There’s a lot of talk about “passive income” these days, and it’s usually followed by the phrase: “This is incredible! I’m going to quit my job.”
Well, not so fast!
Passive income is often defined as money that you make without having to actively work. In other words, you’re not exchanging your time for money.
While that’s true, it’s not the full picture. Let’s take a look at what passive income really is and why you should be skeptical of anyone who claims they have it or can teach others how to get it.
Get-rich-quick schemes are almost always doomed to fail.
The thing about get-rich-quick schemes is that they’re usually scams. They’re designed to take your money, not help you make it. In fact, the only person who ever gets rich quickly is the person who runs the scheme.
If you want to be successful in life and make money, don’t buy into those get-rich-quick schemes (or “passive income”).
Instead, spend your time learning how to build a business based on hard work and perseverance that may eventually become profitable after years of effort and trial and error.
Passive income streams require active work.
Passive income is not passive – at least, not in the beginning. The streams are built up over time and require active maintenance. It’s like a garden: you plant seeds, water them, and then wait for them to grow.
But if you don’t continue working in that garden, your plants will wither away and die.
The same goes for “passive” streams of income — you need to work at building them up before they can truly be considered “passive.”
And when you do have a source of regular cash flow coming in from one or more sources (e.g., rental properties), there are still things that need regular maintenance and upkeep if the money is going to keep flowing in (e.g., paying off monthly expenses, fixing or replacing things, etc.)
Online courses that promote passive income often hide a part of the story.
Let’s say you stumbled across an amazing-looking online course that claims to teach you everything you need to know about passive income.
How do you know if it’s any good?
Well, for starters, if it’s got a “passive income” tagline in its description, then I would highly advise against it. If a course tells you that you can earn passive income through what they teach, they’re most likely trying to deceive you.
Why? Because a lot of people have figured out that selling courses is more profitable than actually following their own advice.
This can be seen by the fact that there are thousands of videos and courses online that claim to teach people how they can get rich but never actually work out as planned.
The main thing in common with these types of courses is that they usually promise big results without ever really giving any legitimate examples or tips on how exactly someone could go about achieving success in the real world.
In other words, it’s all fluff and no substance.
Don’t buy into get-rich-quick schemes, and accept that you’ll have to keep working even after your first passive income streams come in.
It’s tempting to believe that we can sit back and let passive income streams just flow into our pockets. But it just doesn’t work like that.
The truth is that there are no shortcuts to achieving the kind of success you want in life. You might work for years to build up a “passive” income stream only to see it dry up when you leave it alone for a few weeks.
You can also think of passive income as a fire: You have to spend a lot of time lighting it in the beginning, and then you can’t just leave it alone.
To keep the fire alive, you have to keep adding more wood, make sure it has enough oxygen, etc.
In other words, in business, you have to keep putting in the work, even after your first few passive income streams come in. Otherwise, they’ll fizzle out.
Conclusion
What comes to mind when most people think of passive income is a myth. That doesn’t mean you can’t create streams of income that allow you to take time off and avoid actively working all the time – you can.
But it isn’t quite as simple as setting something up in a few hours in your basement and then having money stream in every month. So if anyone claims they can teach you how to do that, don’t give them any money. It’s a lie.
And it’s a lie that’s driven people to do crazy things in pursuit of what they think will be an easy life. But it doesn’t work like that.
The reality is, you can’t just sit back and collect money for doing nothing. You need to work hard to earn your “passive” income. And if you want it enough then you’re going to have to put in the hours anyway.
So, choose something you’re passionate about, roll up your sleeves, and get to it. You might not be able to retire next year, but you will be one step closer to building a more financially stable future.
And that beats get-rich-quick schemes any day.
