If you’re currently trying to set up a passive income stream—because you’re working towards financial independence, chasing that 4-hour workweek, or simply hoping to earn a little extra cash—you’ve probably figured out that earning passive income takes a lot of work.
You can’t just create a website and hope people will buy what you’re selling, after all; you need to find your ideal customer, create a solution to their problem, market the solution effectively, etc.
It’s almost like giving yourself another full-time job — but it shouldn’t be. At least, not after you get the passive income stream up and running.
As entrepreneur Nat Eliason explains, the whole point of a passive income stream is to create something that earns money passively. On its own. Without your involvement.
Here are Eliason’s thoughts on the difference between passive income and a job:
Passive income is not a particularly descriptive term. It’s more useful to think of building a “passive sales machine.” Something that can sell something with minimal ongoing work.
There are a few key criteria for a PSM:
The product must be simple to maintain, otherwise you’ll always be working on it.
The marketing must be simple to maintain, otherwise you’ll always be selling it.
If it’s not a simple product with a simple sales funnel, you don’t have a PSM, you have a job. So if your goal is to build a steady stream of PSM-based passive income, you need to find things you can sell without having to constantly worry about the product being sold, or how it’s being sold.
Eliason expands these thoughts into a guide to developing a true passive income stream — so if you’re wondering why your passive income project feels more like a job, or how to develop a product that can actually generate passive income, check it out.
Because if you want a small business, you should create a small business.
If you want a passive income stream, you’re going to have to think a little more carefully about what you’re selling.
Comments