We’ve all heard the phrase “make money in your sleep,” and, let’s be honest, it used to sound like a dream, but not anymore in today's society.
The idea that you could wake up to new cash in your account without clocking into a job or delivering anything live is very appealing, right?
However, the truth is passive income is not 100% passive as many people brand it.
Most of the time, what looks like easy money is really the result of a lot of hard work that happened behind the scenes. People only see the results. You might spend months building a budgeting template, coding an app, filming a YouTube tutorial, or designing something to sell on Etsy. The grind happens upfront, but once the work is done and your system is in place, that’s when the money finally starts to feel passive.
I’ve been exploring different ways to earn online till I landed on one amazing lady by the name Tess Ogamba. In her course, I extracted four solid methods that can generate passive income over time. And yes, you might have seen them all over the internet but there are always tricks to stay ahead of the game, and it's those tricks that I'll share with you.
Now, in this post, we’ll explore four methods with the highest potential for earning in 2026. as members of the Fineducke Team, we’re early adopters, and our goal is to get ahead of the curve.
In this post, I’ll break down each method, what I’ve learned from watching others do it well, how you can get started even if you’re starting from scratch using the case study of Tess Ogamba.
Before we dive into the methods, let’s get clear on what passive income actually is and what it isn’t. A lot of people think they understand it, but the truth is, not really.
Passive income is money you earn without trading your time for it every single time. Notice I didn’t say “without working at all.” That’s the biggest misconception. It usually comes from something you build once that keeps paying you long after. Think of it like planting a tree. You put in the effort to water it, protect it, and nurture it in the beginning, but eventually, it grows and starts bearing fruit on its own.
Take rental income as an example. The landlord works upfront by buying the house, fixing it and finding tenants. However, when that’s done, the rent keeps coming in with much less daily effort. That’s what we now call passive income. Not zero work, just not constant work.
Active income, on the other hand, is what most people are used to. You work, you get paid. When you stop working, the money stops too. That’s your 9-to-5, freelancing, or running a service-based business.
Tess Ogamba in one of her vlogs, puts it best: passive income isn’t magic and it’s not instant. But once you’ve laid the foundation, it gives you breathing room and freedom of time. That’s why more people in 2025 are chasing it and I’m no exception. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re on the same journey too. So welcome on board.
One of Tess’s biggest income streams comes from YouTube and Medium. What’s powerful is how she turned simple videos that were just filmed on her phone some years back into evergreen content that keeps earning, even years later.
If there’s one place where passive income can really shine, it’s content creation. Whether it's a YouTube video, a blog post, or a podcast episode, once it's out there and people start finding it, you can keep earning from it long after you’ve hit publish.
Let’s start with YouTube. Tess Ogamba is a great example here. She started a YouTube channel to talk about online opportunities such as transcription, freelancing and digital income in general. For her, it didn’t take long before things picked up.
What is interesting is that some of her older videos bring in more money every single month, even surpassing her recent releases. That’s the power of creating content that is evergreen rather than trendy content. A video she posted months or even years ago keeps racking up views, ad revenue, affiliate clicks, and traffic to her other offers.
In one of her videos, Tess shares that she makes between $100 and $300 per month in YouTube ad revenue alone. Remember, these earnings are not from daily uploads, but from videos she posted ages ago that continue to work for her.
The same goes for Medium, the blogging platform. She’s earned thousands just from writing honest, helpful articles. It’s not viral content—it’s valuable content that answers real questions. If you enjoy writing or sharing your experiences, this is something you can do without needing to be a tech genius. Sign up, start writing, and let the platform’s built-in audience do some of the work for you.
Tess also casually mentioned that she has a Skillshare class where she teaches people how to earn money using AI tools. That’s another smart move—create once, and the class keeps paying you each month as new people enroll. Even better, platforms like Skillshare promote your course for you, so you don’t need a big following to get started.
If you're new to content creation, here's the good news: you don’t need a perfect camera, a fancy setup, or professional editing skills. Start with what you have. Use your phone. Use your voice. Write your thoughts. You don’t even need to show your face if you don’t want to. What matters most is being helpful and consistent.
Over time, your content starts to work like a digital asset. It lives online, searchable and clickable, whether you’re working, resting, or on vacation.
So if you’ve got a story to tell, a skill to teach, or even just an opinion to share, content creation is one of the most accessible ways to build passive income. Just start.
When Tess launched her transcription masterclass, it wasn’t some fancy production. She started with what she knew and taught it clearly—and that one course now earns her over $1,000 a month consistently.
If you’ve ever taught someone how to do something—even just over a phone call—you’re already halfway to creating an online course.
Tess Ogamba did exactly that. She took something she already knew well—transcription—and turned it into a step-by-step masterclass. But it didn’t happen overnight. She spent time outlining what students needed to know, recorded lessons, set up payment systems, and made sure everything ran smoothly. That initial setup took effort. It was work.
But here’s the part that makes it worth it: once the course was live and running, it became a solid stream of income. According to Tess, she earned between $5,000 and $10,000 from her transcription masterclass in total, with over $1,100 per month coming in at one point. That’s passive income at its best. Build once, earn for months.
Courses are powerful because people are willing to pay for guidance. Sure, someone could piece things together from free YouTube videos, but most people want structure. They want a clear path. If you can provide that, you’ve got something valuable.
And you don’t need to be an expert with years of experience or a bunch of degrees. All you need is a skill that others want to learn—something you already know how to do, even if it feels “basic” to you. Maybe you know how to land clients on Upwork, edit videos, use Canva, run a small online shop, or create resumes that get callbacks. That knowledge is worth something.
Start simple. Use platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, or Gumroad. You don’t need to record a Hollywood-style production. A quiet room, your laptop, and clear explanations are enough.
The beauty of online courses is that they scale. Once your course is out there, 10 people or 10,000 people can buy it, and you don’t need to repeat the work each time.
So if you’ve been helping people for free—or even just answering the same questions over and over—consider turning that into a course. Teach it once, help many, and let your knowledge earn for you long after you’ve logged off.
Affiliate marketing sounds more complicated than it is. At its core, it’s just getting paid for recommending a product or service you believe in.
Let’s say you’ve used Skillshare to take a class or Fiverr to hire a freelancer. If you share your experience and someone signs up through your special link, you earn a commission. That’s affiliate marketing. No need to create the product or handle customer service—you just send people to something useful, and you get a cut if they buy.
Tess Ogamba does this really well. On her YouTube channel, she recommends platforms like Fiverr (for freelance gigs) and Skillshare (for learning new skills). She adds her affiliate links casually in the video descriptions, not in a salesy way, just like, “If you want to check it out, here’s the link.” That’s it.
And it works. She’s made over $1,000 from Fiverr affiliate links and a steady monthly income from Skillshare, just by sharing tools she already uses or teaches about. No hard selling. Just honesty and helpfulness.
The trick is, affiliate links perform best when they’re natural. You can include them in blog posts, newsletters, YouTube videos, or even a digital guide. Wherever you're already sharing value, that’s a great place to drop a link.
If you’re just getting started, look into affiliate platforms like:
Once you sign up, you’ll get access to tracking links and commission rates. Pick products that align with what you already talk about or use—things you’d recommend even without a commission.
Affiliate marketing won’t make you rich overnight, but over time, those small commissions add up. One blog post or video with a solid link can keep earning you passive income for months or even years.
And the best part? You don’t need to create anything new—you’re just connecting people with tools that actually help.
Digital products are one of the easiest and most flexible ways to earn passive income. You make something once, and then sell it over and over again without touching inventory, packing boxes, or dealing with shipping.
Tess Ogamba is a big advocate for this. Whether it's a budgeting template, a journaling worksheet, or a short eBook, these are simple tools people are already searching for online. She’s used platforms like Gumroad and Stan Store to sell digital resources, and now she’s also exploring Skillshare Shop, where creators can sell downloads alongside their classes.
Think about it—if you’ve ever designed a budget tracker for yourself, or made a habit journal in Canva, you could polish it up and list it for sale. You don’t need a huge following or a design degree. What matters is that it solves a real problem for someone else.
Digital products can be:
The magic is in the long-term value. You create it once and upload it. That’s it. Every time someone finds and buys your product, you earn—without doing the work all over again.
If you’re already creating things for yourself, chances are someone else would gladly pay for a shortcut. That’s what a good digital product is: a shortcut that saves time, energy, or frustration.
It’s one of the lowest-risk, highest-reward ways to start earning passively. The best part of this all is that and once it’s out there, your product keeps working even while you’re off living your life.
Tess is a Kenya-born content strategist, YouTuber, and digital educator helping African and diaspora creators build online income. With over 230K YouTube subscribers and millions of views, she teaches practical strategies on Skillshare, YouTube, and through her own online courses.
The idea of making money while you sleep sounds like a dream to many. But not in the fantasy, overnight-success kind of way. It’s more like planting seeds that grow quietly while you focus on other parts of your life.
Tess Ogamba is a perfect example. She didn’t wake up one day with passive income. She started with skills she already had, showed up consistently, and figured it out along the way. Now, her YouTube videos earn long after she’s hit “upload,” her courses sell even when she’s offline, and her affiliate links and digital products keep adding small streams of income into her bank account.
That’s the real power of passive income. Not that it’s effortless, but that it’s scalable. You stop trading time for money, and instead build assets that work for you long-term.
If you’re just starting, pick one method that feels doable. Maybe it’s finally launching that YouTube channel. Maybe it’s putting together a simple Canva template and uploading it to Gumroad. Or maybe it’s just sharing an affiliate link for something you already love.
You don’t need to do everything at once. Just start with one small, intentional step.
Passive income doesn’t mean no work. It means front-loaded work that pays you back for a long time. That’s a trade worth making.
So go plant your seeds. Nurture them. Then let time, trust, and consistency do the rest.
I’m Clinton Wamalwa Wanjala, a financial writer and certified financial consultant passionate about empowering the youth with practical financial knowledge. As the founder of Fineducke.com, I provide accessible guidance on personal finance, entrepreneurship, and investment opportunities.
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