When you consider the words “passive income”, what do you imagine. Do you imagine a life without the stress and hassles of a full-time job? do you imagine a life without budgeting for items such as groceries, fuel, entertainment, travel, etc? Do you imagine a life without worrying about how financial obligations will be met now and in the future? Everyone’s image of passive income is unique.
Now consider the words “financial freedom” and “financial independence”. What do you imagine?
Consider the things you haven’t accomplished in life due to lack of time and money. Maybe you haven’t traveled as much as you would like. Maybe you didn’t buy the house you always wanted. Maybe you didn’t have the money to go back to school. Maybe you didn’t have time to devote to family or friends.
The beauty of passive income is that it allows you to do the things you want to do because, unlike active income, it does not require the “time for money” transaction. Passive income is based on work or a financial investment you made in order to accomplish a residual income. If done properly, this residual income will continue flowing into your pockets day after day into infinity.
Passive income is more powerful than active income because it can be compounded. When you consider the amount of time available to work in a day, you realize that active income is limited. There are at most 12 to 14 hours that are available to earn an income with active income. However, when you consider a passive income stream and how the stream can be duplicated without actively working, you begin to visualize the opportunities available to you.
Passive Income is freedom! Freedom from your job, freedom to allow you to buy the things you want in life, freedom to allow you to do the things you want to do in life. Imagine having your very own money-making machine that puts money into your pockets even when you’re not working. What kind of financial independence would you have?
The Internet has opened up many tremendous opportunities to create passive income. You must admit that many of the pioneers were visionaries and were rewarded handsomely for their initial work. Many of them are still being rewarded and are living the life that most can only dream of living. The technology available today makes it possible to create multiple streams of passive income. Have you ever thought of ways you could tap into social media in order to make money? Do you have a Facebook account? A Twitter account? A LinkedIn account?
If you can connect with people through social media, you have what it takes to create passive income with the Internet. You have the opportunity today that many people didn’t have 5 years ago. The growth of the Internet and the number of people using it daily has created some amazing passive income opportunities. You probably have heard the terms “affiliate marketing”, or “network marketing”. People are connecting to others in so many ways via the Internet and educating others on services, products, events, and companies that change lives.
How to build a massive passive income is what I really want to explain in this article. It goes beyond affiliate marketing and network marketing. It is a way for you to receive substantial monthly income for life. What do you envision when you see the word “substantial”? $5,000 a month? $10,000 a month? $100,000 a month? Whatever you envision, double that amount and you will be close to the amount of money I’m referring to when talking about substantial.
About 35 years ago, I worked at the very first Sam’s Wholesale Club. It was located in Midwest City, Oklahoma. It had been opened for a little over a year before I started working there. I was going to junior college right across the street and a student in one of my classes, an older man who was taking classes part time in order to kill time, told me about Sam’s and said he shopped there frequently. I had never heard of it before but I was willing to give it a try. I had completed an application at Sears earlier in the week and hadn’t heard back from them. The HR woman from Sam’s called me the next day and asked if I could come in for an interview. I was unimpressed with the building when I arrived. It was old, outdated, rough looking, and needed repairs. She explained what the job entailed including the pay and I was very impressed. They offered a much higher hourly wage than I had made working at the grocery store down the street or the Western Sizzlin steak restaurant. I actually worked for Sam’s for a little over 5 years. They gave me a $5,000 college scholarship which really helped because I had transferred from the jr. college to the University of Oklahoma and tuition was much higher.
I moved from the Midwest City area after graduating from college. My first employer after I graduated was based in Plano, TX and I was excited at the prospect of moving to the Dallas area. As fate would have it, my assignment was not in Plano or the Dallas area. It was in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Yeah, that’s what I thought when I was told. Kalamazoo-WHAT? I had never heard of Kalamazoo much less visited the area. But it was a nice place to work if you enjoy extremely cold temperatures and lots of snow 8 months out of the year. I was working in the General Motors plant as a business analyst. My major in college was Management Information Systems so it was fitting that I would go to work for one of the largest data processing companies in the world – Electronic Data Systems or EDS. General Motors purchased EDS a few years before I was hired. EDS gave me a scholarship when I was in school which was another reason I chose to work for them rather than the other companies pursuing me.
I moved to the Dallas area about 18 months after moving to Kalamazoo and began working for GTE Directories. I worked as a business analyst for approximately 5 years then accepted a job with a software company in Irving, TX. I was there for a little over a year and accepted another job offer and a $10,000 bonus. After working there for 6 months, I accepted another job which paid $14,000 more than I was getting at the time. My skills were in high demand and the industry was booming. Many of the projects I was involved with were Internet related. DOT COMs were flourishing and I was cashing in on the opportunities. Until 2001. Shortly after 911, the DOT COM bubble busted and companies were scaling back on their information technology budgets and personnel. The company I worked for at the time purchased its leading competitor and, as a result of the merger, my entire department was eliminated due to personnel redundancies.
My choices at the time were to look for another IT job, which were scarce and had incredible competition, or to change my career. I chose to start my sales & marketing career. There was a sense of relief when I finally made my decision. It was bumpy at first to be totally honest. I had utilized the left side of my brain for the entire duration of my IT career and it was now time to put the right side of my brain to good use.
One of my last sales jobs required me to sell through a “roadshow” method of displaying, demonstrating, and selling a product. It was a whole body vibration (WBV) device. It vibrates your body when you stand on it in order to increase blood circulation and build muscle tissue. It was a great gig. I could use it as much as I wanted and my body always felt great. Anyway, the roadshows were booked in various Sam’s Clubs in the Oklahoma City area and I was eventually booked for a roadshow in the original Sam’s Club I had worked in 30 years prior. The original building was demolished in order for the new building to be built on the location. The air conditioning worked extremely well and the building was immaculate. I kept thinking how lucky the associates were because they had a climate-controlled warehouse environment, clean bathroom facilities, a snack area, and a well-lit building in which to work. The memories of the extreme hot days in the summer and the extreme cold days in the winter I had to endure while working in the dilapidated warehouse kept coming back to me. Visions of old insulation falling from the rafters filled my mind.
It was fascinating to speak with the handful of associates who were still there from the time I began working there. A few of the original associates moved into management and relocated but there were these few original associates still earning an hourly wage and happy to have a job. The conversations we had were mostly about other associates and what they were doing, who they married, and etc. It was amazing to hear the stories. What was more amazing was the fact that these associates were the pioneers responsible for making the very first Sam’s Wholesale Club the successful “boiler plate” and for being the training ground for managers in Sam’s Clubs around the world yet they had nothing to show for it except their hourly jobs.
Imagine working your whole life to build something as incredible as the chain of Sam’s Wholesale Clubs and having nothing for yourself after it is all said and done. What kind of feelings, what kind of resentments, what kind of remorse would you have? I believe things happen in life which change us dramatically and it was the experience of reacquainting with the original associates that brought me into the realization that it is up to each one of us to shape our destiny. Action, sometimes massive action must be taken if things are to be different.
People without passive income live their lives from paycheck to paycheck. Many people would be homeless if they lost two week’s worth of income. People who rely on active income are at much greater risk of bankruptcy, foreclosure, credit defaults, and vehicle repossessions than those who receive passive income.
The disruptions in industries have provided many people with income opportunities. Uber and Lyft drivers can earn extra income by sharing their vehicles with complete strngers. Airbnb hosts can earn extra income by sharing their homes with complete strangers. Uber Eats (sometimes spelled UberEats), Postmates, and other food delivery services allow vehicle owners, and in some cases, bicycle owners to earn additional income in their spare time. With the exception of Airbnb, these side hustles are considered to provide active income opportunities. Having extra money from anyone of these side hustles is great. It is the required time, maintenance, and in some cases, inconveniences that can become issues. Exchanging money for time will never provide you with the wealth and financial freedom you want in life.
Other industry disruptions open the door for passive income. Consider the number of training Websites that have popped up recently. Many of these Websites offer training that were offered by technical schools or are currently offered by technical schools. The training curriculum are created by individuals with specific skills and knowledge but not necessarily degrees or certifications. Developing and selling a training course allows the individual the opportunity to earn true passive income.
Websites such as Udemy charge a fee for marketing the training courses but the remainder is paid directly to the course creator.
What if you had the opportunity to share valuable information with people who were seeking it and were willing to pay you for it? What if you could keep the majority if not all of the proceeds? How would that impact your life? Let’s say you had the opportunity to help hundreds of people who were willing to you pay a monthly fee each month for information and you could collect the information at the very beginning of the launch. It would require time investment but you could rest and enjoy the profits from your labor once it was created. Charging $10 a month for information that a hundred people needed and were willing to pay for would net you a profit of $1,000 a month. What if the monthly fee was $30? Your net profit would be $3,000 a month. Imagine if 1,000 people were paying you each month. Making $30,000 a month in passive income would go a long way toward increasing your wealth. Right? Now imagine if you could double or triple your membership base over time.
As consumers, we have been conditioned to pay for subscriptions. Fewer people these days are paying for newspaper subscriptions or magazine subscriptions but they are paying for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, iTunes, and Microsoft subscriptions. Are you paying for the operating system and software apps on your electronic device (PC, laptop, iPad, Mac, etc.) with a subscription? Are you paying for any online subscriptions such as the Wall Street Journal? What about memberships? Do you have a membership at the fitness center, country club, travel club, Hilton Honors, Costco, or Sam’s Club? Subscriptions and memberships are a way of life. People pay for services and information through subscriptions and memberships and they have accepted the fact that they will continue paying for services and information through subscriptions and memberships.
Many professional service providers have adopted the membership model and charge their clients a membership fee in order to receive consultation, service, or other value through their membership Website. Life coaches, business coaches, and therapists are among the many types of professional service providers who have opened their client base who, in turn, have opened their wallets to receive the services.
If you don’t have specific knowledge about a high demand subject matter, could you research it, study it, and gain the specific knowledge which would entitle you to the subject matter expert (SME) status? Would it be worth a little time and effort in order to obtain financial independence? Perhaps you know enough about a particular subject and it would just be a matter of polishing your information offerings in order to begin creating a passive income stream.
Membership sites are becoming extremely popular because they provide incredible opportunities for owners who have value to offer consumers who are eager to pay monthly fees in exchange for the value. People would rather pay a membership fee rather than a huge upfront installment fee for information desired in “just in time” circumstances. Membership sites are among the fastest growing methods for producing passive income and building wealth. A small investment and a little training time is all that is needed to start a profitable, passive-income producing membership site and changing your life forever. Perhaps it is time for you to explore the opportunities membership site ownership offers if you aren’t 100% satisfied with your current financial situation or your financial future.