Passive income: NO

Podcast editing is generally not a passive income stream. Most people who start this side hustle need to actively work on editing to earn income. To make it passive, one would need to set up systems like hiring a team of editors, automating parts of the process with software, or creating a subscription-based service. However, reaching this level is rare and typically only achieved by a few outliers who scale their operations significantly. Most people in forums like Reddit and YouTube discuss the active nature of the work and the challenges in making it passive. Misleading expectations often involve underestimating the time and effort required to build a passive system. Realistically, it becomes passive for those with strong business acumen and resources to invest in scaling, but not for the average individual starting out.