Passive income, for therapists or anyone else, is “money that you don’t have to actively work for; it comes in from something that already exists and continues to work for you” (Xero, 2023). For therapists, and having at least one source of income that doesn’t depend on your physical presence can be very useful.
In this article:
- Types of passive income for therapists
- Is this really income you don’t have to work for?
Being a therapist is a wonderful and fulfilling way to earn your living, but it also comes with some practical limitations. Your income is closely tied to your availability, and there’s a natural limit to how many clients you can see in a day. A drop in bookings, a period of ill health, or simply taking a holiday can all have an impact on your income. This is where passive income for therapists comes in, by helping your business continue to tick over.
Types of Passive Income
Portfolio working
Combining your work as a therapist with another, unrelated job can help tide you over the financial ups and downs of fluctuating client numbers. Depending on what your other job is, this option isn’t always completely passive income (your boss in your other job will expect you to put in some effort!) but you could consider options that need minimal involvement, like renting out a property or selling on auction sites like eBay.
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Affiliate schemes
An affiliate scheme is essentially a recommendation-based system and works best when it’s based on things you genuinely use and recommend. You sign up as an affiliate to another business which sells goods or services of interest to your clients, and put a coded link to them on your website.
When anyone clicks on that link and then buys something from your affiliate you get a payment, which is your passive income. It’s usually a percentage of what they spend. A quick Google for affiliate schemes will find you some suitable businesses to link to, but consider Amazon (e.g. self-help books, relaxation audios), and other wellness, fitness or health-related options.
Extending your services
Being able to offer additional services helps spread your demographic, as does working with groups in addition to individuals, although both still rely on you being around. You could also think about:
- Recording some webinars aimed at clients. You can run each one live once, charging for tickets, then sell the recording.
- Starting a membership community: especially if you have a speciality or niche. Offer some information on your topic free of charge to show people you know what you’re talking about, then more to those who pay a one-off or regular subscription.
- Monetising your therapy blog, podcast, or YouTube channel: link it to your membership community, and/or feature affiliate links or pay-per-click advertising.
- Offering email courses solving common problems: ‘Improve your confidence in just 4 weeks’ or similar. The free option at platforms like EmailOctopus can be set up to automatically send weekly emails to those who have enrolled without any input from you. Or you could upload courses to a more established site than your own, like Udemy.
- Writing a self-help book.
- Upselling workbooks, downloads, a mental health app or similar resources that you have created to help your clients benefit from your services. Upselling isn’t always strictly a passive income (you need to be seeing the clients) but it does help you increase your income above the basic session fee. Many of the upselling ideas in my article on the topic can be re-packaged and sold to non-clients as well.
- Using a service like Payhip can allow you to automate the online purchase and delivery of passive income items like audios, courses, etc.
Is it really money that you don’t have to work for?
It’s worth remembering that most passive income isn’t passive from day one. It usually involves a certain amount of work upfront, and often bits of ongoing maintenance. For example:
- If you want to monetise a blog or launch a community you will need to write the information that goes into it and to establish yourself as someone worth following.
- You’ll have to create content for an app, YouTube channel, book, or course, and get the word out that it exists.
- You need visitors to your website, blog, or community to benefit significantly from affiliate links or advertising.
You can often reduce the amount of preparation required if you reuse and adapt material you’ve already created, for example, using blogs or client handouts as the basis of your webinar. I’ve written more about this in my article on recycling your time.
The benefit is that, once they have been created, your time is not directly tied to each individual sale, and you can sell these things again and again.
Passive income is unlikely to make you rich overnight. But once established, it will help tide you over difficult times, allow you to take time off without losing all of your income, and add to your revenue even when you are busy working.
What’s not to like?
References:
Xero. (2023). What is Passive Income? | Definition. [online] Available at: https://www.xero.com/uk/glossary/passive-income/. [Accessed: April 2026]
About Debbie Waller
Blog Author Debbie Waller is a hypnotherapist, supervisor, and trainer with more than twenty years of experience. As well as having a busy client practice, she runs Yorkshire Hypnotherapy Training and writes books and articles for therapists who want to deepen their knowledge and develop effective practice.
Disclaimer
The information and ideas shared on this blog are based on the author’s professional experience, research, and training. They are intended for educational purposes and to support reflection and professional development. Therapists should always apply their own professional judgment and consider the needs of individual clients when using any techniques or suggestions discussed here.
While every effort is made to ensure the information is accurate and helpful, no responsibility can be accepted for any loss, damage, or difficulties arising from the use or misuse of material contained in these articles.
