If you’ve ever heard someone talk about how they “achieve their financial goals through passive income,” then you are probably already skeptical. After all, isn’t that just putting off doing what you have to do now for later?
I’m going to be very frank with you here. Achieving your financial goal is not the same as having money to spend.
And talking about investing in a house or retirement fund while sitting at home eating chicken wings doesn’t count either.
So if you’re like me, I would recommend giving this article a few minutes before moving onto something else. You will still enjoy what you watch after you read it! 🙂
What is passive income?
First, let us define what passive income is. According to Investopedia, it is revenue that comes in without much effort on your part.
Think of it like an employee who gets paid even when they aren’t working. Or a business owner who does not need to work to make money- they earn dividends from their company or profit from selling products.
In other words, passive income means earning money without actively promoting sales or offering services. It takes place naturally, automatically, and/or by luck. (Yes, there is some hardwork involved in creating these opportunities, but only slightly more than normal activity.
Many people talk about how to make money from investing, or how to maximize your revenue through blogging, but what most lack is an understanding of what actually constitutes “passive” income.
Most people understand the term “investing” as buying a stock, holding onto it for some time, and then either selling that stock or letting it grow over time.
This type of investment doesn't necessarily earn you money passively though- you must actively monitor the stocks you invest in to ensure they're worth keeping!
Blogging is another common example of what we refer to as a "practice" business. You create content that you put out there for others to read, and they interact with that content by commenting or sharing it.
Some people take this one step further and start an online writing business where they produce their own content and sell it via various channels and sites.
There are many ways to make money from practicing your craft (writing) or offering services related to writing, but you have to go beyond just creating things yourself to achieve true passive income.
What if I told you that there was a way to get paid without having to do any work? That's impossible, right? Well, almost.
A touchpoint is an event or activity that prompts someone to take action towards you or your product or service.
Awareness, consideration, decision, buying are all examples of actions triggered by a touchpoint.
With digital media today, it’s easy to create more touchpoints. You can spread your message through blogs, social media, videos, and other marketing strategies.
But what if we were talking about something less technological? What if you only had access to basic resources like phones and email?
What if there was no way to use Facebook or YouTube?
You would be limited in how well you could promote yourself. And even though technology has advanced, some things will never change.
So how do you build up this habit of creating these touchpoints? How do you strengthen it so that it becomes second nature?
Here are 5 ways to make sure you don’t forget when it comes to touching points for your business.
1) Create an automatic response set with emails, apps, and websites
This is one of the most important tips I give people who want to start investing in their business.
It takes time at first but eventually you’ll get so used to adding content to your website, sending out emails, and opening new applications that you won’t think about it.
You’ll automatically do it because it feels natural.
Many people talk about how important it is to invest in yourself, your career, and your dreams, but they seem to miss the second part of that sentence. It’s also crucial to spend time doing things you love to make money doing those things.
In fact, I would go one step further and say that being able to do something you enjoy and are good at makes all other forms of income look very mediocre.
If you ever get tired of making money, stop investing in more tools to make money and start spending time to do what you love to do. You will find that your idle hours are used up productively instead.
I know this seems like a cliché, but it really is true – you can make an awful lot of money without working hard.
And while no one should ever work longer than necessary, there’s an extra cost associated with staying in employment too. This includes loss of health benefits, reduced savings due to paying higher monthly bills, and lower quality of life because you’re not involved in or engaged with the community or environment where you live.
Many people have conversations about how to make, what they refer to as “passive income”. But are these conversations actually having an effect?
I think not.
Most people who talk about passive income don’t know what the word means nor do they understand how business works.
So, they come up with their own ideas of what passive income is — something that doesn’t require too much effort but makes enough money so that you can spend your time doing other things.
A lot of these ideas seem totally legit, and I even shared some of my favorites in this article!
But here’s the problem: none of them work.
Not really. At least, not in the way that those people who invented the term intended.
That isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with thinking outside-the-box when it comes to income, but just be sure that you're talking about the same thing.
Many people get stuck in a perception of passive income as “starting from nothing” or "hiring a team of professionals to do everything for you."
Neither of those are necessary to have a successful passive income strategy. In fact, the opposite is true!
It takes hard work to build up your investment portfolio, but once it's done, you can sit back and reap the benefits. The same goes for creating a business model that doesn't require much more than an internet connection.
There are many ways to earn a living without having to actively contribute to what you're earning. You just need to know how to pick good opportunities that make sense for you.
Passive income isn't about doing things to keep yourself busy, it's about spending time investing in areas that will help you achieve your financial goals.
A few years ago, it was very popular to refer to yourself as a “work-life balance person.” Now that lifestyle has been replaced with a more cash rich one. With all of this talk about income diversity, there is little guidance on who these individuals are intended for.
It seems that most people agree that those who earn their living through passive means (or what some call non-income producing activities) should focus on spending time with family and friends, keeping up with hobbies they already enjoys, and investing in things like education or training courses or gadgets.
But how do you know if these things are important to you? How can you tell whether you enjoy doing them before you invest in them? And how can you be sure that you will keep investing in them even though you are earning enough money to satisfy your desire to spend time on them?
There is an easy way to find out if these things matter to you, and if so, which ones you should invest in. Ask yourself why you want each thing and then ask yourself if you would be willing to give up either one of these things if you could not afford to maintain your current level of expenditure.
If you cannot imagine going without any of these things, then they must mean something significant to you.
