Three months into her new side hustle, Miao Rios got an unexpected call.

It was from the Ministry of Education in New Zealand, inviting her to bid on a large demolition project for a local school.

Now it wasn’t completely out of the blue — she had built a website targeting local demolition projects — but she definitely didn’t own a demolition business.

The intent was to follow a “rank and rent” model:

Build local websites
Rank them in Google
Rent them out to qualified service providers 

In this case, Miao acted fast to find a local contractor, got help polishing up the bidding documents, and ended up earning a $5000 finder’s fee for the job.

In this episode, you’ll learn how Miao builds and ranks her sites to earn $1000-$1500 per month passively. More importantly, you’ll get a blueprint to find profitable niches and service providers to create your own side income stream.

Tune in to Episode 597 of the Side Hustle Show to learn how to:

Find profitable niches and locations
Build out niche sites to rank locally
Get high-quality leads
Partner with reliable service contractors

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Website Rentals Niche and Location Selection

The foundation of a successful rank and rent site is picking the right niche and location. But how do you select one?

For niche, Miao likes service-based businesses with high-ticket offerings. Something like concrete contractors, roofers, landscapers – not super glamorous but in demand.

The key is to find an underserved specialty niche. One where no competitor focuses solely on that service.

For example, while general landscaping was competitive in Wellington, New Zealand, no company specialized in just concrete driveways. So Miao built a site specifically around that offering instead.

Photo Credit: Blackbird SEO website

This “backdoor niche” allowed the landscaping company she rented to also upsell paving and retaining wall services.

As for locations, Miao targets cities with 400K in population. The sweet spot where competition isn’t too high but search volume is strong.

To check ideas, she uses SEMrush to analyze metrics like:

Keyword difficulty (under 20)
Combined monthly search volume (150 searches)

With those filters, it’s surprisingly easy to find available domains matching the city + niche keywords.

Setting Up The Website

Once a niche and location with potential are identified, the next step is setting up a relevant domain name. Miao always includes both location and niche keywords, like [city name + service].com. 

You can do this by plugging your top 5–10 competitors into Semrush or your SEO tool of your choice. See what service pages of theirs already rank well organically.

Then try to match or improve upon that content to build authority and become that “one-stop shop” for your niche.

After securing the best domain possible, her VA (virtual assistant) sets up a WordPress site. Then they build out pages targeting the highest volume relevant keywords, as determined during the research phase.

Photo Credit: Blackbird SEO website

The focus is really on showcasing popular services that potential customers are searching for. So the content is kept rather generic at this point, more like an online directory.

Miao also sets up basic social profiles, local citations, and listings to strengthen the site’s authority and local relevance. Miao shared that she uses Twilio to create a virtual phone number forwarded to her.

One thing that has gotten harder recently is verifying a Google My Business profile without an actual business address. But for this business model, ranking organically for enough local keywords is still viable without GMB.

Effective Local SEO Strategies

If you want your local service business to show up on the first page of Google search results, you need a solid local SEO strategy. Miao shared some effective tactics she uses to rank her lead generation websites:

Build Local Relevance

Creating social media profiles like Facebook pages and citations on directories like Yelp signals to Google that your business has an established local presence. This helps build trust and authority for ranking purposes.

Blog Comments

Getting quality backlinks from relevant websites still remains critical for ranking high in competitive niches.

Surprisingly, Miao finds blog comments to be an easy free option – as long as they provide genuine value to the discussion and include a link back to your site.

The key is to provide thoughtful commentary related to the article. Share unique insights and perspectives.

And don’t spam your links. Vary the anchor text across brands, URLs, service area, etc. This looks more natural.

While harder than it used to be, blog commenting is still an effective part of any local SEO strategy.

Get Service Providers On Board

Identifying profitable niche and location combinations is one thing. Finding eager and qualified service providers to rent your sites is another.

This step can make or break your success. After all, these are the “tenants” in a website rental business. They’re what turn your website into an income producing asset.

There can be inconsistencies between the website branding and the provider’s actual branding.

But as Johnny Robinson discussed regarding his window cleaning business, service quality and professionalism are what really matter most to customers.

Screen Contractors Carefully

As Miao’s tree removal call story illustrates, the hard part is finding available contractors who also do quality work.

Established firms already have lots of customers, while unreliable operators can seriously damage your brand reputation.

However, hungry contractors looking to grow are out there.

Miao effectively convinces them to partner by first providing some free lead trials. This allows both sides to evaluate fit – including service quality, response times, professionalism etc.

Avoid desperate contractors willing to take any job or overpromise. Remember – their reputation is tied to the site and yours!

Make Pricing Simple

In terms of pricing models, Miao keeps it simple by charging a fixed monthly fee, typically $1000-$1500 per site. Stripe subscriptions make getting automatically paid easy and hands-off.

Managing dozens of these geo-targeted sites now earning income, Miao focuses mostly on customer service.

She also helps contractors improve their online presence and conversion rates upon request.

Her end goal is establishing “win-win” partnerships that last for the long run.

Help Small Businesses Grow

While passive income is great, Miao’s favorite part of this business is helping niche contractors expand.

Many providers are solo entrepreneurs or small teams just getting started, often immigrants unfamiliar with marketing.

By slingshotting them to the top of Google for overlooked services, Miao helps these modest businesses professionalize and thrive. They can raise prices and still get more customers than ever.

And after weathering early struggles firsthand, she finds joy and purpose in easing the path for other entrepreneurs.

A Day in the Life

Once you have a portfolio of high-performing lead generation sites, what does your day-to-day work look like managing them? For Miao, it allows for a lot of flexibility and travel.

Focus on Existing Assets

With over 45 successful sites already generating leads, Miao now works primarily on finishing the ranking process for newer websites that haven’t hit page 1 rankings yet.

This allows her to maximize revenue from assets she has already built before scaling further.

Strategic Growth

She is selective about adding new websites, focusing only on niches and locations where she can successfully rent them out based on experience. Rapid expansion isn’t the goal – strategic growth of a sustainable portfolio is.

While still involved operationally, Miao now enjoys freedoms like extended vacations most 9-5 jobs would never concede, thanks to systems and teams built over time. Her journey reflects the scalable income potential of a savvy rank and rent business.

Unexpected Lessons

When Miao first started her lead generation sites, she expected to mainly gain technical SEO and marketing knowledge. But looking back over the last few years, she highlights some surprising lessons.

As her portfolio grew, Miao had to level up skills like sales, communication, hiring, problem-solving, and resourcefulness. The breadth of capabilities needed to scale a business was an unexpected realization.

While we focus extensively on traction strategies, Miao realized that creating client demand is far harder than finding people to fulfill the work. Generating and keeping customers should be the priority before locking in suppliers.

Overall, by taking action on the rank and rent model, Miao rapidly developed a wider business acumen way beyond just marketing tactics.

She also recognized focusing relentlessly on providing value to customers as the top priority for growth. For any entrepreneur, the lessons often go deeper than we anticipate when we dive into a new endeavor.

What’s Next for Miao?

As Miao looks at what’s next for Blackbird SEO, she is focused on controlled growth and giving back.

Scaling the Business

Having built a successful portfolio of lead generation sites, Miao is looking to grow her rank and rent business to the next level. She wants to cement her authority in the space while achieving her bigger vision.

Helping Small Businesses Thrive

For Miao, future success blends ambitions of establishing a flourishing company with the heart of empowering other humble founders with the tools to realize their dreams as well. Her multifaceted motivations reflect the personal development she has achieved on her journey as a solopreneur so far.

Miao’s #1 Tip for Side Hustle Nation

“Just get it started.”

Episode Links

Side Hustle Show episode “Rank and Rent”
blackbirdseo.com
SEMrush
#545 How to Start a Local Lead Generation Website: $100,000 in One Year, with Link Moser
Twilio
Episode #534
Episode #480
Stripe

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Income producing assets are things you own (or control) that pay you every month, quarter, or year.

In this post, I’ll share some of the best income producing assets you can build or acquire — starting on the side.

These selections are based on:

15+ years building income-producing assets online
20+ years as an investor in income producing assets
500+ interviews with successful side hustlers

You’ve probably heard the saying that it “takes money to make money,” but that’s not always true. Sure, starting with money will help, but you can also create income producing assets with a little sweat equity.

Ready? Let’s do it!

1. Real Estate

Real estate can be a great income producing asset, and comes in all shapes and sizes.

A common example would be buying an investment property and renting it out. You profit on the spread between the monthly rent and your expenses (mortgage, insurance, maintenance, etc.). 

It’s a realistic way to build both cash flow and long-term wealth.

The downside is … houses are expensive!

Thankfully, new platforms like Arrived make it easy to invest in income-generating properties—with as little as $100.

The company pools money to buy rental properties, manages them, and then distributes the cash flow every month.

We’ve covered lots of real estate side hustles, but rental income is one of the most common income streams of millionaires.

One creative example came from Austin Miller. When we spoke, he’d built his rental portfolio to 17 properties worth $1.2 million — all acquired “free”—without any of his own money.

2. Dividend Stocks

Dividend stocks are another popular income generating asset. Dividends are a portion of the company’s profits they pay out to shareholders.

But not every company pays a dividend — and some pay more than others.

One strategy is to buy shares in companies with long histories of paying—and increasing—dividends. These include name-brand businesses like Target, Chevron, AT&T, and Proctor and Gamble.

These “boring” old companies aren’t likely to have explosive share price growth, but they do spin off consistent passive cash flow.

Think of it this way — every time Coca-Cola sells a soda, the shareholders get a portion of the profits. And you didn’t have to do any work for it!

That’s true passive income.

Over the last few years, I’ve built up my dividend income stream to over $2,000 a month.

Check out a service like the modern brokerage M1 Finance to get started yourself.

You can trade stocks for free, or select one of their pre-built portfolios. 

3. Bonds

Where dividend stocks give you an ownership stake in a company, bonds are a different kind of income generating asset.

A bond is like a loan you give to a company or government. In return, they promise to pay you back with interest.

That interest is what produces the income from bonds, but bonds — like stocks — can also gain or lose value as well. Bonds are preferred by investors looking for reliable income, with less volatility. 

4. Websites

There’s a lot to learn to turn a website into an income generating asset, but when it works, it can be extremely lucrative.

For example:

Scott earns 6-figures a year from his bird-watching blog
Shelley earns $50k a month from her travel blogs
Andrew earned over $1.2M from his gift ideas site

Their sites are monetized with advertising, affiliate partnerships, and product sales.

And the cool part about that? All of those easily scale as your traffic grows.

Want to start a blog of your own? Check out my free 6-part video course on how to start your own site.

(Building a site from scratch is just one option. Flippa is a leading marketplace to shop for websites that are already producing income.)

5. Equipment and Vehicles

Lenny Tim earns around $3,000 per month renting mobility scooters and wheelchairs in the LA area.

This category is a low-overhead way to get started generating extra income. Lenny bought his first mobility scooter used for around $500 on Facebook Marketplace.

He explained, “I get my money back within 1-3 rentals,” and has expanded his “fleet” since then.

What other equipment could you rent out?

There are marketplaces that specialize in renting out:

Cars
RVs
Camera Gear
Boats
Pools
Baby Gear
and lots more

6. Digital Products

A digital product could be a book, an online course, or even something as simple as a spreadsheet or checklist.

What I love about these income generating assets is you can create it once and sell it over and over again.

For example, Rachel Jones reported earning $10,000 a month from her portfolio of Etsy printables.

What’s a printable? Think digital files like:

habit trackers
meal planners
budget templates
chore charts
intake forms
and more

When you upload those printable files to Etsy, you can reach a worldwide audience of buyers — and delivery is all automated online.

7. Royalties

Royalties are another common income stream among millionaires — and you don’t have to be Taylor Swift to earn them.

The way this income generating asset works is you earn a small amount every time your work is used or purchased.

For example, I’ve self-published several books and earn author royalties every month from Amazon:

Another way to earn royalties is through product licensing. In this model, you sell your product idea to a larger company in exchange for a percentage of future sales. 

For example, Nate Dallas and his brother licensed a Pictionary-inspired card game to Mattel.

The duo (a dentist and a preacher) didn’t have to design it, produce it, or sell it—but they found someone who could—and split an eventual $300,000 in royalties!

Other things you can license:

Photography
Music
Voice over work

You can even buy future royalty rights on sites like Royalty Exchange.

8. Vending Machines

Vending machines are super popular income producing assets. While you’ll pay upfront for the machine and the inventory, they can make sales 24/7 without you around.

If you find a good location, they can easily generate $500+ per month in profit. 

The other cool thing about the vending business is it’s low-risk. If one location isn’t working, you can pack up your machine and try somewhere else — something that would be much more expensive if it were a brick and mortar store.

9. Small Businesses

We’ve already covered how you can buy a share of business profits through dividend investing, but that only works for big, public companies.

Another way to generate income is to buy a smaller business near you.

For example, Hannah Ingram bought a self-service car wash in Tennessee. Even better, she negotiated a seller financing sale so she was able to close with no money down. (She paid for it from the cash flow of the business.)

After taking ownership, she set out to improve the operation and now earns around $5k a month — in exchange for about 30 minutes of work a day.

 Sites that list businesses for sale include:

BizBuySell
LoopNet
Crexi

With SBA financing, you can acquire a profitable business with as little as 10% down.

10. Video Content

One of the most accessible income producing assets is video content. Anyone with a smartphone can begin creating videos that ultimately make money.

If you have over 1000 subscribers and meet a couple other requirements on your YouTube channel, you can enable ads and start to get paid.

Lately this passive income steam has been around $400 a month:

To be sure, it takes time to create the videos, but once they’re uploaded, they can earn passive income for years—as some of mine have.

Another unique video-based side hustle is reviewing products as part of the Amazon Influencer Program.

In this program, you create short video product reviews of items that are sold on Amazon. Amazon puts your videos on the relevant product pages, and — when someone buys the product after watching your video — rewards you with a small commission.

After you upload, those videos become income-producing assets for you. For example, Tyler Christensen reported earning up to $2,000 a month doing this part-time after just a few months of uploading videos.

You do need to have some level of social media following to qualify, but you don’t need millions of followers to be accepted.

11. Cash

It might sound a little weird, but the cash in your wallet or bank account can actually be an income producing asset on its own.

How does it work?

By putting your cash into a high yield savings accounts or certificates of deposit, you can earn interest on your money.

Of course interest rates fluctuate all the time, but this is a low risk way to generate some extra income.

12. Your Smartphone

One overlooked income generating asset is your phone. There are dozens of apps that pay you real money for sharing your data usage, location, and other habits.

Here are a few that might be worth a look.

Caden (iOS)

Caden is one of my newest finds, and is earning me over $10 a month on autopilot

The app itself is a little slow and buggy, but may be worth those small headaches for some relatively easy passive income.

At press time, it was iOS only. Check out our full Caden app review to learn more.

MobileXpression

MobileXpression is a market research panel that pays you for data from your mobile phone.

After you download the app, it works in the background recording your browsing habits. You’ll earn weekly credits redeemable for gift cards to popular retailers.

Realistically, this is probably worth around $20 a year. And you’ll earn a free $5 gift card after your first week.

Pogo

By sharing your location and credit card transaction data with Pogo, you’ll earn points that you can cash out to PayPal or Venmo.

Just enable location tracking and link your bank account credentials when you sign up. Based on my results so far, I expect Pogo to be worth around $5-20 a year.

Check out my full Pogo app review to learn more.

13. Your Credit Card

You pay the same price at most places whether you pay with cash or a credit card, so you might as well get 1-5% cash back from credit card rewards.

According to Yahoo Finance, the average American spends over $1500 a month on their credit card. Even if you get just 1% cash back, that’s worth an extra $180 a year — just for spending like you normally would.

Here are some of the best cash back cards available today.

What’s the Best Income Producing Asset for You?

With a little time, effort, and money, you can start stacking up income producing assets.

And once income from assets you control exceeds your monthly expenses, you’re financially free!

Which path you choose depends on your goals, interests, and how much you have to invest. But stay focused and you’ll start to feel the magic of making money that didn’t come directly from a job.

Serious About Making Extra Money?

Start Your Free $500 Challenge. My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
Join the free Side Hustle Nation Community. The free Facebook group is the best place to connect with other side hustlers and get your questions answered.
Download The Side Hustle Show. My free podcast shares how to make extra money with actionable weekly episodes.