For all the “passive income” talk bandied about by bloggers, they sure a busy sort, aren’t they?
Me included.
It’s a good sign actually.
It means we like this work.
We no sooner establish a revenue stream and are working on another.
Additional streams include another website, an ecommerce store, a YouTube channel, email newsletter, podcast, you name it we can’t help ourselves.
Or, we double down on one site and strive to make it the best in the sector.
So much for passive, right?
Well, yes and no.
I’ve always maintained there is no 100% passive model online or otherwise. Every business requires some oversight unless you don’t care if someone drives it into the ground.
But you can certainly lighten your load for more free time or time to continue building.
For now, I choose the building route.
My chosen avenues for building are additional niche sites and continued work on Fat Stacks.
If it’s 100% passive you want, cash out and buy dividends stocks or some passive investment vehicle.
If it’s a business you want, your involvement is needed.
Many billionaires who don’t need to work, continue running their businesses. They like their work. They like their businesses.
At the end of the day, we need to do something.
Netflix and Amazon Prime Streaming can’t crank out content fast enough to entertain us 24/7.
My electric mountain bike battery only lasts a couple of hours per charge, so I can’t do that all day. Nor would I want to.
I like the challenge of creating and building things, especially systems that result in revenue streams.
I enjoy writing for an audience across several niches.
All of this is fun.
I could have taken today off. I didn’t.
After a few days off this week, I was excited to get back to it yesterday. I’ll take a longer vacation in a few weeks. I’m excited for that but also will be excited to get back.
I’m pretty sure I could take 3 months off without any adverse effect to my bottom line. But I won’t.
I choose to write this email and do other things to grow my online publishing biz.
If I didn’t like it, I’d do something else. This is not the easiest or most fun line of work.
Growing a niche site or blog is a ton of work. It’s thankless for 12 to 24 months (as in little to no revenue). Some of it is mind-numbingly boring work. There I said it. This is not a glamourous line of work.
It’s also not 100% passive unless you’re able to parachute a six figure chief editor into your role plus pay writers. Even then, you should monitor things.
A good friend of mine gave up a successful career as a stockbroker to become a plumber. He didn’t care for being a stockbroker no matter how lucrative it was. He ditched a lucrative living and became a plumber. He loves being a plumber. He likes solving the problems plumbing presents. He’s built up a successful plumbing business with 5 trucks on the road in a few years.
Another friend of mine bootstrapped a tech gadget start-up to a $4.5 million valuation. He’s onboarding investors as we speak. He’s going to market inside of a year. I suspect it’ll be a monster hit. He loves the start-up world pitching investors and bringing a revolutionary new product to market. It’s the second business he’s built up. I’m sure he’ll launch and build more.
My son’s preschool teacher was once an accountant. She ditched it and started a preschool. She loves it. She was born to do it. She doesn’t make much but she loves her preschool and caring for young kids.
All of these folks love what they do. They don’t aspire for a passive life. My plumber friend who has several crews on the road earning him thousands per month suits up and shows up daily. His gift is landing new business. He’s a fine plumber as well.
My tech gadget start-up friend may end up cashing out for millions if all goes to plan. I suspect as soon as the exit check clears he’ll launch a new business.
For me, passive income isn’t an end to itself. It’s nice to have but not so I can sit and watch Netflix and play Mario Kart all day. It’s a source for building on.
Do you like this blogging racket?
If not, don’t buy my courses. Find something you like doing.
If you do like it, as in you’ve been bitten by the blogging bug and you like the sounds of my simple strategy of focusing on publishing good content targeting long tail keywords and monetizing with ads, my new course bundle is for you.
As an aside, if you don’t like the content publishing model, there are many other online models to pursue such as email marketing, purist blogging for skilled writers, Kindle publishing for creative writers, ecommerce for people who are analytical, launching software for coders, starting an SEO agency for the hustlers, getting famous on YouTube and podcasts for performers and everything in between.
Find the medium that works for you and go after it.
There’s something for all preferences on the internet.
Jon Dykstra is a six figure niche site creator with 10+ years of experience. His willingness to openly share his wins and losses in the email newsletter he publishes has made him a go-to source of guidance and motivation for many. His popular “Niche site profits” course has helped thousands follow his footsteps in creating simple niche sites that earn big.
