A few years ago I put a meme on a t-shirt, basically on a hunch, and have made 5 figures in passive income (literally passive, I did nothing but submit the shirt design) from that shirt's sales.
The drawback is that keeping up with memes is EXHAUSTING. You literally have to be on top everything trending to find the latest and hottest things, or else someone else gets there first and milks it hard, you can probably still grab a piece of the pie though. Also it's not as easy as putting a meme on a t-shirt or product and then listing it for sale. You have to be good at marketing or have a good channel for getting your product to your target audience (this was my edge). Memes also have a short shelf life, so don't expect any long term moneys from meme products (I got lucky with my shirt in that it stayed relevant for just about 3 years). Lastly, not everything will be a winner, and I do not have a formula for why some memes take off and some don't. I tried making a few more shirts with no success. Some people do have the formula and have systems in place to take advantage of that and are making millions.
For me the key is really knowing your niche and your audience so you get a good sense of what will really click with them. It's not as simple as doing some surface research and jumping into a niche and right away start making products for it.
The drawback is that keeping up with memes is EXHAUSTING. You literally have to be on top everything trending to find the latest and hottest things, or else someone else gets there first and milks it hard, you can probably still grab a piece of the pie though. Also it's not as easy as putting a meme on a t-shirt or product and then listing it for sale. You have to be good at marketing or have a good channel for getting your product to your target audience (this was my edge). Memes also have a short shelf life, so don't expect any long term moneys from meme products (I got lucky with my shirt in that it stayed relevant for just about 3 years). Lastly, not everything will be a winner, and I do not have a formula for why some memes take off and some don't. I tried making a few more shirts with no success. Some people do have the formula and have systems in place to take advantage of that and are making millions.
For me the key is really knowing your niche and your audience so you get a good sense of what will really click with them. It's not as simple as doing some surface research and jumping into a niche and right away start making products for it.