When people go to bed, some count sheep until they fall asleep, some count debts until they pass out, and others count their earnings as they sleep. If that last category isn’t you, don’t worry – even if you’ve never considered generating passive income in Dubai, it’s never too late to start.

The truth is, unless you find a way to make money while you’re lying in bed, you’ll keep working hard until the rest of your life, at least that’s how Warren Buffet has famously described financial stability. And he’s someone to trust when it comes to finances, considering he’s one of the top 10 richest people in the world.

Any money made with little to no effort is considered passive income. On the other hand, active income exchanges your time and effort for money, whereas passive income saves you time for you to spend on the things you love.

The metropolitan city of Dubai provides countless opportunities for personal growth, including building a new reliable passive income stream.

In this article, we will highlight the top 10 passive income ideas in Dubai.

[Passive income can become a steady income source that’ll help you transfer more money to your family and friends abroad. By downloading the Hubpay mobile app, you can easily send international money transfers. Join for free on Apple and Google Play.]

What is Passive Income?

Passive income is a technical term used loosely to describe regular income earned without effort by the person who receives it. In other words, the majority of the work is already completed or requires little to no effort daily.

Passive income can be enticing, especially when living in major cities such as Dubai, known for their competitive full-time work opportunities. However, growing your initial passive income investment takes some time, so if you're looking for quick extra income in Dubai, consider starting a side hustle, as there are over 25 side hustles to make money in Dubai.

Passive income vs. Active income

The fundamental difference between passive and active income is the required time and effort.

Active income requires consistent effort and a lot of time, and it also stops when the work stops. Meanwhile, most or all of the work is done upfront in passive income and doesn't stop when the work stops; it keeps generating money while you’re sleeping or even on vacation.

Additionally, passive income can take years to kick off and may not be consistent; on the contrary, active income is immediate and generates money consistently, such as daily, weekly or monthly.

What are the different types of passive income?

Generally, passive income can be divided into two main categories that you’ll need to know about before diving deep into your journey on how to earn passive income in Dubai.

These types can be used differently depending on your financial status and goals:

Investing

“Investing passive income” involves an initial investment using the already owned amount of money to make more, such as through dividend stocks and real estate investments.

Creating

“Creating passive income” generates money from developing and selling a product or service. It requires upfront work; examples of this type include selling digital products or writing a book.

First, 5 benefits of earning passive income in Dubai

Gaining a newfound sense of financial freedom is the main advantage of generating passive income in the United Arab Emirates. However, having your own passive income steam also has many other benefits, including the below:

Financial freedom

People's definition of financial freedom may vary; it can be the ability to pay bills on time, be debt-free, have emergency funds, or simply take time off every now and then. Passive income provides such freedom and eliminates relying on the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle and being forced to work long hours to ensure that paycheck is guaranteed.

Improved financial and job security

The job market can change quickly these days due to technological advancements, which result in the death of many traditional roles we once knew. So, putting all your effort into one source of income puts you at risk of suddenly becoming jobless; therefore, diversification of income sources is the best strategy to weather any strong financial storm or economic shift.

Passive income is thus a great choice for improving your financial and job security as it provides an alternative income stream while already working in your regular job. It can even permit a total career shift in the long run if things go well.

Reduced stress and anxiety

Nothing is as stressful such as the concern of not having enough money to pay the bills.

Passive income relieves you from the burden of worrying to count each penny. The extra steady income makes buffering your financial margins easy and alleviates the pressure of job loss worries.

Working from anywhere

A main feature of passive work is the ability to work anywhere and anytime. Earning enough passive income could eventually allow you to quit the full-time 9-5 job and not depend on one company salary anymore, which means no need to work continuously, added time for yourself, and maybe having that vacation you've been dreaming of.

Freeing up your time

Time is the most precious asset; while money can be earned and generated, time is limited.

Passive income provides flexibility in dealing with that limited resource to spend it doing what you love instead of what you must do to pay the bills.

The most profitable passive income ideas in Dubai (And pro tips to help you get started)

Create a YouTube channel

With over 2.6 billion active users worldwide, YouTube is the second most popular social network behind Facebook and the most well-known online search engine after Google search (indeed, it is owned by Google).

Living in a fascinating city like Dubai, which has a diverse mix of expats and cultures from all over the world, offers an endless source of material for creating YouTube videos. Whether you enjoy traveling, trying new foods, posting product reviews, or having expertise in a particular area, an audience on YouTube might be looking for it.

One of the best ways to generate passive income in Dubai, as a result, is to launch a YouTube channel. Preparing the video and the content requires no money but a lot of upfront work to get it ready. Every YouTube video published online has the potential to generate income for years to come.

PRO TIP

Select your niche carefully; choose a subject you're passionate about to produce high-quality content and capture viewers' interest. To qualify for Google Adsense and begin earning money, you must have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing time.

The best practice is to continue uploading videos consistently. During the launch phase, try to upload videos daily; after that, you can upload videos up to three times per week.

Build and monetize a blog

For those who don't like posting videos, blogging is also a great way to generate income. Simply put, a blog is a website where you can create and share articles with others online.

However, creating shareable high-quality content takes some time to start making money.

Blogging is a multi-passive income resource because it can generate income through various channels, including sponsored posts, affiliate links, display ads and more. The most important aspect of blogging is building an audience and connecting with interested readers.

You can start blogging about anything you might think of; for example, topics such as everything you need to know about moving to Dubai, or the Middle East expat life in Dubai – both of those topics can be sustainable foundations for creating blogging content ideas to make passive income in Dubai.

PRO TIP

Choose a blogging niche in which you have experience, and then focus on keywords. A major cornerstone of blogging today is keyword research, so pick a blog name that contains a keyword related to your niche, write articles with the primary keyword featured in the headline, and remember that the trick is to always focus on keywords that will attract your ideal audience. Social media and email marketing are also great boosts but don't overlook SEO, which matters most.

Sell Online Courses

Online courses are a new type of fast-track learning, and they don't require specialized degrees to create. Whether it's cooking recipes, fitness courses, or business insights, these courses all require initial effort to prepare, record, and upload; however, it's a one-time job, and if lots of interested people keep buying the course, you’ll be making a continuous passive income.

PRO TIP

Do some marketing research to discover what people are yearning to learn and how you can provide that knowledge, and then start building the online course. Also, there is no need to show your face if you don't want to. Upload the course to the many available online platforms such as Udemy and start marketing it with the targeted audience in mind.

Invest in a rental property

Real estate investment is perhaps one of the oldest ways to generate a passive income.

Having enough budget to buy and rent a property would be a great opportunity for a passive income in Dubai, especially considering the high rent yields. Even if you have no idea about the real estate business, you can utilize Airbnb to list the property online.

According to Property Finder, a leading real estate platform in the UAE, net rental income in Dubai is 5%-9%, consequently, for 1 million dirhams properties, that can generate 50,000-90,000 AED annually. However, being a landlord means putting in the extra effort for property maintenance and handling disputes with tenants.

Although not everyone has enough money to buy property independently and then give it up for rent, you can also consider partnering with a couple of your friends in the UAE looking to improve their well-being and buy a property together.

PRO TIP

To transform property rent income into a fully passive source, consider hiring property managers to collect monthly rent and interact with tenants constantly.

Real estate crowdfunding

Real estate presents a huge opportunity to make an extra income in Dubai, but not all have enough money to own a property by themselves. Besides the idea mentioned above regarding partnering with your friends, there are other options available that are more affordable and less risky.

Real estate crowdfunding solves the dilemma. Usually, this is done through a crowdfunding platform, which lists real estate allowing a pool of investors to contribute to the property capital and solving the budget limitation by dividing property into stakes and lowering the investment limit to a minimum. You start generating passive income whenever the property is rented.

PRO TIP

There are lots of new companies in Dubai such as Stake that offer the opportunity to invest in a small fractional stake of a property instead of the entire unit.

Invest in dividend stocks

Let's put it this way; dividend stocks are the true definition of gaining passive income in Dubai while you sleep with very little effort.

Dividend stocks, as the name refers, are companies that split their profits among their stockholders periodically, including annual, semi-annual, or quarterly payments.

PRO TIP

Before looking for a company, become familiar with the stock market. A good place to start is the Sarwa blog, which also offers UAE residents the opportunity to to easily begin investing.

According to Investopedia, when choosing a company, look at its long-term profitability and select one with a high dividend yield and earnings growth expectations between 5% and 15%. (dividend amount divided by the stock price). Additionally, stay away from businesses with debt-to-equity ratios over 2.0.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing can offer passive income with little effort and funding. It can also be combined with many other ideas of passive income in Dubai listed above, such as creating a YouTube channel and blogging.

Income is generated by "Affiliate Links" of a third-party shared on your online platform. When users click through those links and make a purchase, you get a commission that ranges from 3% to 10%, and it keeps coming as long as the product or service is available.

PRO TIP

The key to generating high revenue with this idea is to learn how to attract users to where the affiliate link is embedded, whether on a website or social media. Implementing a targeted marketing strategy will drive quality traffic and increase link clicks, and this usually involves learning and applying SEO or online advertising methods.

Check out Amazon Associates, an affiliate marketing program Amazon developed to help content creators monetize their traffic. You can sign up as an advertiser, drive leads to Amazon, and generate money online from their purchases under certain conditions.

Sell stock images

This idea is fantastic for earning extra income in Dubai if you love taking pictures, and it works for both amateurs and professionals. There are several websites, such as Pexels and Shutterstock, that allow you to upload images that people can purchase for a fee.

There is no initial funding; only the effort to take the pictures is needed. Additionally, since the website will handle sales, no inventory or marketing effort is required.

For Dubai residents, your city offers a wealth of breathtaking sights that can be captured in captivating photographs that might be valuable and profitable – all you have to do is be inspired and get the right shot.

When you want more inspiration, visit another city in the UAE, like Abu Dhabi, and you'll find plenty of sights to capture with your photos. Furthermore, all you need is a high-quality camera, which you can start with by purchasing a second-hand one for a reasonable price.

Sponsored posts on social media

This idea is for you if you have substantial followers on social media.

Businesses will pay to advertise on your timeline, and before contacting you they typically check your follower count and engagement rate. With a large following, affiliate marketing can also provide additional revenue.

PRO TIP

Keep posting and creating interesting content to grow your audience and engagement. The general rule here is to post frequently to maintain your post's prominence in your followers' news feeds.

Record audio tracks

You can utilize voiceover skills to earn some extra income in Dubai. For example, spend a couple of hours recording a book. People are becoming more and more drawn to audiobooks rather than reading them, and creating these audio tracks could become a profitable side business.

Publish your recordings online on sites like ACX to earn royalties and establish a passive income stream. Additionally, the voice-over industry is growing today, and businesses are often in search for a good voice to promote their brand, which can also be of value.

PRO TIP

Like any other content creation, picking the right niche is important. You'll also need some audio editing know-how and tools to get started. It may take a lot of time at first, but once finished, this is a passive income idea that can pay off.

[When you start generating passive income, you’ll have more funds in your bank account and will probably want to transfer them back home. Whenever you need to send money abroad, download the Hubpay mobile app for free on Apple or Google Play stores to enjoy low-cost international money transfers, as well as international bill payments and mobile recharges.]

Takeaways

• Passive income the earning of money without involving a great effort or initial investment.

• There are two main ways to generate passive income: by producing a good or service and selling it, or investing money.

• Whatever skills you have can be put to work to make money, such as taking photos or audio recordings.

• Content creation is a great source of passive income, such as creating a YouTube channel or starting a blog.

• You can also invest in real estate rentals and divide the stock market if you have extra money.