Light a candle. What do you see?
The candle is burning away and when the fire reaches the bottom, the candle is no more. This is your life, your health, and your potential. We only have so much time, so much health, so much will power, so much potential, and we are burning through it.
There is a good chance that you are working on hourly wage or salary. Most of us are. This means you are trading time for money. You are trading your health for money. You are trading your potential for money. The stress at the job is slowly eroding your health. You could use your potential to start your own business and make money for yourself but you are using it to make money for someone else. If the employer is not making money from your work, he would fire you tomorrow. You have a job because you are making money for the employer.
The obvious question is why not start your own business. Starting and running a business takes enormous courage and perseverance. Wage earners seek safety while entrepreneurs seek opportunities. It is a very different mindset and needs to be developed. Otherwise you would find it difficult to become a successful entrepreneur. You are fully capable of becoming a successful entrepreneur but you cannot become successful in business as long as you keep thinking like a wage earner.
What other option is there? Passive income. Passive income is a continuous stream of income you earn from a time or money investment in the past. For example, you bought a parking spot in downtown and rented it out. That investment will keep generating revenue for you for years to come. Similarly a business deal you brokered for a 5% share will keep paying you in the future.
Whether you are a wage earner or entrepreneur, you need passive income. When you are earning passive income, you are not burning through your time, health, or potential to make that money. You continue making that money because you did something wise in the past.
Anyone can earn passive income. My kids in elementary school are earning passive income. They ask for money instead of toys for birthdays and other occasions. So they get toys from friends and family for birthdays and money from parents. This money goes into an investment account that I opened for them and they watch their payout grow over time. Right now it is only generating few dollars of dividends per month but that is significant money for an elementary school child and it will grow over time.
You can also create your own passive income stream. There are many ways to do this.
- investments
- stocks, bonds, and other paper investments
- income generating property property
- digital assets
- online sales
- online advertisement revenue
- Multi-level marketing (MLM)
- Could be profitable but do your due diligence first. There are many scams in MLM
- contracts
- sales deals
The most exciting opportunities for wage earners is online. Internet never sleeps and can earn you money in your sleep. There are countless opportunities online but they require hard work and patience. I will be discussing this in various posts in more detail over the next little while.
What I want you to do now is start thinking about passive income? Observe the business, environment, and people around you. Who and what is generating passive income? Do the numbers and convince your reluctant self that you need passive income. It will take some effort but it doesn’t have to be very risky or very painful. By putting in small doses of effort and investing small slices of time, you can incrementally build a strong passive income stream.
Journey of a thousand miles starts from you doorstep. I invite you to take the first step.
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