Passive Income - Earn Money while you Sleep!

Passive income

noun

Passive income is any money earned in a manner that does not require too much effort. There are several passive income generating ideas that require a lot of work, to begin with, like developing a blog or leasing property, but eventually, they earn money even when the owner is asleep.

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So in simple terms, passive income is where you do something once and get paid time and time and time again for it. Think of it like being a recording artist. You write and record a song once, then after this initial effort, each time the song is played on the radio, TV, adverts, programmes, films etc. it generates more income; even though the artist only recorded the song that one time, they continue to benefit financially from it. Putting this into context, creating profitable conent will earn you a passive income in that your business grows from content produced once.

An article on LifeHack by Craig Dewe looked at the quote "the rich get richer while the poor get poorer" and how it is used to demonstrate the unfairness and inequality when it comes to society and finances. Dewe states that he does not think that it is unfair, and I know that many will disagree but I actually agree and here is why.

"The rich focus on a completely different way of earning money." Don't get me wrong, this is a very generalised statement and I in no way believe that all lower class citizens and "the poor", whatever you interpret that to mean, think that the only way to earn money is by getting into mainstream employment and working their butt off just to live hand to mouth each month. I do, however, believe that the rich are more susceptible to utilising their knowledge, network and available opportunities to their advantage and this is what makes them so successful.

When you take the plunge and you build that brand that you have been sat on the fence about and you take the steps to start earning passive income, you will then go on to earn forever, whether it be little or large, should you need to take some time off, go on a holiday, relocate; whatever the situation, the income will still be earned. You are not stuck in one location like most are with jobs paying linear income, and you do not need to get to an office for 9am each morning. You can choose whether you work full-time, part-time depending on how much time you can afford to spend on it. Of course, the more time and work you put in now the sooner you can retire and the more residual income you can enjoy!

So, do I just sit back and watch the money flood in?

Ideally, yes! Of course, you wouldn't want to completely shut down, turn your phone off and leave the country - although it would be quite tempting and probably quite doable! But you would want to keep an eye.

An example of this would be the very very successful residual income earner Richard Branson; Branson does not actively work for all of the companies he owns (can't think why not, he only has 400+?!) but he does keep an eye on them regularly, keeping in touch with the relevant CEOs should any problems or issues arise. The fact is, no matter how big or small his involvement is, he is still profiting and earning from these companies big time because of the work he put in at the very beginning!

So what are you waiting for? If this hasn't convinced you that you should be making a start to your passive income generation I don't know what will!

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