What Is The Passion Economy?

and how to benefit from it?
The passion economy refers to the digital economy, where people monetize their passion and competencies, online communities, and the rise of online brand creation.
It involves everything from crazy creative ideas to influencers, organizations, and online creators. More and more unique ideas are emerging and more courses and guides are monetized.
Apparently, we live in times where online learning is the new black. Just look at the total number of registered learners on Coursera in 2021. It had grown to 92 million.

What are some examples of Passion Economy?
Substack Newsletter: Substack is a place many writers use to monetize their niche newsletters. They attract paying subscribers and send out newsletters to those subscribers.
YouTube: This is also a platform that makes it possible to monetize your knowledge, entertainment, or services. Although you need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time before monetization is an option.
Canva: The design platform Canva also helps designers monetize their work. It’s possible to submit one’s design to Canva, and the creator will then be paid a commission depending on how much their design is used by others users.
Circle: The all-in-one community platform Circle is another example of the “passion economy“. It’s now possible to create a paid community with different forums – a great way to earn money from one’s passion.
How to Take Advantage of the Passion Economy?
There’s no doubt that the passion economy together with AI and blockchain is going to shape the future.
And although many think the race has been run, and it’s too late to join a passion party, that’s far from the truth. Obviously, new creators are not going to be the first movers within the passion economy, but I would still dare to claim that if you start today you could still be one of the early adopters.
Look around, how many people in your network are selling digital products, courses, or similar? I bet only a few if nobody. You see, you are in a great place to build your online side hustle, brand, or business today.
The only thing stopping you might be a lack of knowledge and lack of action. Now that I think about it, it’s only lack of action that’s holding you back. The truth is you don’t need to be an expert to take advantage of the passion economy, you just need action and you need to know where to start.
Where to start in The passion Economy?
Where to start is a hard question to answer. It depends on your passion, interests, and skills. Let us dive into what side hustles/passive income streams you could start within different areas.
Writing
If you like writing, then you should consider starting a blog through one of the following sites:
Or maybe you want more instant gratification, then try:
- Writing on Medium
- Start a paid newsletter with writing tips
- Do a course where you teach people how to write.
Design
There are countless ways to earn money from designing different elements. Here’s a list:
- Design patterns and sell them on Etsy or Redbubble
- Design PowerPoints for companies, students, teachers, etc.
- Design phone cases or book covers
- Design websites
- Design low-content books
- Sell a course teaching people to design specific things
Knowledge
If you possess a lot of knowledge in a specific field, then you should consider one of the following options:
- Create a course
- Create a paid newsletter
- Create a paid community
- Start a Market-Research business
The last one is extremely profitable if you know how to do it right. According to Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, more than 10% of market-research business owners are in the 0.1% of the richest Americans.
Programming
A lot of programming or coding nerds aren’t taking advantage of their knowledge and skills. And just to name a few ways to earn money from it:
- Develop software and sell it as a digital product
- Develop websites and sell them
- Create a course on coding or programming
- Develop an app
- Develop a plugin for WordPress
- Create a YouTube channel on the topic
Cooking
Many of us like to cook, so why not benefit from this interest and earn some additional money? Here are a few methods for how to earn money from your cooking:
- Do a cooking YouTube channel
- Do a cooking course
- Sell homemade recipes as a digital product
- Do a cooking podcast
- Send recipes through a paid newsletter
- Start a cooking blog
Gaming
Believe it or not, gaming has become a huge industry within which you can earn great amounts of money. I’ll just hand you some ideas:
- Start a Twitch
- Start a gaming YouTube channel
- Teach people to game (yes people pay for this)
- Review different games maybe as a paid newsletter
Nursing
Do you have experience with nursing, and are you willing to help people out, then here’s a great list for you:
- Make a subscription package, where people can get nursing advice from the comfort of their homes.
- Start a blog
- Start a paid newsletter, with the latest health trends
- Start a nursing-related YouTube channel.
DIY (Do it yourself) Interests
I love to do things myself, but I often struggle since I know nothing about how to assemble or build things. That means if you know just a bit more than me, then you’ll have great opportunities in front of you:
- Sell knitting patterns
- Sell DIY ideas
- Start a DIY YouTube channel (they are popular)
- Start a DIY blog
- Send DIY ideas through a paid newsletter
Why is it better than the Gig Economy?
The gig economy refers to a market where temporary positions are common and organizations hire independent workers for short-term commitments. Gig just means a temporary job (it’s slang).
Although the gig economy isn’t phased out yet, I think it will be soon in favor of the passion economy (in my opinion).
The passion economy is better since it’s easier to scale. One is not limited to the hours in a day. It’s simply possible to earn money while you sleep, whereas the gig economy requires your time in exchange for money. Thus the passion economy will improve one’s overall health because every person gets more time to do what he/she wants, which decreases negative factors like stress.
Where Do Passion.IO Fit into All This?
Passion.io is a powerful all-in-one platform that helps coaches, creators, and instructors turn their content into profit. Passion.io is a mobile-first app that lets you sell your content on the App Store and Google Play (as well as on the web).
It sounds similar to Kajabi, but there’s a difference:

Passion.io is simply a great tool for creators in the passion economy who want to deliver a mobile-first experience focusing on both e-learning and online community.
What differentiates Passion.io from other app builders, is the available education on not just building your app, but marketing and selling it along with bigger back-end offers (money-in-your-pockets!).
Conclusion
The Passion Economy has come to stay, and it will be the future. So if you want in on it, then don’t just sit there, but take action. Think about your passion or skillset and then turn it into everything from a newsletter to a blog to a course. Be creative, and you’ll find unique ways to monetize your passion.
Read more about side hustles here
One response to “What Is The Passion Economy?”
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Great tips! There’s definitely been a change in perspective globally with the events of the past few years
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