CHAPTER ONE
What is a passive income?
Before we develop your passive income game plan, it’s probably a good idea to define exactly what passive income is.
While most people in the world are paid for their time or sales production, there is a small percentage of us whose income comes more passively. Many are business owner, but others are simply creative about how they have set up their lives in order to maximize their income and minimize the hours they spend working for it.
I want to be clear, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with putting in hours in direct exchange for money. In fact, I spent over 20 years doing it myself… and my wife still does – and, you know what… she loves doing it. Going to work in a place where you interact with other people each day can be an incredibly rewarding and fulfilling way to spend your time.
But some of us have different preferences when it comes to how and where we like to work (ever notice all those people in coffee shops working on their laptops?)… and different ideas about what’s important in their lives overall.
So for people interested in an alternative to the typical 9 to 5 job, there is independent business ownership… which, of course, can take many forms. For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll be talking about businesses designed specifically to generate passive and semi-passive income.
Passive income, basically, is an approach to business involving doing a bunch of strategic work upfront, so that you can reap the financial benefits and work a lot less later. And, as I said before, it can take many forms.
Passive income comes primarily in two forms:
1)Let your money work for you
Letting your money work for you involves things like investments in financial instruments or maybe real estate.
2)Have your business work for you
Having your business work for you is more about generating an ongoing income from the business where you don’t need to be personally involved on a day-to-day basis. Maybe it’s a rental property or royalties from books or music or automated distribution of digital products just to name a few possibilities.
And the fact is that you can create both of these types of income TODAY!
Why would you want this?
Okay so now we know what passive income is, so the next question is why would you want this in your life?
Well not everybody does, but if it’s a good fit for you, the pages of this report will help you uncover a world of possibilities. Developing a passive income can accomplish many different things.
Maybe you just want some EXTRA SPENDING CASH.
Maybe you’re trying to SAVE MONEY FOR YOUR CHILD’S COLLEGE EDUCATION.
Or maybe you’re looking to DRAMATICALLY CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Have more control over your destiny. Spend more time on your passion. Work less. Play more.
The fact is that all of these reasons are great reasons to consider developing your own passive income game plan.
Why should you listen to me?
When you’re reading a book like this it’s always good to consider the source. So I think it’s importing that you get to know little bit more about me, and learn my story, so you can read the rest of this report with confidence.
I spent nearly 20 years in and around marketing before my life was changed dramatically (as I described earlier). During that initial two decades I was happily in ensconced in office jobs that I enjoyed, eventually taking a position as the marketing director of a company that required my family to move from the New York to our current home in Portland, OR. Sadly, the company was unstable, and within a year or so I found myself without a job because they simply couldn’t afford my salary any longer.
I had to find a solution. I looked for another job, and briefly sold advertising, but it really wasn’t a good fit for me… and frankly, I’m a terrible salesman. And then one day, I got that mysterious phone message I told you about.
It was from an “appointment setter,” calling on behalf of a franchise broker. When I finally followed up, the broker painted a picture for me of becoming my own boss… something I had never considered before.
But a few months after we started talking, I was the proud owner of, not just one franchise, but I owned the rights to develop an entire region of franchises.
You see, I discovered an amazing insider secret in the franchising world… master franchising. Instead of just buying a single franchise unit, I bought a license to sell franchises to other people… and, after the initial sale, take a small percentage of each of their profits.
Thus began my love affair with passive income.
But I didn’t stop there. I wanted to make the most of my new discovery of creating passive income. So I did what any entrepreneurial spirit would do… I lost a huge amount of money speculating on lots of business opportunities, network marketing concepts, and more. But while the money was technically “lost,” I really consider it an investment in my passive income education.
These days I’ve got act together and my game plan all laid out. I have a handful of online businesses that, after an initial learning curve on my part, are generating income for me, much of which is heavily leveraged through automation and the collective efforts of others.
And while my systems are now in place, I haven’t stopped learning - in fact, continuing my education is a cornerstone of any good game plan.
So I’ll continue to learn, and continue to share my new knowledge with others.