How I built a side income of $1,200/month that doesn't require time after year two.

I teach online — specifically, an asynchronous course in a professional skill I spent 10 years developing. The course took about 200 hours to build originally. It now sells with near-zero maintenance time.

The math: the course is priced at $197. I sell approximately 6-7 per month through organic search and a small email list. Monthly revenue is roughly $1,200-1,400, mostly passive once the content existed.

The upfront investment was significant — the 200 hours of content creation was real work and there was a 6-month period before significant sales began. The vast majority of people who start an online course don't get to profitability.

What made mine work: a genuinely specific topic where I had real credibility, clear search demand I verified before building, and a price point that covered customer acquisition cost.

I don't recommend building an online course to most people. I recommend it if you have a skill others will pay to learn and you're willing to spend 200+ hours on it before seeing return.