Passive Income vs. Freelance Jobs: the Earner’s Guide

Let’s be honest: full-time jobs don’t suit everyone. While some people thrive in them, others need way more flexibility to suit their already busy lives. And when it comes to alternatives, there are typically two offers on the table: passive income or freelance jobs. Is it easy to choose? Not for everyone.

Due to the lack of beginner-friendly information, some people aren’t even sure what’s the distinction between the two. What is passive income exactly, and what makes it different from freelancing? Which option is better for students? Stay-at-home mothers? Older generations? Let’s break both of these options down and see what they’re all about!

Freelancing (also known as contract work or self-employment) lands in the middle between being employed and having your own business. You’re the only one who decides which projects you’re going to take on, how much time you’ll spend on them and when, and how much you’re going to charge your clients. However, along with these freedoms, you get some new responsibilities, such as finding clients, billing them, and paying business taxes.

Here are some of the most common freelance jobs people take on:

💻 Programming and web/mobile development

✍️ Writing, translating, and editing

🤳 Email marketing and social media management

💵 Accounting and tax consulting

🖌️ Design and animation

While some people believe freelance jobs are basically passive income, it couldn’t be further from the truth. They’re very much active – nobody’s going to hand you free money if you don’t complete your projects on time. In fact, comparing passive income vs. freelance jobs is basically comparing passive income vs. active income with an uncertain schedule!

However, freelance jobs can be a great option for those who simply need some extra flexibility in terms of time and location. Students will find it easily compatible with attending lectures at various times, mothers will adapt their working hours to take care of their young children, and those who routinely divide their time between two or more cities will have to rush somewhere a lot less often.

“If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” You might have heard this famous Warren Buffett quote before – but what exactly does it mean? The answer lies in passive income – which, just like the name suggests, means earning money by doing little to no work. Many people believe it’s the secret to retiring early (check out our article introducing the FIRE movement if you haven’t already!) or simply being able to dedicate more time to your hobbies and family. Of course, just like freelance jobs, it might just be a way to make some money on the side without leaving your 9-to-5.

Here are some of the most common passive income ideas people take on:

🏡 Renting out their properties

🏦 Investing in stocks or bonds

📚 Royalties from their copyrighted works

🧑‍💻 Affiliate marketing

📲 Money-making apps

While this might seem very enticing, most passive income ideas are not that easy to take on whenever you’d like: you need to invest some money or time before you start making money in your sleep. For example, if you want to enjoy regular income from a rental property, you’ll have to buy (and possibly renovate) it first, and earning money on the stock market is impossible without, well, obtaining some stocks! If you wish to live on the profits of selling your e-book or online course, prepare to spend time creating and perfecting it!

If you’re not looking for an alternative to your full-time job and just want to make some free money to add to your savings every month or cover your streaming platform subscriptions, you might want to check out money-making apps like Honeygain. They don’t require you to invest any money upfront or spend a lot of time to start earning, so there’s absolutely no risk involved – as well as no need to make a decision between passive income vs. active income.

The idea of Honeygain is very simple: as you run the app on your desktop or mobile device, it shares your excess bandwidth with a crowdsourced web intelligence network. Businesses use it to perform data-driven processes that are crucial for its effectiveness and security, you receive money without even lifting a finger, and get multiple opportunities to boost your earnings on a daily basis. If you’d like to try this yourself, click the button below to sign up now and receive an instant $2 boost to your balance!