When I was younger, in my teens, I felt a draw to the arts and entertainment field. Music. Acting. Writing. Art. But everyone around me said, “Go to college and get a job,” even though my soul ached for more.

However, I went to college to get a degree in computer programming, but somehow ended up getting a degree in Art with an emphasis in Commercial Art (i.e. Graphic Design).

My first job? Computer programming AND desktop publishing layout.

It was sort of creative. But all my spare time was spent painting, writing, drawing, and music.

At some point, I stopped the after-hours creative and focused all my efforts on my business I had with two other partners. But the business gave me a lot of opportunity to flex my creativity…in a commercial way…for other people. None of my own visions, but my creations of other people’s visions.

Over the past two years, I have been introduced to a concept that completely floored me, angered me, and gave me hope.

Passive income

Simply put, passive income is money that comes to you without you physically doing the work. That’s not to say you never work, but the ratio of effort/income tips at a point where you spend less effort and the income increases.

I’ll give two examples.

The first is simply a musician or writer who spends time in advance creating their song or book. They then open it up for sale by putting out their CD or novel. That product will keep selling for a long time and continue to bring in money, even if a small amount. An example is that Elvis Presley made $55 million last year, and has been dead for many years. But his music lives on profiting his estate and heirs. Another example is JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books. She wrote for 10 years and now has a net worth of 1 billion dollars! And the sales will continue, and the movie royalties, merchandising, theme park, etc.

The second is creating a product or service that can be sold in a networking method where people bring people into their company, train them to do the same, and move the product. This allows for low start-up costs for a home-based business that is similar to a franchise, but much less initial costs.

Today I heard a story of a couple who had spent years building their network and gradually built a passive income. The husband suffered a stroke and was incapacitated for many weeks. Instead of being concerned about having any money to live on while he was recovering, they had nothing to worry about. In FACT, because they had leveraged their time and effort, the money that came to them actually INCREASED each week as more people joined their network and gave more leverage.

Leverage

“HEY! WHOA! You were talking about Passive Income and NOW you’re talking about LEVERAGE! What’s up with that?”

Leverage is spreading out effort through many people to compress the time it takes to accomplish a goal.

If I had to move 5000 bricks from point A to point B and it was going to take me 20 hours to do it for $1000…I’m making $50/hour (and killin’ my back). But if I hired 5 guys at $20/hour, they’d get the work done in four hours and give me a profit of $600 (minus taxes). They also may have made more than usual AND didn’t kill their backs with only 4 hours of work.

Leverage is an integral part of network based businesses. The most important thing to realize is that you have to do your due diligence in researching the company, it’s products, it’s compensation plan, and the people running it.

Leverage is also important if creating a product or service. I am co-owner of a business that has been developed over a year and a half. It will generate income with a minimal amount of work from us after it is launched. But we put in our time in advance. Additionally, the business will allow others to use it for their own profit saving them time, and we’ll be able to profit as well. A win-win-win (us, them, and their client) scenario.

Additionally, once you have ONE system/product/business running, it becomes easier to start another one. And with a second, and a third, and a fourth business you can offset any ebbs and flows in any given business.

So, what is it you love? Music? Art? Math? Accounting? Massage? What can you do to leverage your time and build passive income?

The whole goal is to stop working, start living, and take control of your life.

I’m Ready to Live!

Contact me if you have questions. There are hundreds of opportunities for people who are ready to take control of their lives, earn some extra money, and build a secure future for themselves and their family. I’ll tell you about one that has already made a substantial difference in thousands of people’s lives. It has also made a difference in several people close to me.

Stay tuned!

P.S. We’ll talk about how to make your money work for you in a future installment.

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