SA entrepreneur Vusi Thembekwayo describes passive income as an active investment of one's income into a form of income that does not require labour.
Many young people have embarked on passive income sources or side hustles.
Sandenathi Mbane of Qonce (formerly King William's Town) in the Eastern Cape is a graduate from Walter Sisulu University and is unemployed due to the high unemployment rate in the province and the impact of Covid-19 on the economy.
Mbane started network marketing products for Forever Living.
She now gets a commission based on the products she sells each month and uses social networks (Facebook and Instagram) to market her business online.
Mbane has a clientele of about 12 people who buy her products regularly.
She says the difficult part is securing market share — she and other distributors battle for clients.
Mbane says starting the business was easy but maintaining it in terms of attracting customers is difficult.
"Selling products online sounds like an easy job but it is not. Yes, it is not a nine-to-five job but attracting clients is the hard part. My commission since I started has increased.
"I was getting R1,500 when I started but now I earn R3,100. It helps in terms of me covering my needs, especially during the pandemic.
"A lot of people during this time were looking online for what to buy and that helped in getting more clients — that's why my commission increased," Mbane said.
Many people across the world are also making money as YouTubers, and this has become a big market.
Owamie Hlongwane is a YouTuber, with an entertainment vlog where she comments and updates people on the latest trends in SA.
Owamie was initially relying only on money she made on YouTube, but said she wanted something that would generate more income.
She started selling T-shirts and also recruited other YouTubers and gave them advice on what they could do to improve their YouTube channels and attract more subscribes.
She did a vlog "Starting a YouTube channel while you poor" with advice on how to go about producing highquality videos with just a cellphone.
The great thing about making money online is that you can have a day-to-day or nine-to-five job and still be able to make passive, or extra, income online.
YouTubers earn a commission from the adverts that Google plays before or in the middle of their videos.
To get this money, one must join AdSense to be able to get the commission.
A channel must reach at least 4,000 viewers and must have 1,000 subscribers.
Network marketing, where you sell a well-established product, is also a form of passive income.
With some brands you must become a member first, then you buy the products at a cheaper rate, and you earn a commission based on the sales you make.
Joining Uber can produce another form of extra income.
If you have a car you can sign up for Uber or join Bolt, formally known as Taxify.
You will have to register as a driver on their websites. If you work during the week, you can be a driver during the weekend and earn a commission when people share a ride with your car.
