Build Once - Reap the Benefits

Something that’s been on my mind lately is setting up avenues of residual income. The idea fascinates me.

Put in a decent amount of up front work building something, perhaps distributable or downloadable - something along those lines - and reap the benefits repeatedly.

As needed, make revisions to keep the product relevant.

I have a coworker that makes a specialty dessert as a side business. They mentioned the possibility of using the knowledge they have and venturing into creating downloadable or streamable online classes/instructables. Download for a one time fee or perhaps have a subscription to a set of courses.

I’ve been on the consumer end of this for a luthier course on guitar & bass maintenance and repair. Buy it once and download it, keep it and reference it forever.

Anyone here have any experience with this sort of thing? What was your outcome? Was it a success, failure, or somewhere in between? Still active?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.