Passive Income: how to create it

I've been hearing a lot lately about so-called "passive income" or "mailbox money" type business opportunities. This is in part because a few of the mailing lists I belong to have started promoting expensive seminars and online courses on how to create passive income. The problem with these offerings is that they all focus on just one half of the equation:

Business system + opportunity = passive income

You probably guessed right. They focus on the easy half: how to set up the product delivery system and not on the difficult part of finding a strong money-making opportunity. Indeed most seem to just ignore the second half altogether.  I currently have several of these passive income sources that have evolved over the past decade despite my not having intentionally set out to create them. They just evolved over time.  Now I want more.

Hence, this new blog direction.

One thing I can assure you of is that there's far more to creating these income sources than merely dropping $500 or $5000 to learn how to setup a website and arrange drop-shipping with a third party. You really do need to have an offering that is in demand by the market.

It's Timothy Ferriss's new book The 4 Hour WorkWeek that really got me thinking about passive income sources.  If you are interested in creating online revenue streams this book is the ideal starting point. For less than $20 you will learn basically everything that the expensive seminars and courses have to offer for 25 to 250 times the book's price.

I'll also add that very few sources of income are truly passive income. The very first example that I recall hearing about was singer Paul Anka being paid $300 every weeknight by the Johnny Carson Show for the use of his theme music.  Back in the 1970s that was good money. However, most sources of income will require some serious time to create and, hopefully, a bit less to maintain once up and running.

So if you are interested in exploring opportunities for passive income generating opportunities because you would like more money or need a source of livelihood for retirement, tag this blog. I'll be updating it regularly.

Comments

[Ted]

That's a big shift from the venture capital financing focus. What's driving this?

[Peter]

The website says it all. It's time to move onto something more interesting.

[Niles Rutledge]

I have been telling this to friends and family for quite some time now. Turning a hobby or passion into a business is far easier than trying to jump on the "get rich quick" bandwagon.

If you're passionate about what you're doing and truly enjoy it, your reward won't be just monetary. A business you enjoy will help you to get through the obstacles of starting a business.

[bill chasen]

The most essential key in any business, in my personal opinion, is passion. If the passion to succeed is not present or strong enough, then failure is inevitable. You also have to believe in yourself 100%.