and focus. These are also great ideas to earn passive income. Thanks for sharing this, Gillian!

Excellent Gillian! Very valuable stuff. Thanks!

Awesome information...Great videos..I never miss a notification..THANK YOU!!

great insights, and VERY well presented. Tasteful and not too much of any "ingredient" there -- but juuust right. Fantastic job. (And all that success you already have, you deserve it, as in *earned* it! Onward and upward.)

Great real life tips. I’ve owned multiple rental properties at the same time and it was overwhelming. I was single the time and didn’t have a partner to help shoulder the responsibilities of being a landlord. I’d not suggest it to anyone who doesn’t have time, lots of patience and the tolerance to put up with people (unruly kids can destroy your house). On the other hand, I’ve a friend who owns several properties with her hubby and it works well. He’s great with repairing things and she’s super organized on the business side.

Thank you for sharing all of your experiences! I loved this video!!

You consistently give out jewels of information and experience. Thank you so much for sharing! I love the new format too!

Wow. A value packed honest conversation. I appreciate you making this video. You’re a fantastic explainer, and a beautiful human being inside and out. 🥰

Thanks Gillian. This is very helpful.

Great content. I love how you break everything down

Thanks for the video Gillian! What about affiliate marketing which many RU-vidrs mention?

Love you! Really spectacular; smashed me by your streamlined way of expression.

I wouldn't pick one over the other I think the path you took is the right one and I am so happy to have found you. I was debating between and ebook and membership, but my motivation is usability. I want to give an interactive experience to my readers and as a website designer I feel that is easier with a site than an ebook. I don't really have a fan base tho so I think I will follow you with ebook, print on demand and then memberships perhaps. My next challenge is do I put all my content in my book or save some for future mini-books and then the site! Yikes so many ideas now

Excellent advice. You have obviously worked hard and you deserve all the success you can get.

Thank you for this - it's great information and I've dabbled in all of these streams so I really appreciated hearing the challenges.

I made an e-book few years ago and it didn't make a dime 😅 But i think out of the 7 ways , membership will be the most lucrative one. I'm glad i found your channel! You're so inspiring! Looking forward to more content from you ❤️

thank you for your insight, def had some great points to mill on, keep up the content

I like your content. Thanks for all the information.

I just love watching your videos! I learn so much. 👍👏

I normally don't subscribe to channels but you are so genuine...😍😍😍

Great video, Gillian! I believe that membership sites are the best way to earn money. They take time to develop and even more to maintain but then, you have a steady stream of income you can count on - more or less at least.

Thank you... honest and thorough and inspiring

Great video, thanks for all the tips

Enjoyed the video. I have owned rental / commercial properties for years but was looking into Ebook to create another passive income avenue. I'm a computer teacher for high school after watching your video I might need to change to membership program. Thanks

Thanks for another great video Gillian! I have my sights set on creating courses on Teachable.

Thank you, have been very helpful. I am at the start of this journey and found the information quite informative. Thank you.

I am a total newbie to the RU-vid world, but I've become a serious fan. The opportunities for learning are fantastic! I'd like to use my lifetime of experience to teach others, and I'd like to develop a passive income stream that will enable me to live a comfortable life and enjoy the pleasures of travel. To answer your question, I see myself as a book creator (30 years in publishing) rather than a course creator. That just feels like a niche I could happily and competently fill and make money at. I agree that rental property is a tremendous investment for many reasons. Maybe at some point I'll have the money to get back into it. Thank you SO MUCH for your intelligent and engaging presentations!

I've just joined your channel and I'm already a huge fan

Really interesting video! Love how Transparent on passive income you are 😊

Love hearing your perspective. I didn’t know you had a book out. I’m working on that right now so this is interesting.

Yet another very helpful video! Great job and really good info. I have followed a similar path (although I haven't gotten to the subscription website yet), and for me my physical book has actually made the most money. But my course less than 2 months old, so I'm hoping that will take over! Thanks again for the great content!

Good tips, thanks for this!

I love the last part of you video Thanks

Wow, another awesome video...I'm going to look into the course idea...I have a tech channel and was contemplating creating a programming course..but I had no idea the income potential for a course!! I love that you're not scared to discuss your numbers...that helps us understand on a much deeper level how differnet approaches relate. Again, thanks for being generous with your content and sharing to help us out

In order to start online business we need ideas to build it around thanks for sharing, took plenty of notes.

I liked the online course and rental income. I'll write a book to go with my course for creditbility. Thank you

Great video. First time to write you. I launched an ebook and audio book(same title) called Cages and Kitchen Tables last May. I narrated the story along with adding special effects. Of course, anytime you narrate something like that countless hours are spent editing and so on. So I said "Hey, why don't I do this for pay" until I found out not many ACX narraters were making anything at all. And like you, my book sales were laughable. It was a labor of love and that's ok. At least I didn't put it off and I actually did. So I'm still looking for that special something that will drive me back into my studio to try and wow someone. I am a ham at heart. (I'm a leo) Thanks so much---Lee

Your experience is similar to my own. I am now working to create interest and drive members to the new membership site. Hoping to build. Your videos have confirmed my thinking and progress so far.

Great content and information. Worth sharing and better presentation. Thank you.

This video was extremely helpful to me!

Great insight! Thanks for sharing :)

I'm a native Spanish speaker, I want to create a RU-vid channel to teach Spanish to start my business and sell online courses once I grow my brand. Good video Gillian

Hi, Gillian :-) I'm really glad that I found your channel! I was searching for how to create and market ebooks and found your 2017 video on it. I liked it, but I decided to come to your channel to see if you had updated the information, and I was really pleased to find your vast selection of videos for people who are trying to make their own income. I've wasted money on self-proclaimed "gurus" who didn't give me as much value as you have in the two videos that I've watched just now! I have to admit that I had to chuckle a little while watching your 2017 video because just before you mentioned Grammarly, I was thinking, "Just use Grammarly" hahaha..... I have Grammarly set for everything I write on my MacBook, INCLUDING this comment, lol :-) So it makes the corrections and/or suggestions AS I TYPE! I SO love Grammarly! I've been a published newspaper columnist; 1995-to-2001, who has been told MULTIPLE times over the past 28 years that I should write a book, so I'm FINALLY at a place where it's actually feasible to go for it...... Until more recently, writing a book meant YEARS of preparation and rejection letters from prospective publishing companies, where an author hoped and prayed that their book manuscript would be accepted, and the process often cost in excess of $10k, with NO GUARANTEE that there would be more than minimal profit! I still want to further consider writing a book, but I really appreciate this video because it has given me a more realistic perspective on what I should actually expect if I DO write my book, and, where I SHOULD be much more focused on for creating profitable income streams :-) I immensely appreciate how you spell-out in this video how it REALLY is, without all the passive income hype that I've encountered since I began my entrepreneurial journey IN 2017..... Thank you!

Creating ebooks, courses and membership program looks really good.

Hey Gillian! Love your videos. How exactly did you grow your audience? Through YT first or other social media platforms?

thanks a lot for taking the time to share your experience. i think the long term cash flow was the most interesting to me.

Great video. Watched the whole thing. As to your question, I'd say all of the above. Just start creating assets and then they all grow together under the same brand. A book can point to your course which can point to your membership site, which can lead to having money to invest in real estate and other assets. The key is to just start building and buying assets.

Just saw this video. Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I'm creating courses and plan to expand later to the others as time allows.

Great video ❤️ I am sure toy creating a Music Theory course at the moment hopefully get it out there in the next month or so x

Damn you’re crushing it! Good for you.BTW - you didn’t give us any where NEAR enough info to make a decision on which was “best”

It doesn’t matter what product or service you offer. It’s what you are the most, comfortable starting with is what I understood from the video. And from each product or service offered, you analyzed what works and what doesn’t for you. Don’t be afraid to fail because your results didn’t match Your plan. That you made changes and sought help when needed. Bottom line is that you are receiving revenue from different streams. Question is are the total,revenue covering the business expenses. If not then the loss can be deducted for tax purposes, and eventually over time , as long as you add more revenue you have a net profit.

As a 1st self-pub author, best advice is to get legit designer & COPY EDITOR!! They are worth their weight in gold. Any decent one who works for a top-tier NYC/LA pub house will cause 1st-timer to ‘lose’ money, but gain far more in the long-term by making your work on par w/ the most successful writers, minus the name

I'm there, waiting for my audience to get big enough for the membership. My last books have only made a little after launch, paying for the costs of the covers and proofs! But my learning always helps others too. So that's why I created an academy.

Super helpful! Really enjoyed this!🥰 IF ANY OTHER SMALL RU-vidRS READ THIS, INTRODUCE YOURSELF!🥰 I want to get to know and support more people in the community!

eCourses sound best to me! I'm a teacher, so I naturally gravitate towards that one!

I rarely comment. This is a really great video👍👍. In fact I am loving all your videos.

Very good informations! Thanksss

Great video, well done on creating all of the passive income streams Gillian! 🙂👍 I have written a book for women on how to find their soulmate, I have enrolled my first group of women and I am working on creating my first natural weight loss program for them as I go along in a form of webinars. Funny enough I also have one rental property and I am thinking of creating more courses and a cook book in the future too 🙂 Thanks for the great content! ❤

i think ebook might seem a most way to earn passive income, but it might offer more flexibility that some of the other ways. Thank you for sharing your insights.

Lol, I got your book but than came here, I’m glad you get the 5$ of my 10$ 😎👍🏻

Niche books have less competition, but lower demand. You can get a highly RATED and RANKED book (within a subject category) without making much in royalties. Maybe more like $200-500/year. BUT what you talked about in terms of referent power you can use as a spring board for OTHER commercial activity is a very real thing in these niches; especially the more technical and/or academic the subject matter you treat well in a book. So authoring books can be a great tactical tool in the strategy of start-up entrepreneurs, but it is more akin to planting an orchard than owning the fruit stand. The smart money is on doing BOTH.

I have written a hard copy and e-book, I have created online courses; but I really want a stable membership site, specifically for mental health therapist. Thank you so much!

Love your Vlogs. It was one of your old videos that motivated me to write an eBook. While it’s not crushing it in sales, it is a nice little extra income stream.

This is really a lot of good information.

Great Video Love It

Trying to start our business channel......we have a long way to go but ur video was very helpful thank u

Interesting to hear, thanks for sharing 👍

Then after you’re book’s quality, increases sales is established, your subsequent works will be noticed as quality all the way through. Then onto the next, etc. If you’re only going to write one book, it’s for your enjoyment-you will NOT make any (significant) money. Not trying to dash people’s dreams, but the figures are easily accessible.

Love your video

A blog is another way, but you need to be patient or to go all-in, and sometimes both.