Passive Income: Fact or Fiction? Part 1 of 2

Location: San Francisco, USA – Reading Time: 4mins

This is the first of a two-part guest post from Maren Kate of Escapingthe9to5.com

Are you sick of the rat race yet? Or maybe you love your job but still want to earn some extra cash. If so have you ever considered the idea of ‘passive income‘? Often the word itself sounds spammy like the countless “Want to make $10,000 a month with NO work?” emails that pepper inboxes across the world and irritate us normies who know that something for nothing is a crock. But the idea of passive income doesn’t equal no work it just means you work on it once, then it creates an income the rest of the time without much effort.

Here are some examples of passive income:

Glen Allsopp is 20 something who runs a site called Pluginid.com, he travels Europe and makes a 5 figure monthly income based of the passive income model. Jealous? Well you should be, but Glen had to work hard to get where he is. The great part though is that he only has to work hard once and then can reap the benefits for a lifetime. Glen makes money from affiliate links, ad boxes & by selling his popular eBook Cloud Living, the gist of which is teaching others how to live a mobile lifestyle, funded by passive income like he does.

Another example is Pat Flynn who started a website called GreenExamAcademy.com which helps architects and others pass the LEED certification exam. Pat was an architect himself, but once he got fired he realized that there was more to life then a paycheck collected from someone else. He used his own personal study guide to create the Leed AP Walk Through eBook which has consistently sold thousands of dollars worth a month and provided Pat a lifestyle where he makes much more now online than he did at his old 9 to 5. Pat has been so inspired by the amazing opportunities of passive income that he started his own blog documenting his journey. On SmartPassiveIncome.com you can read Pat’s blog posts on how to do exactly what he’s done, he even documents his monthly earnings from affiliates, his eBook and other online based income streams.

So how can you develop a stream of passive income?

Well first you must focus on your passion or expertise (preferably both). Ask yourself, what is it I do well? What knowledge do I have that others would use? Its best if you fill an urgent need in people’s lives or a perceived lacking. Can you help someone make more money, save money, get healthy, be loved, feel good about themselves, pass a course that is needed for their career? If so you have a passive income stream waiting to happen.

PART TWO – COMING NEXT MONDAY! In the next post I will be explaining the basics of building a passive income stream and growing an audience who desperately wants what you have to offer. Between now & then list out 5 things you could possibly develop into an eBook, audio course, video training or even a full blown membership class and please list them in the comment section. Then we’ll all brainstorm together!

Cheers to your upcoming success!

If you liked this post, please do leave a comment below – I love hearing from my readers, and reply to pretty much every one! You can also “Be Sweet and Retweet!” if you like, too. Thanks, everyone!