Best Side Income Ideas for Thailand

Which are the best side income ideas to create some additional cash?

If you are you an expat living in Thailand or a local looking to supplement your income, you may need some additional cashflow to ensure you meet the visa requirements and having a passive income stream is really going to help out with the monthly expenses.

With its low cost of living and rich culture, Thailand offers a unique opportunity to explore alternative income streams.

Perhaps you're looking to retire early, pay off debt, or simply enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle, having a side income can make all the difference, whether you are in Thailand or are yet to go.

In this article, we'll explore some of the most popular and profitable side income ideas that are currently trending.

You probably won't be working from the beach, but certainly you could have the cool morning hours on the beach and then start creating in the afternoons. How you spend your time is upto you and that is part of the freedom that comes with retirement.

From online opportunities like affiliate marketing and freelance writing, to offline ventures like teaching English and renting out properties, we'll cover a range of options to suit different skills, interests, and lifestyles.

Whether you're a digital nomad, a stay-at-home parent, or a busy professional, you'll find inspiration and practical advice to help you get started with your side income journey in Thailand.

These side income ideas are not just suitable for Thailand expats, anyone thinking of retiring or just needing some ideas to make money from home will find this information useful.

Thailand Retirement Side Income Ideas

In time, the idea of earning money in retirement will be expanded, but for now a brief explanation is provided along with some possible options that create passive income.

These ideas may give cause for more consideration, depending upon whether you are saving for retirement or are already retired and need something to do, plus a little side income.

I will add Pros and Cons to each topic as I build out these passive income ideas.

Retirement Side Hustles

Let's consider some possible retirement side hustles that can provide some side income to supplement the pension.

1. Property rental income
2. Website income
3. YouTube channel income
4. Stockmarket investment / speculation
5. Forex / Bitcoin speculation
6. Affiliate Marketing
7. Online Services

Property Rental Income

Renting out property is one  of the most popular passive income streams.

Residential or commercial property can both provide attractive yields depending upon when the property was purchased in the investment cycle.

Of course you have to either manage the tenants yourself or pay for a property manager and there can be a number of risks associated with renting out a property, depending upon the laws in that state.

As an alternative to owning physical property, there are Real Estate Investment Trusts that operate as listed entities on the various stock exchanges. These give good returns from a diversified portfolio without having to manage tenants.

Website Income

Creating and running your own website is one way to earn additional income when planning your retirement in Thailand. It is not as complicated as it may seem and there are many small business ideas that can benefit from a simple website.

The start up costs can be very low and you don't need a lot of computer skills to get started.

Basically you can learn skills as you go. It does help if you know how to operate a computer and enjoy creating content, whether that be writing articles or creating video style materials.

When I started the bangkok-travel-ideas website back in 2007 with SoloBuildIt (SBI), I had very little computer skills, other than being able to type and I knew nothing about internet marketing.

The secret to being successful though, is in creating a website topic that people are interested in enough to come and want to read about.

So long as you have a passion for the subject, then you will stay interested enough to create new content for your audience and if enough people start to visit your website, then monetising some aspect of the topic, either by mailing lists, advertising or selling a product, can create an additional income stream in retirement.

For anyone planning to retire to Thailand, this type of passive income is an ideal supplement to your Government or Industry pension.

I have to advise that I am an affiliate for SBI and earn commissions from any sales, so if this sounds interesting, then make the choice to Learn More and get started with your own SoloBuildIt or WordPress website today.

The SBI process really helped me and perhaps it can assist you to make your retirement more comfortable, whilst providing an interesting activity to keep the mind active.

The one thing that is not obvious in SBI, is that all of the tools needed to create a high performing website are included in the subscription costs.

Not only are all the tools provided, but there is an extensive training program included in the package.

According to SBI there are 80 modules of add-ons and integrations that are all included. It is not necessary to be purchasing additional subscriptions once you join.

Learn More today and make your next step towards a creating a fulfilling retirement.

Create Passive Income through E-book Writing

You may not realise it, but you are sure to possess valuable expertise and knowledge from your working life, that can benefit others.

Now, imagine turning that expertise into a lucrative income stream through e-book writing.

You can capture your insights in a concise, engaging, and informative e-book, monetize your knowledge, and reach a global audience.

With the rise of digital publishing, self-publishing platforms, and online marketplaces, producing and distributing an e-book has never been easier.

By leveraging your expertise and passion, you can create a passive income stream, establish yourself as an authority in your field, and build a loyal following.

Take the first step towards transforming your financial future and turning your knowledge into cash.

Learn how to write your first e-book in easy steps.

Whether you provide content about places that you visited or attractions that were especially enjoyable, there will be an interested audience.

Writing content in the form of ebooks, for marketing or to sell on Amazon is an opportunity for those people with knowledge to share.

You can see some recent examples of my Bangkok travel ebooks on this linked page.

This type of book can be created in a few simple steps and then shared freely, or can be sold on Amazon or the Kindle store. At the moment I am giving these books away free to the readers of Bangkok Travel Ideas, but they are available for purchase on other platforms.

YouTube Channel

The aim of a YouTube Channel is to increase your exposure and gain an audience that follows your journey. The videos can be monetised and the audience can purchase your merchandise or subscribe to affiliate links.

It is quite a slow path to gain notice on YouTube and it can take a couple of years of steady content creation before getting substantial visibility, but the end result can be well worth the effort.

This type of talking photo video can be created with simple Ai software that creates this content easily and with skills that anyone has. 

Create your own characters, or upload your own face to a created character and use the text to speech functionality to add the voiceover.

How easy is that!

Other than a computer and internet connection, no equipment is required to get started with this method of content creation, and its uses are unlimited.

Use this software yourself, or sell it to others and get commissions from the sales.

The talking photo videos can be uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and Tik-tok etc for additional exposure, and you don't need that many sales per month to create some additional income.

Over the past few years there has been an increase in the number of Thailand travel creators sharing their experiences of moving to Thailand and travelling around.

These travel topics are more complex to create, as obviously cameras, microphones and video editing software is required.

But if you have an interest in photography and travel, then you are doing what you love anyway.

Online Services

Perhaps you are good at Marketing and can teach others or you may have a great Excel spreadsheet skill or even learned amazing Photoshop techniques. 

Most people coming upto retirement age have a lifetime of skill and knowledge and whilst it may seem mundane information to you, there are many younger people that could benefit from your years' experience.

No matter what skill you have, so long as you just know a little more than the person learning, then that skill can be monetized. 

Creating a simple course, selling your knowledge or even providing translation or graphics arts services can bring some additional cash.

Currently I offer three online services for small businesses:

• Posts for Google Business Profiles
  
  
• Reinstate Suspended Google Business Profiles
  
  
• Lead magnet creation from Website content

These tasks are things I am doing already and now I can get paid for providing the same services.

Consulting to clients outside of Thailand or providing some sort of website timeless content is not likely to cause visa renewal issues.

There is a special visa category though for Digital Entrepreneurs that caters for younger Digital Nomads.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is when you sell someone elses product and take a percentage of sales.

The good news is that all the messy work of order fulfillment,  cancellations and customer complaints is not your problem to deal with.

For travel websites, some of the most common affiliate programs are those run by Hotel booking aggregators, such as Booking.com or Agoda.

This bangkok-travel-ideas website uses Agoda, that pays around 5% in commission.

Other sites which rely upon subscriptions for ongoing services, may pay out up to 50% of the first years subscription.

This income can add up quite quickly, if you have a blog that has visitors interested in signing up.

It is more likely that businesses in the early growth stage will pay higher commissions.

Typically, once a business becomes established, then the affiliate  commission structure is reduced and the task is then handled more by company employees, rather than by affiliates.

At the bottom right of this screen is a digital human example. These can be programmed to take orders or book appointments on your website. The digital humans can be sold to Agencies for their clients or you can use them to create your own sales.

Digital Humans can also be sold as an affiliate product and everytime one is sold, you would get a commission.

There is an example digital human sales page here for this type of digital human.

Take a look.

Amazon is another well know affiliate program, paying a commission to those that advertise its products, but it no longer pays high commissions now that it has become established.

The big downside to affiliate marketing is that you don't own the product and you are building someone elses business and not your own.

At any time they can cut the commission rate as low as they want and your business can be swept away overnight.

Diversifying the range of affiliate programs is one way to mitigate this risk, so don't put all your eggs in one basket, as they say.

The positives of affiliate marketing, is that your focus just needs to be on generating leads for the company and the downside is that these leads are not owned by you and so they cannot be monetised further.

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Revised 15-December-2024

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Affiliate Declaration: I am a SoloBuildit affiliate and can earn commissions from sales of this product. This income helps me produce content for this site.