When people hear the phrase “passive income”, most of them visibly recoil in discomfort.

 

They imagine it to be a way of making little more than mere pocket money in return for engaging in some pretty cringeworthy activities along the way. At the very least, they imagine passive income to be the result of something not in any way related or beneficial to the business they originally set up to run for themselves. Their minds race to MLMs or pyramid schemes, which would ultimately see them alienate everyone they know by constantly trying to ‘recruit’ them, make someone above them very rich for doing bog-all, and lose any kind of credibility as a genuine business owner along the way.

 

 

Having said all of that, you’re only human, and everyone wants to have more cash, so the idea of ‘making money while you sleep’ is definitely something you’ll have been tempted to look into at some point. Am I right? But likely having given it all a bit of deeper thought around the cult you might have to enter to achieve this passive cash, it’s something you ultimately may well have felt happy to forget about. After all, you can’t research passive income online these days without taking a visit to what I call the Ick Factory.

 

Enter…

• Hustle ‘entrepreneurs’
• Cryptocurrency ‘gurus’
• Property investment ‘experts’
• Sippers and flippers (folks sipping champagne in an infinity pool, or worse, flipping ‘cash’ in front of a fancy car or designer store, thanks to the so-called side hustle that allegedly made them a millionaire).

 

It’s easy to see why this ‘culture’ of passive income is something that any self-respecting and decent business owner such as your good self would avoid like the plague. After all, you work hard and you make your money, and you’ve built a nice little reputation in doing it. Sure, you’d love some extra cash, but are you willing to look like/become one of those Instagram icksters or tricksters yourself?

 

Sure, passive income (if it’s genuine) would be ‘nice to have’, but given what we think it involves, not only does it not feel necessary, it also feels a bit nasty, too. Essentially, the people peddling all things passive income aren’t so much interested in YOU making money… they’re interested in you making money for THEM.

 

There’s so much truth as well as opinion in what I’ve just written, BUT – I have to challenge it, too, because passive income does not fall solely under the ownership of con-artists, content creators, or cult leaders.

 

Passive income is my entire business. It’s not always passive for me as a hands-on strategist, but everything I create with my clients for their own businesses most certainly is. You see, I work with clients to help them find, create, and benefit from passive income and recurring revenue streams from within their EXISTING business. It’s you and your stuff – but more. And it’s income – but for less time as a trade.

This blog isn’t to sell it to you, though. This blog is to show you exactly why you might find that the addition of a passive product (or similar) into your business is absolutely bloody necessary in the coming year.

 

Here are three very realistic and hugely relatable reasons why passive income might just be the next thread you should pull in your cracking little service or product-based business in 2024, because whether you casually think it’s nice, or actively think it’s nasty, I’m here to tell you… passive income is necessary.

 

Because… shit happens

 

In the last 4 years (in the UK alone) we’ve had many a financial crisis, political upheaval, and general ‘is this really happening’ moments that made even the most steadfast business owner a little sweaty. During the Covid pandemic in particular, every business owner and their dog were either accepting the hopelessness and focusing their efforts on stock-piling bog roll, or scrabbling around like lunatics trying to ‘pivot’ their business into something that people still actually needed and wanted to pay for. Like bog roll, for one.

 

Ask yourself, what would you do if something happened to you/ the economy/ the world tomorrow, and you could no longer ‘go out’ and sell that thing you physically do or make anymore?  

 

Unless the internet decides to ‘go off’ (oh my god, the horror), a digital download of the delights you can offer through your existing business would continue to sell even if you weren’t around to physically deliver it. Worth thinking about.

 

Because… ideal clients aren’t always visible

 

You’re a savvy business owner, so you not only know who your ideal clients are, but also where to find them and how to attract them. But what about the clients who would consider it positively ideal to work with YOU, but don’t have the time, the funds, or the scope to invest in the main stuff you’re offering right now? Selfish as it might sound, they may even be living in a completely different country or time zone, which restricts them from accessing you. I know. Some people…

 

Ask yourself, are there people out there in the world who could be benefitting from your expertise and offerings, if only it was presented and packaged in a way that doesn’t require you to actually be there or do any work with them?

 

An on-demand course based on your existing expertise that allows your clients to ‘DIY’ things (rather than pay you to do it for them,) is something that not only allows you to deliver a one-to-many offer, but also breaks down all the barriers thrown up by people who start their messages to you with “I NEED to work with you, BUT…”

 

Because… face, ceiling, smush.

 

Not only is time precious, but it’s finite. This is not news. There are only so many hours in the day, and already I’ll bet most of us feel like there are never enough to begin with. Adding in more work to earn more money is just stressful at best and impossible at worst. But even if you’re someone who’s got an absolute handle on your horology and you’re spending your time wisely, there comes a point when you physically and literally cannot pencil in any more calls or clients. You reach a ceiling in your time, and as a result, you reach a ceiling in your earning potential, too.

 

Ask yourself, how will you ever work with more clients and therefore make more money if you simply don’t have the time in which to do it?

 

Creating something like a membership or subscription model in your existing business is ideal in mastering your time – and indeed the money you can make within it. You don’t need to be an influencer to do this, and you may even find that having this passive pursuit factored into your business becomes a key player in growing your brand in the first place.

 

I know you nodded along to all of these things, because not only do you know that they’re possibilities – you’ve seen first-hand just how damn probable they all are as likely scenarios.

 

So what now?

 

Get yourself gone and think about the questions I’ve asked, the answers you’d give, and the passive income pathways you might like to venture down to support yourself and strengthen your position. Then, whether you’re fired up to go or still have burning questions you need answering, jump on a Creative Cuppa call with me HERE.

It’s 20 minutes, it’s free, and I guarantee that you’ll be in a much better place at the end of it to start making some extra money within your existing business.

And there won’t be a juice cleanse, a face cream, or a content-creating influencer in sight on our call.