Getting started with passive income. The more I talk about my project of retiring within 4 years (I will be 37), the more interest I get from other people who want that for their lives too. The concept is very enticing: not having to work because you HAVE to, simply if you WANT to. Having the ability to chose any activity that you like doing and not having to factor in the salary. For instance, I’ve considered customer service hotel jobs for a long time, but always stayed away because of the lower wages than what I’m earning now.
But how to do you get started? The best first question you can ask yourself is: What activity would I do voluntarily, 1 hour every day, for an entire year. Because chances are really high that the activity that you pick won’t bring you any money in the first year. If you get discouraged along the way, then the time spent on building your passive income stream will be lost. (Which is, statistically, more likely to happen than not!) So you want that lost time to have been spent on something you like. Most people I met who live solely on passive income did it in 3 years. Answering the question about what you would do for free will also ensure that you pick something that you feel truly passionate about, not something that will simply get you money fast. Because if you pick something for the latter reason, you’ll struggle in the perseverance part of the project. (Read more on perseverance here) Once you have found your topic, you have to share it with people. We get money in return of the value we provide. You get that salary that you have because it roughly equates to the value you contribute to society. The problem with regular jobs though, is that you can only be in one place at one time, so your income is always tied to your physical presence. When you develop an information product, such as recording a song or a course, writing a blog or an ebook, or selling a membership, then your income isn’t tied to your physical presence anymore. If what you produced provides enough value to enough people, then you will make enough money to live solely from that income. It is still preferable to diversify your sources of income, so that if one fails, you have a few other ones to rely on. But it is also imperative to start with only one source, as it too easy to spread out your efforts and end up not having a single steady source of income.
In my case, blogging is the first building block of my passive income. I started 4 months ago and I’m still not earning any money from it. But my audience is growing and I don’t want to pollute my blog with too much publicity. For the time being, I focus on providing valuable content. I already published my first ebook on Amazon, which talks about the subconscious mind. If you are interested, you can get it by clicking on this link.
I also bought a $37 course to learn how to set up a blog. It’s a very complete and detailed course that teaches you how to get started, step-by-step, in 30 days. I knew nothing about blogging before and I highly recommend it. You can get it here. They will try to sell you already-made blogs when you purchase the course but I wanted to build my own from scratch. There is another version of the course that includes videos. This one is $97 but I haven’t tried it. If you find that videos are worth the price difference, then you can get it here.
With that you will also need is a hosting plan to save your blog and allow the world the see it. I use GoDaddy which is the world’s largest domain name registrar. You can get your domain name here. The cheapest plan is $10/month.
Finally, you need to have a clear image of WHY you want to be financially free. The most difficult challenge you will face along the way is discouragement. It will come from other people but from the voice in your own mind too. I suggest having a very clear idea of where you want to go with this project, what it will allow you to do once your passive income streams are set up, and even a visualization board that you can look at daily to remind you why you are putting in the efforts.
So that’s it! With a strong determination, a $37 course plus $10/month you can have your window to the world, share your passion and start earning money!
If you need more details on how to do this, it will be my pleasure to help you out!
Happy earning!
Martin
Shine Brighter Now 