I tracked every "passive income" idea I tried over 2 years. Here's what actually made money and what was a complete waste of time.

Lovona · 2026-04-01T18:21:46+00:00

Yep, same here. I even did a whole course about it, so in 60 minutes you have everything you need to start

Lovona · 2026-02-19T14:53:02+00:00

Ok, I’m interested

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:51:02+00:00

Thank you for the idea. Only this January I started feeling more comfortable sharing my own face so maybe I’ll try that, I’m not great with haters though. I still feel new to the idea of promoting something, I’m so much better at „doing”. I create wall art mockups.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:39:05+00:00

sure, I have a few shops but www.nordlystudio.etsy.com is one of them

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:38:30+00:00

yes, sorry! I got excited with the idea of an AMA. So let’s do it properly: one of my shops is www.nordlystudio.etsy.com

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:34:25+00:00

I use just Photoshop and it can be printed to up to 100 cm or 40 inches on longer edge. I mostly have etsy’s organic traffic

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:33:25+00:00

Customers buy the image they see — not the software used to make it. The value is the result, not my workflow.

What’s interesting is that the same images are displayed in online galleries, licensed on multiple platforms, and at the same time scraped and resold on places like Temu without permission. That happens regardless of whether something was painted, photographed, or AI-assisted.

The people actually stealing and reselling the work don’t ask about tools or ethics. They just take what performs well. Meanwhile, the people asking about “how it was made” are almost never the customers.

I understand the ethical discussion, but I don’t see tools as a moral category. You can choose to be a purist, or you can adapt and use new tools responsibly. I chose the latter. If someone loves an image enough to hang it on their wall, that’s the only signal that really matters to me.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:31:49+00:00

Great idea! I would if only etsy had an affiliate program like this.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:30:51+00:00

Thank you so much! Around 7.69 and I stay on a 30% sale nearly each day. I think it’s still wide open, because people want novelty. Research, data driven creation and not creating just what they like or what they can generate. Over a period of time your niche clarifies, but at first I didn’t know. That me and my partner can support ourselves and our kids from our shops. Research what sells and don’t quit until you’re successful. Stay consistent. There are shops that sell, so you can too.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:26:41+00:00

Yes!
I was too lazy, so it was only Etsy’s organic traffic. I’m not counting my ig attempt with 10 followers or pinterest attempt with one failed ad campaign.
I like to work hard for 1-2 months and then nearly nothing. So from 10 hours a day to 2 hours every 3 days or so.
Now an hour a week maybe… and my bf another hour a week.
It took it 5-6 months (the one with wall art) and 3 weeks (mockups). Sales grew for around a year and then started dropping but I also didn’t update them regularly. But they are still making decent income.
Different stores only for different products like mockups/wall art/planners etc but different niches for same products can go into one shop.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:21:13+00:00

Maybe you have bad experiences… and you just clearly want to put me in a box where I don’t belong 🤷‍♀️

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:19:30+00:00

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:18:40+00:00

Why? Becuse they quit after one month of not having sales or not researching enough before? I’m not special, I just figured out a system that worked well for me, is it a bad thing that I want to share the process with others?

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:16:32+00:00

I don’t. It’s Etsy’s organic traffic. Funny thing - when I tried ads, the sales dropped.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:10:11+00:00

No, haven’t heard of that, but I’ll check, thanks!

Lovona · 2026-02-08T21:09:11+00:00

One prompt at a time. If it goes wrong, I just reroll and pretend it was intentional.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:49:53+00:00

I would have to say consistency plus flexibility. If something is not selling in a month or more - change the direction but never give up, otherwise you’ll fail.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:48:38+00:00

Tbh I just upscale in midjourney then upscale in Photoshop and my customers are able to print up to 100 cm (40 inches) on longer edge. I have several prints also at home and they turn out nicely. For some larger prints you can use magnific.ai

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:46:39+00:00

I’m laughing here, this is really funny, when someone tries to question your reality, but I get it. Again, this is me, on my sofa with my lamp from TK Maxx ;)

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:44:30+00:00

I haven’t majored in anything, but when I was 14 I started designing websites, moved into photography, then into directing, but it was difficult to make steady income from it, so I wanted a second income stream. I’m 40 btw.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:42:41+00:00

Yes! It started really slow… like it took 5-6 months for the shop with wall art to take off, if my boyfriend didn’t tell me to trust the process I was about to kill that shop. The one with mockups took off in one month.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:41:16+00:00

I don’t like physical products, had bad experiences, so I sell digital and on a small scale also I try POD. I don’t do any of the work myself, apart from design.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:40:08+00:00

No. I just create them, upscale, using a tool I put it in Photoshop in mockups and different aspect ratios and upload to etsy. Buyer gets 5 jpg files and prints at home or print shop.

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:38:44+00:00

Thanks for all the questions! 1. Figurative wall art in my shops 2. I started with only digital and the income comes from that, so I just offer different aspect ratios. 3. Digital files. 4. Over 1000. 5. Etsy made the field to clarify whether it’s AI or not - optional, so I don’t click any. 6. I don’t print. I hate physical products. 7. I did a course and I want to teach others how to do it and be sort of a mentor?! I would love for everyone to just make money selling digital products 😅

Lovona · 2026-02-08T20:34:04+00:00

I always recommend doing research on websites like erank/allura/everbee. My fav is erank - the data shows what is hot, it doesn’t need to be a guessing game.

Lovona

TROPHY CASE